Everyone was in the gym, for basketball and cheerleading practice.
"Hey, is Brooke Davis still going out with Lucas?"
Kenny, one of the guys on the basketball team, looked up at his friend Josh, who had asked the question. "No, they broke up. How did you not know that?"
"Well that's what I heard, but…" he nodded his head towards the other end of the gym and Kenny looked over. Lucas was standing there talking to Brooke, who appeared to be moaning about something he was saying and was tugging on the front of his T-shirt.
Kenny shrugged, "They're still friends I guess, but they've definitely broken up. Anyway, come on, it's Brooke, she flirts with everyone!"
Josh looked at him, "Not anymore." He had always enjoyed Brooke's open nature; there was nothing like a wink from Brooke Davis as a pick me up in a long school day, but she never did that anymore…except to Lucas.
"So she's single?" he asked.
"Yeah I guess…although you might want to wait a while, you don't want to piss off Lucas."
Josh watched as Lucas laughed at something Brooke was saying, and then pulled her into a one armed hug before jogging over to the others.
Brooke watched him and, sure enough, winked at him when he looked back at her, before going to join her squad.
"Well…we'll see," Josh said, before Whitey got everyone started on a practice.
"Hey, Brooke!"
Brooke turned to find Josh, one of the guys on the basketball team, jogging towards her.
"Hey Josh."
"Hey, um, I was wondering if you'd want to go out with me sometime?"
Brooke was taken aback by his question. She hadn't really thought about dating other guys yet.
"Er…I'm not sure if…"
"I totally understand if you don't want to or anything. I mean, I know about you and Lucas. But it would just be for fun, nothing serious."
Brooke hesitated, "Can I think about it?" she asked.
"Sure," Josh smiled, "Let me give you my number and you can give me a call…or not, whatever you want."
"Okay," Brooke nodded and he wrote his number on her hand. "I'll see you around," he said, she and went to her car, deep in thought.
Brooke was working a shift at the café with Haley that afternoon.
"Brooke, what's up?" Haley asked after a while, when Brooke had been wiping the same table for five minutes.
"What?" Brooke asked. Haley nodded at the table, which was gleaming so much she could see her reflection in it.
"Oh, sorry! I guess I'm a little preoccupied."
"With what?"
Brooke came over to the counter and put down her cloth, hesitating. "A guy asked me out today," she said finally.
Haley's eyebrows raised, "I see. Well…do you want to go out with him?"
"Normally…yeah. I mean he's one of the few good looking guys in this school who aren't total jerks. I used to kinda like him…but now…"
"There's Lucas."
"Yeah. To be honest, I never really thought I would date other guys while we weren't together. But then…I didn't really know how long we were going to be apart for. And I still don't. Now I think…maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to see someone else for a bit."
Haley nodded slowly, "Maybe. But do you think it's too soon? I mean, it's been what, two weeks?"
"Yeah, a little more."
"And this isn't just because you want to have sex, right?" Haley asked.
"No!" Brooke laughed. "I think it really might help. I can get over everything that happened before properly…and thenLucas and I...can have a new start."
"I understand. It would help you to get past everything, and it might give you some closure. But it's pretty unfair on this other guy…I mean, you'd just be using him until you wanted to be with Luke again."
"No I wouldn't. Anyway it's not like I'm just wasting time till I get back with Luke. That might never happen, I'm still getting over everything and I want to make sure if we're really right for each other."
Haley ignored her scepticism about Brooke's comment, there was no way Brooke and Lucas would be apart for ever. "But do you think it's fair on this guy?"
"He said it wouldn't be anything serious. I'm just worried about what Lucas will say."
Both girls were silent for a second, musing.
"Talk to him," Haley said finally, "Just tell him how you're feeling."
Brooke nodded, "Yeah."
Brooke spent the next day trying to find an opportunity to talk to Lucas. She saw him a couple of times, and they chatted a bit, but she could never quite work up the courage to talk to him about what she really wanted to say.
She came into English and sat down next to him. They only had a few minutes but she might be able to talk to him now.
He caught sight of her face, "What's up?" he asked, a little concerned.
"Um…nothing," she just couldn't bring it up right then.
"Brooke…" he said, knowing something was distracting her.
"Seriously, it's nothing."
"You seem to forget that I know you. Something is up."
She smiled, "I'll tell you about it later."
He pouted, "Tell me now."
She shook her head, grinning at his face. He raised an eyebrow, and then reached forward, tickling her.
She laughedand grabbed his wrists, stopping him. There's eyes met for a second and a flicker of electricity ran through them. She dropped his wrists as the teacher came in, and they both faced the front.
Lucas gave her a sideways look, and she caught a glimpse of his grin before he looked away again.
Brooke sighed. Despite her denying what Haley had said earlier about sex, it was still a slight factor. She would suggest a no strings attached night with Lucas, if it wasn't totally inappropriate and cause masses of emotional fall-out. Itwould release a little of the tension that had been building recently though!
Eventually she gave up trying to talk to him between lessons and decided to see him after school. She got out of her car at the Rivercourt and saw Lucas shooting hoops. When she'd found his house empty she'd guessed he'd be here, and was glad to find him on his own.
