Brooke awoke with a jolt on the plane, she had had an emotionally draining three days in California and didn't intend on falling asleep, but that, combined with the fact she had left Nick's at 4 am to catch her flight made for an exhausted Brooke.  She looked around nervously hoping no one had seen her, the old woman who sat next to her was sleeping peacefully and Brooke yawned before opening the magazine that sat on her lap.  The dream that had woken her still ran through her mind, a dream that brought back such bitter memories she'd have considered it a nightmare, memories that were all too real to her since they had only happened less than two weeks ago.

    In the month since she and David had broken up during the horrible scene in her apartment, she had successfully managed to avoid him like the plague.  Brooke rarely went out, and when she did, she didn't frequent any place she thought he might be.  Jessica insisted they go out dancing that night.

    "You never have fun anymore."  She kept saying, until finally Brooke gave in.  She didn't worry about seeing David there, he was more of a pub type guy than a dancer.  If she only knew how wrong she'd turn out to be, she never would have gone.

Jessica pulled her straight to the dance floor as they entered the club, a club mostly frequented by hoards of college students.  They were in the center of the dance floor oblivious to everything but the music, and for once in a long time Brooke was having a blast, no stress, no pressure, no worrying and  she forgot, if even only for a moment, how much she missed Kevin.

Then she saw him.

He was looking down from the upper level, and Brooke quickly turned away before he saw her, leaving Jessica clueless in the middle of the dance floor. She made her way to the bathroom, wondering what the hell she would do next, as Jessica finally caught up to her.

    "What's the matter?" She questioned.

    "David's out there! I saw him upstairs."

    "Are you sure it was him?" Brooke nodded, she was positive, but she still didn't know if he had seen them or not.

    "Well what do you want to do?"  Brooke shrugged.

    "I don't know if I can talk to him yet, I haven't seen him for over a month but I don't know how he feels about me, he probably hates me.  Do you mind if we leave, I don't have the guts to face him."  She could see Jessica didn't really want to, but she agreed regardless and they made their way through the crowd to the coat check.  She felt a hand on her forearm and turned around to see what Jessica wanted.

    "Hey Brooke."  She stopped in her tracks, face to face with the person she was fleeing from.

    "Hi David." Brooke said somberly.

    "So where's Kevin, did you leave him too?" He shot at her, he was drunk, she could smell it on him, even in a room full of liquor.

    "I don't have to take this from you."  She said pulling away from him and continuing on.

    "Brooke STOP.  I wanna talk to you."  He yelled.  She foolishly did.

    "What David?  If you are gonna insult me, I'm not going to stay."  She said.  He pulled her to the side as Jessica stood with a few of David's friends, all of them watching what would happen with the former couple.

    "So what do you have to say David?"  Brooke asked.

    "How have you been?"  He said sincerely.

    "Fine."

    "So where's Kevin tonight?"

    "David I don't want to talk about this, but if you must know, he's in Florida again." She said.  He nodded rather calmly, finally continuing.

    "So are you sleeping with one of his best friends?"   Brooke rolled her eyes,

    "I can't believe I actually thought you could have a civil conversation with me."  She spit out walking away from David.  He grabbed her by the arm again.

    "Brooke stop, you aren't leaving until we talk."  Brooke looked at him with incredulous eyes

    "How dare you.  I don't belong to you, I never did, so don't tell me what to do!" She yelled, drawing the attention of a few club goers.

    "You fucking bitch, you waste two years of my life and you won't give me two minutes of your time."  He yelled back.

    "No. I don't think I'm going to spend one second listening to you insult me.  Move."  She said as she tried to push past the arm that blocked her way.

    "You cheat on me with one of my best friends, you ruin my life, and now you have the gall to tell me to get out of your way, I don't think so."  He said.

    "If I ruined your life it must have been pretty pathetic to begin with."  She smirked, moving past his arm and finally arriving at the coat check.

As she buttoned up the front of the puffy black jacket she was wearing, she silently mouthed obscenities to herself,

    "Why did I come here?"  she stalked, looking around for Jessica who never joined her.  Brooke waited outside, hoping her friend would appear, but before she could, David emerged from the club.  Brooke immediately started walking away.

    "Brooke wait." He yelled.

    "No."  She blatantly stated, shoving her hands deep in her pockets and continuing to the parking lot and her car.

    "I'm sorry okay, but I really want to talk to you.  I'll be nice I promise."  He said walking backwards in front of her.

