Basketball training was exhausting.

Especially on the occasions they practiced a lot of running.

Everyone seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.

Everyone but Lucas.

He had practiced it a lot after all. Also, he had gotten used to 'running on empty'. It was all well.

He was down to 122.7 lbs, and he would lose even more for himself and basketball. He was in control.

Even now, he had already become the fastest runner of the team. What would happen if he lost another 10 lbs? Maybe he would be good enough to become a basketball player one day then.

Only afterwards, on their way to the changing room, did he feel the effects of his malnourished body (which he could neither see nor believe).

He was hit with a dizzy spell and had to steady himself on the wall. Luckily, he was the last one in line.

Unfortunately for him, however, Nathan was looking out for his big brother.

"Luke!" Nathan ran back as soon as he realised his brother was missing. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, just a little tired of all the running." He answered flashing a weak smile. But he continued to sway dangerously even as he tried to steady himself on the wall.

Nathan hurried to put an arm around Lucas' back to keep him upright.

He could feel Lucas' ribs even through his many layers of clothing. "Woah, you should really sit down man."

He led Lucas to a nearby bench and handed him his water bottle.

"I'm fine now, thanks." He mumbled, embarrassed. He was really feeling a lot better now. "Sorry."

"No problem and there's nothing to be sorry for." Nathan assured him, putting a comforting hand on Lucas' shoulder.

"Except maybe for not telling me you're not feeling well." At Lucas'confused look he added: "What? Why is it so hard for you to comprehend that we want to help you if you need it?" he asked exasperatedly.

"It wasn't that bad. Didn't want to bother you." Lucas muttered.

Nathan cursed under his breath. Saying something like 'selfless bastard'. But there was no anger behind his words. "So what was that?"

"What?"

"Come on, Luke. You were on the verge of fainting."

"I was not-" he pouted.

"Yes, you were. Don't even try to deny it." he said seriously, looking straight into his brother's blue eyes.

"Nothing to worry about, Nate. I was probably just dehydrated," At Nathan's sceptical look he continued. "and I might have forgotten to eat today." he said so casually it made Nathan's blood boil.

"Luke, it's like fucking 5!" he exclaimed outrageously.

"I'm sorry but I was super busy with studying and all. You know it's exam time." he paused. "I swear it was only this one time." Lucas tried to placate his clearly enraged brother.

Why did Nathan even care? It was none of his business anyway.

"Luke..." Nathan started, the anger having completely left him. There was only sadness in his voice. "Before, when I helped you stand up... I...could feel your ribs, Luke..." he said seriously, then continued after a moment of collecting his thoughts. "It's alright if you want to do well, both in school and in basketball. I'm really not complaining, I mean, we are doing better than ever before." he chuckled at that. He was pleased with their team's success.

But winning wasn't worth it if it hurt Lucas. "But you shouldn't forget to take care of yourself. Remember, you only have one life."

"Thanks, mom." Lucas said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious Luke."

"I know. You're right. And I promise it won't happen again." Lucas lied. "My mom insisted on cooking something big tonight anyway."

Lying about food had become second nature to him. As always, he pushed the guilt away and focused on how close he was to reaching his goal.

"That's good." Nathan said, sounding genuinely happy. "Let's go change then."

As it had become usual, Lucas insisted on changing later at home.

FB

The next evening Brooke and Lucas went on a date like they did every Wednesday.

This time Brooke decided to drag her boyfriend to the cinema without telling him which movie they were going to watch. It would be a pleasant surprise, to her at least.

Lucas and Brooke had become really close. They enjoyed their time together, joked around and were honest about what seemed to be everything.

But Brooke still knew there was something wrong.

For one, Lucas had become increasingly self-conscious.

He didn't even want to take his shirt off in front of her! They didn't even have sex the past month or so... It didn't hurt their relationship or anything, but it made her worry for her boyfriend.

Also, Lucas had lost a lot of weight, which she was reminded of every time she looked at him. His cheekbones had become prominent and even the many layers of clothing he wore couldn't hide the thinness of his body.

Brooke assumed that these two changes she noticed were directly connected: Lucas felt self-conscious, because of his weight loss.

Which is why she hadn't mentioned it to him yet.

But she was determined to help him stop it.

"So, you still haven't told me which movie we're gonna watch." Lucas pointed out. They were walking towards the snack bar Arm-in-Arm.

Brooke had bought the tickets beforehand.

"You'll find out soon enough." she said mysteriously, chuckling malevolently.

Lucas raised an eyebrow, but didn't have a chance to further inquire since the elderly attendant of the snack bar asked them for their orders.

"I'd like to have a small menu with nachos, a Coke Zero and nuts please." Brooke replied instantly.

The attendant prepared the order then turned to Lucas. "Anything for you, honey?"

"A water without gas please."

"Anything to eat?"

"No thanks." Came the automatic answer.

"A small Popcorn please." Brooke quipped.

At Lucas' questioning glance, she just shrugged.

After paying and being out of earshot of anyone else Lucas whispered angrily: "Why did you just do that?"

"What?" Brooke decided to feign ignorance.

