Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill, the show, world and characters all belong to Mark Schawhn and the CW.
Summary: Nathan Scott and Haley James haven't spoken in 7 years. Now, reunited for their friend's wedding, the pain from their past is quickly resurfacing. What exactly happened between them, and can they move pats it to be friends, or perhaps more than that?
Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first time actually posting a story on here. Any feedback is greatly appreciated, enjoy! :)
Chapter 1
Haley James awoke to the shrill ringing of her cell phone, placed on her bed side table. She sighed and glanced at her alarm clock. Only 7 in the morning, this better be damn important, she thought. Realizing her phone was still emitting that obnoxious ring, she blindly reached for the phone and flipped it open.
"Hello," she said in a raspy, sleep filled voice.
The excited voice of Haley's best friend, Brooke Davis replied. "Guess what, I'll tell you, I'm engaged!"
Upon hearing this, Haley shot up in her bed. "Oh my God! That's amazing Brooke! I'm so happy for you! You do realize it's only 7 here though, right?"
"Whatever Tutor Girl, you're lucky I waited until this decent of an hour. By the way, I took the liberty of booking you a flight; you will be in New York by tonight!" Brooke responded giddily. Despite being best friends, Haley and Brooke lived on opposite sides of the country. Brooke, being a fashion designer and CEO of her clothing company needed to live in New York City. While Haley, who was a Grammy award winning artist, needed to be stationed in Los Angeles.
"Whoa, slow down Tigger. You booked me a flight already? Don't tell me we're gonna start planning this soon?" Haley exclaimed.
"Come on Hales! I need to have the wedding of the year, and you, as my maid of honor need to help me," she returned.
"Why Lucas wants to marry you, I'll never know," Haley joked.
"Haha, very funny. Anyway, I must be going, you need to pack and I'm going to go have amazing engagement sex with Lucas," Brooke declared.
Haley rolled her eyes at this. "Okay, first of all ew. We've been over this before, Lucas is like my brother; any mention of sex and him is really disturbing. Secondly, how long am I even going to be in New York and when is my flight? And third, if I'm being forced to help you start planning, Peyton has to help too,"
Brooke responded with a laugh. "You will be here, living with me until further notice; your flight takes off at 3 o'clock and P. Sawyer-Jagielski is my next phone call. In fact, her and hubby will be in the seats next you on the plane!"
"Okay, I suppose you can call Peyton now then, and I'll see you tonight!" Haley replied.
"That I will Tutor Girl, see you soon, love you."
"Love you too, Tigger," Haley responded, and after hearing Brooke hang up, she hung up as well. She couldn't believe her best friend was finally going to marry the guy that was basically Haley's brother. They started dating junior year of high school, eight years ago. They were the perfect couple, perfect for each other in every way. Sure, they had their problems, but what couple doesn't? Look at them now though, engaged to be married, no one deserves it more than those two.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, Haley quickly remembered that she had to pack for a most likely lengthy trip. Yeah, her best friend is a fashion designer but she still needed to bring her own clothes. With that in mind, Haley leapt from her bed and headed straight for her walk-in closet and Louis Vuitton luggage set.
Three hours later, Haley had finally finished packing all her clothes and other necessities for the trip, showered, and changed into her comfiest Juicy track suit. Soon after calling for a car service, Haley James was on her way to Los Angeles International Airport.
No sign of Peyton or Jake, Haley thought to herself as she made it to her gate. Instead of doing nothing while she waited, Haley pulled out a copy of The Catcher in the Rye and began to read. As Haley became immersed in the world of Holden Caulfield, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Thinking it was a fan, she turned around prepared to sign an autograph, but was instead met with the sparkling green eyes of her other best friend, Peyton Sawyer Jagielski.
"Hi, Hales!" Peyton shrieked.
Haley winced slightly at her friend's screech. "Hey Peyton, it's really good to see you again, you too Jakey."
"Hey Haley, how've you been?" Jake laughed.
"I've been pretty good, making you guys happy and recording a lot, and making money for your label. What about you two?" She asked.
"We've been really good, travelling a lot, as you know. It's been really fun though, let me just say that France is beautiful," Peyton jumped back into the conversation.
Haley and Jake laughed; it was good to be back with the people she loved. Peyton and Jake sat down with Haley and soon after, the three friends boarded onto the plane, seated in the first class section. Shortly after take-off, Peyton, Jake, and Haley dove into conversation once more.
"So Jakey, I get why Brooke needs me and Peyton, but did she tell you what you're required for, or are you just accompanying wifey to New York?" Haley jokingly questioned.
