Peyton and Luke looked between them sharing a devious smile as they pulled their air horns out of the plastic bag and pulled the key to Brooke and Nathan's apartment key out and opened the door. They silently crept through the apartment to the closed door that led to Brooke and Nathan's room where they knew the couple was sleeping. One nod from Luke and Peyton opened the door waiting for Luke to raise his air horn before pressing the trigger. They watched as Brooke and Nathan sprang apart flying off the bed and both landing on the floor. They burst out laughing as Brooke stood up reaching for the lamp next to their bed.

"What the hell?" She asked when Peyton's form came into view.

"Hi guys!" Peyton greeted too cheery for it being 4 in the morning.

"What are you doing here at 4 in the morning?!" Nathan yelled not bothering to get up from the floor. Peyton laughed and went over toward him blowing the air horn above his head again enjoying every second of him being in pain from the air horn. "If you don't stop blowing that stupid horn I'm going to throw both you and the horn out the door." Nathan warned finally getting up from the floor rubbing the back of his head.

"Well now that you're up we should go have breakfast." Peyton exclaimed looking at her boyfriend who only nodded.

"Alright let's go to breakfast." Nathan groaned still rubbing his head as he walked over towards Luke slightly glaring at him.

"You just wait I'm gonna get you back for this." Luke only laughed and gently pushed Nathan into the bathroom telling them that they were leaving in a half hour. Brooke sat on the bed and looked down at the ground.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked sitting on the bed next to her.

"Nothing, it's nothing really." She whispered not trusting her voice at the moment, today was bittersweet, she was graduating high school a huge mile stone in her life but the countdown of her time with Nathan was also beginning. He was due at Duke at the end of July and they wouldn't be able to see each other until Brooke launched her line in New York during fashion week. She had decided to take online classes so that she could do it either at home in Boston or in North Carolina because she was determined to be there for Nathan cheering him on at all his games.

"You're sad that Nathan's leaving aren't you?"

"It's gonna be weird, I mean in 2 months he's going to be going back to North Carolina and with his classes and basketball I'll probably only see him during his games."

"Brooke, you and Nathan are going to make it because you love each other and you're both willing to make it work."

"But Nathan and Haley couldn't do the long distance thing." She weakly argued.

"Nathan and Haley weren't meant to be together like the two of you are, you guys really truly are meant for each other. You're both confident in who you are and know that everything can't be perfect all the time and at the end of the day you're always going to have each other to fall back on plus you have Peyton and I to call whenever things are crazy and you just need someone to talk to. You're going to be fine the time will fly and you'll be together again." Brooke smiled and wiped the tears that were falling as she stood up and walked over to the bathroom.

Nathan stood on the other side of the door smiling at what Luke had said to Brooke. Luke was right they were meant to be together because they started out as friends before they became a couple and Nathan was confident in the fact that Brooke was his best friend and that she was his best friend first and foremost then his girlfriend. He smiled at Brooke as she opened the door and walked into the bathroom wrapping his arms around him. "I love you." She nodded against his chest and wrapped her arms tightly around him. They stayed like that for a few moments before Nathan pulled away brushing a stray piece of hair out of her eyes gently cupping her cheek. "I'm also very proud of you." She smiled and gently kissed him before turning the shower back on and stripping down before stepping in while Nathan brushed his teeth and finished getting ready.

After their nice and relaxing breakfast with Peyton and Luke Brooke and Nathan were sitting around their apartment as they waited for graduation to arrive. Today was the day that they had been waiting for since they started high school 4 years ago and even though they weren't graduating from Tree Hill High, they were graduating. Nathan wrapped his arms tightly around Brooke's stomach as a movie played on the TV neither of them really paying attention to what the movie was about, his mind drifted back to the night that Brooke showed up at his door telling him that she was leaving Tree Hill and when she asked him if he wanted to join her he didn't even think twice about it. It wasn't as hard to leave as he thought it would be because the thought of being able to leave all the drama of Tree Hill behind him made his adrenaline rush. Yes they had had their fair share of drama but at the end of the day they had worked it out through the Haley drama and the Luke and Peyton drama they were still together again at the end of the day.

