A/N: Okay, this story is completely written yes. It only has 17 chapters. After that it's done. Please don't ask for a sequel. Out of all my fics, this is one of my most popular but I absolutely hated writing it. I felt like I could've done better and yeah. Just don't beg me for a sequel b/c I couldn't handle it so I'm not doing it. However, I am adding one additional chapter to the ending; an epilogue maybe that wasn't orignally there. So anyway, drop the love and enjoy.
A/N2:You're gonna hate me...
Putting Memories on a Shelf
Haley gingerly opened her eyes and let them adjust to the sunlight steaming in. She looked around the room and realized that she had no idea where she was. Not only that, but she had no idea how she had gotten there or what had happened the night before. She tried to think but once she started that her head began pounding. Yeah, this would be one massive hangover. She could only imagine what she had done. It was then she looked over and had to put her hand over her mouth the stop her gasp from waking up the person next to her. Her first thought was déjà vu. Almost the same exact situation. Just with a different Scott brother.
"Lucas…" she whispered trying to nudge him awake. His arm was draped over her stomach and he couldn't even move. "LUCAS!" she whispered more loudly.
"Mmm…." he mumbled out pulling her closer to him. Crap. He obviously wasn't going to wake up in his current condition with her whispering approach. Now, she just went straight for his nipple and twisted. Bingo. "Oww…damn it!" he said jumping up.
"Sorry." she said innocently biting her lip. She couldn't wait any longer to ask the question that kept popping up in her mind. "What the hell happened?" Haley asked and Lucas smirked. Great. He didn't respond, instead he just stretched out and yawned. "Lucas! What happened last night?" she asked again trying to remain calm.
"You don't remember?" he asked and she shook her head no. He looked at her and motioned for her to look at herself. She did and she realized that she was naked. Double crap. "Must not have been that memorable."
"We, uh…we didn't, did we?" Haley asked stammering her question out. Upon studying Lucas's face she realized. "We did, didn't we." she groaned and feel backwards on the bed. This was a nightmare. She barely even knew Lucas. She knew he was notorious for one night stands and this was just another notch in his bedpost. She rubbed her hands over and face and tried to wake up. That was her logic. This was just a nightmare and she would wake up and laugh about it later.
"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad." he said still smirking more awake now.
"I don't even remember it! It doesn't even matter if I did anyway…oh." she said quietly. She felt like slapping herself.
"You remember it now?" he asked noticing the change of emotion.
"Yeah…"
Flashback
She let him lead her up the stairs. He held on to her hand tightly and she wasn't stopping him. She kept her mind focused on Lucas. The thought of Nathan kissing Peyton was pushed deep in her mind. She liked Lucas. Nathan was just her friend. Tonight she would prove that to everyone. She let her mind drift to the kiss she and Nathan had shared earlier. It was powerful and it made her breathless. And yet she had pulled away. It wasn't the first time but she would make it the last. They had decided and that was final. He was just doing this to keep her from Lucas and that's what she chose to believe.
They made it to the room and Haley sucked in her breath. This was it. There really was no turning back now. He opened to door and it was dark. She couldn't see anything but she assumed that Lucas knew his way around. He made no effort to turn on the light. He lead her in and shut the door behind him. They stood there for a few seconds, adjusting to the darkness and staring at each other. Even in the dark, she could feel the intensity of his gaze.
He moved within inches of her face with one stride and she let her weight fall back against the door. He reached behind her and locked the door. Haley felt her breathing become more ragged and it didn't help that his hot breath was on her neck. He kissed her there, the sensitive part right below her earlobe and she nearly lost it right there. "You sure you want to do this?" he whispered and all she could manage to do was nod. He pulled back and looked at her intently. She finally got up her courage and moved closer to him. Then she kissed him. Yes, she wanted this. Almost instantly he responded and they fell back onto the bed.
"Lucas…" she managed to get trying to catch her breath. He stopped kissing her stomach and looked up at her. He smiled at her and it reassured her. He trailed kisses up her body, and her neck, until finally he arrived at her lips again.
"Say you want me Haley." he told her against her lips.
