A/N'S Thanks to everyone that reads and most importantly reviews you guys rock! In the Lucas/Haley scene, there's a line that I read in a book a long time that I thought would be perfect for the two. I wonder if any of you can guess where I got it from. Here's a hint…it was a very popular teen book series in the 80's and 90's….

"Sooo…" Tim began, setting his cue stick next to the pool table and picking up his beer. "You and Rachel huh?"

Nathan hit the cue ball into the newly set triangle and watched as the rest of the balls whizzed around the table. Straightening up, he accepted the new bottle of Corona that Tyler tossed his way. "Let's not go there tonight Tim." He warned, tilting his head back and taking a long sip.

"C'mon Nate, you should've know I was going to ask." Tim defended himself, leaning across the table and taking his turn. "Ace! All-right!" Turning to Nathan, he continued. "I guess this means you and Brooke are history right?"

Nathan let out a huff, and he shot Tim an annoyed look. He knew it was inevitable that his friends would ask him about this and he knew they, well Tim mostly, were dying to bring it up since they'd arrived at that night's frat party out in the nearby college. But he really didn't want to get into it, he didn't want to talk about Brooke. It was bad enough that she'd been on his mind constantly since the incident and talking about it would only make it worse.

"Nah, I wouldn't count on that." he replied casually, leaning across the table and hitting the striped ball expertly. It careened off a solid one and banked off the four sides of the table, dropping smoothly into the side pocket. "Perfect bank shot!" He high-fived Tyler and finished the rest of his Corona in one huge gulp. "I mean, it's me and Brooke man. Y'know, in a couple of days we'll get back together. No big deal." He was lying though his teeth, but there was no way he was going to admit to the guys how bad it really was.

"Shit, I don't know man." Tyler took his turn at the game, contributing to the conversation. "You slept with Rachel, that's screwed up."

"Yeah bro, it's Rachel. You know the deal between the two of them." Tim added, shaking his head. "That'd be like her sleeping with Lucas or something. Think about how that would make you feel."

Nathan frowned, pondering that for a minute. "Yeah, never gonna happen." He scoffed, accepting another beer from Brad, who hadn't yet commented. "The guy's a fucking loser, there's no way Brooke would ever lay her eyes on him. Give her a couple of days till she gets over it and we'll be back together in no time."

"If you say so." Tim shrugged, accepting his best friend's take on it. "But if she doesn't, can I spit game at her yo?"

Nathan rolled his eyes, "Tim, just say you want to date her."

His eyes lit up, "So I can?"

Nathan gave him a look, and he shoved him playfully. "Forget it Dim." He looked at his friends, focusing his gaze mainly on Brad. "And that goes for all of you. Brooke's off limits."

Brad held up his hands innocently, as if to defend himself. "I got that message loud and clear last time bro, don't worry." He paused, staring at his friend thoughtfully. "But seriously Nate and don't take this the wrong way, but you can warn us off all you want but we're talking about Brooke Davis here. Do you know how many guys at school would die at the chance to get with her? How long before someone else shows an interest in her, what are you gonna do then?"

He shrugged, not really thinking anything of it. "Whether we're together now or not, Brooke's my girl and everyone knows that. And everyone also knows that Nathan Scott's girl is not to be messed with." he smirked. "Nobody will dare make a move on her, trust me."

"Yeah, well you don't have to worry about me man." Tyler replied, starting up the game again and shooting a perfect ace. "I've got my eye on someone else actually."

Nathan smirked, and he shot Tim and Brad a knowing look. "Dude, still with the Haley fantasy?" he laughed, and pointed his beer at him. "Seriously, how many times has she given you the brush-off now? You think you'd get the point after the first 4 times the girl's said no…"

"Very funny Scott." Tyler dead-panned, shooting another perfect shot. "But I was actually talking about the new cheerleader, y'know the cute blonde."

Nathan straightened up immediately and he stared at his friend, frowning. "Peyton?"

Tyler nodded in response, accepting the new beer Brad tossed his way. "Yeah, man what can I say? I've got a thing for blondes."

"She's pretty hot." Brad agreed, nodding his approval.

