Author's note: Thanks to those who reviewed. The drama starts now…the first two chapters were just setting up the characters and their lives, friends, etc. Enjoy!

Chapter 3- Princess

He's as damned as he seems
And more heaven than a heart could hold

As he pulled up to the address Brooke had provided him with, Lucas was amazed at the sheer size of her house. There certainly weren't any houses like that over in his neighborhood. Lucas had been well aware that Brooke's family had money, but he had no idea just the extent of it. Now though, after seeing the house, he had a pretty good idea just how well off the Davis' were.

Lucas slowly made his way towards Brooke's front door. He was not looking forward to these next few hours. Hopefully they could just get right to it, split up the project, and be on their separate ways. The less time Lucas had to spend around Brooke the better.

After ringing the doorbell, Lucas stood on the front porch waiting for Brooke to answer. He glanced at his watch and saw that he was right on time. He figured that she was making him wait just to make him squirm.

Lucas rang the doorbell again and time heard footsteps approaching. Laughing to himself, Lucas realized he wouldn't be all that surprised if a maid or butler answered. But no, it was Brooke herself who opened the door.

"Hi." Brooke said with sheer animosity on her voice.

Lucas walked in front of Brooke into entryway, "Nice to see you too Princess. Now lets just get this done, okay?"

"Sure, whatever. We can work in my room. I have a computer and everything in there. And don't call me Princess, I hate that."

Lucas followed Brooke as she headed up the stairs.

"You could be a little friendlier to me, after all, most guys would beg for the chance to be in my bedroom." Brooke stated matter-of-factly.

Lucas grunted a little with exasperation. He was not going to entertain little comments such as that one.

After making their way down a long, carpeted hallway, Brooke opened one of many doors and entered what Lucas assumed to be her bedroom. Lucas followed, pushing the door shut about halfway behind him, and realized that her room was just what he would expect it to be.

The walls were covered with photos of Brooke and her fellow cheerleaders and photos of multiple male celebrities, most of them shirtless. Lucas took note that there were also some pictures of Brooke and Nathan framed and placed beside her bed and on her dresser. The bedroom was mostly pink and purple and all of the furniture matched and looked fairly new. It was quite a contrast from Lucas' bedroom, all of the furniture had been purchased ages ago at garage sales, none of it matching. In the center of the room was what Lucas assumed to be a king size bed, he could only assume though seeing as how it was the largest bed he had ever seen, much larger than his own twin bed.

Brooke grabbed a notebook off of her desk and then sat down on her bed. "We might as well get started."

"Whatever you say Princess."

Brooke crossed her arms over her chest, "I said don't call me that."

Lucas pulled the chair away from the desk, turned it so it was facing the bed and sat down. He certainly wasn't going to join her on the bed, that would do nothing but illicit some other comment about how most guys would love to be in his place.

The pair began discussing how best to approach the subject matter at hand and seemed to forget about their mutual hatred for one another as they delved deeper into the task at hand.

After about half an hour there was a knock at Brooke's bedroom door, Lucas turned to look and assumed that the man standing there was Brooke's father.

"Brooke, can I see you in the hall for a minute."

Brooke nodded and got up off the bed, "I'll be back in a minute Lucas, don't touch anything while I'm gone."

Lucas tried to ignore the hushed voices in the hall, but it was impossible, he was curious to know what was going on.

"I'm sorry Brooke, but I won't be able to make it to your competition tomorrow as I had previously promised. I just received an urgent call from work and I must fly out of the country tonight. I'll be in Japan for roughly a week."

"But Daddy, you promised. This is a really big competition and mom can't be there since she's spa hopping in Paris."

"Brooke, this matter is not up for discussion, this is my job and it is what I have to do. This is how I earn the money that keeps this roof over your head and those designer clothes on your back."

"I know, I know." Lucas heard Brooke respond quietly.

"Now, now Brookie, no tears. I'll be back before you know it. I've left some money down on the counter should you need anything. I've left you a little extra so you can buy yourself something nice, perhaps a new pair of shoes or something."

"Thank you Daddy." Lucas could hear the tears behind her words.

"Well my cab should be here shortly and I'll be off to the airport. As I said, I shouldn't be gone more than a week. Goodbye sweetheart."

"Bye Dad, have a safe trip."

Lucas looked back down at his notebook, scribbling so it would appear that he hadn't been eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

Brooke took a moment to calm down before entering her room. Brooke walked back and sat back down on her bed. She looked over at Lucas, realizing that he had probably heard every word.