"Order me a Popcorn without my consent." he answered getting more and more upset.

"Come on, Luke. Don't be so dramatic." She said, confused and shocked at his reaction. "It's just Popcorn."

"No it's not! I've already eaten!" he raised his voice. If they hadn't been at such a secluded place, people would have turned around and stared.

Luckily, they were the only ones there.

"Luke, calm down." Brooke tried to placate him.

"No, Brooke. I won't calm down! You can't just decide something like this for me!" He was full out yelling now. "It's my decision if I wanna eat or not!" Even the snack bar attendant and the cashier on the other side of the room could hear it.

"I'm sorry, but I just wanted to help you Luke." she said almost tearfully, his reaction saddening her greatly.

"Help with what?" he demanded, confused and taken aback by her sadness.

"With..." she gestured towards his body. He frowned, obviously still not getting what she wanted. "Come on, Luke! You look like a skeleton!" she whispered frustratedly.

At his presumably hurt expression and the silence that followed she stroked one of his crossed arms. "I'm sorry, that... that wasn't the right way to say it." she apologised quickly.

"No, it's ok."

"No it's not, Luke. I'm sorry. It's just that I'm so worried about you. And don't say you're fine." She held up a hand at his attempt to lie to her. "I know you aren't. You know you can talk to me about everything, right?"

He nodded, but he would never tell her about at least one thing.

He knew that if he told her about the drastic measures he took to control his eating habits, she would stop him. She just wouldn't understand.

She was waiting for a verbal answer, so he forced himself to say something. "Yeah, I know I've been losing weight, but with Keith and my mom, I forgot to eat sometimes, you know." Brooke nodded supportively. She was glad Lucas was finally opening up to her. "But now that my mom's doing better, she insists on stuffing my face 'to fatten me up'" he quoted, rolling his eyes.

This wasn't even a lie. His mom told him he was too thin too, he had simply managed to lie his way out of eating or cook his own food differently (less calorifically), in case he cooked, which had become more and more frequent. "Which is why I was so frustrated with the Popcorn; I have already been forced to have a big meal of Spaghetti Bolognese and I didn't want you to baby me too." That was obviously a lie. He couldn't afford all those carbs. Brooke seemed to believe him though.

"Oh, Luke I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to baby you, I was just worried." She said, hugging him tightly. She could feel all his jutting bones as usual.

"It's alright, I get it now. I'm sorry for freaking out on you."

His apology sparked an idea in Brooke.

"I forgive you if you promise to watch the whole movie." she said mischievously.

Oh, this couldn't be good, but he guessed he deserved whatever she had planned for him. "Deal."

"Come on, our movie has already started," she said cheerfully, dragging him along.

When they had already taken their seats in a nearly empty cinema room, with only a few other couples of unhappy, resigned looking men and smug women, Lucas felt dread and suspicion creep upon him.

These feelings only intensified when Brooke leaned close to him and started whispering seductively into his left ear,

"You know, this is a cinema that sometimes plays older movies." she said in a sweet, fake cheerful voice. "And tonight it's 'the notebook'. You can finally watch it, Luke!" She held his arm in a death grip, as though worried he would bolt.

Honestly, that wasn't unwarranted.

Oh god, kill me now.

FB

"Oh, fuck!" Lucas exclaimed as he realised that he wouldn't be able to fix Brooke's car without the necessary equipment. "Why did you decide to drag me to the middle of nowhere without a toolbox?!"

"Well, I don't really have one." Brooke answered, trying to suppress a smile. Lucas was so cute when he was annoyed. Annoyed, but not too annoyed. The perfect balance.

There was pleasant amusement mixed into his expression too, which he tried to suppress, just to be right.

But he couldn't hide anything from Brooke; his emotions were like an open book to her.

"Why don't you have a tool box?" His scandalised and utterly horrified voice made her want to laugh yet again. But she suppressed it with difficulty.

"Never really came up." Luke's pout was so seducing, she could barely resist kissing it. "I thought I didn't need it, since my boyfriend is wonder car fixer man!"

Now she could see him pressing his lips tightly together; trying to hide his increasing amusement, which was humanly impossible. Brooke loved him too much for her not to know the meaning of every little gesture just as well.

"Brooke, I'm sorry. Even 'wonder car fixer man' can't produce the tools out of thin air."

Now it was her turn to pout. "What? You can't blame me for not knowing that!"

"I suppose I can't." He closed the hood of the car, then sank to his knees. "Brooke Davis. I owe you my sincerest apologies for all my previous accusations. I hope you can forgive me, oh fair lady!" The dramatics fit the mood completely.

Brooke just wanted to jump him and kiss those beautiful lips already - Lucas had decided to keep up the grumpy facade since their departure from the cinema, because of her having tricked him into watching that movie - but restrained herself, for the sake of playing along.

"Oh, it is surely a hard thing to forgive." She said, keeping her voice stern. "But I grant you my forgiveness for something in exchange." Lucas looked up to see Brooke's flirtatious expression and knew he was going to like it.

