Title: Songs to Love and Die By. (CH: 2)

Rated: M

Characters: All.

Time Frame: Senior year of HS, although everything is as it was in the beginning of the series.

Summary: This is story that you probably think that you know. A story that you've come to memorize and fantasize about. The story remains nothing more than a simple tale of love and betrayal, of longing and lust, and of liars and cheaters... The simple story that we all have grown to love, although rewritten and edited with twists and turns that you never saw coming by the fans.

Notes: Will update, but I update SLOW. Bare with me. It'll be worth it. (:


Nathan sighed, sleep drifting father and farther out of his reach; which was a crying shame because he was so fucking hung over that it seemed as if nothing but sleep would relieve him. Nathan rolled over onto his back, hands sweeping across his face gently as he heaved a heavy sigh. His head wasn't what bothered him at the moment, it was his stomach that was aching, and felt as if everything inside of him was thrashing around violently. There honestly can't be that much in there anyway, he thought with a sigh, remembering the numerous times he had thrown up last night. Mixing was always a bad idea, although when he was already at the level of intoxication that he had been at, it was hard to say 'no' to a new brand of liquor… or to even notice in the first place that he was mixing a recipe for the hangover from hell.

Last night's events began to pour back into his head.

"I want you," the voice of none other than Brooke Davis, mumbling into his ear, an intoxicated slur of lust. Something that he was having difficulty resisting.

Brooke Davis: the best friend of Peyton Sawyer, his now, for good, ex-girlfriend, it seemed. He had truly messed up this time. There might not be a chance to take it back now. He sighed, sitting up slowly and trying his best to ignore the sickening lurching in his stomach, threatening him to throw up all over the couch upholstery. Nathan grabbed his cell phone from the messy end table, knocking an empty, plastic cup off of the surface and spilling the contents on the carpet. Nathan swore, although decided that he had much more important things to worry about right now.

He stood up carefully, avoiding his best friend Tim, who lay sprawled on the carpet floor, his arm resting over the back of an equally unconscious girl. It was most likely that Brooke was still upstairs. Nathan tackled the stairs slowly, feeling like his might be sick at any moment, but knowing better than to fall for the sensations. They would pass with some time.

"Brooke?" He asked timidly from behind his own, closed bedroom door. His knuckled rapped against the hard surface gently, "You awake?" He couldn't hear anything from behind the door; with a sigh, Nathan twisted the handle and pushed the door open, stepping inside his room and closing the door behind him. As he turned around, he saw what he dreaded, Brooke Davis, lying beneath his sheets, unconscious and naked.

Nathan approached the edge of the bed, feeling his head begin to start up as well, and dreading this moment as much as he dreaded the hang over. "Brooke… wake up." He gently shook her, willing her to open her eyes. Thankfully, before he had to resort to calling her name even louder, she stirred, groaning and rolling off of her side and onto her back.

"…Nathan?" She asked groggily, sitting up slowly and propping herself up on his pillows. "What are you doi—" she stopped dead in mid-word, staring him in the eye before she glanced around the room. Automatically, she pulled the slipping sheet up to conceal her chest from him, "What the hell happened?"

Nathan knew better to not need to explain himself. Brooke did too, it seemed, because her face had fallen seconds before she asked what had happened. Her voice was shrill, but quiet, her moves cautious, but swift, as she tried her best to remove herself from the covered and find her clothes, "Please tell me that nothing happened!" Brooke looked over her shoulder as she stepped into her thin panties, and seeing the expression on Nathan's face, and felt a wave of emotions crash over her. "Oh fuck!"

Brooke dressed quickly. And as she pulled her slightly knotted brunette hair out from under her shirt, she began to ramble, her voice quiet but panic-stricken, "Are you sure that we really did… that?!" She stumbled over to her left as she stepped into her denim skirt, swearing under her breath,"I mean, I can't remember anything from last night… how can you be sure? I mean… fuck. We're so screwed, Nate! Peyton! We cannot tell her! Do you understand me! She'll kill us. Not exaggerating. She'll kill us and then burn our remains… or feed us to some exotic animal, or something."

Brooke took a hurried step forward, until she was inches away from Nathan's face, her eyes slightly squinted, eyebrows raised, "Do you understand me? The events of last night are told to no one!" Her tone was lethal, and she slapped her hand over his chest, the look in her eyes changing, she was being accusing now, "Why did you let this happen, Nate?"

"Me?" Nathan exaggerated, "You came onto me!"

"Oh sure," Brooke stammered quickly, although she paused, unable to deny that it was very likely a fact. She was bad at holding back after she'd had a few shots. "Oh,God, why do I have to be such a slut?" She was talking to herself now, and Nathan had no intention of jumping back in. He would be relieved when she left. He needed time to think.

"But are we clear? No one finds out?" Brooke asked a few seconds later, her arms crossed over her chest with a heavy sigh.

"I don't want Peyton to find out any more than you do, Brooke."

Brooke was tempted to call him out on that. Nathan had never exactly been loyal to her. She knew that he slept around… but she had never done anything about it. Hell, Peyton herself probably knew that he slept around.

