A/N:A lot of reviewers arewanting to know whether or not this is a B/L fic. Now I can't come right out and tell you because what would be the fun in that buttttt I will tell you that Lucas has made it clear, in his actions and his words, who he loves...hope that helps :D

Chapter 20) Off Limits

A week had passed since Brooke's outburst and as strange as it sounded, she and Heather and her had become fast friends. Neither had left each other's side. Brooke spent most of her free time at Heather's house. It felt good to be apart of a real family again, Brooke found herself thinking one Friday afternoon. One of the things she missed most about Tree Hill was feeling like she was part of something special. Karen wasn't biologically her mother but inside, where it mattered most, she was and Brooke missed her terribly. Despite or maybe because of that bond, she still couldn't get past the hurt from Karen not telling her about Lucas and Peyton. She understood her reasons but all the same she still had a right to know. Brooke hated being lied to and that's essentially what Karen had done.

Then there were Tutor Wife and Tutor Husband. Both of them had known and kept mum as well. She hadn't always gotten along with the couple but Brooke had thought that they had finally become friends. What made it worst was Nathan saw her and Lucas coming out of the eraser room. He knew what had occurred between them and still not a word and Lucas was just as bad. Letting her do what she did, knowing that if she knew the real truth, it never would have happened. Everybody she loved and respected had lied to her. How in the world was she supposed to get past that? How in the world was she supposed to forgive that? And even if she could somehow forgive and forget, how could she ever forget a baby? It would always been there reminding her of Lucas and Peyton's betrayal. There was no way around any of it. Her life in Tree Hill was over and as easily as it was erased, made Brooke wondered if it ever really existed in the first place.

"So Princess, what are we doing tonight?" Heather asked.

Despite all her pleading, Heather still insisted on calling her by that sarcastic and ridiculous nickname,

"You know, I totally hate that, right? Why must you call me that? My name is Brooke. I mean, would it hurt you that much to call me by my name?"

Heather just laughed.

"Now what would be the fun in that?" she asked.

Brooke just rolled her eyes.

"Well you know, Brooke, my brother is having a party and I was thinking maybe we could crash. It might be fun."

Brooke shook her head. She wasn't ready to be social just yet. Besides she was having too much fun being an outcast for once in her life.

"I don't know, Heather. Parties are so overrated. We could always pig out in front of the big screen," she suggested.

"Brooke! Come on! It's a Friday night I don't want to sit around and do nothing at home." Heather moaned.

"Watching reruns of Roswell can be very entertaining, not to mention, educating, thank you very much. Besides that Max guy is kind of cute, don't you think?"

"Ahh no! He looks like a giraffe! It's freaky how long his neck is."

Brooke giggled.

"Freakish long neck or not he's still cute and I totally love him and Liz."

"You do realize, they're make believe, you know the creation of that dude Mac or something."

Brooke sighed.

"His name is Mark."

Did the girl have a dysfunction with getting names right?

"Well, whatever. I still pass on watching that pointless show."

"Why not?" whined Brooke.

"Because there is no point to it. Max eventually cheats on her anyways with that girl Tess. They have a baby together blah, blah, blah. I don't care and neither should you."

Brooke's face frowned with disappointment.

"He cheats on her?" she softy asked.

" Sorry. I thought you knew."

Heather felt horrible for carrying on like that as cheating was still a touchy subject with Brooke.

"No. Um, I didn't," she whispered.

"Brooke, it's okay…"

"No. No, it's not. I mean, why do people have to cheat? Why can't they just be happy with what they have? I was happy! Dammit, I never thought about sleeping with another guy," she cried.

Heather touched her shoulder.

"To tell you the truth, I don't think Lucas did either."

She didn't personally know the guy but from what Brooke had said, minus the cheating part, he seemed like he really loved her.

Brooke stepped away.

"Please don't defend him," she whispered.

Heather opened her mouth to protest but Brooke interrupted her.

"What he did is unforgivable…end of story."

