Day 6

"Fate chooses your relations, you choose your friends."
- Jacques Delille

Lucas folded the sheet of paper he'd spent the morning writing on, and slipped it in his pocket. He'd have to remember to write it all down in his notebook whenever he got it back. After Brooke had left the night before, he'd spent a lot of time thinking, and searching for what seemed like the perfect quote for this situation. The best he could find was, "Fate chooses your relations, you choose your friends." By - Jacques Delille. He guessed people could take the meaning of the quote a few different ways, but the way he saw it was this. Fate chooses who you fall in love with, but you got to choose who you were friends with. Now it was up to him to decide. Could he really be friends with Brooke or Peyton? It wasn't his choice to be in love with Brooke, and it wasn't his choice to not love Peyton, but it was his choice whether or not he could to be friends with either of them.

Since he'd promised Brooke that he'd talk to Peyton, after getting dressed it was the first thing he set out to do. He wasn't looking forward to it, she was going to be pissed off. He could use the "but you shouldn't have read my notebook" line over and over, but at the end of the day, even though he hadn't really physically cheated on Peyton while they were dating, he kind of had emotionally. He guessed that was just as bad, and maybe he would have felt a little more guilt if she hadn't been doing the same thing to him the whole time. The fact of the matter was, neither of them had put 100 into the relationship, because neither of them had wanted too. Now it was just a battle of pride with Peyton, and while he wasn't looking to win it, he was at least hoping to maybe break even.

He walked down the hallway, knocked on the wooden lodge door, and then waited for Peyton to answer it. He guessed that Brooke wasn't there, figuring that she'd probably stayed the night with Rachel, which was good. He wanted to make sure he did this right with Peyton. Making sure that she understood 100 that he was sorry and needed her to realize that none of this was really Brooke's fault. If he couldn't be their friend, then he at least hoped to fix the friendship he'd so badly screwed over.

Peyton finally came to the door, crutches and all. She looked pretty hung over. Lucas contemplated maybe coming back later when she'd be in a better mood, but ultimately decided this needed to get done before Peyton decided to give Brooke matching handprint on the other side of her face. So, deciding to risk his own face, Lucas went for it.

"What are you doing here?" Peyton asked, moving out of the doorway so Lucas could come in. She guessed he had heard about what happened last night, and judging from his face, she also guessed he maybe had a run in with Brooke.

"Can we talk?"

"If its about Brooke, no"

"Look, I just need you to not be mad at her ok?" Lucas asked, deciding to jump right to the point. There wasn't any purpose in trying to make small talk, especially when she didn't want to talk to him at all.

"What? You came all the way over here to tell me that?"

"I came all the way over here to tell you what happened with us had nothing to do with her"

"You guys kissed, and magically after that, you want to break up with me" Peyton sighed, nodding her head as she spoke. Lucas had to admit, it looked pretty bad for him, but that wasn't the reason. Obviously she still didn't remember her little "I love you Jake" speech.

"That's not why"

"Oh really? So it wasn't as "soft and passionate" of a kiss you'd ever had?"

"Yea, can I have that back?" Lucas asked, trying to grab his notebook away from Peyton before she had a chance to read anymore embarrassing stuff he'd written in there. Then, with his luck she'd probably already read it all.

"You didn't write once about any of our kisses in here. Not once"

"Peyton"

"We never had a kiss like that, did we?" Peyton asked, flipping the notebook shut and handing it back to him. It was useless to her now anyway.

"It just wasn't there for us"

"And for you and Brooke?"

"That's not happening either, ok?" Lucas asked, making sure he got the point across that no one was with anyone anymore.

"So what? We're all supposed to just sit back and try and be friends now?"

"Yea"

"Guys are so stupid" Peyton muttered shaking her head. He had to be crazy. Like all of them could just forget everything that had happened and be friends again.

"Who says we cant? I mean isn't that why we all started this in the first place? We were friends, you and Brooke were friends, and me and Brooke were friends"

"Ok, you and Brooke have never been friends"

"What? Yes we have! After we broke up junior year" Lucas said, deciding that Peyton was crazy. Of course he and Brooke had been friends, in fact that had been really good friends. They'd lived together!

"No, see she was in love with you that whole time, and you were in love with her. That doesn't count"

"So, if you put it that way, you and I haven't been friends in a long time. Not since, way before the wedding"

"I guess we can start slow" Peyton sighed, not seeing the point in trying to argue with him. He had a comeback for everything and she guessed he wasn't going to give up until he got his way.

