Falling Into Place
"Clay Evans?" Lucas echoed. "You're dating Clay Evans?"
"Yes," I said, nervous but holding my ground. To my complete and utter disbelief, Luke let out a laugh.
"Clay's alright," he said.
"Wait, what?" I said, shocked. "You weren't exactly happy when we were just talking."
"A lot's changed since then," he reminded me. "Clay and I aren't friends or anything, but the whole team is cool now."
"But I thought you'd stop speaking to me," I blurted out.
Luke's amused expression softened into an affectionate one. "You're my little sister," he said.
"By barely five minutes," I said automatically.
"As long as he treats you right," he shrugged. "Besides, I am dating Brooke. Be a bit hypocritical if I judged you for dating Clay. He seems to have changed. And you seem the same Beth as ever."
"Okay, all of these were supposed to be my argument to convince you," I said with a laugh. I was so relieved.
"Wanna play?" Luke offered, bouncing the basketball Nathan had given him.
I stole the ball and shot a basket, cracking my brother up and starting an intense game.
I received a similar speech from Skills the next morning, the whole 'as long as he treats you right he lives' kind of thing, with a hint of 'I told you so' throughout.
We played a quick game at the River Court where he 'let me win' and I headed to the café to work on the books. Haley greeted me with a wave as she waited the tables, coming over with a coffee for me during a lull.
"So, I heard the good news," she said. "You and Clay, official at last."
I put down my pen and laughed. "If the words 'double date' comes out of your mouth, I may have to kill you."
She grinned. "I really am happy for you guys," she said genuinely.
"Thanks, Hales," I said as she went to clear a table of dishes.
I barely noticed a customer that came in until he mentioned he was looking for Karen. I looked up to see an old guy, probably in his sixties, that I'd never seen before.
"She's in Italy right now," Haley said as she poured a coffee. "Cooking school."
"Good for her," he said, looking pleased. "How're those kids of hers doing?"
"Beth's right there," Haley indicated over to me, and the man's gaze quickly turned to me.
"Beth," he said, looking stunned.
"Hi," I said curiously, standing up. "You're friends with my mom?"
"Yeah, an old friend," he said. His gaze remained fixed on me, like he couldn't quite believe his eyes. It was a little unnerving.
"Sorry, what was your name?" I asked.
He started. "Just an old friend, I'll come by and see her next time I'm in town," he said quickly, turning to leave. He paused and looked back at me. "It was real nice to meet you, Beth."
Before I could reply, he was gone.
"Who was that guy?" I wondered to Haley, who just shrugged. I spotted Deb, who avoided my gaze and went back into the kitchen. Suddenly suspicious, I followed her out the back.
"Hey Deb," I said. "Did you know who that guy was?"
She paused, and then sighed. "Yes," she said. "That's Dan's father, so your grandfather."
I stared at her for a long moment. "Dan's father is friends with my mom?" I said incredulously. Luke and I had never met the grandparents on that side, and Mom's parents had died when we were pretty young.
"That one came as a surprise to me too," she said. "Are you okay?"
"Sure," I squeaked. "Why wouldn't I be? I should get back to the books…"
"Beth," she said gently, but I quickly returned to the books, ignoring Haley's curious glances.
As soon as I was done I headed straight for the garage. I desperately needed to talk to Keith about this. He had to know if his parents had been in contact with my mom over the years.
"What's wrong?" was the first thing out of Keith's mouth, and I realised how crazy I must have looked as I rushed in.
"Your dad came by the café," I rambled. "Well, Deb said it was your dad, and he was looking for Mom. And he stared at me and it was weird and he said he was old friends with Mom, did you know he was old friends with Mom?"
"Okay," Keith said. "Take a breath, kiddo."
I inhaled sharply. "Do your parents keep in contact with Mom?"
"If they do it's the first I've heard of it," Keith said, and I relaxed slightly. "But I did hear they were in town for Dan's birthday. I'm going over there for dinner tonight."
A part of me hated that. Keith was supposed to be part of our family, not theirs.
"Right," I said quietly. "Do they think the same as Dan? That Luke and I…"
"You and Luke and your mom are pretty much taboo topics in our family," Keith said gently. "They know you exist, they know I'm friends with your mom…"
"You're part of the family, Keith," I corrected him, and he smiled.
"Right," he agreed. "But none of that ever gets discussed. My dad… he's pretty similar to Dan."
"Well," I said. "That just makes me even more grateful that they've kept their distance. Sorry I freaked."
"I get it," he said. "The whole situation is messed up."
"So true," I agreed with a sigh.
"You okay?" Clay asked, looking concerned. We were at the café eating dinner, and I'd been more than a little distracted.
"I'm fine," I said automatically.
"Beth," he said, in a tone that suggested he knew I was lying.
I sighed. "Have you met Nathan's grandparents?" I asked, and he knew I didn't mean Deb's parents.
