Title: Hope
Author: Me, Pixiechick1
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing associated or affiliated with One Tree Hill or the WB.
Pairings: NALEY, Peyton/Lucas, Brooke/Tim (basically CC)
Summary: Sequel to "Storm", we now find Haley and Nathan planning their wedding. But, it won't be easy. They will have to endure many obstacles that are thrown their way. Including a visit from Haley's ex-boyfriend and three very familiar girls return to wreak havoc once again. Peyton and Lucas find out more about themselves and their relationship, while Brooke and Tim continue to contemplate if they have one. As the wedding gets closer, things get more complicated…will Nathan and Haley be able to pull it off?
Chapter One- One Great Weekend…and Shopping
Haley James woke up on Saturday morning to sunlight pouring through her bedroom window. Her digital clock read 10:15 am. She stretched her arms above her head and swung her legs over the side of her bed. She was very comfy in her plaid PJ bottoms and white beater top. She got up and quickly ran a brush through her shoulder-length brown hair and grabbed the crutches that stood by the door. She wobbled down the steps with her crutches and one good leg. She was all too glad that she was getting her cast off on Wednesday, but it wasn't soon enough.
Senior year started on Monday and she was supposed to meet Nathan, Lucas, Peyton, Brooke and Tim at the Scott's beach house for a weekend of crazy fun, which would make the last few days of summer unforgettable. Not that she could do a lot with her slight incapacity.
As Haley wobbled down the step, she smelled the scent of pancakes cooking in the kitchen. She had no idea who could be in her house; her parents were away visiting relatives in Colorado until the end of next week.
She got to the bottom of the steps and saw Nathan cooking away at the stove. He immediately came over to her and slipped his arms around her waist, helping her down the steps.
"What are you doing here?" Haley asked with a smile.
"Making you breakfast for my fiancé of course", Nathan said as he set Haley down in a chair and returned to the stove to turn it off and set a plate of pancakes on the kitchen table, along with syrup, butter, orange juice, and a steaming up of coffee for the both of them.
"This is so sweet", Haley said. "Thank you", she whispered as she pulled Nathan in for kiss.
"Your welcome", Nathan said. "I was thinking that after we eat we could head on over to the beach house, everyone else should already be there."
"Sounds great", Haley said between bites of pancakes. "Mmmm…Nate these are delicious! Where did you learn to cook?"
"When my mom worked at Karen's Café, she picked up a few things. Since there was no daughter in the family to pass along the cooking skills, she forced me into a day in the kitchen", Nathan said laughing.
"Well, it paid off", Haley said taking another bite of pancake.
"I'm very glad to have your approval Miss James."
Haley laughed. "I better go get dressed Mr. Scott."
"Oh no", Nathan said running over to help Haley up. "There's no way I'm letting you go up those stairs." He swooped her up into his arms.
"How chivalrous of you", Haley said as Nathan carried her up the steps.
"My pleasure my lady", Nathan said taking her left hand and kissing her engagement ring.
Twenty minutes later Haley slowly came down the stairs with a pair of jean shorts on and a red baby tee-shirt with "Welcome to the Dew Drop Café" written on it. Her one white flip flop clacked as she wobbled down the stairs. Her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and her sunglasses set on the top of her head. She picked up her bag full of beach essentials and climbed into Nathan's black Range Rover.
"I can't wait till I get this stupid cast off!" Haley complained. "I'm not going to be able to do anything this weekend.
"Don't even worry about it", Nathan said giving Haley a peck on the cheek. "I'm going to do everything possible to make sure that you have the greatest weekend ever."
They drove down the highway until they arrived at the beach house. Tim's dark blue Jeep was parked outside, as was Peyton's red convertible. Nathan pulled his car up next to Peyton's and turned off the ignition. They both got out and proceeded to go inside.
They got inside and Tim and Lucas were watching ESPN on Nathan's big screen plasma TV and Peyton and Brooke were looking through the Scott's CD and record collection on the floor.
"Hey guys!" Nathan said as they shut the door.