"Slow is good"

"Just get Brooke and meet me downstairs for breakfast in 30 minutes"

Meanwhile Brooke stood in front of the bathroom mirror, trying to find the perfect shirt to take the attention away from her black and blue face. It wasn't that bad, but it was definitely noticeable and was driving her crazy. First she'd tried on purple, but then realized that it matched the purple in her face too much and it looked like she was trying too hard. Then black, then white. Nothing seemed to work. She was so pre-occupied with trying to find a shirt that worked, that she didn't even hear Rachel open the door to let Lucas in.

"Hey, Brooke's in the bathroom trying to find a shirt that takes away from her rainbow face" Rachel said, not bothering to look up from her magazine as she let Lucas in. Clearly she hadn't bothered to look up and see that Brooke was coming out of the bathroom in her pink polka dot bra either.

"I definitely don't notice it in that" Lucas laughed, trying to figure out if he should look away, or act casual about it. He decided to wait and play off of how Brooke re-acted. If she ran back into the bathroom, he'd look away. But if she just stood there half naked in usual Brooke Davis fashion, then he'd be casual about it too.

"Really? I don't think yours is noticeable enough"

"I like that one"

"You should, you picked it out" Brooke smiled raising her eyebrows at him for a split second, then went back to looking for the perfect shirt. She was trying not to turn red, considering she was standing there in a bra, but it was hard and she wasn't really sure why. Lucas had seen her in much less hundreds of times and it had never really bothered her before.

"Lucas used to go bra shopping?"

"Every week" Lucas mumbled remembering the endless hours spent at Victoria Secret.

"Wow Scott, most guys would like that"

"I really didn't see the point when I was just going to be taking it off her in an hour anyway"

"Did she go boxer shopping with you too?" Rachel joked, but then stopped seeing the look on both Brooke and Lucas' faces. She was guessing that was a yes.

"So did you talk to Peyton?" Brooke asked, deciding to change the subject away from her bra and Lucas' boxers.

"Yea, she wasn't happy about it, but she wants us to meet her downstairs for breakfast in 30 minutes"

"Ok, good. That's good. 30 minutes?"

"Yep, want me to come and get you?" Lucas asked, knowing that Brooke and time didn't mix. 30 minutes to her meant an hour and a half.

"Yea, I might be dressed by then"

"Don't rush"

"Wow" Rachel giggled once Lucas had shut the door and she was sure he was gone. She hadn't witnessed a flirt fest of that degree since last year.

"What?"

"What do you mean what? You're standing there in a bra"

"So? Its not like he's never seen me in a bra before"

"You just wanted him to see how much better your boobs are than Peyton's. You're doomed with this whole friends thing, I don't know why you're even bothering" Rachel laughed, looking back down at her magazine. As doomed as Brooke was, it was entertaining to watch it all unfold.

"No I'm not! We can all be friends and he already knows I have way better boobs than Peyton"

"Right, do you want me to call Lucas back in here so he can help you get dressed?"

"Rachel" Brooke snapped throwing down her shirt. She didn't understand what the big deal was. Why couldn't they all just be friends? Or at least pretend to be at first; maybe the real thing would come later.

"Hey, just saying, I give it 3 days before you two are ripping each others clothes off"

"You can give it 3 years if you want, its not happening"

Lucas came and got Brooke somewhere around 8:20 and they were downstairs waiting for Peyton by 8:28. To Lucas' surprise when he went to pick Brooke up she was actually semi dressed and almost ready to go. It was Peyton who was late for the breakfast.

It wasn't that Peyton had meant to be late, in fact she was pretty sure she was going to beat them both there. It was when she went into the bathroom to start getting ready that she realized something. Lucas was now fair game. Either girl could stick her claws into him and there were no rules. Sure, they were all going to try and be friends but in girl talk that meant, whoever won him over got him, and at this point she was behind. She had to make Lucas see how much he missed her, how much he took her for granted when they were together. Maybe then he'd realize what a mistake he'd made. Peyton wasn't really even sure she wanted Lucas back, now it was all about the chase. It was almost like a game to see who could win over Lucas Scott's heart for good, and she was determined to win it.

When she finally got downstairs to the mini restaurant that the lodge had, Brooke and Lucas were already waiting at a table talking and laughing. It figured Brooke had beaten her down there, but that was ok. The good news was that Brooke and Lucas were sitting across from each other at the table, which meant Peyton got the seat in between them. Right then she made a decision. Friends? Sure. She wouldn't do anything to stop it. And she wouldn't even try and flirt with Lucas, at least not until Brooke did. They wanted to all be friends, fine. But the only way it was happening was if they actually stayed friends.

