Whew, I'm glad I got this chapter finished before the weekend. You guys may know that I'm going into exam week, so all my free time is being spent studying. I would say expect the next update to be sometime in the first week of February when I get a week long break before second semester. Sorry about the long wait, but school has to come first.

Chapter 10

Haley rushed quickly into the dealership with her coffee in hand. After making a stop at Port City Java, she was only twenty minutes late to work. Considering she was in traffic for at least ten of that, Haley was quite impressed by her ability to get ready so fast and still manage to look presentable.

"Haley, Andy wants to see you in his office," Gigi informed her as she walked by the receptionist's desk. She grimaced and started in the direction of her boss' office, preparing herself for the worst punishment for being late.

She made it to the slightly ajar door and pushed it open slowly. She smiled apologetically at the New Zealand native as she walked in. "Sorry I'm late."

Andy looked up from his paperwork when she spoke. "Close the door, Haley."

Haley did as she was told and took a seat in one of the chairs across from her boss. "If you need me to stay late to make up the time that's fine."

"Why were you late?" Andy brushed off her statement.

"Oh, my alarm didn't go off this morning so I woke up a lot later than I should have," she explained. Technically she was telling the truth. She just left out the part that she wasn't actually home to hear her alarm.

"So everything's fine then?"

"What?" Haley asked confused.

"You don't have any sort of crisis going on or anything?" he clarified.

"No, as far as I know everything is good."

Andy leaned back in his chair and flashed her a friendly smile. "Good. I just wanted to make sure."

Haley was puzzled. Wasn't he supposed to be lecturing her about punctuality right now? "So, do I have to stay late tonight, or are you just gonna dock my pay?"

Andy shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous, Haley. You're barely even late; it's not a big deal. Don't worry about this and as long as you don't make a habit out of it, we have no problem."

Haley raised her brows in surprise. She thought for sure she'd at least get into a little bit of trouble, but Andy didn't seem to even care. She definitely wasn't complaining though, it was one less thing she had to stress out about.

"Well, I should let you go and get to work then," Andy dismissed Haley and she wasted no time in rising from her seat and heading straight for her office to get started on what she needed to accomplish before the day's end.

Haley had been working diligently for a few hours when Lucas popped his head into her office. She looked up and smiled at him warmly. "Hey Luke."

He returned her smile and walked further into the room, closing the door behind him. "Hey."

"What's up?"

"Not much," he shrugged and leaned back against her filing cabinets with his hands in the pockets of his dress pants.

Haley eyed her friend curiously. He was always welcome to come chat with her at work, but right now he was acting strange. It seemed as though there was something he wanted to talk about but wasn't actually bringing up the subject for some reason. "Okaaay," she said confused.

Lucas coughed awkwardly and gazed intently at her. "I just came to make sure you're okay after yesterday night."

"Why wouldn't I be?" she down played the still fresh events.

"Hales," he said sternly and crossed his arms.

"Luke," she mimicked his tone and pose jokingly. When her friend didn't reply with his usual chuckle, she returned to her previous position and raised her brow questioningly. "What do you want me to say, that I'm a mess?"

"No. I just want the truth. I'm not an idiot; I know you didn't want to go to Tric to talk to Brooke's new boyfriend. You went to get drunk and that isn't okay."

"I'm a big girl Lucas, I can take care of myself and if getting drunk is what makes me feel better for a little while then so be it."

"No, not so be it! I can understand maybe not wanting to tell everyone else because they weren't there and it hurts to retell what happened, but I was with you! You don't have to explain how Chris is the world's biggest asshole because I saw it with my own eyes. I also saw how hurt you were when Carrie said her and Chris were living together. You can trust me. In fact, I want you to come to me and talk about everything going on in your life right. We've been friends for a long time and I love that despite everything that's happened over the years we still manage to be honest about everything with each other."

Haley felt guilty listening to him talk. She understood why he was hurt and it killed her to hear him claim how they've always managed to be honest with each other. Maybe he had always been, but lately she had been telling lie after lie to everyone that mattered. "I'm sorry, Lucas. It just hurts to talk about everything still and I figured the best way to get over it for now is to make sense of what I'm feeling by myself first."

Lucas smiled softly at her and walked so he was standing behind her. He squeezed her shoulders comfortingly and kissed the top of her head. "If space is what you need, I'll give it to you. Don't hesitate to come to me about anything if you need to though. I'll always be here for you, Haley. No matter what."

She knew that already, but it didn't hurt to hear Lucas say it out loud. "Thanks, buddy, she spoke quietly and put her hand over the one still resting on her shoulder.

He nodded and began to leave her alone again. When he reached the door, he turned around abruptly. "Hey, what was it that you said you needed to tell me on the elevator ride?"

