A/N: Thanks for comments and alert subscriptions and favoriting! I appreciate the love. :) I forgot to mention that the title of this story is based a line from Gavin DeGraw's Soldier. Please enjoy, RGLS
As of 6/20/12 - I had to make a minor character change near the end of this chapter for other reasons. You shall see! Muahahahaha! OK but seriously, sorry about that.
Chapter 2
"Damnit!" he yelled.
He glared at his phone, watching it dance across the nightstand, vibrating noisily. He buried his face back into his pillow, willing himself to fall back asleep. It was useless.
Sighing tiredly, he got up from his bed and extended his arms straight up to stretch out his back muscles. Practice this week had been brutal with the upcoming start of the season. Whatever sleep he could get was precious to him and to have it interrupted was seriously fucked up.
He picked up his phone, not surprised to see one missed call from his mom and three missed calls from his dad.
"Hi sweetie, sorry to bother you… if I am bothering you. I was just trying to catch you live. You're still coming home for the weekend, right? Anyway, give me a call. Love you."
He sighed at his mom's voicemail, deleting it immediately.
"Nathan, your ass better not still be in bed. Your mother said you're coming into town this weekend, but I won't be there – in case she left that bit of information out, as she so frequently does. I may catch you on Sunday since I'm supposed to be flying back in that afternoon if all goes as planned. Anyway I already got my run in early this morning. I suggest you do the same."
Of course his dad loved to give him a good motivating talk first thing in the morning. His parents just couldn't cut him a fucking break. He felt bad for his mom at times, but often times he felt smothered by her insecurities. And his father was just a manipulative, domineering asshole. They'd gradually gotten worse as years had gone by and he suspected any day now to hear of their impending divorce. They were legally separated as of last year, but their marriage had started to deteriorate years ago.
Nathan had promised to visit this weekend, because he hadn't been back since he left in late August. He wasn't as concerned about his visits home though because he was much more focused on school this year, being that it was his last at Duke. Everything seemed to carry an air of finality to it; it all felt like a last chance at something, but of what he wasn't sure.
He had lived up his freshman year. He'd even screwed around part of his sophomore year. But during one of the first few games of his sophomore year, he'd had the opportunity to sub in for the injured shooting guard in a tough but winning game against Wake Forest. Instantaneously, he'd gained a bit of notoriety and recognition. His basketball career continued to skyrocket after that, and by the end of the first semester, he was done riding the bench. Last year, as a junior, Nathan Scott, was officially the first string shooting guard for the Blue Devils Varsity line-up and he took that responsibility very seriously. He was ready to graduate this upcoming year. But it was only a back-up plan. He breathed, ate, and slept basketball more than he ever had before. As more and more scouts invaded practices and rumors of the NBA drafts hovered heavily, he never felt at rest.
Straightening up and feeling more alert, he stared at the school emblem banner hanging on his wall.
"I am MVP of the year. I am the number one draft pick. I am the best." He quietly repeated his mantra under his breath and he got out bed to crank out his morning push-ups.
"Mom, you have to watch me, okay? You count for me." Nathan smiled excitedly and he dropped to the floor.
He'd watched his father perform push-ups so many times. He'd improved over the summer and now he could whip out 30 in a row, no problem.
Deb forced a smile on her face. She'd just been in a fight with her husband, again. It hurt her to see her son work so hard to impress his father, whom she couldn't stand right now.
Despite their arrival in a new town and an opportunity for a fresh start, she had never been more miserable. She understood that yes, it wasn't the best choice to move to her husband's hometown. She'd heard all of the rumors, hell, she knew the stories; how Dan Scott had gotten his naïve high school girlfriend pregnant and left her behind because of his selfish ways. She knew now but she hadn't known back when he'd swept her off her feet years ago. In fact, she hadn't known until after Nathan had been born.
But after several failed attempts at launching a sports management agency, funded by her father, they had run out of choices. They were struggling to keep their head above water. Thankfully her father had one last offer to give them and that was one of his dealerships in Tree Hill. It was going to be a difficult transition for Nathan, since they had moved from northern Virginia; mostly having to deal with the nature of a small town and Dan's haunting past. She was prepared, but it was her son she worried for.
Nathan finally collapsed onto his stomach, exhausted from his efforts. He rolled to his side, gazing up at his mother proudly.
"How many was that?" He asked between heavy breathes.
"That was amazing, honey. I think it was 32. I lost count because you were doing them so fast," she smiled as brightly as she could.
Her cell phone rang and then her focus was elsewhere. The movers had yet to arrive and she was expecting a call from her father.
Nathan watched as his mom walked away, before offering him one last tense smile.
