Author's
Note: Thank you all so much for the great replies. I can't get enough
of them. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the rest of them.
Please reply if you like it. Thanks.
OTH
"I'm
glad that you came."
Peyton had ended up sleeping over at
Haley's as well. Even though she knew that Brooke didn't want
anything to do with her, she wanted – no needed, to be there for
Haley. She stayed on the couch and set the alarm clock on her watch
to wake her up early. She did not want to have another run in with
Brooke, at least not until she cleared things up with Nathan. She
tossed and turned all night, trying to decide if she was doing the
right thing, going to see Nathan. All in all, she ended up getting a
total of four hours sleep and now she was about to have an
emotionally draining conversation. Today was going to be a long
one.
"You should be," Peyton answered shortly, pushing her
way passed him and into the apartment. She had no intention of making
small talk with him, she just cam to hear what he had to say and then
get out. "I almost didn't come."
"Well, I'm glad
that you did," he said again, shutting the door and joining her in
the living room.
"You said that already," she pointed
out, moving to stand beside the couch. Nathan watched her nervously,
not knowing how to start.
"Do you want anything?"
"I
don't plan on staying long." She moved away from the couch and
grabbed a magazine off the table and began flipping through it.
"Okay," he replied, trying to figure out where she stood
on the whole thing. For some reason he had expected her to be
accepting or something, but by the way she was acting, that wasn't
even an option for her.
"This place is a mess," Peyton
sighed, closing the magazine and tossing it back on the table. She
looked around, trying to find something to occupy her attention. She
couldn't just stand there and look at him, it made her blood boil,
and she didn't think that Haley would like it very much if she
killed her boyfriend. No matter how much of a jackass he was.
"Thanks," he said sarcastically. He picked up a dirty
shirt that was tossed over the back of the couch and threw it over in
the pile of other dirty clothes. "I try to make it as homey as
possible."
"Okay," Peyton stated, spinning around to
look at him. HE stopped in his tracks and shifted uncomfortably under
her gaze. "So, obviously this small talk thing isn't really
working for us."
"I don't know," he disagreed,
finishing his walk to the couch and sitting down on it. "I thought
we were doing okay." He was trying to lighten the mood, make the
place seem less tension filled and she was having none of it.
"Look,
Nathan," she began, walking over to stand in front of him, but
making sure that the coffee table was in between them. He looked up
at her, fear in his eyes.
"I know what you're going to
say," he interrupted her. He had been up all night as well,
thinking over all the horrible things that he had done over
throughout his relationship with Haley. He couldn't understand how
he could do all those things to the woman he loved.
"Then
sit back and relax," Peyton ordered him. She had all these feeling
of hatred and rage directed towards him and she needed to get them
out before she exploded. There was no way she was going to leave this
apartment without giving him hell for the way he had been treating
Haley. "Cause I have a lot of things to say."
"Are you
going to be sitting down during any of this?" he asked, already
feeling sick from watching her pace back and forth.
"No,"
she shot at him. "I pace when I'm angry."
"I
remember," he whispered, smiling to himself. She glanced over at
him and caught him smiling at her. Her eyes widened and she pointed a
finger at him.
"Don't you even try that crap on me," she
warned him. She knew all the little tricks he could play to get under
girl's skins and luckily she was so used to them after all their
years together that she was immune to them.
"Sorry." He
was so used to doing it that eh didn't even realize when he was
doing it. He slumped down further into his seat and bowed his head,
getting ready for the lecture he was going to get from Peyton.
"Now, I have a lot to say to you," she began. She stopped
pacing and looked at him. "And most of it will be yelling, so if
you have to go to the bathroom, I'd suggest you do it now because I
am not stopping in the middle for you."
"I think I'm
good."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked. He
flinched at the volume in her voice. Apparently she was just going to
jump in with both feet. Assuming that it was a rhetorical question,
he stayed silent. "That is really what's been bugging me since I
found out about all this crap. You say that it's because you don't
want to lose Haley, and I understand that, I don't want to lose her
either, but what were you thinking when you started sleeping with
those girls?"
"I didn't want to pressure her into doing
anything that she wasn't ready..."
"Oh, come off it,
Nate," she cut him off. He knew it was bad when he heard her call
him that. Most people tended to call him that a lot, but Peyton only
called him that when she was pissed off at him for something. "Don't
you dare give me that 'I did it for her' s hit. Haley is an
amazing person, probably the best one I know, and if you really loved
her the way you claim you do, than you would wait forever for
her."
"I wanted to," he said quietly. "I was going
to..."
"Than why?"
"Because I could," he
answered finally. He knew the answer all along; he just didn't wan
to admit it to himself. At least if he had a reason, even a stupid
one, then he would feel better about it.
"Yeah," Peyton
sighed, knowing that was the answer as well. "So, how much longer
do you plan on using her like this? Because sooner or later, she will
find out, whether I tell her or not. And when she does, she is going
to be devastated."
"I'm through with it."
