The Way We Were

AN- I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to update. School has been so hectic. Please forgive.

Disclaimer- Don't Own it.

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Brooke woke up the next morning, feeling complete for the first time in so long. She looked next to her and found Lucas staring down at her. She smiled and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

"How long have you been awake?" Brooke asked him as she settled back onto his shoulder.

"About an hour." He replied as he ran a hand through her hair.

"Luke, why didn't you wake me?" Brooke asked.

"You looked so peaceful. I couldn't wake you from that, especially after all that I have put you through in these past couple of days. I owe you a huge apology, Brooke. I was such an ass and I said so many things that I didn't mean, and…" Lucas was cut off by Brooke kissing him on the mouth.

"So, I'm guessing that means you forgive me?" Lucas asked with a smile as Brooke removed her lips from his.

She giggled, "I'll think about it." She replied.

"You better." He said as he leaned down and kissed her neck tenderly.

"You win." She said, as his lips moved towards her lips. "But, I gotta go."

Lucas groaned. "Why? We just got back on track." He pouted as she sat up on the bed.

She stuck her tongue out at him jokingly and he caught her lips in his. As she pulled back, he gave her puppy dogs eyes, asking her to stay with him. She laughed at his lame attempt. "Cute, Luke, but it's not gonna work. I'll be back in like 3 hours. Okay?"

"I have to wait 3 whole hours?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, babe, but I promised my mom that I would go out to lunch with her and Jake, then we have a little bit of Christmas shopping to do. If you're good, I might bring back some good food."

Luke laughed. "Alright… If you really really have to."

Brooke leaned down to kiss his lips again, and then ran a hand over his blonde, shaved head. "I love you, Broody." She kissed the tip of his nose as she said this.

"I love you too, Cheery." He waved to her and she exited through the door, blowing him a kiss as she left.

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Brooke was on her way to meet her mom and Jake for lunch at one of their favorite Italian restaurants. As she entered, she saw Jake waving her over. Things were kind of tense between the two of them, since he had talked to Peyton about her and Mike. "Hey, Jake." She said as he stood up to hug her.

"Hey." He replied as they sat down and the waiter came over to ask them for their drink orders.

"Where's Mom? I thought she said that she was going to meet us here." Brooke asked kind of confused about how Jake was acting towards her.

"She had some charity meeting, but I was thinking that maybe we could talk." Jake said, trying to break the ice on their awkward conversation.

"Right. So, now you're going to lecture me about the way I'm "leading my life"? Right Jake?" She asked, angry at what he was trying to do.

"Brooke, where were you last night? I mean, did you honestly think that we wouldn't notice you were gone?" His voice was laced with concern and hint of suspicion.

Brooke scoffed, angry that he was questioning her like this. "Jake, I'm not a little kid anymore, and it's really not any of your business where I was, but if you must know, I was visiting Lucas, we made up and I fell asleep there."

"Really?" Jake asked, not completely believing what he was hearing.

"Yes," yelling slightly, "Really, Jake. You can call Luke and ask."

"Oh. Did you tell him?" He inquired further.

"Tell him what?" Brooke asked not completely understanding what Jake was talking about.

"About that guy and you hooking up, maybe?" Jake was exasperated by this point.

For the past two days, Brooke had been blocking out that experience, and being with Lucas the night before had made her forget about it completely. As Jake asked her, the memories of that night flooded back into her head. Tears sprung to her eyes and Jake could see that he had gone too far with his comment. She was about to unravel and Jake felt responsible. "Brooke, why don't I get the check and we can go to the beach or something and talk?" She nodded in response, unable to speak without tears leaving her eyes.

Jake nodded to the waiter for the check for their drinks and paid. They left Brooke's car in the parking lot and took his to the beach. Brooke was silent the entire way over and Jake was really worried about her. He hadn't meant to upset her this much; he just wanted to make sure that she wasn't hooking up with random guys to forget about Lucas.

They got out of the car and walked down to the beach. Jake was shocked that Brooke hadn't broken down yet. They sat down on the soft sand and Jake looked towards his baby sister and saw that she had unraveled. Tears were running down her face and her body was shaking with sobs. Jake wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him to calm her down, once she was calmer; he tried to talk to her.

"You wanna talk about it?" He asked, Brooke sighed," I promise I won't be a dick this time." She laughed and nodded her head.

"What do you wanna know?" She asked.

"Why'd you do it?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

She laughed, bitterly. "Well, my boyfriend of four years was in an accident and paralyzed, and then when I tried to help him, he pushed me away, telling me that that he hated me and never ever wanted to see me again. So, I went out with my best friend and got drunk, and met a cute guy, that made me forget all the shit in my life and the next morning I woke up next to him naked. Then I made up an excuse and left." She finished up quickly.

"Wow… This story might just top my list of things I never needed to know." He said jokingly.

Brooke laughed, "Well you asked for it."

"That I did," Jake replied, liking their joking banter. He moved into a more serious mood. "So, I'm assuming that you didn't tell Lucas?"

Brooke frowned, and then shook her head, no. "We were so happy, and I honestly just blocked it out, and now, I don't know if I can do that to him. God, Jake, what am I gonna do?"

