The Last Kiss

Ch2: Losing My Mind

A/N: You guys, I really mean it- your reviews get me through the day! You guys rock! PLEASE keep reviewing, it means the world to me! Much love from your jailed friend. Being grounded really bites…By the way already have chapter three written and I'll probably post it later on in the week! - Katharine

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Leaving Lucas?"

"Yeah I got the short shift today man"

"Lucky cock sucker"

"That would be me" He replied with a laugh as Jake shook his head and walked back over to his desk to engage in some more architectural work. Lucas walked out of the building, more than grateful that the day had been so short. He stepped into his Hybrid car, which was slightly geeky- but cool looking none the less. While placing the keys in ignition, he looked at the clock that had suddenly lit up with the neon green numbers, '4:44'.

For some reason Brooke's pretty face popped into his head which he let rest on the back of his seat. Those dimples, that body…that face.

He and Brooke were just friends. Not even friends, merely acquaintances. She wanted to hang out and she had class on Thursday so she'd be at the café around five.

He turned on the engine and began to make his way down to the Boston College campus to hopefully find her. As he drove, his mind began to wander back to the events from the previous night.

Flashback

Lucas's long, lean body was strewn out on his and Peyton's very comfy couch as he mindlessly flipped through the channels on his television. It was Wednesday night and he had gotten off work early and, thank God, was only working a short shift the next day then was off till Monday. He groaned in annoyance as he flipped through the channels, not seeing anything that even remotely interested him.

His ears perked up as he heard a door open and looked up to see Peyton leaning against the door frame with a smile on her face before making her way over to him and sitting down at the end of the couch, allowing his feet to rest on her lap.

"Hey beautiful"

She smiled as he said this and his eyes were drawn to the magazine that she was holding in her hands. He quirked a curious eyebrow at it, wondering what it was as she began to look through it with interest.

"It's Glamour"

He nodded, recognizing the name to be some sort of woman's magazine. Not that he read woman's magazines or anything- he's just seen several women at his office with them.

"Talking about things with your partner is a way of exercising fears on both sides, or at least not allowing them to become over-whelming…" She began, reading from an article from the magazine. "Do you get that?" She asked, gaining his full attention while tapping him on the leg.

"Uh huh it says you can't hold everything inside" He said, his eyes still fixated on the television screen.

"Yeah…so what about you?"

"What?" He asked, un-interest laced in his voice.

"What're you holding inside that you feel like you wanna let out?" She asked, hoping to maybe get through to him this time.

His head finally turned to face her as a smile slowly came to his lips. All was silent until the quiet sound of what would be known as a 'fart' drifted into the air- causing him to grin even more. She gave him a look of disbelief as she struggled to get out from underneath him.

"What? WHAT? You asked! I've been holding that in all day!" He said with mock defensiveness.

She wanted to hit him, to curse him, but of course, she just found herself laughing and muttering things like calling him 'disgusting'- making him laugh more.

"Luuuuucas I don't want your farts on me come on… Turn the TV off I'm serious" She whined as she finally stood up while giving him a look of disproval and shutting off the TV. "I wanna know what you're feeling"

"I'm feeling that…" He began in a goofy tone. "What I'm feeling… ME" He motioned, bringing a hand to his chest in mock therapeutic mode. "…is that, in general…"

"Wow, you are an enormous loser, you know that?" Came the reply of Peyton as she did her best to hide the smile that was forming on her lips, but failed miserably.

"Yeah well you're in love with a loser and only a loser could love a loser" He said as if he were a little boy in an argument over which power ranger was better.

"Are you nine?" Peyton asked teasingly.

"Ten"

She stuck her tongue out at him and he suppressed a laugh.

"Ok fine, I'll go…" Peyton began, giving up hope on him. "I feel like we should buy a house"

Those words sent Lucas in frenzy as the smile that had been on his face before began to falter. He knew that was coming. That was the next step in the relationship. Buying a house was supposed to happen. It'd be perfect. It'd be him, the baby, and Peyton. One, big, predictably happy family.

End Flashback

He parallel parked on the street, something he had always been horrible at, and got out of the car, finding the café almost immediately. It was 5:03. Practically right on time. He sort of just hung out around the out door tables where groups of college students sat and chatted away with one another. To say he felt like somewhat of a creep standing there with a bunch of younger kids would be an understatement. But soon, all those thoughts of uncomfortable ness faded away as he saw her come out of what looked like a main school building.