Nathan rolled his eyes, an unfamiliar feeling spreading across his chest. "Yeah, well don't even think about it man. Stay away from her." He replied roughly, picking up his cue stick and hitting the ball on the pool table, rather aggressively.

Tyler looked over at him in surprise and Tim started laughing. "Whoa, easy there Nate." He commented, sharing an amused look with Brad. "Chill, man. You got something going with the blonde we should know about?"

Nathan hesitated, catching himself. "Nah, man." He replied easily, brushing it off. "I just wouldn't mess with her. That girl is uh, y'know difficult. She's crazy. Why even try?"

"That's any girl man. They all like to play hard to get." Tyler retorted in response. "Besides, I like a challenge and this girl has fire, I can tell. I like that."

Does she ever. "I just wouldn't mess with her." Nathan repeated, shaking his head. "That girl has issues man."

"You say that like you know her or something." Tyler responded, confused by the strange vibe he was getting from his friend.

"I don't need to know her to know that she's crazy." He replied, frowning at the pool table, unsure of the annoyed feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. "She hangs out with that loser Lucas, by choice. I think that says more than enough don't you?"

"I don't care about her problems man." Tyler grinned, dismissing it. "All I care about is what she can do with her mouth, y'know what I mean?" he high-fived Tim, who patted him on the back.

"Whatever man." Nathan rolled his eyes again, trying to ignore the sudden urge to punch Tyler straight in the face and wipe that smirk off his face. "Do what you want. Just don't say I didn't warn you."

"Yeah, you've warned me all-right. In fact, it sounds like you're telling me to stay away. What's the big deal? Yo, Tim is right, you wanna hit that or what?"

"Like I would touch Pucas's leftovers with a ten foot stick." He retorted, although the words left a bad taste in his mouth. "But, hey if that's what you're into…"

"You really think she and Lucas…" Tyler frowned, seriously thinking about it, but in the next instance he shrugged. "Nah, I doubt that. Have you seen the way that loser is so pathetically in love with Haley? I doubt there's anything there, but if I had a best friend that hot, I sure as hell wouldn't be able to keep my hands to myself." He commented, talking about Peyton once again. "I don't know how he could hang out with her all day and not even slip even once."

"He's probably gay." Nathan shrugged, thinking the same thing.

"Anyways, speaking of hot blondes.."Tim interjected, nudging Nathan. "You seen the one that's been eyeing you all night?"

Nathan looked over to where his friend was looking and eyed the girl smiling over at him from where she stood across the foyer. She was pretty cute, and what the hell? Maybe this was exactly what he needed, to forget about Brooke even for one night. It's not like he was cheating on her anyways…

Slamming back the rest of his drink, he winked at his friends. "I'll see you guys later."

"Jake, we've been driving for more than 30 minutes now, and you still haven't told me where we're going." Brooke complained, pouting and crossing her arms in front of her.

"Brooke, you've asked me that about every 10 seconds. And I've told you each time that it's a surprise." He laughed, nudging her playfully. "Still as impatient as ever, I see. Nice to see some things never change Davis."

She pretended to glower at him, but found that she couldn't keep the smile from tugging at her lips. Turning towards the window in an effort to hide it, she admired the unfamiliar scenery as it whizzed by them. "It's really nice out today." she commented, turning to look at the back seat and noticing that Jenny was fast asleep. She smiled, and turned back towards the front, enjoying the sunshine on her face and the comfortable silence that surrounded her. It didn't take very long before she was soundly and completely asleep.

Only a little while later, she felt herself being awakened from her deep slumber as Jake softly whispered to her. "Brooke, we're here. Wake up."

Opening her eyes lazily, she rose from the declined seat and looked around, a smile lighting up her face. "The beach?"

"A bright one aren't you?" he teased, chuckling as she shoved him playfully. Unbuckling his seat belt and opening up his side of the door, he leaned towards the back seat, waking up his daughter gently. "But this isn't just any beach Brooke. It's me and Jenny's favorite spot. Just outside of town, right on the border with South Carolina actually."

Smiling, Brooke stepped out, admiring the view. "It's beautiful."

