Chapter Eleven

He's one of the Good Guys

Lucas fumbled through his gym locker looking for a shirt to practice in. He finally found one and pulled it out as he heard a group of guys walk into the locker room, without looking in his direction they started to talk.

"Hey man, did you see Brooke today? She was looking pretty fine in that skirt. Could it be any shorter? Damn I wish I could hit that."said Barry shaking his head.

"I wouldn't mind getting me a piece of that too."

"Shut up Tim. Your the last one that would ever get a chance with her."

"What? And you would Barry?"shot back Tim.

"Hell yeah I would. Just look at me. Who wouldn't want to get with this. It's a wonder why she hasn't come begging me for a taste yet."that guy a laugh out of the guys.

"Well I heard she has a thing for that Lucas guy."said Tim.

"Who?"asked Barry."Lucas? The new guy?"he let out a laugh."Right, like she'd be interested in him. He's no threat to me or anyone else for Brooke. The only threat we had was Felix, keeping her to himself for all that time, but he's gone now and it's my turn to move in on Brooke."

"Yeah, well don't hog her man. Share. When your done with her give us a turn."said a third guy joining in the conversation.

"Don't worry. There's enough Brooke to go around."said Barry with a laugh."And we all know she won't have a problem with that. She's Brooke Davis. Hell, she'd probably do us all at the same time."he laughed.

"Hey guys shut up. Here comes Nathan. He'll kick your ass if he hears you talking about Brooke like that."said the third guy.

"Hey, Nate. What's up, man?"asked Barry as Nathan walked up to them.

"Nothing. You?"

"Same old shit. So, look here man, I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

"With what?"

"Well do you know if Brooke has a date for the dance yet?"

"Not that I know of, why?"

"I was thinking about asking her."

"Dude if your asking her for the reason I think you are, then don't bother. No matter who she goes with I am going to see to it that she makes it home at the end of the night alone. You got that?"

Barry nodded."It ain't even like that Nathan. I like her. I really like her and I wouldn't do that to her."

Lucas wanted to throw up. Man could that guy lie. He was so full of shit it wasn't even funny. He hoped that Nathan would be able to see through the bastard.

"Hey, I'm just saying."

"Na, it's cool. Your just looking out for her. So does she have a date?"

"Well last I heard no, she didn't have a date. You gonna ask her?"

"Yeah, thanks man."Barry closed his locker and after patting Nathan on the back he started to walk off."I'll see you in the gym Nate."he continued to walk with the guys and they passed Lucas."Oh hey Luke."he gave Lucas a nod before walking out of the locker room.

Lucas wanted to go up to him and punch the hell out of him for what he said about Brooke, but he held back. He also thought about telling Nathan about what he heard, but decided against it. He figured he'd probably just come off as being jealous and besides Barry was Nathan's friend and he wasn't. He probably wouldn't even believe him.

"Hey man. You coming to practice?"asked Nathan, pulling Lucas out of his thoughts.

"Yeah."Lucas pulled his shirt on and followed Nathan out.

"So what's going on with you and Brooke?"asked Nathan.

"What do you mean?"

Nathan shrugged."What I just said. What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing."

"Okay well, whatever. Just know that other guys are interested in her."

"And?"said Lucas getting defensive. He hated having to explain himself and he was just waiting for Nathan to say something only he would think was funny.

"And nothing. Look never mind okay? It's none of my business."Nathan pulled open the gym door and ran ahead of Lucas.

Lucas looked around the gym and saw Brooke at the other end practicing with the other girls. She looked up as the door closed and gave him a quick smile before turning back to her squad.

Lucas hated that the guys talked about Brooke the way they had. It was like they didn't care about her at all. They probably didn't. All they cared about was getting her to sleep with them.

Lucas replayed everything he heard and stopped when he remembered hearing about Felix. Barry said the only threat they had had was Felix. He had heard that name before from Haley. He began to wonder what went on with him and Brooke. He knew that was the last thing that he should be thinking about, but he couldn't help it. Were they together? If so, he wondered for how long. Barry said she was with him for a long time.

