Chapter Three

Brooke walked into her house and threw her keys on the counter. She'd spent the day shopping, something she found herself doing more and more as her time progressed in California. There really wasn't anything else to do there. Sure there had been parties and stuff, but she found herself skipping them. Brooke had made a couple of friends who loved to party and had tried over and over again to get her to go, but each time she turned them down, opting for a late night movie alone. She just couldn't see herself having fun at a party without Peyton by her side.

Brooke had hoped that coming to California would help her reconnect with her parents, but that hadn't happened. Her parents stuck around for the first two days, but then they had to go away on some business trip. Two months later the business trip was still going on. She didn't understand why her parents would order her to come there if they were just going to leave her alone as they always had. She guessed it was so that they would at least look like good parents to the outside world.

What a joke that was.

A week after Brooke's parents left and it looked to her as if they weren't coming home, she thought about just going back to Tree Hill without letting her parents know. She even got as far as packing her bags, but then changed her mind. As much as she missed Tree Hill and everybody there, she couldn't go home. She couldn't go and face Lucas yet. Not when she didn't know what to say to him. She still didn't know what to do about everything. She wasn't ready for all of that drama.

The day she left Lucas told her that he wanted to be with her and that he realized that everything he did from cheating on her to breaking up with her had been a mistake. He opened himself up and expressed his feelings to her and she just left.

It wasn't that she didn't care about what he had to say or that she left him standing there to somehow hurt him the way he had hurt her, it was that she honestly didn't know what else to do. That was the last thing she thought he would say to her right as she was about to leave.

Before Brooke left Tree Hill she had spent a lot of time with Lucas just having fun, no strings attached. She'd forgotten how much she loved spending time with him. He never had any expectations about her other than her being herself, therefore she found herself doing just that and that's what was so great about him and them. She was always comfortable around him, they were comfortable around each other. It reminded her of why she fell in love with him in the first place. It reminded her of how she felt before she found out about him and Peyton. She had been happy, happy that she had found someone she wanted that wanted her back and not just for the sex.

The more time Brooke spent with Lucas, the more she felt herself falling back in love with him. She knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help it. It was something that just happened.

Brooke figured she'd fallen for him so easily because she had never really gotten over him. Having feelings for Lucas and still being around him was hard, but it was bearable because they wouldn't be spoken of or acted on. There was no way she could go down that road again, not that she'd ever get the chance, her feelings weren't reciprocated. They were one sided, just as they had been the first time. It was even confirmed when she found his Peyton box, a box filled with all their memories. Lucas apparently never got over her.

That was what Brooke thought up until the day she left. Until Lucas told her that she was the one he wanted to be with. He told her everything she wanted to hear, everything she hoped to have heard all those months ago. Lucas Scott wanted her and only her, with no one else in his heart.

Brooke didn't know what to feel. She was happy and sad. Happy because this was what she wanted to hear him say, but also sad because what if he again changed his mind? She had all these questions and she didn't know what to do. This was honestly the last thing she thought she would hear Lucas say right as she was about to leave for three months.

She wanted so much to tell him that she wanted to be with him too, but she couldn't. How could she be with someone who cheated on her with her best friend? How could she be with someone who could hurt her so much? Those were just a couple of the questions going through her mind. She knew she had forgiven Lucas for all of those things, but only enough to be his friend. There was no way she thought she'd ever be able to trust him with her heart again. There was no way she was willing to let herself get hurt like that again, so she left. She told him bye and walked out the door.

Walking out the door and away from Lucas had been the hardest thing Brooke had done. She loved him, but it felt like the right and only thing to do. She figured with time in California she'd be okay. So she unpacked all her stuff and stayed. Some people would probably call her a coward and a chicken for staying, but she just called herself safe. She was safe from getting hurt again and that's exactly what she wanted.

As her time past in California Brooke began to realize she had been wrong. Walking away from Lucas that day was the wrong thing to do. It was the biggest mistake she had ever made. She wished with everything that she could go back to that day because if she could, she would never have left. She would have stayed and told him that she wanted to be with him too.

It had taken Brooke a while to see it, but she finally had. Lucas loved her. He really loved her.

While in California Brooke had a lot of time to think, so she did just that, she thought. She thought about all the time she had spent with Lucas. She thought about everything he had done for her. He fixed her windshield for free, when he knew she didn't have any money. He helped her with her speech, which in turn helped her win. He fixed it to where she could stay in Tree Hill to finish out her junior year. That its self had been huge. She tried everything to get her parents to let her stay, but to no avail. Lucas being the great guy he is had accomplished something she couldn't. He and his mother had gotten her parents to change their minds and she was grateful for that.

She should have seen it then, but she hadn't. Lucas had done all of that because he loved her. Because he wasn't ready to lose her.

Yes, Lucas had hurt her and yes he had done something that she thought for a really long time was unforgivable, but somehow she had forgiven him. He showed her that he was truly sorry and she found that she believed him.

Just because he hurt her before didn't mean he would do it again. People change. He changed. She changed.

Brooke was no longer the same person she had been back then. She was no longer that careless, heartless person who slept around without a care in the world other than when the next party was. She was now and independent, loving girl who was afraid to show anyone her heart. So if she could make such a drastic change in such a short time so could Lucas.

Lucas was human just like everybody else. He made mistakes, she made mistakes. Brooke knew she'd hate for people to define her by her past mistakes, so she shouldn't define Lucas by his.

