Thanks for the reviews, guys! This is actually my first OTH story. I mainly write Grey's Anatomy, but over the summer, thanks to SOAPNET, OTH has become one of my new addictions. If you've ever read any of my Grey's fiction, you know that if I don't like something, I will rewrite it to suit me. I don't hate Peyton, not entirely, but I think she's been a horribly crappy friend to Brooke. Plus, I'm not too fond of characters that need rescuing all the time coughMeredithcough'. I don't blame the character, I blame the writing. Besides, I believe that if Lucas knew what Peyton had told Brooke things would have went entirely different. Especially considering that they kept shoving down our throats how in love B/L were.

Now….on with Chapter Two.

My phone wouldn't stop ringing, but I refused to answer it. I didn't even have to look to know it was Lucas. By now he of course had talked to Peyton and I didn't want to know the outcome. All I knew was that I was about to get my heart broken by the guy I loved and the girl I used to call my best friend…again. I'm not stupid. There was no way I could compete with Peyton. Lucas had always wanted her, despite his assurances otherwise. So maybe I was hiding. So what? No one is in a hurry to have their heart ripped out and stomped on

Eventually, the phone stopped. That's when the doorbell to Rachel's house broke the uneasy silence. I rolled my eyes as I pushed herself off the bed and trudged down the stairs to answer the door. Lucas's face could be seen from the other side of the glass and I sighed. Apparently, he wasn't going to give up until we had talked. I flung the door open, but blocked the doorway, making it clear I wasn't going to invite him in.

" You really don't get that I don't want to talk to you right now, do you ," I asked, deciding to put my best bitch face on. If he was going to break me, I didn't want him to see it.

" Brooke, we've got to talk about this, " He pleaded with me and I could tell he really was upset.

" Did you talk to my backstabbing two faced bitch of a friend, " I questioned, examining by fingernails. I was doing anything but look at him.

" I did, " Lucas answered softly and I was shocked that he didn't defend her when I called her a two faced bitch.

" Good. That's settled then. Now, you can leave. I'll be fine, Lucas. You go live your life with the girl you really want, " I was surprised that I managed to spit all that out without my voice wavering. I moved to shut the door, but Lucas blocked me with his shoulder. He was pissing me off. Why couldn't he just let me be?

" I'm trying to live my life with the girl I want, but she keeps shutting me out. "

" That's Peyton for you. Don't worry , Luke. I'm sure she'll come around, " I said sweetly.

"You, Brooke! I want to be with you. Don't you know that by now?"

I was angry now. Actually I was past angry. Why was he putting up such a fight? He and I both knew that who he really wanted to be with was blonde and emo. I was neither of those two things.

" You have a funny way of showing it. First, you don't call the entire time you're out of town, then you tell me that you kissed my best friend…again! "

" I'm sorry I didn't call and I'm sorry I kissed Peyton. You have no idea how sorry I am and how much I wish it hadn't happened. I'm sorry that it's hurting you, but you've got to believe me, Brooke. I don't want Peyton. I love you, " Lucas yelled back at me and I chanced a look into his eyes. They were glassed over and he looked like he was going to cry. Still, I steeled myself against whatever emotions were coursing through me, focusing only on the anger.

" You don't get it, Lucas! I can't do this! I can't wait around to get my heart broken. I don't think I could survive you cheating on me with Peyton again. It almost destroyed me the first time. And I know it'll happen again because it's Peyton and I can't compete with her, " I tried to get him to see. Why couldn't he? Why couldn't he see that this was for the best?

He was staring at me now with an expression on his face that I couldn't decipher. Then before I could stop him or object, he had pulled me towards him and crashed his mouth down onto mine. Lucas' kiss always took my breath away, but this kiss….I don't think he'd ever kissed me like this before. My hand gripped at his shoulders to steady myself, because suddenly it was hard to keep from falling into a puddle on the ground. He had twined one hand through the back of my hair while the pinned me flush against him. Finally, we both had to break away for air. My lips were swollen and for once I didn't know what to say. Lucas brushed his lips across my forehead and everything that I was going to say to him before had escaped my head.

" Did that feel like I wanted Peyton to you, " His voice floated into my ears.

I couldn't speak yet so I settled for shaking my head. Let me tell you for something to make me shut up? Well, it must have been a fucking awesome kiss.

" I'm sorry that I hurt you, Brooke. But I meant it when I told you I wouldn't do it again. Peyton…well, she was a friend, but I don't know if I can be friends with someone who intentionally hurts the girl that matters the most to me. She has feelings for me? I guess that's her problem, because I told her once not too long ago that I was insanely in love with you and I meant it. Just like I'm the guy for you, you're the girl for me. Nothing Peyton says is going to change that. I made the mistake of losing you once. I'm not about to repeat it. That kiss in the library? It really did mean nothing to me. It showed me how truly over her I am."

Okay, I hadn't been expecting that. Chalk that up to another one of Lucas's make me melt speeches. I swear that boy had the weirdest effect on me sometime. My eyes welled up with tears and one leaked down my cheek. He brushed it away gently.

