"Hey Brooke, wake up?" somebody nudged me from my deep sleep.

I just pushed the hand away and settled back into the silky pillows.

"Brooke, please can we talk?" Lucas called out to me again.

I finally opened my eyes and stared into his. He was holding out my robe to me. I blushed as I took it from his hand and tied it around my waist.

My thighs were still sore from our previous night's activities, but I followed him out the bed. I checked my phone on the nightstand which read 5:36 am. Had the boy seriously lost his mind? We had only slept for like three hours.

"What's wrong, Lucas, let me stop you right here if you're going to apologise," I said to him. I get it, sex is always a big deal but I wouldn't be completely lying if I admitted that all that time that I had spent with Lucas had left my head with many many fantasies and the previous night was them finally coming true.

"Well yeah, that. But also can we please talk about what I said after," he confessed. His face looked innocent, almost like a four-year-old was confessing to his mom that he saw TV for more than the stipulated time.

"Why don't you sit on the couch and I'll make us some coffee," I said. He needed a safe place to unwind and let go of everything he was holding in. I could see it and I needed him to know I was there for him just as much as he was there for me.

When did life become so dramatic and drastic? After all, we were only two sixteen-year-olds. People our age are supposed to discuss their crushes and go to the mall as they wonder and dream and plan their lives ahead. These are the wonder years before it all becomes a reality. And yet, we were put in these situations which people in their forties did not know how to navigate.

Once I got the coffees, I moved to sit on the couch beside him and put both our mugs on the coasters at the coffee table. I was so tired that I pulled my feet up and sat sideways so both my legs were on his lap. I laid my back on the armrest of the couch. It also made it easier for me to see him.

Lucas' hands fell on my knees and he started moving them going up and down my toned legs, being careful not to go too high.

"Brooke, about what I told you. I-I don't even know what to say. It's so messed up and so complicated. Just that I'm sorry for it all," he said.

"I was willing and I consented to it and honestly I was really grateful that I could help and repay you. Not that I wish you had to deal with that. What I'm trying to say is that whatever happened is really horrible and I'm so sorry you have been having to deal with that all alone. Are you sure you're okay?" I responded. I raised my torso and now I was sitting right beside him sideways. My hands went to his chest, trying to soothe all the bruises and scars he had there. My brain just felt so guilty and also felt such a strong tug of compassion, I put my hair behind my ear and started kissing them all again. Lucas visibly stiffened as my lips made contact with his chest. So I stopped and hugged him instead.

"Yeah, it sucks…. a lot! But, I have had 12 years of practice. What we have here, this helps though and I don't know what to say or feel about it." he reverted honestly after he grew used to my head and fingers lingering on his form.

"Lucas, you always have a spot here. If you think I'm going to kick you out, well too bad because I won't ever do that to you," I assured him. "And no, it's not out of guilt or anything, it's because I genuinely care for you." And love you I wanted to continue but bit back.

"But Brooke, what we have is such a ridiculous arrangement. I mean yeah, we have been doing it for over a month now, but this doesn't seem sustainable to me. What if, I don't know… you decide that you want to date someone. What then?" He asked, his fears resurfaced.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest when he said that. Why couldn't I date him? But I would be damned if I let those words slip out of my mouth. "Why don't we cross that bridge when we get there. I don't think I could date even if I wanted to. Nobody would want to date me. I'm Brooke Davis, the hot body, not Brooke Davis, the cute girlfriend. People want to sleep with me, not date me. Every day at school a new guy says that I slept with him the previous night. It's like a badge of honour. And if I have, that's just that. They want nothing to do with me the next day. It's how it has always been and unless there is a parallel dimension that we enter into, I don't see things changing for me during high school. I just plan to ignore it all."

I could see a look on Lucas' face not too different from the one I wore when he suggested I date someone.

"I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there. Though I have to say, anybody, who misses a chance to date you is stupid," he smiled.

