So yeah, I know, I haven't updated in forever. I totally suck. Lol. Thanks for all of your reviews guys! I was going to try and update before, but this week's been pretty damn crazy… lots of parties, a family reunion, and a few days in the country … but I've got a few free hours today, and you guys and this story are number one now! Lol. Anyway, most of you gave me nice long reviews, which are totally awesome. Haha, Only Love Can Break Your Heart was clearly nobody's favorite chapter, but I didn't get any hate mail for it, which is always nice lol.

So now I've got some semi-spoilers for you guys. They might be occurring in this chapter, or the upcoming ones, but just to give you a taste of what you're in store for, because everybody seems to love guessing, and I love hearing your predictions! Lol

-we haven't seen the end of Jaley

-Brooke and Peyton… best friends for never (so everybody holding out hope for a possible friendship… yeah, not in this story lol)

-Felix's actions always come back to bite Brooke in the ass

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing. Not the characters, not the setting, and hell, somebody's probably already thought of the plot too. Also, I think I took a line from a book I read for the fifth section. So yeah, I don't own the dialogue either. Heh, sucks for me.

At the Heart of It All

Chapter Eighteen

The Blurring Lines Of Loss

"I did the right thing," Brooke explained, tears pooling in her eyes, the reflection of the latest sad movie shining off her green irises. She spoke confidently, like a person giving an often-rehearsed speech. Actually, Haley thought, it was a much rehearsed speech, seeing as she had heard it thirty-six times in the hour and a half she had been there. "Don't you think?"

"No," Haley said hesitantly. Harsh? Yes, and Haley knew it, but there's only so much wallowing-in-self-pity a girl can do.

Especially when it's not her own pity.

"What?" the usually-cheerful girl exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"No, I don't think you did the right thing…" Haley started, and continued off Brooke's baffled look. "I mean, I know that you think you did the right thing for you, but you're wrong. You can't live without Luke! Tigger, you know I love you, but you're currently a mess, and whether you admit it or not, it's killing you to not be with Lucas whatever way you can."

"Tutor girl! You're the one who told me to break things off in the first place!"

"Don't blame this on me! I did not tell you to stomp on your relationship with your best friend and the guy that you're secretly in love with, I told you to figure out what you're feeling that way you don't clobber everybody!"

"Perhaps I called the wrong friend for comfort?"

"Well, I'm the best one you've got, seeing as you just br-broke up with the other one," Haley said, her tone sardonic but a little shaky, as the sad movie was taking its toll on her too.

"We weren't really going out," Brooke said slowly, ignoring her friend's sarcasm. She studied her red nails, tangling themselves slowly in the fringe off the soft pillows. Red. Brooke had decided she needed a change after her latest … heartbreak? And so kick-ass red nail polish seemed to be the way to go as opposed to her usual classic French manicures. Funny… she didn't feel much better.

"That doesn't mean that you didn't really feel anything."

"I really can't talk about this right now. It's… its too hard… it's too soon. Let's just… let's just talk about something else," Brooke managed to choke out, forcing a watery imitation of her usual perky smile. Haley opened her mouth to object, but her friend ploughed on. "Who are you going to prom with?"

At this, Haley's face crumbled. "Nobody…"

"What? Not Nathan Scott!"

"No! He… um… he didn't ask me," Haley grappled with her words. Easy to pronounce, difficult to say.

"WHAT! But, you two were totally hot for each other…" Brooke sputtered, a little helplessly. If Nathan and Haley weren't a sure thing after the past few weeks, then what was?

"Please. He's 'Nathan Scott', and I'm just Haley James, tutor, nothing more. But really, it doesn't bother me. I don't even want to go to the prom," Haley lied unconvincingly.

"That's not true, Tutor Girl. Well, the you being a tutor part is, but you aren't just anything. You're an amazing person Haley, even if I'm here devastated and you're unsupportive. And it sucks for Nathan if he's dumb enough to miss out."

"Hum… you know what? I think that we're both getting our hearts stepped on too much lately. There aren't any more sad movies for us to watch, and we're both getting way too damn good at these 'cheer up' speeches!" Haley laughed, and Brooke tossed the pillow at her.

"Actually, you know, you're right!"

"Big shock!"

Brooke continued, ignoring her. "I'm going to talk to Lucas. I'm going to talk to him, and settle this, because we're best friends, and this is ridiculous. I'm going to talk to him--- first thing tomorrow!"

"Speaking of ridiculous."

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Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Brooke loved being the only one walking down the hallway at any certain moment. The echoing sound of her designer shoes on the tacky speckled floors made her feel powerful. And power was something she was definitely in need of today. She had spent the weekend in the company of Haley, chick flicks, and her tried and true buddy—ice cream—and she had realized that she could try and fill the void whatever way she could, but she was incomplete without Lucas. They had always been best friends, and they always would be.

Okay Brooke… just say it a few more times, and maybe you'll start to believe it...

Speaking of Haley, Brooke desperately needed to talk to her again. Making her way down the deserted hall, the cheerleader found herself at the tutoring center. She nearly bounded in but then she discovered that Haley wasn't in there alone.

