"He told you he loved you?" Haley asked for the third time.

"Yes!" Brooke buried her face in her pillow.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing"

"And then what happened?" Haley pressed.

"He left"

"Brooke!"

"I know, I'm such a basket case" Brooke sighed, looking up from the pillow. "He probably HATES me now!"

"Lucas couldn't hate you…he was probably a little embarrassed himself and a little taken aback that you didn't respond" Haley said. "Its ok"

"I, just-I"

"You love him too?"

"Yeah"

Over at the Scott residence…

"You idiot you WALKED OUT?" Nathan asked, shaking his head. "Dude…"

"Well she didn't respond!"

"Lucas…"

"I know it was stupid she probably hates me now" Lucas shook his head.

"Oh please Brooke could never hate you" Nathan laughed. "The girl is like head over heels in love with you" Nathan threw the phone at Lucas. "Call her and ask her to meet you at the Rivercourt. You can talk things out there"

"Dude that is such a good idea" Lucas smiled appreciatively. "How did your session with Haley go?"

"I told her I loved her"

"Oh…well then, it must have gone well"

"I think it did, but I think I might call her over and ask her if we can just talk and figure out if we're ready to be back together or not"

"Yeah…hey, Brooke!" Lucas greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey"

"Can you meet me at the Rivercourt in like 10 minutes? I wanna talk to you"

"Sure…I'll be there"

"Ok see you"

"Bye"

"Good luck man" Nathan pounded fists with Lucas as he walked out the door.

"Good luck Brooke" Haley said, hugging Brooke as she walked out the door.

Lucas was sitting on the bench at the Rivercourt when he saw Brooke's convertible pull up. The wind was blowing softly, and her dark brown hair was blowing gently around her face. She pried a piece of her hair out of her lip gloss as she locked the car and grabbed her purse.

Brooke stole furtive glances at Lucas, who was watching her. His blue eyes seemed brilliant in the blinding late fall-early winter sunlight and her heart skipped a beat as she walked over.

"Hey" Lucas greeted.

"Hey"

"What's up?"

"Nothing much really, you?" Brooke asked.

"Nothing much here"

"Yeah" Brooke said.

"Yeah…look Brooke I know I sprung that on you-"

"Yeah, you did! Just when I thought I'd like to start getting over you, you spring an 'I love you' at me? You cant do that to me, Lucas!" Brooke cried.

"I'm sorry…I'm just telling you the truth- I wanted to stop beating around the bush"

"I'm not the one beating around the bush! I think I made it pretty damn clear that I liked you, but you didn't do anything except for make some spacey comments about me looking beautiful!"

"Brooke…"

"Don't Brooke me, Lucas!" Brooke said. "I'm serious. Do you love me?"

"Yeah" Lucas nodded.

"Do you want to be with me?"

"Of course I do, Brooke…I wanna be with you so bad"

"Then why didn't you ask me out? Or do something?"

"I was going to I just didn't think you liked me back"

"Well, I do" Brooke said.

"I love you Brooke, so much" Lucas said. "I didn't wanna act on it because I didn't want to destroy our friendship"

"Lucas…"

"Brooke I'm sorry…will you go out with me? We can take it slow"

"Um…" Brooke fought to stop a smile from spreading across her face. "Yeah…as long as we take it slow"

"Of course" Lucas held his arms out and hugged Brooke. He had missed holding her in his arms.

Meanwhile…

"Aw are they together now?" Haley asked Nathan as she popped French fry into her mouth.

"Yeah that's what Luke told me…he sounded very excited" Nathan laughed.

"Aw that's sweet…I haven't seen Brooke since she left the house to go meet him at the Rivercourt…I wonder what they're doing…hmm" Haley giggled.

"Oh no Lucas told me they weren't doing any of that for a while"

"Please…Brooke and Lucas not-"

"He said Brooke sounded convinced and he was going to do anything to get her to trust him fully"

"Oh" Haley smiled. "Luke's a good guy"

"Yeah, he is" Nathan said.

"So…"

"So…"

"We have never lacked anything to talk about, you realize that?" Haley asked. "We're either laughing or yelling at each other"

"I like it better when we're laughing"

"Yeah, me too"

"Sweetie we have to get going" Haley said, dragging Brooke out of the bathroom.

"Haley I didn't get to finish my makeup!"

"Cry me a river" Haley said. "Lucas and Nathan are waiting!"

"I can't do that…I'd smudge the little makeup I have on!" Brooke glared at Haley.

"Yeah hurry up Brooke" Peyton whined from the living room. Lucas shook his head. He knew Brooke was going to look beautiful either way.

"I'm coming…jeez" Brooke emerged from the bathroom looking like a goddess…so Lucas thought. Her hair fell in loose curls around her shoulders and she had a gold sweater on with chocolate stripes. Tight fitting jeans that sat just right on her hips enhanced her image. She smiled shyly at Lucas and went to give him a hug.

"Hey you" he said, pulling her into a hug. She made his heart pitter patter and his stomach get butterflies…just touching her did all of that.

"Hey" she smiled up at him. "How are you?"

"Good…you look fantastic"

"Thanks" Brooke smiled. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yup" Nathan led them out to the car. Everyone was going out for dinner at a relatively nice place.

"Nathan can you put the windows down? My hair is getting DESTROYED" Brooke whined.

"Fine, fine" Nathan laughed, rolling the windows up. The cool early November air blew in, making Brooke shiver. Lucas instinctively put his arm around her and was glad he didn't have to withdraw it.

"Thanks" Brooke smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder. Lucas subtly noticed how her head fit perfectly on his shoulder and his arms went around her nicely, making her feel safe but not claustrophobic.

