AN: Hey you guys! I know you can't believe your eyes, but it is true, and this is an actual update! Yay for me! LOL It's been more than a year I believe and there are no words to say how sorry I am that I let this happen. So… no excuses, just know I am sorry. I owe a big, great, huge thanks to everybody that continued to review or pm through this year to remind me that I should get down and write something! I know it may seem that it didn't really work, but it is the main reason I am back here, knowing that you didn't give up on me that easily and I may have a few readers left! (I hope that still stands! lol). And I owe a special thank you to othfan326, she never got tired of urging me on and I really really appreciate it!

Also, thanks to my girls, Lindsay and Cinthana, who immediately offered to help be get back on track and reviewed and beta-ed this chapter!

Again thank you to everybody who showed they cared for this fic. Even if I didn't answer to all your messages they meant a great deal to me!

I hope you enjoy and please review!

Chapter 14

First Obstacles

"Congratulations, Brookie! Your designs were once again so amazing! Not that this came as a surprise or anything. Anything with your signature is guaranteed to be extraordinary! As I was telling Aileen, the other day… Did you see Aileen, by the way? She's here somewhere… Of course, she wouldn't miss your show! And what a spectacular show it was, absolutely marvelous! Oh, there she is! Come, come, you must talk to her! She needs to congratulate you…"

The young woman with the platinum hair, who looked really elegant when one was fortunate enough to catch her with her mouth shut, which wasn't all that probable unfortunately, almost dragged Brooke towards the other end of the big hall. Despite being forcibly pulled away, Brooke kept a smile plastered on her face and bobbed her head up and down agreeing with her enthusiastic guest. What else could she do anyway? The only consolation was the huge order the woman had placed after the show. Brooke didn't even have time to excuse herself from her friends! Not that she had actually any time to talk to them. Just as she was able to extricate herself from posing for the… hundredth or something photograph with another starlet that insisted that she would wear only Clothes over Bro's from now on, that she was dragged once again by this daughter of rich somebody… The joy!

It took Mouth and Lucas only about thirty seconds after Brooke was dragged away once again before they burst out in laughter.

"Poor Brooke," Lucas chuckled shaking his head.

"Did you hear this last one? How do they do that? She didn't even stop to breathe!" Mouth exclaimed seeming truly impressed with the woman's apparent breath-holding skills. "She even left Brooke speechless… and that is a great fit."

"Tell me about it. I've known Brooke for eight years and I've never managed to do it! Not for luck of trying…" Lucas agreed with a smirk.

"I'm sure you have your ways of shutting her up," Rachel drawled as she appeared behind Lucas, startling both men.

"You got away!" Mouth grinned enthusiastically.

Much like Brooke, Rachel was also ambushed the moment the show ended by a large number of boutique owners that were interested in collaborating with Clothes over Bro's. And they had no idea who was responsible for Sylvia's disappearance. Rachel looked satisfied, but exhausted. Still, Lucas thought she got the better end of the deal. At least she had to handle businessmen and not fame starving idiots like Brooke.

"Don't jinx it!" Rachel shook her head with dread. "Where's Brooke?" She asked and then took a quick look around, not finding the brunette anywhere in her line of view.

"Good question! We haven't seen her at all!" Lucas responded in a voice that sounded mortifyingly whiny even to his own ears. But he had a right to be whiny, didn't he? He didn't come to this show to admire the show! He didn't have the faintest idea if the designs were good or not, original or not, stylish or not. Sure they all looked great to him, but he assumed he would have the same opinion for anything he saw especially if they told him that Brooke had designed them. So he hadn't come for the clothes, but he had come to be here for Brooke, and also, okay, as her husband he supposed he had to be there. But he would have come anyway; he had planned it before the wedding fiasco after all. But apparently he was deluded when he thought that he would actually be able to spend anytime with her. And he doubted he was even successful in appearing as the supporting husband they wanted the public to believe he was. This would involve Brooke standing by his side and so far he had hardly managed to give her a congratulatory hug!

