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The next week of school was difficult, but bearable.

Brooke entered her English classroom one day, to find it almost empty except for Lucas and a couple of girls who were deep in conversation in one corner. Peyton had had to go back for a book, but Brooke hadn't counted on Lucas being in there alone. She hesitated by the door, and then made her way to her old seat next to him, sitting down and flashing him a small smile.

Lucas smiled back, and held up the book they were studying, 'Vanity Fair'.

"Did you finish it?" he asked.

Brooke glanced at him, "Yeah," she replied.

"What did you think?"

"Becky's kind of a bitch."

Lucas laughed, and Brooke smiled too. "I guess I should have identified with her though."

Lucas considered this, "There are certain similarities," he said.

Brooke looked at him sharply.

"Not the bitch thing," he said quickly, "Other stuff…"

Brooke raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah, like what?"

"Well, she knows what she wants; she doesn't apologise for herself…she has a certain way of making people fall at her feet…"

Brooke laughed, and they shared a smile. Other people had started coming into the room, including Peyton, who raised an eyebrow when she saw Brooke and Lucas sitting together but accepted it and sat down.

Lucas was encouraged by the fact that Brooke no longer refused totalk tohim, and they even exchanged a few words the next couple of days, although they usually consisted of 'hey' and 'how are you' to which neither of them answered truthfully.

Brooke was coping better being around Lucas, and was slowly getting used to not being able to turn to him with everything. She still missed him though, and hoped they could rebuild their friendship.

By the next Saturday they had made a little headway, and seemed to have reached some kind of truce in which they were civil to each other without it being awkward; so when Haley came round on Saturday morning asking if Brooke wanted to come down to the Rivercourt with them all, she agreed.

When she pulled up in her car, Nathan and Lucas were already playing a game of one on one, and as she approached them Fergie, Skills and Junk arrived to add to the numbers.

"Damn, it sucks that Jake's not here, we don't have even teams," Fergie said.

Skills elbowed him, Peyton was sitting on the bench, but she appeared not to have heard his comment. She was still a little touchy around the subject of Jake.

"Hey Peyt," Brooke came and sat down next to her, and her friend smiled.

"How are you?" she asked.

Brooke considered this, "Okay actually."

"Yeah?"

"Well…a little better than last Saturday!"

Peyton smiled, "Yeah, me too."

"Tutorwife, get over here," Brooke called Haley over, from where she was chatting to Mouth. They both came over and sat on the bench, and Mouth smiled at Brooke, "Hey, how're you doing? I, er…heard about you and Luke."

"I'm okay," Brooke smiled.

They all watched the guys play, laughing at Mouth's commentary, and chatting amongst themselves.

In the end Nathan and Lucas beat the other three 18-16, and came over triumphantly to sit down.

"It's all that fancy coaching you guys get," Skills complained jokingly, "It ain't fair!"

"Nice one Broody," Brooke smiled at Lucas as he sat down, and he returned it, there was a second of silence as the others watched them, interested, and then talking broke out again.

"So I hear you guys had a tough game yesterday," Fergie said to Lucas and Nathan.

"Yeah it was a close one," Nathan agreed, "But we beat them in the end, with a little help from our cheerleaders of course," he said, nodding to Brooke and Peyton.

"Of course," Brooke agreed, grinning. "We could really use Tutorwife back on the squad though, I swear you were the best sub we ever had."

"Oh no no no!" Haley shook her head, "That was a one time thing!"

"Sure it was, you loved it, admit it! Anyway, we've got that competition coming up again in a couple of weeks...who knows, maybe Theresa will get chickenpox again."

"You can only get chickenpox once Brooke," Peyton said, laughing.

"Whatever."

Haley rolled her eyes, "Anyway even if I wanted to be a cheerleader Tigger, I really don't have the time. Owning an apartment is really time consuming, especcially since somebody never helps out!"

"Hey I do so," Nathan objected, "I...tidy stuff...and, you know, clean..."

Lucas laughed, "Yeah you sound like you really know your household jobs Nathan!"

"I work! That's what I do. I'm the breadwinner."

"I don't think selling pretzles counts as being the breadwinner," Brooke said laughing.

Nathan scowled at her and Haley kissed his cheek, "Yeah, you're right, you're supporting us, putting food on the table!"

