Chapter 2:

"Brooke." A hand came down on her shoulder, and she shrieked. "Hey, it's ok. It's just me, Nathan."

"Oh, Nathan." Brooke took a deep breath. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at practice or something?" She waved her hands at him as she bustled around the wardrobe room that had been set up for a local fashion show.

"I took the day off. Coach said it was ok. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Ok, shoot. But we'll have to walk and talk, cuz I'm a little busy, as you can see." Her speech was a little muffled because she stuck pins in her mouth while using them to fix the model's clothing.

"It's about Haley. She kind of…broke up with me."

"Oh, I see. Why didn't you just talk to Lucas about this?"

"Because he's her best friend."

"I'm her friend, too, y'know."

"Yeah, well, he's kind of a guy. And you're…kind of not."

"Really? Thanks for noticing."

"Brooke, I'm serious. He can't tell what she's thinking as well as you can, because he doesn't know how girls think."

"What do you want me to talk about? Hold this." She piled a dress and a box of make-up into his hands, and he leaned around them to talk to her.

"Ask her why she did it. I tried to, but all she said was that I was too involved in basketball, and that we were at different stages in our lives. I don't think that it should matter what stages we're in, as long as we love each other."

Brooke stopped walking for the first time since Nathan had arrived, "Did you tell her that?"

"No, why?"

"Because it's sweet, and it shows that you really do care about her."

"I don't think she cares about me anymore. She told me that we should see other people."

Brooke bit her lip, "Did you try that?"

Nathan frowned, "Why would I date someone else when Haley's the one I want to be with?"

"Because it's what she told you to do, and sometimes we like to see if a boy cares enough to do what we tell them to. I pushed Lucas to see other people, and look what happened."

"He went out with Rachel, you got into a big fight, and broke up?"

"No! Well, yes, but that's not the point. The point is, yes, we broke up, but we both see now that if we had stayed together, our relationship might not have gotten to where it is now. We're friends, and we're both ok with that."

Nathan sighed, "In that case…do you want to have coffee with me?"

"Excuse me?"

"After your show, do you want to go to Karen's Café?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea…"

"Why, because Lucas is my brother?"

"No, that doesn't matter to me, but you've just gone through a break up with one of my friends."

"You just told me to date other people."

"Yeah, but I didn't mean right this second, and I didn't mean me."

"So that's a no?"

"I never said that."

"So that's a yes?"

"I never said that either."

"What did you say, then?"

"I said that I didn't think that's it's a good idea, but when have I ever cared what's a good idea and what's not?"

"So I'll see you at Karen's Café?"

"It's going to be about another hour. And Nathan…"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go to Tric instead, I feel like having some fun."