So here a last minute update before I dissapear of the face of the earth for some much deserved vacationing. I'm gonna say it's not very elaborate, but there's some hinting... I would have added more to the chapter but it was either update before my holiday or write a longer chapter.. i went with the first.
So I hope you'll like it let me know... R&R!
Chapter 4. The 4th the 5th the last?
"I wonder…" Haley mused out loud. Haley put a flower in her hair as she started whistling a tune. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Nathan hadn't been very elaborate about what to wear. 'jst something nice." He'd said. So she'd gone with a cute white tunic dress with a little embroidery at the top. It was a cute innocent piece that Brooke had given her. She said it reminded her of Haley's memory; you know blank. Stupid joke.
She adjusted the daisy in her hair, she wasn't sure that it was quite right for the occasion, but it had to do. Plus she thought she look good.
Nathan said he and some old friends had some low key plans for the day but she wasn't sure what exactly. Right now she really regretted telling Brooke to leave. She could use a buddy.
The longer she was here and the more people she met is less she wondered about where she was from and where so should be. Home. Wherever that may be.
"Haley! Are you coming?" Nathan called from downstairs. Nathan. Brooke. Tree Hill. She could see herself live here for the rest of her live doing.. well.. whatever. She like this place and the people. And how big was the chance that her memory would come back. Memory loss wasn't exactly known to be always temporary, or so she read.
"Hales?" She shook off her thoughts as she grabbed the purse from the bed. Brooke told her that she was free to use her stuff and even got her her own make up and purse. (not like she needed a purse. 'cause she had no money and not even a ID card of a debit card.
"Yes I'm coming." Haley skipped down the stairs and halted three steps from the bottom. Nathan was standing there, hands in his pockets of his khaki pants and his white button-up unbuttoned at the top. Damn he took handsome. "Nice." Nathan grinned as her saw her come down the steps and halt. Haley shrugged it amused and nonchalantly off. "You don't look so bad yourself." She replied with a slight smile playing on her lips. Nathan stared at her for a bit before shrugging it off, to turn around.
"Come on, we're late."
Peyton walked into the familiar house at 10PM last night. And when she woke up this morning it was because of the awful pain in her back from sleeping on the couch. It had been pretty Late and it seemed as though Derek had already gone to bed. But as she had woken up she hadn't been able to find him. Now that she was done cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, she sat down at the kitchen table. Ever since she left her own house last night all she'd allowed herself to think about was Derek and how Derek was doing. Telling herself that it was her duty as Haley best friend to make sure that her Husband wouldn't fall of the deep end without her.
But now that she was sitting here, she realized she just needed to get out of her own house because she couldn't bear being in the same house as John right now. Naturally she's stomped out because she was upset but the moment she left she'd refused to think about what happened between her and John and she'd justified her departure with the fact that Derek really needed her right now.
She felt like everything in her home was currently set on moving on and forgetting what happened, restart wedding planning and all that stuff. John would rather forget about her losing her best friend. Maybe with all the right reasons but it was simply too early to just wanna move on. So, she'd gone to Derek to help him grieve. To grieve with him. To grieve at a place where her pain would be allowed and understood, rather than put away.
She sat in the kitchen staring mindlessly ahead when she heard the front door open and close. She lifted her head from where it had been resting on her hands and she looked up.
Derek was standing in the living room with red bloodshot eyes staring aimlessly ahead. "Derek." Peyton whispered. She gave him a pitiful smile and stood up to hug him. He seemed numbed by the obvious amounts of alcohol he had consumed. As she pulled the man in to her arms she felt him cling to her. "I miss her Peyton." He cried. Peyton kept holding him tied as he spoke his paining words. Only when she noticed the wet spots on the back of Derek's t-shirt where it was previously dry, she noticed she was crying. She pulled away and dried her own tears as well as Derek's.
"I miss her too. So much." She told him. It was hard to be dealing with anything else when the constant pain of someone's permanent absence is haunting you. The idea that she was never coming back. That she was dead. That she was never ever ever ever ever coming back.