The more she thought about Lucas and the things he had done to show he loved her, the more she realized she loved him too and the more she realized that she could trust him again. She loved him, he loved her, what was the problem? Why were they still not together?

The problem was that she was in California and now too much time had past. They still weren't together because she realized she could trust him again too late.

Brooke wanted to go to Lucas and throw her arms around him and tell him she wanted to be with him the day she realized she could trust him, but she didn't. Her insecurities took over as they always did lately. She had been in California for a little over a month before her revelation and that was a lot of time. What if he changed him mind about her? What if he met someone else while she was here? What if he no longer wanted to be with her? What if she told him that she loved him, but he told her he no longer felt the same way? She would be devastated and humiliated if that happened. She couldn't risk that so she stayed in California by herself knowing that she loved him.

There was only one more month before she would be going back home. Then she'd see him again, then they'd be able to figure everything out without her having to feel vulnerable.

Brooke walked into the kitchen and was greeted by their new maid.

"Hola Ms. Davis."

:Hello Mrs. Martinez. How are you today? Is your daughter feeling better?"Brooke liked their maid. They spent quite a bit of time talking since Brooke spent most of her time at home.

"I'm good, gracias. Isabel is doing much better too. I think it was just a, what do you call it, stomach bug. How you doing?"

"Good. I just spent a ton of daddy's money, so that's a plus. Which reminds me, did I get any mail today?"she asked rolling her eyes. Her mother had called a few days ago and told her that her and her father were having a wonderful time and they had sent pictures. Brooke wasn't in any rush to see them, but a little part of her wanted to see if they had also sent her a letter, something saying they loved and missed her.

"Si."Mrs. Martinez walked over to the wall and pulled out the letters from Brooke's mailbox and handed them to her.

"Thank you. Now lets see what mommy and daddy dearest have been bragging about."she flipped through some junk mail, but stopped when she reached a pink envelop. She felt as if her heart stopped the second she saw Lucas' name.

This was from Lucas. He had written her a letter. She had never been more excited about anything. She hadn't spoken to him in two months and it was killing her.

"I'll be right back."said Brooke as she set the rest of her mail down and walked out of the kitchen, never taking her eyes off the letter. She thought that if she did it might disappear. She quickly made her way to her room and sat down on the bed still staring at the pink letter.

Brooke wanted so desperately to tear open the letter and read it, but she was scared. What if it was bad news? What if it was to tell her he no longer felt the same way he had? She now knew she wanted to be with him so if that was what it said it was going to kill her.

She quickly got up from the bed and walked over to her dresser. She opened the drawer and placed the letter inside closing it afterward. That was it. She wasn't going to read it. There was too much of a possibility that she was only going to get hurt again and she couldn't handle that, so she just wasn't going to read it.

Brooke walked away from the dresser and made her way to her door and walked out. She made it half way down the hall before she turned around and ran back to her room. Like she could really not read something this important. What ever was in that envelop she wanted to know. Good or bad, she needed to know.

Brooke threw open her drawer and snatched the letter out. She made her way back to the bed and sat down. She held the letter in her hand for a minute and just looked at it before tearing it open.

She couldn't help but laugh at the first part. It was obvious that Lucas didn't write very many letters. As she continued to read the letter her laughter stopped and was replaced by tears. The more she read the more she found herself crying. Once she was finished she closed her eyes and place the letter to her heart and just cried.

The letter was so sad, but at the same time it was the best thing she had ever read. Lucas was expressing his feelings for her for the second time. He had done it the first time and had basically gotten rejected, but here he was again, opening up to her, not worrying about her not feeling the same. He just wanted her to know he cared and loved her, no matter how corney he sounded. That in its self made her sad. He was willing to risk rejection for the second time, when she wasn't even willing to risk it once. She stayed in California because she was worried that maybe he had changed his mind. He was willing to put himself out there, but she hadn't been. She was still in California worrying about something that wasn't even the case.

Lucas hadn't changed his mind. He still wanted to be with her and he had even told her that he loved her. He was being so brave and she was in fact the biggest coward out there.

Lucas expressed his feelings and was open with her. His words were so beautiful, but what had really gotten to her was his P.S. He had remembered what she said to him that night, she hadn't even remembered that, but he had. It showed her that even though she thought all their time together had been a lie and meant nothing to him, it wasn't and it did. He did care about her back then and he even remembered the little things she had said. He really was an amazing guy and she loved him so much.

Brooke was still in California because she was afraid he had changed his mind, but this letter showed her that he hadn't, so there was no more reason for her to stay there and hide. It was now time to go back home and trust. Time to trust him and time to trust herself. It was time to go back and be happy. Happy was something she never thought she would be again, but now she knew she would. Now happiness was within her reach, all she had to do was go home and grab it and that was exactly what she was going to do.

Go Home.

Well there you go, the third part of this story. I just want to say that I am really sorry for the delay in this chapter. My computer is not working right now. I'm surprised it even let me on right now. The last time I typed this chapter I was almost done and it froze. I hadn't even saved it yet. So once it got erased I didn't feel like typing it up again especially since what I type is not what I have written down. I change it a lot. Well anyways enough with the explanation. I am sorry it took me so long to update. There is only one more part left. I hoped you liked this chapter. Please tell me what you think. Read and review. Thanks.

Coming Up:

Brooke goes home and sees Lucas for the first time in two months.