Chapter Seven: Inside Out

Author's note: Thanks to Davis and to Ange for their help with this chapter. And go review for Davis (brookenlucas12) in hopes that we'll finally get an update from it!

Brooke Davis looked up at her half sister, already a welcoming smile on her face before she realized who had entered the room. The smile dropped.

"No way," she whispered.

"Why are you even here?" asked Haley. Brooke scowled.

"I'm a reporter for the school newspaper," she explained, looking annoyed.

"What's the point when nobody reads it?" asked Haley, dropping her suitcase on the bed and opening it.

"Some people enjoy devoting their time to things more worthwhile than jumping around the gym to entice sweaty guys," she shot back, her feelings hurt.

"Hundreds of people make their schedules around these games. I don't know anyone who bothers to read whatever it is that you write," snapped Haley.

"Your crowd isn't exactly who we cater to," said Brooke, before going into the bathroom and slamming the door.

Haley let out a noise of frustration before going back to her suitcase.

She looked up when Lucas entered, and forced a smile.

"Hey you," she said, gilding over to him.

"Hey you," he replied, once again taking her in his arms. Haley forced herself to relax, to let herself enjoy it. They fell backwards on the bed as Lucas' hands moved to undo the buttons on her shirt.

"Wow, doesn't this look like it's going to be a fun weekend?" said Brooke as she came out.

"Oh, hey Brooke," said Lucas. Haley gaped. Brooke and Lucas had grown closer, but Haley had been in the dark.

"What do you want?" she asked. Lucas' brow furrowed for a moment, but then he realized: Brooke had taken a fall for him. She had prevented a fight against the girl she hated more than any other.

"Hales, I have to go, Whitey called a meeting. See you tonight," said Lucas, exiting quickly.

"He sure knows how to make a quick exit," said Brooke, rolling her eyes. A laugh escaped Haley's throat, but she quickly covered it up as a cough.

"Luke'll do anything to avoid an awkward moment," said Haley. She blushed when she realized that she wasn't talking to a friend, or even an acquaintence: she was talking to her sis… she was talking to her nemesis.

Brooke disappeared into the shower. As Haley's eyes fell from the door, to the floor and finally to the stack of extra towels in the closet, an idea bloomed in her mind.

Nathan banged open the door of his hotel room and quickly scanned the area for Jake Jagielski. He realized he was in the shower as he heard the water streaming in the other room. Nathan had knocked on Brooke's door, but neither girl had answered. Not Brooke, or that Haley. Why couldn't he get her out of his mind? She was trashy, manipulative… and she looked damn good in her camisole.

Sighing, he settled down on the perfectly made hotel bed to watch the television. With an often practiced motion he flicked to the sports channel and settled down to watch the highlights of the previous' night's basketball game.

His eyes were glued to the TV as the bathroom door opened.

"Jake, come here, you've got to see this," he called out. Footsteps approached him, muffled by the carpet.

"Sure there isn't anything else you want to see?" came a sultry female voice. One that instantly brought his mind off basketball.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice an accusation. Swiftly he noticed how wet and soft her skin looked, how erotic her hair, streaming down her back and flipping messily over her shoulders.

"Brooke was in our shower," she explained. He noticed the small white towel wrapped around her, her breasts threatening to spill out of it.

"And I guess you just couldn't wait?" he asked sarcastically.

"I didn't think you'd mind so much," she said, her voice low and provocative.

"All you cared about is that you knew Brooke would mind," he said. Haley flipped her wet hair over her shoulder.

"What, you need her to protect you?"

"Speaking of which, does Scott know where you are?" accused Nathan.

"Nathan should have thought of that before he slept with some blond cheerleader with freakishly long legs," said Haley. Nathan couldn't help glancing at her own legs, long and slim and yet not starved looking. Just right.

"So it's shot for shot?" quizzed Nathan.

"That's right, big guy. It's shot for shot," she said. Slowly, almost accidentally, she let her breast slip out of her white towel, before quickly covering it up again.

"Good move, James," she said to herself. "The guy needs to see what he's going for before he'll fully go for it."

Haley's plan had gone of perfectly, but for her racing heart and flushed cheeks, two things she could neither predict nor explain.

"Haley?" called Lucas into the seemingly empty hotel room.

"She's not here," said Brooke, coming out clad in a pair of jeans and a tank top. Lucas' eyes skimmed this, trying to remember ever seeing her dressed so casually and revealingly. It was an outfit that seemed perfectly normal for Haley, yet incredibly new for Brooke.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Brooke. "Or care," she almost said. But she didn't. Somehow her inner self wouldn't let her be that cruel. Or at least… not in front of him…

Lucas wandered to the window and looked out onto the busy city block.

"This view is insane. I guess I'm a small town guy at heart," he said. She slowly moved over to join him.

"Me too. Look, there's a limo," said Brooke, pointing it out to him.

"Everyone's talking on cellphones and drinking coffee," he agreed.

"I'm surprised they're not carrying around dogs in handbags," joked Brooke. She caught his gaze as he smiled down at her. Both blushed and looked away.

"Were you born there?" asked Lucas.

"Yes. I don't know why, you'd think it would have been easier on her to go somewhere else," said Brooke.

"Anywhere to be away from him," agreed Lucas.

"Or her," said Brooke inexplicably. Haley, Lucas wondered? Or Lydia, the woman that Brooke's mother had been betrayed with?

"I know it's lame, but I envy anyone who didn't grow up there," said Lucas, almost sounding nostalgic.

"You'll be spending your whole life there?" she asked. He shrugged. "I mean, isn't it what Haley would want?"

Lucas was surprised by the bitterness in her voice, until finally he understood.

Brooke could feel Lucas' gaze on her as she stared down into the city, but she refused to acknowledge it. Gently he tilted her face to his and kissed her, at first only a gentle touch. It deepened as her heart soared and she opened her lips, letting his tongue roam inside her mouth.

He knew it was wrong, inalterable and infinitely cruel, but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't resist her.

His arms wound around her and pulled her in close, tasting her strawberry flavored lip gloss and lavender scented perfume. So different from the Haley's watermelon lip-gloss, her vanilla scent. So much safer, so much more right.

So perfect.

They broke away, mutually and reluctantly.

"That didn't happen," she said quickly.

"Could you honestly forget?" he asked, sounding almost breathless.

"We have to. I don't like her, I don't even respect her, but she's your girlfriend, for God's sake! She already doesn't trust you, this would destroy her!" said Brooke passionately.

"She knows it's over as well as I do," he said.

"Then end it. And get back to me after it's done, not before," said Brooke. Nevertheless, she didn't protest as he again pulled her into him, set his lips on hers and let them sink back into bliss.

Author's note: Sorry for how closely this mirrors When One Door Closes. Total coincidence.