"I'm... um… sorry about that."

Lucas felt terrible for Brooke, despite the fact she was trying to smile and brush it off, her tear stained cheeks were a clear indication that she wasn't okay.

"It's no big deal."

Brooke nodded and the two got back to work in silence. After about twenty minutes or so, Lucas broke the silence.

"I know how it feels."

"What?" Brooke looked over at Lucas curiously.

"Having your father leave you like that. My father left me and my mom when I was just a kid. It sucked then and it sucks now."

Brooke's expression softened. "Yeah, it's not so much fun." Brooke paused and ran her hands through her hair, trying to gather her composure. "God, you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but somehow, it never stops bothering me. And he always does that, giving me money, telling me to go and buy something for myself. He acts as though a new pair of shoes makes up for me feeling like I sometimes don't have a father."

Brooke stopped herself and her cheeks flushed, she looked as though she wanted to say something more.

"What?" Lucas prodded.

"It's just, I've never told anyone that before. I guess I'm a little embarrassed."

"What do you mean you've never told anyone that? What about your boyfriend Nathan?"

"Me and him, we're not like that. We don't talk about stuff like that."

Lucas was confused, why would she not talk to her boyfriend about what seemed like a pretty common happening in her life?

"Stuff like what?"

"Like serious stuff, how we feel about things. We aren't like that."

"Then what are you like?"

Brooke leaned back into the pillows lining her headboard and appeared to be deep in thought. She was trying to figure out how best to answer that question without making it seem as though her relationship with Nathan wasn't completely superficial.

"We go to parties together. I cheer for him at games. We walk around school together, that kind of stuff. That's our relationship, it's the way we've always been. The serious stuff doesn't sneak in."

"Kind of seems like it's just for show then. How long have you been together?"

Lucas hoped that she wouldn't think he was prying, but the Brooke Davis that he was talking to now wasn't all that bad. It was as though she had let down the walls surrounding her, as though she had taken off some kind of mask that she wore to hide her insecurities.

"Almost two years."

"Are you happy with him?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? We'd been friends forever. It just came to a certain point where we were supposed to be together."

"Says who?"

"Says everyone. My parents, the kids at school, it's just the way it is."

"But it isn't the way it has to be, not if you're not happy with it. I mean, don't you ever want more? Don't you ever want someone who you can talk to and confide in? Someone to share your darkest secrets with?"

"I don't know, sometimes I guess. I feel like I shouldn't complain though. I mean look at my life, I have so much. It almost doesn't feel right to complain about that."

Lucas thought about that for a minute and then shook his head a little.

"I don't know, I guess I think that it doesn't matter how much you have if you aren't happy. Happiness is the one thing you should always have."

"Yeah well it's not always that easy." Brooke glanced over at the clock, "We really should finish up here, it's getting pretty late."

Lucas nodded and looked down at the notebook in his lap, "Maybe we don't need to split this up, maybe we could just work on it all together."

"I would like that." Brooke softly responded.

Lucas smiled and stood up, Brooke followed and the two headed downstairs.

"Well Brooke, this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"No, it wasn't."

"Goodnight Brooke."

Lucas started to walk out the door when Brooke stopped him, "Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind not telling anyone the stuff we talked about?"

"It's our little secret."

With that Lucas smiled and headed down the driveway to his car. Once he was inside he leaned his head back against the seat and smiled. He had just spent hours with Brooke Davis and he was smiling. She was nothing like he thought. It was obvious that Brooke was smart, even though she didn't like it to show. She was sensitive, she liked to show that even less. But for some reason she had shown it to Lucas. He hated to admit it, but the Brooke Davis he saw tonight, well he liked her, really liked her.

Brooke wanted more, whether or not she was willing to admit it, she wanted happiness. Lucas could sympathize with that feeling.

Brooke leaned against the door after closing it behind Lucas. She still felt a little embarrassed, having opened up to him like that, but it felt good. She felt good. It was nice to not just sit there and wallow in her own misery when her father left, but to instead talk about it. And Lucas, well he understood her, he knew how she felt.

Brooke had confided in him like she hadn't anyone else, and to think, just hours before she had loathed him.

Brooke was torn from her thoughts when she heard her cell phone ring. She pulled it from her pocket and looked down at the caller ID.

'Oh yeah, Nathan…'