Chapter Four: Don’t Do It In The First Place

Haley’s house was small. Brooke hadn’t noticed it before, mostly because the first time she saw it, she was so distraught and emotional that the size of the house hadn’t seemed to have mattered.

It didn’t really matter now either, but as she was putting the clothes she’d hurriedly packed into suitcases, she realized there were more clothes than space in the room Haley had graciously offered her. The room was big enough for a double bed and a pretty small closet (by Brooke’s standards) as well as one or two dressers. She didn’t have her own bathroom, but then again, neither did Haley. Brooke wondered how a three-bedroom house only had one bathroom. She was used to the bathrooms almost outnumbering the bedrooms back in California.

“Is everything okay?” Haley stopped at the bedroom door and peered in. Brooke gave her a smile and nodded.

“Yeah, I just seem to have packed a lot more than I thought.” She explained as she tossed a blouse back into her suitcase. She stood up and placed her hands on her hips. “Thanks for this, by the way. I hope I didn’t put you to too much trouble.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all. At least this way, when Taylor comes into town, there’s no place for her to stay.” Haley joked. “I’m sorry if it’s smaller than you’re used to. I know California must be huge.”

“It’s great. Honestly.” Brooke replied. She meant it too. Despite the size of the room, she’d rather be staying with Haley than in a motel room or in an apartment all by herself. Besides she guessed it might be karma for the six feet of space that she had offered to Haley back when she was estranged from Nathan.

“I was going to make dinner. Is there anything you’d like?” the young mother asked.

“I’ll help you.” Brooke jumped at the chance. She knew that things were still slightly awkward between them and the only way to break that would be by spending time with Haley.

“You don’t have to,” Haley said. “I know you’re not much of a wizard in the kitchen.” She joked. Brooke made a face.

“I’ll have you know that I picked up a thing or two in the last few years. Besides, I am pretty awesome at cutting vegetables and, let’s not forget, stirring.”

“Ahh,” Haley nodded, “you are a good stirrer.”

“Then let’s get to the kitchen!” the two girls giggled as they made their way into the kitchen.

“Do you want something to drink?” Haley asked.

“A glass of wine?” Her suggestion caused her friend to gag. “Actually…”

“How can you still want to drink after last night?” She asked. Brooke shrugged.

“I don’t know, but in Martha Stewart Living you always see people drinking wine when they’re cooking.”

“Maybe that’s because they didn’t drink the entire contents of Napa Valley the night before.” Haley replied dryly. She handed Brooke a knife and a chopping board. “Broccoli and carrots are in the refrigerator.” She instructed. Brooke scrunched up her nose.

“Broccoli? Do we have to?”

“Yes, or no dessert,” Haley mock-scolded. “I’m trying to get Jamie to eat vegetables so you better eat them in front of him and pretend to like them.”

“I thought Jamie was with Nathan for the weekend.”

“It’s Sunday night. Nathan usually picks him up on Fridays but he was visiting Carrie’s family on Friday night so he came yesterday.” Haley explained.

“Yikes, meeting the parents? I didn’t know they were that serious.”

“Well, they’ve been dating for a while now.” The girl purposely avoided Brooke’s look.

“Carrie wasn’t the reason why you guys broke up, was it?” she asked tentatively. Haley shook her head.

“No, he never cheated on me and I never cheated on him. We just…” she sighed heavily.

“Drifted?” Brooke finished and Haley nodded. “Right. I guess you’re still not ready to talk about it.” Haley shook her head. “Let’s move on to a different subject…”

------

Haley was upstairs cleaning Jamie’s room when the doorbell rang. Brooke waited to see if Haley was coming down, but when the doorbell rang once again, she stopped setting the table and went to open the door.

Nathan stood in front of her with Jamie holding his hand next to him. He looked surprised to see Brooke still there.

“Oh, hi, Brooke.” His tone was still cold but Brooke took the higher road and greeted him warmly.

“Hello Nathan.” She smiled at him.

“Is Haley in?” he asked. She frowned slightly but didn’t let her smile falter.

“No, she’s busy. Do you need her?” she questioned politely. He reluctantly shook his head.

“Just tell her Jamie didn’t have his afternoon nap so he might be a little fussy tonight.” He told her.

“I will.” Brooke picked up Jamie and gave him a high five. Nathan watched the two with interest. “Are you okay?” she asked Nathan when she felt his eyes on her.

“He hasn’t seen you in four years but he still treats you like an old friend.” He noted. Brooke shrugged as she put Jamie down and let him run inside to play with his firetrucks in the living room.

