Author's Note: This fic is based on one of my favorite Mary J. Blige song called Seven days…

Okay here's the rundown. Lucas and Brooke are best friends that will turn into more upon days since his return from Spain. Lucas is a photographer for National Geographic. Brooke's a first assistant for a powerful yet lecherous Magazine owner. Nathan and Lucas are twins, Keith and Karen are their parents, Haley is still Nathan's wife, Peyton is mentioned but not really featured in this story. Mouth and Rachel are brother and sister as well.

I really hope you guys like it.

-X-

-Monday- (A friend of mine)

-X-

Brooke Davis started her day as she usually did; had breakfast, tried to beat the morning rush on her way to work—which she almost always failed miserably. But fortunately she beat the clock this time. Even if it was by a few minutes. Brooke smirked as she sashayed her way down the hall of Kismet Magazine, successfully clocked in. Once at her desk Brooke straightened her picture frame of her, her best friend in the entire world Lucas Scott, Nathan and Haley James-Scott—while they were all in high school.

Before she could log into her computer Brooke felt someone behind her and looked up from her desktop to find her best friend and colleague Chase Adams standing over her. "What do you want Chase?"

"Do I have to want something to visit my favorite co-worker?" He said as he entered her cubicle.

Cocking her head slightly she asked again, "What is it Chase?"

"Rumor has it that you are due to get your vacation time—" He said in a happy tone.

"Yes I'm due for a vacation what's your point?" she answered in a monotone as she fired up her computer.

Chase sat on her desk and cocked his head, "Do you know where you're going?"

"Not at the moment…besides I can't afford to take any trips."

"Well I see there's no living vicariously through you." He said mulishly as he got up from her desk.

"Well you know me Chase—I have no time for fun." She said as she began her workday.

He snorted at that statement. "Which I do not understand…I mean I have the same duties as you and somehow I manage to still have a life outside this place."

Brooke looked at him then said, "Why don't you go back to your desk and start on your assignment."

"You're too serious. You're no fun at all."

"Mm-hmm." Brooke said before Mr. Blackwell's assistant, Rachel Gatina, plopped a huge stack on her desk. Brooke's eyes widened at the paperwork then back at her bitchy coworker.

"I can't decide which should be the hot topic for this month's issue so go through those and pick the top three." Without another word she turned and headed toward her own office.

Brooke sighed, tapping her pen on her small desk bored out of her ever loving mind as she pretended to look over the top fifty topics that her boss demandingly placed on her desk. She had absolutely no idea why this severe case of braindead boredom encased her in its suffocating grasp but she was more than ready to go home. Unfortunately it was only noon and she still had to decide which topics were best for the magazine cover.

"Davis! My office now!" Mr. Blackwell damn near bellowed breaking her away from her dulled thoughts.

Everyone peeked from their cubicles in her direction. Cursing silently she rose from her seat and hesitantly walked into her office. "You wanted to see me sir?"

"Are you even close to finished looking over those topics for Rachel?"

"Uh…no sir—" she stuttered insecurely, not sure if this is the day that she would use the axe to end her employment. After all this was not the first time this had happened to her.

He looked at her with a blank expression. "Really Davis?"

Fidgeting Brooke admittedly said, "Okay…I know that I've been unfocused and—"

"John! We need to talk!" Angela Blackwell said as she barged into his office.

Mr. Blackwell looked at his wife stunned and said, "Angie I'm in the middle of something here!"

She turned her attention to Brooke. "Hello Brooke nice seeing you again. Are you sleeping with my husband? You see I have to ask since he likes screwing girls your age. Like Rachel for instance who I had caught red handed last night giving this asshole a blowjob. So are you? Screwing my husband I mean?!"

Brooke shook her head, "No ma'am I'm not like that—"

Rachel walked in with a panicked expression, "John we have a huge problem—Oh shit!" she said upon seeing Mrs. Blackwell.

Mrs. Blackwell slammed her purse down and yelled, "Yeah! Oh shit is right tramp!"

Mr. Blackwell looked at her then said, "Brooke I'll call you back in… please give us a minute."

You didn't have to tell her twice. Brooke practically ran out of his office. Chase was the first by her side.

"So what did dragon lady want?" Chase asked referring to Rachel as he leaned against her desk casually.

"N-nothing. She just wanted to pick my brain. Unfortunately for her its been dead for the past few hours—she had effectively killed it." She said half jokingly.

Chase laughed at the joke and said, "Good one Brooke. So she wanted to frame your work as her own again?"

