Okely dokely here is a brand new little ficlet for you all! This is sort of a mini sequel to 'The Ski Trip' but it's also a little in between bit for 'Never Gone Away' and it's proper sequel that I will be writing about Brooke and Lucas at college. If that's confusing then just ignore it and enjoy the fic!

This is in two parts and is set just after the gang graduate from high school. They have all chosen their colleges, which will be discussed in this fic. The couples are BL, NH and JP. This first part is mostly BL (sorry to all you other fans) but part two is more of a mix.


The car stopped in a clearing in the wood. Lucas unclipped his seatbelt and turned to face his girlfriend, who was sitting in the passenger seat with her arms crossed, avoiding his gaze.

"Brooke…"

She ignored him, and he chuckled and cupped her cheek, turning her head to look at him. "I promise it'll be fun."

She sighed. "In case you hadn't noticed Lucas we are in the middle of nowhere! With a pile of canvas and a couple of cooler boxes. There is no way this will be fun."

"It will be…the tents are nice and cosy, and we'll build a fire, and all share stories and stuff…maybe eat some marshmallows."

She raised an eyebrow slowly. "Did you bring some?"

He smiled. "Of course."

"Pink ones?"

"Yes."

"Will you make me s'mores?"

"Absolutely."

She paused, considering it. "Fine. I'll get out of the car."

Lucas thanked her and kissed her on the forehead. Just as they were getting out two more cars pulled up, and Nathan, Haley, Jake and Peyton all got out.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey!"

"I see you managed to get Brooke out of the car, nice going man."

"It wasn't easy."

"Hey!" She hit him on the arm and glared at Nathan.

"You know, Brooke kind of has a point," Peyton said, looking around, "There's not exactly a lot to do here."

"Of course there is. We'll go on a walk, maybe do some fishing, have a campfire…" Jake grinned happily at Peyton and began unloading their tent from the boot. Peyton returned the smile with not quite the same level of enthusiasm, but never the less helped him with their stuff.

"So, who's going to help pitch the tents?" Nathan asked, dropping a pile of poles and canvas unceremoniously into the centre of the clearing.

Brooke eyed it for a second and then said, "You know what. I think me and Peyton are going to go and explore the er, surroundings. So…have fun with that." She grabbed Peyton's arm and dragged her off back down the track.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Hales, do you want to go to?"

"No way. I know how to pitch a tent, Luke and me used to camp in the garden all the time."

Nathan smiled smugly at the other guys as his wife began to help him.


"Now Pey, I know Jake's great and all and you love him, but seriously, as his girlfriend, I really think you should have been able to influence him in some way to get this crazy camping idea out of his head!"

"Hey, we all agreed Brooke. It wasn't just Jake who wanted to go."

"I did not agree to this! I was asleep at the time and Lucas agreed for me!"

"Well it serves you right for falling asleep."

"I was tired! It was the day after graduation. You can't expect me to stay awake after a party like that."

"It was pretty fun."

Brooke smiled at the memory. "I don't think I've ever seen someone dance quite so elegantly in a Raven outfit before."

Peyton laughed. "Yeah, especially with those big wings and everything."

They caught each other's eye and burst out laughing as they thought of the drunken dance performed by Tim in the school mascot costume.

"So Brooke, where exactly are we going?" Peyton asked after a minute.

"I'm not sure, I'm just walking. The camping site manager guy said there were 'bathroom facilities' somewhere round here."

"I don't see why we had to chose a clearing so far away from the lodge and stuff anyway."

Brooke groaned, "Apparently that makes it more 'real,' or that's what Lucas said anyway. Personally, I think the nearer the lodge the better: much less chance of being eaten by bears."

They walked on a little further.

"You don't think there actually are bears around do you?" Peyton asked.

Brooke hesitated and shrugged. "Probably. I'm sure they're very friendly though." She smiled at Peyton reassuringly, and Peyton looked uneasy. Brooke giggled and shook her head. "We'll be fine Pey. You've got Jake to protect you."

Peyton laughed. "So, are you looking forward to NYU?" she asked after a little while.

"We are not talking about college yet Pey!" Brooke said firmly. "High school is only just over and I for one am done with thinking about anything educational right now."

"Okay," Peyton said chuckling. "Jeez is this how you got Lucas to shut up about Stanford?"

Brooke hesitated for a second but then breezed past it, "Yep. He is under strict instructions."

Peyton laughed again. "Alright. Well then I'll shut up too."

The girls eventually made their way back to the campsite after taking a round trip to the bathrooms, which Brooke found to be not quite to her standards.

The others had been busy in their absence and they were pleased to find that the tents were set up and the sleeping bags unpacked.

"Nice work guys," Brooke said giving them all a thumbs up as she looked round at the three tents.

Nathan gave her a look and she smiled smugly back at him, very pleased to have avoided an entire section of work.

"I hope you know that you guys are making the fire tonight," he said.

Peyton gave him a doleful stare, "But we don't know how," she said.

Jake rolled his eyes. "I'll help you."

Brooke stuck her bottom lip out and turned to Lucas. He chuckled and wrapped an arm round her. "Me too."

Nathan shook his head.


They decided to spend the afternoon going fishing. Or rather, Jake and Lucas decided, and the others couldn't be bothered to argue. So they took a couple of rods and set of along the path, which apparently led to the river. Key word: apparently.

"Broody…we're lost," Brooke groaned, half an hour later as they trudged through a patch of woodland that looked oddly familiar.

"No we're not. We just need to…find where we're going."

Haled groaned and leant her head against Nathan as they walked. "We'll be here forever."