    "So talk, I'm listening."

    "Can we sit down somewhere, like go for coffee or something." David leaned down to look into Brooke's eyes.

    "I don't drink coffee." She stated.

    "I know that Brooke.  Can we please go somewhere?"

    "No."  They had reached Brooke's car, she opened the unlocked door and got inside, sighing as David hopped in the passenger's seat.

    "David, get out of my car."  She said, making a mental note to lock her car doors more regularly.  He shook his head no, grabbing the keys she had just put in the ignition.

    "Not until we talk." She had given up trying to ignore him.

    "Fine, get it over with."  She frowned, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back against the door staring at David.

    "Brooke come back to me.  I love you, I want to marry you." He said leaning in towards her.  Brooke was caught off guard, she didn't expect him to say that.  "No one knows you like I do, and no one ever will.  We belong together." He leaned over and placed a hand on her arm, she flinched and pulled away from him.  He looked at her with hurt in his eyes,

    "David we broke up for a reason.  We don't belong together, if we did we'd still be together."

    "Tell me why we didn't work out.  What went wrong?" He pleaded.  Brooke avoided his eyes but shrugged, she didn't know why, and if she could figure out why, she didn't think she could tell him.

    "If you were never going to marry me, why did you say yes?  Why did you stay engaged to me for six months.  Were you waiting for something better to come along?" David spoke with a biting tone, but with an underlying feeling of sadness, why is he doing this to me? she thought, Why did I do that to him? Her mind seemed to be screaming at her.

    "I don't know what to say David. You wouldn't understand, I don't even know if I understand." She finally muttered, still pulled back in the corner of the drivers seat, wishing he would leave.

    "Understand what?"

    "Why I agreed to marry you when we both know we didn't want to be married to each other."

    "How can you say I didn't want to marry you Brooke.  I asked didn't I, and I still want to marry you.  I have your ring in my pocket whenever you want it back." he told her almost delusionaly.

    "David can you seriously say you thought we would spend the rest of our lives together?" She pondered.

    "Didn't you?"

    "No."  He looked hurt at her comment, she hadn't meant to say it, but it just came out.

    "No?  How can you say that Brooke? Didn't you love me?"

    "David I thought I loved you.  I mean I love you, I do, but I don't love you the way I'm supposed to love someone I want to spend the rest of my life with.  I don't love you enough to marry you."  Brooke felt like crying, but held it back.

    "What made you figure that out?" he asked, knowing the answer, not really wanting to hear it, but asking never the less.

    "Kevin." She muttered, looking away from him, knowing it hurt.

    "He can't possibly love you the way I do Brooke."

She never thought she'd have to tell David any of this, she hoped in the back of her mind that he would just accept their break up and move on, find someone better.  The fact that this situation was even happening seemed surreal to Brooke. Why is he showing all this emotion and telling me how he feels now?  In the time she knew him, David had never once been vocal about his emotions towards her, sure he'd said he loved her, but that line gets thrown around so much nowadays it's lost it's impact. Did he really mean it? she wondered.

     "You're telling me to love you, to feel a love you say you have for me, that you never once showed me David.  I don't care how stupid this sounds, but I didn't know how it felt to be loved until I fell in love with Kevin.  I'm sorry it happened while I was still with you, it killed me that I might hurt you, that I did hurt you, but nothing will change the fact that I don't love you the way you want me to."

David didn't respond to what she had to say, he simply looked into her eyes for a brief moment and got out of the car, shuffling back in the direction of the club.  Brooke didn't know what to think as she started the car and drove out of the parking lot, all she knew was that she'd hurt David more than she ever imagined and she didn't know if she'd ever forgive herself for it.
 

Annie woke up alone in Nick’s bed.  She scanned the room and saw nothing but clothes on the floor and bookbags on chairs.

