Massive thanks to you all for making the 40th chapter such a well-received one. Although I think a lot of you are running at me with pitchforks at this very moment. Sorry.

But this is a slightly happier chapter so yay! Enjoy it. Thank Cari for her help with this and flashbacks are in italics.

Also, a big shout out to all those on the BL thread at FF. Here's to a happy 400th thread!

Chapter 41: These Teen Hearts Beating Faster

Two Months Later

A hand poked out from the bed covers and frantically searched for any item of her clothing. Finding her panties and jeans somewhere between the bed and the wardrobe, she threw off the covers and slung them on.

"So…" the voice belonged to the male still in bed. "Is this it? Are we done?"

Brooke turned her head as she finished doing up her jeans and gave a satisfied nod, "Yeah." She reached down for her bra and her top. When she came back up, she asked; "What about you? Are you happy now?" she didn't mean for it to sound quite so scathing.

Lucas ran a hand through his blond hair, "I guess."

"So we're over. Done. Complete. We can move on now without any messy feelings getting in the way and biting us on the ass again," Brooke finished slipping on her blouse.

"This is going to work, isn't it?" Lucas questioned watching the girl he'd been after for so long brush her hair from the tangled mess it had become during their… activities.

Brooke nodded with confidence, "Of course. We needed closure. We got some." She shrugged, "And then some more."

"Are you going back?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"When I finish putting my make-up on. I might see some cute guy in the corridor and I be looking like something the cat dragged in, can I?" she queried with a slight smile. From the mirror she was staring in, she could see Lucas get out of the bed. She blushed a little at his naked state and looked away as he pulled on his underwear and found more clothing.

A few moments later, Brooke took one last look at herself in the mirror and packed away the bag she'd brought with her.

"I think I'm all set." She announced.

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked, "Because you could stay a little longer…"

"I want to get back before it gets dark," she told him, "And plus, there's no point sticking around after things between us are cleared."

"I'll see you at Thanksgiving."

"Don't forget Christmas and New Years."

"And then there's your birt-" Lucas stopped in mid-sentence as Brooke bit her lip. "Valentine's Day," he continued.

Brooke brightened, slipping a mask on to protect herself, "Of course, and don't be alarmed if you can't open the front door – it'll be blocked with presents for me," she winked playfully and he grinned.

"Funnily enough – I don't doubt it," he teased as they made their way to the door. "I'll be seeing you." He said. She nodded.

"Yeah," she sighed, "I'm glad I came, Lucas. It was exactly what we both needed."

"Closure?"

"Yeah." She smiled softly, "I hope you find that girl you're looking for," she told him earnestly. "She's there somewhere."

Lucas gave a slight nod, "Yeah, me too. I know there's a guy out there for you, Brooke Davis. You just have to open your eyes and let him in."

With a quick, friendly hug, Brooke slipped out of Lucas' dorm room and down the corridor. Lucas watched until she was out of view before letting the door shut and leaning against the wall.

His eyes floated to his single bed that, only twenty minutes before, had easily nestled both himself and Brooke.

Four Days Earlier

"I tried to move on, I did, but I don't think I can unless I know there's something still there between us. You still feel something for me, right?"

"I let you go. It's over for me. I don't love you anymore, Brooke. I'm sorry."

Lucas awoke startled and gasping for breath.

His fourth nightmare this week.

As he ran a hand through his hair; most of which had matted to his sweaty forehead, he allowed his heart to gradually slow down.

His roommate flicked on the light and Lucas squinted to adapt to the change from the darkness.

"Hey man," his roommate, Matthew, said groggily as he propped himself up with his elbow and rubbed his eyes, "You okay? This is the-"

"Fourth time this week. I know," Lucas replied as he opened a nearby bottle of water.

"You really need to get this check out, Lucas. It's not healthy – especially in your condition." Matthew looked at his watched, "Thankfully, you have good timing today. It's just early enough for a run before class. Are you coming?"

Lucas shook his head. "Not today."

"So what do you have nightmares about anyway? In the two months we've been here, you've woken up almost every night with that same look on your face and sweating as if you've just finished running a marathon."

"It's nothing, Matt. Just… bad dreams." Lucas wiped a towel across his forehead.

Matthew looked at himself in the mirror as he combed his hair back.

"It's not nothing. I can tell you're not dreaming about rainbows and puppy dogs so you may as well tell me." Lucas gave no answer so Matthew tried a different approach, "Who's Brooke?"

Lucas' head snapped up.

"How-"

"You said her name."

"No I didn't," Lucas frowned though he doubted his statement. Maybe he had.

