Lying down on the bed, Brooke stared at the fake stars on the ceiling. At night, when the lights were off, they would sparkle and make the ceiling look like a green-ish sky. Brooke liked that, so she would stare at the fake stars and dream about another life, another her, another time. She moved on the bed trying to find a more comfortable position for her head on the pillow. She did that a couple of times 'til she heard the doorbell. She sighed. With her eyes closed, she sat up on the bed, put on her slippers and dragged herself to the living room. Who could that be? She thought as she reached the door and opened up.
"Hi" Lucas whispered.
She didn't move but still she could feel all the blood running from her face and her hands starting to tingle.
"Hi" she said back on the lack of a better word.
He glanced inside, "Can I come in?"
"Sure" she numbly stepped away making room for him to enter. As he walked in, she closed the door behind her, "Nathan and Haley aren't here." She said knowing that wasn't why he was there.
"It's ok. I came to see you" he said with a shy smile, confirming what she thought.
"Okay" she walked to the nearest couch and took a sit, sat up straight, and staring at him as she waited for him to say something.
He took a sit by the coffee table right in front of her and took a moment to choose the right words, "I want you to come home, Brooke."
She sighed, "I want it too."
"So come" he said with relief as she looked away. He put one hand over her knee to get her attention again, "Look at me" his eyes searched hers, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's not that I didn't trust you, it's just that I didn't want to see you suffering the way you are now."
She was suffering. But it was for so much more than their fight and she knew he could see that. "Lucas, it's not…"
"Yeah, it is" he took both of her hands, "I shouldn't keep secrets from the ones I love."
"You really shouldn't" she whispered half talking to him and half to herself.
He took a deep breath, "That's not how I wanted you to find out, but now that you did I want you to get involved. To participate of everything, to help all you want. If you want."
She heard the urgency on his voice and saw it on his eyes. He wanted her back and she wanted to come back. But what for? They were trapped inside that circle of comes and goes for ever since she could remember. And now she had a chance to do something else, to change. That was screaming inside of her, louder than him. "I can't." she finally said on a very weak voice.
He wasn't sure he had listened right, "What?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't" she suddenly stood up and walked away from him, "I can't help you and I can't go back home now."
Lucas got up too, but stood still on his spot, "What are you talking about?"
"I won a fashion contest" she said afraid of going on, but she just had to say it.
"Ok…" he crossed his arms, "That's great."
"The prize is an one year internship with one of the tops designers in the fashion world."
"That's wonderful, Brooke…"
"It's in South Beach, California."
"What?" he unfold his arms.
"And it starts in a couple of weeks" her voice began to crack, but she stood still.
"One…" he whispered but then rose his voice a little, "You're going for a year?"
She walked back to him, holding her own hands together as she tried to calm him down and say all she planned to say.
"Look, you need to focus on yourself right now. You should take care of you, your health and your life… get your priorities straight" she took a deep breath as she put her hands over her chest, "And I need to do that too."
He couldn't believe that. It was too much information at once, he didn't count on hearing that, he just wanted to make things better again.
"So you're going?"
"Yes…" her eyes begin to tear up.
He shook his head, "You're running away…"
"I'm not running, Lucas…"
"Yes, you are!" he snapped, "You always do that! You always run when things get harder, you never stick around enough to deal with it."
"What?" she was taken aback, "After I forgave you for all the times you screwed things up with me…" she closed her eyes. That was besides the point. Arguing about past fights wouldn't do any good. "I've tried everything, Lucas. I just can't find the strength in me to keep this going anymore" she hesitated on keep going, "Cause I've always felt I was doing it alone."
This can't be happening, he thought. He couldn't lose her, not now. He took one step to her and grabbed her arms, as she looked down and closed her eyes. He slipped his hands up and took her shoulders, squeezing them to make her look up to him.
"I'm here now. Right now" he stared into her eyes as she looked at him, "What are you gonna do?"
"You're too late, Lucas" she whispered looking at him, "I'm sorry."
"I can't believe this is it" he started to cry without noticing.
"It doesn't have to be" she shook her head half trying to brush the tears away, half trying to convince them both, "I'll be back in a year…"
He frowned at her as he let her go, "You're not seriously saying that."
"Well, if you can't wait a year for me, how am I supposed to give you the rest of my life?" she asked somehow hurt.
"I don't know" he shook his head.
"That's not good enough."
He had his arms crossed again and stared at her just a feet away from him. Without even thinking twice, he followed his urge to kiss her and took her in his arms, kissing her passionately. She kissed him back for a moment but then they both broke it together, leaning their foreheads on each other's. They both had their eyes closed. Lucas knew that was really it. At least for now. He knew how stubborn she was, but he also knew she'd never make a decision like that without thinking forever to make it. He loved her for that, but they just couldn't be like that.
"I love you" he whispered as a tear dropped from his eyes and hit her face.
She started to cry, "I love you too. But this is not gonna work…"
"Shhh" he pressed his lips against hers, "Don't say anything."
They kissed again but stopped as Brooke couldn't stop crying. He pulled her closer to him and hugged her as tight as he could. He could feel his shirt getting wet from her tears. She looked up to him and he brushed some of her hair away from her face, staring at her for a while.
"Goodbye, Pretty Girl."
She tried hard to make the words come out as she attempted to smile, "Goodbye, boyfriend…"
He kissed her one last time, not ever wanting to let her go. She held him tight, as she never wanted to break the kiss. They slowly separated themselves from each other and Lucas started to turn away. She still had one of his hands holding hers which he let go as he walked away. It took him what it seemed forever to finally reach the door and leave the apartment, but he did. And left her crying alone, as she sat on the coffee table, covering her face with both hands and hopping she had done the right thing.
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The chapter's title is a song by Fall Out Boy. I thought it was much appropriated considering the name and the content of the chapter, plus due to the band being a constant on the TV show. I hope you all liked the chapter. It's not a happy chapter, it's quite sad considering the shippers out there, but I liked writing it. So I'm hoping you all liked reading it too. ;)
