Author's Note: Hello to everyone reading this. I'm glad that you're still into it. I promise that more drama will be coming up really soon, so don't worry about that. I wasn't sure if anyone was still interested in this, so if you are, please tell me so I know.
-OTH-
"You guys scared the hell out of me."
Tim
had been running a little late, because he and Lacy had gotten
sidetracked when she was helping him pick something out for her to
wear. Lacy was currently parking the car, saying that she didn't
trust Tim's driving skills. Tim didn't mind though, he was
totally smitten with her to care what she said. He was surprised that
Lacy had actually stayed with him for an entire week, but he was even
more surprised that he felt like he was falling in love with her. And
if he was reading the signs correctly, she might be feeling the same
way.
"We thought you were Karen," Jake explained, trying
to hold back a laugh at the petrified look on his friend's face.
"Sorry, to scare you."
"I'm not sorry," Brooke
admitted, stepping out from behind the counter. She stalked towards
him and he backed up slowly, clearly scared of what she was going to
do to him.
"Hey, Brookie," he greeted nervously, giving
her a little wave. She didn't stop her movements and continued to
walk towards him.
"Do not 'Hey Brookie' me, mister,"
she warned him, holding up a finger so it was in his face. "You
just ruined the surprise. I can't believe you blew it." He,
thinking she was just joking, took a step forward and wrapped an arm
around her shoulder.
"Aw, come on," he tried. "Don't
you think you might be overreacting just a little bit?" The glare
she sent him was completely lost on him. The gang watched them and
shook their hands at Tim's mistake. Defiantly not something he
should have done.
"You're lucky that I'm already a
little buzzed and I can't tell which one of you I should be
hitting," she told him, stepping out of his grip. She held up her
hand that had her cup in it. "Just for this, I'm going to make
you do something tonight that will be really
embarrassing."
"Sweetie," Luke interrupted, stepping out
from behind the counter. "Do you really think that's completely
necessary?" She wiped around and leered at him. Tim smiled; glad to
have the heat of him. He took this opportunity to slip past her and
join the others at the counter.
"I'll make you do it do,"
she shot at him. "Now, what could I get you and Tim to do together
that would be really embarrassing?" Haley's eyes lite up and she
raised her hand.
"Oh, how about pay back for all those
lesbian jokes Tim makes?"
"Good idea, Hales," Brooke
cheered, a smile replacing the tight frown she was wearing before.
"It's no wonder why you're considered the smart one in the
group." Brooke sauntered past her wide-eyed boyfriend and stood
beside Haley. Luke stared at the spot his girl was just standing in
for another moment before turning around, looking at her with
pleading eyes.
"She was joking, weren't you, Hales?" he
begged, looking at Haley with his lost puppy dog eyes. "Tell her
you were joking." Haley could only take it for a moment longer
before bursting out laughing at the real fear she could see in her
best buddy's eyes.
"I was joking," she told Brooke,
bumping her with her shoulder. Brooke pretended to pout, but soon a
smile broke through. "I think you should just stick to ruining
Tim's life." Luke let out a breath, glad that he wasn't going
to be subjected to Brooke's wrath and rejoined them.
"Hey,
guys," Lacy greeted, just walking through the door. Everyone turned
to smile and wave at her. They were all surprised at the fact that
they actually liked her. They figured that if she could like Tim,
then she had to be an airhead, but it turns out that she's really a
great girl.
"Hey! "they all called at the same time. Tim
walked over to her and hugged her, giving her a sweet kiss on the
lips. Before he could say something, Lacy cut him off.
"Just
thought you all might to know, I saw Karen's pulling onto the
street right before I came in."
"Okay, everybody hide!"
Keith instructed. Luckily almost everyone was still in their hiding
spots from before, so they could hidden quickly enough. Lacy and Tim
joined the others behind the counter; Brooke had Tim by the ear so he
couldn't do anything stupid. "Nobody say
anything."
"Okay."
"Shut up, Tim!" Brooke
scolded him, giving his ear a pull. Before he could let out a yelp,
Brooke covered his mouth so he wouldn't make any noise. She
squeezed on his ear harder to make sure he kept his mouth shut.
Karen frowned when she saw that the Café's lights
were off. Deb had told her that she had everything under control for
the day, to go out and get pampered. She shrugged it off and opened
the door. Just when everyone was about to yell surprise, they were
cut off.
"God, Brooke, let go!" Tim screeched, jumping up
from behind the counter. Karen jumped in surprise at the sudden out
burst and quickly flicked on the lights to find Tim standing alone,
holding his ear and trying to fight back the tears.
"Tim?"
Tim's eyes widened when he realized what he had done. He looked at
her and then looked around at all the people in their hiding places.
He waved at her.
"Surprise?" It wasn't until just then
that she looked around and noticed all the decorations that were hung
up around the Café.
"What's going on?" Deciding
now was the best time to do it, everybody jumped up.
"Surprise!"
Karen was quite happy and very surprised to see everyone there and
they all made their way over to wish her a happy birthday. Tim took
two steps before he felt someone grab his collar and pull him back.
"I'm sorry, Brooke," he told her, trying to get free
from her hold. He finally got free and bolt around the counter,
Brooke chasing after him
"I'm going to kill you!"
Everybody just ignored their game of tag and began to converse among
themselves. Karen looked away from the conversation she was having
with Deb to see Haley wrapped in Nathan's arms, a huge smile
plastered on her face as they talked to Jake, Peyton and
Luke.
