Chapter Four-He looked like a love sick puppy

Nathan finished washing his car and climbed inside to go to the grocery store. It had been almost two weeks since the night of his graduation and he hadn't seen anyone from school, including Brooke. He reached for his ringing cell phone and saw Brooke's number. He hit the ignore button and continued driving. She had called him a few times, but he didn't really want to talk to her.

Brooke threw the phone across the room with anger. She didn't know why this was such a big deal to her. She had hooked up with random guys plenty of times, why did this upset her so much? She picked up her car keys and decided she would head to his house.

Nathan was carrying groceries in when she pulled into his driveway blocking him in. She smiled at him and grabbed a bag from the backseat carrying it into his house. Ever since his dad passed away when his dealership suddenly burned down, Nathan had done a lot to help out his mom. "Hey," she smiled at him once inside the house.

Nathan sat the last bag down and took the one she was holding. "Oh hey," he said surprised to see her. "Sorry I haven't called you back," he lied.

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Nathan, it's obvious you are avoiding me."

Nathan shrugged, "I guess you got me. I'm sorry."

Brooked nodded, "Its okay. Do you have time to talk?" The two of them sat down at the kitchen table.

"Look Brooke, you don't have to try and explain anything, what's happened, happened. There is nothing we can change about it."

"Nate?" she said with worry in her voice. "Can I tell you something?" He shook his head yes. "I'm not sure why, but I've been really upset about this all week because well, I don't know if it was such a bad thing."

"What?" Nathan exclaimed.

"Okay obviously you do."

Nathan didn't say anything for a few minuets. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we're good as friend's right? Why couldn't something work between us? We've both been through the same type of things,"

Nathan wasn't sure what to say. He had never really thought about dating Brooke. He actually hadn't really thought about her much at all. Nobody even knew they were friends, how would they react to them being something more? It was true though, he had been pretty torn up about what happened. It's not like he hadn't slept with other girls since Haley. Why would it matter if he slept with Brooke if it didn't mean something more? "I don't know."

"Okay." She said. She was unusually nervous. She stood up and walked to the door. "I'll see you around Nate."

"Brooke wait." He called out to her. He stood up and walked to the door. She stood looking up at him. He looked down on her and smiled. "Never mind." He sighed. He watched her leave. He had no idea how to control the way he was feeling.

Lucas walked onto the basketball court where he found Nathan shooting hoops by himself. "Hey." He said grabbing the ball from him and throwing it into the hoop.

Nathan nodded and took the ball back. "Look man, I just want to shoot some hoops." He said ignoring the fact that Lucas was even there.

Lucas nodded, "I know, I was just thinking maybe you wanted to talk about what happened graduation night." He suggested.

Nathan suddenly grew nervous. Did Brooke say something to him? Of course she didn't, she hated Lucas. "What?"

"With Haley"

"Oh. No, not really."

"Alright" Lucas accepted. The two of them spent over an hour without speaking.

"What was she thinking?" Nathan asked out of the blue. "Chris? Why would she let Chris come to our graduation?"

Lucas shook his head. "I'm not really sure man. I think she's just trying to move on with her life. It wasn't the best way to do it, but you want to move on too don't you?"

"I guess." He nodded. "I don't know man, I just cant figure all this shit out."

Brooke picked up a black lace tank top and put it on the counter of the store. "Two hundred and ten dollars." The sales woman told are.

"Two hundred and ten dollars?" she exclaimed. "Never mind," she sighed. She turned around and walked toward the exit of the store. She stormed into the food court and bought herself a smoothie. She set her head on the table and closed her eyes. Why was she feeling so terrible? Maybe it was partly because she shopping alone. Or maybe it was because of the events earlier in the day with Nathan. She couldn't believe she had suggested being together with him. That was the worst idea she ever came up with in her life. They were friends, and they made a mistake. Now all she wanted to do was get their friendship back.

"Hey," she heard Nathan's voice smile in front of her. She lifted up her head as he sat down. He plopped a brown Gucci bag on the table.

Brooke's eye lit up as she ripped into the bag. He had bought the tank top for her. "Oh my God!" she cried grabbing him and hugging him. "What is this for?"

"For earlier, I'm sorry for the way I reacted to what you said." He apologized.

"It's okay. It was stupid anyway."

Nathan nodded. He knew it wasn't stupid. He just couldn't get a handle of his feelings just yet so he agreed with her. "Do you think it's possible to get our secret friendship back?"

"Well of course it is puppy!" she had given him this nickname when they first started hanging out together. He was always depressed and drinking over Haley like a love sick puppy. It almost reminded her of her start with Lucas. She had called him Broody and he had called her cheery. Nathan however never called her anything other than Brooke, and that was fine with her.

"Want go get some lunch?" he suggested. Brooke took his arm and nodded.