Brooke awoke the next morning to a loud crash from downstairs.
"Crap!" She said to herself as she hastily got out of bed and ran down the steps.
She entered the kitchen to find little Ryan sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by pots and pans and a giant box of bisquick.
"Sweetie, what are you doing?" Brooke said curiously.
"I want pancakes!" Ryan answered her.
"Well then, why didn't you just ask?" Brooke smiled.
"Cuz I hearded Wexi tell Owivia that you can't cook for shit" Ryan replied innocently.
"Wonderful" Brooke thought to herself. "Well, why don't you leave the pancakes to me and go get dressed, and for future reference, don't repeat anything Lexi says, okay?"
"Okay!" Ryan said happily and ran upstairs.
The last thing that Brooke needed was Lexi and her mouth. She and Lexi had always gotten along fabulously in a "cool aunt/ niece" sort of way. The "mother/daughter" sort of way was scaring her already.
An hour later, Ryan had eaten his pancakes and was playing in the playroom, and Brooke had just finished cleaning up the kitchen. She looked at the clock, and it was already 11.
She went upstairs to take a shower and start getting ready for the day. Julie was coming over at one to discuss putting the house up for
sale, possibly moving the kids to Brooke's in LA, etc. Brooke was actually kind of nervous about the kid's reactions to moving in with
her. As far as they knew, she would just be living at their house with them. She knew that Ryan probably wouldn't understand what
was going on, and that Olivia would probably not be happy about the move, but would try to put on a happy face for the sake of
everyone else. Lexi, on the other hand, was going to blow a gasket. Brooke knew she wouldn't want to leave all of her friends,
espechially so soon after losing her parents. A week ago, this would have been something that Brooke would have given Lexi the
head's up on ahead of time. But, with her recent change in attitude, there was no way she was going to risk it.
On her way down the hallway to the bathroom she almost bumped into Olivia, who was just getting up.
"Good morning sleeping beauty!" Brooke kidded her.
"Oh shut up Aunt Brooke you know you could outsleep me by hours!" Olivia giggled back.
"Yeah Liv… but that's after a night at the bars!" Brooke winked back.
Olivia laughed and went downstairs to find something for breakfast…. or lunch :).
In less than an hour, Brook was showered, dressed, and almost done applying her makeup. "Not too bad" she thought to herself.
After thinking about it, she decided she should talk to Lexi about the move before Julie came over. She thought that maybe if she had
talked to Lexi the same way she always had, and didn't try to hide anything from her, the whole situation might be a lot less stickier.
She paused and took a deep breath before knocking on Lexi's bedroom door.
"Come in!" Lexi called.
Brooke opened the door and was surprised to see that Lexi was already up and dressed, looking like her usual, gorgeous self in low-
rider jeans and a black tank top the hugged her body perfectly.
"Well you look ADORABLE as always!" Brooke chirped sitting down on Lexi's unmade bed.
"Thanks!" Lexi smiled back, before turning back to the mirror to put on the rest of her eyeliner.
It was like the past 4 days had never happened. But, as Brooke was going to have to soon bring up, they had.
"Mkay Lex, here's the deal," Brooke started. She knew she better just cut to the chase and get out what she needed to get out.
"Now, don't freak out or anything but, how would you feel about you, Livvy, and Ryan coming to live with me in L.A.?"
There, she had said it. Lexi dropped her eyeliner and slowly turned around and just stared at Brooke
There was silence in the room for good 15 seconds before Lexi spoke, "you mean… LEAVE like all my friends and everything I've ever known? No fucking way."
Well, as blunt as Brooke had tried to be, Lexi had one-upped her.
"Well babe, Julie is coming over to talk about it later and I just wanted to give you the heads up. Keeping this house, not to mention
the mortgage on it, would just be way too tight and--"
Lexi cut her off before she could say anything else, "Well then we'll just move somewhere else around here! I mean, come on this
house is way too huge anway. Even mom thought so! We'll just sell it and downsize, but I am not moving for my sophomore year of
high school and that's the end of it." With that, Lexi turned on her heel and walked out of the room, leaving Brooke there to take in
everything she had just heard.
Lexi had always been just like Brooke. Even when she was toddler, Molly had always said she had the same ambitious streak that
Brooke possessed. Now, Brooke realized, it was coming back to bite her in the ass. Lexi had no problem back-mouthing Brooke.
She would never talk like that to her mother, or Julie, but Brooke was her friend, her confidant. To her, it was like talking to one of her
girlfriends. And, Brooke was slowly realizing, giving a teenage girl the chance to spend the rest of her high school days living in a house
with "Aunt Brooke rules" basically meant giving her a life of no rules. Personally, Brooke thought "no biggie" of that whole situation.
But, now that she was the mom, she knew she needed to think of it as a "biggie", or the consequences for Lexi, and herself, could get
ugly.
