What's up, everyone! Latest update, I hope everyone likes. Lately, I know the show has sort of... sucked. But while I wrote this, I actually felt really good about the show and writing this made me happy to be an OTH fan, so I hope you feel the same reading this. We'll get out of this rough patch, no worries.

Anyways, the chapter is titled "Here It Goes Again," a song by Ok Go. (Really good song, by the way) Sadly, I don't own them, and the song belongs to the band.

So, enjoy the chapter!

--Chandler

"I say you just quit."

Peyton paused midway through clearing off the table to sigh and compose herself, so she wouldn't end up beating her best friend to death.

Ever since she had told Brooke about her horrible job at the label, Brooke had been on the warpath. Hell had nothing on a pissed off Brooke Davis, a sometimes vindictive Brooke Davis. Monday night, after she had come home and Peyton reluctantly told her what had happened on her first day, Brooke had set her heart on going down to the label building, at nine at night, to "kick that Sabrina girl's ass." Peyton, relatively cool and logical (and sarcastic as always), had convinced her friend of Sabrina's bad karma and that she'd get what was coming to her. Brooke had calmed down, eventually. But that was just Monday night.

On Tuesday, Brooke had been a bit more diplomatic: she had burst into the lobby of Peyton's workplace and furiously demanded to see a manager. The blonde, after hearing someone talk about "a psychotic woman in the lobby," had flown down three flights of stairs to essentially tackle Brooke out the front door. Luckily, she'd gotten there before management, but only just. She had figured there was some alcohol involved that day. Then finally, finally, Tuesday night Peyton had managed to dissuade Brooke from coming anywhere within a fifty-yard radius of her workplace and to just let Peyton deal with it. Brooke was still angry about the whole situation, however, and on Wednesday changed tactics to persuade Peyton to talk to someone.

"You could talk to you're boss again," she would say, "And demand that he fire that other whore."

"Brooke," Peyton would always reply, "It's either sleep with him, or keep my head down and do my job." Then, catching sight of the light bulb that would appear over her friend's head, she would add, "And I am not sleeping with him."

The light bulb would always disappear.

By Thursday, Brooke's attempts had deteriorated into simple, blunt requests that Peyton quit. She had kept relatively quiet through dinner, but as they were putting away the dishes the brunette started back up again.

"C'mon, Peyton, you could come and work in our graphic design department. You love to draw!" She handed the plates over the counter for Peyton to throw in the sink. Peyton made a face.

"Sorry, B. Davis: I got the job I applied for and I'm going to stick to it, no matter how much it sucks." She finished the dishes and headed out of the kitchen.

Brooke let out a frustrated groan, throwing her head back and following Peyton into the living room. "But Peyt…" she moaned.

Peyton moaned back in the exact same tone, teasing, "But Brooke." Brooke sneered, and finally Peyton just laughed out loud as she fell onto the couch and picked up the remote. Nothing would be on at five, but channel surfing had always been good for nerves. Brooke collapsed next to her, with the same irritated look on her face. "Look, it's not that bad of a job," the blonde told her friend with a smile, "And what's the big deal if I keep working it? It's not hurting you."

"Yeah, but it sucks for you." She paused to sigh. "I just feel bad, I wish there was something I could do." Then her tone changed from annoyed to empathetic, and she shrugged a half-shrug.

Peyton clapped Brooke on the knee, flipping past a basketball game on TV. "Well, there isn't. It does suck, but we can't all have our own fashion lines." It was funny, how Peyton was the one with the dead-end job, yet she was the one consoling the fashionista. But really, working as a grunt wasn't too terribly bad: all she really did was make coffee, deliver mail, make copies and run errands. Otherwise, she got the day pretty much to herself. It would have bothered most other people, and it certainly did irritate her to some degree, but Peyton was laid back enough so that she could deal with it for a few months. "But thanks for looking out for me."

Brooke's roll of her eyes was much more disappointed than angry this time, but she gave Peyton a small smile to show that she gave up.

Peyton decided a change of subject a change of subject would do them good. "So," the blonde continued, "Excited about Haley?" The two girls must have discussed this a thousand times, but it still had never gotten old. Haley had called to say that she would see them up there Sunday night for dinner, then spend the week with them.

It was more of a rhetorical question, but Brooke still shouted, "Hell yes!" The subject change seemed to have worked: the air was suddenly lighter, more fun, and Brooke's pout was immediately wiped off her face. "I already have a dinner all planned out," she said. At once, Peyton started laughing, and indignation flashed over Brooke's face in response. "What?" she laughed as well, but tried to look offended.

"Just like the time when you tried to cook dinner for when Haley's parents were coming home from their trip?"

Of course she hadn't forgotten: hadn't that been one of the highlights of their junior year? Something that they always laughed about, even now, years later? Brooke went to her old defensive standby, the same as she always did whenever the incident was brought up: "Hey, you and Haley helped! And then Haley's hot neighbors were at the door, and I could have sworn you said forty minutes, not fourteen!" All of her excuses came out in a rush, but both girls were laughing. That had been fun.

