Thank you so much for all the reviews, you guys kick ass! (Thanks also for waiting around while I was away). Here is the last ever chapter…
It was Friday, and almost a week since they had been to the cheerleading competition. Lucas was sitting at his desk attempting to tackle some trigonometry when there was a knock on the door and Brooke entered. She came over and sat on his lap facing him, and he rested his hands on her thighs, looking at her expectantly.
She opened her mouth to speak and then glanced behind her at the open books on his desk. "Am I interrupting you?"
"No. Well…yeah. But I can't do it anyway so it doesn't matter."
"Are you sure? I can just hang out till you're done." She started to get up but he pulled her back down. "Cheery I would chose you over homework any day, now sit down and tell me what's up."
She smiled. "Okay. Well it's nothing really, I just wanted to let you know that Hales, Peyton and me…or I, whatever, are going out tonight."
"Girls' night?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, cool."
"So you're cool with that?"
Lucas gave her a weird look. "You don't need my permission."
Brooke smiled and kissed him briefly. "But it's nicer to have it. I'll take that as a yes."
"Does this mean the guys are going to want to do something tonight?"
"Oh yeah, I just came from Hales and Nates', and he says to call him."
"Okay, I'll do that later."
"What's your homework, want some help?"
"Trigonometry."
"Ookay, I'll retract that offer."
He chuckled. "Do you want to stick around anyway?"
"Sure," She checked her watch, "I've got about half an hour till I should go home and change."
"Half an hour?"
She grinned. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well I don't know…" He gave an exaggerated shrug and then stood up suddenly, lifting her up with him.
Brooke squealed and wrapped her arms round him, and he laughed as he carried her over to the bed and dropped her on it.
"Luke!"
"Sshh my mom's here," he said as he leant over her and began kissing her.
Brooke pulled back, giving him a look with her eyebrows raised. "Did you forget my rule?"
Lucas pouted. "She's way over at the other end of the house…she's probably cooking…using blenders and stuff…listening to very loud music!"
She shook her head. "No way."
"Oh come on! What happened to the girl who would have sex in a stranger's hot tub?"
Brooke laughed, "That's strangers! Not your mom!"
Lucas chuckled, "Fine. Can we still make out?"
She hesitated then shrugged, "Sure, why not. But we stay fully clothed."
Lucas gave her a pleading look.
"Fine. If you really must you can take your shirt off." She grinned and Lucas laughed, shaking his head as he kissed her.
The guys and girls all met at Nathan and Haley's apartment that evening, from where the girls would be going out and the guys would be staying and playing video games.
"I can't believe you guys are just going to sit around here all evening," Peyton said, sitting on Jake's lap in the living room while they waited for Haley to find her shoes.
"Hey! We're going to have fun, right guys?" Nathan said.
Lucas made a vague sound of affirmation and Brooke chuckled.
"We have food, drink, and, all you really need: a Playstation 2!"
"Sounds like you'll have a hell of a time," Haley said, coming in holding her shoes. "You ready to go girls?" she asked as she slipped them on.
"Absolutely," Peyton said, getting up from Jake and giving him a quick kiss before joining Haley at the door.
Brooke stood up from the couch and leaned over from behind it to give Lucas a kiss.
"No PDA in the living room," Nathan called. Brooke looked up and gave him a look, rolling her eyes. Lucas gave her a chaste kiss but she placed a hand on his cheek and kissed him properly before standing up.
"Way to not flaunt the new love guys," Haley said.
"It's hardly new," said Peyton.
"Don't rub it in."
Brooke smirked at their conversation. "The flame of young love already dying out Hales?" she asked laughing.
Nathan flipped Brooke the finger and stood up, coming over and kissing Haley passionately. She giggled as she wrapped her arms round his neck.
"Okay, lets go before these two start duelling," Peyton said laughing, pulling the other two out the door. "Bye guys!"
"Bye Peyt, love you," Jake called.
Peyton smirked as they left. "See, we don't need overdone public displays to show we're in love," she said to the other two as they made their way to the car.