Julie came over later and the two sisters began to pour over everything their late sister had left. Brooke filled Julie in on her and Lexi's
"tiff" earlier that day.
"Wow," Julie said in amazement, "I really didn't think we'd get that horrible of a reaction from her."
"Yeah, me too" Brooke said wistfully.
"Well Brooke, as much as I think that you moving down the block from me is the best decision, I'm realizing that for you, with your
job, the city is the best place for you. And, giving the kids a change of scenery might do them some good. After selling this house,
we'd probably be able to get you a great apartment in a good neighborhood, so I think we should give the whole city thing a try" Julie
said.
"But Jules, didn't you hear what I just said, Lexi doesn't want to go" Brooke replied, a "duh" tone clinging to her voice
"Um Brooke? You're the adult, she's the child. She doesn't get to make that decision. Now, I know she's going through a tough time
right now, but this might do her some good. Besides, a couple weeks ago Molly was telling me how she thought a lot of Lex's friends
were getting into alcohol and sex and all of that junk. Giving her a new start might do her some good!" Julie said, ruffling through some
papers.
Oh, if only she knew.
"But Jules… I don't want her to hate me! I mean, Ryan keeps thinking that Molly and Jack are just going to… I don't know come
back!! And Olivia is trying to put up this perfect front, and I know she is just like… a time bomb ticking! Lexi is my only ally, I can't
have her against me too!!" Brooke blurted out, obviously flustered.
Julie sat silently in thought for a few moments.
"Ok Brooke. I understand where you're coming from. But you really need to watch Lexi! You can't just let her walk all over you!
You can still keep your great relationship, but you have to be an authority figure now, or she's going to be the one drinking and having
sex and doing God only knows what else!" Julie retaliated.
" Oh so what Jules, you don't want her to be like ME!? Because I think I turned out pretty damn good! And I had NOBODY around.
Not Mom, Dad, you, or Molly!!" Brooke exploded, tears coming to her eyes. " And you don't think Lexi is already getting into that
stuff? Well then I guess maybe I know a little more about her than you do, SUPERMOM! Let me take care of these kids the way I
want to, okay?? I don't need your "mommy" advice!! I can do fine on my own!"
Julie just stared at her for a moment. She spoke quietly. "No Brooke, that's where you're wrong. It's your job to protect them now.
I'm not going to argue with you over this now Brooke. All I'm going to say is, moving them to the city, while I personally think children
should be raised in the suburbs, is what I think would be best for them at this stage. I spoke to a realtor this morning, and here are five
places that would be in our price range that looked good to me if you so choose to look at them. Now, if you'd excuse me, I'm having
an incredible craving for a McDonald's quarter-pounder, so I'll be back in five minutes." With that, Julie stood up, grabbed her keys,
and walked out the door.
Brooke knew that Julie was right. She had to do what was best for the kids, even if it meant not always doing what they wanted. She
began thumbing through the stapled pieces of paper that Julie had left on the table. She immediatley saw one that she knew would be
perfect. It was in townhouse in a great neighborhood near Hollywood, and had four spacious bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room,
kitchen, and dining room. With the money they would get from the sale of Brooke's condo, as well as Molly's house, it was more than
perfect for their price range.
Just then, Lexi came walking through the kitchen.
Well, it's now or never.
"Hey Lex, come here for a sec," Brooke called to her niece.
Red Bull in hand, Lexi came over to the table where Brooke was sitting.
"What do you think about this house?" Brooke asked her, carefully showing her the sheet.
"Well it looks great, other than the fact it's in Hollywood Hills" Lexi shot back.
"Well I'm glad you like it for the most part, because that is where you're going to be living from here on out" Brooke replied curtly.
"Aunt Brooke, I told you I'm not moving" Lexi said, her voice shaking.
"Well, I know you don't want to. But this is the best thing we can do for ourselves Lexi. And I'm sorry if you don't like it, but this is
the way it's going to bed" Brooke said softly.
Just then, Lexi's cell phone vibrated. She picked it up and looked at the screen for a moment, and then looked back at Brooke.
"Whatever, I can't deal with this right now. I'm leaving, I'll see you later" Lexi said in a voice that sounded faraway.
She grabbed her Juicy Couture purse off the counter, and slipped on her flip-flops, and started walking towards the door.
Suddenly, a thought jumped into Brooke's head "wait, Lexi, what time are you going to be home?" she called.
"Does it really matter?" Lexi yelled back, and slammed the door behind her.
Brooke was left sitting in the kitchen, alone. She wanted to say 'No, it doesn't matter. Have all the fun you want'. Last week she
wouldn't have cared. In fact, she probably would have helped Lexi plot a big night out. But that was last week. Now, deep down, she
knew she had to care. She now had three lives that were her responsibility. Oh, how she longed for last week.
A/N: Ok that's chapter 3. I have more chapters written, but I'm not uploading them until I get more reviews. I'm getting tons of hits but no reviews, and I want to know what you guys think!