"Yeah," he said. "You heard they were in town, huh?"
"Keith's at Dan's birthday dinner," I said. "And… he came by the café today. Dan's dad."
"Really?" Clay said in surprise. "He wasn't an ass to you, was he?"
"No, he seemed more stunned than anything to see me," I said. "Keith did say he's pretty similar to Dan though. It's just… he said he was old friends with my mom. I wonder if they kept in contact over the years."
"So you'd never met them?" Clay asked cautiously. My family issues were not something we really discussed. It wasn't really something I discussed with anybody, really.
"Not til today," I shrugged. "Whatever. It just makes me wonder."
"Wonder what?"
"Wonder if they think like Dan does," I said, and Clay put his hand over mine. "Sorry I'm such a downer. How's having your dad home?"
"So from one depressing subject to another?" Clay laughed. "Just waiting for him to go away again. It's better on both of us when he does."
"Is it really that bad?" I said sympathetically.
"I remind him of my mom," Clay shrugged. "But I'd rather be like my mom than him, anyway."
I sensed from his tone he didn't want to keep talking about it.
"So," I said. "I'm feeling a sudden need for ice cream. You in?"
Clay grinned. "Hell yes," he said.
I arrived home to find a message from Lucas on the machine. My hand flew to my mouth as he said that Peyton's dad may have died. I might not have been her biggest fan, but she didn't deserve to lose another parent. Nobody did.
I changed into my pyjamas and was searching through my DVD collection for a movie to watch when Keith arrived home.
"Hey," he said, looking exhausted.
"Ugh, was it that bad?" I said with a grimace.
"Makes me glad I have this family," he said, taking a seat on my bed. "Just… lots of drama. Where's Luke?"
I filled him in on the Peyton situation, and Keith shook his head. "Well, we can only hope it's not her dad," he said sadly.
"Yeah," I agreed softly. "You wanna watch a movie?"
"Sure," he said. "You pick. The less drama, the better though."
"Got it," I smiled. "You go make the popcorn, I'll pick a non-drama filled movie."
Peyton's dad was okay, we were all relieved to hear. The next day at school, I approached her at her locker.
"Hey," I said, and she looked at me in surprise. I didn't seek out her company normally, to say the least.
"Hey," she said.
"I'm glad your dad's okay," I said.
"Thanks," she said, with a small but genuine smile.
Brooke beamed at me. "Looks who's becoming all nice," she teased, and I laughed. Luke walked up and wrapped an arm around Brooke.
"Hey Beth," Clay called, and I smiled at him.
"Hey—" I began, but was cut off his enthusiastic kiss.
"I've been wanting to do that for ages," he said with a wide smile, and I couldn't help but laugh at the stunned expressions of most of the people around us.
"Well it's all real now," I said. The weirdest thing about having just kissed Clay in front of everyone, of standing beside Brooke and Lucas and even Peyton, was that it wasn't even weird anymore. "Like two worlds colliding," I said to Clay, and he grinned.
"Told you so," he said, and Lucas even gave him a nod despite how he had just made out with sister. "Walk you to class?"
"Sure."
My eyes widened as Clay excitedly pulled comic book after comic book. We were seated on the floor of his bedroom for my official comic book introduction. Apparently it was necessary when dating Clay to learn all about this stuff.
"First things first in your education," he said. "These are graphic novels, not comic books."
I nodded, trying to hold back my smile. He was being so serious.
"So the essentials to get you started…" he began, pulling his sweatshirt off and revealing the most ugly t-shirt I had ever seen. I let out a howl of laughter. "What?"
"What are you wearing?"
"What? I like this shirt," he said defensively.
"I have not once seen you wear that at school," I said. "So clearly you know it will be mocked."
"Do you want me to wear this to school?" he teased. "I'll even write 'Beth Scott's Boyfriend' across the back, just so everyone knows who I belong to."
"No," I said quickly. "In fact, you should burn it. Seriously."
"Never," he declared. "Now can we get back to this?" he indicated to the comic books stacked between us.
"Did you keep all your weirdness secret until after I became your girlfriend?" I asked. "Because when we were hooking up, I don't remember any comic books –"
"Graphic novels," he corrected me.
"Or ugly shirts," I finished.
"I'm a weird dude," he said with zero shame. I couldn't help but smile at him. He really wasn't like any other guy in Tree Hill. "And I made the occasional comic book reference. Just to sound you out."
"Oh, really?" I said, amused. "You know, weird just happens to be my thing," I teased, crawling around the pile of comic books and into his lap.
"Well then baby, you should see me when I'm dancing around the house in my underwear," he grinned.
I laughed. "Please do," I said, kissing him. He shifted me so I was straddling him, but before anything good could really happen, a throat cleared at the door.