"Through
with screwing around or through with Haley?"
"The first
one," he answered quickly. He looked up at her and could tell that
she was waiting for him to explain himself. He sighed and looked at
his lap. "After I left the Café and Lacy refused to come
back here with me..."
"I'm not liking where this is
going."
"It's not like that," he assured her. He
realized that it sounded like he was with another girl after her hurt
Haley. She motioned for him to continue. "When I got back here, my
dad was waiting for me."
"Gotta say," Peyton began.
"Didn't think I'd see the day when Dan Scott became the voice
of reason."
"We started talking about stuff, his hear
attack..." Peyton watched him play with a thread on his shirt,
knowing that he was having a lot of trouble with this. Nathan Scott
never avoided eye contact with anyone. "...How no one came to visit
him in the hospital."
"Surprise, surprise."
"Anyway,
he said something that really brought everything into
perspective."
"Let me guess," Peyton began. God, she
should have known where this was going as soon as he mentioned his
father. "He said that you were exactly like him?" Nathan's head
shoot up to look at her in shock. "It's no secret. That's why I
broke up with you in the first place. I didn't want to end up like
Karen."
This whole conversation was getting them nowhere.
Nathan had asked her over for one reason and one reason only, to get
her to keep her mouth shut. He wasn't sure if he was going to be
able to convince her, but he needed to try. He refused to lose Haley
to some stupid mistake he made. She was too important to him.
"Peyton, look," he started. Peyton immediately stopped
her movements, knowing what was coming. "I know that I don't
deserve any favors, especially from you, but I'm asking anyway.
Please, don't tell Haley about any of this."
"She's my
best friend, Nathan." Internally she was rolling her eyes at
herself. She wasn't being much of a best friend right now. "I
can't just lie to her face about this. It's too big."
"Please,
Pey," he begged. "It's all over. I'm never going to do it
again, I promise. I'm going to wait for her, until she's ready. I
swear to God, I wouldn't betray her again."
"How do I
know that?"
"You don't," he answered in a defeated
voice. "There is no way I can prove it to you, you can only trust
me."
"Trust you? This whole situation is really not
something to be using as a reason to trust you." Nathan knew that
he wasn't going to win her over that way. He was just going to have
to sink low and use the thing he knew would convince her.
"I
need her and she needs me," he stated. Peyton's eyes locked on
his for a moment before he adverted his eyes. "You said it yourself
that she would be devastated if she found out. She would never
forgive me. I would lose her forever."
"I can't believe
your using this against me."
"I don't want to, but it's
my last chance." He stood up. "She's happy, okay? I make her
happy and if you tell her then she'll be miserable. Neither of us
wants to see that." He could tell that she was starting to wear
down. "I'm never going to do it again, she never has to know."
He walked over to her. "She won't get hurt."
"Okay,"
Peyton whispered. The voice inside her head was screaming at her for
being so stupid. Everything in her was telling her she needed to tell
Haley everything, but her mouth wouldn't listen. She closed her
eyes and ran a hand through her hair. "God, I'm the worst best
friend ever."
"Thank you, Peyton."
"I didn't
do it for you," she snapped. "The only reason I'm agreeing to
this, is so Haley doesn't get hurt." She took a step forward. "I
swear to God, Nathan, if I even suspect that you are cheating on her
again, I'm telling her everything."
"You got it," he
nodded. He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and
finally let a smile break through. He started to move to the kitchen
to get something to eat, since he would be able to keep it down now.
"I'm telling Brooke," Peyton stated out of nowhere.
Nathan stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her, panic all
over his face.
"What?"
"She thinks that I'm
sleeping with you," she explained. "And trust me, she'll make
both our lives a living hell. I have no problem with her doing it to
you, but I didn't do anything." She started to walked to the
door.
"But..." She didn't stop.
"I'm telling
her." Without another word, she walked out of the apartment and
towards Haley's house.
OTH
Peyton walked into
the house to find it exactly the way she left it. She glanced at her
watch and figured that Brooke would be up by now. Haley generally
slept in anytime she could since she was always working at the Café,
so she doubted that she would be up yet. She shut the door and
ventured into the kitchen. Just as she suspected, Brooke was sitting
at the kitchen table eating breakfast.
"Hey."
"Back
already?" Brooke asked, coldly. "I didn't think Nathan could be
that fast." She pushed her chair back and stood up, moving over to
the sink to wash her dishes.
"It's not like that."
Brooke wiped around, glaring at her. She took a few steps closer and
crossed her arms.
"So what is it like?" she asked.
"Explain it to me. Cause I'm just dying to know."
"Pull
up a seat." Peyton turned around and sat down in the chair across
from where Brooke had just been sitting. Brooke eyed her for a moment
before making her way back to where she had been moments ago. She sat
down and looked at Peyton expectantly. Peyton took a deep breath, not
knowing where to start.
OTH
That's all for
now. I hope you all like it. Please tell me what you think. Thanks
for reading.
