Author's Note: I'm baaaaack! It's been SO long since I posted any chapters. This story is always in the back of my mind and the other day, after I finished all my midterms, I just felt inspired :). I'll be updating more frequently from now on, maybe every Sunday I'll try? We'll see how it goes.


Chapter 3

"Come on Brooke! I've never seen you cry. What the fuck was that about in the bathroom?" Rachel Gattina nagged at Brooke as the brunette rubbed her temples and fell on to her friend's spare bed.

"Would you please just try not talking for like, five minutes? I've had a headache all day, and your voice is making it ten times worse." Brooke pleaded, burying her face into the soft fluffy pillow.

Rachel rolled her eyes and stood beside the bed, arms cross impatiently and her foot tapping. "Oh screw your headache. I've never seen you cry before. We aren't missing practice just for you to sit here and sulk like you're pathetic. What was with the stunt in the bathroom?" Rachel demanded.

It was true, Brooke had always made sure to keep her sensitive and vulnerable side in check whenever she wasn't alone. In fact she was pretty sure that Nathan had been the only one to ever see her cry. Nathan. Nathan and Peyton. In the hall. Being so friendly. She pushed her head further into the pillow as she felt the lump rise to her throat. Brooke had no idea why this was upsetting her so much, but just seeing that blonde curly haired head playfully resting on Nathan's shoulder... well, it made her want to punch Peyton in the face. And who was Nathan to get so mad at her for talking to Lucas the month prior, and still act weird about it, and then turn around and talk to Peyton? She was the blonde whore that put him through all the drama, it wasn't Lucas's fault. Brooke felt a little smile creep on to her lips at the thought of that goofy half grin and shaggy blond hair. There was no way that innocent geeky and yet oh so hot boy would ever intentionally hurt anyone.

"I'M WAITING!"

Rachel's high pitched voice interrupted Brooke's thought process and she groaned, rolling over to stare up at her friend. Brooke would have completely got away with crying in the bathroom if anyone else had been in there, but not Rachel.

"You know I love you, but some times you get so nosey that I really wish I didn't." Brooke said as she sat up. The red head huffed and sat down beside her.

"Oh shut up. You and me, we don't do this. I've been here for you ever since all the shit went down with Peyton last year. You're even practically living here because of, you know, Mr. Davis and Bitchtoria." Rachel pointed out with a grin, clearly pleased with the name she'd created for Brooke's mom. Brooke laughed and shook her head. Her parents had never cared much for each other, or even their daughter, but lately their screaming matches had been too much and Brooke had been spending a lot of nights over at Rachel's. It was convenient that the red head had two comfy beds in her room.

"I'm not sure what brought it on to be honest. I saw Nate and Peyton-"

"Slut." Rachel interrupted.

"-talking in the hallway." Brooke continued, ignoring Rachel's not so subtle opinion. It wasn't uncommon for one of the girls to finish the other's sentence, or to just interrupt them entirely. "It just made me so... mad. They weren't fighting. It looked like how they used to last year right before they'd get back together. Pissed, but civil." Brooke scoffed. "And he got mad at me for talking to Lucas? It's not fucking fair!" Brooke ended her rant short when she noted Rachel's expression. "What?"

Rachel brushed a red strand of hair from her eyes and shook her head. "Are you sure you weren't... like... jealous?" Brooke frowned and shook her head in disbelief.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous?"

"It just seems weird that it would make you so mad that you'd go fucking bawl your eyes out in the bathroom- "

"I wasn't BAWLING."

"- over such a small thing! You know Nathan isn't getting back with Peyton any time soon. I mean sure, he fooled around with tons of girls, but only whenever Ms. PMS had broke up with him over nothing. And who can blame him? That girl doesn't have a wild bone in her scrawny body." Rachel paused to giggle. "She probably would just lay there under him and not even moa-"

"RACHEL!" Brooke interrupted, looking horrified. "No talking of the Neyton sex life, ew." The brunette scrunched her nose up. She was far from a prude, but when it came to Nathan's sex life? She was never fussy on details. It'd always made her sort of queasy, although she could never figure out why. "But no, I was not jealous. I just hate cocky hypocritical assholes." She said with a shrug and one of her best fake bright smiles. "Besides, things with Lucas... I think if the Ravens win the game tomorrow night, they might happen at the after party."

Rachel screwed up her face in visible disgust. "I don't see what you see in that nerd. He seems so... BLAH, dull. And if it takes this long just to get one little date, then what's the point?"

"We've had dates! We're taking it slow. I don't know it's..." Brooke paused and smiled to herself. "It's sweet. It's something new."

Rachel shook her head and got up from the bed, heading towards the door. "Whatever you say, but I get a bad vibe. His whole innocent I-love-my-mommy act is bull. I'm getting a beer, want one?" she asked and started to head downstairs without bothering to wait for an answer.

Brooke shook her head. Obviously Rachel couldn't see Lucas properly. What could that blonde boy every do wrong? Getting up with a very unfamiliar dreamy feeling in her stomach, Brooke followed her friend downstairs


Nathan walked through his front door, basketball balanced under his arm and his backpack slung over his shoulder. He dropped his stuff and rolled his head around, stretching out his neck. Tomorrow was going to be one of the bigger games of the season. The Pirates weren't actually awful, but Nathan was still confident he could single handedly beat them. Unfortunately, Whitey was all about teamwork and didn't see that really, the whole team was Nathan Scott. If anyone would be keeping their perfect record that year, it would be him.

