A/N: Okay, I swear I wrote this chapter before Tuesday's episode. For some reasn, my fanfics sometimes predict future occurences in TV shows. It's totally not my fault. Although it does make me laugh when it happens. Enjoy the chapter anyway.
Chapter 8: Decisions
Lucas awoke slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and shifting uncomfortably. As he opened his eyes, he squinted, a heavy burst of light overcoming his senses. He waited until he was properly adjusted to the new element and looked up, shielding the light with his hand.
Seagulls.
He groaned and he propped himself up on the sand and looked out to the sea. It was still early as the beach was relatively empty. He looked at his watch. 8.30am.
Lucas noticed that Brooke wasn't by his side and was kind of disappointed. He sat out on the beach for a further five minutes before gathering up his belongings and making his way to the beach house.
The smell of pancakes hit him before anything else.
"Good morning," Haley greeted from the kitchen as he walked in.
"Morning." Lucas greeted with a slight yawn. Nathan looked up sleepily from the couch where he'd slept and Peyton had just come out of the shower.
"There you are," she grinned knowingly, "we were wondering when you were going to wake up."
"You left me out there all night?" Lucas asked.
"Well, you and Brooke looked pretty cosy so we figured we'd leave you two to do your thing." Nathan replied as he got up, "I'm going to hit the shower."
"Where is Brooke?" Lucas asked, scanning the living room.
"Oh, she left about 6am. Said she was meeting her parents or something. Did she tell you about that?" Peyton asked Lucas. Lucas nodded in reply as he sat down on the space Nathan just vacated.
"I have nice hot pancakes coming up, plus lots of food is leftover from last night so help yourselves," Haley told them, "Trust Brooke to convince us to go to a slumber party on a school night,"
"It's Friday so it doesn't matter. I think I'm going to take the day off and… sleep," Peyton said picking on some chips. Haley agreed.
"Sounds like a plan. I think I'll drop in on Brooke later on," Lucas mused.
"You and Brooke seem to be getting close. Anything we should know?" Peyton asked.
"Nah. We're just friends." Lucas said trying to sound okay about it.
"Of course you are. That is why you've practically spent each and every day this week joined to the hip, right? I bet you already miss her,"
"She's not going anywhere, okay. And we are just friends. I don't… she doesn't want a relationship so soon after Felix. It's hard for her to trust someone again," Lucas told them.
"She trusts you," Haley pointed out. "Shouldn't that mean something?"
Brooke sighed deeply as she sullenly painted her nails. A couple of tears fell from her cheeks and hit her knee.
She was interrupted from her thoughts as a knock came from her door.
"I'm not here!" she shouted.
"It's Lucas."
"Oh," Brooke got up from her bed and opened the door to allow Lucas entry, "Hey, I was going to call you but I just got caught up,"
"Don't worry about it," Lucas said before pausing and listening to the music flowing from the CD Player, "Is this… is this Pachabel?"
Brooke blushed as she nodded her head and turned off the CD Player.
"You listen to classical music?"
"Not all the time. This piece is my favourite, I just love listening to it when I need to think,"
"Canon in D, right?" Lucas asked. Brooke nodded, "Have you been crying?" Lucas moved to wipe the tear tracks off her cheek but Brooke moved away first, wiping them idly with her fingers.
"It makes me cry," she told him before clearing her throat, "You're not at school?"
Lucas shook his head, "Nah. Thanks to your little slumber party, all of us woke up late and decided to skip school. Why aren't you in?"
"Didn't feel like it," Brooke told him, "What have you been up to today then?"
"Nothing much, just clearing up the beach house. We're all heading out to Nathan's for a while. Do you want to come?"
Brooke shook her head, "I don't really feel like it. I thought I'd catch up on some sleep."
"That's what we were planning to do at Nate's anyway, just veg out. You should come." Lucas tried to convince her but to no avail.
"I'm sorry, Lucas, I really don't feel up to it right now," Brooke apologised. Lucas paused for a moment and sat on her bed.
"Look, I didn't want to say anything because it's really not my business to know, but… is everything okay with your parents? I mean, did you tell them about Felix?"
Brooke took in a deep breath, realising that she may as well confide in Lucas now that he was here and already involved in everything.
"I did."
"What happened? Why are you so upset?" Lucas asked, "You know you can tell me anything," he added after seeing her hesitation.
"Ok, um. My parents came home this morning and before I could even tell them about Felix, they told me that…"
"What?" Lucas asked after Brooke trailed off slightly. He rubbed her leg reassuringly and Brooke looked up at him, fresh tears filling her eyes, "What is it?"
"Lucas…" she began before inhaling deeply, "They're leaving."
Lucas frowned as he tried to understand what Brooke just told him.
"What?" he said, "Are they going on another vacation?" he asked hopefully. Brooke shook her head.
"No, Lucas, they're leaving. As in, moving away from Tree Hill."
"For how long?" Brooke shrugged.
"For good, I guess. I don't know," Brooke sighed.
"Well, are you going with them?" Lucas asked, still in shock from what he heard.
"I don't know," she said again, "I mean, I came home and they were already here and talking about something. For once I was actually glad they weren't yelling at each other. They told me that with money so tight, they're going to have to sell the house,"
"But that doesn't mean you have to leave Tree Hill."
"My dad got a job in New Bern and the company are going to give him a house for us. It is really good money and it could mean that we don't have so many money problems anymore,"
"So you are leaving." Lucas looked down at his feet.
"I don't know yet. I'm still talking things through with them. Tree Hill is my life and I love it here. But they're my parents and they need me. After I told them about Felix, they told me that that was even more of a reason to go. It means a new start for us all. It could be a really good move."
"New Bern… that's kind of far,"
"Not as far as Charleston," she tried to joke, "It's about two hours away, give or take."
