He had seen her here before, of course he had seen her before, it was the only Barnes and Nobles in Tree Hill. She had such a presence that he couldn't help but be drawn to her. He saw her waddle her way to the starbucks inside and show off her huge dimples as she laughed at something the cashier had said.

He tried not to stare at her too long; afraid she finally might catch him. So he shoved his face in "Catcher in the Rye" desperately trying to focus on the words, but all the words seemed mixed up and he couldn't read them if he tried. She sat in the seat across from him and groaned as she fell back on the chair. He looked up at her and smiled. She gave him a cute smile back and focused her attention back on her belly.

She took a picture book and looked at him one last time, watching him wrinkle his forehead, concentration on his book. He was so cute when he did that, she just about giggled. She began to read quietly. "I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I Am." she rubbed her 5 month pregnant stomach, wonder how much of a fool she looked like.

Lucas looked up at her, and watched as she tried to keep her reading as quiet as she could. His heart did flips at how cute she was with her unborn baby. He couldn't help but feel jealous of the guy who had her. He was probably one of those guys who worked non-stop, and didn't care whether she had the baby or not. Looking at her left finger, he saw no sign of a ring. This flamed about a million burning questions.

Did the guy knock her up and run? Was he that stupid to let go of a girl like her? Did she just forget to wear it today? Was the man still in the picture? Was it a girl or a boy? Lucas silently kicked himself for even thinking those questions. When he realized he had eyes staring back at him, he shook out of his daze. "I'm sorry, was I being too loud?" she whispered to him, blushing a light pink. "What...huh? Oh no, no you're fine"

About 15 minutes had passed when he heard her shuffling around and struggling to get out of her seat, but she was so far slinked in and her stomach was stopping her from even getting up. She whimpered a little to herself and finally, with both arms and legs working with her managed to pull herself up. He gave her a quick smile, which she returned.

And just like that she was gone. The girl he thought he could spend the rest of his life with. The girl he had only met twice before, and never actually spoken to until now. 'You are so pathetic' his conscious screamed out at him, but his heart, oh lord did his heart scream something else. Anything but that. He sighed deeply; put down the book he was "reading" and gathered his stuff to leave. Without her.

Just as he was passing the checkout, he heard a yelp, which shifted his head to the magazine racks, and there she was. Her coffee was on the floor, spilled everywhere and her magazine had been dropped right on top of it. She bit back her lip, trying to stop herself from crying or cursing, he couldn't tell.

She tried to bend down to pick up the cup, but she was having a difficult time, he watched as she tried to slide down the bookcase with her back to pick it up, but failed miserably. He ran over to where she was. "Hey now, you shouldn't be shaking that baby up like that, let me help you" Her eyes were watery and he now knew that it was to keep from crying. "Thanks" she said, genuinely grateful of his help. "Did you get burned from your coffee at all?" he asked, looking at her stomach, hands and feet to make sure nothing was burned. "No, no it wasn't coffee, it was hot chocolate. No caffeine. But no, it was sitting so long, it was definitely cold."

The store manager quickly walked over to the magazine rack, looking stern and quite old. "Oh dear, another spill, you are going to pay for the damages done, Missy, no open drinks in here. And you're buying that magazine." She barked. He looked up at her like she was the devil. "Hey back off lady, she didn't do it on purpose" The manager crossed her arms. "Yeah well I don't like accidents, and I certainly don't like you" He dropped his jaw; never had he met anyone so rude in his life. "I bet that's what your parents said when they found out they were having you" he sneered back.

She replaced her stuck up nose with a huff and stomped off. He looked up at the young girl who was trying to stifle her giggles behind her hand. "God, she was a piece of work" He sighed. "Don't worry about picking all this stuff up, I got it, and just throw that magazine away, then you won't have to buy it." He said giving her the magazine to throw out. "You are too nice." He laughed. "Yeah well, I'm a firm believer in karma."

"At least let me buy you a coffee" she offered, finding it was the only thing she could offer her in a store like this. "Oh, I couldn't, save that money for this little one's college tuition." She laughed; it seemed like light years away. "It'll be fine, I've got enough money, come on please, I believe in karma too and it's the least I could do, pllleeeeaaasseee?" she almost begged.

"Alright, for karma." They ordered their drinks and sat down. "What you have something against coffee?" she asked as he looked at his drink like it was the first time he had ever ordered something like that. "Well I love coffee; I just didn't think it was fair that I would be drinking coffee when you couldn't." She smiled. He was the nicest man she had ever met in her whole entire life, and she had only known him about 10 minutes.

"So...when are you due?" he asked trying to make a casual conversation. "Umm April I'm five months right now" He nodded. "A boy or girl?" She laughed shamefully. "To be honest with you, I don't know. I hate going to the doctors, and the stares they give you when they look at your left finger, and nobody is standing there next to you, it makes you feel like suddenly you're not good enough to have this baby. And so I don't really go unless it's a checkup for the baby's health, other than that, I try and stray away from the doctors"

His heart broke. He should be happy there was no one in her life, but he couldn't help but feel like that man must've died or been in some horrible crash that he couldn't remember how amazing this girl was. She couldn't believe she had just told him that. She didn't even tell her mother things like that. "I'm really sorry about that. And hey, that guy is an idiot." She couldn't believe what she heard. They were probably the sweetest words any stranger had ever said to her. Usually when she told people there was no man involved, they would look at her like it was her fault for getting pregnant in the first place, or tell her if she needed a "better option" she could go to Planned Parenthood and "Get things taken care of"

She would never do that though, it was her fault that baby was put inside her, and it was something she wasn't going to take out on the baby. They made small talk for hours. When it was 5 o'clock, He looked down at his watch. "Oh crap, I've got to go meet my Brother and sister-in-law for dinner. She looked down at her cell phone and saw the time. "Oh my gosh! I have a dinner party to attend with my best friend. Thanks for reminding me. Well it was nice to meet you..." she said not knowing what else to really say. "Nice meeting you too. Take care of yourself, and that baby. It's got one heck of a mom. But just in case, here's my phone number, call me if you need anything whatsoever. Another coffee cleaner, someone to talk to, anything."

She bit her lip to try and stop the huge smile that was forming at her lips. "Ok, I promise I will."

"Hey wait what's your name?" She asked feeling stupid she didn't even know this guys name.

"Lucas...Lucas Scott" he grinned.

She looked at him happily. "Nice to meet you Lucas" He laughed. "Hey now that's not fair, what's yours?"

"Brooke...Brooke Davis"

"Nice to meet you Brooke Davis" he grinned and gave her one last wink before going their separate ways. Little did they know, this was far from the last time they would see each other.