Brooke groaned as she rolled over in her bed. Birds chirped outside her window. Normally a happy sound, this morning it was torturous. The high pitched chirps reverberated in her head; filling it, echoing, and causing her to cringe. As Brooke rubbed her forehead, she thought back to the night before.

"Morning sleeping beauty!"

"Ugh!"

"Too loud for you?"

"Right now anything above a whisper is too loud for me."

"Yeah, alcohol tends to have that affect on us all."

"So tell me the truth, how big of an ass did I make of myself last night." Rachel sat down on the bed next to her friend.

"Do you want me to tell you the real truth or the glossed over truth that makes you feel better about yourself?"

"The second one."

"You didn't have sex with the guy," Rachel pointed out.

"Gee that makes me feel so much better."

"It should, I mean for a while there I thought you might. But that would just

complicate things for you even more. You know you're going to have to open your eyes eventually," Rachel chastised. Brooke grunted.

"I was thinking I would keep my eyes closed all day so I could avoid that bitch known as light."

"Well that's going to make your next runway so much more interesting. I can see the headlines now, 'Purple and Orange?" And inside "When asked for comment employees of Brooke Davis explained that the fiasco could have been avoided if only she had opened her eyes when picking fabrics. And the of course they would have a brilliant quote from the designer's beautiful best friend. I only hope that I don't get some little perv doing my description. As great as my boobs are I really don't want the world to read about them for two pages."

"Shit!" Brooke sat up, opening hr eyes.

"I know, I mean how many different ways can you say perky, round, and perfect?"

"Rachel would you shut up about your boobs?!"

"Oh so the spontaneous outburst was about the light?"

"No, I just realized that I have to go into work today."

"And…"

"And see people." Brooke's hand was on her forehead and her face told Rachel that, to her, this was a tragedy.

"Ok I left my decoder ring in the cereal box this morning, you'll have to explain yourself."

"I have to go into the office, look people in the eye, make decisions, and hire/fire people," Brooke whined.

"Brooke," Rachel put her hands on Brooke's shoulders. "You do that every day. It's called running a multimillion dollar company. It's called your job."

"I know. I know I do it every day. But it's not every day that I do it with a major headache and…"

"A hangup on the topic of a certain brooding boy"

"I was going to say a sensitivity to light. I do not have a hang up on Lucas. If anything you do. Every time we talk about something you bring it back to him. You're always talking about him."

"That's because you won't. Brooke I love you to death, and I try to do what's best for you. That's why I can't just let you sit there and pretend like Lucas doesn't mean anything to you." Brooke scooted herself up in bed and took Rachel's hand.

"And I love you for caring about me. I'll admit it; Lucas will always have a part of my heart. He was my first real love. The first guy that could make me smile in the middle of class because I was thinking about him. My first heartbreak. The first guy that challenged me and made me push myself. But that's why I can't talk about him. Because all those things are in the past. And it's easier for me if I keep them bottled up inside than if I wear my heart on my sleeve."

"Well what makes you think that he doesn't want a future with you?" Brooke gave a tight smile and gently patted Rachel's hand.

"I'm sure he's moved on. I've moved on. What we had was beautiful but it's over now. We've got completely different lives now. Who knows, maybe we aren't even compatible any more."

"I highly doubt that.

"Regardless, it's finished. Our chapter in his book is over. Now I've got to get to work." Brooke bounced off the edge of her bed and walked to her bathroom. Before she had shut the door, Rachel stopped her.

"Brooke."

"Yeah." Brooke turned to face her friend, but Rachel hadn't turned around. She was facing the wall, leaving Brooke to stare at her back.

"Don't close yourself off. You don't want to end up like me."

"Don't worry, my ass will never be as fat as yours," Brooke joked.

"I'm serious." Rachel turned around. "You're the only person that really cares about me."

"Rachel…" Brooke started to protest, but Rachel held up a hand.

"No. This is not a 'pity me' moment. I've accepted that I'll live most of my life alone. That's the way it's meant to be. But not for you. You've got so much to offer. You have this bubbly personality that makes people drawn to you against their own free will. That's what makes so many people care about you. All I'm saying is that if you keep closing yourself off and pushing people away eventually they'll stop pushing back. And you'll end up with only me. Trust me that's not good for either one of us." Brooke walked to the bed and bent down to get eye level with Rachel.

"Rachel I'll never be stuck with only you. I get to spend time with crazy, brilliant, amazing you." She tucked a strand of Rachel's hair behind her ear and then pulled her into a hug. "And besides, it'll never be just the two of us. I've got David."

