Thanks for all the reviews! Please continue to review because I've almost got the next chapter written and reviews are great for that last little bit of inspiration...

"Come on Broody, it's going to take us forever at this speed." Brooke moaned, from her place in the passenger seat.

"These are small town roads Brooke, I can't bomb down them at 60, I don't want to get us all killed." Lucas said.

"60 is 'bombing'? God, no wonder we're going so slow, I guess 10 is nice and easy then."

Haley stuck her head between the front seats, watching Brooke and Lucas.

"I am not driving at 10 miles per hour, I'm doing at least...20."

"Wow, really walking on the wild side there," Brooke smirked at his indignant expression, then smiled as she felt the car speed up slightly. "See, I was right, we could go faster."

"Me speeding up has nothing to do with what you said...the road cleared." Lucas gestured to the empty street ahead of him, and grinned at Brooke.

"How convenient."

Haley sat back, a bemused expression on her face, Brooke caught sight of it in the overhead mirror, where she was applying lip gloss. "What's up Hales?"

"Nothing," she wiped the expression of her face, and Brooke shrugged, then smacked her lips together, putting the lid back on her lip gloss. Lucas looked over at her, and she pouted at him and giggled. He smiled back, and Haley eyed the two off them, shaking her head, a knowing smile forming on her own features.

When they arrived at the club, Haley went off to find Nathan, and Brooke and Lucas moved over to the bar to get drinks.

"So, stage one, scan the room, and find your target," Brooke said, handing Lucas his drink.

"Brooke, would you stop making this sound like an SAS espionage mission," he said, laughing.

"No. If we're going to find you a girlfriend, then you have to pick a girl."

"But this is so stupid, I can't just pick a girl out of the crowd to be my girlfriend!"

"Luke, come on, it's fun, just find someone to hook up with and you'll feel so much better. I know this is what you did to get over Peyton, we came to the bar remember!" Brooke was still smiling, but Lucas felt his stomach drop to hear her talk about that, "Hey, that was to get over you," he corrected her, before he could stop himself. He saw her head jerk, looking up and him, 'might as well finish,' he thought, "and it didn't work too well." Brooke opened her mouth but couldn't think what to say, she was about to ask him what he meant when Peyton and Jake came up, Jake clapped Lucas on the back and started talking to him, but he caught Brooke's eye over Jake's shoulder before she was drawn into a hug by Peyton.

Jake, Lucas, Brooke and Peyton made their way over to where Haley and Nathan were standing, and Nathan greeted them all. Jake went off to get more drinks, and Peyton started enquiring Lucas about how Haley's plan was going. Brooke was still trying to catch Lucas' eye, trying to think what he had meant before. He didn't seem to have meant anything though, because he was now talking perfectly normally to Peyton. 'Just forget about it,' Brooke thought, 'you obviously misunderstood something.' She started talking to Haley, trying to persuade her to come and dance.

Lucas talked to Peyton, glancing at Brooke every now and again. Her hair was loose over her bare shoulders, and she was wearing a red top with thin straps, that was just low-cut enough to make a guy look twice without being too slutty. There was about an inch of toned skin between the bottom of her top and the top of her black skirt that was slung low on her hips. He could see a couple of guys standing a little way away from them, checking her out, and felt the familiar feelings of protectiveness he used to get whenever they went to a bar or party when they were dating. Except now he couldn't put his arm round her waist, and have her settle her head against his shoulder, and see the disappointed looks on the guys faces as they saw she was taken.

Peyton noticed that Lucas' eyes were wondering, and tried to see what he was looking at, "have you found a girl you like?" she asked.

"Um, yeah," he answered, his eyes still on Brooke.

"Where, show me," she looked up at him, waiting for him to point someone out. He broke out of his thoughts, and swallowed, quickly pointing out a tall brunette who had just been approached by a guy, "oh never mind, looks like she's taken."

"Oh, well better luck next time." She looked at him for another second, he seemed to be acting a little weirdly, but it was probably nothing, she thought, and went to find Jake.

