Thanks for the reviews, keem 'em coming! This is my favourite chapter so far, I hope you guys agree...

Oh yeah, and I realised I forgot to do this before:

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or any of the characters in it (not even Lucas, it sucks. Oh well, you all share my pain, unless you're a guy, in which case, you don't. Or you do, whatever, either way. ;) )

Brooke woke up the next morning with a light headache, but with a smile on her face. She'd been having a dream about...She shut her eyes and put her hand over them, trying to stop the memory of it returning. She'd been dreaming about Lucas. She couldn't stop the pictures from forming though. It was one of those dreams which seem so real that you're disappointed when you wake up and find it's not true. She'd been at Karen's Café, and was talking to Haley, when Lucas had walked in and given her a kiss. Haley had smiled at them and gone back to work, and they'd had hot chocolate and talked and laughed together. Then he left her with a goodbye kiss, and a promise to see her that night.

Brooke groaned, it had been so perfect...so normal. An now she really, really wanted to see him, except of course they had no plans to meet that night, and she certainly couldn't go to Karen's Café and expect him to be there ready to greet her with a kiss. She buried her head in her pillow. Was she really doing this to herself again? How could she still love him after what he'd done? But like he'd said himself, that was a mistake, one she was almost sure he would never repeat...NO. No, she was not going to set herself up for another heartbreak, he wasn't worth it...

That night Haley had managed to persuade Nathan to have everyone round to his apartment to watch movies. After going out the night before, she had felt like staying in, and had promised to do something with Luke. When Nathan asked what he was supposed to do, she said they could all do something together, but Nathan still found the idea of just him, Lucas and Haley hanging out a little weird, so Haley asked Brooke and Peyton to come along, and Peyton asked if she could bring Jake, so it ended up with all six of them, plus Jenny, squashed into Nate's tiny apartment struggling to find a movie which they all wanted to watch.

"I don't see how anyone can not like 'Bring it on'!" said Brooke, "it's like, the best movie ever."

"It's about cheerleaders!" said Lucas, with a derisive look on his face.

"And what, Mr Scott, is so bad about that?" Brooke raised her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. Nathan fell silent in the middle of scoffing at Tarantino movies to Peyton, to hear how his brother was going to dig himself out of this one.

Lucas paused, "Absolutely nothing. I'm just not sure they're the best centrepiece for a movie. I did not mean in any way to insult them or the wonderful work they do."

Brooke narrowed her eyes. "You're lucky you're pretty," she said, and Haley laughed.

"Okay guys," said Jake, "if we're not going to have Bring it on, or Pulp Fiction, then how about my personal choice, Tomb Raider..."

"NO!" interrupted Peyton, she did not need Jake fantasising about Angelina Jolie for the next two days.

Jake smirked, and continued, "then what are we going to have?"

"What about Secret Window?" suggested Haley.

"Why would we watch that?" asked Nathan, genuinely confused.

"Um, der!" said Brooke, "Johnny Depp!"

"No!" said Nathan, Jake and Lucas simultaneously. The girls all rolled their eyes, and Haley said to Nathan, "don't worry baby, he's got nothing on you." Nathan smiled and Lucas came up behind Brooke, "I'm better than Johnny Depp, right?" he whispered in her ear. Brooke looked over her shoulder at him, and raised her eyebrows as if to say 'are you kidding me?' Lucas looked mock hurt but then she smiled and said, "definitely," winking at him. When Lucas had turned away, satisfied, Peyton raised her eyebrows at Brooke, who shrugged innocently.

"Okay guys, this is getting stupid, why don't we just have a blast from the past," said Jake, who'd being going through all of Nathan's old videos, and was holding up 'American Pie'.

"If we're going to watch American Pie we might as well watch the second one," said Brooke, "it's way better."

"No way, the first was the original!"

"The second was so much funnier."

"The third one just sucked."

Five voices broke out simultaneously pushing their favourite of the trilogy, and Jake shook his head and sighed, walking over to the TV and putting in the video, "We can watch both of them. Come on, otherwise we'll be arguing all night." He took Peyton's hand and sat down in one of the big armchairs, pulling her down to sit on his lap.

