Sorry it's been a while since I updated this (Happy 2005 btw!), I had a bit of writer's block, but I hope everyone's read the story I've been writing in the mean time 'The Ski Trip'! Here's a new chapter, hope you enjoy it, and the next one should be up pretty soon.
Lucas didn't sleep very well that night, he wished he had stayed with Brooke, or at least, that he hadn't had to leave so quickly, so he could have made sure she was okay.
The next morning he had gotten up, and taken a shower, and had just finished getting dressed when Brooke came through his door.
"Hey, are you okay? I shouldn't have left, I wanted to stay…" he was interrupted by Brooke kissing him hard. He pulled back slightly in surprise.
"I'm fine," she said, giving him a smile to reassure him, but it seemed tight and forced. She placed a hand on his cheek and kissed him again, pressing herself against him. He pulled away again, "What's going on?" he asked.
She stepped back, "I'm trying to make out with my boyfriend," she said, sounded exasperated, "But apparently he doesn't want to, so I'm just gonna go," she turned to leave but Lucas caught her arm.
"Brooke, stop. What happened with your parents? I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Well I'm fine."
"Except you're obviously not."
"Yeah because I'm trying to have a little fun and you're pushing me away!"
Lucas knew her anger wasn't really directed at him, but her cold tone still stung. "Brooke, what happened?"
She didn't answer for a minute, and continued to glare at him, but then her shoulders slumped and she turned away. "Nothing. Nothing happened, I don't know why I expect anything to anymore." She looked utterly defeated, Lucas took a couple of steps towards her, and gathered her in his arms, kissing the top of her head.
"I'm sorry, and I'm sorry I pushed you away."
She brushed off his apology, "It's okay, you were right to," she whispered, then continued, looking up at him, "I just wanted to forget about it, forget they ever came, seeing as they might as well not have," she added bitterly.
He led her to his armchair and sat down, and she curled up in his lap. "There's a part of me that always hopes, whenever they come back, that it'll be for good. That they'll see me and talk to me and want to stay. And my dad will ask me about school, and my mum will ask about cheerleading, and we'll be a family again. But they never do, and I'd pretty much excepted that. But then I was so happy yesterday, and when I saw them, I thought, maybe…maybe everything was finally going right."
A tear slid down her cheek and she hastily wiped it away, Lucas cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.
"I'll get over it," she forced a smile, "I always do."
He smiled sadly back, "You don't always have to be cheery," he said.
She bit her lip, considering this, "I guess you haven't been brooding much lately, maybe we should swap." He chuckled.
"I'm glad you talked to me," he said, after a short pause.
"Me too," she agreed, smiling up at him. He hugged her tightly, "You'll always have me," he whispered against her hair.
They sat for a little longer, until Lucas could tell by Brooke's deep breathing that she'd fallen asleep. He carried her over to his bed, and laid her under the covers, crouching by the bed for a minute, stroking her hair. He'd always envied other kids, who'd had two parents, but now that he thought about Nathan, and his impossible pressure from Dan, and Peyton, losing her Mum, and Brooke, abandoned by her parents, he realised he was very lucky.
"Hey Mum," Lucas said as he entered the kitchen, and began making himself some breakfast.
"Morning," she looked up briefly from her coffee, and continued reading the newspaper.
"Um…just so you know, Brooke's in my room," he said, cautiously.
"Uh huh…" Karen let her answer hang, waiting for an explanation.
"Her parents came home last night, and she was kind off upset about it. She's just sleeping now, but she didn't stay the night or anything," he added quickly.
"That's okay," Karen smiled, "I think I trust you guys to learn from your mistakes," she said, referring to Brooke's pregnancy scare, "And this sounds like you were just being a supportive boyfriend, so in that case it's absolutely fine."
Lucas smiled, "Thanks ma." He took his bowl of cereal to the table, and began eating. Suddenly the door from his room opened, and Haley came into the kitchen, followed by Nathan.
"Did you know there's a Brooke in your bed?" Haley joked as she came in, then she caught sight of Karen, and suddenly looked worried, mouthing 'sorry' to Lucas.
"It's okay Haley, I've already been informed of that," she said, laughing.
"Oh, right," Haley said, looking confused, seating herself at the table next to Lucas. Nathan seemed slightly less at home but sat down next to her and greeted Karen politely.
"Yeah er, her parents came home yesterday and she came over this morning, she was pretty tired so I'm just letting her sleep," Lucas explained briefly.
Nathan nodded, "Are her parents still here? Because they like, never stick around."
"No, they left again," Lucas didn't feel like going into it all. Haley pulled a sympathetic face, and then turned to Lucas, "So you're probably wondering why we're here…"
"Actually considering it's you Hales I'm pretty used to you dropping in," Lucas laughed.
