Chapter 4: Another Meeting

Lucas opened the back door of his new home, it was a modest sized property but still much bigger than his old house. He was pretty pleased with it, especially since the house came with a basketball hoop in the back yard as well as a pool and hot tub. Brooke gave out a low whistle.

"Wow," she said to Lucas as she surveyed his pool, "This is nice!" she exclaimed before she broke out into a wide grin and clapped her hands together, "And I so know how we can welcome you to the new school and make you a ton of new friends."

"Brooke… no," Lucas started, realising what idea was forming in her head, "Brooke, we are not having a party in my pool."

"Why not? You can invite the whole school and everyone who is anyone will come. You're probably one of the wealthiest guys in school now, this is a huge deal. And you are going to be so liked."

"I don't need a pool party to make friends," Lucas told her. She gave him her famous puppy dog eyes.

"Lucas, come on, you know I'm a sucker for parties, and you don't even have to lift a finger. I'll plan everything. I haven't been to a pool party for a long time… please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeease?" she whined. Lucas, knowing Brooke could continue this for hours, sighed.

"Okay, okay," Brooke began to squeal in delight, "But no more than 20 people invited."

"Uh… how about a hundred?"

"Twenty five."

"Seenty five!"

"Forty, Brooke!"

"Fifty? No more than that, I promise. C'mon, Lucas. Please?"

"Fine, but if I get in trouble for this-"

"I'll take the blame. Don't worry. Oh my gosh, this is so great! We can invite all the basketball players, all of my friends, the guys on the Student Council…"

"Is this my party or yours?" Lucas questioned.

"Sorry, yours. I'll get the guest list started… as soon as you show me the rest of your house," Brooke reminded him of why he was here.

Lucas nodded and led her through the back door of the house, showing her the kitchen first. It was very modern and very spacious.

"Wow," Brooke said again, "This is nice. Really, really nice. You know, if I could cook, I'd love to spend time in here. Your mom must love it."

"She hasn't had the chance to spend much time in here since we only moved three days ago but she loves it."

Lucas then showed off the rest of the house and Brooke was astounded. It looked like something that you'd see on an interior decorating show or in a magazine, even if most of the rooms were filled with moving boxes. By the end of the tour, Brooke was still at a loss for words.

"You've done really well. I'm glad you and Karen and Andy have such a nice house. Wow, it's even better than my old house," the last thought brought nostalgic thoughts back to Brooke's mind.

"You okay?" Lucas asked when Brooke hadn't spoken for a couple of minutes.

"Oh, I'm fine. I just miss my old house," Brooke explained, "Anyway, you still haven't showed me your room."

Lucas grinned, "I saved the best until last," he said as he opened his bedroom door.

Brooke gasped. It was nice. The walls were a nice shade of lavender, and it was a good size.

"Oh, I love it! I didn't know you were into purple."

"I'm not," Lucas replied, "It was that colour when we moved in. It's the biggest room after the master bedroom. I think the previous owners had a daughter or something because it used to have flowery curtains. I want to paint it another, manly colour."

"But Lucas, I love it," she told him, "I want this room. You can go have my room, that's green or something. I want a lavender room!" she sat on Lucas' bed.

"Well, as tempting as that sounds, the colour is going. Although I have no problem with you spending time in my room," he winked.

"Yeah, I'm sure your parents will love that one," she joked back, although in reality she was feeling a little uneasy. She didn't mind flirting or joking with Lucas because they spent some time doing that in Tree Hill. The only difference was that there was another guy in the picture – someone Lucas still didn't know about.

"You're doing it again," Lucas told her as he looked at his feet.

"Doing what?" she asked trying to remain cool.

"Staring off into space. Every time I mention something remotely… flirty or something, you flirt back but then you instantly go off somewhere in your head, like you're not completely here. Is everything okay?" Lucas questioned.

"No, Lucas, everything's fine. It's just… I'm just… I've missed you and I miss Tree Hill. You have no idea how glad I am you're here, but it's still kind of strange for me."

"Are you sure? Because if it's weird for you, we could just separate…"

"No, no, Lucas. Don't be stupid. I'm fine. Plus, I was just thinking about where we could put all your other furniture. I mean, you can't keep living out of a suitcase now, can you?"

"I can't wake up to a lavender room either."

"What colour are you thinking of?" Brooke asked. Lucas shrugged.

"Blue, I guess."

"Your last room was blue."

"I like blue."

"School colours are purple and yellow."

"Ew."

"I know."

Lucas and Brooke continued their conversation into the early hours of the evening, by which time they had unpacked most of Lucas' clothes and put up his trophies on a shelf.

"You know we're going to have to take it all down to paint the room, right?" Lucas told her. Brooke shrugged.

"I still think you should leave it lavender."

"I'm not waking up to a lavender room!"

"Lucas!" came a shout from downstairs, "Are you home?" Lucas grinned at Brooke and went downstairs, closely followed by Brooke. They met Andy and Karen in the kitchen.

"Luc-" Karen began before seeing the girl next to her son, "Brooke! You're here!" she said giving the younger woman a hug. Brooke laughed and hugged her back.

