By: Grace (purplemud)
Summary: A What Happened That Summer (before season 3) Fic. With some pre-OTH Laley friendship moments.
Pairings: Laley friendship, Naley, Brucas and bit of Leyton
Rating: 2
Disclaimers: Standard disclaimers apply. Me don't own.
Feedback: Yes, please would love it!
Authors Note: Un-beta-ed. Currently seeking beta-reader, if anyone is interested that is.
Spoilers: Seasons 1 and 2
Blue Skies: Lucas and Haley
Haley and Lucas walking together, sometimes hand in hand, sometimes playfully pushing each other away but always with a topic worth discussing about (like how come people thought Taylor was Jo, when clearly, she, Haley James, brown eyed, dirty-brown-red-haired tomboy, bookworm was Jo) had always been a familiar sight.
All summer long, for the past several years, people of Tree Hill are used to spotting them, usually at Karen's cafe or at Keith's auto shop. They've been a familiar fixture around this side of town - and by this side of town, it usually meant that it was nowhere near the places Dan Scott and his family would be out, milling and having fancy dinner about, a sulky raven-haired boy usually in tow, usually silent, usually scowling.
But never mind the other Scott boy who would barely look at them, what they remembered the most were the little duo of Karen and Keith and if they chose to, if they close their eyes and concentrate on the sound of Haley's giggles or Lucas' squinting intelligent blue eyes, they'd be able to see them in their minds as they had once been: Lucas Scott and Haley James, running around, always trying to out run each other, always with Lucas gaining, if he really took it seriously, as he sometimes would, a good two corners away from a not-at-all-impressed Haley.
People remembered them as most people would remember adorable smart-quick witted kids who always had a ready quip, a ready comment, surprisingly enough, about life's little quirks: a missing father, a younger half-brother, an older sister currently being chased by the boys and married men of Tree Hill. They always have some remarkable, sincere, almost cutting remark for them.
"I'm the older brother."
"Yeah, by four days."
"Days? Are you sure Haley? Cause my mom said my dad waited for a bit longer than that."
or
"Your sister's real pretty, Haley."
"I know. People say that to me all the time.
"I think you look a little like her, Hales."
"Oh, shut up Luke. Did I tell you, last night, I read all of her books in school and I think she never once opened them. It's too bad, cause stuck in between some of the pages, there were really nice love letters."
"You really shouldn't have read them, Hales. They aren't yours."
"But that'll be sad. If she doesn't read them, someone has too. Letters are meant to be read, not to get stuck forever and ever in between pages of the history of the Aztecs and Vikings."
They'll remember those accidental summer afternoon conversations. This year, however, seeing Lucas and Haley, it took them all by surprise.
Everything is exactly the way they were, all these summer years, the lemonade on their front porch, the same blue, blue skies, the same sweltering heat, the same feeling of floating into the almost forgotten never-neverland, as though time which had stopped some twelve summer years ago had started back up again and they're at the same place they had always been and then they turn their heads and there they were: the little boy with piercing blue eyes, gone, vanished. He now stands towering over the still tiny brown-eyed girl who always seemed to be chatting up a storm and who was now as quiet and as still as the lazy yellow butterflies perched on on their screen doors.
When had they actually grown up was quite a mystery to them. Before they were little Peter Pan and Tiger Lily trick or treating in the street. Here, now there was the familiar white and blue jersey proudly hugging from Lucas Scott's body. And Haley James (Now Scott, but not the last name of the boy they all thought she would eventually marry - ah the surprises in life) walking silently, almost mournfully beside him.
Everything had changed. Except maybe for the fact that they still walked hand in hand, as inserperable as they had been when they were just little kids. It reminded them of old days gone, past and faded away, never to be had once more, even for old times sake.
To Lucas, though this feels like the old days. After everything that had happened last year, this is almost like stepping back into time. Like having a sleepover stretch on for three whole months.
They've had summers like these before. Him and Haley. Just the two of them. But even he knows that after this summer, nothing will ever be the same ever again.
He was ten, and it was summer then, when he found out about Dan and Deb and Nathan. And when his mom couldn't explain the situation to him the way he wanted it to be explained, he rolled up his navy blue sleeping bag, dragged it across streets and lawns and one hour past his bed time, barged into the James' house where he was welcomed like their fourth long lost, youngest son.
They called Karen, of course, but the James' were cool – always had been – and they had managed to convince his mom to let him stay with Haley for the night.
Haley let him sleep in her bed. He lied down beside her the whole night, still wearing his shoes, still wearing the clothes from the afternoon when he and his mom had bumped into the Scotts, who were on their way to some fancy dinner. He could tell, just by the way they were dressed extra nicely. Words were exchanged and inevitably, the truth came out. Cat out of the bag. And like most truths, it didn't quietly slinked it's way out but rather pounced on him, claws digging deep.
