Finding The Way Back

Okay, someone said something about line breaks and I really would do that except I have no idea how to do it (and I'm not entirely sure what that means so if anyone has tips, help) or anything besides bold and italicize stuff.

Chapter 7

"Wait- What?" Haley asked him, frowning at him and shaking her head. "What are you talking about?"

"Nathan told me that he proposed to you, and you said no and that you wanted to break up instead. He was crushed." Lucas said, frowning slightly. "Do I not have my facts straight?"

A million thoughts were swarming through Haley's head. Was Nathan actually going to propose to her all those years ago? She had thought that the break up was mutual. They went to schools on different sides of the country, and it had been hard to keep their relationship alive for as long as they did. Was it her that broke up with him? She had been the one to initiate the conversation, but he had agreed to it. Haley had thought that maybe he was going to break up with her as well. She let her thoughts drift back to the day that they had broken up, four years ago.

Haley had been in Tree Hill visiting with Karen over spring break, while Nathan was finishing up his last couple classes, then was going to head home. He had called her at around three, and asked her to go to dinner with him later that night. He sounded nervous, and stressed out. She was hesitant, of course. Because she told herself the next time they saw each other, she was going to bring up the idea of ending their relationship. It had just been so hard on both of them.

Once they were at dinner, Nathan looked like he had sounded on the phone, nervous. He had a drink in his hand from the second he sat down, which seemed to calm him down at little bit.

"You look nice." He had said to her, glancing up at her from his menu.

"Thank you." Haley replied, smiling slightly at him. She really wasn't sure if she was making the right choice, but she knew it had to be done.

After about an hour of sitting there, Nathan hardly touching his food and hardly saying a word, he spoke up.

"Listen, there's something I need to talk to you about." He began, sucking in a deep breath.

"Me too." Haley said softly, sending him a small smile.

"Oh, uh. You can go first." He said softly, nodding at her.

"I think... I think it's time we went our separate ways, Nathan. This relationship is great, and I love you so much. It's just... Getting too hard to be away from you all of the time. We go days without talking to each other, Nathan. And that's not what I'm looking for. I need someone who is close to me. We've just been drifting apart, and sometimes a flickering flame goes out." She had said to him, her hand resting on his.

Nathan had look shocked, but quickly composed himself, putting on a fake smile. "I, I was going to talk to you about that too. It just gets hard, Haley." He said to her, nodding his head.

Had he been lying to her the whole time? After he said that, he had slouched back into his seat, something she had dismissed as relief. But now... She wasn't so sure.

Lucas' voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Haley? Where'd you go?" He asked her.

"He never proposed to me. I told him we should break up, and he agreed." Haley said softly, frowning at her friend.

"That's... Odd. I saw the ring, so he was planning on proposing." Lucas frowned, sighing softly.

"I thought it was mutual, Lucas. Everything about that dinner made it seem mutual. But when I think back... I don't know." She sighed, shaking her head.

"I can't believe he told me you said no. I'm sorry, Haley. I thought he did it. I should of talked to you before I cut you out." He said softly.

"I was not expecting this at all." Haley said softly, running her fingers through her hair. "It does make sense, though." She whispered, pressing her face into her hands.

"I'm sorry, wow. I shouldn't of told you that probably... But that explains why I stopped talking to you." He said softly.

"I had no idea." Haley said, letting out a deep breath. "I thought he wanted to break up. I thought it was mutual." She shrugged slightly, "I guess it makes sense for him to try to make me the bad guy. I don't blame you, Lucas. Honestly, he's your brother and I hurt him. You did the right thing." She said softly, closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Haley. I didn't know that he didn't actually do it." Lucas mumbled, looking down and sighing.

"No, Lucas. It's not your fault. Wow, I can't believe he was going to propose." Haley looked up at him, shaking her head.

"Would you of said yes?" He asked her, raising his eyebrows.

Haley frowned slightly, tapping her fingers on the table and looking down at it. Would she of said yes if he would of gone first? She really did love him but the distance thing was just so hard. She looked up at him again, shrugging.

"I don't know... Maybe. There would be so much we had to work out first. We were young, Lucas. Would we wait until school was over, would I transfer to Duke, or would he transfer to Stanford? I know he never finished school, but what would of happened? So... I don't know if I would of said yes. It's hard to tell." Haley finally said, letting out a deep breath. "Wow."

"Look, uh... Don't bring this up to him." Lucas said softly, nodding at her.

"Oh, no. I won't. That's just a lot to take in. I really thought that it was a mutual break up... I guess not." She said, sighing softly.

"Yeah..." Lucas looked over at her, "So, where are you staying tonight?" He asked.

"Just one of the few hotels in Tree Hill." She shrugged her shoulders, looking down and sighing.

"Whatever, Hales. Just stay here. My mom won't be here until tomorrow, her plane got delayed. You can sleep in her bed." He said, shaking his head.

"Oh no, Lucas... I couldn't. It's fine, really." She argued, shaking her head quickly.

Lucas frowned, "Nope. You're staying here. Come on, I missed you. We can stay up all night and talk like we used to." He said, smiling at her.

Haley sighed, shaking her head. "Ugh. Fine, fine. I'll stay here. But I'm taking the couch." She shrugged.

"Like hell you are. You'll sleep in my mom's room." Lucas laughed, winking at her. "Come on, let's go get some ice cream. You're buying, superstar." He hummed, pulling her to her feet.

Lucas and Haley walked back into the house at around eleven, after getting ice cream they had gone to play basketball, then gone out for drinks.

They walked in, laughing quietly about something that had happened when they were kids, both of them stopping once they saw Nathan sitting on the couch with a girl who was unfamiliar to Haley, an annoyed expression on his face as she talked his ear off.