"Hey guys" Peyton smiled, sitting down to join them. It all seemed a little awkward but they were all trying.

"Hey"

"Wow, we all look rough"

"Late night bar fights" Brooke laughed. The sight of the 3 of them sitting there all beat up was definitely a Kodak moment if there ever was one.

"Well Brooke and I can account for ours, but Lucas?"

"Mine actually was a late night bar fight, thank you"

"Sure it was" Peyton laughed rolling her eyes at Lucas. Knowing him he probably fell off the bed or something in the middle of the night.

"Aww, you're so rugged"

"I'm pretty sure you beat me up worse last night"

"So. We're actually gonna do this this time?" Peyton asked, starting to feel a little insecure with the flirty comments Brooke and Lucas were throwing back and forth across the table.

"I guess we're gonna try"

The first hour was kind of awkward. A lot of weird silences here and there, catty comments said that weren't intended to come out they way they did, and of course there was a lot of eating to pass the time. It hit a point in the first 20 minutes that Peyton wasn't sure this was ever going to work, but soon enough things started to slowly get better. 2 hours later, Brooke and Peyton were carrying on like nothing had ever happened. Meanwhile, Lucas just sat there, taking it all in. He'd forgotten how funny both Brooke and Peyton were when they talked about old times. Smiling and laughing about times and places that Lucas had never heard of. It really made him miss Haley.

"Peyton used to be completely obsessed with cooking tater tots in the fry daddy" Brooke laughed remembering a time when they actually wanted to cook for themselves. It felt so good just sitting there with Lucas and Peyton, just having fun, without trying to piss the other one off.

"What!"

"You so did. We ate tater tots with everything for like 3 months!"

"What happened?" Lucas asked, having never seen Peyton ever try to cook anything except chocolate chip cookies, and those had definitely turned out bad. He wasn't sure he could ever eat cookies again… ever. And he was pretty sure that anyone who ever heard about the experience wouldn't want too either.

"Nathan became her fry daddy"

"Eww! Brooke!"

"Well he did" Brooke laughed, stealing another French fry off of Lucas's plate. As usual he just rolled his eyes at her and smiled. They'd been sitting there so long that they'd long since ordered lunch food to go with the old toast crusts and eggs still sitting on the table. All 3 of them had completely forgotten there was a world outside of the little room they were in, that was until Lucas felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Mr. Scott"

"Mr. Chavez"

"I just wanted to let you know, I've decided to drop any allegations about what happened last night. But it will require some service. I'll be expecting to see some very clean ski slopes by tomorrow" Mr. Chavez said in a way he thought was discreet enough that neither Brooke or Peyton would know what he was talking about, but it would be crystal clear to Lucas.

"Yea, sure"

"What happened to him?" Peyton whispered as soon as Mr. Chavez had made his way out of the restaurant. But unlike Peyton, Brooke didn't need an answer. Everything was completely clear to her the second she'd seen Nick's eye.

"You… hit him?"

"Brooke"

"He did that too you?" Brooke whispered, rubbing her fingers gently across Lucas' discolored eye. She felt terrible, and now wished she'd never even said anything to Lucas about it. He was Lucas, of course he was going to go out and try and protect her, that's just who he was. Even if it risked him getting into more trouble than the whole situation was worth.

"Wait, you got into a fight with Chavez? That's how you got the black eye?"

"He was drunk and pissed off"

"Apparently so were you to hit a teacher. What'd you do? Beat him a beer pong?" Peyton laughed, finding the whole thing pretty funny. She'd never imagined that Lucas would have it in him to hit a teacher, and she could only begin to guess the reason.

"God. Luke, this isn't your fight. I should be taking care of this, not you"

"What are you talking about?"

"He was drunk, I was pissed, he made a comment after he punched me. I wasn't going to punch back" Lucas was trying hard to explain everything to Brooke in a way that Peyton wouldn't know what they were talking about. But surprisingly Brooke didn't look mad like he'd expected, or even hurt. She just looked sad as she rubbed her finger again across his black and blue eye.

"But you did"

"He doesn't have the right to do this to you"

"I'm sorry" Brooke sighed, finally deciding that this was too much to take in right now. She wasn't upset that Lucas had punched Nick, the guy was an ass and she was sure he deserved it. It was just the fact that he'd finally, after all this, fought for her…literally. Everything that she'd been telling herself all day about how this was going to work, and they were going to be able to be friends was now gone and the only thought that was crossing her mind, was how much she actually loved him.

