139Hey guys! I am so sorry for the late update! I was very sick for a while (yes, I've been sick a lot lately) so I haven't had much time to write. The chapter is kindof short compared to my other chapters but I hope you like it! Nadia's true colors are starting to shine and there's more Brathan like promised. Plus, I added a twist at the end so don't read ahead! Here's Chapter 6. Enjoy!
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"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then, one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness." –Woody Allen
"The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith." –Bertrand Russell
"There comes a point in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, who won't anymore, and who always will. So don't worry about people from your past, there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future." –Anonymous
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A secret. One thing that is kept hidden from the world. One thing that has so much power. One little thing that can change the perfect lives of two people in just one second.
Avoidance. The act of keeping away from someone else in fear or in regret. The exact thing two very people were doing that morning in the household of Christina Sharpe.
"You know you can't keep on hiding in the nearest room every time he walks by," Lucas said as he entered his best friend's room.
"And why not?" Brooke retorted, not bothering to turn her head around.
"Umm…because the two of you need to talk."
Her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed, lethal rays of venom shooting out towards the blonde.
"Talk? You seriously want me to talk to him? Do you remember the recap I so desperately spilled to you last night or have you had a momentary lap of judgment?"
Lucas shifted nervously from foot to foot, wishing hardest not to explode the Brooke bomb. The secret had finally been revealed to both Peyton and himself the previous day, and it would be an understatement to say that both of them were shocked. More like speechless and chocking with astonishment. Never in their lives would they have thought that that was the reason for which Brooke Davis fled Tree Hill.
"I plead momentary insanity?" he finally said, the statement coming out more like a question.
"Good job. At least one Scott knows what to say." She turned her head back around and continued to type furiously on her Blackberry. "Ugh, never ever become an interior decorator. You have to deal with stupid, incompetent people who don't know the difference between silk and rayon. I mean is it that hard? One's extremely smooth and the other isn't!"
Lucas hid a laugh before it escaped out into the open. Before he could reply back, though, there was a knock at the door.
"Brooke? Are you in there? It's Nadia."
The brunette and the blonde both froze at the voice. Neither had talked about how the secret and how their past would affect Nadia. Would she be mad? Would she kick Brooke from the job? Or would she kick Brooke's ass? Would she end the engagement? Maybe not telling her was the best thing after all…
"Come in, Nadia," Brooke called out.
The door opened, revealing the red-head, all decked out in an elegant garden party dress.
"Hi! I just wanted to tell you that Mother, Peyton, and I are heading out to attend a party for one of our friends. Lucas is coming, too, and I just wanted to know if you wanted to accompany us?"
Brooke slightly smiled. The elaborate dresses and the frequent parties reminded her of high school when her mother used to tour her around from friend to friend showing them how beautiful her daughter was. But that was like a lifetime ago and right now, the last thing Brooke needed was to be transported back into her high school years.
"Thanks for the offer, Nadia, but I have a lot of work still to do so I think I'm just going to stay here. You guys have fun though."
"Okay, if you insist. Come on, Lucas. Everyone's waiting downstairs." Lucas followed his future sister-in-law as he gave the brunette a huge and a wave goodbye.
As the door closed shut, Brooke couldn't help but let out a sigh. Life was getting so stressful and complicated verses its previous serenity and simplicity. When had it all changed?
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"Lucas, don't take this the wrong way, but what the hell is going on with you and my employee?" Nadia asked as she laid back against the smooth seat of the black Mercedes. Peyton and her mother decided to take another car just incase one of them wanted to leave early. And Nadia found the arrangement the perfect time to express her true feelings to Lucas.
The blonde slammed on the breaks as he heard the red head's comment, causing the car to almost loose control.
"Excuse you?!" he bellowed, not caring that six other cars were blaring their horns at his reckless driving.
"Damn it, Luke! Are you trying to get us killed?! If you haven't realized this dress is a Chanel original meaning that it costs more than your face, so I would appreciate it if you paid more attention to the road."
"What do you mean what's going on with me and Brooke?" he asked again, ignoring her jibe.
Nadia just rolled her eyes. "Are you sleeping with her or not? I rather skip the small talk."
Lucas just started at her incredulously. "What?! Are you fucking kidding me? I'm married!"
"So is half the population but they are still having affairs. It's not like its illegal or anything."
"I can't seriously believe you are accusing me of cheating on my wife. I'll have you know that I love Peyton with all my heart, and I would never in a million years cheat on her. Ever."
"Yeah, I thought that, too, before I saw how chummy you and Brooke seem to be. You've known each other what…a week or so? And you're giving her hugs, kissing her cheek, and don't even deny coming out of her room the other day at 3:00 a.m. I saw it with my own two eyes."
Lucas looked down in his lap. He had come out of Brooke's room but that was because she was crying her heart out because of Nadia's fiancé. Maybe he wasn't the one who needed to be interrogated.
