Thank you for all the reviews! Glad to see people are sticking with this story, I promise you won't regret it (although I'm afraid that doesn't mean this chapter gets any happier!)


Brooke woke up, slowly opening her eyes and staring at the ceiling. She sighed, and then turned her head to the side, looking at the empty space beside her. She curled up, pulling the covers under her chin, and closed her eyes again. She wanted to fall back asleep, so she wouldn't have to go to school and face everyone…and Lucas.

Just the thought of seeing him and not following it by jumping into his arms caused tears to form behind her eyes. She squeezed them tighter. She wanted to be in his arms again so much, but the more she wanted it the more scared it made her of losing him again, and she couldn't face that right now. She couldn't shake off the memories of her heartbreak. She had made the right choice, she was sure of that…she just wished sticking to it wasn't so hard.

She had spent the weekend with Peyton. At first Peyton had been mortified when she heard that Brooke had broken up with Lucas; she was sure that it was her fault. Although indirectly it was, Brooke reassured her that she should not feel bad about it, that it had been her decision, and that it had not really had anything to do with the other day. She didn't want Peyton to be worrying about any more right then than she had too; she was still suffering from Jake's departure.

They had watched some old movies, and mostly just stayed at home, too drained and upset to do much else. Haley dropped by for a little, Brooke resisted the urge to ask her how Luke was doing, and Haley hadn't told her anything. She had said that it was Brooke's decision, and she understood how she felt, but she had looked a little disappointed.

Her alarm clock went off again, and she hit the snooze button for the fourth time. Summoning all her resolve, she finally threw back the covers, and sat up. She wandered over to her wardrobe and pulled out some random clothes, heading into her bathroom to take a shower.


"Luke?" Haley's voice came into Lucas' room, and he came out of the bathroom.

"Hales? Hi, where's Nathan?"

"Well I figured he could get to school on his own today. I thought my best friend on the other hand might need a little encouragement." She gave him a small smile.

"Yeah…I was sort of debating whether to go."

"Which is why I'm here. Luke, you know it's not going to get easier anytime soon. You just have to get through these days."

Lucas sighed. "You're right, of course. I just…I don't know if I can take seeing her. And everyone's going to be hanging out together and it'll just be…really weird."

Haley looked sympathetic. "I know. But you still have to go. And you never know, you might not even see her."

Lucas looked sceptical.

"Ok, so you probably will," she conceded, "But I'll try to make it as easy on you as possible."

"Fine, I'm coming," Lucas finally relented. He followed Haley out the door to his car, praying that this day would be over soon.


Brooke got her books out of her locker, cautiously looking round for Lucas, not sure whether she wanted to see him or not. Peyton approached her.

"Hey, I wasn't sure if I was gonna see you today," she said.

"Yeah, well I wasn't sure if I was going to be here," Brooke replied.

"Have you seen him yet?" Peyton asked.

Brooke shook her head. "Are you okay?" she asked, changing the subject, "Being here without Jake?"

Peyton shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest, "I guess. It's hard, but I know I just have to get through it." Brooke nodded, linking arms with her as they made their way down the hall.

"Do you think I'll be able to be friends with him?" Brooke asked quietly, after a few minutes of silence.

Peyton hesitated, unsure what to say. "I think so," she replied after a short pause, "It's just…last time you guys were friends you flirted more than most couples. And you ended up dating. It might take a while for you to get used to the 'just friends' thing for real."

Brooke considered her words, nodding vaguely. "God this day's going to be hard," she said finally.

It wasn't until fourth period that she saw him. Turning into a corridor on her way to English with Peyton, he was suddenly right there at the other end of it. She stopped dead, and he did the same. He looked exactly as he had on Friday, yet so much had changed. He was in his grey hoody, which she had worn countless times, and although she could not see it she knew there would still be the LB in a heart scrawled on his folder.

They had been in those exact spots many times before, and normally would keep walking and then head into the class together to take their usual seats next to each other. But today they did not. Peyton gently pulled Brooke's arm, and they continued walking, entering the classroom while Lucas stood in the hallway. Brooke used all her will not to look over her shoulder, and when he came in a few minutes later and took a seat on the other side of the room, he did not look at her either.


Practice that day was more than a little awkward. All the cheerleaders could tell that their captain was distracted, and even the ones who hadn't yet heard of her break up with Lucas had a good idea of what it might be. She kept glancing over at the basketball players, or forgetting what she was saying. Brooke was usually very focused in practice, keeping the rest of the team going. Even when she was flirting with Lucas across the gym she kept her head on her squad, but today they could tell her heart wasn't in it.

