Chapter 18:I Try
Games, changes and fears
When will they go from here?
When will they stop?
I believe that fate has brought us here
And we should be together
But were not
"Nathan... stop it." Haley pleaded. Nathan had sent Nicole and Hannah back to the beach house, only so he could yell at Haley in peace.
"No! You don't get to decide what they can know! I mean, I get it! You're a better parent than I am! Hell, you're a better person too! But it doesn't mean you can tell MY kids stuff that I don't want them to know!" Nathan yelled, dribbling the basketball hard against the pavement. He needed this, she was leaving, this was her fault, she deserved it.
"Im sorry." She starts, picking up her purse. "I'm sorry you feel that I am better than you, which I am most certainly not. I'm sorry that I told them things about my pregnancy, which doesn't really concern you. I'm sorry you think that the girls are "yours", which they are not, only Nicole is. And most of all, I am sorry you're still the stubborn son of a bitch you were in high school." She finished, and walked quickly away from him. He turned his head slightly, only to watch her walk away. Guilt mixed with the anger flowing through him and he threw the basketball across the court, barely aware of it ricocheting off the backboard. But it didn't come back, it went further away.
--
I play it off but I'm dreamin of you
I'll keep it cool, but Im feelin
I try to say goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near
"Lucas! I can't find my dress!" Brooke called down the hall to him. She was not a very 'wear my heart on my sleeve' kind of person, but every time she thought of him leaving her, if not only for a week, it stung. The truth was that she was always very much in love with Lucas. Whether or not they were together had always been the issue. And she could very well admit that the two of them seemed to have the worst possible timing.
"It's hung over the back of the chair in my room!" He offered in response, not realizing her full meaning.
"Could you come help me find it?" She yelled more loudly, hoping he caught the tone of frustration in her voice.
"Uh, yeah hold on!" He shouted, giving up the stuck zipper on his suitcase. "Brooke, it's right here." He frowned, pointing to the dress laying on her bed.
"No, I meant the one I have on silly..." She stated suggestively, draping her arms around his neck.
"Oh, that one," he smirked, as she pulled them back onto the bed, "I wonder where that one is..." He mumbled, questioning innocently.
--
I may appear to be free
But I'm just a prisoner of your love
I may seem alright and smile when you leave
But my smiles are just a front
They passed threw security and were walking threw the terminal, luckily avoiding most of the lingering glances, autographs, or pictures. Boy did they look like the motley crew though. Two extremely tall basketball players, one singer, three young girls, two women and a man. Or to be more precise: Lucas, Nathan, Haley, Hannah, Nicole, Jenny, Brooke, Peyton, and Jake. No one had smiles on their faces. Quite the opposite, half were crying and the other half wore scowls on their faces. So it came as no surprise that Nathan was in a horrible mood, yet few knew the real reason. Nor was it a surprise when Brooke and Lucas actually told them they were engaged, the ring on her finger was sort of hard to miss.
"Boarding all first-class passengers on flight 13A to New York." Came the voice over the loudspeaker.
"That's us." Lucas smiled weakly at Brooke, giving her a small peck on the lips. "I'll be back next week. I love you baby." He whispered.
"That's us." Hannah whispered to Jenny and Nicole, who quickly enveloped her into a searing hug. "E-mail me everyday!" She cried, and they agreed.
"That's us." Haley cries to Peyton. "I'll see you hopefully at Thanksgiving. If not Christmas." She confirmed. Nicole interrupted, bringing her into a death grip of a hug. "I love you Nicole Deborah Scott." Haley whispered into her ear. "We'll call you as soon as we get home."
"Promise?" She cried into her.
"Promise." Haley glanced over Nicole's head to see Hannah and Nathan having a similar conversation. God she hoped she was doing the right thing. Wait, of course she was. They had to go home. They did, she couldn't change that.
"Bye tutormommy!" Brooke exclaimed. Haley chuckled. "Bye Brooke. Take care of Lucas. He is helpless sometimes."
"Don't I know it." She laughed.
"Come on Hales." Lucas called. Haley reluctantly pulled away from Nicole, giving her one last kiss on the forehead. "I love you Nicky."
"Love you too mom."
"Bye Nathan." She offered weakly. He simply forced a smile and nodded in return. Well, Haley, you are just his ex- wife what did you expect?
Haley handed her boarding pass to the attendant and glanced back at them and smiled weakly before turning and boarding the plane.
--
I play it off but I'm dreamin of you
I 'll keep it cool, but Im feelin
I try to say goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near
The phone rang at the new Scott mansion, nearly two weeks after their departure. Nicole sprang off the couch, tossing her math book aside, running toward her phone. Smiling at the caller ID and her consistency. Everyday at four, without fail.