"Do you want to move?" Lucas asked tentatively.
"As I said, I don't know," she groaned in frustration as she flopped onto the bed, "God, I hate this. I hate having to decide,"
"It's better than having no choice. Would you have preferred it if they made you go? Maybe you can talk about it and find… find a way to stay."
"Yeah," Brooke said softly before she sat up on the bed, "Lucas," she reached out and held his hand, "I know you want to help but I think I'd rather be alone for a while. Just to think and talk to my parents."
Lucas nodded, "Just call if you need anything, even if it's just to yell or something."
"You're a good friend, you know that?" Brooke told him when they were at her door, "I mean, usually I'd go to Peyton with all this stuff and considering my history with you, I figured you'd be the last one to be there for me," she laughed slightly, "Funny how things work out, right? Just when things are getting back to normal…" she stopped where she was and sighed, "Anyway, you should go to Tutor Girl's house. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Lucas asked, not convinced by the nod Brooke gave. "I'll see you," he pressed his lips to her forehead and laid a small kiss before leaving her alone.
Brooke watched him leave from her window and began to cry.
She knew that there'd be no return to normal. At least not for her.
Haley watched her husband from the doorway of their bedroom. She could make out most of him as he played the PlayStation in the living room. Haley brushed though her wet hair as she wondered just how much PlayStation one guy could play. Since she'd moved in with him, she'd realised that he spent most of his evenings and weekends glued to it, especially if they'd splurged out on a new game.
In the recent weeks, Nathan had started spending more time playing the PlayStation, leaving Haley to almost resort to nagging him to do chores or other things around the house.
When they'd have an argument, usually about Chris, he'd stop the argument by starting up a game and ignoring her, which irritated Haley.
She knew her marriage was in crisis, but she had never realised just how many of their problems had stemmed from her collaboration with Chris.
He looked up from his game, catching sight of Haley's stare and gave her a small smile, which she duly returned, before getting back to his game. They'd talked argued for a while at the beach house last night before Peyton had stepped in.
She sat them both down and made them talk to each other, beginning with Nathan. Haley had been surprised to hear that, although he didn't like Chris, it wasn't his biggest problem.
He missed her.
He explained how much he missed seeing her at dinner, or walking home after school, or just lazing around on the couch. How he missed watching her do her homework, and the way she bit her lip when she was stuck on a question.
And she hadn't realised just how much she missed him too.
Haley sighed as she turned away from Nathan and walked into their bedroom, shutting the door behind her. She dialled a number on her cellphone and waited for it to pick up.
"Hey,"
"Hi. What are you up to?" she asked into the phone
"I'm heading over to the studio now. Will I see you there?"
"Uh, actually you won't, Chris."
"Can't you make it? Haley, I booked this studio time so we could work on our duet today. We need to get it perfect."
"Chris, there's not going to be a duet and I'm not coming to the studio anymore. Ever," she told him, waiting to hear him explode with anger.
"What the… Haley! This is important, okay? I need your vocals, you need me."
"I thought I did, Chris, but I don't. I mean, you've been really helpful to me but I don't think I want to work with you anymore," she told him truthfully.
"Why?" Chris asked, angry at the girl.
"Because I'm in love with my husband." Chris laughed on the other end.
"I get it, he wants to stop you following your dream cos he can't handle the fact that his gorgeous wife is spending time with someone who could make them come true. You really want this guy to stop you from becoming the person you could be?"
"Chris, I'm sixteen years old, I- I have plenty of time to follow my dream and I know Nathan will support me whatever I choose to do. I don't need this right now, I could flunk out of school if I'm not careful."
"Who needs school when you're as talented as you are? Come on, Haley, try and see what he's trying to stop you from achieving! He's trying to control you."
"No, you're trying to control me. I almost missed my formal because of you. I've had to retake tests and I'm behind in my homework. My marriage is on the brink of destruction because of you and your stupid duet."
"So you're giving it all up? For Nathan?"
"No, I'm giving it up for me. I can make it on my own," Chris scoffed.
"Yeah, keep dreaming, girlie. Fine, you don't want to do this anymore, then don't. You may need me but I sure as hell don't need you. I was going to tell you today that I've been offered the chance to tour in New York. It's a big step, babe, and I was hoping you could join me. The offer is still open. I leave tomorrow night and you could be with me on that bus."
Haley paused and Chris waited patiently for her answer.
"Ok," she said softly.
"So I'll see you on that bus?"
"No, I mean, it's a great opportunity but I don't want it. Not when I could have Nathan instead,"
"Haley…"
"Have a good time in New York, Chris. Just don't hurry back,"
Haley hung up the phone and took a deep breath. It felt good to get rid of the guilt she'd been carrying for a while.
Nathan opened the door slowly.
"Hey," she said when she saw him, "I was just…"
"I know. I heard." Nathan said, "So, Chris is leaving?"
"For New York tomorrow night,"
"He wanted you to go?"
"Uh huh."
"Do you want to go?"
Haley shook her head.
"It would have been nice, but the whole time I would have been thinking of you. When something big like that happens, I don't want to be on my own. I want to see your face looking at me like you do at Tric. I want you to share it with me and that's something that we can look forward to… when we're ready."
"We're not ready now?" Nathan questioned.
"No, our life is just starting. We have plenty of time."
"You don't regret marrying me, do you?"
Haley took Nathan's left hand and ran her thumb across his wedding ring.
"That's the only thing I don't regret. What I do regret is not realising what I was doing to you, to us. I'm sorry, Nate."
Nathan pulled her into a hug, "It's okay, I've got you now and that's all that really matters."
Haley sighed happily, "I like this," she said to her husband before changing her mind, "No, wait, I love this."
Haley and Nathan grinned at each other.
Things were back to normal.
To Be Continued…
