Lucas pulled his duffel bag out of the backseat and slammed the car doors.
Karen ran out and hugged him tightly.
"My baby's back."
"Hi mom."
"You packed lightly." Karen commented.
"I wasn't sure how much stuff to bring."
Karen laughed.
"I'm starving."
"Dinner is almost ready, Brooke's inside."
"Sounds good."
"I bet you and Lucas were happy to see each other." Deb said the next morning at the café.
"I missed him a lot."
"Well I know he missed you too."
"Thank you for watching him this summer."
"We had fun. The boys got so close. It was nice to see."
"I bet."
"Oh! I almost forgot. I have been fiddling around with my digital camera all summer and I printed some pictures I took of Lucas."
Deb pulled out an envelope and handed it to Karen.
Karen looked through the pictures. There was a picture of Nathan carrying Lucas into the freezing cold water, both laughing. Nathan and Lucas playing basketball, with Lucas doing a slam-dunk. A group shot of Lucas, Nathan, Dan and Deb. Lucas and Nathan shaking water out of their hair at the beach. Lucas and Jake roasting marshmallows on the beach, with Jake's on fire and Lucas laughing. Lucas shoving Nathan out of his bedroom after Nathan fell asleep in his bed.
Karen smiled at the last picture, Lucas looked mildly annoyed and Nathan couldn't stop laughing. They looked like they've been close for a long time.
She had missed so much.
"I can't believe I wasn't here." Karen murmured.
"Well you had a wonderful summer." Deb said, holding out Karen's hand and smiling.
Karen laughed.
"Keep those pictures, I have copies." Deb said gently, and went into the back room.
Karen smiled faded. She sighed and went back to work.
"Ready for practice?" Jake said; falling step with Lucas a few minutes after the final bell rang.
"Yeah."
"And you-"
"I promise that I will be careful."
"Okay. Where's Nathan?"
"His last class is close to the gym. He's probably already there."
Sure enough he was.
"Hey." Nathan said, pulling on his jersey.
"Sup." Jake said, opening his locker.
Lucas nodded at Nathan and made his way to his locker when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Nathan was looking at him with concern.
"You promise me…"
"I do. The next time either of you asks me that I am going to go postal on you, I swear."
"Alright, alright." Jake said.
The team made their way out onto the gym where the underclassmen were doing tryouts for the JV team.
"All right, another year." Whitey said, blowing his whistle.
"Good team this year. See some of you have been working over the summer. Looks like you finally got your scrawny ass doing some weights, Lucas. Who got you to do that?"
"Why do you assume that I didn't do it myself."
"Because I know you, boy."
"Yeah, you're right. Nathan made me." Lucas said, laughing.
"'Bout time Nathan." Whitey said.
Practice started, with the varsity doing drills on one half of the court, as to not disturb the tryouts.
Lucas, Nathan and Jake were happy to be back playing their favorite sport. During pauses in the practice, Nathan or Jake would be watching Lucas to make sure he was okay, which he was.
Whitey blew the whistle to end practice.
"Good job today, let's hope you all keep it up for the games." He said, and the team headed towards the locker room.
"Scott. Hold up." Whitey called to Nathan.
"What's up?"
"I heard about your father. How's he doing?"
"A lot better. He changed a lot though, so in a way it turned out to be good."
"How so?"
"He's so much better now, as a person. He and my mom are getting along and Lucas and him are finally on good terms."
"Are you and Lucas alright?"
"Better than ever. We got a lot closer this summer. He even lives with us every other week."
"Karen agreed to that?"
"It took some persuasion but Lucas really wants it."
"That's great." Whitey said thoughtfully.
"It is."
"Alright then. Go do something useful, like your homework."
"Bye Coach." Nathan said, and went to the locker room to get changed.
"You good?" Nathan asked Lucas who was still in the locker room.
"I feel fine. I told you, all I need to do is take it easy."
"Okay."
"So I'll see you later?" Lucas asked.
"Yup."
"See ya." Lucas said. He chugged the rest of his water bottle and left.
