Chapter Fifteen

"National Disgrace"

"It's all about the hangovers, and late checkouts. Maid banging on the door like, "Wake up! Get Out!" But Come on mami, y'all probably don't want me comin'
Out like a Zombie brushing teeth in the lobby." The music by 'Atmosphere' blared over Nathan's speakers as he drove out of Tree Hill. He had just gotten off the phone with Tim and was taking Brooke to her surprise.

'Where are we going?" Brooke asked watching the road pass her by.

"Remember how you brought me to that basketball signing?" he asked her. "You kept it a surprise the whole time. Why would I tell you where we are going?" he smiled.

"But you didn't even plan on seeing me today, how could you have planned a surprise for me?"

Nathan smiled. "Don't worry about it," he laughed. The two of them sat quietly listening to the music for almost two hours. It was starting to get dark when they finally stopped the car. "Ready?" Nathan asked.

Brooke nodded, "Give me one second," she asked pulling out her cell phone and calling Karen. "Hi Karen," Brooke smiled at Nathan. "I'm in Charleston with Peyton," she lied. "Yeah, Peyton's car got a flat tire and she doesn't want to drive home tonight. Do you mind if we stay in a hotel? Yeah Peyton's dad is going to let her use his Visa to get a room. Alright, Thanks, I will, bye." She hung up the phone.

Nathan laughed at her. "Brooke Davis, you're going to get yourself in trouble."

"Naw," she smiled. "So what are we doing?"

Nathan opened the door for her and told her to follow him. Brooke nervously walked over wet grass until she saw a dirt driveway leading to a small log cabin over looking a lake. "Do you like it?" he asked.

Brooke shrugged. "I guess, where are we?"

Nathan smiled, "We, are at my dad's cabin." He told her. "He bought it a couple years before, well you know. He told me about it, and said he planned on giving it to me when I got older. I came out here once with Haley to get a key but I've never been inside." He lied. The truth was him and Haley both had keys. They had been to the cabin tons of times. He didn't want to tell Brooke because he was afraid she wouldn't think it would be as special.

"Wow," Brooke smiled. "Does your mom know about it?"

Nathan shook his head no. "She's never seen it before. She has no idea, and she never will."

Brooke's smile faded. She wanted to talk to Nathan about seeing his mom but decided this wasn't the right time. "So what are we doing here?" she asked. She didn't want to be mean but this wasn't exactly her idea of a surprise.

Nathan laughed. "Tim came up here to get it ready." He told her. "I've actually never seen it. I left this one up to Tim."

"You actually called Tim and asked him to drive all the way here for me?"

Nathan nodded. "I wanted to do something fun for you. I called him before we left. He drove up here right away. We probably actually passed him on our way up.

"Wow Nathan, that was really nice of you."

"Tell me about it," he grabbed Brooke's hand and walked inside the cabin with her.

Brooke looked around at the beautiful wood walls surrounding her. For being a cabin in the woods it was gorgeous. All of the furniture matched the wood on the walls. It had a very cozy setting. Nathan walked through the living area and put some wood in the fireplace. It immediately lit up the room. "Wow," Brooke smiled. There was a kitchen off the living room made completely of wood with glass doors. "This is amazing."

Nathan smiled. He walked into the bedroom. The bed was also made of wood and held a black satin comforter. On the bed lay two red roses. He hadn't expected Tim to do so well. He felt Brooke's hands on his shoulders behind him. "Wow, Tim really did this one up huh?" she smiled. "Who would have thought."

"Yeah," he smiled. "Who would have thought?" He looked at Brooke's make-up free eyes. He loved the fact that they would share an evening without getting dressed up. Of course he loved the way she looked when she was dressed up, but at this second he had never seen someone so beautiful. She was gorgeous.

Brooke's lips parched as she stared back at him. He was staring at her like he had never seen her before. She suddenly felt nervous. "What?" she smiled. "Do I have something on my face?"

Nathan shook his head. He put his arm across her shoulder and pulled her close to him. He bent down kissing her and smiling at the same time. He didn't know what came over. Sure they had been hanging out and went out as friends. Sure they had kissed, but until now he still thought of her as his friend.

Brooke smiled as she felt Nathan pull her tank top over her head. His arm body suddenly felt cold. She noticed the window open behind them. "Just a second," she whispered. She walked to the window and shut it. Nathan watched as her body sat down on the bed.

He moved over her, pulling her jogging pants from her body. He couldn't remove the smile from his face. "I told you we could only hang out today if you didn't touch me," she reminded him.

Nathan smiled. "Are you sure,"

Brooke shook her head and quickly threw his shirt on the floor. "Not a chance."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hey there gorgeous." Jake smiled at Peyton as he walked into her bedroom.

