She Paints Me Blue

Author's Note: This would be the second chapter of my new fic. I'm truly amazed at the feedback I got from this. I had over thirty reviews for what was actually a very short chapter. The number of reviews and alerts for this was outstanding, and really touching. I'm glad you're all so interested in this, and I hope it doesn't let you down. By the way, reviews are a girl's best friend, so I'd love for you to keep them coming! It's amazing.

So this chapter will do a lot of explaining for anyone who was curious on things. Don't worry, there's still what you're looking for. In fact, one part should largely resemble a scene from 3.18. Maybe you'll notice. I hope you all enjoy this one!

My beta for this is the lovely Ellie, and hopefully that won't ever change. She plays a big part in the finished product, and she can take as long as she needs to beta this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of One Tree Hill, or, unfortunately, Brucas.

Chapter Two: Make This Go On Forever

Brooke let out an extremely loud sigh as she paced back and forth across the living room. "No, Carly, Compass Cove." She said into her cell phone in a very slow tone, as if she was talking to a little kid. "Yes, it's an oceanfront resort."

Carly was Brooke's closest friend in her work environment. Although Brooke wished she were her own designer, she worked for a fashion company who handled a few design labels. They also ran a local fashion magazine, that did pieces about current hot topics. Her work was another reason that her and Lucas were affording the nice apartment, now that Nathan had moved in with Haley and Nathan's large salary, used to help, rent was gone.

Brooke looked over to see Lucas staring at her, and she shook her head, then followed with an eye roll. "Yes, okay…right… Yes, that will be good. Okay. Thank you… Okay… Bye Carly!" She finished, practically shouting into the phone before flipping it shut and letting out an overdramatic sigh.

"Some people talk too much." She looked across the living room at Lucas, too see him with a wide grin on his face. "What?" She asked innocently.

"Some people?" Lucas asked her, wondering if she had any clue that she talked more than any other person that Lucas knew.

"Yeah, some people, like Carly." She gave an innocent shrug as she put her phone back into her purse, just hoping that her dear friend wouldn't call her again. She loved Carly, but sometimes she wondered how that girl had even finished college.

"Okay, Brooke." Lucas replied, letting out a very quiet controlled chuckle. He turned back to his laptop, and continued to read over the article.

About two minutes later, he felt Brooke plop next to him on the couch. "Watchya doin'?" She asked in a childish, but interested tone as she stared at him.

"Work." He replied curtly, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Watchya workin' on?" Brooke continued to ask as she stared him down. A girl couldn't help it if she had the day off of work, and was completely bored out of her mind.

"Stuff."

"What stuff are ya doing?" She asked, a small smile tugging at her lips. She knew that now she was just messing with him, and she loved to see Lucas get worked up. Wrinkles formed on his forehead, his brows grew tensed, and his eyes formed into a squint. It was extremely adorable.

Brooke had grown to learn more about Lucas and his living habits over the past three weeks that they had lived together., and Lucas had also learned about hers.

He learned that often, she would get up sometime in between two and four in the morning for a bowl of ice cream. She was extremely adamant about not doing the dishes or the laundry. She spent ninety-percent of her time in the bathroom in the morning; the other ten percent on other daily activities and watching E! True Hollywood Story's. She was usually late going anywhere. She never liked to cook anything, but loved to bake cookies and other deserts often.

She usually used all of the hot water in the shower, but some days he would beat her to it. The apartment was to be silent on Sunday and Thursday for Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, because she was extremely obsessed with both. She always had clothes lying all over the place, but she looked amazing in every single outfit.

He couldn't lie, so he admitted to himself that he enjoyed Brooke living there, and he loved spending time at home with her.

Brooke learned that Lucas' liked things done on time, because he was so used to having deadlines. He loved to yell at her to hurry in the morning, if she wanted a ride to work. He didn't have time to cook much, but when he did it was wonderful. He would usually sit and watch ESPN for hours on the weekends if he had the time.

Unlike Brooke who was often going out and meeting friends and dates, Lucas stayed home a lot. He would call his mother, Karen, every three days at eight o'clock and talk to her about his life for approximately ten minutes. She also enjoyed living with Lucas. He was almost as good as roommate as Haley, and definitely the most gorgeous guy she had ever lived with.

"There's a crisis at the paper, and we're a little overworked." He quickly looked up at Brooke to give her a genuine smile before turning back to read over the long picture-less article that was on his screen.

"What happened?"

Brooke asked, genuinely interested in what was going on. Brooke had often been fascinated by the stories that he was reporting. They were both equally interested in each other's lives, even if Lucas didn't love hearing about the latest in Gucci and Brooke didn't love hearing about the run defense of some football team.

"Just… some fact-checking problems. There's this guy who's been writing articles for the paper, Steve Plass, and a lot of sources are missing. We just have to get it worked out before the press gets involved."