Nathan returned home, his talk with Whitey still running through his mind.
"Hey son, how was practice?" Dan asked, organizing files.
"Fine."
"Was Lucas…"
"He was okay. The medicine should help those symptoms…right?"
"Right." Dan said.
"Hey." Deb said, walking into the house. Dan gave Nathan a quick glance. He hoped Nathan wouldn't mention Lucas' heart condition. Dan was trying to figure out a way to tell her.
"Hi mom." Nathan said, nodding at his dad.
"How was school and practice?"
"Fine. Tiring."
"I brought takeout for dinner…Karen made some great stuff."
"I bet she's glad to see Lucas more." Dan said.
"Yeah, after a whole summer apart I think she was very excited."
"He was excited to see her too." Nathan said.
"Do you miss having him around?" Deb asked.
"It kind of sucks, I got so used to him being a few feet away across the hall all the time."
Deb smiled sympathetically.
"Besides, he helps me with my homework." Nathan added, grinning.
"Right…" Deb said, thinking about Haley.
"Look, I already told Lucas this, you can mention her name." Nathan said.
"It's not the most comfortable topic in the world for you son." Dan pointed out.
"Of course not, but just because I've decided that for now I don't really want anything to do with her, it doesn't mean I will lose it if I hear her name."
"Okay." Dan said. Deb nodded.
After dinner that night, Lucas and Brooke were sitting at the kitchen table, working on homework.
Well, Lucas was doing homework. Brooke was admiring him. The way he looked so into what he was reading about, and the way his hair was so adorably styled, how blue his eyes were and how…how much she liked him.
"Lucas?" Brooke said uncertainly.
"Yes Brooke?"
Brooke didn't know what to say next…
"This is nice."
"Doing homework?" Lucas asked teasingly.
"Sitting here with you."
Lucas smiled.
"I like hanging out with you Brooke."
"I like hanging out with you, too."
"We should do something this weekend. Not like a date, but we could go get coffee or something."
"That sounds good." Brooke said.
Lucas looked back down on his English homework, feeling very happy. It was a start.
On Saturday morning, Lucas let himself into Dan's house and walked upstairs. Nobody seemed to be home. He was supposed to have come in the afternoon.
He changed for his date with Brooke and left a note on the table saying he would be back soon.
"Hey Broody." Brooke said, sitting in the coffee shop.
"Hey Cheery. Long time no see."
"Yeah, like 2 hours."
"Nobody was home when I got there."
"That's weird."
"Nathan was probably there, but since it's Saturday, you know sleep till noon and then basketball practice."
Brooke laughed.
"So do you have a ton of work this weekend too?"
"Tons. Especially since I decided to do my homework this year." Brooke grinned.
Lucas laughed. He loved Brooke's sense of humor.
"Well that's good." He said.
They talked and laughed for two hours, forgetting all tension between them.
"Damn, I better get going. I have practice in an hour."
"Yeah, I better go too and help your mom."
"Yeah…"
"She's going to miss you a lot this week."
"I will definitely see her during the weeks I'm not there though."
"Of course."
"I'll be seeing you, Brooke."
"Bye Lucas."
"Hey man, where've you been?" Nathan greeted Lucas.
Lucas points to the note on the table.
"Out with Brooke, eh?" Nathan said knowingly.
"Yeah. It was great."
"So are you dating now?"
"No. Patience, Nathan. One step at a time."
"It's a start."
"Exactly." Lucas said, thinking about how much fun he had had just talking to her.
"You're so into her." Nathan observed, grinning.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Do you think it's that easy?"
"To do what?"
"Just to talk to someone like that after all this stuff happens between you."
"I think it would need to more gradual in your case." Lucas said.
"My case?"
"Come on, Nate."
"Fine. You're right. I kind of miss her. Does that make me crazy?"
"Not at all."
"It's insane because every time I want to talk to her, I get all excited but then I remember all that's happened."
"Give it more time. It doesn't have to have some instant solution."
"Right." Nathan said thoughtfully.
I'm trying to update faster now that my computer decided to WORK )
Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it, tell me what you think!