Authors note: I'm still loving the reviews. It's great to read what you all think about the story and character's (if they feel realistic or not).

Just a quick note about the story. I know some of you might think that I'm dragging this out but be patient. I'm going to make it up to you with som excellent drama. And of course with brucas lovescenes... just not in this chapter ;)

CHAPTER 5 – A PERFECT LIE

Brooke Davis is drop dead gorgeous. A total bombshell. Killer rack, legs that go on forever, an ass that both guys and girls would die for (for different reasons of course). And the perfect face.

Everything, from the long chestnut-brown hair and the dark green eyes to the signature Brooke-dimples and the peach-soft complexion, is complete and utter perfection. Brooke knows this. Of course she knows.

Being a teenage girl, there's no doubt that she has her insecurities, but none of those has ever revolved around appearances. She realized early that her gorgeous face and hot body could give her anything, being used (and dressed) correctly - and it hasn't proved her wrong yet.

But it could change…

"So, what if I keep the baby and I'll get fat and ugly", she thinks to her self while dressing in her cheer uniform in front of the huge mirror in Rachel's bathroom. "then I would be loosing the one thing about myself that I can completely trust".

Because certain events of lately has shown her that she clearly can't trust either her ex best friend or ex boyfriend. Hell, she can't even trust her own feelings or people-judging skills. And she can certainly not trust her heart. It's kind of like her heart and her brain are being unable to communicate and because of that the rest of her body has to come along for the rollercoaster ride that her relationship with Lucas Scott has become.

She strokes the gap of skin between the minimal top and skirt, finding her abdomen just as flat and toned as usual. But for how long?
Hopefully at least long enough to decide what to do.

While finishing of her make-up and fixing the small flaws that god might have missed Rachel storms into the room in matching uniform and pom-poms in her hands.

"God, I hate you! How can you be knocked up, heartbroken and nauseous and still look like a million bucks!?" she rants with a whiney, but at the same time playful voice, and Brooke smiles broadly.

"For coming in second, you don't look so bad yourself Rach" she smirks before applying lipgloss and grabbing her bag, tossing in essentials.

But Rachel is obviously not satisfied with that answer. "Seriously… I mean, shit Brooke, you just threw up for twenty minutes straight. And you've been doing that for days now. Still you look like you just stepped out from the glossy pages of a fashion magazine!"

She flops her self down in a chair while waiting for her to finish and mutters;

"I can't wait till you start putting on baby weight…"

"Who's putting on weight?

Haley suddenly appears in the doorway to the bathroom and Brooke gives Rachel a terrified glance before turning to hug her.

"Hi Tudor-wife! How long have you been standing there?"

"Just long enough to hear Rachel talking about someone putting on baby weight… You guys aren't talking about me right?" she says looking down at her petite figure, suddenly very insecure.

"No way Hales! You look gorgeous as always" Rachel reassures her. "I was just trying to get back at Brookie for making fun of my 200 pound past."

Haley laughs. "Okay then!" And Brooke breathes out silently between clenched teeth. That had been way to close.

"Well, lets go girls! I'd say we have some cheering to do" she says, already having the perfect cheerleader smile plastered on to her face.

Rachel and Haley walk out of the bathroom and she follows them, after taking one last glance of her self in the mirror. Yesterday, at the doctor's office, she'd been told she was almost eight weeks along and the clock is ticking. If she isn't going to keep the baby she is going to have to act on it soon.

But not tonight. Tonight is game-night and she has to be able to put all her problems aside. And it's not that hard anymore. To pretend that none of this is actually happening to her. Hell, like Rachel said, she looks great and she's still her normal slim and sexy self.

Just days ago she had been so close to telling Lucas but now she somehow represses being sick all around the clock. It's just once in a while, like now in front of the mirror, that she remembers it. In some way she's starting to think that if she just forgot about being pregnant it would just go away.

The cheerleaders stand in lines to welcome their players onto the court. It's dark in the gym and the music that's pumping out of the speakers is loud. Rachel who's standing next to Brooke leans over and says, just high enough for Brooke to hear;

"Am I going to have to arrange an intervention for my amnesia-friend?"

