"Hey," Brooke said in surprise when she saw Lucas standing on her front porch.

He studied her front door. "Red?" he asked.

She grinned and nodded.

"It somehow fits you," he said.

"Thanks," she replied, cocking her head to the side, waiting.

"What?" he asked uncomfortably.

"You tell me. You're the one who showed up at my house at 11:30 on a Friday night. Did you really come to discuss my front door?" she asked in amusement.

He sighed and put his hands in his pockets, then shook his head.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the house, closing the door behind them.

"What's going on, Lucas?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"Haley's seeing Nathan," he said.

Brooke nodded. "Yeah," she said softly.

"You knew?"

"I had an idea. Come on, Lucas. Didn't you? Their chemistry is so obvious."

"Yeah, to those who weren't blinded by Haley's deception!"

"Luke," Brooke said firmly. "Don't you think that's being just a little overdramatic?" This was new for her, being the voice of reason. Usually she was the one with a flair for melodrama. And she had to admit, she didn't know Lucas that well yet, but she'd thought he was more together than this.

He looked her up and down. "What were you doing?" he asked, suddenly noticing her attire.

"Pilates," she informed him.

"This late?" he asked.

She shrugged. "We had a squad meeting before school today, and then the game tonight, so I didn't get a chance to work out." She grinned at him and headed for the living room. "You didn't think this body maintained itself, did you?" she teased over her shoulder. She sat down on the couch and turned the television off with the remote.

"I'll watch if you want to continue," he said with a smirk, sitting down next to her.

"I was almost finished," she told him. "So…how did you find out?"

"We were supposed to hang out tonight and when I went over, I asked her if there was anything going on," he said, then shrugged. "She admitted it. And he was upstairs in her bedroom." He went on to tell her about the conversation he'd had with Haley before he'd stormed out.

Brooke nodded slowly. "So you did suspect something," she observed. "Otherwise you wouldn't have asked her, Luke."

Lucas sighed.

"How is he?" Brooke asked.

"I don't know. I didn't see him. He was upstairs in her bedroom," he said scornfully.

Brooke looked at his face for a minute, contemplating his expression. "Lucas, do you have feelings for Haley?" she asked flat out.

"What?" Lucas said then laughed. "No, I do not have feelings for Haley."

"Then why are you so upset?" Brooke asked softly.

Lucas thought for a minute. "I just…I thought she was different, you know?"

Brooke shook her head. "No. I don't know. What do you mean?"

"I thought she was…"

"Perfect?" Brooke supplied.

Lucas gave her a startled look. "Yeah," he said in realization. It had never hit him until now, but that was exactly how he'd seen his friend.

"That's a lot of pressure to put on someone," she told him.

Lucas didn't say anything.

"Maybe she was afraid that if she told you, then…she'd lose you," Brooke said, trying to provide him with a female perspective. "Has she, Lucas? Has Haley lost you?"

Lucas gave her another glance then took a deep breath and let it out. "Maybe," he said halfheartedly.

"Look, I'm not very good at being the one to put things in line, because…well, I'm me and I love to blow things out of proportion. But let's try to look at this from Haley's point of view," she suggested. "She moves to a new town, makes one friend over the summer, starts a brand new school, and then that very first day, she finds out that her summer tryst is your brother—who you can't stand. Wouldn't you be a little afraid to have to admit that?"

"I would have tried to be honest," he said.

"Maybe she did try, Lucas. Maybe she just couldn't do it."

"Well, then she didn't try hard enough."

"Luke—you said yourself that she tried to stay away from him. Doesn't that tell you how much she didn't want to lose you? She was willing to give Nathan up for you."

"No, she wasn't. Or she would have."

"Well, she was willing to try," Brooke said. "That has to count for something."

"Why are you defending her?" Lucas asked. "I didn't even think you knew her."

"I've met her once," Brooke said. "And I'm not trying to defend her. I'm trying to see if there's a way to fix this."

"Why?" Lucas asked.

"Because I don't like that look in your eyes," she said honestly.

He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't want to talk about this anymore," he said stubbornly.

Brooke had to hold back a smile. Lucas was more like his brother than he realized.

"Well, I think I know what could get your mind off it," she said huskily.

His eyes flew to her face. "Yeah? What's that?" he asked.

She made her way to his side and lifted a leg over his lap so she was straddling him. "My lips," she said, bringing them down to his.

777

"You pulled the IV out of your arm?" Haley asked a little while later. She and Nathan were lying down together on the couch.

"Yeah," he said.

"Why?"

Nathan sighed. "I heard my dad on the phone with my mom, and they started fighting, and it was…it was just too much. I didn't want to deal with it."

Haley nodded. "Where is your mom?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea," he said. "She's away so often on business trips, it's hard to keep track. But it's better when she's gone. There's a lot less yelling in the house."

"I'm sorry," Haley said softly.