Brooke nodded as she watched him typing away, and looking through thousands of papers and sites. She could practically see the tension growing in his neck. Brooke Davis to the rescue. She stood up before getting behind him on the couch, sitting with her legs to his sides, and began giving him a neck massage.

"I swear Luke, if you don't chill out, one of these days you are going to have a heart attack."

Lucas nodded, knowing she was probably right, and gave a small chuckle. He leaned his head back a slight bit, wondering why Brooke wasn't a masseuse. Maybe he did need to start cutting back on his work overload, or maybe it was just Brooke's beautifully soft hands that were making him feel better. Stop it, Luke!

He quickly snapped out of his thoughts about Brooke and turned back to his work, even though she continued to massage his neck and it was seriously hard to not think about her.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the day?" He asked as she picked up and file and pretended to look through it.

"I'm not quite sure yet. I talked to Peyton though, we might go out tonight. It's been like forever since we hung out with Jake and Peyton, since they're all married now." Brooke said, in an overdramatic manner.

Lucas turned around to see Brooke, and let out a sigh as he shook his head, even though she was being very cute. "They're not married."

Brooke gave a shrug and threw her arms up into the air. "They might as well be! And hey, then at least I would get to finally design wedding apparel. Is there something wrong with Jake? Is that why they're not married? Because believe me, I've walked in on Peyton changing, and there's nothing wrong with her. It's gotta be Jake."

Lucas rolled his eyes and quickly brought his hands to his ears. Then again, this was one of Brooke's charming qualities that made her so adorable.

She reached for his hands, trying to pry them away from his ears as they both began to laugh. She quickly grabbed a hold of a nearby pillow and swiftly hit Lucas in the head with it.

Lucas reached for her wrists, in an effort to stop her from hitting him with a pillow. She playfully put her tanned legs up to push him away from her, and stuck her feet on him. He made a playful 'grossed out' face, but continued to try to reach for her.

A few seconds later, Brooke's legs fell back onto the couch, and Lucas struggled to keep his weight in the air, as their faces we're only mere inches apart. He could feel her breath on him, and the smell of her strawberry lip gloss. He slowly pulled away from her with a sincere smile on his face.

The two settled back into their positions, as if nothing had happened. It was so natural between Brooke and Lucas, that over the past few weeks it had become seemingly ordinary. And it was.

"You and Jake should come with us. We'll make it fun. We can get dressed up and go to a club. It'll be like a double-" Brooke quickly stopped herself before saying the word date, "Get together." She quickly finished.

Lucas turned his body to Brooke, who was sitting with her legs folded underneath her comfortably next to him, and twirling a strand of her hair into little twists. He wondered what the scent of today was. Like her adventurous, unpredictable personality, Brooke was always changing shampoos.

One day he would see a strawberry scented shampoo sitting on the holder where his shampoo was supposed to be, and the next day it was lavender and lilac. He loved how she was so carefree and open to change. She was constantly moving things around in her bedroom, unlike Lucas who liked to have everything in the same place from day to day.

Lucas quickly snapped himself out of his thoughts, and tried to focus on Brooke who was slowly repeating his name. "Yeah, that sounds good." He mumbled in a rushed tone and turned his attention back to his work.

Brooke gave a satisfied smile, although she couldn't wipe the curiousness out of her mind. "Okay, I'll call Peyton and set it up. Be ready tonight!" Brooke smiled at Lucas and gave him a quick friendly kiss on the cheek before running to grab her phone and head into her room for outfit choosing.

-------

Later that night, Lucas stood in the living room of their apartment, tapping his foot impatiently. So far, they were already fifteen minutes late and they hadn't left yet. Then again, it was Brooke they were dealing with, so he knew that Peyton expected them to be late.

"Brooke!" He yelled, standing next to the counter in between the kitchen and living room, knowing she could very well hear his calls through her bedroom door.

"I'm coming!" She shouted back from inside her room. Honestly, what did he expect? She was a girl. Were they not supposed to try to look nice? It's like they were spending too much time getting ready, or not enough.

"By the time we get there, we're gonna have to leave." Lucas replied as he down at his watch again.

"I'm coming!" Brooke once again shouted as she stepped out of her bedroom door and made her way over to Lucas.

Her usually straight hair, was only half down and was in soft curls. Her jeans or business wear had transformed into a dark green halter top and matching mini skirt that hugged every curve perfectly. She had on silver stilettos and a silver heart necklace and matching bracelet for accent.

Lucas couldn't help but stare at the breathtaking beauty the she owned. She looked gorgeous, not that she usually didn't. Lucas always thought that Brooke was beautiful, even when she would get up on Saturday morning with sweats and smudged makeup.

"You know you look amazing, right?" He asked as he grabbed his keys, and put out his arm for her to take. She sent him a sincere smile before staring down towards the ground blushing a slight bit. "Thanks."

-------

When they arrived at the club, Brooke stepped out of Lucas' car and made her way into the club with him. She tried to look around through all the people that were crowded together, in hopes of finding Peyton and Jake. They said they would be meeting them, and both Brooke and Lucas were pretty late.

