Thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys are awesome!

Eh...this chapter is kind of short. And filler-y. It's hard to concentrate when I'm on a break from school. Weird, yes, that's me.

I'm aiming for the next chapter to be a longer one, it's looking pretty good so far. I hope.

"Stop looking at my hand like that." Lucas complained.

"It's crazy, man." Nathan said.

Lucas' hand was healing, but now it was bruised and covered with thin scratches and scabs.

"You're not helping." Lucas snapped.

"Sorry. Just…damn. Did Brookeseethis?"

"She saw the bandage."

"Just show her your hand if she ever doubts your relationship."

"That's sweet, Nate. Besides, it's not like this will be here forever." Lucas said, pulling his hand away.

Nathan grabbed his hand back and started to rewrap it.

"Stop pulling away." He scolded gently.

"This is just so annoying." Lucas grumbled.

"There you go." Nathan said, releasing his hand./

"Thanks." Lucas sighed. He stood up and started to leave.

"You alright?" Nathan said, putting his hand on Lucas' shoulder to stop him.

"Fine." Lucas muttered.

"You sure?"

"Yes." Lucas said tightly and left.

Nathan glanced at his reflection and sighed.

"All righty then." He said.

When he got downstairs, Lucas was sitting on the couch, his arm on the armrest, his chin in his hand. He looked lost in thought.

He wanted to say something, but he knew Lucas was upset. He decided to let him be.

"Mom! I'm going to meet Theresa!" He called.

"Okay!" Deb responded.

"See you Luke." Nathan said quietly, giving his brother a quick pat on the shoulder.

Lucas didn't respond.

Dan came up the driveway as Nathan was jogging towards his car.

"Where are you off to?"

"I've got a date with Theresa."

"Are we going to meet her sometime?"

"You've met her. She's been over here before, for parties and stuff."

"You know what I mean."

"We'll see."

"Alright. Where's your brother?"

"On the couch."

"How's he doing?"

"He's…not having a good day. No particular reason, he's just down."

"It happens sometimes." Dan said, heading inside.

"How are you doing Lucas?" Dan asked.

Lucas didn't look up.

Dan sat down and gently turned Lucas towards him.

"Do you want to get out of the house or something? You look bored."

"No." Lucas said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well I've got to get to the dealership. I've got a meeting…" Dan said slowly.

"You're leaving already?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry Lucas. I just came home for some files." Dan said sadly.

"It's okay."

"Invite someone over. Do something. For me?" Dan said, rubbing his shoulder lightly.

"Okay." Lucas said quietly.

"I'll see you later." Dan said

Lucas didn't actually do what Dan had said, but instead was watching television when Nathan came back from lunch with Theresa.

"Hey."

"Hey." Lucas said quietly.

"Luke, did something happen?"

"No…"

"Just having a bad day?"

"Yes. It happens sometimes. Jeez." Lucas snapped.

"Seriously, Lucas. You've been in this mood all day. Did I do something?"

"No. Just drop it, I'm fine."

"Okay…well do you want to come with me to the Rivercourt?"

"So I can watch you play a game that I can no longer play in case I you know, die or something? No thanks."

"Come on man. We'll get Jake to come, and I'll invite Theresa. Brooke can come too."

"And we can all sit on the sidelines while once again, I watch you play the game that I've been dying to play since October?"

Nathan swallowed hard, feeling stupid.

"I'm sorry. That was stupid of me…"

Lucas saw Nathan's hurt expression and immediately felt bad.

"No, I'm being stupid. I've come to your basketball games before…"

"Yeah, but still this is just for fun and you…"

"I'll go. Just let me get Mouth to come up too."

"You want commentary?"

"Definitely. If I have to sit and watch you all play, I need to be able to make fun of you."

"That's nice. So, are you really okay with coming?"

"I don't know. But I did promise Dad I would do something earlier today."

"You totally were planning on staying on that couch all day weren't you?"

"Absolutely. But he doesn't need to know that."

"Dude you totally went music shopping without me." Jake said, scrolling through Lucas' iPod.

"You try being stuck home for days without anyone to talk to."

"I see your point." Jake nodded, handing Lucas back his iPod and pulling Jenny into his lap.

"Jagielski! In or out?" Nathan called.

"Out for now." Jake responded.

"You don't have to-"

"It's fine. So let me see that hand of yours."