"Actually, it was Lucas that told me that I have to come to New York too. Something about their apartment would be run by girls so he needs his boys there to have some testosterone present still," Jake answered.
"Whatever, us girls aren't that bad," Peyton added.
"Trust me, baby, when you, Brooke, and Haley get together it can become really overwhelming for just one guy," Jake confessed.
"So you and Lucas expect to be able to remain macho with two of you when there are still three of us?" Haley teased.
"Please, Hales, Lucas and I aren't that dense, we obviously have a third guy coming to even the score a bit," Jake countered.
"Really, who?" She inquired.
"Nathan," Jake simply stated. Upon hearing that name, Haley froze. Along with Brooke, Lucas, Peyton, and Jake, she was once close friends with Nathan Scott. That is, until they had a falling out just after senior year. They hadn't spoken since and no one in their group of friends knows what happened, to this day. Nowadays, no one really mentions Nathan around Haley, the last she heard he was some big shot NBA star playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. Thankfully, Los Angeles was a big enough city that she was lucky enough to not see him. Apparently, that luck was about to come to an end though, and the only thing on Haley's mind was why hadn't Brooke told her.
"Hales?" Peyton whispered.
Snapping out of thoughts, Haley responded quietly. "Yeah?"
"You alright?" Peyton asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Haley quickly responded.
"Come on Haley, we know you well enough to know you're not okay," Jake murmured.
"What do you want me to say then?" She answered.
"You could start by telling us exactly what happened between you and Nathan," Peyton suggested. At Peyton's words, Haley winced, neither Jake nor Peyton knowing if it was from the name, the memories of what happened, or maybe a bit of both.
It was both. At Peyton's suggestion, Haley was immediately transported back to a place she did not want to be; Tree Hill, the end of senior year and the summer that followed it. Those months are just a series of painful memories for her, memories she prefers to block out, along with the person responsible for the pain. "I can't, it hurts too much," Haley whispered with tears in her eyes.
Peyton didn't back down. "Haley, sooner or later you're going to have to tell us what happened, maybe now would be good since you'll be facing him in a matter of hours."
"I don't want to talk about him. As far as I'm concerned Nathan Scott doesn't exist," Haley barked.
Peyton put her hands up in surrender. "Okay, fine, you win. You're gonna tell us eventually though, Hales."
Haley sighed; she knew it wasn't fair to still be shutting her friends out after seven years, she just couldn't build up the courage to revisit the painful past long enough to explain to everyone what exactly happened. Peyton was right though, eventually she was going to have to tell everyone, she just prayed that day didn't come soon.
"So, you ladies prepared to deal with bridezilla Brooke?" Jake joked, breaking Haley from her thoughts.
"Not even close," she half-heartedly replied.
"I second that," Peyton added.
Jake laughed and conversation continued throughout the rest of the flight. Both Jake and Peyton aware that this quiet Haley James was a different girl from the bright, happy one they boarded the flight with, all because of the mention of a name and the thoughts that followed.
The trio's plane finally landed at La Guardia after a long, five hour flight. They unloaded from the plane with the rest of the passengers and headed straight to baggage claim. After about ten minutes, Haley, Jake, and Peyton all had their bags and were on the lookout for a bubbly brunette.
"HALEY!" Haley immediately recognized the squeal as her best friend and turned around to see Brooke Davis running to her. Haley quickly dropped her bags and began running to her friend as well. The two girls soon collided in a bone crushing hug.
"I missed you so much," Haley mumbled into Brooke's shoulder.
"Me too," Brooke replied.
"Oh, I suppose I'm chopped liver then?" Peyton joked.
"Get in here P. Jagielski!" Brooke laughed.
As the three girls continued to hug, Jake spoke up. "Hate to break up the love fest ladies but people are staring." They pulled apart; both Haley and Brooke had tears of joy streaming down their faces, with Peyton struggling to keep hers at bay.
"Hi Jake!" Brooke said.
"Hello Brookie," Jake responded while pulling the girl into a short hug.
"Well, shall we get out of here then?" Jake questioned. The three girls nodded in agreement and the four friends made their way to the exit of the airport.
"Just FYI, there's paparazzi outside Hales," Brooke informed her. Haley didn't really mind right now, she was too happy about finally being reunited with Brooke to care. She put on her black Ray Bans, smiled, and let the paparazzi get their picture.
Making it to their car, Jake loaded all the luggage into the trunk and they headed back to Brooke and Lucas' penthouse suite.
Upon arriving at the apartment building, Jake unloaded the luggage while the girls waited off to the side.
"So, how was the flight?" Brooke asked. With a short, tense pause between Peyton and Haley, Peyton responded.