Not as beautiful as you, he wanted to say but instead he smiled, holding out his hand as he balanced his daughter on one side. "I came across this place, the day I found out Nikki was pregnant." he explained. "I took my parents car without permission and just drove for hours and ended up here."

She accepted his hand and looked at him guiltily. "I'm sorry."

He looked over at her in surprise as he pulled them along the long stretch of sand. "Why?"

She looked down and shrugged. "I should've been there for you." she admitted. "When you were going through the whole deal with Nikki...I mean we were always such close friends and I-I should've been there for you."

He smiled at her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "It's okay. You had other things to worry about."

She flinched slightly and he felt bad momentarily, for the unintentional reminder of Nathan. "Hey...I'm sorry."

She turned to him and she forced a smile on her face. "It's okay Jake. Really." Taking a deep breath, she looked towards the ocean. "I'll be okay." she said in a small voice, more to herself than anyone.

He sighed, and he led her and Jenny down the long stretch of sand till he reached a certain spot, a small cove that overlooked the ocean perfectly. "You will be." he reasurred her, turning to look at the endless vast ocean ahead of them. "When I was going through all that with Nikki, I used to come here often. And no matter how big my problems seemed at the time, just looking at the endless, vast perfect blue water..those problems...they always seemed so small in comparison." he turned to look at her and he smiled. "You know, they say that no matter how dark the night might be...the sun always rises again and coming here would alway remind me of that. And that's why I brought you here Brooke. To remind you of that and to tell you that you...you're going to be all-right. You'll get through this."

She smiled back and she stared at the ocean in front of them, feeling for the first time since yesterday, that maybe everything would be all-right after all.

"So, how sad is this? It's Saturday night and we're both here at your mom's cafe, helping out. Voluntarily, I might add." Peyton commented, walking up to stand next to Lucas as he leaned over the front counter. "We're pathetic."

He shrugged, resting his chin on his hand. "Well, what else is there to do? Our social life is pretty much limited and is reduced to baby-sitting my mom's cafe while she and Keith go out in one of their 'semi-in- denial dates'." he returned dryly. He looked over at her. "Of course, you can always call your new friend and find out where all the hot spots are tonight."

"Lucas stop it." Peyton complained, glaring at her best friend. "I told you. There's nothing between Nathan and I so stop treating me like that."

"Like what Peyton?" he straightened up and shook his head at her, annoyed. "Forgive me if I'm a little bothered by your sudden camaraderie with the jerk."

"He's not a complete jerk." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself and she blushed, looking away. "Things are just...difficult between the two of you. It goes both ways Luke. It's a screwed up situation."

He stared at her hard, both annoyed and surprised at her comment. Was she sticking up for him? Unbelivable.

"Do you like him?"

Her head whipped around to face him. "No! Luke, this is the second time you've asked me that and I don't understand why."

"You don't understand why?" he stared at her, incredulous. "Peyt, you accepted a ride from him, you spent time with him..by choice. And you know how I feel about him!" he argued, both of them knowing he was right. "Why else would you have done that if there was nothing there huh? You could've easily just stayed put and waited for me or found another way home but you didn't. You went with him and you would've never done that if there wasn't something going on. If there wasn't something changing with you. And that little comment you just made? It sounded like you were defending him."

"I was not defending him." she protested. "I was just...putting it in perspective."

He let out a long sigh. "I just..I don't understand. I thought you hated him too Peyt."

"I never hated him." she responded, avoiding his gaze. "I hated the way he treated..treats you. But I never hated him. How could I, if I hardly knew him?"

"As opposed to now right?" he scoffed, trying to decipher the play of emotions flashing through her green eyes.

She ducked her head, knowing exactly what he was trying to do. "Let's just drop it okay?" she responded, wanting desperately to move on. "It doesn't even matter anymore."

"You got in pretty late last night." Dan commented as he walked into the weight room early the next morning. "What are you slinging?"

"160." Nathan grunted in response.

"160?" Dan scoffed, shaking his head and dropping another weight on the bench press. He moved straight behind him to spot him. "Your mom called again this morning. She'll be here in a couple of days."