"Lucas! Hey!" Nathan said quickly, his face falling when he saw Haley standing next to him. "Haley... Hey." He said softly, glancing at the girl. "I didn't know you would be here." He frowned.

"What are you doing here?" Lucas asked, glancing past him at the girl and rolling his eyes. "Hello, Carrie. It's nice to see you again." He grumbled, absolutely no real meaning in his voice.

"You know, my mom wasn't home and I was hoping that you would be." Nathan shrugged, "But I can tell you two clearly didn't watch my game." He chuckled, looking at Haley and sighing.

Carrie stood up, wrapping her arm around Nathan, "Mm... He played great. He's so sexy on a basketball court." She said, pulling Nathan's face down to kiss her.

Nathan stopped before she had the chance, looking over at Haley. "Haley, what are you doing here?" He asked her softly.

"Nathan, you invited me, remember? I came to see Lily and Karen." Haley said through a tight smile, shrugging her shoulders.

"Right, yeah. Carrie, why don't you go call us a cab? I have to talk to Lucas for a second." Nathan said softly, gesturing for her to go into the kitchen.

Carrie kissed Nathan's cheek, before hurrying off into the kitchen.

After a moment of silence, Lucas scoffed quietly. "Dammit, Nathan. You broke up with her. What is she doing here?" He grumbled.

"I didn't want to be alone on Christmas." Nathan said softly, looking down at the ground.

"She's insane, Nathan! Absolutely nuts." Lucas said to him, swatting him on the back of the head. "Besides, you wouldn't be alone. You have all of us."

"It's not the same, Lucas. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know what to do." Nathan sighed, shrugging.

"How about try to find someone who isn't crazy? You're Nathan Scott, it shouldn't be that hard when girls practically throw themselves at you." Lucas grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Haley looked between the two brothers, smiling slightly. They really had come so far since high school. She chuckled quietly at the thought of them back in school, before two sets of blue eyes landed on her.

"Why're you laughing?" Lucas asked, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head.

"Because, Lucas. Just let him be happy. If that girl makes him happy, then leave him be." Haley shrugged, shaking her head and laughing again.

Nathan looked deflated at Haley's words, but when he caught Lucas' eyes, he perked up again. "Yeah, Lucas. My good friend Haley wants me to be happy. Why can't everyone else just agree?" He said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his tone.

"I'll call Clay, and he can talk to you about this. What do you think of that?" Lucas grumbled, looking over at Haley.

"Call him, I don't care." Nathan sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Look, Lucas. It's not like we were having sex on your couch or anything? We were just talking." He mumbled.

"Nathan, she's crazy. You know that she's crazy. You told me that you were so happy when you broke up with her. What changed that?" Lucas asked.

Nathan's gaze flickered to Haley momentarily, then back to Lucas, shrugging his shoulders. "I need to grow up, Luke." He grumbled.

Lucas sighed heavily, closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath, "Surely she has her own family to get back to." He said softly.

"Yes, Lucas. She's only staying until tomorrow then she's flying home. I just talked her into coming with me for tonight." Nathan said, looking over at Haley and nodding at Lucas.

Haley sent him a small smile, before looking down and sighing softly. "If it's only one night then maybe we should stay up and hang out for awhile, Luke? Might be fun." She chuckled, nudging him softly.

"You guys can't spend the night here. You have to be gone by midnight." Lucas sighed, wrapping his arm around Haley's shoulders, pulling her into a side hug.

Nathan watched them carefully. He knew that there was nothing between them, and there never would be. But he would give anything to be standing in Lucas' place with his arm around Haley. The past week she was all he could think about. He thought maybe if Carrie was with him then Haley would be off his mind, but it didn't work at all. Their little "closure" sex thing hasn't been a smart move for them, well for him at least. His heart ached to be with her. He felt exactly like he had four years ago when she had broken up with him. Head over heels with a girl that didn't love him back, so here he was. Trying to move forward.

Nathan let out a deep breath, nodding his head. "Alright, sounds fair enough. I'll go tell her never mind." He said quietly, walking into the kitchen.

"What's so crazy about her?" Haley asked, raising her eyebrows.

"She calls him fifty times in an hour, gets super jealous, and will verbally attack anyone who takes away time that they could of been spending together. You'll see, Haley. She's crazy." Lucas chuckled, shaking his head and guiding her into the kitchen.

Within fifteen minutes of spending time with them, Haley was ready for Carrie to get the hell out. Her and Nathan would be in the middle of a conversation, and Carrie would grab his face and kiss him, which Nathan didn't let last very long. He actually looked pretty annoyed at her the whole time. What was he doing with her? This must be the crazy ex that he had told her a little bit about.

She looked over at Lucas, his face matching Nathan's annoyed one. "So Carrie... How did you and Nathan meet?" Haley asked, looking over at the 'couple.'

"Oh, you know. I went to one of his games and he just couldn't keep his eyes off of me. We connected." Carrie grinned, winking at Nathan.

"Oh really? I thought you stalked him after the game and followed him to the bar he went to? Am I mistaken?" Lucas asked her, smirking slightly.

Haley picked up her wine, taking a long drink, noting that Nathan did the same with the bottle in his hand, her gaze flicked to Carrie once she started talking again.

"Whatever, Lucas. He wanted me to follow him. We had a connection, right baby?" She cooed, rubbing Nathan's neck gently.

Nathan sighed softly, closing his eyes and forcing a smile onto his face, looking up at Haley after a second, "Yep." He mumbled,

That moment was when Lucas knew what was going on. Something had happened between his brother and his best friend on their date last week. Something that brought Nathan back to yearning for Haley. He looked over at Haley, who was maintaining eye contact with Nathan. He had a feeling this was either going to end really well, or really badly.