Chapter 7

A week had passed. It had been a week since Brooke's parents told her they would be moving again. A week since Lucas and Brooke had almost kissed... and Haley had almost caught them. In that week Brooke was trying her best to avoid Lucas and Haley. She couldn't help but feel guilty about what had almost happened. Here she was with this great best friend, who was completely in love, and she was about to blow all of it by kissing her boyfriend. But Brooke couldn't help it. She had fallen for Lucas Scott. And she had fallen hard.

Just as she finished her thoughts she was greeted by... guess who.

Lucas: Brooke.

He tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around.

Brooke: Lucas.

She tried as hard as she could to put on a fake smile.

Lucas: Brooke, what's going on?

Brooke: What do you mean?

Lucas: I mean... You're avoiding me, aren't you?

Brooke: No. Why would I?

Lucas: Brooke --

Brooke: I've just been very busy lately. That's all.

Lucas: With what? Packing?

Brooke: Actually, yes.

Lucas: Listen, I know why you're avoiding me, but --

Brooke: Yes, I think you do.

Lucas: We're gonna have to talk about it sometime.

Brooke: No, we're not. You see, you have a girlfriend who also happens to be my best friend. One that I haven't seen in a very, very long time, might I add. So, we're just going to bury it. What happened -- almost happened between us, was just...

She didn't know what to say. She wanted to say it was a mistake, but she knew she would be lying. It wasn't a mistake. In those few seconds that their lips almost met, she felt something that she had never felt before. Something that she didn't want to let go of. But she knew she had to. She would just be selfish if she didn't.

Brooke: We were just caught up in the moment, that's all.

Lucas: So, you don't think it was a mistake?

Brooke: Lucas, I don't know what to think. I mean, at first I thought it was great how you and I were just hanging out and being friends. But then I realized that --

Brooke's sentence was cut short by someone greeting them. Someone they both knew. Someone they had almost betrayed.

Peyton: Hey, guys.

Brooke: Peyton.

Lucas: Hey, Peyton.

Peyton: Hey, hon.

She then gave Lucas a kiss. This was making Brooke feel even more guilty.

Peyton: So, what were you guys talking about.

Brooke & Lucas: Nothing.

Peyton could sense the weirdness between them. She was starting to get just a little suspicious.

Peyton: Okay, you guys are being weird. What's going on?

Brooke: Nothing.

Brooke was trying to assure her that nothing was going on, but she knew she wouldn't succeed.

Brooke: You know what? I have to go. I'm late for this... thing with... my parents and... I just have to go.

She walked past the couple and left. Before Peyton even got a chance to say goodbye, Brooke was gone.

Peyton: Is she alright?

Lucas: Yeah. Why would you ask that?

Peyton: It's just... I've never seen her this nervous. It's just not like her.

Lucas: Yeah, well, you haven't seen her in a long time. Maybe she's changed.

Peyton: Yeah. Maybe.

Lucas was trying his best to make her suspiciouns go away. Hoping he would succeed.

Lucas: Come on. I'll walk you to class.

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Karen's Café.

Brooke was at the café working. Haley was also working that day and Brooke was avoiding her like the plague. Haley then approached Brooke and Brooke knew what was coming. It was inevitable. And Brooke was preparing herself. Preparing herself to take in whatever Haley was gonna throw at her, cause she deserved it.

Haley: Can I talk to you?

Brooke: Yeah, sure.

Brooke gulped and walked nervously to the back room. She closed the door. This was it. Time to face the music.

Brooke: Look, Haley, before you say anything, let me just say that there is an explanation for all of this. And I know I was wrong and you're probably mad at me --

Haley: I'm not mad at you.

This took Brooke by surprise. How could she not be mad at her? Now Brooke was just confused.

Brooke: What? Wait, I don't understand. How can you not be mad at me? I mean, I'm mad at me.

Haley: Brooke, I'm just not mad, okay?

Brooke: But why not? I mean, it makes no sense.

Haley: I have my reasons.

Brooke: Could you tell me your reasons? Cause I'm really having a hard time understanding. I mean, you caught me almost kissing your best friend, who happens to be one of your friends' boyfriend. The boyfriend of my best friend, no less.