"Fine." Brooke pouted, flopping down into the other armchair. Haley and Nathan sat down on the little sofa, and Nathan put his arm round Haley. Lucas was left with nowhere to sit.

"Dude, you need a bigger couch."

"Oh, sorry, um, the floor's pretty comfortable," Nathan said, offering an apologetic smile.

"C'mere," Brooke sighed and stood up, pushing Lucas onto the chair.

"No, I don't want to take your seat," he started to stand up again but Brooke stopped him, "you're not," she smiled and sat down in his lap, settling herself against him. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, and looked up to find the other four all looking at them with raised eyebrows.

"Are we going to start or what?" said Brooke, ignoring their looks, although she was unable to stop the light red tinge in her cheeks.

"Um, yeah, sure," Jake chuckled to himself and turned back to the TV, pressing play.

They were all enjoying the movie, although Lucas had to admit he wasn't really paying much attention. Being in close proximity to Brooke never really aided his concentration, but at the moment it was taking all his self control not to simply pick her up, carry her to Nate's bedroom and get it on with her right then. He wouldn't of course, because that would mean the end of what they were doing right now, and as much as Lucas missed sex with Brooke (and he really, really missed it) the thing he missed the most was this. Just hanging out with her, sitting with her, holding her. The feeling of her body vibrating against his every time she laughed, the smell of her hair which he couldn't quite pin point because she never stuck to one shampoo, the way their fingers were intertwined and her thumbs were rubbing up and down his. He sighed, and held her a little tighter. She turned her head and looked back at him, wondering if something was wrong, but he smiled at her and so she smiled back, then looked back at the screen. She ran a hand through her hair, sweeping it over one shoulder, and pulled the sleeves of her jumper down over her hands, stretching the V neck and exposing the top of her shoulder. She could feel Lucas' warm breath against it, and leant back against him, wriggling back on his lap to get more comfortable. He froze, her movements sending his body into overdrive. She heard his breath catch, and turned, biting her lip, smiling apologetically. "Sorry," she whispered, and he nodded, looking abashed. She moved back, this time lifting herself off him very slightly as she did so, so as not to cause quite so much...friction.

"Brooke, I don't think that's any good for Lucas' blood pressure," Jake said laughing, as he watched Brooke move around from his position across the room. Brooke glared at him, but stopped, and Lucas mouthed "thanks," to Jake, and wrapped his arms firmly round her, so she would keep still.

Brooke awoke to find the credits of American Pie rolling, and Lucas breathing deeply beneath her. Haley and Nathan were asleep on the couch, looking frigging adorable. She saw a figure get up and turn off the TV, plunging them into almost complete darkness.

"Peyt?"

"Oh, I thought you were asleep, everyone looked so cute I was going to find a camera!" Peyton whispered.

"I just woke up, and I'm starving! Do you think Nathan has any food in his fridge?"

"I doubt it," Peyton giggled, "but you never know, come on." She offered Brooke her hand, and pulled her up. Lucas murmured something and both girls froze, but he simply turned his head and stayed asleep.

"Aww, he looks so innocent!" Peyton said, as she began creeping towards the kitchen.

"Yeah." Brooke breathed, and touched his shoulder before following her best friend.

They found that Nathan Scott was most definitely one changed man.

"I can't believe he has Riveta!" laughed Peyton.

"And carrot sticks! And low fat milk! Oh my god, Haley has him so whipped!"

They managed to find some ice cream in the freezer however and sat down at the little table with two spoons.

"So how are you and Jake going?" asked Brooke.

"Really good," Peyton smiled and Brooke's eyes widened, "Oh my god. Peyton Sawyer, did you just go mushy!? What has happened to my best friend? The moody tortured artist? Is she still in there??"

Peyton laughed, "I don't know," she smiled, "and I don't think I miss her!"

"I'm really happy for you Peyt," said Brooke, genuinely.

"Thanks," said Peyton, "and how about you, I feel like we don't talk enough any more."

"Well that's cause you're always with Jake, lover girl!" Brooke laughed, "I've been hanging out with Haley, she and Nathan are past the whole 'have to spend every second with each other thing' so she has time for me!"

"I'm sorry Brooke, really I am, I just..."

"Stop it, come one I'm kidding," Brooke interrupted, "it's great that you guys are going so well, and you know I'll be right here when you're sick of the sight of him and want a girls night out!"