Then quit being stupid, you dummy! My mouth wanted to say so badly! But I pursed my lips tight to avoid the words from spilling out.

"What about the elephant in the room, sex? Are we like doing it now? Or was it a one-time thing?" I asked instead.

"Uhh…. What do you want?" he asked after thinking for a few moments to come up with the correct answer.

"What do I want?" I repeated. "If I'm being the most honest, all I want is for you to decide and take control. I have been doing so good since you started sleeping over and for once I was just able to be. I know, I sound stupid, how many decisions does a sixteen-year-old have to take, but its the cumulative. I had to grow up and learn quickly. I was six when my previous nanny quit and my parents forgot to hire the next one. I had to decide whether to call 911 and get CPS involved, live alone or I don't even know. I just want the weight off, even if it's for a little while. If you say you want to have sex, we can go do it and if you just want to go back to the way things were before last night, sure. It's just for the first time since I can remember, I don't feel a tonne of anxiety or I haven't had a panic attack since the last one I had in the car with you. I have always had those since my family was gone and I had to learn to manage breathing through it all, all on my own. If I'm being honest, the only anxiety I currently harbour is somehow screwing this up. All I know is that I don't have all the answers. I just wanted somebody else to answer for me, even if it's for a little while."

Lucas' face looked grim but understanding. He then went on to just sipping on his coffee, pulling me to his chest so I was more comfortable. I rested my head on his chest and looked at the window. You could see the first streaks of orange colouring the sky.

"This is all so depressing. What the two of us have to deal with, can we do something crazy that sixteen-year-olds do?" I said to him a little bit after.

"Like what," he asked. "We have school later."

"There's time and now I'm too awake to sleep. Ooh, let's go swimming!" I said, already getting off his lap to walk to the door.

"Brooke! It's freezing!" He exclaimed.

"Don't worry, you sissy! The pool's heated and there is a hot tub. Hopefully, the jets can cure the sores I still feel on the inside of my thighs!" I winked.

I was already halfway out the door, untying my robe. Letting it fall on a canopy beach chair, I got into the pool, completely naked.

"Oh my God!" Lucas cried as he saw my naked frame walk down the steps of the pool and my body adjusted to the warm water.

"No suit?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, crouching outside near the edge of the pool.

"Nuh-uh," I smirked and let out a laugh. I swam close to him and tried to pull him into the pool with me.

"Come on! I am sick and tired of all these big feelings. Something stupid is just what the doctor prescribed." I yelled as I started taking a lap around the pool.

He saw me swimming and I purposely did a backstroke to give him a frontal view. The bulge in his boxers clearly indicated that he really wanted to join me.

Giving in, he pulled his boxers down and jumped into the pool landing right next to me. The water from his big splash sprayed over my face as I laughed, pushing the water towards him.

We hit each other with water for a while before swimming together, hugging and cuddling in the warm waters. The less gravitational pull made our bodies collide like yin and yang. I got onto his back and he swam around at top speed, going up and down the water like a dolphin. I just clasped onto his neck, letting go of myself and the control, just being, allowing him to take the reins.

Then we got into the hot tub and before we knew it, he was kissing me as my hand rubbed his bulge, trying to ease it. Lucas' hands snaked from my back and then to my breasts, feeling me out entirely. I leaned in closer until my boobs were pushed up by his strong torso. His hands suddenly grabbed my butt as he lifted me up effortlessly with the aid of the water. I gave a whelp and I felt the force of the strong jets of the hot tub move from my back and hit me dead centre on my vagina. He held me there for a few moments as I tried to close my legs or move away from the strong force, but his grip was tight and the currents were strong.

With another quick swing, I was on his lap. "May I?" He asked for permission to enter me.

I blushed at how much of a gentleman he tried to be. Taking him in my own hands, I placed him at my entrance and looked up at him from the side.

"Does that answer your question?" I asked.