"Luke, weren't you supposed to call Karen tonight?" Brooke asked as they walked towards the bar at the back of the club to see if Jake and Peyton were there.

Lucas gave a shrug, thinking that it wasn't a big deal. "It's okay, I can call her tomorrow."

Brooke quickly shook her head and waved it away, while continuing to look for their friends. "No, go call her. I'm sure she would love to hear from you."

They reached the bar where Brooke set down her purse and took out her phone, pretty sure that Lucas would have forgotten his like he often did. "Besides, be thankful you have a parent who wants to know what's going on in your life." She sent him somewhat of a sad smile and handed him her phone, then shooed him away.

Lucas couldn't help but be curious about her words, as he walked away. Brooke was never keen on mentioning her parents, or her family life at all. Once she had let it slip that her parents pretty much abandoned her for California, and she moved in with Haley. She'd also mentioned that her dad had been abusive to her mom when she was young, but that it had gotten better over the years, until eventually her parents had no part in her life.

Lucas wanted to know more. He wanted to offer kind, comforting words, and understand more about her. However, he knew that they were was her stories to share, and she would tell him when she was ready.

Besides, he knew that Brooke wasn't the only one with a shady family history. His and Nathan's family was filled with stories and problems. He was just thankful that the boys were able to become friends at a young age, and handle the problems together.

The biggest problem was their dad; Dan Scott, mayor of Tree Hill. Lucas wondered if their father was still the mayor of the small town in which they had both grown up. Yes, he was their father, but not their dad. Lucas and Nathan had always dreamt of the day when they would finish high school, and get to leave Tree Hill for the big apple.

Dan was always pushing both boys to psychically be better than they could be. He practically pushed them to be inhuman. Especially, to be better at basketball than their bodies could allow them to be. That was probably the reason that both boys had decided not to play basketball professionally, and stopped dreaming of it.

Lucas did have one better thing than Nathan, his mother. Both boys loved their different moms very much, but Nathan had always had more trouble with his than Lucas did. Deb was married to Dan, and was seemingly trapped for the rest of her life.

She had turned to a life of alcohol and pills during Nathan's senior year of high school. He finally got her the help she needed after graduation. He wasn't sure that he could leave her that summer, when they moved to New York, but he knew that he wanted more for his life, and his parents couldn't hold him back from it.

Thus, the boys moved to New York City where they met Haley that fall. From meeting Haley, the also befriended her best friend Peyton. A year later, Nathan brought a new friend to the group, by the name of Jake. All five individuals of the group got along with each other, and spent a lot of friendly time with each other.

Then, three years after high school had ended, Brooke and Haley found each other once again. They had been great friends, but when Brooke moved out from Haley's to live with her high school sweetheart, they lost touch. Then one day in a nearby Starbucks, Brooke had shown up in her wedding dress.

She and Jeremy had planned to get married, until she found out about Bevin and Jeremy being together, and realized that she didn't want a life with him. She didn't want to be married at twenty-one. That was when Haley welcomed her back into their life, and she became a part of their group of life-long friends.

Once Lucas had finished the call with his mother, he retreated back to the club and found Brooke sitting with both Jake and Peyton in a booth. "Hey guys." He greeted as she took the open seat next to Brooke. "What's up?"

Peyton turned her attention to Lucas, a smile already plastered on her face from the conversation that Lucas had broken up. "Oh nothing, Luke." She sent a sweet smile to Brooke and looked back to Lucas.

"Brooke here was just telling us how long it took you to get ready and that's why you guys were so late." Both Jake and Peyton smiled as Peyton cuddled up into Jake who had his arm wrapped around her.

"Oh she did, did she?" Lucas turned to Brooke who was displaying an innocent grin and a simple shrug.

He couldn't help but love how cute she looked with her dimpled smile and 'princess' attitude. Was it so wrong for him to want to be that prince, treating her like the only woman in the world? Okay, maybe it was. 'Friends' weren't allowed to think that way about each other.

"Yes, it was all my fault." He managed to say, trying to keep a straight face, even though he knew that everyone could see right through it.

The fit of giggles ended, and Brooke told them she was going to head to the ladies room, and the other three made their way to the dance floor.

A few minutes later, Lucas saw Brooke return from the restroom, and was standing near the bar with her eyes on the crowd. He mumbled something to Jake and Peyton, who were too busy playing around to really pay attention, made his way over to Brooke, and scrunched in between the people around her. She turned upon seeing him, and smiled to him as she rested her hand on his arm. They both smiled to each other, there faces only inches apart.

"You should come dance with us." Lucas suggested, and Brooke turned to see Jake laughing as Peyton did the robot. She turned back to Lucas and took his arm. "Sure, let's go."

As Lucas followed Brooke to the crowd of dancing people, he couldn't help but smile in admiration and fondness. He loved going out and having fun with her, or even just staying at home and hanging out. Wherever they were, he truly enjoyed spending the time with her.

-------