We pulled away to see Nathan at the door, pointedly looking away from us. "When you two are done, I need to talk to Clay," he said, walking out.
"Your friend sucks," I pouted.
"He's your brother," Clay reminded me.
I rolled my eyes. "You're just lucky it wasn't Luke. He takes his big brother role very seriously, even if it is only by a few minutes."
He pecked my lips and went to see what Nathan wanted. With a sigh, I picked up a Superman comic book. I had been so close to turning comic book day into sexy times.
He returned with a thoughtful expression, which quickly turned to delight when he saw the comic in my hands.
"So hot," he muttered, kissing me.
I laughed. "What did Nathan want?"
"He's back on the team," he said, and I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know. But I think it's a good thing. Nate needs basketball. He's a hell of a player."
I nodded.
"So you excited for your mom coming home tomorrow?"
"Yes," I admitted with a wide smile. "Six weeks is too long for Mom to be gone. And it feels like we need to catch up on a lot."
"Oh, yeah?" he said. "Perhaps about a devastatingly handsome boyfriend?"
"Nope, just the geeky one," I teased, and he launched himself at me, tickling me. "Clay, stop!" I laughed.
"Say I'm devastatingly handsome," he commanded.
"Never!" I shrieked with laughter.
I went into Luke's room, keeping an eye out for Keith. He was watching some football, but I was paranoid.
"Hey," Luke said, looking at me with amusement.
"Hey," I said, closing his door.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Do you think Keith will finally make a move?" I asked.
"I hope so," he said.
"I am dying," I bounced up and down. "Seriously, if one of them doesn't make a move soon, I will actually die."
"Dramatic much?" Luke teased.
"Like you don't want them to get together just as much as I do," I retorted.
"That's true," he agreed.
"We just have to pep him up," I decided.
"Really?" Luke groaned.
"Lucas, they would be lost without us," I informed him. "Now let's make this happen!"
"Ooooh, flowers?" I said with an approving nod as I walked into the kitchen the following afternoon.
"For your mom," Keith said. "Think she'll like it?"
"She'll love it," I said with a wide grin. He went to open a beer. "Nope," I said, swiping it away from him. "You don't want beer breath when you kiss her, do you?"
"Why do you think I'll be kissing her?" he asked.
"Keith, I love you," I said. "But you're not the quickest in making a move. So, let's put our games faces on and make this happen!"
"Wow," he said with a smile. "So I don't need to check to see if you're okay with me and your mom maybe starting something?"
"Do we need to plan?" I asked. "Or are we going for a spontaneous, sweep her off her feet kind of thing?"
"You and Luke will be there," he reminded me. "I doubt you want to see me sweeping your mom off her feet."
"Hell, just kiss her," I insisted, and he laughed.
I was so excited. Keith was already a part of our family, but the idea of him getting together with Mom was just perfect. Like how life should be.
"I've never seen you so bouncy," Clay said with a smile. He had dropped by for a quick visit before I went with Luke and Keith to pick up Mom.
"I've missed her," I said. "Plus… I think by the end of the night Mom and Keith will actually be together. Finally."
"That's awesome," Clay said, knowing how much I'd been wanting this to happen.
"Come by tomorrow," I said. "I really want you to meet my mom, and even Keith at a time when our tongues aren't down each other's throats."
Clay laughed. "Sure, I'll come by around lunch?"
"Perfect," I beamed, wrapping my arms around his neck. "I love you, Clay."
He stared at me for a moment, and kissed me passionately. I wasn't mad at him for not saying it back, I just genuinely wanted him to know. Everything was falling into place.
I bounced around in the back seat, unbuckling my seatbelt so I could lean forward between Keith and Luke.
"You guys excited to see your mom?" Keith smiled.
"Yeah," Luke and I said simultaneously, then laughed.
"Seems like just yesterday I was kissing her goodbye at the airport," Keith said, and my jaw dropped.
"You were kissing Mom?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, I was saying goodbye," Keith said nonchalantly.
"Oh my God, Keith!" I squealed. "That is awesome. Nice job!"
"Just keep the PDA to a minimum," Luke grinned.
"Ignore him," I advised Keith. "If you want to kiss Mom when you see her, you kiss her."
My brother and uncle laughed.
"Hey Luke, think maybe you can keep that tattoo covered up for a while, like say, the rest of your life?" Keith suggested.
"It's not you she's gonna kill," I said. "It's Luke."
"Thanks, little sister," Luke said wryly.
"I know these past six weeks weren't all smooth sailing," Keith said. "But whatever your mom wants us to be, I just want you two to know that…"
"Love you too, Keith," Luke said, and I leaned forward to give Keith a peck on the cheek.
"Seatbelt on, Beth," Keith instructed, and I did as I was told with a roll of my eyes. I would be so thankful for my uncle and his caution later, because in the next moment we were slammed into by a car and the world was enveloped by black.
