Author's Note: Hey, all. Thank you so much for all the amazing replies. They mean so much for me and really urge me to update faster. So I hope that's enough to get you to continue to reply. If it's not, I'm not above begging. I don't know about you, but I'm so excited about the new season.
-OTH-
--Sisters are connected throughout their lives by a special bond... whether they try to ignore it or not. For better or for worse, sisters remain sisters, until death do them part.--
After Brooke left the house, it had taken her just a little under an hour to get to Charlotte. After an unfortunate run-in with her mother, Brooke headed straight for the room she was told Lorraine was in. When she entered, she was surprised to find clothes thrown all over the place and a frantic Lorraine pacing back and forth.
It had taken Brooke nearly an hour to calm Lorraine down and another hour to find something half descend in her wardrobe. Finally, she had Lorraine all dressed up, her makeup on, all she needed was her hair done.
"Thank you so much for coming, Brooke," Lori said for what had to be the hundredth time that day. If she thanked her one more time, Brooke was going to strangle her.
"It's no trouble," Brooke lied, tugging on her hair slightly harder than was needed. Lori winced a little, but didn't say anything. Brooke smiled and continued to comb her hair. "Really."
"I'm so nervous," Lori said, completely out of nowhere. Brooke raised an eyebrow at her comment, completely thrown by it. She looked over Lori's shoulder and saw her tapping her knee nervously.
"Why?" Brooke questioned, genuinely curious. "It's not like it's your first date or anything. From what I've heard you're quite the little slut." Brooke made sure to keep her voice light, so Lori knew she was only joking.
"It's not that," Lori laughed. She shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know whether she should talk about this with Brooke or not. As much as she wanted to be able to trust her, she wasn't sure if she could. "It's just... I've known Josh since forever, you know. I've always had a crush on him. So for him to feel the same way, it's just mind boggling."
"I can see that." Brooke was starting to get uncomfortable now. She hated it when Lori tried to open up and share her feelings. Brooke knew that Lori was trying to make her into a sister or something, but Brooke wasn't going to let that happen. Without another word, she quickly finished doing Lori's hair.
"Done already?" Lori asked when she saw Brooke walking around to stand in front of her. Brooke gave her a tight smile and nodded, going over to the bed to grab her coat. "That was quick."
"I'm speedy," Brooke agreed, moving to the door. Before she could get to it, Lori's voice drew her back.
"Brooke?" she called out. Brooke sighed and slumped her shoulders. With one more eye roll, she turned around to face her. "I know that you don't really like me and that you only came because your mother forced you to, but I really want us to be friends."
"We're friends," Brooke told her, hoping that would get her out of there. It was a lie, they both knew that, but she would tell her anything at this point. "No need to worry about that." When Lori didn't say anything right away, she figured that meant she could leave. She nodded at her and opened the door.
"One day we could be family," Lori blurted out before Brooke could leave the room. The statement caused Brooke to freeze in her spot. "If my dad ends up marrying your mom, we could be sisters." A pissed off look crossed Brooke face as she slammed the door and stalked back over to Lori.
"We will never be sisters," she hissed. A part of her knew that Lori didn't mean anything by it, but it was in her nature to bitchy when it came to Haley. Lori looked taken aback by the look in Brooke's eyes. "I already have a sister that I love more than anything, I'm not looking for a replacement."
"You have a sister?" Lori was shocked at the news. Never once had she ever heard anything about Grace having a daughter other than Brooke. Grace never did like to talk about her past, but she figured she mention something like this.
"Yeah, Haley." The anger in Brooke's eyes slowly turned to confusion as she took in the bewildered expression on the other girl's face. "My twin sister. She lives with my father." Lori expression stayed the same. "You didn't know that?"
"Your mom never said a word about her." Brooke's anger returned full force and she shook her head. She let out a bitter laugh.
"Typical." Without another word, she spun on her heals and stalked back to the door. This time she was leaving.
"Brooke..."
"I'll see you around," she called back, without looking at her. She didn't know why she let her mother get to her like this. It just bothered her that Grace didn't love Haley. She didn't understand how anyone could not like a wonderful girl like Haley, but she was about to find out.