Haley smiled and continued, "Nathan has to go to the mall to buy a present for his mother, who's birthday it is, and I agreed to come, except, as you know, I'm not really a mall person, so we thought we could make it more fun if we all went, so then it wouldn't be a boring shopping trip, it would be…well, a slightly…larger boring shopping trip…" she scratched her head, trailing off.
"What you mean to say," said Lucas, "Is you're both sick of the sight of each other and could use some company!"
"That's about right, man," Nathan laughed. "No it's not!" Haley said, hitting him, "we just thought you might like to join us."
Lucas laughed, "Sure, why not, when Brooke gets up we can all go. Have you asked Jake and Peyton?"
"Well we went round to Jake's on the way and Peyton's car was there but no one answered when we rang the bell, so we figured they were, um…busy," Haley said, eyeing Karen.
"Or getting busy," Nathan muttered, and Haley kicked him under the table.
"Why don't we go watch some TV till she wakes up," Lucas said, laughing. The others agreed and they left the kitchen, leaving Karen still drinking her coffee, shaking her head.
Around ten minutes later Karen was just finishing the paper when Brooke came in, wearing Lucas' Ravens hoody over her clothes, the sleeves pulled down over her hands.
"Good morning Brooke," she said cheerfully.
"Um, good morning," Brooke said, slightly nervously, she hadn't talked to Karen much since she and Lucas had begun going out again.
"Lucas explained that you were here," Karen smiled warmly, setting the girl at her ease, "Would you like some breakfast?" she asked.
"Thanks, I'll just have some juice, um, I can get it," she said quickly, as Karen began to stand up. Karen watched her get a glass from the right cupboard, and pour herself some orange juice, replacing the carton in the fridge in it's original space. Although she knew Brooke was important to Lucas, she had never quite realised how much time Brooke had spent at their house!
"Is Lucas here?" Brooke asked as she sat down.
"He's watching some TV with Haley and Nathan, they all want to go to the mall later."
Brooke nodded slowly.
"So…how often do your parents come back?" Karen asked tentatively, afraid to bring up a subject Brooke was uncomfortable with.
Brooke was silent for a moment and then said, "It varies, usually every couple of months, sometimes more often."
"Do they ever stay long?"
Brooke looked down at her glass, "No."
Karen reached across the table and took Brooke's hand, "We're always here, Lucas and I, if you ever don't want to be at home," she said.
Brooke smiled a genuine smile, "Thanks," she said.
"You know, I remember your mother from high school," she let go off Brooke's hand and began folding up her newspaper, "I was on her cheerleading squad."
"Really? I didn't know that, but I suppose, she knew Dan, so…" she stopped and looked up at Karen.
Karen nodded. "She looked just like you."
"People always tell me we're alike," Brooke said.
"I wouldn't say you were alike in most ways," Karen said, "Appearances can be deceiving."
Brooke considered this, and then said, "Well I think I probably act pretty like her too, or I used to," she scowled, "I mean, she's only a couple of years older than you, so she was pretty young when she had me, and she…she had an abortion before that."
Karen looked quickly at Brooke, "Lucas said…he said you weren't pregnant."
"I wasn't," Brooke said quickly, realising Karen had read too much into what she'd said, "But I could have been." She looked down, "I would never have done that though," she whispered, "I couldn't have done that to Lucas."
Karen rested a hand on her shoulder, "But she obviously realised her mistake," she said, "Because she kept you."
"And now she regrets it," Brooke said, her voice cracking.
"Brooke don't say that," Karen said sharply, "She does not regret it, your parents just…weren't made to be parents. But they are, and one day they'll realise what an amazing daughter they have."
Brooke smiled weakly. She wiped a tear from her sheek and turned away, "Sorry," she muttered, ashamed off falling apart in front of Karen.
"Don't be," Karen said firmly. Shepulled her intoa hug. "You're not your mum,." she whispered.
Brooke felt very comforted by these words, she felt safe being held by Karen, and remembered when she was little and her parents would hug her like this.
"Thanks Karen," she whispered as they broke apart.
"That's okay," Karen smiled, "Now you should go find the others because they've been waiting for you!"
Brooke smiled at Karen and nodded, and left the kitchen.
They pulled up at the mall in Brooke's car half an hour later, and all got out. Lucas, who had been driving, locked it and threw Brooke her keys over the hood, before he joined her and slippped an arm around her shoulders as they walked into the large indoor shopping centre.
They wandered round altogether for a little while, until Brooke spied Victoria's Secret and dragged Haley inside, then firmly told the guys to go somewhere else, winking and hinting that it would be worth their while.
Grinning, Nathan and Lucas headed off to find somewhere they could buy a present for Deb.
"Brooke I'm not getting any lingerie," Haley said stubbornly, as Brooke began looking through the racks, thrusting things into Haley's hand.