"I want you…" she replied and kissed him once again.
End Flashback
Haley held her hands over her mouth as the memories of the previous night swam in her mind. She was staring at the ceiling and then she forced herself to look at Lucas. He himself was looking up the ceiling, both hands rested behind his head. Don't panic Haley.
"It wasn't your first time was it?" Lucas asked interrupting her thoughts.
"Only once before." she said simply. She didn't really want to go into this right now.
"Oh really? You had me fooled. You're like a pro." he said turning over on his side and looking at her. She in return did the same and bit her lip. "Does Nathan know? I mean does he know your not a…well that you've done it before?" He only asked because he was surprised that Haley had even done it. It wasn't like he was complaining at all but he wondered if as overprotective he was of her he knew and if he probably pounded the guy. Much like he was worried about getting into with him about this later on.
"Well he should since he was the one who did it."
Nathan woke up the sound of running water and let his eyes skim over his surroundings. He was in someone's bedroom, in someone's bed, and he had no idea who. Peyton. Crap. Where was she? He head the water turn off and after a few minutes she walked in with just a towel wrapped around her skinny frame. Taking notice that he was up, she smiled at him and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Morning sunshine." she said brightly and Nathan just groaned. "Sleep well?"
"Did we do much sleeping last night?" he asked still unsure what had happened the previous night. She grinned and pulled her clothes back on.
"Don't look so freaked out Nate. I'm sure you slept quite comfortably once you passed out." she paused letting what she had just said sink in and then continued once she had seen Nathan grimace. "…before we could do anything other than make out." Nathan audibly let out a sigh of relief and Peyton gave him a funny look. "Thanks hot shot."
"Oh, no its just, I really would've been an ass and I'm not because we didn't do anything."
"Alright…whatever you say." she said giving him a confused look and lying down one the bed beside him. "So how long have you been in love with her?" she asked bluntly.
"With who?"
"With her." she said mocking him. "Like how many hers are there that you're in love with?" she said giving him a 'duh' look.
"It doesn't matter because she's not in love with me." he replied simply. "Hey, I'm gonna go downstairs and get something to drink." he said suddenly feeling very claustrophobic and needing to get out. Once he got up and pulled his pants on he stepped out into the hallway and ran into her. Haley. She wasn't wearing anything other than the shirt Lucas had on the previous night. He winced knowing exactly what had happened. It hurt. Bad.
"Tell me you didn't…" he said quietly.
"Nathan…" she started to stay but he held up his hand cutting her off. Giving her one last look he turned around and went back into the bedroom slamming the door. Peyton jumped up off the bed and looked him curiously.
"She slept with him." he said quietly and laid down next to Peyton.
"Haley and Lucas." she said knowingly. He nodded. "And this obviously bothers you. So you do have a history huh?"
"We slept together." he said not looking at Peyton. Just staring out the window.
"Really? When?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. She didn't want to pry but this was just too good to not know.
"Last summer." he said not wanting to divulge to much information.
"And you remained friends. Wow. That's pretty insane. I don't think I could do that."
"It wasn't my choice. It was either just be friends or never speak to her again."
Haley scrambled into the bathroom, slamming the door and letting her body slide against it to the floor. She let the tears come; she wouldn't fight them. She had hurt him again. She saw it in his eyes. The same look he had last summer. She hadn't told Lucas the full story of what happened and managed to excuse herself to go to the bathroom. Running into him. She hadn't decided if she wanted to tell Nathan about Lucas or not but this solved that problem. It wasn't how she wanted him to find out.
"Hey." she said once she had managed to get herself straightened up and back into the bedroom. She slipped back underneath the covers and didn't let herself get to close to Lucas. It was still freaking her out a bit. "So we don't have to worry about whether or not Nathan will find out. Kinda ran into him in the hallway." she said groaning.
"Really. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to come barging in her to kick my ass." he said as if it didn't bother him.
"Funny Luke, really. I didn't even know if I wanted him to know and now the does and he's not mad, well not yet. He's hurt and I did that to him and I messed up. Oh and before you get any ideas, don't even think about asking who's better because I will not compare the two of you. It's bad enough that I did it but I will not…" she was interrupted by her rambling but Lucas leaning over and kissing her. It caught her by surprise at first and then she let herself relax and kissed back. "Sorry." she said pulling back and looking down sheepishly.
