I Won't Let You Close Enough to Hurt Me

Chapter 30

Ryan: You okay? I saw your tweet.

     Brooke sighed. She knew that Ryan didn't want to hear about her problems with Nick, so she decided to give him the short version.

Brooke: Yeah, Nick and I broke up. Well, I guess we were never officially dating... But whatever we had is over.

Ryan: Well you know how I feel about you. I want you to do whatever makes you happy. Just let me know if you need to talk.

     Brooke smiled to herself. Even though she lost Nick as a friend, she hadn't lost Ryan.

*******

     A few days later, all of the girls on the junior company gathered in Studio A for pyramid. Because they were in L.A. for an extra day, their normal competition schedule had to be changed. This week, instead of having a week to rehearse the dances, they would have a week and a half.

     The pyramid looked a little different this week. There were three sheets of paper in the bottom row, two in the middle, and two on top. Brooke had no idea why it was like this, but Abby always had a trick up her sleeve. Before she had too much time to think about it, Abby walked through the door.

     "Hello ladies," Abby greeted. "Overall, I think the competition in L.A. went pretty well. But let's not waste time; I have many interesting things to share with you this week. So on the very bottom of the pyramid, we have," Abby paused as she ripped the bottom sheet off to reveal Brooke's face.

     Without any explanation, Brooke knew why she was there. "Brooke, you were perfect in the group. I've never seen better facials from you. And you brought so much emotion and technique to the duet; it was flawless. I wanted so badly to put you at the top of this pyramid, but then Saturday night happened. That was completely unacceptable. You are a young lady, and from now on, you will behave like one," Abby instructed. "Next, we have Kendall. Kendall, you're still on probation. The duet was a wreck. Normally your turns are dead on, but they were very shaky this week. Our last girl on the bottom is Paige. You missed a kick, and the duet placed 4th. You have to take responsibility."

     Abby moved on to the middle row, which consisted of Mackenzie and Nia. The only number that they were in was the group, but they blended in without making any mistakes. The two girls on top were Maddie and Chloe. "Now, I bet you all are wondering why Maddie and Chloe are sharing the top row, since Maddie placed 1st and Chloe placed 3rd," Abby started. "Well, this morning I got a very interesting call from the producers of "Shake it Up". They told me that they were so in love with both of their performances that they decided to make the solo into a duet. You girls both got the part!"

     Maddie and Chloe hugged each other and began to jump up and down. Tears of joy streaked down both of the girls' faces. "You will be flying back to L.A. this weekend to film," Abby told them.

     Abby dismissed the other girls before she gave out assignments so that she could have a moment alone with Maddie and Chloe. Brooke grabbed her water and decided to sit outside. She wasn't in the mood to answer any questions about Saturday night that she knew would be asked.

     When Brooke pushed the door open, the bright sun warmed her face. She leaned against the wall of the building and slid down so she was sitting on the grass. She was just about to take a sip of her water when she heard the door open. It was Nick.

     "Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were out here," Nick said as he tried to turn around.

     "No, it's okay. I was just getting ready to go back in," Brooke told him.

     Nick turned around and walked over to Brooke. He extended his arm out and Brook grabbed it. As he pulled her off the ground, he took a deep breath. "Brooke... I'm sorry." Brooke was stunned. After the weekend they had, she didn't think he would ever want to speak to her again, let alone apologize. "I should have never listened to Brandon. I think a part of me knew that he was lying, but it still scared me. I really like you and I guess that just made me realize that I could lose you. I don't know if that makes any sense."

     "I get it," Brooke nodded. "That's what made me hesitate to start dating you in the first place. I knew that losing you wasn't something that I could handle. But then everything got so messed up."

     "I let it get messed up," Nick admitted.

     Brooke smiled. It was nice to see the old Nick back. "What made you want to apologize?"

     "Well, the other day I got a message on Facebook from that Ryan kid. He told me that you were really hurting, and I explained to him why we ended things. He told me that he liked you, but you never felt the same way. He also told me how much he wished he could be with you, but he knew I would make you happier. I guess I just decided that even though I know that you could leave me at any moment, I would never forgive myself if I didn't try and make things work with you, because you're perfect in every way," Nick said as he lightly grabbed Brooke's hands. "So Brooke, I was wondering... Will you be my girlfriend?"

Author's Note: That is the end of "I Won't Let You Close Enough to Hurt Me"! Thank you so much for everyone that read, commented, and voted. I will be doing a sequel about Brooke that I'm going to start either tonight or tomorrow. I hope everyone enjoyed this story!