Brooke walked into the kitchen to find Rachel pulling every single bottle of alcohol she could find out of the cabinets. "What are you doing?" she asked, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"We…" Rachel climbed down from the counter where she had been kneeling, "Are having a party."

"Yeah, because everything went so well at the last one. Hmm, let's see, there was the little fight you almost got into with Haley, um, the sex tape of me and Nathan that made Chase break up with me, and, let's not forget Peyton punching me in the face!" Brooke said, counting on her fingers as she spoke, "Yeah, I really loved that. Let's do that all over again."

"Hey," Rachel said, holding her hands up in a mock-surrender, "I'm just trying to help. You've been down lately, what with the Chase thing, and the calculus test stuff, and the Peyton thing, and the Lucas thing, and…wow, you've got lots of problems with people."

"That's me, problem girl. That's all I seem to have lately, isn't it?"

"Anyway, I thought maybe a party would take your mind off things. A little drink," Rachel held up a bottle of schnapps, and waggled it at Brooke, "Some boys, I think you'll be ok."

Brooke wrinkled her nose while she thought about it, "Ok, ok, fine. Party, tonight, but only if there's boys."

"There will be, I promise." Brooke wandered over to the counter where the bottles were sitting. She picked one up and began to examine it, while Rachel studied her. "Brooke, is there something going on between you and Lucas?"

Brooke dropped the bottle, startled, but she caught it before it shattered. "What? No way! Lucas and I are…we're just…we just are. Lucas and me, separate, nothing between us."

"Right. That's why Peyton came over here yesterday and started a bitch-fight with you."

Brooke nearly choked on the soda she was drinking. She swallowed the mouthful she had taken, and began to cough. When her coughing had subsided, she looked at Rachel, "How…?"

"Peyton told Mouth, and Mouth told me."

"It was nothing, she's just mad about the tape still, I guess."

"Brooke, come on. Just because Peyton's not your best friend anymore doesn't mean you don't have one. You can tell me."

"It was about Lucas," Brooke said, her face serious, "I…before prom, I told Peyton that I…loved Lucas."

Rachel stared at Brooke intently, "Do you? Do you really?"

"Yes. I don't want to, but I do. I mean, we were over. He moved on, I moved on, but he's still there. I never loved anyone else."

"Why did you let him go?"

"I didn't really know how I felt until he wasn't there anymore. Until Chase broke up with me, and I…really had no one. I was alone, and it sucked. But then, Lucas was there, and he made me feel better, and I realized that no one had ever made me feel the way he did. But he doesn't know. And he can't know."

"Why not?"

"Because he's happy with Peyton." Brooke shrugged, "And I want him to be happy. Even if it means I have to be unhappy."