Peyton jumped startled to see him. "Jake?" she whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Jake looked at her with confusion. Tears were coming down from her eyes as she lay on her bed. Jake looked down and saw the container of Coke lying on her bed. "What is this?"

Peyton was crying harder now. "I didn't do it," she told him.

"I brought Jenny to her grandma's. She's going to stay there for a week, but I wanted to come back and be with you for a while. I would have come sooner if I knew this is what you would be doing." He threw the container in the garbage.

Peyton shook her head and pulled it out of the garbage. She walked into the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet. "I didn't do it Jake. This guy gave it to me. I went and saw my mom. I was just so upset; I couldn't bring myself to throw it out right away."

Jake pulled her close to him. "Peyton, its okay, its okay." He held her. "You didn't do it, that's all that matters."

Peyton nodded. That was the truth. She hadn't intended to do it; she was just too scared to throw it away. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Jake pulled her away from him and cleared the curls stuck to her face by tears. "You have nothing to be sorry for," he said. "We're going to get through this together."

"Get through what?" she asked. "I'm not doing drugs; I don't need to get passed anything."

Jake shook his head. "No, I meant what's going on with your mom."

Peyton looked at him confused. "My mom is dead."

"Oh," Jake said softly. "I guess I thought you went to see that woman who told you she's your real mom."

Peyton started to cry again. "Ellie? No. I don't care if it's true or not. She's not my mother,"

Jake nodded and hugged her again. "I know," he whispered. "I know." The truth was, he didn't know.

Jake went to see Whitey a few days prior. He asked him about Peyton's mother. Peyton had been a cheerleader so he figured he would know. Whitey wasn't sure. He said she took a year off from school, only doing classes from home. He figured that was while she was pregnant. He had never actually seen her pregnant stomach. Anything was possible.

Haley sat down on a bench outside of the amusement park. Lucas stood in front of her eating cotton candy. "That was so much fun!" she smiled. "I'm glad we did this."

Lucas smiled back at her. "We should get back soon. It's really dark outside, and it's a long drive." Haley nodded and walked to the car with him. They had been driving for a couple hours when Haley told him to make a left. "Where are we going?" Lucas asked surprised at her suddenly.

Haley smiled at him. "Call your mom and tell her we're staying in Charleston or something. Nathan's dad bought him a cabin up here. We could stay there, and have a bon fire, and make s'mores." She suggested.

Lucas laughed and called his mom. "Brooke is apparently staying in Charleston with Peyton," he laughed after he hung up.

"Yeah right." Haley smiled. "She's probably trying to cover up where she really is. And anyway, how's he going to find out?" she asked holding up the key. "He's in Tree Hill. The last time I knew he went there was with me right before I left."

"Alright," Lucas accepted. He drove into the driveway of the cabin and saw Nathan's car.

"Oh my God," Haley cried. "We have to go, he's here!"

"I thought you said he wouldn't be here!" Lucas exclaimed. He started to back out of the driveway when he saw Nathan walking around the side of the house. "Great job Haley. He saw us, we can't just leave."

Haley nervously watched Nathan walking toward them. He saw Brooke coming a few feet behind him. Brooke was wearing a pair of Nathan's sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt.

"What are you doing here?" Nathan asked watching Lucas rolled down his window.

Lucas wasn't sure what to say. "Um, we have a long drive home; Haley suggested that we stay here. She was going to call you and make sure it was okay."

"No, it's not okay." He said looking in the window at Haley. "It's not even close to okay."

Brooke walked up next to Nathan and put her arm around his waste. "Nathan it's okay. Let them stay here."

"What?" Nathan looked at her in shock. "No," he mouthed.

Brooke shook her head. "Come on, it's a long drive. It will be fine," she promised.

"Fine," Nathan accepted. "Park in the grass." He walked away from the car and Brooke followed.

"Wow," Haley whispered. "This is going to be awkward."

Lucas nodded. "Very,"

Haley laughed. "They're kind of touchy don't you think?" Haley asked.

Lucas agreed. "Very," he repeated. They climbed out of the car and walked toward the backyard.

Brooke was sitting on a lawn chair in front of a fire and Nathan was sitting next to her holding a bottle of wine. "How special." Haley muttered.

Lucas smiled and nodded his head. "This should be fun."

So it took me quite a long time to write this chapter. It's a bit longer than the others. This is also one of my favorite chapters so far. I love writing Brooke/Nathan scenes. Thanks for the wonderful reviews. Someone asked about a Brooke/Lucas friendship.. and I'll just tell you.. they will become friends again eventually.