“And yet old friends treat me like a stranger.” She shot back, purposely suggesting him.

“He’s my brother, Brooke.”

“I know that.” She nodded. “Look, Haley invited me to stay with her. I don’t know how long I’m staying, but it’s not going to be forever, okay? We’re going to have to see each other whether you like it or not.” She told him.

Nathan shrugged, “Whatever.” After a brief pause, she cleared her throat.

“Does he know?”

“That you're back? No.”

“Are you going to tell him?” she wondered.

“Brooke, he's happy now. Let it go.” Nathan seemed to be begging her to make things easy on everybody.

“I am.” The girl insisted, however unconvincingly. She figured he didn’t know about the latest incident.

“He and Peyton have worked really hard to put it behind them and knowing you're here would just ruin-"

“I know that, Nathan. You don't have to tell me.” She snapped back upon hearing Peyton’s name mentioned.

“So why are you asking me about him?”

“It was just a question.”

“And it's something I don't want to be involved in.” Nathan shook his head and turned to leave before their discussion turned into an argument.

“You didn't have a problem involving yourself when it happened.” Trust Brooke to need the last word. He turned around to face her.

“Do you blame me? He's my brother, Brooke. Of course I'm going to look out for him and stop him from making stupid mistakes and screwing up his life.” He hissed at her.

"Is that what you think of me?"

"Honestly? Yes. Brooke... they're engaged." He emphasized the last word as if she didn’t know what it meant.

“They weren't last year.” She explained trying to defend her actions.

"It's not an excuse and you should know that more than anybody. Jesus, Brooke! After what they put you through in high school, I would have thought that you would have been the last person to do something like that."

"You don't know what happened between us." Brooke told him softly. Nobody could really know what had happened between them. How an innocent friendship blossomed into something not-so innocent and quickly escaladed into something neither of them had been involved in before. To her it had been much more than a simple affair or fling. It had taken a life of its own.

"Other than you seducing him?" Nathan’s words brought her back down to earth.

She sighed. "I didn't seduce him. Why are you painting me like some sort of whore that takes her clothes off for any guy that glances her way? It wasn't remotely like that."

"So you loved him?" Nathan was far from convinced that Brooke’s actions were fueled by love and not spite from being spurned so long ago.

"Yes." She admitted.

"Do you still?"

"Of course not." Something in the way she said it, the way her eyes flickered down to the ground and the tone of her voice made Nathan question her answer.

"Brooke..." He urged. “It’s been months, let it go.” It was clear now that he really didn’t know about what happened at the weekend.

"What does it even matter anyway? He's not with me. He made his choice perfectly clear and you'll be glad to hear that I'm keeping my distance."

"Good."

"In fact, I'd prefer if I never saw the bastard again." She spat out. He rolled his eyes.

"That is my brother you're talking about."

"I know." She acknowledged. Nathan scratched his head and let out a small breath.

“Look, Brooke, you and I have had our differences and I'm not putting all the blame on you. He played a big part in it and he and Peyton were having problems too. I know you got hurt and I'm sorry he put you through that, honestly. No-one deserves to have their heart broken. Not you, not him and not Peyton. So please believe me when I tell you to let it go and move on for everyone’s sakes.”

"Nobody wants that more than I do." She replied with a soft sigh. He offered her a curt nod and turned to walk back to his car.

Nathan had been the only one who knew about their affair. Lucas had never told Brooke about this but he had needed advice and Nathan had provided as a useful conduit. Even now, Nathan remembered how Lucas had broken the news.

----

Last May

Nathan had just dropped Jamie off at Haley’s house and was in a bad mood. Jamie had hit his head on the coffee table while Carrie had been keeping an eye on him and Haley had accused Carrie of being negligent. The truth of the matter was that Jamie had been running around the living room, slipped on the floor and hit the coffee table. Carrie, being a premed student, immediately scooped up the little boy and checked signs for a concussion and made sure the boy was okay. Jamie, at the most, had a small bruise but Carrie had put a band-aid on his forehead anyway to cheer the boy up. When Haley had seen the band-aid on her son, she freaked out and Nathan had a hard time explaining what had happened.

His relationship with Carrie was still new. Almost three months and he felt it important that she and Jamie got along and spent time together. He didn’t want to hide his relationship from anyone, especially when he and Haley had already been separated for ten months (and divorced for four of those months) before he had started seeing Carrie.

