Little White Lies

The Ups and Downs Are Always the Best Parts

Haley

I make my way back downstairs where Brooke and Peyton are still sat at the breakfast bar, looking impatient. I sigh and sit down.

"Wow, you're back, finally. Who was on the phone?" Brooke asks looking way too excited for a relationship autopsy. I guess it's just all the drama involved, but I know she doesn't mean to be so insensitive. Not that I care, it's not like me and Nathan actually split up or anything.

"Uh… a friend from college. Asking how I'm settling in at home… uh, she wanted to escape from her family for a minute, she's got a really, really big family." Wait, where is all of this coming from?

Crap, I've just described myself. Cover, cover quick Haley. "We, uh… we have a lot in common. That's why we're such good friends."

Brooke nods but I can tell she wants to move onto the juicy stuff.

"Yuh huh, so, why do you think he did it?"

"Uh, he was drunk," I say quickly, mirroring what Nathan said to me. Brooke doesn't look too impressed.

"Wait a second , you think he cheated on you with your roommate because he was drunk? Haley, I have spent most of my time so far at college drunk, but I haven't slept with any one yet. Surely that can't be it. Nathan wouldn't do that… not that I'm siding with him or anything, just…" She trails off and I have to stop myself from flinging my arms around her for (semi-) defending Nathan.

I look at Peyton but she doesn't say anything, just raises her eyebrow and takes a big bite out of her sandwich.

"Well," I say, trying to add a little sorrow and guilt to my voice. I have to find a way to salvage Nathan somehow. "We, uh… we had an argument too."

"An argument?" Brooke looks incredulous. Damn, I should have forced Nathan to come up with a reason for the argument. My mind has abandoned me. So has my sanity, who knew?

"What was it about?" Peyton asks, perking up a little bit.

I gulp and try to rearrange my face to guilt again. "I… well, it was bad. Very, very bad. We were actually going to split up because of it, it was so bad… Well, it wasn't just that argument, we'd been having a string of them, but this one… this one was like the straw that broke the camels back."

"A camel? What has a camel got to do with this?" Brooke asks, looking confused.

"It's an analogy Brooke," Peyton says with another bite of her sandwich. "So, what was it about?"

Damn. I've built it up a lot and I don't know what the hell I'm suppose to say. "Well, um… the arguments started off small. I hated his roommate, we weren't spending enough time together, you know, stuff like that."

"Yeah, but what was this argument about. You know, the camelly straw thing," Brooke asks. Damn, what is it with girls and details?

I bite my lip. "Well…" Crap. "You see…" what do I do? "The thing is…" Quit stalling!

"What? What?" Brooke snaps.

"Yeah, come on Hales," Peyton laughs.

I look down at my hands and get a brain wave. I throw my head down on the table and pretend to cry, great heaving sobs. "I…I…It's so p - painful! And it was all my fault!" Sniff. "I met this guy, and I was spending a lot of time with him because he's in a lot of my classes…" Whoa! Where is all of this coming from? I don't care, it's good. I give another sob and continue. "I… I kind of l-liked him and" Sniff "And he l-liked me too and… but I still loved Nathan. I was so - so - so confused!" Sob.

There's silence, except for my wails. "Did Nathan know about him?" Brooke asks. I keep my face on the table but nod anyway. I can't look up because I've got no tears in my eyes. I try to think of something sad, and remember Nathan last year, when he was in the coma. It feels like a weight has clamped down on my chest and I feel my nose throb. A sob escapes my throat, a real one this time, and I try to get rid of the image, of the memory. Of Nathan bruised and broken, and me thinking I would never speak to him again.

I can't believe we're doing this. After everything we've been through and we're pretending that we've broken up! Pretending that we don't love each other anymore, and that Nathan could actually cheat on me, that I could have feelings for anybody else. What are we thinking? Life's too short!

I look up at Brooke and Peyton, who are kind of gaping. I wipe the tears from my eyes and jump off my chair. "I've got to get out of here. I've got to see Nathan.

Well, it's official, Peyton and Brooke think I'm insane. I ran out of the house saying I needed to see Nathan, when according to them we're supposed to hate each others guts. Well, that was the plan. The way it's going they'll think we're married or something.

Oh wait, we are.

I run to Nathan's house hoping to God that Dan isn't in. As if to answer my prayer, Dan's car isn't in the driveway, but Lucas's is, and Lucas is right next to it, opening the door to climb in. He spots me straight away.

