Author's Note: Hey guys! This is THE END! Aren't you all sad? Well, I won't keep you guys any longer so you can read the LAST chapter of When Everything Comes Crumbling Down. There will be an Author's Note at the end of the chapter though, so look out for that! I hope you guys like the chapter! As always, please read and review!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. One Tree Hill and its characters are property of the WB.
Rating: PG to PG-13
When Everything Comes Crumbling Down
Chapter 5
Stay
Lucas' POV
I walked out of the café with Jess as I felt the pain of my heart ripping apart. She was so different, so cold. She was no longer the person I grew up with; the person I'd shared ice cream cones and milkshakes with, played miniature golf with up on the roof, shared the couch with on our Friday movie nights. It was as if someone had killed the Haley I once knew and in her place was someone I didn't recognize. She was so angry and bitter… I thought leaving would give her some time to move on, to get over her anger at me for not loving her, to realize that she needed me in her life too, that we could be friends again. Boy, was I wrong.
"So, that was Haley…" Jess said slowly as we walked down the street. "Yeah," I responded solemnly. "I thought you said you were best friends," she replied. "Keyword: were. We were best friends, at least in her book. We've had fights before, but not like the one before I left for Charleston. No matter how long she stays mad at me, Haley will always be my best friend. She's the only best friend I've had since I was seven years old; she's the only best friend I'll ever have…" Jess rubbed my back, "I'm sure she'll come around. Maybe you've got to give her some more time." I nodded silently, hoping she was right.
We walked along the street for a few minutes without saying a word to each other when Jess asked, "What was the fight between you two about, before you left?" I inwardly cringed, hoping she wouldn't have asked that. "Um, what happened was…was that she told me she loved me; she wanted to be more than friends. I just don't feel that way about her. I mean, I've known her since I was seven and I've never felt anything more than friendship towards her. Once I told her I didn't feel the same, she told me she didn't want to be friends anymore. I thought maybe if I left and let her cool off for a little while, she would get over it and move on so that we could maybe be friends again, but I see that, that hasn't happened…" I responded dejectedly.
"Lucas, you have to understand something," she said softly, "love, especially a first love, hurts the most and lasts the longest. She may not be ready for a long time. You just have to wait it out. Maybe she'll come to you." "I hope so," I responded quietly.
Haley's POV
A few hours later, I walked around town for a little while as I was getting a little claustrophobic staying cooped up in my room surrounded by the pictures of Lucas and I together over the years that now haunted me. I just didn't have the heart to take them down. No matter how mad I was at him or how hurt I was for him not loving me the way I wanted him to, I just couldn't forget him.
Once in a while, I would sit and stare at a picture of him or of us and I would smile as I reminisced on all those great times we shared. I would softly trace the lines of his face, run my fingers over his spiky hair as if I could actually feel it between my hands, and I would softly touch his lips, wishing I could kiss them again. Even though I was angry with him, I was still hopelessly in love with him.
I stared at the café from across the street and looked up, remembering the many times we'd played miniature golf up there over the years. What I saw made the fire within me rise to almost fatal heights. I saw him on top of the roof, with her. He had his arms around her, a putter in hand, as he kissed her passionately on the lips.
I quickly turned away from the sight. How could he bring her up there? How could he kiss her in their place? Did the sacredness of their place mean nothing to him? The roof was supposed to be theirs, his and hers, no one else allowed. Now the place was just tainted. How would she ever be able to go up there again?
I spun on my heel and raced away, tears falling freely down my cheeks. I ran for a long while, not really knowing where I was going. I found myself by the riverfront, staring at the ducks waddling around and quacking their little heads off at each other as if they were carrying on a lively conversation about some new juicy piece of gossip. "Your lives are so easy and simple," I said to none, but to all, of them in particular, "all you do is eat, sleep, swim, and fly. I wish I could fly away; get away from this place and never look back. I wish I could move on… why is it so hard to move on? You guys fly south every winter, but do you really ever come back to the same place? You get to travel all around the world and I get to be stuck here in this boring little town where nobody knows how to keep their nose out of other people's business. Yeah, you guys have the right idea. Don't stay in one place for too long; don't form attachments."
