My Favorite Mistake

By: aspdstra

RATING: T

PAIRING: N/B

SUMMARY: Set during senior year at Tree Hill High; If it was a mistake, it wouldn't keep happening...

DISCLAIMER: No. I wouldn't even go there. So don't you.

A/N: Hi all! So really the only thing you need to know here is that everything leading up to Haley's musical collaboration with Chris has happened, and Nathan is still with her. You'll see how Brooke factors into the equation soon enough. Read on.

CHAPTER 1

What was it about Nathan's house that attracted random people whom he didn't really know to come in, drink an assload of alcohol and trash everything, then leave without so much as a please or a thank you and repeat the same cycle the very next weekend? Surveying his surroundings, he contemplated that concept with heightened weariness, seeing as how he'd have to deal with the horrendous mess all by his lonesome. Haley was probably off appealing to her musical side, Lucas was with Anna, Peyton was with Jake. Who did he really have left?

"Looks like you need a hand," a sultry female voice said from behind him.

When he'd turned to see who it was, he was shocked to find Brooke Davis, standing in his doorway in some anonymously hot black halter top/jean mini-skirt combo with heels, grinning her dimpled grin. Returning the grin and rolling his eyes, he responded, "Actually, I need about fifty of 'em."

"Well let me help."

"No, that's cool. I got it."

Brooke started picking up random pieces of trash, ignoring his refusal. "What happened to the fifty hands?"

He nodded. "Probably got put to good use building up my ego."

She laughed at his honesty, tossing the debris in the large trash bag he was carrying around. "Don't worry. It's inherent to your gender, not wanting help. Won't hold it against you." As she nudged him conspiratorially and gave him a wink, he had to smirk a little.

They didn't speak for a while, which was okay, since the monotonous activity of cleaning didn't really need a narrative. There were various exchanges of pleasant looks and friendly gestures, and that was about it. Surprisingly, the task got finished a lot quicker that way, and they both stared at the endless pile of full trash bags sitting in Nathan's living room.

"Well aren't we just masters of the universe," Brooke commented finally, earning another grin from Nathan.

"I guess we do kinda rock, don't we?"

"Kinda? Speak for yourself, Buster, I know I rock."

He chuckled. "Oh right, silly me, I forgot."

She pushed him lightly and let her eyes wander before she spoke again. "Where's Haley?"

Brooke felt bad for asking once she saw Nathan involuntarily tense up at her question, but he answered anyway. "Probably doing something musical with Chris."

He'd tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but it hadn't worked, and she picked up on it, bright girl that she was. "Guessing that strikes a couple chords with you, huh? Pardon the pun…"

Silently, he walked over to the mended picture collage everyone had made for their wedding celebration. If only they hadn't been so naïve…

"If you consider me wanting to bash the guy's face in every time I hear his name striking chords, then yeah…there's a lot of that going on."

Brooke wasn't blind; she knew what Nathan was saying, and she knew he probably had a good reason to say it. But still, she couldn't help trying to smooth things over. "Nate, I'm sure it's nothing, really. Haley loves you, and I don't think she would ever jeopardize that. Especially with all the stuff you guys have gone through already just to be together."

"Yeah. Stuff. Like her kissing another guy and trying to lie to me about it."

"Nathan, that was almost a year ago —"

"Doesn't change the fact that it happened, now does it?"

Her throat caught at his sharp words, but she knew he wasn't really angry with her. "No…but part of your relationship is about forgiveness. I mean, I think Haley's done enough penance for the tour thing, don't you?"

The comment stoked a fire behind Nathan's eyes. "She walked out on us. On me. I'm not gonna just put on a happy face and forget about it."

"You took her back."

Well yeah, she was right. He did. He'd made the decision to overlook all the drama from the past and make their marriage work. But then something else came to mind that darkened his already murky expression. "Yeah, a lot of good that did. She still hangs out with the bastard. And I let her. What does that make me?"

Brooke managed a morose grin. "An optimist, maybe?"

"Or an invertebrate dumbass. Whichever."

"Well Haley must be a good teacher, at least you know what 'invertebrate' means. But that's not what you are."

"Oh and like you would know? When's the last time you gave a damn about someone that wasn't Hispanic and following you around everywhere like a lost dog?"

Ass. Hole.

Glaring coldly, she let him have it. "Actually I changed my mind. It makes you a mopey, dickless, self—serious son of a bitch who has major issues with displaced anger and likes to lash out at his friends to make him feel better about himself."

