This Time Around
***She walked up the back steps of the café, nervous and anxious. It wasn't everyday that you said goodbye to your best friend. Lucas. What would she do without Lucas in her life day to day? Tomorrow morning she would be leaving for college in another state far away from him. Taking a deep breath she reached for the door.
"Hales." Lucas stood in the doorway. "I was just coming to your house."
"Well I beat you to it. I figured this was better than some long drawn out sappy goodbye." Her lips formed the crooked half smile he had grown to love as she punched him in the arm. "So, goodbye."
"What? That's it? All these years and that is all I get? God Haley, a little more emotion maybe." He laughed and tucked his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. "I was thinking a 'wow Lucas I'm going to miss you so much, how am I supposed to live without you' kind of speech or something."
"Like I said, didn't want to do the drawn out sappy thing." Running her hand through her long hair, she looked out at the setting sun in his backyard and chuckled. "Can you believe we have lived through eighteen years together? There are so many memories here, with you and your mom." She paused realizing the void she was going to have without him.
"Hales." His hand touched her shoulder and she turned around. "We'll always have Paris."
"Oh shut up you freak." Pushing him back she shook her head. "Now hug me so I can get out of here."
His arms reached for her cradling her against his chest as he took a deep breath of her sweet scent. "God I'm going to miss you." Closing his eyes, he kissed the top of her head and smiled as he remembered all the good and bad moments in his life with Haley James.
"You are thinking too much. I can always tell when your brain is working too hard. It starts ticking and..." She looked up and met his eyes. "and steam starts shooting out from..." She lost her train of thought and forgot to breathe. His steamy blue eyes looked down at her and for a brief moment she wondered what if. "Goodbye Lucas."
"Goodbye Hales." He cupped her face in his hands and placed a soft kiss on her cheek and let his lips linger against her skin. Closing his eyes as a wave of desire blurred his senses, he let his fingers run through her thick hair and traced his lips along her cheek till he met her lips.
Her body had never reacted to the touch of a man like this before. It was like she was warped into another world, where she only felt and didn't think. If she started to think, she would remember that this was Lucas, her best friend. Lucas was the man who in one touch brought something dormant alive. When his lips touched hers, she responded with a voracity she hadn't known she was capable of.
"Haley." Her name escaped his lips as he devoured her eager mouth. The sound of it echoed through his mind and he realized it was always meant to be said with craving and desire.
She pulled away, searching in his eyes for something as he did hers. Holding each other they panted for air, spent from the new found passion. Her eyes fluttered closed as his lips touched her forehead and he whispered, "Follow me."
Leading her, hand in hand, she followed. Realizing she would follow him to the end of the world or his bedroom. He stopped in the doorway to his room and turned her to him. "You are so beautiful Haley. I have always wanted to kiss you right here, where you smirk at me and there is this small dimple. It has just waited for my lips to touch it."
"Lucas." She moaned his name as his lips, then tongue traced her mouth. "What are we doing?"
"I don't know." Fervently, their hands explored the unknown. They devoured each other's bodies, clothes thrown and skin damp.
Haley fell to the bed as Lucas's strong body lay above her. She pulled his head to her and nibbled his ear, laughing as his hands tickled beneath her breasts. "Lucas, I have never..."
He stopped and met her eyes. "I just assumed you and.."
"No. It was always meant to be you." Her smile was matched with his and in Lucas's bedroom basked with the setting sun, Haley gave away her innocence...and her heart.***
It had been a long time since she stepped foot in Tree Hill, eight years to be exact. Sitting in the back of the cab, Haley James leaned her head against the glass and watched the storefronts of main street pass by. Her heart tightened when she passed the familiar sign of Karen's Café.
So many years have past and so many things had gone unspoken. Taking a deep breath she saw the house she had grown up in and tapped the cab driver on the shoulder. "Right here."
The cab came to a slow stop in front of a worn down house with a for sale sign in the yard. Opening the cab door and grabbing her luggage she walked to the front door and pulled out her key. It had been eight years since she last stood on these steps. When she left Tree Hill, she ran as fast as she could from feelings she was afraid to come to terms with.
Using her key, she opened the door and walked into the familiar house. Not much was left since her mother and father packed up and moved to Florida with her sister. Walking further into the dusty room, she felt a serene sense of peace. This had been her home, a place of fond memories that she had held close to her heart and now she would have to sell it.
When her mom initially asked for the favor, she declined, but after much thought she decided it could give her the closure she needed. An easy three of four weeks in Tree Hill, finish packing up what was left, clean and handle the real estate issues left pending.
Setting her keys on the kitchen counter, she smiled. "I'm home."