After practice Brooke waited in the gym as the others left. Peyton came up, "Are you going to try and talk to him?" she asked.

Brooke nodded, feeling too nervous to speak.

"Good luck," Peyton smiled, "I'll call you later, ok?"

"Thanks, bye Pey."

Eventually Whitey let the team go too, and they all headed off to the locker room. Lucas had seen Brooke stay behind, because he too had had an eye on her during practice, and he braced himself to talk to her.

"Lucas," she asked tentatively, approaching him as he passed her.

He turned, "What?" he asked, not unpleasantly but not with the usual soft tone he saved just for her either.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

He sighed and nodded, and they waited for everyone else to leave so they would have a little privacy. Whitey was the last to go, and he glanced back at them as he did so. He didn't want to get involved with the mess that was his players' love-lives, but he hoped that they could sort this one out so his star shooting guard would get his head back in the game.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Lucas asked.

Brooke hesitated, she found it hard to get over his cold tone, but she guessed she should have expected it.

"I just wanted to see how you were," she said quietly. "We've kind of been avoiding each other all day."

"You wanted to see how I am?" Lucas asked, incredulously. "I'm just great Brooke! The girl I love broke up with me for no apparent reason the other day, but I'm swell!"

"Luke, that's not fair! I explained it to you, you said you understood."

"Yeah I did, but now after today I don't. How can you think this is a good idea? This day has been hell Brooke and you know it. I love you Brooke, and I know you love me too. So why can't we be together?"

"Because it's too soon! I'm not over what happened and I'm afraid of getting hurt again. It's not fair to you for me to be constantly burying my feelings about that."

"Not fair to me? What's not fair for me is that three days ago I was the happiest I'd ever been and now suddenly everything's been taken away!" Lucas was almost shouting now and Brooke stepped back, feeling tears start to form behind her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she choked, "I'm so so sorry, but I really think this will be better. Please understand…" she trailed off as the tears started to fall. Lucas had been about to interrupt, but now he stopped. He watched her cry, silently pleading with him to forgive her. He felt more conflicted than ever. Part of him wanted to take her in his arms and make it all go away. Apologise for everything he'd said, brush away her tears and say she could have as much time as she needed. But then he remembered that she had been the one to stop him from doing that. She broke things of, so why should he comfort her when she had caused them both so much pain? He knew if he stayed any longer he would give in to her, and give her whatever she wanted, but he wasn't quite ready to forgive her yet.

"I can't do this now," he said, his eyes weary and sad. She watched him turn and walk away, the tears still running down her cheeks.

Lucas got in his car and drove, still fuming. But as his anger subsided it was replaced by a great sadness, and worse, a strong sense of guilt. He had made her cry. He had promised he would never do that again, and now he had.

He drove to his Mom's café, and approached Haley, who was working behind the counter.

"Hey," she said when she saw him, "How'd it go with Brooke?"

He didn't say anything but sat down, resting his head in his hands.

"That bad, huh?"

He looked up, and gave a small nod. "I think I blew it."

Haley groaned, "Luke, what'd you do?"

"I got a little angry. I know!" he exclaimed, seeing her expression, "I had no right to, and now I feel awful. I just…I can't believe she did this."

"Lucas you can't take time to get your head around this. The fact is, she's not ready to be with you yet, because of something you did," she reminded him, "So you just have to be patient and understanding because you already had your turn at screwing up."

Lucas sighed, "I know. It's just…I thought we were past all that. That finally, we had moved on. I guess I just didn't expect it all to come up again, so I'm not reacting too well."

"You were past it Luke, of course you were. The sooner you could forget about it the better as far as you were concerned. And I'm not surprised, no one wants to remember their mistakes. But it's harder to forget about stuff like that when you're on the receiving end."

"What am I going to do?" Lucas asked.

"Well first you've got to fix what you just did. And then you can think about making up for your past mistakes."

He nodded glumly. He knew that was easier said than done.


The next couple of days were very awkward. Peyton had called Brooke that night and Brooke told her what happened, and next day at school Lucas found that neither of the girls were talking to him. He had been hoping Peyton might help him in getting Brooke to talk to him so he could apologise, but it seemed his outburst had made him a few enemies.