Nathan didn't know whether to be offended or impressed — given the fact that he was a ticking time bomb whenever he was pissed off, it took guts to just say something like that to him and not care what happened afterward. Count on Brooke to find him when he's down and make him get over it. She was even doing her Bitch Stance, hooking her eyebrow and crossing her arms. So, rather than retaliate and start a big fuss, he went with his instinct and smirked, his hands stuffed in his pants pockets. "Not bad."

To say she was surprised by his reaction would've been an understatement. But, she was going to take what she could get, and her visage warmed as she returned the smirk. "Liked that, huh?"

"It made the Top 5, so that's something."

"Ooooo a list. How girly."

He made a juvenile face at her, moving toward the kitchen area. "Want something to drink? Water, Smirnoff…arsenic…"

"Smirnoff'll be fine, Dr. Jekyll."

Nathan got a Triple Black out for her and a beer out for him, sitting at the counter and hinting for Brooke to join him. Not having much to say and not really caring, they sipped in silence for a bit until she re—jumpstarted the conversation. "By the way, me and Felix? Not so together anymore."

He glanced at her out of his peripheral vision then went back to staring into nothingness. "When'd that change?"

"Few weeks ago, I guess. Amongst the sea of his unending issues, he was still sorta hung up on me having a thing for Lucas…even though Lucas kinda has a thing for Anna and Anna has a thing for girls, but whatever. I'm over him. Waste of my time. Don't get laid anymore, but still…"

This earned a chuckle from the otherwise stoic Nathan, and he casually put his arm around her chair. "What's getting laid?"

"Oh you too," she empathized with a smirk.

"Prrrrretty pathetic…"

"Oh well. Cheers to the wonders of wank, because really — without our gadgets, limbs and appendages, what kind of people would we be? I'll tell ya, angry people."

"I'll drink to that," he agreed, clinking his bottle against hers and taking a sip in unison. During a momentary lapse, something came to Nathan's mind and he decided to ask. "What're you doing here anyway, Brooke? I mean no offense, but my apartment isn't exactly on the way to…anywhere you usually go."

"Now that's just not true. Your apartment happens to be right near my favorite place." He raised an eyebrow in question, so she continued. "The beach. I was taking a walk, y'know…enjoying the scenery. Then on my way back I saw your light on, thought I'd stop by, do some damage."

"How's that working out for you?"

When she locked eyes with him, she didn't expect to see intrigue and mirth…maybe even attraction. "Well I stopped by, but…jury's still out on the damage part."

He smirked. "Keep me posted."

"Might be a while," she told him, just to tease.

"My wife is hanging out with the same guy she cheated on me with — it's almost 1:30, and she's still not home. As far as I'm concerned, I've got all night."

Grinning and nodding, she hopped onto the countertop and replied, "Okay. You're on."

Nathan got up from his chair and stood in front of Brooke, placing his hands on either side of her crossed legs and leaning in. "So. Do some damage."

Once she got a good look at him, she realized what he was insinuating. And all friendly flirting aside, he seemed like he was really serious. About what remained to be seen, but it was pretty much a done deal that all joking had gone out the window. Even as they continued to stare at each other, it became more and more apparent that the "damage" he'd been thinking of had nothing to do with maybe taking a sledgehammer to his apartment or disorganizing Haley's color-coordinated and alphabetized shelving system. This could be a problem.

Hesitant, she took a deep breath. "I'm not entirely sure that I should do that, Nathan."

He challenged her with a raised eyebrow. "Do what?"

Ah. So he wanted to be difficult. Well, y'know what pal? Brooke Davis wrote the book on the subject, so have a seat and take some notes, might learn something. Now if only he wasn't working it with those eyes of his. "I dunno. You tell me."

Never missing a beat, he retorted, "I've got a better idea. How about you show me?"

Well then…

She paused for a second to stare at him, not sure if he was serious. Okay so maybe he was a bit serious. Or a lot serious. Well, she could be serious too, so there.

Uncrossing her legs and spreading them just wide enough so he could fit between them, she grabbed Nathan by the belt loops of his pants, causing him to straighten up and tower over he. She seriously coveted that about him. He was so damn tall. Tall guys were hot.

Oh right, focusing on the task at hand. He'd already rested his hands on her hips while hers traveled up his chest, hooking around the base of his neck and pulling his face closer to hers.