She was with her friends, laughing and having a genuinely good time. She was wearing a pair of tight fitting jeans and a silk white and green colored cami. Her long brown locks were down and bouncy with a white headband to hold it all in place with a 60s sort of vibe. On her feet were plain, white flips flops and Lucas's eyes scanned her over once more, loving the sliver of skin that peeked through between the cami and the dark brown leather belt.

"Hey isn't that that guy from the wedding…?"

He heard one of the friends she was with mutter this and she looked up, finally catching his eye as a large smile came to her face. She quietly excused herself from her friends and made her way over to him.

"Hey you"

She greeted him with a smile, causing his insides to do all sorts of strange, foreign flip-flops.

"Hey you"

He said in a somewhat different tone, still mocking her though.

"I'm glad you came…I was beginning to think you wouldn't show" She said with a tiny smile as he shrugged.

"Aw, I could never" They both shared a laugh as he nodded over to his car. "Come on I'll give you a ride home"

"I live really close by it's fine I can walk" She said truthfully, squinting her eyes as she looked at him. The sun was at its highest capacity that day.

"Aw so what. Come on I'll drive ya anyway" He said with a playful grin.

"But seriously I live like, really close by" She laughed and he shrugged carelessly before she rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Alright let's go" They laughed while making their way over to his car.

Being the gentleman he was, he opened the door for her at the passenger seat before making his way over to the driver's seat and buckling in.

"Thanks for this…" She began as her eyes roamed the busy streets. "So what'd you do after I left the wedding?" She asked, striking up a random conversation.

He made sure his eyes stayed focus on the road as he gave a nonchalant shrug.

"Uh you know, just hung out with my friends and stuff"

"Fun…remind me again why you don't like weddings again?" She asked with a teasing tone as he let out a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a laugh.

"Gah, they just make me pretty depressed…"

"Why?" She asked in disbelief, laughter on her voice.

"I don't know they just always seemed so forced to me, you know? I mean if you love somebody why do you need a photo album full of drunk people in tuxedos to prove it…?" He said, eyes still focused on the road.

"Wow...how do you really feel?" She laughed as she recalled their previous conversation, making him laugh as well.

"Ha ha" He said dryly while rolling his eyes.

"Did you know that when the institution of a marriage was created people only lived to be 30 years old…" She said in her matter-of-fact voice, making Lucas' thoughts linger on what she said.

"I'd be dieing next year" He said, looking at her with a smirk.

"Oh I would wear the hottest dress to your funeral" She said with a goofy grin as they both began to laugh while images of Brooke in an extremely hot little black dress paraded through Lucas' mind. "Alright it's right here…this building"

She pointed to a large apartment building as he began to pull in to parallel park once more; luckily there weren't many other cars around like before.

"Wow…that uh…was pretty short" He said with a nod to fill the silence.

"Yeah…" She said with an awkward nod. "So there's a party tomorrow night…would you wanna go with me?" She asked, as his mouth gaped around for words, not sure how to respond.

He silently weighed out his options in his head before nodding a little.

"Yeah that'd be…cool"

"Great" She said with a smile as she reached into the big beige tote she was carrying and pulled out a notebook and a purple Jelly pen.

"Nice pen" He commented with a teasing grin.

"I like purple!" She said defensively through a laugh as she scribbled her number onto an empty page and ripped it off, handing it to him.

"Here. Call me tomorrow and I'll tell you the details" She gave him another shy smile before leaning in and giving him a lingering kiss on the cheek, sending an electric shock through his body.

"Oh and Lucas, don't you dare stand me up" She said with a smile, indicating that although she was serious, she had a playful vibe to her tone.

Lucas watched as her perfect little figure made it's way to her apartment building and he silently cursed himself for what had just happened. This girl was dangerous for him. He had a pregnant girlfriend for Christ's sake!

"What have I gotten myself into?" He asked no one in particular as he pulled out and drove off to his predictably predictable life.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday morning came quickly and Lucas Scott awoke at approximately 1:13 in the afternoon and was suffering an incredibly horrible hang over. He and the guys were out the night before at the local bar, just hanging out and playing some pool- drinking way too many beers to actually count.

Another night of just him and the guys.

He groaned aloud as he realized that he was lying down in the middle of his living room floor for reasons in which he did not want to know. His eyes rested on Peyton who was leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen with what looked like a cup of coffee in her hand- it was a funny sight seeing as she was upside down from his point of view.

"There's some Advil and a glass of ice water on the coffee table" She said with a smirk as she turned to walk back into the kitchen but stopped, wanting to say one more thing. "And by the way you should take a shower. You stink"

Lucas rolled his eyes and sat up, his head feeling as if it were ten times bigger then his body as he drowned both the Advil's. Looking around to make sure Peyton was nowhere in sight, he looked down his tee shirt and took a large whiff while his face squinched up with disgust. He really did stink.

