Disclaimer: I do not own anything, unfortunately!
Chapter 4 – Where Are We Runnin'
After the immense success of Tric in Tree Hill, Peyton had opened a few more Tric clubs all over North Carolina. Seeing the popularity of Tric, she finally decided to open one in New York, which would be the biggest club in the chain.
Peyton was running around the club, making sure everything was going well. She had the entire night lined up with musical performances and stars coming to see the opening. She knew that Brooke Davis, model extraordinaire, and Nathan Scott, Basketball star, were definitely going to be there for the night. She knew that Lucas also managed to extend his visit a big longer, so he would be there for opening night. On the other hand, her boyfriend Jake was at Boston University. He said he would be there at the club no matter what. So far, she hadn't heard a thing from him. That didn't matter, because she was just excited that it would be the first time that they would all be in the same room together since graduation.
"Peyton! There are you, here is the list of musicians we have lined up tonight." Lana Janes said, giving Haley a list.
Lana was, so to speak, Peyton's partner in opening the Tric club. Her father owned many casinos' in Las Vegas and she had her own club in Las Vegas too. By chance of fate, the two girls met and as soon as Peyton admitted that she wanted to open a club in New York, Lana immediately agreed to help. With Lana's money and expertise and Peyton's expertise and enthusiasm, they were sure to have a big success.
"By the way, we had one musician drop out, but I managed to fill him in with someone else." Lana said, looking around the room quickly.
"Sure thing, who dropped and who did you fill in?" Peyton asked, scanning the list.
"Well, what's his face, Grady Jone Stone decided that he needed a night to relax. Luckily, I filled him in with Haley James. Do you know how awesome that is? After all, she is one of the hottest things in the music industry, this will be great publicity for the club!" Lana squealed, "I'm going to go make sure that the VIP lounges are all cleaned and such."
Peyton barely noticed Lana going away. She just stood frozen, staring down at the list. Haley's name seemed to pop out from it. Peyton could feel herself getting angry. She didn't consider Haley to be a friend of hers, after what she did to Nathan. Ironically, she realized that Haley saved her again by filling in the spot of a musician.
'What a great night for her to decide to show up in our lives' Peyton thought, fishing out a bottle of Tylenol from her purse. It was going to be a long night.
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As Haley walked into Tric, she felt a wave of nostalgia. Tric was where she started her music career. When she heard that Tric was going to open in New York, she was excited. She was even more excited when her manager called her up this morning, telling her that they needed an emergency singer.
She noticed someone looking at a piece of paper up ahead of her. She squinted; not being able to tell whom it was in the dimmed lights.
"Excuse me!" She called out, "I'm Haley James. I'm performing tonight, where do I put my equipment?"
The person turned around, and they both froze. Haley felt as if she entered twilight zone. Peyton didn't look any better. The two girls just stared at each other. Peyton was the first to recover first.
"Miss James." Peyton seemed to coldly stress James, as if mocking the lack of Haley's married name, "If you go up the stairs to your right, you will find the musicians room." With one last look at Haley, Peyton turned around and left the room.
Haley let go of the breath that she seemed to be holding. In her excitement, she totally forgot that fact that Peyton owned a chain of Tric clubs. Haley paled, as she realized that if Peyton was here, then Brooke would come to support her best friend. If Brooke came, then Lucas would come. If Lucas came, then Nathan would come.
Suddenly, she felt like the same girl 5 years ago who had performed for the first time in public. How could she forget the fact that she was definitely going to see them here? Why did the fates feel the need to bombard her with the past now? She was doing so well. Haley sighed and went upstairs.
At least she had the sense to tell Chris that he didn't need to come.
ooooooooooooooooooooo
"Well Blondie, this is a wonderful shindig, bravo!" Brooke said to her best friend, while surveying the club.
Peyton laughed, hugging Brooke, "Thanks a bunch. You know I totally appreciate you being here right?"
"You appreciate me, or my status?" Brooke asked winking at Peyton.