"Okay. You're right. I was in no way defending him. All I meant was, I don't think he ever set out to hurt you, you know, on purpose", Heather explained.

Brooke smirked.

"Well he always does."

She had told her bits and pieces of what happened but for the most part the topic of Tree Hill or Lucas had been strictly off limits.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" Heather asked.

Brooke lowered her head and began to cry softly.

"This…this isn't the first time he's done this," she wept. "He did it once before. It was when we first started going out. He, he screwed around with Peyton then."

Heather closed her eyes, literally feeling her friend's pain.

"I don't know what to say. I didn't know, Brooke. I'm sorry."

"How could you? I just feel so stupid, Heather. You would think I would have learned my lesson the first time around but no not me. Not stupid Brooke Davis" she laughed bitterly through tears. "I'm the type that likes to stick around…you know to see how long and how much I can suffer."

"Brooke! Don't say that. Look, if this Lucas guy can't see what a great girl you are then he doesn't deserve you."

Brooke closed her eyes and let one solitary tear fall.

"I just wish things could have been different. I, I just wish he could have loved me back somehow."

Heather reached over and wiped her friend's tear.

"You listen to me. Brooke Davis, I have only known you for like a week and I already love you. You're the best friend I've ever had so no more talking or crying about Lucas Scott or that bitch Peyton Sawyer, you hear me?"

She laughed.

"Okay."

"Okay. So do you want to go to that party or not?" Heather asked for the second time that night.

On impulse Brooke finally agreed.

"Okay, okay, Friend. You totally talked me into it. I'll go."

Heather clapped "Yay!"

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Haley had gone to bed feeling awfully guilty and had woken up feeling the same way. She hadn't meant to go off on Lucas like that but something inside of her had just snapped. Peyton and Lucas weren't the only ones who had lost Brooke and she was sick and tired of them moping around like they were. If they took a minute to look around them they would have seen that a lot of people were broken up about her leaving.

"Babe, do you think I was too hard on Lucas?" Haley asked, early the next morning.

Nathan wasn't sure how to answer. Last night he said no and she had jumped all over him. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what would happen if he said yes.

"Hales, do we have to talk about this now? It's still early."

"Well I was justified in what I said", she paused. "Wasn't I?"

"You were", Nathan tried to reassure her.

"Maybe. I just wish I hadn't lost my temper. I wasn't exactly nice."

"Please! You? Not nice? Come on. Hales, you're like the nicest person I know", Nathan teased.

"Well, I wasn't very nice last night. In fact, I think I might have told him to go cry himself a river."

Nathan chuckled.

"Stop it. Don't laugh. That it wasn't very nice," Haley said while trying to hold in her own laughter.

"It might not be nice but it is funny. In fact it's probably the funniest thing I've heard in a while."

"I just hope he took what I said to heart cause I meant most of it."

Nathan nodded. She had a point.

"It needed to be said. Maybe now he'll start living again inside of just existing."

Ding, Dong

Haley moved to get out of her chair but Nathan stopped her.

"I'll get it," he said.

Opening the door, Nathan wasn't the least bit surprised to see Lucas standing there. He and Haley could never stay mad for long. If it hadn't been him that morning, it would have been her that afternoon.

"Hey man. I figured you would make an appearance today," he said.

"Haley told you about our fight, huh?"

"That she did."

Lucas smiled. He knew Haley so well.

"Come on in. We're just having some breakfast. Want anything?" Nathan offered while walking backing into the kitchen.

"Nah. I'm okay but thanks."

Haley just sat there, starring at Lucas. Neither one said a word. Nathan looked to Haley and then to Lucas.

"I'm gonna go take a shower. You two should talk," he said.

Lucas walked further into the kitchen and took a sit next to Haley.

"Hey, Buddy. Look…I'm sorry about last night. Hales, I was…"

Before he could finish, she interrupted him.

"No, I'm sorry. I was being insensitive, Luke. I, I know how much you miss her."

