Chapter Fifty-Two: The Calm Before The Storm

"What are you doing?"

Haley looked up from the desk drawer she was organizing. A tall, dark haired boy had appeared in her doorway.

"Relishing my Juniorness. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"What, a graduate can't come back to visit his girl? Come here," said Seamus. Leaping out of her desk chair, she ran toward him and fell into his waiting arms.

"I missed you. Don't go so far away next summer," she instructed him. He laughed.

"You could have come," he reminded her.

"Yeah, didn't really want to. Doesn't business school start soon?" she asked, taking his hand to lead him to her bed.

"Pretty much. I missed you too," he said. Seamus leaned forward to kiss her, and Haley eagerly responded. Seamus was such a nice guy. Compared to even Jake, the only guy Haley had ever truly trusted. Her heart warmed as her boyfriend broke off the kiss, eager, as always, to not pressure her.

"I was in New York yesterday," she said carefully. Seamus looked at her, attempting to look open and unthreatened.

"Yeah?"

"Visiting Ryan and Jake. They're going to live together again. Peyton's moving into a place with some of her friends off campus. Leigh's about to move out," said Haley.

"Who told you?" asked Seamus. Haley leaned forward and kissed him again.

"Ryan," she promised. Her junior year wasn't starting for another two weeks, but she had been instructed to come early, as an RA, to arrive before Freshman orientation.

"Take me with you next time? I still haven't met her," said Seamus. His voice was eager and not reproachful.

"Okay," she agreed happily.

"Did you hear anything about Brooke?" Immediately, Haley's face fell expressionless. She and Brooke hadn't spoken since their fallout at Christmas, two years previously.

"I talked to Luke for a little while. They seem to be doing well," she said tensely.

"Good. They've been keeping out of the tabloids a lot lately," he commented.

"Yeah, even Davis is. Peyton hasn't seen her in a while," said Haley.

"She was always just a fad," said Seamus comfortingly. He didn't feel inclined to mention that the last he'd heard of the Scott family had been in a tabloid stating that Nathan Scott was gay.

"Obviously. Jake hated her," said Haley.

"Didn't Jake sleep with her?" asked Seamus in confusion. Though over the two years he'd been with Haley he'd had minimal contact with her friends, he knew them through her stories, and detailed explanations of their tangled love lives.

"Yeah. Maybe Peyton too, we never were really sure what went on between them," laughed Haley.

"That's like a love octagon," he said in disbelief.

"Yeah," said Haley. Seamus pulled her on to his lap. "It's much better now."

"You drink coffee weird," commented Haley, as she poured a creamer into her own.

"Black isn't weird. Black is just… black," said Seamus, attempting to justify it. She giggled as she ripped open a small package of white sugar.

"Yeah, whatever. How long can you stay?" she asked.

"Just until next week. I have orientation too," he reminded her. Haley frowned, thinking of her boyfriend of two years starting up a whole new life without her. As her eyes roamed idly, she caught sight of a blonde woman sitting at the counter, her eyes covered by sunglasses, her face mostly in shadows. Haley shivered and looked away.

Ghosts from the past never would stop appearing to her.

"How're your parents?" she asked hesitantly.

"Good. They were sad you couldn't visit," he said. She smiled.

"I never understood why they liked me so much," said Haley.

"See, I always did," said Seamus, wrapping an arm around her to pull her close before kissing the top of her head.

They leaned in to kiss, but were interrupted by the ringing of Haley's cell phone.

"God, it's Peyton. I bet you a million dollars she's calling to whine about Ryan. Could she be more jealous?" asked Haley.

"Wouldn't you be?"

"Jake would never touch Ryan, it would make him feel like a pedophile," explained Haley. She stifled a giggle as she looked up at Seamus and remembered he was two years her senior. "Not that he actually would be…"

Seamus chose that moment to kiss her properly. Really, some days it was the only way to get her to stop talking.

Haley left him at his car in the residence parking lot later on, and watched as he drove off. She smiled. Some days she was quite sure he was the one. Besides the days she didn't feel pressured to lose her virginity, or the days she was unable to get her mind of Nathan, or the times she thought he wasn't nearly interesting enough.

Besides those days, he was absolutely perfect.

Haley sang softly to herself as she entered her room. But she stopped as she stepped through the door. Something was wrong. Something was different. All her senses were alerted by a stirring in the corner.

"Oh," said Haley, seeing a figure emerge from the darkness. "So it was you."

"Yeah. Cute guy." The figure remained hidden.

"What do you want?" asked Haley unkindly.

Taylor James emerged from the dark and took off her sunglasses, revealing a black eye, and a noticeable shiner on her cheek.

"I need help," she said simply, looking appealingly at her younger sister.

"So you need money," said Haley, breaking down the situation to the best of her abilities.

"They'll kill me," she said, her voice shakey.

"Who?"

"I got together with this guy, and he's in a bad crowd. And he stole money from them and took off, and he made it look like it was me. Then I was broke, and I needed more, so I slept with this other guy and waited till he was sleeping. Then he came after me, and…" Taylor broke down.

"How much?" asked Haley, her voice steady. Taylor looked up, and Haley remembered her sister's once beautiful voice.

"A lot."

"For God's sake, just tell me," snapped Haley.

"Three hundred."

"Thousand? Good lord. I'm a student Taylor, I can't… Have you talked to Mom and Dad?" she asked.

"I've exhausted all my options, trust me. Haley, they're going to kill me," said Taylor, fear in her eyes. Haley stared at her.

"No they're not. You're going to be fine," said Haley with resignation. "Because I have a plan."