Lucky

For the fifth time that day, at least according to Nathan, Lucas missed the shot. His brother had invited him to the Rivercourt that morning to play basketball like old times, but Lucas really wasn't in his element today.

"Come on, man," Nathan said as he scooped the ball up from the ground. "It's no fun playing against you when you suck. I like to win, but I at least like it to be a challenge."

Lucas smiled guiltily. "Sorry. I'm just having an off day." He opened his hands up, motioning for Nathan to pass him the ball, but his brother just shook his head.

"I think you're done for the day." Sitting down on the benches, Nathan told Lucas to sit next to him. "You're obviously distracted," Nathan said thoughtfully, "I mean let's face it, you suck compared to me, but you don't suck this badly. So what's the problem?"

He shrugged. "There really isn't a problem."

And there really wasn't. Yes, he was distracted, but it wasn't for any bad reasons. He just couldn't stop thinking about Brooke and their date last night or the one they would be having in a few hours. Then there was the fact that last night, after he returned home from his and Brooke's date, he'd found suddenly found inspiration for for his newest book. And so, since then, he really wasn't able to focus fully on the real world around him, which was most likely the reason he was playing horribly today.

"Well, then, somethinghas to be on your mind. Or should I say someone." Lucas looked away innocently while Nathan grinned at him expectantly. "So, how was your date with Brooke last night? You never got around to telling me."

A smile appeared on his face at the mention of Brooke. "It went great."

"Look at you, man," Nathan said, laughing at him, "you've only gone on one date and she's already got you whipped. That's sad, Luke, it really is."

Lucas sent his brother a playful smirk. "Says the guy who got married at sixteen."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Very funny. Seriously, though, you've got it bad for her, I can tell."

"She's just an amazing girl," he said, turning serious. "There's something about her that's different than any other girl I've met."

"Are you going to go out again?"

"Yeah, today actually. We're going to lunch."

Nathan looked at him in surprise. "You just couldn't wait, could you?"

"I feel like I've been missing out on her from my life and now that she's in it I can't help but want to know everything I can about her."

"I guess I know what you mean, but what happened to my advice about taking it slow and being friends first?"

"You know I never actually take your advice," Lucas said with a grin.

"Really, Lucas." Nathan was looking at him seriously now and he perked up, knowing that whatever Nathan was about to say was likely to be important. "I'm all for you dating Brooke, but you've got more than just her to consider."

"Nathan, I know—."

"She's got a kid, Luke," his brother cut in. "We both know that you've become a free spirit these past few years, so you can't become a part of both Brooke and Kate's lives and then decide you're bored and leave. I mean, how do you even know you'll be happy just staying in one place? You just can't mess with their hearts, Luke; they've been through enough."

No one ever really understood why he spent the last two years away from home, living in a new place ever couple of weeks, and he didn't blame them because he never really explained it. He'd talked to Haley and his mom about it a few times, but he'd never really delved into it completely. But now as Nathan questioned his commitment to both staying in Tree Hill and being a part of Brooke and Kate's lives, he knew it was time to set things straight.

"I understand why you'd be worried about that," he said softly, "but I'm not going to be messing with anyone's heart."

"How do you know, though?"

"Because I've spent this last few years looking for something. I never really knew what it was, but I thought I could find it somewhere in this world if I looked hard enough. I just wanted something that would make me feel…complete. I think that's the best word to describe it. I had the money and I had the fame, but none of it made me completely happy. And that's what I wanted: to just feel completely at peace and complete. That's what I've been looking for."

A silence overtook them after Lucas finished and Nathan looked at him thoughtfully. After a few moments, his brother spoke. "You ever think that this whole time you've just been searching for you other half?"

Lucas narrowed his eyes. "Love," he said, nodding slowly. "I think that's what I've been looking for."

"And you think you might find it with Brooke," Nathan stated.

"I really don't know for sure. All I know is that ever since I came home I've had this overwhelming sense of peace— like this is where I'm supposed to be. And I feel that most strongly when I'm with her."

"Well." Nathan took a deep breath. "I think I can trust that you already care enough about her not to hurt her. If she's what's going to make you happy, then there's no reason to hold back. So I don't know what else to tell you now other than to go for it."

"I was planning to," he smirked, but then he patted Nathan's shoulder. "Thanks for giving me your approval. I know you and Haley care a lot about Brooke, so it means a lot to hear that you trust me with her."

Nathan grinned. "Of course I do. You're a good guy, Luke, and I know that you'll take care of Brooke."

"Thanks."

"Now," Nathan stood up from the benches and dribbled the basketball, "do you think that this little heart to heart of ours has drained your mind of Brooke just enough for us to get one more game in?"

