Brooke looked at the calendar in front of her; the bright red numbers were screaming at her that there was only fifty-six days left of school until she was a high school graduate. She sighed and looked down at the Duke Acceptance letter which had bold black letters telling her that Nathan had to make his decision and let them know. She had been debating it over and over since he got the letter and she had finally decided that she was not going to stand in the way of Nathan following his dream. She was going to put their relationship on the back burner so that he could go and do his thing and she hoped that in the end they would be sharing their success with each other.

Nathan sat at work watching a little kid run around and pester his mom to buy him random things that he saw. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he knew that graduation was vastly approaching and that he was going to make up his mind about Duke. He was so excited when he got the letter that for weeks he debated if Duke really was his dream now or was just his dream back then. He knew that he and Brooke were going to have sit down and talk about it because they were a team now, he couldn't just make a decision without consulting her first it wasn't' fair to her. He wished that they could both get what they wanted and she could go with him but he knew that she had too much invested here with getting her business degree and starting her clothing line. He couldn't ask her to give it all up and follow him back to North Carolina so he could accomplish his dream. He sighed again and hoped that she would be the one standing next to him when all was said and done.

That night when Nathan came home from work Brooke was in the kitchen warming up some dinner for him. Nathan smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist kissing the back of her head. It was comforting to have a warm meal when he came home whether it is from practice or work. He laughed at how well they played the married couple. Brooke looked up at Nathan as he finished the rest of his water and pushed the Duke letter over to him. He looked at the letter and back at her wondering what she was trying to get at.

"You should call them." He sighed and pushed his plate away from him. "You need to let them know that you're coming."

"I'm what?"

"You heard me. I'm gonna stand by and watch you throw away your dreams over me Nathan. I don't want you to look at me with hate because I told you to stay here with me. I want you to go for your dreams."

"How do you know Duke is still my dream?" He shot back wondering why she was all of a sudden pushing him to go to Duke.

"Nathan I saw the way your eyes lit up when you got the letter from your mom. Don't give me that 'How do you know' crap. I know and I'm telling you that I want you to go to Duke and be the amazing basketball player that I know you are."

"I don't want to leave you here by yourself."



"Don't worry about me. I'll be here doing my thing while supporting you. I'll always be there for you even if you're off with someone else."

"I'm not gonna break up with you just because I'm going back to North Carolina."

"I'm not saying you are. I'm saying that I'm always gonna be there for you."

"I still don't know, there's so much to think about."

"Forget about everything but you and what your heart is telling you. All that matters right now is you and what you want. For right now, go back to the Nathan you were when you made Varsity sophomore year." Nathan smiled and shook his head at her. He's changed so much since then that he didn't know if he could go back to that time.

"Brooke,"

"No Nathan don't give me another excuse. Give me one reason why you can't go to Duke and it better not be me." She looked at him waiting for his answer.

"You're pretty amazing you know that." He stated after a few moments of silence, Brooke, not wanting to toot her own horn just smiled at him and stood up clearing his plate from the table. "I love you." He whispered pulling her towards him and kissing her gently.

"I love you too."

"We can do this."

"Yes we can. I'll be there at almost every game that I can with my foam finger and face paint." He laughed knowing that she wasn't kidding.

"I guess you'll have to start saving for all those plane trips now."

"I guess I will." She joked wrapping her arms around his neck as they stood there in the middle of the kitchen.

"You sure you're okay with this?" He asked a little while later while they were both working at the kitchen table.

"I know that it's going to be hard with the distance and all but I think that in the end it'll be worth it. Jenny will just have to be ready to listen to me go on and on for hours." Nathan laughed picturing Jenny listening to Brooke go on and on about how much she missed him and all that other stuff. "Plus this way when you get drafted into the NBA, I'll have been working for so long that I could probably retire and live off of you and be the great sideline wife."

"The great sideline wife?"



"Yeah ya know that wife that's always at the game cheering on her husband, the one that always gets her picture taken because she looks so good no matter how old she is."

"You'd have to retire for that?"

"Well yeah, I can't have a job and be the great sideline wife. My job would get in the way and then I would lose my title." Brooke replied dead serious as if it was actually her plan for her life.

"You're kidding right?" Brooke looked at him with the 'duh!' look in her eye.

"Of course I'm kidding. Do you really think that I'm going to be sitting around the house doing nothing while you're off making money? I don't think so honey, I'm gonna be working and becoming the next Martha Steward in a sense but much cuter and funnier without the jail time of course." Nathan shook his head and laughed, no matter how well he knew her and how much time he spent with her, Brooke was always surprising him.