Chapter Four

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Brooke spent the whole day trying to get one of her papers done. Lucas helped her every now and then, but mostly he would work on his project. Right now she was alone, waiting for him to come home from picking up lunch. She was getting hungry, and she was not going to cook when she had so much work to do.

Looking at the clock she realized that he had been out for a while. Brooke was never a psychotic girlfriend type, but seen how all the cheer girls looked at her boyfriend made her a little worried. Not only were the girls, but there was a specific blond girl that was bothering her.

She dialed his phone and waited for him to pick up. Brooke wasn't freaking out or anything, she just wanted to know where her food was, at least that's what she kept telling herself. Getting his voice mail she let out a loud breath, "Lucas, why are you talking so long with the food… Please hurry home, I love you."

As she let herself fall back on the couch she stared straight up at the ceiling. She hated to think that Lucas would care for other girls, but it was something that would always be there for her. It's not that she didn't believe she was enough for him, but she did think that there were girls out there that would want to get him. Brooke knew what a great guy he was, and she knew that there were plenty of girls who would want him.

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"I love this" Nathan said, taking a bite of his huge burger.

Haley laughed at him. She loved how he would never leave the double cheese burger. He would always order it, no matter were he would go. "I know, that's why I picked this place."

He sent her a sweet smile as they continued to eat.

She knew that she had to ask him, she needed to know the real reason he was there. Haley understood that part of it might be that he missed her, but she was sure there was something else under. Letting out a breath and putting her fork down she looked at him, "Nathan, why did you really come?"

Nathan tried to play dumb by giving her a questionable look, but by the look she gave him he knew she knew something was up. He placed his burger down and shook his head lightly, "I really did miss you" he told her.

"But…" she prompted.

"Haley, school is hard. I know it's a stupid thing to say, but it's really hard. In high school I had you, but now I have to do it all on my own. I don't think I can do it." He knew the news would come hard to her, but he had to tell her. Haley was part of his life, and he had to tell her the truth.

Shock. The expression on her face was shock, and disbelief. "What? Why?" the second question came out softly. "Nathan, what's wrong?"

"I can't do it."

"I'll help yo-"

"You're all the way over here" he interrupted, a little loud and rude. "I'm sorry." He was horrified by the way he had just spoken to her.

Haley shook her head, "I don't get it."

"I met this guy" he commenced, "he told me that he could get me to the NBA. He said I don't need to graduate college, and all I need is to get drafted." He could see the disappointment in her face, he hated that expression on her. It would always make him think the wasn't worth enough, and now he knew it might be true.

Haley bit her lower lip and blinked a few times, processing all that had been said to her was becoming harder than she thought. She couldn't believe he was going to drop everything for a game, it wasn't like he would be able to play in the NBA for the rest of his life. He needed a backup plan, and she knew he would regret not getting a degree sooner or later.

"Say something" he said, "please."

Haley began to shake her head and stammer as she spoke, "I –I –I –I –I, I don't know what to say. I… I thought you wanted this."

"I can't do it alone" he told her, "I can't take it anymore."

"Nathan, you have Lucas. And I will be happy to help you, but you have to finish school first."

"I can't" he simply stated, "I'm not asking for your permission Haley, I just wanted you to know."

She looked around and could see a few heads tilting to see what was going on. Haley knew that this was the wrong place to talk about all of this, but she had to get things out of her chest. Looking around a second time she tamed her fillings and looked at her boyfriend who was sitting across from her. "Let's talk about his later" she told him and placed money on the table and walked away.

Haley knew it was the wrong thing to do, but she couldn't think straight. She walked out of the restaurant and began to walk towards her building. She thanked god that they hadn't gone to far from campus.

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Lucas walked in with a bag that contained the food, on his other hand he had a cup holder which held both their drinks. He set everything on the kitchen counter and heard a few soft steps coming his way. Slowly turning around he saw Brooke with her hands on her hips and her foot taping on the floor, it was obvious she was waiting for an explanation.

"Sorry I took so long" he apologized, "when I ran in to get the food I ran into Carrie. That girl can talk" he said.

Brooke couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was it possible that the reason he had not answer her phone call was because he was with her, just thinking about it made her blood boil and steam come out of her ears. How was it possible that he would take Carrie over her. Brooke wasn't sure if she was the blond girl that had been looking at him, but something told her that it was.

"Carrie, huh?" Her tone came out as subtle as she could managed, but the anger and jealousy could still be defined in it.

Lucas turned to her, while he placed the food on the table for both of them. With a single nod he answered, "yeah." Returning to his previous task he continued to talk, "you might know her. She's on the cheer squad, and you do spend a lot of time at the gym with me."

The pieces just all seem to fall into place themselves. A cheerleader who bumped into him, who they had previously talked about, why was life so complicated for her? All she wanted was to have a good first year of college living with her boyfriend, but no, there always has to be something wrong with her.

"Do you?"