"Come on.." She whispered as she led him upstairs and helped him out of his alcohol raking clothes and into the shower. Not bothering to deal with the everyday normality's such as seeing her best friends husband naked. It just couldn't be bothered with. Plus, it wasn't like Haley was there to have a problem with it. As Derek showered Peyton made him Brunch and laid out some clean clothes and painkillers for him.
She understood Derek's obvious pain better than anyone. I mean, sure everyone understood that you're hurting when your wife dies, but only those close enough to the person they lost would actually feel the physical impact themselves. Like Haley held the small piece of their hearts and as she died those pieces died with her, making them feeling the actual physical pain of her death.
A little later Derek came downstairs freshly washed and slightly sobered up. "thanks Peyton. I'm sorry for yelling at you ever the phone yesterday.." He trailed off when he saw the brunch she'd put together. "It's okay.. I get it. Let's eat." She smiled and got seated across the kitchen table.
"Hales, these are a bunch of my old friends. This here is Jake, Junk, Fregie, Mouth, Skills, and there's Millie, but she's Mouth girl currently. And there's Sarah She's been with Jake since sophomore year they have a little girl together. And last is Lauren, skills' girl." Haley nodded taking in all of the people in front of her. "And Nate? Is Haleesss, your girl?"
Nathan chuckled a rolled his eyes at Skills antics. "No, Haley is a friends of mine and Brooke's and since Brookie monster is in Florida with this month's flavor. I figured can't let her sit at home alone."
Nathan was sure to leave out that she washed up on the beach with no memory because frankly that really wasn't his place and who would actually want every single person you meet to know that you have no memory of yourself; that just scream to be taken advantage of.
Haley smiled gratefully at Nathan for leaving it out. They were currently sitting on a picknick table next to a basketball court. The previously introduced girls had brought loads of food in picknickbaskets and the guy were now playing ball.
Haley hopped off the table so that the girl could set the table with the food and drinks.
Nathan drove his car onto the field and turned on his radio on fully. Now the music was blasting and the food was out the guy were playing nobody else seemed to be doing anything else. She sat down on the bleachers that stood along the side of the court. "Hey" One of the women said. The one that Nathan had introduced to her as Lauren. 'Hi.. Lauren is it right?" Lauren nodded. "You new in town?"
Now it was Haley's turn to nod. "eh.. Yeah.. I'm currently staying with Nathan and Brooke." Currently meaning for the foreseeable future, because it would be hard to get a job with her nonexistent identity.. (no that Brooke hadn't mention to be extremely good at making fake ID's but still..)
"Oh really, why?" Haley smiled nervously. "I've got no place to go.. I'm without a home and family, so I'm lucky that they're willing to .. look after me." The question got on her nerves. A. because she had a feeling that they didn't trust her. And B. because … well she suddenly felt like she was taking advantage of their kindness. But then again, what was she supposed to do. She'd go home if she knew where that was…
"Yeah you are. You have a job?" Haley shook her head. She never thought herself to be the shy kind, but certainly now felt like it. "Where are you from?" Millie interjected. Millie opposed to Lauren had long black hair and big eyes. "hmm. I.. the.." Haley stammered. She didn't know she couldn't even come up with a good lie.
"Hey!" Nathan's voice resounded harshly as the eyes of all three women were on her. "Leave her alone. Stop bombarding her with questions."
As three of them walked off to either their guy of a chair that was set out around the adjoining table, Nathan walked up to Haley would looked a bit shaken. As approached her could see how close on the verge of tears she really was. 'Hey.. you okay?" he asked worriedly. Haley shook her head before resting it in her hands. Nathan pulled her into his arms and hugged her. He felt bad for her.
He felt Haley lean her head against his chest and the tears wet his shirt.
Haley didn't want to be crying in Nathan's arms. She could feeling the eyes of his friend upon her glaring at her, making her out to be a leach. A pretty girl charming her way into his fortune.
