“Kayleigh! I’m home!” Brooke called the next afternoon as she walked into her apartment. The apartment was seemingly silent, although she hadn’t noticed if Kayleigh’s car was in the parking lot or not. “Kayleigh? Are you here?” Brooke walked back towards Kayleigh’s room and gasped as she opened the door. In front of her was an empty room. Pictures gone. Clothes gone. Everything gone, except for the furniture. In the middle of her stripped bed sat an envelope with Brooke’s name scrawled in Kayleigh’s neat handwriting. With shaking hands, Brooke picked up the note, opened it up, and began to read.

“Oh god,” Brooke cried when she was finished. “This is not happening.” She ran out of Kayleigh’s room and grabbed her keys off of the kitchen table. She ran out to her car and hopped in, gunning the engine and speeding off towards the Madison’s house. Using the key that Kayleigh had given her she quickly ran inside.

“Mrs. Madison!” Brooke yelled into the quiet house. “Mrs. Madison are you here?” Two at a time, Brooke ran up the stairs and into Kayleigh’s old bedroom, which also had been cleaned out. “Shit!” she cried, running back down the stairs and out the door. Brooke ran down the stars and towards the Carter house. When she reached the door, she banged on it until someone opened up.

“Hey Brooke,” Leslie greeted. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Is Nick back yet?” Brooke asked, slightly out of breath.

Leslie shook her head. “Nope. Not yet. He should be landing any time now.”

“Is your mom here?” Brooke questioned. Leslie nodded and led Brooke back to the family room where Jane and BJ were seated.

Two hours later:

“How could she do this?” Carolyn cried. “Why is she gone? What happened to make her feel like she needed to run?” Brooke bit her lip and looked away as

Jane rubbed Carolyn’s back, soothingly. “I’m sure she’ll be back,” she said, although she didn’t quite believe it herself. They were interrupted by the slamming of the Madison’s front door.

“Mom?” Nick called as he, Lauren, Brian, and AJ made their way into the kitchen. They all stopped short at the looks on the faces of Carolyn, Brooke, BJ, and Jane. “What’s going on?” Nick asked. “Why is everyone so upset?”

“She’s gone,” Carolyn whimpered. “My baby’s gone.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “What? What do you mean, gone?”

“She ran away,” Carolyn explained, tearfully. “Why would she do something like this? What was so bad that she felt like she couldn’t come to me?” She looked around at the faces of everyone in her kitchen, hoping one of their expressions would give something away.

Nick also looked around, wondering why his best friend would do something like this. What was so bad that she couldn’t tell him? She could tell him anything. Or so he thought. His eyes landed on Brooke and she dropped her eyes to the floor. “You know something,” he accused. “What do you know, Brooke? You have to tell us.”

“I don’t know anything,” Brooke lied.

“Yes you do!” Nick cried, impatiently. “What did she tell you, Brooke? This is important. You can’t keep this from us.”

“Please Brooke,” Jane pleaded. “We can’t help Kayleigh if we don’t know what the problem is. Please just tell us.” A silence fell over the group as all eyes were on Brooke, waiting for her to give them any sort of clue as to why Kayleigh left and where she might be.

“She’s pregnant,” Brooke finally whispered.

“Pregnant?!” Carolyn exclaimed. “How the hell did that happen? She hasn’t had a boyfriend since Tyler!”

“Who’s baby is it?” Brian asked, quietly. Brooke looked around the room at everyone before her eyes fell upon Nick. Nick, noticing her expression, immediately knew it was him. One by one, everyone’s eyes turned to him and he felt Lauren let go of his hand.

“It’s mine?” he whispered. “How is that possible?”

“What do you mean how is that possible?!” Brooke exploded. “How about the night that you were so hung up on your girlfriend leaving you that you would’ve done anything to forget about her?! Including sleeping with your best friend?!”

“But…but…,” Nick stuttered, tears springing to his eyes. He never would’ve though that this would happen. And that she would’ve been so scared that she felt as though she needed to run away instead of letting him help her. “Why would she do something like this? Something so selfish?”

“Selfish?!” Brooke exclaimed. “Do you even know how much she loved you? Do you have even the slightest idea?” Nick stood quietly, everything slowly sinking in. “She wanted nothing more than to be with you. She worshipped you. For the last five months, all she wanted was for you to love her the way she loved you and you took advantage of that. She was vulnerable and you took advantage of that and now look what’s happened! She didn’t want to tie you down, Nick. She didn’t want to cause problems between you and Lauren. She didn’t want to ruin your career. You have no right to stand there and accuse her of being selfish because she did this all for you.” Nick, not being to take anymore of Brooke’s verbal assault, quickly spun around on his heel and sprinted out of the house. He needed to get out of there and fast. He jumped into his Durango and sped out of the Madison’s house and towards his own.

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