Please note; Brooke and Lucas are NOT siblings or related.

Chapter Thirteen: We Got Older, But We're Still Young

Lucas awoke to an empty bed. He reached out to the vacant space next to him and sighed heavily, wondering what the time was. 11 o'clock.

He frowned, he hadn't realised just how late it was. He sat up in bed and thought about the previous night. It had almost been something from a movie. Two bodies melding into one, and raw passion and temptation finally succumbed to.

It had been perfect.

Except this morning, she wasn't lying next to him.

Lucas suddenly became hot and uncomfortable. He fumbled around for bits of his clothing, a pair of boxers and a t-shirt being the first to hand.

Pulling them on, he got up and out of bed, reminding himself to wash his bedsheets later on. Lucas opened the door to the bathroom and came face to face with the woman he'd spent the night with.

"Oh," he said, "I didn't know you were in here."

Brooke offered a small smile as she stood awkwardly with her bath towel wrapped around her body. She'd just exited the shower when he'd come in.

Lucas noted just how tightly she was holding the towel around her, almost as if she was ashamed. He was reminded of the first few weeks when she was new in the house.

He'd accidentally walked in on her and her knuckles had almost turned white from holding the towel around her so tightly.

Lucas looked at her knuckles now.

White.

"It's okay," she said, not meeting his gaze. Lucas hung his head, "I'm almost done."

Lucas took a step backwards, "I'll come back in ten minutes."

"Okay," she said biting her lip nervously as he retreated out of the bathroom, leaving her alone.

Once the door shut, she sighed heavily.

Outside, Lucas leant against the bathroom door and also sighed. Running his hands through his hair in despair, he realized that he may just have ruined almost five months of friendship in one night.

Brooke, in the comfort of her own bedroom, waited for the faint sound of the shower to start before picking up the phone and dialing a number.

"Peyton Sawyer speaking."

"Peyton? I need your help."

"Calm down, dude. What's wrong?" Peyton asked her distressed friend.

"I don't want to say on the phone. Could you just come here?"

"Sure thing. I'll bring the essentials; tissues, a movie, ice cream and one Haley James-Scott. We'll be there soon," Peyton promised.

"Hurry." Brooke said as her friend hung up.

True to her word, Peyton and Haley arrived fifteen minutes later, armed with their usual 'crisis pack'.

"So, what's the emergency?" Peyton asked as Brooke led the two into her bedroom. She motioned for them to be quiet and listened for the sound of running water.

"He's still in the bathroom, that's good," she said as she sat down on her bed. "You've got to keep your mouths shut, okay?" she told the two. Peyton opened the ice cream tub, while Haley handed them all spoons.

"Okay, he's there thing. Lucas kissed me last night," she told them, turning a bright shade of red. To her surprise, Peyton dug $10 out of her pocket and handed it to Haley.

"It's about time," Haley said.

"Wait, you betted on this?" Brooke asked.

"Well, yeah. We all did."

"Define 'all'," Brooke demanded.

"Just me, Hales, Nathan, Jake." Peyton said.

"And Tim, I think. Maybe Mouth, Skills and Fergie did too." Haley explained.

"How could you do that?"

"No offence, Brooke, but you and Lucas weren't really subtle. Everyone could see you were attracted to each other. We just didn't know it'd take this long," Peyton explained.

"That's not all," Brooke said sheepishly, "I slept with him too."

Haley's eyes widened and she handed back the money to Peyton.

"That's no surprise. Did he call you?" Peyton asked. She'd predicted Lucas would sleep with Brooke the first time anything happened and she'd been right.

"It's not funny, Peyton!" Brooke told her friend. "This is bad. Really, really, really bad. How could I do that?" she asked.

"Okay, let's talk about this rationally. What happened? Step-by-step." Haley asked.

"He took me out last night for dinner, which was really nice. And then he played Chicken and I got pissed at him because he almost died," she faltered, "The next thing I know, he's kissing me. I mean, I stopped it because it got awkward and we went home."

"And then?"

"We went into our own rooms and then the next thing I knew; I was undressing in front of him."

"Oh my god," Haley and Peyton both said. "Brooke, what are we going to do with you?"

"I don't know! That's why you're here."

"I think you make a cute couple." Haley said.

"I agree. You have that Broody/Cheery thing going for you." Peyton agreed.

"I'm sorry, have we entered some bizzaro world where it's okay for me to sleep with my Godbrother?" Brooke asked exasperated.

"Ew, when you put it like that, it sounds weird," Peyton said making a face.

"I'm sorry, Brooke, but once you've shared something like that with a person, you can't ever go back to the way things were. The best you can do is talk about it and see if you can carry on – together or not." Haley told her friend truthfully.

"There is no way I'm talking to him. I can barely even look at him without getting all flustered and embarrassed," Brooke said taking a bite of ice cream.

"Don't worry, it'll get easier," Peyton interjected reassuringly.

"I hope so," Brooke chewed her bottom lip.

"If you don't mind me asking…" Peyton began, "How was it?"

Haley and Peyton looked intently at Brooke who blushed.

"Perfect!" she said as the two girls squealed in delight. Brooke threw pillows at them.

Just then, Lucas knocked on the door and came in. The three girls looked at him.

"Oh hey." He said, "I didn't know you girls were here," he said.

"We're just hanging out," Haley told him. He nodded.