So she pulled away and dried her tears. "Sorry. I'm got to get used to this sometime." she said drying her tears looking at her feet in shame. Nathan pulled her face, between his hands, up . with his thumbs he removed the smears of mascara from her cheeks and dried the remaining tears. "It's okay Hales. Baby steps. It's not easy, it's not supposed to be. I imagine it's scary a hell what you're going through, but my friends are the last people I want you to feel uncomfortable with. You know you have a home with me and Brooke. A save zone.. So If you wanna leave I'm okay with that, but they're not bad people so maybe you should give it a shot. I know you can strong and stubborn if want to be." Haley smiled at his little speech. He'd pinpointed almost every unwanted feeling the questions had unleashed and reassured her. She smiled a little wider and then hugged him, jumping him around his neck. "thank you." She told him honestly. "I think I'll stay." He grinned and hugged her back. "Good girl." He patted her head. Rolling her eyes at the indignant comment the slapped his patting hand away and walked over to where most of the girls were sitting and chatting pretending to not have been watching the entire thing go down.
"Sorry,.." Haley started. 'about.. me about my reaction." She sat down and looked over her shoulder to see Nathan start playing ball with the guys again, but keeping an subtle eye on her, giving her a warm fluttering feeling inside. A feeling she couldn't quite pinpoint.
"I know what you're thinking and it's not what it seems. I.. don't remember." She uttered. But as she spoke the words she realized she wasn't making any sense. "what I mean to say is. I've suffered brain injury, most probably about two weeks ago and since then I've memory loss. Full memory loss.
Nathan and Brooke pulled me from the water and have been taking care of me, because I have nowhere else to go. I just by the necklace around my neck that my name is Haley and by the wedding band around my finger that I was married, or am married and that my husband's name is Derek, but other than that I don't know a thing. It's all haunches and feelings that make up what I think I know. And then still it isn't much." She told them everything, because if Nathan trusted these people than she would to and it couldn't hurt to have more people to trust in this town.
"So you are living with Brooke and Nathan because they saved your live by pulling you out of the water?" Haley nodded. "yes, that and the fact I wouldn't know where else to go."
The girls looked once again a little more understanding. "Have you been to the police I'm sure they can help." Haley nodded again.
"Yes, Nathan insisted we'd go to the police. But they couldn't find me in the missing person database. They kinda gave up after that. They didn't really seem to care." Haley shrugged. "I hope to one day figure out where I'm from, but for now I don't know what else to do."
"Brooke suggested a front page article in a national paper, but I told her that was probably not such a good Idea." The three women frowned. "Why would that be a bad idea? Afraid your family will see what you're doing and come and get you?" Millie shot at her.
Haley had very well understood Millie's intentions with the comment. "No, more like there will probably be hundreds of people ready to take advantage of a girl who doesn't remember where she's from." She saw Millie still look cautiously. "I get that it's hard to trust someone who you can't check. But I just wanna remember and go home. Because having nothing or no one that trusts you is much worse than not having any money or whatever you think I might be after."
Haley got up and poured herself a drink. She hoped they'd warm up to her soon because so far she wasn't really having a good time. Nathan wrapped his arm around her in that moment and the unfamiliar fluttering was back. "I'm proud of you for telling the them truth. I told the guys I hope you don't mind. Figured they'd find out from the girl and each other eventually, so I'd better make sure it was the right version they knew." Haley nodded, but was unable to form any kind of sensible word, as she felt his warm hand still touch her tummy. The racing of her heart and the fuzzy feeling were unknown to her as to what they meant. All she knew was that it felt good. So she smiled up and said; thank you." Before leaning up and kissing his cheek.
Later that day most of Nathan's friends had put aside their suspicion about Haley and just tried to have a good time. The Music was still Playing and By now they'd dug into the food that was actually really good. Haley was having a good time as Skills had continued to fill their glasses with the white wine. She found out she got along well with Lauren and Sarah as well as Jake. Lauren was a kinder garden teacher and that really spoke to Haley. Haley spluttered to stop Skills from filling her glass again as she laughed.
"Skills stop it, that's enough.." She put her hand over her glass as he was about to pour. "Oh Haley, don't be shy, girl." He said and pour the wine literally over her hand. "Skills!"
"Skills!" Lauren admonished. "Stop getting the poor girl drunk.." Hales Laughed bringing her glass to her lips again, taking a sip. She was having a good time. The sun was beginning to set over the hills as she noticed Nathan looking funny at her. As their eyes met she gave him a grin and he winked.
Nathan watched her talk actively and listen amused at his friends. About an hour ago his agent Clay joined them. He and Clay were good friends, but Clay had a way of pushing his buttons, maybe that's why they were good friends Clay kept him real, but today it was over Haley. And it annoyed him more than normally.