"Whatever," Brooke said laughing, "You would've if we had the time!"
The girls had an awesome night. They danced, had some drinks, listened to the band and talked.
It was getting pretty late when Brooke started to feel really hot. She had a headache growing and she was thirsty. She looked over at the bar and groaned as she saw it surrounded by people.
Making her way to the door she went outside and felt instantly better as the cool night air blew past her. She knew there was a drugstore just round the corner. Hesitating briefly, she decided that Haley and Peyton wouldn't miss her for a few minutes, and headed off to go and get some aspirin.
"Hales, where's Brooke?" Peyton and Haley had been talking to some people, and Peyton had suddenly noticed that she could no longer see their friend.
"I thought she was dancing, is she not here?"
"I can't see her anywhere, she's probably around though. It's getting kind of late and I'm really hot."
"Yeah, me too. Do you want to leave?"
"Yeah, lets find Brooke and go."
Brooke was waiting in a queue behind a guy who was clearly drunk and was trying to buy some alcohol from the cashier, who was not letting him.
She tapped her foot, why did drugstores have to sell everything now! She checked her watch, wondering if Haley and Peyton were looking for her.
"She's probably gone home," Haley said, as she and Peyton came out of the club onto the street, having failed to find Brooke inside.
"Why would she? She doesn't have a ride."
"I saw Theresa in there earlier, maybe she got one from her. She said she was feeling tired."
"Lets call her…except I have her cellphone," Peyton's face fell as she remembered Brooke giving it to her to hold earlier while she was trying to find something in her bag. "Well we'll call her at home instead," she said.
"Okay, do you have your cell? Mine's at home."
Peyton gave her a look.
"What I forgot it!"
"I'll use Brooke's."
"Oh and where's yours?" Haley asked with a raised eyebrow.
Peyton looked down, "Out of battery," she mumbled, and then laughed as Haley rolled her eyes. She found Brooke's cell in her purse, dialled Brooke's home and waited.
"Answering machine," she said, as she hung up. "Why don't we go and check?"
"Shouldn't we stay here?"
"Well she's not here and you said she was feeling tired."
"Yeah, okay. Lets go."
They headed to the car and got in.
Brooke came out of the store, sighing as she checked her watch. She'd better call the others. She began searching through her bag, looking for her cell.
"Dammit," she muttered. She must have forgotten to get it back from Peyton. She looked up and down the street for a phone box, and caught sight of one a little further up the road. She was just checking her pockets for some change when she heard a voice address her.
"Well well well. Brooke Davis without her little entourage. Flying solo tonight?" Josh had come out of a club a few doors down from the drugstore.
Brooke sighed and turned to face her ex-boyfriend. "Josh you're drunk. Go back inside and call a cab to take you home."
Josh raised an eyebrow at her. "At 12 am? Honey, the night's still young."
"Fine. If you want to mess yourself up, that's fine with me. Just do me a favour, and go harass some girl inside and leave me alone."
Josh took a step closer to her and Brooke stiffened and turned away.
"What if I don't want to? You look like you could use some company."
"Well I don't."
"You sure about that? Sure you're not lonely?" He laid a hand on her shoulder and she slapped it away. "Josh come one, this isn't you. Stop being an idiot and go sober up."
He hesitated and then took a step back, but he remained outside. Brooke sighed and opened her purse again, still trying to find some money.
"Why don't we try Lucas?" Peyton suggested as she was driving.
"Good idea, I'm sure she just went to see him or something." Haley took the phone and looked in the address book for Lucas' number.
"Who the hell are all these people?" she asked, looking at the list of weird names.
"Oh, Brooke labels everyone with their nickname, I can never find anyone's number on that thing. Don't you know your best friend's cell number anyway?"
"I'm horrible at remembering numbers. Do you know it?"
"No, but he's not my best friend. Look under Broody, I'm sure it'll be there."
"Um…nope. Not there, there's blondie though."
"That's me. Try…um…what else does she call him?"
