Author's Note: Agel15, thank you so much for being such a loyal reviewer. I really appreciate all of your reviews. They're great to read. I'm glad you liked Haley and Lucas being together. To everyone else please review!

((I don't own anything when it comes to One Tree

Hill))

"I don't know what's worse. Having parents that you

hate, or not having parents that love you. I mean your

parents are still around but you hate them. I lost my

mom and I loved her. I mean which one do you think is

better?" Peyton asked absorbed in her thoughts.

"Um, (c)?" Nathan asked hopeful.

"Nate, you don't get a (c) on this question. It's

either or, not c. none of the above." Peyton said

rolling her eyes. Nathan was smart, but sometimes he

seemed so dumb when he didn't take things seriously.

"I know Pey, but wouldn't it be great if you could?"

It was only then that Peyton noticed the sadness and

hope Nathan's voice held. She knew that this was hard

for him and now regretted ever bringing it up.

"You know what forget it. It was a dumb question."

Peyton said getting up. "So what else you got in this

nifty apartment of yours?"

"I'd rather not have them. Because at least then they

couldn't disappoint you. You'd always be able to

remember them as great people that loved you." Nathan

said getting up as well.

Peyton smiled sadly. "I wish someone had told me that

when my mom died. It puts a nice spin on it. Makes it

hurt a bit less."

"No it doesn't. Nothing makes it hurt less. That's

something you taught me Peyton. You can dress things

up, but they will still always be what they are."

Nathan said with a grin.

"And here I thought whenever we fought you would just

tune me out. I guess you really were listening."

Peyton smiled.

"Actually you're right. I did tune you out most of the

time. But I caught that one." Nathan said cracking up.

"Nathan!!" Peyton screamed as she smacked him on the

head with a pillow. "You sooo should have not told me

that."

"Well here we are. Are you sure you don't wanna come

in Hales?" Lucas asked for what seemed to be the

hundredth time.

"Again no Luke. It's too soon. I'd rather not face the

wrath of my ex husband thank you very much. Hey isn't

that Peyton's car?" Haley asked her voice suddenly

growing quite.

"Yeah it is." Lucas replied with a puzzled expression

on his face. What the hell was Peyton's car doing at

his house?

"You know what I better just go now. " Haley said

turning around and fleeing.

"Hales!" Lucas screamed. He would have gone after her,

but years of friendship had taught him that when Haley

got like this, she didn't want someone chasing after

her.

'Well I might as well go inside and find out what's

going on.' He thought as he opened the door. He was

immediately smacked in the face with a huge glob of

whipped cream followed by laughter.

"Peyton your aim sucks. And I do mean that literally."

Nathan said cracking up.

When Lucas could finally see again, he wished he were

still blind. Their entire apartment was covered in

whipped cream. "Nate, what the hell happened in here?"

he asked in a very pissed tone.

"Um, nothing?" Nathan asked considerably more serious.

"Oh, shot down by the big brother." Peyton said with a

grin. "Oh come on Lucas, like you're not gonna make me

stay and clean the whole thing up anyways." She said

rolling her eyes.

"Yeah you're right." Lucas laughed as he threw some

whipped cream at Peyton and hit he square in the face.

"Lucas Scott I am going to kill you!"

And so began the Great Whipped Cream Fight of '05.

When it was all done the apartment, along with Lucas,

Peyton and Nathan, was a complete mess.

"Now that was fun." Lucas said lying on the newly

converted white couch.

"Agreed." Nathan and Peyton said together.

"Well I guess I should be getting home. You know with

it getting late and all." Peyton said hoping to sneak

out unnoticed.

"Oh no you don't." Nathan said grabbing her. "We're in

this together."

"Fine then at least let me call Brooke to come and

help."

"Brooke Davis? She would never help clean." Lucas said

looking at her like she had two heads.

"You'd think, but she has some experience in cleaning

up whipped cream." Peyton said suggestively.

"Hmm, that is true." Lucas said with a small smile, thinking back to all the times he and Brooke had..

"Gross man. I don't wanna think about that." Nathan exclaimed tearing Lucas from his thoughts.

"You're just jealous." Lucas said with a wicked grin.

"No I'm not." Nathan said seriously. "Brooke's like a younger sister to me."

"Yeah and I have to say that Nate is the best older brother I could have." Brooke surprised everyone.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Peyton asked.

"Um, the door?" Brooke said as if it were as obvious as 224.

Lucas watched the three friends interact and suddenly felt out of place as he thought back to the conversation he had with Haley. They looked just like before he had joined the team and wasn't sure if he should be there. So he got up and walked towards the bedroom.

"Yo, why'd you leave?" Nathan said entering the bedroom.

"I dunno, y'all seemed fine without me." Lucas said feeling both stupid and sad at the same time. 'I wonder if that's possible?'

"You're my brother and my roommate. You're gonna be involved my life whether you like it or not. And I'll be involved with you're life even if I don't wanna be."

"Haley." Lucas said understanding what Nathan meant.

"Yeah Haley." Nathan said with a sigh. "Speaking of her, how'd your talk with her go?"

"Right, that.." Lucas said with a small laugh. What the hell was he suppose to tell Nathan. 'Oh yeah it was great. We talked about how much we loved each other and how much we wanted to be with each other but can't because did I forget to mention this, she's your ex-wife. Yeah, that's go over so well.' Lucas had to shake his head at how all twisted this was.

"Nathan, your dad's on the phone." Peyton said breaking up the bonding moment.

"Hang up." Nathan said simply.

"Nate, it's about your mom." Peyton said with tears in her eyes.