Chapter 2
Haley slid open her back porch and took in the scenery that was her backyard. It looked as if it had just come off of one of those home gardening shows. She followed the concrete steps down a small path that led to a white gazebo entailed with a bench inside. She walked into the wooden masterpiece and took a seat on the empty bench. She pulled her knees up to her chin and placed her head down upon them. Her eyes focused in on the single red rose bush placed on the outskirts of her fence. She felt a small breeze blow through and watched as the hairs on her arms stood up and small goose bumps glazed over her smooth skin.
Promise me you'll never leave.
His voice was haunting her, filling her with every silence in her day. She felt as if she couldn't breath without thinking of him. Her mind was usually in a frenzy and every moment she was filled with a constant headache of his voice jumbled together in phrases that she couldn't quite make out. She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes as his words suddenly became utterly clear.
"I want to spend forever here Timmy." 12-year-old Haley stared back at her 15 year old brother as he gave her a wide smile.
The James family always spent their summers at their grandparent's cabin. It had always been a tradition, or really the only thing Haley had ever known in those warm months. Tim and Haley had decided to make a grand escape and run from their morning chores and simply lay in the field of flowers that their grandmother had been growing for the past 12 years.
"Can we do that Tim, just stay here."
Tim rolled over on his side to give his sister a peculiar look.
"What about Seattle, Hales? Don't you like it there?"
Her eyes narrowed as she thought about her answer before turning her head and matching her brother's gaze.
"It's nice, but it's just different here. I feel like nothing can go wrong and that everyone is happy."
"We're happy in Seattle too Hales."
Haley stared at her brother as the words left his mouth and couldn't help but noticed the slight rise of his left eyebrow, which always happened when he lied. She thought about questioning him on it, but decided against it. She turned her head away from her brother's and stared up at the piercing sun.
"Promise me we'll come back here when we're older and do this exact same thing."
Tim's hand found his sister's as he gave it a tight squeeze.
"I promise baby sis."
She turned her head and looked at her brother's doe brown eyes and watched as his gaze looked up from her face and landed on a certain area in the flower field. She watched as his eyes grew with fascination and amusement. Haley turned her head the way that her brother was staring and looked around for whatever it was he was staring at. Her eyes glanced over the field until they landed on the single red rose bush. It was fairly large and stood out when placed along side the other flowers. They couldn't compare to the roses beauty. It was almost as if they were drawing you into their world, magical in a sense.
"You see those roses Hales?"
Haley reluctantly turned her head from the flowers as she looked at her brother's smiling form. She loved to see him smile. It was the way it reached up to his eyes that really made them sparkle.
She nodded her head and watched as her brother's eyes left the area of the roses and connected back to hers.
"I planted those seeds with grandma when I was 3."
Haley gave her brother a small smile while her eyes held confusion as to why he was telling her this.
Tim reached down for his sister's hand and brought it up to rest on his heart.
"I planted it for you."
It ached to see roses now. To see their form blowing in the small gust and still they held that magical quality to Haley, just as they had in the field that warm summer day.
She heard his footsteps as he made his way closer to the gazebo, but she wouldn't look at him and acknowledge his presence. She preferred ignoring him, hoping that he would get the hint and leave.
He never did though, and it didn't surprise her that his next move was sitting down on the bench next to her.
"I miss him too you know."
Her eyebrows knit into confusion as his words entered through her ears.
"You act like you're the only one suffering here Haley, did you forget that he was my brother too?"
Haley slowly turned her head to see Jake's emotionless face staring straight-ahead and looking nowhere at her to see her reaction.
"I didn't forget Jake."
He nodded his head signaling he understood her words but she knew his gesture meant nothing of the sort.
"I was jealous of you two."
Her eyes widened in shock and she watched as he brought his hands up to his lap and interlocked them to keep from fidgeting. His eyes still remained focused in on the exit to the gazebo as his words sputtered out of his mouth.
"It was hard watching you two, laughing at your inside jokes when I didn't have a clue what was going on, playing by myself while you two decided to disappear, and apart of me hated him for taking you from me."
His eyes lowered to the ground and Haley still sat there astonished to Jake's revelations.
