Author's Note: To all who read my fics, I'm trying. I want to continue writing, but it's taking me a minute with both school, work, and the show being shit. But I'm determined. I'm determined to get back my writing. And while I put pen to paper to get out Daddy Overnight and Because He Loved Her to completion, and I will, I'm bringin back an oldie but goodie. I had it posted here before but took it down to change some things. I think it's the second story I wrote, but the first I completed. I wrote this back in season one. If you've read it somewhere else before, read it again if you want. If you haven't, enjoy it for the first time.
~Alex
The Lies They Tell. The Secrets They Keep.
An OTH FanFic
By AlexB
One
Tree Hill city limits.
He should have bolted at the last rest stop.
This was really happening.
Why did you have to go?
The words had moved though his mind so many times. They were starting to sound bitter now. He didn't like that, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to be here.
Karen glanced over at her son. Lucas just stared out the window. He had barely spoken a word to her, and what came out of his mouth was very little. One word answers if you could even call them that. He was looking out the window, but she knew he wasn't seeing anything. He was brooding. It was something that he had learned from his dad. They would both sit for hours with the same look on their faces saying nothing, thinking nothing. That wasn't the case now. She knew that her son's mind was anything but empty. He probably hated her. Lucas hadn't been happy in what felt like a long time. Telling him that they were moving hadn't helped matters much.
"No. No!" He shot up from the table so fast he knocked chair to the ground with a hard slap. "I'm not leaving here," He told his mother. "This is my home."
"Lucas..." She could not take this right now; her patience was already wearing thin. She knew that her son was only trying to hold on to something that was normal, that he needed that even if it something as small as staying in the same place where he had been born, where he had been raised, but it just could not happen.
"What about my life here, my friends?"
"You can make new friends." Karen tried to reassure him, rising to touch a hand to his shoulder, but Lucas jerked away from her. It hurt that he hadn't wanted her to touch him, but she understood, her son wasn't only angry, he was hurt. She was too. She didn't want to leave anymore than he did. But life wasn't fair.
"I don't want to make new friends. I don't want to leave Charleston and neither do you."
"This isn't about what you or I want, Lucas." She tried to explain to him. Karen hated that he had to grow up fast since their world had caved in on them, but that was just the way that it was. "This is about the way things have to be. We can't stay here anymore. We can't...I can't afford it."
"I'll get a job!" Lucas's voice pleaded.
"No you won't." Karen shook her curly dark head then pointed a finger at her only child. "You will keep your nose in those books." Her word was final, but Lucas wouldn't have been her child if he hadn't tried to plead his case one more time.
"Mom..."
"No. No more; the end. Don't say anything else to me, Lucas Scott. I am the parent, you are the child. You do what I tell you. At the end of the school year we are leaving Charleston."
Going back to Tree Hill was not her first choice. It was her only choice. Her parents owned a small diner there. They were getting on in age and needed someone to run the place day to day. Karen needed a job to support herself and her son. She and Keith had done what they could, but there had never been a "comfortable living." They worked hard, put their money away. Most of their savings was used to pay for what the insurance wouldn't cover when Keith died so suddenly.
Her husband had told her that no matter what, under no circumstances, was she to touch the money that was put away for Lucas's education. He didn't have to tell her, she already knew.
Even in his passing, Keith was still providing for his boy. Everything changed so fast. One minute they were happy, he was smiling, she was smiling. Lucas was even walking around with a grin on his face. That in itself was a miracle, for a kid who made a habit out of brooding from the time he woke up to 'til the time he went to sleep. Keith's death and the move wasn't the only thing that had her son in the dumps though Karen knew. A mother could tell when her child's heart was breaking, and when a significant other is the cause.
"This will be a good thing." She tried with the boy again.
Lucas continued to stare blankly out the window. "Whatever." He mumbled.
Who is she kidding? Karen thought to herself. They were walking...no driving into the mouth of the beast, right into the past…a past that could tear apart their future.
-
Lucas looked around the place that would be his room. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't small either. He had two windows, three if you counted the one that was built into the second door.
A door that led to the outside world.
His own exit. Who would have thought? Stock was most definitely going up this place, Lucas thought sarcastically. Oh, and he had a closet, too. One he could step into. Yippy-Skippy, he was all grins now.
"Not a bad place." His mother spoke from behind him. She frowned at the exit that sent alarms throughout her person.
Great, just what she needed.
"I'm not sure I like you having that door."
"Afraid I'll run away?" Lucas asked snidely stepping into the room. He dropped the box he held in his hands to the hardwood floor beneath. It sounded with a loud thud.
Karen sighed, exasperated with him already. "Will you at least try, Lucas?" She asked him. "I'm doing the best that I can and you aren't making the situation any better stomping around here being a pain in my ass."