Haley froze. She couldn't tell him about her and Nathan hooking up, especially after it happened again. Yeah, he said that she could tell him anything but there were sure to be boundaries. Telling your best friend that you slept with the guy that he considered to be like his brother was asking for trouble. She shrugged to play it down. "I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated you going with me to my old apartment, there isn't anyone I'd rather have been by my side."

And the lies keep flowing out of her mouth. She shuddered inconspicuously to herself in disgust and watched as Lucas flashed a kind smile before exiting the room and closing the door behind him. Haley shook her head to herself and put her head in her hands. To avoid thinking about how much she had been screwing up lately, she decided that she was going to throw herself into her work for the rest of the day.

She experienced success for the next several hours and before she knew it, it was about time to go home and Lucas was popping his head into her office once again. "Hey, Nathan, Junk, and I are going to Tric. Do you wanna come?

"Um, no I think I'll pass. Going to a bar two nights in a row is a little too crazy for me," she joked.

"Come on, Hales," Nathan added as he came up behind the blonde man. "Have a couple drinks with guys, and maybe if you're lucky I'll take you home with me at the end of the night," he winked.

Haley's eyes widened in shock. There's no way Nathan actually just said that in front of Lucas. It didn't matter that her best friend was chuckling at the raven haired man's joke; it was too close to the previous night's events for comfort. "Not funny, Nathan," she tried to feign disgust and rolled her eyes.

Nathan smirked at her knowingly and shrugged unabashedly. "You know you've always wanted a piece of me."

Haley chose to ignore his latest attempt to rile her up and looked at Lucas. "Sorry buddy, I guess you're a woman short this time."

"And a man. Julian left like an hour ago to go to some special plans he had with Peyton," he said disappointedly.

"Cheer up, Luke! You still have me and we all know I'm the most fun."

Lucas laughed and Haley couldn't help but chuckle as well at Nathan's cockiness. "Bye boys," she dismissed them and they started out of the dealership. Looking at her watch Haley say that it was just after six o'clock and figured she should probably head out too if she was going to avoid Brooke bitching at her about working so much. She grabbed her purse, locked her office, and headed out the doors after shouting good bye to whoever was still working.

As she drove down the quiet streets of Tree Hill, Haley's eyes drifted to the sidewalk for a moment where she saw a familiar looking brunette walking slowly. She squinted slightly to see if her vision was in fact correct and when she confirmed it was, she pulled over and drove slowly next to the curb with the passenger window rolled down. "Lily?"

Lily stopped abruptly and turned so she was facing the car. She was sporting a confused expression and even from several feet away, Haley could make out the faint tear stains on her sister's cheeks. She sighed and leaned across the centre console to open the door. "Get in."

Lily did as she was told and hopped into the car. She gazed at Haley and the older sister could tell that the usually confident, sarcastic brunette was seriously shaken about something. "What happened?"

She shrugged sadly. "Jason," was her one word response.

Haley crinkled her brows and shot her a curious look. Deciding that sitting in the car on the side of the road was not a great place to be having what was sure to become a heart to heart with her sister; Haley put the car in park and stepped out. She walked around quickly and opened Lily's door for her. "Come on."

Lily obeyed the request once again and followed her sister as she began walking down the wooden Riverwalk. After a few minutes, Haley took a seat at one of the small wooden tables and signalled for Lily to take the seat across from her. "So what did Jason do now?"

Lily had been dating Jason Hollywell for just over six months now. He seemed like a nice enough boy during Haley's brief encounters with him, but by the amount of times Lily complained about fighting with him she wasn't completely sure if her judgement was correct. There was something different about this fight though. Lily was never emotional when she told Haley about what her boyfriend did, and this time she was visibly upset.

"I don't know how it even happened," she began softly. "We were at his house doing some homework and just hanging out. His parents went out of town for the night and I was laying on his bed working and all of sudden he started making out with me."

Haley grimaced. She had a feeling she knew exactly where this story was going, but allowed her sister to continue anyway. "Then the next second he's on top of me and trying to take my shirt off. I pushed him off me because I didn't understand what he was doing, but he just kept going."

"Lily, please tell me you didn't let him take advantage of you," Haley ran a worried hand over her face.

Lily shook her head vehemently. "No. I pushed him away again and told him I wasn't having sex with him. He got all pissed off though and started calling me a prude and saying how after six months I should be putting out or he'd have to find someone who would."

Haley shook her head angrily. "Then let him. If you aren't ready, then you shouldn't do anything. If he cared about you then he would respect that."

Lily shrugged sadly and looked at her sister desperately. "But I like him so much, Haley. I don't want to lose him because of stupid sex. If sleeping with him will let me keep him, maybe I should just do it. I mean, I don't know what I'm waiting for, most of the time Jason is an amazing guy and I care a lot about him."

"You'll regret it," Haley said simply.

"Well have you ever been in this situation? When did you lose your virginity?"

Haley didn't really know what to tell her sister. She wasn't really one to be giving advice about sex and relationships when she had just had sex with her co worker and then hooked up with him again in the span of a week. She sighed; she had to give Lily some sort of advice. "I lost my virginity near the beginning of senior year when I was seventeen, so I was not much older than you are now."