"People always thought we were close because we're twins, and what they didn't know was that I didn't even come close to the relationship you had with him."
"Jake…"
"I know I can't be Tim for you Haley."
His eyes finally locked onto hers and she watched as a heavy sigh left his body.
"I know I'll never even come close, but if you could just…"
His voice trailed off and she watched as his eyes filled with tears.
"If you would just give me a chance, I think I'd make him proud."
Haley's eyes glanced away and she could feel her heart beating faster as the pain quickly ran through her body. She sat there unmoving, mute, and she knew with each second that past by Jake broke more and more. She felt the tip of the bench and heard his shuffled footsteps, but before he could fully step out of the gazebo she spoke to him in a quite mousy tone.
"It's not about you being Tim for me Jake."
Her doe brown eyes glanced up to his hazel ones and she could see the small sparkle of hope that ignited in him.
"Just don't give up on me yet Jake."
She took in a deep gulp as she swallowed her salty tears.
"Promise you'll be here for me when I break."
His eyes narrowed in concern and anguish before he gave her a simple nod of his head.
"I'll do anything for you Hales."
She gave him a small smile and watched as he turned around to head back into their house. She felt the light breeze again and her gaze immediately darted over to the swaying roses.
Promise me you'll never leave.
"Haley hurry up you're going to make us late!"
Haley stared at her reflection in the mirror and brought a finger up to the glass to trace over the outline of her face.
"Haley Marie James!"
Haley blew out a small sigh before taking one last glance at her appearance. She had on a light blue jean skirt, a white 3-quarter sleeve shirt, with a turquoise tank top underneath that peaked up above the slit on the white cloth.
She headed down the stairs and stared at her mother who gave her a once over look before shaking her head at her daughter's appearance.
"You better hope this dinner isn't formal Haley."
She didn't respond to her mother and simply continued down the stairs until she was standing by Jake's side.
"Don't embarrass me tonight you two. It's been a long time since I've seen Karen, and I don't want her to think…"
Jake's voice cut her off as he slung an arm around Haley's shoulder.
"That you raised two delinquents."
"Exactly."
Jake nodded his head before opening the front door and talking to his mother as she trailed behind.
"Don't worry mom we'll save the prison stories for the second dinner."
Haley pulled her bottom lip between her teeth to stifle the giggle that was threatening to leave her lips.
"Just don't get mad if I let some of my drug bust jokes out."
They all gathered in the car and watched as their mother's face turned hard with worry and aggravation.
"Oh come on mom, you know that's my best material."
For the first time in a long time Haley smiled over at her brother's joke. His heart leapt for joy as she radiated with a small giggle.
He couldn't help but notice that her smile was only a few inches away from finally reaching her eyes.
They knocked on the front door and waited until a woman, dark brown hair, medium height and weight, and a beaming smile opened the door.
Haley watched as her mother let out a light shriek and both women jumped into each other's arms. Jake and Haley looked at each other in amusement until the women calmed down and now the stranger was staring at them both.
"You must be Haley and Jake! Wow you two have grown up so much! My sons are about your age, what are you both 16?"
Haley gave her a small smile while nodding her head and letting Jake take over the conversation just like he did with any adult.
"17 next month."
Karen's smile grew as she ushered us all in.
"Let me call the boys in here so we can all get introduced. Nathan, Lucas, Dan, our guests are here!"
Haley took this time to look around the room at all the paintings and picture frames it held. It strangely looked familiar to their new home. Her eyes glanced over the things until her eyes froze on a certain picture of the Scott family, and that's when it hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Boys I'd like you to meet-"
"Haley?"
Her eyes snapped up to Nathan's smirking face and she breathed in a deep breath of air trying to regain her nerves.
"Hi Nathan."
"So this is the mystery guy."
Haley turned her gaze to her brother and gave him a hard look; he simply nodded his head and let out a small chuckle.
"I take it you three know each other?"
Jake looked at his confused mother and gave her an amused expression.
"Well I haven't been properly introduced to Nathan yet, but he did have the pleasure of showing out little Haley around to her class this morning."
Haley's cheeks flushed with heat and she wanted nothing more then to reach up and strangle the life out of her brother.