Haley was currently protesting against Skills who was trying to pour more wine into her glass. Her eyes were sparkling as was her smile. She had cute antics, he was certain she had siblings. She just had the same thing over her that Brooke had; a sparkle whenever she got attention. She had older siblings or at least one. Clay had commented throughout the day on several occasions, on Haley nice ass or the lasted comment her smile. He had made sure it was the last. The 4th the 5th comment he could handle but that one was the last. He had made Sure Clay knew. He wasn't sure why Clay's comment struck him so hard but he supposed it was because he was trying to protect her from the world. After all that was what she was most vulnerable to.
He stared at her as she continued to laugh at what was said, after the wine incident with Skills. Until Haley looked up in his direction, he'd been pretty covert about it, but now their eyes met and she grinned at him. She was obviously telling him she was having a great time. He winked back and turned then his attention back to mouth who was telling him all about the trade's for next season.
Haley spaced out on what skills was saying at some point and stared over the river. Nathan told her the night always ended with bang, so as the night proceeded she wondered what he'd been talking about. Whatever it was it would most likely top the night. She was having the best time. It had been strange at first, in a group of people she only knew Nathan. she had gotten used to having Brooke and Nathan around, so much she wasn't used to being alone. Either one of them was always there to back her. Being here with only Nathan and Nathan being on the other side of the court practically gave her a little more confidence.
Suddenly the fireworks exploded in the sky above the river. She loved it. It was so gorgeous! She smiled widely at the display. Grinning as she saw Nathan pat Clay shoulder to make his way over she felt herself get even more excited if possible. Her eyes were drawn over shortly from the fireworks to watch Nathan and a soon as she eyes found the fireworks, she heard groaning at yelling. Looking over she saw Nathan and Clay in a fight. The charming typical smile he held a moment ago was now and angry glare and pointed at Clay.
Haley frowned worriedly as Nathan slammed his fists into Clay jaw. "What the hell man!" Clay yelled. Jake and Skills quickly pulled Nathan away. Nathan being pulled back, tried to catch his breath as he point his finger in Clay direction. "I'm warning you Evans!"
Haley frowned at the entire display not understand what the hell just went down. Nathan pulled loose from Jake and Skills and walked away. Being afraid to be left behind Haley jogged after him. "Nathan? where are you going." She tried to keep up but he didn't response. 'Haley" Jake caught her arm. "Haley, let him go he needs to cool down. He'll be back."
She stood still and looked after him not understanding what happened, so she looked at Clay for answers. "What was that about?" she asked accusingly. Clay grinned. "You." That had her even more confused. She laughed at her as she frowned and the uncanny feeling made her turn away from Clay. She quietly walked after Nathan, while the sky continued to light up by the fireworks.
Eventually she found him about a mile further along the river. "Nate?" He looked up.
'Hey.." he said softly. 'what are you doing here.. it's not save to but wondering out by yourself especially in the dark." Haley rolled her eyes. "whatever big brother. I'm a big girl I can take care of myself." He sighed, not wanting to start another fight tonight. "you wanna tell me what that was about?" Nathan shook his head. "It's not important." He motioned for her to come and sit with him. They stared over the river at the fireworks. "You guys to this every year?"
Nathan nodded "Yeah.. except that we have Brooke here to spice things up, this years was pretty long key. Not drinking games and no drunken stripping. Haley giggled "you're a good big brother. To both me and Brooke, even though I'm not actually your sister." Nathan grimaced at the comment and she wasn't quite sure what that was about. But then again was there ever something she was sure about?
She turned her attention back to the river and the fireworks.. it was slowly stating to stop.. less and less lights and bangs. "Thank you for tonight. I had a great night. I'd like to make you a promise, if you'll have it." Nathan turned to look at her and nodded "Okay lets have it."
"One year from now, whatever may happen this next year, we'll celebrate the 4th of July together again. Right here. Okay?" Nathan looked at her smile face and nodded again. 'Deal' he wrapped an arms around her waist and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "This was a good night right?"
So don't forget to review so that'll have something to look forward to once I return from the land with no internet connection!