Peyton laughed, "it's so funny that you and Haley are friends now, it's like the most unlikely combination ever!"

"I know," said Brooke, "if you'd asked be last year she would've been the last person I would've guessed I'd be friends with now, but I guess we've both changed a lot in that year."

"You have," said Peyton, looking proudly at her friend, "not to sound all patronising, but you've really grow up Brooke." Brooke smiled shyly, then smirked, "that was totally patronising Peyt!"

"Ah, I'm sorry, never mind, ignore me."

The two girls smiled at each other. Then Peyton narrowed her eyes, "So are you going to tell me or do I have to drag it out of you?"

"Tell you what?" Brooke asked.

"Tell me what's going on with you and Lucas."

"Me and Lucas," Brooke said, like the idea was preposterous, "nothing!"

"Oh come one Brooke! You cannot be serious, there is some serious flirting going on that is what!"

"No way!" Brooke said, but received nothing but a disbelieving look from Peyton, "okay, maybe a little."

"Better than Johnny Depp? And sitting on his lap, and the whole...lapdance thing? And Jake tells me there was some serious eye contact going on yesterday, I would say a LOT!"

"Lapdance thing?? Okay, whatever, maybe there is a noticeable amount of flirting going on, but so what? We're just messing around."

"With you and Lucas it's never just messing around, come on Brooke, tell me what it is. Do you still like him?"

"I don't know, maybe be a little, I'm not sure if I'd say 'like'..." she trailed off, and sighed, finally cracking, "Okay Peyt, you cannot tell anyone okay? I don't know what has been going on the past couple of days, but suddenly I cannot stop thinking about him, it's like when we just broke up all over again and it's driving me insane!"

Peyton looked at her friend seriously, "Are you still in love with him?"

Brooke stayed silent for a minute, and then slowly nodded, she looked so confused and dejected that Peyton couldn't help but go and hug her.

"Oh Brookie, brookie, brookie," she said, shaking her head, "what are we going to do with you."

"Come one Peyt, it's not funny."

"I wasn't laughing,"

"But you're not taking this seriously, I don't know what to do!"

"Okay, I'm sorry, but I don't see the huge problem, you're still in love with him, but here's the thing, he's still in love with you too!"

Brooke looked at her friend uncertainly, "you think?"

"Yes! Brooke we can all see it! Every time he looks at you he smiles, and he jumps at any opportunity to do stuff with you. Like take last week or whenever, when you had to go and get the new books for English from the store room, he volunteered to go with you."

Brooke looked at her oddly, "I haven't noticed all of this," she said slowly.

Peyton paused, "Okay, well, don't get mad, but a couple of weeks ago I was kind of watching him quite closely...trying to sort of...work out if I might still have feelings for him. Which I totally don't, by the way," she added quickly. "It was just that I wanted to be sure, I didn't want to hurt Jake, and I was going to talk to Luke about it, but then you and he were getting on so well again, I didn't want to bring it all up again. I thought I might be getting jealous of you guys, but I wasn't, I realised I was actually rooting for you, so I knew that I was definitely over him. I'm so sorry, I know I shouldn't have even been thinking about him, but I just had to be sure."

"Peyton, it's okay, you guys obviously had something really special and it's fine if there are still some left over feelings there, I'm sure Luke still thinks about you too," Brooke tried not to sound too dejected.

"No, he doesn't," said Peyton, "Brooke, we were both just under the delusion that we'd found something really special with each other, when in fact it was with other people entirely. Jake talked to Lucas before we got together, and Lucas made it clear that he was more than fine with it. I've seen the way he looks at you Brooke, and it's the way he used to look at me, the way Nate looks at Haley, and Jake looks at me," she blushed slightly, "and he knows that this time he's found something that could really work, because you guys had it before, he just didn't realise it then."

Brooke was silent, she was thinking about everything Peyton had said.

"You just have to trust him Brooke, trust him that he'll never make the same mistake twice."

Brooke looked up into Peyton's eyes, and knew that she was right. "Thanks Peyton," she whispered, without having to say how grateful she really was.

Peyton smiled, "That's okay."

Review and you will be rewarded...just as soon as I finish the next chapter.