Crashing Down

You say, everything is different,

Why don't we just hold on?

Nathan made the downward spiral from denial to anger with remarkable speed. With little regard to the two week mourning period customary in such romantic complications, he'd segued straight into destroying every trace of Haley in his life and getting morosely drunk at three in the afternoon.

That was the scene Brooke walked in on the next day. To her own great surprise, she had woken up thinking not of Lucas and his stupid farewell letter, but of Nathan and the sadness that had been in his eyes when he found them at the beach. She'd thought - apparently rightfully - that someone should check in on him.

With her hands on her hips as she survey the damage he'd done to his apartment so far, she shook her head and declared, "You are such a cliché right now."

"What do you want, Brooke?" he replied through gritted teeth. His knuckles were raw and stinging (he'd punched the wall two minutes before she let herself in) and there was a similar sensation pricking at the backs of his eyes.

"Oh, the usual," she answered brightly. "World peace, a rich doctor proposing to me ... oh, and for you to not do this whole pathetic-brokenhearted-boyfriend thing. It's so overplayed."

"Oh, I'm sorry." His laugh sounded sharp; a thousand tiny shards of broken glass hitting the floor. "Am I not handling the fact that my girlfriend just left me well enough for you?"

"Nathan." Sighing, she brought her hand up to rest on his shoulder, feeling the tension that simmered there. "Don't be like this. She's going to come back."

He shot her a dark look. "How do you know?"

"Couples fight all the time," Brooke emphasized, working to not show her impatience. Hello, Lucas had up and left her without a word and was she crying about it? "Haley probably just got freaked out and needed some time alone. I mean, it's not like she's got tons of experience, you know? And you guys have gotten close pretty fast."

Nathan sighed and pulled away from her, striding across the living room to look out the window. As if Haley might be pulling into the driveway at any moment, an apology on her lips and her ring back on her finger. "We were going to get married," he said.

Brooke gaped. "Excuse me?"

"After the game," he confirmed. "We wanted to be together and we thought - we thought that was the solution. Or at least, I thought so. Apparently, Haley wasn't so sure."

Either Brooke was suffering from a mild mental breakdown after the stress of her own quasi-boyfriend ditching her, or Nathan was completely serious. She sat herself down heavily on the couch. "Are you kidding me?"

He chuckled ruefully. "I wish. She just ... took off. I found the letter in my locker after the game. Said she wasn't sure she was ready to make such a big commitment."

"Stop, hold on a minute," she interrupted. "Just ... let me process this. My brain might actually explode. You and Tutor Girl ... engaged. I can't even believe it."

"Not engaged." With another deep sigh, he let himself fall into place beside her, resting his elbows on his knees. "Not until she comes back, anyway."

An idea was forming in the back of Brooke's head. Just yesterday, she'd told Peyton she wanted to do something great with her time this summer. What bigger adventure could there be than helping two friends find their way back to each other? "You mean," she said slowly, "Not until you talk to her about all this."

"Which would require her coming back," Nathan repeated.

"Or you finding her." He straightened up for the sole purpose of staring incredulously at her. She raised her eyebrows at him. "What? Why is that such a crazy idea?"

He scoffed. "Uh, let's see. One, because I don't know where she is. And two, because she left without saying good-bye, which leads me to believe she doesn't want me to know where she is."

"Nathan." She rolled her eyes. Were all men really so dense? "First of all, it's not like Haley has an extensive list of hideouts. It'll be pretty easy to track her down. And second, she got nervous. It's understandable. All she needs is for you to find her and convince her that it's going to be fine. I'll help you."

Nathan eyed her suspiciously. "Why do you care so much, anyway?"

Brooke shrugged. "Haley's good for you. She turned you from this total jackass jock - no offense - into a tolerable person. I'd like to see what she can do with a couple more years." She patted his knee and stood up, the matter settled in her mind. "What have you got to -"

"If you ask what I've got to lose, I might have to ignore the fact that you're a girl and just deck you," he interrupted dryly.

She laughed over her shoulder. "I was gonna say, what've you got to eat around here? I'm starving."

XXX

The next day, she showed up again, this time with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. As usual, she let herself in. "Nate?" she called, letting the door slam behind her. "You ready?"

He stumbled out of the bedroom in nothing but sweatpants, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What the hell are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"I thought we should get a headstart to beat the traffic," she said innocently. "Have you even packed yet?"

"Packed?" Nathan blinked. "Oh. Brooke, I didn't think you were serious. I'm not gonna go chasing after Haley like some lovesick puppy."

"Why not?" She looked genuinely confused. "Nate, this is like, the most romantic thing ever. I'd give anything for my boyfriend to come after me like this."

"What boyfriend?" he shot back, and immediately regretted it. Her face fell, eyes darkening to almost black. "Brooke, I'm so -"

"No." She shook her head, held up a hand. "It's true, isn't it? I don't have ... anyone. Maybe that's why I want to help you do this."

He didn't follow. "Why?"

"Because I'd like to - no." She broke off, sighed. "I need to believe these things can work out, okay? I mean, my parents, your parents, me and Lucas, him and Peyton ... everyone's always talking about happy endings, but I haven't seen one yet. And I think you and Haley have a chance and I just ... I want to help."

Nathan blew out a long breath and debated. On the one hand, he could stay in Tree Hill, alone and miserable, waiting for Haley to come back and explain what had gone wrong. Or he could jump in the car and actually do something about it.

"Okay," he decided, clapping his hands. "Let's do this."

Brooke perked up. "Seriously? You want to?"

"Well, I kind of have to after that little speech," he laughed, not unkindly. "So if you can find out where Haley ran off to, then yes, I'll go there with you and try to bring her back."

"She's in Boston," Brooke supplied without missing a beat. "Staying with her older sister, Taylor."

He marveled at her. "How do you know everything about everyone else?"

She shrugged. "A girl's gotta have a hobby."

Chuckling, he disappeared back into his room, reemerging seconds later with a t-shirt on. Brooke fought back disappointment - engaged or not, the boy had a great body. "Just give me a few minutes to pack," he requested, then paused. "Hey, Brooke?"

She glanced up from the TV Guide she'd started to flip through. "Yeah?"

Nathan hesitated. "Thanks for doing this."

Her smile was dazzling in its brightness. "Thanks for letting me."

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Author's Note: This is the only update for 2 weeks, since I'll be on vacation, but if a lot of people review, I'll post the following 2 chapters as soon as I get back. Incentive, people.