"Boyfriend?…not there either…" She continued to search, muttering names as she thought of them, "Gorgeous? Nope…Handsome?…I'm running out of ideas here…oh, I've got it." She rolled her eyes as she found the name, "Sexy."
Peyton chuckled and waited as Haley held the phone up to her ear.
Lucas had just arrived home from Nathan's when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out, checking the name on the screen and smiling. "Hey babe."
"Um, no, it's Haley."
"Okay, well then scratch that." Lucas chuckled. "Where's Brooke?"
"Yeah that's why we're calling. She's not with you?" Haley began to feel uneasy.
"No. I thought she was with you." Lucas stood up still holding the phone to his ear and reached out for his jacket.
"Well she's not. It's fine though, she's probably just still at the party, or maybe she went home - "
"Have you tried calling her there?" Lucas interrupted.
"Yeah we got answer phone, but we're on our way there now. She might be asleep or - "
"I'm going to the club, where is it?"
"Luke it's probably nothing - "
"Where is it?" he repeated, as he went out the door towards his car.
"2134 West Avenue. We'll check her house and then meet you there."
"Okay, I'll be there in a minute." Lucas hung up and got into his car, closing his eyes briefly as he started the ignition, praying she was okay.
Josh watched Brooke as she searched, his eyes lingering on her body. His head was swimming and her blurred form stood out against the murky blackness of the night.
"You know, I must be one of the few guys in our year who hasn't screwed you…and I even dated you."
"You know that's not true."
He shrugged. "Depends who you believe." He wandered round so he was standing in front of her once more. "Either way we certainly never did it."
"And your point is…?"
Josh quirked an eyebrow and Brooke rolled her eyes, not bothering to reply. He moved closer to her and she moved back, still ignoring him. His lip curled, his buzz was fading and he was bored.
She pulled some crumpled notes form the bottom of her purse and put them in her picket slinging the purse back on her shoulder.
She looked up to find Josh still standing in front of her. He took a few steps forward and she moved back, until suddenly her back hit the wall of the building behind them. She sighed and reached out an arm to push him out of the way, but he stood firm, not moving.
Brooke felt her throat go dry. She had been in situations similar to this before. After all, she had once been a serial partygoer, and she attracted a lot of attention from guys. She was used to it though, so much so that it had never frightened her before. She would always just shove them off, and find some other people to hang out with.
Josh's mind was set however, and he was not going to be dissuaded by Brooke pushing him away. There was no one else on the street, they were alone. Brooke swallowed, realising how bad her situation was.
Josh saw her expression change, and smiled. He had never done something like this before, but it was easy. He was stronger than her; he had control. The drinks he had had quietened the voice in his head telling him to stop.
He could do whatever he wanted.
"You know I've always liked you Brooke," he said quietly, one hand drifting to her waist.
Brooke stopped it, gripping his wrist. "Josh, stop." Her hold was firm and her voice steady, but inside her heart was racing.
"Stop what? We're just having a little fun."
"You're not this guy Josh, you don't want to do this. Think about this for a second, just try to think clearly." Brooke's eyes were willing him to hear her, to come back to reality and realise what he was doing.
But he didn't. Instead he pushed his lips roughly against hers. She turned her face to the side, struggling against him. She couldn't believe this was actually happening.
And then suddenly:
"Hey! What's going on!"
A few guys had come out of the club, and one of them appeared to have seen what was going on.
Josh pulled back swiftly. "Hey dude, I'm just messing around with my girlfriend alright? Could you leave us alone?"
The guy hesitated, but Brooke yelled out, "I'm not his girlfriend!"
The guy immediately came forward and tried to pull Josh off, calling to one of his friends to get security. Josh hit the guy and a fight began. Brooke drew back, realising suddenly that her face was wet with tears, and she was cold and shivering.
She wanted more than anything to be in Lucas' arms…to be safe.
Lucas' car screeched to a halt outside the club. He got out, his heart racing as he saw a commotion outside. Peyton and Haley got out too, looking around trying to work out what was going on.
