Chapter 2

Make amends or carry ON ANOTHER way

Love don't wait

Nathan slides down in the seat of his truck as he recalls the last moments he had spent with Haley. He had replayed it over in his mind more times then he count.

He had wished that things had gone differently.

Sometimes he thinks if he would have told her the reason for his sudden departure then maybe things would have been different but as his mind becomes overloaded with memories of her tears and the sudden doubt she had of his love, he knew that it wouldn't and couldn't have gone any other way.

He had walked out of that room in a blur, the only sound following him was the silence.

But the image of her sitting on her bed her arms wrapped around her, holding herself in and her eyes boring into him with an angry plea stayed forever burned in his memory.

He didn't tell her that he loved her that night, not in the way she had asked of him.

Nathan looks up to Haley's window across the street.

There's no light on, she could be anywhere right now and he had never felt so far from her more in his life then he does now.

He places his head in his hands letting himself fall into the steering wheel and his guarded mind wanders to the torturous what if's...

If he told her he had loved her then maybe she would have asked him to stay and maybe he would have and things would be a lot different today.

But Nathan hadn't said it, he was trying to protect her, that's what he told himself but at times he felt that it only hurt her more.

The truth was he had not said it to protect himself.

Taking one last look at Haley's house, her room still dark, Nathan slides the car into drive and pulls away.

----------------------------------------------

Luke and Peyton sat on the couch with a fair distance of space lingering in between them.

This friend's thing was completely new and even though the awkwardness was a fresh and mutual feeling, the ease that used to be shared between them was slowly making an appearance.

It had been a long time since they had shared any real amount of time together. The drama of the Brooke, Luke and Peyton triangle had pulled them apart and so much had happened in such a small amount of time that a lot of questions had not been answered and a lot of loose ends hung around them.

There was a lot of emotion between them, a jumbled confusion of feelings and the most prominent was that they did miss each other.

So here they were again trying to get back what they never really had.

As a step forward in establishing the friendship that he so dearly missed Lucas had asked her over for pizza. Then not wanting to end the night so early he had asked her to stay and watch a movie.

The truth was he didn't know exactly how to behave around Peyton or how being friends with her was supposed to even go.

He just wanted to try.

He knew that he had screwed up with her in the most damaging way. He had cheated on her. They weren't going out at the time but they had a connection that he had taken for granted.

He had lost her trust that day and he wanted to rebuild, to start over with her. He was just thankful that she was giving him that chance, even if he didn't deserve it.

As Peyton focused on the movie before her she couldn't help but smile, every single light in the house was on as if somehow that would deter any type of feelings that could be seen as something more than friendship ones.

There had always been something more when it came to them, even when they tried to deny it, to hide in other relationships or to flat out run from it.

Something more was always there.

Peyton's mind raced through the events of the past year and it halted, it cracked on the memories of the night when she realized Luke had slept with Nicki.

She had tried to block out the pain that accompanied that memory but just like it happened yesterday she felt the hurt bubble inside of her.

She had never really talked about it with Luke. There were a lot of conversations that consisted of one or two sentences on the subject but Peyton had a habit of running at the mere mention of the topic.

The truth of the matter was that actually knowing Luke had slept with another girl when he had her heart and she thought she meant more to him was more than she could handle.

But she was past this, it was a distant memory and they were starting fresh. Peyton looked over at Luke and she felt her heart lurch.

"I should go.." it was getting harder and harder for Peyton to focus on the movie and she knew that if she didn't leave soon that she would say something that she would regret and she really wanted this friends thing to work, since that's what Lucas really wanted…to be friends.

"Peyton the movie hasn't even ended yet..." He looked at her with questions in his eyes but quickly shook it aside trying not to seem to broken by her sudden change of heart.

"I know but its getting late and my dad is probably going to start worrying..." She was rambling and that quickly led to a lie, her dad didn't care but she couldn't stay in the room with him any longer, she could feel herself getting worked up.

"Oh" and they both just sat facing each other but looking everywhere else.

The door bell rang and as Luke stood up to answer the door Peyton let herself breathe.

Luke was silently relieved at the sudden interruption. He didn't know what to say to Peyton.

It was almost eleven o clock at night and he didn't know who would be stopping by so late.

Luke couldn't hide the look of surprise on his face when he saw his brother on the other side of the door.

He hadn't seen him in almost six months and had only received a few short phone calls here and there. He had missed him.

"Hey Man, I didn't know you were coming into town." A thousands thoughts were running through Luke's head.

"It wasn't exactly planned… I just needed to come back…" It was true he had needed to come back but Nathan didn't feel like pouring his heart out at the doorstep to his brother's house. "Can I come in?"

Peyton stood up from the couch grabbing her bag intending to make her escape. But as she rounded the corner she saw Luke ushering Nathan into the house. She felt relieved to see Nathan. She had worried about him, knowing he had moved in with his dad, but once she had registered that he looked to be in once piece her mind quickly remembered the one person who was still shattered into a million.

The night Nathan had left; Haley had called her and asked her to come over. The tone of her voice even over the phone had given away that she had been crying. Peyton and Haley's friendship was still a new one and it surprised her that she had called her but Haley needed her and she did what she could.

Peyton had found a broken Haley sitting on the floor of her darkened bedroom. She had helped Haley onto her bed and tucked her under the blankets and she held her. Before Haley began to cry herself to sleep she said one thing "He left me…"

Peyton felt a mixture of anger and sadness as she looked at Nathan placing his bags inside Luke's house.

Nathan looked up to see Peyton before him and he cursed under his breath. He didn't want anyone to know he was in town just yet. But now that Peyton knew he realized that he wouldn't have the time he wanted in order to make up his mind about his return.

"Peyton just give me some time." Nathan stepped towards her with his arms in front of him trying to calm the anger he could see brewing in her eyes.

"I think you have had enough time Nathan" Peyton let the clipped words hang in the air between them. She watched him as he sighed his annoyance with her.

"Peyton….."

"Look Nate, am not doing this for you, it's for her. She deserves to find out your back from you. Are you back?" Peyton stood right in front of Nathan now and as she looked up at him she could see that he seemed older now.

"I am back" and at that moment Nathan realized himself that he was in fact back to stay, to get his life back.

All three of them stood there in a semi circle no one saying her name but they all were thinking about her and how her life would once again be turned upside down.