Lucas let his eyes drift back to Brooke, she seemed to have managed to persuade Haley to dance, and she, Haley and Nathan were now making their way over to a space on the club floor. He watched as her hips instantly started moving in time, and her dark red nails ran through he hair. As Nathan moved closer to Haley, a tall blonde guy moved up to Brooke and a short exchange of words occurred and then his hands were on her hips and Lucas sighed and turned away.

From where he was standing by the bar, talking to Peyton, and trying to avoid being dragged to dance, Jake saw Lucas watching the dance floor, and then turn away. He looked to what he'd been watching, and saw that Brooke was now dancing with some blonde guy. His eyebrows furrowed slightly; something was going on.

Half an hour later Lucas was having more fun. Haley (helped by Nathan) had forcefully pulled him onto the dance floor. He had danced with a couple of girls and had a little more to drink. Jake came up to him and clapped him on the shoulder, "Having fun man?"

"Yeah." He smiled at him and Jake smiled back.

"Peyton sent me to get another round, wanna come?"

"Sure," he followed Jake over to the bar and they stood in the throng of people trying to get the barman's attention.

"Hey broody," Brooke had come up, and leant against the bar next to him.

"Hey cheery, "he replied, nudging her shoulder with his own. She grinned back at him, and then the barman came over and asked her what she'd like. She ordered and he winked at her, "coming right up," she giggled and Lucas shook his head at her ability to instantly get any barman's attention when he and Jake had been standing there for ages. She caught his look and laughed, "hey, if it was a girl, you guys would be first on the list," she shrugged, "bad luck for you that it's barMAN." She received her drink and turned to go, "good luck!" she winked and disappeared into the dancing bodies. Lucas watched her go and Jake noticed, deciding he had to ask.

"So man, what's going on with you and Brooke?"

Lucas looked surprised, and shrugged, "nothing. Why?"

"Because every time I see you you're looking at her." Jake grinned at Lucas' guilty expression. "Do you still like her?"

Lucas sighed, "I don't know. I mean, yeah, I do, I just don't know if I should. Sometimes I feel like she's forgiven me, and she seems like maybe she still feels things too. But then sometimes it's like we're just friends, and she'll never ever let us be anything more."

Jake looked at his friend; man was he in a mess. "Well, do you think maybe..." he paused, unsure whether to go on, "do you maybe it's because Peyton isn't really available anymore?" he felt very uncomfortable talking about his girlfriend like this, he'd talked to Lucas about her before, before he and Peyton got together: he'd wanted to make sure that it was ok with him, but it was always a little weird.

"No." Lucas dismissed it immediately. "I thought about that, whether I was settling for my second choice, but it's definitely not that. I was over Peyton before you got together with her, and seeing you two together is fine. Seeing Brooke and Felix was horrible. And now, watching her with guys here, it hurts way more than I thought it would."

Someone had finally come to take their order, and Jake ordered, leaving Lucas in thought. Jake turned back to him when he was done, and sighed. "Well, it looks like you're a little screwed man."

"I know, and I deserve it right."

Jake shrugged, "I don't know, but, I do know Brooke, and I know you, and you guys aren't over. Just give her time." He gave him a pointed look, and took his drinks, leaving Lucas staring after him.

Lucas was about to leave the bar too when a girl stopped him.

"Hi, um, you've been standing by the bar for like fifteen minutes, and I didn't want to let you go without getting your name." She smiled shyly and Lucas turned back. He caught a glimpse of Brooke on the dance floor, her arms wrapped around some guys neck. 'Just give her time... ok,' he thought.

"I'm Lucas."

"Katie."

