Chapter 6

Awkward silence. It is one of those miserable moments in life you can hardly help but experience. Everyone is judging someone else because of their own insecurities. "Her hair is so blonde; who does she think she is? Her boobs are so fake; she looks like some kind of circus freak." You get the point. And girls are the worst, insecure girls are lethal.

Haley blinked hard at the blonde standing in the corner. She watched her run her hands through her perfectly straight mane and then cock her eyebrow as she looked out the window. Haley nervously did the same, running her hands over her long, newly colored ash blonde hair. It looked miserable, she was sure of it.

"Does my hair look just awful?" Haley casually asked Peyton as she leaned toward and ran her finger over the rim of her wine glass.

Peyton laughed a little, sensing the apprehension in her voice. She leaned her head close to Haley's and whispered into her ear, "No, it looks perfect."

Haley pulled away from Peyton and smiled. The two girls looked at the other two girls and then slowly walked over to the window. Haley used her index and middle fingers to part the shades. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window. "He's still standing out there… alone… staring at her spot." Peyton nodded slowly. "I feel like I should do…something." Haley's words started to slur as she took a long gulp of her wine, finishing off the glass.

"No," Peyton started, "He just needs to be alone." She turned around to look at the two girls.

Lyndsi started to say something and then quickly closed her mouth. She wrapped her fingers around her silver necklace and opened her mouth again, her teeth barely showing through her rose painted lips. "If I had known…" Lyndsi's thick Alabama accent dripped off ever single one of her words.

Her friend shook her head and put her hand on Lyndsi's shoulder, "Honey stop. It's okay."

Lyndsi nodded and smiled at her friend, "Thanks Carter."

Peyton kept her eyes locked on the two girls. She threw her arms into the air and quickly waved them at the girls, "Wait, wait, wait." Peyton crossed her arms over her chest, "Let me get this straight." She pointed at Lyndsi, "You bring your cousin's ex boyfriend over here to "introduce them", she runs out of her own apartment crying like her dog just died, your boyfriend slash her ex boyfriend chases after her, now he is standing in the parking lot just staring at her parking space because he, obviously, is not over her," She paused for less than a second and continued on, now looking at the other girl, "And you are telling her "it's okay"?"

Lyndsi and Carter stared at Peyton, their mouths wide open. "Just let know if I am wrong." Neither of them said anything.

A phone rang from the back room and Haley ran back to the room, realizing that it was her Jack's Mannequin ringtone. "Hello?" She answered quickly as she threw herself onto the bed.

"Hey baby." The voice on the other end replied, it was Nathan.

"Hi honey, what's up how is the dorm tonight?" She asked as she lay back on the bed and crossed her legs.

"Actually, I am out with some of the team and I was wondering where you girls were. Are you out yet?"

Haley shook her head, "No, total chaos here." Nathan paused, letting Haley know he was prepared for her to start her story. "So…" Nathan laughed a little. Haley always started her stories with "so" or "okay". He closed his eyes, thinking that where ever she was she probably spinning her gold band around her pinky finger and shaking her left foot.

Haley switched her legs and shook her foot. She took a deep breath and started her story again, "So, Brooke has this cousin that goes here, Lyndsi. Well, Lyndsi comes over tonight with her new boyfriend and her best friend. So, we are all standing in the kitchen and in they walk, well it turns out the new boyfriend is Lucas…"

"No!" Nathan interrupted, being half sarcastic half serious.

"I know right, well, Brooke runs out and Lucas chases her, I don't know what happened while they were outside, but I do know that Brooke drove away and that was 15 minutes ago and he is still standing outside staring at the place where her car was parked."

"Wow." Nathan said, expecting the story to be over, "So…"

"No, that's not even the whole story." Nathan laughed at Haley's story telling and she jumped off the bed. She spun her ring around her finger with her thumb. "Then Peyton gets mad and tells off Lyndsi and Carter…"

Nathan's ears perked up, "Carter?"

Carter. It was rare for a girl to leave such an impression on him, especially considering he had a girlfriend, a serious girlfriend named Haley. As cliché as it sounded, there was something about Carter that Nathan just couldn't put his finger. Maybe it was the fact that she was a sophomore and knew so much more, socially, than he did or maybe it was because his teammates told him to stay clear of her. It could have been that this was the first girl to not act like a total idiot to get his attention, well the first girl since Haley.

Carter was the kind of girl pre-Haley Nathan would have gone for. Tall, blonde, tan, athletic… perfect. The kind of girl who was perfectly tamed by her uber-sophisticaed, high society parents. Chances are she went to cotillion where her table/dinner party manners as well as her waltz were perfected. She probably went to a private, all girls' school in Charlotte and took her drivers test in her daddy's Mercedes Benz. She seemed so predictable in that sense, but in ever way she was the farthest thing from predictable.

"Oh, right, Carter is Lyndsi's skanky looking best friend," Haley's voice turned to a whisper, "I mean, Nate, you should see this girl."

Nathan had seen this girl and he didn't find her "skanky" at all.

"I mean we are talking three dollar hooker." Haley paused, thinking about what Brooke had said just about an hour before, "You wouldn't leave me for a three dollar hooker would you?"

Nathan laughed, "Have you been drinking tonight Hales?"

Haley swung the door open, "A little," She said putting her fingers together indicating "a little". She walked back into the living room to see Lucas leaning onto the island in the kitchen. "Nathan, baby," Her words were slightly slurred, "I have got to go. Call me later honey." She closed her phone and tossed it to the couch. "Luke," She cried, "What happened?"

He lifted his head to say, "She said she was 'the luckiest"." Lucas slowly lowered his head back down, letting his forehead hit the marble on the island. "Where did we go wrong?" He shook his head back and forth on the marble, "Where did we go wrong?"

Haley ran her hand over Lucas's back as she looked at Peyton who was leaning against the door. Haley looked at her confused, "The girls are… where?"

"I killed them; they were annoying me to tears." Peyton said, joking. Lucas looked up, his face tear streaked. He narrowed his eyes at her and then lowered his head back down. "Yeah," She shook her head at Lucas, "They left… obviously."

"Luke, what are you talking about, the luckiest?" Haley asked, as she sat down next to him at the island.

"Brooke… she told me, 'Lucas Eugene Scott, you are an amazing, amazing guy and any girl would be lucky to have you." He paused for a moment and looked up at the two girls, "Then she said, 'I was the luckiest."

Haley and Peyton stared at him, speechless. The two girls looked at each other and then back at him. Haley decided to break the silence.

"Luke," She started to walk toward him and enveloped him in a hug, "I don't know what to say."

He shook his head, "I mean what am I supposed to do?" He pulled away from Haley, "I have a girlfriend who… I like. Don't get me wrong, she's great, but I have this ex girlfriend who I'm…"

There was a knock at the front door, followed by it swinging open. Brooke stood in the doorway, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She crossed her arms over her chest when she noticed Lucas standing in her apartment.

"I'm in love with." Lucas finished as his eyes moved toward the door seeing Brooke standing in the doorway.