"I'm heading out. Is there anything you want?" he asked. They shook their heads, "Okay, then I'll be with Nate at the Rivercourt."

"Okay," Brooke said as Lucas left. She turned to her friends. "Seriously, what am I going to do?"

"I slept with Brooke," Lucas said as he threw another ball into the basket.

Nathan and Tim stared at him.

"What did you just say?" Nathan questioned.

"He said that he slept-" Tim began.

"I know what he said, Tim!" Nathan interrupted before turning back to his brother, "How did that happen?"

"Well, uh, we went out. I royally pissed her off, then I kissed her and then… well, we went home and she ended up in my bed."

"Are you kidding me?" Nathan asked. Lucas shook his head. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Don't play dumb with me, man. What was it like?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, cause she's hot," Tim piped up.

"It was…" Lucas searched for the right words to describe it, "Something else. I just… it didn't feel like sex, it felt like something more, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean, man. It's like that with Haley. It's just…"

"Different?" Lucas offered. Nathan nodded, a smile playing on his lips.

"Yeah," he said before patting his brother on the back, "Congratulations, man," he smiled. Lucas shook his head.

"I've messed up, Nate." Lucas told him. "I've seriously screwed everything up. She's never going to talk to me again!" Lucas began to panic.

"Why?" Nathan asked.

"Probably because he wasn't any good," Tim joked. Lucas punched him on the arm.

"You should have seen her this morning; it was like she didn't want to be anywhere near me. I walked into the bathroom and it was all awkward. She couldn't even look into my eyes. She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you, Lucas," Nathan reassured his older brother, "It just takes time. You shared something intimate and sensual, you need to recover from that and ask yourself where you stand. Your whole relationship has changed."

"You've been hanging out with Haley too much," Lucas told Nathan, chuckling to himself and momentarily forgetting about the situation he was in.

"I know," Nathan said, "But seriously. You've got to talk sometime otherwise it'll get too weird." Lucas nodded.

"Thanks, Little Brother," Lucas said hitting his brother's fist with his own. Nathan grinned.

"No problem. Anyway, who thought I'd be the mature one?" he winked.

Lucas decided to go and face the music a few hours later. He hoped that Peyton and Haley weren't there as he'd prefer it to just be him and Brooke. Upon seeing that Peyton's car was no longer in the drive, Lucas felt sick.

He knew that the talk was inevitable; it was just something he wished he didn't have to do. Talking the morning after was not one of Lucas' strong points and he'd never really needed to do it. He either left whoever's room he was in and forgot about them, or just waited for them to leave on their own and then forgot about them. But this was different. This time there had been actual feelings involved and a person he didn't want to forget about.

As he entered the house, he ran through the rough cut of what he was going to start with and went searching for Brooke.

"Brooke?" he called as he placed his keys on the coffee table. "Are you home?"

As he slipped his coat off, he came face to face with his mother.

"Mom," he said clearly surprised, "What are you doing home?" Karen led Lucas into the living room where Dan and Brooke were sitting with coffee – and Royal and May Scott.

"We decided that they should come here for the weekend," Karen explained. "Say hello to your grandparents." Karen told Lucas.

Lucas managed to squeeze out the greetings and saw how Brooke was purposely avoiding his gaze.

"Where have you been?" Dan asked his son.

"Oh, uh, I was at the Rivercourt with Tim an-" Brooke, Karen and Dan all looked at him, "And…uh, Skills and Mouth." Lucas said quickly.

"Isn't that Tim fellow Nathan's best friend?" Royal asked, not missing a beat. Lucas shifted uncomfortably.

"He's my friend too. Apparently Nathan was working," Lucas covered.

"Isn't it nice that you still are concerned about your brother?" Royal said casting a glace at Dan, "At least some people haven't cut their family ties."

Dan opened his mouth to say something back but Karen interrupted, "So, since Royal and May will be staying with us tonight, I thought that they could have Brooke's room. You don't mind sharing with Lucas, do you? The guest room is being renovated."

Brooke and Lucas looked at each other and Brooke awkwardly nodded her head.

"Of course not," she choked out. "That reminds me, I have some World History that needs to be completed. Do you mind if I go to Peyton's to study? I totally forgot to makes notes and we have this project…" Brooke stood up quickly, excusing herself.

"Sure. Just remember that dinner is at eight," Karen reminded her as Brooke exited the living room as quickly as she could. Lucas could only watch as the brunette left the house and drove off.

So much for their private talk.

"Who was that on the phone?" Dan asked Karen as she hung up the phone.

"It was Brooke. Apparently it's a big project and due tomorrow. She asked if she could miss dinner and spend the night at Peyton's. It's an all-nighter, apparently," she said.

"You don't believe her?" Dan questioned.

"I would love to give her the benefit of the doubt, but since we came home, she's been acting strange. Did you see the way she acted when I suggested she bunk with Lucas?" Karen sighed, "Something happened while we were away. There seems to be tension in the air."

"So what? There was tension when she first moved in."

"No, this is a different sort of tension."

"Maybe it's because Royal and May are here. They're enough to stress anybody out." Dan commented.

"You're probably right," Karen said, "Dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

Dan kissed his wife and nodded as he watched her retreating form make its way to the dining room.

He poured a glass of wine and watched his son carefully. He seemed distracted, that was obvious, but there seemed to be something else about him.

Something had obviously gone on while he and his wife were gone, and Dan Scott was going to get to the bottom of it.

To Be Continued….