"Hey mom." Lucas greeted, waltzing into the cafe. He dropped his gym bag, taking a seat at the counter.
"Hey hon." Karen replied, turning back to her work. She smiled as he flipped the Open sigh over, effectively closing for the night. She made another round of circles with her rag, trying to clear away the day's grime from the counter top.
"It smells good in here." He muttered. Karen's Cafe had always been his home away from home, he'd grown up with the smell of coffee and croissant. "Did you change your hair?"
She laughed. Sometimes, her son was truly oblivious. "If by change, you mean, dragged a brush through it? Then yeah."
"Well, it looks nice."
"Thank you." She said with a smile. Even after spending every weekend, and every other week during the summer with his father, Lucas was still the son she had raised. He was exactly like Keith sometimes, and for that, she could only be grateful.
"The magazine pages are sticky again. Little perv." Haley teased, appearing from the kitchen. She laughed as she caught sight of him. "Oh hey, Luke! You been reading this?
Lucas raised an eye brow. There was the Haley he knew and loved. "Is that the: 'Why do I hang out with these people?' issue? Because you're on the cover of that, right?
"No, actually..." She replied, flipping to a random page. "It's the: 'My best friend is an idiot' issue, and there you are."
"Haley." Karen laughed and filled up an extra bowl with chili. "Would you like to join us?"
"Hell yes!"
"Actually." Lucas drew out, glancing back at the door. "I wasn't thinking about checking out the burning boat."
"Oh..."
"Not without eating first, you're not." Her mothering instincts took over as she pointed to the table. "Sit. Eat."
The two teenagers shared a look before moving to sit down. Karen was the voice of God when she wanted to be.
"So, honey. How was your day?"
"Good, thanks." Haley said, before he had a chance to respond. She picked up her spoon, only to put it back down again. "'Good' is relative, considering a third of the world is starving, which does not change the fact that I am clumsy as hell! Did I tell you that i fell down today? Yeah, slipped off the curb, face down, butt in the air..."
She trailed off as she caught mother and son staring at her. She blushed, knowing all too well that once she started talking, it was often hard to get her to stop. "Too graphic? Sorry, I'll just be quiet."
Karen laughed and glanced across the table at her son. "So, I got something for you, Lucas."
"Actually, I found it" His best friend announced, earning another amused look from Karen. "Not that I was looking for something specifically, which implies some hideous sort of 'Joey loves Dawson' scenario, and completely creeps me out... But... You know, we saw it, and... Well, give him the book!"
Still laughing, she handed it off to him, her smile growing. While basketball was his number one hobby, she also knew that he had a thing for books, and quotes. Lucas Scott was an old soul.
"Wow." Lucas muttered, turning it over. It was awesome, and it just proved how well his mother and his Haley knew him. "Julius Caesar."
"There's a tide in the affairs of men'" Karen quoted. "Or something like that..."
"Nice." He said, shooting both of them a grin. "Thank you, guys. Thank you very much."
Haley shrugged. "Whatever... That's what you're into."
Lucas stood up to take his bowl to the sink so he could rinse it out. He glanced back at his best friend, nodding towards the door again. "You want to come?"
"Well..." She drew out, pretending to think it over. It wasn't like she had any other plans, and it felt like forever since she and Lucas had been able to do something, just the two of them. "I suppose I could be seen with you..." Let me just call home and tell them not to wait up."
Haley practically skipped over to the phone, grabbing it from the cradle to dial her home number from memory. Lucas leaned up against the counter to watch her, his eyes full of amusement.
"Hey, mom, it's Haley... Haley James, your daughter" She glanced over at him and made a 'drinking' sign with her thumb and pinkie finger. "Listen, I'm gonna go out after work, and I'll be home. Okay? All right, bye."
He raised an eye brow as she hung up. Haley's mother had never even had a glass of wine before. "Was your mom drinking?"
"No!" She replied with a grin, grabbing her jacket. "I got the machine."
Lucas chuckled and followed her out. Haley James was truly, truly, one of a kind, and he wasn't sure if he would totally understand her all the time, but as her oldest friend, he didn't need to.
"Great practice, Lucas!" One of the J.V. players called as he passed them.
Haley laughed and nudged him with her elbow. He and Nathan were always attracting unwanted followers, wannabee basketball players who hoped to take their places one day.
"Hey." Lucas said, forcing a smile. "Thanks."
"You are just blowing up." She teased, linking her arm through his. They were slowly making their way towards the boat.
"Well, yeah, man. I'm a big star now." He replied. "You better hope I keep you around."
He was joking, and she knew that. Their friendship was as strong as it had been the day they had met. Sometimes, Haley felt like Lucas was one of the only people who truly understood her. Had it not been for Dan taking Karen to court to fight for custody of the older Scott brother, then she and Lucas may have never found Nathan, Brooke, and Peyton.
"You know." Haley warned, pointing an accusing finger at him. "I'm gonna try not to lose sleep over that. Thanks. So, last night, I'm watching Scandinavian week on the history channel, and I-"
Lucas held a hand up to cut her off. He loved Haley James, and all of her weirdness, but even he didn't understand her all the time. "Because..."
"Because..." She drew out. "Blonde Viking guys are hot. Anyway, this whole 'Burning Boat' thing is a total rip-off of a Viking funeral. Did you know that?"
Before he could reply, a voice cut him off. "You know, you're the bomb!"