Peyton smiled faintly before clearing her throat. Oh what the hell she thought, I might as well say it.
"Haley's here."
Brooke paused, looked at Peyton. "What?"
"Haley is here tonight. She is a fill in musician. I didn't know until this evening." Peyton said, gazing back to the table where Nathan, Lucas and Jake were sitting and joking.
Brooke followed her gaze, "Wow, this sucks."
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"Welcome everyone to the opening night of Tric! I just wanted to thank you for being here and supporting the opening of the club tonight." Peyton said, standing in front of the crowd.
As everyone was whistling and cheering, Brooke leaned over to Lucas, "Haley's here tonight."
"WHAT?!" Lucas yelled, looking at Brooke.
Lucky for them, the only other people who heard Lucas' yell were Nathan and Jake, who were sitting at the same table. Brooke smiled at them, before moving closer to Lucas.
"Yeah, she is a fill in. Peyton didn't know until it was this evening." Brooke filled Lucas in.
Lucas looked over to Nathan, who was listening to Peyton speak about the clubs statistics and such.
"This sucks."
ooooooooooooooooooooo
Haley was pacing back and forth backstage. Her nervousness hit her full force. She didn't mind performing, but it was the reaction that she was going to get. She knew that she was a surprise act, no body knew about her except for Peyton and Lana.
"You okay there?" Lana asked, coming up from behind Haley.
"Yeah, a little nervous, but that always happens to me!" Haley smiled, she liked Lana.
"Oh I know, but everyone loves you, so it's all good!" Lana chirped, walking away.
'Everyone loves you? Ha' Haley thought, resuming her pacing.
"So, unfortunately, our first singer had to cancel but we found a worthy singer as a replacement." Peyton's voice sounded through the now silent club.
Haley fixed her hair and took a deep breath, it's now or never.
"So, everybody, please welcome…Haley James!"
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Nathan froze in mid clap. Haley James. No fucking way. This was not happening. He swiveled his gaze to the other 3 people sitting at the table. They were all gauging his reaction. He realized that they knew this was coming. He glared at them, "You guys knew."
The three of them nodded guiltily. Nathan sighed and turned back to looked at Haley. She was sitting at the keyboard, her hand poised over the keys, looking nervous. All of the sudden, he felt as if he was transported back to the first opening of Tric. He saw her close her eyes and unconsciously, in his mind, he whispered 'Just breathe'.
ooooooooooooooooooooo
Haley shut her eyes and took 3 deep breaths. She pressed the first key and began to sing.
It's October again,
Leaves are coming down
One more year's come and gone
And nothing's changed at all
ooooooooooooooooooooo
Peyton shut her eyes. She could remember the night Haley first performed the song. She remembered stopping Chris and asking him if he stomped off on purpose. She remembered feeling so proud of her friend.
ooooooooooooooooooooo
Brooke leaned against Lucas sighing. The song brought back memories of the first night she had worn a discounted dress. She remembered the ordeal with Felix and leaned closer to Lucas.
Lucas smiled down at her. He knew that he was thinking the same things that his friends were thinking. That night at Tric, his moment of glory, beating up Felix. He sighed, looking up at his best friend. He hoped that she knew what she was doing with her life because no one else did.
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'Do you know how many guys want to nail your wife?' Chris said, smirking.
That was all Nathan could think of. 'Well, you got your wish, you sick bastard.' Nathan thought bitterly, sipping his drink.
ooooooooooooooooooooo
And nothing's changed at all…
Haley opened her eyes, staring at Nathan, trying to convey her feelings. Who was she joking. Everything changed. It was all her fault too.
The sound of applause and cheering jarred her out of her senses. She was no longer 17 and happily married, but she was 22 and dangerously alone.
Haley smiled at the crowed, "Thank you very much. Thank you Tric for letting me play. Enjoy your night!"
As she walked backstage, the first person she noticed was Lucas. She smirked and ran over to him.
"Excellent job Hales, as usual." Lucas said, picking her up and hugging her.