"Yeah, so?" Nathan huffed out, watching out of the corner of his eye as his Dad added another weight to the bench press.

"You'd think you'd be a little more excited to have your mother come home." His Dad responded in a dry tone. "But you do know that this means no more cute little sleepovers with Ms. Davis don't you?"

Nathan almost dropped the weights at the reminder of his..ex. "Mom wouldn't care." he scoffed, knowing his mom had always had a soft spot for Brooke. "But you don't have to worry Dad. We broke up." God, even saying the words sent a burning pain across his chest.

"Really?" Dan raised his eyebrows, unable to mask his surprise. He knew how much his son really did love the girl, seeing as how he's stuck by her for a little over 2 years now. "What'd you do son?" he inquired, a hint of amusement in his tone. "Y'know what it doesn't matter." He dismissed it quickly. "This is probably for the best. You need to have your entire concentration on basketball instead of following that girl around like a love sick puppy like you have for the past 2 years. Girls come and go the only thing that should matter to you right now is basketball if you want to get somewhere."

"Yeah, you would say that." Nathan muttered in response.

She must've been standing outside Lucas's bedroom for a good twenty minutes before she finally worked up enough courage to raise her hand and knock hesitantly.

The door flew open a couple of seconds later and neither girl could mask their surprise at seeing the other one there.

"Haley…hey." Getting over the initial surprise, Peyton opened the door wider and smiled at the other girl. "What…what are you doing here?"

"Hey." She returned, shifting nervously on the front step. "I-I came to talk to Lucas but if this is a bad time I can come back. It's no big deal." She turned around, ready to bolt when Peyton's voice stopped her.

"Haley, wait."

She turned around and Peyton smiled at her. "It's fine. Lucas just jumped into the shower and I uh..was just leaving actually." Ushering her inside, she turned back towards her. "Lucas should be out any minute. Will you just tell him to call me later?"

Haley nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear, still a bit nervous. "Sure."

"Okay." Peyton nodded. "Well see ya…and good luck."

Before Haley could ask her what she meant by that, the other girl was out the door and Haley let out a long breath, walking hesitantly towards the bed in the middle of the room and sitting down. She smiled as she looked towards his dresser and noticed a couple of framed pictures standing perfectly on top. Walking towards them, a particular picture stood out. It was a picture of a younger looking Lucas and Peyton, looking at each other, laughing as they swung on a swing set.

"I told you I wasn't going to take long." The sound of the bathroom door opening and slamming startled her and she turned towards him, wide-eyed. "Done in record ti-"

He cut off abruptly and he stared at the blonde in front of him, shocked. "Haley?"

She looked away from him, trying not to let the sight of his half-naked body affect her and she took a deep breath, already feeling the blush creeping up her cheeks. "I'm sorry I'm just…" she turned around, closing her eyes. "I'm going to go." She rushed towards the front door and his voice stopped her.

"No, wait. Don't go Haley." Getting over the initial surprise, he fumbled around for a t-shirt and he pulled it on quickly.

"Okay." She replied, letting go of the doorknob and turning around slowly. She smiled at him. "Hey."

"Hey." he replied back, walking towards her tentatively. "So uh...what are you doing here?"

She looked down, fumbling with the bottom of her sweater nervously. "I uh..wanted to talk to you about um..well about what happened on Friday night.."

"Oh. Uh, yeah about that.."

"It took me by surprise." she blurted out, looking up into his blue eyes and surprised to find him but a couple of inches away from her. "I-I didn't know what to say and..it scared me." she admitted. "It just..it came out of nowhere Lucas and I-"

He shook his head, cutting her off gently, his tone soft. "It didn't come out of nowhere Haley. It's been there all along."

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly, her heart thumping wildly as she stared into his soft gaze.

He let out a long sigh and he looked away from her momentarily. "I mean that...I've been wanting to do that a while. A long while actually." turning back to her, he took a step closer to her. "Kissing you. That was something that has been on my mind since the first moment I laid eyes on you."

He took another step and he pulled her in close, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, catching her completely by surprise. She closed her eyes and exhaled, tentatively wrapping her arms around his waist. "Really?"