"Well technically you actually put the food on the the table, seeing as you cook most of the time," Nathan conceded, and the others laughed.


"Sorry to break up the party, but we gotta go," Haleysaid a little later, andstood up.

"We do?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, do you not remember? We're having lunch with your mom."

"Oh yeah! You're right, sorry guys," he knocked Lucas on the shoulder, and said goodbye to everyone, before following Haley.

"What would I do without you Hales."

"Get a planner," Haley joked, and Nathan laughed and wrapped an arm round her as they went to their car.

The others eventually dispersed too, until only Brooke, Peyton and Lucas were left.

"Well I'm going to go home for lunch," Peyton said finally, "Do you wanna come?" she asked Brooke.

"Um…I'm okay actually," Brooke said, "I think I'll hang out here for a little while," she glanced at Lucas.

"Ok," Peyton looked at them both, "Well, I'll see you later then, bye guys."

Lucas waited till she walked away, and then looked at Brooke. They were sitting on opposite sides of the table, but Brooke was examining her nails. After a moment she looked up, and gave him a small smile.

"How are you?" Lucas asked.

Brooke laughed, "I've been asked that so many times today!"

Lucas chuckled, "And?"

"I'm okay…I guess."

Lucas nodded, "It's been a bit of a weird week, huh."

"Yeah," Brooke nodded, "It has."

There was silence for a second. "It's gonna get better right?" Lucas asked quietly.

Brooke looked up, surprised by his serious, almost scared tone.

"Yes," she said forcefully, "It's gonna get better." He nodded and she hesitated, then slid her hand across the table and took his.

"How's it going working at the café," he asked.

"Really great," she smiled, "Your mom's the best. And it's nice having a little more money for stuff."

"Good. If you ever want a free meal though, you know where to come."

She smiled, "Yeah, thanks Luke."

They talked about the week, catching up with what the other was doing. It felt so good to talk again, that it was only when Lucas noticed his stomach rumbling that they realised they'd been there foralmost an hour.

"I'd better go home," Brooke said, reluctantly.

"Yeah, me too."

They stood up, and Brooke opened her mouth to say something, hesitating slightly, "I'm really glad I hung around," she said finally.

He smiled, "Me too."

She returned his smile, and took a step towards him, standing on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. "I'll see you Broody."

"Soon I hope," he said and she began to turn around.

She looked back over her shoulder, "I've got a shift at the café tomorrow," she said, and then went to her car.

Lucas watched her go. He knew where he'd be eating tomorrow.


That evening Brooke lay on her bed listening to some music. She remembered the time years ago when it would be unthinkable for her to be in on a Saturday night. Now it seemed just as strange to be alone on a Saturday night, and not in Lucas' arms.

She turned her head to look at the pile of photos and other things that reminded her of him that she had taken down from her walls over the last week. There were still a few pictures of them with their friends up on her mirror but the ones of just the two of them now all lay on her bedside table.

She reached out a hand a picked them up, her fingers barely gripping them as she brought them in front of her. She looked through them, the now common feeling of sadness and confusion welling up inside her. She stopped on her favourite. Haley had taken it one evening at her and Nathan's apartment. They had all just been hanging out, and in the photo Brooke was sitting in Lucas' lap, and was talking to Peyton, who was just out of the shot. She was laughing about something, and Lucas was looking down at her, a smile on his face, and his arms wrapped tightly round her.

Brooke was surprised to find herself smiling at the memory; maybe her tears were finally spent.


Brooke had just finished serving a customer when the bell on the door rang, signally someone had just entered. She looked up quickly, but saw it was just an old man. Another waitress showed him to a table, and she went to clear a table.

She wouldn't admit it to herself, but she was half expecting Lucas to come in. For some reason his expression when she'd told him she had a shift had made her think he might come and see her. And even if she was wrong, he often just came by to see his mom anyway…

She shook herself, and carried the dirty plated into the kitchen at the back.

"Is Brooke Davis working today?"

She heard the voice through the door, and groaned; she recognised it all too well, and she really didn't feel like seeing him right now.

'Don't say I'm here,' she silently willed the other waitress.

"Yeah, I think she's just in the back, I'll go get her for you."

Brooke sighed, 'well that worked,' she thought.

"Brooke, there's a really hot guy here to see you," her co-worker came in, looking very excited.

