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Rated T...for language.
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"No, you don't Luke..." Haley said, tears running down her cheeks, "you stopped following me a long time ago." Lucas looked away from Haley, ashamed...neither of them knew what to say.

"I broke my promise," Lucas whispered, quietly, after a few minutes of silence.

"What," Haley asked, not hearing him that good.

"I promised you I would never leave you, abandon you and I did," Lucas said getting upset with himself.

"Its okay, Luke," Haley whispered, tears still running down her cheeks.

"No…no it's not! Dammit, Hales, I did the one thing I always told myself I would not do, and it took me a long time to finally realize it...Do you know how I finally realized I wasn't in control of my life," he asked, and she shook her head, "the moment I realized I lost you, Hales! I didn't know what to do...I quit the team, and tried to get my life back to normal, but it wasn't the same, Hales. Do you know why, Hales? You weren't there Hales, that's why."

Flashback

"What the hell you want me to do," Lucas yelled at his mom.

"Grow up, dammit," Karen yelled, frustrated at her son, "You come home drunk almost every night. Your failing all of your classes, the only reason you pass is because you are the star of the fcking basketball team, Luke. Is this how you really wanted your life to turn out? I mean seriously, Luke, I mean you are never around anymore, and when you are you ignore me or we just get into fights like this one. You ignored Haley, and you just watched as your "friends" made fun of her, hell I bet you even laughed at the jokes. She was your best friend Lucas, she stood by you, your whole life, and you…you threw her away like a piece trash."

"This is my life, Mom. You can't change that, Haley can't change that, no one can. Why can't you and Haley just stay the hell out of my life," Lucas yelled.

"You know Lucas I really hate the person you've become. You're an $$hole, Lucas. I am ashamed to call you my son. No wonder Haley left, no one can stand to be around you," Karen yelled, then realized what she had said. She saw Lucas's eyes widen in shock.

"What do you mean Haley left," Lucas said in a low voice.

"She's gone, Luke," Karen said, feeling sorry for her son. Karen knew this was going to happen soon or later. It was only a matter of time before he had to realize Haley was around anymore.

"When…where…why," Lucas had so many questions. He started to realize he hadn't seen his best friend in a long time.

"She moved to California three months ago with her dad and Lydia," Karen explained.

"Why would she do that? They're never around, and they just ignore her. She's supposed to be here. Not with them, they don't care about her," Lucas exclaimed.

"Yeah, well I guess she figured since she didn't really have anything here to stay for, maybe she could start over," Karen said.

"I need to be alone," Lucas said, getting up and walking out the door. He went to the one place that was just his and well Haley's. He needed to be close to her. He went the one place he always felt close to Haley, the roof above his mom's café.

Karen felt bad as she watched her son leave. She knew he was hurting. She hoped that this would wake him up and realize how truly fcked up his life had become. She felt bad for lying to him. Well, she was completely lying, but she wasn't telling him the complete truth either.

The Next Day

"What do you mean you quit," Whitey yelled at the boy in his office, after school. The boy's basketball team and the cheerleading team were practicing in the gym, and they could hear their coach yelling, but they couldn't tell who was in his office.

"I can't do it anymore, Coach," the boy said.

"Give me one good reason you want to quit," Whitey yelled. Everyone was surprised. No one could figure out who was in the office. Neither Nathan nor Lucas had been at school that day, and a few others were not in the gym practicing.

"Look, coach, I have some things to take care of. I'm actually moving later today. I'll be leaving for a few months. I don't know if I'll be back this school year. I'm hoping that when I move back I could maybe come back to the team," the boy said.

"Does your mom know about this son," Whitey asked, clearly concerned. The boy nodded, so Whitey did the same.

"So I guess I'll see you when you come back," Whitey said to the boy, sadly. Everyone in the gym watched as Whitey walked out of his office, along with the boy. Everyone froze as they saw who it was. The boy, who had quit the team, shocked everyone. The boy was Nathan.
No one could believe that Nathan had quit the team, and were even more shocked when he moved away the same day...not coming home until the middle of the next school year.

End of Flashback

"Oh," Haley said, in shock but not crying any more, not knowing what else to say. After his confession, all the anger that Haley had been feeling was replaced by love. The love she always knew was there. All that she wanted now was her best friend back. Yeah he had been a jerk, but she hadn't been much better. She knew she had hurt him just as much as he had hurt her.

"So, what's up with you and Nathan," Haley finally asked, not knowing what else to talk about.

"We're brothers, Hales. I mean like real brothers," Lucas said, smiling slightly. Haley smiled back at him, happy for him.

"So, how'd that happen," she asked.

"Well, when he moved back, he came apologized. He said something about life being too short to hate each other. And we kinda both realized we were fighting the wrong person. Believe me, Dan didn't know what hit him when we started working together," Lucas said, shrugging, playing with the sand.

"It's good to have you back, Luke, I missed you so much" Haley said, smiling.

"It's good to be back, Hales, and I missed you too" Lucas said, pulling Haley into a hug, both afraid that if they let go, the other would disappear. Then Lucas did something very unexpected, for both of them. He bent his head down pressing his lips to hers.

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