"Welcome to Beaufort, Karen Hargrove," she said emphasising the surname.

"I heard you were here but I didn't know you'd already met up with Lucas."

"Yeah, well, he surprised me too. I had no idea you guys were moving up here. I really like the house," she told them. Karen and Andy smiled proudly.

"Well, while you're here, why don't you stay for dinner?" Karen offered. Brooke looked at the time.

"Oh gosh, is it that late already? I'd love to Karen but my parents have this whole 'eating-as-a-family-every-night-unless-otherwise-stated' thing going on. I'd better head home." Brooke apologised.

"Well in that case, how about you and your family come over for dinner… tomorrow night?" Karen suggested. Brooke thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"I could ask," she said, slightly uncertain, but she gave a small smile to hide it, "Well, I'd better get going. It's nice to see you again," she said giving Karen another hug. Lucas offered to drop Brooke off home.

They made small talk during the ten minute drive to Brooke's new home. Lucas had forgotten that he hadn't seen it yet and when he saw it come into view, he was surprised. From her last house, it was a big step down. There was no red front door, the house was not white and it did not scream 'wealthy'.

It wasn't too small, and did look spacious, especially for three people. It had a nice front garden that was surrounded by a white picket fence and a veranda with a love seat near one of the windows.

Brooke caught Lucas looking at the house intently and blushed.

"Not exactly The Ritz, I know," she said as they pulled up.

"It's nice."

"Yeah," she said softly, "It could be worse, but I like it."

"Well, maybe next time you can give me the grand tour." Lucas said. Brooke laughed.

"Yeah, that'll take all of five seconds," she undid her seatbelt, "I really enjoyed today, Lucas. I missed hanging out with you and it's nice to have someone I know in Beaufort."

"Same here, Brooke," Lucas said sincerely, "I'll see you tomorrow?" Brooke nodded in reply giving Lucas a quick hug before she got out of the car. Lucas watched as she walked slowly up to the house and knocked on the door. When her mother opened it, Brooke looked over her shoulder and waved at Lucas, who took it as his cue to leave.

Brooke stepped inside the house but watched as Lucas sped down the road. When he was out of sight, she sighed and shut the door, taking off her jacket.

"Who was that?" her mother questioned as she went into the kitchen.

"Lucas. He just moved here from Tree Hill."

"Lucas Scott? Dan Scott's son?" her mother questioned. Brooke nodded as she grabbed a carrot piece from the pile her mother was cutting, "He moved here with Karen?"

"Yup. Karen got married to Andy just before we left. Don't you remember?" Brooke asked jumping on the worktop and watching her mother cook. Her mother shook her head, "It was just before summer… the church… Lucas' speech? The whole 'remember tonight' thing?" Brooke tried to jog her mother's memory but to no avail.

"I don't remember, honey, sorry."

"You were wearing that Donna Karan suit you Anne Franked. The pink one?" Brooke tried again. This time her mother nodded.

"Oh yes, now I remember." He mother sighed, "I miss that suit," Brooke rolled her eyes and smiled, "Are you going out tonight?" she asked her daughter.

Brooke shrugged, "I don't know. I thought I'd stay home for dinner."

"I thought Jason was coming home from his vacation tonight."

"That's next week," Brooke said taking another carrot piece, "But I don't feel like going out tonight."

"Well, I don't mind either way. It's nice to spend time with my daughter," her mother kissed Brooke's cheek lovingly; "Hey, didn't you date a Lucas back in Tree Hill?"

"Yeah, it was that Lucas," Brooke informed her, "How did you know that? You weren't ever around when we dated."

"No, but we were there around the time you broke up. Wasn't he the one who cheated on you with Peyton?"

"Yeah, mom, thanks for bringing up bad memories. I worked hard to repress that."

"Sorry, I was just wondering. It must be weird to have him back," her mother said.

"Kind of, but we all buried the hatchet long before Beaufort was even in the picture. He's just a friend now," Brooke said as she helped her mother stir the stew. "By the way, he and his family invited us for dinner tomorrow night. Interested?" she asked tentatively.

Ever since they moved to Beaufort, the Davis family hadn't really made many friends in the neighbourhood. It wasn't anybody's fault really, but with them trying to adjust to their new surroundings, they hadn't made the time to get to know many people. Brooke had adapted well in school but her parents were another story.

Her mother was still trying to get used to not having designer clothes and having to learn how to cook and do the housework, and her father was busy at his workplace, trying to make a good impression on his bosses in order to get promoted. The last few months, all three of them had to get used to spending so much time together – something none of them were really used to.

"That sounds nice. I'll ask your father tonight," her mother said. Brooke sighed in relief, glad that her mother was open to the idea. Her mother had become a sort of homebody in Beaufort now that she wasn't riding in the upper circles of society anymore, "Can you set the table? Your father should be home soon."

As Brooke set the table, she was reminded of Jessica's words to her about Jason and Lucas.

Brooke sighed, what Jason didn't know, couldn't hurt him.

To Be Continued…