Lucas looked around the gym a second time and saw Whitey was nowhere in sight so he decided to sit down for a second. His head was pounding and he needed a second to clear his it. He made his way across the gym and sat down in the bleachers with his eyes closed. His head was definitely pounding.

Brooke looked across the gym and saw Lucas walk over and sit down. She hadn't had the chance to talk to him all day."Okay girls take five. I'll be right back."

Where you going?"asked Peyton.

Brooke nodded in Lucas' direction.

Peyton nodded with a knowing smile."Hurry. I want details."

"Sure thing girly."Brooke quickly turned on her heels and headed in Lucas' direction. He had his eyes closed and seemed to be deep in thought when she finally reached him."Are you having a bad day Broody?"she asked with a smile. Yep, Broody seemed to really fit him at the moment.

Lucas opened his eyes to see Brooke standing in front of him."Broody? Who's that?"

"You silly. You had your eyes closed and you had this serious look on your face. You looked deep in thought, brooding even, thus your new nickname, Broody."

Lucas let out a laugh."Okay, well if I'm Broody, then what does that make you? Cheery?"he questioned.

Brooke shook her pom poms."It works for me."she smiled.

"So what are you doing over here anyways? I thought you were practicing."

"You mean the same thing you should be doing right now?"she laughed.

"Yeah, okay you got me."

"We took a break."she sat down next to him. Lucas let out a sigh."So what's up with you? You look stressed."she placed a hand on his arm to show she was there for him.

Lucas took her hand off his arm and held it in his own."I'm fine. Just tired. Whitey works our asses off. I was just taking advantage of him not being here."he looked at her and she gave him a small smile."So I heard about you and Haley."

"What parts did you hear? The good or bad ones?"

"Both."

Brooke nodded."Well everything is okay now, I guess. I mean we're not going to instantly become best friends or anything, but we won't go out of our ways to be mean either."

"That's good to hear."

"So what about you? We haven't really been talking. What's up?"she gave his hand a squeeze.

Lucas thought about telling her he was moving back to California, but he looked at her big smile and decided not to."Nothing really. I've just been busy. We keep missing each other."

"Yeah, it wasn't easy hanging out with the whole Haley issue."

"But that's over now."said Lucas.

"Yep, so get used to seeing me around more."she said with a laugh.

"Oh, I plan to."Lucas looked out onto the floor and saw Barry staring at them. He wanted to go down there and beat the crap out of him, but decided against it because that would mean leaving Brooke and he wasn't ready to do that just yet. When he was around her she always made him feel better. There was something special about her and he saw it even if the other guys didn't. He looked down at their hands, hers still in his. He knew he shouldn't do this, but he could help it. He knew he'd end up regretting it if he couldn't follow through, but the thought of her going to the formal with any other guy that only looked forward to the taking her home part made him sick."So Brooke...um...well..."Brooke looked at him, eyes wide, waiting for him to continue."You see...well..."

Brooke couldn't help but laugh at Lucas' obvious nervousness."Yes, Lucas?"

Lucas decided to just spit it out."Okay, well you know there's this dance coming up, right?"

Brooke nodded."The winter formal."

"Yeah, that one. Would you like to go with me? I mean if you already have a date I'll under..."

"I'd love to go with you Lucas."cut in Brooke."I was hoping you'd ask me."she smiled.

"Well I was hoping that when I asked you, you'd say yes."

They both laughed."Well I did."she said.

"And so did I."

"So I guess it's settled then."said Brooke.

"I guess so."

"Okay, well now that I got what I wanted from you, I should go back to my squad."

"Oh, so you got what you wanted from me, huh?"

"Yeah. I wanted you to ask me out and you did."she said with a shrug."I usually tend to get what I want so you should get used to it."said Brooke with a sexy grin.

"Is that so?"

"You bet you ass it's so."

"Well then I guess it's good to know."

Brooke nodded."I'll see you later Broody."

"Bye Cheery."

