I don't own One Tree Hill or any of the Characters or Flashbacks, just my plot.
By the time he got back in, it was almost ten. Nathan had actually brought along some business arrangements, and the two had looked over everything for the shop. Thankfully, they were still doing very well. Nathan was even aiming to expand into their own line of sportswear. That sounds like fun, Lucas thought with a smirk. Nathan had always had big dreams, and with Lucas's frugal accounting skills and shrewd business sense, they always succeeded in their various enterprises.
He shut the door softly behind him and found Peyton sitting up on the couch, leafing through the sketchbook of Anna's younger years. "You know, I never could understand why you didn't just cave and buy a camera. It must've taken up so much of your time to draw all of the pictures you have of her." His wife smiled up at him through a thin veiling of tears.
"The camera cost more than the pictures, and it was really like therapy for me. Besides, we both remember what a bad photographer I always was." They laughed a little, and he sat down beside her. "You don't know how sorry I am. I never would've even guessed. You don't have to be alone any more, you know. It's okay to cry, to be sad, and to go through the grieving process. You'll never be able to move on if you don't," he said ever so gently, hoping that she would listen to him. "You're right. It was always so hard, though…"
He waited for what seemed like hours, hoping she would complete the sentence that'd drifted off, leaving his hunger for information unsatisfied. "She had a full head of dark, straight blond hair, you know. Hayley was just as cute as Anna. I changed the spelling to help me forget her… it triggered less memories of this place when I thought of my daughter."
I never actually saw her alive, but I heard from the nurses that she had my eyes. In a way, I almost think she was lucky to die so young; she's too much like me for her own good. I could tell that just from the way she kicked; the way she responded to things. Does that seem strange? We would've hurt each other, shut each other out too much. It's built into our natures to do so. With Anna, though… with one look into those inquisitive eyes, that just seemed to probe so deeply into you, you couldn't help but open up to her. If her sister had lived, I'm positive they would have been best friends, possibly even closer that Alyssa and her are."
The hours passed, and he waited patiently as each painful detail was unwound, and held her ever time she had to pause, when the torrents of tears stored up deep inside found their way out. "I never knew what to do about it. I drew pictures of her too, you know. I kept them up in the attic, in some old box where Anna couldn't find them. I'm pretty sure that I have them hidden in one of the moving boxes upstairs, but I didn't bother to check when we got here. Luke, you would've loved her. I know you would have." The man, still relatively young but aged by so many tragedies, nodded understandingly. He was familiar with grief. When the whole story finally was finished, Peyton fell asleep in Luke's arms. He didn't have the strength left to wake her up and get her upstairs.
Jake lay in bed, stroking Anna's hair. He loved those curls so much. It drove him crazy whenever she left them down, since she usually had them up in a ponytail or headband. She turned toward him, head upturned the slightest bit, as if to plead for one more kiss. Jake considered giving in to his urge, but decided it would be more loving to just let her sleep. Slowly, she woke up, and her lips curved when she saw him. "Shouldn't you be out of bed finishing that trig homework?" "Well, I should, but watching you sleep is a lot more entertaining," he responded, watching as she slowly woke up and became more aware. "Why? Do I drool?" "Ceaselessly," he answered, and she giggled before getting out of bed and turning on the shower.
Fifteen minutes later, Jake had all his homework finished and was ready to leave for school… as soon as he got a chance at the shower. Glancing at his watch, he called out, "Anna, we need to hurry up! We don't have that much time!" "Oh, sorry! Here, just let me get dressed. Only five more minutes, I promise!" Shaking his head, he walked into the bathroom just as she was winding her hair up into the regular ponytail. "Anna, we only have thirty minutes left until we have to be at school in homeroom, so I'm gonna have to share the bathroom with you.
"Okay," she said, frowning as she tried to focus on the mascara wand in her hand. When the water came on, he felt it promptly go cold. Gritting his teeth, he hurried up. By the time he was out, Anna was downstairs with an English muffin and two boiled eggs ready for him, as well as a "now who's the slowpoke?" He smiled at the familiar routine, and they walked over to Alyssa and Adam's apartment.
"Why do we have to go to the spring formal?" Adam demanded from inside. "Because it'll be fun and we'll get to dress up, and you look really hot in a tux!" was Alyssa's reply. "Should we come back in about ten minutes?" Anna called out, smiling as she said it. "No, we're ready," Alyssa yelled, tumbling out the door with the tall basketball player on her heels. "Are you ready for a day with these two?" Jake inquired, and Adam chuckled. "Only if we face them together, man."
