Leaving Town
Early Morning… Something
Haley was up early to get ready for her run with Nathan. She had showered, and ate, and was now picking out something to wear, with the advice of Taylor, and a three year old.
She decided on blue shorts, like short-shorts, a wife beater and a matching blue jacket, and some white sneakers with white socks.
"Hales, have fun, don't worry about Meredith, I'll take real good care of her. Besides, she loves me, more than you."
"She does not! And I swear, you will never see the dear child again if she has any more holes in her body than when I leave, anything a different color, that includes nails, hair, eyes, skin, everything, and her hair better be the same length, and no make-up, she's three. She better be exactly like this when I return, understand?"
"Yes, queen Haley, ruler of the known universe. I shall have no fun while baby-sitting, for free, my wonderful niece, thank you very much."
"Funny, I'm serious, or I will find someone else to watch her, it's really not that hard."
"Fine Haley, I'll do it. Go, have fun. While me and Meredith are bored out of our skulls," Taylor finished as there was a knock on the door.
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"OMG Mrs. Jagielski, you so did it with Jake last night," Brooke squealed when Peyton walked into the café around eight.
"Brooke!"
"What, you so did. Give me details P. Sawyer, and don't leave anything out," Brooke said, trying to keep calm.
"B. Davis, nothing happened to give you details about."
"Liar. Don't make me go ask Jake, just blink once if it was good, twice if it was better."
Peyton blinked once, then again, then like a hundred more times.
"P. Sawyer!"
Peyton ignored her, and ordered her coffee, to go. Lucas walked in.
"Hey Broody, Peyton got laid last night, but she won't give any details," Brooke said, pretty loud so like the whole café could hear, but Brooke didn't care, she was Brooke after all.
"Really Cheery, that's interesting," Lucas said, almost uninterested.
"Broody, make her talk," Brooke whined.
"I don't think I can do that Cheery, I'm sorry."
Brooke hit him on his shoulder playfully, then pretended to pout.
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Haley and Nathan ran for a couple miles, or, well, jogged, it took a couple hours, but Nathan was surprised that even if he ran as fast as he could, Haley could still keep up.
Now they had finished their run, and were laughing it up about how Nathan had tripped and fell, face first, into the sand on the beach.
He was still brushing sand off of him when he kissed her, and she immediately pushed him away, then ran off.
He felt really stupid, and mad it himself for ruining it. He had been getting along with her all morning. They were having fun. Then, in one stupid moment, he ruined everything. He cursed at himself for doing that. Now he wasn't sure what would happen. When he realized it, he got madder at himself for not running after her. Now he had no idea where she could have gone.
He left to get ready for coach's funeral after standing there cursing at himself for a good fifteen minutes. They were all supposed to meet there a half hour early. Make sure everything was right, and to pay their last respects in quiet.
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They all arrived, just as the schedule Brooke prepared said they should be there.
"I think Haley's gonna leave again," Nathan said as they entered.
"What?" the girls asked, stopping.
"We went for a jog this morning, her idea, not mine, but I offered to go with her, then I couldn't help myself, I kissed her, and she ran off."
"Way to go dumbass," Brooke said, hitting him hard in the shoulder.
"Ow!"
"Well, you deserve it, we finally get her back here, and you start thinking with, well, not your head. I swear Nathan, control yourself. She's gonna come today, sing her song, then she's gonna leave. She's going to take her cute little niece and leave us again with no answers, probably go and get married again and forget about us," Brooke was breaking down, and Lucas put his arm around her, they weren't married yet, but engaged.
It was Peyton's turn to yell at Nathan, "Nate, I thought you were over her. You said you would be totally cool if she came, and last night you seemed uninterested in where she'd been or the fact she was married again, then all of a sudden you kiss her? We won't be able to find her again, you know that. I tried to get it out of Jake, but he honestly didn't know. He said she contacted him. Somehow she knew where to find him, but the point is, this time we were lucky in contacting her, she didn't change her number, but now, that will probably be the first thing she does. We've lost her, again Nate, both times are because of you."
Peyton pushed past him to stand next to Brooke. They had wanted Haley to stay. Luke wanted Haley to stay. They missed having their friend around, the problem solver, the smart one. It just seemed so weird without her.