In lessons Brooke acted like he wasn't there, and the group split at lunch so they didn't have to sit together. Nathan and Haley were having a rough time trying to help their friends. While Haley felt her loyalty should be to Lucas, she didn't want to lose Brooke, since she really valued the friendship they had formed over the past year. Nathan too was split between one of his oldest friends, who he looked out for like a sister, and his brother, who was also now one of his closest friends.


"Are you ever going to talk to him?" Peyton asked Brooke tentatively one lunch, when they were in the library catching up on some homework.

Brooke looked up and frowned. "I just can't right now Pey. Whenever I do I get so confused. Anyway we'd probably only end up screaming at each other like last time."

"Hey, he's sorry for that, you know he is."

Brooke conceded, Haley had told them Lucas had regretted his outburst, but Brooke hadn't wanted to hear anything else about what he was feeling. It made her feel horrible for causing him so much pain.

"Maybe…maybe if you just start hanging out with the group again. Just get used to being around him again, and then gradually it'll get better," Peyton suggested.

Brooke considered it, "Yeah, maybe."

So the next day at lunch Peyton and Brooke sat down where Haley, Nathan and Lucas were eating. Lucas looked up, but Brooke refused to catch his eye.

"Hey guys," Haley said, trying to sound normal.

"Hey," Peyton said, a little too cheerily. Brooke gave Nathan and Haley a small smile. She ate mostly in silence, listening to Peyton and Haley talk. After a while Nathan nudged her foot under the table. She looked up.

'You okay?' he mouthed.

She nodded slightly.

"Want a chip?" he asked, holding one out to her. She smiled properly for the first time in almost a week, and took it from him. Trust Nathan to ignore all the crap going on and cheer her up.

"Thanks," she said. She glanced over at Lucas, and he caught her eye. She held it for a second, and then looked down.

"Brooke!"

Peyton and Brooke had gone to stash their trays, and now turned to see Lucas behind them. Peyton glanced at Brooke, who was looking anywhere but at Lucas.

"Um, I'll see you later," Peyton said, and left.

"Can we talk?" Lucas asked.

Brooke sighed and looked up, "I don't know Lucas. I don't think…"

"I wanted to apologise about Monday, I shouldn't have…" he was interrupted by the bell for afternoon lessons. He ignored it and carried on but Brooke took a couple of steps back.

"I'm sorry, I've gotta go," she turned quickly and left, leaving him standing watching her retreating figure.

Brooke and Haley both had a shift at Karen's the next day. Brooke had been trying to avoid Lucas as much as possible while she was there, and Karen had been very understanding when she'd heard what had happened, and had warned Lucas to give her a little space.

But now Brooke had just finished serving someone their coffee at the counter when Lucas and Nathan walked through the door.

They approached the counter and sat down, and Haley came over to say hi, and give Nathan a kiss. Lucas watched Brooke as she continued to wipe the surface.

"Do you want anything?" she murmured after a minute.

There was a pause while Nathan waited for Lucas to answer, and then he said, "Yeah, I'll have a coffee."

Brooke nodded and continued to look at Lucas, "Lucas, how about you?" she asked.

He looked up, amazed that she'd asked. "Um…I'll have the same," he said. He hadn't realised how much he had missed just the sound of her saying his name.

Brooke prepared the drinks, and Haley exchanged a look with the two boys.

The girls continued working as the guys drank their coffee and talked, Lucas' eyes following Brooke around the café.

After a while Brooke came back to the counter, and started to undo her apron.

"Are you off?" Haley asked, as she came past with a stack of plates.

"Yeah," Brooke replied, "I'm gonna go over to Peyton's and take a shower."

Haley came back out of the kitchen, "Is your water still not fixed?" she asked.

"Nope. I called the guy and apparently it'll take an extortionate amount of money, so I guess it'll be cold showers until my parents decide to give me next months allowance."

"Your water's broken?" Lucas asked, overhearing the conversation.

The two girls turned, "Um, yeah," Brooke said.

"I can fix it if you like," he offered.

Brooke hesitated.

"Keith taught me how to do all that kind of stuff, and Mom's had pretty much every plumbing problem ever here."

"Are you sure?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah."

"You know I can't pay you?"

Lucas didn't even bother replying, he just gave her a look. "When do you want me to do it?"

"Um…tomorrow?" Brooke suggested.

"Sure."