"Miss your wife, Broody-boy?" Rachel teased, earning a scathing look from Lucas, who of course did miss Brooke, but not his 'wife' Brooke, and a wary 'Rachel' from Mouth that still seemed uncomfortable with the whole wedding issue.

Rachel opened her mouth to further tease them no doubt, but she never got the chance.

"Here she is! Rach, honey! You so have to hear this! Here Aileen, tell Rachel! She's the expert!" Brooke said with an over excited tone and a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she reappeared this time dragging a new blonde behind her rather than being dragged. This one must have been a model because she was more than 6ft tall!

"Oh, this is so great! Come Rachel, Amanda will love to hear it as well!" Aileen, apparently, almost shrieked happily.

Rachel had enough time to briefly glower at Brooke before resignedly letting the girl drag her away.

Mouth and Lucas laughed again, and Brooke joined them this time.

"You're a sneaky one," Lucas smiled at her.

Brooke grinned, "You're just figuring that out, Broody?"

"I think he got it when he found you naked in his backseat," Mouth commented with a smirk.

"Or… when he woke up married to me?" Brooke joked and then bit her tongue. Though Lucas seemed ready to laugh at the joke, Mouth's face clouded once again.

Brooke smiled apologetically and Mouth also forced a smile and proceeded on congratulating her for the show. A safe topic. Unlike her marriage. Brooke knew Mouth wouldn't have the same reaction as Rachel. She knew that he clearly objected at the idea of her and Lucas staying married and even more at the idea of them hiding the truth behind the exact circumstances of their wedding from their family and friends. Rachel had warned her even before Mouth and Lucas arrived. But when the two did arrive, Mouth's cold greeting and Lucas' sullen expression convinced her that things had gone probably a lot worse than she had imagined.

Since she had been busy with the preparations for the show she hardly had any time to talk to either one of the two men, and thus, probably avoided the scolding that Mouth seemed to be eager to give her. She had tried to question Lucas about how things had gone when he first saw Mouth in New York, but he avoided the question. Since they hadn't had any real time alone she didn't have time to 'convince' him to talk as she was sure she would be able to do later. Not that she looked forward to hearing how disappointed and angry Mouth was, but it wasn't fair for Lucas to have to deal with this alone. After all, they were in this mess together.

The cocktail reception after her show, however, was hardly the place to address such a serious and delicate issue, so she allowed Mouth to steer the conversion back to her show. She did need to celebrate anyway; the show seemed like a success, at least judging by the enthusiastic comments and the congratulations that were overwhelming her. She was immensely relieved that at least this had gone down well. It was one weight lifted from her shoulders. The impending return to Tree Hill, moving in with Lucas and putting up the marriage charade was still however keeping her extremely stressed out. She somehow doubted her fears regarding these issues would turn out to be as unfounded as it had turned out with her stress regarding the show.

"Thank you, Mouth. I know you must have been extremely bored, but I hope you at least enjoyed the hot girls wearing the boring clothes," she joked trying to enjoy the moment.

Mouth nodded enthusiastically and Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Oh come off it, Luke! Like you didn't enjoy the hot models parading in front of you for an hour!" Mouth teased shoving him playfully.

Lucas opened his mouth to deny it probably, but Rachel and her impeccable timing cut him off for a second time that evening.

"Now, now, Mouth, Lucas is a newly married man! Of course, he doesn't have eyes for anyone other than his wife."

"Extremely hot wife," Brooke nudged Rachel with a grin.

"Way hotter than the models," Lucas agreed winking at Brooke.

Mouth on the other hand didn't partake in the playful atmosphere, but instead frowned again. Brooke sighed miserably as she noticed his grimace. Rachel noticed both of them and her lips joined into a thin line. However, Lucas was the one to react.

"If you don't cut this out soon, Mouth," he said with thinly veiled anger.

"Not now!" Brooke said frantically. "We'll discuss everything later."

"Oh, you bet we will," Rachel agreed also seeming angry.

Mouth shook his head. "I'm gonna get a drink," he said and left the others.