Jimmy and Lydia James had gone to London for a week for Jimmy's job, leaving Haley by herself (Of course, that meant that all four girls were there every night and threw parties on Friday and Saturday, much to Haley's dismay). On the evening Haley's parents were supposed to return, the girls had elected to cook dinner for them. Everything had been going smoothly, until the doorbell had rung.

Rachel had gone to answer it, and opened it to the three gorgeous college boys who were home for the break and were visiting Haley's neighbors. Peyton, hurrying out of the room, had said to Brooke, "Just put the garlic bread in for fourteen minutes." Brooke had nodded and quickly pressed a few buttons on the oven, then followed Peyton out of the room. The four girls then had stood for a while, flirting with the boys, the dinner forgotten.

That is, until the smoke alarms in the kitchen had begun going off.

"Brooke!" Peyton had shouted once they bolted back into the kitchen. "Get the bread out of the oven, dumbass!" The whole room had been veiled in a smoky haze, and the fire alarm screamed at them. Brooke had jumped to the oven, and then turned to look at Peyton.

"It still has ten minutes left!" she had yelled, not thinking in her panic. Then Haley, who had been close on Peyton's heels and the only one who was thinking logically, had pushed past Brooke and opened the oven to reveal two flaming loaves of bread.

To say it was an unsuccessful night would have been an understatement. Haley's parents had to double check that the house they had returned to was in fact the one that had firefighters filing out of it. The dinner was completely ruined, though thankfully the kitchen had been fine. It had taken a bit longer for that stunt to blow over, as opposed to the country club pool incident. The one good outcome was that after heroically putting out the fire and escorting the girls outside, the college boys gave the girls their phone numbers.

"So, overall, a success?" Peyton had sarcastically asked, picking up a charred hunk of bread from the floor a few hours later as they had been cleaning up the kitchen. "Should we try making dinner another night?"

Haley, who had just spent an hour getting chewed out by her parents, snorted but remained silent. Grinning at the number of the blonde she had gotten, Brooke had spoken up instead. "So long as no one ever asks me to make garlic bread again, I'm in."

"And we have to invite the basketball team before we turn on the oven," Rachel had added, with a grin and a nod. From that point on, the four girls hadn't stopped laughing for the rest of the night.

After a long silence in which both girls reminisced about the episode, Peyton finally spoke up. "I think I'd better cook dinner on Sunday," she said with an air of finality. Brooke, intending to be stubborn, bit her lip and made to cross her arms, but then seemed to reconsider.

"Fine," she said reluctantly, and swatted Peyton with the magazine she had picked up.

A few minutes later, Peyton smiled. "We barely had any supervision when we were in high school. Remember that time when Kyle Dempsey broke up with Rachel?" she asked. She was still pressing the button on the remote; the constantly changing background noise was almost comforting. "The four of us stayed at my house alone for the whole weekend because my dad was out of town."

Brooke watched her flick past some old movie. "Yeah, that was bad. Five months, then Kyle just dropped her. He was such a dumbass."

"Mmhmm." Peyton nodded, gazing off into space. "It was a Thursday when he dumped her. She didn't show up to school the next day, and then Friday night we found her passed out at the bar and had to take her to my house because her parents were out of town and my dad was on a dredging trip. It was a three day weekend, remember? The four of us stayed at my place for the whole weekend, eating everything in sight and talking about how stupid Kyle was."

"He was an ass. And Rachel knew that too," Brooke said. She stared in the opposite direction of Peyton, remembering that weekend and how they had stayed inside essentially the whole time. "She knew it, but she always lied and said he was great."

"Except for when she was drunk. Remember when Haley found her?"

Brooke nodded again, laying the magazine down absently. "She kept saying how much of a jerk he was, how stupid she was for staying with him, whatever." She rolled her eyes and turned back to the TV, obviously trying to end the conversation about Rachel. Peyton took the hint and looked away as well.

But the blonde had one last comment before they settled into silence once more. "You know, people always tell the truth when they're drunk," she sagely observed. Even when Brooke turned back to look at Peyton, the blonde kept her eyes level on the TV. "Whether that's a good or bad thing, I don't know."

"Thank you, fortune cookie," Brooke declared sarcastically, rolling her eyes. The deep moment broke, and Peyton smiled and shook her head. "Now pick a damn channel," the brunette continued, "I'm bored." And just like that, the conversation was over and thoughts of Rachel were gone completely, out of their minds, as they would be for the rest of the night.

The next day, Friday, was relatively quiet. Brooke didn't see or hear of Rachel at C over B, considering she was doing her best to avoid wherever the redhead might be found, and Peyton kept her head down at the label and did her job. She ignored Brooke's advice about quitting or talking to her boss, completing without incident whatever menial tasks she was given. On Friday night, they both agreed to stay in and not go out partying: Haley was coming on Sunday, and the two friends felt they needed to have everything completely ready and perfect.