"Thanks." Lucas muttered automatically. It had become his custom reply to anyone who gave him a compliment anymore, becase he couldn't always tell if they were being true or not.
A junior at Tree Hill High shot him an odd look and handed Haley his paper. "Check it out!"
Haley laughed as she saw the grade written across his test. Yet another one of the students she had tutored had made amazing progress, she was so proud of him. "B plus?! Brandon! All right! You did it"
"Yeah." Brandon replied sheepishly. "I just threw all my bad grades into the pot. I'm not going back there."
"I know you're not." She said with a smile.
The junior turned to Lucas to praise her some more. "I've had... I don't know how many tutors, and this girl's a miracle worker."
Haley handed him back his test. "No, this is all you, man. Congratulations!"
"Thanks, Haley." He grinned, running off. "See you."
"Yes!" Haley cheered, as soon as he was out of ear shot. Her friends had teased her about volunteering for the tutor center when she'd joined freshman year, but she had known that it was worth it. "I knew he could do it! Yes!"
"Nice work, Hales." Lucas said, leading the way towards the boat.
"Thank you." She replied with a smile. They slowly approached their destination. "So, what bad mojo are you burning this year?"
He pulled out the 'Scott' name tag that had once resided on the back of his basketball jersey, throwing it onto it into the boat. He'd held onto it for the last six months, after finding out the truth about his father,
"I'm not wearing that on my jersey." Lucas announced. "So. We're going to watch this together, right?"
"Maybe. I have to, uh, check my schedule." Haley laughed. "You know, the word around town is that I'm, um... The bomb!"
"Wow." He laughed, watching as yet another member of the team passed him by. He hesitated, torn between going to talk to the player as he had planned, and leaving Haley alone. "Umm... Hales?"
"Go." She gave him a playful shove. "Just come and find me when you're done, alright?
"Sure." Lucas replied, squeezing her shoulder. "Just wait here. This won't take long."
Lucas jogged off in the opposite direction.
"Haley?"
She turned around, fully expecting to see yet another one of the students she'd tutored, coming to praise her for her hard work.
Instead, she found Julian.
"Hey." He shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, unsure of what to say. "I thought that was you... How's it going?"
Haley stared at him blankly. Was he really that stupid? Any sane person knew that once Nathan Scott decided he didn't like someone, that person did not try and socialize with anyone from the elite group.
"Haley?"
"Hi." She said slowly, glancing over her shoulder in search of Lucas. "Umm... What's up?"
Julian blinked. "Nothing much. I heard about this 'Burning Boat' thing, thought I would check it out... Can I talk to you for a second?"
Haley shrugged, a sign for him to continue talking. She could only pray that Nathan or Lucas wouldn't come and interrupt.
"Look." He muttered. "About the other night... I was way out of line... I'm sorry, Haley. It's none of my business who your friends are."
He was actually apologizing? She was so sick and tired of people judging her because they thought that she didn't belong in Nathan Scott's world.
"You had no right." Haley replied. "You don't know me. Okay, new boy? You don't know me, you don't know my friends, and you have no idea how many times I've heard people say that I don't deserve to have everything in my life that I do have. Who the hell are you to judge me? You don't see me making assumptions about you."
Julian held his hands up in surrender, surprised by her reaction. He had definitely touched a nerve, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
"I'm sorry." He told her, before walking away.
For once in her life, she couldn't tell if someone was being genuine or not. Julian Baker seemed to be a very judgmental person, and she wasn't sure if she could look past that.
"Hales!"
She jumped as Lucas's hand brushed across the small of her back. He chuckled when she went to hit him, sidestepping and grabbing her hand before it could make contact with his chest.
"You're a jackass." She hissed as they continued their walk down the street. "Oh! Listen, they're playing 'Attack Of The 50-foot Woman' at the Crescent tomorrow. Do you want to go?"
Lucas grinned. Another day for just the two of them? He'd cancel any plans to hang out with his Hales. "Yeah. Count me in."
"All right." Haley smiled hesitantly, wondering if she should mention her run in with Julian to him or not. A thought came to her. "Do you think they're gonna... Like... Let up anytime soon?"
He laughed, knowing exactly what she was talking about. "No chance. And you want to know why?"
"Why?"
"Because Nathan controls the team." He replied. "And there's no way in hell he's gonna back off... What are you thinking?"
They stopped, turning to face each other. He raised an eye brow, waiting. He knew her, all too well, and he knew when something was wrong.
"This weird thing happened a few minutes ago..." Haley muttered, beginning to think it through. Why should Julian Baker's apology mean anything to her. "It's not important... Never mind."
"Are you sure?" Lucas asked, letting out a long sigh. He wanted her to feel like she could go to him, for anything.
She nodded. "Yeah. Mm-Hmm... Are we still going to go to the movie tomorrow night?"
"Yeah." He replied, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Sounds like fun."
"Okay, cool." Haley leaned into him, still replaying her conversation with Julian in the back of her mind. Was she making a mistake by not telling him? She had never outwardly questioned Nathan's actions before. "Luke... How far do you think he's really gonna go... Nathan?"
Lucas sighed. Anything was possible when it came to Nathan. "I don't know, Hales. As far as he wants to go until somebody stops him."
He couldn't tell Haley everything Nathan had planned for Julian. In fact, the less the girls knew, the better.
