Sorry it took me so long to update. Things have been crazy with school and Thanksgiving. Anyways, I know this chapter is a little short, so please forgive me. Enjoy!

-Emery

Oh, and I know last chapter I wrote that Brooke's clothing company was called "Hoe's over Bros" when really we all know it is "Clothes over Bros", so that was just a typo. Sorry!

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Chapter 3

It had been 3 days since Brooke had seen or spoken to Lucas. He had sent her a few text messages but she didn't respond to any of them. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him it was just a general courtesy thing. That, and Brooke knew how much Peyton hated the friendship between Lucas and her and she didn't want to throw fuel on the fire. Brooke had not talked to Peyton since before High School graduation. Well, unless you included all the incredibly awkward encounters at Lucas' apartment and the one time when Peyton answered Lucas' phone while he was in the shower. Peyton had made it abundantly clear that didn't like the close friendship that Lucas and Brooke had. She also made it known that she had a general distaste for Brooke as a person.

However, Peyton was just a part time girlfriend. Since graduation, she and Lucas had been on-again off-again and Brooke was never really sure what was going on between them. She usually tried to stay out of Lucas' love life all together but when Lucas got drunk he liked to talk about their relationship. And on more than one occasion, he had told Brooke that he didn't love Peyton and he truly didn't care about their relationship. Easy and safe were the two words that frequently came up when Lucas spoke about his relationship with Peyton.

Yet Peyton was still around. She visited every other month or so and called Lucas every day. And most of the time, Lucas wouldn't even answer. He'd ignore her calls like it was a telemarketer. But when she got there he would act like the happiest man alive. After all, he was getting to see the girl he supposedly was in love with for the first time in maybe months. Brooke didn't understand any of it. However, she had vowed to never interfere with his relationship with Peyton. So, she put it out of her mind and never, ever, commented on anything having to do with the other girl. When Lucas would mention something about Peyton, she would try and change the subject as quickly as possible.

Brooke hadn't really thought about what Lucas and Peyton were doing while she was in town. It was none of her business. All Brooke knew was that she had been bored enough to sketch out 6 dresses, 3 skirts, and 1 pair of pants. She had even gone in to the office Saturday afternoon and spent most the evening there and Brooke never worked on weekends. She did have friends. It was just that there was no one she would rather hang out with than Lucas and when Brooke was with her other friends she was never entertained quite as much as she would have been with Lucas.

Thus, Brooke had spent most the weekend by herself. So it was no surprise that when Lucas walked in her door on Sunday night she was still in her pajamas. She had no makeup on and her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head. Brooke sat in front of her TV, one foot propped on the coffee table while she carefully painted her toenails black.

"Hey, you." Lucas said, planting a small kiss on her head as he passed by her. He collapsed heavily on the fluffy arm chair.

"Hey, yourself. There's Pizza in the fridge if you're hungry." Brooke replied smiling over at him.

"Ah, you're wonderful. I'm starving." He told her on his way to the fridge.

"I knew you just kept me around so you could mooch off of me." Brooke teased as he put all the leftovers on a plate.

Lucas smiled mockingly at her and then motioned to her toenails. "Black again, I see?"

Brooke just smiled and continued painting.

She had been painting her nails this color since before graduation. He didn't know when she had started this habit, Brooke's nails had never black when they dated. He had asked a couple of times but every time she would shrug and answer with an "I don't know." He thought it might have something to do with Peyton and the friendship they used to have and possibly it reminded her of that, or at least that was one of his theories. Either way, Lucas just counted it as one more thing that had changed in Brooke in the time that he and Brooke were disconnected back in senior year. That list was a pretty long one. They were very miniscule, seemingly insignificant changes and if he hadn't known her as well as he did, he never would have noticed. But they were there.

One change that was a little more obvious was Brooke's love life. When they were in high school, Brooke dated a lot. She dated people casually before Lucas and even a few guys in between when she and Lucas got back together senior year. And, aside from that, Brooke had her share of hook up's as well. But now she hadn't even so much as gone on a date with another guy since they had broken up. And to his knowledge, there hadn't been any hook up's either. The most Lucas had ever heard from her about another guy was about a guy on a commercial to which she gave an appreciative sound and a "Wow." And that was it. But he never asked. Lucas wasn't sure that was his place.

"So, you had a big weekend then? Parties and dinners and all that? That's why you didn't answer my texts?" Lucas asked sarcastically.

Brooke glanced at him for a second and then went back to her toenails. "You know how I feel about that Lucas." She stated simply.

"What? Being my friend?" Lucas was being difficult. He knew her reasons for not interfering when Peyton was around. But that didn't mean that he had to agree with her reasons.

Brooke gave him a look. "We aren't having this conversation again, Luke. Peyton's your girlfriend and I know she doesn't like us being friends. I'm not going to make it more difficult by being around and having texting chats when you are with her. It's not fair to her."

Lucas had a thousand responses, the main one being that Peyton was never that fair to Brooke when she and Lucas were dating. But he didn't say that. He didn't want to argue or bring up the past. So, he let it go for now.

"Well, it doesn't matter." Lucas told her.

Brooke looked at him incredulously. "Of course it matters! She's your girlfriend."

"Actually, she's not. She broke up with me. Again." He said, wiping his hands on a napkin and sitting back in the chair. He knew that Brooke would not verbalize her feelings on what he had just said, so Lucas watched her for her reaction.

She looked at him and he could read her emotions. First, there was surprise, and then anger, pity, and finally resolution.

Brooke simply got up and walked into her room.

"Brooke? Where are you going?" Lucas asked, completely confused.

Brooke hadn't bothered closing the door and reappeared for a moment in just her bra and pajama bottoms.

"I'm getting dressed. We're going to Kinsey's." Brooke responded, grinning at him before going back into her room to put on decent clothes.

Kinsey's was a dive bar located not even a block from their apartment buildings. It was within walking distance, which meant that Kinsey's is where Brooke and Lucas went to drink. For them, Kinsey's wasn't used to casually have a beer or play pool. It was the place they went to get positively wasted.

And that was exactly what Lucas needed.

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Well, I hope you liked this chapter and are getting the feeling for what this story might be like. And I hope that you like it! Reviews are happiness:)