She looked at him, "Thanks Lucas," she said, and he gave her a small smile. She said goodbye to Haley and Nathan, and left.


Lucas rang the bell and waited anxiously outside the door. He really hoped that Brooke would be in a good mood, and that she'd talked to him. He wanted more than anything just to apologise so they could try to be friends again.

The door was opened by Brooke, clad in a shrunken red hoody that showed of a couple of inches of her tanned, flat stomach. She wasn't wearing anything on her feet and her red-varnished toes were poking out from the bottom of her dark grey sweatpants.

"Come in," she said, and he awkwardly moved past her, before she shut the door behind him.

"Umm, the bathroom's this way," she pointed and he looked at her, trying to get her to break her cold façade.

She looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "Whatever, you know the way," she muttered, and turned to go upstairs.

He sighed and made his way down the hall.

Around half an hour later he was doing pretty well with the plumbing, when the door of the bathroom opened, and Brooke came in.

"Um...do you want anything to drink? I was going to make some coffee," she said, half to him and half to the floor.

He looked up, "That would be great, thanks," he said gently, praying she would stay and talk to him.

She didn't though; she just nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

Brooke had had to get out of there. She wasn't sure why she had come downstairs in the first place. She just couldn't stop herself. She didn't know what it was she wanted him to say; she'd been the one who'd broken it off, and she knew she'd made the right decision. But also, she couldn't get him out off her head, and the thought of sitting upstairs in her room, while he was downstairs, and then him finishing, and leaving, and them never talking again, was too horrible a prospect for her to do nothing. But she couldn't do something either.

Being around him made her too upset, and the thought of never seeing him again almost killed her. And a very dishevelled Lucas standing in her bathroom holding a spanner in a tight white T-shirt did not help her in any way sort out her feelings. So she'd left, and now she was making some very strong coffee for herself…and him, and wondering what on earth she was going to do when she went back in there.

Brooke came back with the coffee a few minutes later. Lucas took the cup she held out to him, and smiled inwardly to see she had already added milk for it. Hers was black, and he knew there'd be two spoonfuls of sugar stirred into it. She hovered just inside the door, and sipped her drink. He put down the wrench he was holding and turned to face her.

"How are you?"

"Fine," she said, in a tone that told him she was anything but.

"Brooke, I wanted to say I'm sorry, for how I reacted. I was upset and it wasn't fair what I said. I wrecked everything before and I shouldn't have expected you to be able to get over that so quickly."

Brooke placed her cup on one of the bathroom counters, and pulled the sleeves of her jumper down as she did when she was nervous. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out, instead she just nodded slightly.

Lucas continued, "I know you need time, but I was hoping that maybe in between we could go back to how we were, to being friends."

Brooke bit her lip, and he could see that her eyes were glazed with tears. "It's too hard Luke," she said, "I can't do it, I'm sorry…" she trailed off as her voice began to break.

"Brooke, you can't lose me as your friend, you don't have to be scared of that because I can't hurt you as your friend. So why can't we go back to how we were? I want you in my life Brooke."

"No, you don't understand. It's too hard to be around you! There's too many…feelings, and it drives me crazy that I can't be with you, but I know that it won't work, it's all…too…hard," tears were streaming down her face and Lucas took a step towards her and pulled her into his arms. He kissed the top of her head and she buried it into his chest, soaking his T-shirt.

Brooke felt his arms around her and let herself sink into him, but then she stopped herself and pulled away, wiping away her tears furiously.

"No, see that's what I mean! When I'm with you I just want to forget about everything that happened and pretend it'll all be ok; but I can't keep doing that to you because it's not ok, not yet," she leant her head back against the bathroom wall and sighed.

She looked at him again, and said, more calmly now, "last time we became friends again Luke I let myself fall back in love with you. And I can't do that again. I want us to be friends, I do, I just can't right now. I'm sorry," she said, and she left.

Lucas watched her go, his eyes filled with sadness.

When her pipes were fixed Lucas put away his tools, and carried the two coffee cups from the bathroom into the kitchen, and put them in the dishwasher. He made his way to the door and found Brooke standing on the stairs, a few steps from the bottom. She didn't come down any further, but gave him a small smile.

"Thanks."

He nodded, "no problem." He sighed and turned, opening the door.

"Broody?"

He turned, surprised at the sound of his nickname. She was biting her lip again.

"I just need some time."

He smiled, "You can have as much as you need."


Hope you all enjoyed that, you know what to do!