He responded by pushing himself deep inside me. Since he was sitting on the bench of the tub, the jets boring onto his back, I did the moving, going up and down on his hard length.

He cocked his head back as his brain grew foggy. I continued my pace, kissing his lips deeply and nuzzling my face in the crook of his neck. My hands were wrapped around him to stop myself from slipping in the water.

"Brooke!" He let out a scream before he orgasmed. He groaned deeply as he cummed inside of me. I continued going on his length until he had finished riding his euphoria.

We sat there enjoying the jets for a little bit more until we were certain we had skipped the first period. Then we got ready and left for school.

Things continued the same way after that. Lucas started getting more and more comfortable here. The reading chair in my room was his quiet spot to read. We had a study in the house which was almost like a mini-library. My grandfather used to collect books and they all were neatly lined on the shelves in the study, dusted and cleaned by the helper. I had never taken any interest in them. However, Lucas spent hours at night going through them all. He would always pick one up and sit on the comfy reading chair with a drink and just spend hours peacefully. Then during other times, he would choose to brood. He worried about his mom, and so I would find him on the balcony joining my bedroom on the cane swing, just looking outside, brooding. I gave him his quiet and his space because I knew he never had the freedom of choice at his house. It was daunting to never know if it would be peace or panic. That kind of stress could have anybody sinking. We spent lazy Saturday and Sunday mornings together (even though he would sneak out early in the morning to practice at the river court and then come back to bed to join me.) He would sometimes even cook for me after I showcased how horrible my skills were in the culinary department. In fact, he decided to go vegetarian with me.

Things also obviously changed with our sleeping dynamics. In all of it, I learnt how to read him. Every night he would come over and simply by looking at his eyes, I would be able to tell what was going to ensue.

If his eyes were bright and playful and shining, it meant that his dad had had a little too much to drink and had yelled at the television instead of Lucas. He was fine. We would cuddle, maybe make out and call it a night.

Then there were times when his eyes would go a shade lighter, almost silvery and cold, like the first snow of the season. It meant that he and his father had a verbal fight, he had managed to leave the house in time, but it still haunted him. He would want sex, but it was almost like love-making. He would care for me, and pamper me during the whole process, taking his time, feeling everything.

And then came the days when his eyes were dark, overcast with heavy clouds as if a storm was brewing within those beautiful orbs. His dad had beat him. He would come looking for all and every semblance of control. He would fuck me shitless, and I would simply submit to it.

During those sessions I would ask him why he ever went back to that house, he could just leave and stay here. But his response had left even him shaking. "You don't know Dan Scott, Brooke. If I stop making appearances, he will track me down and maybe in that process track you down and then he could hurt you because he would know it would kill me more to see you hurt than anything he could ever do to me. Besides, my mom fled. If he still sees me around, he doesn't go looking for her and maybe just maybe someday, she can stop looking over her shoulder every minute waiting for the other shoe to drop and everything to come crashing down all over again."

"Can't the police help us? There has to be a way, Luke!" I had cried back.

"He knows every important figure there is to know in this town. The man may be drunk, but he has connections everywhere. Trust me, Brooke, I need to keep showing up," he had responded.

I never asked him about it again. I just always had my first aid kit ready to help him out after he had a bad brunt. Then something else happened that changed our corse yet again.

"I'll be there at 7:30 with pasta." his text to me had read. He had a key, so I never waited for him to show. I would just do my thing until he came. The time info was more so I could shoo my friends away in case they were still around. Lucas always came at the time he texted me he would be there.

The clock went from 7:30 to 10:00 pm and he still didn't show. My mind was racing and panicking. Where was he? Was he okay? What had his father done this time? What could I do? I tried calling him over and over but it kept going straight to voicemail. What was I even supposed to do? I couldn't exactly call anyone, what would I tell them I was basing my worry on? Lucas' biggest secret or ours? We were nothing but each other's dirty little secret after all.