He stood up groggily as he made his way over to the bathroom, grabbing a towel on his way there, looking less then forward to his morning- or in this case afternoon, shower.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fully refreshed and dressed in dark, loose jeans and a navy tee shirt, he made his way into the kitchen. He had spent the majority of his time from earlier lounging around and watching TV like the lazy boy he is.

"So what're you up to today?" Peyton asked as she greeted him with a loving smooch.

"Uhm…not sure yet" He replied although he was entirely sure what he was up to.

It was Friday and tonight was his big party date with Brooke, something he had been looking forward to since she brought it up the day before.

"Oh…" She said with a small smile as she poured him some coffee.

"Thanks babe. Actually I think I'm gonna head on over to the office to give Jake a visit. He gets out early tonight and we were gonna hang out" He said casually, feeling guilty for lieing to his girlfriend once again.

"Oh alright. Well have fun sweetie. I'm gonna be visiting my parents so I won't be back till around 11ish" She said with a nod as Lucas gave her one last farewell kiss.

"Alright see ya later then" He said, grabbing a jacket while making his way towards the door.

"Luke?" She called after him, making him turn around ever so slightly.

"I love you" She said as a smile came to her lips.

"Me you too" He said with a grin before exiting out the door, letting the guilt slowly wash over him like a strong wave.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

617-850-7823. He dialed the number into his cell phone as he made his way into his office building to find Jake.

"Pick up pick up pick up pick up…" He murmured quietly to himself.

"Hello?"

"Hey Brooke, it's me, uh Lucas" He said with nervousness as he heard giggles from the other end.

"Oh hey Luke! Where are you?" She asked with curiosity as she motioned for her friend be to quiet. They were like teenage girls on the phone with a crush.

"Uh actually I'm at work…I needed to pick up some things"

"Oh…do you have a nice view in your office?" She asked, shushing her friend as a new wave of giggles came over them.

"Uhh yeah actually I have a pretty nice view" He said as he looked out the large window, noticing the beautifulness of the view for the very first time with admiration.

"Can you see me?" Her voice was still giggly with a hint of seducting flirtation, causing a smile to come to his face.

"It's not that nice of a view…" He said as his eyes found Jake who waved him over.

Making his way over to Jake he smiled as a fresh batch of giggles made their way into his ear and then cleared his throat, not wanting to appear suspicious to Jake.

"Alright so I'll pick you up tonight at eight?" He asked, in a complete business like tone.

"Yeah eight…bye Luke"

"Bye"

He hung up his phone and pretended not to notice Jake's curious eyes.

"Who was that?" He asked as he leaned back in the cheap, wheeled computer chair that the office supplied him with.

"Oh just a friend…"

"You have other friends?" He asked with a smirk. Lucas chose to ignore this comment and stretched his arms out slightly.

"So uhm, listen…" He began, gaining Jake's full attention. "I'm gonna need you to cover for me tonight… You see I'm going out with this old friend from college that Peyton doesn't really like so I'm just gonna tell her I'm with you, ok?"

Jake's deep chocolate eyes got big with disbelief and accusation.

"You're sleeping with someone else aren't you?" He asked, completely shell shocked.

"What? No Jake of course not it's just…Peyton really hates this guy…"

"Ohhhh no no no no no. Lucas why would you do something like this? I mean Peyton's perfect! She's beautiful, she's practically one of the guys I mean, what more could you ask for?" Jake asked, concern evident in his eyes.

"Jesus Jake relax it's just a friend. I'm just telling Peyton I'm with you alright…" He said as he turned to walk away.

"NO NO NO! LUCAS! DON'T DO THIS TO ME MAN! COME ON DON'T PUT ME IN THE MIDDLE!" He shouted after him, practically pleading as he made a scene.

"THANKS MAN YOU'RE GREAT!" He said giving him the thumbs up, indicating that he was, infact, telling Peyton he was with him.

Jake groaned as he raked a hand through his messy mop of curly brown hair.

"Son of a bitch"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As eight a clock finally rolled around, an antsy Lucas drove his car over to where Brooke's apartment was, which he had remembered already by heart. It was absolutely pouring out and the rain was coming down in thick, strong droplets. He silently cursed God for making the weather so horrible on this one night as oppose to another. But his thoughts of God and all that mumbo jumbo were soon forgotten as he spotted Brooke waiting on the porch of the apartment building, standing under the roof for dryness.