    “Where is he?” Annie muttered.  She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.  The last three days had been very bright for her. Her best friend came to visit her, and she could finally be affectionate with Nick and know exactly how he felt about her.  Annie smiled at the memory of the last few days and rolled out of bed.  She fumbled around on the dirty clothes and found the lightswitch, turning on the light so she could see.  Annie looked around and saw a piece of paper laying on Nick’s desk.  She walked over and saw that it was a note from Brooke.  It read:
 

Anns, I know, I should say goodbye, but I didn’t want to wake you.  I love you very much and hope to talk to you soon.  VERY SOON!  I love you Anns!  Oh, Happy Valentine’s Day.
                                                                       Brooke

    Annie smiled at the note and smiled at the thought of Brooke.  I’m glad she came, she thought.  Annie layed the note on the desk and went back to bed.  She layed there and thought, My first Valentine’s Day with Nick.  My first Valentine’s Day in a long time with someone I’m in love with, she sighed.  Annie closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

    Nick walked into his room with enough flowers to decorate the entire Rose Parade.  He looked over at his bed and saw Annie sleeping peacefully, he was glad she had finally found some sort of peace, and he was also glad she was sleeping in his bed.  Everytime he looked at Annie he felt so amazing, with every word she said, he wanted to hear more. He was so happy to be able to share his feelings with her now.   They’d been through a lot together, but he knew he wanted her in his life forever.  He stared at the sleeping image a little longer.  Annie rolled over and let out a little sigh. Damn, that was cute,  thought Nick. Oh shit Carter, you’re getting’ all cutesy.  Nick smiled to himself and put the flowers down on a chair.  He had a great idea to do something with the flowers, so he had to get started on it before Annie woke up.

Annie rolled over in bed again and once again, sighed.  Nick couldn’t take it anymore.  He walked over to the bed and stood over her, watching her sleep.  Nick smiled to himself and leaned in to kiss her, his lips lightly touched Annie’s, and it made his heart race.  Nick was about to pull away from the kiss when Annie began responding, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him on top of her.  Nick crawled lightly above Annie and kissed her lips hard.  Annie began running her hands through Nick’s hair as he kissed her lips.  His lips then found her neck and he began to kiss softly under her jawbone and down to the collarbone.  Annie brought Nick’s face back up to hers and kissed him sweetly, he let out a little moan and opened his mouth a little to let Annie taste him.   Annie opened her mouth a little more as well, and their kissing became more impassioned and feverish by the second.  Her hands ran up Nick’s back under his shirt and she began to gently stroke his skin.  Nick moaning a little more.  Nick’s hand rested on Annie’s hip and he began working his hand over to her belly.  Annie burst out laughing.

    “What?” Nick asked excitedly.  He thought he had done something wrong.

    “Oh, sorry,” Annie giggled.  Nick got a frustrated look on his face and rolled off of Annie and onto the bed.  Annie layed on her back for a second, took in a deep sigh, and rolled onto her side to look at Nick, who was staring at her.  Annie looked deep into Nick’s eyes and brought a hand up to his cheek, rubbing it with her hand and leaning into him.

    “Good morning Carter!” She kissed him sweetly.  Nick smiled at her but didn’t say anything.  Annie looked at Nick strangely and asked,

    “What?”  Nick said nothing and rolled over onto his opposite side.  Annie snuggled up against Nick’s back and kissed his neck.

    “Nick? What’s wrong?” she asked.  Nick mumbled a“Nothing” and laid there.  Annie got a little upset and rolled back over onto her back and stared at the ceiling.  She sighed loudly and played with the bottom of the t-shirt Nick was wearing.  Annie could feel his skin, so she began to lightly run her fingers across part of his back.  Nick’s body started to lightly shake, she looked strangely at Nick, but kept running her fingers across his back.  Nick let out a laugh and a plead for her to stop.

    “What?” asked Annie.

    “It tickles,” said Nick giggling.  Annie’s eyes lit up with giddiness.

    “Oh, you don’t like to be tickled?” Annie yelped as she rolled Nick over and started tickling him.  Nick was laughing uncontrollably and begging for Annie to stop.

    “Oh, what? You don’t like to be tickled?” Annie bellowed.  She began tickling Nick faster and more intensely, and Nick kept pleading with Annie to stop.  He was laughing so hard, but she would not relent.

    “Annnniiiieeeee!” Nick yelled.  Annie stopped all of the sudden and looked suprisedly at Nick.

    “What?” she asked in mock seriousness.  Nick put one hand on the back of Annie’s neck and pulled her down to his face.

    “I love you,” he whispered.  Annie smiled at Nick and began tickling his stomach again.  He began to laugh a little, but instead he rolled Annie over and layed on top of her.

    “Ummm, Carter?” asked Annie.

    “Yes dear?” Nick said in mock seriousness.

    “I take it you don’t like being tickled?” Annie asked.

    “Why do you say that?” Nick questioned.