"Mouth! Don't go…" Brooke tried, but Rachel cut her off.

"Let him go, Brooke. He's behaving like a spoiled child. Just let him get over it, I thought he had by now, but I was obviously wrong. See, it happens even to me sometimes," Rachel smirked clearly trying to lighten the mood again but Brooke still seemed upset.

"It was such a big shock, I understand how…"

"It's none of his business!" Lucas said again fiercely startling Brooke.

"What the hell did he tell you, Luke?" she asked surprised at the resentment he showed.

"Not now," Rachel intervened again, "like you said Brooke, this is not the time or place. Come, I see Milly, she must have the updated order numbers, let's talk to her."

"Luke?" Brooke asked with an apologetic smile.

"Sure, go. I'll go find Mouth and talk to him."

"Luke, don't-"

"Don't worry, I'm just going to explain again… maybe cool him off."

"Good luck," Rachel grinned and both of the girls left.

Lucas spotted Mouth easily enough. But he doubted he could say anything now that he hadn't said already to make him change his attitude. His extremely childish attitude, Rachel had been perfectly right on with her assessment. Lucas did expect some initial anger and disappointment, and even sheer disbelief, about what they had done, but he then expected that his friend Mouth would rise above all that and be supportive as a good friend should be. Well, he was still waiting. If this was what to be expected by everyone that learned the truth, then Lucas became even more convinced than before that not telling anyone about it was the right choice. No matter what Mouth thought. He could take his opinion and shove it! Who had appointed him their guardian anyway? Who would have thought that he would prefer Rachel's teasing and crude jokes to Mouth's disapproval.

Their first talk came very close to becoming a full blown fight as Mouth insisted that Lucas was taking advantage of Brooke. How the fuck did he come up with that? Did he honestly think Lucas would ever do that to her? Lucas was known for his short-term memory and he would admit that he would like to forget the past that he may have or haven't been actually guilty of what Mouth was accusing him. But the present had nothing to do with that past! But yeah, Mouth kept insisting that was what was happening. He said that Lucas was leading her on, feeding her false hopes. False hopes? About what?! Lucas really didn't get it. For a minute, he thought Mouth referred to the sex, but saying that anyone was taking advantage of Brooke Davis in that department would be a stretch. Not that Lucas had disclosed any details about that subject to Mouth, but he was certain Rachel would manage to get Brooke to admit that they had slept together on their wedding night. So Mouth probably knew that they had…consummated their marriage, but still the false hopes part didn't fit. The only explanation was that Mouth thought that Brooke actually wanted…but that couldn't be possible. He would know, wouldn't he? Brooke never showed any sign that… Well, it was absolutely ridiculous and if that was what Mouth was getting at, he was delusional!

Then Mouth had changed angle and turned against Brooke. Brooke, who, as he accused, never took anything seriously. Was Mouth for real? What was he talking about? He had gone on and on, about how he knew she wouldn't last when she tried to stop her partying and …Lucas had cut him off before he went on with that particular train of thought because it really wouldn't have ended well. For Mouth. And it was about that time that he had stormed out of Mouth's office.

When they had met the next day, Mouth had apologized, but it was clear that he was still not okay with what had happened. Lucas didn't even know who he blamed for the mess anymore, probably both of them. He kept throwing snide remarks and Lucas almost lost it once again. When Mouth didn't seem willing to let it go, even the day of their departure when they met at the airport, Lucas had made very clear that he had better quit this attitude when they met Brooke who was already stressed enough with her show and worrying about everything else, including Mouth's reaction. Apparently, Rachel had already warned her and in her last brief phone call to Lucas she seemed extremely worried about it. So Lucas reminded Mouth that as a good friend he was supposed to support Brooke and Rachel with their show, and keep his opinion about their wedding to himself. Who asked him anyway? Who was he to judge? He had no idea about what was going on with his and Brooke's life and he had no clue about their relationship. So he didn't have any right to pass judgment and that was that.

