Chapter One – Oh, How The Years Change Our Lives

I never promised you a ray of light

I never promised there'd be sunshine every day

I'll give you everything I have

The good, the bad

Why do you put me on this pedestal?

I'm so up high, and I can't see the ground below

So help me down, you've got it wrong

I don't belong, there…

Brooke Davis sang along to the song as she placed the last few items into the final cardboard packing box. Walking across the room she placed the box next to the others, in front of the door. The boys would be here soon to pick up the last of her stuff and move it into her new home.

One thing is clear,

I wear a halo, I wear a halo

Can you look at me the same, from here?

You wouldn't think so, you wouldn't say so

If you were only here

I just wanna love you

Oh, I just wanna love you…

As she sang along to her best friend's song she couldn't help but feel sad. It had been almost two years since Haley had called off their friendship and Brooke truly did miss her. She never could quite understand why Haley had been so mad when she and Nathan had started dating. Nathan had called his marriage to Haley off long before Brooke had stepped into the picture. And now that her engagement to Nathan Scott had become known to Tree Hills finest, she was just waiting for Haley to call and congratulate her. The sad reality was that it was call that would probably never come.

I always said that I would maybe stay

I'm only human, and that's my saving grace,

I'll fall as hard as I try

So don't be blind,

See me as I really am

I just want you to ask me to stay

I've fallen down from my pedestal

I don't belong, there…

Brooke shut off the stereo. This was supposed to be a happy day. She was finally moving in with Nathan. So she didn't want to be thinking about past friendships. Lucas Scott walked freely into the apartment with out knocking.

"Hey Brooke! Guess who?" Lucas laughed.

Brooke smiled. "Oh, the suspense is killing me." She asked sarcastically.

"You really don't know, huh? Not the brightest crayon in the box, are you?"

"Ha-Ha. Real funny." Brooke rolled her eyes and shot her hair tie at him. "Suck-a-butt, Scott."

"Suck-a-dick, Davis." Lucas shot back with a smile.

"Been there. Done that." She patted Lucas on the shoulder. "Your brother was better." Brooke couldn't help but laugh at her own perversion.

"Yo Nate!" Lucas called towards the entrance of the apartment. "You're girlfriend got into your mom's happy pills again!"

"Fiancé!" Nathan corrected him from out side. While his brother and girlfriend had been arguing he had been packing her boxes into the back of his pick-up truck. Nathan appeared through the door way and smiled. "Hey gorgeous."

"Dude. We're related." Lucas shot at him with a look of pure disgust.

Nathan just laughed. Brooke pushed past Lucas and ran up to Nathan, practically jumping into his arms. "Hey boyfriend." Brooke planted a kiss on Nathan's cheek then turned her attention back to Lucas. "I seriously wonder why I ever dated you."

"To get in my pants." Lucas laughed.

"I think I'm going to be sick!" Brooke laughed pretending to gag.

"I know the feeling." Nathan agreed.

"How recently have you been making out with your brother anyways, Nate?"

"Yeah, Nate." Lucas said randomly trying to be apart of the conversation. Brooke and Nathan shot Lucas a look of worried disgust. "Never mind."

"Right…" Brooke said and turned towards Nathan. "Kiss."

Nathan leaned over and gave her what she had asked for. Gesturing towards the door he smiled. "You ready to go?"

Brooke nodded.

"There's just one thing I don't get." Lucas said to neither Brooke nor Nathan in particular.

"And what would that be?" Nathan said facing his older brother.

"Aren't you supposed to move in together after the wedding?" He questioned with a smile.

"The weddings getting close. Just makes more sense to get everything settled now, instead of scrambling things together after the honeymoon." Nathan answered sincerely.

"Aren't you supposed to know who your plus one to the wedding is going to be by now? Considering the wedding is only a month and a half away." Brooke asked with a grin. "I hear Tim is still flying solo. You could always invite him."

"I could… but then making out with the bride would be a total waste." Brooke shot Lucas a worried look. "Besides, Tim's a lousy date."

"Like that would ever happen" Nathan looked down at Brooke; she smiled. "Let's get these last few boxes into the truck." Nathan said heading towards the front door. Turning back towards Brooke he smiled. "You want to pick up some lunch on the way back to my- I mean our place?"

Brooke nodded with a smile. Nathan headed out the front door and Lucas followed. Brooke grabbed Lucas' arm and pulled him back. "Hey Luke, can you help me lift up the bed to make sure I got everything?" She said loud enough for Nathan to hear outside. Then, in a much lower voice, she turned her attention to Lucas. "We need to talk."

