Thanks so much for the reviews. They're the best. So there's only one more chapter after this. I'll post the summary for my next story at the bottom - let me know what you think. Don't forget to review. Enjoy.

It was finally Friday. The weekend had arrived. To the majority of the student population at Tree Hill High that meant it was a night of partying. Something they had most likely looked forward to throughout the whole week. A break from homework, tests, papers, and annoying teachers.

But one girl named Haley James was not looking forward to going to any kind of party tonight. Or the whole weekend at all. She had not had such a good week and partying was just something that she wasn't up to. Not to mention that she wasn't a big partier to begin with anyway. But she knew that there was no way that Brooke would let her stay home and wallow in her own self pity like she wanted to. According to Brooke, that was not even considered an option. Basically, Haley had no choice except to go to the party of Brooke's choosing tonight and act like she was at least having a good time while she was there. Oh how much fun that would be.

"Tutor-Girl!" Brooke sing-songed as she made her way into her best friend's room. "Ready to pick out our party outfits?" She asked excitedly. There was nothing better than picking out a hott outfit to go partying in.

Haley rolled her eyes. Brooke asked her as if she even had a choice. God forbid that she told Brooke that she wasn't going because she wanted to sit at home in her sweatpants watching old movies and gaining ten pounds from pigging out on yummy junk food. "Whatever you say, Brookie." She said disinterestedly as her eyes unconsciously continued to drift towards her closet.

Brooke's smile faltered as she followed Haley's gaze. Normally, this would be a good thing because clothes are in closets, but Brooke knew that Haley wasn't interested in the clothes in there, but that her friend was more interested in the box that was sitting in the back of the closet. "You miss him, don't you?" Brooke asked even though both of the girls knew that she didn't really have to ask. It was obvious.

Brooke had already noticed that Haley didn't smile as much anymore. And her eyes didn't have that special sparkle they used to have all the time. Now Haley just sulked a lot and Brooke was worried for her friend. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

As much as Haley had already done so and wanted to continue to deny it, she just couldn't anymore. They both knew that she missed Nathan. There was no denying it anymore. It was no use.

It had been six days since the break up and Haley was taking this harder than Brooke had thought. Of course Brooke knew that Haley would be hurt, but she didn't think that Haley's want to stay home eating ice cream would last this long. Haley was always the one who was able to pull herself together even during the toughest times. This wasn't her best friend Haley.

Haley slowly nodded her head before forcing a smile on her face and looking up at Brooke. "I'll be okay." She said. "I promise." She added when a look of doubt briefly crossed Brooke's facial features. "Now come on, use your sense of fashion and pick out some great outfits." She said as happily as possible to try to divert the attention away from her loneliness and miserableness.

Brooke decided to just believe Haley for now and hope that she was telling her the truth. She wanted Haley to be okay. She needed Haley to be okay. "Let's go." She said, grabbing Haley's hand and pulling her across the hall to raid her fashion trendy closet.

"This?" Brooke asked after doing some digging in her closet.

Haley scrunched up her face. "What is that?" She asked tilting her head to the side as if that would help her identify what the mystery item that was in Brooke's hand was.

"A shirt." Brooke said as if it was the most obvious thing. "Duh."

"This," She said referring to what she was wearing. "is a shirt. That," She said pointing at Brooke's hand. "is definitely not a shirt." Haley explained looking at the so called 'shirt' that looked like a tiny scarp of material. There was no way that was a shirt and there was no way that she would ever wear it either.

Brooke laughed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever Tutor-Girl." She said tossing the shirt before turning back to her closet, knowing that there was no way that Haley would ever wear it so there was no point in trying to persuade her into doing so. It wasn't like she ever thought that Haley would possibly agree to it anyway.

"Brooke, not slutty, okay." Haley seriously warned. She knew that Brooke liked to get carried away when choosing outfits for other people.

"Yeah, whatever you say." Brooke dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Besides, we want all the guys to notice you." Brooke reminded as she continued searching through her clothes. "It'll make he-who-shall-not-be-named jealous." She happily sing-songed.

In Brooke's personal opinion Haley needed to forget all about Nathan Scott. She needed to move on. Put herself back out there in the dating world. There was no point in sitting around moping about past events that you couldn't change. The way Brooke saw it was; Haley was hott and she should take full advantage of that. Brooke was determined to find Haley a couple of guys who were willing to take her mind off of stupid Nathan Scott. She just couldn't let Haley know this yet because she knew that Haley wouldn't be happy with this idea and do everything in her power to stop it.