"How's this?" she asked, their mouths brushing against each other.

She saw him clench his jaw and swallow. "It's a start."

"Sure you're ready to finish it?"

He didn't answer, he just started the kissing. Desperate, passionate, random-as-hell kissing. Where the heck did this come from? One minute, friendly neighborhood visit, next minute, make-out session? I mean, they'd always gotten along in the past, for the most part. Might've even called themselves having a friendly flirt here and there, normally when alcohol was involved. But was that really enough to warrant such hot 'n heavy kissage? They'd have to give some thought to it once their tongues weren't shoved down each other's throats.

Pulling out of the kiss, Brooke drew back so she could look at Nathan, toying with the back of his hair. "You're tall…"

He chuckled and shook his head. "That's the best thing you could come up with?"

She rolled her eyes, smirking. "Well, I could've gone with 'you're married', but that's a bit of a mood killer, if you know what I mean."

"True," he admitted.

Silence set into the conversation, which gave Brooke some time to think about what could potentially happen should they go through with what parts of their bodies were screaming for them to go through. It was becoming increasingly clear that the aforementioned random-as-hell kissing came about because they were both habitually sexually active teenagers starved for physical attention and gravitated towards each other to scratch that itch, as it were. The problem was that the outcome, however physically gratifying, would have endless negative repercussions that neither of them were prepared to face. Okay, settled then. This would be a huge mistake. Now if only she could find the will to tell him that…

"I should probably go home," she decided, though once she looked him in the eye she found it hard to want to do anything related to leaving.

Staring back at her, daring her to take action, he said, "Door's that way," his vision briefly flitting in the direction of the exit.

She slid off the counter so she could stand in front of him. Probably wasn't such a good idea, since he became even taller and more intimidating. What was that about the door?

"Yeah…" Brooke answered blankly, letting him wrap his arms around her shoulders so she could place her hands on his waist and her head against his chest, just under his chin. Closing her eyes, she sniffed his shirt. Dammit he even smelled good.

"So you're leaving, right?"

With his fingers brushing her hair back to expose her left shoulder, it took her a moment to realize he was talking to her, but she prided herself on being pretty quick.

"Mhm," was all that came out, since she was currently distracted with the prospect of him kissing the spot behind her ear. When his teeth bit down on it, she shivered, feeling her knees start to buckle. Oh yeah, she was leaving alright.

He smirked to himself, laving at her ear lobe with his tongue. "Yeah, I can tell."

She chewed on her lip, groaning. "You're so not funny…"

Walking them backward towards the couch, he quipped, "What're you talking about? I'm hilarious."

[-]||[-]

Some undisclosed amount of time later, Nathan sat on the edge of the couch in only a pair of sweatpants, leaning forward and watching Brooke get dressed. "She can't know about this."

Pulling her top over her strapless bra, she rolled her eyes and grinned. "No shit, Nathan. God. Being without sex must've made you more stupid."

He made a face at her, though the sternness of it was offset by his growing smile. "Probably."

Once she had her shoes on and buckled, she walked over to the counter for her purse, digging through the contents with her back turned to him. She wasn't expecting to feel his arms wrap around her waist and his nose nuzzle against the cradle of her neck. As far as her trying to leave his house was concerned, it seemed he wanted to be helpful.

"So when am I going to see you again?"

She turned her head toward him, flashing a coy dimple. "Um, at school on Monday maybe?"

He whirled her around and trapped her against the counter. "Monday?"

She nodded, their foreheads and noses touching. Plus there was the added bonus of him not having a shirt on. She could touch his arms as much as she wanted. Very nice arms, they were.

"Brooke…"

Oh alright, so they couldn't really see each other on Monday. "Well it's already tomorrow."

"So what about Sunday?"

"Oh yeah, Nate, that's a fantastic idea — let's fornicate and break your marriage vows on a Sunday. Don't worry, the lightning striking us down is just a formality, we'll be too dead to notice."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're so dramatic."

She leaned up and kissed him thoroughly on the mouth, her hands linking with his behind her back before she pulled out of the embrace and grabbed her purse, heading to the door. Over her shoulder, she called, "Don't you forget it," and exited the premises with a wink.

Nathan rubbed the back of his neck, laughing to himself, unaware that Brooke was just outside thinking the exact same thing he was: damn, it felt good to get laid.