"Hey you two", Brooke said getting up and giving Haley and Nathan a hug. "Ready for the best weekend ever?"
"Definitely", Haley replied setting her crutches aside as Lucas helped her onto the couch. "I need at least one more chance to chill before senior year starts."
"I second that", Lucas said sitting down beside his best friend.
"Well then let's get it started", Brooke said enthusiastically.
Twenty minutes later the girls were still getting ready to go out to the beach.
"What is taking them so long?" Tim asked impatiently. The guys had all been ready for nearly fifteen minutes.
"You know girls", Nathan said.
Tim rolled his eyes.
Meanwhile, the girls were all ready and met in one of the guest rooms to chat before heading out to the beach.
"Will you all hurry up!" Tim shouted loudly up the steps.
"Go on out!" Brooke yelled to her boyfriend. "We'll meet you out there!"
"Whatever", Tim said as the girls heard the door shut.
"Okay", Brooke said. "Now that they're gone, Peyton and I have something to give you." She said to Haley.
Haley looked at them skeptically.
"Here", Brooke said handing Haley a bag.
Haley opened it up and inside lay several different bridal and wedding magazines. "We thought you could use them", Peyton said.
"Thanks you guys", Haley said. "These are great. I can't believe I'm actually planning my wedding."
"This is so exciting!" Brooke squealed. "But we have something else too."
"What is it?" Haley asked wondering what could be next.
"Well", Peyton began. "When Brooke and I first met and became friends we got these matching pearl necklaces."
"And, we want you to have one too", Brooke said handing Haley a string of pearls.
Haley smiled. "Thank you!" She said putting the pearls on. "This is so cool."
Brooke and Peyton smiled each fixing their own pearl necklace.
"This is awesome", Haley said. "I never really had a best friend, except for Lucas of course. But, he's a guy and you can't really get matching necklaces or anything. I know you guys have been friends for a long time, but I'm glad that I can be a part of that now too."
The three girls hugged and Haley and Peyton helped Haley down the steps. The walked out onto the beach and saw the guys throwing a football around. The girls spread their towels out on the sand and oiled themselves up with tanning oil. Brooke lay back onto her towel, adjusting her black string bikini and pulling her hair out from behind her neck.
Tim stared at Brooke looking like he'd never seen a girl in a bathing suit before. Luke stared at Peyton in her navy blue and red bikini as she put on her headphones and the sound of Gavin DeGraw's "Chariot" CD blared in her ears. Meanwhile, Nathan was looking at Haley in her Hawaiian print bikini, thinking about how beautiful she looked.
Haley caught this and lowered her sunglasses seductively. Nathan approached his girlfriend and kissed her passionately.
"That's for looking so damn beautiful", Nathan said.
"Tim", Brooke called. "Maybe you should take some lessons from Nathan on proper seduction techniques."
Nathan and Lucas howled with laughter.
"I wouldn't be laughing Luke", Peyton said sarcastically.
Lucas stopped laughing and Nathan continued to laugh.
"No complaints here", Haley said with a smirk.
About an hour later the guys were messing around in the ocean, trying to dunk Brooke and Peyton under. Haley was laughing from on shore wishing she could be out there with them.
"Hi Haley", a familiar voice said as they approached Haley from behind.
"Deb!" Haley said giving her soon-to-be mother-in-law a hug. "What are you doing here?"
"I just stopped by to bring you kids some lunch", Deb said setting a picnic basket down on the sand and sitting herself down on a towel.
"Thanks", Haley said gratefully.
There was an awkward silence between the two for a moment until Deb spoke.
"Haley", Deb began. "My son is very important to me and I love him more than anything in the world. I'll be honest, when I first heard that you two were engaged I was skeptical. I really did not think that your and Nathan's love would withstand the obstacles that you all would face. But, I was wrong. My son loves you Haley. I have never seen him as happy as he is when he's with you. Ever since he's been with you he's been more responsible, more loving…and I think that you are the reason for that. I know you love Nathan Haley and you both have my blessing."