" I'm just scared, Luke. I'm scared that I'm going to wake up one day and you'll look at me and realize you made a mistake, " I admitted softly.

" I can promise you that's never going to happen, Pretty Girl. I'm so sorry if my not calling made it seem that way to you. I'm where I want to be and that's with you, " His arms circled around me and pulled me close and I buried my head against his shoulder. I could feel one hand move from my waist and stroke the back of my hair. His words unleashed a torrent of tears and I sobbed into his shoulder.

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Lucas POV

I don't think it every actually occurred to me how badly I had hurt her before until she started talking about how she wasn't able to compete with Peyton. I realized in that moment what an idiot I'd been. Brooke had been right when she told me at the wedding that I had never let her all the way in. Now, standing here in this very moment with my girlfriend sobbing into my shoulder, I vowed that from now on I was going to be completely honest with her. She'd been trying so hard since Keith had died and I pushed her away more than once to share my feelings with Peyton. There was no way I was doing that anymore. From now on, I would never give her a reason to doubt that she was it for me. My phone rang and I knew from the ringtone playing that it was Peyton. Brooke pulled away from me and looked at me with her wet green eyes.

" Aren't you going to answer that?"

" Nah. Whatever it is can wait. You need me more and I'm going to make a promise to you right now, Brooke. I promise that I'll never put Peyton before you again, okay? You have my word."

"It's just…when I saw you two at the hospital earlier…."

" That was nothing. I wish it had been you. I wanted so badly for you to be there. Then, I found you in Rachel's room. Which by the way…I thought you two hated each other, " I cocked my head to the side and was pleased to see the slightest of a smile touching her lips.

" She's not as bad as I thought she was, plus she told me I could stay here, because obviously I'm not going to be staying with my former best friend, " Brooke told me a bit sheepishly. That was what I loved most about her. She was willing to let people in. Hell, she let me in, even though I had given her a million reasons not too.

" How about you stay with me tonight? I think we have a lot we need to talk about and I want to wake up next to you in the morning. We don't have to do anything, just talk and sleep…I just want you there when I wake up. I want to be able to hold you, " I hurried to let her know that it wasn't because I wanted to have sex with her. It wasn't that I didn't love having sex with her…the girl could do things to me I didn't even know were possible. This wasn't about that though. This was about me reconnecting emotionally with the girl that I loved with all my heart. The girl whose heart I'd nearly broken again.

She nodded her head and I began to lead us away from Rachel's house to my car. Her head rested on my shoulder as we walked and I remembered another night similar to this. The night that I forgave her for sleeping with Chris Keller and we had just walked for hours. We had been content with just each other's company and somehow since then, maybe she had gotten the impression that I wasn't content with just being there with her.

We arrived at my house to find Peyton still sitting in my room on my bed, where she had been when I left. When she saw me, she rose to her feet quickly and stepped toward me, only to stop short when she caught a glance of Brooke, who almost seemed like she was hiding behind me. I pulled her up beside me and held her close to my side and leveled my gaze on Peyton.

" You should go home, Peyton. Brooke and I are tired and we want to be alone, " "I told her with as much indifference as I could possibly muster. I watched as her jaw dropped and I steeled myself against the thought that I was hurting her feelings. I didn't really want to hurt Peyton, but she had hurt Brooke, we both had. Except now I was making a point to fix what had been broken between us. That meant putting my girlfriend's feelings before Peyton's.

" Seriously, Lucas?" Peyton turned her eyes on Brooke and I saw her narrow them at her. " I can't believe you'd turn the one person I could trust against me, Brooke. That's low, even for you. "

" That's enough, Peyton! Brooke didn't do anything. You're the one that should be apologizing to her. Now, I'm sorry you've got stuff going on right now, but as of this moment, I'm not going to drop whatever I'm doing for you, Peyt. Brooke has to come first. She doesn't want you here and quite frankly, right now, neither do I."

" Whatever, Lucas." And with that she stormed out, brushing past Brooke and I.

"You okay, Cheery? " I asked as soon as I heard the door slam.

" You didn't have to do that, Lucas. I know she's like your good friend. I don't want you to resent me for messing up your friendship with her."

" Don't worry about her. She has plenty of people she can talk too, even if she doesn't always realize it."

" I have something to confess, Lucas."

" Okay…."

" The reason that I came over here earlier tonight was to end it. I thought I didn't miss you. I thought that you didn't know me anymore, and I couldn't take it anymore. " Her pretty green eyes were downcast and it seemed like she was almost…ashamed.

" Well, how do you feel now?"

She laughed softly before she looked up at me.

" I feel like an idiot. I'm sorry I didn't trust you, Luke."

" Well, I hadn't given you a whole lot of reasons in the past to trust me, so what do you say just forget about it?"

She breathed a sigh of relief before throwing her arms around me and kissing the side of my head.

" I think that sounds like a great idea."