They spent most of Saturday alternating between relaxing and cleaning. They would work for around an hour, Brooke would call break, and the two would relax and reminisce for another hour. Throughout the day, their work periods got shorter and shorter, and their 'breaks' would get longer and longer until at last they decided to give up altogether. They promised each other that they would get after it tomorrow.

They held true on their promise. As soon as they finished breakfast on Sunday morning, Brooke left and got all the food and drinks they would need for dinner, plus refills for the bar in the living room. Ever since it had run out last week, they'd had no real cause for it until now. As far as cleaning went, Peyton began in the living room, where most of the night would take place. Once Brooke returned, the plan was to finish that room, then move on to where the girls would actually be eating. They would leave the kitchen for last, considering Brooke was going to attempt to make dinner, and cleaning it beforehand would just be fighting a losing battle.

Around noon, Peyton was sitting the living room rearranging a stack of magazines when she heard the front door open and close and the rustle of plastic bags in the entryway. Without looking up, she called, "Did you get the alcohol?" Brooke staggered in a moment later, holding up a dozen plastic bags on her arms

"I got it," she said weakly. While clothes shopping was her specialty, Brooke was not as used to shopping for food, especially in such large amounts; that was usually Peyton's job. It had obviously been a hellish Sunday morning at wherever Brooke bought everything from. She was frazzled, to say the least.

But Peyton barely paid any attention to her friend's flustered state. In fact, she didn't even look up, just continued to clear off a table. "Good. Now go refill the bar." It seemed as though the blonde had been granted complete control over the operation: for once, Brooke was complying.

The minutes passed in silence as Brooke followed Peyton's orders. She dragged a small box over for the old bottles, and began brushing them off the counter. For a while it was the only sound that could be heard in the room. Once the crashing had faded and only the faint clink of bottles as Brooke put the new ones away could be heard, Peyton looked up suddenly from the coffee table she was clearing off.

"Hey," she said, to get Brooke's attention. The brunette looked up to meet her eyes, and Peyton smiled apologetically. "I know this is sort of last minute, but I completely forgot: while you were gone, Haley called. She's bringing someone to dinner tonight, for us to meet."

Brooke cocked her head, holding a bottle in midair halfway to the table. She raised one questioning eyebrow and smiled, what seemed to be the only movements in the apartment as Peyton waited for Brooke's response. "Ooh," she grinned, breaking the silence, giving the reply that the blonde had anticipated. "Who's she bringing?" Peyton knew that Brooke's mind was going a mile a minute, running through possibilities of who Haley could be bringing. It was the exact same thing Peyton had done when she had first heard the news.

But Peyton's answer provided no clues. "I don't know, Haley wouldn't say," the blonde told Brooke, with another apologetic smile. "She just said that she was bringing someone up for dinner, that she wanted us to meet him." With a dismissive shrug of her shoulders, Peyton tried to go back to work, but it was too late: arouse Brooke Davis's curiosity, and you'll never sate it.

"Him?" Although her eyebrow had been raised before and a soft smile had graced her face before, her eyebrow was now kinked up in the famous Brooke Davis fashion and a not-so-innocent smirk was spread over her features. Peyton, with a sigh, looked up once more from the coffee table.

"Yes, him. She wouldn't say if he was like a boyfriend or friend or what."

And then Brooke's eyes darted away, unfocused, as she considered who Haley could possibly be bringing up. The possibilities were endless, especially since Haley had said 'him.'

Just another reason to look forward to Haley's arrival. Brooke grinned, then went back to stocking the bar.

It was almost four; Haley had said she would be there before four thirty. Brooke and Peyton waited in excited anticipation as they skipped around the kitchen, trying to find something to do to pass the time. Although the blonde had been much cooler and level-headed earlier, Brooke's infectious enthusiasm seemed to have taken over and now Peyton could barely sit still in their gleaming kitchen. Haley! It was like not seeing a sister for two years, a sister that you loved more than anything, and you knew it was only minutes until her arrival home to you. Haley James. Neither of them could stop thinking of her name, almost like it was a drug.

Everything was set. Water for spaghetti would be put on in a few minutes, and the rest of the food was prepped to be cooked later. A few bottles of wine were out. The over was on, heating up for the garlic bread that Brooke had bought mostly for nostalgia reasons. The bread sat on the counter now; every time one of the girls caught sight of it, a smile would spread over their face and maybe even a giggle would slip out. The dinner was going to be great.

Suddenly, Brooke looked up. "So," she said to get Peyton's attention. The blonde turned to see Brooke's weakly smiling, nervous, almost apologetic face. Questions whipped through her mind, the loudest of which was: What did she do wrong that she's apologizing for? Should I be worried?

Brooke continued. "You know how Haley said she'd invited someone?" Peyton said nothing: it was a rhetorical question. "Well…I did too." She fell silent, as if to let that sink in. Peyton raised an eyebrow, though it wasn't hostile at all.

"You invited someone?" she asked, curious and surprised. "Who?" She planted a hand on the dark granite countertop and stared at her friend.