"We're friends, Nadia. And I sure as hell don't need to be explaining what I do throughout the day to you. Peyton knows we are friends, and she's fine with it. I'm not having an affair with Brooke, so I advise you to stop snooping in my business."
She glared at him. How despicable of a creature! She despised cheaters but she loathed liars way more. Did he seriously think he could fool Nadia Alexandria Sharpe?
The car suddenly came to a stop at a magnificent building, the entrance filled with butlers and other elite individuals, including a glowing Peyton and a sour-looking Christina. Nadia got out of the car before Lucas could even attempt to open the door for her. She turned back, though, before she joined her mom.
"Oh, by the way, Nathan doesn't deserve a cheating, lying, two faced brother like you. He would never in a million years cheat on someone, especially his wife. So I advise you to stop whatever the hell is going on or else leave. I don't want an outcast in society attending my wedding."
With that, she gave him another withering look and joined the other residences near the door. Contraire to popular belief, though, her judgment of her fiancé was going to take a toll real soon.
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Nathan stared at the multicolored bottles in front of him. Grey Goose Vodka. Casa Noble Tequila. Jack Daniel's. Crown Royal. Smirnoff. Absolut Vodka. His goal? To get exceedingly drunk into the point of oblivion. As he started pouring some tequila into a cup, he heard footsteps descending the stairs. Turning around he came face to face with the last person he wanted to see.
Hazel met sapphire as both just stared into each other's eyes, regret radiating from his as hurt poured from hers. Neither said a word for what seemed like an eternity, their powerful gaze not yet broken.
"I―I should umm….I should go back upstairs," she finally whispered, stuttering from the ongoing awkwardness.
Brooke turned around to head back into her safety zone, but was beckoned back by Nathan.
"Stay."
She kinked her eyebrow and whipped her head around, obviously taken aback by his comment.
"What?"
"Stay. I mean, we're the only ones in the house and I know how much you love Strawberry Smirnoff and we have plenty. Plus….we need to talk. About yesterday."
He needed to apologize. For yesterday, for the past six years, for her thinking that he wouldn't have loved her because she couldn't have kids.
Even though the offer was extremely tempting, Brooke couldn't help but scoff. He wanted to talk? Umm, no thanks.
"I think that's a bad idea, Nathan."
"Bad idea? I think this whole fucking arrangement is a bad idea, Brooke," he grumbled as he drowned his whole cup, the russet liquid burning his throat as it traveled downward.
"Well, what do you want me to do? Quit? FYI, Nathan, this wasn't my idea! I never for one second wanted to be in the position where I was in between you and your fiancé!"
It was his turn to sneer. "Well, Princess, it's a bit late for that, huh?"
"Gosh, do you know how big of an ass you are? One conceited idiotic ass!" The brunette was screaming by now, not caring if everyone in the whole fucking planet heard.
"And you're a bitch! A bitch who won't even accept a damn apology! I'm sorry, Brooke, okay?! I'm so sorry." His voice turned into a whisper as he said the last part, the reality of the situation shinning at last.
And in response, she did the last thing he would have ever imagined.
She started crying.
Tears started pouring as her petite figure started shaking from the extreme emotion.
So he did the only thing he knew how to do.
He enveloped her in his strong arms, right there in the kitchen surrounded by various alcohol beverages, letting her tears soak into his white polo as he too started forming tears in his own eyes.
"I can't believe you said that I would leave you because I wanted sex…I can't believe you…" her cries echoed in Nathan's ears as he continued to massage her back
"Shh, baby…I swear I didn't mean them…I swear. I just was hurt. I'm sorry, Brooke," he whispered back, kissing her gently on her forehead.
It was her turn to look up, her face just a few inches from his. "No, Nathan, I'm sorry. I should have told you. I was just scared and hurt and I wanted what was best for you and―"
"―and that would've been you. I didn't need the children or the big white house or the basketball career or whatever the heck we dreamed about, Brooke. I just needed you because I loved you and you were the only thing that mattered to me most in the world. All I wanted was you."
Then, without thinking, she closed the gap between them and captured his lips in a searing kiss. Instantly, Nathan reciprocated, his hands slowly encircling Brooke's waist to bring her closer to him. It didn't matter that he was engaged or that she was their interior designer. All that mattered was that she, Brooke Davis, was all he wanted. In the past and right then.
Avoidance. The act of keeping away from someone else in fear or in regret. Something that one day has to be broken.
Things in the Sharpe household just got a lot more tangled.
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End of Chapter 6! Hope you guys liked it!
Next: The Next Morning! More Brathan and Leyton and Nadia
Please R&R! I love new ideas/suggestions/comments/ etc. And I don't mind if you write some constructive criticism either. Thanks!
Hope you have a great day:)