He tried a three pointer and made, and she caught the ball as it came threw and bounced it as she made her way over to him.
He smiled at her, and knocked the ball out of her hands when she was close enough. She pouted as he held it in his hands, and he grinned.
"What's up?" he asked, as they made their way over to the bench, and Lucas set the ball on the table. They sat side by side and heclapped a hand on her knee.
"Um…I wanted to talk to you."
"Oh yeah? About what?"
She was silent for a second, and Lucas watched her. "A guy…asked me out the other day."
Lucas' heart dropped, "Oh," he said.
Brooke glanced at his face, "And I just wanted to talk about…some stuff to do with…that."
"Oh," he said again. He swallowed. "Well, do you want to go out with him?"
Brooke was silent for a moment. "I'm not sure."
"What do you want me to say?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know. Would you be okay with that?" she asked, equally quietly.
"Brooke…I can't say I would like it but it's not my decision, it's none of my business."
"Lucas don't say that. I'm here because I still care about you…a lot. And I would never do anything that would hurt you. Don't make it seem like your nothing to do with me."
Lucas was slightly encouraged by her words, but still couldn't really understand why she would want this if she cared about him so much.
"I think it might help," Brooke said, "It might help me to…to just get past everything. And then maybe we…" she didn't finish the sentence, but they both knew what she meant. Lucas hoped every day that they would still be together again one day.
"Ok."
"Okay? Because I can wait, if it's too soon…"
"No, it's okay. If you think it'll help."
She took his hand and held it in both of her own. "Okay," she said, and kissed him on the cheek.
They stayed talking for a little longer, and then both decided they should go home. They stood up and Lucas pulled Brooke into a hug. He breathed in the scent of her hair and she buried her head into her shoulder. She wanted so much to tell him that he had nothing to worry about, that this wouldn't change anything between them, and that they would be together again one day. But she didn't, because she wasn't completely sure she'd be telling the truth.
Brooke talked to Josh before practice the next day and they agreed to go to a movie on Friday night. Brooke was glad he hadn't suggested a party or something, she didn't think she could handle being with someone else in front of Lucas quite yet.
Brooke and Peyton were talking afterwards when Lucas came up.
"Hey," they both greeted him. Josh walked past at that moment and smiled at Brooke. She gave him a weak smile; Lucas looked round to see what who she was looking at and Brooke saw his jaw tighten.
Peyton shifted her weight silently, sensing the tension.
Brooke bit her lip but Lucas gave her an encouraging smile, "See you tomorrow." He left the gym, both girls watching him go.
"So…how's he taking it?" Peyton asked when he'd gone.
Brooke sighed, "Okay."
"Really?" Peyton gave her a sideways look.
"I mean, it's going to be hard…but I think he understands."
"And you're sure about this?" While Haley had been mostly on board with the idea, Peyton had been quite open about the fact she thought Brooke dating again was a bad idea.
"Yes. I just need closure Peyt."
She shrugged, "Okay, if it's what you want."
Brooke was silent as she walked to her car. She couldn't say this was what she wanted. But she knew it would be for the better in the end.
Josh picked Brooke up right on time on friday and they drove to the movie theatre. Brooke tried to stop herself from immediately comparing him with Lucas, but she did note that he didn't do Lucas' thing of arriving early so he could talk to her while she finished getting ready (this had resulted in them never leaving her bedroom on a number of dates). She was glad of this however as she thought it would be a little more awkward than when Lucas did it.
He bought her popcorn, put his arm round her in the movie, whispered jokes to her about the actors, didn't try anything, and was generally a perfect gentleman.
Brooke seemed to enjoy herself, but Josh could tell that her heart wasn't in it. It would just take time though, right? First date after a break-up is always tough, although he had to admit it never seemed to have affected Brooke Davis before…apart from the last time she broke up with Lucas…
When they got back to Brooke's house after dinner she thanked him, and he kissed her on the cheek. She went inside and he drove away. She was left feeling empty and alone.
Before she had really thought about it, she had picked up the phone and dialled a number…
There was a knock on Lucas' door.
"Finally," he muttered, going to open it, "Took you guys long enough!"
"Sorry, sorry," Haley came in, followed by Nathan, "We got a little held up."
Lucas narrowed his eyes, and Haley saw, "Not like that! There was traffic."
"Sure there was."
"We brought some movies, and popcorn," Nathan said.
It was Friday night, and Haley had suggested they reinstate their movie night to keep Lucas' mind of other things. They went into the living room and Nathan went to put the popcorn in the microwave.
"So?" Haley asked, "How are you?"
"I'm fine," Lucas said, faking a confused look, "Why wouldn't I be?"
Haley gave him a look, and Lucas conceded, "Yeah okay. But really, I'm okay."
"If you're sure…but if you want to talk about it…"
"I thought the point of this was for me to not think about it."
Haley laughed, "Yeah, you're right. But really the point of this is so I can spend some time with my best friend."
"Cause we really haven't been spending any time together lately," Lucas said sarcastically. Haley have him a look, "Come one Hales, you see me more than your husband right now!"