Nevertheless, when he returned home and checked his messages, he found a message from his brother who had moved to California for work at the beginning of the year. It brought a smile to his face. Throughout his problems with Haley during the end of their marriage, Lucas had been the person he had turned to. He knew Haley more than anybody else and served as a medium between the two. However, Lucas and Nathan had become close and by the time the divorce rolled around, Lucas was spending more time with Nathan than Haley. Lucas hadn’t chosen sides. He still saw his nephew and best friend regularly but Haley herself had begun to shy away and avoid seeing Nathan so she refused invitations to barbeques or visits to New York where Lucas had been living with Peyton.

Nathan called Lucas back, ready to vent about Haley and ask Lucas how best to convince his ex-wife that his girlfriend wasn’t trying to kill their son.

“Hey Nathan!” Lucas greeted when he picked up the phone.

“Hey bro, what’s up?” Nathan asked. Lucas told him he was still at work but bored and was glad that his brother had called. “Haley’s been giving me grief over Carrie again,” Nathan sighed before explaining the events to Lucas.

“That sucks. I’m sure Haley doesn’t mean it. She’s probably just afraid Jamie is going to get attached to Carrie and she’s already lost you to her.”

“She didn’t lost me to her. I met Carrie long after we got divorced. Why does everybody look at me as if Carrie was the reason why our marriage didn’t work.”

“Because you’re Nathan and Haley. No-one wants to believe that it didn’t work simply because the two of you grew apart. They want another person in there because it’s better to gossip about.”

“Well, if only we could have been like you and Peyton,” Nathan joked. “How is she anyway?”

Lucas paused and shook his head. “Um, they’re not good.”

“You guys still not really talking?”

“I send her an email now and again. I don’t really get much of a response.”

“I’m sorry, man. It must suck in California.”

“No, actually, I’m great. It’s going good here. Everything is great.” Nathan chuckled.

“Okay, you’re either miserable or you’re hiding something. My day has sucked so you’ve got to tell me something to make it better.”

“You know how Brooke is here, right? I’ve been hanging out with her more. She keeps my mind off Peyton and everything.”

“At least you’re having fun. We all know that ‘fun’ is Brooke’s middle name.” Nathan laughed but Lucas remained silent. “You okay?” Nathan prompted when he realized his brother wasn’t responding.

“I slept with her.” Lucas admitted. Nathan’s cheerful mood disappeared and his hands gripped onto the phone tightly to keep it from falling.

“You did what!” he tried not to yell down the phone. “Were you drunk?”

“No, we were sober,” Lucas explained. “We were just hanging out and having fun. It just happened.”

“Does Peyton know?”

“Of course not.” His brother replied. “I’m not stupid.”

“No, obviously you are because you just cheated on your girlfriend. Well, now what’s happening?”

“I don’t know. We’ve kind of been taking it slow…”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Nathan cut in. When Lucas struggled to reply, he sighed. “Lucas, don’t tell me you and Brooke are still sleeping together.”

“Well-”

“How long?”

“A couple of weeks,” Lucas admitted. He heard Nathan groan. “Look, I know it’s stupid and messy and I’m probably making a mistake but that’s why I called you. I need your help.”

“You need to stop whatever you’re doing with Brooke.”

“I can’t.”

“Why? Is she holding you prisoner?”

“No, but… I just can’t.”

“Then get the hell out of California!” Nathan told him and was annoyed when Lucas chuckled. “I’m not kidding.” Lucas stopped laughing. “Leave California and go back to New York. Get a new job if you have to.”

“That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?” Lucas asked. “Anyway, I don’t want to go back to New York. I like it here. I’ve only been here two months-”

“And you’re already cheating…” Nathan chastised. “Just leave, Lucas. Or break up with Peyton. Just don’t do this. Not again. Not-”

“Not what? Not with Brooke?” the blonde sighed. “This is what it’s about, right?”

“Honestly, yes. Cheating is bad enough but with her best friend?”

“They haven’t talked in long while.” Lucas explained growing more irritated. “You know that.”

“It’s still going to hurt. When Peyton finds out about Brooke, it’s going to be like high school all over again and you’re going to end up with neither of them. You’ll break their hearts, Lucas, and you know this so why are you even asking me?” Nathan snapped before putting his head in his hands. “You already know what you should do, so just do it. Choose one of them. Don’t string them both along because neither of them deserve it.”

“Fine.” Lucas bit out angrily. “I’ll call you later.”

“Yeah, don’t hurry.” Nathan sighed but his brother had already hung up. Placing the phone on the table, Nathan shook his head in despair. He already knew that Lucas wasn’t going to do anything and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be there when it exploded.

To Be Continued…