A/N: Just a reminder that I will be going to Australia for a month so will be documenting everything (random stuff, fun etc) all on instagram, sort of making a blog out of pictures. Follow me at _Flip_Flops_

I'm not an 'instagrammer' so it's empty right now, and will start as soon as I leave on Sunday!

Chapter 25

Nathan POV

"Are you sure it's not too soon for you to be back?" I asked Ally, opening the car door for her.

"Dad I'm fine! I'd be dying of boredom at home," I said.

"But you only got out the hospital on Saturday," I told her. I know she thought she was ok, but I didn't want her back in school until she was ready.

"Yeah and it's Tuesday. All I have is a fractured arm, and even that's technically not even fractured," she said taking her backpack from me and swinging it onto her other shoulder.

"Ok, well if you feel tired during the day come and fine me and I'll take you home," I said.

"I doubt I'll need to, but even if I did I wouldn't pull you out of class, I'll just call Brooke or something," I said.

I hesitated at her suggestion.

"What?" she asked, wondering why I slowed down.

"Nothing. I just haven't spoken to Brooke in a while," I told her.

"You still haven't called her?" Ally said. "Seriously you need to call her."

"It's not as easy as that," I said.

"It's only 'complicated' because you're making it 'complicated'," she replied, then added disapprovingly, "You're not still mad at her right?"

"No, of course not," I said.

"Good," Ally replied.

"I just didn't handle the situation well last time, and she probably doesn't even want to talk to me," I said. I wanted to call her, but every time I did I was scared of her slamming the phone down on me, and I wouldn't blame her if she did.

I had never actually been in this situation before where Brooke was mad at me. Sure she'd been 'mad' at me plenty of time, but all of those times were for stupid reasons and never lasted long. We'd never really had a proper argument, which was weird considering we were two of the most opinionated people I knew.

"So you're scared?"

"I'm not scared!" I lied. I felt as weird as I did after not speaking to Brooke for four days, I didn't know how I would handle not talking to her for even longer because she didn't want to speak to me.

"She's your best friend, it'll be fine," Ally assured me.

"My best friend?" I repeated, listening to the label on our relationship.

"Well she is your best friend isn't she?" Ally asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, I guess she is," I said truthfully.

"Well go speak to her. Today," Ally said.

"Speaking of best friends," I said seeing Danny and Lisa spot us across the parking lot.

"Bye," she said walking up to them.

I pulled out my phone as I walked toward the building and my finger lingered on 'Brooke' which was at the top of my favourites list, the only name that didn't have a second name attached to it. I'd dialled her without thinking millions of times before, but I couldn't do it now.

Why was I so worried about her response?

I dropped the phone into my jacket pocket and told myself I'd deal with it during my lunch break.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Brooke POV

"Hello?" I said balancing the phone on my shoulder as I poured milk into my cereal.

"Good, I caught you! I called at the store but your little worker girl said you were at home," I heard Mom say.

"Her name is Millie, and you know that," I said like I had many times before.

"I can never remember the name of the staff sweetheart, you know that," she said and I rolled my eyes.

"Not even the name of my nanny who lived with us for four years," I added.

"Yes well after I caught her with your father I'm glad I never bothered to learn her name!" she said and I crinkled my nose at the thought.

"How can I help you Mother?" I asked.

"I have fantastic news!" she said and I could hear the excitement in her voice.

"It's true, Red Satin is going under! The whole company's been liquidated!" she said.

"And that is great because…?"

" I called the top realtor in the area and sure enough I was right and they were the ones handling the floor space! Now it hadn't been released to the press yet that Red Satin is over, and once it's made public every designer in the half the country will try and get their hands on the space!"

"You think we should have it?" I asked.

"I don't think Brooke! I can't believe you have to! This is 5th Avenue!" she said and I automatically felt butterflies in my stomach at the location.

"Do we even have a shot?" I asked.