After a few more seconds of sitting in silence, Brooke had finally gotten up and left Lucas and Peyton to go upstairs and talk to Rachel. She was more confused than ever now and she knew Rachel would tell her like it was.

"Tell me you raped him right then and there" Rachel said, crossing her fingers that Brooke hadn't done anything stupid like just get up and leave.

"What?"

"Um, the guy risked everything for you, fighting a teacher! I think that's what I would consider 'fighting' for you"

"Yea, probably" Brooke sighed, listening to Rachel state the obvious. She knew all she had to do was walk up to him right now and tell him she loved him, and that wasn't what she was scared of. It was what happened after that I love you, in the upcoming months that terrified her.

"So?"

"So what?"

"What are you going to do?" Rachel asked, becoming completely annoyed with this whole conversation.

"Nothing. I can't do anything"

"Are you trying to give me a permanent migraine?"

"Peyton and I finally worked things out, and so did she and Lucas. This would just make things completely complicated for nothing, especially when we only have like 4 more weeks of school" Brooke said, she thought she might actually have a valid point with this excuse.

"So? You and Lucas are both going to Carolina"

"Yea, so we get together long enough to get attached and then go to college only to meet new people and break up? I don't want to do that"

"Who says you'll break up?" Rachel asked, trying to make it as hard for Brooke to say no as possible. She knew once they got together things would be fine, it was just a matter of making Brooke get the courage to do it that was hard.

"He's gonna go and meet all these smart girls who read all the same books that he does and like all the same weird music"

"Um, are their names Peyton too?"

"You know what I mean" Brooke muttered, running out of excuses. It was impossible to win an argument with Rachel about anything, especially when she was right.

"Actually I don't. And I'm not spending another month listening to you cry for this guy. Look, its up to you whether you tell him or not, but you should probably go help him clean up the slopes, especially since its kind of your fault he's having to do it in the first place"

"Yea, I probably should" Brooke said the last sentence a little more excitedly than she probably should have, but at this point she didn't care. If anything it would at least give her and Lucas a chance to talk.

"Fine, but if you don't sleep with him, I will! And hey!"

"What?"

"Take this, its cold outside" Rachel said, tossing Brooke her full flask as Brooke made her way back to her room to get her snow gear on.

Downstairs Lucas was slipping on his coat, dreading the cold weather. He'd send Peyton up to the bedroom to bring him the little bottle of rum she said she had, just in case he got too cold, and how he was just waiting for her to come down with it. Then finally, he spotted her blonde curly hair coming from the elevator.

"Here" Peyton said, tossing Lucas the bottle of rum.

"Thanks"

"I still don't get why you're stuck doing this"

"I did punch the guy" Lucas laughed. He wasn't going to argue with anyone about this. He knew Mr. Chavez could have gotten him suspended or even expelled, so a little trashing picking up was nothing.

"I mean, I don't understand why you punched him. What'd he say?"

"Peyton, I"

"She's sleeping with him" Peyton muttered shaking her head. It all made perfect sense now. The awkward looks in class, the rumors that he was sleeping with a student. It was Brooke all along.

"No, Peyton. She's not… anymore. She stopped and how he's harassing her"

"And so you punch him to make things better for her. Right. Whatever. Luke, do you ever think maybe she deserves the stuff that happens to her?"

"Not anymore then you deserve all the stuff that happens to you" Lucas sighed, he knew it was a little harsh, but it was the truth. He knew what this was about. He'd tried to protect Peyton for so long, that now that he was trying to help Brooke out, she was jealous.

"Whatever, look this whole being friends thing isn't going to work, ok? My hearts just not in it"

Brooke caught Lucas right as he was walking out putting his gloves on. She paused for a second and tried to think. Should she really go? Would it just make things more awkward than they already were? After a few more seconds of debating she decided to go, but only on the condition that nothing happened. She wouldn't kiss him, she wouldn't in the words of Rachel "Rape him". She'd just thank him, and help him clean up her mess.

"Lucas!" Brooke yelled, hurrying towards him before he made it out the main door.

"Hey, you ok?"

"Yea, need some help?"

"Picking up trash?" Lucas laughed raising an eyebrow at her. Brooke hadn't even wanted to pick up trash the first time they'd had to do it, and now she was volunteering for the nasty job?

"Yea, I mean I got you stuck with this anyway, I figured you could at least use some company"

"Sure, I mean if you want"

"Yea, I do"