    “Well, ummm…cuz you’re squishing me,” Annie yelped.

    “Oh, so sorry about that,” Nick said in a fake apologetic tone.

    “No you’re not!” Annie yelled.  Nick put his hands on Annie’s stomach.

    “Carter, don’t!” Annie yelled.  Nick began tickling Annie and she couldn’t do anything but giggle.

    “Okay! Okay! Stop PLEASE!” Annie yelled.  Nick stared at Annie with a grin on his face.

    “C’mere,” she said as she motioned him to come closer.

    “What?” Nick asked happily.

    “I love you too,” Annie whispered.  Nick kissed Annie passionately and then rested his head on her chest.

Later that day when Annie was looking in her bookbag for something she spotted something pink.  She reached into her bag and pulled out two pink flowers, one rose and one carnation.  Annie smiled and smelled them.

    “Nick!” she said.  He looked up from his book,

    “Huh?” Annie got up from the floor and straddled Nick on the bed.  She leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips.

    “Pink!” Annie said as she looked at the flowers.

    “I know you love pink.  I saw them and thought of you,” Nick whispered as he pulled Annie in closer to him.  Annie smiled at him and smelled her flowers again.

    “Well, thank you Carter,” she whispered.

    “Happy Valentine’s Day Annie,” Nick said.  Annie hugged Nick and whispered,

    “Happy Valentine’s Day.”  They both remained in that position for a while, but Nick finally broke the embrace.  He looked at Annie and ran his fingers through her hair.

    “So, you know, we never did have that date you promised me,” Nick said.  Annie squinted her eyes and remembered what he was talking about.

    “Ohhhhhh, no, we haven’t, have we?” she giggled.  She looked at Nick and asked,

    “So, what are we gonna do about that?” Nick laughed,

    “Well, being the fact that it is Valentine’s Day, I thought tonight would be a good time, don’t you think?” Annie nodded her head with excitement! Her eyes lit up.  Suddenly, her face fell.  Nick looked at her,

    “What?” he asked.

    “Well, you’re being so sweet to me, but what can I do for you?” Annie asked sadly.  She hung her head down.  Nick lifted her chin up so she could look him in the eyes.

    “Hey,” he said quietly.  “We don’t need a specific day to say how much we love each other.  It’s just the first day since Brooke was here that we could be alone, it’s only coincidence that it’s Valentine’s Day,” Nick said sweetly.

    “Well,” Annie said shyly.  “I feel like I should do something great for you.”  Nick kissed the tip of her nose.

    “Annie, we’re here, TOGETHER! That’s great enough for me,” Nick replied.  Annie smiled and kissed him.

    “So, festivities begin at seven.  Be ready,” Nick said.  Annie smiled and asked,

    “Where are you taking me?” Nick kissed Annie again and said,

    “Nevermind.  Just be ready!” Nick left the room and Annie’s stomach started doing flips and she let out a giddy laugh.

Annie dressed herself in a  sweater and a pair of jeans.  She didn’t know exactly what Nick had in store for the both of them, but she was excited anyway.  Annie was putting her hair in a ponytail when Nick came in the room.  He had changed from earlier.  He now had on a blue v-neck sweater with a white undershirt underneath, and he was wearing a pair of khaki cargo pants.  His hair was slicked back, but he had pieces falling on his forehead and into his eyes.  Nick took Annie’s breath away.  He looked at Annie and smiled contentedly, and grabbed her around the waist.

    “C’mere,” he sighed.  She melted into his embrace and they stood there for a minute just holding each other and being in the moment.  Nick broke the embrace and said,

    “C’mon, we gotta go!” He pulled Annie out of the room by her hand and led her to the car.  They drove for a while and had light conversation.  They listened to songs on the radio and sang along, just enjoying the company they were both in.  Finally, they reached their destination.  They were at Nick’s house.

    “Ummm,” Annie said apprehensively.  Nick opened the door and said,

    “It’s alright, no one’s home.  The house is free for us tonight,” as he took her hand and led her  to the front door.  Nick unlocked the front door and nudged Annie to go in first.  She walked in to see the entire living room covered in pink and red flower petals.  The aroma was sweet with flowery smells.  Annie stood in the doorway and just looked on in awe.

    “Oh Nick.” she whispered.  Nick came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder.