"Yes." he responded quietly, his hands reaching up to cup her face tenderly and pulling back to look at her. "I've pictured that moment in my mind about a million different times and..."

"And?"

"And each time in my mind, you would look at me with those gorgeous brown eyes and I would lean even closer, slowly..." he began, his voice incredibly soft. "And your breath would hitch and your heart...your heart would pound so hard, it almost beat out of your chest. Just like mine and then..."he closed his eyes, leaning closer to her, his voice down to a whisper. "Then, I would lean over and my lips would touch yours...ever so lightly..." his actions followed his words and their lips touched, in the most softest of kisses.

"Was it everything you expected?" she whispered, her eyes still closed and trying desperately to keep her emotions in check.

And he smiled. The most genuine and sincere smile she had ever seen in anyone. "It was more than that. It was everything I ever wanted."

"Lucas...." letting out a long sigh, she looked back into his perfect blue eyes.

"Every time that I'm with you...I can feel it." ignoring her small protest, he laced his fingers with hers, looking down as they intertwined perfectly. "Anytime that we touch...every time that you look at me..." his gaze locked with hers. "Tell me you don't feel it too."

"Lucas..." she whispered, feeling this overwhelming sensation overtaking her every core. "I..feel it too. But I'm scared." she admitted, feeling a million different emotions coursing through her. "Just..just give me time please."

He smiled again, brushing another tender kiss across her forehead. "Okay." he responded. "I know you're not ready for this yet. For us. And I'm okay with that. Really I am. And I'll give you all the time you need Haley. I will. Because I will always be here for you Haley James."

She nodded, and she closed her eyes. "Okay." she whispered, her heart an ocean of emotions as she could feel him cupping her face gently. Opening her eyes, she stared into his ocean-blue eyes as he stared at her for what seemed like the longest of moments, before finally leaning over and softly capturing her lips with his own.

Everything in her life had always been so perfectly balanced. She always knew what to expect. But he changed that. Because she feels so strongly for him and it scares her because he was still a stranger to her in so many ways.

But he had changed her life, with that one kiss, with that one moment.

His soul had touched hers.

And that was something that only happened once in a lifetime.

You can do this Brooke. It's very easy. You get out of the car and you take the few steps that it takes to get into the main building, with your head held high and that's it. It's nothing.

If only it was that easy.

Her hands were shaking as they gripped the steering wheel and she felt like her stomach was going to bottom out on her any minute. She chastised herself for freaking out like this. For Pete's sake, she'd been sitting out in the parking lot in her car for the past 20 minutes now, trying to get it together.

Quit stalling girl c'mon!

Taking several deep breaths, she finally managed enough courage to open the door and slowly step out. She was halfway down the path that led to the main entrance, when she felt her resolve start to drop away slowly. It took everything in her to keep going and she pasted a fake, bright smile on her face, held her head high and ignored the stares and the whispers as she walked by.

She could do this. She had to. Because Brooke Davis was strong and she could get through this. Fake smile and all.

Walking through the main entrance, her emotions still intact she pushed through the double glass doors and stepped into the usually crowded hallways.

She had taken but a few steps when she looked up and saw Nathan, standing directly in front of the locker that belonged to her and her heart literally stopped.

She stood frozen to that spot, unable to look away or even move and she must have made a sound, because he looked up immediately in her direction.

And then it was as if the entire world stood still and everything else faded away as his gorgeous blue orbs connected with hers.

"Brooke…"

That was all it took. The soft whisper of her name passing through his lips, the ones that were so painfully familiar to her and it all fell apart inside of her.

Feeling the walls closing in on her and the faint prickling of tears building behind her eyes, she clamped her hand over her mouth, barely masking the sob that escaped her lips. Turning on her heel, she flew out of there, pushing through the rush of students urgently, desperate to get out of there.

And with every rushed step, she could feel her heart breaking all over again.

So, not exactly the confrontation I said would happen right? Lol, please don't hate me!! I promise that there is a major talk (more like blow up) between Brathan..hope you guys enjoyed anyway and don't forget to review!!