He knew that she was trying, but didn't answer her all the same. He dropped bag he had slung over his shoulder to the floor as well. Moving across the room, he continued to ignore his mother. Swinging the door open, the sun blasted him full on in the face as he stepped outside. Karen watched as the door closed smartly behind him.
Lucas watched the people around him with narrowed eyes.
A new start, his mother said to him. "We could have had a new start in Charleston." He muttered kicking at the grass under him. He hated this place already. He hated this place for the simple fact that Tree Hill wasn't his home, it never would be. He would never be able to tolerate where he was now because of that simple fact, and because of the person who made his way toward him like owned the pace.
If that guy put anymore gel in his hair, it'd break in a good stiff wind. Just the thought brought something of a smile to Lucas's face.
-
Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a permanent scowl. He wondered if he could even open his eyes all the way. Jeez, Nathan thought, a smile would break his face. No question, no competition that was all that mattered to him. "Just get this over with." He muttered to himself as he walked up the sidewalk to where Lucas stood.
"That happiness to see me, cousin?" Nathan called as he walked hands shoved into the pockets of his Tree Hill lettermen jacket.
"Not especially." Lucas said more to himself than anyone. He wondered if the guy wore that damn thing to bed at night. "Here to welcome us to town?" He asked the dark haired boy when Nathan came to a stop in front of him.
Nathan shrugged, squinting to keep the sun out of his eyes. "Something like that." He smiled jamming his hands further in the jackets pockets. They were silent long enough for it to be uncomfortable. Every moment was uncomfortable around this guy. Nathan rocked back on his heels. He cleared his voice before he spoke.
"I didn't get to tell you this before, but I'm sorry about your dad."
Lucas froze. Everything in him tightened. He couldn't believe the words that had just come out of this guy's mouth. His voice was cold as he spoke, his eyes turned cold, so eerily icy that Nathan had felt he need to take a step back, but his pride refused to let him act on it. Lucas's voice was even colder than the look on his face.
"Don't say it if you don't mean it."
he didn't believe for one second, the words that had come out of that guy's mouth. He didn't believe that Nathan even believed the words that he had spoke just now. He never had a nice thing to say about Lucas's father. No one from his dad's brother's family had anything nice to say about Keith, the woman he married, or the son that they'd had together.
Nathan made a sincere effort not to get pissed, but it was damn hard. You couldn't say "boo" to this guy without him wanting to brawl over it.
Be sure you welcome your aunt and cousin to town, his father had so nicely ordered him to do this morning over the breakfast table.
"Don't get your back hairs up, cousin. We may not have been close, but your father was my father's brother. My uncle in case you've forgotten."
Lucas crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes shot blue fury. "Forgotten?" He shook his head. "No, I haven't forgotten. Not any of it. What did being your uncle, being that man's brother, ever get him? You treated him like crap. From your father on down to you, neither one of you treated him like he was worth anything. None of you ever treated him like he mattered. So you're condolences mean shit, Nathan, because that's what's falling out of your mouth right now. I'll tell my mom you stopped by."
Stacking three boxes, one on top of another, Lucas hauled them into the house.
Nathan watched as he stalked way his own ire to near boiling. Never one to let anyone get the last word he yelled to Lucas's retreating form, "Welcome to Tree Hill, cousin!"
***
Raised, muffled voices seeped through the heavy door of the study in the Scott home. Even with his ear pressed to the door, Nathan could barely hear anything. But it didn't take much to guess at what they could possibly be arguing about.
Because his parents had such a happy marriage, Nathan snorted disbelievingly. One of them probably had a not so discrete lover who was getting out of line. Why did they even get married? He thought for what had to be the millionth time.
Then he laughed.
It always was a stupid question. He knew damn well the reason his parents said "I do" all those years ago. The reason was standing outside in the hall with his ear pressed to the door.
What a feeling it was to be responsible for one of the biggest mistakes ever made.
"Do you know what this could do to our family? Do you even care?"
Dan Scott sat on the end of his mahogany desk, watching as his wife paced the carpet in front of him ranting about the newest development in their lives. Arms crossed over his chest the man thought disbelievingly, "How the hell did I ever get myself into this?"
"Are you even listening to me?!"
"The whole world can hear you, Deb; which isn't a good thing, so do keep your voice down."
"This isn't a joke, Daniel." She hissed.
Heat raged though his body, the sound of his blood roared in his ears.
"How many times do I have to tell you...?" His was voice tight with restrained anger. He hated that name. It was his grandfather's name, and to impress the man, Dan's father had decided to name him after the old bastard. If he could have gotten away with it, he probably would have shot them both because of it.
"What?" His wife taunted an icy smile on her face. "You shouldn't be worried about your name, Daniel. What you should be worried about is what this is going to do to our family, our standing. I will not tolerate this. You have to do something."