"Stand up wonder car fixer man." Lucas did as she told him to do and looked straight into those eyes filled with the same kind of love his own mirrored.

He put his arms around her waist, while she put her arms around his neck. Those movements were automatic reactions; more than second nature to them.

"What is it that you want, Brooke?" He asked softly. Brooke put her head on his shoulder gently and said, "Just a few things." while caressing his back seductively.

And then neither of them could restrain themselves from finally kissing each other even more passionately than they usually did, since they had had to hold back for so long. She jumped on Lucas, wrapping her legs around his waist. The impact made Lucas stagger and sit down on the hood of the car.

It didn't matter that it was 11 pm, that they were in the middle of nowhere and that their car had broken down. The only thing that mattered to them, was that they were together and they could feel each other's warmth and presence every time they kissed.

Lucas spoke up when Brooke started to undress.

"Brooke, I don't...think we should." He said between breaths.

It pained him to say it, but he just couldn't let her see his body until it looked better. How could he have ever let her see it? He needed to improve first.

"I know you wanna..." Her caresses sent shivers down his spine. Yes, he wanted to. But no, he couldn't.

"Brooke, you're going to get a cold." He said sensibly. "Besides, didn't you call Peyton before? She could be here any second now. And we don't want her to see..."

"Oh, Peyton has seen worse things. Much much worse." She grinned mischievously. The way she said it, sent another shiver down his spine for a completely different reason.

No, he didn't want to know what that was.

"Let's just wait 'til she arrives." He suggested. "It won't be long. We could look at the stars."

"Good idea, genius." She finally changed her position from sitting on top of him to sitting next to him. "Oh look there's those green thingies above us! Is that the tree sign?"

Lucas rolled his eyes all the while wrapping an arm around her.

She leaned on his shoulder instinctively. "I'm so sorry. I didn't exactly have a chance to see that we are in the middle of a forest with trees blocking our view of the sky, did I?"

"Do you blame me for jumping you?" She pouted yet again. Lucas loved her pout. It was so innocent and pure, just like Brooke was deep inside.

"You asked for it! With those blue eyes of yours!"

"Okay, okay. I actually did." He said in amusement. "Are you mad because of it?"

"No, not at all." She raised her head off his shoulder to look into his eyes again. "Are you?"

"No, not at all."

They stayed like that for a while, just looking into each other's eyes, getting lost in their beauty.

Then Brooke seemed to remember something and averted her gaze to stare at her feet.

"What's up, Brooke?"

"Nothing... it's just..."

"What is it, Brooke?" Lucas asked in concern. "You can tell me anything. It's okay."

"It's just that..." She took a deep breath. "Do you not think I'm pretty anymore?" She looked up to see his reaction.

"What?!" Lucas asked, confused and incredulous. "Why would you ever think that? You are the most beautiful person I have ever known, inside and out."

Brooke could see by the way he said it that he was being absolutely truthful. That at least to him, this was the truest thing in the world.

It warmed her heart to have someone like that and she could feel tears gathering in her eyes. "Thanks Luke, you're amazing."

"I shouldn't have to tell you this. You just have to look into the mirror. I think you're blind, go check your eyesight." She punched him in the ribs. "Ohhh... That hurt."

"I take it back. You're rude." Brooke said jokingly.

They locked eyes again and Lucas pulled her into a tight hug. "But seriously. Why are you asking?"

"Because... well, you don't wanna have sex with me anymore." She seemed very flustered, speaking in a barely audible voice. "And I thought... I thought that maybe it was because of me-"

"Brooke, don't be ridiculous!" Lucas interrupted incredulously. "Everyone would want to have sex with you.

It has nothing to do with you... it's just that I don't really like the way I look at the moment. I'm trying to change it, but it might take a while... Can you wait with the sex thing until then?"

Brooke nodded. "I really don't care about the way your body looks, I still wanna fuck you. Plus, I bet it's still as hot as it's always been..." She didn't realise that Lucas would take that last sentence as an insult. "But I understand nonetheless and I can respect your wishes."

So she had been right. It was because Lucas was self-conscious due to his weight loss.

"Thanks, you're the best." He gave her an affectionate kiss on her forehead. They stayed like that for a while. Arms wrapped around each other's backs, Brooke's head on Lucas' shoulder and his head on hers. They were staring at nothing in particular, just enjoying each other's company.

"I am here to kill you both gahhh!" They both jumped at the sudden scary voice. Lucas taking up an automatic protective position in front of Brooke.

They looked around only to find Peyton trying not to choke to death from laughter.

"Very funny Peyton."

"Yes... you should have... seen your faces!" She said between breaths of laughter. "Scratch that. You should see your faces now!" Their irritated, but also ruffled and startled expressions were priceless. The best part was that Peyton knew it was because of her.

When she calmed down she told them to get their stuff and get into her car. "I already called someone for your car, Brooke. Which you should have done right away. But I guess you were busy..." She looked at them suggestively. Lucas blushed but Brooke just smugly took her seat next to Peyton.

This was going to be a long ride.

Peyton's incessant teasing was sure to come... Peyton wore that expression that meant trouble.