Haley laughed, "I guess we have been spending a lot of time together since you and Brooke broke up." She stopped, hesitating awkwardly.
"You don't have to feel uncomfortable every time you bring it up," Lucas said, "I think about her all the time anyway," he added, muttering.
Haley looked at him sadly, and was about to say something, when Nathan came in with the popcorn. "Are we ready?" he asked.
"Yeah," Lucas said enthusiastically, sitting down on the sofa. Haley hesitated but sat down too, in between Nathan and Lucas, and they started the movie.
Lucas found his mind wandering a little as they watched. He wondered if, at that minute, Brooke was making out with Josh in the back rowof some chick flick. He found he couldn't think about it. Maybe she was right though, maybe a bit of space really would help them.
...Brooke dialled the number, and waited.
"Hello?"
She hesitated, "Hey broody."
"Brooke? What's up, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm at home."
"Aren't you meant to be…"
"He just dropped me back," she interrupted, leaving it at that.
"Oh…well what's up."
"Um…I just sort of wanted to talk to someone…" she heard a voice in the background. "Is that Hales?"
"Yeah she's here with Nathan, we're watching a movie."
"Oh…" Brooke hesitated for a second, "Can I come over?"
Lucas was surprised by the request, but he couldn't say he wasn't a little pleased, "Yeah sure, do you want me to pick you up?"
"No it's okay, I'll be there in a minute…thanks Lucas."
"Sure, see you soon."
"Bye." She hung up. What had she just done? She had gone on a date to get over her boyfriend and now she was ending up at said boyfriend's house…well no one ever said she played by the rules!
"Who was that?" Haley asked, when Lucas hung up the phone.
"Um…Brooke. She's coming over."
Nathan turned to look at him, eyebrows raised, Haley nodded slowly, very confused. "Okay…do you want us to leave?"
"No, it's fine. She's just gonna come watch the movie."
The other two shared a look. Lucas rolled his eyes and went to get more popcorn.
Brooke came in a little later, not having bothered to knock. "Hey guys," she said, sitting down next to Lucas on the end of the sofa.
"Hey Brooke," Haley said, trying to keep a straight face at the absurdity of the situation.
"What are we watching?" she asked.
"Mission Impossible, we just finishedNotting Hill though."
"You watched it without me!"
"Well we didn't know you were coming," Nathan said.
"Right. Yeah, thanks, by the way…"
"No problem," Lucas smiled at her, and she returned it.
"I'm going to get more popcorn," Haley said, standing up, "Brooke, come with me." She grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the kitchen. Nathan and Lucas both looked, confused, at the almost full bowl of popcorn in his hand.
"Okay, what's going on?" Haley asked, as soon as they were out of the room.
"What do you mean?" Brooke asked innocently.
"How come you're here? I mean, it's great to see you and everything but…what about Josh?"
Brooke sighed, "Look…it doesn't mean anything. I just came back and was feeling really weird, and I wanted to talk to someone."
"So call Peyton or something! You're never going to over Lucas if you go round to his house after every date!"
"Well maybe I don't want to get over him!" Brooke burst out.
Haley looked at her sadly and Brooke crossed her arms.
"What about wanting a clean slate and everything, so you can start from a new beginning."
Brooke was silent.
"I know it's hard but I thought that's what you wanted,." Haley said gently.
"It is,"Brooke said finally, "I'm just not sure if it's going to be possible." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "It's getting better though. The date wasn't too bad…I just…I just wanted to see him, that's all."
Haleyhugged her, and Brooke wiped away more tears with the back of her hand."Maybe you don't have to get over him."Haley stepped back a little so she could look at Brooke, "Just forgive him."
"But to do that, you need to get over him a little bit, so you can really forgive him, not just hide the feelings because you want to be with him."
Brooke nodded.
"But you're right, that doesn't mean you can't see him at all. Because that seems to be impossible for you." Brooke laughed and smiled through her tears. Haley smiled back. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom," she said, "I'll see you in a minute."
Lucas came into the kitchen, to find Brooke in there, getting a drink. It was quite dark, and the room quiet.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," she gave him a weak smile.
He got some juice out of the fridge and poured himself a glass, then stood facing her. "So how was it?" he asked.
She bit her lip, "Do you really want to know?"
He paused, then shook his head. There was silence for a second and then he asked, "Did he kiss you?"
She shook her head, "Only on the cheek."He digested this information and she looked at him. He caught her eye and looked down.
It was quiet for a few minutes, both of them just sipping their drinks. She finished hers and set it down on the counter. He sighed and set his down too, "Come here," he said.She approached him and wordlessly wrapped her arms round him, leaning her head on his chest. He kissed her hair and held her tightly. "It's going to be okay," he whispered, and she nodded against his chest.
They broke apart and went back into the living room, to watch the rest of the movie.
Firstly thank you so much for all the reviews! Quite a few people expressed wishes for Brooke and Lucas to get back together, which I can't say was a suprise. It's going to be a little while though but please stick with me because hopefully your enjoying the angsty stuff, if not, just hang in there! Please review with your thoughts etc.