"Huh?"

"Aren't little miss Davis forgetting something pretty important that she put on her to-do list nearly two weeks ago?"

She raises an eyebrow but Brooke gives her angry face. "Shut up!"

"Cut it out Brooke. It's a little naïve of you to think you can keep this a secret forever. It's going to be more then obvious soon…"

Nathan comes out on court and they interrupt there little discussion to raise their pom-poms and scream for him but when the crowd settles again Rachel is still at it.

"Seriously Brooke. It's been eight days since you told me and you knew long before that." she hisses over the music. "I'm not trying to be righteous or anything but you NEED to tell him and it needs to happen TONIGHT! You can't carry this around anymore without telling him…"

Brooke waves at her furiously to be quiet because now Lucas is the one who's running between the two lines of girls, and she's scared to death that he's going to hear Rachel's ranting. Or what if someone else heard. Haley would go crazy. If Bevin or Theresa snatched up the news it would be on the schools bulletin-board in seconds… And she doesn't even want to think about what would happen if Peyton found out.

She sees that Lucas checks her out and smiles towards her and without thinking about it she's smiling back, dimples showing. Maybe it's all the tension in the gym. Maybe she's just momentarily having a judgement-glitch but he looks so good in his black and white jersey. And that smile. It reminds her of something…

When she remembers she actually laughs out load.

"Weird Sience!" she shouts at him just as he passes her and he turns and runs backwards. Laughing now to.

"Um… the family jewels!" he shouts back, making that funny voice that he knows she loves.

And when he reaches the middle of the court and the rest of the cheerleaders are screaming his name, jumping and waving, she just stands still watching him and his eyes doesn't leave hers.

"And he doesn't even have a license, Liza…" she mouths quietly hoping he can read her lips.

Rachel watches her worriedly from the left but she can't stop thinking about that night in the bar. Their first date. First kiss. The tattoo.

How the hell had they come from there to the perfect lie she was living now?

It's half time and Lucas takes big gulps from the water-bottle while Whitey is talking them through the play-strategies for third quarter. He's definitely not listening though. His head is about to burst with thoughts of her. Little fragments of their entire relationship. Kisses, pet-names, things she's told him about herself. Like her love of heat-lightning at night in the summer.

He watches her and wallows in memories of things they've done together, everything from being naked in her neighbors Jacuzzi to going on that roadtrip to New York. All the nights that they've spent on his bed, her laying with her head on his chest while he was reading to her… And of course, getting drunk, tattooed and grounded.

How'd she even come to think of that quote from Weird Science? That night in the pool-hall felt so long ago.

Brooke and her squad are out on the floor doing their routine but when they're finished she comes jogging towards him at the sideline.

"Luke…"

She's a little out of breath, her eyes glimmering and her cheeks a little flushed. And looking at her he feels slightly embarrassed, realizing that this reminds him of other activities. Her face looking just as it does now but in bed with him after he's made love to her.

"Brooke" he acknowledges softly, not giving a shit about the fact that Whitey is giving them both the evil eye.

"Can we talk after the game? I have something I have to tell you…"

"Of course."

Whitey clears his throat loudly. "Miss Davis, could you please stop twisting the head of one of my better players? I need him to concentrate on the game."

Brooke answers "I'm sorry coach Durham" in a serious voice and Lucas has to laugh at how many times she'd been told this. Not just when it came to him but probably all the guys on the team. Brooke in her cheer-outfit could make anyone loose concentration and it was a constant source of frustration for Whitey. Still, he doesn't turn back to his team-mates. Whatever it is that she wants to talk to him about he wants to hear it. Anything for his Pretty girl. He brushes his fingers against her upper-arm and smiles and she smiles back. Not the ordinary sexy Brooke Davis-smile but a shyer one.

"Okay, I'll wait for you outside the locker rooms" she says before turning to jog back.