"It was good, really nice to catch up with Hales," she lied. Haley remained silent and Brooke gave her a questioning look, but was interrupted by Jake before she could say anything.
"Okay ladies, your bags are here, can we please go inside, it's freezing out here."
Brooke scoffed. "Jake, it's like fifty degrees, do you know how warm that is for New York in February?"
"Hate to break it to you Brooke, but fifty degrees is nowhere near warm," Jake countered. Brooke rolled her eyes and led her friends into her building and to the elevator.
"Is Lucas home?" Haley inquired on the way up.
"He wasn't when I left, but he should be now," Brooke answered.
"Great!" Haley was excited, she hadn't seen Lucas in months, and she really just needed him to assure her that she could face Nathan and make it out unscathed. Another thought quickly struck Haley, what if Nathan was already at the apartment? She wasn't prepared to see him yet, she needed more time. The elevator dinged, signalling they were at their floor. With slightly trembling hands, Haley picked up her bags and braced herself for what might be to come.
The elevator doors opened to a short hallway with a door at the end, which opened into quiet, large apartment. Haley breathed a sigh of relief, no way was Nathan here if it's this quiet.
"Lucas!" Brooke called. The only reply was the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the group. A tall blue-eyed blond came into view, much like what she did with Brooke; Haley dropped her bags and jumped into Lucas' open arms. Laughing, Lucas picked up his best friend and spun her around.
"God, I missed you so much buddy," he told her.
"Same here Luke. Promise me we'll never go that long without seeing each other again," Haley replied.
"I promise." Lucas let Haley go and greeted Peyton with a hug and Jake with a fist bump and man hug. The five reunited friends headed into the den to catch up with each other some more.
"So Hales, have you managed to write any more Grammy winning songs?" Lucas asked.
"You bet she has!" Peyton answered for her. Haley laughed and shrugged.
"We'll see," she joked. "Enough about me though, you two are engaged! Tell us how Luke proposed!" she continued.
"Well," Brooke began. "You guys obviously know it was Valentine's yesterday. So to celebrate, we planned to go out for dinner. When I was done getting ready– "
"After about five hours," Lucas interrupted.
"Oh be quiet, I looked hot," Brooke returned. "Anyway, after I was ready, Luke told me we weren't going to an actual restaurant. He made me wear a blind fold and carried me up to the roof. When we got up there, I took off the blind fold and there was a table in front of us, with a waiter in a tux waiting to take our order. We sat down and ordered some wine and the waiter left then came back with the wine and we ordered our dinner. I was about to take a sip of wine, but then I noticed that there was something in the glass. I was disgusted, but then I actually looked at what it was, and it was a ring. I looked up at Luke and he was smiling all big, he grabbed the glass from me, took out the ring, stood up then got down on one knee in front of me and asked me to marry him," Brooke recounted.
"She of course said yes," Lucas smiled. Brooke turned to Lucas and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Everyone could tell that they were both overjoyed.
"And look at the rock!" Peyton shouted. Brooke smiled, it wasn't a huge diamond, but it was more than big enough.
"Anyway, does anyone want a drink?" Brooke asked while standing up. The other four all answered with a yes and Brooke turned to Haley.
"Wanna help me, Hales?"
"Yeah, sure," she responded and followed Brooke to the kitchen.
Once they were out of earshot from the rest of the group, Brooke turned to Haley. "Okay, what's wrong Tutor Girl, you and Peyton got totally awkward when I asked about the flight.
"Nothing's wrong, the flight was fine, I'm just tired," Haley explained.
"Are you forgetting I know when you're lying?" Brooke countered. Haley sighed, she didn't really want to get into it right now, but it looks like she was going to have to.
"Why didn't you tell me on the phone that Nathan was coming here too?" She demanded. Brooke froze; she was not expecting that one.
"I didn't think it would matter," she offered.
"Well it does matter, out of everyone, you should know the most how much it matters," Haley scolded. Brooke looked at her with guilt. Haley was right, no one but her and Haley knew it, but Brooke was the only one in the group of friends that knew everything that happened between Nathan and Haley.
"I'm so sorry, Hales," Brooke replied with tears in her eyes. "It's just that Lucas didn't really ask if it was okay, he just told me he was inviting Nathan. I couldn't do anything," she cried.
Haley felt bad now. She snapped on her best friend for something she had no control over. "It's okay, Brooke. You just have to help me get through seeing him," she said while hugging her friend.
"I promise that I will, I'll even be a huge bitch to him," she swore.
Haley laughed at her friend's antics. "Thank you Brooke, I don't know what I would do without you."
