Dedication: Mac, Alex, Andrea, Em, Marja... this one is for you!! Enjoy!

Chapter 5

Sitting cross legged in the backseat of Nathan's car, Brooke watched everything pass quickly by. She felt like she was fast forwarding a movie that she had put off seeing. They passed the trees so swiftly that they seemed like a long stream of green. She turned to Lauren who was talking to Jake and Nathan. Brooke zoned back out, focusing on nothing at all.

She chewed on her calloused lip and put her hands in her lap. She reached into her pocket and fiddled with its contents, a bracelet that Nathan had given her and a tiny piece of paper reading I heart U. The bracelet had their initials on the back of it. He gave it to her to match the carved tree. NS BD. Brooke had given Nathan a piece of paper to keep in his basketball bag. It read, I love you. Nathan gave her one in return to put in her wallet.

She missed it. The way, when they were together. Sometimes she thought about how everything would have been so much easier if they could have gone and lived on some private island, away from everything and everyone. Maybe if they had, they would still be together. Maybe not.

Jake looked back at her. The curve of her neck to shoulders made him so desperately put his hands there, rubbing her shoulders and telling her, "Maybe you don't need him. If you all were supposed to be together you would be". Reassuring her and making all her fears fly away. They would be together and would share the happiness that had been missing in their lives for so long.

Brooke let the pressure off her lip and turned to the model. Her long tanned legs were crossed. She had a perfectly round freckle on her calf. Even her abnormalities are perfect, Brooke thought running her fingers through her hair and down her shoulder. He watched her every move, wishing that her hand was his.

"...what do you think?"

She felt a hand on her leg and turned. It was Lauren. "What? I'm sorry. I was just kinda..."

Lauren smiled at her. It was an earnest smile that made Brooke really feel like the model might acitually understand her. Brooke felt like she definitely needed someone like that in her life right now. She wished that she hadn't met Lauren under these circumstances, but she thought that they could still be friends. Well, maybe friends.

"No, don't worry about it. We all have our moments." Lauren put her hand on top of Brooke's. "We were just saying that we should go to this club right outside of Chapel Hill sometime."

"Yeah, well maybe we could go to ICE tonight." Brooke said.

Lauren nodded. "I am always up for a good club and a good drink." Brooke knew she liked this girl for a reason.

The girls laughed and started talking about everything under the sun. Nathan drove onto his parent's new estate that had been purchased just two months before Dan's death. Deb was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair. When she saw the group spill out of the car, she excitedly jumped out of the chair and ran toward them.

"Jake!" She hugged him, kissed him on the cheek and pushed him back leaving her hands on his shoulders. "You are such a handsome devil and I saw you gorgeous daughter the other day. What a doll!"

Jake smiled and watched her move on down the line. She stood in front of Brooke. She took her hands and led her toward the house. "We have a lot to talk about, dear."

"Well this is a great start to my trip home. Deb you just said more to me in that sentence than you ever said to me while I was with Nathan."

"Brooke lets not start out like this."

"I didn't start anything; you are the one who started it you and Dan, five years ago when Nathan and I were together."

Light drops of rain started to fall. Jake took Brooke by the arm, "We need to get inside." He pointed to the sky. A dark, dreary cloud covered the estate. She gave in and let Jake lead her into the Scott mansion.

You could tell Nathan was an only child. The house was like a shrine to him and everything he had done. Pictures of him as a child, his basketball trophies, everything that had to do with Nathan was at the entrance of the house. Brooke ran her fingers over the picture frames thinking about where each picture was taken. One picture was of Nathan at a basketball game; Brooke was in the background cheering.

"Bet you didn't know you had a picture of me in this house, did ya?" She held up the picture, showing it to Deb.

Deb wanted to slap the cunning smile off her face. She wanted to so badly to be cruel to Brooke, but just couldn't. "No, well wait, yes I did know you were in there."

Lauren took the frame from Brooke and looked closely at it. "You were a cheerleader?"

"Guilty." She laughed and watched Lauren but the picture back. She followed Deb into the living room and took a seat on the couch. "So, the house is immaculate." She pointed toward the "shrine". "You can tell that you adore Nathan."

"You did too." Deb said, quickly. She looked at Lauren who was truly confused.

Nathan had never told her about him and Brooke's relationship. He had contemplated it, but decided that he wouldn't tell her until they had met. Now it was going to be ever harder. Especially since the two were getting along so surprisingly well.

Although Nathan really wasn't surprised that Lauren and Brooke got along. Lauren was a blonde Brooke. They dressed the same but more importantly they had this presence about them. Lauren could only have hoped to be like Brooke. Part of Nathan wondered if the reason he was attracted to Lauren was because she was like Brooke was when they first were together.

The answer was yes. When Brooke left, Nathan was distraught. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He felt that she was the one for him. She left because she couldn't take it anymore. Instead of staying with him because she loved him she left because she was scared.

He was scared too. He never would have admitted it, but he was. He was scared then and he was scared now. He was scared that now that she was here that everything would be awkward and he didn't want that. He wished that they could just be friend again. That was all. Nothing more, nothing less. Definitely nothing less but maybe something more.

Brooke gave Deb a look. The Brooke Davis look. Yes she did adore Nathan. She thought that Nathan was the man of her dreams. He was her knight in shining armor and she was going to be the princess that she always knew she was meant to be. They would live this perfect fairytale, full of sunsets and happy endings. She wondered if fairytales ever took detours. Hopefully they did.

She began chewing on her lip and so desperately wanted to leave. Some how Lauren must have know. "Hey Brooke, would you want to go to the mall or go get some food or something?"

"Yes, definitely." She jumped off of the couch and followed Lauren.

Lauren looked back at Nathan, "Can I take the SUV?" Nathan nodded and tossed her the keys. She caught them; almost dropping them on to the marble tiled floor, and headed out the 12 foot maple door.

She started the car and looked over to Brooke. "Guess what?"

Brooke smiled, "What?"

Reaching into her purse and pulled out her credit card, "Daddy's card. The BLACK card."

"Shut up." Brooke snatched the card out of her hands and studied it. "I asked for one of these. I can't believe it."

She took the card back from her and put the car in reverse, "Shall we?"

Brooke nodded at her, "Yes we shall."

This was going to be a very exciting and interesting friendship. Good, bad, and everything in between. Who ever thought that two girls who had dated the same guy could have ever been friends? It did help that Lauren didn't know. Things might have been different if she had.

Author Note: What do you think? Like Lauren? Hate Lauren? Like Jake/Brooke? Want Brooke/Nathan? Tell me, you all might help me!