It was Saturday. The dreaded Saturday. The day that Lucas was leaving, picking up, moving to Ohio. Brooke hadn't been able to sleep Friday night, and neither had Lucas.
"Thanks for helping with the boxes, Nate" Lucas said.
"No problem" Nathan said, clapping him on the shoulder. "You'll be missed"
"Yeah" Haley said. She was a little teary as she hugged Lucas goodbye.
"So…" Lucas said, turning to Brooke.
"So…" Brooke said.
"Come here" Lucas said. He pulled her close to him and hugged her tightly. "I love you, ok? Don't ever forget that"
"I love you too" Brooke whispered. He kissed the side of her head and turned to Audrina.
"Daddy bye-bye?"
"Yeah" Lucas said sadly. "I'll call you every night, ok?"
"Ok" Audrina said.
"And I'll see you next weekend, ok?"
"Ok"
"Ok I should get going" Lucas said. "They're calling us to board"
"Yeah" Brooke said. Lucas hugged everyone again.
Brooke stood there and watched Lucas give his boarding pass to the airport official, turn around, and wave again.
"Hey, you ok?" Haley asked Brooke.
Brooke shook her head and Haley hugged her tightly. And for the first time in the last 2 weeks, she cried without holding back.
3 hours later…
"Lucas my man!" the Cavalier's coach had come specifically to greet him at the airport.
"Hey" Lucas said.
"How was your flight?"
"Pretty good" Lucas lied through his teeth.
"As I've already told you, we arranged a place for you to stay, it's a humble little abode" he explained as the taxi driver drove them. "Your boxes are already there"
"Oh really?"
"Yeah" the coach said. "Oh…and here we are"
They pulled up in front of a large, towering two story house surrounded by other houses that were also earth-shatteringly large.
"THAT'S what you call a humble abode?" Lucas laughed. "Jeez, sir…"
"Son…from now on, you call me Coach" he said. "Meet me at Chili's tonight at 9…we'll talk then" he patted Lucas on the shoulder and left.
The house was mostly furnished, but plainly. There were 4 bedrooms, two on each floor. Lucas smiled and chose what would obviously be the master bedroom. He flopped down on the bed and sighed.
"So this is my new home" he said to himself. "Welcome to Ohio, Lucas"
"Daddy…" Audrina whined.
"Daddy isn't here, baby" Brooke said.
"He in Ohio?"
"Yeah" Brooke said. The house seemed empty and forlorn without Lucas. The phone suddenly rang. "Speak of the devil, daddy's calling"
"Yeah!" Audrina jumped up and down.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Brooke"
"Hey Luke" Brooke said. She closed her eyes for a second and imagined that they were still together and he was calling from practice or college just to say hi. "How's the new life?"
"Well they bought me a mansion" Lucas laughed. "It's so big and lonely"
"Well then you'll just have to fill it with lots of your girlfriends" Brooke said.
"Uh…"
"Kidding, Lucas"
"Right. Is Audrina there?"
"Yeah…here daddy wants to talk to you baby"
"HI DADDY!" Audrina giggled into the phone.
"Hi baby, do you miss me?"
"Yeah" Audrina said sadly. "When are yous coming home?"
"Well you'll come visit me next weekend baby girl"
"In Ohio's?"
"Yeah" Lucas laughed.
"Are you playing basetball with big boys now?"
"Yeah" Lucas laughed. He realized how much he was gonna miss Audrina's silly questions everyday.
"Here, talks to mommy" Audrina said.
"Nice little chat" Brooke said. "So anyway, we'll fly in Friday night and fly out Sunday night"
"That works…" Lucas said. "So I'll talk to you later?"
"Yeah…take care of yourself, Luke" Brooke said.
"Thanks, I will" Lucas said. "Bye"
"Bye"
Brooke hung up the phone and sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought.
Over in Ohio…
The doorbell rang and Lucas jumped up to get it. A woman was standing there with a plate of cookies.
"Hi" Lucas said as he opened the door.
"Hi, I'm Elizabeth Austen" the 40 something woman said.
"Lucas Scott" Lucas extended his hand. "Nice to meet you"
"Hi, I'm Heather" a girl of about 19 emerged from behind her mother.
"Lucas" he said, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you too"
"Likewise" she smiled. She was typical girl next door, with a sun-kissed complexion and blue eyes. "You signed with the Cav's?"
"How'd you know?" Lucas asked, astonished.
"Believe me, Lucas" Elizabeth said. "Here, everyone knows everything about everyone…how's your daughter doing?"
Lucas was speechless for about 10 seconds.
"Told ya" Heather giggled flirtatiously.
"Well then" Lucas laughed. "And she's good, I just hung up with her and Brooke"
"Your girlfriend?"
"Ex" Lucas nodded. He couldn't believe he'd been in Ohio for a total of 5 hours and he was already telling these two strange women about him and Brooke.
"Oh" Heather said. "Sorry to hear that". But the look in her eyes said something completely different as she eyed Lucas's built, tan body up and down.
A few hours later…
The phone rang as Brooke was tucking Audrina in.
"It's daddy again…hello?"
"Hey, Brooke"
"Hey"
"I was calling to say goodnight to Audrina"
"Here baby"
"DADDY!"
"Hey baby girl…goodnight…I'm sending you phone kisses, ok?"
"Ok" Audrina giggled. "Night, daddy!"
"Night chipmunk" Lucas said. Brooke picked up the phone and laughed.
"Talk to you later, Luke"
"Ok…bye Brooke" he hung up the phone and sighed. "I love you"
"I love you" Brooke blurted out, but then realized the line was dead.
A/N: Hope you liked the chapter! Don't underestimate how big of a Brucas I am! Review!