Mouth had agreed and he even seemed remorseful when Lucas mentioned that Brooke was already stressing about his reaction. But apparently, he couldn't help himself now that they were all together. He didn't say anything directly to Brooke so far, but he was cold and an almost permanent scowl was etched on his face. Lucas recalled Rachel's assessment once again. Mouth was behaving like a spoiled brat. Taking a deep breath he joined his stubborn friend, he guessed they were going to have yet another talk.

Out of the corner of her eye, Brooke watched Lucas talking with Mouth, while she kept nodding and smiling at one of her guests representing a popular fashion magazine, with Rachel standing next to her. Lucas seemed to have calmed Mouth down, or calmed down himself; Brooke wasn't sure who of the pair was more upset. Still, they seemed to be talking just fine now, so she could breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy her night. She should have known it wouldn't last.

"Shit!" Rachel muttered.

"What?" The man they were talking to asked curiously as she had just interrupted him.

"Erm, would you excuse us, Josh?" Rachel asked with an apologetic smile and before Josh or Brooke could react, Rachel was already dragging Brooke to a vacant corner of the room.

Brooke was really getting tired of getting dragged around that night. What the hell was wrong now?

"Rach, have you finally lost it?" She demanded irritably.

"You have a problem," Rachel replied hurriedly.

"You drag us away in the middle of a conversation and I am the one with the problem?" Brooke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, just shut up! John is here!" For once, Rachel didn't seem in the mood for jokes.

"John?" Brooke wondered and then realization dawned on her, "Not Carter?"

Rachel nodded.

"Where? Wasn't he supposed to be in Milan for that photo shoot?" Brooke asked in panic turning around to scan the room for her pretend boyfriend.

"Well, now he's here talking with…shit! He just found Millie!"

Brooke's eyes finally landed on the man in question and he was indeed talking with her assistant in what seemed be an intense manner. She turned back to Rachel, eyes wide with fear.

"Do you think he's here to cause trouble?"

"What do you think?" Rachel responded sarcastically.

"Damn! What am I supposed to do? He knows I wasn't seeing Luke, what am I going to tell him? And where the hell is Sylvia when you need her? She arranged this whole thing with Carter! She should talk with him!"

Brooke really had no idea about how to handle Carter, especially in the midst of all these people and cameras! If the whole thing was to blow up and cause a scandal at her show… She knew John wouldn't be happy when he learned about her sudden wedding. The fact that he was out of the country when it happened was a real blessing, because God knows how he would have reacted in the heat of the moment and what he would tell the reporters. Carter was obviously not her real boyfriend, only pretend-boyfriend as she had told Lucas, her pretend husband. Boy, did she have a perfect life or what? Anyway, now was so not the time for self-pity. The thing was: Carter had the biggest ego on a man she had ever seen! Yes, it was even bigger than Nathan's, back in high-school when her dear friend used to be such a huge ass.

So Carter, though didn't really care for Brooke, he was very, very frustrated that a beautiful woman didn't drool over him and fall gratefully in his…bed! He had assumed that he would be able to take advantage of their arrangement now and then and enjoy some real boyfriend's privileges. When Brooke didn't accommodate… he just became more insistent. He had long ago passed the threshold of being flattering, and lately he had been just annoying. Brooke was considering ending things with him before the whole thing with Lucas took place, but since they had been pretending to go out for a little less than two months, Sylvia had insisted that she should keep it up for a while longer so as not to appear as the girl that switches boyfriends every week. They were doing all this for her image in the first place. So she decided -or she was forced no need to get stuck in technicalities- to suck it up for a few more weeks. Thankfully, their business-related responsibilities kept them apart most of the time, so it was not much of a sacrifice.

