The Summer Things Changed
Previously:
"Hey Nathan, I was thinking, instead of a beach wedding, why not a wedding in the grand garden?" Haley suggested as they approached the girls.
"Anything for you Hales, as long as you're happy."
The next day, everyone woke up and had a quick breakfast; they were going to spend the whole day at the beach. Haley put on her black halter string bikini, Brooke put on her strapless teal bikini that had white hibiscuses on it. Peyton wore her black bikini that had white, hot pink, neon lime green, and aqua colored paint splatters covering it. Nathan had navy, Lucas had gray, and Jake wore white and green plaid swimming trunks. They grabbed their towels and headed down to the beach. They splashed around and the girls were tossed around in the refreshing water. They got out around 4:30 and headed back to shower.
"Okay, I'm going to go shower now." Haley said going up the steps after reentering the house.
"I feel like we need to conserve water, so I'm going to join her." Nathan said chasing Haley up the stairs.
"Good to know. Thanks." Brooke said giving a sarcastic thumbs up. After they all showered, they decided to go out to eat. They all got dressed semi-fancily and headed to a restaurant on the bay. The tables were even in the sand, it was very peaceful. They loaded into 2 cars because the girls had to go to a meeting with the wedding planner after dinner and they figured the guys would be bored out of their minds. When they got there, Haley and Jake ordered crab cakes, while Lucas got pork barbecue, Nathan got prime rib, and Peyton got shrimp fettuccine and Brooke got her childish favorite, chicken fingers.
"So Hales, what do the bridesmaid dresses look like?" Jake asked placing his fork down.
"Well, they're gold, but not flashy, and they're strapless and flow to the knees from under the bust line. They're gorgeous and my two best friends look amazing in them." Haley smiled.
"So any chance you'll tell me about this amazing dress that everyone keeps telling me about, but won't let me see it?" Nathan asked before biting into his prime rib.
"Not a chance." Haley again smiled.
"Well than I may be too wrapped up in your beauty to say 'I do.'" Nathan teased.
"You better say 'I Do.'" Haley taunted back. They all finished their dinner and the girls hopped into Brooke's car with Haley sitting in the passenger seat and Peyton directly a row behind Haley. The guys hopped in Nathan's car and followed the girls out of the parking lot. The girls were in the lane to turn left towards the bridal shop, sitting next to the guys, who were in the lane to go straight, back home, at a stop light. Haley rolled down her window.
"I forgot to tell you I loved you." Haley said leaning out her window to meet Nathan half way for a kiss.
"I love you too babe, cya when you get home." Nathan said pulling back preparing for the light to turn green.
"Kay!" Haley shouted; now back in the car in her own seat. Haley rolled up her window and the light turned from red to green. Brooke started to move the car and Haley looked back at Nathan and smiled. The last smile. The last smile before a truck ran a red light and plowed into Brooke's car, right where Haley was sitting.
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"Oh my god!" Jake yelled, flinging himself from the boy's car. Nathan jumped out and whipped out his cell phone and dialed 911. He reported the accident to the operator while running over to the smashed car. An ambulance was on the way. All the guys stood around the smashed car, trying to figure out what to do because, the doors were too smashed to open form the outside. All the men had tears in their eyes, trying to look inside to see if anyone was conscious. All they could see was shattered glass and splattered blood. All of a sudden, the driver's door opened and a blood covered Brooke emerged about to fall over. Jake, being the closest one, dove under her and caught her before she hit the cement.
"Brooke, is everyone alright?" Nathan rushed to her side, hoping to find out about Haley.
"Haley told me to tell you she loved you before she went unconscious." Brooke managed to get out while Lucas took off his over shirt and tied it around Brooke's shoulder, which had a deep cut and was bleeding profusely. This made the threatening tears fall from his face.
"What about Peyton?" Do you know how either of them are?" Lucas asked holding Brooke.
"Peyton and Haley are both unconscious and bleeding but Peyton isn't as bad as Haley, but she's worse than me," Brooke gasped out. Nathans worries only increased. He made the decision to try to unhinge her door to get both Haley and Peyton out.
"Guys, help me get the door off." Nathan said whipping his tears.
"Nathan, I don't think you should do that, you could get hurt yourself, wait for the police." Lucas pleaded.
"Lucas, please, I can't lose her. I don't care if I get hurt, as long as she's okay, right now I wish to god it was me laying in that car bloody, so please help me make sure, that she isn't in there any longer." Nathan yelled, getting angry.
"Alright, Jake, stay with Brooke." Lucas ordered. Jake wasn't supposed to do anything strenuous because he tore his elbow ligament a few months ago in basketball. After a few tries and minor scratches later, the two finally tore the door off, which allowed Peyton's door to open. Nathan dug through a lot of glass and found a very bloody Haley. He grabbed her and turned around to take her back to the rest of the group, seeing Lucas had already gotten Peyton out.