"Okay… okay…" Brooke seemed to be coaching herself through this, "Just breath." Brooke looked up at Nate for one more second, staring into his eyes, but she failed to know what he was thinking.

"I've gotta get out of here." Brooke sighed, turning around and exiting the scene. She fled from the house, and drove him quickly. One thing was capable of keeping her sane: the simple fact that she knew Peyton had stayed home last night. She should have stayed home as well. I mean, a party the night after their first day of school was a mistake. Why the hell had their first day been on a Friday anyway? Principal Tuner must be pretty damn stupid to make school start on a Friday, Brooke thought as she crawled into her own bed with a heavy hangover, everyone was just prone to go party, get wasted, and have sex with people that they shouldn't have. She cringed, sighing dramatically and trying to push the topic out of her mind. It wasn't too hard of a task, for minutes later she was asleep.

In a way… both of them where lucky. Lucky that they couldn't remember the events of that dreadful night. Things would surely be even worse if their memories where in tact. Alcohol: it has many effects. Some, such as losing some self-control, can hurt you and the people that you're close too. But it also has the power to remove the memories caused by that lack of self-control… the power to erase from you mind what you wish could be erased from your past.

----

"Brooke Davis... honestly dude, way, to, go." He spoke to himself in a very sarcastic, stressed whisper as he walked down the stairs and knocking a plastic cup off of the banister as he leapt off of the final step. Nathan moved into the kitchen, noticing for the first time that he was wearing only his boxers. He tried his best to pull back some of the previous night's memories… but he was unable to. They where lost, and he had no clue what had really happened. The only thing that he could confirm was that he had slept most of the night in his bed, next to his ex-girlfriend best friend, and then when he woke up, nearly sobered up, half-way through the night… he freaked and came downstairs to get away.

The party had... obviously been a hit, Nathan could confirm that much seeing that his entire house was covered with plastic cups, and occasionally, a sleeping partygoer. He shoved a few cups into the sink as he searched for aspirin. Finally, he was able to swallow three of the tablets. Next, Nathan grabbed a packet of plain crackers, forcing a few down, and feeling more and more nauseous as he did, but he knew that eating something would soak up some of the crap left in his stomach.

He crinkled the plastic paper that had held the crackers in his hand, shooting it into the garbage can across the kitchen. It's probably time to clean up, he though with a sigh, deciding that, hangover or not, his parents wouldn't exactly be pleased with the fact that he had thrown a Rager. Concealing it would be a must. Nathan pulled a large trash bag from under the sink and started to push countless cups off of the counter. He migrated around the house, waking the few people who remained, obviously having passed out, and telling them to go home.

Nathan shook the smooth leg of a girl he couldn't recognize, "Hey, get up, go home." She moaned, rolling onto her side but not waking up. Nathan rolled his eyes and started to collect the cups around the den where she lay. Finally, when the room was nearly back to normal, he made to wake the blond up once more, "Hey, get up!" His voice was louder, and bolder. Her reaction was the same as last time. Nathan decided to spin her around, off of her stomach so that he could see who it even was.

"Okay, Mister half naked jock boy, who the hell do you think you are waking me up?" Danielle's voice was groggy, and frankly, bitchy. She was hung over and angry. Who the hell was this guy anyway?

Nathan scoffed, his eyebrows raised. First off, he didn't even know who this girl was. Not that it was entirely uncommon for him to not know someone that showed up at his parties, but it bothered him that she didn't even know who's party she was passed out at, "I'm Nathan Scott, who the hell are you?"

Danielle sat up and hunched over, elbows on her knees, palms rubbing her eyes hard, "I'm Dani Stark."

"Great," Nathan replied sharply, staring down at her, "Now get up and go home."

Dani straightened up, and Nathan couldn't help but admire her good looks. She stood up with a soft sigh, ignoring Nathan completely, which kind of pissed him off. "You know what, I think I'm gonna go." She took a step backwards.

Nate's eyebrows raised a bit more. This Dani girl confused him. She was bitchy, mysterious, and strong. Although Nathan wasn't in the mood to deal with some foreign girl that he didn't know, and that didn't know him. She should go home, wherever that may be, and sleep off her hang over. Nate gestured towards the door, which was through a doorway behind her, "See ya."

Dani turned around and headed towards the door, reaching it at the same time as a groggy looking boy with short brown hair and grayish-green eyes. He looked, like everyone else in this house, hung over and confused. Danielle raised her eyebrows as the guy tried to… impress her or something along those lines. She shook her head, exiting through the front door of the expensive beach house, leaving the guy behind her in the doorway.

Nathan scoffed, watching Tim stand in the doorway and call after the girl whom he had just woke up from the couch in the den. Finally, after a few seconds Tim took off after the girl, calling to her hopefully. Nate shook his head and smiled, picking the garbage bag up from the floor once more and tossing a nearly full glass of flat beer into the bottom.


And that's that. End of chapter two.

More to come soon! Leave me comments, I love to know what you guys think. ((:

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