Chapter 13: Trying to Tell You...

Nathan turned to Lucas with a bewildered expression on his face. "What were we thinking?" he exclaimed to his brother as they walked behind the girls.

Lucas just laughed, "C'mon, I bet it won't be so bad."

The four of them have just come out of the parking lot. Nathan and Lucas were walking behind the girls, both quite unsure about what the girls had in mind. Nathan looked intently at the place Haley and Peyton were heading for, "I actually thought you two were going to drag us on a shopping trip of some sort."

Peyton just laughed as she continued to walk, "Well if Brooke were here, that's probably what we would be doing right now. Since it's just me and Haley, we can skip that part and do something else."

"What is this place anyway?" asked Lucas as he looked around.

Haley turned to face him with a knowing smile, "It's one you have never been to, Luke."

Lucas just looked at Haley with a grin, "Haha...is that your way of making things mysterious, Ms James?"

Peyton just laughed, "C'mon you guys, it would be fun."

As they reached a building, Peyton and Haley immediately headed downstairs. Both Lucas and Nathan looked at each other with a puzzled expression on their faces. Nevertheless, they followed the girls downstairs. Peyton and Haley just looked up for a moment to see if the guys were still behind them. Seeing the two on their way down, they opened the door and went in. Before going in, the sign on the door caught Nathan's eyes. It said THE CRIB. Nathan turned to his brother, "Dare we go in?"

Lucas just laughed as he nodded. He entered the place after Nathan.

As the two guys entered, Nathan and Lucas were surprised to find a lot of people inside in the middle of the afternoon. There was a group performing on a small stage while the crowd cheered on while downing bottles and bottles of beer. They found Haley and Peyton already relaxing in one of the oversized couches in the room and quickly joined them. "We didn't think you'd find us!" shouted Peyton over the noise from the crowd.

Both Nathan and Lucas just grinned at them since there was no use talking. The crowd was so loud that anything they say could not be possibly heard. Peyton and Haley were clearly having a good time. With a bottle of beer in their hands, they eagerly listened to the music and cheered with the crowd.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Nathan were having a minor case of culture shock as they tried to absorb everything that was going on around them.

Suddenly, the noise turned down a bit, making it possible to have an audible conversation. Peyton took this time to give the guys a little idea of the place. "Hales and I discovered this place when we were applying for Anne Dale U..." she began.

"We were looking for a place to chill out and we ended up here," continued Haley as she turned her attention back to the band. Meanwhile, Nathan couldn't help but stare at her. "I don't mind going here a lot if it means being with her," he told himself as he continued to stare at Haley who was obviously enjoying the performance.

Peyton smiled at Haley, "Yeah...anyway, this is one of those hang-outs for underground artists. It's really good. We come here a lot...especially when Brooke's not around."

After another performance, Haley clapped her hands and then sipped into her beer. Nathan suddenly turned to her, "When will I see you up there?"

Haley just laughed, "C'mon Nate, I told you...I only sing to myself."

"And me..."Nathan added as he found himself going back to the day when Haley sang for him in Karen's Café to make him feel a little better.

Haley just smiled, "Yeah, I bared my soul to you there."

Nathan just laughed, "Well, you bared your soul pretty good...I think the rest of the people here would love to see you do it too."

Haley playfully poked his arm, "Don't make a joke out of me, Nathan!"

Nathan just shook his head, "I'm not Hales, you're a great singer."

Peyton gave Haley a gentle nudge on the arm, "Yeah Hales, you can sing. If you decide to make your own record, I'll draw your album cover."

Haley smiled at Peyton, "Thanks Peyt, but I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon."

They continued to listen to the music. As they did, Lucas tried to sense how Peyton really feels about things...school, her dad, her friends and him. Seeing here intently listening to the song that was being played. He tried to make sense of its lyrics:

I'm really tired of hiding

But I don't know what to do

I know I'm hurting

Because I love you

Please give me a reason

To think 'bout you painlessly

Give me a reason

To give you all of me

I'm going crazy

Don't know what to do

So give me a reason

To say I love you

"Give me a reason to not lose hope, Peyt," he told her in his mind.