"You're welcome. Now we should probably get those drinks shouldn't we?" Brooke replied.
"That's a good idea," Haley smiled.
Shortly after their kitchen conversation, the two girls walked back into the den with their friends' refreshments.
"What took you so long?" Lucas asked as Haley handed him his beer.
"Oh, you know, just some girl talk," Brooke answered while avoiding his eyes.
"Oh, okay. We were just talking about Nathan, his flight is supposed to land in a few hours and I've got to pick him up," Lucas continued. Haley froze once again at the mention of him. Shaking off her worries, she looked up and saw Brooke and Peyton looking at her with concern. She gave them a look to convey that she would be fine and tuned back into what Lucas was saying. To her disappointment, the topic of discussion was still him, but Brooke managed to bring up basketball, a sure fire way for them to drop talking about Nathan. Brooke stood up, knowing the boys would talk about sports for hours.
"Come on girls, to the kitchen for some more girl talk." Haley and Peyton both stood and followed Brooke, Lucas and Jake completely oblivious of them leaving.
In the kitchen, unfortunately for Haley, Peyton still wanted to talk about Nathan Scott. "Are you gonna be okay when he gets here?" she inquired. Haley sighed; she really did not want to talk about him.
"Yes, I'll be alright. Now can we not talk about him anymore?" she pleaded. Brooke nodded and started to change the subject when Peyton interjected.
"Oh no, I let it go on the plane, Nathan's going to be here in a matter of hours. It's only fair that you tell us what went down between the two of you before he gets here. We need time to develop a plan of action." Brooke disagreed with her friend but remained silent, hoping Haley would stand up for herself and refuse.
"Peyton, I'll tell you what happened when I'm ready to. Right now, I'm not ready to talk about it so can you please stop trying to force me into telling you," Haley bit out. Brooke smiled, proud of her friend for sticking up for herself.
"What are you so happy about? Do you not want to know what happened between Nathan and Haley?" Peyton demanded. Brooke wiped the smile from her face; she was at a complete loss for what to say. Peyton would surely be upset to discover that Haley had told Brooke what happened and not her. Brooke's silence was enough to reveal to Peyton exactly why she wasn't curious though.
"You already know don't you?" Peyton stated, shocked. Brooke nodded her head meekly. Peyton turned to Haley, the hurt visible in her eyes.
"Why couldn't you tell me then?" she asked quietly.
"Peyton, I," Haley started. "I was a mess after everything happened. I wouldn't come out my room to even eat. My mom called Brooke because she was worried about me; you and Jake were out of town visiting your dad. So, Brooke came over and asked me to tell her what happened and I broke down. I needed to tell someone. After I told Brooke, I made her swear not tell anyone because I didn't want people, even my closest friends to ask me questions or look at me with pity," she explained tearfully. Peyton remained silent, as if thinking if the explanation was good enough.
"Okay," she finally said.
"Okay?" Haley repeated, surprised.
"Yeah, I understand that after telling someone you didn't want to have to re-live it again. I'll back off, but you will tell me before we go back to LA," she conceded.
"Thanks, Peyt," Haley murmured while hugging the taller girl. As they pulled out of their embrace, a knock on the door resonated through the apartment.
"I'll be right back," Brooke told her friends. Before she took a step, Haley stopped her.
"Brooke, you stay here, I'll get it." Brooke nodded and Haley walked down the hallway to the foyer. The person on the other side of the door was still rapping on it. Impatient much? Haley thought to herself. She finally reached the door, unlocked and twisted the handle. She was met by a moderately tall, tan brunette that was smiling excitedly, and a man. The same man who she, Brooke, and Peyton had been discussing minutes earlier.
Haley looked up at him. She stared into his deep, blue eyes and got lost in memories of the times those eyes were filled with every emotion imaginable. Now though, those same eyes were filled with nothing. They were stone cold, staring at her. Haley's throat went dry, finally realizing that he was actually standing in front of her. Well, him and some random bar slut, she thought.
"Are you going to let us in?" he asked impatiently. Only then did Haley realize that she hadn't said a word in a good two minutes. She remained silent, but opened the door wider, allowing them to enter.
Haley barely noticed Brooke, Peyton, Lucas, and Jake walk into the room and begin greeting him and who she assumed to be his latest girlfriend. She remained still, beside the now closed door, attempting to figure out how to act at least civil around him during the day, and not let the memories haunt her during the night. Haley quickly realized neither was likely to happen. She was in for a whole lot of pain her entire stay in New York, only minutes after his arrival and she already wanted to break down at the mere sight of him. Apparently, even seven years time isn't enough to heal a broken heart.
