12 Memories

Author's Note: Thanks a bunch for all of your reviews, hopefully the last chapter gave you a glimpse of their friendship again. I'm thinking this is one of the last few chapters as I'm gonna have an epilogue. I'm not sure how the story is gonna end, but I know the epilogue is gonna kind of throw an unexpected ending in there – so be ready for that.

Chapter 12: Reoffender

She squinted at the bright light coming through the windows in the room. It took her a few minutes to register where she was and when everything came together she recognized it as Lucas's room, though he was nowhere to be found. Upon glancing at the clock she found that it was ten thirty in the morning. She then noticed a note laying on the pillow beside her.

Peyt,

Ran to open the café since my mom wasn't home. Didn't wanna wake you. Come on over for some breakfast when you wake up. See ya then.

Lucas

– 'Keeping up appearances, keeping up with the Jones'. Fooling my selfish heart, going through the motions' –

A pair of bells hanging on the door jingled as she stumbled into the empty café. She took a look around, noticing only one old man sipping his coffee with a newspaper in his other hand. A second later Lucas wandered out to the counter from the back, flashing her a smile.

"Hey, lazy," he threw a towel her way, laughing as she flinched before catching it.

"Make me breakfast, diner boy," she winked at his disgruntled face, but he went in the back to begin cooking, nonetheless. She let herself behind the counter to retrieve a cup of coffee, knowing that Lucas wasn't talented enough to multi-task for her.

She busied herself with refilling the empty salt and pepper shakers, making sure every table had the glass holders for sugar. He returned to find her flipping through an old newspaper that had remained on the counter for a few days.

"You ordered the pancakes, ma'am?" he laid the dish in front of her as she laughed at his antics.

"Why yes, sir. I do believe I did," she picked up the fork he had set down and began to devour the food in front of her. He shook his head at her eating habits and took a deep breath.

"So, I think I'm stuck here all day because Haley took another day off. Or well, I gave her another day off so she could deal with Nathan. Would you wanna stay and help me out?" his voice shook slightly, for some reason he still felt nervous around her, though he had tried his best to clear his feelings for her.

"Yea, sure. Not that I have anything better to do anyway," she stuck her tongue out at him from her spot on the stool, and he laughed.

"So, what I'm the last resort when you've got nothing better to do?" he bent down to place his elbows on the counter, he was eye level with her.

"Maybe, or maybe I just like spending time with you, loser," she half teased, half flirted with the boy in front of her. He shook his head again, walking off to the back to clean up the colossal mess he had made in his attempts to make pancakes.

And from watching Peyton eat them, he couldn't tell if they were any good – she ate anything he put in front of her so her opinion didn't count anymore, at least for the food. It's nice that we can still be friends after all of that, he thought, but something was different, even his mom had pointed that out yesterday. It was like they were going through the motions of best friends, but nothing was ever going to be the same, and he was sure she knew this too.

– 'But I'm fooling myself, I'm fooling myself. Cause you say you love me, and then you do it again, you do it again. And you say your sorry's, and then you do it again' –

Nathan put the cordless phone up to his ear, he had already dialed the numbers and now he was waiting. It was his seventh phone call that morning to her house and still he got no answer. Instead he hung up and dialed another number he knew fairly well.

"Hello."

"Brooke, it's Nathan."

"I got that from the caller ID," she pointed out and he laughed before explaining his reasoning.

"Well, I just...I've been trying to get a hold of Haley all morning and I'm getting no answer at her house, and I know you were with her yesterday. I was just wondering if maybe you knew where she was so I could maybe talk to her..." he trailed off, hearing Brooke heave a sigh he winced.

"She went on a walk last night sometime, came home and slept and then I heard her leave again at like 6 this morning. She's hurting, Nate, if you're gonna talk to her, please don't hurt her," Brooke seemed to beg him and he smiled at her concern.

"I'm not gonna hurt her, I just wanna talk to her. I wanna work things out," he explained and she giggled.

"Woo, Tutor Girl is gonna be thrilled!" she cheered, Nathan ran his hand through his dark hair and let out a laugh.

"Bye, Brooke."

"See ya, Nate," she hung up happily, everything was gonna come together if she could just get the two stubborn, broody blondes to get their acts together.

Nathan took off at a run, abandoning his large house to find a brunette roaming Tree Hill somewhere. He ran past the River Court and there was no sign of her there. He ran past stores looking, past another park on the other side of town and finally came upon the beach. He squinted out towards the ocean, the sun blocking some of his view in the early afternoon. But even through the light he could see a small figure out by the waves. Haley.

He walked slowly out toward her, and when he sat he kept his space from her. He didn't know what she wanted, but he was determined to give her space to think, to clear her head and to decide if she wanted him there.

"What're you doing here?" she snapped, coldly. He cringed, she looked so distant in her spot.

"I came to find you...I thought maybe we could talk," he explained, the sand slipped through the gaping wholes between his fingers, just as Haley had days ago.

"I wanted to talk the other day, we see how that one worked out," she told him bitterly, he closed his eyes, sucking in the salty air that passed across the ocean.

"Look, I know I screwed up, Haley. I get that. But you're not even gonna give me another chance?"

"Wasn't planning on it," she shrugged and stood in anger.

"Damn it, Haley! I'm trying to apologize for being a jackass and all you're doing is cutting me off and pushing me away. You wanna sit here alone for the rest of your life then whatever, I don't care anymore," he went to walk off and she stood.

