Chapter 7

Keith's Garage

When Lucas got to the garage, he saw that Keith had a car that he had seen a couple of times before. He couldn't remember where he had seen that car from. When he got inside the shop, he saw a man sitting in the waiting room. He couldn't figure out why the guy looked so familiar, but he found out pretty quickly.

"Hey Luke, this is John Bausch, Jamie's father." Keith said looking up to see Luke walking in. Lucas went from confused to utterly angry at the man standing in front of him. But he knew he couldn't say anything because of the promise he made to Jamie.

"Hi Mr. Bausch, it is nice to meet you. Jamie and I are pretty good friends. She's a great girl. Well, I better get started on whatever you need me to do Uncle Keith." He shook the man's hand, but couldn't keep eye contact with him.

"Nice to meet you also Lucas, Jamie talks about you quite a bit." Lucas knew he was lying because he asked if she ever told her dad anything, which she told him that she had never really said anything to him. Lucas walked into the shop to find Nathan working on a car. It still surprised him to see Nathan working in the shop and not in the business area with his, their dad. It was weird how Nathan changed from never having to get grease under his fingernails to loving it. Lucas really loved working and playing with Nathan. He never thought that he would like Nathan, because of the first part of the year, but he soon grew to love his brother more than anything. Nathan surprisingly felt the same way about how his life had turned out. Nathan and Lucas were working on John's car when he came in to pick it up.

"I'm sorry Mr. Bausch, but your car isn't quite ready yet. We are working as fast as we can, but we want to do a good job." Lucas said hoping that he wasn't mad.

"Don't worry, but can I talk to you?" Lucas looked surprised, but shook his head. They walked outside so Nathan couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"So, you are friends with Jamie?" Lucas again shook his head and was about to say something but was cut off by John. "You listen and you listen good. You stay away from her. She doesn't need you ruining her chance of getting into a good school. She doesn't need you to distract her from her school work. Do you understand me? I don't want to see you anywhere near our house again. If I catch you in my house with my daughter there is going to be hell to pay. I hear you are an intelligent boy, so I know that you will have no problem understanding this." Lucas didn't know what to say. Lucas didn't answer, but John thought that he had gotten his point across. He told him that he would come back in an hour and they better have his car fixed. Lucas went back inside and didn't say anything to Nathan and Nathan didn't try and find out. By that time, he knew when it was safe to talk to his brother about certain things. They were just finishing the car when John came back. Lucas didn't want to see the man's face so he went to the back to do some paper filing for Keith. He hadn't heard Brooke come in, but she needed to talk to him.

"Hey Luke" he jumped about five feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't worry, I guess I'm just a bit jumpy right now." Lucas didn't want to tell her why, but he didn't know how to keep it in.

"Are you jumpy because you're afraid of Jamie's dad? I saw him talking to you outside a while ago. Felix and I were walking by and he didn't seem very happy with you. What did you do to Jamie? I swear Luke, if you hurt her in any…"

"Brooke, it isn't like that. I would never hurt Jamie. I know you are still mad at me for what happened, and damn, you have all the right in the world to be pissed at me still. But I would never hurt Jamie. I really love her…" he couldn't believe what had just come out of his mouth. He had never told anyone that.

"I know Lucas, but I'm just making sure. You are a good guy Luke, and I think that Jamie is great for you. But, if you didn't break her heart, then what did her dad talk to you about?" She was surprised that he had said that he loved her. They had only been going out for two weeks.

"Um, well, I guess her dad doesn't want us dating or something. He thinks that I will distract her from her school work, but I don't. We do our homework together all the time, so it isn't like I am distracting her from her studies. I just don't understand why…"

"Lucas, he is just being protective of Jamie. He loves her and is just trying to help her out. You have to think about the protection of a father with his only daughter." Lucas knew that wasn't the reason John didn't want him to see Jamie, but he couldn't tell Brooke the real reason.

"Yea, you are probably right Brooke."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I'm not breaking up with her. She is the best thing that has happened to me in a while. I love hanging out with her."

"Then my advice for you is to not get caught by this guy." Brooke couldn't help but smile at her advice. She knew that Lucas was happy with Jamie and she knew that Jamie was definitely happy with Lucas. Lucas was becoming the guy that she knew he could be. She was happy that they became friends after everything that had happened between them. "Well, Felix, Anna, Mouth, and I are going to the beach for a little fun in the sun. Be careful with Jamie, okay? I don't want her heart broken, yours either." With that, she walked away. Lucas didn't know what to think about her last statement, but he didn't care. He knew that he wouldn't break Jamie's heart, he loved her. He kept thinking about how he had told Brooke that he loved Jamie. He couldn't believe that he had said it already, but he knew it was true. He loved spending time with her and when he wasn't with her he was either talking to her or thinking about her. He had never felt this way before, but he knew that he liked it. He decided that he had to see her right away. He picked up his cell phone and dialed her number.

"Hey babe," He loved how she answered the phone.

"Hey James, what are you up to right now?"

"Well, homework for Monday, but that is about it. Why?"

"Oh, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out."

"Yea, meet me at the library." He ran out to the front of the store to tell Keith that he was leaving.

10 minutes later

"Hey, Lucas. Did you run the whole way here? You seem out of breath."

"Yea, I just wanted to see you and I just couldn't take my time." The smirk on his face quickly disappeared when he remembered what he needed to tell Jamie. "Hey, um, do you want to go out tonight? I know it is kind of short notice, but I really want to go out tonight."

"Where were you thinking of going?"

"I was thinking about going to the restaurant we went to on our first date."