Lucas pushed his way through some of the people, feeling a jolt in his chest as he caught sight of Brooke.
He hurried towards her but a security guard stopped him. "I'm sorry I can't let you - "
"That's my girlfriend!"
The guard glanced at his co-worker, who nodded, and they let Lucas past.
"Lucas!" Brooke saw him as he came past the guard. He wrapped his arms round her as soon as he reached her, resting his face in her hair and letting out a breath.
She buried her head in his shoulder, holding onto him tightly. "I'm so glad you're here," she whispered.
He held her close, but began looking around, trying to work out what had happened. His eyes fell on Josh, being handcuffed by a security guard.
"Josh?" White rage overtook him, and he almost let go of Brooke and went to punch the hell out of him, but she pushed him back, keeping her arms round him. "Leave it Lucas, please."
Lucas took a few deep breaths, his mind still racing at the thought of what his team mate had almost done.
Josh was dragged away by the security guard, his head hanging. As he passed Brooke he stopped, reaching for her arm. "I'm sorry, Brooke. I'm sor - "
"Don't touch her." Lucas' words were cold as ice. He couldn't look at him right now, and he couldn't stand the thought of him being near Brooke, even if it was to apologise. It was not the time for that now.
Brooke looked away, turning her head back against Lucas' chest.
Josh watched them as he was taken to a police car, Lucas with his arms wrapped protectively around Brooke, one hand on her head, stroking her hair. He whispered words to her and Josh turned away, looking down once more.
Lucas felt Brooke's tears begin to wet his shirt. His tightened his arms round her, and held her. "It's okay, you're safe," he whispered.
A policeman spoke to Brooke briefly, and she told him what happened, glad to have Lucas' arms round her as she struggled to describe it. She trailed off towards the end but the officer said it was enough, and that she could come and make a statement on Monday.
The crowd began to clear and Peyton and Haley were left standing there with them, both of them with tear stained faces.
"Brooke…"
"We're so sorry."
She hugged them both immediately, stopping their apologies. "It's not your fault, I'm okay." She gave them a small smile, which Peyton struggled to return.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay. I love you," Peyton said, hugging her best friend once more. "Love you too," Brooke said, pulling Haley into the hug as well.
They left and Lucas took Brooke's hand, "Come on, I'll take you home."
They drove back to Brooke's house and Brooke opened the door. "Can you stay?" she asked.
"Of course."
She led him upstairs to her room where she turned to face him. "You've barely said a word since we left. Lucas, I'm okay."
"Brooke, you almost got…if anything had happened to you…" He trailed off, his throat tight.
"But it didn't. And I'll never put myself in that position again, okay?"
He nodded, still unable to speak, and held out his arms. She came into them, kissing his shoulder and resting her head against it.
They changed and got into bed, Brooke lying on her side with her back to him, the events of the night flashing before her eyes. She sighed, and turned over, looking up at Lucas.
"I love you," she said quietly.
"I love you too. I love you so much."
She kissed him, cupping his cheek, holding it for a second. Then she settled in his arms and fell asleep.
Brooke and Lucas entered Karen's café on Saturday, and went to the table where the others were all sitting.
"Hey guys."
They all looked up, and Jake and Nathan shared a glance. "Hey Brooke…listen we heard about what happened. I'm really sorry."
"Thanks Nate."
They sat down, and Jake passed the drinks they had ordered for them.
"How are you feeling?" Haley asked.
"I'm okay," Brooke said. "Really," she added with a smile, seeing Peyton's look, "You don't need to be tip-toeing."
Nathan smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "Okay. Well we were just talking about college."
"Why! It's miles off and it's such a depressing subject," Brooke objected.
"Firstly Brooke, no it's not," Jake said, chuckling as she put her hands over to her ears, "And secondly, why is it so depressing?"
"Because we won't all be together! You guys will all be off at Harvard and Yale and I'll be stuck at some community college for the supremely thick…with maybe Nathan, sorry. Although he married a tutor so he'll probably be right there with you."
