AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks so much to all of you who've reviewed this story. This chapter is a little bit of fluff for you. I promise there's more drama coming but I thought you'd deserved a little sweetness before we get to that.
"Nope. Not happening. Don't bring that in here."
"Funny, that's exactly what my prom date said to me," Clay joked.
Brooke just scoffed undeterred by his jokes. "Seriously, Clay, you're making my house look like an Applebee's with all this sports memorabilia."
They were in the process of moving all of his stuff into her house. Since Clay was just renting his beach house, it made more sense for him to move in with her. Also, her place was closer to the marina where he kept his boat.
"Your place. I thought you said I should think of this as OUR house now," he argued.
"It is OUR place. And you should be relieved that your place comes fully decorated already," she smirked.
"Well, OUR place makes my testosterone drop to dangerously low levels. We're only a flower or two away from becoming a lesbian couple," he bantered.
"Fine by me," she teased. "You'll need to shave more though," she added touching his scruffy cheek.
The ringing of the doorbell was a welcome break from their argument.
"Hey guys," Brooke greeted as she opened the door revealing Nathan and Haley.
"We thought you might need a little help moving," Haley announced.
"Or a break from it," Nathan added holding up the beer he'd brought over.
"Bless you, my son," Clay praised as he quickly grabbed a beer and took a sip.
"What do you think of this?" Clay asked as he held up the Fenway Park sign he wanted to hang up. They were currently on their third round of beers as they sat in the living room. Clay and Brooke had explained the argument they'd been having before the married couple had arrived and now wanted them to weigh in with their own opinions.
"I like it," Nathan shrugged.
"Yes," Clay shouted taunting Brooke about the support he'd just won.
"That doesn't count. Everyone knows that Nathan has no taste. Hello, his best friend in high school was Tim Smith," Brooke argued.
"Hey," Nathan yelped.
"What do you think, Haley?" Brooke asked raising her eyebrows desperately wanting Haley to support her—while Clay also gave her pleading eyes.
She simply shook her head no.
"Ha!" Brooke exclaimed raising her hand triumphantly. "I win."
"How? It's two-to-two," Clay argued.
"Please, Haley was valedictorian that makes her vote count twice," Brooke exclaimed.
"So was I," Clay countered.
"Dude, you were a nerd?" Nathan wondered.
"Hey!" both Clay and Haley snapped.
"You were a valedictorian. How did I not know this?" Brooke asked.
"It never came up," he shrugged.
"How do I know you're not lying to try to win an argument?" Brooke questioned.
"My yearbook has got to be in one of these boxes," he offered as he began rummaging through a box.
"Well, as much as I would like to see photos of Clay's past, we need to pick up Jamie from Deb's," Haley announced as she and Nathan made their way toward the door.
"Thanks for coming over guys," Brooke said genuinely as she hugged them goodbye. Clay thanked them as well and said goodbye.
"Here it is," Clay announced as he pulled an old yearbook from one of the boxes. He thumbed through it until he found the page he wanted to show her.
"Well, what do you know? I moved in with a nerd," she teased.
"Don't hate me because I'm smart AND beautiful," Clay joked.
"Okay, smart guy—what are we going to do?" she said motioning to all the items they had yet to agree on. "I mean how are we going to make this work?"
Clay knew she was referring more to the room. He knew at some point her insecurities about moving forward in their relationship would start to pop up and he could see that they were starting to get the best of her.
"Hey," he said moving toward her and pulling her into his arms. "We can do this. We both have to give a little, which shouldn't be hard because let's face it we're both givers," he smirked referring to their bedroom habits.
"Perv," she elbowed him but smiled just the same. "What if we made one of the upstairs rooms an office? You could put a lot your sports stuff in there," she suggested.
"There we go," he praised. "That's a good idea. How about this room?" he said motioning to Peyton's old room.
"We can't put it there. That's gonna be the baby's room," she reasoned and then her eyes bulged as she realized what she'd just said.
"The what?" his voice sounding unusually high indicating his shock at what she said. "Baby's room? Brooke, are you pregnant?"
"No. No. No no no," she said shaking her emphatically as she watched the relief wash over his face.
"So what did you mean then?" he wondered.
And now it was her turn to sweat.
Noticing her hesitation, "come on. Tell me," he encouraged.
"I just have thought that room would make a nice nursery someday. It has nice light and it's close to our bedroom," she explained. When he didn't respond, she feared that she'd freaked him out about the thought of having children together. They'd just moved in together. "I mean in the far distant future," she added. "We're talking years from now. You know what if you want to make it your office, we can do that. Forget what I said."
"Brooke, I'm fine," he interrupted her ramble. "We can put my office somewhere else. It's no big deal."
"You're not freaked out about what I said?" she questioned knowing that he seemed a little rattled.
"I'm fine," he answered. "I guess I'm just a little surprised that you thinking about stuff like that. Don't get me wrong; I want kids…with you… someday. I guess I'm just not in any rush. Is that okay?" he worried.
"That's fine," she smiled. "We just moved into together. I wasn't planning on us having a baby now."
"Okay, good," he grinned. "Because I want to fully enjoy our time being able to walk around the house naked without worrying about scarring our children."
"You walk around naked?" she asked realizing that they both might have a lot to learn about each others living habits.
"Of course," he shrugged. "Don't you?"
"Not really," she replied. "But I guess that might be because I usually had roommates."
"Well, we've got to change that," he mused. "How do you feel about naked Saturdays?"
"I don't know," she hesitated.
"Tell you what. You agree to naked Saturdays and I'll put all my sports stuff in the basement."
"Really?" she asked.
"Yes. It makes more sense to put my office down there anyway since there's an outdoor entrance," he reasoned. "And as long as you promise to try to make our bedroom a little less girly I can live with everything else."
"You've got yourself a deal, Evans!" she grinned.
"Okay, now what do you say we call it a night and finish the rest tomorrow," he said the tiredness evident in his voice.
She felt herself nodding in agreement as she was tired too. He wrapped his arm around her as they made their way to the bedroom.
"It's going to suck having to finish this tomorrow," she mentioned as they walked past all the boxes they still had to unpack.
"Well, there is one good thing about it," he grinned. "Tomorrow's Saturday."
Please review it means a lot to me. And if you have any ideas for what you'd like to see send them my way. I could use some help to fight off writer's block. I will do my best to incorporate your ideas if I can. Thanks again.