Brooke rubbed her hair with the towel, trying to dry it while adding volume. The smell of strawberries flooded her nose. Walking over to the living room, she noticed that Lucas was still not home. She sighed as she walked over to her phone. No new calls or text messages from Lucas.

Sitting down on the dining room table, she gently eased her back against the seat. Where is Lucas? Was he still upset by what happened last night? Brooke had a lot of questions that she wanted answered, but Lucas refused to give her mind any kind of ease. She didn't understand why he was so angry with Dan and who was this Rachel person?

Brooke Davis knew better than to assume she was just a dear friend of his, like Haley. Why did it pain her to think of Lucas with anyone other than her? Sure, she had come to the terms that she was a hormonal pregnant woman, but she couldn't possibly be falling for her child's uncle.

Shaking her head, there was no reason for her to continue to think irrationally. She grabbed a newspaper from the end of the table and scanned through the headlines. Nothing really exciting ever happened in Tree Hill. Sometimes she wished that she had the opportunity to travel the world and study fashion.

She jumped as the door opened loudly.

"Shit!"

"Are you okay?" Brooke asked from the kitchen.

Lucas entered with a brown paper bag that was stuffed with take-out, "Dropped the damn take-out!"

She giggled, "No need to be mad at yourself!"

Brooke helped take the food out of the bag and placed it on the table. She grabbed them some peach tea to drink with their ribs and potatoes.

Lucas sat down and began to eat quickly. He didn't know how to tell Brooke that Rachel was back in town, nor did he even want to tell her about her! He tried to concentrate on eating the ribs at a rapid pace to avoid conversation.

"Lucas, slow down," Brooke snapped.

"Just hungry is all," he answered with a mouth full of meat.

She groaned, "What's wrong with you?"

What wasn't wrong with him at this point? He was developing feelings for Brooke that he never knew he could feel. He felt like he was on top of the world when he was with her. She made him feel like he was worth something and he never felt like much of anything growing up. They were on the verge of being in a serious committed relationship. That's all that he wanted since he used to watch her and Nathan in high school.

Then, there was Rachel coming back to Tree Hill. Seeing her shook him to his very core and completely turned his world upside down. He didn't think that she was here just because she missed him. Why would now be the right time to come up to someone that you had so much history with? He could still feel the kiss burning on his lips. Something about it was real and brought back good times with her.

"Nothing, sorry," he said as he took a sip of the tea.

She ran her fingers through her damp hair, "Lucas, I wish you wouldn't lie to me…"

He looked into her hazel eyes and saw the worry, "It's all going to be okay."

"What is?" she asked quizzically.

He was squirming worse than someone on the witness stand, "Just a lot of things happened and I am trying to sort out all of these thoughts in my head."

"Let's start with what the hell happened last night?"

"Nothing"

"Lucas!" she yelled.

He flinched. She had never raised her voice at him like that before. He didn't want to talk about it or explain any of his past to her. This was going to change a lot of things between them.

"What Brooke?" he asked, defeated.

"Why were you saying all of those mean things to Dan?"

He took a deep breath, "If there was a list of all of the people that I would want to see eaten alive by a shark, Dan would be at the top of the list. There are numerous things wrong with our relationship, if you even want to go as far as to say that."

She gave him a look, begging for him to let her in. nothing was making sense to her. Why was he being so vague?

"The moment Dan knew that he was going to be a father, he put on the act like he was going to win father of the year award. They were in high school and neither of them had jobs. Dan was a star basketball player and found a job training kids who wanted to be half as good as him. I was born and Dan played daddy dearest for a month. After that month, he completely cut us off and eventually found deb. My mother had to scrape by and do something's that she is not proud of to keep me alive. Dan had enough money to buy a new car, but couldn't give my mom enough money to pay for diapers."

Brooke scoffed, "why didn't she just take him to court?"

He shook his head, "He threatened her with tons of malicious things."

Brooke rubbed the back of her neck. This didn't sound like the man that was helping her and Nathan get on their feet. Dan Scott was a nice man that donated to charity, that's a little off character. She knew that he wasn't lying to her; you couldn't fake the emotions that he showed last night.

"Why didn't you tell me before we went to dinner?"

"I would do anything to be by your side, even if that meant I have to endure a dinner with Dan. Besides, I didn't even think that he would acknowledge me…"

"Why did you get so offended when he admitted that he was keeping up with you?"

"What am I under an investigation?" he snapped.

She flinched as he yelled at her. It was not her intention to make him feel like she was trying to pick his brain, she just wanted to try to understand what was going on. They were going to be around each other and she couldn't stand another blow-up like that again.

