Another dress fell onto bed with its peers. Rachel poked her head into the bedroom. "What are you doing?" she asked of her friend.

"I can't believe I didn't pack any of my really good clothes," Brooke said exasperated.

"What?"

"My dresses that look like I actually care about what I look like."

"Ok there's a baby in desperate need for some bath water over here." Rachel sat down on the edge of the bed as Brooke bustled around destroying the room further.

"I have a dinner tonight. A nice dinner and I want to look nice. But all of my clothes say, hey I just threw this on so that I wouldn't have to go naked to the grocery store."

"So you're going to the grocery store?"

"No!" Brooke threw her hands up. "I'm going to dinner with Lucas. But I'm saying that none of my clothes are good enough for the dinner, they all scream errand running outfits."

"Well you seem to have very chatty clothing items," joked Rachel. Brooke threw the dress she had just picked up on the floor as she plopped down.

"Why is this such a big deal?" she asked as she faced the carpet.

"Because it's Lucas. Everyone tried to tell you that it was going to be a big deal and you played cool and tried to brush it off but it's finally catching up to you. You're finally realizing that this isn't just dinner between two friends. This is dinner between two soulmates."

"Rach, I'm married. Married!" To emphasize her point Brooke held up her left hand to display her wedding band. "I have my soulmate." Rachel slid off the bed and joined Brooke on the floor.

"Can't you have two soulmates?"

"The very definition of soulmate means that there's only one for you in the world." Another sigh from Rachel.

"I can't give you advice on love, lord knows, I'm no expert at it. I'm still waiting for my knight in shining armor to show up and prove to me that not all guys are the same. But I can tell you this, Lucas looks at you the way I pray a guy would look at me. He looks at you like the sun shines out your ass. That boy lives and breathes for you. My advice, make your decision. Hang on to him or cut him loose. If you want to be with him, great but if the two of you don't have a future together he needs to be putting his effort into wooing another girl."

"I know, I know." Looking down at the carpet, Brooke sniffled and wiped at her eyes. "Did you just say wooing?" she asked as she looked up. Rachel smiled. Her friend was going to be all right.

"Get dressed." And with that she left the room.

"He's here," Rachel said in a sing-song voice. Brooke smoothed her dress for the hundredth time and ran her fingers through her hair. After trying on what seemed to be a million different outfits, Brooke had settled on a simple black dress that wasn't too conservative or too revealing. Moments ago the outfit had seemed perfect but now she was reconsidering her decision. She couldn't figure out why she was so nervous. Her stomach was bubbling in anticipation and she felt as if she would sweat through her dress. Moments later the door bell rang. Peyton and Jake had taken Jenny out to a movie so Rachel opened the door. "Hi Lucas." Brooke appeared behind Rachel and she made eye contact with Lucas. Her heart beat doubled in speed.

"Hi," Lucas muttered to Rachel, distracted.

Glancing behind her to see what Lucas was looking at, Rachel rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go. I won't wait up for you, but remember there is a child in the house so if you're going to do anything dirty either do it elsewhere or do it quietly with the door locked." With a smirk, she left the two alone.

"Hi," Brooke beamed.

"Hi," Lucas repeated.

"Hi," Brooke said again.

"So should we get going?" Lucas stepped aside.

"Yeah, let's go." Brooke closed the door behind her. As she locked the front door she was all too aware of Lucas standing so close to her that she could feel his warmth. When she turned around after locking the door, her face was inches from his. The two stood staring at each other. "So are we going to stand here all night are should we maybe get going?"

"Right." Lucas looked as if he had been slapped. He pulled himself back to reality. The reality in which Brooke, his Brooke was married. But she wasn't his Brooke anymore. She was someone else's. As she zipped up her bag he could see the evidence that she was with someone else. The gold band glinted in the light of the porch lamp, taunting Lucas. Showing him what he could have had. Lucas held open the car door for Brooke. With an uneasy smile, she settled herself into the front seat. They had only been together for five minutes and already Brooke could tell that this evening was going to be harder than she thought.