I sat there for hours with my knees curled to my chest and my arms wrapped around my legs as the sun set below the horizon and the ducks settled down to sleep, huddled in pairs to keep warm. I laughed at how ironic it was. Here I was alone and the ducks had somebody to lay next to, to cuddle with. It had long since turned dark when my mind finally registered that I was hungry; I had hardly eaten a thing all day. Well, Karen's was out. I smiled as I envisioned one of Sonic's foot-long Coney dogs. Yeah, that would be good; I hadn't had Sonic in a long time. I briefly contemplated ordering two of them, but quickly ditched the thought. I usually ate a lot when I was upset; it was a wonder I hadn't gained almost twenty pounds over the last two months since Lucas left my to pick up the pieces of my broken heart.
I steeled myself after that last thought; I wouldn't think of Lucas. Not him or his lying, cheating ass. True, we had never dated, but it still felt like he was cheating on me with this Jess girl and that hurt like an anvil falling on my chest, similar to the old Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons. If it didn't kill me first.
I finally reached Sonic and put in my order for one foot-long Coney, some cheesy tater tots, a grape slush, and a fudge sundae. I did say I was hungry, right? Anyway, if my mind refused to stop making me think about Lucas, at least the grape slush and the sundae might give me a bad enough brain freeze to block out all thoughts of him just to have room for the excruciating, numbing pain the cold treats would cause to my poor brain.
As I munched happily on my Coney and tater tots, I sucked in a large amount of slush through the straw. I instantly felt the pain start to radiate between my eyes. Oops, drank too much, too fast. At least it would help rid my mind of that boy haunting my mind, who had recently returned to my thoughts. I shook my head to try and get rid of his image in my mind, but it only caused the pain to worsen.
Once I finished my food, I started walking again. I passed Tree Hill High and thought of all the memories I'd had in the last four years there, all of them involving Lucas. We had never really fit with the popular crowd, both of us liking to keep to ourselves. We were so much alike, Lucas and I; the silent type that would rather stay at home on the couch with a good book than go out and party, getting drunk and passing out on top of some random person from school. That all changed when he joined the basketball team.
He was forced into the spotlight, the popularity, the girls. They swooned over him and I had to stand by and watch him flirt with them and vice versa, making me feel sick to my stomach so much sometimes that I had to go to the bathroom. I wished he would look at me the way he looked at those other girls. We had been friends for over a decade and he never even once looked at me the way he did them. Of course, I knew I was nothing special to look at. I didn't dress in revealing clothes or wear my hair in a sexy way, if that was even possible. I wore layers of clothing like a white spaghetti shirt under long sleeved v-neck shirts, a flowery crocheted poncho, and on cold days, a long colorful scarf that most people of the 'in' crowd deemed 'a fashion monstrosity'. So why would he have even given me a second glance? I was comfortable being me, but it didn't hurt any less that he didn't feel the same as I did.
Soon, he was spending less time with me and more time with those other girls, more specifically Peyton and Brooke, two of the most popular girls in school, not to mention cheerleaders. I once came first in his life, next to his mom, but then I became second or third at best, maybe even fourth; who knows. To avoid the pain within me at slowly losing my best friend and the love of my life, I slowly pulled away from him, diving into my schoolwork, asking for extra credit, tutoring other kids…
By the time I had finally come up for air from my thoughts, I realized I was at the rivercourt. And he was there.
"What are you doing here," I asked crossly, angry that he had to be in the one place she was at that moment. "Last time I checked, this was a free court," he replied, becoming irritated at Haley's attitude towards him. "Last time I checked, you had run off to Charleston. Nobody comes here anymore, you know. Skills, Junk, Fergie…all of them; they didn't feel right playing here when you weren't here to play with them," I responded. "You do; you come here," he answered. I growled in annoyance, "You left them, you know. You left all your friends behind without even saying goodbye…" "Are you including yourself in that list," he cut her off abruptly. I glared at him, "No, I could care less if you said goodbye to me or not. We're not friends anymore, remember?"
"God Hales, when did you become such a cold-hearted bitch," he asked, venom dripping from his voice. I stared at him, stunned, for a moment before I glared at him, my tone dropping to low and menacing, "You know what Luke, f uck you! F uck you! I can't believe I ever stayed friends with you! You're such an ass hole! It's no wonder Brooke and Peyton hate your guts! Now go run off to your little girlfriend and take yourselves back to Charleston or wherever the hell you came from! Oh wait, that's a great idea! Go run off back to Hell; you are the son of Satan, after all! Just take yourself and Jess and hit the road. I hope you have a happy life together," I screamed sarcastically as I said her name with disgust, "or maybe you'll cheat on her like you did Brooke and somewhere down the line you'll knock both of them up! Like father, like son, Lukie. You're more like him than you think. And right now, you are Dan. Why don't you do what he did and leave Tree Hill, only this time, stay away for good!"
