Brooke sat at the kitchen table going over her designs that she had been working on since losing the baby. They were so sad that it made Brooke want to cry but something stopped her from ripping them up and throwing them away in the trash. She sighed and pushed them off to the side and started on another drawing. She still didn't know what she was going to do after graduation that was in a little less than a month and that scared her. What worried her most was that she hadn't heard back from Duke yet and she really wanted to know if she needed yet another back up plan.
Finally getting frustrated she stood up from the table and decided to go for a walk. She didn't know what possessed her to go check the mail but she did and now as she stood in the doorway she instantly regretted it. Starring her straight in the face was a letter from Duke and she slowly made her way over to the kitchen table and sat down glancing at the clock. Nathan was working out till 4 so she had 30 minutes to open her letter and face her fate before he came home and suspected something. Finally throwing caution to the wind she ripped open the letter and tears formed in her eyes. Duke had rejected her, her grades weren't up to par and she didn't have enough extracurriculars. "What the hell! That's stupid." Deciding that she didn't need to get pissed at the letter she crumpled it up and moved on to her second choice. She slowly walked into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker suddenly in dire need of caffeine. She patiently waited for Nathan to come home so she could tell him of her plans and decided to call her mom to finalize the other half of her plan.
"Hello?"
"Hey mom it's Brooke."
"Oh Brooke how are you doing?" Brooke smiled at the concern in her mom's voice. Ever since Brooke lost her baby her mom has been there for her almost as her friend/mom.
"I'm doing okay I just wanted to talk to you about my idea that I suggested earlier."
"Oh I'm talking to your father about it when he comes home from golf but I think he'll be more than willing to help you. He knows how talented you are and he'll pay for your business classes at school."
"Thanks mom."
"And if your father says no, which I doubt he will I'll help you out."
"Thanks so much mom, you don't know how much this means to me."
"Oh I think I do, but I'll let you go. I love you and we'll see you at graduation."
"Love you too." She hung up and smiled at the thought of her parents coming to graduation. A year ago Brooke would have laughed if someone had told her that her parents would be coming to graduation. She squealed in delight and threw herself against the couch. She felt like she was on top of the world and turned on the TV with a huge smile on her face.
Brooke looked up at the clock and got worried, Nathan was supposed to be home an hour ago and he hadn't call or anything. She tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach and went to pick up the phone when she heard the front door open. She turned towards the door hoping to see Nathan but there was a little beagle puppy walking into the house. Brooke took one look at the puppy and smiled. "Where did you come from?" She picked up the puppy and went towards the front door where she saw Nathan standing with a huge smile on his face. Brooke looked between the puppy in her hands to Nathan who had picked up the bags at his feet and made his way into the apartment.
"Nathan, why did you get a puppy?"
"Because this place is so lonely when it's just you in the apartment and I thought that maybe you would like a puppy." She squealed in delight again and threw her arm around Nathan kissing him fully on the lips. "It's a boy just so you know."
"He's so cute! What's his name?"
"That babe is all up to you." He smiled and made his way towards the bathroom to take a shower leaving Brooke with her new puppy.
"I think you're name should be Buddy. Yeah that's nice Buddy the beagle. You're just so cute!" She exclaimed rubbing the little puppy behind the ears. "Hey Nathan?" She called from the couch in the living room.
"Yes?"
"I was thinking that maybe we could have dinner with my parents before graduation, is that okay?"
Nathan stopped what he was doing and walked out into the living room with just basketball shorts on. "Your parents are coming to graduation?""Yeah I talked to my mom this afternoon and she said they were coming."
"Wow that's amazing."
"I know!" She exclaimed throwing herself into his arms. He laughed a little and kissed her temple before going back into the bathroom to take his shower. Brooke fell back against the couch and Buddy jumped on her and started licking her face. She giggled and wrapped her arms around the little puppy and kissed his head.
Brooke stood up and set the sleeping puppy on the couch and went into the kitchen to make something for dinner. Ever since she and Nathan had moved into the apartment she found herself doing all these Susie homemaker-y things that she never did when she was leaving at her house. While she was making some pasta sauce her phone rang. She rushed over to her phone and picked up hoping that it was her mom.
"Hello?"
"Brooke, dear it's your father."
"Hi daddy!"
"Hi princess, first things first how are you?"
"I'm fine."
"That's great sweetie. Now on to the important issue that I know you want the answer to."
"That would be nice." Mr. Davis laughed at his daughter's sarcasm, the one trait that he knew for sure came from her mother.
"So your mother and I discussed your business proposal and after looking over everything you sent your mother I think it would be a splendid idea. The only way you're going to learn about business is to work one, so I'll draw up the papers tomorrow and we'll discuss them when your mother and I come home for your graduation."
"Alright daddy, thank you so much."
"It's the least we could do for our baby girl. I love you Brooke."
"I love you too dad." They hung up and Brooke squealed in delight and jumped up and down waking up Buddy and making Nathan run out into the living room. She looked at him and jumped into his arms and placing her forehead against his. "They said yes! They're going to help me! This is so amazing!" She exclaimed while Nathan smiled confused as to what she was talking about.
"Brooke, not to kill your mood or anything but what are you talking about?"
"Oh! I forgot to tell you." Brooke smacked her forehead lightly and went back into the kitchen to check on dinner. "So after the whole rejection thing I came up with 2 backup plans, the first was that I applied to Duke but they rejected me because of stupid reason of not having enough extracurriculars or something and the other one was to ask my parents for a loan to start up my own boutique. I called my mom and asked her to talk to my dad and sent him this really short business plan that Karen helped me do and they said yes!" Nathan smiled again and wrapped his arms around Brooke's waist from behind as she turned to check on Buddy.
"That's great babe." Nathan whispered kissing her right below her ear. Brooke smiled and looked up at Buddy who had just woken up and smiled.
"Here watch this while I take Buddy out."
"How about we scratch this whole dinner at home thing and take Buddy for a walk and grab some food on the way?"
"Alright let me go get my shoes." She kissed his cheek while he put the sauce away. She returned a moment later and Nathan grabbed Buddy putting him on the leash that he had bought and together they made their way toward Karen's. As they walked Brooke thought about how everything was finally somewhat returning to normal. When they got to Karen's Nathan went in and ordered while Brooke sat outside playing with Buddy. Karen and Keith came out to see the puppy.
"He's so cute Brooke!" Karen gushed lifting Buddy off the ground.
"Oh my parents agreed to help me with my boutique."
"Oh Brooke that's great!" Karen exclaimed giving Brooke a hug while still holding onto the puppy.
"Yeah they're going home for graduation and we're going to finalize everything then." Karen smiled and kissed Brooke's temple. She knew how much having her parents there at graduation met to Brooke and she was happy that Brooke was finally happy. The young couple said goodbye and continued on their walk with their little baby beagle huge smiles placed upon their faces.
A/N: I updated! It feels like forever ago that I updated, but this chapter took me forever I kept rewriting it over and over. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and don't worry there's more drama on the way…….graduation mishaps………….a run-in with Haley…………………a surprise wedding……………………….a shocking announcement…….but that's just a preview of what's to come.