Tonight, she looked gorgeous, as she usually did. She had on a slightly above knee length brown skirt that poofed out a little and gold flats. On the top she had on a loose, white, low-rise cami with buttons, her hair was down and in loose waves. She caught his eyes and grinned as she made her way over to his car, jogging slightly to avoid the rain.

She laughed as he came out of the car with an umbrella for her but she had already made it to the other side of the car.

"I don't need it!" She called out through the sound of the rain as he himself got drenched.

"Oh alright!" He called back as he tried desperately to close the umbrella back up, making them both laugh. Finally, he managed to close it and got back in the car.

"Oh my God my shirt is completely soaked it's absolutely sticking to my skin!" She exclaimed, making Lucas laugh while making sure his eyes were focused on looking out the window beside him.

"Don't worry I won't look…" He said with a short chuckle as things got quiet.

"I'd be insulted if you didn't" She said in a quiet, yet undeniably sexy tone that once again, caught Lucas off guard.

"Well…I don't want to offend you…" He said, trying his best to rid the nervousness from his voice as his eyes scanned her body. He felt his heart get stuck in his throat as he noticed the thinness of her cami and the bra that she had on underneath it.

"Alright well…that's nice" He said, clearing his throat.

She laughed as he began to drive off into the night, giving him directions on where to turn.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hello?" Peyton picked up the house phone that had been ringing as she continued to flip through the channels, sad that her parents had cancelled on her.

"Hey Peyt, listen Tim's dad finally gave in, his lungs just collapsed on him and we're all over at his house now to be there with him…"

"Oh my God Nathan I'll be there, don't worry. Have you gotten through to Lucas and Jake?" She asked hopefully.

"Uh yeah I got to Jake he's on his way but Lucas' phone must be off or something cause it's going straight to voicemail.

"But Lucas is with Jake.." She began, confused.

"Uh not when I called him. Listen I gotta go more people are coming and Tim's a wreck. I'll see you soon" And with that, he hung up the phone, leaving a very confused Peyton all by her lonesome.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Lucas and Brooke made their way into the party, they were greeted by several groups of people- well, Brooke was at least.

"Oh my God hey guys!" She said cheerfully as she hugged all her girlfriends and nodded to her guy friends.

"Guys this is Luke" She said introducing them.

Lucas looked around at the people around him, people who were obviously much younger then he was. He nodded to them in acknowledgement and was taken aback by an extremely tall black boy who greeted him with a sort of half thug-hug type thing.

"Uhh…cool" He said with a nod as he felt Brooke's hand wrap around his own, bringing him to the center of the party.

The party was insane and the lights were amazing. Rap music was blasting from every area of the room possible and he was letting loose and just having a fun time. That's when Brooke had decided to take things up a notch as the all too familiar song; 'One, Two, Step' came on. She let her backside face him as her hips began to sway in a mesmerizing way.

At first he was extremely timid by her gesture but danced along nonetheless, cautious of what was happening. Noticing his tension, Brooke smiled to herself and took both his hands, placing them at her sides. He closed his eyes, loving the feeling of his hands on her bare, flat skin that creeped between her skirt and cami. He allowed her hips to grind against his and almost moaned out loud when she bent over and slowly came back up, grinding her perfect ass more into his package.

The party went on for what seemed like hours and Lucas was having the time of his life with Brooke. Everything was going perfect. He felt young again.

He felt alive.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lucas laughed as he got out of the car and closed the door shut, leaning against the car with a grin on his face as Brooke skipped around to greet him. The party was amazing and everything went perfectly. They left as it started to defuse and were now outside of Lucas' car, outside of Brooke's apartment building, and the rain had thankfully stopped.

Brooke giggled as a car full of college kids drove by them, cheering and honking with pure joy. Lucas laughed as well as he let his body lean fully against the car with Brooke standing in front of him, a smile evident on her face as she showcased her famous dimples.

"You make me feel ten years younger" He said as his eyes stared intently off into the sky before bringing them back down to look at her.

"Hm ten years… Then I'm seducing a younger man. Excellent" She said with goofiness as he smiled widely at her, amazed by the wonderful woman in front of him.

He stared at her for a moment, completely infatuated.

"You're tying to make me lose my mind, aren't you?" He said quietly as he got lost in her beautiful multi-colored eyes.

She gave him a closed lip smile as she stared right back into his eyes.

"I've already lost mine" She said in a voice just as quiet if not quieter then the one he had used himself.

They stared at each other for several moments longer; the only sound heard was the passing cars and the strong gusts of wind that blew by them. He swallowed hard, not knowing what was going to happen next and very much liking the feeling of not knowing.