"Sorry, I just want to know what I am in the middle of," she mumbled.

He rolled his eyes, "The beef is between Dan and I. you are in no way, shape, or form a part of this drama."

"You see," she folded her hands in front of her, "Dan is my child's grandpa and you are my boyfriend—"

He froze. Being Brooke's boyfriend was news to him. Brooke covered her mouth quickly. Did she really just say that they were in a committed relationship? Her cheeks turned pink as she tried to think of something to say to erase that moment. Maybe she could just crawl under the table and live off the crumbs.

"Your boyfriend?" he repeated.

When that word came out of her mouth, he felt a warm, comforting feeling inside. He had always wanted to be her boyfriend, but maybe this wasn't the best time for that. Rachel was back and he was trying to restore his life in Tree Hill. If Rachel hadn't come knocking and made him think about the old times, he would jump at the chance to sweep her off of her feet.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh, "we have been spending a lot of time together and kissing. I feel like we are way more than just friends. Actually, I feel like labeling us friends is just insulting our potential…"

He sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, he wanted to say that he wanted to be her boyfriend, he really did, "Brooke, there is something that we need to talk about first."

Brooke felt her heart sink, she exhaled sharply, "What skeletons do you have in your closet?"

She was half kidding by her statement. At this point, she would be genuinely shocked if there was something that he hadn't talked to her about. Her hazel eyes stayed focused on him as she tried to read him. Unfortunately, he remained emotionless.

"Remember when Dan brought up Rachel?"

"Yes!" she said quickly. Finally, he was going to answer her question about Rachel.

"Well, I was engaged to her…"

Brooke raised a brow, "What?"

"We were supposed to have a baby together—"

"I'm sorry," she snapped as she stood up, "what are you talking about?"

"Rachel and I were engaged to be married. We were going to have a baby together and raise it in New York. I was making more than enough money and she had enough saved up from modeling," Lucas said as he finished his glass of tea. It felt good against the heat of his body temperature.

Brooke tried her best to stay calm, she hadn't heard the end yet, "So you have a baby and you just decide to tell me?"

He froze. He saw the anger in her face as she tried to piece this puzzle together. The image of Rachel packing her bags, the anguish on her face, flooded into his thoughts. If there was a machine to erase memories, this would be in the top three,

"We lost it," he said as his voice shook.

Brooke felt her heart stop and her blood run cold. She sat down quickly as she felt weak. That was something she could never imagine happening to her with this baby. No one should ever go through losing a child that could have brought so much joy.

She placed a hand on top of his, "I accept you through all of that, Lucas. I am so sorry that it had to happen to someone like you."

"Someone like me? I'm not an angel, Brooke. There are a lot of things that I should be punished for," he snapped as he knocked the glass off of the table.

Brooke wiped a tear from her eyes, "Lucas, I only see you for what you are, a good person."

Shaking his head, "There are tons of things that I am not proud of, but I didn't deserve to lose my baby."

A silence fell over the two. Emotions were running high and their hearts were racing so fast that they could feel it in their heads. Lucas had never let this anger out before, partly because he didn't have anyone to listen to him.

"How did Rachel take it?" Brooke asked after a moment to calm down.

He ran his fingers through his golden hair, "So well that she packed her bags and left me."

Her mouth remained ajar; her heart literally ached for him, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be."

His eyes were transfixed by the tiny little spider that was climbing its way up to the windowsill. Sometimes, he wished that he could be a creature just to avoid emotions and escape reality. He didn't know why he was feeling like an emotional pregnant woman…Brooke was more intact than he was.

"Rachel came back to Tree Hill today, that is where I was," he revealed in a whisper.

Brooke barely heard what he had said, but she heard enough to figure it out, "Oh…"

"She kissed me…"

She let out a small laugh, "And what, now all these old memories and feelings are coming back?

Her face fell as she noticed that Lucas didn't move. How could he have feelings for a girl that left him like that? He had been all over her and now he didn't want to be anymore?

She got up from the table and started to cry, "Have fun with her, Luke…"

Lucas sighed as he tried to catch her before she locked herself in her room. The door slammed inches away from his face. He hit the door with his fist in frustration. This isn't how he wanted everything to go down. He wanted to be with Brooke, but Rachel was his first love. How do you even pick?

AN: REVIEW please! I have been watching the Olympics nonstop so sorry this is posted a little late. Hope you all are having a nice weekend! Stay tuned.

COMING UP: braley has an "I hate Rachel Campaign." Lucas tries to sort out his feelings as Brooke tries to plea for him.

COMING UP LATER: who will Lucas choose? More details of Lucas' life while out of Tree Hill emerge. Brooke finds out the sex of her baby!