Author's Note: Hey everyone. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I hope you guys continue to enjoy this fic and follow the gang as they head into another rough patch. Anyway, please enjoy.
-OTH-
"Come on, Hales. You have to face her sometime."
It's been a week since Nathan and Haley had called it quits and the only person that Haley was willing to see was Brooke and Lucas. Still, even after a seven day cooling off period, Haley hasn't seen or talked to Peyton. Her heart was telling her that Peyton was just trying to look out for her, but her head kept telling her over and over again that Peyton lied to her. And when everything was said and done, that's what it came down to; Peyton had betrayed her. She knew something that Haley absolutely needed to know, but she didn't tell her. And the blonde couldn't even use the excuse that she couldn't find the right time, she had a freaking month!
"You see, that's not true," Haley replied, shaking her head. She and Brooke were getting ready to go up to her parent's cabin for a few days; it was something that was planned at the beginning of the summer. "I could easily avoid her for the rest of my life."
"She's you're best friend," Brooke replied. "Other than me, of course." Haley shook her head and threw the last pair of jeans into her suitcase. She looked around her room, deciding that she had everything she needed.
"Not anymore."
"Okay, we both know that's a big lie," Brooke shot at her, sighing and flopping down on the bed. Haley lifted the huge suitcase off the bed and dropped in on the floor before plopping down beside Brooke. "You, Haley James, do not have it in you to stop caring about someone."
"I'll have you know," Haley began, kicking Brooke lightly in the shins. "That I can hate someone and love them all at the same time. It's like my super power or something." Brooke turned her head to look at Haley with questioning eyes.
"And how do you mange that?" Brooke didn't even know why they were having this conversation because whether Haley wanted to see Peyton or not, she was going to. Hell, she was going to be spending the whole weekend with her. Haley just didn't know that yet.
"Take my parents for example," Haley answered. The first thought that came to her mind when she mentioned anything about love or hate, as Nathan. She shook her head, wanting to get the image of his face out of her mind. "I mean, yeah, they're never here, but I still love them, I would be devastated if anything happened to them…"
"But you can't help but hate them for always leaving you alone," Brooke finished for her. Brooke nodded, understanding what Haley was saying. "Okay, so you win. You can love and hate at the same time." She turned her head away from Haley and looked back up at the ceiling. "Is that the way you feel about Peyton?"
"I think so," Haley answered with a sigh. "I don't know. I don't think I hate her, per say. I think it's more like I'm carrying a strong dislike for her at the moment." That was the thing she hated most about being mad at people. Nothing was more frustrating than not being able to hate someone.
"I see," Brooke sighed. She waited another moment before slowly rolled off the side of the bed. "Well, now that we've got you all packed, and a day early I might add, can we please go over to Luke's now?"
"God, you are so pathetic," Haley groaned as she followed her friend's movements and got off the bed. Brooke had been bothering her non stop to go over to Luke's house, claiming she hadn't gotten any alone time with him almost an entire week because she was here, playing fixer-upper. "You can't even wait another day?"
"Why wait when I can have him now?" Brooke smirked, shrugging her shoulders and skipping towards the door. Haley waited a moment, trying to remember how on earth they had convinced her into still going on this trip. God, and entire weekend alone with Brooke and Lucas, that would be bundles of fun. She groaned again and started after Brooke.
"Have I told you yet how much I'm going to enjoy being the third wheel all weekend?" she asked as she descended the stairs to find Brooke already waiting impatiently at the front door. She noticed right away when Brooke flinched. She stopped in the middle of the stairs. "What was that?"
"What was what?" Brooke asked, telling herself over and over in her head to keep cool. This plan was never going to work if she opened her big mouth. Then again, she was never good at keeping her mouth shut.
"That thing you did when I said I was going to be the third wheel," Haley explained, knowing full and well that Brooke knew exactly what she was talking about. She moved down the rest of the steps and walked over to meet Brooke at the door.
"What thing?" Brooke was not good under pressure. And with Haley's intense stare, she was sure to crumble. "Seriously, Hales, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"What are you up to?" Haley took a single step forward, so that she and Brooke were not more than and inch apart. She watched the emotions play on Brooke's face. She smiled slightly, glad that she was at least intimating to someone. Finally Brooke cracked and let out a puff of air.
"Okay, okay," she surrendered, holding her hands up in the air. "It's not just going to be the three of us like I told you." Haley's eyes widened at her confession.
"What?" Brooke frowned and slumped her shoulders. Lucas was going to be so mad at her for not being able to keep this a secret. She found the anger in Haley's eyes at be very nerve wracking and quickly looked away.