"You wouldn't know him," Brooke responded quickly. This was a big leap of faith for her: she was going to see him again and she was nervous as hell. "W-we met a party last week, and I…got his cell number. We've been talking for the past week, just talking. I haven't seen him since, but I really like him, and I figured this was the perfect time to invite since Haley was coming over and we'd be having fun and dinner." She sucked in a breath after the abrupt end to her ramblings and said no more.

Now it was Peyton's turn to raise an eyebrow, as Brooke had done that morning when Peyton told her of Haley's mystery guest. "Him?" she asked. The suggestion behind her smirk was unmistakable. There was silence in the kitchen for a moment, and then Peyton began bombarding her friend with questions. "What's his name? Was I at the party when you met him? What time is he coming?"

Brooke's high laugh stopped Peyton. "Calm down, P. Sawyer, you'll give yourself a complex. You sound like an overeager mom." Peyton flushed, biting her tongue and looking away, trying to hide her smirk. Brooke tossed her hair over her shoulder and continued, "He said he'd be here around the time Haley arrived, so—"

"But what's his name?" Peyton's potent curiosity couldn't be diminished, and Brooke laughed again. She didn't even bother to try to answer whatever Peyton was asking. "You still haven't told me everything, what—"

The doorbell rang. The world froze.

Peyton broke off in mid question, eyes widening and mouth falling slightly open, almost too stunned to say anything. Brooke was much the same: she stared at Peyton, then flicked her gaze over her shoulder as if she was trying to see through the walls to the entryway, then looked back to Peyton with an unreadable expression on her face. The two friends stared at each other for a heartbeat; the corners of Peyton's mouth turned up in anticipation.

"Is that him?" she asked, unbelieving, her voice sounding loud against the excited silence. Brooke shrugged, eyes wide. Together the two girls stepped slowly into the entryway; Peyton, who was slightly behind Brooke, stopped a few feet away. Leaning over, Brooke looked through the peephole.

"No," she said slowly, her face pressed against the door. "…It's Haley."

Just as quickly as it had frozen, the world sped up again. Peyton's jaw dropped and she let out a shriek, leaping forward instantly to grab the door. But Brooke was already ahead of her; with the widest, most electric, excited smile on her face, she pulled open the door.

"Haley!"

It wasn't clear who screamed the girl's name, because in that instant the entryway became a wild tangle of limbs. Peyton hadn't slowed as Brooke opened the door, and they both tackled Haley in a wild bear hug and dragged her over the threshold of their apartment. They laughed and shouted and screamed and hugged tighter; it got to the point where one of them fell and all three girls went down in a tangled heap of limbs and friends and laughter, so utterly overjoyed to be with each other again that it didn't matter that they were on the floor.

"Haley!"

"Brooke! Peyton!"

"I can't believe you're here!"

"How are you?"

"Oh my god!"

"Haley James!"

Beyond that, basically nothing could be deciphered from the chatter that filled then entryway. It was as if each girl was competing to get out as many questions as possible, as loud as they could. However, when a deep laugh came from the doorway, Brooke, Peyton, and Haley all fell quiet from the surprise; they disentangled themselves slightly to see who was talking, but they still remained in a heap on the floor.

"Wow, Hales, I like your friends already."

He had dark brown hair that was almost black, and light blue eyes provided perfect contrast. His shirt, a simple black button up, complimented his well-muscled six-foot frame; he had the lean, panther-like look of an athlete, and a good one at that. The broad shoulders and a sculpted chest and arms betrayed were a football player's physique, but he also had the lithe body and legs of a sprinter. As he waited in the entryway, kneading his hands somewhat nervously, an easy, carefree smile spread over his chiseled features.

Two of three mouths dropped open. Brooke and Peyton stared, and Haley laughed a quick little laugh and looked back at her friends.

"Well, Brooke, Peyton," she said, as if she had no idea what to say and was making it up as she went along, "This is Nathan, Nathan Scott. He's my boyfriend; we've been going out for over a year."

There was silence.

Obviously a little hesitant from her friends reactions, or lack thereof, Haley continued, "I-I hope it's ok that I brought him along, I just wanted you three to meet him…" She trailed off, watching their faces as the two girls stared at Nathan in complete surprise. Brooke's eyebrow was kinked ever so slightly, and Peyton was biting her lip.

Finally, Brooke spoke. "It's perfectly ok, Haley, it's fine. So, so fine…" Her tone was far away, absent, like she was automatic as she kept her eyes level on Nathan. Her eyebrow was arched, the famous Brooke Davis kink.

The three girls were still sat on the floor, far too preoccupied to consider standing up. For one, Haley was here, a fact that they were barely managing to comprehend. And, to add to their shock, she had brought a gorgeous guy, apparently her boyfriend, with her to meet them. But it seemed that Brooke's absent comment brought them back to their senses: Haley gave a little laugh, but Peyton snorted with a mix of amusement and derision. With a look of cool annoyance written all over her face, she reached over and pushed Brooke's lower jaw closed.