Lucas reached his hand out and unwrapped the bandage.

"Wow. You really did a number on yourself, didn't you Lucas?"

"Yeah." Lucas sighed.

"Luka!" Jenny giggled.

Lucas smiled and repeated his name slowly for her to learn.

"Luka!" Jenny repeated.

"Ah, well. Close enough." Lucas shrugged.

"Yeah." Jake laughed.

"Ooh, if you two were any more adorable, I don't know what I would do." Brooke said, walking over with Theresa and Peyton.

"I am awfully adorable aren't I?" Jake grinned.

"Get over yourself Jagielski. I was talking about Jenny and of course Lucas." Brooke said, leaning towards Lucas and kissing him hello.

"Jeez, right up close why don't you?" Jake said, jumping off the picnic table.

"Relax boy." Peyton said, kissing him.

"Hey." Nathan said, coming over to the group.

"Hey there." Theresa said, giving him a kiss too.

"Jake, get off your ass and come play." Nathan said, grinning.

"Fine, fine." Jake said, handing Jenny to Peyton.

"So Lucas, I'm kind of surprised you would come for this." Peyton said slowly.

"Nate wanted me to come, and I really needed to get out of the house." Lucas replied, settling back on the table with his arm around Brooke.

"One of those days?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah. I was kind of terrible to Nathan all day, I have to apologize later."

"He'll understand."

"Yeah."

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Mouth said, running up.

"No problem. This should be interesting…Jenny say Mouth." Lucas said.

"Mouth!" Jenny said.

"That's crazy, she can say that, but not Luke or Lucas?" Lucas muttered to himself.

"Let it go." Brooke said lightly, wrapping her arm around his waist.

Later that afternoon, Brooke ran up the stairs to her apartment as Haley came out of hers.

"Hey neighbor."

"Hey Tutorgirl! How are you?"

"Good, what have you been up to?"

"Oh not much, was down at the Rivercourt with the boys…and Peyton…"

"And Theresa?"

"Yeah…I'm sorry Haley. I know how much you wanted Nathan to come around."

"I guess I waited too long. Made too many mistakes."

"I'm really sorry. And I know it must be weird, me hanging out with them…"

"No, I understand. Besides, he and Theresa are…cute."

"I guess so." Brooke said.

"They totally are." Haley sighed.

"Yeah, but I wish there was some way to make this good for you too."

"Yeah, but what can I do? Nathan said he wanted to date. And not just date, but date other people."

"Well…why don't you?"

"Why don't I what?"

"Date someone."

"Brooke!"

"Haley!"

"I can't do that. I don't want to…"

"Upset him? He's the one who put out this whole idea of dating other people. He can't get mad at you for that."

"But-"

"He can, however, if he still has feelings for you, get insanely jealous." Brooke grinned.

"So that didn't suck did it?" Nathan asked on the way home.

"Nah, but your team sure did." Lucas grinned.

"Hey now, it's not my fault that Skillz bailed after only 20 minutes."

"Yes, but Jake and the others whipped you. It was painful for me to watch."

"You're hateful now." Nathan laughed.

"Still, it was fun to watch."

"I noticed you joined Mouth on the commentary. You both were cold today, I'm glad that wasn't for the real game."

"It was fun to bust on you all. If you can't join them, beat out every shed of self esteem they have." Lucas grinned.

"That's the spirit." Nathan laughed.

"Hey boys. Lucas, feeling better?" Dan asked when they returned home.

"Much better."

"Good."

"You should join Mouth for the next game. Except you might make people cry." Nathan grinned.

"Oh shut up, it wasn't that bad."

"Oh, I think Jake had tears in his eyes as we left." Nathan teased.

Dan laughed.

"You're crazy." Lucas laughed.

"Well it sounds like you had fun, so that's good. Dinner should be in twenty minutes or so." Dan said.

"Great. I'm starving." Nathan said.

"Me too."

"I'm going to go shower. See you soon." Nathan said, starting to leave.

"Hey little brother, you know I love you right?" Lucas said teasingly.

"I've always suspected." Nathan grinned.

There...little fluffy (actually, this was filler-y and fluffy), but hey, last chapter was oh so angsty. I just wanted to have Lucas have a little fun and get out some of his frustrations in a way that did not involve bodily harm ) Next chapter we'll probably be heading down Angst Avenue again. Oh yes…we will.

As always, I would love to read what y'all think )