He follows her with his eyes and he can still feel Whitey's angry look piercing through the skin in his neck. But it is worth it. Brooke is not avoiding him anymore.

The game's over with a ten point win to the Ravens. Brooke and Rachel walk back to the locker-room to shower and Rachel nudges her in the side.

"So what were you and Luke talk about in halftime?"

"Oh, nothing… I just remembered all the good times we used to have. I mean, we didn't always fight like we've been doing lately and I just figured that I needed to talk to him… so I'm meeting him out here after I've showered…"

She feels somewhat nervous and maybe Rachel can see it because she puts her arm around her shoulders and gives her a friendly squeeze.

"I think that's good room-mate. And I guess that means that you are finally telling him? I don't need to torture you to do it?"

Brooke laughs. "No you don't. And by the way, your constant nagging about it these last days have been torture enough, thank you very much!" But then she gets serious again. "Rach, you have to understand were I'm coming from. I've had so many mixed felling for Lucas this last month and telling him I'm pregnant is just going to make everything even more complicated… I guess I just needed to sort out were I stand first."

Rachel stops and raises an eyebrow looking curious.

"And? Do you know that now?"

"Yeah. I'm over him"

She tries really hard to look convincing but Rachel just laughs out disbelievingly.

"Right Brooke, sure you are! You just keep telling yourself that."

"Come on! What do you want me to say? There's no way we can ever get back together and have a functioning relationship after everything that's happened, right? And when I tell him he knocked me up he's going to go mental, but then he's going to be all 'responsible' and want to do right by me and the baby…"

She looks hurt and tired and her facial expression is such a huge contrast to the rest of her in her uniform and cheer make-up that Rachel can't do anything but to feel her pain. She wants to say something to comfort her but she's not sure what that would be so she stays quiet and Brooke continues;

"I haven't even decided if I'm going to keep it but either way, I'm not going to get through this if I'm being all delusional and hope for a future with him. I guess the fairytale just isn't for me…"

She shrugs as if to say that she's okay with this but its obvious that she's not. And Rachel knows that there is some truth to what she's saying. There is no way that Brooke and Lucas are getting back together as long as Brooke's denying her feelings and Lucas doesn't understand that it's not about what he says so much as to what he actually does.

"It's going to be okay friend" she says while pushing the door to the locker-room open and they both walk in to join the other girls.

And that's when Peyton steps out from her hidingplace around the corner.

Lucas leans against the corridor wall waiting for Brooke to come out. He has no idea what it is that she wants to talk to him about but he has a good feeling about it. She hadn't seemed angry, more like she was a little nervous, and he's hoping that maybe she figured out that she made the wrong choice in dumping him.

He drifts off in thought, thinking about the night when she had shown up on his doorstep with that shoe-box full of letters. How fragile she'd looked. How she had stumbled on her words trying not to cry.

"There's 82 letters in here… And they're all addressed to you. I wrote them all this summer… one a day, but I never sent them… because I was afraid…"

"Brooke…"

Her bottom lip trembles and tears well up in her green eyes making them darker.

"I was afraid of getting my heart broken again… like before. Because you hurt me so bad… and I was afraid to be vulnerable. And I was afraid of you… and how you make me feel. And I know that doesn't matter now after what I did… But I just thought that you should know… This is how I spent my summer Luke… wanting you… I was just to scared to admit it."

She's crying and when she turns to leave he panics, feeling her slip away again.

"Brooke! …I'm sorry… What you did with Chris… It's okay."

"It's NOT. It can't be, it's too much to forgive…"

"Well that's too bad… Because I forgive you."

"You can't!"

"I just did… So you'll just have to deal with it. I'm the guy for you Brooke Davis. And I know I hurt you last time that we were together but…"

"I love you."

"I love you too. Pretty girl…"

And he does. Love her, that is. And standing there waiting for her to come out and talk to him about what ever it is she want's to talk about he thinks that he's always going to forgive her, whatever she does. Just as long as she's with him.

