Brooke picked up her pen and looked at the piece of paper in front of her.

Dear Lucas,

It had been so much easier when she didn't see him and could fantasize about holding him and whispering words that would make him hers forever. Dream of riding off into the sunset together and then making love on the beach. Now this was real. This was honest; he might actually read the nearly blank paper in front of her. And suddenly, Brooke was at a loss for words.

Her phone rang on the table next to her, and she shut it off. She picked up her pen again, but put it down as the doorbell rang. She picked up her phone and stared at the blank screen, then fixed her hair and walked to the door.

"I'm sorry about the... What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, pretty lady."

"No. You can't... go away." She started to close the door, but Chris put out his hand and stopped her.

"Hey. I don't want to cause any problems. I just heard you were having some problems and maybe could use a friend."

"We're not friends. We were never friends. We were a mistake."

"You were always so sweet. I just thought we could hang out."

"Remember what happened the last time we were just going to hang out?"

He chuckled. "Well, sweetheart, you're pretty hard to forget, and..." He stopped the slamming door again. "And I think we both know that was a mistake, and I'm sorry."

"I don't need your apology."

"We could just get a drink. We don't even have to talk. I can talk about something, anything to take your mind off of Lucas, and you can drink. Please, baby."

Brooke sighed and turned to look at her bedroom, Haley's bed visible through the open door. She turned back to Chris's pleading eyes and grabbed her coat.

"Don't call me baby."

Lucas heard a small knock and grunted entrance. Karen came in and hit his foot.

"Do not grunt at your mother."

"Sorry. What's up?"

"I'm going out for a bit. Dinner's on the counter if you want anything."

"I'm not hungry."

"You know, just because you feel like crap, doesn't mean you have to try to make the rest of the world feel the same."

"Sorry. Can't really help it."

"You're not going to get any girl, let alone Brooke Davis, if you're going to sulk all day."

"Then I guess I'm going to be a hermit."

Karen sighed, shook her head, and left. Lucas picked up his phone and dialed quickly.

Haley balanced two huge bags against her chest and fumbled with the keys with her hands. Nathan laughed behind her.

"Can I give you a hand?"

"That'd be kind of nice."

He took the keys, leaving her struggling with the bags.

"What a man I have."

He laughed, opened the door and took the bags. They walked in and dropped the bags onto the counter.

"Brooke!" Haley called. "Food."

She found plates in the cupboard and put them on the counter too. "Brooke?"

Haley left to the bedroom, coming back with a confused look on her face. "She isn't here."

"I'm sure she's fine."

"I'm not sure she isn't with Lucas."

Nathan snorted. "I am."

Haley shrugged as she heard a buzzing from the bedroom. "Brooke must've left her phone on..."

"Sure. That's what it is."

"Nathan Scott, you better get your mind out of the gutter... They hung up." Haley held the phone in front of her as the doorbell rang. "There she is. Hang on!" She put down the plates and took out the aluminum containers. She handed them to Nathan and went to the door.

"Thank god, Brooke, where were you? Karen?"

"Hi, Haley. Is Brooke here?"

Haley opened the door farther. "No, but she should be back... sometime soon. Do you want something to..." She looked toward Nathan with his mouth already full. "Eat?"

He swallowed hard. "Oh, Ms. Roe, are you hungry?"

"Oh, no thank you. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting."

"Oh, no, please, Karen, stay."

"Well, just for a few minutes, or else could you please tell her I stopped by?"

"Of course."

Haley led Karen into the kitchen as the doorbell rang.

"Well, I guess you're pretty lucky." Haley smiled and went back to the door. She opened it and Lucas pushed in.

"Where is she?"

"Luke?"

He turned his gaze from the back bedroom to Karen.

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I have to talk to..." There was a slight fumbling with the doorknob and Haley led the three of them into the hall as Brooke pushed through the door.

"Thank god. Where were you?" Haley stepped forward, catching Brooke before she fell over the couch.

"Hi, Haley!"

Haley scrunched her nose and looked up. "What the hell?"

Chris stepped cautiously forward into the room. "Wow, you guys having a party without me or something?"

Lucas stepped forward, but Nathan stopped him, sighing. "Keller, why you are you still around here?"

"You said she was having a bad day, so I thought I'd get her out of here. I didn't know she was going to go all Guns N Roses."

"We just... drank," Brooke affirmed, stepping away from Haley, and almost falling again. Lucas, however, got away from Nathan and caught her before her head hit the floor. Brooke groaned and turned her face up to look at him, slightly confused.

"Lucas? What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, Luke, this was a little unexpected." Haley turned her attention from Chris in the doorway.