Peyton could feel Lucas' eyes on her, making her unable to glance his way. The song was perfect, it reflected how she felt about Lucas. "Please give me a reason to say I love you," she told him in her head.

After awhile, Peyton turned to the guys, "You guys ready to go?"

Lucas nodded, "Yeah, I think I'm losing my hearing already."

Haley just laughed. Nathan turned to the girls before he stood up, "So, this is all you're getting us into?"

Haley and Peyton exchange devilish grin. "Actually Nate, this is just one part of it," said Haley as she stood up.

Peyton just laughed, "Let's go back to our place."

Suddenly, Carmen walked into the back porch, holding a plate of cookies. "Hey, I hope I'm not interrupting anything here," greeted Carmen as she set the plate on the table in front of Ethan and Brooke.

Ethan just laughed, "Of course not, mom."

Brooke sat up and smiled at Carmen, "Yeah...care to join us?"

Ethan suddenly stood up, "You two just hang out while I go make a few phone calls." Ethan waved at his girlfriend and his mother before he went inside the house.

Carmen smiled gratefully at them and sat down, "Oh, it's such an interesting day. I finally got to meet you."

Brooke just laughed, "And I finally got to meet you and the rest of Ethan's family. Speaking of interesting, you got really interesting daughters."

Carmen just laughed, "Bridget is so career-focused. She could care less about dating, she doesn't even care about growing old alone. Nikki, on the other hand..." She took a deep sigh before she continued, "Nikki always gets herself into trouble. Her dad used to call her a free spirit. She just comes and goes. She's had a lot of boyfriends and God knows what else she's up to."

Brooke just gave a sly smile, "Ethan mentioned to me that she was gone for 7 months at one time."

Carmen let out another heavy sigh, "Oh yeah, she got us worried there. She never talked about what happened to her during that time. She just said she ended her relationship with this boyfriend of hers."

Brooke gave Carmen a sympathetic smile, "You must feel pretty bad, not knowing what's happened to her."

Carmen let out a laugh, "Actually, I feel worse about not knowing how to deal with her."

Brooke a hand on Carmen's arm, "I'm sure some things will come out of the dark pretty soon."

"I can't believe I'm doing this!" exclaimed Nathan as he stood in the girls' kitchen. He was wearing a bright pink apron that the girls found in Brooke's closet.

Lucas just laughed, "Well that makes the two of us." He had a white apron on with a huge smiley face print in front.

The guys had a bowl in front of each other. Packages of flour, baking soda, baking powder and chocolate chips were on the table along with a carton of eggs. "You guys doing okay in there," called out Peyton from the living room.

"You guys better make sure you don't burn the kitchen down," added Haley as she giggled and continued to watch movies with Peyton.

The girls have set the two guys up in the kitchen. Haley pulled out a chocolate chip cookie recipe that Karen had given her before she left the Tree Hill. Peyton and Haley thought they'd give the guys a shot at baking. "Hales, do we have a fire extinguisher in this apartment," asked Peyton all of a sudden.

Haley smiled at her a she pulled the fire extinguisher beside here, "Right here and ready to go!"

Back in the kitchen, the two guys were doing all they can to make a nice, big batch of chocolate chip cookies. While they were mixing the dough, Nathan suddenly stood still for awhile and looked intently at what he was mixing. "There's something missing here," he thought.

After finishing a movie, Haley was about to call out to the guys again when they suddenly emerged from the kitchen with a plate of cookies each. "Ladies, here is the best batch of cookies you've ever tasted," said Nathan as he marched into the living room.

Lucas just laughed as he followed his brother.

Haley and Peyton looked impressively at the two as they approached them. "It's good to know you didn't burn our kitchen down," said Peyton as Lucas set a plate of cookies down in front of her.