"Pretty much." Brooke said unenthusiastically, again wondering why she was still here. Rachel used her continuously until she was literally going to be burnt out at the ripe age of 24.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "That's so messed up. You have to do twice the work—"

"It's fine Chase—" She interjected weakly, knowing her friend was right.

Chase shook his head again, "No it's not. She delegates her workload on you and he expects you to meet your deadline on time—woman you're getting shafted and not in the good way."

"What else is new?" Brooke snorted sardonically, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice. "Besides delegation is a part of leadership—"

"There's a difference between delegation and just slacking on the job. And PS despite what Blackwell says Rachel is not the boss of any of us." Chase said under his breath as he worked furiously on his own article.

Marvin chuckled then said, "Your friend's right. You have twice the work load because my sister-dearest doesn't have the balls to handle this job. And that's not fair to you."

Chase leaned back and said to Marvin, "Don't waste your breath—she won't see reason."

"How long has Rachel been doing this?" Marvin asked Chase, wondering just how long she had been skating by.

"Um since November of…" Chase's eyes widened in realization then answering the question. "Shit two years ago. No wonder you're burnt out Brooke—"

There was a huge commotion within Blackwell's office, a lot of cursing and furniture scraping with wild cries and screeching then double doors burst open and the once poised and perfect Rachel was holding her blouse together and running out of the main door mad as hell with bloody nose.

"Brooke come in here please!" Mrs. Blackwell said, looking quite put together despite having just been in a fight.

Brooke hesitantly went inside and received the most shocking news. She just got a raise and a new position.

An hour later Brooke was sitting on a park bench when someone shouted her name loudly. Turning she saw her best friend walking up with a broad smile on his face.

"Lucas! Hey! Long time no see friend!" she said as she ran and hugged her long time friend closely. "How've you been?"

"Oh same ol same ol. How are you doing?"

She shrugged her dimples on full display as she gave him a genuine smile. "Can't really complain. Much. I missed you Broody boy."

"I missed you too Cheery girl."

"How'd you know that I would be here?" she asked, still in awe of seeing him.

Lucas shrugged, "Lucky guess."

She led him to the bench and sat down then asked, "How was Spain?"

"It was good. Great sights, great food, great people. But enough about me what's going on with you?"

Brooke kinked her eyebrows at him. "Really? You have been gone for two weeks but you want to talk about what's going on with me?" she asked humorously.

Lucas chuckled, "Well what can I say you interest me more than my travels."

"Liar…" she chuckled and rolled her eyes then said, "Fine…I just got a promotion at the office and it's going pretty well. I am now Mr. Blackwell's head assistant aka right hand woman. I'm practically running the company now."

Lucas half hugged her and said a warm, "Congratulations…what happened to the old one? I cannot think of her name for the life of me even though we all went to school together. You know the girl with the huge—" Brooke smacked his arm somewhat hard which caused him to flinch. "Hey! I was gonna say forehead!"

"Yeah right tell that to someone who believes you. Anyway Rachel was forced to resign. Apparently Mrs. Blackwell found out about the after hours she had been logging on her knees."

"Ooh fellatio nice…I figured she did that."

Brooke hiked a brow at him, "Oh really? Fantasize about her much?"

Lucas shoved her playfully, "Hell no. Now you on the other hand…" Brooke was about to hit him again but he lifted his hands in surrender. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!"

"You'd better be." she said with a playful glare. She then sighed, "Anyway there's talk around the office that it's my turn to be bimbo slut of the year because of my new position. They even have a pool going around the water cooler that I won't last a week without blowing him."

He shook his head, "They obviously don't know a thing about you. You don't listen to that crap do you?"

She shrugged, "It's hard not to. You know as well as I do that because of my looks that I get prejudged to be this mondo slut whore like Rachel has." she shook her head after a brief pause then remarked, "Only she more than proved them right."

"But that's never been what you were about so fuck em. They don't know shit so don't let it bother you."

Brooke smiled watching her best friend seethe over what was shared. "You're letting it bother you. You're all broody."

Lucas head snapped in her direction and said, "That's because it pisses me off that people think that about you. That you're nothing but a gorgeous girl with hypnotizing dimples, an amazing pair of tits and an ass like a peach—ignoring the brilliant brain that rests in your gorgeous head. And believe me I heard the tits and ass bit a lot while we were in school. Mostly from Nathan."