"If we act before their press conference then we have the best chance!" Mom explained.

"I don't know…"

"Brooke I don't think you understand what I'm saying. It's 5th Avenue!"

"I know," I said. "I just need to think about opening another store."

"It's not just another store! 5th Avenue would be so much more than just a store! It would be everything! Brooke you'd get to do marketing, and photo shoots and magazines, and—"

"I know Mom," I said. Everything she'd described to me would be the step up from sitting in a store all day which is what I was doing now. I loved my store, it was my baby, and I'd built it up. Even I had to admit though I needed something else to do now. I needed a step more. But was this really it?

"I looked at the books, and we just need a little investment. If you were to use the money in your trust fund I think you'd make it back within a year."

"You looked into it?" I asked her.

"Well I wasn't going to get your hopes up if you couldn't do it," she said, and I smiled at her consideration.

"What's holding you back darling?" she asked.

"Well it's a massive thing. It would mean I would need to be there, I couldn't do it from here," I said.

"Well of course you couldn't, but why would you even want to try? You have staff in the store in Tree Hill."

"It's not just about that. I have a life here," I said.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Mom asked. "Is that it?"

"No I don't have a boyfriend Mom," I said.

"Well then you need one," she said. "There are plenty of eligible men here in the city, trust me I know."

"Mom! I do not need to hear that!" I said putting my spoon back into the bowl, my appetite gone.

"Ok fine. Brooke just promise me you will think about this properly? You don't have anything in Tree Hill holding you back! This is your dream! It's actually here, and it's waiting for you to come and claim it!"

"Mom—"

"I don't know if you'll ever get this chance again!" she said.

"Ok fine, I'll think it over," I said.

"Good. The press conference is in a few weeks, so think fast," she said.

"Ok, I will," I said.

"Bye honey," she said putting the phone down.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ally POV

"Jeez was your Dad that mad?" I heard Alex say from behind me. I turned around, putting my bag on my shoulder and trying to balance my textbooks on my hip with my good arm.

"Ha ha. You are so hilarious," I said in monotone.

"What happened?" he asked frowning as we started walking to class.

"Car accident. Drunk driver. Long story," I explained, concentrating on readjusting the books.

Alex rolled his eyes and took the books out my hand and added them to his own pile as if he was irritated by me slowing us down.

"Are you ok though?" he asked.

"Yeah it looks worse than it is," I said.

"It actually looks pretty cool," he said looking at the graffiti covering the whole cast in black marker.

"Courtesy of Aunt Peyton," I said.

"Aunt Peyton?" he asked.

"Yeah she part owns Tric," I said.

"You have connections everywhere don't you Scott?" he asked.

"You'd think it would get me out PE and let me near the bar, but not so much," I said stopping as Alex paused outside his Physics class.

"You got them?" he asked, handing me my books.

"Yeah," I said holding onto them and walking toward my own Spanish Class. Before I could get very far though my books were pulled out my grasp.

"Hey!" I said automatically.

"I want to talk," Austin said.

"Give them back," I said firmly, not bothering to try and reach my books myself because I knew I wouldn't get very far.

"I will. As soon as we're done talking," he said.

"Austin I have class in like thirty seconds," I said.

"Will you talk to me after?" he asked.

"No."

"Then I guess you'll be late to class," he said walking down the hallway. I had no choice but to follow him, considering he had my all my books.

He only walked around the corner though where there were less students.

"Now I just want to talk," he said.

"Well I don't want to talk. I don't see what we even have to talk about," I said.

"You know what? I'm done chasing you. I do not chase people! I don't even know why I bothered with you? I should have listened to pretty much everyone when they asked me why I was going out with you apart from the obvious benefits of dating the Coach's daughter of course," he said smirking.

I paused in my spot, hearing the words come out his mouth.

"You don't mean that," I said.

"Yeah actually I do. Why do you think I was with Kimberly? Because she's pretty much everything you're not, which pretty much made her perfect."

