DISCLAIMER: Not mine.
A/N: Well thanks guys for the positive responses! I'm glad a lot of you are enjoying it.
There did seem to be some "confusion", though, when it came to my fic, and I would like to address it.
First, to Pearl: from what I understand about the show and Lucas and Haley's relationship, he wouldn't go for very long being mad at her. Angsty grudges is more the Trory department, from my perspective of writing Trory. That's just my take on it and my opinion; you're welcome to think otherwise. Thanks for the encouragement though.
Next, Complicatedazngur: I wasn't sure of whether or not you were trying to encourage me or not, but I had my reasons for not including the "hat bit", mostly because of the fact that, considering the time period in which my fic occurs, that has already happened. I didn't want to be repetitious. But thanks anyway…I guess.
Last, to sleepless-dreams: Thank you for being so supportive and encouraging; I appreciate when people give me valid and honest opinions of my work. There are a couple of things that I wanted to say about that though. A lot of what you said was probably because there wasn't the opportunity to put out a second part to the fic soon enough. I didn't ever mention it being a stand-alone and therefore was expecting there to be a continuation that would explain things more deeply. The points about Lucas thinking Haley is beautiful being to "soon" or what have you is something that I planned on explaining in the second chapter, as well as why she cried. I wasn't thinking all that needed to be mentioned in the first chapter. But I do thank you for being bold and sharing; I don't like it when people sugar-coat.
Well that's about it. Please continue to give me feedback; it does make my world go 'round to a certain extent.
Okay, read on.
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I Forgot To Tell You
CHAPTER II: Is It Coming Over You Like It's Coming Over Me
You know it only breaks my heart
To see you standing in the dark
Alone, waiting there for me
To come back
I'm too afraid to show
If it's coming over you
Like it's coming over me
Crashing like a tidal wave
Drags me out to sea
I wanna be with you
If you wanna be with me
Crashing like a tidal wave
And I don't wanna be…
Stranded…
"Why do you even own this movie," Haley asked Lucas as they both sat on his couch later that evening.
"Oh come on -- you know I have a thing for action flicks; the archive must continue to grow if there's any chance for male survival in this house," he teased with his attractive grin.
"Triple X? Lucas -- should I even venture to ask what drugs were impairing your judgment when you bought this…"
"You know, the normal stuff -- marijuana, LSD, heroin, cocaine -- I have it all."
"And use it all at the same time…God, turn it off, I'm in pain …it's hurting me Lucas. I'm sure there's something else we could be wasting our time doing," she assured him while mimicking his slouched position and hugging one of the pillows that had been lying around.
Accordingly, he grabbed the remote and cut the TV off and let his arm flop limply at his side.
"You're right -- let's talk."
Haley laughed at this, unaware of the knots that fused and crept together in Lucas' stomach every time she smiled.
"Yeah, seeing as how talking is such a waste of time…"
"You're funny, y'know -- comical, even; I really -- can't take it," he jabbed sarcastically, receiving the soft thud from a pillow in his face with a smirk.
The hilarity having died down, Haley adjusted herself so she was facing him, sitting Indian style and removing her jacket. Lucas followed suit, scooted closer, and curled up one leg in front of her, propping his head up on his hand while his elbow rested on the couch back. Staring occurred between the both of them as she took out her pigtails and ran her fingers through her hair; his grin widened when she sprinkled the fruit of her efforts on his sweatpants with a satisfied, wily expression. Then his look grew serious, the fiery light-blue orbs he liked to call eyes plunging into her pools of brown and burrowing through to her soul -- a strictly Lucas-like talent.
"I'm sorry Hales."
She grinned in understanding.
"I know…me too."
"I was such a jerk."
"Yeah…but I still gave you more reason to be -- and I know you're not like that."
He reached over and combed her hair away from her face and behind her ear in response, his hand lingering over her shoulder and down her arm before finally returning to its original place in his lap. Why couldn't he stop touching her, for Christ's sake? He needed to get a handle on things, and they couldn't include her…all for the welfare of his sanity.
"Wanna know what made me cry," she questioned, breaking the silence.
His nod encouraged her to continue.
"The thought of having to go through another day and not being able to at least talk to you…scared me to death…"
Lucas swallowed to make sure his throat didn't dry up like the Sahara, the weight of her statement hitting him harder than he thought it would have.
"God -- that sounded so scripted and corny…y'know, have you ever thought you were trapped in a sitcom world? Sometimes I feel like my life -- is one big chunk of primetime television; that's how lame some of the stuff I say can be, sad as it is…"
"It wasn't lame…and it wasn't corny; I love that you said that," he told her sincerely, not making any contact with her besides visual and exercising the self-control he'd seem to have lost recently.
"Well of course you do -- that's probably the most ego-inflating thing I've ever said -- to anybody -- about anything."
"Sure seems that way," came his tease, and she shot him one of her playful looks of correction.