"Nathan, wait," she walked up to meet him, he turned to meet her eyes. "If you wanna talk, we can talk," she relented her bitterness to listen as they both sat back in the sand.

– 'Everybody thinks you're well, everybody thinks I'm ill. Watching me fall apart, falling under your spell' –

They had been sitting for hours as the café was completely empty, not even a passer by on the street. He heaved a sigh before standing to retrieve a bucket and a large box of stale biscuits his mother had intended to throw out when trash day came.

"So, this is boring, let's play," he set the bucket on a table a mere ten feet away and laid the box on the counter. "It'll be like basketball, you just have to stay in your seat and every time you miss you have to move your stool back a few inches. Plus every time one of us misses we have to answer a question, any question," he grinned mischievously at the girl beside him as she picked up a biscuit.

She took the shot, the biscuit just made the rim, falling in with a clunk. She smirked victoriously as he gave her a pleased look. Next he threw his biscuit and after all of his days playing basketball, he missed the bucket.

"Ah, Mister Varsity didn't make the shot," he laughed, shaking his head at her teasing.

"Okay, okay, you earned your question."

"Hmm, let's see...are you okay with us just being friends?"

He seemed to lose himself in his thoughts for a few minutes before looking at her with the utmost seriousness. His eyes seemed to want to convey everything he couldn't say to her.

"Right now...I dunno, I mean it hurts but I think eventually I'll be alright with the way things seem to be going. You know I don't like fighting with you and I miss us, I miss having fun with you, so I'll take our friendship over not having you in my life at all," he finished, looking to find her with a satisfied smile on her face.

"I don't know what to say to that."

"You don't have to say anything, just so you know...now back to the game," he threw another biscuit this time making sure it went in. She missed the next one, predictable as he knew the last throw was made off of pure luck.

"Okay my turn. Do you think we'll ever be able to get back to what we used to be, or will we always have this weirdness between us?"

"What weirdness?"

"You know what I'm talking about, just answer the question," he met her eyes as she tried valiantly not to smile under his stare.

"Okay, um, honestly I don't know if things will ever be the same. But...we could start slow, I think things will work themselves out eventually and what's meant to be...will be," she took another biscuit from the box and shot, making it. And for another two rounds they both made their shots respectively until he missed again.

"Alright, so I don't really have any good-" an obnoxious cell phone ring tone began to play, she stopped mid-sentence to answer her father's call.

"Daddy!" her face lit up in pure joy while Lucas occupied himself with wiping the counters.

– 'But you're fooling yourself, you're fooling yourself. Cause you say you love me, and then you do it again, you do it again' –

They both sat in the silence, watching the waves wash up the sand and roll back out. She called him back to talk but when they sat his mind went blank, he lost all of his logical thoughts.

"You said you wanted to talk..."

"I do, I just feel like I can't think when I'm around you," she blushed at his bluntness.

"Okay, so I'm gonna take that as a compliment," he laughed at her statement before trying to continue with the conversation.

"So, everything got screwed up in a matter of a few days, huh?' she laughed at his declaration, turning to look at him, but he kept his head.

"Yea, I guess it did."

"So, I think that's why I wanted to talk. I wanted to apologize for all of that, for hurting you before and blowing you off when you tried to talk," he told her sincerely, finally turning to meet her stare.

"Well, then I'm sorry for walking away when you tried to fix things the other morning," he nodded, averting his eyes to the sand.

"I really did like you, Haley."

"Did?" her face fell in disappointment.

"I still do. I still want you, I just don't wanna push you if you're still unsure. I'll wait until you're ready for all of this."

"I am ready," she spoke confidently.

He smiled, "Here's the thing, if we're gonna get into this we've gotta commit to it, Hales. You've gotta be able to trust me, and I've gotta be willing to try this. Which I am, so now the question is can you trust me? Like, really trust me," again he met her eyes and what she saw floored her. She saw sincerity and the future, but mostly she saw love, and in a way it scared her, but more than that she felt safe and she knew he wouldn't hurt her.

"I trust you, Nathan," he smiled triumphantly, the same smile he gave right after he won a basketball game, a smile showing how truly happy he was.

"Well, then...that's good," she nodded and as predictable and cliche it was he leaned in as her eyes fluttered close and right there on the beach, he kissed her.

– 'You say your sorry's and then you do it again, you do it again and again and again and again and again. But you're fooling yourself, you're fooling yourself' –

She stepped out of the café to have privacy during her conversation, Lucas continued to stand in his spot watching her reactions to her father's words. It was twenty minutes later that she re-entered the café in tears. He rushed from his spot to gather her in his arms.

"So...I guess we can't start slowly like we planned," she sobbed into his arms, burying her face against his chest.

"Hey, hey, what happened?" he held her tightly against him, making sure she felt secure.

"My Dad...he said...I'm leaving, Luke," she cried harder but he was still confused.

"What'd you mean?"

"I mean he called and he wants me with him for my last two years of high school. He wants to be there but he can't keep his job if he moves back here, and he can't find anything close enough for us to keep the house here. I don't have a choice," he pulled her back, using the pads of his thumbs to wipe her tears away.

"We'll be okay, Peyt. We'll find a way. I can't let you leave," he whispered his words, continually wiping her tears.

"There's no way around this, Luke. I'm leaving in two days."

Okay, so I know a little added drama in the last few chapters. I had to do it. I still haven't decided what to do with the ending just yet, but I do know that the actual ending may not be what you expect, but all in all I think the epilogue will please everyone. TWO CHAPTERS LEFT, REVIEW NOW!