Apparently, my obsession of the week is Nathan/Brooke. The title, chapters, and lyrics of this story will be from Dashboard's new album 'Dusk and Summer' and the characters aren't mine, either. Enjoy! And don't forget to leave feedback!

Don't Wait

The sky glows

I see it shining with my eyes closed

I hear your warnings but we both know

I'm gonna look at it again

"Guess it's just you and me this summer."

Brooke pulled her knees closer to her chest and nodded at Nathan's words. She'd come to the beach to relax after saying good-bye to both Lucas and Peyton, horrified at the prospect of having to spend the next three months alone. Brooke was rich, pretty, and popular. She didn't know how to be alone.

Which was why she found herself feeling inwardly grateful to Nathan for showing up. His sad eyes and defeated tone aside, he was a definite step up from the twelve weeks of magazines and ice cream that stretched out ahead of her. They may not have been best friends, but she was scraping the bottom of the barrel and couldn't really afford to be picky.

"Pull up some sand," she invited grandly, gesturing to the space beside her. "Misery loves company, right?"

She caught a glimpse of his smirk as he settled himself onto the ground. "I've heard that rumor. So. Lucas is off to High Flyers, huh?"

"Correct. He's spending three whole months surrounded by sweaty, muscular athletes while I … am living with his mother." Brooke's nose wrinkled. "I think it'd be some kind of irony if it didn't just suck."

Nathan snickered. "That's nothing. My brother got my spot at the best basketball camp in the country and my wife just boarded a bus to spend the whole summer with Chris Keller."

"Please," Brooke scoffed, her eyes beginning to twinkle as her competitive streak sparked. "Lucas left, plus Peyton ditched me for some lame-ass road trip with her dad, plus Karen expects me to actually work at the café, plus her stupid son confessed to having more than friendly feelings towards me minutes before he oh-so-conveniently had to leave."

There was a pause, then Nathan, keeping his voice deliberately flat, said, "Haley kissed Chris before they left."

Brooke winced. "Okay. You win."

"A real honor," he drawled sarcastically, more to himself than to her.

"So …" It was none of her business, she knew that, but Brooke could never resist getting involved in a good love triangle. "What does that mean? For you and Haley? I mean, technically, it's adultery, isn't it?"

Nathan gave her a look that said he really didn't want to get into this discussion, but answered anyway. "I don't think one kiss is really the same thing as adultery."

"How do you know it was just one kiss?" she returned, and immediately blanched. "Sorry. Open mouth, insert foot."

"Yeah." He exhaled harshly, trying not to let how shaken her comment had left him. One kiss, he could handle. Maybe. But more … anything more would be ripping his heart out and grinding it into dust. Anything more would be Haley deliberately hurting him and he didn't think he could take that. "Tact isn't your strong suit, is it?"

"Most people think I don't even have a strong suit," she replied, but she grinned a little, as if it were all a big joke.

Nathan shook his head. "God, Brooke, how do you do that? Just not let anything anyone says ever bother you?"

"Expectations are a bitch." The look she gave him was cool and assessing, like she knew he knew exactly what she was talking about. "If I don't let anyone have any of me, I can do whatever I want. You should try it sometime."

A life without expectations. With Dan Scott as a father, it was an impossible thought, but it captured his attention. What kind of freedom was it, Nathan wondered, to not have anyone to answer to? He kept up a good air of being in control, but truthfully, he'd been under someone else's thumb his entire life. First his father, then coaches, now a wife to answer to. He'd never been on his own.

It was weird to think that Brooke Davis, who had only months ago been the most spoiled girl in the Western hemisphere, had more experience exercising her free will than he did. Sure, it got her into trouble – a lot of it, if the school's rumor mill was any indication – but she didn't look in such bad shape.

"Nah," he finally lied, upon realizing she was waiting for him to respond. "Expectations aren't a problem for me. I don't disappoint."

She quirked an eyebrow upwards so that one of the corners of her mouth followed, softening the blow of her next words with a rather kind look. "So what're are you doing sitting here with me, all alone for the summer?"

Despite the soft delivery, Nathan felt the sting and bristled, standing up and brushing the sand from his jeans. "Good point. I guess I'll see you around, Davis."

"See you," she echoed, and kept her eyes on his retreating figure until he'd disappeared from sight.

XXX

Brooke didn't feel guilty, exactly. Guilt was mostly a foreign concept to her, as unfamiliar as restraint, regret, and trust. But all afternoon, as she sat at the beach watching the sun fade in the sky, she felt … squirmy. The mental image of Nathan walking away from her, getting smaller with the distance, had haunted her.

It was just that he'd looked so lonely, hands stuffed in his pockets and shoulders squared against the sky. She really hadn't meant any harm, she was just telling it like it was, like she always did. Brooke may not have been anywhere close to a saint, but there was one thing she didn't do and that was lie.

"Hi," she greeted, oddly nervous once he'd swung open the door and stared her down blankly. "Look, I know I pissed you off at the beach earlier, but I was thinking about it and I mean, it is just you and me this summer. We're the coolest people this town has left and, really, Tree Hill needs us to join forces. No one else can party like we can."

Nathan shook his head, the beginnings of a smile playing at his lips in spite of his best attempt to hold a grudge. Brooke definitely knew how to make an argument. "You mean, united, we keg-stand?"

She nodded her confirmation. "Divided, we mope. And I do not like moping. It's bad for my pores. So if you could just find it in your heart to forgive me, we could move on and start shaking this place up a bit."

"Find it in my heart, huh?" He took his time pretending to consider her offer. "Well. I guess I could try. For the good of the town, of course. After all, what would high schoolers all over the county do if we didn't provide their Friday night entertainment?"

"Exactly." Brooke beamed at him. "If we're going to be stuck here for the next three months, we need to make them the craziest, most ridiculous, best three months of our youth. When I'm old and still brunette, thank God for Clairol, I want to look back and say, 'I can't believe I survived that summer with Nathan'."

He grinned back, surprising himself with how easily he'd given in. He was obviously more hard-up for companionship than he'd thought, if hanging out with Brooke was something he was actually looking forward to, but he'd take what he could get. "We can probably reach that goal. Starting with, oh, I don't know … a bonfire? This weekend, right on the beach?"

"I'll spread the word." She winked, and he knew the entire town would be buzzing in anticipation before the clock struck midnight. "You know … if we do this right, this summer might not be a complete and total bust."

Haley's image flashed through his mind, her head bent over her guitar, a spotlight making her hair shine as she took a stage somewhere miles from him. Lucas followed, landing a layup just as the buzzer went off, sending his teammates into an explosion of cheers. He even thought of Peyton, blasting the car radio and singing along to classic rock with her father, making up for all their lost time.

Everyone else in his life was making their dreams come true this summer. Maybe he couldn't do exactly that, since even he wasn't sure what it was he wanted out of his life, but he had enough days laying ahead of him to figure it out, and why not have a good time doing it?

"You're right, it might not be half bad," he told Brooke, favoring her with a full-on grin, but turned serious a second later. "But hey. No more cheap shots, okay?"

Impulsively, she leaned up on her tiptoes to peck his cheek. "No more insults," she promised, flashing her dimples a final time before turning to leave. "But there'll be plenty of cheap shots. Vodka, gin, whiskey sour … let the fun begin!"

He waited until her car door had slammed and the engine started before he let himself laugh. With Brooke around, he could be assured it would be a summer to remember, one way or the other.