1Wow. Thank you guys so freaking much for the comments, they're all such a boost to make me want to write more! So, a shout-out to all you guys who've posted:
P.S. xXSherryxX, I can't believe it made you cry! Lol. I'm sorry it made you cry, but, man, you don't know what that did to boost my want to write and complete this fic. Thank you so much for your positive comments.
A big shout out to bugbabe24 (I love your name, by the way. Bug babe reminds me of a friend of mine's nickname.:D)–I'm glad you think it's so real!–, coffegrl, and mizunderstood writer who have all reviewed.
ok, to answer Jacqueline22393's question–by the way, forget predictability, any way you put it, Nathan/Haley relationship and Lucas/Haley friendship never gets old:D.–about what pairing this is... well... I started to write this fic, you see and I am such a Naley shipper, so, of course this was going to be a Naley! I mean, who else:D. And maybe some Brooke/Lucas, Jake/Peyton on the side. But... here's the thing... ok! This guy named Ryan comes in the next chapter and, well, I was just going to write him as this temporary fix, you know, but I'm starting to really fall in love with Haley and Ryan. Lol. I know, it sounds totally stupid, but you'll see what I mean in the next couple of chapters. Anyways! I am still debating on which pairing to do: Haley/Nathan or Haley/Ryan. So, what I'm gonna do is let your comments help me decide with the next couple of chapters. So... here you go. Chapter 4. And, heck, I'll just go ahead and post Chapter 5, too, so you guys can see what I'm talking about.
Chapter 4
"Back Home"
I stood in front of the beautiful, massive Victorian house. What I was now supposed to call "home," or at least that's what David–I couldn't work up to calling him Dad yet, I mean, he hadn't been in my life for 10 years. I didn't know this man, and strangers I usually called by their first names and not 'Dad;– had called it. Home. "Welcome back home, Haley," he had said with a huge, positive smile. To which I had replied in a tone of awe, not really expecting somebody like David–beard, manly-looking, you know the type–to actually live in, "Wow."
I was back. Not back in the sense that I had been here before and was finally getting back, but back that I was getting back to being... happy? No, not yet. But in time... maybe. In time it really would be home, and I was just starting to get back. Like it was ten years ago, but, then again, not so much. I mean, I wouldn't have Ryan or Mom, but I had my dad.
"So, are you coming on up or are you just gonna stare at it with your mouth wide open the whole time," David laughed, grabbing two suitcases and headed inside the house with them.
"I'm coming," I called after him. I smiled, which was the best I could do–no laughs yet–and followed him inside the house–which looked a lot bigger than on the outside. It actually looked a lot like the house Noah Calhoun restored in "The Notebook"–which Aimee made Trent and me watch with her and Dexter. But it turned out to be a really good movie. It was a total chick flick, but still good, and that guy was totally hot.
"Bedroom is upstairs, Haley!" David called, lugging the suitcases up the stairs and then disappeared down the hall. I bounded up the stairs, right behind him, my CD player bouncing up and down in the pocket of my 'Lady Cavaliers Basketball' hoodie.
There were 5 doors in the hallway. One, just a regular bathroom, one a guest bedroom, one was a room that David said I could do anything to (game room, office, library, etc..), one was a friend of his's room when he came over to say–I didn't ask, and then the last one was my going to be my bedroom. It was alright. A pretty nice size room, an ordinary bed, a closet, and then a master bathroom.
"Spruce it up anyway you want, but.." he scratched his head, looking at me.
"What?" I asked, puzzled.
"Nothing," he shook his head, deciding against it.
"David, what!" I asked again.
He shrugged. "Oh, nothing."
"David. How are you going to start a sentence with 'but' and then trail it off? That is like... at the end of the season when they give you a cliffhanger. I hate cliffies more than anything."
"I just... you can go out and buy anything you want. I'll give you as much money as you need, and you can decorate the extra room I showed you any way you want. And the bathroom. Hell, any of the rooms on this floor."
"And the living room?" I asked, testing him, a mischievous smile playing on my lips.
He looked at me oddly, his forehead furrowing. "Do you have to?"
I laughed. I actually laughed, shaking my head. "No. Anyways, about my bedroom. Well, I've gotten into the whole girly girl thing, you know. What about some pink lace and..." I bit my lip, squinting my eyes, out doing the whole artist-type thing. "Maybe some pink tulle here and there. Oh, definitely paint it pink. Hey!" I turned towards David, who looked a little pale. "Do you think I could paint the hallway? You know, give it a little touch of... I don't know... style. It just looks a little dull and, well, there is this totally cute shade of pink that I have totally wanted to paint my room with for the past, like, forever. Mom has always said no, but I'm sure with me being new and all, you would want me to be happy, right? And... well, like, I totally heart this color and..." I rolled my eyes, laughing.
David laughed hesitantly, "your joking right?" he looked a little scared.
"No, I'm freaking serious..." I paused. Apparently he didn't get my tone. "I'm just joking. Pink? Come on James, I think that even you would know me a little better than being a pink-type person."
He shrugged, "You never know."
"Well I guess you'll have to find out," I smiled. "But there's always time for that."
"So, Haley bug, what do you say we go out and shoot some hoops. I heard that you were a mighty fine basketball player and I just wanted to make sure. Because you got those moves from me," he joked, poking me playfully.
I stopped and just stared at him. He stopped playing and looked at me, puzzled. "What? Did I say something?"