Brooke realized that she was lost in her own thoughts and shook all the thoughts from her head. Slowly shaking her head she walked over to him to take her spot, "what does she look like?"

Lucas took his own seat and began to talk. "She's blond, pretty much just like every other cheerleader there."

Why me, she thought. The world was slowly coming to an end for Brooke; she was known for making things bigger then they usually were. She took a sip of her drink hoping to relax before she had to look at Lucas.

"Na" she said, "I don't think I know her."

Lucas cold tell that there was something bothering Brooke, but he knew that if he pushed her then he would get the answer he didn't want and eventually they would have a crappy weekend. He had been working hard at school and practice all week, he really didn't want to ruin the only time they would be spending together. He sent her a sweet smile and began to dig in his food.

"I love you" he told her, in hopes that it would assure her that whatever she was thinking about, or whatever it was that was bothering her would be okay. That as long as he was there she would be fine, and he would always protect her if he was able to do so.

Brooke smiled at him, "me too." That was all she said before doing the same and beginning to eat. One thing was for sure, she was going to have a long conversation with her sister by the end of the weekend.

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Understanding that there was a reason why Haley had walked out of the restaurant the way she did, Nathan decided it was best for him to not go straight after her. Instead he walked around campus just looking around. He wanted to know what it was she did, and what better way then to see the place were she spent most of her time.

He felt horrible for just telling her all that stuff. He knew that it was wrong to tell her where he did, but she was urging him to do so, there really wasn't much he could do. Now he was walking all alone waiting to give her time to process his news.

No wanting to put it off any longer he began to walk to her building. He hated that all this was happening and all he wanted was to make it right, he had one night left with her and he had to make it a good one. He walked further and could see the sun setting, it was about dinner time and he knew that she had enough time to think about everything, more than enough.

Knocking lightly on her door three times he waited for her to open. It felt like this was the first date, the waiting was killing him. Finally he saw her on the other side of the door. He felt horrible when he noticed her puffy eyes, a sign that she had been crying. He took two steps and immediately wrapped his arms around her pulling her closer. Shutting the door with his foot he began to walk her over to a small couch they had at the entrance.

Nathan sat and position her on his lap, still holding her as close as he possibly could. "I'm sorry" he kept mumbling to her every now and then. He could tell she was crying by the way her body shook in his arms, also by the tears soaking his shirt.

She pulled away and wiped her face with the back of her hand, "I'm sorry." Haley felt like such a baby for crying. What he had told her really wasn't a reason for her to be crying, but everything was getting to her. They were suppose to be in school together, they were suppose to be the happy couple they wanted to be. Yet, she was stuck on the opposite side of the country. That, plus the stress of school was just getting to her.

"Tell me what happened?" he asked, hoping that it come out like a statement.

She sniffed, "I'm just stressed. I miss you, and now you tell me that you won't be in school. School is getting really complicated, then the party last night was horrible, I miss my sister, I don't know what to do here all alone, I just, I'm so sick of all of this." Haley wasn't expecting for all that to come out of her mouth, but she felt comfortable telling Nathan exactly what she was feeling.

"If I tell you that I won't take the deal, would that make you feel better?"

Haley gave him a questionable look, she never expected him to change his mind because of her. "Nate, you don't-"

"I want to" he told her, knowing exactly what she was going to say. Truth be told, he had been thinking about it all afternoon, and it all brought him back to this. If he didn't finish school what would he do? Basketball could only get him so far, and there was no guarantee that he would be able to play for long. He need to think about his future, and in that he should have a backup plan.

"But-"

"Haley, I've been thinking about this a lot today. You're right, I can't just drop everything for something that might not happen" he told her. He gently touched her chin, "besides, it helps to know that my decision brings a smile to your face."

She let out a chuckle and wrapped her arms around him. She loved that he was so considerate, and right now all she wanted was to have fun for the last night they would spend together until Thanksgiving. She began to kiss him and pulled away slowly, "I love you" she said, then continued to kiss him.

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A/N- so there is the second half of the chapter. I'm sorry it's been taking me so long to update.

This chapter wasn't all that god, but the drama is building up. Brooke has Carrie to worry about, and Nathan has to go back to Duke. Next chapter will probably be a Thanksgiving chapter, I got a review from OTHfan1 asking me to do a holiday chapter, so I will do that one.

Thanks so much to all the reviews-

Shane-Thanks so much, I hope you like this chapter.

KTxx- Girly I've missed you, I feel like we haven't talked in forever. Hahaha I guess we never connect at the same time. Thanks for the review. ;]

Dianehermans- Thanks. I think I told you about the new story I was writing, it's not a Brucas one, but I might do a Brucas one, tell me if you have ideas.

OTHfan1- like I said, next chapter will probably have to do something with thanksgiving, and Haley will be visiting her sister and boyfriend. Thanks for the review.

Don't forget to tell me what you thought, and what you think of my idea for the next one.