"Dude, this is so not funny!" Haley whispered to Lucas across the counter.
"You have to admit, it kinda is" Lucas said as he looked down at the magazine on the counter before him.
"Give me that!" she ripped the magazine from his hands and threw it in the bin.
"Hey, come on! Don't be like that Hales" Haley gave him a murderous look and went back to drying the counter.
"Don't call me Hales! And if you ever tell anyone about this then I swear to god I will beat your sorry little butt" Haley disappeared into the kitchen and as soon as she was out of sight Lucas quietly went over to the bin and picked up the magazine once more. It was a local magazine from Atlanta called Family and on the cover was a very blown up picture of Haley at the age of 10, wearing glasses and braces and her hair in two tight ponytails. Lucas couldn't help but laugh.
At that moment Nathan entered the Café and went over to Lucas who was teary eyed from all the laughing. "What are you doing?" he asked Lucas with a confused look on his face. Lucas handed him the magazine and slowly bent over and started laughing even harder than before. "What is this?"
"Hey Lucas were we going to…" but she interrupted herself as she found Nathan and Lucas on the floor laughing, the magazine lying on the floor next to them. "You evil little twit!" she walked over to Lucas, picked up the magazine and started to beat him with it.
"Hey!" Lucas tried to cover his face with his hands but Haley was an uncommonly strong girl and before he knew it Haley was sitting on top of him and hitting him as hard as she could. "Ow! Calm down Hales"
"I told you not to call me Hales! How could you do that Luke?" she stopped hitting him and stepped off him. Nathan was still lying on the floor, laughing but he immediately stopped when Haley gave him a look as if she was trying to stab him with her eyes. She gave them both one last hit with the magazine before running over to the bathroom and locking herself in it.
"Aw come on Hales! I didn't mean to upset you" Lucas knocked softly on the bathroom door.
"Clearly you did because I told you not to tell anyone" Haley opened the door so fast that Lucas almost fell over. Her eyes were slightly red and her hair was messy.
"I'm sorry Hales" Lucas said softly. Nathan came over to them and put an arm around Haley's shoulders.
"We didn't mean to upset you" Nathan said and he gave her a kiss on her forehead.
"You are both evil" she muttered as a smile spread across her face.
"That's the spirit!" Lucas exclaimed as he led her over to the couch, Nathan followed. "I promise I won't tell anyone"
"Or show anyone" Haley snapped.
"Or show anyone" Lucas replied.
"Good, because if you do I'm going to show them that horrid picture I have of you from 8th grade when you had shoulder length hair and ridiculously big front teeth" she rose from the couch leaving Lucas in a state of shock.
"I remember when you looked like that" Nathan said. Lucas looked at him for a moment before blushing furiously.
"Dude, so not funny" Lucas said.
"It was pretty funny" Nathan replied before turning around and walking towards Haley. He planted a kiss on her mouth before saying his goodbyes and leaving the café.
"Let me see that again" Lucas walked over to Haley who gave him a cold look before grabbing a pair of scissor and cutting the magazine into pieces. "Aw" Lucas whined but Haley had no sympathy for him.
"You deserve it you evil little bug" Haley said before walked into the kitchen and coming back with two cups of hot chocolate.
"Is this real hot chocolate?" Lucas asked.
"Of course not, it's powder and hot water. My specialty" she raised her glass before drinking.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Brooke came running into Peyton's room and before Peyton even had the chance to blink Brooke had pulled her out of bed and was leading her towards her closet. "Get dressed because we are going over to my apartment"
"You mean Nathan and Haley's apartment" Peyton mumbled.
"Whatever you say fake blondie-locks. Now lets go!" Peyton pulled on a short jeans skirt and one of her Ramones shirts and they left.
"What are we doing?" Peyton said sleepily.
"We are having a back-to-school-show-everyone-my-new-tan-hook-up-with-boys-and-get-over-all-the-drama party" Brooke replied with a smile on her face.
"What?" Peyton looked confused.
"You heard me. A chance to show off our new looks, hook up with boys and get over all the drama. Perfect for you and perfect for me. You get a chance to get over all that I'm-really-your-mom-but-only-genetically-and-now-I'm-dead and I get the chance to hang out with Lucas and show off how happy we are, plus we both get to show off our new look and our new clothes, and believe me, there will be loads of clothes to show off"
"Brooke I don't think anyone is going to be in the mood for a party. There was a shooting at school if you remember and I think we all need to relax"
"I don't believe in relaxing" Brooke replied as she parked the car and stepped out. "Besides we need something to take our mind off the horrid day" she made a disgusted face as she unlocked the door to her apartment. "Now all we need is some decorations, some music, some people and some drinks"
"I can fix the music" Peyton answered.
"Haley can fix the decorations. I will fix the people and I'll get Tim to fix the drinks. This is going to be so perfect I can hardly wait"
Haley walked around the empty café wiping the tables and getting ready to close. There hadn't been many customers that day so Haley had decided to close early.
"Still open?" a young man stepped into the café and looked around and finally laying his eyes on Haley.
"I was just about to close, but sure why not" Haley went behind the counter and got ready to take his orders. "What will it be?"
"Don't you remember me?" Haley looked up at the person she had thought was just another customer but slowly she realized who it was.
"Oh my god! Charlie!" she ran from behind the counter and gave him a tight hug. At that moment Nathan entered the café. "Hey Nathan, this is Charlie!" Haley ran over to Nathan, grabbed his hand and pulled him over to where Charlie was sitting.
"Who are you?" Nathan gave him a cold look.
"I'm Haley's old neighbor" he said as if it was the only explanation. "I used to live here"
"So what are you doing here?" Haley turned her back to Nathan and sat on a stool next to Charlie. While they got caught up Nathan just stood there until finally he decided to leave them alone. He walked out of the café and before he got into his car he looked in through the window at the two old friends. They didn't seem to have noticed that he was gone. As Nathan got into the car his heart started to beat faster and faster. He began his journey home, driving far past the speed limit.
"Where's Nathan?" Haley looked around the café.
"Who's Nathan?" Charlie looked at her in a confused manner.
"My husband! He was here a minute ago" but what Haley didn't know was the a lot more than just a minute had passed since Nathan had left. In fact, almost 2 hours had passed.
"You have a husband?" Charlie looked shocked. Haley was about to reply but was interrupted by her phone.
Haley rushed through the hospital trying to find a nurse when she finally ran into Lucas. "Thank god! Where is he?"
"He-" Lucas began but he seemed too shocked to speak, "He isn't doing so well" He pulled Haley into a tight hug and didn't let go until a nurse came up to them and cleared her throat.
"You found him, is that right?" she looked at Lucas and Lucas nodded in return. "There is an officer here to talk to you. If you would please come with me" her and Lucas walked into another room leaving Haley alone to cry.
"Thank god! Someone I know" Brooke stepped into the waiting room where Haley was sitting biting her nails. Brooke walked over to her and gave her a big hug. "I'm here for you" Haley looked up at Brooke and before she knew it Lucas came back from talking with the officer.
"What happened?" Haley said in a soft and quiet voice.
"They just wanted to know what happened" his voice was hoarse and Haley could tell by his facial expression that that wasn't all that had happened, but instead of bugging him about it she just let it go. After all, he was as worried as she was. He was after all Nathan's brother.