Haley was speechless. All she could do was pull Deb into a hug. "Can I call you mom?"
Deb smiled. "Sure."
"Hey mom", Nathan said as the rest of the gang walked up to Haley and Deb. "What are you doing here?" He asked her grabbing a towel to dry himself off.
"Oh, I just brought some lunch for you kids", Deb said. "And I had a nice little chat with Haley."
"What about?" Nathan asked his mother glaring.
"Oh, sweetheart", Deb said standing up and giving her son a peck on the cheek. "Nothing bad…just wedding stuff…"
Haley smiled brightly.
"Well", Deb said. " I have to get going. I have a counseling session with your father."
"Oh…great", Nathan said. "You haven't told him about…"
"No", Deb said quickly. "Dan doesn't have any idea about you and Haley. But Nate he will find out eventually."
"Yeah", Nathan said sitting down next to Haley. "Sometimes I think we should just elope, just so we don't have to tell my dad."
Deb nodded knowing that if Dan found out about Nathan and Haley, they'd be taking on a few more counseling sessions.
"Thanks for lunch Mrs. Scott", Peyton gratefully.
"Oh Peyton", Deb said. "You've known me since you were little, call me Deb, please."
Peyton smiled.
"Can I call you Deb?" Tim asked.
Deb glared. "Mrs. Scott to you."
Everyone laughed, while Tim rolled his eyes.
"I gotta go. I love you sweetie."
"Love you too Mom."
Once Deb had left, all six of them plopped down under the umbrella in a circle and dug into what Deb had prepared for them.
"So, what do you guys wanna do tonight?" Brooke asked between bites of food.
"There's some live entertainment at the café", Haley suggested. "We could go check that out."
"Who's playing?" Peyton asked.
"I dunno", Haley said fishing through her bag. "I have it written down somewhere in here…apparently some person Karen knows has amazing connections and got her this really awesome band…oh here it is…they're called Maroon 5."
Peyton, Brooke, Lucas, Nathan and Tim all spit out their drinks.
"Maroon 5?" Peyton asked wanting clarification.
"Yeah", Haley said. "That's what it says. Who are they?"
Everyone stared at her blankly.
"You're kidding right Hales?" Lucas asked his best friend.
"No…"
"Oh Haley, what kind of a deprived teenage life have you had?" Brooke said slinging an arm over Haley's shoulders.
"Maroon 5", Lucas said. "Only one of the coolest bands, well…ever!"
"Trust me you'll love them", Nathan said assuring Haley.
"Yeah", Peyton said. "We definitely HAVE to go tonight."
"Alright well, it starts at 8 so that gives us seven hours to kill", Nathan said looking at his watch. "What do you all wanna do?"
Peyton, Brooke and Haley looked at each other knowing.
"Can we pick?" Brooke asked.
"Sure", Tim said giving Brooke a peck on the cheek.
"And you'll go with us and all?"
"Yep."
"Shopping", all three said at once.
"Ohhhhhhh no!" Nathan said backing away. "No way!"
"Oh come on Nate", Haley said. "Please for me?" She asked giving him sad eyes.
Not the eyes, Nathan thought. I can't say no to the eyes.
"Fine", Nathan stated throwing his hands up, surrendering.
Peyton looked at Luke. "Don't even try it Peyt", Lucas said. "I'm not gonna fall for the puppy dog eyes…nope…don't even try…" all the time Peyton was giving Lucas eyes that made Lucas just cave.
"Okay", he said.
Brooke glared at Tim. "If you don't go I will never kiss you again."
That was enough for Tim. "Let's go!" He said jumping up.
An hour later Peyton, Haley and Brooke were dragged the guys through the Tree Hill Mall. In and out of stores, from American Eagle and PacSun, to Victoria's Secret and Guess, now they were headed into Abercrombie.
"When will this torture end?" Tim whispered to Nathan and Lucas as they were dragged through a bunch of Abercrombie baby-tees.
"Just play along", Lucas said. "Maybe they'll get tired."