He laughed as he stole the ball from Nathan. "We'll just have to see."

888

Noon came around quickly, much to Brooke's relief. When she was typically excited for something, time always seemed to go by slower than usual, but luckily that wasn't the case today. Karen had taken the morning off today, which meant Brooke was busier than usual, but she didn't really mind. Instead, Deb was in for the morning.

"Deb, I just clocked out," Brooke said, pulling off her apron and meeting Deb at the counter.

Nathan's mother glanced up from the cash register curiously. "In a hurry?" she asked.

Brooke's eyes moved from the front window where she was currently looking for any sign of Lucas and back to Deb. "Not really."

Deb smiled knowingly at her. "Hmm…"

"Alright." Brooke leaned against the counter. "Who told you about me and Lucas?"

Deb just chuckled. "I was over at Nathan and Haley's earlier this morning and Lucas stopped by to meet Nathan and I heard him mention to Haley that you two were going out today. I have to say that I'm a little surprised. No one ever mentioned anything about the two of you dating."

"That's because we're not even really dating."

"Really? The way Lucas was talking about you earlier, it seemed like you were."

"Well…" Brooke looked back out towards the window, but Lucas wasn't anywhere in sight. Looking back at Deb, she frowned. "We haven't really talked about being in a relationship," she admitted. "We went out last night, but we never really made anything official. But we're going out again today, so I'm not sure what that means…"

"Well, I'd say that you'll find out soon enough." She nodded over at the door. "Here comes Lucas."

Her head immediately turned towards the door, which was being swung open by a cheerful looking Lucas. He walked over to her with a grin on his face, sending Deb a happy hello.

"You two have fun," Deb said before making her way over to a customer.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Brooke asked curiously.

"It's just a good day," he said with a shrug. His eyes looked her up and down. "As usual, you're looking beautiful."

"Thanks," she replied with a smile. By now she was getting used to his constant compliments and no longer felt the awkwardness of his flattery.

"Ready?"

She slipped her arm through his and smiled. "Yup, let's go."

888

He took her to a large café across town, claiming that, even though this restaurant and his mother's were similar in most ways, he wanted to take her to place where they didn't know anyone and could eat without interruption. Furthermore, he didn't exactly want to take her on a date to the place where she worked. It really wasn't very romantic, is what he told her.

Throughout the whole lunch, she couldn't help but think back to her conversation with Deb earlier. Technically, this was her and Lucas' second date, but were they actually dating? It seemed like it, but she definitely didn't think she had the right to call him her boyfriend. Right now, he seemed focused on learning more about her life and, except for his brief kiss on her cheek last night, he'd done nothing to make their relationship anymore than that of a friend.

He probably wanted to take it slowly, though. She was almost sure of that. And she was happy that he cared enough about her to make sure that nothing was rushed, but at the same time there was this small part of her—a part of her that, since Kate was born, rarely showed itself—that just wanted to grab him, kiss him senseless, and pull him into her bed and have her way with him. She hadn't been so physically attracted to a guy in a long time, which of course made it even harder to resist him. Then there was fact that she didn't even want to admit how long it has been since she last had sex.

But in the end she knew that Lucas was going about this the right way. They needed to take things slowly, especially with Kate involved. That didn't make it any easier, though.

"You seem distracted."

She was pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of his voice and turned her head to see him staring curiously at her. They had finished their lunch a little while ago and, after walking along the Riverwalk, were now sitting on one of the benches overlooking the water.

"Sorry, I was just thinking."

"About me, I hope."

She let out a snort. "Sure. So," she said, wanting to change the subject, "you know how you said that I really intrigued you? Well, you really intrigue me too, so I think it's time you went into more depth about your life."

"Brooke, I'm pretty sure that since my mom and Haley don't care at all about my privacy, they told you pretty much anything I could tell you."

"No," she answered with a grin, "like you said last night, they kept out the bad stuff. But I don't need to hear about the stuff you regret; that can stay in the past if you want. What I'm really curious about is something else that they never really mentioned."

His eyes narrowed. "And what would that be?"

"Neither Haley or your mother or anyone else I've talked to have mentioned anything at all about past girlfriends."

"Oh," he said, laughing lightly, "so you want to know about my love life?"

She nodded, smiling at him persuasively. "I think it's only fair. I mean, I told you about Chase, right?"

"Well, okay, but there's not much to tell you. I really haven't been a serious relationship before."

"Really?" she asked inquiringly. "So you've never been serious about a girl before?"

He paused for a second, lost in thought, before looking back at her with the broody eyes that she really hadn't ever seen on him yet. "Once upon a time I guess I was. It didn't end well, though…"

Now she was really curious. She leaned forward expectantly. "Do tell."