"Excuse me," she told Deb and made her way over to
them. They all greeted her with a happy birthday, which she thanked
them for. "I was wondering if I could talk to Haley and Nathan
alone for a minute."
"Sure," Luke nodded; figure this
had something to do what happened last week.
"Yeah,"
Peyton agreed, pulling on Jake's shirtsleeve. "We should probably
go rescue Tim." She pointed to where Brooke had Tim laid out on the
floor, with both hands pinned behind his back. She was sitting on
him, pulling his head back by his hair while he shrieked. Lacy was
standing by, watching the scene in amusement, as were many other
partygoers.
"Tell them I said hi," Karen smiled. They all
nodded before making their way over to join the massacre leaving
Haley Nathan alone with Karen.
"So, do you like the party?"
Haley asked, getting a little uncomfortable with the situation. She
had never felt uncomfortable around Karen, ever. She was like her
mother. Karen smiled sweetly at her, wanting her to know that she
wasn't coming to yell at them or anything.
"I love it,"
she answered, giving Haley a huge hug. "Thank you guys so much.
When did you guys plan this?"
"Luke and I had started
planning it a while ago," she explained. "We just figured that
you should get a great birthday for once and we were more than happy
to make it happen."
"Well, thank you," she said again.
She looked up at Nathan, who was standing by and listening to the
whole conversation. He looked a little scared of her, so she decided
to lighten the mood. "Hey, Nate, can I get you a coffee?"
"No,
thanks," he answered, finally cracking a smile. Haley watched the
exchange in confusion and it was written on her face. "She dumped
hot coffee on my pants that night after you ran off."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"That's so sweet," she gushed,
crushing Karen in a bear hug. Nathan and Karen both laughed at her
antics.
"Gee," Nathan cut in. "Thanks, baby." Haley
pulled out of the hug and smacked him in the stomach. She didn't
mean it like that and he knew it, she just thought it was nice that
Karen cared that much about her to do that to Nathan.
"You
were being a big meanie." She snuggled back into his arms and he
kissed her on the head, letting her know that she was right. Nathan
still couldn't believe that he had lost his control that badly.
Haley caught the look in Karen's eyes, she wanted to talk and it
wasn't with her. She pulled out of Nathan's grip. "I'm just
gonna go over there for a bit..." Without waiting for a reply, she
walked away and joined the others.
"I take it, this is the
big 'mother to boyfriend' talk?"
"Let's move this
into the kitchen," she suggested, motioning towards the room. He
nodded and led the way, having just been back there with Haley only
half an hour ago. Haley watched them exit, a smile on her face at how
protective Karen was being. She was glad to know that someone cared
about her.
"So, what did you want to say to me?" Nathan
asked once they were in the kitchen. He didn't think this was going
to take long so he didn't grab a seat.
"My kids worked
really hard to throw this party for me," Karen began, waving her
hand to the door they had just come through. "And I don't want to
insult them by spending the whole time back here with you, so why
don't we make this as quick as possible?"
"Works for
me," he answered, surprised at the sudden attitude change she
demonstrated. He had only ever seen her like this once before and
that was whens he was yelling at his dad to stay away from Luke. This
was definitely the mother/boyfriend talk he was dreading.
"Okay,
so I'm going to just jump right to my point," she told him. She
took a deep breath. "No matter what anyone says, Haley is my
daughter. She is my family, okay? And nothing is more important to me
than my family."
"I know that..."
"I've seen
the way her parents treat her and it makes me sick," she continued,
ignoring Nathan's comment. "Nothing hurts her the way they do
when they leave her alone."
"I know that too..."
"And
if I ever hear you say anything to Haley like what you said to her
last week again, I'm going to do more than pour hot coffee on you,
you understand?" He gulped and took a step back before nodding. He
finally found his voice.
"Yes, ma'am," he answered.
Whoa, he had never called anyone ma'am before in his entire life.
He never knew Karen could be so scary. He suddenly felt really bad
for Lucas.
"Good," she said, going back to her regularly
sweet self. She patted him on the chest twice before turning and
walking to the door. Just before Nathan was about to let out a sigh
of relief, she wiped around. "Oh and one more thing."
"Yes?"
"I
love Haley very much,"she began, her voice going back to the scary
one she was using before. "And if I ever see her crying because of
something you said or did to her...just don't, okay?"
"Okay,"
he nodded, frantically. Her face immediately lite up again and she
gave him one of her best smile before turning and walking back to the
party. He let out another breath, happy to finally be alone. Suddenly
he heard a scream come from the front room and he ran to see what it
was.
"Brooke, please!" Tim cried from his position on the
floor. He wiggled to get free, but it was no use. "I'm sorry, I
didn't mean to." Brooke just pulled on his hair harder causing
everyone to laugh. Nathan shook his head and walked over to Haley,
trying to ignore Karen's glare as he did so. He reached Haley and
brought her into his arms.
"Hey, baby," Haley greeted
him, turning her attention away from the 'fight' to kiss her
boyfriend. "Everything okay? You survived the wrath of Karen?"
"For now," he answered. The things she said were really
getting to him. She said that she didn't want him to hurt her and
he didn't want to either, but he knew that he would. No matter how
much he tried and no matter how much he lied, he was going to hurt
Haley. Maybe too much that even she couldn't forgive him.
-OTH-
All done for now. Once again, thanks so much for
the replies. Please keep them coming and tell me if you liked this
chapter. I'm not sure if it was any good, so I need to know what
you all think. Thanks for reading.