"Peyton, Jake, Tim and Lacy are coming up to," she explained in a rush. Before Haley could yell, she continued on. "I'm sorry, but we planned this at the beginning of the summer. I promised them they could go. What was I supposed to do?"
"Oh, I don't know, how about you say no!" Haley snapped. Suddenly, this bad weekend was turning into an absolutely horrible one. "I can't believe this. How could you not tell me, Tigger?"
"Cause we knew that you'd never come if you knew they were going to be there, too," Brooke answered. She should have known that this wasn't going to work. Even if she didn't tell her now, as soon as Haley saw their cars pulling up to the cabin, she would have lost it. And no one could hear their screams in the woods.
"Of course I wouldn't have come," Haley exclaimed. She shook her head and started to turn around. "Okay, so you guys have fun and call me when you get back." Brooke reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her around and holding her in place.
"Hales, you're coming," she stated. There was no way she was staying locked up in her house for one more day. She was starting to get worried about Haley's lack of a social life and she made it her mission to fix that. "There is no way that I'm letting you stay here all by yourself."
"I'll go stay over with Karen," Haley informed her. There was not one bone in her body that wanted to go to that cabin, but the part she hated the most was knowing that she would go. Brooke could always talk her into doing anything.
"She wouldn't let you stay," Brooke said, nixing that idea. She was in on it too; she loved Haley too much to see her in all this pain. She figured that getting her out of the house and made up with her friends was the best way to do that.
"She's in on it too?" Haley asked in disbelieve. Yep, she was definitely going now. The only thing she could do now was making their vacation just as miserable as her is. "This is going to be the weekend from hell."
"No, it won't," Brooke insisted, pulling Haley into a hug. "Everything will be perfectly fine. You don't even have to talk to Peyton if you don't want to. You know that she won't come to you. She'll wait for you to come to her." Haley shook her head and pulled back.
"It's not just that," Haley sighed. She looked down at the ground and slipped her feet into the shoes that Brooke had picked out for her. "I don't mind seeing Jake and Tim. God, I'm even semi cool with seeing Peyton, but just the thought of seeing Lacy…"
"Oh," was all Brooke could say. She had never really thought about that. She was focusing all of her energy on getting Haley and Peyton back together.
"She's having his baby, Tigger," Haley pointed out. Even now, after a week to digest the information, saying those words was like a knife to her heart. "I know it's not her fault, she didn't know, but how am I supposed to eat dinner at the same table as her?"
"I don't know." Brooke saw that Haley was starting to get upset and pulled her back into a hug. She rubbed her hand up and down Haley's back. Deciding that she didn't want to have a break down right now, Haley pulled back after a few moments and wiped at her eyes.
"How'd she get invited anyway?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound too bitter about the whole thing. "She wasn't around when we planned this little trip."
"Tim asked if she could come too," Brooke explained, looking at Haley with nothing but sympathy in her eyes. Haley found that to be quite annoying. There wasn't anything she hated more than being pitied. "We had room for one extra person. She took Nathan's place."
"Well, in that case," Haley smirked, realizing that things could be worse. "Lacy's more than welcome to come. She can even share a bed with me if she wants."
"I think Tim might have something to say about that," Brooke laughed, surprised at Haley's sudden change in attitude. Then again, she couldn't blame her. She couldn't even begin to imagine what things would be like if Nathan came on the trip.
"Oh, please," Haley huffed; waving her hand like it was nothing. "Are you kidding me? You know how Tim gets if I even mention sharing a bed with you. I really don't see him having a problem with me and Lacy sleeping together." Brooke laughed again and nodded her head.
"You do have a point," she concluded with a smile. She was so glad to see Haley joking about something. Even though she knew that Haley was still hurting over everything that happened with Nathan, she was just thankful that Haley could at least crack a smile.
"I always do," Haley added. She honestly couldn't believe that she was agreeing to this, but like Brooke said, she would have to face Peyton eventually and the same thing applied to Lacy. Besides, it sure beat hiding out in her room all weekend.
"How could I forget?"
"So, what do you say we get going, huh?" she suggested, smiling as the smile on Brooke's face widened. "I know how much you've been dying to have your Lucas smoochies."
"You read my mind, Tutor Girl." Haley laughed at the name; it had been ages since Brooke had called her that. Haley opened the door and they stepped out into the morning sun. Brooke draped her arm around Haley's shoulder and pulled her closer as they began to walk down the driveway. "Are you sure you're okay with this? Cause I'm not going to make you go if you aren't comfortable."
"I'll be okay," Haley assured her. She didn't know if that was true or not, but she was going to try her best to make it true. She had been looking forward to this trip all summer and she was not going to let Nathan screw it up for her.