Her cell phone rang and she sighed when she saw the number. Letting it ring into her voice mail, she set the phone down next to her keys. She just needed some time to think.
She walked up the steps and stood before the wooden door to her bedroom. Turning the knob it creaked open and she gasped in shock. "Oh my God."
Nothing changed, everything was the same as she left it eight years ago. Her mom told her that some of her belongings remained, but she wasn't expecting everything. Her dresser was still topped with jewelry boxes, her bed was still covered with the same bedspread and on her mirror hung the photos she refused to take with her.
She stood before the mirror and reached for the one photo that affected her the most. Looking back at her was Lucas Scott with his arm around a young naïve girl with so much to live for.
"Lord it seems like a lifetime ago." Putting the picture down, she stared at her own reflection in the mirror. She wasn't that young girl anymore. Her eyes were worn from tiredness and her body no longer held the fresh presence of youth. Flipping the ends of her shorter hair, she wished back the days of insatiable freedom.
She fell back on her bed and coughed as the dust flew in the air. She had a lot of work to do in the short time she was here and packing away her past would be the first thing on her list.
This time when she heard a phone ring, it wasn't her cell. The natural sound echoed through the house as she heard the answering machine pick up and her mother's sharp voice ordering the caller to leave a message. "Nothing changes."
"Haley! Haley are you there? Listen honey, Devon called here and said you weren't answering your cell and wanted me to call you. He said that he needs your decision about the position and your answer to his proposal. What kind of proposal are we talking about here Haley? Hello! Honey if you are there, please pick up."
There was a pause and Haley hoped she had hung up. "Fine, you can act like an obstinate child all you want. By the way, I left the house papers with Keith and Karen Scott. Call me back Haley and call Devon too, he sounded...desperate."
She threw her hand over her face and groaned. She just wanted a break, a break from her job and her life. Sitting up, she panicked when she remembered her mother saying that Keith and Karen had the house papers. "Great." It wasn't that she didn't want to see them, because she did, more than anything. She just wasn't ready to face the memory of Lucas, and Karen's Café held more memories than she could endure right now.
It wasn't like he was here, she had made sure of that. From what her mother had told her, he was off in Europe studying something or another. She didn't care to ask, only that he wasn't here. Too much time had passed and to see him now would just be pointless.
Kicking off her shoes, she fell back down on her bed and closed her eyes, praying for a little tranquility that her restless life never permitted.
***She walked up the back steps of the café, nervous and anxious. It wasn't everyday that you said goodbye to your best friend. Lucas. What would she do without Lucas in her life day to day? Tomorrow morning she would be leaving for college in another state far away from him. Taking a deep breath she reached for the door.
"Hales." Lucas stood in the doorway. "I was just coming to your house."
"Well I beat you to it. I figured this was better than some long drawn out sappy goodbye." Her lips formed the crooked half smile he had grown to love as she punched him in the arm. "So, goodbye."
"What? That's it? All these years and that is all I get? God Haley, a little more emotion maybe." He laughed and tucked his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. "I was thinking a 'wow Lucas I'm going to miss you so much, how am I supposed to live without you' kind of speech or something."
"Like I said, didn't want to do the drawn out sappy thing." Running her hand through her long hair, she looked out at the setting sun in his backyard and chuckled. "Can you believe we have lived through eighteen years together? There are so many memories here, with you and your mom." She paused realizing the void she was going to have without him.
"Hales." His hand touched her shoulder and she turned around. "We'll always have Paris."
"Oh shut up you freak." Pushing him back she shook her head. "Now hug me so I can get out of here."
His arms reached for her cradling her against his chest as he took a deep breath of her sweet scent. "God I'm going to miss you." Closing his eyes, he kissed the top of her head and smiled as he remembered all the good and bad moments in his life with Haley James.
"You are thinking too much. I can always tell when your brain is working too hard. It starts ticking and..." She looked up and met his eyes. "and steam starts shooting out from..." She lost her train of thought and forgot to breathe. His steamy blue eyes looked down at her and for a brief moment she wondered what if. "Goodbye Lucas."
"Goodbye Hales." He cupped her face in his hands and placed a soft kiss on her cheek and let his lips linger against her skin. Closing his eyes as a wave of desire blurred his senses, he let his fingers run through her thick hair and traced his lips along her cheek till he met her lips.
Her body had never reacted to the touch of a man like this before. It was like she was warped into another world, where she only felt and didn't think. If she started to think, she would remember that this was Lucas, her best friend. Lucas was the man who in one touch brought something dormant alive. When his lips touched hers, she responded with a voracity she hadn't known she was capable of.
"Haley." Her name escaped his lips as he devoured her eager mouth. The sound of it echoed through his mind and he realized it was always meant to be said with craving and desire.