Before he knew it, she was fingering the front and sides of his hair as well, though not as blatantly obvious as he had been about it…maybe there was something in the water…
"I meant it, Lucas -- as needy as it sounds, I don't know what I'd do without you -- I don't think I want to know."
"Well…that makes two of us."
After a pseudo-sober moment passed, Haley batted her eyelashes in exaggeration, wrenching a chuckle from Lucas as was desired.
"Oh Dawson," she gasped, handling his face.
"Oh Joey," he returned, his eyes glazing over.
They then proceeded to tackle each other and engage in a mock-make-out session, a tangle of misdirected lips, dramatic, flailing arms and obnoxious kissing noises. Lucas took the liberty of biting her neck playfully amongst the tussle because he knew she was ticklish; her squawk of a laugh was enough reward for him as she pounded him with her fists and demanded that he stop his torture.
Apparently there had been too long of a time lapse since their last bit of horse play, and it seemed that they needed to get it all out of their system right at this moment. They'd always treated each other as equals when it came to pretend-fighting; Lucas didn't go as easy on her as he should have, but only because he knew she could take it – besides, she was pretty crazy, and he had to defend himself somehow. With her, there were no-holds-barred; she'd open up a whole world of pain on his candy ass if he wasn't careful.
The final round came to a close, both their intertwined bodies heaving on the floor with Haley on top of Lucas, pinning his arms above his head.
"Pansy."
"Amazon," he retorted.
"Excuse me – but I take that as a compliment," she corrected, rising from her perch and lending a helping hand so he could get up.
"Well you would – probably why you watch The Client and Stepmom so much…*cough*SusanSarandon*cough*…"
She glowered up at him and swatted his arm, the anger intended off-set by her huge smile.
" Are you trying to tell me you think being an Amazon is feminist Lucas?"
"Oh well…yes, I am but – we will overlook that for now while I go make us some popcorn and you put in another movie," he commanded, tapping her nose before she could wave away his finger.
"You wanna get me some ice while you're at it – I'm wounded," she informed, hinting at the growing bruise on her forearm.
He immediately backtracked his steps and examined the injury in question.
"Ouch…I did that?" he winced, accidentally touching it too hard.
"YES – you did," she gritted then snatched her arm away from inspection, "the ailments I sustain for you, Scott – I tell ya."
He gave her an incredulous smirking look then kissed his fingertips and tapped the bruise lightly. Haley grinned at this.
"Actually it was the coffee table, but blaming you was more fun so, hey…"
"I figured – and spare me the "Serendipity" syndrome; I'd like to keep what testosterone I have left after that little smack-down you pulled," Lucas called over his shoulder while heading into the kitchen.
She made a face behind his back, chuckling afterward then walking over to the tape collection on the shelf next to the TV. Her hands found their way to the siding of "Casablanca" and a devilish grin spread across her face…she figured he owed her and slid the tape into the VCR.
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Taking his place at the fading free throw line the next day after school, Lucas launched an effortless shot into the air, not even looking to see if it went in -- he knew it did. Besides, he was too busy grinning at Haley sitting on the picnic table bench and doing homework. She bit the inside of her cheeks, trying to ignore him as well as the smile that threatened to overtake her countenance.
"No," she said blandly.
"Oh come on Hales, please?"
"I said no, Luke, what does no usually mean…"
"Why?"
"Because…"
He raised his eyebrows, waiting for a response.
"No -- you only ask me to play with you to make yourself look good…I, for one, refuse to be a part of your -- plot for -- world ego domination," she concluded, tucking her legs underneath her and shuffling her papers around in defiance.
Lucas chuckled quietly, picking up the basketball and setting up another shot.
"Ms. James…you are full of it," he told her, the last three words of his statement coming out as one continuous string.
"I'm full of it? 'Come on Hales, play basketball with me so I can look masculine and macho when I beat you and win and stuff…' yeah no thanks," she mocked him, putting on her best meathead jock impression.
"Look I'll go easy on you, alright? We don't even have to do full contact this time, just HORSE or something like that…unless you wanna do full contact…"
She looked up at his leering through her eyelashes, clearly not impressed with the conversation topic but secretly loving it.
"Lame," she mouthed loudly, widening and rolling her eyes.
Finally, after another small laugh, Lucas stopped dribbling and walked over to her, removing her studying materials from her hands and lap one-by-one.
"Lu…Lucas…I'm not playing with you, okay? J-Hey! I was writing on that --"
"Resistance is futile," he informed, pulling her off the table top with her hands…well, trying to pull her off the table top, that is.
"No -- Lucas! I'm not --"
"Haaaaaleeeeey…"
Her literal struggling-to-obey gave him no choice but to change his approach and come up behind her, his arms secured around her waist (and just barely below of her bust line, I might add) as he continued to push against her resistance.
She gasped at the audacity and made her best efforts to get out of the tar-baby hold he had on her with the aid of her elbows.
"LUCAS?"
