Lucas rushed into the cafe. He promised his mom he would help her out right after school but that was before Whitey called in a surprise meeting. Like Whitey, Karen didn't appreciate tardiness. Looking into the cafe he was relieved to see his mom out of sight. He figured he would sneak in, throw his bag somewhere, grab an apron, and pretend to be there all this time. It was a sure fire plan he thought, that was until he saw his mom hovering over him after he came through the door, and she didn't look too happy.

"Lucas Eugene Scott!" She scowled, "where have you been, do you know what time it is?"

"But mom."

"Don't but mom me young man. You said you were going to be here right after school and I took your word for it, and since I trusted your word I let Deb go home early because I thought you'd be here to take her spot and help me out, which I so needed because you out of all people should know that around this time it gets very busy."

She was yelling non-stop, which meant she was very angry and Lucas knew, he knew his mom all too well.

"Okay mom," she was still yelling, "mom mom okay calm down."

Finally after pleading with her to give him a minute to explain she gave him two minutes.

"Whitey called a surprise meeting after school, all the players had to report to the gym right after school, it was mandatory."

Suddenly Karen's face turned from bright red fury to bright red embarrassment. She overreacted to the whole situation and blew it way out of proportion, giving into her motherly characteristics, "well next time please call if you're going to be late, it would've saved you time from being lectured."

Lucas nodded and laughed, "You were going ballistic mom."

Karen just gave him a look ensuing him to drop the subject; she didn't want to relive her parental embarrassment. Quickly gathering herself she went to help a couple of customers with their tab.

Lucas went straight to the back to drop off his bag and to grab an apron so he could help his mom. She was right; three in the afternoon was one of the cafe's busiest hours. The two were so busy caught up with helping customers and cleaning they didn't speak more than one word to one another for at least three hours when the rush had cooled down.

After an hour the last customers finally departed, leaving Lucas and Karen the only two people in the Cafe. Lucas was wiping down the tables and bringing the dishes to the back, while Karen loaded the dishwasher.

"Mom can I ask you something?" Lucas handed Karen the dish bucket.

"Sure shoot," she replied in a soft tone as she measured how much dishwasher soap to load into the washer. Her and Luke always had close talks.

"What is love exactly?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well when people say they're in love how do they know its love and not infatuation or lust?"

"Lucas is this dealing with either Brooke or Peyton by any chance?"

"Both actually."

The concerned mother leaned on the counter resting her chin on her hands as her son sat by her, "expand please."

"I thought I loved Brooke or whatever you want to call it but it felt real, and it was to a point where I would do anything for her. But after she left for California those feelings sort of disappeared."

"Because of Peyton."

"Yeah, the whole summer I rekindled my friendship with her and these feelings I guess rekindled themselves as well. I don't know what to do mom."

"It seems you really like Peyton."

"I do."

"But at the same time you still like Brooke."

"I guess."

"Sweetie you need to make up your mind as to which girl you have stronger feelings for."

"I know."

"Or else what happened last year will happen again and a cycle like that isn't good for you or either of those girls."

"I know mom, I just don't know what I feel for both. I think I love Peyton but maybe I love Brooke too. It's complicated. Please tell me what love is and maybe I can figure this all out."

"That's the thing Lucas, love is indefinable. Love is different for everyone and only we know when it's love."

"But what if we don't know?"

"Oh you'll know," Karen extended her hand out to Lucas and gripped his hand with her own. The two sat in silence as he engulfed his mother's wisdom.