Life without Lucas had now become an everyday thing for Brooke. She woke up without him, went to sleep without him, ate dinner without him- etc, etc, etc. She didn't like it, but she did it anyway. And every step of the way, she remembered him.
It had been 4 months. 4 long, hard months. And finally, she was accepting the reality. She and Lucas were done. Finished. Caput. Now her life revolved around earning her four year degree and Audrina. She was in September of her final year of undergrad school. Audrina was three and attended pre-school and sweet as she was, she was quite a handful. Every weekend, either Lucas would come down (which was the case most of the time) or Brooke and Audrina would go up (which usually happened once a month). Brooke knew Lucas was lonely, but he seemed to have some company, a girl by the name of Heather. She seemed pretty harmless, but she was always coming over because her mother made sandwiches or cookies or something delicious and surprisingly it was always when Brooke went up.
"What kind of name is HEATHER anyway?" Brooke asked the kitchen sink as she scrubbed a pot. "It sounds like feather and I don't like feathers cause I'm allergic to them. I hate the name Heather" she said, scrubbing the pot a little harder than normal.
"Mommy?" Audrina asked.
"Yes baby?"
"Are yous PMSing again?"
"I think so" Brooke laughed at her observant little daughter.
"Do you misses daddy?" she asked.
"Every day" Brooke said sadly. "Every single day munchkin"
Over in Ohio…
"How was practice?" Heather asked.
Lucas jumped. "Whoa, you scared me!" he laughed. He was sitting on his back porch sipping some lemonade. "It was fine…a lot of work but still fine"
"Good to hear that" Heather said. Lucas noticed briefly that she was wearing extra short shorts and a very short, very tight, very expensive looking button down shirt. "So I was wondering…if you're not too tired tonight, a bunch of my friends are going out…"
"Uh…I don't know I'm pretty tired" Lucas said.
"Come on" she giggled. "It'll be fun!"
"I don't know" Lucas said.
"Lucas Scott, are you really passing up on a night with Heather Austen?" she asked softly, unbuttoning her top button and edging closer to Lucas.
"Heather!" Lucas said, jumping up and spilling his drink when he felt her hand on his leg. "I cant do this!"
"Why not?" she asked. "It's not like you're still Brooke's boyfriend" she said.
"I know, but I'm not over her…I cant just DO that" Lucas said. "Now please, leave"
"Brooke wont ever come back to you, Lucas" Heather said, getting up. She unbuttoned the remaining buttons to reveal her tan, toned stomach and itty-bitty bikini. "And you'll lie in bed every night, alone, regretting what you gave up" she said, leaning close and whispering "Me".
Lucas shook his head, got up, went in, and slammed the sliding door shut.
"People are unbelievable" Lucas said to himself. The phone rang and he lunged at it, hoping it was Brooke. "Hello?"
"Hey Lucas" Brooke's sweet voice came over the phone. He closed his eyes and sighed.
"Hey Brooke"
"What's up?"
"Well I just got hit on by a 19 year old, I spilled my lemonade, and now I'm wet and pissed" Lucas laughed. He was glad that at least he and Brooke could still laugh together.
"Sounds fun…my day wasn't any better" Brooke laughed. "Audrina! Daddy's on the phone!"
"DADDY!" Audrina shrieked into the phone. "How's basetball with the big boys?"
"Its great baby girl…are you being a good girl at home?"
"Yeah" Audrina giggled. "I's help mommy cook!"
"Oh that must've been interesting" Lucas laughed.
"It was" Brooke called into the phone. He could hear her fixing things up in the kitchen in the background and desperately missed that sound.
"Okay baby I have to go" Lucas said. "I'll call you to say goodnight, ok?"
"Bye's daddy!" Audrina said.
"Tell mommy I said bye" Lucas said, and hung up.
"Mommy, daddy says bye" Audrina giggled, climbing up on the counter and wrapping her arms around Brooke's neck.
"Silly girl what are you doing?" Brooke asked Audrina, laughing and picking her up and shifting her to one hip.
"I's being a baby" Audrina said.
"I think you'll always be my baby"
"I thinks so too"
Over at Nathan and Haley's…
"Nathan, what exactly is that?" Haley asked. She had a bowl of ice cream and she was sitting in her pajamas in the bed.
"It's a t-shirt folder!" Nathan said. "See, you just lay your shirt on it and fold it and it folds the shirt!"
"Nathan, baby, I love you but that looks utterly useless" Haley laughed.
"Nu uh!"
"Yeah" Haley nodded.
"You're so mean to me" Nathan said, climbing up on the bed with her and kissing her.
"I know" Haley laughed. "Anyway, I thought we could invite Brooke and Audrina over tonight…I know Brooke's really lonely…and Peyton's coming home today from Paris anyway"
"Oh really…I can't wait to see her!" Nathan said. "Its been like 3 years"
"I don't even think Peyton's seen Audrina yet" Haley said.
"Yeah, she was in Savannah when Audrina was born" Nathan said.
"Yeah and then Brooke and Lucas took Audrina to California and Peyton left for Paris"
"Yeah…gosh that's weird" Nathan said. "Have you talked to Luke today?"
"Not today…but you know how it's his birthday soon?" Haley asked.
"Yeah" Nathan said.
"I have an idea…"
A/N: Review please.