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Chapter 2: Calls, Plans, and the Perfect Outfit

As soon as she left the café with Haley's number, Brooke headed off to work. She had a viewing of a designer's line to go to with the editor-in-chief of the magazine.

When she arrived to the Elle offices, her secretary briefed her on her messages and she went to her office sinking in her chair thinking about the great day she had been having and the great night she would have with Lucas.

She started to think. She really didn't know much about Lucas anymore. She had no idea what he did after high school. Did he go to college, or did he not? What ever happened to Nathan and Haley? Where did they go?

But the question that taunted her most was, is he still with Peyton? Because he still could have been with her and be going to dinner with her, right?

While she was pondering the answers to all these questions, her co-worker and friend, Julia walked in. "Hey Brooke." She said eagerly.

Sometimes Brooke didn't understand how happy and eager Julia was about everything. Didn't she ever have problems or was their ever something on her mind that just consumed all of her happiness with wonder and confusion? But nonetheless, Brooke still enjoyed talking to Julia. "Hey Julia." She said absent-mindedly.

"What's up?" Julia asked.

"Oh, well it's good, but I think I've replaced the good with a bunch of questions."

"What?" Julia asked confused.

"Ok, let me start from the beginning. You can sit down." Brooke said with a chuckle.

"Ok, start." Julia commanded, sitting down.

"Ok so, did I ever tell you about Lucas?" Brooke asked.

"Yea I think so. You mean the one who you fell in love with and vice versa then your ex-best friend claimed to have feelings for again and then who you broke up with so he could be with her and you've been pining over him ever since?"

"Yes, but I haven't been pining over him, have I?"

"Yea, you kind of have."

"Seriously?"

"Oh yea, I mean you turned down I don't know how many dates and since you mentioned that you loved him a lot, I figured he was the reason you haven't been on top of your dating game. At least I'm assuming you haven been on top of your game."

"Ok fine, I haven't been on top of my game." Brooke admitted, defeated.

"Ha! But anyways that's not the point, keep going."

"Right, so I haven't seen or heard from Lucas since high school when I broke up with him so he could be with that blonde whore, Peyton. But, this morning I saw him in the café I always go to. Well actually he saw me, but that's beside the point, where was I, oh yea, we made plans to get together tonight and have dinner and catch up! How great is that?"

"That's awesome, Brooke!"

"I know I'm so excited!"

"I'm excited for you!"

"But there's a bad part."

"What?"

"Well I haven't talked to him so that means that I don't know if he's still with Peyton or not or anything about him really. Just the stuff in high school, you know?"

"I see what you're saying, but maybe you should just look at this as like a new beginning since you didn't have such a good ending in high school. Like a chance to get to know each other all over again."

"I guess you're right. I should stop worrying about it. I want this night with Lucas to be special and I don't want to ruin it with my stupid worries."

"You'll be okay, I promise."

"I know. We should probably get going to the viewing."

"Probably. I'll see you later Brooke." Julia said exiting the room.

"Ok, and Julia-"

"Yea?"

"Thanks for the talk."

"Anytime Brooke."

After he went to the café, Lucas left the café to head to Central Park. He had only been to New York a few times before but in all of the times he went, he never really spent much time in Central Park.

When he got there, he immediately went and sat down on one of the benches that was there and started to read Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham recalling the time he and Brooke searched the library for the book and she couldn't pronounce the author's name.

Later, he decided to take a walk around the more residential area of the city where all the families lived and where he was looking for a bookstore.

He passed by a basketball court and found four boys and their mothers, he guessed. He guessed, judging from their size, they were about eleven or twelve. He noticed one of the boys look over to him. He started walking towards him with his mother walking towards him and scolding him warning him not to run off.

"Are you Lucas Scott, shooting-guard for the Carolina Bobcats?" The little boy asked.

"Yes, I am." Lucas said, embarrassed.

"I'm Johnny. I'm a HUGE fan. I moved here about six months ago from North Carolina so I watch you guys all the time with my friends over there." He said excitedly, pointing at his friends who were still playing basketball. "Will you play with us?" He asked hopefully. He would not miss out on the chance to play his favorite game with his favorite basketball player.

"Well, honestly, I wasn't planning on playing at all today-"

"Oh, I understand. Thanks anyways." He said starting to walk off.

"But since you asked so nicely and you are a fan, I would love to."

"Really?" Johnny asked excitedly.

"Sure. Plus you remind me a lot of myself at your age." Lucas said placing his arm around the small boy's shoulder and walking over to the court where he and his friends were playing.

"Hey you guys!" John called to his friends. They all turned around shocked to see their favorite basketball player standing right in front of them. "Guess who's gonna play with us!"

"Lucas Scott?" One of the mothers asked, walking over to where the boys were standing.

