Just a short new chapter to hold you guys over before this story kicks back into high gear. Next chapter will be longer.

"So…This is awkward," Rachel Gattina attempted to break the awkward silence that had loomed over the dinner table throughout the entirety of the meal that Haley had so wonderfully prepared.

Ever since Brooke and Lucas had been forced to be in the same room with each other, the anxiety within the house had grown. They had avoided talking to each other and had both attempted to prevent any possibility of coming within five feet of the other.

The tension at the table could be cut with a knife. The only sound being heard was the chewing of the grilled chicken. Throughout the meal, Haley, Nathan, Jake, Peyton, Rachel, and even Ryan had failed to make a fluent conversation among the entire group. Their attempts had all failed miserably. In Haley's opinion, getting Brooke and Lucas to loosen up around each other or, God forbid, talk to each other was like trying to get Connor to eat his brussel sprouts: useless.

'Why did I come here?' Brooke asked herself over and over again as she concentrated on vigorously sawed away at the tender chicken breast on her plate with a steak knife.

"Hon," Ryan interjected pulling the hand holding the knife away from the piece of meat. "You can cut that chicken with a fork."

Brooke looked up grabbing her fork from his hand and successfully cutting the meat.

"You can cut that chicken with a fork.." Lucas mumbled mocking the man. It didn't go unnoticed by Haley who was seated next to him. She kicked the side of his ankle as a warning to knock it off.

"So Brooke," Nathan decided to attempt to try and make an actual conversation out of this meal. "How'd you and Ryan meet?"

"College," Brooke replied meekly. For the first time throughout the whole entire sitting, she looked up from her plate to the people she had been so close to just a few years before.

"That's cool!" Haley piped in with a chipper tone. She and her husband were willing to do whatever it took to lighten the mood. "How old are you Ryan?"

"Twenty-five," Ryan answered.

"So you're older," Lucas snorted.

"Well by two years but that's not much of an age difference," Ryan defended.

"God Luke, lay off," Haley scolded her brother-in-law. She knew that he wasn't really into the whole marriage thing and that he still had feelings for Brooke but he was being an asshole to the guy for no reason.

"Excuse me," Lucas pushed his chair away from the table and removed himself from it before striding down that hall and up the stairwell to his guest room.

The table fell silent. The entire group sat there mystified, unable to understand what had just happened before them.

Ryan stared at the man in utter disbelief. This twenty-three year old man was sitting there throwing a hissy fit because his ex girlfriend had finally moved on and was getting married. What a baby.

"I'll be back in a minute," Nathan excused himself from the table to try and make some sense out of his brother.

"Brooke, Ryan, I'm really sorry about this," Haley said.

"Haley you don't need to apologize," Ryan reassured the woman. "None of this is your fault."

Nobody noticed Brooke whose face had faded into a sickly shade of white.

"I'm going to go," she said getting up from the table and grabbing her purse before heading towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Ryan asked getting up to follow her. "I'll go with you."

"Stay," Brooke ordered. "I want to be alone." And with that she stormed out the door and climbed into the Ford Explorer that they had rented at the airport.

Ryan had no option but to just stand there, dumbstruck, along with the rest of the group.

"This was a bad idea," Rachel chimed in to state the obvious.

"What do I do?" Ryan asked no one in particular. For once he was speechless. There was nothing he could do to make anything better. He knew that Brooke was suffering and he could barely stand to see her like that. He wanted to be with her right now, to comfort her, and make everything better. But she didn't want him with her and there was nothing he could do about it.

"We've got to talk to her," Haley said. "Ryan come with me."

"What are you doing?" Peyton inquired.

"We're going to find Brooke." Haley said grabbing a coat and her car keys. "We'll be back. Come on Ryan."