As always thanks for all the reviews! It may not seem like but every chapter is a step closer to the BL, so hang in there and enjoy the ride! (by the way, this chapter takes place about a week after the last one)

"Hey man," Kenny greeted Josh as they came into basketball practice.

"Hey."

"Wo you look pissed off, what's up?"

Josh hesitated, then shook his head, "It's nothing."

Kenny shrugged, "Okay."

"It's just…Brooke."

Kenny rolled his eyes, he knew it would be something to do with her. "I warned you not to get involved man. Is she not living up to your expectations?" he joked.

"No. She's great…most of the time. Except when Lucas is around."

"I told you man! Never go out with a girl who's on the rebound. It's not worth it."

"She's always hanging out with him, and whenever we're together and she sees him, she goes all weird. And…you know that tattoo he has?" Josh moved a little closer to Kenny and lowered his voice.

"On his shoulder?"

"Yeah. Turns out…she's got one too."

"Seriously? Where?" Kenny asked eagerly.

"Kind of on her hip," Josh muttered, "And it's exactly the same."

"So you guys have done it then?" Kenny asked.

Josh gave him a look, "No. We sort of almost did, I saw it then."

"And freaked out?"

"No! I didn't realise till later where I'd seen it before. No, she freaked out."

"Really?"

"Well suddenly she 'wasn't in the mood'. I don't know man…I really like her, I just don't know if I can handle this."

"Well just give her a little time, she'll get over it. Besides, it's gotta be worth it, it's Brooke Davis!"

Josh hit his friend, but smiled, "Yeah, I guess."


"Okay Peyt I've really got to talk to you." Brooke burst into her friends room one evening looking a little frantic.

"Okay…" Peyton sat up, "What's up?"

"I'm so screwed up. I don't know what to do about Josh and Lucas and…everything's so screwed up!"

"Okay, calm down Brooke." Peytonchuckled."Take me through it slowly."

Brooke took a deep breath and sat down on Peyton's bed. "Okay well…things were kind of going alright with Josh. Our second date was better than the first. I didn't think about Lucas as much which is always a good sign. But then…the other day he came round and we were talking and stuff – "

"Wait, Josh or Lucas?" Peyton interrupted.

"Josh. So we were just hanging out and then we started making out…and it was fine. But then…I sort of freaked out a little bit."

Peyton groaned, "What did you do?"

"Nothing too awful…it was just getting a little serious and I couldn't handle it. I just said I wasn't really in the mood for…that. And he said he was okay about it but he left and, unsurprisingly,I think he wasa little annoyed."

Peyton nodded, "Right…well, he knows you just got out of a relationship, and if he understands, then it's not too bad."

Brooke considered this, "I guess…"

"So what's the problem with Lucas?"

"Oh…well there isn't anything specific just…"

"The bit about you being in love with him and dating someone else."

Brooke gave her a look, "Not helpful Peyt. And I'm not in love with him. Just…a little bit."

"Sorry. Well…maybe if you just talk to Josh, say you want to take things slowly, and then it might get easier."

"Yeah, that sounds sensible."

"You want to hear some good news?"

"Definitely!"

"Jake's coming back!"

"Oh my god! Peyt how could you not tell me! I've been sitting her for ages twittering on about my stupid problems and you've been sitting on this!"

"Well I didn't want to stop you mid rant!"

Brooke laughed, and hugged Peyton. "That's so fantastic, you must be so happy."

"Relieved, yeah. He called me just before you came and said he'd found a lawyer who'd told him he'd have a good chance of winning if he fought against Nicki, because he's just found out she was arrested once a while ago and they can use that in the case. He said he's tired of running, so he's coming back, and he's going to fight her."

Brooke looked a little worried, and Peyton noticed. "It's risky," she said, "But this lawyer sounds really great, and she's offered to take his case, so hopefully it'll all work out."

Brooke grinned, "Well then we have to celebrate! When's he coming back?"

"Next week."

"Okay, we've got like four days to plan a party then!"


Brooke approached Lucas at his locker the next day.

"Hey Broody."

He turned to face her, smiling, "Hey Brooke."

"I need you're help with something…have you heard about Jake?"

"Yeah, Haley told me this morning, it's great!"

"Yeah, so we, that is, me and Peyton, are planning a little party for him. Except I kind of want it to be for Peyton too so I don't want her to have to do too much…and seeing as we planned such a great bash for Haley and Nathan that time...I was thinking maybe you could help?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Great. Okay well we're going to buy some stuff this weekend so do you wanna come?"

"Yeah! Saturday?"

"Sure. Great, okay, well I've gotta go, but I'll talk to you later. Thanks Lucas." She smiled at him before heading of to class.