She looked up to see Nathan's eyes dancing over her body and she couldn't help but notice the way his mouth was now turned up into a genuine smile.
"Well thank you Nathan, that was very sweet of you."
Haley let out a small groan and rolled her eyes as Nathan's eyes left Haley's and focused in on her mother's.
"It was really no problem Mrs. James."
"Well since one introduction is out of the way, Danny this is Lydia and her kids Jake and Haley, and this is my other son Lucas."
Haley tried her best to give each of them a genuine smile as Jake stuck his hand out for each of the men to shake. Dan looked nice enough, handsome for his age. Lucas was appealing but he didn't attract her like Nathan did. He did however seem like the more sensible one of the two, the brother you could run to in a time of need.
"We'll you kids are free to do whatever, dinner won't be ready for a while."
We stood in front of each other in awkward silence as the three adults left the living room and headed to the study for a drink. Haley took a glance around the room trying to distract her eyes from Nathan's heated stare. She then let out a small fake cough.
"I'm going to go get something to drink."
She walked around Lucas and Nathan and headed for the general direction the adults had headed in. The first room Haley walked into was the kitchen and she looked outside to see their full size basketball court, and the ball that was just sitting in the middle of the court abandoned.
Haley opened the back door and stepped outside to the cool air. It had begun to get colder in Tree Hill. Not that Haley seemed to notice.
She walked over to the small bench and sat down on the wooded material.
"I thought you said you were getting a drink?"
"I thought you said you weren't a stalker."
Her eyes glanced up to his smiling form as he took a seat next to her.
"Well technically this is my backyard, so it doesn't really fall under the category of stalking, now does it?"
Haley pulled in her bottom lip as she gave her shoulders a playful shrug.
"I guess not."
She felt her smile growing on her face and right before it could grow any wider it dropped down. Silence filled the space between them and she felt her breathing reach a calm level.
A level it hadn't been at in almost a year.
"Do you play basketball?"
Hey eyes landed on the ball that had yet to still move. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ears before letting her gaze travel back to Nathan.
"I did."
His eyebrows knitted together and a small smile almost graced her lips at the line that creased on his forehead. He looked so cute when he was confused.
"What were you bad?"
She let out a light laugh before shaking her head.
"No, I'm actually good, believe it or not."
She gave him a small nudge in the shoulder and he too let out a small chuckle.
"I'll believe it, even though you are only what five foot?"
"Five three thank you very much!"
Her voice sounded in mock hurt but they both let out a small fit of laughter. Once their laughter had died down the silence reentered, but it wasn't like any of the other silences she experienced with other people. It wasn't awkward or forced with Nathan.
It felt peaceful.
"So if you don't mind me asking, why would you stop?"
His voice came rushing back in her head, phrase after phrase and yet she still couldn't clear him out. She couldn't think without him.
"It's a long story."
"I've got plenty of time."
Haley's eyes connected with his and the air in his lungs felt like it rushed out from the look on her face. She looked so lost, so pained.
"Not enough trust me."
He gave her a simple nod of his head in an understanding manner but Haley knew he was far from understanding her situation. She could barely understand it herself.
It suddenly became increasingly awkward sitting there, both with different thoughts on their minds.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to be a buzz kill."
He looked over and gave her a small smile before shrugging his shoulders.
"I'm sorry for pressuring you on it."
Haley shook her head.
"You weren't pressuring it's just talking about it is…"
"Complicated?"
Haley let out a small sigh and a smile lit her features.
"Extremely."
They sat there, eyes connected, both grins growing with each moment.
"Haley, Nathan time for dinner!"
Both trances were broke as they watched Karen give them a shy smile before reentering the Scott home.
"We should do this more."
Haley gave him an odd look before standing up from the bench.
"What sit in your back yard?"
He rolled his eyes playfully at her before she linked her arm through his and they made their way towards the home.
"Hang out is what I was implying."
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and waited for Tim's voice to cloud her mind again.
But her head was strangely quiet.
"Haley?"
She stopped walking when they reach his back patio and turned to face him.
"Sounds like a plan."
Promise me you'll never leave.
-Sarah