Chapter 3- The Truth Comes Out
Brooke walked down the apartment steps and got in Peyton's car.
"So how is Nathan?" asked Peyton.
"He's still a mess. He really misses Haley and she hasn't even tried to reach out to him," said Brooke.
"Yeah, I don't understand how she could just leave him like that. People always leave right?" said Peyton.
Brooke stares out the window, as if she were thinking about something else. "Yeah," she whispered under her breath. "So how are things with you and Jake?" asked Brooke trying to change the subject.
Peyton smiled, "things are going pretty good, I guess. It is just hard to spend time together, with Jenny and all the responsibilities Jake has."
"Yeah but you two are so cute together!" said Brooke smiling. She loved seeing her best friend and happy and creating the family that she always wanted even if it was at age sixteen. Peyton pulled her car into the school parking lot and they saw Lucas.
Lucas approached Peyton's car. "Hey where have you two been?" he asked.
"Oh just dropping off your wasted brother at his apartment," said Peyton laughing.
"He is a mess. One of us needs to check in on him a few times a day or something. Nate really needs to come back to school soon or he's going to fail his classes," said Lucas. There was an awkward silence that followed. "I hope Hales gets home soon, before things get worse and Nathan falls apart even more," said Lucas looking concerned.
Later that evening Peyton goes over to Nathan's apartment. She knocks on the door, but there is not answer. She waits for a few minutes and then she tried to turn the door handle and realized it was unlocked. When she opened the door she finds Peyton finds Nathan sitting on the couch watching basketball on TV. Peyton looks up and sees the wall halfway painted pink with a clown hanging over Haley's picture.
"Hey," said Nathan as he turned to see who was coming in the door.
"Hi, umm your wall is interesting," said Peyton.
"So what brings you here?," Nathan asked her ignoring her comments.
"Does there have to be a reason?" Peyton laughed as she made her way over to sit down in the chair by the couch.
"No not really, but an ex-girlfriend just doesn't come over to hang out with their ex-boyfriend alone," said Nathan.
"Yeah, you do have a good point," said Peyton as she started to fidget. "The reason I am here is, well I don't really know how to tell you this, "said Peyton as she swallowed hard. "When Chris Keller was leaving town for the first time, Jake saw Chris and Haley kissing at the bus station. I didn't feel right knowing about it and keeping it from you."
Nathan scoffed, "Haley lied to me. She told me she didn't kiss him and that those e-mails were sent to him by her sister Taylor. I should have known that she lied to me."
"I am sorry Nathan. I just wanted you to know what really happened. I care about you and I don't want to keep anything from you," said Peyton.
"I think I really knew all along, that she was lying. I just chose to trust her like an idiot," said Nathan.
"I better go. You should come back to school tomorrow," said Peyton as she made her way to the front door.
"We'll see," said Nathan.
"You know we are all here for you right?" said Peyton.
"I know," said Nathan as he reached for his video game controller.
"By the way, you may want to start locking your doors," said Peyton.
"Nah, I leave them unlocked just in case Haley decides to come home. That way she will always have a way in," said Nathan.