But now… now Carter's ego had been dealt a huge blow, and to make matters worse, it had happened for the whole world to see! To the eye of the public and the press, she had left Carter to marry another man. Or even worse, she had been cheating on Carter from the get go. Carter was bound to be furious. Sylvia told her that she got a call from one of his coworkers that confirmed that he was exactly that, and that he would probably try and create a huge mess to salvage his damaged ego. Brooke had no idea on how he planned to do that, but in the thought that he might somehow reveal that her marriage with Lucas was a fraud… Obviously, Carter didn't have any way of knowing that. He just knew that Brooke wasn't seeing anyone… So perhaps he wouldn't be able to reveal the truth, but still he could make a mess. And in the middle of her party…Brooke really didn't want to be thinking of all the negative press he could evoke.

"What am I going to do, Rach?" she asked desperately.

"Something fast, because I see him going to Lucas?" Rachel replied lacking the usual confidence she exuded.

Brooke's head snapped back and letting out a muttered curse, hurried over there with Rachel following behind her.

Lucas hadn't really calmed down Mouth or anything. As soon as he got to him, Mouth had apparently already regretted his behavior and apologized for snapping on Brooke. He insisted that he should have a talk with her, but he admitted that this was neither the place nor time, effectively shutting Lucas up and calming him down. They had then proceeded to talk about this and that, mostly bored out of their minds without the girls that seemed to be still as busy as ever. It was just a few minutes before that they had gotten into a more interesting conversation about… what else? …Knicks appearances that season, when Lucas saw a rather well-built dark-haired man, who seemed vaguely familiar, approaching them purposefully.

Mouth had his back turned to that direction and didn't see the man, but seeing the puzzled expression on Lucas' face he turned around just as the man had reached them.

"Fuck…" He murmured as soon as he saw him.

Lucas was about to question what was wrong but the man was now standing in front of them, practically in Lucas' face.

"You're the one she married, right?" He inquired aggressively.

Lucas' eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

"John," Mouth spoke half in greeting and half in scolding.

"McFadden," John answered with a curt nod but his eyes still remained focused on Lucas.

John? The name, coupled with his aggressive mood eventually registered to Lucas.

"If with 'she' you're referring to Brooke, then, yes, I am the one she married."

"Why the fuck did she take you when she could have me?" Carter asked out loud.

Mouth almost choked on his drink and Lucas' mouth dropped open though he recovered quickly.

"I can think of a couple of reasons," he replied with a scowl.

John seemed surprised by that answer but before he had time to come up with an answer, Lucas continued.

"Here she comes now, why don't we ask her."

John turned around and saw Brooke and Rachel coming hastily towards them. Brooke's panic was evident all over her face, to Lucas at least, because all John could think about was finally getting some answers. Rachel seemed more composed but one could see her stealing glances left and right perhaps to locate any unwanted cameras or reporters.

Despite her panic Brooke managed to collect herself and greeted John with a wide grin.

"John, you're here! I thought you'd be still at Milan! How was working with Versace? Awesome, right?" She gushed and took a step closer to him so she could reach up and give him a friendly kiss.

"Yeah, I'm sure you wanted me to be on the other side of the world, but news travel even to Italy!"

"Of course, I wanted you to be there! This was a great opportunity for your career, John! To show what an amazing photographer you are! Tell me, you even impressed Donatella, right? I know you did!"

Flattery seemed to be working and John did break out into a 'would' be modest grin if he didn't follow it up with: "Those Europeans really have no idea about photography. They really needed me for that shoot, and let me tell you it was really hard work."

Rachel discreetly rolled her eyes, but Brooke thrilled that she seemed to be making this work just kept on.

"I know! It must have been a headache working with all those amateurs. But I'm sure the end result was spectacular as always. Don't be modest!"

Like there was a chance for that, Lucas thought in distaste. This man seemed as arrogant as they come.

"They were thrilled; I think I outdid even myself. Some of my finest work, you'll see."

"I never had a doubt! Don't I always tell you guys that John is the most talented photographer I have ever met?" Brooke went on addressing the rest of them.

Rachel of course took her cue and insisted that John should absolutely show them his prints and even Mouth nodded and smiled in affirmation. Lucas on the other hand didn't exactly look thrilled.

And after John took pleasure in their compliments for a few more minutes, he turned his eyes to Lucas that had remained silent and tried to stare him down. Pity for him, Lucas was a few inches taller.