Haley: Listen, it's complicated. I can't tell you. It's not my place to tell you. But maybe you'll hear it from someone else.

Brooke: Someone else?

Brooke was now completely confused. What in the world could Haley be talking about?

Brooke: Who, Haley?

Haley: I can't tell you that.

Brooke: Why not?

Haley: Listen, I have to go. I'll talk to you later.

Brooke: Haley, wait --

Before she could say anything else Haley was gone. Leaving Brooke completely in the dark.

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Later that day.

Brooke was still at the café working. Haley had gone home after she left the back room and left Brooke in the dark. Brooke kept thinking about what Haley said. It was if she was giving her a clue. But to what? It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense anymore. Af if things hadn't been bad enough, at that exact moment, he had to walk in. The guy that had sent butterflies through stomach everytime he smiled at her, the guy that made her heart melt everytime he said something sweet to her, the guy that could make her beat faster everytime he walked in the room. The guy she could never have. The guy she had been trying to avoid for the last week. The guy that didn't belong to her.

Lucas: Brooke. I need to talk to you.

Brooke: I'm busy.

She tried to walk away but he wouldn't let her. He stopped her and grabbed her arm. Forcefully, yet gently.

Lucas: I really need to talk to you.

Brooke: Fine. Would you please just let go of my arm?

He then looked at her arm and realized he was grabbing her rather tightly.

Lucas: Sorry.

They then walked to the back room. The same room that they had almost kissed in. The same room Haley had almost caught them in. The same room where Haley told her she wasn't mad at her. And left her completely in the dark as to why.

Brooke: So. What did you want to talk about?

Lucas: I wanted to talk about us.

Brooke: Lucas, there is no us. This thing, whatever it is, that almost happened between us. It can't happen again. I mean, you have a girlfriend. And what we almost did, it could've really screwed up your relationship with her. It could've really screwed up my relationship with her. I don't wanna be that girl, Lucas. I don't want to be the girl that ruined a perfectly good relationship. I just... I don't want to be that girl. I can't be that girl.

It pained Brooke to say all those things. But she knew she had to.

Lucas: But, that's the thing, Brooke. Peyton and I, we're not in a good relationship. I mean, yeah, we used to be good together once but all of that is gone now. I don't want to be with Peyton anymore.

Brooke: Then who do you want to be with, Lucas? Me?

Lucas didn't answer.

Brooke: Cause I can't just ruin a friendship that means so much to me because you've decided that you want to be with me. I mean, me, a girl you hardly know.

Lucas: Listen, I know you we haven't known each other that long. But in these past few weeks that I have known you, I've gotten to know an amazingly gorgeous, sensitive, and very cheery girl. Who knows how to make me laugh. Who listens to me. Who understands me. For a long time I thought that girl was Peyton. But now, I...

He didn't know what to say. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. And all he wanted to was hold her, and kiss her. And tell her that everything was going to be okay. That they were going to figure it out. But the truth was, he wasn't sure he believed all of that himself.

Brooke: Lucas, you can't just --

Her sentence was then cut short by a heartwarming kiss. A kiss that grew more passionate each second. A kiss that was so heartwrenching but so passionate, that she never wanted it to end. She knew it was wrong. But it felt so right. And then she got that picture in her head. The picture of Peyton walking in on them and seeing them together. Her best friend and her boyfriend. Tears streaming down her face. She couldn't handle that. The guilt was just too much to take. She couldn't do that to her. She then pulled back. Her eyes started to fill with tears.

Brooke: I... I can't do this.

Lucas: Brooke --

Brooke: I'm sorry, Lucas. I just... I can't do this. I'm sorry.

She ran out, crying. And all Lucas could do was watch her leave, heartbroken.

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Trey's room.

Trey was just sitting in his room thinking about what happened just a few minutes ago. That kiss. The kiss that resulted in Brooke running out in tears. He knew she felt guilty. He knew what he was doing to her, putting her in a position like this, but he had to be with her. How could she be doing this to him? How could she make him feel all these things, when he didn't even know her all that long. A few weeks ago, his life was great. Things were fine. Things were easy. But now, everything was just so screwed up.