The rest of the school day was uneventful, and the four of them went home to their apartment complex afterward. "Jake, I was thinking about what Alyssa and Adam were saying. Maybe we should go to the formal too. I mean, it sounds like a lot of fun, and the one at my old school was great. Alyssa and I just hung out the whole night doing jell-o shots and dancing on the slow songs to freak people out." "I don't know… I mean, seriously, how would you afford the dress? Not to mention the fact that we would just be sitting there the whole night doing nothing…"
"Come on, Jake! I can use my bridesmaid's dress; it's pretty enough. We'll be doing something. We'll have dinner and dance and hang out with Alyssa and Adam and cut out a little early…" He smiled at her attempts to convince him. "Okay, fine. You do realize I'm going to be working a lot of over-time at your dad's sports shop now, right?" "I can pull an extra shift at the café. I was talking to Aunt Haley yesterday, and she said that they really need some extra help anyway. Please!" she pleaded, batting her eyelashes playfully. "Okay, fine. I know I'm going to regret this, but whatever makes you happy." She laughed and gave him a light kiss, which he quickly deepened.
"I'm worried about her, Nathan. Brooke hasn't been the same ever since she found out about Anna's pregnancy. I mean, she says she supports them and everything, but I can tell it's not the truth. Why can't she just accept that two crazy teenagers made a mistake, and now they're doing their best to fix it and make everything work out?" Haley questioned, pacing around one of the back rooms in the café. "That would mean letting go of Jake, and letting Jake be together with someone who she hasn't even taken the time or made the effort to get to know. It would be almost like having your six-year-old daughter go to someone you don't know at all, except that they were untrustworthy enough to get pregnant as an unwedded mother."
"I know this is hard for her; Peyton and her and I still talk a lot, but she's much more withdrawn. It seems like especially since Peyton got pregnant, and we started seeing Luke a lot more… I don't know. I just hope that she's okay." "She'll be fine. Brooke just needs her space, and then she'll become best friends with Anna." "I don't see that happening," Haley said with a sigh, and Nathan gave her a small kiss on the forehead, hoping that she wouldn't let it get to her so much.
"Jake, I'm serious! I refuse to come to their wedding! Do you know what this means? It means that his whole future is going down the drain! I understand the sacrifice that you made with Jenny and that we made later on for Jake, and do you really want him, much less this Anna character to go through that?" "Calm down sweetie. They're going to be fine. I didn't even have a job when I had Jenny, I was living under my parents' roof, and I had virtually no help with her. With Jake and Anna, they have each other, their own place, their own jobs, talent, and really high GPA's. This isn't all "that Anna character's" fault either, you know. Jake certainly didn't seem to object to the relationship. I might feel similarly, even agree with you, if this was another situation, but it isn't. The plain fact of the matter is, they love each other. Anna's pregnant. They can support themselves. There's nothing stopping them except a couple forms, and we've already signed those off whether you like it or not."
"I really wish that you didn't make so much sense, you know. Sometimes it makes me feel guilty for getting so flighty," his wife responded, defeat showing on her features. "That's okay. You're fine. Just get a good night's sleep, and tomorrow morning this'll all look a whole lot nicer. Besides, between you and Peyton, this will be like the wedding of the century." Brooke laughed, and her husband of sixteen years put his arm around her shoulder, giving her the lightest of pecks on the cheek.
Alyssa sat in the living room, trying to focus on her homework. Something was wrong… her back really hurt. No, it wasn't that… the numbers in her math book blurred, and she had to blink several times to get the pages back in focus. Then the pains started. They were soft at first, but soon they ripped through her stomach like a knife. At first she couldn't move; couldn't make a noise; then a spine-tingling scream tore its way from her throat. Adam came running into the room with a phone in his hand. "Yeah, my girlfriend's pregnant, and she really hurt. I need an ambulance now! Adam screamed, babbling the address out, hanging onto the young woman who he loved so dearly in the mean time. The ambulance came out, and before he knew it, Anna and Jake were piling in with him. No one spoke a word as the vehicle sped of into the sunset.
Sorry, I know it's a corny cliff-hanger and a little too short, but I have writer's block! Happy thanksgiving! Reply soon, and I'm open to suggestions on Alyssa and her baby. OnTheOutsideLookingIn