I could hear a little voice inside me telling me to stand up to myself but the voice kept getting quieter and I couldn't force myself to listen.

He pushed past me and my eyes blurred with tears even though I tried not to cry. I didn't bother to wipe away my tears and walked out the back doors and sitting down at the picnic table, in the now silent quad since everyone was now as class.

What the hell was wrong with me?

I heard a thump beside me and I jumped in surprise. My books landed in a neat pile beside me, and I vaguely remember Austin dropping them on the floor, and me not bothering to pick them up before I left.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked staring at me intently.

"You saw?"

"I was about to go to class when I saw Austin making a bee line for you. I followed," he said slipping into the seat beside me.

The events of the last ten minutes but me all at once and my eyes filled with tears again.

"Don't waste your tears on Austin. I know he hurt you but—"

"He didn't hurt me," I said automatically, slightly confused to why concern came out of his mouth instead of a snarky comment.

"What?" he asked confused. "Are you sure the doctors said you were over your concussion?"

"I'm fine," I said. "Of course he hurt me but he sort of didn't."

"Ally, you are really hard to figure out," he said.

I readjusted the way I was sitting so my leg was curled under me and I was more comfortable.

"When I saw Kimberly and Austin together, I didn't feel anything real," I said. I started picking at the strap on my bag to give me something to do as I continued, not even half sure why I was about to let Alex into the intimate details of my relationship. "Me and Austin haven't been ok in a long time. We were just kidding ourselves. It's probably better it all turned out this way."

I can't believe I had just told him that. They were my innermost thoughts and I had just shared them with Alex.

"Then why were you so upset?" he asked, and I wondered what the sudden interest was. Well it was probably my own fault with the intriguing information.

"Umm, I don't know. Maybe the shock? And I guess it still hurt to be lied to."

"No I mean now. Why were you so upset?"

"Well it hurts to hear someone voice everything you always thought in your head," I said. "I was pretty stupid to believe he could actually like me for real."

"Tell me you're joking," Alex said. "Ally, Austin is not worth anything, trust me. You on the other hand are. It's his loss."

"Alex Taylor just told me I'm worth it. You're right, maybe I am still concussed and I'm hallucinating," I joked, making the situation less serious.

He reached over and wiped away one of the tears that had escaped earlier and was lingering on my face. I tensed as his thumb made contact with my face, the last thing I expected to happen. He seem just as shocked by him intimate action as I was but he didn't pull his hand away.

"I was just trying to be nice," he said softly. "But you know I don't actually think any of that."

"Well thanks for pretending," I played along in such a soft voice I didn't think he'd heard. He still hadn't moved his hand and I could literally feel it pulsing on my face, a constant reminder that it was there.

"You're welcome," he replied, telling me that he had heard.

His eyes locked onto mine as he spoke, and like his thumb, neither of us broke away.

We sat there for a few seconds in silence, in the same positions, and I could be wrong but I felt like something big was about to hap—

The shrill bell rang through school, and the outdoor bell was situation right above our heads, making it extra loud. We sprung apart as soon as it sounded, and floods of students filtered into the quad, moving to their next class.

"We um..should .." I stumbled.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Although sitting in there doing Math is the last thing I want to do after this morning," I said.

"Then don't," he said.

"Huh?"

"Can I take you somewhere?" he asked.

"You want to leave?" I asked.

"You just said you don't want to sit in class," he said.

"Well sure, but I didn't mean—" I started.

"Think fast," he said as a group of teachers started walking past. Once they made it across the quad they would probably linger until everyone went to class, and we'd have no way to head out the gates. It was now or never.

"Alex…"

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: I can't wait to finish this story! Only because my planning is getting somewhere and so it the Brathan soon. Brace yourselves…

As long as I don't have to wait ages for reviews I'm hoping to post one chapter per every other day! I know! Exciting right! I for one can't wait the 24 hours plane ride so I can write!