"Brooke come on, you'll get into a good college. You're smart, you just need to…apply yourself a little more," Peyton said.
"Yeah but that means paying attention and you know how much I hate doing that."
Lucas laughed. "You'll be fine. And anyway, since when are we all getting into Harvard. Have you seen my math? In case you've forgotten yesterday, it's pretty crappy."
"Oh please, you've read like every book ever written, they'd let you in anywhere," Brooke said, waving away his excuse. "Anyway, why were you talking about college in the first place?"
"Um…" Nathan drew a blank.
"Oh yeah!" Peyton remembered. "It was because Hales said the café is pretty empty because the university is on a break, and then Jake asked if anyone would ever think of going to college near Tree Hill, and we basically all said no…so then we started talking about other places."
Lucas nodded, interested. "Like where?"
"Well I always wanted to go Stanford, like my mom," Peyton said. "But Art school might be cool too. Of course, I'd never get in…"
"Pey if I had my food yet I'd throw a fry at you, of course you would."
Peyton smiled and continued, "I think I'd like to go to the west coast, just get miles away from Tree Hill…and drama."
"What about you Jake," Brooke asked quietly, wondering where he fit into all Peyton's plans of escape. Or maybe she was the only one who would never consider going to college anywhere away from Lucas…maybe they all just thought these were high school romances that had no effect on college whatsoever?
"Well I always thought Jenny meant I was definitely headed to Duke or something. College and the single dad thing don't really mix. But, I don't know…" he glanced at Peyton, "Maybe with two people I could move away from home and still look after her."
Peyton smiled and leant against him.
"Plus I always wanted to try surfing."
Brooke smiled. So maybe she wasn't the only one.
"Do you guys know where you want to go?" Lucas asked Nathan and Haley. "I presume you want to go somewhere together?"
Haley put her head on one side. "Not necessarily…I've heard teenage long distance marriages have quite a high success rate," she joked.
Nathan gave her a look and she laughed. "Yeah, I think we want to go somewhere together."
"We're aiming high," Nathan joked, "Yale, maybe Princeton," he shrugged. "Maybe we'll even head off to England and go to Oxford or Cambridge or something."
Haley laughed, "You might need to raise that 2.8 just a little for that Nate."
Nathan smiled. "Actually the other day we were talking a little about UNC. It's got a great basketball team, and we could even keep the apartment."
Lucas leant down so his mouth was by Brooke's ear as the conversation continued, "Are you a little scared that these guys all seem to know exactly what they're doing?" he whispered.
Brooke giggled. "Yes. I have no idea."
"Good, me neither."
She smiled up at him. "Well I'll go anywhere with you," she said kissing him, "…as long as you haven't got your heart set on University of Nebraska or something!"
Lucas knocked on the door to Brooke's house on Saturday evening, looking pretty smart in his favourite shirt and holding a bouquet of roses. After lunch with everyone, they had spent the afternoon apart, but they had agreed to go out later.
Brooke opened the door and smiled when she saw him.
"Hey gorgeous," he said, placing a hand on her waist and kissing her. "These are for you. Cliché but…whatever."
Brooke smiled. "They're beautiful Luke. I love roses."
"I know."
"Of course you do." He chuckled.
"You look amazing." She was wearing a short charcoal skirt and a green v-neck sweater, the sleeves of which were pulled down over her hands.
"Thanks. So, where are we going?"
Lucas hesitated. "Actually, we're going to my house…"
Lucas slowly opened the door to his house, and led Brooke inside. The lights were dimmed and there were candles on every surface. Brooke gasped as Lucas led her into the dining room where there was a small table set up with a white table cloth over it and settings for two set out. There were roses in vases everywhere, and rose petals strewn over the table.
"Oh my god Lucas, this is amazing!" Brooke took in the sight before her, her hand over her mouth as she felt tears begin to well up in her eyes.
Lucas wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her head. "You deserve it."
She turned round in his arms and smiled up at him, her eyes shining. "I can't believe you did this for me. Is this because of yesterday?"