"Mmm-hmm." Haley mumbled. She didn't really want to think about 'he-who-shall-not-be-named' right now. It was all she had been doing recently–even more so than when she had been dating him—which probably wasn't a good thing; no definitely not a good thing.

Maybe going to a party wouldn't be such a bad thing tonight. She would be able to let loose and have fun instead of dwelling on the events of the past week. Which she knew was only Brooke's intention from the beginning anyway.

Haley decided that since she had no choice except to go to the party, then she might as well have a good time while she was there. She made herself a promise herself not to sulk and think about Nathan. There was also the possibility that he wouldn't even be there. That was the possibility she was hoping for at least.

"Find anything yet?" She wondered as she watched Brooke toss clothes every which way over her shoulder.

"Give me ten more minutes." Brooke called out from the inside of her closet.

Lucas held his cell phone to his ear and listened to it ring continuously. He sighed when there was no answer. He hung up and dialed the same number again. Finally after five rings he heard the voice grumble what he figured was a 'hello'.

"Nate?" He asked into he phone. His brother had been such a grouch recently. He knew it was because of the break up with Haley. Things hadn't ended so well between the two of them. Lucas was actually kind of worried about Nathan. He had never seen Nathan act like this before. Never because of a girl before. Lucas knew he needed to do something about it. He couldn't just sit around watching his brother act like this.

He had watched his brother at school the past week and saw as Nathan acted as if there was nothing that was bothering him, but Lucas was beginning to see Nathan close more and more people off. Lucas could tell that Nathan was just putting up this facade. Probably to protect himself because he was hurting.

"What?" Nathan growled into the phone. Why wouldn't people just leave him alone?

"What are you doing tonight?" Lucas asked trying not to be too obvious about his concerns for his brother, but knowing that he was failing miserably.

He listened to Nathan grumble some sort of response and sighed. "Okay, that's it. I'm coming over in an hour and a half and we're going out." Lucas demanded.

"Luke–" Nathan began to protest before Lucas interrupted him.

"No. You're going. I'll see you in an hour and a half." He said before hanging up and not giving Nathan a chance to object.

About two hours later Lucas' truck was pulling up to the house. Music booming. People all over the place, a few of them passed out on the front lawn. Lucas rolled his eyes at the sight as he and Nathan made their way to the front door even if his brother was doing so reluctantly.

Nathan followed Luke as he led them past masses of people. Finally realizing where they had stopped he made a mental note to kill his brother later. He shifted uncomfortably as it felt like everyone who was in the small group was looking at him. Including her–even if it was only for a second before she diverted her gaze elsewhere.

"Hey guys." Brooke greeted breaking the silence. Even though she was mad at Nathan for breaking Haley, she still was being civil towards him. At least in public. For now.

Haley nervously chewed on her bottom lip. She felt really uncomfortable with this situation. It wasn't that she had expected not to see him there, it was a party after all. She just didn't think that they would be this close. She had figured she could have avoided him with so many people being here. Guess not.

Haley looked past her friends and saw Rach-ho heading their way. Just great. She felt Brooke give her arm a small squeeze. Apparently Brooke had seen her coming too. She looked over at friend and gave the strongest smile she could manage. Haley then grabbed Brooke's cup from her other hand and began drinking it. She made a disgusted face at the gross taste that slid down her throat, but continued drinking it anyway. This situation was already too much and it was only the beginning of the night. "I need a refill." Haley muttered with a fake smile plastered on her face as she watched Rachel slither herself smack in between Lucas and Nathan. Haley felt like she was going to be sick if she had to watch Rach-ho with Nathan all night long. There went the promise she had made to herself earlier about not wanting to sulk and think about Nathan tonight.

Brooke had informed Haley that before Rachel had eyed Nathan, she had been eye-ing Lucas. Hating her was just one more thing that the two girls had in common.

Nathan watched Brooke follow his ex-girlfriend who had just walked away from their small group of six, well now seven since Rachel decided to come over.

He didn't want to admit it anymore, but he missed Haley. A lot. He had never expected this to happen to him. Two months ago, he never would have thought that he would end up liking a girl so much that he couldn't stand to be away from her. And to think that that girl would be Haley was an even bigger surprise. He just wished he could think of a way to get Haley to forgive him and give him another chance. He had given her some space and time to cool off and tried to apologize and that didn't work out. Then he had tried to act like he didn't care anymore, thinking that maybe he would be able to convince himself that he didn't want her anymore, but that really wasn't working either. He didn't know what to do anymore.