"Hello."
"Hey. Oh my gosh. You will not believe this, but I seriously am having thoughts of murdering my stupid history teacher. He was like "It can be a hindrance to have a famous parent." And he wouldn't drop it so I finally was like, "Yeah, well I have two you as.s." And so I! Got suspended. Im grounded for like ever. Yeah, happy birthday to me." Hannah blew out in one breath.
"Wow. Um. Wow." Nicole chuckled, in awe of her greeting. "And by the way, our birthday's not for another like, what three days or something.
"Or something. It's only one day stupid. What, did you not write the date on any of your papers in school today? It's the 20th."
"Hannah, I don't do any work in school. Never have, and probably won't until we are in high school and it counts for college. Besides, I do homework, I take the tests, gets A's on them and that's about it. So, no I don't really worry about the date that much. And it's Monday. No one gives a sh,t on Monday's." Nicole grumbled.
"Yeah. Well, Im going to be grounded and suspended on my birthday. Mom promised me that we'd make a cake together though."
"Cool. I honestly don't know if dad remembered Brooke's not here to remind him anymore, and I mean, I didn't even remember so..." She admits a little sadly.
"He won't forget. I promise. If he does, that's like the best guilt trip ever." Hannah says.
"Yeah, I guess. But I'd rather have him remember, you know?" She states, walking out the sliding patio doors. She walked laps around the pool as she talked.
"True. It would suck if he did. Has he ever before?"
"No, but Im pretty sure the smell of Brooke's burnt pancakes in the morning helped. Our birthday isn't near Christmas or Easter, and those days and birthdays are the only ones she'd make them on, so process of elimination." She told her, deciding to walk down the wooden steps that lead to the beach. The mansion had been built on a rocky hill overlooking the ocean, so they decided to make steps off of it.
"I doubt that's true...Mom's out of the booth now. You wanna talk to her?"
"Yeah. Sure." She answers, letting the warm sand slink threw her toes.
"Hey baby. Happy early birthday! I sent you a package. I hope it get's there on time. Gosh, thirteen years old. Aren't you excited."
"Yeah. I guess." She dead panned.
"Well, that sounded incredibly like your father. Well, I'm excited enough for all of us. My baby's are teenagers... god help us all." She heard her mother mutter. She laughed. "Okay, motherly advice: If you tutor a jock, and fall in love: do not get married or definitely don't have casual sex. He'll knock you up. And it's not that I don't love you girls, I do, very much, but being a teenage parent is worse than watching those horrible shows with all of the surgery stuff that makes me puke."
"Yeah. Um. Thanks for the advice mom." She mumbled.
"Nicky, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Really. I just... I didn't have the best day. That's all." She lied.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, I hope you have a great day tomorrow, and I'll talk to you then. Don't tell your father what I said. Love you."
"Love you too. Bye." She sighed. Walking back into the house she noticed her books were neatly arranged, her dirty dishes had disappeared, and her shoes weren't haphazardly laying around. "Dad? Is that you?" She called into the house.
"Hann? What was wrong with Nicole?" Haley asked worriedly.
"She was all over this idea that dad was gonna forget her birthday, but for some reason I got the eerie feeling that wasn't it."
"Yeah. I felt the same thing."
--
Here is my confession
May I be your possesion
Boy I need your touch
Your love kisses and such
With all my might I try
But this I can't deny
"Shut your stupid mouth for like one second, would you please!" Nathan shouted into his cell phone as he entered the house, staring at his daughter's relieved face. "I don't care. Do whatever you want. Good bye." He finished. "Hey Nicky." He muttered tiredly.
"Dad. Who's here?" Her ragged voice came out weakly.
"Nicky, what are you talking about?" He sighed.
"My stuff... I was finishing stuff for math, then Hannah called, and I walked down to the beach and then when I came back everything was all neat and clean. Like freakishly clean, like mom was here or something."
"Your mother? I thought you were on the phone with Hannah?"
"I was... I mean. I don't think SHE'S here, I mean, I think there is someone here. Did you get a cleaning lady and not tell me or something?"
"No..." He shook his head wearily, going into the kitchen as she followed him. Footsteps were heard behind them and Nicole clung to Nathan.
"Nate? Is that you?" A woman appeared, blonde, big boobs. Oh god, another one.
"Nicole, it was just Cherie." He rolls his eyes.
"Yeah. And do I know a Cherie?"
"Oh. You must me Nicky, I'm Cherie, your daddy's girlfriend."
Nicole stared at her hard for a minute, looked over at Nathan's worn out smile, blinked a few times then finally muttered, "You've GOT to be kidding me."