"Actually I've had this planned for a little while. But yesterday did make me realise again how much you mean to me…I was so scared Brooke - "
"It's over," she said, interrupting him. "And it's all turned out okay. Lets enjoy tonight."
He smiled. "Yeah, you're right."
She placed a kiss on his lips. "Thank you, for this. You're incredible."
"Nuh uh, tonight's for you. You're not allowed to steal my lines."
She giggled. "Right, sorry."
He chuckled and took her hand. "Come on, let's eat."
They sat down and Lucas brought out the first course. They began to eat, talking as they did so.
"So, I have a question," Brooke said after a minute.
"Yeah?"
"When everyone was talking about colleges earlier…did that scare you a little? I mean…just the thought of not being together scares me. And even if we say we'll go to the same one it might not work out like out; ultimately we'll each have to make a decision and…there's no guarantee we'll decide the same thing."
She looked up at Lucas, her eyes wide. He was looking back at her, smiling slightly.
"I think…it'll be okay."
"I was looking for a little more reassurance there Broody."
"No I mean it. I really think that whatever happens it'll be okay. College is about being out in the world on your own. I think even if we're not together then we'll find our way back."
Brooke thought about this. "But don't you think…you might meet someone else?"
"Do you?"
"Well no. I mean, I don't think I could ever feel this way about anyone else so - "
"That's how I feel too. Whoever I meet they could never replace you."
Brooke smiled. "I guess it will be okay then…might be a pretty crappy four years though."
Lucas chuckled. "Well that's a different matter. I might want you around just to keep things interesting even if not for the sake of our relationship."
Brooke laughed. "Okay…sorry to bring that up. I just…think about the future sometimes and get…scared I guess."
Lucas shrugged. "Me too. But we'll get through it together," he smiled.
Lucas ran his hands lazily up and down Brooke's back as she lay on top of him, her arms looped round his neck and her head resting on his bare chest.
It was Sunday morning, and he was thinking; his mind wandering through the year or so since he had met her.
"When did you fall in love with me again?" He asked, "After…I cheated on you."
Brooke raised her head very slightly to look up on him. She didn't think she had ever heard him say that before…ever actually name what he'd done. He was looking at her expectantly however so she thought about his question.
"I don't know if I ever stopped loving you," she said, laying her hands on his chest and resting her chin on them, "I don't think you ever really stop loving your first love."
Lucas took this in, still thinking. He smiled slightly, before he saw a sad expression flash across her face.
"What?" he asked.
She hesitated. "Nothing."
"Seriously, what?"
She moved over, so that she was lying on her side next to him, propped up on one elbow, and he looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"It's just that…your first love was Peyton. I know that…you'll always have some feelings for her."
Lucas frowned slightly, and took the hand of Brooke's that was resting on his chest still, interlacing his fingers with it.
"I don't have any feelings for Peyton anymore, you know that."
"I just mean…you'll always remember her as your first love."
"Except she wasn't my first love. Brooke, my feelings for Peyton disappeared…actually pretty quickly. And they never, ever felt anything like I feel now." A small smile formed on his face as he looked at Brooke.
"It was you who I never forgot. My feelings for you, whatever they were last year, never went away; they grew stronger."
Brooke smiled too, and leaned forward to kiss him gently.
"I love you. I felt something, the first time I met you, the real you, that was different from anything I'd ever felt before. And that feeling's never gone away…and it never will."
The End
That's it, it's over! I hope you enjoyed it, and PLEASE REVIEW because it's your last chance ever! Even if you've never reviewed before or you're reading this story in the distant future I would love a review in any shape or form. Thank you to everyone who has ever reviewed this story, and a special thank you to all the persistent reviewers, especially lac18 for reviewing every chapter with lovely long reviews!
I will be doing a sort of sequel to this. First there is a stand-alone that should be up soon, which is actually more of a sequel to 'The Ski Trip', but works for this too. Then there is the main sequel set when they are all at college, which will be centred on Brooke and Lucas and looks set to be awesome! (If I do say so myself) So keep a look out for that!