"Come one Hales, I'll even buy it for you!"
"I thought you were poor?"
"I'm sure Nathan would pay me back," Brooke said, raising one eyebrow at Hales, "Once he saw you in it!"
"In case you hadn't noticed Brooke, he's poor now too!"
"Whatever! You still have to get something."
Haley looked down at the blue lacy bra Brooke had just given her, it was kind of cute… "Well maybe just one thing," she caved, and headed for the changing rooms.
"That's my girl!" Brooke followed, carrying half the store.
Nathan and Lucas had trailed through half the mall, and had looked in countless stores that left them smelling strongly of soap and perfume, but Nathan had still not found anything for his mum.
"What do you think Haley and Brooke are trying on right now?" Nathan asked, as they ate the hotdogs they'd stopped for.
Lucas paused, thinking happily of Brooke in various different minimalist outfits. "Underwear," he stated, assuredly.
Nathan rolled his eyes, "They went into Victoria's Secret, what else would it be, I meant what kind."
"Actually they sell some other stuff in there too," Lucas said.
Nathan raised his eyebrows, "And how would you know?"
"Oh come one man, like you've never been in there," said Lucas, looking sceptical, "Brooke used to drag me in all the time."
Nathan laughed. "How's it going for you guys," he asked, "second time around?"
"Really good," said Lucas happily.
"And she's…over everything…that happened before?"
Lucas was silent for a minute, "Yeah," he said, slightly hesitantly, "Yeah I think so."
Nathan eyed him, "Just be careful man, okay? Brooke's been messed around with a lot."
"She can trust me," Lucas said defiantly, "I'd never hurt her again."
"I know," said Nathan quickly, "I just hope she knows that."
"Do you think Nathan would like this?" Haley asked, entering Brooke's changing room wearing a dark red bra.
"Now you're talking," Brooke said, "This is much better than the last one, and yes I think he would love it! Here try this one," she handed her another pale pink one, which Haley took and turned to exit the changing room. "Where are you going?" Brooke asked, "You can try it on here."
"Yeah…I'm not big on the whole, bearing my boobs thing." Haley said.
"Oh come on, we're practically sisters!"
"Walk me through how that one works?" said Haley, laughing.
Brooke sighed, "You're married to Nathan, Nathan is Lucas' brother, and I'm dating Lucas," she explained, as if ot were obvious.
"And that means I should be able to change in front of you?"
"Well duh!"
Haley just laughed, and exited the room, ignoring Brooke's call of "Prude!"
They guys had almost given up when Nathan spotted an antiques shop which had some beautiful candlesticks in the window. He and Lucas went inside to ask about the price, and found to their relief that it was just inside his budget. While Nathan was paying for them Lucas wandered round the shop, looking at all the old bits of furniture and jewellery.
"Hey man, are you coming?" Nathan asked, standing by the door with his bag.
"Yeah, just give me a second," Lucas had just spied something…
"Okay, I'm gonna get the dark red one and the blue one," Haley said, having finally made a decision.
"Cool, and I'm gonna get these," Brooke held a stunning dark magenta set of underwear, "Which I think Lucas will really like, if I ever get a chance to wear them," she added.
"You guys still haven't done it again?" Haley asked, as they approached the till.
Brooke gave her a sideways look, "No, we were thwarted yesterday by my parents coming back." Haley looked sympathetic, "That sucks."
"Oh well," said Brooke, "It kind of builds up the anticipation."
"Which also means it gotta be really, really good otherwise your both just going to be disappointed."
Brooke laughed, "I don't think we need to worry about that!"
"Okay, too much information!"
They left the store laughing, their bags swinging by their sides.
The guys and girls met up again, and walked back through the mall, talking and joking, before they all went back to the car. Lucas dropped of Nathan and Haley at their apartment, before he and Brooke went back to her house.
She opened the door and he followed her into the kitchen, where she began making a drink for herself.
"Hey, I got something for you," he said.
"Really?" her face lit up.
"Yup," he took a small package out of his pocket, and approached Brooke, who set her drink behind her and took it.
"What is it?" she asked.
He rolled his eyes, "It's a surprise."
She smiled and carefully unwrapped it, revealing a small silver heart charm, engraved with a 'B'.
"Oh my god Lucas, it's beautiful," she breathed.
"I thought you should fill up your bracelet," he said, "I saw it in this little antique store and had it engraved."
She looked up at him, overwhelmed by his thoughtfulness. "You're so sweet," she said, and placed one hand on his cheek, kissing him softly on the lips. He smiled as he watched her attach it to the bracelet, then turn her wrist around, admiring all the complete links.
"I love it," she said.
He kissed her, more passionately, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and got lost in his mouth. When they broke apart he looked into her eyes."I love you," he whispered.
A smile spread across her face, "I love you too," she said back, and then kissed him again.
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