Brooke gave Haley a smirk. "Nice to see you still have something, tutor girl." She said before walking away.
Giving a puzzled smile, Haley didn't have time to wonder about her words because Peyton materialized in front of her.
Peyton gave Haley a look and just simply said, "Thank you." Before abruptly walking off.
Haley turned to Lucas, "Oh well. This is so awkward. All of us here, together at the same time. But it's not the same."
Lucas sadly smiled. He knew why it wasn't the same and so did Haley, but no one voiced it.
"Wait," Haley said, realizing something, "Aren't you supposed to be leaving tonight for Tree Hill?"
"Yeah," Lucas said, "But Karen needed to go to Chicago for something about the café up there and Keith is out for the weekend, so I figured I can spend the last couple days of my break here in New York."
"Awesome!" Haley smiled happily, for the first time that night.
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Nathan watched his brother and his wife interact. Even after all those years, he still thought of Haley as his wife. He thought about his conversation with Brooke the other day about soul mates. Maybe he should reconcile. Be the bigger person.
He strode over to the duo. Haley's back was to him, so she couldn't see him coming. Lucas gave him a startled look and paused in whatever he was saying. Haley noticed the stop and turned around to lock eyes with Nathan.
Nathan was surprised that he still felt that jolt, even after so long. 'Oh man, this is going to be hard to forgive her.' He thought.
"Nice job tonight Haley." Nathan said, deciding to go for the civil face.
Lucas wandered off, deciding that the couple needed some time. He also didn't want to witness any fireworks.
Haley noticed that she and Nathan were alone. She was trying to look everywhere but him, and he was doing the same. She just wanted to talk to him and explain everything to him.
Even after the years, Nathan could tell what she wanted. He decided that he might as well say it.
"We need to talk."
Haley snapped her head up, looking at him. This was it. The moment of truth.
"Yeah, we do." She cleared her throat. "Do you want to go somewhere private?" She didn't exactly want this splashed all across the celebrity world.
"Sure." Nathan agreed, "Wanna go to my place?"
"Okay." She said, the nervousness hitting her full blast. "Let me just get my stuff. Meet me back here in 10 minutes okay?"
ooooooooooooooooooooo
It took Nathan 4 minutes to track down Peyton. Luckily, Jake, Brooke and Lucas were
with her. They all were laughing at something Jake had said.
"Hey," Nathan said, coming up behind Peyton. "I think I am going to leave early, I have early morning practice tomorrow and I need to rest up. Wonderful job with the club, as always." He said giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Are you sure?" Peyton asked, knowing that he was hiding something. "Thank you for
coming tonight. I really appreciated it."
"Appreciated me or my status?" Nathan asked smirking. Brooke giggled and Peyton looked shocked. "What?" Nathan asked, feeling like he missed out on something.
Peyton sighed, "That is what Brooke said."
Nathan laughed, throwing a look at Brooke, "Damn, she is starting to rub off on to me. Gotta stop hanging out with her. But anyway, see you guys around okay?" He did a manly handshake thing with Jake and Lucas, gave Brooke a hug and walked off in the other direction.
"Do you think his leaving had anything to do with Haley?" Lucas pondered out loud.
The gang just shrugged, still staring at the door. Peyton heard a voice clear their throat and she turned around to look at the source.
"Thank you for letting me perform, Peyton." Haley said softly. She knew that Peyton disliked her the most out of the group.
"Do you want to stay for a bit?" Peyton asked, simply out of formality. She hoped that Haley would say no.
"Thanks for asking, but I have another appointment I need to get too. It was nice seeing you guys again." Haley said, giving the group a small smile before disappearing the same exit Nathan had.
"You don't think…" Brooke asked the question, as they watched Haley leave.
The gang looked at each, pondering the though.
"Naah"
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A/N: And yes, finally in the next chapter, they TALK! I'm glad to see you guys enjoying the story, I really have an odd sense of humor so it does fall flat on it's face, but I'm glad to see you guys enjoying it!
- Tina