He cringed inside as he felt Rachel wrap her hands around his arm. He smirked at her before removing her hands off of him. She was always trying to touch him constantly and it was annoying the hell out of him. Sure, Rachel was pretty, and he was almost positive that about almost every guy wanted her, but just not him. A few months ago—hell yeah, but now—there was no way.

"Come on, Nate, let's go get a drink." Rachel suggested as she grabbed hold of his hand and began pulling him into the kitchen.

Nathan rolled his eyes, but for some unknown reason allowed her to drag him to the kitchen. Maybe it was because he could really use a drink.

Rachel grabbed two plastic cups and shoved them into one of Nathan's hands. "Get us some drinks, Nate." She practically ordered as she pushed him towards the keg and smiled viciously as she spotted Haley and Brooke out of the corner of her eye.

Nathan groaned and scrunched up his face in disgust at the way she said his nickname. He never wanted to hear that again from her. It just didn't sound as good as how naturally it used to roll of Haley's tongue.

If he had to deal with Rachel for the rest of the night he was going to go insane. He needed to find a way to get rid of her because telling her to leave him alone and go away doesn't work. He had figured that out over the past couple of days. She had been hanging around him constantly and it was driving him crazy. She just didn't go away.

Brooke raised her eyebrows at the use of Nathan's nickname coming from Rachel. She hadn't realized they were that close already. She shot a glance at Haley and immediately knew that Haley wasn't okay with this. Rachel was trying to be all over Nathan and Brooke didn't doubt that Rachel knew Haley was standing right here.

Even though Rachel had showed up post-Naley, it wasn't a secret that they had dated and Brooke knew that Rachel knew they had been together, besides the fact that it was so obvious they still liked each other. Well at least Brooke noticed this–even if they were both pretending that that wasn't the case.

"You okay?" Brooke asked quietly so that only Haley could hear her.

Haley plastered a big, fake smile on her face. "I'm fine." She stated sarcastically before grabbing her drink and walking away.

Brooke watched her best friend go before turning around and narrowing her eyes. She made her way over to Nathan and Rachel. "I just need to borrow him for one second." She said sweetly as she grabbed Nathan's arm and pulled him away from Rachel and everyone else. As soon as they were alone Brooke dropped her smile and narrowed her eyes again. "What the hell is the matter with you?" She hissed.

"What? What are you talking about?" He asked confusedly. What the hell is going on?, He thought.

"I'm talking about you and Rach-ho." She clarified. "Why are you hanging around her? Especially when you still love Haley and she still loves you?"

His eyes widened at her words. "What did you just say?" He asked stunned.

"What, can't you hear?"

"You just said I still love Haley and she still loves me." He repeated her exact words, his mind going into over-drive; thoughts rapidly moving from one thing to another.

"Yeah so what?" Brooke asked confused. Her eyes then widened as she clasped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my God!" She gasped. "I can't believe I just said that." She said more to herself. She hadn't even been thinking about it. She had been so furious with Nathan being with Rachel that she hadn't thought about what she was saying. "Do you?" She finally asked, bringing Nathan out of his own thoughts.

"What? No. No." He denied profusely, shaking his head. He wasn't, he couldn't be in love with Haley–or just in love at all. "Did she say something to you?" He asked curiously.

"No, I just, well I can just see it. Kind of." She stuttered. Brooke wasn't one to get nervous, but she had just blurted out how her friend feels about this boy to said boy and Haley hadn't even admitted it yet. This was not good. Not good at all.

"Brooke–"

"No." She said cutting him off. "We never had this conversation. Got it? Great." She said answering her own question before leaving.

Nathan stood there stunned for a few more minutes. He wasn't sure what had just happened. First Brooke was yelling at him and then she was blabbing about him and Haley being in love. And now she wouldn't even tell him if that was true or not. He didn't think that he was in love with Haley, but maybe...

"Nathan." An annoying, voice whined pulling him from his own thoughts. "What was Brooke talking to you about?" Rachel nosily questioned.

"It was nothing." He quickly dismissed. This wasn't something that he wanted to talk about with her. Not that she would probably even want to listen if he did. "I'll be right back." He lied as he started walking away from her.