"Gawking session is over, bud," she said, with a roll of her eyes. Brooke flushed embarrassedly, but all three of them were laughing as if it had been one of the stunts they had pulled in high school. Even Nathan, from the doorway, let out a deep timber laugh. Peyton continued, "Why don't we actually stand up and meet him, instead of just laying here on the floor laughing our asses off at stupid things?"

One by one, the girls hauled themselves off the floor and stood to meet Nathan. Haley took over the introductions. "This is Brooke," she announced to Nathan, nodding to the brunette. She pointed to Peyton, "And Peyton." Nathan shook hands with each of them, while Haley continued to the girls, "And, just in case you haven't figured it out yet, this is Nathan. Just to be official, you know." She shrugged, jumping a little bit.

"I've heard all about you two," Nathan said warmly. He seemed like a very confident, strong guy, used to situations like this and very polite and sweet. They would have liked him even if he had no connection to Haley. "Thanks for letting me crash your party." He smiled a winning smile, taking a few steps deeper into the house with them.

"No problem," Brooke answered. They had gotten over their initial shock of seeing Nathan standing at the doorway and had returned to their normal selves. "Let's go into the living room," she added to the group, "I stocked up our bar today, so we can hang out before dinner."

"Well," Nathan was saying, "I grew up in this little town, Tree Hill. It's near Wilmington on the coast. I lived there all my life, played basketball at Tree Hill High School, you know," he grinned. "The hometown golden boy." The rest of the group echoed his smile.

Nathan, Haley, Peyton, and Brooke all sat around the bar in the living room, nursing drinks as they talked. Brooke, who had just finished bartending for everyone, stood on the other side of the counter with Haley, while across the granite countertop Nathan and Peyton sat on stools. Nathan had one hand on the thigh of his dark blue jeans and the other on the counter: he was relaxed and confident even though all eyes were on him as he told the girls about himself.

"So," he paused, as if casting around for something interesting enough about his life to tell them, "I got emancipated at seventeen and lived the last half of my senior year in an apartment by myself. Then, as soon as housing opened up at Duke in the summer after graduation, I bailed. I've only seen my parents a few times since I emancipated myself."

Peyton's eyebrows rose. This was definitely interesting enough. "You gotemancipated?" she asked in disbelief. "Why?" Nathan chuckled, exchanging a smile with Haley, who had obviously already heard the story.

"Yeah, the Scott family is pretty messed up, mostly because of my dick dad." At their questioning gazes, he explained further, "My dad was a big basketball guy back in high school and half of college. When he was about to graduate Tree Hill High, he made some big decisions which turned into bigger mistakes and left a lot of people pissed off. He hardly even cared. Then, when I was growing up in Tree Hill, it was like he was trying to relive his basketball glory days vicariously through me: pressuring me, telling me I needed to be better, that sort of thing. Eventually everything snapped, and it tore my family apart. So I bailed." His voice trailed off into silence.

"Damn," was all Brooke could say as they considered the story he had just told them. Peyton was thinking much the same, but she stayed quiet. It was hard to believe that someone like Nathan could have come out of a home like that, but they knew he was telling the truth.

He nodded in response. "Yeah." He fell silent and looked away, as if he was reflecting on his teenage years, but then he looked up with a brighter smile. "But, I guess my dad's pushing did some good: I've always loved basketball, and now I'm the starting shooting guard for the Blue Devils. Plus," he added with a brighter smile after a moment, "I have Haley. So I guess I'm doing alright."

Everyone smiled at his sentiment, but before another word was spoken, the doorbell rang.

And just as Brooke and Peyton had a half hour ago when Haley was at the door, everyone froze.

The atmosphere, which had been so warm and peaceful as Nathan had been telling his story, was suddenly filled with confusion. No one said anything, but the amount of communication in the room was tremendous. Haley looked to Nathan, her brow furrowed; he shrugged and shook his head at her, his eyes say clearly, "I have no idea." Although she was confused for a moment, when Peyton looked at Brooke, everything snapped into perfect clarity.

Brooke was grinning.

"I'll get it," the brunette said breathily, looking around at them. Her gaze lingered on Peyton for a moment longer, trying to tell her with her eyes, That's gotta be him. It was nearly five: it had to be gave her a little wink and jerked her head to the door. Brooke stepped around the bar and walked quickly across the room, sidestepped their couch, and darted into the well-lit hallway. Behind her, Nathan started talking again.

She heard only snatches of what he said. "I don't think..." She was barely listening. "…Not him."

She got to the entryway and strode across it, not allowing herself to think. Knowing already who was at the door, she threw it open and looked into his eyes.

"Hi," she said. He smiled.

"No, it's this amazing class," Haley told a laughing Peyton, "The teacher is great, it's so inspiring, and there are some great people." She was trying so hard to make her point to the blonde, but couldn't help laughing as well. "And I've made some good friends in there." She looked at Nathan and exchanged a smile through her laughter.