Nathan was Lucas younger twin brother by only a few minutes who used to have the hugest crush on her while growing up. Much to Lucas embarrassment. He had thanked God that Haley had moved to Tree Hill when she did or Nathan would have gotten his now out of control confidence up and acted on it.

"How is hotshot anyway? I haven't seen him in a long time." she asked with a fond smile, thinking back on the once awkward boy she loved as a brother.

"He's pretty good actually now that he was traded to the Miami Heat. They've been praying to move to a warmer state."

"And Haley?"

"She's amazing. She's writing music again. And she's pregnant."

"Get out!" she exclaimed with excitement, "How far along is she?"

Lucas watched a few children playing tag then answered, "Ohh about four months now."

Brooke smiled softly, "I gotta go see them sometime. I miss them."

Lucas bumped her shoulder with his and said, "Their number works you know."

She looked at her hands then admitted, "I know…I've just been so busy and I knew that they were too so I never made the time."

He looked at her again and let out a soft chuckle then said, "Sheesh I'm glad that you were able to remember me and fit me in when you could Ms. Career Woman."

"I could never forget you. Who else could I vent to if I did?"

"The walls are great listeners. Just don't expect them to talk back. And if they do talk back…your walls are way too thin."

"I much rather talk to you…now about you…what's going on?"

Lucas shrugged, "I had met someone. She was studying abroad and it was good while it lasted."

Her eyes grew big as she said, "Ooh a tawdry affair—"

Lucas snorted, "It was nothing tawdry about it. Peyton Sawyer was more of a… outstanding experience. Yes, that's it."

Brooke's eyebrows lifted at his revelation. "Is it serious?"

"I honestly don't know yet. She gave me her number and…we'll see. Wanna grab some lunch? I'm kinda starving."

"Sure. I could eat."

They walked out of the park together, trying to decide where they could sit in and eat and ended up having lunch at a small steakhouse restaurant. He ordered a porterhouse steak with all the trimmings while Brooke ordered a filet mignon with grilled shrimp and a loaded baked potato. When their orders came out Brooke snagged a broccoli from his plate as well as a spoonful of buttered potatoes much to his displeasure.

"You know that you could have ordered the same thing as I did if you really wanted it right?" he asked as he cut into his steak.

"But I was in the mood for filet mignon. And the shrimp is to die for—Hey!" she shouted as he stole a shrimp from her plate.

Lucas cocked his head and grinned in response, "Doesn't feel that good when it happens to you does it?" he laughed before popping the crustacean into his awaiting mouth. "My God you're right. I should've ordered those!"

They chatted all through their meal and everything was going well until Lucas receives a phone call that left him speechless and guilty.

"What's going on?"

He shook his head, "Nothing major…"

She took a sip of her wine and said, "No I know you better than that. So you may as well spill the beans Lucas Scott. Don't make me use the middle name…" she threatened.

"Fine… I have to go. Uh, it's a small—"

"Don't lie to me Eugene."

Lucas winced at the unneeded use of his dreaded middle name, "Fine. My mom just found out that I got back in town and I'm pretty much in deep shit considering that I didn't tell her first and she's demanding that I…and I quote: get your butt over here right now so that I can see my oldest son!"

"Oh you poor mama's boy!" she teased as she playfully pinched his chin in between her fingers. He laughed and pushed her hand away with glittering blue eyes. "Even though you're abandoning me for your mommy I have to get back to work anyway. So it's all good."

Lucas shook his head, "I'll call you tonight or do you want me to come over tomorrow?"

She pouted then said, "How about both? I missed you and this lil lunch was not enough Broody/Cheery time!"

"Okay since I'm coming over anyway how about I make dinner for you tomorrow night?"

Brooke grinned, her deep moon shaped dimples on full display. "Deal! See you tomorrow then! Oh and tell Karen and Keith that I said hi!" she watched him reach for his wallet and said, "No I got it!"

"Brooke you always do this! I can pay—"

She shook her head and said, "No we go Dutch as always."

He shook his head and tossed the money on the table. Lucas then kissed her cheek and said, "One day you're gonna let me treat you."

"But today's not that day Scott."

Lucas chuckled at her stubbornness and said, "I'll be seeing you…"

"I'll be seeing you…" Brooke repeated then sighed and watched him leave the restaurant. That was until she noticed that he had still tried to pay for her meal. Scoffing and shaking her head in disbelief Brooke muttered under her breath how unbelievable he was and put down her own money as well as a decent tip and put the portion that was meant for her meal in her purse to give back to him the next time she saw him.