Brooke was having fun. Blake (or was it Drake?) was a good dancer, and the she could still taste the cranberry and vodka she'd just had in her mouth. Something was stopping her from being totally happy though. Lucas' words earlier were still in her head: 'that was to get over you, and it didn't work too well.' It had probably just been an idle comment, a joke even. But something about the way he'd said it, and how, when she'd looked up at him, surprised, he been looking straight at her, like he was trying to confirm her thoughts. But so what, right? If Lucas wasn't over her then that was his problem, he was the one who had cheated on her. It wasn't so much Lucas' heart that was bothering her however, as her own. The leap of joy she'd felt inside her when he'd said those words, the warm feeling she felt whenever he looked at her, told he that whether he was over her or not, she definitely wasn't over him. But she had decided months ago, that she would never follow these trains of thought. That she and Lucas were over, she could never trust him again, and they could never go back to how they were. She would just ignore her feelings, after all, wasn't that what Felix had been about? Getting Lucas out of her system, remembering how to feel for other guys, or teaching herself again how to be with a guy when the feelings weren't there. And she had broken up with Felix because she didn't need him anymore. 'That was what you told yourself,' she thought, 'but wasn't it really because of that look, his eyes when he saw you, the way it made you feel.'

FLASHBACK

Brooke and Felix had an arrangement. A kind of 'friends with benefits' system. Brooke had refused to be in a relationship, she didn't think she could keep that façade up every day. They'd been enjoying (well, Felix had) a few of the 'benefits' in Felix's room when the door had opened.

"Oh sorry, Anna told me this was the bathroom...Brooke..."

Lucas was standing in the doorway, his hand still on the handle. Felix rolled off her, "Lucas, dude, get out!"

Brooke pulled the sheet around her, her eyes on his. He looked shocked, but there was something else there, it was like he knew. He could see right into her and he knew what she was doing. And he looked so sad, and sorry that he had driven her to this, like he knew that it was his fault that she was here with some guy who she was trying desperately to create some feelings for.

Still looking at her, he said "sorry," and shut the door.

END FLASHBACK

After that Brooke and Felix had tried going out for a while, seeing as people knew now anyway, but as Brooke had thought, she hadn't been able to do it, and she'd broken up with him soon after.

Brooke looked over Blake's shoulder, and saw Lucas standing by the bar talking to a blonde girl who was running her fingers along his arm. He looked up and to her surprise caught her eye. She stopped herself from looking away, embarrassed and gave him a smile and raised her eyebrows, trying to say 'nice catch'. Lucas smiled back, but it was tight and forced, and she knew he had seen the sadness behind her eyes, and that they were both thinking how wrong this was. That they were on opposite sides of a club with strangers who meant nothing to them, and neither of them could see a way to overcome the barriers to be together.

When Peyton's foot started bleeding from the strappy high heels she was wearing, Jake figured it was time they left. He found Haley and Nathan making out in a corner, and located both Brooke and Lucas on the dance floor. He signalled to Lucas that they were leaving, but he could stay, but Lucas said bye to the girl he was dancing with and came with them anyway. Brooke too seemed to have had enough, and so they all left together, and went to find Lucas' car.

"So looks like you found yourself a girl Luke," Brooke said as they walked out.

"Um...maybe."

"You don't really sound besotted," Haley joked.

Brooke looked up at Lucas, "but you had some fun, right?"

"Yeah," he smiled at her, and put an arm around her and Haley, "thanks guys."

"Your welcome," said Haley, "as long as it helped you forget about Anna."

"What? Oh yeah, Anna, right. Yeah it helped, thanks."

Haley gave him a sideways look, noting the fact that he had obviously totally forgotten about Anna. "Good." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and slipped out of his arm, taking Nathan's hand instead.

With Haley's disappearance Lucas noticed he still had an arm around Brooke. She didn't seem to be going anywhere however and slipped her arm around him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I'm so tired."

He laughed, "I'm not surprised, I've never seen somebody dance so much!" She chuckled.

"So who's..." he caught her other hand and read the name on it (which had a number written below it) "...Drake?"

"Oh," she looked at her hand more closely, "I thought it was Blake." Lucas laughed, and Brooke continued, "Drake's a ducks name, I don't want to go out with a duck."

"Oh well," Lucas shook his head, smiling, "he'll just have to go."

"Yup." Brooke took her arm away from around his waist and rubbed of the number, "bad luck Drake."

She smiled up at Lucas, "so I guess the night wasn't anymore productive for me that it was for you."

"Nope." Their smiles faded and they just looked at each other, Brooke broke it first, resting her head on his shoulder again. He squeezed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head, and they walked together to the car.