Peyton smiled at Brooke knowingly. She knew how much Brooke was enjoying being with Lucas without getting tied down with all his physical needs. For once, she felt, that Brooke and Lucas were gonna work out. Jake came floating into her mind. She hadn't spoken to him in ages. She preferred not to think about him and Jenny…she missed them both so much and it destroyed her to think Jake may never come back. She switched her mind quickly back to something else.

"So how are everyone's college apps going?" Peyton asked.

"I'm applying to John Hopkins" Haley smiled. "I really wanted to go there, but since I'm behind in school…"

"Oh Hales you'll get in" Nathan assured her. "I'm going to UNC"

"Same" Lucas said, and Brooke and Peyton nodded.

"You guys don't wanna get out of North Carolina?" Haley asked.

"I wanna go to California for graduate school" Brooke said.

"Cool" Lucas said. "I wanna go to…I dunno, NYU I think"

"Oh good choice!" Peyton said. "College is so soon…you guys we may never see each other again after graduation"

"Don't say that!" Brooke said, hitting Peyton's arm. "And let's not talk about college, you're depressing me"

"Yeah, dude, Peyt you're depressing Brooke" Lucas laughed, kissing the top of her head. Brooke pouted and buried her face in Lucas's chest.

"Mwake dem swop twalin fout coffage"

"What?"

"Make them stop talking about college" Brooke mumbled.

"Guys stop talking about college" Lucas said, wrapping his arms tighter around Brooke. "Brooke doesn't like it"

"Aw poor Brooke" Peyton teased. "Worried?"

"Yeah!" Brooke lifted her head off of Lucas's chest. "You aren't?"

"I am…" Haley jumped in. "A lot"

"Me too…I've never been…not in Tree Hill"

"Same here" Haley sighed.

"Let's not talk about it" Brooke said, plastering a smile on and changing the subject. Lucas noticed, however, that the twinkle in her eyes was slightly dampened. He was going to find out what was really bothering her.

"Pasta, please" Brooke told the waiter.

"And to drink?"

"Water" The waiter proceeded to ask everyone else what they wanted to eat and then left to get their food.

"Can you believe the research paper Hawthorne gave us?" Peyton asked.

"Oh my gosh, I know! I was like what the hell" Haley said. "I still have like a million other things to do…projects, papers, studying…overwhelmed! I hate midterm time"

"Me too" Brooke sighed. "Because now I actually care and feel like I have to study"

"Right, cause before Brooke would just sleep through all of our study sessions" Peyton teased.

"Haha very funny"

"Well you would!" Haley laughed.

"Changing the subject…" Brooke said, sticking her tongue out at Haley and Brooke. "What's everyone doing for winter break?"

"Don't know" Lucas said. "Probably just spending it with my mother"

"Yeah my parents want me to come back out to California with them, but that's not gonna happen" Brooke said.

"Aw yeah we want you with us for Christmas" Haley smiled.

"Yeah!" Brooke laughed. The waiter arrived with the food and they began eating.

The friends' dinner went really well- everyone had a good time, and for once there wasn't any angst and secret flirting- Peyton was most thankful for that.

"Hey you want me to walk you home?" Lucas asked Brooke.

"Yeah that'd be nice"

"Me and Haley will drive home- that ok with you Hales?" Nathan asked.

"Totally"

"What about Peyton?" Brooke asked.

"Oh I have to go the art store and do all sorts of other things, I'll get home myself" Peyton smiled.

"You sure?"

"Yup" Peyton bid them goodbye and left the restaurant. Haley and Nathan did the same and Brooke watched Nathan open the door for Haley.

"Brooke?"

"Yeah" Brooke snapped out of her thoughts.

"You ready?"

"Oh yeah" she laughed. Lucas reached over and grabbed her hand, and they entwined their fingers with each others. It sent shivers down Lucas's back to be touching Brooke again.

The couple exited the building and walked in silence for a few minutes along the Tree Hill sidewalks.

"So…I have a question" Lucas asked Brooke. "It's definitely kind of early for me to ask and you shouldn't feel obligated to say anything"

"You aren't proposing, are you?" Brooke teased.

"No!" Lucas laughed.

"Ok…what is it?" Brooke asked curiously.

"My mom's parents have a cabin in the mountains in New York, and um they offered it to me and my mom for Christmas but my mom has plans with Andy and I asked her if it was ok if I took you there and we stayed there for a couple nights…just a suggestion" Lucas added quickly.

"Oh that sounds like it'd be tons of fun!" Brooke said. "What days?"

"The two days after Christmas"

"Oh that sounds like a blast, definitely" Brooke said.

"Great!" Lucas could barely contain his excitement and Brooke noticed and chuckled to herself.

"But that doesn't mean we're going to…"

"Of course not" Lucas said. "I would never-"

"Its ok, Lucas, I was just making you squirm" Brooke laughed.

"Brooke…"

"I got you Broody!" she giggled and tugged on his coat. "Come on"

"Come on what?"

"Race me home"

"Race you?" Lucas asked flirtatiously. "What do I get if I win?"

"Well" Brooke said standing on her tiptoes and kissing Lucas softly. "More of that"

"How about I carry you home?" Lucas asked, grabbing Brooke and tossing her over his shoulder.

"Lucas!" she shrieked.

"And then" he put her back down and kissed her softly. "You can have more of this"

"I'm all yours" she giggled, and Lucas picked her up and carried her home

A/N: hope you liked the chapter! I put Brucas in cause I was having withdrawal from not writing about them:0)