She didn't even seem to notice how hard it actually was to do that many push-ups. And she must really have not been paying attention because he'd done 40 exactly. He rolled onto his back, tired and disappointed as he stared at the ornate ceiling in the kitchen. Usually, his dad was the one who didn't impress easily, but now his mom seemed to have lost interest as well. It was nice to have her around more since she had come home from last business trip, but she seemed really distracted. Nathan couldn't notice the difference from when she was gone and having her home.
He kind of understood that life was crazy right now. They had had to move to this dumb town because 'they had run out of options', his mother had explained. He missed his friends and school in Virginia. But that wasn't even why he hated this place. The weird thing was that he apparently had an older brother living here who his father never talked about. His mom had explained everything to him a few months ago but it was still hard to believe. He was definitely upset, because it was such a big secret to keep from him. But it wasn't like he could get mad at his dad. His dad was always right. In addition to the anger he felt, he was also curious. Did this boy, who was supposedly his brother, know about him? If he did, why hadn't he ever tried to reach out to him? But the one question that really ate away at him was… if he had switched places with this brother of his, would he be the forgotten son?
The wind whipped through the open car windows, as Nathan sped along I-40. He had always liked that in the middle of autumn it could be perfectly warm outside. That was coastal Carolina weather. It was almost 2 o'clock, so he was making good time. But considering that he left Durham before noon on a Friday of a non-holiday weekend, he wasn't expecting much traffic.
He'd talked to his mother, on the first leg of the trip. Karen was hosting dinner tonight and she wanted Nathan to be there. While he could refuse his mom, he could rarely refuse Karen; especially if she was cooking. She'd mentioned a special guest, but Nathan figured that Lucas was finally going to bring his girlfriend to one of these dinners, which in his opinion wasn't anything special since those two had been itching to get together since high school. He hoped her presence would distract everyone from bugging him about his 'love affairs' as Lucas so lovingly put it. Nathan hadn't been in a serious relationship since his senior year of high school but he wasn't looking for one either. He was having fun when he could, but commitment wasn't something he could conjure up right now, not to any one girl. But he was 22 now, so his relationship status was a non-issue. They should be more concerned about his brother's lazy ass getting hitched.
About an hour later, as he drove through the familiar streets of Tree Hill, he pulled into the Coast View apartment complex.
Lucas answered the door, squinty eyed and clearly half asleep.
"Sup, Nate," he greeted him groggily.
He barely held the door open for him, before collapsing onto the couch in the living room. Nathan followed suit, sliding into the reclining chair beside him.
"You know it's like 3 in the afternoon, right?" He smirked at his brother, who looked ready to pass out again.
"I, uh, had a deadline this morning, so I had to pull an all-nighter,"
Lucas gestured to his kitchen table where his laptop, a stack of papers, pens, three crushed cans of Red Bull, and a grease-stained paper plate sat. His brother was a junior editor at a local publishing firm and dabbled with some online editorial work as well. Nathan couldn't even understand why anyone would want to do anything like that for the rest of their life. It was like being in school, forever.
"Apparently," he commented.
His brother groaned loudly, dragging his hands down his unshaved face.
"Can't believe you woke up when I called then," Nathan added.
"I needed to get up anyway. Have you seen your mom yet?"
"Nah, I gotta mentally prep myself before she suffocates me with her concern. Is it cool if I chill here for a bit?"
Lucas eyed him skeptically. "Dude, she's your mom. You have to be more understanding. That's a mom's job, you know, to care about you and stuff,"
"Words of wisdom, by Lucas Scott,"
"I'm too tired for your sarcasm. And don't try to avoid the topic. I'm just saying that you should cut her some slack. But yeah, you're fine to stay here. I'd invite you to crash here over the weekend, but instead I'm going to highly recommend that you stay at your mom's," he smiled teasingly.
Nathan made a face.
"Right, like I'd want to stay here so I can listen to you and your girlfriend all weekend,"
"Huh? Brooke?"
"Huh? No, Lindsay,"
"Hah, very funny," Lucas rolled his eyes at the mention of his ex-girlfriend's name. "Did you talk to Brooke or something?"
Nathan looked strangely at his older brother. "Why would I ever willingly want to talk to Brooke? Mom just mentioned that we were having a special guest a dinner tonight, so I figured you were going to officiate your dating status or whatever. I thought she'd be here with you."
"I already brought Brooke to dinner like a month ago," Lucas answered, looking equally as puzzled.
"Oh,"
"Which, went really well by the way, thanks for asking,"
Nathan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Brooke could charm the pants off a gay man. I wasn't really worried about her,"
"I'm not sure whether to be offended by that or not,"
Ignoring his brother's comment, he asked, "Wait, then, who the hell's coming to dinner tonight?"
