A Way of Working Out

Chapter 13

This chapter is the first of the time jumps that I alluded to. It takes place two years after Haley made her decision.

The things in italics are flashbacks.

Haley sat on her knees in the attic, moving boxes. "Where is it!" she shouted, the tears in her eyes briefly forgotten. She knew it was here somewhere amongst all of her crap. She hadn't been up her since moving in, and knew that it would be where ever Lucas had left it.

He'd been up here, trying to organize. Like everyone else, he claimed she had too much stuff. But he had also said that if she insisted on keeping everything, it should somehow be organized. She'd tried, countless times, but never succeeded, that was one of the things she loved about having her own house…having her own storage space.

She'd known that he had been coming up here and that he was going through her stuff. But somehow, in the short months they'd been dating, she'd forgotten about 'the box.' Heck, she didn't even know that he'd found it.

Haley remembered the day he told her, like it was yesterday, instead of two years in the past. She'd honestly believed that they would never talk again, and they hadn't since that day…

As Haley pulled up to her house, she was surprised to see Lucas sitting on her front porch. Stepping out of the car, she approached him, "Lucas?"

"Hi Hales."

"What are you doing here?"

"You said we could still be friends, right?"

"Of course."

"There's something I thought you should know."

"What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Things are okay. Each day is a little easier. And I think they'll become even easier after I do this."

"You're scaring me Luke, what's going on."

"Do you remember right after I moved in how I was organizing the attic."

"How could I not? Everyday you'd tell me about some dumb thing you found, wanting to know why I was keeping it."

"I quickly realized not to question, only to laugh."

"Yeah," Haley smiled softly.

"The last day I was up there, I found a box…"

"A box, really. That's amazing."

"This wasn't just the usual box of your crap. This box was special."

"A special box huh, did it have like, I don't know, magic beans in it or something," Haley paused. It suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks which box he was talking about. She tilted her head, "Oh Lucas, I am so sorry. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. I just couldn't I guess. But most of the pictures were of him."

"There were some of you too…"

"I know. I felt guilty somehow, but I looked at each picture, and felt like I was looking into your heart and your deepest feelings. There was even one of Mouth in there."

"I know."

"When you told me about meeting with Nathan, I couldn't help but picture the contents of that box. I already knew who you were going to choose."

"You did?"

"Yeah, I knew from that very moment that you would never be 'my girl' again. And I just wanted you to know, that even though I acted like a jealous lout, I was happy that you were finally going to have exactly what you'd always wanted."

"Thank you Lucas," she placed a light kiss on his cheek.

"Goodbye Haley."

"Goodbye."

"Here it is," Haley said out loud. She tugged at the box, dislodging it from the home it had inhabited for too many years. After her conversation with Lucas, she had debated dragging it out and maybe even putting up a picture or two of Nathan around the place. But she'd decided against it. She didn't want him to know that she had these. Even though he knew she'd always loved him, he was unaware of her sometimes unhealthy infatuation.

But God, now she needed it more than ever. And even though he was gone, she felt it still remained in the attic. As a reminder of what she would never, ever have.

Gently she slid open the top and began to look at the pictures, lifting them out of the box one-by-one. The first one was of Nathan, it was after he'd been taken out of a game during college. It perfectly captured the look that fell upon his face every time he had a bad outing on the mound, one of pure anger. She could remember taking this picture, and wishing that she could just go over and hug him, to make things all better. A month later she'd 'given up' on ever loving him. Why hadn't she stuck with that notion? It had worked well for her.

Lucas was featured in the next photo. This one was much older, but once again had been taken on the baseball field. It was back in high school, the first season she'd been with the team. They'd been playing at West, and it had been a day of excruciating heat. It was actually cooler sitting in the sun along the fence than it was in the dugout. Of course, it had also meant major sunburns. The picture had been taken sometime during the sunset that evening. She'd always loved the exposure of the photo; it cast him in such a different light. Almost like a ray of hope. How could she have screwed up so badly?

Haley smiled when she saw the next picture, it was one of her and Mouth. It was one of the few pictures in this box in which she too was a subject. It had been taken at the bar on New Year's Eve. Everyone head been having a blast that night, and she'd really let loose. His date for the evening was a total flake, and he'd wanted to dance. So, she'd followed him out onto the floor. She couldn't remember the song, but she could remember laughing and having a good time. To this day, Brooke still swore it was one of her favorite pictures. And considering that she wasn't in it, that alone was a huge compliment. But even though he was the reason she'd gotten into either of these messes, she knew she couldn't be mad at him.

She continued to sort through the pictures, refusing to think about the wedding that she'd been planning, up until last night anyway. They were two short months away from that trip down the isle and it had all come to blows. It had been stupid.

Nathan walked in the front door, "Hey babe, I'm home." Hearing the TV, he walked towards the living room. "Hales?"