He angrily stared at the ceiling, not seeing or saying anything at all; a hundred million thoughts criss-crossing, racing inside his head. Faster and faster they came at him, barreling through him: Didn't his father liked him enough? Did his parents hate each other then? Did that mean that his dad hated him too? It sure looked like it, the way he looked down on him. But why? Did he do something wrong? Was something wrong with him that his own father didn't want to have anything to do with him? Does Nathan – his younger half-brother (he has a half-brother?!) know about him? And if he did, what could the other boy be thinking about him? Was he also angry as he was? He didn't seem surprised, almost looked bored, actually. But then, would that mean that he had known all along? Was he, poor clueless little Luke, the only one that didn't know?
Well, at least that one question seem to have an obvious answer.
Frowning deeper, squinting his eye, Lucas crossed his arms across his chest, sniffed not too quietly. He had never felt so stupid. He should've figured it out: why he didn't have a dad. Why kids taunt him for not having a father. Why the moms always looked at him when they think that he wasn't looking (sometimes, even when they know that he was aware of their stares) they'd glance at him and he'd feel as though they were sorry for him or at the very least curious about him.
Well, now he knew and he felt like he was the dumbest boy alive. Especially if his younger step-brother (he has a half-brother?!) had known, had been told by his parents, the truth about... well, eveything!
He had seen Nathan before, had even gone to the same pre-school as he did. He didn't know anything about Nathan though and a part of him – a small part of him - was curious enough to wish that he did. All he knew for certain was that Nathan was a little bit taller than he was, had dark hair – like Dan (or Dad?) and he had blue eyes, like him. That and he was currently attending some snotty, posh private middle school way over the other side of the town, where the big, huge, huge houses were.
And even that too didn't sound fair to him.
His mom had told him not to be resentful, they were getting along fine, weren't they? Just the two of them. And sometimes with Keith and Haley. But then Keith wasn't his father and plus, he didn't like Keith very much. At least for tonight. He would bet all of his saving that his uncle Keith knew about Dan and Deb and Nathan, and yet he never even told him anything. No, of course, Uncle Keith didn't lie to him, but he certainly didn't tell him everything.
Did they all think that he wouldn't have been able to handle the truth? That he'd act like he was some immature kid who wouldn't understand?
Granted that he did ran away when he found out,but he wouldn't have had to run away in the first place if they had been honest with him from the start.
All night Lucas poured out his energy trying to contain and hold on to his anger. Betrayed by his whole family! It's a good thing he had the James and Haley. Maybe they'd like to adopt him. Except, he really didn't want to leave his mom all alone...but then his mom would have Keith and they could both live with their many lies – or at least, many withheld truths.
He'd ask the James is he could change his names to Lucas James.
Yeah, that sounded quite alright to him. The James' wouldn't mind. They'd be cool about it and he bet they always told the truth to their kids. He glanced at Haley and wondered what she must think of him now: abandoned by his very own father, probably resented by his younger half-brother. But she didn't seem any different to him. It was as though she didn't even care – and not in a bad way too.
Haley was just being Haley: sitting quietly beside him, a book – Charle's Dicken's David Copperfield – lying face down on her lap. She didn't ask him about anything at all and Lucas, if he wasn't so busy trying to stay angry, would've thank Haley for her comforting silence.
They stayed that way until, well Lucas wasn't sure how long, probably way past their bedtimes and all those endless hour, just sitting side by side, never saying anything until the morning when he thought she had fallen asleep only to be poked on the side of his cheek by her finger as she leaned down to tell him that a day of being angry should be enough. He still had his mom and Keith and her and so what if he had another brother and a father and a step-mom? It didn't have to change anything at all. He was still Lucas Scott wasn't he? Plus, on the bright side, he didn't have to suffer endless nights of babysitting annoying, stupid siblings who were supposed to be smater than her but no... look at Taylor for example: Taylor who always had her head up in the clouds, always climbing out of the window at the middle of the night, always coming home smelling like burned paper and grass. Or, if her sisters weren't being stupid, they were busy trying to bully her. Lucas should be thankful, he didn't have to live with this Nathan kid.
And if snotty, little Nathan had a father, didn't he have Keith and her and even Jimmy and Lydia and her brothers Mike and Dylan and Aaron too? And even Taylor and Quinn and Viv, if he wanted them as well, although, Haley was of the opinion that big brothers were way better than big sisters.
"You shouldn't be so mad anymore, Luke, there's always a reason for everything, right?"
He didn't respond to that. What could be the reason for not having a dad then? Certainly not a good one.
She nudged him until he reluctantly met her eyes. "And besides, look at David Copperfield," she gestured over the the closed book, the cover of a small boy staring up at them, as though keenly interested in the conversation that they were having, "he had a miserable, rotten childhood, much, much worst than yours – his dad and mom died when he was just a kid and only had grown ups for friends but he turned out okay and he became a real famous writer. It's not that bad, Luke, please don't be so angry anymore. And besides, you've got me."