"Please? Please -- please -- please -- please -- please…" he pleaded repetitively in her ear, hoping to weaken her resolve and ignoring the timed thumps of her elbow in the pit of his rather-muscled stomach after he kept begging.
"You're touching my boob, okay? That's sexual harassment -- molest even," she said, barely able to look over her shoulder at him because of their height differences.
He gawked at her accusations.
"I am not touching your boob, Haley!"
"Yes you are, and you're molesting me so let GO!!"
Lucas began to loosen his grip on her but tightened it again when an idea popped into his head.
"If you play one game of HORSE with me…just one."
"I'm n -- L --"
"Just one."
Huffing in resignation, Haley could hear his satisfied smirk when she finally consented.
"*Growling* FINE…but never again, Scott I swear, this the last time."
He slowly let her go, pinching her side for no apparent reason other than knowing it bugged her then reclaiming the ball.
"And this isn't the last time…"
She glowered and waited for him to take his shot from the side of the three-point line, which he made – of course.
"I honestly don't know why you fight me on this every single time – you'd think with all your intelligence you'd have caught on by now."
Haley, ignoring the bait, went to the spot that Lucas had previously occupied and mimicked his actions of execution, watching as the ball went through the net.
"Nice," he complimented, elbowing her in passing and making his way to the top of the key.
She rocked forward from the impact but remained silent with her arms crossed.
Lucas eyed her funnily before taking the next shot, figuring she was concentrating on her game instead of being her normal social self. Much to his dismay, she missed the next two shots, he could've sworn, intentionally, and she was still ignoring him. The conversation needed some life – immediately.
"Ho," he stated into the silence.
This caught her attention very quickly and she glared at him while he set up his next shot then proceeded to sharply slap his arm.
"I beg your pardon…"
"What?!"
"Tell me you did not just say that."
"Excuse me, but if you had been paying attention at all you'd know that you purposely botched two damn easy shots, therefore giving yourself an 'H' and an 'O', which spells 'HO' – I was just talking about the game, no need to get all upset, geez…"
Haley finally gave in, breaking into laughter but not forgetting to hit him in the stomach a few times.
"I can't believe you," she said with a smile.
"Me? You're the one who tried to give me the silent treatment, Ms. Stoney Face – I was left to my own devices, and you know what wonderful things can come of that," he explained.
"Wonderful – is that the word I'm looking for? Hm, no, I was thinking more along the lines of juvenile – moronic – increasingly and irreversibly stupid…"
He grinned, nudging her arm.
"Hey that's more than one word, try again."
"Yeah, I'd rather not thanks – and I'm starving, I must have sustenance," she called over her shoulder as she headed to the table to gather all her stuff.
"Wha – we didn't even finish the game, you can't just quit on me – that's cheating, you are a cheater," he accused, pretending he was angry.
She rolled her eyes while pulling her satchel over her head and across her shoulder then came back to stand in front of him, hooking her fingers in the hem of his shirt and kissing him soundly on the cheek three times.
Lucas had a dazed yet questioning look in his eyes as he swallowed tightly – really it was more of a gulp.
"What? I only had three more letters left 'til I lost and the game was over anyway so, I figured if I did a little penance and, y'know, endured the torture and hardship of actually having to kiss you – more than once, I might add – then I'd have appeased the gods and I'd be squared…game over, Lucas wins AGAIN, and we go home so Haley can stuff her face," she concluded, finishing her tirade, and then headed to Lucas' truck, putting her best obnoxious strut on display.
He chuckled to himself at her antics and tossed the basketball he was holding so it hit her directly in her rear end and therefore threw off her timing with a slight stumble. She glanced back and pretended he hadn't just pegged her in the ass or made her look stupid, then continued on her way.
The walk back gave Lucas time to grin at, stew over, and appreciate the concept of making "HORSE" a whole different kind of game altogether.
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Alright guys!!! I do hope you enjoyed this installment, 'cause I did work pretty hard.
Chapter 3 (and the LAST CHAPTER of I Forgot To Tell You) is on its merry way, so keep your eyes peeled for it!
Also, be on the look out for the sequel to IFTTY – I'm planning on calling it "When All Else Fades" right now; if that changes, I'll let you know!
Meanwhile, thank you to all the reviewers of Chapter 1:
BlueEyedPrincess01, Peter, jess, Lucas'sgirl, Lia, Robin, mai, alytere, xoxo-cmm-xoxo (*wink wink* What up homie?!), Icegirl 03, anonymous, Mrs. Witter (Oh Bumb – much love dahlink!), style, JeNsEnS wifey ChAdZ lover, Pearl, complicateazngur, sleepless-dreams, mary, TwinkieChica, KiKi, feigning innocence, cinnamon-5575, Hales, The Good Girl, and thirdwatchlover
You guys' support means so much to me, and I hope you all keep reading, because I'll do my best to keep writing!
Thanx bunches, R&R!