"You sure?" Brooke was afraid that Haley wasn't really okay with this and was just going because she felt forced to. She would never forgive herself if Haley went and ended up getting hurt because of her.
"Positive," Haley nodded. Brooke nodded and dropped her arm, linking it through Haley's. Haley smiled at her and they continued their walk to Luke's house. Maybe this weekend wouldn't be as bad as she thought.
-OTH-
"So, what are you guys doing this weekend?"
Tim and Lacy hadn't really talked to any of the gang since they found out the news about the father. Lacy had considered lying to him, telling Tim that he was father, but she saw what lying did to relationships and decided that honesty was the best policy. They had been hanging out with Nathan a lot the past week, so they could discuss what was going to happen with the baby situation.
"We're supposed to be going up to Brooke's cabin this weekend," Tim answered as he picked up a French fry. He, Lacy and Nathan were currently eating lunch at a nice little restaurant just outside of town. They knew that Nathan and Haley had broken up, but they didn't know that Nathan had done the dumping; they had just assumed it was Haley that kicked him to the curb.
"Oh, they're still doing that?" Nathan asked, a little disappointment filling his voice. He remembered when they first decided to go up there, Haley had been so excited about spending the weekend up there alone with him.
"Yeah," Lacy replied softly. Even though Nathan brought this on him self, he couldn't help but feel a little bad for the guy. Not only had he lost his girlfriend, but his friends were leaving him behind too. "But I don't think we're gonna go."
"Why not?"
"For one, it'll be kind of awkward," Lacy explained, watching as Tim stuffed his mouth with more fries. Nathan nodded. "What with me having your baby and all."
"I guess I can see that," he answered. He noticed Lacy's hand rubbing her stomach. "But I bet this weekend would be a blast. Besides, I doubt Haley will even go. Last I heard, she isn't talking to Peyton." Lacy shrugged.
"It still doesn't seem right," she answered. She placed her fork back on her plate and began to stand up. "I'm going go to the ladies' room. I'll be right back."
"Don't fall in," Tim called out, once he was finished chewing his food. Lacy laughed and shook her head before disappearing behind the corner. Once Nathan was sure that Lacy was gone, he leaned forward in his chair.
"So you guys really aren't going?"
"Doesn't look like it." Tim reached forward and grabbed his glass, taking a huge sip of his Coke. He noticed Nathan staring at him strangely. "What?"
"I just think it's a waste," he answered. He found it totally unfair that he wasn't invited to go anymore. Brooke had planned this thing months ago; she shouldn't be allowed to back out like that. She couldn't just uninvited him. "I know if I had the chance to go, I certainly wouldn't turn it down."
"I know, but with everything that happened…"
"But sadly I got screwed out of my spot," Nathan sighed, putting on his best wounded puppy dog face. Tim, not realizing that Nathan was playing him, stopped sipping his drink. Nathan smirked internally as Tim's eyes lit up.
"With me and Lacy not going, there's room for two people," Tim suggested. Nathan nodded his head, playing along with him. "Why don't you take our place?"
"You think?" Nathan asked, not wanting to seem too eager. Tim nodded as Nathan shook his head. "No, I couldn't."
"Why not?" Tim asked. "Like you said, I'm sure Haley won't be going so there's no reason for you not to go."
"I guess…"
"Go," Tim insisted, practically pushing Nathan away from the table. "Call some girl to go with you and have fun for us." Deciding he better leave before Tim came to his senses, Nathan nodded and got up, pulling out his cell phone.
"Okay," he said quickly, slipping out of the booth. He searched through his pockets for some money and dropped in on the table for his part of the check. "Don't bother calling Brooke, I'll tell her that you guys can't make it when I phone to ask if I should bring anything."
"Thanks, man," Tim smiled like an idiot. Nathan couldn't believe that Tim could possibly be so stupid. Nathan waved and started to walk away. "Have fun!"
Nathan stepped out of the restaurant and searched for the number of the girl he had meet the other night at some bar. She was hot and willing so Nathan didn't hesitate. They had seen each other a couple times since. Nathan wasn't looking for a serious relationship and neither was she so they were both happy with open relationship they had.
He found her number and pressed send. After two rings she picked up.
"Hello?" He smiled at the sexy husk in her voice. There was just something about her that screamed sex. He could tell just by looking at her that she gets around and that was actually what drew him to her in the first place.
"Hey, Nicki," he greeted. "What are you doing this weekend?"
-OTH-
That's all for now. I hope you guys liked it. Please, tell me what you think and I'll update faster. Peace.