Brooke winked at him before running off the the other side of the gym. Lucas watched as she ran straight up to Peyton and pulled her to the side. He saw Peyton look his way and smile, pulling Brooke into a hug. Brooke had obviously told Peyton that they were going to the dance together. He stayed watching them and laughed when Brooke stuck her tongue at him before pulling Peyton back to the group.

Lucas got up from the bleachers and made his way onto the court. He passed Barry and Tim as he did so and couldn't help but see the ugly look Barry was giving him. He didn't care though. He'd take all the ugly looks Barry and anyone else had to give him as long as Brooke was safe from those jerks. There was no way he was going to let him or anyone else get the chance to hurt Brooke. He was here now and he took it upon himself to protect her, the only problem was, he didn't know how long he'd be here for.

Brooke bent over and put her pom poms in her bag. She decided not to change back into her regular clothes. She was just going to go home anyways.

"B, you coming over to Peyton's today?"shouted Nathan as he made his way to her through the gym.

Brooke quickly turned around and shook her head."No, not today. I'm tired. I'm just going to go straight home and sleep."

Nathan nodded."Good. That means I can actually have some alone time with my girlfriend."

"Ha, ha. Your such an ass, but yes you can have P. Sawyer all to yourself today. You can even have her all to yourself at the formal. It looks like I'm not going to need to tag along after all."

"Why's that?"

"Lucas asked me."

"He did?"

"Yeah, earlier."

"And your sure about him?"asked Nathan skeptically.

"Yes, Nate, I am and besides your gonna be there too."

"That's true. I just want you to be careful Brooke. You know how guys can be."

"Yes I do, but Nate, Lucas isn't like that. He's like you, one of the good guys."she smiled.

Nathan pulled Brooke into his arms and hugged her."Then I'm happy for you. All I want is for you to be happy."

"Well right now I am. I have you and Peyton and I'm getting to know this really great guy. I couldn't ask for anything more."

Nathan hugged her tighter and gave her a quick kiss on the side of her head before letting her go."Good. Well I should go and get Peyton. She's taking forever to change. I'm ready to get the hell out of this place. I'll call you later B."

"Bye."Brooke turned to pick up her bag then headed out the door. She was about to get into her car when she heard someone call out to her.

"Brooke."

She turned around and saw Barry running toward her.

"Hey Brooke. How's it going?"

"Hey Barry. What's up?"

Barry took a step toward her."Well I'm sure you know about the dance coming up. I was wondering if you'd like to go with me."

Brooke was a little surprised. She hadn't expected Barry to ask her."Wow, well, um..."she started.

"Look it doesn't have to be anything serious. It can be a casual thing. Just two friends having fun."offered up Barry from the look she gave him.

"No, it's not that. It's just that I already have a date. I'm sorry."

He looked down."Oh, okay. Who are you going with?"

Brooke smiled."Lucas."

Barry frowned."Oh, really."he said trying not to sound upset."Well okay. At least I tried."he started to step back.

"I'm really sorry Barry."said Brooke suddenly feeling bad. She used to not care when turning someone down, but now she did. Maybe she was growing soft.

"It's cool. I guess I'll see you around Brooke."Barry turned around. He couldn't believe Lucas had beat him to asking her. He was the one that was supposed to be taking her to the dance and he was the one that was supposed to be taking her home afterward, and he definitely was the one that was supposed to be getting with her at the end of the night, but now Lucas was going to be that guy. That was if he didn't screw it up, which he probably would. Oh well it was now onto girl number two. If he couldn't have Brooke he'd have to go with the next girl, who was just as willing, if not more then Brooke. Sure she wouldn't be as fine as her, but she'd be doable.

Thank you all for all the reviews I got. I love seeing that all of you love this story so much. It makes me want to update all the time. I hate that I can't though. The real world keeps me very busy. I wanted to have this chapter up yesterday but something unexpected came up and I'm sorry for that. Anyways I hope you all liked this chapter. I can't wait to hear what you liked or disliked. So please read and review. It always makes my day.lol. Thanks.

Coming Up:

Jake asks Haley to the formal.

Nathan and Peyton have their alone time.

Dan makes a shocking discovery.