He'd been shocked by what he found. Haley was laying on the sofa, wrapped in the arms of her roommate, Mouth, sound asleep. Not that he was surprised she was asleep. It was after 7, and it was common knowledge that if she put in a movie after dinner, she was bound to fall asleep. It was her company and their position that surprised him.

"Haley?" Nathan asked louder. He saw her stir.

"Nathan! You're home, I was waiting for you."

"Why? You obviously don't need me to keep you warm."

It wasn't until that moment that she'd realized what it must look like. She looked at Mouth who was awake as well, and ran after Nathan.

"Nathan, please, it's not what you think."

"How long had is been going on Hales?"

"How long had we been sleeping? I don't know, the movie was still playing, so less than an hour."

"You know that's not what I'm talking about. When did you start sleeping with him again? Or did you never stop?"

Haley couldn't believe what she was hearing, "You bastard! You can't seriously be asking me that. After two years?"

"They say old habits die hard."

"Nathan Daniel Scott," she surprised even herself by slapping him, "You have some nerve. You know that I love you, and that I would never do anything to hurt you, especially not sleep with another guy. Maybe I should be questioning all of your late nights. Huh? There sure have been a lot of them lately," Haley turned her back towards him and looked out the window.

"Are you accusing me of sleeping with someone else?"

"Why not? If you can, so can I," she spun back to face him. "I sure wish you'd let me know about your lack of trust before now. We could've saved a lot of money."

"What are you talking about?"

"What else would I be talking about? Or did you forget that we were going to be married in two months?"

"Were going to be married?"

"I can't be married to someone who doesn't trust me."

It was Nathan's turn to be shocked, "Are you calling the wedding off?"

"Um, yeah."

"Can we talk about this?"

"I don't think there IS anything to talk about," she turned back towards the window, "Guess I get throw your shit out on the lawn after all."

She didn't remember hearing him leave, but he had. And she'd made good on her promise, and had thrown all of his baseball shit out on the lawn. She'd left everything else how it was, but those things were his most prized possessions, and bitter reminders of what had brought them together.

An hour later, the things had been taken, but she knew he hadn't personally retrieved them. She was pretty sure it had been Tim or Teresa. And she probably had her best friend to thank for them knowing it was out there. Nathan wouldn't have thought she was serious.

After he'd left she'd called Peyton, who was on vacation with her new fiancé, Jake.

"Hello?" Peyton answered groggily, 'What time is it anyway?'

"The wedding is off."

"Haley?"

"His shit's out on the lawn, and I never want to see him ever again."

"What happened?"

"He accused me of sleeping with Mouth?"

"Well you did, years ago."

"No, he thinks I am again, or rather, still."

"What! Where would he ever get that idea?"

"He came home tonight, and the two of us had fallen asleep on the couch watching a movie together. Nathan just started yelling. And I told him the wedding was off. I can't marry someone who doesn't trust me."

"Oh Hales. I'm on the next plane home."

"Don't cut your trip short. I'll see you in a few days. Go back to sleep."

"Haley?" She heard Peyton's voice drift through the house.

"I told you to finish your vacation. I shouldn't have called. Go away!" She shouted down the stairs, not moving from her position on the floor, where she was now surrounded by pictures of every guy she'd had a crush on since high school.

Peyton climbed the steps up to the attic, "What are you doing up here?" She sat next to Haley and picked up a picture, "Wow, I haven't seen these since…"

"I started dating Lucas, I know."

"Wow," she put the picture down, "Did you really call off the wedding?"

"Yes. He doesn't trust me."

"Maybe you were both just overreacting."

"No, I did the right thing. I haven't called to cancel anything yet, but I figured, what's another day, it's not like I'll get any of my money back."

"Who knows about this?"

"You, Mouth, and obviously Nathan. So I'd guess you told Jake, and he told Tim and Teresa."

"Yeah, sorry bout that. If it makes you feel any better, I yelled at Jake after you hung up."

"Why?" Haley looked at her best friend, baffled.

"Because his friend is a dumbass."

"Oh."

"So, you really threw his stuff out on the lawn?"

"Tim tell you that?"

"No, I noticed that stuff was missing as I wandered around the house looking for you."

"Someone came and picked it up."

"Yeah, Jake called Tim and told him he'd better come check, unsure if you'd really do it or not."

"I can't believe he thinks I cheated on him."

"You should talk to him."

"Never again," Haley shook her head. "I've already called to have the locks changed. You and Jake can take him the rest of his things."

"You can't let it end like this."

"I can and I am."

Okay, so I hope you liked this chapter. It wasn't an original part of the story, it was something that I decided to add and wrote tonight. Tomorrow we'll see how Nathan's handling this turn of events, before getting on with the rest of the story how I originally wrote it! Thanks for all of the reviews!