Author's Note: I'm alive, lol! It took me a couple days to get this just right, but here it is, the start of a new Naley fic. I'm really excited to see what everyone thinks about it. This prologue is super short, but I just wanted to give you a small taste (and the set up) of what was coming. I want to give a big hug to both Miranda and Becca for looking this over for me before I posted it. You guys rock :) Enjoy! (Don't forget I'm a review whore...)
Prologue
The deep blue trim of her dress whips around her knees from the breeze and she takes a deep breath of fresh air as she leans against the oak tree in the front yard of her new home. The sun kisses her skin in all the same places he once did and she shivers despite the hot, sticky air of September.
She sees her 9 year old son shoot baskets on the driveway and smiles. He dribbles the ball and makes another free throw, his form identical to her high school sweetheart's. He sees her watching him and the proud smirk she knows so well crosses his face as he shoots again.
"Hey Hales," a voice calls out from a distance. Haley looks up to see her best friend walking toward her.
"Hey Peyton," she says, a smile forming on her full lips. Haley and Peyton first became friends at the end of their senior year in high school through Haley's best childhood friend, who eventually became Peyton's boyfriend.
"Taking a trip down memory lane?" she asks, her green eyes twinkling brightly in the sunlight, her curly blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders.
"Something like that," she replies mysteriously and embraces Peyton in a hug. It's been almost a year since the two women laid eyes on each other. So many things have come up that caused them to continue their friendship through e-mails and late night phone calls.
Peyton is the first to pull out of the embrace, never being one to show too much public affection for anyone. She glances at Jamie as he makes another basket from the free throw line.
"He's really starting to grow up, huh?"
"Yeah, unfortunately," she says, a sad smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "It seems like it was just yesterday when he was crawling around on the floor of my apartment at Stanford. He's growing up way too fast."
Peyton nods in agreement. "He definitely is. He's going to pass me up any day now," she teases.
"He's only 9! I think you have a little time." Haley laughs and bumps her hips with Peyton's.
"He's really starting to look like Nathan," Peyton mentions offhandedly as she watches Jamie pause to get a drink of water.
Haley's body stiffens slightly at the mention of Nathan and she watches her son resume his free throw exercise. "Yes, he does." Her voice is void of emotion when she speaks and Peyton realizes what she's said wrong.
"Oh, Haley. I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"It's fine," Haley says, cutting her off. She pushes her body away from the tree and a small smile appears on her lips. "How about a grand tour of the house?" she offers.
Peyton just wraps an arm around her friend's shoulder and they walk toward the house in silence.
They try to resume conversation normally during the rest of their visit, but the elephant in the room is getting too big to ignore. Haley's just wondering what will come of her having to once and for all come to terms with the events that took place just 9 years earlier.