Author's Note: Hey, all. Thanks for the great replies. I'm sorry if this chapter sucks, but please, tell me what you think anyway. Enjoy.
--OTH--
"Nathan, are you in here?"
After her phone call with Nathan the night before, it had taken Brooke over an hour to clam her down and convince her that she didn't do anything wrong. When she was finally done crying, Lucas had walked her and Brooke back to Brooke's house for yet another sleepover. Throughout the entire time that Nathan and Haley had been going out, whenever they got in a fight, Haley either slept over at Brooke or Peyton's, or they stayed at her house. Needless to say, they hardly ever slept alone. The two of them had stayed up all night talking about both Lucas and Nathan, before finally passing out on the couch during Can't Hardly Wait.
"Nate!" Haley called out again, stepping into the apartment and closing the door behind her. She looked around at all the candles and she had to stop herself from thinking about what was supposed to happen that night before. She walked further into the house. "Nathan, are you home?"
She couldn't believe that he wasn't there. It was almost two in the afternoon and he was nowhere to be seen. She had no idea where he could be, since she knew from Luke that they had no basketball plans and she knew that there was no possible way that he would go to either of his parent's homes. Deciding it was the only thing she hadn't tried, she pulled out her cell and dialed Nathan's.
"Hey, you've reached Nathan's cell, if you haven't noticed I'm either not available or I checked the caller ID and don't want to talk to you. Whatever it is, do your business and I might call you back."
Beep
Figuring that he didn't want to talk to her; she hung up the phone without leaving a message. He never called anyone back anyway. Sensing that staying there and seeing everything he had set up for last night was only going to make her feel worse, she moved to the door. When she was just a few feet away from it, there was a knock. She looked at it in surprise for a moment before coming to her senses and pulling it open.
Peyton.
"Hey," she greeted her coldly. She was still upset at her for what happened in the washroom of the restaurant. She hated it when people lied to her, and Peyton obviously was doing just that.
"Hey," Peyton replied back, clearly surprised to see her there. Brooke had called her as soon as Haley had left that morning, telling her everything that happened. She was under the impression that Nathan didn't ask Haley to move in.
"What are you doing here?" Haley asked, not keeping the anger out of her voice. She didn't have the energy to play nice with Peyton right now, and more importantly, she didn't want to. "Come to conspire some more with my boyfriend? You guys making up some more plans to lie to me?"
"Haley, come on," Peyton tried. Haley stood there, arms folded across her chest, signaling that she was listening. Peyton looked down the hall at the people coming in and out of their apartments. "Do you mind if I come in?"
"I don't see why not," Haley sniped, moving aside to make room for the blonde to walk past her. She closed the door after Peyton was in. "Although, you'll be happy to know that it isn't my apartment. You got your wish, we're not living together and by the sounds of it, we never will be."
"Yeah," Peyton sighed, bowing her head. She had no idea why she thought it was a good idea to come in. She had just come over there to ask Nathan what the hell happened last night. Apparently, Haley had the same idea. "Ah, Brooke told me what happened."
"Of course she did," Haley mumbled. She should have known that Brooke was going to go running to Peyton to tell her everything. That girl was what most people called a gossip whore, she just gave it away. "So what, you came to rub it in or something? Do your little 'I told you so' dance?"
"You know I only do that to Jake," Peyton replied, trying to lighten the mood. By the look on Haley's face, she wasn't going for it. Yep, this was definitely a bad idea, they were getting nowhere and she assumed they were going to stay on that track.
"So are you happy now?" Haley asked in a hurt tone. She chaste herself for not hiding it better, but she just couldn't help it. Peyton's head shot up and locked she eyes Haley.
"Why would I be happy?"
"Well, you were right," Haley explained. There was voice inside her head telling her that she should just shut up, but like every other human being on the face of the earth, she ignored it. "You said that it was bad idea, that I'd get hurt, and guess what? I'm hurt, so you were right."
"Oh, yeah," Peyton retorted, not thrilled with Haley at the moment. "I'm jumping for frickin joy right now, can't you tell? Nothing makes me happier than seeing my best friend in pain, I just thrive off it." Haley could tell by the tone in her voice that she was not in the mood to play games right now.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. She didn't want to do this. It was hard enough not talking to her boyfriend, she didn't need to be fighting with her best friend too. She let out a groan and ran a hand through her hair. "I shouldn't have said that."