I was breathing heavily by now from my long tirade, but managed to spin on my heel and run away, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Lucas' POV
Just like the many times two months ago, I stood there shocked to the core. How could she say such harsh words to me, especially about…about comparing me to Him? Best friends were supposed to keep each other's secrets, help calm their fears; not use it against them. She knew my deepest fears and knew it would hit harder than anything else ever would. Ever since I was young, I had feared becoming my father. I didn't want to become the hot tempered, conniving, controlling person that he was; and that was talking nice about him. As I grew older and began to go to parties, get drunk, and ultimately have sex, especially after the pregnancy scare with Brooke, I had feared becoming even more like him than ever; to be in a situation where I had gotten a girl pregnant at such a young age, not to mention what it would be like if I had gotten two girls pregnant.
But one of the things that did hurt the most was what she said to me last. 'Why don't you do what he did and leave Tree Hill, only this time, stay away for good!' I wished I could take away her pain; for me to love her the way she wanted so she would never have had to experience all this heartbreak I knew she was feeling. Haley had never really dated any guys, always busy doing her own thing or hanging out with me. I had known that when she really liked a guy, she would fall for him; and I knew she had done the same with me, only harder than ever before. I had felt it in her kiss that night two months ago when I found her on my doorstep in her duck pajamas I had gotten her for her sixteenth birthday. I knew it was hard for her to admit her feelings to me, knowing that she might be risking our friendship. And I was so proud of her for being so brave. If only I could return her feelings.
"Someday Haley, someday I will love you like that," I stated to the empty court, resolving to do just that; I would learn to love her, even if it was just to take away her pain.
Haley's POV
I tried to think about anything and everything else but him; the weather, what the next rumor around Tree Hill High would be, school, tutoring, Nathan… Nathan. I smiled through my tears. I had been tutoring him for about six months and he had greatly changed from the person he used to be, so like his father. He was nicer, more caring than he once was. Of course he still had a temper, but he was different now. He opened up to me and showed his emotions more, while still keeping that 'tough guy' persona he used for the other students of Tree Hill High.
In the last couple weeks, with Lucas gone, I had thought more about Nathan. I felt as if I was beginning to like him, maybe even love him. He resembled Lucas in some ways more than Nathan would ever like to admit, but I liked that about him. Now with Lucas most likely out of the way, maybe it was possible that I could move on from my love for Lucas and fall in love with Nathan.
I had seen some of the subtle signs Nathan had sent me that he possibly wanted more during out tutoring sessions. He would carefully push some hair that had fallen in my face, tell me my eyes were beautiful, brush his hand against mine, little things like that. I decided to see if he really felt the same way so I set off in a run to his apartment, the place he had rented after getting emancipated from his parents at only seventeen years old.
I rushed up the steps of his apartment complex and quickly strode to apartment number eleven and knocked on the door. I knew it might take him a little bit to get to the door, as it was late at night and I must be disturbing his 'beauty sleep'. He answered a few minutes later, rubbing his face with his hand then blinking as he stared at me. "Haley," he asked confusedly. I quickly walked up to him and brought my lips crashing down onto his, wrapping my arms around his neck, as I managed to mumble through the kiss, "Can I stay here tonight?" I took my arms from around him and slowly started to pull my jean jacket off as we continued to kiss. He nodded with our lips still locked as he closed the door shut.
Author's Note: Okay, I wanted to thank all of you for taking the time to write such WONDERFUL, AMAZING reviews that I got for this story and each chapter! You guys ROCK! Thank you all for reading my story and I just can't thank you enough for all the great feedback I got! I know this story didn't have a happy ending, at least not for Laley, but I did say at the beginning of this story that would be a not-so-loving Laley story. Anyways, again, thank you all for reading and reviewing! This is my first finished Laley story besides my one parters! Yay! I'm sad to see this story finished but glad that I finally did get it done for you guys. I will be trying to update my other stories soon so look out for updates!