--Charm is a way of getting the answer yes without asking a clear question.--
Nathan Scott is and always has been a player. It was obviously something that he got from his mother, because that was the complete opposite from his brother. While Lucas has been dating the same girl for about two years, he's never had a relationship longer than a week, except for when he dated Peyton, but that was all the way back in the seventh grade so that didn't really count.
Nathan liked girls. Other than basketball, they were probably his favorite thing in the world. There was just something about them; their hair, their face, their body, they were perfect. Of course, some of them were better than others; Peyton, Brooke and Theresa being some of the only few good ones left. They were hot, funny and smart.
That was part of the reason he couldn't make anything work with them. He knew that they were too smart to fall for his crap. So he wasted his time on chasing the bimbos and the whores because they were a sure thing. He was sure to get laid and he was sure not to get hurt.
Nathan had watched as his parent's marriage deteriorated right in front of his eyes. He saw how much pain it had cause both for them and he never wanted to end up like that. His father hated the whole world and his mother wouldn't stop whining about the divorce. He would do anything to prevent that.
So he went from girl to girl, never investing anything in the relationship. He flirted for a few days, paid for a nice dinner, screwed her and threw her out. No one got hurt. It's not like the girls didn't know what was going to happen, that's why they were there in the first place. His reputation was known throughout the town and he liked it that way.
Then he saw Haley. There was just something about her, he couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but it made him want to get to know her. He wanted to sit down and talk to her, find out what her interests were, her favorite songs, her first kiss and the first time a guy broke her heart. Nathan Scott never wanted to know those things. But Haley brought that out in him.
As a player, Nathan needed to be able to talk smoothly to a girl. He's never had any trouble interacting with the female race, but right now, with Haley sitting not three feet away from him, he was finding it hard to breathe. Every time he wanted to say something, he had to rehearse it in his head to make sure he didn't say anything stupid.
"So, what do you feel like doing?" Nathan asked, from his end of the couch. After Haley was feeling a bit better, they had decided to head downstairs and watch some television or something. Haley tore her eyes of the happenings on the screen and looked at Nathan's nervous face.
"I thought we were watching TV," she answered with a smile, pointing to the television screen. Haley could tell that she was making Nathan nervous, she just wasn't sure why.
"Oh, yeah," Nathan replied as if it were nothing. Haley watched in amusement as his cheeks turned a slight shade of red. He was blushing, that's so cute. "I just thought that maybe there was something else you wanted to do. Or something else you wanted to watch."
"Sure," Haley told him. She felt bad that she had kind of shrugged off his suggestion like that. She moved in her position, tucking her legs under her more. She was wearing sweats so he couldn't see her bruises, but she felt the need to hide them anyway.
"Well, we shouldn't leave encase Brooke comes back," he pointed out. It was obvious that Haley was not in the shape to be going anywhere, but he didn't want to just assume that. He looked around the room for something to occupy the time. He smirked when he spotted the DVD rack. "You wanna watch a movie?"
"Sounds good to me," she answered, not really giving it much thought. There wasn't much on TV and she didn't really feel like talking just yet. Plus, she didn't think Nathan could handle a conversation, it took him long enough to get out a sentence at a time.
"Any preferences?" he questioned as he pushed himself off the couch and over to where the DVDs were stacked. The questioned surprised him; usually he would pick the movie because there was no way he was sitting through some cheesy chick flick. Nothing turned him off faster than a chick flick. But for Haley, he'd suffer through it.
"What looks good?" Haley was surprised by the question too. She was used to the guy picking the movie as well. She couldn't remember the last time she had got to pick the movie. Even when she was younger, Brooke would always play the older sister card and decide what movie they watched.
"Uh, let me check." Nathan skimmed through them, picking the movies he figured she would want to see. "We've got; Runaway Bride, Steel Magnolias, My Best Friend's Wedding, A Walk to Remember..."
"God, no," she groaned, holding her hands over her face and moaning into them. Nathan turned to look at her to see what the problem was. "I hate chick flicks, can't stand them. I need some gross out comedy or ass kicking action in my movies." Nathan's face lit up with a smile and for the first time since his parents got divorced, it reached his eyes.