"So… you remember Lucas, right?" Brooke asked letting out a pitiful sigh as she saw John staring at him and Lucas staring right back both men with frowns on their faces. Her distraction technique had worked only so far, and she just wished it had fed John's ego enough so he could stomach her explanation a little more gracefully.

"Your husband you mean?" John remarked scathingly.

"Well, yes," Brooke mumbled. "You've met him before, he…"

"Yes, your writer friend, right?" John insisted putting the emphasis on 'friend'.

"Exactly!" Brooke exclaimed enthusiastically pretending not to notice his dismay. "Lucas and I have been best friends for years! You know we met back in high-school. Lucas is from Tree Hill, too. You know about Tree Hill, right? My hometown next to Charlotte? I'm sure I told you about it." As usual, when Brooke became nervous she started to ramble.

"How could I have missed it? The newspapers are all over your fairytale romance," he said sarcastically showing his evident disbelief.

"Oh, the press is just exaggerating," Brooke tried waving that away.

"I just don't know how that romance came about, when you were supposed to be with me!" John finally burst out through gritted teeth.

"John, you know it wasn't like that between us," Brooke explained calmly.

"You were supposed to be with me or weren't you? Weren't we supposed to be dating? Didn't you agree on that? Actually, weren't you the one that suggested that?"

"Yes, yes, supposed to, but we were not actually together John!"

"Everyone believed we were. So it was as good as being together! How could you do this?" John complained while his voice was starting to rise in volume.

"You were not really together!" Lucas fumed with exasperation not really knowing how to handle the ridiculous ideas this man seemed to have. He had to wonder how Brooke had put up with him for as long as she did.

Unfortunately, Lucas didn't seem to keep his voice down either. Rachel looked around them worriedly. Many people had already been watching them because some of them had recognized John and wanted to see how the encounter between the old boyfriend and the new husband would turn out. The slightly raised voices only served to peak the onlookers' interest.

Brooke had also noticed that they were gathering an audience.

"Please, keep your voices down", she said pleadingly to both men and then turned back to John. "I realize that you must be upset, John, but please believe me when I say that this… it took me by surprise as well. I didn't have any intention on bailing out on you like that."

"But you did! Oh, Brooke, what did come over you? Everyone said we were the perfect couple! Both so young, so beautiful, so successful! Why did you have to ruin it?" He said in a whiny tone.

"In contrast to me, that I am old, ugly and a down right failure?" Lucas wondered in disbelief and Mouth vainly tried to stifle his laughter.

"Well, you can't honestly compare yourself to me?!" John asked genuinely shocked. "I just made a shoot for Versace, who the fuck knows you?"

Lucas jaw had hit the floor by now.

"Oh, John, of course you're a great guy! Any girl would be lucky to be with you, but I…" Brooke pleaded throwing a look at Lucas that begged him to go along with her, or at least not make things much worse.

Feeling quite indignant that Brooke chose to take the asshole's side, Lucas swallowed down his irritation unable to resist her pleading eyes.

"Then why did you ditch me?!" John exclaimed and this time the first chuckles were heard from the audience around them.

Brooke cursed under her breath.

"Do you have any idea how bad this makes me look? Everybody thinks you've dumped me for him!" He again whined not seeming to notice the people straining to hear his every word.

"Is this guy for real?" Lucas asked Mouth, who was standing next to him in a low whisper making sure John didn't hear him. He didn't even feel insulted. How could he be? This man was obviously an idiot!

"You know what?" Rachel took the initiative as she watched things getting out of hand. "Why don't you and Brooke come to the back so Brooke can explain everything to you? We are attracting attention here and I'm sure you don't want that."

John seemed hesitant and Lucas looked a bit puzzled. What the hell would Brooke explain to him? And why would she need to explain? It was not like he wanted John to cause a scene in Brooke's party either, but he still didn't like the idea of Brooke leaving with her fake ex-boyfriend to 'explain'. As her fake current husband he thought he had a right to be offended by that image.

