They had gotten to the mall and had gotten many things. Brooke had three bags, and Peyton had two. It went silent, so Peyton decided to bring up a suicidal topic. "You know, Lucas is still crazy over yo—" Peyton started.

Brooke cut her off before she could finish that sentence. "Stop Peyt. I know where you are going with this."

"But Brooke! You don't understand how much he cares for you. You should've seen how concerned he was about Chase spending the night. He really does love you," Peyton explained. She watched Brooke's face fall. "What?"

Brooke closed her eyes, faced Peyton, and then opened them again. "If he's still crazy over me, and still loves me, then why is he kissing Anna right now?" she asked Peyton. She looked forward to see Anna and Lucas in the same mall as them, kissing in the food court. Brooke turned around and started walking the other way. Peyton followed, obviously worried. "Peyton, you don't understand how hard it was to get over Lucas. I almost moved back to Tree Hill just because I couldn't take it anymore, and that's when I was dating Vince!"

They kept walking, Peyton was trying to keep with Brooke's pace, but she ended up running. "Brooke, I'm so sorry. He was just telling us this morning how badly he missed you. I thought—"

Brooke stopped suddenly. "Yeah? Well you thought wrong." She returned to speed walking.

"Brooke, stop!" Peyton shouted. Brooke did as she was told. "I'm sorry okay? But you have to face that he's moved on. You can't only talk to him when you have another guy around. So, c'mon Brooke, let's go face it."

Peyton nudged Brooke to the food court. They started slow walking. Once they hit Lucas' table, Brooke waved. That's it. Just a wave. "Oh, hey Brooke! Nice rager last night, wasn't it?" Anna spoke.

Brooke nodded and smiled, in her head, she's thinking what it would be like to rip someone's head off with their bare hands. Peyton started to talk now. "Yeah, it was good. So, you guys doing a little shopping?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

Lucas laughed. "Anna is, I'm not," he said with a smile.

Brooke smiled at Lucas. "Okay, well I'm starving, so I'm going to get some Chinese food," Brooke said. "Peyton, I'll be right back. Grab us a table, and watch over my bags, would you?" she said. It wasn't a question, it was a demand.

A few minutes later, Lucas told Anna and Peyton that he had to go to the bathroom. He went his way, but ended up going to Tiki Ming, the Chinese place Brooke was in line for. "Hey Brooke," he said with a smile.

"Hey Luke. You wanna get in line?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Sorry if this is awkward…" he said.

Brooke laughed. "Don't worry about it. I guess we have to get used to each other dating other people." That means she's dating Chase, Lucas thought. He smiled. "It's good to see you smiling again Luke," Brooke said.

He laughed. "Thanks." He started jumping around in spot.

"Luke… do you have to go to the bathroom?" she asked.

Lucas scoffed. "No." After a few more jumps, he said, "Yes." And ran off Brooke couldn't stop laughing at him. It was the first time in a while that Lucas made her smile and not frown, laugh and not cry. It was the first time in a while that she actually decided she could love him again.

Brooke got her food and shared it with Peyton. "We had a good talk," Brooke whispered.

"Yeah? What about?" Peyton asked.

"Just, about things. It was good."

Brooke got home by herself and slammed the door. "Chase?" she shouted.

"In here!" he shouted from her bedroom.

She walked into her bedroom to find Chase just waking up again. "You fell asleep?" she asked.

Chase laughed. "Yeah, 'lil bit." Brooke smiled, sat down next to Chase and sighed. "What's up B?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing, just feeling weird…" She exhaled. "Wow, it is really hot in here."

"Yeah, but the weather lady said it's gonna thunder tomorrow," Chase said.

"Oh thank God."

Well, it was the next morning. The clouds were dark, and hovering over Tree Hill. The wind was cold, and blowing through the trees. It was thunder season. Brooke and Chase were watching a movie when the first lightning strike happened. A few seconds later, the thunder roared. Brooke shivered and covered herself up with the duvet from her bed. It was a few minutes later when the power went off. "Oh, crap," Brooke said.

The rain was pouring. Brooke ran to get some flashlights she had stored in the cupboards. "Always prepared?" Chase said once she handed him a flashlight.

Brooke sat down next to him. "That's always my motto." Chase's phone vibrated. He picked it up, and smiled. He replied back. "What?" she asked. "Sorry, I don't want to pry."

"No, my friend just texted me. He said that day after tomorrow he's going to Vegas. He wants me to join. Since it's Spring Break…" Chase said.

Brooke cut him off. "For Spring Break, you want to go to Vegas?" she asked in a grossed out tone.

He nodded. "Sorry I don't want to go to Cancun," he said jokingly. "Hey, you know what, you should come!" Brooke shrugged. "C'mon, that'd me fun."

Brooke shook her head. "I'd like it more if you came to Cabo with me, Peyton, Haley, Jake, Nathan, and Lucas. And probably Anna." Chase sighed. "Please! You can invite your friend if you want to!" she said loudly.

Chase exhaled again. "Okay, fine, I will."

Brooke laughed and hugged Chase. "I love you Chase."

They both drank and laughed. They had good conversation, and drank some more. And before anything else, they drank. They kept drinking. They finally felt a little drunk when Chase offered to play strip poker, and Brooke accepted. The only bad thing about this was that Brooke didn't know how to play poker, so they ended up just playing 21. For the first time, Chase won. Brooke laughed and took off a sock. Chase wolf whistled.

An hour later, Chase was in boxers, and Brooke had her bra and underwear on. "I think we should stop playing this," Brooke said. She gulped down the rest of her beer. She got up from the island stool and walked to the fridge to get more beer. She got out another case of six and put it on the island. She opened one for herself, and one for Chase.

He laughed and took a sip. "You want to stop playing, but you want to get drunk?"

Brooke smiled. "I'm not drunk!" she shouted, even though she was.

They ended up in Brooke's bedroom, joking around. Then, they got quiet. And all Brooke could see was an image moving towards her. The next thing she knew, she felt lips on her lips. She didn't want to stop it though. She lifted her hands and held his cheeks, and pulled him. Brooke moved to lie down, and pulled him on top of her.