"Thanks Chrissy," Brooke said, with what Christina thought was not nearly enough enthusiasm considering the situation. She went out and approached the counter, "Hi Felix."

"Hey Brooke," he smiled his wide, bright white smile. "How are you," the smile disappeared and was replaced by a look of sincere concern.

"I'm fine, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing…I heard…about Lucas."

Brooke grimaced, "Well I'm okay, thanks."

Felix sat down at the counter, and Brooke gritted her teeth; why wouldn't he just go?

"Look, I know you probably don't want to talk about it right now, but if you ever do…"

She nodded, eager to just get rid of him.

"And I dunno, maybe now…we could be friends."

"Now?"

"Yeah, I mean, I know we never really saw eye to eye about Lucas…"

"Felix I don't know what you think happened, but just becausehe and I aren'tdating anymore it doesn't mean Lucas is totally out of my life. And it doesn't change the fact that I don't really want to be friends with you. I'm sorry, but I just don't think it would work."

Felix looked hurt, but nodded, "Fine. I was just trying to be nice."

Brooke felt bad for a minute, but pushed the feeling away. She had enough to worry about right now.

Suddenly the bell rang again and Lucas walked in. Brooke, having spend most of her shift waiting for this, suddenly didn't want him there. She really hated it whenever he and Felix were in the same room, and what with recent events it was bound to get a little tense.

"Hey Brooke," Lucas smiled at her, and she returned it. Then he caught sight of Felix, and frowned.

"Lucas," said Felix.

Lucas heaved a sigh, "Hey."

Brooke looked down, twisting a ring on her finger.

Felix looked between Brooke and Lucas and sighed, standing up. "I'll see you around Brooke," he said, and left.

"Bye," Brooke said, not really loud enough for him to hear it.

Lucas watched him go and then sat down in his place, unsure whether to ask about his presence or not. Brooke saved him from his dilemma by saying, "He just came for a coffee."

Lucas looked around for his coffee cup, and then looked back at Brooke. She blushed, "He just wanted to see how I was."

Lucas nodded, "It's okay, you don't have to…justify anything."

"No, really! He just kind of showed up. He was only here for a minute." Lucas hated to admit it, but this made him feel much better, he didn't know if he'd be able to stand it if Brooke started seeing someone else.

"Do you want something?" Brooke asked, after a short pause.

"Um, yeah, some coffee would be great, do you want one?"

"Er, I'm not really supposed to, I'm working…"

"I think my mom would let you off," Lucas said.

Brooke smiled, "Okay, thanks." She went over to the coffee machine and began to make them. She could feel Lucas watching her and got a little flustered, hesitating momentarily.

"The instructions are on the bag," Lucas said, chuckling.

Brooke turned, glaring at him, but trying not to laugh at the same time, "I know how to make coffee Lucas."

She made two cups and Lucas paid for them, and she leant against the counter, holding her mug inboth hands, sipping it. Her mind was travelling bag to the first time he had said those words to her, over a year a ago, when they had spent the night watching over Peyton.

She remembered thinking then how amazing he was, how he was the first guy in so long to look at her like she was more than just a body. She glanced across at him, and saw that he too seemed to be deep in thought. She led her mind back to the present; it was always hard thinking of that time without remembering what had come next.

He suddenly seemed to break out of his reverie, and looked up.

"Sorry," he said, "I was just…thinking." 'or remembering,' he added mentally.

"It's okay," she smiled, "I sort of zoned out myself too." They knew they had both been thinking about that first time they had drunk coffee together, when the other was just an exciting new entity creeping into their hearts.

They came back to the present and talked a little about Jake, and when they thought he'd be back.

"How's Peyton dealing with it?" Lucas asked.

"I dunno, I think she's getting better, just, you know…adjusting." She looked down as she said these last words, they hita little close to home.

"She'll pull through," he said.

"Yeah, definitely."

His handshad absent mindedlyfound hers as theywere resting on the counter. He gave one of them a small squeeze, and suddenly noticed her bracelet around her wrist.He ran his fingers over the charms, finding the silver heart.

"You still wear this?"

"Yeah," she smiled, looking down at it, touching the charm lightly. "Once something's on the bracelet I'd never take it off," she looked up at him, and their eyes met.

"Good," he smiled.


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