"IT'S JUST A DAMN SPORT DAN, MISSING ONE GAME WON'T KILL YOU!" Nathan cringed at the sound of his mother, Deb, screaming at his father. Dan Scott was the mayor of the town and the owner of a successful car dealership, so the family should have been grateful to him for living their comfortable wealthy lives. But Nathan hated his father, with everything in him. Ever since he could remember, Dan had been pushing him.

"It's not just a sport Deb! It's his entire future, something important! What else has the kid got going for him?" Dan yelled back, causing Nathan to cringe again, this time not out of annoyance but pain. He could tell the screams were coming from the living room, which meant in order to sneak upstairs, he'd have to creep through the door opening. Taking a breath, Nathan began to walk as quietly as he could towards the stairs.

And then the floor creaked.

Nathan stared back at the two pairs of eyes. His mothers seemed to melt from anger to apologetic instantly, but Dan's eyes stayed the same. Cold. Empty.

"Hey son. How was practice? Whitey working you hard?" Dan asked.

"Uh, yeah." Nathan replied, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"Well hopefully not too hard. Can't have the captain too tired before the game tomorrow. Can't wait to see it."

Deb shook her head. "Actually, your father and I won't be here for the weekend, Nathan. We got a call from your grandma, and Royal has to have a hip replacement surgery. So your father has to leave town for the weekend to be there for his father, right Dan?" Nathan raised his eyebrows. There didn't seem to be anything that would keep Dan from watching a game, not even his own father getting sick. How fucked was that?

Dan groaned. "Alright. But I'll be listening to it on the radio so don't let Whitey push you around. You need as much playing time and baskets as you can get. That old man shouldn't punish you for what I did." Nathan just nodded. Of course it was all about Dan, everything was.

Giving his parents a wave of his hand, Nathan quickly ran up the stairs. It only took about five seconds before the two of them started yelling at each other again. Nathan paused in the hallway to pull out his phone. Checking his texts, he was disappointed to see that none were from Brooke. He hadn't heard from her all day, and she and Rachel weren't at cheerleading practice. And if anyone would have understood how to get cheered up after hearing a parental screaming match, it would have been Brooke. The two of them were so similar in that aspect of their lives.

Walking in to his room, Nathan closed the door and glanced up to see a figure laying on his bed with his laptop.

"They've been going at it for about an hour." Brooke mumbled, clearly busy reading something online.

Nathan walked over and sat down on the bed beside her and stared down at her. He was trying to read her. He could immediately pick up on the fact that something was wrong. She looked so... sad. He just couldn't figure out why because he hadn't spoken to her all day. "What's going on Davis?" He asked.

Brooke sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I blew off last period and practice today to chill with Rachel, then I went home and my parents were screaming. So I came here." Brooke said softly. "Somehow your parents yelling don't bother me as much, because at least one of your parents cares about you." She looked up at her best friend and smiled a little. "Think I could sleep over here tonight?"

Nathan smiled and shook his head. "You know you don't even have to ask." He pointed out. It wasn't that odd for Brooke to stay over at his place. She got along well with Deb, and he knew that under her strong independent exterior, she just got lonely sometimes. Besides, how could he say no when those shining hazel eyes stared up at him?

No. Don't go there Nathan, he thought.

Brooke sent the laptop on the bedside table and leaped up giddily on to Nathan, wrapping her arms tight around him to give him a hug. He smelled the beer on her breath and he grinned, rolling his eyes a little. That explained the brief open display of vulnerability

Brooke squeezed him tighter. "Mmm, you're the best Natey." Nathan groaned and pushed her off.

"Don't call me that."

"Why? It's kinda cute. Naaatey. Nateyyyy." Brooke said, giggling her husky laugh.

"Why didn't I hear from you all day?" he blurted out. Brooke stared at him, stunned as to where that had come from. When the brunette just shrugged and he sighed. "C'mon, I'm not stupid-"

"Well some might argue that..." Brooke interrupted with a smirk

"Would you just tell me what's going on?" He finished.

Brooke sighed and sat up a little more on the bed. "I saw you talking to Peyton." She mumbled, looking down at her suddenly fascinating twiddling thumbs.

Nathan cocked up an eyebrow. "So? You know how she is, she was just being a bitch and trying to mess with my head. Did it bother you?"

Brooke shook her head. "No, don't be stupid Scott. I just don't want to see you get hurt again, you get all moody and whiney and what kind of fun is that?" She said with a smirk then whacked him with a pillow before hopping up and opening up a drawer. Pulling out a pair of his basketball shorts and a t-shirt, she scurried off to the bathroom.

Nathan shook his head before changing in to his pyjama pants and a t-shirt. When Brooke came back, he couldn't get over how cute she looked in his obviously way oversized clothes. He climbed into the bed and opened up the covers on the other side for her. Without a word, Brooke got on the foot of the bed and crawled up towards him before sliding into the covers.

Nathan found himself watching her every move, feeling almost entranced. He'd never looked at her like this before but the words Peyton had said, about him being into Brooke, floated around in his thoughts. She suddenly seemed so tempting, crawling towards him in his bed and then laying down beside him. The fact that she was wearing his clothes just seemed to make her even sexier.

"Hey Brooke?" he said into the dark room. When he got no response, he glanced over and could just make out her sleeping face. He grinned. It never took her long to fall asleep in his bed. It was nice to think that maybe here was the only place she felt comfortable enough to sleep peacefully. Usually, Nathan was the same. But tonight he found himself just watching her as she slept, thinking about everything. After a few minutes, he watched as her sleeping form moved towards him and snuggled up against his side and a small smile spread over her perfect lips. Nathan closed his eyes, ignoring the realisation that was coming over him. He just wrapped his arms around his best friend's small frame and let himself drift off to sleep with a smile on his face.


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