The brunette didn't find much help in her sister's answer. "How did you know you were ready?"

"I don't think I knew before the time came, really. It just kind of happened and then I knew that it was the right time and with the right person."

"Did you love him?"

"At the time I thought I did. You remember Jake, don't you? We met in freshman year and became friends then we started dating in the middle of our junior year. Looking back, I know what I thought were feelings of love was just me caring for him immensely as a friend. I don't regret it though, he was one of my best friends that I'll always care about and I still even talk to him sometimes."

Lily was still just as confused as she was when she was walking by herself. Hearing her sister's experience with her ex-boyfriend that she had a strong relationship with until he went off to university in California, and who she still kept in contact with did not give her any insight. It had absolutely no parallels to her somewhat dysfunctional relationship with her own boyfriend. "What am I supposed to do?"

"I can't tell you what to do, Lily," Haley replied sympathetically. "You're the only one that can know if you're ready to take the next step with Jason. I would say though, that if there's even a shadow of a doubt in your mind whether or not you're ready, then you probably shouldn't go through with it. The last thing you want is to look back and regret your decision because it'll only serve to eat away at you. Why don't you try just sitting down with Jason and explain that you aren't ready. If he can't accept that then he obviously isn't right for and you should just cut your losses and move on."

Lily laughed cynically and groaned. "God! Why does sex have make everything so complicated? Why do guys have to care so much about it too? Like, you don't see girls walking around thinking about it twenty four-seven, do you!"

Haley chuckled. She remembered having the same attitude when she was a teenager. A high school aged boy's life seemed to revolve around sex. Chris and Carrie's faces popped into her mind and she wondered if it was a guy's life in general. "It'll get easier eventually, Lils. One day you'll find the right guy and sex won't be the most important thing to him in the relationship."

"How do you know?" she narrowed her eyes sceptically. "It's not like you've found a guy like that."

Haley shrugged and flashed a kind smile. "It's just one of those things that I know and I'm still waiting for that guy for me obviously. Unfortunately, we all have to date a few scum bags along the way, along with some that aren't that bad and things just don't work out."

"More like a lot of scum bags," Lily muttered and then perked up with a smile. "Thanks for talking, Hales. I couldn't ask for a better big sister. I think I'm gonna take your advice and talk to Jay tomorrow and then we'll see what happens from there. I know I'm not ready for sex and if he can't get over that then he must be one of the scum bags."

"I'm glad I could help. I'll always be here if you need me for anything, you just have to ask," Haley said and moved so she hugged her sister tightly. "What do you say to coming back to the apartment with me? You can stay the night and hang out with Brooke and I."

"Yeah, sure. It's been such a long time since we've done that."

Lily, Brooke, Haley, and sometimes Peyton used to get together at the James house and have girl's night every once in a while. After high school ended, the older women's lives became more hectic and they didn't have the time to get together and spend quality time with each other. Haley figured now was as good as time as any to reinstate the old tradition though and smiled happily when her sister agreed.

"Let's go then, kiddo," she said and slung an arm around her sister's shoulders. The walk back to her car was quick as was the drive and before they knew it, the siblings were at Haley's apartment and walking up the flights up stairs. In typical Lily fashion, she complained the entire walk about having to take the stairs because of Haley's ridiculously irrational fear of elevators and Haley defended her fear the entire time.

After what seemed like climbing a thousand steps to Lily, but was actually only up four floors, the pair finally made it to the floor of Brooke and Haley's apartment. "It wasn't that bad!" Haley defended to her panting sister.

"Are you joking? I'm in pretty damn good shape and that was an extreme workout!"

"Whatever," Haley rolled her eyes good naturedly and pushed open the door to enter the hallway.

Haley unlocked the apartment door and walked in first with a smile as Lily entered right behind her, laughing at the creepy old lady next door who wanted to stop and chat about her cat with the two girls in the middle of the hallway. As soon as the door closed though, the smile vanished as Brooke's piercing voice rang loudly through every room. "HALEY JAMES, GET YOUR ASS IN HERE RIGHT NOW."

Haley winced and knew that she was in deep shit for something. Lily gave her an amused look and she glared at the brunette. She grabbed her sister by the arm and led them to where she figured Brooke was waiting for her. Entering the kitchen, Haley saw Brooke standing in the middle of the room with her arms crossed sporting a pissed off expression while Owen sat at the table looking apologetically at the blonde. It took only a second to figure out that Owen had ended up telling Brooke about her little visit to Tric yesterday night and it was safe to say that Brooke was not impressed by it. She absentmindedly tried to take a step back to hide behind Lily but found no success. She shrunk under Brooke's steely gaze and mentally prepared herself for the yelling and screaming sure to come from her best friend in the coming seconds. This was not going to be a good conversation.