Keith's POV
Dan abandoned Lucas so I abandoned Nathan. It made sense at the time. As years went by and Nathan was turning into a little Dan, I never ever looked back and regretted my choice.
I am ashamed to admit but at the beginning of Nathan's junior year I had no idea who he was while knowing Haley – not even a little related to me – quite well.
When Lucas joined the team, for me it was a way to show him he was good, but also a way to stick it to Dan and Nathan. To me, Nathan was Dan, Lucas was me. Lucas was my one shot to win my competition with my little brother. Just like Dan was reliving his basketball youth through Nathan, I was reliving my youth in my brother's shadow through Lucas.
I remember when Nathan came to my shop to get Peyton's car and he and Lucas got into their usual sibling rivalry. And then Lucas told Nathan to stay away from Haley.
I didn't think much of it at the time because I thought it was just another episode in the Nathan-Lucas thing. But I did catch Nathan's look when Lucas mentioned Haley. Yeah, he was sticking it to Lucas, alright. Yeah, he was getting back at him for talking to Peyton. But there was something else in there.
So a couple of weeks later, Nathan shows up to pick up Haley from the cafe. And I catch Karen's look. It was like she was expecting it. And then my first thought was, Lucas was going for Peyton so Nathan was going for Haley. It sounded so much like my brother, it made sense.
And I was worried for Haley for a long time. Even as I was trying to ease up to Nathan's sudden presence in the cafe, even as I was trying to be friendly with him. All the while I thought Haley was way too much involved in the relationship for her own good.
And then he married her.
Nathan could have been like Dan. He had every chance to be like him. Even now I still recognize a mean streak in him when someone crosses him. He certainly isn't your typical goody two-shoes.
But Haley dragged Nathan out of the snakehole and turned him into the man we never knew he could be. And that's a miracle, if I ever saw one.
Sometimes I wonder if Dan just needed that one person to get him out too.