Matthew sighed, "Okay fine, I was looking for a pair of clean jeans in your closet and I found a boxful of letters addressed to her. I didn't read any but… damn man! That's a whole lot of letters. Who is she?"

"Just a girl," Lucas rubbed the back of his neck, "She's back in Tree Hill."

"You love her?" Lucas shrugged.

"I did."

"And you're not in a long-distance relationship because…?" Matthew motioned to a picture of his own girlfriend who had chosen a different college to attend.

"It's kind of a long story. We dated broke up months ago, but she wanted to give us another chance."

"And you don't feel the same way?" Matthew asked. "Is that why you're scared to send those letters?"

"Well, it's not that…" Lucas said, "I was kind of an ass to her and broke her heart into tiny little pieces. I doubt she'll ever speak to me again." Matthew winced.

"Ouch." He commented, "So, in theory, the reason you're disturbing my sleep is because you're an insensitive jackass?"

"In theory." Lucas sighed, "But there's more to it than that. Lots more."

"Have you spoken to her?"

"No."

"You should."

"How? Without her slamming the phone down on me or burning letters she never opened?"

"Aren't you going home this weekend for your mom's birthday?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah."

"Meet up with her then. If she wants nothing to do with you, then at least you can hide out at your moms."

"Yeah, there's just a slight problem with that. Brooke lives there too. In fact, her bedroom is opposite mine. It was kind of sweet when we dated but almost a disaster when we broke up." Lucas grimaced at the memories of the dirty looks and awkward moments that had occurred for the latter part of last year.

"Oh," Matthew zipped up his hoodie, "Well, good luck to you. And don't forget to take your medicine." He punched Lucas lightly on the arm before jogging out of the room.

------

"How come you didn't tell me the Jackass was coming home?" Peyton demanded to know as she stepped in line with Haley. Haley looked to her side at the blonde, wondering where she'd come from.

"Uh, hi! And I assume you mean Lucas." Haley tucked a strand of her behind her ears, "It's Karen's birthday, you should know he'd be there this weekend."

"Yes, I know but I was hoping he wasn't," Peyton sighed. "Does Brooke know?"

Haley shrugged, "I don't know. And I'm not going to be the one to tell her."

"I know what you mean. She'll be mad when she finds out."

"She'll be something. It's either that or a seriously uncheery Cheery. I so don't want a repeat of two months ago." Her mind drifted to how they'd found her in tears huddled on the edge of the bed.

It had taken almost two hours to find out what had happened, and a further two weeks to stop the tears. She'd only just found her way to becoming the old Brooke that they'd all missed.

And now Lucas' impending return seemed to threaten all that.

"Well, she's going to find out," Peyton reminded Haley. "It's not like we can prevent them from seeing one another, and Brooke is smart. She must know Lucas would be here for Karen's birthday."

"I don't want her falling to pieces when she sees him. Especially with all the effort she's put into planning Karen's party. I mean, I'd hate for it all to be ruined." Haley chewed her bottom lip.

"Well the minute I see him, I'm going to punch him." Peyton promised.

"Get in line," Haley told her friend, "Even Nathan's pissed at Lucas."

"Has Lucas even called?"

"Once or twice. He never mentioned anything about Brooke though."

"Ass." Peyton muttered.

"Hey girlies," Brooke sidled up to them and joined them as they continued to walk down the school corridor. "What's up?"

"Nothing. We're cool!" Peyton and Haley gave a barrage of answers. Brooke frowned.

"Okay, you're both acting weird." She sighed and stopped, "What's going on?" she asked.

Haley and Peyton exchanged a look and dragged her to a quiet corner.

"Okay, um… I don't know if you know this or not but… Lucas is home this weekend." Peyton told her friend.

They waited for an outburst.

"I know," Brooke said calmly.

"Excuse me?" Haley asked her to repeat it.

"I know. I invited him." Brooke said a little more slowly as f she were talking to two children. "Why what's wrong?"

"Nothing, we just assumed you wouldn't want to see him after…"

"That whole drama where I confessed how I felt about him and he tore my heart out and stomped on it before going off to Duke? Yeah, I'm over that." Brooke added a small chuckle.

Peyton and Haley looked at her skeptically. Her upbeat attitude about it was strange, and quite frankly, disconcerting.

"Are you feeling okay?" Haley held a hand to Brooke's forehead, which the brunette pushed aside.

"I'm fine. Honestly. I mean, since I was planning the party and the guest list and everything, I thought it'd be nice for Lucas to be invited. Of course, it's not like he knows the invitation is from me. It's not like I wrote a cheesy 'Brooke invites you…' on it."