Brooke's dimples made their appearance for the millionth time that night. Her bright laugh rang out. "She did not," Brooke commented on Lucas's story as she pushed her food around on her plate. Lucas took another sip of his wine and set the glass down.

"She did. She told me that my book had changed her life and that she had two tickets to Vegas. One for me, one for her. And then she flashed me. Right there in the middle of the book store."

"Women can get really desperate when they hit thirty and still haven't got that ring on their finger," Brooke laughed.

"The good thing is that you won't have to worry about that," Lucas said a bit sadly. Brooke nodded. "Because you've got the golden ticket." He indicated her ring finger.

"Let's talk about something else. Have you been seeing anyone, I mean besides the woman who proposed to you at the book signing."

"Oh there have been many women at many book signings." Lucas grinned.

"Lucas Scott, turned into the womanizer I always knew he could be." Lucas couldn't help but marvel at the way Brooke's face lit up. The way her the dime sized dimples popped up on her cheeks.

"Actually there hasn't really been anyone serious. I had a couple of dates with a woman I met at the publishing company, but it didn't really work out."

"Why not?" Brooke asked with blissful ignorance.

"Do you really want to know?" Brooke glanced down. Something in Lucas's expression told her that she already knew the answer.

"No I guess I don't."

"So should we get going?" Lucas asked as he waved down the waiter.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Despite her best attempts to deny it, Brooke felt a pang at the prospect of the evening ending. The waiter arrived and placed their check on the edge of the table. Immediately, Lucas opened it and threw down a few bills. Brooke opened her purse.

"No it's ok I got this."

"Lucas when friends go out to lunch each one pays for their own food. If only one person pays for the food it makes the whole dinner seem suspiciously like a date."

"And that would be wrong because you're married."

"Yes, yes it would." Lucas handed over the black check holder.

"Well then there's your part of the bill." With a smile Brooke put down her own bills and handed a couple of Lucas's back to him.

"But you read a lot in high school," Lucas countered.

"No I only read a lot in high school because I was trying to impress you," Brooke smiled as she and Lucas walked up the front walk of the Jegalski home.

"You went through all of that just to impress me?"

"What can I say, I was a hormonal teenager." The two walked up the front steps.

"Well you should give reading another try."

"Lucas I don't have time to read between the company and trying to keep Rachel from sleeping with every man in Los Angeles." Lucas smiled, noting the one thing that was absent from her list. Her husband.

"Books can do wonders, they boost your vocabulary and relax you and they give you something to talk about and…"

"Ok I get it!" Brooke held up her hand and pulled her keys out of her purse. "I'll read more," she promised. She moved her keys from one hand to the next as Lucas shifted from one foot to the other. "Maybe I'll start with your book."

"Ah there's no use in you reading it, you lived it."

"But I'd like to know what you secretly thought about me all of those years. I get the see each situation from your side."

"Trust me everything I thought was good." Lucas took a step closer. Brooke willed herself to move back, but her heart kept her feet rooted to the spot. "And you know how I felt in those situations, I never kept things from you. I was always upfront about my feelings." Brooke thought back to how many times Lucas had told her how much he loved her and how much he admired her. It made her heart flip. Lucas took another step closer. Again Brooke's thoughts flickered to the past and how many times she and Lucas had been in this situation before. She and him standing on the porch after a date. Brooke shook those thoughts from her head. This hadn't been a date, it was merely dinner. But if that was all it was then why was her stomach tied in knots and why was Lucas's face a mere two inches from hers. She had to stop this. Lucas closed his eyes and leaned in, but Brooke but her hand on his chest.

"Good night Lucas." Lucas looked down as he stepped back.

"Good night Brooke." He watched as she made her way into the house before he walked off the porch. Brooke watched him get into his car and then sighed.

"You're home early, was it that bad?" Rachel asked.

"I'm going home," Brooke spoke bluntly. With that she walked towards the guest room leaving a confused Rachel behind.