"Hales, I can totally imagine you in a creative writing class like that. It is so up your alley," Peyton replied, still laughing. Haley had started describing some of her college classes to Peyton; she was taking everything from music to writing to English to math to physics, and she was aiming for a degree in education. The part that was so amusing to Peyton was that it was completely Haley's style to take the hardest classes possible. She was tutor girl, after all.

Before Haley could fire back a retort, Brooke paraded into the room again. To the untrained eye, it looked as though sunny confidence was shining through her eyes, but those who knew Brooke could see the difference. The nervous electricity in her smile, her eyes, her movements. Peyton and Haley decided to let it pass, though, because their friend looked so excited and happy as she addressed them.

"Well," the brunette said, seeing that she had their full attention. She stood by the hallway, across the room. "I invited someone to dinner tonight, so you can meet him." Peyton bit her lip in anticipation, smiling; the whole day had been full of surprises like this, and she had been looking forward to this big reveal since Brooke had told her about it. Then Brooke nodded into the hallway, and her guest walked out, all smiles with his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"Hi," he greeted them all, somewhat nervously. He seemed to lack the big confident attitude that Nathan had, but he did have a subtler self-assurance that was apparent in his sparkling eyes.

"We met at a party last week," Brooke explained, mostly for Haley and Nathan's benefit. She moved a little closer to her guest. "And we've been talking ever since and now I want you all to meet him. Everybody, this is Jake, Jake Jaglieski."

"Ok, so these are the people I was telling you about, Haley and Peyton." Brooke excitedly pulled Jake across the living room, stopping at the bar to point to her two friends. "And this is Haley's boyfriend, Nathan. Everybody, this is Jake," she repeated, trailing off and looking around the table for their reactions.

Jake smiled at each girl; he shook Nathan's hand. "So, thanks for letting me crash your party, even though you really don't know me yet," he told them, nodding and smiling. "It's nice to meet everyone." His hands were in his pockets again, and he looked almost uncomfortable from being suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Jake was definitely different than Nathan, but it was a nice difference.

Always the friendly one, Haley smiled warmly at him. "It's fine, Nathan only met Brooke and Peyton like a half hour ago," she said dismissively. She held up a random bottle from the bar. "Want a drink?"

Jake nodded, and just like that, he was a part of the group, no longer in the spotlight. It seemed that Peyton and Brooke's little dinner with an old friend had developed into somewhat of a party, and a good one at that. Jake told them a story about the town where he'd grown up, in Georgia, and a high school prank he'd pulled: he had them all laughing. Peyton, Brooke, and Haley told the guys about the time they were caught skinny dipping, and Jake, laughing, admitted, "Ok, your story wins."

The late afternoon wore on, the five of them having a great time. Everyone was completely comfortable and natural; they had gotten past the first hour of awkwardness, and now they were five friends just having fun. Even Jake fit in nicely. The focus of the conversation was mainly the three girls catching up on what had happened over the past few years, and the guys occasionally tossed in comments. They talked about Haley's life at Duke, and Nathan's; how Brooke was doing in her company, and how amazing it was that at just twenty years old she had an empire. Haley shared Brooke's outrage when they heard about Peyton's job, but luckily for the blonde she lacked the fire that Brooke had had when she first found out.

Once the clock on the wall ticked past five thirty, Brooke stood up. Interrupting the conversation, in which Haley was telling Peyton and Jake about a particular party she had gone to, Brooke said, "Ok, I'm going to go put on some of the food and throw something in the oven, and we'll eat in about…a half hour?" She wasn't used to it, but Brooke was playing the part of hostess quite well. The group nodded, but Haley raised one dubious, anxious eyebrow.

"No garlic bread, right?" she asked cautiously. Instantly, Brooke was on the defensive, but then her eyes connected with Peyton's twinkling ones and she bit her lip. "Oh god," Haley cried upon seeing Brooke's affirmative nod, "Brooke!"

"What?!"

Jake and Nathan looked on, confused again, as Peyton threw her head back and laughed and Haley sputtered at Brooke: "Haven't you learned anything from prior experience? You had to make garlic bread? Tonight?" She was only half-joking, but still shook with laughter.

Brooke rolled her eyes, waving one hand dismissively. "Oh, calm down Haley," she said as she went into the kitchen, "I know it's supposed to be twenty minutes!"

Without missing a beat, Peyton yelled in her bored tone, "Fourteen!" She carelessly took a sip of her drink and made a face at Haley.

"That's what I said!" Brooke shouted back, and they decided not to argue with her. Nathan looked at Haley, searching for some kind of explanation for the whole scene. Jake raised one eyebrow at Peyton. The blonde shrugged and grinned at him.

"It's a long story," she laughed, and shook her head.

Brooke snorted. "I knew it was fourteen minutes," she assured herself. To be sure, however, she checked the box before bending over to slide the two loaves of bread into the oven. Then, just as she pushed the metal rack back into the oven and closed the stainless steel door, the brunette felt a presence behind her, someone else in the room. The laughter still echoed from the living room, but whoever was in the kitchen was quiet.