Looking in through the glass, Brooke took the time to really look at her friend. She had always seen Haley, and she had thought she was kind of pretty even before they were friends. Now she realized that the other girl was beautiful, just as attractive as any of the other girls in the school, but she always saw a kind, caring, patient air about her. Maybe that was what drew all these varsity players to her, Brooke mused and laughed quietly to herself. Gazing upon Haley, who seemed to shine with an inner light as a light smile graced her face, she wondered how Nathan could possibly pass her up. Well, sucks for him, Brooke thought as she saw Jake Jagelski blush and stick his hands in his pockets.

Her jaw dropped slightly. Brooke had always been able to lip-read. Not great at it, but sometimes she could figure out what people were saying. She found herself especially grateful that now seemed to be some of those times, as she couldn't hear a thing through the glass and stone that made up the walls of Tree Hill High's tutoring center. Brooke Davis was absolutely floored when she read Haley's lips, saw Jake beam and Haley giggle as he picked her up and swung her around.

Okay, I'll go to prom with you.

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"HALEY WHATEVER YOUR MIDDLE NAME IS JAMES!"

"Brooke Elise Davis!" Haley responded playfully, in a perpetual good mood after finding a date to the biggest social event of the year. Brooke smiled sadly at the use of her "middle name". Of course, Elise wasn't actually her middle name, but nobody knew that. Nobody except Lucas… "Hello? Brooke? Anybody home?"

"Wha—oh yeah! Why didn't you tell me you still had something going on with Jake Jagelski!" Brooke snapped back to reality, her slight-rage returning. How the hell could Haley even consider speaking to him after what he did to her?

"Because I didn't know that there was 'something going on'!" Haley exclaimed, tossing her hands in the air. "He totally sprung this on me. I had no idea he even still thought about me after… you know… Peyton. I mean, she's some tall, cool, blonde 'It' girl, so I figured that he wouldn't let her get away but—"

"Tutor girl! I do not want to hear the praises of Peyton Sawyer. I just thought you liked Nathan."

"I do like Nathan! But Nathan is Nathan, and he didn't ask me. I was afraid that no one was going to ask me, and I know that that's shallow and stupid, but you don't know what its like! And then Jake asked me, and I guess I like him too."

"Well… as long as you're happy, I guess," Brooke mumbled, staring down at her hands. She nervously twisted her ruby ring round and round her little finger, hoping Haley wasn't mad at her. It was kind of a ridiculous outburst.

"Thanks Tigger. Now, have you talked to Lucas yet?" Haley prompted, and Brooke groaned.

"Um… not yet," she drawled, wanting to prolong the experience for as long as possible. It could only hurt.

"Well, what are you still doing here? Go get 'em tiger!"

"I thought I was Tigger!"

"Brooke... go!" Haley laughed and swatted at her friend as she walked by. Brooke tossed a look at her friend over her shoulder, but Haley wasn't looking back at her anymore. She laughed a little as she saw the tutor making her way across the room, cleaning up but smiling and humming gently to herself. Perhaps there was more to her prom date than meets the eye…

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"Oh to be that gloss and slide upon those lips. Haha, man, Shakespeare ain't got nothing on Felix," an arrogant voice hung in the air as a man wearing a matching grin leaned against the locker beside hers.

"I wish you were dead too," Brooke said, without taking her eyes off her reflection in the mirror. Smacking her lips and adjusting the straps on her top, Brooke broke eye contact with herself and made it with Felix. He still wore that stupid, arrogant smirk and she had never wanted more to smack it off. "Can I help you with something?" she asked through gritted teeth, bending over to pick up her backpack. Brooke made a noise of disgust as she noticed Felix checking her out. "What the hell do you want Pool Boy?"

"Aww, old pet names. Aren't we sentimental?"

"Fuck off Felix," she said slowly and clearly, and he looked as if she had just smacked him across the face. "Don't look so surprised. I'm not your bitch anymore. You can't just come around and do whatever you want. Now get the hell away from me and my locker, because you most definitely don't come in peace."

"Ouch. Actually, I have a question for you," he said, the indignancy of the moment before totally forgotten. Brooke raised an eyebrow at him, her interest piqued. "Will you go to prom with me?"

She burst out laughing before realizing that he was, indeed, serious. "Um, Felix… maybe you missed the memo, but Lucas asked me to go to prom with him. I know you saw the banner, seeing as you were lurking in the shadows in your usual creepy, stalker-esque way."

"Didn't you get the memo, gorgeous? I figured you were in need of a date, because Lucas Scott's got a new girl," Felix smirked, his eyes lighting up maliciously.

Again, Brooke was floored. The world crashed around her, time came to a stop, her heart ceased beating, a lump rose in her throat, and tears formed behind her eyes. For a split second, she thought she saw sympathy. Then she realized that it was only a perverse amusement, masked by a guy who just wanted to 'get some'. Disgust attempted to edge its way into her body, but she was too overwhelmed by her other feelings to make any room for it.

"Who?" she managed to choke out. She would not let him see her cry! I mean, who the hell did he think she was? She wasn't pathetic, she wasn't weepy, she wasn't heartbroken or love struck. She never was, she never would be. She was Brooke freaking Davis, and nobody saw her weaknesses. However, like most dogs, Felix seemed to sense her fear of the answer, and reveled in it.

"Peyton Sawyer."

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EEK! You're probably all going to totally hate me for that one, but don't worry, I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve. I'm so sorry I kept you guys waiting for so long, but you know, life gets crazy and I really care about this story, and there were so many directions I could take it from there so I really needed to think it out. Ahh, that's enough babbling from me, seeing as most of you probably don't care lol. Please review! Thanks for reading!