He then heard a knock on the door. He hoped it was her, he hoped she came back to finish that kiss. Even though they both knew it was wrong.

Lucas: Brooke?

Haley: Actually, no. It's just me.

She smiled at him.

Lucas: Hey, Hales. What are you doing here?

Haley: Listen, I know I've been avoiding you, but --

Lucas: Yeah, you're not the only one.

Haley: Brooke, huh?

Lucas: Yeah. She's been avoiding me like the plague.

Haley: Yeah, me too. But I talked to her today.

Lucas: Yeah, me too.

Haley: You did? Did she, um, did she say anything? About me?

Haley was worried that maybe Brooke told Lucas how strange she had been acting.

Lucas: No. Why?

Haley: Um... Nothing. What'd you guys talk about talk about?

Lucas: I kissed her, Hales.

Haley: What?

He wasn't sure if she should've told her, but it just kind of came out. This news didn't really surprise Haley, but she was still shocked.

Haley: When?

Lucas: Today. In the café. When we were talking.

Haley: Oh. Well, I don't really know what to say, but since we're talking about cheating --

Lucas: Haley, I know what you're thinking. And your right, in a way, I was cheating on Peyton. But I just -- I had to do it, you know? I had to see how it felt. And Peyton and I... Peyton and I are over. It's just not working anymore.

Haley: Does Peyton know that?

Lucas: I don't know. I think she does. I mean, things haven't been the same for a long time, you know? It's just... It's over.

Haley: Yeah. Well, speaking of Peyton. There's something I have to tell you.

Lucas: What is it?

Haley: You know that day? When I almost caught you and Brooke?

Lucas: How could I forget.

Haley: Yeah, well, you know how strange I was acting when I ran out?

Lucas: Yeah. What was up with that anyway?

Haley: I, um, I remembered something. Something that happened a while ago.

Lucas: What?

Haley: She was cheating on you, Lucas. Peyton. She was cheating on you.

Lucas: What?

Haley: That's why I was acting so weird and that's why I ran out. Cause I've been keeping this secret for her for a long time and I'd be a hypocrite if I was mad at you, Lucas.

Lucas just sat there in shock. He didn't know what to say. He had his suspicions, but he never actually thought she would do it. He never thought she would cheat on him.

Lucas: How long?

Haley: How long what?

Lucas: How long have you known?! How long have you guys been keeping this a secret from me?!

Lucas was now furious. He couldn't believe they would do this to him. Not just Peyton for cheating on him, but Haley for keeping a secret like this from him.

Lucas: When was it?!

Haley didn't say anything.

Lucas: Answer me, Haley!

Haley: It was, um, it was... um,... I --

Haley was stuttering. She had never seen Lucas like this. She had never seen him so furious.

Lucas: Haley!

Haley: It was the day of the party!

Lucas: What party?!

Haley: The party at Dan's beach house!

Lucas: Wait, you mean, after Keith died?

Haley: Yeah.

Lucas had no words. He didn't know what to say. So instead he just grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the room.

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Brooke's room.

Brooke was lying on her bed, watching television. She was still thinking about what happened at the Café. She was overcome with guilt. It was just too much for her to take. She then heard somebody open the door. She hoped it wouldn't be him. She wasn't ready to face him. But the person she saw wasn't him. It was someone else. Someone she wasn't ready to face either.

Brooke: Peyton.

Peyton: Hey.

She seemed sad. She stood there with a tear strained face. Red eyes from all the crying. This made Brooke even more nervous. Did she know? Did she find out? How did she found out? Was she at the café? Did she see them together? Did Haley tell her?

Brooke: Peyton, what's wrong?

Peyton: Can I talk to you?

Brooke: Yeah, of course. Sit down.

Peyton sat down on the bed next to Brooke.

Brooke: What's wrong?

Peyton: There's something I have to tell you.

Brooke: What is it?

Peyton: I've been up all night thinking about this and... I just can't take it anymore. I have to tell someone.

Brooke: Tell me what?

Peyton then looked at Brooke, tears started to fill her eyes.

Peyton: I have a secret.

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Well, that was chapter 7. It was a little longer than all the other chapters but I was reall into it so, enjoy! Please R&R!