"No, you shouldn't have," Peyton joked, but in a serious voice. Haley knew by the look on her face that she was just kidding though. "Look, I hate fighting with you, Hales, nothing makes me feel worse."
"I know what you mean," Haley commented. There wasn't anything that made her feel worse than when she was fighting with someone. "This one time in fifth grade, Luke and I got in this huge fight and we didn't talk for like two weeks. That was when I realized that I had no other friends."
"I would've hung out with you," Peyton replied, with a smile. Haley laughed and nodded her head in thanks. Peyton looked around the apartment and noted the set up. She was surprised that he went to all this trouble and even more surprised that he would blow it. "So, he didn't say what happened last night?"
"Nope," Haley answered, once again her feelings were totally readable. She was one of those people that were so easy to read, she was never good at hiding her feelings. She could if she had to, but if she was really upset about something, everyone knew. "I called his cell and he sounded like he was in a car, but I'm not sure. He just said that it was a bad idea and that we shouldn't do it after all."
"No reason?" Haley shook her head and Peyton gave her a sad smile. "That's weird. I'm sorry, I know how excited you were about it."
"Thanks," Haley mumbled. "I thought you might know what was going on."
"Why would I know what he's up to?" Peyton asked, truly surprised by her comment. She was last person that would know what was going on with Nathan.
"I just thought that maybe this had something to do with your little warning," she explained. She was careful not to sound accusing; the last thing she wanted was to get into another fight with the blonde. That was the last thing she needed right now. "Whatever it is that you can't tell me."
"Hales..."
"Look, whatever," she said, trying to tell her that she didn't want to have this conversation. Yes, she was still upset that Peyton was lying to her, but it looked like that wasn't going to stop so she just wanted to get over it for now and they could talk it out later. "I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Well, I do," Peyton stated. She put her hands on her hips. She had thought this over and has come to a decision. She was going to tell Haley what was going on. Nathan said that he wasn't going to hurt Haley again and he did just that last night. Plus, it looked like all signs pointed to cheating again and she had told him that if she even had a suspicion that he was seeing someone else again, then she was going to come clean.
"What is there to talk about?" Haley snapped, finally reaching her breaking point. He boyfriend was missing and her best friend was lying to her. Her parents were never home and she was starting to lose it. She didn't know how much more she could take. "You've been lying to me for the past...you knows how long. Do you really think that now is the best time to be talking about this?"
"I really don't see why not," Peyton answered. She felt bad for Haley, she really did, and she knew that telling Haley right now wasn't exactly the best idea she's ever had, but she needed to tell her now before she lost her nerve. She took a step towards Haley. "Look, I hate that this thing is between us and I just want to be honest with you."
"Yeah, I know," Haley sighed, running a shaky hand through her hair. She didn't know what the hell was going on. Just two days ago, she was happy, and now she felt like she was breaking. "I guess it's about time that somebody around here told the truth, right?"
"Who would have thought that it's be me," Peyton laughed nervously. She was scared to death that it was too late to come clean, that Haley wasn't going to be able to forgive her.
"Is this going to hurt?"
"Yeah, it really is," Peyton told her, not seeing the point in lying to her anymore. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, this is really hard to tell you, so I'm just going to come right out and say..."
Ring, Ring
"Go ahead," Haley told Peyton. She knew that if Peyton stopped now, she wasn't going to be able to start up again. A stroke of courage like that only comes up once for a person like Peyton. "The machine can get it."
"No, get it," Peyton insisted. She needed time to think about what she was going to say anyway. "It might be Nathan." Haley was about to argue, but decided against it, knowing that Peyton would win. She let out a frustrated breath and stalked over to the phone. She pressed the talk button, putting it on speakerphone so Peyton could hear.
"Hello?" Peyton felt really sorry for whoever was on the other end. It was never fun dealing with an angry Haley, not fun at all.
"Hello," the man called back. Neither Haley nor Peyton recognized the voice that came through. They shared a confused expression. "This is Dr. Mitchell O'Neil, from the Tree Hill Free Clinic. Is Nathan Scott there?"
"Uh, no he's not," Haley answered in a softer voice then before. Why would a doctor be calling Nathan? She was suddenly worried that something was wrong with Nathan. "But I can take a message."
"I'm sorry, who am I speaking to?"
"This is his girlfriend," she answered, annoyed that the man hadn't answered her yet. Peyton could tell that Haley was starting to get worried so she walked over to her and laid a hand on her lower back to try and calm her down.