"Alright! Shopping time." Brooke skipped into the mall, followed by Peyton and Lucas, who weren't quite as excited as she was.

"Okay. Now we need food, drink, and decorations. So we can each be in charge of one thing."

"Can't we just…do it all together?" Lucas asked. He didn't really want to have to make any decisions.

Brooke rolled her eyes, "Well yeah. But we're each in charge of one thing. So say I'll do decorations, which we can get first, so for now I'll make the decisions. But then when it comes to food, say, Broody here will make them. And then Pey can do drink."

Peyton laughed, "Okay, sounds great, lets just go!"

They headed of to a party shop where Brooke bought a load of balloons and streamers.

"Not going for condom balloons this time?" Lucas asked, laughing.

"That was to make a point," Brooke said, "And I think Jake is already very aware of the importance of protected sex."

Lucas nodded, she was right about that.

"Are you going to do some big art stuff?" Brooke asked Peyton.

"Yeah, I guess, I'm not sure what."

"I'm just thinking about colour schemes…what do you think I should go for?"

Peyton laughed, "Whatever you want Brooke! I'm sure I can adjust my art to fit accordingly."

They went to the food court next, where Brooke spent forever deciding what they'd need, until Lucas reminded her that technically it was his decision and then grabbed whatever was closest and looked good.

Brooke told him off for not taking it seriously at which point Peyton started laughing so hard they had to leave, and so Brooke gave up.

"Alright, just drink left," Peyton said, as they made their way back through the mall.

"Well at least that's easy," Lucas said.

Peyton gave him a look, "How is it easier? You don't need an ID to buy sausage rolls!"

"It's easy to chose!" he said. "But actually, you've got a point. How are we going to pull off this one, taskmaster?"

Brooke rolled her eyes at the name. "We're not buying alcohol here Broody, just mixers. If everyone can bring one bottle of something it should be fine, and Tim said he could get us a keg."

Lucas nodded, "Okay."

Peyton chose some drinks, and then they carried everything back to Brooke's car.

"Where are we having this by the way?" Lucas asked.

Brooke bit her lip and grinned, "Um…Haley and Nathan's."

Lucas gave her a look, "Do they know that yet?"

Peyton and Brooke exchanged a look, "They will soon...Anyway I'm totally sure they'll agree."

Lucas gave her a look.

"It's for Jake!" Brooke protested, "They wouldn't turn down this face!" she grabbed Peyton who pulled a sad face, as did Brooke.

Lucas laughed at the two of them. "Hales is gonna love this!"

They took everything to Brooke's house, and Lucas helped her unload it. Peyton had to go because she was making dinner for her dad who was coming back from a trip that night, so she said goodbye to the other two.

Lucas looked at Brooke after she'd gone. "What are you doing tonight?" he asked.

"Um…I have a date with Josh," she said to her shoes.

"Right," he nodded.

"But it's not for a while. You wanna hang out for a bit?"

"No, it's okay."

"I'll be bored on my own. We could just watch some TV or something."

He hesitated, "Don't you need to get ready or anything?" he asked.

"Oh you know me, it only takes me a few minutes."

Lucas laughed and Brooke smiled. They both knew it took her way longer than that.

"It's not for a while," Brooke said.

Lucas hesitated for another second, and then smiled, "Sure, okay."

Brooke smiled back, and they went into the living room.


"Leno is so not better than Letterman!" Brooke said, throwing a bit of popcorn at Lucas to emphasise her point.

"He's funnier! And he gets better guests!"

"Nuh uh! Letterman has great people!"

"Just dumb actresses who don't have anything interesting to say."

Brooke laughed, "No way, you're delusional!"

"I'm delusional? This coming from the girl who's favourite movie is 'Centre Stage'!"

"Or 'Bring it On'" Brooke shrugged.

Lucas laughed, "That's even worse!" He saw Brooke's expression change and laughed again, "Sorry, you know I didn't mean that…"

"You'd better take that back right now or…" Brooke grabbed the bowl of popcorn and held it over his head.

"I take it back! It's a great movie, a really great example of fine cinema!"

Brooke paused, the bowl still hovering, and then put it down. "Better."

"I still can't believe you think Letterman is better."

"Leno's so sleazy!"

Their bickering was broken off by the doorbell ringing.

"Oh damn, what's the time?" Brooke asked.

"Um…seven," Lucas said, checking his watch.

"Damn!" Brooke leapt off the couch and answered the door, to find Josh standing there. "I'm so sorry I kind of lost track of time but I will be ready in two minutes!" she said quickly as soon as she saw him.

"Er, okay…" he was a little taken aback.

"Just come in, make yourself comfortable, I'll be down in a second." She raced upstairs and Josh came in, shutting the door behind him. Lucas came out of the living room and stopped when he saw him.