"My kind of girl," he responded without thinking. Before he could even think about taking it back, he caught the grin that came to Haley's lips. They locked eyes for a moment, before Haley looked down at her lap. He shook his head and looked back at the DVDs. "So what are you looking for? Gross out comedy or ass kicking action?"
"I've had enough action over the past few days," she commented, rolling her eyes at the sympathetic look that crossed Nathan's face. "So, I think watching Jason Biggs shove his dick in a pie is exactly what I need." Nathan let out a laugh and nodded, grabbing the movie she just described.
"American Pie it is." He stood up, put in the DVD and returned to the couch. He frowned when he realized that Brooke's DVD player was too cheap to change scenes so they'd have to sit through the previews. "Piece of crap."
"Why don't we get something to eat while we wait?" Haley suggested. She hated previews; especially ones from old movies since all the movies they were previewing had already come out. Nathan nodded and stood back up. He waited for Haley to get to her feet before slipping an arm around her waist to help her into the kitchen.
"I've got you." Haley had to ignore the feelings that rushed through her when Nathan put his arm around her body while Nathan tried to ignore how he and Haley seemed to fit perfectly together. When they entered the kitchen, Nathan sat Haley down in one of the chairs before moving over to look in the fridge. "What do you want?"
"My throat is killing me," Haley began, raising a hand to massage her neck without realizing it. Nathan glanced at her before closing the fridge and opening up the freezer door above it. He smiled as he reached in and grabbed something.
"I scream," he began, smirking at her. Haley looked at him strangely for a moment until she realized what he was saying.
"You scream," she added with a laugh.
"We all scream," he continued. He honestly couldn't believe he was doing this. This was corny and Nathan Scott doesn't do corny, he does sexy. There is nothing sexy about the ice cream song, he was sure of it.
"For ice cream," they both finished. Haley giggled as he pulled out the tub of no name ice cream. Nathan's heart warmed at the sound of her laughter. He looked over at her and couldn't help but notice how cute she was. Even with her beat up face, it was almost as if her smile lit up her entire face. Haley noticed him staring at her.
"You gonna do something with that?" she asked, pointing to the forgotten tub in his hands. "Or just wait for it to melt?" At the sound of her voice, Nathan snapped out of his dazed and shook his head. He looked at her in confusion.
"Huh?"
"The ice cream," she explained, looking at him weirdly. Realization came to his eyes as he realized what he was supposed to be doing. "You gonna do something with that?"
"Right, yeah," he answered, turning away from her before she could see the blush on his cheeks. "I'll just get the bowls." He moved around the counter and reached up for the bowls in the top cupboard. Haley's sight caught a glimpse of his hard stomach when his shirt lifted as he reached up.
"So, um, do you work out?" she asked quickly. She shut her eyes, shaking her head at her own stupidity. Real smooth, Haley, real smooth. She opened her eyes to find Nathan looking at her strangely. "I mean, do you play any sports, is what I meant to say."
"A few," he replied as he scooped out some of the ice cream and dropped it into the bowls. "Basketball mostly." She nodded, glad that he didn't say anything about her original question.
"I love basketball." He looked clearly impressed as he walked over and put the tub back into the freezer. "Well, I love watching basketball. Playing, not so much."
"You don't got game?" He grabbed the bowls and handed them both to Haley. She stood up and let him warp his arm around her again.
"It's shocking how much game I don't got," she laughed. Nathan took the bowls out of her hand so she could sit back down on the couch. Once she was comfy, he handed her one of the bowls and sat at his end.
"Maybe I can teach you some time," he suggest as if it weren't a big deal. All these feelings were so new to him. Was he scared of getting rejected? That's certainly a first. He looked at her through the corner of his eyes and saw that she was smiling softly at him.
"I'd really like that." They shared the look for another moment before they both turned away. They both smiled to themselves as they began to watch the movie.
-OTH-
Okay, that's all for now. I hope it's up to your liking. Please reply to tell me what you think. Thanks.