"Guys, don't let Brooke look!" Nathan yelled knowing Brooke would blame everything on herself if she saw how bad Haley was. He set Haley down. He himself had to shut his eyes a few times to make sure he wasn't having a nightmare. A few minutes later, 4 ambulances appeared, 3 for the girls, and 1 for the other driver. Everyone had forgotten about the other driver who had not emerged. They loaded everyone and rushed to the hospital. Everyone arrived at the hospital around the same time and the boys were rushed into the waiting room. A nurse called Nathan over to look at his cut on his forearm.
"It looks like you'll need about 8 stitches on that cut, just to stop infection." The nurse informed him.
"Alright." Nathan sighed; it didn't hurt all that bad, but he was just worried about Haley. She stitched him up.
"Okay, we'll wrap this up now, but we'll call you back in a few hours to check for excess bleeding and we'll rewrap it." The nurse said leading him out the door to the other guys in the waiting room. Lucas' mom Karen was already there. She ran to Nathan and gave him a big hug. He started sobbing.
"She'll be okay Nathan, she's a strong girl. She knows that you can't live without her, she'll pull through, but for you, not herself, she'd rather have you happy than herself, you know that." Karen said crying.
"I hope Karen. I don't know what I'd do without her; I wish to god it's me in the operating room right now, not her." Nathan said pulling away. They walked back over to the group.
"Was anyone else called?" Nathan asked the guys and Karen.
"I called my mom, but they can't get a flight out of Europe for 3 days, so I have to keep them posted, so they're aren't coming home unless something really bad happens. And I called Peyton's dad, he's on his way, but he'll be about an hour and a half." Jake said his hands in his head.
"I called Brooke's parents, they are coming soon, but we thought you might want to call Lydia and Jimmy, and your own parents." Lucas said. Nathan pulled out his phone and walked into an adjoining hallway for privacy.
"Hello?" Lydia answered a few rings.
"Uhh hi Lydia, this is Nathan." Nathan stuttered out, suddenly nervous.
"Oh hi Nathan, how are you?" Lydia asked cheerfully.
"Not good at all actually. There was an accident."
"Oh no, is everyone okay?" Lydia's voice now worried.
"No, the girls were in a car accident and it's bad, it's really bad Lydia." Nathan said as tears once again sprang to his eyes.
"Oh my gosh, um okay, do you know anything yet?" Lydia said as Nathan can hear her choke up.
"No, but Brooke got out of the car and she wasn't in good shape, but she told us that she wasn't as bad as Peyton and Haley. The car hit them on Haley's side, and Peyton was right behind her, so they aren't gonna be okay, Mrs. James."
"Oh- okay, well we're in Vermont, so we'll be down there within the next day Nathan. Please call us as soon as you know anything else." Lydia cried.
"I promise." Nathan hung up. Now he had to call his parents.
"Hi hunny, what's up?" Deb answered the phone.
"Mom?" Nathan asked starting to break down. Nathan's mom was always there for him. Haley and Deb were his top two girls, but as he got older, Haley slid into first place in his life.
"Nathan, what's wrong? Talk to me." Deb pleaded, now worried.
"Mom, there was an accident, and they don't know if she's gonna make it." Nathan said, the news finally hitting him. Haley could die.
"Oh my god, what happened? Your father and I are getting in the car right now." Deb said, running around with Dan right behind her asking questions like what happened? And is everything alright? Repeatedly in the background.
"The girls were all in a car accident, the car hit Haley's door. Brooke was driving, she's gonna be okay, but we don't know about Haley and Peyton yet. I'm so scared Mom, what if she doesn't make it?"
"Oh Nathan, hunny, it'll be fine, she's the strongest girl I know, and she loves you Nathan. Just trust her, don't prepare for the worst yet, we'll be there in about 2 hours, okay?" Deb said hoping her son would feel a little better.
"Okay mom, thanks." Nathan hung up and went to get a cup of coffee. The song on the loud speaker changed. Now, it was you'll think of me by Keith urban. It was Haley's favorite song. She used to play it as loud as her radio went in her room so she could sit in her room and listen to it, but let everyone else hear it, even if they didn't want to hear it. Nathan leaned against the wall and slid down it. He broke down. Nathan could only remember crying one other time since he was about 12. It was at Peyton's mom funeral last fall. She died in a car accident. They had all cried together. Nathan, now sitting on the floor was gasping for breath, luckily the hallway was deserted. All of a sudden Lucas ran around the corner and wrapped his arms around Nathan.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I was on vacation for 2 weeks, and I was typing this the whole time, there's more too, but I just got home 45 minutes ago after 10 hours in the car, so yeah. I start school tomorrow, so I'll try to get the next chapter up before then, but you never know.