I sighed, biting my lip, and then slowly looked up at him. "Haley bug," my voice cracked a little and my eyes brimmed with tears, but I didn't let them fall. "You haven't called me that since..." my sentence trailed off. "Well, let's just say a really long time."
"Too long," David nodded.
I nodded in agreement, but then broke out in a smile, trying to change the mood of things. "So you were talking about my basketball skills," I laughed.
David nodded, laughing a hollow laugh. "You mean the skills I taught you?"
"Whatever you wanna tell yourself grandpa."
"Wait. Are you insinuating that I'm old? Now wait just a minute Haley Elizabeth James," he said in a mock serious tone, his finger pointing dangerously close to my face.
"You wanna get that old, wrinkly finger out of my face and come play me or should I go get your cane first, Pops?" I rolled my eyes. "Let's go, James, we don't have all day. At least... I don't. I'm young, I'm hot, I'm single, I'm..." I caught a glimpse out of the window, liking what I saw. "not accustomed to Tree Hill's guy population quite yet. Hmm..."
I turned around, raising my eyebrows at David, and started jogging down the stairs, glad I'd taken a little extra time this morning putting on at least a little makeup. But I cursed myself as I looked down at my baggy basketball shorts and hoodie, which I quickly ripped off revealing my snug fitting white tank underneath that showed some skin between my shorts and my tank, and pulled my hair down from the high pony tail it was in. "Haley!" David called, "Wait up!" he was right behind me. Pretty fast for an old guy. I had to give that to him.
I bounded out of the house, a slow jog back to David's Ford truck. Acting like I hadn't even noticed the two guys–a blonde and black-headed guy–and went to the truck, bending over and looking on the floorboard for something. Anything. A fry if it resulted in that. I rolled my eyes at my spontaneous flirty, girly self. I made me sick.
"Coach," I heard somebody call. I raised up, forgetting what I was looking for, and turned towards my dad. He was walking over towards the two guys who had stopped now. 'Of course he knows these guys' I thought. 'he's the assistant basketball coach or something like that the last time I'd heard' well, the last time mom had carelessly thrown it on the table one night while eating cold Chinese. I threw the hoodie over the hood of the truck and started walking over to where David was talking to the two guys: the two hot guys. Seriously.
"Hey David. Wanna introduce me to your friends?" I asked, smiling at him. He turned towards me, shocked by the sudden loss of clothes and appearance of skin. Not to mention my slightly-curly-from-being-in-a-pony-tail brunette hair that was down to the middle of my back that blended perfectly with my hazel eyes that had just the right amount of volume in it. "Or should I just go ahead and do it myself?" still there was no answer.
I laughed and turned towards the guys. "Hey boys. I'm Haley, David's daughter," I told them cheerily. They both gave me puzzled looks.
"He has a daughter?" the black-haired guy spoke up. Nonchalantly, the blonde elbowed him in the rib cage. "Damn," he muttered. "Sorry, but damn, Luke," he scowled, turning back to me. "That was Lucas Scott. I'm Nathan Scott," he flashed his dazzling whites and held out his hand.
"It's nice to meet you Nathan and Lucas," I smiled back at him and shook his hand. He had muscles. He was definitely a strong guy. "Lift weights much?" I joked, laughing at his nice biceps.
He smirked, nodding his head. "You don't look like much of a stranger to the gym, either."
"Oh, I'm not. You gotta lift in order to play basketball. And softball... track, tennis, and soccer. But who's counting the sports I play?" I laughed, shrugging.
"Wow. Pretty impressive," Lucas whistled.
I laughed, "I wanted to get away from my broken house as much as I could and sports were my ticket outta there."
"I know what that feels like," Nathan muttered loud enough for us to hear. And then it was like a sheet that glazed over his eyes.
"So, are you guys brothers?" I asked, trying to break the uneasy silence that lingered over the four of us, looking at the two, even though I saw no resemblance whatsoever.
"Yeah, uh, we're actually half-brothers. It's..." Lucas started, looking at Nathan.
"Complicated," David spoke up, laughing. "So, how are your mom and dad doing, Nate?" David asked.
Nathan shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Dan is still threatening me and I've pretty much given Mom the cold shoulder about everything that's happened. I'll admit, though, having my own apartment is a lot less shit I've had to live without than living at home was."
"You have your own apartment?" I asked, not even trying to hold back my shock.
Nathan nodded. "I got emancipated from guardianship from Dan and Deb–my parents."
I took a deep breath, looking away. "I wish I'd thought of that," I closed my eyes for a second, desperately searching for a topic to get away from the heavy one we were talking about. "So, I thought we were going to play some basketball. What happened?" I laughed uneasily, looking at David.
"Uh... sounds great," he smiled, nodding. "You guys wanna join us?" he looked towards Lucas and Nathan.
"Fine with me," Lucas nodded.
"Fine with me," Nathan agreed. "Oh. Wait." everybody stopped walking and looked at him. "Are you up for it Barbie?" he asked, looking directly at me. "I mean, playing with the big boys and all..."
I couldn't believe he was standing in front of me and saying this. "I can't believe you actually had the balls to say that, Scott," I laughed, shaking my head. I guess my comment caught David off-guard, because he started choking when I said the words 'balls.' "You bring your game and I'll bring mine and at the end of the game, when you have lost, those balls that you once had... will be mine. So, baby... bring it on. If you think you can handle the huge blow your ego is going to take getting your ass whooped by a girl."