"The love of your life right?" Rachel said in a tone that told Brooke she didn't believe it.

"That's right. The love of my life." But even as Brooke spoke the words, her thoughts drifted to a certain blonde. And suddenly she wasn't sure she quite believed them.

Brooke looked again at her computer screen. No way had her magazine layout manager gone against her wishes again. Frustrated, Brooke brushed a stray piece of hair from her forehead and began to furiously cut and paste the articles and photos that she wanted changed. Today was a fairly routine day, no new designs to be made. All she had to do was work on scheduling and finalizing next month's issue of her magazine. Brooke was surprised that she hadn't fallen asleep yet.

"Wow. I can't believe I'm getting face time with the famous Brooke Davis." A voice floated in through her doorway. A voice from her past. A voice that shouldn't be in her office. Brooke's hand stopped moving the mouse and she paused, willing herself to turn around. "Or at least back time," the voice joked. After a few deep breaths, Brooke turned her chair around to face the entrance to her office. Standing in her doorway was a boy with short blonde hair. Eyes sparkling at her. A mischievous grin that could be masking all the hurt she had caused him when she left. Maybe Brooke was wrong. Maybe she had fallen asleep. She pinched herself, he was still there. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, but he remained. Lucas Scott was leaning casually against her doorframe. Brooke made no move towards him. "Ok maybe this was a bad idea. I was just about to go out to lunch with Rachel and she said that maybe we could stop by so I could see how you were doing, but you know what, I'll just go." Lucas turned around.

"Lucas!" Brooke stopped him. He turned. "I…It's good to see you," Brooke stammered. Lucas's face broke out in a grin.

"It's good to see you too." Brooke moved from behind her desk walking towards him. When she reached him he made a move as if he was going to hug her, but at that moment Rachel entered the office, a knowing smile plastered across her face.

"I see you found her," Rachel told Lucas. Lucas nodded, a disappointed look on his face. Brooke stared at Lucas a bit longer and then she moved to Rachel.

"Can we talk?" she whispered

"Yeah sure what about?" Rachel didn't lower her voice.

"Outside," Brooke growled.

"Ok. We'll be right back," Rachel directed to Lucas. Brooke turned to Lucas and gave a smile before following Rachel into the reception area. She closed the door behind her.

"What the hell were you thinking bringing him here?"

"I was thinking that maybe Lucas might like to see an old friend."

"The hell you were," Brooke scoffed as she began to pace. "So the whole time that you were telling me to avoid Lucas you had plans to go to lunch with him."

"No," Rachel said testily. "When I realized that a friend of mine was in the city I decided I'd like to see him so I called the bookstore this morning and got the number of his publisher. Then I got in touch with him and then I had lunch plans with him." Brooke didn't say anything. "Brooke you broke up with him, not me. And just because we're friends doesn't mean that I can't talk to Lucas."

"I never said that you couldn't talk to him."

"Good because I promised Lucas that while he was here, I'd show him a good time. We've got a lot of catching up to do." Rachel made a move towards the door, but Brooke stood still with her arms crossed. "Is there more?"

"Yes there's more!" Brooke shouted in disbelief. "After everything I told you this morning, how I couldn't stand to talk about him because it hurt me so much why would you think that it's a good idea for you to bring him here?" Brooke began to tear up.

"Because I thought it would be good for you to deal with things."

"No you thought it'd be entertaining for you. All you ever think about is yourself. You never think about what your actions do to other people." Rachel reeled back as if smacked.

"Are you done?" Brooke said nothing. "Since you seem to be fixated on our conversation this morning think back. What did I tell you not to do?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brooke looked into her best friend's eyes.

"What are you doing now?" Rachel held eye contact for a bit before pushing past Brooke to get into the office. "Come on Lucas. Brooke's busy right now so I'll show you around some more." Rachel gave one last look towards Brooke before walking towards the exit.

"It was good to see you, if only for a little bit," Lucas told Brooke. He moved in to give her a hug, but Brooke pulled back. She was afraid of what that hug would do to her heart. She stuck out her hand. With a sad look, Lucas shook it. "I'll be seeing you." Brooke nodded and then watched as Lucas joined Rachel walking towards the exit. She stared at the redhead and the blonde as they walked out of her office. Rachel was right, Brooke had closed herself off too many times and the two people she cared about the most had just stopped pushing back. Tears formed in her eyes as Brooke prayed that she hadn't closed those doors permanently.