Meanwhile, Nathan sat beside Haley and held his plate of cookies towards her. "I made these extra special for you, try it," Nathan said proudly as he offered the cookies to Haley.

With an intrigued smile, Haley took a cookie from Nathan's plate. After taking a bite, her eyes widened with delight, "Chocolate chip cookies with raisin...Nathan, you remembered!"

Nathan just laughed, "I haven't forgotten at all, Hales. I also happen to remember that you like these with..."

"Vanilla ice cream!" exclaimed Haley as she finished Nathan's sentence. "Oh, that's pretty sweet of him," she said to herself. She can't believe he hasn't forgotten the simple things that make her smile. "That's one thing that made me fall for him," she suddenly reminded herself.

Peyton smiled at the two, "You know what, I think we still have some vanilla ice cream in there. I'll go get us some."

Immediately, Lucas stood up, "I'll go help you."

Once they were in the kitchen, Peyton began rummaging through the freezer. Meanwhile, Lucas stood on the other side with his arms crossed as he leaned on the countertop. "You sure you still got some in there? We could just...go out a buy one if you want," offered Lucas when he noticed that Peyton was having a hard time looking for it in the freezer.

Peyton turned to him and smiled, "That's alright, I know it's just here somewhere."

Lucas nodded and smiled, "So, any idea what poem you're reciting in class?"

Peyton kept rummaging through the freezer as she laughed, "Actually, I just might deliver some famous lines from the Rolling Stones or something."

Lucas just laughed, "I'm not sure if he'd appreciate that though!"

"Well, he's just 'gonna have to give me a grade based on that," she exclaimed as she continued to look for the ice cream.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them for quite some time. Lucas let himself stare at Peyton as she continued to rummage through freezer. "You know we can really just go to that store around the corner," Lucas suggested as he started scanning the freezer himself.

"I really know it's here...somewhere," Peyton said as she began moving around some items in the freezer to have a better look.

Suddenly, Lucas realized something was about to fall from the freezer and hit Peyton's head. "Peyton..."he called out as he grabbed her and puller her away from the freezer.

Peyton didn't realize what was happening. She just found herself facing Lucas with his arms around her. She immediately felt drawn to him, forgetting about everything else. "Those eyes..."she thought as she looked deep into Lucas eyes that was also looking deep into hers. Before she further drifted in her thoughts, they heard something hit the floor. As they turned, they saw a tub of vanilla ice cream on the floor.

They both turned to each other and laughed. "And there's your ice cream..." Lucas remarked as he smiled at her.

Peyton just nodded and smiled, "Yeah...I guess so."

All of a sudden, Haley emerged into the kitchen, "Hey, we heard that thump in here. Is everything...okay?" She suddenly stopped in her tracks when she saw her friends with their arms around each other.

Peyton and Lucas both smiled at her, wondering what she was surprised about. "Yeah...we found the ice cream," explained Peyton.

Haley saw the ice cream on the floor and looked at them quizzically, "Yeah, I guess you did...but, you seem to have found each other too."

Peyton and Lucas looked at each other and realized they still had their arms around each other. They immediately pulled away and gave each other a sly smile. Meanwhile, Haley has already left the kitchen and had taken the ice cream tub with her.

Peyton and Lucas looked at each other in awkward silence. After awhile, Peyton spoke up, "I guess...we should..."

"Yeah...after you," Lucas said as he got what Peyton wanted to say. They both headed to the living room.

As Peyton sat beside Haley, she whispered to her, "Peyt, I didn't mean to ruin your moment awhile ago..."

Peyton just smiled at her, "Don't worry Hales, no damage done."

Haley just smiled at her, "Well, for what it's worth...you two looked clearly in love. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

Peyton gave her friend another warm smile. "If only love is really all that matters," she sadly thought as she let herself steal another glance at Lucas.

A/N: I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I had to write this part again when I didn't quite like the first one I did. Well, let me know what you think. Pls keep those reviews coming! =)