Chapter Twenty-Five: Let Me Get Lost

Haley stared at the flowing river beside her. She didn't spend much time at it. She was a Hill Kid, not a River Rat. River Rat's spent all their time on the River Court, doing God knows what. Haley had been sufficiently worked on by Brooke to never speak to any of them. Not like she had any desire to.

But the river was her friend. Watching it, staring at the sunshine it reflected, made her feel at peace when her heart was in turmoil.

As her eyes settled on a boy on the court shooting hoops, she reflected that she hadn't really made any new friends in years. For so long her friends had been so concrete, so safe. Now Peyton had stopped returning calls, Brooke was blissfully back with Lucas and taking advantage of every minute. Something had obviously happened with Peyton that Jake refuse to talk about. Chris could be anywhere, and for the first time since she'd met him she didn't care.

"Earth to Haley," came a voice from above her. Haley squinted against the sunlight to see Nathan looking down at her, a genuine smile on his face.

"What do you want?" she asked in annoyance.

"I was actually looking for a place to play, but first I have to have my snack. Because of course I couldn't just play basketball without my Cracker Jacks," he joked.

"Do you want to know how much I hope your prize is a gag?" she asked, her voice artificially sweet.

"I didn't sleep with her," he said.

"Yeah, because that's what Davis is famous for. Not sleeping with people. Nathan, you're so full of…" Nathan raised his eyebrows. Underneath her occasional schemes, she really was an innocent.

"Here. It's for you," he said. Haley looked down. Upon opening his Cracker Jacks, he'd found a pink plastic bracelet to be the prize. He held it out for you.

"No, Nathan. It's not that easy. I don't want your bracelet," she said.

"Can't we work on this? I asked you out after I realized I wanted things to be really over with Davis," he pleaded.

"No! I don't need another guy in my life I don't trust!" she said.

"You can trust me," he promised. For a moment, he watched her waver.

"NATHAN!" called a voice. Haley looked up and Nathan stood when they heard a female voice call out to him. He laughed when a blonde girl burst out of the trees and flung herself at him.

"Hey buddy," he said happily. He lifted her easily into the air, an arm anchored around her waist. "God, do you eat? You weight like eight pounds."

"Do not. It's not my fault you're so buff," she teased. Haley frowned and stood up.

"Nice, Nathan," she said quietly, beginning to walk off. With a shock, he realized how she interpreted the situation, and he hurriedly dropped the blonde girl.

"Now I know there's no way you're going to believe this, but it actually isn't what it looks like," said Nathan.

"What, she's your long lost daughter? Or your very best friend? Or..." Haley trailed off as she caught a good look at the girl's pretty face. "Or your sister. Ryan, right? Sorry about that."

"No problem. You're Nathan's new girlfriend?" asked Ryan. Haley held out her hand, but Ryan instead hugged her as she'd done Nathan. Haley smiled slightly and hugged her back.

"No. Really, really not. No," said Haley. Ryan looked sideways and caught Nathan staring at Haley. She raised an eyebrow.

"Gotcha. Is Davis around? Or Luke?" asked Ryan, sensing awkward terrain.

"Davis has been AWOL for a while now," said Nathan. He caught sight of Haley's hurt face. "Not that I care, or anything. And Luke is here inviting his girlfriend to live with him in LA."

"His girlfriend? That seriously?" his little sister said in surprise.

"My best friend, Brooke Davis," said Haley helpfully.

"Lucas is in love with a high school girl?" asked Ryan in surprise.

"Yeah. And so's Nathan," said Haley cattily, before walking away.

Ryan screened her eyes against the sun with her hand and watched Haley walk away.

"So, are you?" she asked eventually, looking up at Nathan.

"Of course. And she knows it, and she's going to spend the rest of her life abusing it," he said bitterly.

"Is she a bitch? Because you really need to get out of that," said Ryan, tucking a long blonde strand behind her ear.

"No, she's not. I've just done a thing or two to make her hate me," admitted Nathan.

"Like what?" asked Ryan eagerly.

"Kid, you got all night?" he asked his sister, slinging an arm around her shoulders and leading her to his car.

Haley considered her options as she got into her mother's car. Her own home, with her parent's lectures about the hickey on her neck, the bruise on her cheek and her life plan, was not a positive option. Peyton was never anywhere to be found. Haley decided to go to Brooke's.

"A third Scott? That should be interesting," said Brooke, when Haley had told her the news.

"Oh, you met Leigh?" asked Lucas, coming into the room. Brooke blushed slightly.

"There's a fourth? Who knew?" she said. "What's this Ryan like?"

"Cute. Pretty, actually. She's tall and really thin and kind of bouncy. She thought I was Nathan's girlfriend," said Haley.

"Well, weren't you in a tirade of how jealous you are of Davis? The facts line up," said Brooke innocently.

"Shut up, I'm not jealous. I just can't be with a guy who would disrespect me like that. Why is that so hard to believe?"

XxxxxX

"So, what's new back home?" asked Nathan, after getting his little sister a hotel room.

"Not much. Leigh dyed her hair. She's goth now," laughed Ryan, bouncing onto her bed.

"Really. What does Mom say about this?"

"Nothing good. I like the mattress. This is a nice hotel," said Ryan, standing up and proceeding to bounce up and down, her blonde hair flying.

"If you fall down and break your neck I'm leaving," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Aww. How sweet. What are you doing here, anyway? This place is tiny," she said, glancing out the window.

Nathan raised his eyebrows at her.

"Right, the girl. Damn, you're so whipped," she said. Nathan instantly flashed back to his "date" with Haley. She'd said the same thing. Nathan recoiled when he realized that his sister, who he saw as such as child, was only a year younger than the woman be loved.

"Davis and I originally to visit Brooke, and we ended up staying. It's a surprisingly dramatic place, kid," he said.

"So you've told me," said Ryan, looking skeptical. She bounced on the bed a few more times before stopping and standing shakily.

"Oh, you'd be surprised."

"Yeah, yeah. So, big brother, how're you going to get her back?" asked Ryan.

"What do you mean, back? It's impossible to get something back that was never yours," said Nathan. Ryan took one more bounce, tucked her legs into her chest in mid air and landed neatly on the bed beside him.

"That's this spirit," she said encouragingly. Nathan rolled his eyes and grabbed his car keys from where he'd left them on the dresser. He knew as well as she did that he had other places to be.

Haley walked slowly up the steps to her bedroom. She had begun to look forward to the time of day, whatever time of day it happened to be, that she could disappear into her bedroom and be by herself.

But today, karma was working against her.

"Shit Nathan, you nearly gave me a heart attack," she said, reacting in surprise to his presence in her bedroom.

"Sorry. But we need to talk. I would have before, but Ryan showed up and I needed to get her settled," said Nathan.

"She seems like a good kid," said Haley. Nathan moved toward her and took both her hands in his.

"She is. Give me a chance, Haley. It would work. It would be great, you know that," he said in exasperation.

"I can't. I need space, Nathan. Don't call me, don't stalk me. Just leave me alone," she said, breaking away from him and moving for the door.

"For how long?" he asked impatiently.

"I'll let you know. Not forever. Do you really think I'm that deeply in denial?" she asked, smiling softly at him over her shoulder before leaving.

Nathan shook his head in amazement. Right then, he was sure he could pay everything he had to anyone who could say in honesty that all women weren't crazy.