Around 5 in the afternoon that same day, Brooke enters Karen's cafe to pick up Haley. Earlier during the week, Brooke asked Haley to help her out with the decorations and arrangements for prom. Of course, Haley agreed.
"Hey, Tutor Girl", Brooke calls Haley.
"I'll be right there!" Haley yells from the back of the cafe.
A few minutes later, Lucas comes in with Peyton. Brooke has her back to them, so she didn't know... yet.
As Lucas enters the cafe, he immediately notices the brunette sitting by the counter.
"Hey, Brooke!" he says walking up to her.
Brooke turns around. She would know that voice anywhere. In fact, she will never forget it. She opens her mouth to reply to his greeting, but she sees the person standing next to him. Instead, she smiles at him and turns around again.
"So, what are you doing here by yourself?" Lucas asks aware of the tension in the air.
"I'm just waiting for Haley. We have some stuff to do tonight."
"Oh, really? Like what?" By this time, Peyton quietly slips away and takes a seat at an empty booth.
"You'll find it boring, so don't worry about it", she says not really wanting to talk anymore.
"Come on, tell me. I promise I won't find it boring", he says trying to get Brooke to talk to him.
"Fine, it's about prom."
"Oh! That's right. You're organizing the whole thing. I bet you're going to make it wonderful as usual."
Brooke smiles and notices that Peyton is no longer at Lucas' side, so she tries to find her. She looks around and sees her former friend in one of the empty booth.
Peyton knows that Brooke and Lucas are just friends, but she can't help feeling that maybe it isn't completely over between them. She's afraid that those feeling will never go away. She hasn't told Lucas her true feelings yet. She sees Brooke looking at her, but Brooke turns around when Haley comes out.
"Hey, ready to go?" Haley asks.
"Yup" Brooke replies while grabbing her purse.
"Hey, Luke", Haley says. Lucas smiles back.
While putting on her coat, Haley asks, "So, Brooke, have you made up your mind about prom yet?"
"I'm..." but she gets cut off by Lucas.
"Wait.. made your mind about what?"
"Well.. umm.. I don't know if I'm gonna go."
"You're not going to prom?" Lucas asks shocked. "Brooke Davis not going to prom? Brooke, you live for these kinds of stuff." This is even worse than I thought.
"I told you, I don't know yet. I'm still thinking about it and why is everyone so surprised that I might not be going?"
"You gotta go, Brooke. It wouldn't be the same without you", Lucas tells her really wanting her to change her mind.
"Why do you guys want me to go so bad? First, it was Haley. Now, it's you. Did you guys plan this?"
"No, I just want my best friend to go. Is that too much to ask?" Haley tells her.
"And I... well... because..." Lucas stutters trying to think of the right words to say. "What Haley said. We all want you to be there, Brooke"
"Yea, please go, Brooke. We could go all together and besides, prom only happens once, right?"
"But, I don't have a date."
"You? Brooke Davis has no date? Ok, something is definitely wrong", Haley says shocked.
"Well, there were guys who asked, but I turned them down. I told him I already had one. I guess I'm just not in the mood."
"Well, I can be your date" Lucas offers, but then adds, "as friends, of course."
"Ok, now, you two are ganging up on me!"
"Good, so, is it working? are you going?" Haley asks
"Wait.. what about Peyton?" she asks Lucas.
"What about Peyton?"
"Aren't you going to bring her?"
"Um.. no."
"Oh"
Haley feels the tension so she breaks the silence, "So, you going?"
"Fine, fine, if it makes you happy, I'll go." Brooke says giving in. Besides, like he said before, I live for this kinds of things.
"Can we get out of here? We have a lot of things to do", Brooke asks Haley.
"Yea, come on. Let's go."
"Bye, Luke", both girls say.
"Bye." Lucas says and head to where Peyton is sitting. That's why he was there in the first place. Peyton and him were just going to grab a bite to eat.
Brooke sees him walking towards Peyton and the pain returns. Haley sees this and puts an arm around her shoulder, "It's going to be alright, Tigger. You'll see."
At least, I hope so.