Yo dudes! As usual you guys rock at reviews! Here are some replies (again sorry, not everyone, anyone who I haven't replied to properly – Thank you so much!)

Gerky: I'm glad it made you smile! I aim to please.

Maggie: Thanks for the review, I hope this is vaguely accurate on college life so far!

OTHbaby08: Dave and his stupid friends have their part to play I'm afraid. But don't worry, there's no way they could be a threat to Lucas!

Bballchick2404: If you mean 'happen' as in get hurt or something, have no fear, I will be keeping Broody very safe. As for them getting together…I'm a fan of the slow build up…

Brucas69: Aw, thanks so much for the major compliment!

TutorWife: The more emotion I can generate the better!

CrazyAznChik: Yeah I kinda like the hoody thing too!

Mrs O-town: Aw, love you too honey! (seriously tho, your story is fricking brilliant!)

Alex: Yeah, thanks so much for the title! It really does fit well.

Bibleboymary4ever: I deliberated a little about skipping ahead, but this what what I had planned when I started writing the story, so I just wanted to get right into it. Plus it's important that they've been apart for a while…

Gabyyy + lac18: You guys are both in a rush for them to get back together! Hate to break it to you, but it might take a while. I do love the palling around, and then burning tension…I promise you it'll all be good!

With no further ado…

Brooke knocked on the door, tapping out a little rhythm with her knuckles.

Lucas opened it as she was still tapping, and gave her a look. She grinned at him and moved past him into the room.

"So, I was talking to Freddie, as I do, and he said he hadn't had a chance to introduce you to the guys yet, by which I mean, his random friends, by which I mean, the sophomore guys who live in this building, who also happen to be basketball players."

"You lost me cheery."

"It doesn't matter. Basically, Freddie has totally failed in his first day duties as your roommate, so I figured I should take over. Come on, we're going to meet people."

Lucas raised an eyebrow as Brooke dragged him out of the room and down the corridor. "Now before we go in I have to warn you about Dave…just…treat him like you would Tim…except perhaps with a slightly higher IQ, and you should be fine."

Lucas chuckled and Brooke went up to a door and knocked on it. "Hey, it's Brooke," she called.

The door was immediately pulled open by a tall guy with light brown hair.

"Oh," he said, as he saw Lucas, "I thought you were alone."

"In your dreams Dave." She pushed him out of the way and went into the room, and Lucas hesitantly followed her.

"Hey Toby. I want to introduce you to Lucas." Toby stood up and smiled at Lucas, holding out a hand. "Hey man, Freddie told us about you."

Lucas shook his hand. "Hey."

Dave coughed from over by the door.

"Dave, Lucas. Lucas, Dave," Brooke said, waving between them. Lucas and Dave shook hands, Dave trying his hardest to stare Lucas down.

Lucas looked confused and Brooke chuckled. "Anyway, I thought you guys should meet seeing as you're going to be team-mates soon."

"Oh yeah, I here you're on some junior Knicks program or something. Nice going man."

"Thanks. Yeah, I was at a camp all summer."

Toby nodded, "Cool, maybe you can help us actually win a few games this year."

"You guys win games!" Brooke said.

Toby shrugged, "Yeah, okay. But it would be cool to actually do some real damage. What position do you play?"

"Um, shooting guard usually, but I guess it depends where the coach puts me."

"Well our shooting guard from last year was a senior who's left now, so you've got a shot at that spot. Coach Michaels was raving about you at pre-season training so I reckon you've got it."

Lucas looked pleased, and Brooke raised an eyebrow at him. She checked her watch, "Well I've got a class in a minute, so I've got to go. But I think my work is done."

Toby smiled. "Yes, well done miss social." He turned to Lucas, "Wanna play some PS2?"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "I'll leave you guys to it," She passed Dave on her way out, who was still standing by the door. "Quit pouting Dave."

Dave shot her a look as she left, and then turned to Toby and Lucas, who were already sitting down with the controllers. He struggled with his inner thoughts. He wanted to play PS2 really badly, but he had promised himself he would not become friends with this ex-boyfriend of Brooke's. This conflict became too much for his brain to deal with, and so he left the room, muttering something about Pizza.

The next day Brooke showed Lucas all around the campus, from the library (where she had to drag him away from a collection of first edition Hemingway's) to the student lounge.

Carrie joined them sometimes, as did Toby, who took over from Brooke while she went to a lecture. Lucas had a class too of course; his Literature course was good, and he fitted in with his new group well.

Brooke met him afterwards and smiled as she heard how it went.

"It sounds good! Now come on," Brooke tugged Lucas' hand.

"Where are we going?"

"I thought you'd want to see the gym. It's just across the road."

"Oh yeah." He followed her into another building across the road and down a hallway. She pushed through two double doors at the end.