They both slowly moved their heads in towards each other and closed their eyes, making the darkness from before even darker. Their lips met and they kissed for only a moment. It was a soft, sensual sort of kiss that left them both wanting more. They pulled away several inches to look at each other before moving in once more for another kiss. Lucas felt as if he were floating on a cloud when he kissed her. It was like nothing he had ever felt before.

After their second innocent kiss they pulled away a little once more, comforted by the silence as they stared into each other's eyes. It was like Lucas was afraid almost, in his mind at least. He felt like he was crossing over to forbidden territories when he kissed her. It was a dangerous thing to do and it was more importantly wrong. But somehow, that made the whole thing feel more real. It made it feel more tempting. At first he wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to do this but after feeling the softness of her lips on his own, it was as if he didn't have a choice. It was simply far too much to bear at this point.

After the two innocent kisses, he needed to taste her more, he needed to have more of her for longer. He brought his hands to the sides of her neck as both their heads tilted to the opposite side as they leaned in, causing their lips to meet once again. This time, however, the kiss they shared was far deeper and far more passionate. Their tongues roamed each other's mouths, loving the taste of one another.

The kiss intensified as their heads tilted more inward, wanting more access to one another's mouth, it was like they were digging for buried treasure. His hands soon found their way to the sides of her waist and pulled her closer to him, wanting to rid the gap between them. He was nervous, that much was obvious. Here she was, some young, hot college girl who obviously wanted him and here he was- middle aged guy with a pregnant girlfriend and a permanent crisis.

They pulled away again, each taking in several deep breathes. Brooke looked up at him with eyes full of lust.

"Come on…" She began, whispering. "Let's go back to my room my roommates gone…" She said as she brought her hands behind his neck and played lightly with the hair that was there.

Lucas felt the need to take a moment to think things through. He knew the consequences of whatever actions they intended to do up in her room would be severe and 100 wrong.

"Brooke I- I can't" He said in an almost pleading tone while his head drooped so he was looking at his feet, letting her know what she was doing to him.

"Why not?" She asked as she tilted her head lower so he brought his eyes back up to meet hers. "What did you think was gonna happen to night?" She asked with a small grin, tilting her head.

He let out a laugh as he quirked an eyebrow and looked deeply into her mischievous eyes.

"Well…I had something in mind…" He admitted shyly, causing them both to laugh as she took his hands in hers.

"Come on Luke…let's go" She said, attempting to persuade him.

"I can't Brooke…" He said sadly. "It's wrong alright? Just…just go up to your dorm and…" He brought a hand to his head sadly, thinking of what to say.

"But I'd rather spend all night making love to you" She whispered in his ear, her hot breath on his skin causing several dirty images to pop into his mind.

"Brooke, I'm sorry…I got to go" He said, daring himself to look her in the eyes.

"Ok bye" She said in a somewhat cheery tone as she spun on heel and took up off the stairs to her apartment, not bothering to look back as she left Lucas to stand there, once again to process what had just happened.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey Tim I'm so sorry about everything…How're you holding up?" Peyton said as she made her way over to him and embraced him into a comforting hug.

"Thanks Peyton. I'm alright I guess I'm just in shock…"

She nodded understandingly while looking around the room, in hopes of seeing Lucas.

"Have you seen Jake and Lucas yet…?" She asked while gently biting her lower lip.

"Lucas isn't here but Jake's in the kitchen" He said, nodding his head toward where the kitchen was.

Making her way over she spotted Jake right away who seemed to suddenly be extremely interested in an empty box of Special K.

"Where's Lucas?" She asked, well, sort of demanded.

He shrugged exasperatingly. "I don't know. I mean, why would I know?"

"He said he was with you Jake now where the hell is he!" Peyton asked, almost scared of the answer.

"Peyton please don't do this to me please don't put me in this position.." He said, practically begging her, his big brown eyes full of plead.

"Who is she!" She demanded, her eyes now brimmed with tears. "Who the hell is she and where the hell are they? How long?" He said hitting him hard on the chest causing him to drag her into an empty room and closing the door.

"Jesus Peyton calm the fuck down I have no idea!"

"Is it another woman?"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW PEYTON I REALLY DON'T!" He said honestly. "I have absolutely no fucking clue where he is or who he's with or what he's doing ok!"

Peyton suddenly felt as if her whole world had slowly began to fall apart and the only thing to do now was to go home.

"Get out of my way" She said, her voice cold and hard. "Get the FUCK out of my way!"

And with that, Jake moved almost immediately, allowing a very angry Peyton to pass by him and out into the night.

"Well I'm screwed.."