He stared at Brooke, then sighed. "You weren't answering my calls. I just wanted to talk."

"Maybe I didn't want to hear what you had to say." Brooke pouted, stepping away from him.

"Brooke? He's been the one calling you all this time?"

"Last time you wanted to talk, it didn't end too good."

Lucas looked around at the whole room captivated in his reply and lowered his voice.

"Can we just talk about this alone?"

Brooke threw up her hands and walked back out of the house, pushed Chris inside, and closed the door once Lucas was outside with her.

"What if she... uh, doesn't remember this tomorrow?" Karen asked.

Haley shook her head. "Brooke's like a professional drunk."

Chris turned around to look at the figures behind the door, then back to the room. "So we're stuck in here until they finish, uh?"

Nathan sighed and left Haley. He threw Chris over one shoulder, carried him over to the bathroom, and closed the door.

Brooke walked down the steps to the lawn with her hands on her hips. Lucas followed her carefully, but moved away when she turned around.

"I thought you wanted to talk."

He stuck his hands in his back pockets and looked down at his shoes. "I..." He looked back up at her. "Why were you with him? After all of this?"

"Because he cared enough to talk to me."

"I've been trying to talk to you since we..."

"I told you. I didn't want to hear what you had to say. You talked enough," she said bitingly, and turned away from him.

"I kind of left you up in the air, and I just thought you should know why."

She looked back over her shoulder with a blank face. She didn't say anything, so he continued.

"I, well, I think you, you know that you mean something to me. And... that I was lying when I said you could be anyone. And it's not even that you're, you know, good, but..." He smiled exasperatedly. "You're you."

"Lucas, don't. You say such bullshit sometimes. Why say this now? Because if it's because you saw me with him again, and you're jealous or something, I..."

"You don't want to hear it, I know. I just... I don't want you to think... you should know the truth, you know? And if you're feeling like shit lately... well, don't. And I... I'm sorry." He nodded and started to walk away. Brooke turned around to watch him.

"So that's it?"

He turned at the sound of her voice. "What's it?"

"This. You're just going to leave."

"Well, you don't want to talk to me."

"But you're going to say your little speech of what you think I want to hear, and then you're going to leave, and then what? We don't talk? We're friends? You get your little hookup buddy back, what? We fall in love and it starts to rain and everyone aws in the windows? Lucas, this is real. And you have to think things through before you change them. What is it you thought would happen after you confessed that I'm me?"

"I just didn't want you to be upset for things that aren't your fault."

"Like what things?"

"This whole thing. The sex stuff. It's my fault. I took advantage of you, and I'm sorry."

Brooke shifted her weight onto the other leg and forced a laugh. "Sorry, I'm not hearing this... is Lucas Scott taking the blame for something?"

"I take the blame fine."

"Bullshit." She laughed again, and Lucas gave her a small smile.

"Maybe I'm a little stubborn."

"Maybe your whole family is." Brooke was laughing harder, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.

Lucas shrugged and laughed too.

Brooke dropped her smile and tilted for you. "Maybe it's kind of cute."

He stepped slightly forward and instinctively brushed the hair out of her face. "I'm sorry I let this go on so long."

Brooke caught her breath. "So, what now?"

"Now? We're..."

"Non exclusive?" Brooke bit back her smile.

Lucas shook his head. "No. That... didn't end up too well."

"But it began very well."

"But then there was that middle stuff."

"Oh, right. That wasn't a lot of fun."

"No."

"What if we just... take it slow, and don't see other people?"

"Or sleep with them."

She nodded. "Good deal."

"Good deal." He came forward, took her pinky with his, and kissed his hand. She kissed hers too, then kissed their fingers, then moved closer and kissed his lips. Lucas was slow on the uptake, but his arms unstiffened and slowly came down to her waist.

Their mouths broke as they both caught their breath.

"Why are you crying?" Lucas whispered.

"I'm not."

He held up his hand and licked the water drop on his hand. Another one fell into Brooke's hair, and she looked toward the house. The curtains moved back to their original place. She laughed.

"Oh god." Another drop fell on Brooke's neck.

"I do believe it's raining," Lucas murmured, pushing her hair out of her face. Brooke smiled and shook her head.

"So kiss me quick, Mr. Romance."

I am so pissed, because I actually had this finished before the last chapter, but my computer decided to lose it, and I had to write the whole thing over again. Thank you so much for reading; this was really a great story to write, because I really enjoyed the characters, and I really enjoyed the story. And I'm really into One Tree Hill, and really, really into Brooke and Lucas right now, so keep your eyes open for more. You guys are some of the coolest reviewers I've had, so yeah. Thanks for that. Now to my midterms, so wish me luck.