    “It’s a pink paradise,” he said jokingly.  Annie placed one of her hands on Nick’s face and said,  “It is,” in all seriousness.  Nick held Annie as she took in the scene.  There was a bucket with ice and a bottle of something chilling in the corner.  Nick unwrapped his arms and walked over to the entertainment system and flipped on some music.

    “Come over here,” Nick said as he motioned for Annie to come closer.  Annie smiled and walked over to Nick.

    “Here, sit down,” he said.  She sat down on the couch and watched Nick walk over and pour to glasses of what looked like champagne.

    “It’s sparkling grape juice.  What can I say? I’m not a big drinker,” Nick said almost apologetically.  Annie giggled a little,

    “It’s okay, neither am I.”  He handed her a glass,

    “To us,” Nick said quietly.  The both clanged glasses and took a drink.  Nick sat down and Annie looked around the living room: flower petals everywhere, soft music, champagne glasses, Annie got a suspicious look in her eye.

    “Carter, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me,” Annie said jokingly.  Nick laughed a little,

    “Ummm, you think I’d be this obvious if I wanted to sleep with you?” Annie laughed and took another drink.  Nick scooted closer to Annie on the couch and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, kissing the top of her head.  She closed her eyes and felt his warmth envelop her.  She leaned into him thinking about how this Valentine’s Day had been really nice, just her, Nick and peace, for once.  Annie was deep in thought when Nick asked her,

    “Are you hungry?”  Annie sighed

    “Yes” and Nick quickly got up and went into the kitchen.  He came back out with pizza.

    “Carter, when did you do this?” Annie asked.

    “Well, I picked it up before I came and got you, and I told my mom to warm it up in the oven before she left,” Nick shrugged.  Annie giggled as Nick came and sat back down next to her.  They both grabbed a slice and started eating.  They continued to eat silently, but it didn’t matter.  They didn’t need to talk, just being together was enough.

        After they finished the pizza, Annie and Nick sat on the couch and talked.  They talked about Brooke, they talked about school, everything basically.  Annie had her head on Nick’s lap and he had his hand on her head, playing with her hair.

    “Didja get enough to eat babe?” asked Nick.

    “Yes I did!” Annie said cheerfully.

    “I know it wasn’t the most romantic dinner, but I’m bad at this kinda stuff,” Nick said apologetically.  Annie sat up and looked Nick in the eyes,

    “You aren’t bad at this stuff at all Nick!”  She grabbed Nick’s face with both of her hands and kissed him square on the lips.  Annie broke away from the kiss and stared at him.

    “This has to be one of the best night’s I’ve had in a long time Nick,” she whispered.  He smiled,

    “Really?”

    “Definitely! It’s also the best date I’ve ever had!”  Nick and Annie were now forehead to forehead and Annie had her eyes closed.

    “Best date you’ve ever had, huh?” Nick said triumphantly.  Annie opened her eyes,

    “Carter, now don’t go getting a swollen head!” Annie giggled.  Nick rolled his eyes and kissed her.  They kissed for a few minutes, not passionate kisses, but really sweet small kisses.  Soft on the lips,  the kind of kisses that made Annie’s stomach feel like it had massive butterflies in it.  Nick and Annie stopped kissing and he just stared into her eyes, both of tem smiling.   Nick got up off the couch and went into another room.  Now what is he doing? she thought.  He came back with a small bouquet of flowers.  Some were roses, some carnations, lilies, all kinds.  Nick handed them to Annie.

    “Oh, these are so beautiful,” Annie exclaimed. She smelled them and smiled.

    “I’m glad you like them,” Nick whispered as he sat back down next to Annie.

    “I love them!”  She put the flowers down and wrapped her arms around Nick’s neck.

    “You are so wonderful! Thank you so much for everything,” she whispered.  Annie hugged Nick tightly and smiled.  She felt content.  Nick broke out of the hug and placed a hand on her cheek, stroking it with his thumb.  They sat quietly.  Finally, Nick broke the silence.

    “Ya wanna watch a movie?” he asked.  Annie nodded and he got off the couch and put in 'Big Daddy'.

    “I know you love Adam Sandler,” Nick said as he walked back to the couch.

    “Love him!” Annie laughed.  Nick sat down on the couch behind Annie and she leaned into him.  He put both arms around her and she held his arms with her hands.  Nick leaned down and said,

    “Happy Valentine’s Day Ann.”  Annie smiled and looked at Nick.

    “Happy Valentine’s Day to you too, Nick.”