"H. James, I swear to you that I can operate an oven," she said, without looking over her shoulder. Only when she heard a deep, quiet laugh did Brooke straighten up and turn around.

Jake leaned against the countertop on the opposite side of the kitchen, more confident and casual than he had been in the other room. "I'll bet you can," he smiled and winked at her, then pushed off the counter and took a few steps across the kitchen. "So I haven't really gotten to talk to you since I got here," he told her, almost as if inviting her to a conversation. Pushing his hands down into his pockets again, Jake took the last few steps across the kitchen and leaned on the counter next to where she was preparing her food.

Grabbing the box of spaghetti from a cabinet, Brooke turned and smiled at him. "Well, then, I guess we have time now. I love talking to you."

Jake and Brooke had known each other for over a week now, ever since a party last Thursday, the day before Rachel and Chase had hooked up. Then, on Sunday afternoon of that weekend, he had called her just to say hi—they had really hit it off at the party, and he wanted to see how she was—and Brooke had ended up talking to Jake for two hours in her room while Peyton had worked on her list of bands in the living room. The next day, they talked again when Brooke was on her way home from work. Same with the day after that. For the next several days, they talked on the phone, they text messaged each other, they got to know each other like good friends. Finally, on Friday, Brooke had taken a leap of faith and invited him to the dinner on Sunday. To her pleasant surprise, he had accepted.

As if reading her mind, Jake said, "Thanks for inviting me to this whole dinner. I'm glad I get to see you again."

The spaghetti lay forgotten on the counter, as Brooke faced him fully and looked up into his eyes. She smiled, just her little dimpled, sweet smile. For a moment, Jake and Brooke stood like that, smiling at each other with their faces less than a foot apart. His eyes are the same color as mine, Brooke realized with the trace of a smile.

"And," he continued, "I get to meet your friends, and I really like them. You can judge a person's character by the kind of friends she chooses, did you know that?"

"Oh, really? And what do my friends say about me?" The rest of the kitchen didn't matter, the people in the other room were in another universe. Right now, only Brooke and Jake existed in that moment. Nothing else. It was just like one of their long conversations.

Jake leaned in infinitesimally closer. "They say you're a pretty great girl, Brooke Davis, pretty amazing."

She had taken her eyes from his yet; she already loved the brown and the touches of green. Now she looked deeper, and nodded as if confirming something to herself. "I really like you, Jake," she told him, like she was deciding it.

"Good," he whispered, "Because I like you too." And they stayed like that, in their hidden moment in the kitchen, in the quiet and calm, with everyone else a million miles away. "And—" he started. Suddenly, Peyton's shout of laughter came from the other room: the million miles shrank back to twenty feet, the moment broke, time sped up. Jake laughed. "And I'm glad I'm here, with you, and I'm glad I got to meet everyone because you're friends are really cool and I like them, and—" He obviously meant to continue his ramblings, but he was cut off: giggling, Brooke reached up and pressed her hand over his mouth. Jake fell silent, grinning embarrassedly.

She bit her tongue and smiled that little smile again. "I'm glad you're here," she whispered. Then in one fluid movement she pulled her hand away from his mouth and pressed her lips to his, a deep kiss that conveyed so much more than just what she had told him.

When Brooke pulled away, her head cocked to one side, she smiled. Jake's eyes remained closed, his lips frozen, an expression of complete peace on his face. "I really like you, Brooke." He opened his eyes and took her hand, laughing. He pulled her into a hug, wrapping his strong arms around her tightly, then grinning down at her.

"Then it should be you and me, together," she said, with the same grin and look of peace. "Brooke and Jake. Us."

"And it will be. We will be. I promise." Then Jake leaned down to kiss her, and she kissed back.

After they had finally broken apart, Brooke and Jake decided that there was plenty of time to be together later, but for the time being they actually had to do what Brooke had come into the kitchen for.

Jake, who was a surprisingly good cook, helped Brooke to prepare the rest of the food: they put on the spaghetti and the side dishes, then Jake helped her pull the garlic bread out of the over safely. Brooke made a mental note to tell Peyton and Haley that it came out perfectly. After all the preparations were finished, Brooke decided that the food would take a few minutes to cook and that she and Jake could go and back into the living room. He took her hand, and with the sweetest smile, escorted her back out of the kitchen.

Haley, Nathan, and Peyton were still relaxing in the living room, just as Jake and Brooke had left them; Nathan sat on a barstool, and Haley and Peyton relaxed together on one of the couches. The three were talking animatedly, but they all noticed Jake and Brooke's intertwined fingers, noticed how Jake put his arm around Brooke once the two sat down on another couch. Peyton grinned at Haley, whose brown eyes were twinkling.

The girls decided not to comment on it though, and simply tease Brooke later. Peyton instead cleared her throat to get everyone's attention and said, "So Nathan, how did you and Haley meet?" It was the magic question: at once, Brooke looked away from Jake and leaned in, as did Peyton, both eagerly awaiting the next piece of gossip about their friend. Haley seemed to have changed so much over the past two years, and Brooke and Peyton took great interest in all the stories and new quirks that Haley had.