"Hey!" Haley replied indignantly, "I wrote that on my birthday invitations!"

"Whatever," Brooke said, "Anyway, just because things between us are a little y'know, doesn't mean he can't be with his mom on her birthday."

"That's a very mature response."

"Of course, if I do see him, I might have to punch him but I'm planning on spending very little time in his company." Brooke smiled. "Speaking of the party, Peyton you need to change your music choices."

"Why?" Peyton asked.

"Cos I was looking through them and it's all depressing, whiny music. God, it's not a funeral!"

"What do you suggest?"

"I don't know. Karen was born in, like, the 60s so… Sixties music? Oooh! Let's have it a theme!" Brooke clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Brooke, the party is in two days. You can't change the whole theme especially after you've sent the invitations out." Haley reasoned.

"Please, all I have to do is stick up a few fliers around the café, make a few phone calls. The Swinging Sixties were all about fashion, some stuff with the Russians and sex. What is not to love?" Brooke grinned widely.

"Fine, fine. I'll start spreading the word." Haley said as she gave a small wave and began walking to Biology.

"You sure you're okay with Lucas?" Peyton asked again.

"I'm fine with spending a few hours with him, Peyton."

"And more than that?" she asked. Brooke shrugged, "Because you can always stay the night at mine if you want to avoid any awkward bathroom moments."

"Thank you, Peyton."

--------

Lucas pulled up to Nathan and Haley's apartment having decided that it'd be better to quickly stop off there first before going home and facing Brooke.

He was pleased to see that Nathan was home, and the two exchanged a brotherly hug.

"When did you get back?" Nathan asked offering Lucas a beer. Lucas took it and sat himself down at the breakfast bar.

"Just now. I thought I'd come and see you first. How are you?"

"I'm good. Haley's at Mom's café, she'll be meeting us at the party. How's Duke?"

"It's good. Classes are great, parties are even better." Lucas smiled.

"How are you and your roommate getting on?" Nathan asked.

"Matthew? Oh, yeah, we're great. He's on the ice hockey team so sometimes we work out together," Off Nathan's concerned look Lucas added, "He knows about my HCM so it's a light workout." Nathan nodded.

"So you heard Mom's party is now a Sixties theme, right?"

Lucas shook his head, "No… when was this decided?"

"Yesterday." Nathan replied, "Brooke changed it at the last minute," he took a sip of his beer as Lucas looked down at the table. "Come on, man. You knew the subject was going to come up sooner or later."

"Yeah, I was hoping it would have been later." Lucas let out a sigh and caught Nathan looking at him. "What?"

Nathan set his jaw, "You really hurt her, Lucas. Maybe even more than last time."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Are you going to tell her that? Because from what I hear, you haven't really been in touch since you left her crying her eyes out." Nathan slammed his beer bottle on the table. It caused Lucas to jump slightly. "Do you know how many tubs of ice cream Haley and Peyton bought?" Lucas smiled slightly. "It's not funny, Lucas."

"I was jus-"

Lucas attempted to wriggle his way out of it but Nathan was already incensed. "How could you just coldly tell her you felt nothing for her? She was willing to give you another chance and you just threw it back in her face!"

"Nate-"

"After all those months you were begging her for another chance, and when it's right in front of you, you make an even bigger jackass of yourself by-"

"Nate, will you just be quiet for a second?" Lucas raised his voice to drown out his younger brother. "I know I made a mess of things."

Nathan snorted. "What was even going through your head?"

"I don't know." Lucas shrugged, "Before I left for Europe, we were friends. It was a little awkward sometimes, but I loved it. And then I come home and I was so ready to move on because I thought that it was what she wanted. Suddenly it is five minutes before I leave and she's kissing me and telling me that she wants to be with me. Brooke was telling me everything I've wanted to hear since we broke up and I couldn't believe it."

"So why did you tell her you didn't love her?" Nathan asked.

Lucas looked at Nathan, "Because part of me wanted to be with her, but the other part wanted to make her suffer like she made me suffer the past six months. I just wanted her to know how it felt to have someone walk out on you." He explained, "And I was angry that she chose the moment I was supposed to start a new life to tell me."

"I guess that was bad timing." Nathan agreed, "But punishing her? You don't think she suffered enough when you cheated on her?"

"I know it sounds stupid but… Duke was my chance to start over again. Forget about Dad and him trying to mold us into perfect sons; to forget about how many mistakes I made with Brooke by hurting her. If I was with Brooke – if I put myself out there like that again – and things between us got worse… I just don't think my heart could take much more. It's already broken."