"Oh, I didn't realize." By the tone in his voice, it sounded to Haley that he knew her, but he certainly didn't. "Well, I was going to be calling you next anyway. I was just calling Mr. Scott to tell him that we got the test results back."
"Test result?" she asked, more to herself than the doctor. She glanced at the blonde to see if she knew what was going on. Peyton shook her head.
"Yes, the paternity tests," he clarified. Haley's stomach topped to her feet and blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision. "It appears that Mr. Scott is the father for your baby."
"My baby?" she whispered. Without realizing it, her hand found it's way to her stomach. She fought to get past the thump that had formed in her throat. "What baby?"
"Who is this?" he asked, flipping through his papers. He found the mother's name. "Is this not Mrs. Roberts?"
"No," Haley choked out. Peyton closed her eyes and brought her free hand to rest on Haley's shoulder. This was so not good. "This is Haley James, Nathan's girlfriend. What's going on?"
"I'm sorry," he stuttered out. "There's been a mistake. I thought you were someone else. I should really be going now..." Haley finally caught up on everything he had said.
"Wait," she exclaimed. "Wait, did you say Roberts?" Peyton sighed, hoping she didn't catch that bit. She was never going to involve Lacy in this, she didn't know, it wasn't her fault. Looks like it's too late. "As in Lacy Roberts?"
"Yes," he answered with a sigh. "That's what it says. I'm sorry to cause any trouble, ma'am. I made a terrible mistake." Before she could say anything else, the doctor hung up, leaving the dial tone as the only sound in Nathan's apartment. Both girls stood in silence, afraid to talk.
"Hales," Peyton tried, pulling on Haley's shoulder so she turned around. She tried to pull Haley into a hug, but Haley pushed her away. She glared at the blonde, tears just making their way down her cheeks. "Hales..."
"You knew," she stated, staring Peyton directly in the eyes. As much as she wanted to, Peyton refused to look away. "You knew about all of this. That's what you didn't want to tell me."
"I knew about the cheating, yes," Peyton answered. "but not about the pregnacy." She took a step forward,but stopped when Haley took a step back. "It was that night at the club, when he left after that fight you guys had. I saw them come back in."
"Him and Lacy," Haley clarified, wanting to make sure that the doctor was right. She would hate to kill the wrong girl.
"Hales..."
"I'm friends call me Hales," she interrupted her. Peyton flinched at the commented, it cutting through her like a knife. This was not how this was supposed to go. Yes, she knew that Haley was not going to be happy, but she didn't think it would be this bad. "If I was your friend, you would have told me."
"Haley, you are my friend," Peyton declared. "My best friend. Please, I was stupid and I know I should have told you. I should've listened to Brooke instead of Nathan..."
"Whoa, whoa," Haley called out, holding up her hands to stop her. "Brooke knew about this too?" Peyton's eyes widened, not believing that she was stupid enough to drag Brooke into this whole thing. She was not going to be pleased.
"A little."
"Un-freaking-believable!"
"She wanted to tell you," Peyton added quickly. The last thing she wanted to do was get Brooke in trouble. "She told me I should, but I won't listen. Don't be mad at her."
"And Lacy?" Haley questioned in a tight voice. "What about her?"
"She didn't know," Peyton explained. "That night at the club, she didn't know that he had a girlfriend, it wasn't her fault."
"I don't even know why you're defending them." Haley shook her head and walked to the door. Peyton quickly followed. She reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Haley, please," Peyton cried. She knew that if Haley walked out that door, she was never going to talk to her again. And that was something that Peyton wasn't about to let happen. "We didn't want to hurt you, I didn't want to hurt you."
"Really?" Haley snapped, pulling her arm out of Peyton's grip. "Well, I just found out that my boyfriend cheated on me with one of my friends and that she's pregnant with his kid. And to top it off, my two best friends knew about it the entire time and didn't bother to tell me." She glared at Peyton as she opened the door. "Yeah, how do you think I feel now?"
Peyton didn't know what to say. Haley just shook her head and walked out the door, slamming it when she was out. It took the tears a few moments to make their presents, but when they did, they wouldn't stop. Peyton leaned against the door and slowly slid to the floor. She rested her head on her knee as she cried. She blew it and she had no idea how she could fix it. For the first time since her mother died, she felt completely lost.
--OTH--
That's all. Sorry it took so long and I'm so sorry if it sucks. I really don't have the time or energy right now to re-read this, so if it's horrible, again, I'm sorry. Please tell me what you all think and I'll try to update again really soon.