Sighing Nathan lazily kissed the top of Brooke's head as he shifted down as he was lying underneath her. Brooke smiled and shifted so that she was facing Nathan and kissed him square on the mouth releasing pent up passion that had been building for some time. Nathan's hands gripped her hips pulling her as close to his body as he could, they hadn't had time for this in the longest time. Brooke slipped her hand under his t-shirt and ran her hands up his abs smirking when she felt his muscles contract as her hands explored his skin. As Nathan's hand went under Brooke's shirt and towards her bra a rapid knocking broke the passionate moment between the two. Groaning Brooke kissed Nathan one more time before getting up and going to the door fixing her shirt as she walked. Brooke wasn't surprised to see Cooper, Deb, Karen, Luke, and Peyton standing on the other side of the door. Smiling sweetly she moved so they could enter the apartment and sighed to herself, just when she and Nathan were going to get a moment alone together they were interrupted. Nathan looked at Brooke and felt her tension but he knew that there would be time for them to be together later.

Brooke sat next to Nathan a smile plastered on her face, but on the inside she wanted to cry. All Deb and Karen could talk about was how great it was that Nathan was going to be at Duke and how great it was going to be for Nathan to be back in North Carolina where he was closer to his family and how awesome it was going to be when Nathan spends the holidays in Tree Hill. Brooke excused herself and walked out of the apartment hoping that the fresh air would help her feel better, sitting down on the steps leading up to their apartment she wrapped her arms around her knees hugging them tightly to her body.

"Hey is this seat taken?" Brooke looked up at Cooper shaking her head no. He sat down next to her and sighed. "Got too heavy in there didn't it?"

"Huh?"

"With all the talk about how great Nathan going to Duke is." Brooke sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees again. "You're happy that he's going to Duke right?"

"Of course it's his dream."

"But?"

"But why is Deb making a big deal about it? Why does she have to rub in my face that I'm losing him? Why can't she just shut up about it for 5 damn seconds?"

"I will admit that she took the happy proud parent thing to an extreme. But you're not losing him he's just going to school he's not breaking up with you and if he does I'll kick his ass."

"It still scares me though. I mean he's going back to North Carolina where Haley can find him and seduce him."

"You trust Nathan don't you?"

"With all my heart but its Haley that concerns me. It's all the other girls that will want to sleep with the super star that scare me." Cooper nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulders pulling her to him letting her use his shoulder to cry on.

"Well I think I have a way to help alleviate that fear."

"How?"

"Well I besides me investing in your clothing line, which by the way excites my girlfriend to no end she can't wait for your line to come out, I also am going to let give you an open invitation to my house in North Carolina with a key to the guest house for you to use at any time. I don't want to hear the excuse we have no time to see each other because you both can have a plane at your disposal whenever you want."

"Why are you doing all of this?"

"You are the only one that truly makes Nathan happy and accepts him for who he is. You are also the best thing to happen to him and I'm willing to help make sure that you two stay together and happy."

"Thank you Cooper." Brooke leaned up and kissed his cheek giving him a hug as they sat there. "Oh and after graduation I need to speak to you and Nathan." Brooke nodded and stood up along with Cooper both heading back into the Nathan love fest that was bound to still be going on.

Nathan looked up and smiled when he saw Brooke walk back into the apartment but his smile dropped when he saw the fake smile plastered across her face. He excused himself from his mom and pulled Brooke into their bedroom. "What's wrong?" He asked the moment the door was shut behind him.

"It's nothing Nathan." Nathan looked at her silently telling her that he knew that she was lying and. Sighing Brooke looked down at the ground. "Why can't your mom shut up about you going to Duke? Why does she have to be all like 'o it's so great my baby's gonna be back close to home'? Does she hate you being here that much?"

"Brooke, who cares what my mom has to say, all that matters is that you're okay with me going to Duke."

"I'm more than okay about you going to Duke, I'm so proud of you; I'm just scared that some girl is going to seduce you like Haley." She muttered Haley's name hoping that Nathan didn't hear her. Nathan sighed and sat down on the bed pulling Brooke down into his lap.

"No girl will be able to seduce me; I'll be too busy thinking about you the whole time." Brooke blushed and laid her head on Nathan's shoulder wrapping her arms around his neck as they sat there. "We can do this baby I promise we can do this." He gently kissed her cheek tightening his grip around her waist. "I'll be damned if we screw this up, I love you too much to lose you." Brooke looked into Nathan's blue eyes the breath literally sucked out of her as she saw the passion swirling in his eyes.

"I love you too Nathan." She kissed him putting everything she had in her into the kiss to hopefully show Nathan a smidge of how much he meant to her. She pulled away and rested her forehead against his. "Oh Coop wants to talk to us after graduation." Nathan nodded and pulled her even tighter against his body. "We have to get ready for graduation." Nathan nodded again and stood up setting Brooke lightly on the ground.