Nathan stared at his brother. "Girls never get tired of shopping."
"Oh boys!" Brooke called from the back near the dressing
rooms. "We need your opinions."
The three trudged to the back. Each sat in a chair outside the dressing rooms,
while the girls modeled different outfits.
"What do you guys think of this pleated mini?" Brooke asked looking in the mirror.
"Good." Tim said.
"Fine." Lucas added.
"Whatever." Nathan stated.
Brooke groaned. "That doesn't help!"
"I think its cute Brooke", Haley said sporting her own pleated mini-skirt, but in a different color.
"Oh and we could have the same skirt!" Brooke squealed.
"Yeah!"
The guys rolled their eyes, and six hours to go until Maroon 5…
A few hours later the girls were at the beach house getting ready for the concert. They had to get there super early if they wanted to get good seats. Peyton wore a pair of faded, denim jeans and a black baby tee shirt, with her black Chuck Taylor's. Her hair was down, her natural blond curls bouncing. Peyton wore her set of pearls around her neck and post earrings in her ears. Brooke was wearing a pair of dark jeans with an Abercrombie scoop-neck, long-sleeve shirt and pair of Adidas shoes. She wore her pearls, as well and dangly, silver earrings in her ears. Her hair was pulled up in a twist and secured with a clip, stray pieces from her bangs falling around her face. Haley wore a pair of jeans with a pink, off-the-shoulder, three quarter length shirt. On her one foot (being the cast was still on) she had one white Old Navy flip-flop. Her light brown hair was curled and framed her face. She wore her set of pearls as well.
"I cannot believe we're actually seeing Maroon 5!" Peyton squealed as she poked one post earring through her ear.
"I know this is gonna be awesome!" Brooke added.
"I'll take your guys word for it", Haley said hobbling over to her crutches. "You all ready?"
"Yep, lets go!" Brooke replied.
The six friends entered the café, which was already extremely crowded. People were packed into every corner of the place and Karen was behind the counter, looking frazzled and overwhelmed by all the business. They weeded their way through the crowd, over to the counter where Karen was trying desperately to get the coffee machine working.
"It just had to be tonight you stopped working!" Karen yelled hitting the coffee machine.
"Hey mom", Lucas said approaching his beleaguered mother.
"Oh Luke!" Karen said giving her son a kiss on the cheek. "It's so good to see you sweetie. Hi kids."
They all said their hellos to Karen and chatted with her for a moment, until she was whisked away to the kitchen.
"Oh Haley!" Karen said poking her head out from the kitchen. "Annemarie called in sick, so could you introduce the band, please?"
"Uh…" Haley began.
"Thanks you're a doll!" Karen said before backing into the kitchen again.
"Peyton", Haley said turning to her. "Can you introduce the band? You've actually heard of them before."
"Sure", Peyton said as she walked over to the stage where the band was setting up to play.
"Attention", she said tapping the microphone. The café became quiet. "Thank you all for coming to Karen's Café tonight and for your support. And we'd just like to thank Maroon 5 for coming here tonight and making this one of the coolest things that ever happened in Tree Hill."
The audience laughed and clapped and shouted.
"So, without further a-do, here's Maroon 5!" Peyton said stepping off the stage. The crowd screamed with excitement.
The band began to play "This Love", while the gang all enjoyed the music.
"Oh my God", Brooke said to Peyton. "Don't look now but some seriously HOT guy just walked through the door." She said pointing to a tall, dark-haired, well-built guy that had just entered the café.
For some reason his was coming their way.
"Haley?" The guy asked.
"Jason", Haley stated.
A/N~ Hey! I'm hope you all liked it and I'm so happy that I got to do this sequel! :) Jason is Haley's ex-boyfriend that just came back to Tree Hill. You'll find out in the next chapter exactly what his story is, but basically he was Haley's boyfriend in ninth and tenth grade, until he moved to New York. So, he's going to cause a little controversy…be prepared for a very jealous and protective Nathan. :) (Of course Naley will still be together! lol) Remember to review! I love getting them :)