Nathan smiled at Haley, then looked back at the group. "Actually, a mutual friend just introduced us at a party for the basketball team back in freshmen year. Exciting, I know," he laughed, "But we really hit it off that night." At Nathan's pause, Haley hopped up out of her seat next to Peyton and hurried across the room to Brooke and Jake's couch. Nathan continued with a smile, taking the opportunity to tease Haley a bit, "Granted, I don't think she liked me all that much when we first met, but now I know she can't get enough of me." He winked at her

Haley sat down next to Brooke, sticking her tongue out at Nathan. "Go ahead, keep teasing me," she said with a shrug. Everyone else laughed. "But you'll be sleeping in the hotel hallway tonight," she told her boyfriend, who held his hands up in surrender.

As Nathan launched into another story, this time about one of the first basketball games that Haley had come to, Haley leaned closer to Brooke's ear. "Ok," she said to her friend, "I'm really, so, so sorry for springing this on you so late, but I completely forgot because I was so excited to see you and Peyton again." Her voice was tense and apologetic, making Brooke furrow her brow. Before the brunette could say anything, however, Haley said, "I was going to tell you, but we invited someone else to dinner tonight. I know, I'm a horrible guest—" But whatever other apologies Haley was going to make were cut off by Brooke's loud scoff.

"Haley, don't worry about it!" she laughed. "This is fun, having all of these people here. It's a party." The openness in her voice settled Haley's nerves slightly; the worry in her face eased. "And besides," Brooke added with a shrug, "The more people that come, the less food there will be tomorrow for me to get fat off of! Ha! It's a win-win for me."

"Thank you," Haley sighed in relief, laughing a little. "I—"

"Haley," Peyton said, making Brooke and Haley look over, "Who was it who introduced you to Nathan? Did they go to Charlotte with us?" Just more evidence of Peyton's potent curiosity.

Just as Haley opened her mouth to answer, her cell phone buzzed from the pocket of her jeans. "Just a second," she apologized, "Sorry." Exchanging a quick look with Nathan, she pulled her phone out and checked the screen. She looked up at Nathan again and nodded, then turned her eyes to Peyton. "Actually, he's here right now, the guy that introduced us. I invited him to the dinner tonight, since Nathan was coming."

The first person to break the startled silence was Nathan. "He's here?" he asked, grinning. Suddenly, the doorbell rang through the house, almost like an answer to his question. Nathan stood up, looking around at the group and grinning. "Let's go," he told them, "I'll introduce everyone."

With mildly confused looks on their faces, Peyton, Brooke and Jake climbed to their feet. Peyton shot Brooke a questioning glance: she had no idea what was going on. Who? She mouthed, her brow furrowed. Brooke responded with a shrug of her shoulders before gesturing into the hallway. Startled and still looking a little confused, Peyton shrugged as well and set off for the entryway, followed by Nathan. Jake, Brooke, and Haley were last, with Jake on one side holding Brooke's hand and Haley on the other to talk.

"Thanks for letting me add some extra people to the mix," Haley said quietly as they made their way down the hallway to the entryway. "And I'm still sorry I forgot to tell you."

Brooke responded with a laugh. "Haley, I told you it's fine. This is going to be fun. We'll party." As if to prove her point, Jake playfully nudged Brooke, smiling down at her. She smiled back.

Ahead, they heard the door open and a flurry of voices and warm greetings echoed from the room. Haley laughed, all worry about how Brooke was going react gone. She looked eager to see her friend from Duke. "It should be fun," she said. "And I'm sure you would really like Nathan's brother." She took a few steps ahead of Brooke and Jake, reaching the end of the hallway.

"Yeah, I—" At the end of the hallway, before she stepped into the entryway where everyone was, Brooke froze, stopped in her tracks. "Wait—Nathan…Nathan Scott has a brother?"

Haley looked back, but by the time she opened her mouth to answer her friend's question Brooke had taken the last few steps into the room. Haley's answer, and even Brooke's question, was rendered pointless.

Lucas Scott, Brooke's rebound hookup from last week, the one that she had thought she would never see again, walked in the front door. That easy smile was on his face, his blonde hair stuck up in every direction. Then his sparkling blue eyes met Brooke's, and he stopped dead.

Here it goes again. Their little dinner just got a helluva a lot more interesting.

It starts out easy, something simple, something sleazy
Something inching past the edge of the reserve
Now through lines of the cheap venetian blinds
Your car is pulling off of the curb, hey

Oh, just when you think you're in control
Just when you think you've got a hold
Just when you get on a roll

Oh, here it goes
Here it goes
Here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
I should have known
Should have known
Should have known again
But here it goes again

--Here It Goes AgainWell, there you go. Hope everyone enjoys! Haha. If you liked it, you know what to do.

By the way, the next chapter of Don't Blink should be up in less than a week, so be looking for it!. :D

--Chandler