"That's really all that you care about, isn't it, Deb?" He asked dryly. "Just what would you have me do? Run the woman out of town? Form a lynch mob?" The look on the blonde woman's face was of absolute shock.
"Are you saying that you aren't worried about this at all?"
"I didn't say that." He was worried. For so many reasons he was worried. "But what was she supposed to do? Her husband is dead. What family she has left is here. Karen and Lucas need their family more than anything."
"How touching." Deb mocked. "You aren't getting anything past me, Dan Scott. You think that you can have her now that your brother is dead and out of the way?" The woman laughed because that's exactly what her husband was thinking. She could always read the man like a book. And the killer part about it was that she wasn't in the least but mad. She shook her head. "You are so pathetic. You're in love with a woman who doesn't want you. It's sad really. Beyond words."
"What's sad, Deborah is that this is how you get off. You like putting people under your foot and stepping down hard and fast as you can. You know what they say, like mother like daughter. Better watch those hips."
Her dark brows rose disbelievingly. "Are you going seriously get on your high horse and tell me that you don't like being better than everyone else?" The woman laughed.
"That's why you can never hurt me." He smoothly replied. "You're a harpy, I'm a dick, were a perfect fit." Rising slowly from his seat at his desk's edge, Dan eyed his wife then slowly walked until he stood behind her. The smell of her perfume made him want to spit, throw up and then pass out. Only she could make something that is supposed to smell so wonderful smell like shit. He dreamed about putting his hands around her neck and squeezing until there was no life left.
But what would that accomplish?
"You think that I don't know about you and my brother?" His voice was low and so close his breaths sounded in her ear. The squeezing of her shoulders gave Deb a jolt. The motions were not meant to be for pleasure, she knew. She also knew what her husband could do if he wanted to. Fear clawed up her throat. Taking deep breath, she ruthlessly choked it back, pushing it down her throat into the pit of her stomach. She would not let the man know that she was in the least bit afraid of him; of what he was capable of.
"You only wanted Keith to keep him away from Karen." Dan went on. "But he turned you down. Smart man my brother. If Keith was anything when it came to you, it was that. Did you really think that by being with him you would make me jealous?" Dan laughed a cold, bitter, knowing laugh. "You love me, don't you?" He taunted. "That's why you did it. You wanted to make me hurt because you were hurting. You were hurting because I wanted Karen and not you."
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." She pushed past the knot in her throat.
"Mmm," Dan closed his eyes, a smile of satisfaction curled his lips, he asked, "Now who's pathetic?"
-
"So, was that Nathan you were talking to today?" Karen asked over dinner that night. Lucas had been quiet when he came in from bringing in the boxes from the car earlier. Lucas was always quiet, but this quiet was different that the usual. Not new. She'd seen it before. Just by looking at him, Karen could see that her son was pissed. More pissed off than she has seen him in a long time. Sighing inwardly she looked across the table at her boy. He wasn't eating. He'd been picking at his plate since he'd sat down.
"Lucas?"
"What?" His voice is almost a growl. He didn't feel like talking. None of this would have happened if his mother hadn't insisted on bringing them to the place.
Karen's brows rose, hiding in the curly dark hair or her bangs. Leaning forward, she pointed her fork in her son's direction.
"You want to keep those lips?" She asked him her own voice going low. She waited until Lucas looked at her before saying, "Then I suggest you speak to me like you've got some sense. Sit up and look at me when I talk to you."
Lucas dropped his fork to his plate. It sounded with an audible clink. Sitting up straight, He looked his mother in the eye, his arms crossing his chest. Her breath caught. It was uncanny just how much her son looked like his father.
She had to clear her throat before she spoke. "I asked you about Nathan."
Lucas shrugged a dismissive shoulder. "He was here. So?"
She lifted her brow again in silent warning. "What did you guys talk about?" She asked him going back to her own dinner.
Lucas's jaw clenched, he ran a frustrated hand over the top of his mussed hair. "If you could even call it that."
Here we go, she thought. She lifted her eyes, watched him intently once more. Could anyone else see what she saw? It was like with every changing day...
Mentally the woman shook herself getting back on track. "Explain."
His top lip curled the least little bit in disdain. "He welcomed me to town."
"Well, that was decent of him." Karen went back to her dinner.
Lucas scoffed. "There isn't a damn thing decent about Nathan Scott, his father or his bitch mother."
Karen threw her own fork down. That was it. "Lucas Scott!"
"What do you want me to say, mom? I don't give a good goddamn who they are, whether or not they're family, or their standing in this piece of shit town. They were cold to you, they were cold to me, and they were cold to my father. I owe them nothing. You don't own them a damn thing either. This may be their town, but no way, no fuckin' way, am I going to kiss their ass."