Lucas went back home that day and told his mother that it didn't matter that his father had chosen some other family over them, he has the best family any boy could ever want.
That night had effectively cemented his and Haley's friendship. That was the day they stopped being just playmates and neighbors. That was when they had become the best of friends.
Sleepovers had become a tradition to them, even when they started to hit puberty. There were some snags along the way, like when they were twelve and Haley had vehemently refused to go to Atlanta for the weekend to see her grandparents and several older cousins who always sort of picked on her or worst, ignored her.
Well, Haley James wasn't going to be led out of the house quietly. Oh, no, not her. She wasn't the kind of girl who'd subject herself to that kind of misery when she had other options. So she stood her ground and said no to her parents. She was staying with Karen's and Lucas' and as soon as they come home, they can pick her up there or at the cafe or at Keith's shop, thank you very much.
It was her first ever sucessful attempt at semi-independence.
And Haley, being Haley, made Lucas sleep on the floor. She had thought and eloquently expressed that it wouldn't be very gentlemanly of him if he didn't give up his bed since she was, first and foremost a guest of their humble house and second, she was a girl and they were both twelve going on thirteen and most importantly she was his bestfriend so that's why he shoudn't have to ask "Why" and "What that's supposed to mean?" anymore and just gallantly let her sleep on his bed.
She might have actually started babbling that very night.
"Be chivalrous, Luke!" She said exasperated with him and his many questions. (And to Haley's credit, she learned the word chivalry long before Peyton and Brooke realized that it had gone, died, briefly revived, but ulitmately became out of fashion.)
The fact that she knew what that word meant even before he did had initially bugged Lucas to no end. It's a known fact that it had always been him who read voraciously, dilligently, even listing down the big words that he didn't understand and looking them up in the dictionary with his mother. They had a huge debate over why he should have to be chivalrous for her, with Haley doing more of her newfound talent in rambling like crazy, but in the end, all thanks to Haley and her incessant babbling, the word, the very idea of chivalry captured Lucas' imagination and tugged at his own growing sense of righteousness.
It also, not that he'd ever admit it, appealed to his inherent need to be good, to be the better son.
Sometimes, when he could afford to think about it, he would compare himself to Nathan, the other son his father had chosen. Although it was, as he had known all along, not at all healthy, he couldn't help it. If Nathan Scott was going to be the star basketball child, then he was going to be Lucas Scott, the Chivalrous.
He liked the idea of it so much that ever since then, he had been determined – if not slightly, misguidedly tried – to be every girls' knight in shining armor. And so that one summer weekend, even though he had just gotten his new grown up bed, he had gallantly rolled out the same battered blue sleeping bag at the foot of his bed: hard creaky wooden floors be dammned.
This summer, he gallantly offered his bed once again, however, Haley insisted that she sleep in the vacant guestroom. She reasoned that it would be absolutely wrong to share one bed together, considering that she was married to his younger half-brother. That fact alone should be enough but add to that, as a wonderful bonus, was the inescapable truth that he had done things on that very same bed with Brooke Davis that she would rather not even think about, let alone be laying upon.
Lucas reluctantly agrees, although, honestly, he thinks that the real reason why Haley doesn't want to sleep in his bed is because she thinks he won't be able to hear her when she's crying at night. She's wrong though, he hears her everytime. And during the first few weeks, when they would silently sip coffee by the front porch, they never talked about how red and swollen and blotchy her eyes were. They'd talk about what they'd do for the day and how much they missed Karen and Nathan and Brooke and Keith.
When Lucas finally got tired of trying to pretend that everything was normal, that she was fine, that they were both fine, he told her that he missed her the most, more than he missed his uncle and his mom and his brother and the girl he was so desparately in love with. He told her: "You're farther away from me than all of them combined. It's like you've never come home at all."
She comes knocking on his door that same night and tells him that home is where the heart is and right now, home is in Florida, probably angrily shooting baskets and touchdowns and whatever else it is that they do in basketball camp.
That night, she crawls into his bed, curls by his side and cries herself to sleep.
The morning after, they agree to do the laundry. After weeks of avoiding the mountain high pile of clothes that they had been mindlessly throwing at the wash bin, they start with the bedsheets and pillowcases that had tearstains on them: little faded, watery tracks that smell faintly like mint and lavender and jasmine.
Lucas tells Haley, over the whirring washing machine, that every thing would be fine.
She smiles a little, the first time since she's been home, and tells him: "Luke, you do know that you're supposed to separate the whites from the colored stuff, right?" She hands him a bright red sock.
It's her pair of socks, of course.
Lucas blinks at her, peeks at the whirring, swirling, soap-sudded clothes and mutters a curse. Dammit. He's going to be wearing faded pink-white shirt all summer.
- tbc -