"Yea, I would love to go out tonight. I'm going to go get ready at Brooke's. I have kept a couple things there. Pick me up at 5:00."

"Okay, see you then. Bye Jamie."

"Bye Lucas."

5:00

Lucas was nervous going over to Brooke's house to pick Jamie up. He didn't know if Jamie's dad knew about them going out or if he thought they were just friends. As he walked up to the house he remembered the times that he had gone to pick Brooke up. As he got up to the door he saw Brooke and Jamie sitting and talking on the couch. He didn't know what they were talking about, but it must have been something sad because Brooke looked like she had been crying and then he saw Jamie give her a hug. He wanted to know what was wrong, but he figured he would find out eventually. He rang the doorbell and a couple minutes later he saw Brooke come to the door. He could tell that she had been crying, but she had done a good job of playing it off.

"Hey Luke, Jamie went to go get a coat from my room. She said she didn't want to steal another one of your sweatshirts." As soon as she was done saying this Jamie showed up at the door.

"Hey Luke, I can't believe that you are late. You are always here on time and it gets annoying sometime."

"Well, I figured that I would see what this being late is like. And it isn't like you aren't ready when I come to pick you up on time. Well, are you ready to go?"

"Yes I am. I don't even know why you ask me that." She went over and gave Brooke a hug. "I'll call you when I get home."

"Okay, sounds good to me." With that Brooke went back in the house and Jamie and Lucas walked to his car. They drove in silence except for the radio. It wasn't the comfortable silence that they were used to. Jamie felt that there was something on Lucas' mind, but she didn't know what it was. He was always good at hiding what he was feeling.

"Lucas, is there something wrong. You haven't said too much and it is starting to worry me."

"Yea, there are a couple of things on my mind. I was actually at Brooke's house on time, but when I was walking up I saw through her window. Why was Brooke crying? I know you probably promised that you wouldn't say anything, but Brooke and I are friends and I want to help her."

"You saw everything?" Lucas shook his head. "I actually didn't promise her because we figured that you hadn't seen anything. But, um, please don't tell anyone else. I don't know if she wants a lot of people to know. I'm guessing you knew that Brooke's dad was looking for a job because he lost his other one. Well, he got a job."

"That's great though. Brooke loves having money." Lucas said with a little joking ness in his voice.

"Yea, she does love the money, but the problem is that they have to leave Tree Hill. The job is out in California. They have to move in a little over a week. She just found out today and I was there when she found out. She doesn't know how to tell you guys. For some reason she thinks it is going to be especially hard to tell you, but I guess she doesn't have to tell you now."

"Oh, wow. I don't know what to say. I didn't expect that."

"Yea, what can I say. I guess I'm not very good at keeping secrets." She felt good for telling Lucas. She knew that he still cared about her as a friend and he deserved to know. They drove in silence for a while longer. When they got to the restaurant she could tell that something was still bothering him, but she figured she would wait until after dinner. They got their food and started eating. The conversation was pretty light, but at least they were talking. Towards the end of the conversation Jamie started getting worried about Lucas' odd behavior, but she got really worried when Lucas spoke up.

"Um, there is something that I need to tell you, but I don't know if I should."

"Lucas, you can tell me anything. You know that you can trust me."

"Well, it isn't that I can't trust you. It is the fact that I don't know if you want to hear it. But, I think I should tell you." He paused which made Jamie's mind begin to wander. She figured that they were over. She had no idea what else would be so hard for him to talk to her about.

"Lucas, I…" He saw the look in her eyes and he immediately knew what she was thinking. He didn't want her getting the wrong ideas, so he continued.

"Okay, here goes. So, I was working on your dad's car today and he came in before we were done." He looked at Jamie and saw her eyes glaze over with fear. "And he asked if I could talk to him. So, we went outside and he asked if I was friends with you. I told him I was and he was not very happy. I didn't tell him we were going out, but he told me that he didn't want me to see you. But I can't not see you Jamie…I love you." He couldn't believe that he had just said that to her. He knew that it was true, but it surprised him when he said it to her. She was surprised as well. She couldn't believe what he said. It wasn't that she didn't feel the same way, but she was still surprised by it. "I know you probably think that I am nuts for saying that, but it is the truth. I have never felt this way about anyone before. I love being with you and when we aren't together I love talking to you on the phone or whatever and even when I can't talk to you I think about you. I don't know what I am doing, but I am not going to take that back. And I am not going to let your dad get in the way of our relationship." Jamie didn't know what to say. She was still shocked that he had told her that he loved her. She hadn't been told those words since Dana had died three years earlier. "Jamie, just because I said that I love you, it doesn't mean that you should feel like you have to. I want you to…"

"I love you too Lucas." Neither Lucas nor Jamie could believe that she had said that, but just like Lucas it just came out. Neither one could believe that they had said those words to each other, but neither was going to take it back. After they were done eating they took a long walk on down by the river talking about everything that had happened that day. They were trying to find a way to keep their relationship from John and how to get Brooke's parents to let her stay in Tree Hill. By the end of the night they had come up with a plan to help Brooke. They both wanted her to stay and they prayed that this plan would work. When Lucas took Jamie back home they both saw John's car in the driveway. They hadn't expected to see him home.

"Lucas, keep driving and go around the block. I told him that I was at the library studying and alone. I told him that I didn't need a ride, so I should probably walk a block at least." Lucas turned the corner just like Jamie had said. He didn't want her to get in trouble, because he knew what would happen if she got in trouble. He dropped her off and watched her walk into her house. He could do nothing for her except pray that she made it to tomorrow. He needed to tell someone, but he couldn't think of who he could talk to.