"How'd it happen?" he asked her. She really didn't want to go into the whole sordid story. She had never told anyone and she and Nathan had never talked about it after that one night. He had tried and she had finally given him an ultimatum. She sighed and let her mind drift the that night last summer.
Flashback
Haley was just closing up the café when Nathan walked him grinning goofy. She couldn't help but smile back at him as he sat down at the counter. They didn't speak, she just poured him his regular drink and continued to clean up. She was sweeping now and he was facing her, sitting on a stool, back to the counter.
"Ok, I give up. What are you so cheery about?" she asked as she stopped moving the broom and looked at him with one hand on her hip. He just grinned even bigger and didn't say anything. "Nathan! Come on, I don't like surprises."
"Do you remember me saying that I wanted to do more with my basketball?" he asked and she nodded coming up and sitting next to him on an adjacent stool. "I think I found a way."
"Oh Nathan. That's so good. I'm happy for you. So what is it?" she asked excitedly.
"It's something called High Fliers so before you get your hopes up don't. It's really had to get into and you have to be really good. That and the fact that they only pick on kid from each school and you know what that means."
"Lucas. Ah, Nathan I'm sure you'll do it. So you applied though right and did all that stuff?" she asked he nodded. "Good. Now we get to celebrate." she said patting his knee and hopping off the stool.
"Celebrate what?" he asked confused.
Now, and hour later they, were at the beach, fire lit, wrapped up in a blanket and drinking. Nathan managed to swipe some of his mom's stash and now they were almost done with the bottle. Haley was getting pretty tipsy and he was just feeling it.
"So we should play a game or something." Haley said giggling when she hiccupped.
"What kind of game could we play with only the two of us?" he said laughing with her.
"True or dare."
"I know everything about you Hales." he said tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Fine then, just dare." she replied sticking her tongue out at him. "You go first. I dare you to…ok I got it. I dare you to go jump in the ocean." she said grinning. He frowned for a minute then smiled getting up. He reached over and pulled Haley up and over his shoulder. "Nathan put me down! No, you can't do this! I said you, not me!" she yelled banging her fists on Nathan's back. Suddenly, Nathan lost his footing and fell forward landing on top of Haley. He didn't make a move to get up. He was face to face with her and all he wanted to do was kiss her. They were both breathing deeply and he realized what could happen if he let this get too far. This was his best friend and he knew he couldn't do that. He made a move to push himself up but was caught when she grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her. She smiled against his lips and kissed him.
The next morning they woke up to the sunrise, tangled up in the blanket they were lying on the night before. Haley was lying in Nathan's arms but jerked up once she realized it was him. She scrambled to find her clothes and Nathan woke up to all the commotion. They didn't at all. Not while they were getting dressed; not while they picked everything up; and not the entire way to Haley's house. Nathan pulled up in front of her house and was the first to speak.
"I meant what I say last night." he said quietly not looking at her.
"I know you love me Nathan." she said putting her hand on his own.
"No, Haley. I'm in love with you. Don't you get that?" he asked moving his hand away and looking at her.
"You don't. You can't. Don't you get that? We're friends and that's the way it's staying." she said firmly.
"So what? Either we're friends or nothing at all?" he asked getting angry.
"Yeah. I…last night was a mistake." she said lying. In all actually, it was probably the best experience she had even encountered. It was the him, who she did love that she had her first time with and that was special to her. She wouldn't mess up their friendship though. "I'll cherish it Nathan but it wasn't right. So friends?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah, friends."
End Flashback
Nathan had just finished the whole story and it brought back both good and bad memories for him. It just wasn't something he liked to think about often. It hurt him too bad.
"So that's it? You did it, you admitted you're in love with her and she gives you that ultimatum?" Peyton asked incredulously.
"Yup, pretty much. Sucks for me." He paused before continuing. "I kissed her last night."
"And…"
"We're still just friends."
Let the bashing begin...
