Nathan stood there, lost in thought. He put the letter in the mailbox to be sent to Tree Hill, where the life that he left went on without him.
Tell em all I'm on vacation,
Say I went to visit friends,
That you ain't heard or seen from me in quite a while,
When they ask you where I've been,
Tell em I'm out on the west coast where it don't ever rain,
And that I'm probably doing fine,
In that letter he told her to lie to her, their, friends. To tell them that he went on vacation, that he's relaxing on some beach in Malibu. Or she could tell them that he went to visit some friends he met at Duke. He wanted her to lie, to say that she doesn't know what he's been doing, that they haven't been talking, that they haven't talked in what feels like forever. She could tell them that he moved to the west coast, that he was tired of the rain, and he heard it never rained before. She can tell them that she's sure he's fine.
Just don't tell em I've gone crazy,
That I'm still strung out over you,
Tell em anything you want to,
Just don't tell em all the truth,
Yeah don't tell em all the truth,
He just didn't want her to tell him that he was going crazy. That he was still madly in love with her. She could tell he died, she could say anything, anything at all. He just didn't want her to tell them the truth. Maybe that was his pride talking, or maybe he didn't wanna make them choose sides, so he wanted them to think he was happy.
Tell em all I'm out in Vegas,
Blowin' every dollar I ever made,
Tell em that I must be into something bad for me cause,
I sure lost a lot of weight,
Tell em I'm out on the road with some old rock and roll band,
Living like a gypsy king.
She could tell them he went to Vegas and was spending all his money on anything and everything. That was pretty believable. She could tell them that he's gotten into some trouble, that he's been drinking too much that he's lost a lot of weight. No wait, that'll make them worry, that was the last thing he wanted. She could tell them that he met some band, and went on tour with them. Living like she did when she was on tour with Chris Keller. No, he thought, they'd never believe that. Scratch that, he wrote, tell them one of my friends from Duke knows people in the NBA so I've been with them.
Just don't tell em I've gone crazy,
That I'm still strung out over you,
Tell em anything you want to,
Just don't tell em all the truth,
Yeah don't tell em all the truth,
He didn't want them to know the truth. The truth would just hurt them all, well more than his leaving did anyway. He didn't want them to know that he was going crazy, that he still loved her. She could say he went off to become an astronaunt, but not the truth. Anything but the truth.
The truth is that I'm asking you to lie,
And we both know that it ain't right,
But if you ever loved me please,
Have some mercy on me,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
What is the truth, Nathan? Haley thought reading the letter.
The truth is that he was asking her to lie for him. He knew it wasn't right, and he knew she would think the same thing but couldn't she just do this one thing for him. If nothing else for the rest of his life, just do this. Please.
Tell em anything you want to,
Just don't tell em all the truth,
Yeah don't tell em all the truth,
I still need you,
Yeah that's the truth,
I still love you, Baby that's the truth.
He didn't want her to tell them the truth. But he figured she should know the truth. So he wrote,
Haley the truth is that I still love you. I still need you. I always will. There's no doubt about that in my mind. Haley you were it for me. I'm sorry I left. You were so angry. I was so angry. We said things. Things we didn't mean. I regret leaving everyday. Just remember Haley James I still love you, always and forever, right?
Nathan sat on his couch, lost in thought. He seemed to be lost in thought a lot now-a-days. He wanted to be back in Tree Hill. But he didn't know if he could, if Haley would ever be able to forgive him.
Suddenly there was a knock on his door. That's odd, he thought, I wasn't expecting anyone to come by today, or at all for that matter.
When he opened the door there she stood, the letter in her hand.
"It's James-Scott"
"What?"
"In this letter you called me James. Haley James. Just James. It's not just James. It's James-Scott. We're still married Nathan. Or did you forget that?"
"I could never forget that Hales."
"Jamie misses you."
"Yeah?"
"And Luke, and Peyton, and Brooke, And Skills, and Mouth, And Deb, and Karen, And Lily,and...well me, Nathan, I miss you."
"Haley.."
"No, you listen. You left. You walked out. You don't get to do that. Running away is kinda my thing Nate. So we faught. We fight all the time. Yes this time we said some pretty hurtful things, but Nate its all or nothing. That's why we work. I don't take any of your crap and you keep me calmed down when I'm angry and you brought me out of my shell Nathan. I still love you. We need you. Come back home Nate. We stick together, always and forever, remember? Just come home."
"Okay"
She smiled and pulled him to her for a sweet, passionate kiss filled with so much love Nathan thought he might be imagining it.
"Let's go home Nathan."
"Home, that sounds nice."
Haley looked up to him and smiled as she leand into his chest.
"Yeah." She whispered.
The End