She pulled away, searching in his eyes for something as he did hers. Holding each other they panted for air, spent from the new found passion. Her eyes fluttered closed as his lips touched her forehead and he whispered, "Follow me."
Leading her, hand in hand, she followed. Realizing she would follow him to the end of the world or his bedroom. He stopped in the doorway to his room and turned her to him. "You are so beautiful Haley. I have always wanted to kiss you right here, where you smirk at me and there is this small dimple. It has just waited for my lips to touch it."
"Lucas." She moaned his name as his lips, then tongue traced her mouth. "What are we doing?"
"I don't know." Fervently, their hands explored the unknown. They devoured each other's bodies, clothes thrown and skin damp.
Haley fell to the bed as Lucas's strong body lay above her. She pulled his head to her and nibbled his ear, laughing as his hands tickled beneath her breasts. "Lucas, I have never..."
He stopped and met her eyes. "I just assumed you and.."
"No. It was always meant to be you." Her smile was matched with his and in Lucas's bedroom basked with the setting sun, Haley gave away her innocence...and her heart.***
It had been a long time since she stepped foot in Tree Hill, eight years to be exact. Sitting in the back of the cab, Haley James leaned her head against the glass and watched the storefronts of main street pass by. Her heart tightened when she passed the familiar sign of Karen's Café.
So many years have past and so many things had gone unspoken. Taking a deep breath she saw the house she had grown up in and tapped the cab driver on the shoulder. "Right here."
The cab came to a slow stop in front of a worn down house with a for sale sign in the yard. Opening the cab door and grabbing her luggage she walked to the front door and pulled out her key. It had been eight years since she last stood on these steps. When she left Tree Hill, she ran as fast as she could from feelings she was afraid to come to terms with.
Using her key, she opened the door and walked into the familiar house. Not much was left since her mother and father packed up and moved to Florida with her sister. Walking further into the dusty room, she felt a serene sense of peace. This had been her home, a place of fond memories that she had held close to her heart and now she would have to sell it.
When her mom initially asked for the favor, she declined, but after much thought she decided it could give her the closure she needed. An easy three of four weeks in Tree Hill, finish packing up what was left, clean and handle the real estate issues left pending.
Setting her keys on the kitchen counter, she smiled. "I'm home."
Her cell phone rang and she sighed when she saw the number. Letting it ring into her voice mail, she set the phone down next to her keys. She just needed some time to think.
She walked up the steps and stood before the wooden door to her bedroom. Turning the knob it creaked open and she gasped in shock. "Oh my God."
Nothing changed, everything was the same as she left it eight years ago. Her mom told her that some of her belongings remained, but she wasn't expecting everything. Her dresser was still topped with jewelry boxes, her bed was still covered with the same bedspread and on her mirror hung the photos she refused to take with her.
She stood before the mirror and reached for the one photo that affected her the most. Looking back at her was Lucas Scott with his arm around a young naïve girl with so much to live for.
"Lord it seems like a lifetime ago." Putting the picture down, she stared at her own reflection in the mirror. She wasn't that young girl anymore. Her eyes were worn from tiredness and her body no longer held the fresh presence of youth. Flipping the ends of her shorter hair, she wished back the days of insatiable freedom.
She fell back on her bed and coughed as the dust flew in the air. She had a lot of work to do in the short time she was here and packing away her past would be the first thing on her list.
This time when she heard a phone ring, it wasn't her cell. The natural sound echoed through the house as she heard the answering machine pick up and her mother's sharp voice ordering the caller to leave a message. "Nothing changes."
"Haley! Haley are you there? Listen honey, Devon called here and said you weren't answering your cell and wanted me to call you. He said that he needs your decision about the position and your answer to his proposal. What kind of proposal are we talking about here Haley? Hello! Honey if you are there, please pick up."
There was a pause and Haley hoped she had hung up. "Fine, you can act like an obstinate child all you want. By the way, I left the house papers with Keith and Karen Scott. Call me back Haley and call Devon too, he sounded...desperate."
She threw her hand over her face and groaned. She just wanted a break, a break from her job and her life. Sitting up, she panicked when she remembered her mother saying that Keith and Karen had the house papers. "Great." It wasn't that she didn't want to see them, because she did, more than anything. She just wasn't ready to face the memory of Lucas, and Karen's Café held more memories than she could endure right now.
It wasn't like he was here, she had made sure of that. From what her mother had told her, he was off in Europe studying something or another. She didn't care to ask, only that he wasn't here. Too much time had passed and to see him now would just be pointless.
Kicking off her shoes, she fell back down on her bed and closed her eyes, praying for a little tranquility that her restless life never permitted.