Nathan was silent for a few moments before he patted his brother's shoulders.

"I'm not the one you should be telling that to."

--------

Brooke smoothed down her Jackie Kennedy-esque outfit and touched her hair lightly as she waited for a drink from the bar.

"Brooke?" Haley's voice asked from behind. "Gosh, you look fantastic!" Haley exclaimed. She was dressed as Marilyn Monroe – something that had taken a lot of persuading to do.

"Yeah," Peyton agreed in her own Janis Joplin outfit. "Although I wouldn't have thought you'd pick something so… conservative."

Brooke smiled, "Actually, Jackie Kennedy was the style icon of the 60s. See, I totally listen in History! And by the way, you two look hot."

"Well it's the best we could do in the… oh, twenty-four hours notice you gave us!" Peyton stuck out her tongue.

As Brooke bought their drinks, they turned to bump straight into Nathan… and Lucas.

"Holy awkward moment," Nathan said under his breath. He was dressed as one of the Beatles.

Peyton looked at Lucas' costume. "John F. Kennedy, huh?" she asked. Lucas nodded. "Pity I didn't come as Lee Harvey Oswald." She said snidely.

Sensing a very nasty confrontation, Nathan pulled both his wife and Peyton away.

"Lets all go dance, shall we. I think Lucas needs to talk to Brooke." Nathan said as he took the two girls who were staring daggers at Lucas.

Brooke put her hands on her hips, "JFK?" she questioned.

"Nathan told me who you were going as." He confessed, "I thought I'd take the opportunity."

"Lucas…" Brooke began.

"I'm sorry." He apologized straight away. "You need to know that. I know it's a late apology but you have to know that I hate what I did to you."

Brooke gulped. "Okay."

"So… are we okay?" he asked. Brooke shrugged.

"I don't know. Let's see, you totally crushed my heart, ran away like a little bitch and didn't call. No, I don't think we're okay."

She began to walk away but he caught her arm.

"Tell me what I can do to make it up to you."

"Why did you come here, Lucas? To make peace with me or be here for your mom's birthday?"

Lucas paused, wondering what the right answer was.

"My mom's birthday?" he hazarded. She smiled.

"Right answer." She replied, "Which means you're spending this weekend with your mom – and not apologizing to me."

With that, she walked off in the opposite direction.

-------

Brooke avoided Lucas the rest of the weekend, leaving Lucas to return with things still left untied.

His nightmares continued for a week until…

"Hi," Brooke gave him a wave as he opened his dorm room.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Nice to see you too," Brooke frowned walking in. "Wow, it's kind of small." She commented.

"Um… Brooke?" Lucas repeated. "What are-"

"I got your letters," she said with a shrug. "The ones you sent?"

Matthew, who was sitting on his bed, stood up slowly and sheepishly raised his hand.

"Uh, yeah, that would have been me who sent them," he confessed. Lucas glared at him while Brooke and Matthew shook hands. "I was falling asleep in my lectures. I had to do something," he reasoned before making an excuse and leaving the pair.

"So you know?"

"Yeah, I do." Brooke nodded. "You could have just told me."

"With the way you brushed me off last weekend?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. "I did try."

"We need to do something about it," Brooke told him straight. "Because neither of us can live in this limbo we have going. We're never in the same place. We have to stop that."

"What do you suggest?" Lucas asked.

"We have sex." Lucas' eyes almost popped out.

"Uh… what?"

"We have sex. Like closure sex. The way we ended things was abrupt and I don't think we ever got the 'ending' we needed. This way, we can get it out of our systems and move on with our lives." Brooke said.

"And this will work because….?"

"Because it has to. There's no other way we can move on."

"We have sex and this whole problem goes away.?" Brooke nodded. "So, when are we going to do it?"

Brooke eyed up the bed and thought it was satisfying enough. "I'm only here for a couple of hours so…" she tossed her handbag to the side and took of her jacket. She pushed Lucas back onto the bed with one quick, hard push of the hand and straddled his waist.

He just stared at her and she sighed.

"Come on, Lucas, I can't do it by myself!" she snapped, urging him to begin taking off his clothing.

"Are you sure this will work?" Lucas asked again as Brooke helped him slip off his shirt.

"Well it better because I'm all out of ideas," Brooke told him as she kissed him.

"Wait!" Lucas pushed her off slightly and scrambled to his nightstand, opening a as-yet unopened packet of condoms. He picked one out and held it up.

"To closure." He toasted.

"To closure."

To Be Continued…