"Please, John, Rachel is right. Let's go back and I will tell you everything you want to know."

Apparently Brooke didn't share his concerns and seemed rather keen to get John in the back.

"You don't want to appear as the jealous dumped boyfriend that causes a big scene, do you?" Rachel insisted.

This last argument sealed the deal and Lucas was left behind with Mouth watching the two women escort John at the back. The snickering all around them only worsened Lucas' mood that got even worse when Rachel returned alone in a couple of minutes informing them that she left Brooke and John to work it out, and it hit absolutely rock bottom when he heard a little brunette commenting on how maybe Brooke had her pre-wedding jitters after her wedding and John was helping her 'work them out'.

"I just don't understand why you thought you owed him an explanation!" Lucas yelled in exasperation.

"I didn't think I owed him anything! But you have to admit, what we did didn't make him out to look that good," Brooke explained tiredly for the umpteenth time.

Since the four of them had arrived back at Brooke's apartment where they would spend the night and catch the morning plane for Charlotte, Lucas was on the John subject and just wouldn't let it go no matter what she told him. Rachel and Mouth had just taken a passive reaction. Brooke swore Rachel was enjoying watching their little argument, while Mouth probably saw the disaster he believed this plan to be, coming down in ruins before it even began.

"Oh, so you care that you made him look bad, but you don't care that you made me look like an idiot?"

"What? How the hell did I make you look like an idiot, Luke?" Brooke asked in confusion.

"Did you or didn't you leave me your supposed husband to go in the back all alone with your ex-boyfriend?"

"Are you serious?" Brooke exclaimed looking utterly shocked.

Rachel was laid back on the couch and snickered silently while Mouth was nudging her to shut up.

"Would you like some pop-corn with this?" Brooke turned to Rachel with irritation, which only resulted in making Rachel laugh more loudly.

"See, I'm right!" Lucas exclaimed triumphantly.

"How the hell did you come up with that?" Brooke turned back to him, the real source of her irritation.

"You didn't give me an answer! You don't have an answer!"

"Oh, for the love of…Lucas, you can't be serious! For starters, I went in the back with John and Rachel…"

"Yeah, only she came back two minutes later while it took you and Johnny about fifteen!"

"What, did you time us or something?" Brooke bellowed while Rachel guffawed unable to restrain herself.

"No, everyone else did though!" Lucas fumed.

"This is ridiculous, Lucas! Since when do you care about what anyone says?"

"Since they're going to say my new bride is cheating on me during the first week of our marriage!"

"Nobody's going to say that! You are overreacting, Lucas! I don't understand what's wrong with you! I had to explain to John!"

"You could have done that in the room with us, with me, and not go off with him and leave me behind looking like an utter idiot!"

"Well, now you certainly act the part!" Brooke yelled furious by his ridiculous claims.

"Oh, that's nice, you run to apologize to him and call me an idiot!"

"Lucas!" Brooke shrieked, "I just wanted to explain and avoid causing a scene and also hopefully preventing him from spreading any nonsense to the press. You have to understand."

"He was your fake boyfriend, Brooke! Fake! You didn't owe him a damn thing! You didn't have to explain anything!"

"And you are my fake husband! Just my fake husband! So I owe you the same with him, right? Absolutely nothing!"

And with that Brooke stormed out of the room slamming the door of her room behind her as soon as she got in.

"Unbelievable!" Lucas muttered, "Guess I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight, honey!" he yelled towards Brooke's closed door, and the crashing sound that followed confirmed that she had heard him. Casting a last dejected glance at the couple on the couch (a frowning Mouth and a snickering Rachel), he left for the room Brooke had showed him for the night without another word.

Mouth turned to Rachel as soon as they were left alone, "And you insist that your idea was brilliant?" he asked sarcastically.

"A strike of genius," Rachel replied with a smirk. "Now, how about we forget about the newlyweds, and enjoy our last days as single people?" she said suggestively and promptly straddled Mouth, who naturally had no objections to this plan of his future wife.