He looked down at his food for a moment. "Her name was Rachel Gatina," he finally said. "We dated during the last three months of my senior year and then most of the summer after it. She moved to Tree Hill at the beginning of the year and took over the cheerleading squad at our school. It was kind of weird because she really wasn't the type of girl I'd date, but we grew really close during the last half of the school year. I really cared about her and I thought she really cared about me—that is until I learned that she'd cheated on me with Nathan's uncle early in the summer and never bothered telling me. So I broke it off and she left Tree Hill shortly after."

"I'm sorry, Lucas," she said softly. She could empathize with him; she'd been cheated on in high school too and it hadn't been fun.

"It's okay. I've been over it for a long time. Rachel and I weren't really good together anyway. I don't even think I've seen her since she left town."

"It still must have been tough, though. Opening your heart up to someone isn't easy, especially when they end up treating it like dirt."

"You sound like you're talking from experience."

She just shrugged. "I dated this guy named Felix in high school and he cheated on me too many times to count before I finally figured out. I knew he was a jerk, but he was different around me. I thought that he might have actually cared about me, but it turned out he was only putting on the act to get me into bed." When she finished, Lucas was looking at her with raised eyebrows. "What?"

"It's just that, from what you've told me, you really used be attracted to jerks."

"Unfortunately," she said with a laugh. "But despite my charm, I'm pretty sure the good guys weren't really too into me. Then again, most of the guys at my high school were man whores, so I didn't really have much of a choice…"

"It's okay," he said, "I didn't have great judgment with girls back in the days. Luckily, my judgment has greatly improved with age."

He sent her a flirty smile as he said this and she fought the blush that crept up on her cheeks; maybe she wasn't as immune to his charm as she thought.

"Lucas," she said suddenly, unable to resist from bring this up any longer, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What are we doing?"

He looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"What exactly is going on between us?" she clarified.

His eyes narrowed. "You mean you want to know what my intentions are with you?" She nodded and he leaned back against the bench, his eyes bearing softly but seriously into hers. "I like you, Brooke, and to be honest, I haven't felt this way about someone for a long time and I don't know if you feel the same, but—."

"I do," she interrupted with a gentle smile.

He grinned back at her. "Then I think we should try to see where you and I can go, because, and I know this might seem kind of forward, but I really think we have something special."

"I think so too," she murmured. She felt his hand grasp loosely onto hers as he looked intensely down at her. For a few moments, they simply stared at each other, neither of them saying anything. It was strange, but it seemed as if words weren't necessary for them. All they had to do was look at each other and they could just instantly know that there was something there.

And then she couldn't take it anymore.

"I think you'd better kiss me," she said, her voice low and raspy.

A small grin flitted over his lips and without another word his lips were on hers. She can't remember a time when something felt so incredibly right. His lips moved soft and gentle against hers, while her hands found the way to the nape of his neck. One of his hands moved tentatively to her side and the other cupped her cheek. She was so tempted to deepen what was already a very long first kiss, but then she remembered that they were in the middle of a fairly crowded boardwalk and decided that they'd have time to continue this at another date, when they were very much alone.

So she regretfully pulled away. He wore a huge smile as he looked down at her and she smiled back at him as well. His hands moved down her back, resting on her waist.

"That was nice," he said.

She kinked an eyebrow. "That was much more than nice."

He laughed. "Okay, it was amazing." Then he looked at her again, his blue eyes penetrating hers. "I want you to know that I really do care about you, Brooke," he said softly. "I'm so thankful that you're willing to let me into not just your life, but Kate's as well, and I promise that I'm not going to take this lightly."

"I know you won't and I'm not going to either."

He smiled as he bent down to kiss her again, this one much shorter, but just as great. There was a spark there when they kissed that she'd never felt with anyone else.

"Speaking of Kate," Lucas said as he leaned his forehead against hers, "don't you have to pick her and Jenny up from school?"

She pulled away from him in surprise and dug through her purse to find her cell phone, which told her that she was definitely running late.

"They get out in like ten minutes," she said, standing up in a hurry before smiling at him sheepishly. "Thanks for the reminder."

"Someone's gotta be the responsible one," he said with a smirk. Then he stood up and grabbed her hand. "Come on, I'll drive you there."

"Oh, they'll love that," she said with a laugh. "You do know what you're getting yourself into, don't you? They're gonna pounce on you the minute they see you."

"I don't mind," he said simply.

He was too good to be true, he really was, and for some strange reason, he actually wanted to be with her. And as they walked hand and hand back towards his car, she found herself thinking that she really was the luckiest girl in the world.

A/N: I know this chapter was pretty short, but it felt right to end it there. I hope you all enjoyed it.

As usual, thanks so much for reading and please remember to review!!!