"Wait. Where are you going?" Rachel asked.

"Uh, bathroom." Another lie. He just wanted to get away from her. Plus he had a lot on his mind right now thanks to his brother's girlfriend.

Nathan made his way out the back door of the house after making sure that Rachel wasn't watching him. The last thing he needed was for her to see where he was really going and follow him.

He ran a hand over his face and sighed. He had never thought about being in love before. Not until Brooke had just now mentioned it, the word 'love' had never really been considered.

Sure, he knew that he was taking his break up with Haley rather hard, but he just figured it was normal. After all, Nathan had never had a real break up before this so he wasn't really sure how he was supposed to be feeling.

But now things were beginning to get noticeably clearer. Like why he wanted to be with her all of the time constantly and even when he wasn't with her, he was thinking about her—like she was permanently embedded into his mind. It felt as if there was an ache in his heart after Haley had walked away from him that night at the restaurant. But love had never actually been what he thought it was. Now he was pretty sure that is it was.

He squinted his eyes to get a better view of the person sitting by themselves on a swing that was attached to a tree. He could only see the back of them, but he soon realized that that person on the swing was Haley.

Taking in a deep breath he made his way over to the swing. "What are you doing here by yourself?" He tried to ask casually as he shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

"What?" She asked startled, briefly looking at him as she swished her drink around in her plastic cup with her free hand.

"Hales." He whispered softly.

She swallowed. "Don't." She replied equally as soft.

"Haley, I am so sorry. Please just forgive me. I need you to forgive me." He pleaded, his voice thick with emotion.

She closed her eyes for a moment and took in a sharp breath before turning to face him. "You broke my heart." She whispered quietly.

"I never meant to Haley. And I'm beating myself up for it everyday." He admitted. "I made a mistake, but my mistake resulted in us, so I can't say that I would take it back because I'm not positive that I would."

Haley stood up from the swing. "I really can't be hearing this right now." She choked out. She moved to walk away, but Nathan reached out and gently grabbed her wrist to pull her back, her cup falling to the ground. "Nathan, please let go." She asked.

Nathan shook his head. "I can't. I won't let you go." He said. "Please, Haley."

As much as she wanted to she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. Nathan pulled her into a hug. She tried to fight it, punching his chest to get out of his embrace, but it was no use. He was too strong and he wasn't letting go. Haley soon relented and collapsed in his arms. He held her up as she cried into his shirt. He could feel her tears soaking through the material. He sat down on the swing and lifted her onto his lap. He brushed her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

She finally calmed down a few minutes later. She couldn't believe that she had just pretty much had a breakdown right in front of. Even after she had promised herself that she was done crying over this. And that she definitely wasn't going to cry in front of him.

She looked into his eyes, his pretty, piercing, blue eyes that she could never get enough of. She willed herself to look away, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. There was such an intense gaze in his eyes that she couldn't quite describe.

"You okay?" He asked carefully.

She nodded her head. "Uh-huh."

"I need to tell you something." He announced a few minutes later.

"Okay." She said unsurely, but indicated that she was listening to him.

"Um, I don't really know how...well I...I love you. I'm in love with you." He stuttered to get out. He was extremely nervous and scared. Especially since he had never been in love with anyone before. And because he wasn't too sure about the timing either, but he knew that he had to tell her how he was feeling. She needed to know.

"Oh." She said barely audible. She immediately got off of his lap and stood in front of him.

"Hales?" He asked confused.

"Uh, thank you?" She said before her bottom lip made it's way in between her teeth and her eyebrows furrowed as if she was in deep concentration.

He raised his eyebrows. "Thank you? That's all you have to say?" He asked incredulously. He couldn't believe this. He hadn't been expecting he to say it back, he had hoped she would, but he also hadn't expected her to say 'Thank you.' He wasn't sure what he expected anymore. Now that he thought about it he didn't really think about what she would say because he had been so nervous about getting that out.

"Nathan–"

"No, it's okay." He cut her off. "Look, I uh, I gotta go." He muttered before walking away and leaving her standing there alone.

New story summary: Haley James and Lucas Scott had been best friends forever. The only thing about him that she didn't like was his brother Nathan. But maybe it only seemed like she didn't like him because she was covering up his real feelings towards him. And now she's moving into their house for the summer.

Let me know what you think about it.

PS; I can't wait for the new episode tonight. But why are all the promos always Peyton??