The door to the girls locker-room opens and he snaps out of his day-dreaming thinking that it's going to be Brooke's face that he's going to see. But it's Peyton.

"Hey Lucas" she says walking over to him and he can't help but wishing that she would just go away. He doesn't want Brooke to come out and find him here talking to Peyton. Not tonight.

"Hey Peyton" he offers back kind of non-caringly. "What's up?"

She seems weird, like she's bursting to tell this big secret but hasn't yet made up her mind if he deserves to know it and she tilts her head to the side and watches him for a moment.

"So… What did Brooke want in the half-time break? I saw her going over to talk to you."

"Nothing special. Why?"

He could've just told Peyton that Brooke had wanted to talk to him about something and that he's standing here right now because he's waiting for her, but something tells him not to. And Peyton just smirks.

"So you mean Brooke hasn't told you?"

"Told me what?"

"That the rumors about her being pregnant isn't just rumors…"

He sighs loudly, suddenly extremely tired of Peyton and her newfound way of wanting to shove splinters in between Brooke and himself. And by the way, hadn't they already had this exact conversation at Tric?

"Cut the crap Peyt! I asked her, remember? And haven't you heard that it's Haley?"

His voice is angry and maybe even a little louder then he planed, but it doesn't seem to bother her. Instead she looks at him like she's feeling sorry for him.

"I really don't want to be the one to tell you this Lucas… But I think you deserve to know. Brooke IS pregnant. I heard her say so myself just a little while ago…"

She looks sincere but of course she's lying. He has asked Brooke twice so there is no way in hell that what Peyton is saying could be true. And that's when he looks over and sees Brooke and Rachel standing in the open locker room door. Brooke looks at him all wide-eyed and suddenly she looks so young. And scared. And that is what tells him the truth. Her face, not Peytons words. The rumors are in fact true. His former girlfriend is pregnant and she's kept it from him.

She takes a step towards him with eyes begging him not to yell at her and he slowly starts walking backwards down the corridor.

"Luke…" she whispers but he's closing his eyes and holding his hand up to stop her.

"How long were you gonna keep lying?"

"I… listen Luke…"

"You know what Brooke? Save it."

He's feeling numb. Like he's actually not understanding what is happening.

"One question though," he says. "Is the baby mine?"

Brooke nods, looking younger by the minute, and he is torn between wanting to slap her senseless and wanting to save her from all the shit that's been happening to her lately. Or more exactly happening to them both.

---------------

Tears are running down Brooke's cheeks now and she hates how he looks at her. Like he's really not mad, just very disappointed. Like she has once again been little reckless irresponsible Brooke. She hates it because when he looks at her like this she's felling like she has never been enough for him, ever. And it's not fair.

She hasn't done anything wrong. Since the that night when she and Lucas had taken care of Peyton after getting drugged at that collage-party, she hasn't done anything else but to love him.

"I didn't want you to find out this way…" she whispers, her voice cracking up more and more for every word. He shakes his head slowly.

"How could you not tell me Brooke? It's like Peyton says, I deserved to know…"

"I know Luke, but you don't understand… It's been really hard… I've been trying to tell you…"

"What the hell do you mean by 'trying' Brooke!? I asked you about it and you PROMISED me that you weren't pregnant. You lied to me! Twice!"

Not knowing how to answer that, she wants the ground to open up and swallow her or just to disappear in thin air. Anything to get away from his eyes. But she's still standing there and the corridor is filing up with people leaving the game and she knows that she has to leave. She can't handle having this discussion in here. Not like this.

"I have to go" she sobs and then she feels herself start running. Past him, through the open entrance doors and out in the parking-lot. Rachel is calling after her, she had almost forgotten she was standing there with them, but Brooke doesn't stop.

The tears are blinding her as she gets into her car and turns the ignition-key. Pushing the gas-pedal into the floor and speeding out into the street she thinks;

"I guess the fairytale just isn't for me… So much for the perfect lie…"

So i'm hoping that was alright? I would love to have some more reviews before chapter 6, good or bad. Either way, thanks again guys!