Brooke sat in the 4th row in a sea of blue, yellow, and black with kids that she had never even spoken two words to in the time that she was at Franklin High. She looked up and spotted Luke and Peyton beaming at her along with Cooper, who Brooke had realized had become like her big brother of sorts in the short time that she had spent time with him while he was in Boston. Smiling at him and giving a small wave Brooke anxiously waited for her turn. Nathan sat in the 10th row anxiously bouncing his leg up and down waiting for his turn, they had just started handing out diplomas and they weren't even the middle of the C's yet. Sighing Nathan turned his mind to what Cooper might have to talk to both him and Brooke about and he wondered what they talked about while they were sitting outside.

Nathan looked up as Brooke walked across the stage to get her diploma, he winked causing her to blush a little as she walked back to her seat a huge grin spread across her face. He then decided that he was going to make sure that they were alone that night at their apartment because they had a lot of celebrating to do. With that thought in his head his leg stopped bouncing and a smirk spread across his slightly tanned face as he watched more students walk across the stage. Finally it was Nathan's turn and as he walked across the stage his eyes locked with Brooke's both talking to each other without words as he walked past her row and back to his seat, they seemed to be saying the same thing 'Congratulations baby we did it!' Nathan sat down and leaned back in his chair now anxiously waiting for the ceremony to be over.

The moment they were announced as the class of 2008 I can't remember for the life of me what year they graduated in and were out of the auditorium Nathan was off in search of Brooke and the second he laid his eyes on her he rushed over to her and picked her up twirling them around. Brooke squealed as Nathan picked her up and wrapped her arms around his neck as they twirled around gently kissing his temple. He pulled back slightly from her and smiled passionately kissing her before everyone found them and made them take a million pictures.

"Congratulations babe, I'm so proud of you." She whispered her arms still tightly wrapped around his neck. Nathan smiled and kissed her again. Cooper walked up with Deb and Karen clearing his throat making the two jump apart and blush at being caught.

"I think we should head back to the apartment and take pictures there." Nathan and Brooke nodded walking behind the group Nathan pulling Brooke close to him as they walked smiling at each other and planning a way to get everybody to leave early so they could have some much needed alone time together.

Brooke fell back on the couch next to Nathan after the last picture had been taken, graduation had ended almost an hour ago and they had taken close to a million pictures. Luke and Peyton had left already along with Jake and Jenny leaving Brooke and Nathan alone with Deb, Karen, and Cooper. Cooper looked at the two teens and leaned over towards Deb and Karen. "Hey why don't you guys head back to the hotel?" Deb yawned and nodded standing up and kissing Nathan's cheek making promises of stopping by before they headed off the to the airport the next morning.

"So what do you need to talk to us about Coop?" Nathan asked as he unzipped his gown and let it fall from his shoulders and throwing his cap onto the chair that Deb had been sitting in.

"Well I like I told Brooke earlier you guys will each have a key to my guest house so that you can spend time together while Brooke's in North Carolina and in my ever growing generosity I'm giving you each a credit card for plane trips and such so that you can't use not having money to see each as an excuse. The only excuse I want to hear come out of either of your mouths about not seeing each other is having school work and work to do, got it?" Both nodded taking the credit cards out of Cooper's hand and taking turns hugging him.

"Thank you Coop, this means a lot." Nathan replied completely in awe of how much Cooper was doing for them.

"Like I said anything for my favorite couple, now I'm going to head back to the hotel and you two enjoy your night." Cooper hugged them again and left each sitting on the couch looking at the gold cards in their hands.

"Wow, I can't believe he did this." Brooke whispered finally looking up at Nathan for the first time since Coop had left almost 5 minutes ago.

"I can, he knows how much I love you and how much going to Duke is my dream yet it's hard for me to leave you here but who cares about that right now, we finally have some time alone." Nathan replied lightly kissing the corner of Brooke's mouth setting the gold cards on the coffee table.

"I'll get the door; you turn off the cell phones." Nathan nodded and each rushed to do their respective job before meeting in front of their bedroom door Nathan hoisting Brooke up so she was resting between Nathan and the door kissing a trail up her neck and towards her mouth. "Nathan…….please." Nathan nodded and grabbed Brooke's hips wrapping her legs tightly around his waist as she reached behind her and opened the door. Nathan walked into the bedroom and slammed the door shut with his foot his mouth never leaving Brooke's, boy he was glad that he finally got to spend some time with Brooke to celebrate.

A/N: I updated! I hope you guys liked the chapter and I'm going to try and update sooner.