Lucas sighed. "If I have to. Be right out, Nate." Lucas called outside mocking Brooke's tone of voice. Brooke clutched onto Lucas's arm tightly and pulled him into the next room, closing the door behind them. "What's the deal?"

"Are you insane?" Brooke demanded.

"Is that a trick question?" Lucas shot back with a half smile.

"I'm not kidding around here, Luke." Brooke sighed. "You can't be making jokes about us fooling around to your brother. What if he catches on that your not joking, Lucas? Then what?"

"Then nothing." Lucas said calmly. Which for some reason pissed Brooke off more. She couldn't stand how he could be so calm about this situation. Her wedding to Nathan was less then 45 days away and here she was fooling around with his older brother. Brooke sighed. Lucas put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Look at me. He's not going to catch on. I won't let him. I promise ok?" Grabbing her chin with his hand he pulled her in for a kiss. Rolling her eyes and giving him a faint smile was all it took for Lucas to know that Brooke was over her small crisis. "Now, do I really need to lift up this bed? Or were you just trying to get me in here for some quicky sex."

Brooke laughed and smacked him on the shoulder playfully. "Let's go Casanova." Before exiting the room with Lucas, Brooke paused and pulled him back towards her. Standing on her tip toes, she leaned forward against him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Lucas asked, his grin growing wider.

"For offering to find Tim a date to go with for the wedding." Brooke smiled.

"What? I said no such-" Lucas started to complain.

"Let's go." Brooke brushed past Lucas and smacked him on the butt. "Hurry up, Scott."

"As you wish, Davis." Lucas said willingly following her out.

Lucas past by her rather quickly and out the door, just in time to help his brother pack the last remain boxes of Brookes junk into the back of the pick up truck.

"What took you so long?" Nathan asked his brother. "And why do you have pink lip gloss on your face?"

Lucas shot Brooke a look. She was standing in the doorway watching him talk to Nathan. He quickly rattled his brain for an explanation to get himself out of this tangle. "I told you Nate, you're girlfriends smoking some serious crack. She found like eight lip glosses under that bed of hers and made me try them on to see which one she wanted. She needs therapy. The sooner, the better." Lucas said patting Nathan's shoulder and climbing into the drivers' seat of the truck.

"Thanks for the advice." Nathan joked. "Hey Brooke! Come on! We're ready to go!" Nathan called out to Brooke.

Brooke forced a smile. "I'll be out in one sec, I just have to grab my purse." Shutting the door so the boys couldn't see her she leaned against the door, purposely hitting the back of her head against it. Whipping away stray tears that had formed in her eyes as she watched her fiancé and his brother, her lover, chat. What have I done? She thought to herself.

Checking her appearance in her small compact mirror she sighed. I'm really going to miss this place. She had spent most of her adult life in this apartment, even some of her teenage years here. Now she was twenty-two, a college graduate and getting married. Her life had changed so much since she had moved into this small one bedroom apartment. Before she lived here Nathan and Haley did, then Nathan moved home and Brooke moved in. Then it was just her and Haley. Those two years had been the best two years of her life. And now here she was two years later marrying her ex-roommates ex-husband, and sleeping with his brother. Pausing to give the place one more look around, she opened the front door and stepped out. "Bye." She told the empty apartment as she shut the door behind her.

Locking the front door, she slipped the key under the welcome matt. Looking down in the drive way at the man she was going to marry, she quickly stepped down off the porch and ran to his side putting on another forced, fake smile.

"Ready?" He asked her with a grin.

She knew he was truly happy with her and for now, that's all that would matter. Showing him her purse she grinned. This time, it was the real deal. "Ready." Holding out his hand, Brooke allowed Nathan to help her climb up into the truck and then climbed in behind her. Keeping her eyes off of Lucas, Brooke watched Nathan slam the passenger door shut. Noticing her stare, he gave her a quick kiss and smile. Brooke smiled back, but on the inside she was screaming, about the position she was in. The position Lucas had put her in. No- The position she had put herself in. Looking over at Lucas, then back at her fiancé, she only then under stood the gravity of her problem. She had been forced in between Nathan and Lucas. In between brothers. In between best friends. So there she sat, a fake smile planted on her face as they drove away from her empty apartment, wedged between her fiancé and her lover. This indeed, would be a very bumpy ride to the alter.