I woke up with a slight ache on the right side of my head. The world started coming back to focus as I clutched my head. I realized that I was in a beautiful room with orange painted walls and brown furniture. Haley walked in a couple of minutes later.
"You woke up!" said Haley trying to avoid eye contact.
"Hi Haley! How are you?" I said feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"How am I? I'm just fine! Just fantastic! I feel so happy that I could just leave town and then come waltzing back as if nothing happened." She replied as tears formed in her pretty blue eyes.
"It was seven years Brooke. Seven years without my best friend." By now she was sobbing hard. "And now you buy the house next door! So that you live few meters away from us."
"I'm sorry Hales. I didn't mean to. You have got to understand. But first of all where am I? And where are my kids?"
"You're at my place. Nathan and I brought you home after you passed out. The kids are fine. They are swimming in the pool with Jamie. So they are your kids?"
"Yes." I said looking down.
"How old are they?"
"They will turn seven in four months."
"Just the time you ran away. Are they Lucas's?"
"No."
"How could you Brooke! You cheated on him!?"
Just as she said this, another surge of pain swept through my head and I fell to the pillows. Although Haley was mad at me, she couldn't see her best friend in pain.
"What is wrong Brooke? Why do you keep getting these pains and pass out?"
"Oh nothing... migraines I guess. The travel and shifting must have led to this. Plus it's not easy taking care of two kids all alone. I think I should leave now. I still have a lot of unpacking to do anyway. Thank you for looking after my Sophie and Jude."
Saying this, I got out of bed and headed home. Over there I was ecstatic to see my former friend, Nathan, guiding the workers and unpacking boxes. Probably, they would forgive me and let me start over.
"Well, well... our Brookie is back!"
"Hi Nate. It's good to see you. I'm so sorry to leave. I didn't mean to. But I just had to move away."
Nathan gave her a tight hug as he hung a pair of pastel green curtains in the living room window.
"Well, you didn't do so badly with my furniture I must say. Thank you."
"Don't mention it Brooke Davis. I am here at your service."
For the next few hours, Haley looked after the twins as Nathan and I kept working on decorating the house. With the dozens of people I had hired to help, the work was going well.
The house was really large as it had a living room, study, kitchen and Jude and Sophia's play room on the ground floor. The first floor held my, Sophia and Jude's bedrooms as well as a guest bedroom. The second floor too held 4 guest bedrooms.
The living room had green and cream wallpapers with dark brown and cream furniture. The cream couches had a soothing and welcoming effect and the heavy brown tables and cabinets were a perfect contrast.
Being the owner and designer of a multi-million dollar fashion company, I had the money as well as the designs to create the most beautiful home me and the kids.
The kitchen and study were both a pale blue with white furniture. I had installed state of the art equipment in her kitchen and my study was not dull and boring but I had a wall filled with different contrasting wallpapers complete with a collage of all the pictures I had with my friends. Pictures that made me nostalgic. I had different fabric designs and an easel to help me design clothes even while sitting home. The kids play room was huge and painted a soft yellow. I had pampered my kids to the end of the world. I was nothing like my mother. I fulfilled every demand that my children would make and that led to a gigantic amount of dollhouses and spaceships and Barbie dolls and pirates. Bikes, skates, it was all there. A dream come true for every kid.
Moving to the next floor. My room was a light baby pink with a designed wallpaper. I had designed the wallpaper myself so it was very unique and beautiful. I wanted it to have a modern edge. So I topped it with a black chandelier and black furniture. I had a huge king size four poster bed and a large walk in wardrobe. A flat screen TV lay in front of my bed and a dresser besides the bathroom door. My bathroom was a beautiful mosaic of brown tile and a huge Jacuzzi lay in a corner for me to dive in at the end of the day. The balcony in my room had a set of deck chairs which overlooked a magnificent view of the sea.
Sophia's room was pink and purple. She had a high white canopy bed and other white furniture. Her dresser lay besides her bathroom which had green tile and she too had a tiny balcony in her room. She had a huge wardrobe with sliding doors and a study table on the other side of the room. Delicate silver angels hung from her ceiling which made a person aww.
Jude's room had baby blue green and white striped wallpaper and a double brown bed. He too had a huge wardrobe with sliding doors, a dresser and a study table. His bathroom was yellow and a setting was arranged near his windows with a heap of green and blue pillows. What added to the cuteness of his room was that it had a lot of light brown stuffed teddy bears.
The guest bedrooms were a standard of different colors like orange and yellow. They had simple furniture like a queen size bed, a simple wardrobe and a dresser. I didn't expect those rooms to be used much. However, I did decorate them with the perfect accessories to make them look fabulous.
By sundown, all the unpacking was complete. I had managed to call my assistant Millicent, back from New York who was glad to help me and my friends unpack my clothes and other belongings.
"Wow Brooke. I'm surprised. I have never seen anyone finish their unpacking in one day!" said Nathan slightly startled as he looked around the house once everything was in its rightful place.
"Well, they do call me awesome for a reason! Anyway, when you manage stores, it does kind of give you the added benefit of organizing things quickly. But I'm really grateful for your help Nate. Do you think Haley will ever manage to forgive me?" I asked sheepishly.
"Let's take things slowly. One day at a time."
I nodded slightly trying to hold back my tears.
"Well, I am starving. C'mon, let's go over to my place and eat dinner together. Your kids must be missing their mom as well. Although, Haley does love kids so I can't promise that she hasn't eaten them up by now!" said Nathan while putting his arm over my shoulder and pushing me out of my beautiful new house.