Lucas looked up and around him as they went in. The gym was huge, and he could imagine it filled with spectators, cheering the team on.

Brooke watched him, a slight smile on her face. She loved how much basketball meant to him. She knew he'd be totally zoned out, dreaming of playing his first game there. She went and sat on the bleachers as he stood looking up at the scoreboard.

"Where do the cheerleaders stand?" he asked after a minute, and she was surprised he even remembered she was there.

She pointed to one corner, "Usually over there."

He grinned, "So you'll have a good view when I get my first basket!"

She smiled, "Yup. Courtside baby!"

They stayed a few more minutes, and then he asked, "Got anywhere else to show me?"

She paused, thinking, and then smiled, "Just one more."

"This is the last place you've gotta see," Brooke said, as they stood at the bottom of a staircase in the basement of their apartment building.

Lucas raised an eyebrow, intrigued, and she grinned. They went through a door into a narrow corridor, with tiles on the walls and floor.

"It's right through here." She pushed open a pair of double doors and in front of them was a huge pool.

"Awesome," Lucas breathed.

Brooke smiled, "Yeah, it's pretty cool. We have parties down here sometimes and it's fun just to come and swim after classes or whatever."

"Is the water warm?" Lucas asked.

"Pretty warm…better than it would be outside at least!"

She took a couple more steps into the room, looking round it. "Maybe we can go swimming this weekend," she said, "Or someone might be organising a pool party, I'm not sure."

She turned round and found that Lucas was looking at her, a smile forming on his lips. "Wanna go swimming right now?" he asked.

She hesitated, "No."

"You sure?" He took a couple of steps towards her and his smile grew.

"Lucas don't even think - "

Before she could finish her sentence he had grabbed her and jumped, throwing them both into the water.

"I cannot believe you!" she shouted, laughing, "What if my shoes had been suede or something?"

"They're not," he said, laughing as well, "You're wearing your old trainers that you've had for years."

She glared at him, "Well I could've been wearing something else that can't get wet!"

"You're not. I checked, no cashmere, no whatever the hell that bikini was made out of that you refused to swim in," he rolled his eyes at her past eccentricities.

"That was Prada! And it was a tanning bikini, not a swimming one!"

He laughed again at her excuses, and swam over to her. "Well it's a good thing you're not wearing it now then."

"I can't believe you threw me in…that is so something I would do."

He shrugged, "I learn from the best."

She smiled and dived under the water, re-emerging on the other side of him. "There's something about swimming in clothes…it's kind of cool."

"Until you get out."

She wrinkled her nose, "Yeah…lets not think about that bit yet."

"So have you ever been in this pool with clothes on before?" he asked.

"A couple of times. Most of them unintentionally…turns out pool sides and a few drinks don't really go well together!"

"How about with no clothes on?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow at his question. "Nope…not here at least."

He nodded in reply, and she smirked. "Why? You wanna?"

His head snapped round, and she laughed at his expression.

"I was kidding Luke."

He nodded quickly, "I knew that."

She laughed and dove under the water again, this time coming up right in front of him, so their faces were inches apart. "But it's nice to know where you're at." She smiled.

He held her gaze for a second, and then looked down pointedly. She followed his gaze and realised her hands had both slipped under his wet T-shirt and were resting on his stomach.

Their eyes met again, and Lucas gave her a look. For a second she was completely still, lost in his eyes. Then she rolled her eyes, splashing some water at him before moving away.

Brooke threw Lucas a towel as they entered her room. He chuckled as he caught it, and rubbed his hair. Brooke went up to her dresser and pulled open some drawers, pulling out different articles of clothing.

"Here," she handed Lucas his grey hoody.

He smiled as he took it. "You know, I've been hearing some things about this."

Brooke hesitated and turned to him, biting her lip a little. "Yeah…it's not exactly popular here."

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "You know?"

She rolled her eyes. "Freddie's not the discreetest of guys."

Lucas chuckled, "Yeah, I can imagine that."

He pulled on the sweater and then froze. Brooke was standing with her back to him, and has just stripped of her top, and was searching through her clothes. She picked up a black wife beater and in one deft movement had unhooked her bra and slipped it off, before pulling the vest over her head.

She turned back to Lucas, pulling her hair up into a ponytail, unable to stop a very slight smile from forming on her lips as she saw his expression.

Well, it was nice to know she still had some effect on him.

She gave him a look and he shook himself. "Okay…well thanks for the sweater, I'll bring it back later."

She smiled, "Thanks…I guess it is yours though."

"It's fine. I wouldn't want to deprive you of your sleeping attire." He winked at her and left the room.

Brooke gave a dry chuckle as he left, shaking her head.

It was a little short, sorry, but they'll be more up soon (depending on reviews of course! Cos you know I need that little nudge…)