"Er, hi, I was just going to go…"

"Hi," Josh said, a little surprised.

"Just er…tell her I said bye."

"Yeah, sure." Josh stepped aside and Lucas opened the door.

"I'll…see you on Monday," he said, giving him an awkward wave before leaving.

"Yeah, bye." Josh watched him go, and then frowned. Brooke rushed downstairs a couple of minutes later.

"Sorry about that," she stopped in front of him, giving him a brief kiss.

"No problem."

She grabbed her coat and then looked around, "Did Lucas leave?"

"Er, yeah, he said to say bye."

Brooke looked up and caught his expression, "We were just watching some TV…" she said quickly.

"It's okay," Josh smiled.

Brooke nodded, "Okay…" she gave him another look and then shook herself, smiling once more, "Well lets go then!"

Lucas went to his mom's café after leaving Brooke's. He was thinking of heading down to the Rivercourt and getting Skills and Fergie together for a game but he wanted some coffee first.

"Hi, can I get you anything?" A girl greeted him cheerily from behind the counter.

"Yeah, I'll have a coffee please." He watched the girl as she got it ready, "Are you new?" he asked after a minute; he didn't recognise her.

"Um, yeah. I just started today. I'm just doing a couple of shifts a weekthough."

Lucas nodded, "Oh right, I didn't know my mom had hired someone else."

"You're mom?" The girl looked confused, "Oh right! You're Lucas."

"Yeah, hi."

"Hi, I'm Hannah…"

"Yeah I think you're in my English class," Lucas said.

Hanna paused thinking, "You sit at the back right? With Brooke Davis?"

Lucas laughed, "Um…usually."

Hannah watched him carefully, "Yeah I kinda heard you guys broke up."

"You did?"

"That's what you get for dating the head cheerleader!"

Lucas laughed, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Us little people get to break up in peace without the whole school knowing. Of course, it doesn't make it much better…"

Lucas nodded, "Sounds like you're speaking from experience."

Hanna chuckled darkly, "Yeah…"

They talked for a while, Lucas forgetting he'd got his coffee to take away as he drank it at the counter. Hannah was fun, she reminded him of Haley. It turned out she had broken up with her long term boyfriend recently, and they talked a little about it, although both of them were still at a stage where they weren't quite sure of their feelings. Lucas found it was nice to have someone to talk to who didn't know Brooke; who wouldn't just say 'they would work it out eventually'.


Lucas came into the café the next day and found Brooke working behind the counter.

"Hey," she greeted him, smiling.

"Hey, listen, I'm sorry about yesterday. I should have left earlier I didn't mean to – "

"Don't be silly it wasn't your fault. Don't worry about it. What you could apologise for, is leaving without saying goodbye," she teased him.

Lucas laughed, "Well I didn't know how long you were going to be, and the atmosphere downstairs was a little…awkward…"

Brooke laughed, "Yeah I can imagine. You're still okay about this right - "

"Yeah," Lucas cut in, and Brooke nodded, "Okay."

"How's it going with you guys?" Lucas asked.

Brooke gave him a sideways look before answering, "Okay."

"Is he coming to Jake's?"

Brooke paused, "He doesn't have to…"

"No it's fine. I mean don't not ask him…" he trailed off, he had been going to say 'because on me' but Broke seemed to have got his meaning anyway.

"He'll probably be there," she said quietly after a minute.

Hanna came out of the kitchen and saw Lucas, "Hey," she said, a little shyly. Then she caught sight of who he was talking to and stopped, "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt…"

"No, it's fine," Brooke said, smiling at her, "I didn't know you'd met."

"Oh yeah, we met yesterday," Lucas said.

"Cool. Well I've got to go, coffee to serve," she grinned at Lucas and went off around the tables.

Hannah approached him a little cautiously. From what she had heard of Brooke she had assumed she would be a total bitch, but her first shift with her seemed to have proved that theory wrong. She wasn't quite sure how real Brooke's smile was though when she had heard she'd already met Lucas.

Lucas started talking to her however as she wiped the counter, so she figured he and Brooke were at a civil stage, and she hadn't just interrupted a blazing row or anything.

After a while Lucas got up, "I gotta go; I'm meeting my brother. But it was fun talking to you again." He smiled at Hannah, and she smiled back.

He was just turning to leave when she said, "Wait, um…would you maybe want to go out sometime?"

She saw Lucas' eyes flick very briefly to Brooke on the other side of the café, "It would be…totally nothing serious," Hannah said quickly.

Lucas paused, and then said, "Okay. Yeah, that would be nice."

Hannah smiled, "Great."


You've read it, now review it!

Total downer of an ending I know, sorry. But the next bit should be up soon, and maybe just maybe things'll start looking up... ;)