Author's note:

Sorry for the long wait between the updates. I had a lot of ideas about where I wanted the story to go, but ultimately decided that I want the main focus to be Naley and Brucas. But don't worry, as the old saying goes, true love never does run smooth. Of course I do aim to please. Also, I have had a lot of computer issues lately that have made it extremely difficult. Again, I'm sorry... And if you are reading this, thanks for sticking with me!

Disclaimer: I still don't own any part of One Tree Hill and I'm not making any money off of this. I'd love to own James for a little while, but I'm not holding my breath.

Chapter 6

Brooke walked up to Lucas and said, "Come on Broody, dance with me." She then stopped herself and gave him a panicked look.

"What's wrong Brooke?" Lucas asked.

"I'm sorry, I forgot about your heart. We can just sit. I don't mind." Brooke answered.

"Brooke, its okay. A little dancing won't kill me." Lucas said.

Brooke smiled and said, "Well, if you're sure."

The two walked off to the dance floor hand in hand, but not before Brooke mouthed the parting words to Haley, "Be nice."

Haley thought to herself, Yeah right, easy for her to say. This guy is a jerk. A good-looking, sexy jerk who I happened to see half naked today, but a jerk nonetheless. But he really did look good though. Oh God, did I really just think that. Oh crap, I did think that. Wait, I'm rambling to myself in my head. What must this guy think? Oh crap, I need to say something now, anything...

Luckily for Haley, Nathan sensing her discomfort interrupted her thoughts. "So Haley, do you come here a lot?"

Haley said, "We come here occasionally. Brooke really likes it here."

Nathan said back to her, "Well, I'm surprised that I haven't noticed you here before. You are too pretty to miss."

With Nathan's use of a line Haley just laughed. Nathan looked at her and waited for her to stop laughing. When Haley finally did, she looked at Nathan and said, "Please tell me that not all women are dumb enough to fall for lines like that."

Nathan looking incredulous asked, "Like what?"

Haley just laughed again and replied, "You know the ones where you tell the girl that she is too pretty to have missed. If you are going to use lines at least be creative about it."

Nathan feigning hurt said back to her, "Who says that was a line?"

Haley chuckled and said, "Puh-lease, I know a line when I hear it."

Nathan knew he had to be careful at this point, because this girl was definitely stretching the limits of his ego. Throwing caution to the wind, he responded to her with, "Come on beautiful, if I was using a line, we would not be having this conversation. We would be moving to some place a little more intimate if you know what I mean." As soon as these words came out of his mouth, Nathan knew he had pushed it too far.

Haley started to get up and said, "Well then, don't let me keep you from some ready and willing bimbo that would be more than willing to get down and dirty with a superstar."

Nathan quickly grabbed her arm and said, "Haley wait! I'm sorry. Please don't go."

Haley replied, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."

"Because I'm an idiot." Nathan replied.

Haley smiled and said, "You know something? I think that is the first thing we have agreed upon since we met."

"Very funny. Now, how about some champagne. I promise to be a gentleman." Nathan said.

Haley said, "Okay, but only on one condition."

"What kind of condition?" Nathan asked.

Haley answered smiling, "We have to order some chocolate covered strawberry cake to go with it. Their cake is to die for."

Nathan laughed and smiled while saying, "Haley, I think this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Meanwhile on the dance floor, Brooke and Lucas were enjoying themselves.

"You are an excellent dancer Brooke." Lucas said.

"You're not so bad yourself either Broody." Brooke replied. "So I haven't heard any screams from the table yet, so I guess your brother and my friend are still getting along."

With that, Lucas began to laugh. "Yea, Nathan can be a real jerk sometimes. His personality is an acquired taste. In fact I hated him for a long time when I first met him."

Brooke clearly confused said, "What like when he was born?"

Lucas explained, "No, actually I did not meet him until I was seven. We have two different mothers."

"Wow, how did that work?" Brooke asked.

"My mom and our Dad dated in high school. My mom got pregnant just after Senior year before Dad went to college. While he was at college, he met Nathan's mom, and she got pregnant too. He decided to marry Nathan's mom, and my mom raised me on her own."

Brooke gave him a look of genuine concern and said, "That sounds like it was really tough for you."

Lucas answered, "Not really. I had my mom, and we are both really close to this day. In fact she is still one of my closest friends. Plus my mom and I weren't completely alone, we had my uncle Keith, who my mom finally married about five years ago."

"That's really cool for her and you, but how did you and Nathan become close?" Brooke asked.

"Well it all started when I joined the basketball team my Freshman year of high school. We didn't get along at all. In fact, we got thrown out of a couple of games for fighting with each other." Lucas started.

"Wow that sounds really intense." Brooke said.

"It was for a long time." Luca explained. "But then Nathan started dating a really good friend of mine, Abby. At first I though he became interested in her to stick it to me, and for awhile, I think it was that. But then he really started to care about her. Abby really rode me to give him a chance, and finally we started to talk and become friends our Senior year."

Brooke still hanging on his every word said, "And then what happened?"

Lucas continued, "We started talking and hanging out a bit, but it was still strained. But then Abby got sick. She had a form of lymphoma. Nathan went to her every single day while she was in the hospital and even slept there most nights. I really finally got to see in him what Abby had seen in him all along. When she died, we realized that she would have wanted us to stay friends and brothers. We've been really close ever since."

Brooke was shocked, "Wow, that is so amazing."

Lucas starting to tear up said, "Yea, it was." Composing himself he continued, "So how did you and Haley become friends?"

Brooke lit up with this. "Tutor girl, Goldilocks, and I all met in Kindergarten."

Lucas looked back at her questioningly, "Tutor girl and Goldilocks?"

"Yea, and I am Tigger." Brooke started. "Haley is Tutor girl, because she was the best tutor in the school. Peyton was Goldilocks because her dad was out of town a lot and she always made it easy for anyone of us to come into her house while they were away. You know like the three bears story. And I became Tigger, because I was the resident cheerleader."

"It sounds like you all have a lot of history." Lucas said.

"We do. We've been close through everything. Boyfriends, breakups, parent divorces, Peyton's mom dying, Haley's parents selling the house for a motor home. Everything." Brooke explained.

"You guys are really lucky to have each other." Lucas answered.

"You're right about that Broody. We are." Pausing for a minute she continued, "So do you want to go back to dancing or should we keep getting to know each other?"

"I'd really like to keep getting to know you, if that is okay with you." Lucas answered.

"Broody, that's the best thing I've heard all day." Brooke said with a smile.

"So you had a Bunny named Bunny when you were little." Nathan said laughing.

"Yea, so? It's no worse than your fish you named Guppy." Haley answered with a chuckle herself.

"Touche. Point taken on that one Hales." Nathan said.

Haley began to blush profusely. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Nathan. "Would you be offended if I said that you are cute when you blush?"

Haley paused then said, "Look Nathan, I'm having a good time surprisingly. Please don't ruin it by going all NFL on me."

"Haley, I don't even play football." Nathan started before being cut off.

"All I'm saying Nathan is that I've been down this road before, the compliments, the attention, and I'm not interested in going through it again. Okay?" Haley asked.

Nathan was intrigued by this, but he did not want to scare her off so he answered, "Okay, but does this mean we can be friends?"

Haley still nervous at her attraction calmed slightly at this. With that she answered smiling widely, "Nathan, I think this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Authors Note:

Sorry Again for the delay and I hope you enjoyed. Please R & R.

Up next:

The day after

A telephone call

A visit home