"Yes."

"The boys are such huge fans and we would just like to thank you for playing with them."

"Oh, it's no problem at all."

"Thank you." She said and retreated back to her table with the other moms. "Isn't he so cute?" She asked them and Lucas heard a chorus of oh yeas.

For the next two hours, Lucas played basketball with the boys, teaching the tricks of the pros and just having fun with some fans.

"Hey how would you guys lie to come to the game on Monday?" Lucas asked.

"Are you serious?" One of the other boys asked.

"Yea. I can get you guys tickets to the game because I get about ten tickets to every game in case I know anyone who wants to come and it just so happens that I have no one who wants to come to this game."

"That would be so awesome! But we have to ask our moms first."

"Go." Lucas said as the boys ran over to their moms and asked if they could go to the game.

The boys came over with their moms. "Would it be okay if all of us came?" One of the moms asked.

"Of course. I have ten tickets and you guys fill up eight."

"Ok. All we'll need is a way to get there."

"If you all would like, I can come back here and we can all go in my limo."

"Really?" Johnny asked.

"Yea."

"Mom?" Johnny asked.

"Ok."

"Yes!" The boys all exclaimed talking about the upcoming game.

After Lucas got the address of the mom's house they would all be meeting at, he left, thinking about the boys. They reminded him a lot of him, Nathan, Tim, and Skills. He got so wrapped up in the game, he forgot about his dinner with Brooke. Thinking about it made him smile and think about how good it was to have her back in his life. He had the rest of the night to get her something nice for their date considering he had nothing to do with the part of where they were going.

After Brooke went to the viewing, she went home and figured she should start figuring out what she was going to wear for tonight's date with Lucas.

She got to her apartment and remembered she had Haley's number. "Oh, I'll call Haley!" She grabbed the phone and dialed the number she had written down earlier.

She waited as the phone rang and she heard a familiar voice on the phone. "Hello?" Haley asked.

"Hello Tigger!" Brooke exclaimed.

"Brooke?" Haley asked shocked and overjoyed at the same time to hear from one of her best friends.

"Hey Hales!"

"Oh my gosh it's so good to hear from you!"

"I know. Sorry I didn't call, but after I left Tree Hill, I just kind of lost touch with North Carolina all together."

"It's okay. All that matters is that we're back in touch now!"

"Yea! So how's life been?"

"Fine. I haven't been doing so well since my divorce from Nathan though."

"You and Nathan got a divorce?" Brooke asked shocked.

"Yea, we did. I guess we realized we weren't as perfect for each other as we thought we were in high school. Anyways, after that I moved from Duke to Stanford with David, so I'm out in California now."

"Really? How is David?" Brooke had known they had a son but this was the first she was ever hearing about him.

"He's good. He's almost five now."

"Aww, I'll have to meet him sometime."

"Yea. So how are you?"

"Well, me, I graduated from NYU and got a job as the fashion editor of Elle!"

"You did? Brooke that's so great!"

"I know, thank you!"

"So how'd you get my number?"

"Oh just this great little thing called Lucas Scott."

"You're back in contact with him?"

"Yea. He was in a café that I go to every morning and we have dinner plans for later tonight and I asked him for your number."

"That's great!"

"Hey, is he still with Peyton?" She asked afraid of the response.

"No, he hasn't been since the end of freshmen year of college."

"Really?" She asked letting out a sigh of relief.

"Yea. He's been pining over you ever since."

"Really? Then why hasn't he ever tried to see me?"

"He was too afraid you'd moved on and you wouldn't want him to be a part of your life anymore."

"Oh. Well he was definitely wrong."

"Yea. Hey listen Brooke, I have to go, but it was really good talking to you again."

"We are going to keep in touch this time right?"

"Of course."

"Ok, I'll talk to you soon Haley."

"Ok. Bye Brooke."

"Bye Tigger."

As soon as they hung up, Brooke charged into her room to find something to wear. "What the hell am I going to wear?" She yelled to no one.

About an hour later, she picked out a pair of designer jeans and a flowy green Dolce & Gabanna top and strappy silver heals with jewelry and a clutch to match. At that time, it was about four and Lucas would be there at seven, so Brooke got in the shower and did her hair. She was ready with her makeup and everything on at six fifty.

Lucas got back to his hotel at about five, eventually giving up on his gift idea and deciding to give Brooke his copy of Of Human Bondage. He showered and got ready, leaving at six thirty to be sure he would find her place okay.

He arrived at her place at six fifty five. He knocked on the door and she answered the door. "Wow Brooke, you look amazing." He said speechless.

"You don't look so bad yourself."

She gave him a quick tour of the apartment and they were on their way to the dinner in no time, chatting like there was no time gap in-between them.