"You're right. I do miss her but unfortunately life goes on whether I want it to or not," Lucas whispered.

"Things will get better," she assured him, touching his arm.

He nodded hopefully.

"You have a baby on the way and friends and family who love you so much, Lucas. Everything is going to be okay. You'll see."

"I know. I want so much to be good for you guys but I just feel like…like a piece of me is missing, Hales," he tried to explain.

She knew exactly how he felt. It was the same way she felt just a mere few months ago. Leaving Nathan behind for her music was the biggest mistake of her life.

"We're all here for you but you have to let us in. How am I supposed to help you when I haven't even spoken to you in a week?"

"Haley, we talked in school yesterday."

She sighed.

"I meant, when was the last time we actually talked about something other than the weather?"

Lucas looked away.

"It's still to hard to talk about her."

Haley gently laid her hand on his.

"I'm your best friend we used to tell each other everything. Remember, Buddy?"

Lucas turned towards Haley.

"Of course I remember but I just…I can't talk about her yet but when I can you'll be the first one I come to. I promise."

"I better be," Haley whispered back. "I love you, Luke."

Lucas squeezed her hand.

"And I love you too Hales bells," he said.

"Lucas Scott!" she jokingly hit him on the arm. "I thought we decided that you would never again call me that."

Lucas smiled the first real smile in over a week.

"No, Hales bells, you decided that one. I always liked the name."

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"Damn girl! Look at you! Dude, how hot are you? The guys are gonna be all over you tonight." Heather grinned with approval.

Brooke smoothed her dress.

"You think so?" she asked.

She had been in town a little over a week and the nerves ran rampant at the thought of going to her first party.

"I know so. You are aware that the idea behind clothes is to cover up?"

Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Oh shut up. And by the way, you look pretty hot yourself."

"Yeah, well I try," she said while taking a last look in the mirror. "Okay, so here's the deal…supposedly my lame ass brother invited some of his lame ass jock friends. So just try to stay away from them."

Brooke giggled.

"Are you kidding me? Jocks are the easiest to screw with," she said.

"Just stay away from them, okay? I've known them a lot longer than you and trust me, they're all bad news."

Brooke wasn't convinced but she agreed anyways.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. You're hogging the mirror. Let me look."

"Brooke, I'm not joking around. Promise me you'll stay away from them", Heather insisted again.

"Heather!"

Brooke looked towards her friend and saw she was dead serious.

"Okay, okay. I promise to stay away from the jocks," she said.

Satisfied, Heather moved out of the way.

"The mirror is all yours," she finally said.

Looking at herself in mirror, an intense feeling that something bad was going to happen came over Brooke.

"What do you mean, they're all bad guys?" Brooke asked.

"Just trust me," Heather whispered.

Brooke turned around and looked her friend in the eye. Heather hid it well but Brooke knew whatever happened to her had to do with them. Walking over the bed she sat down next to her.

"Why are they bad guys?" she asked again.

"What is this? Twenty questions? Besides, Brooke, it's none of your business. Damn!" Heather barked.

Brooke was taken back.

"Excuse me for giving a rat's ass and thinking that friends share things with one another; good or bad."

"Look, just cause you know me for a week doesn't mean I have to tell you everything." Heather yelled.

Brooke knew what exactly what Heather was doing because she had done it countless times herself.

"Heather, you don't have to push me away. You don't have to put that wall up. I won't hurt you."

Heather rolled her eyes.

"Don't pull that shit on me."

"Well, you don't pull that shit on me either. You don't want to tell me? Fine but don't you dare push me away. We're friends, Heather!"

Heather softened at her words.

"I, I know…I just can't talk about it…right now. Look, I'm sorry…"

Brooke nodded.

"I understand…when you're ready I'm here."

She didn't know what had happened but Brooke knew it was only a matter of time before Heather would open up and tell her. A person could only hold things in for so long and she got the notion whatever it was, it was bad and it most definitely had to do with the jocks.

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tbc….