"It's probably just a little further," Jake said reassuringly. "Lets just…play a game or something."

"Like what," Brooke grumbled.

"I don't know…I spy or…"

"Truth or dare?" Brooke interjected, suddenly sounding more perky.

"NO," Haley said firmly. "That game always ends in trouble."

"But that's why it's so fun," Brooke said.

Jake sighed. "Don't we know all each other's truths by now?"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "I guess. Although I'm not sure…graduation was pretty crazy!"

Lucas chuckled and caught Brooke's hand, pulling her close to him, "Always a stirrer, huh Cheery?"

"I'm just saying!"

Haley laughed. "She's right though…I mean, I figured everyone would want to blow off a little steam, but I never thought it would be like that. I didn't know it was possible for Tim to actually get more insane…"

Peyton giggled, "I didn't think it was possible for him to be that drunk without passing out! But it was expected, I mean it's the end of high school!"

"Yeah…god I still can't believe it's really over."

There was a moment's silence as they all contemplated the vast expanse of their futures before them. Lucas felt Brooke lean against his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head.

They finally arrived at the bank and set up. After half an hour of eagerly watching Jake and Lucas sitting with their rods, hoping every twitch was a shark or something equally exciting on the end of their line, they resigned themselves to a quiet afternoon.

As they sat talking sporadically, Peyton noticed Brooke was beginning to slip out of the conversation. She was sitting next to Lucas, her arms wrapped round her knees, which were supporting her chin.

"Brooke, you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah," Brooke smiled tightly, but it was clear her mind had been miles away. Peyton frowned for a second before turning back to Haley, and Brooke's eyes glazed over once more as her mind disappeared back to wherever it had been.

Lucas watched her and glanced over at Haley, who caught his eye and shrugged.

"Hey Nate can you take my rod for a minute?" he asked, standing up.

"Yeah sure." Nathan moved over to watch the rod, glancing up at Lucas to see where he was going.

"Come on Cheery, let's go for a walk." He held out a hand to Brooke. She looked up at him, slightly confused.

"Come on," he said simply, inclining his head to the woods.

She shrugged and stood up, taking his hand. He led her away from the bank, flashing Haley a reassuring smile over his shoulder that let her know they'd be back in a minute.

The others shared a look when they'd left.

"What's up with Brooke?" Jake asked.

"I don't know…" Peyton said.

"Lucas will sort it out," Haley said confidently.

Lucas and Brooke walked back down the path they had come, Lucas wasn't taking much notice of the surroundings but he checked where they were going to make sure they didn't get lost. He held Brooke's hand tightly, and looked over at her to find she was looking at the ground, her expression sad.

"So what's up?" he asked, unable to bear her quietness any longer.

She looked up at him and shrugged. "Nothing."

"Come on Brooke, this isn't like you."

She hesitated then shook her head. "I'm fine Lucas, it's nothing."

He stopped walking and turned to face her, tipping his head on one side. "Seriously Brooke what is it? I hate seeing you like this."

Brooke bit her lip. "I'm just…sad, Luke."

Lucas frowned slightly and took her hands, interlacing his fingers with hers. "Sad about the end of high school?"

"About the end of us. I don't know…I guess…I'm finally realising what all this means."

Lucas looked down and nodded. There was silence for a moment and then he said quietly, "You know it's not the end, right?"

"Lucas, we're going to different colleges. We agreed a long distance relationship would be too hard."

"But that doesn't mean it's the end forever. Brooke, you know how I feel about you. And I promise that will never change."

Brooke sighed and looked away. "We don't know what will happen, we can't say for sure that everything will work out for us."

"No, we can't. But we will always be in each other's lives Brooke. Nothing could stop that."

Brooke looked up and met his eyes. He lifted a hand to her cheek and she leant into it, feeling his thumb graze her skin. She nodded, her throat too tight to speak.

Lucas smiled sadly and pulled her into his arms, one hand holding her head as she buried her face in his shoulder. Brooke breathed in his musky smell, as she felt tears in her eyes.

She knew he was right when he said they would always be in each other's lives, but she still couldn't imagine the prospect of four years without him. Not seeing him every day, not kissing him or falling asleep in his arms…whatever he said wouldn't change the fact that that was what she was facing.

He pulled back a little and leant his forehead against hers. She kept her eyes shut but felt him brush a few tears from her cheek.

"It's going to be okay," he said gently, and she opened her eyes and nodded weakly. "I know."

"We've still got the summer. It's not goodbye yet. And anyway, even next year I'm only a phone call away. But we don't have to worry about any of that yet. Right now, I'm here. I'm right here."

"Uh huh. Thanks Luke." She sniffed and smiled.

"Do you want to go back?" he asked. She nodded again, holding his hand as he pulled her close to him as they walked.

They found their way back to the bank and Lucas sat down, pulling Brooke down between his legs and wrapping his arms round her from behind.

Haley shot him a look but he just smiled in return, letting her know everything was okay. Brooke nestled herself back in his arms, looking out over the lake and absent-mindedly running her fingers up and down his arms.

She livened up a little as the afternoon progressed, buoyed by the comforting presence of Lucas and her friends' efforts to cheer her up.

Lucas took the opportunity while Nathan was telling a crazy story to check how she was. He dipped his head and whispered, "Feeling a little better?"

She turned her head to look up at him and smiled. "Yeah, thanks Luke."

He smiled too, "No problem." He kissed her lightly, and she lifted a hand up behind her to cup his cheek.

"I love you Cheery."

Brooke grinned at her nickname and resolved to return to her usual mood. "Love you too."

PLEASE REVIEW! If you do I'll try to get part two up as quickly as possible.