Jake looked at her closely. Her long reddish brown hair was swept back into a ponytail. Her hazel eyes still had unshed tears in them. Her face was blotchy and red from her earlier crying. Even though all of these things were true, she was still his pretty little sister. To him, she would always be a little girl. He remembered when she was six, and she was deathly afraid of thunderstorms. She would run into his room and climb into bed with him. He could always make her problems go away, and now he couldn't. He didn't know what to do to help her and it hurt him. He replied to her question honestly, "I don't know, Brookie, but you gotta know that Lucas loves you and I know that you love him. So, if you do decide to tell him, I think you two could get through it."

"Really?" She asked timidly.

"Yeah, you guys have such a strong relationship, you always have, and, as much as I hate to say this, you two weren't together when this happened."

"You're right." Brooke said as she got up and dusted some sand off of her jeans.

"Where are you off to?" Jake asked, surprised that she had taken his words to heart.

"To tell someone the truth." She said she walked away.

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Brooke got out of the elevator and paced a little bit in front of Lucas' door. After about five minutes, it flew open, out walked Nathan. "Hey Brooke. What's wrong with you? I thought Luke said you guys made up."

"We did, everything's fine. The nurse just said someone was in Luke's room, so I decided to wait outside." She said she waved to Luke, who had seen her from inside of his room. "Well, Nate, I'm gonna go see him. See you later." She said as she hugged Nathan and walked inside.

"Hey Beautiful." Lucas said she walked into his room and sat next to him on his bed. She leaned down and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Hey. I missed you." She said as she smiled down at him.

Lucas laughed. "Me too. I've been going crazy without you."

She sighed and took his hand, gently rubbing her thumb against his palm. "Luke, there's something I need to tell you…" She started as she looked down at their entwined hands. "This is gonna hurt you and I hate that." Brooke started to break down crying and Lucas tried to scoop her up in his arms, but he could not reach up enough.

"Brooke, whatever it is, we will get through it." Lucas said with concern, love, and a bit of terror in his voice.

"Okay…" She started, trying to keep her emotions in check. "The other night, after you and I fought and you said that you hated me, I went out with Peyton and got drunk."

Lucas laughed, thinking that was all of her story. "Brooke, that's nothing. I mean I'm not saying—Go be an alcoholic, but I don't really care."

Brooke sighed, "Luke, I'm not done, but before I tell you, you have to know that I love you so much, and that your words did hurt me and I was pretty drunk off my ass." He nodded for her to continue. "Okay, well Peyton and I were dancing with some guys and apparently, I was drunker than I thought because I went off with one of them and all I remember if waking up in the morning, thinking that I had fallen asleep next to you, but instead, waking up to some random guy. I got out of there as fast as I could." Brooke breathed for the first time since she had gotten into Lucas' hospital room.

Luke was shocked to say the least. He didn't know whether to be angry or hurt or both. All he could ask was, "Did you sleep with him?"

Brooke's hazel eyes met Lucas' cold blue ones as she replied, "I don't know. When I woke up, I was half-way clothed. The guy woke up as I did, but I just said that I needed to get outta there and I grabbed my purse, shirt and jeans and I was off. Lucas, you have to believe me, I love you so much." She went to grab his hands, but he moved them away.

"Please don't do this, Luke, please don't. You have to believe me; I am sorrier than you will ever know."

"Why did you tell me this?" He whispered.

"We've never kept secrets from each other, and last night I honestly was so happy that I completely blanked out on telling you, and Peyton told Jake, and I knew that if he accidentally slipped up, you would be way more hurt by him telling you than me."

"They both knew?" He asked surprised.

She sighed, "Yes, Peyton was apparently there when I left with this guy, and she told Jake. He freaked out on me after he heard, and today we went out to lunch and we talked it over and I decided that I needed to tell you, because our relationship has always been based on honesty. I mean, remember when you went to that party, when I was a freshman, and some random drunk girl threw herself at you and you guys made out? You told me about that, and we got through it."

"Brooke, we were 15, and we made out, we didn't sleep together, there is a huge difference." He said, as he remembered the whole ordeal in his head.

"I know, Luke, I know, but I need you." Brooke started to break down in sobs. "Please, you have to forgive me. I love you, please, Luke. I know I screwed up, but I need you."

"I thought I loved you too, Brooke, but now, I'm not so sure. The Brooke Davis that I was in love with didn't do stupid drunken things like this."

"You can't be serious, Lucas. We weren't ever dating, you had just told me that you hated me and wanted to never see me again. That was like the third time that you had lashed out on me. What was I supposed to do? Beg for you forgiveness, and get more of your attitude? Look, we don't even know if I actually slept with this guy, and since I don't ever remember it, I could have been so drunk that he might have taken advantage of that. I'm so sorry, Luke, and I do love you so much."

"I don't care if we weren't dating, Brooke. You've never done anything that stupid before."

"Yeah, well, the Lucas Scott that I knew could actually walk, so obviously we've both changed a little." As the words slipped out of her mouth, Brooke instantly regretted them. "Luke, I didn't mean that."

"Get out. Now. Brooke, just leave." He said as he struggled to turn over in his bed.

"Please, Luke, I love you."

"Damnit, Brooke. No matter how many times you say it, it won't be true. Those are just words. Just get the hell outta here!" He yelled, for the first time that night.

There was a long pause. Brooke gathered her things and got up, she walked towards Lucas and kissed the back of his neck and whispered, "I'm so sorry." She could feel his body go rigid as her lips touched the tender skin below his ear. As she walked through the door, she said, "I love you."

Once the door was closed, Lucas whispered, "I love you too, Brooke, but sometimes love isn't enough."

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Hope yall liked it! It took a long time to write… it's hard to get back into these things! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!

Xoxox-