"It's not your fault," Nathan said, stroking her hair.

"Nathan?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you didn't tell me your real name at High Flyers?" she asked uneasily. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since Lucas had thrown it in her face earlier.

She felt his chest rise under her head as he took a deep breath then released it. "Because I wanted to be someone else," he admitted.

"With a new name?" she asked doubtfully.

"You just assumed that was my name because that's what all the other guys called me, and I never corrected you," he told her.

She nodded in understanding.

"Why was it so important to you that we not keep in contact after the summer?" he asked.

She sighed. "Because everything that had happened between us was so perfect," she admitted. "And that was how I wanted to remember it. Flawlessly. I was afraid that keeping in touch with you would somehow…wreck things. And I didn't want things to be ruined."

"Aren't you afraid things will get ruined now?" he asked.

"No," she said softly. "Now I'm afraid that if I go the rest of my life not finding out how things between us will play out, then I'll regret it forever. If somehow things…get…messed up," she shrugged. "I can live with that. But the thought of walking away from you…that I couldn't live with."

"Things between us are not going to get ruined, Haley," he promised her.

"Things happen," she said, unconvinced.

"Not to us," he said firmly. "Things are gonna be great, Haley. You'll see."

There was a knock on the door and Haley lifted her head to look at Nathan. "Who could that be?" she asked.

She made her way to the door and opened it.

"That's her!" Dan Scott said his finger just inches from Haley's face. "That's the girl my son was with earlier this week," he told the police man who was with him.

"Ms." the officer gave her a questioning look.

"James," Haley supplied.

"Ms. James, have you seen Nathan Scott?" the officer asked.

Haley opened the front door further to reveal Nathan sitting on the couch. He slowly stood up and made his way to her side.

"Dad. What's going on?" he asked tiredly. His whole countenance had changed the second he'd realized it was Dan on the other side of the door.

"I was worried sick about you, Nathan!" his father said angrily. "What is wrong with you, just leaving the hospital like that?"

"I didn't want to listen to you arguing with mom," Nathan said dryly. "Again."

"You're coming home," Dan said.

Nathan shrugged. "Fine. But I'll just leave again," he said.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Dan said, grabbing his son's arm. He pulled Nathan through the front door, and then looked at Haley. "Aren't you going to say good night to your girlfriend?" Dan asked.

"I'll call you later," Nathan told her.

She nodded and watched as his father led him to the car at the end of the drive.

"Ms. James, are your parents home?" the officer asked.

777

"Nice room."

Peyton jumped and looked up from her sketch pad. She sighed. "You just took ten years off my life," she told Jake angrily. "Don't you know how to knock?"

"I did. There was no answer."

"So you just let yourself in?"

Jake shrugged. "Pretty much." He walked into her room and sat down next to her on her bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked angrily.

Instead of answering, he grabbed the sketch pad from her hand.

"Hey!"

He flipped it open and grinned at the sight. "That's me," he said, pointing to the page. He was going for a layup in his Raven's uniform.

She snatched it back from him. "Yeah. So?" she shot back, leaping up off her bed and standing on the other side of it so there was something between them. Space. She needed space.

Jake took his jacket off and lifted his feet onto Peyton's bed, his back leaning against the wall.

"Don't get too comfortable," she warned.

"I already am," he shot back. "So, the reason I'm here—"

Peyton gave him a dirty look. "As if I even care," she said.

"Just so you know, I'm straight as a board," he told her, looking her body up and down appreciatively.

"I don't care," she said lifting her chin defiantly.

"Oh, I think you do," he argued.

"Jake—"

"I think you're scared."

"I am not scared," Peyton said heatedly.

"I think you want me," he went on.

Her jaw dropped. "I do not want you!" she said shrilly.

He grinned at her, getting up on his knees and crawling over next to where she was standing. He got up on his knees so they were at eye level with each other. "Prove it," he challenged.

"What…"

"Kiss me," he said.

"I am not going to kiss you," she said vehemently.

"Boy, you like your 'nots' don't you?" he asked with a grin reaching for her hands with both of his. He gave her small tug and she came stumbling forward.

"One kiss," he whispered, his face so close to hers she could feel his breath on her cheek. He smelled minty. "If you don't want me, what's one little kiss going to hurt?" he taunted.

She shook her head. "No," she said weakly, her eyes fixed on his lips.

She pulled them away and lifted her eyes to his. They were dancing with amusement.

Busted, she thought.

"You know you want me," he said gruffly.

She lowered her eyes to his lips again. "Maybe a little," she admitted in a whisper, moving close enough to him that her upper body was resting against his.

He lifted his arms around her and smirked. "There's my girl," he whispered.

"I am not your girl."

"No, you're not," he agreed. "Well, we'll just have to remedy that, then, won't we?" As soon as his lips met hers, only one thought was flying around in Peyton's head. Fireworks.