"Haley!" He yells, running over to me and pulling me into a tight hug. "Wow, it's good to see you. I've missed you."

I hug Lucas back, smelling his familiar smell and smiling. God, I've missed him too. Way more than a girl should miss her ex-boyfriend, but Lucas is more than that. He's one of my best friends. In fact, for the longest time, he was my only best friend, before Peyton kicked in the cheerleading squad, and before Brooke started being nice to me, and before Jake started seeing Peyton, and before I fell in love with Nathan…

"I've missed you too. How have you been?" I ask, once we pull apart.

"I've been good. Princeton is great, I love it there, and Brooke's only in the next state so that's cool."

"Yeah, yeah I was going to ask about the two of you. I spoke to Brooke about it, but it's always best to get both sides of the story."

Lucas looks a little guilty and thrusts his hands in his pocket. "Yeah, it really is. Uh… how about you? You coping okay?"

Coping? What? Oh yeah, with Nathan and our 'situation'. God, the sooner we put an end to this the better. I'm tempted to tell Lucas that it was all a lie, but I can't do that without Nathan. I need to speak to him so bad.

"I'm fine, is… is Nathan in?"

Lucas shakes his head. "No, don't worry about that," he says with a small laugh. "Dan dragged him out for a run in the park, slipping the leash over his neck now that he's back home. So, you can come in. I mean, if you want to. It must be hard with all the memories, but I'm pretty sure Nathan won't be back for a while so you don't have to worry about running into him."

I take a deep breath. He's not here. It feels so weird, back at Duke we seemed to spend every second of the day together, now we're like ships in the night, passing right on by each other. Missing each other.

"Uh, no it's fine. I should get back anyway, I think Peyton and Brooke will be worried about me."

"Why?"

"Oh, I was a little bit hysterical when I left," I laugh. "Bye Lucas. I'll see you later, right?"

Lucas scratches his ear. "Uh… I kind of promised Nathan that we'd go for a drink."

"That's great!" I say with a huge grin which seems to leave Lucas at a loss for words. "I mean, you're brothers. You should stick together."

"You don't mind?"

"Well, it's not like you can only be friends with one of us," I say with a shrug.

"Wow, you're handling this so well."

I shrug. I hate lying to Lucas, it just feels wrong. "I have my bad patches too. Just ask Brooke and Peyton."

Wow, I feel so James Bond right now, hiding behind a tree and spying on Nathan and Dan. God, I wish Dan would just go away, but the man is like a shadow. He never leaves you alone. Even when you think he's not there he appears somewhere. Poor Nathan, he looks like he wants to punch something, or someone. I'm amazed at his self-control actually. If it was a game and someone from the rival team was annoying him so much, he's be exactly the same. Annoyed but controlled.

I think he's perfect.

"Haley?"

Crap! I jump about a mile in the air at the sound of Sam's voice approaching from behind me. Supersonic sound much?

"S-Sam! Hi, uh… what are you doing here?" I ask, risking a glance behind me to where Nathan and Dan were doing warm-ups. Oh no, they've seen me.

No! Dan's walking over.

"I think the question is, what are you doing here Miss James?" he asks, walking over with that cocky grin on his face. "I think stalking is actually illegal."

"I wasn't stalking," I protest, feeling my face flare up. "I was… uh, I was just walking in the park. It's not like you own the park." Lame, I know, but I feel so embarrassed that my brain and mouth aren't co-operating with each other.

Sam steps forward and links his arm though mine. My eyes widen in horror, what is he doing?

"She was walking with me, Mr Scott," he says. I risk a glance at Nathan who is looking at me with his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, well, you do move fast, don't you Peyton," Dan says. I look at Nathan again who's walking closer to us, glaring at Sam.

"It's Haley," I say through gritted teeth, not taking my eyes of Nathan and sending him telepathic messages that I'm not here with Sam.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my mistake. Guess I just liked Peyton better. Well, now that the two of you aren't together anymore, maybe you could get back with her son. Such a nice girl. And she had good breeding too." He directed the last part at Nathan, who is still glaring at Sam. I feel Sam stiffen beside me, obviously noticing the fire in Nathan's eyes.

Oh my God, he's jealous.

"Leave it Dad," Nathan says angrily.

"Let's go then. Looks like you got out of that one just in time. Who knows what kind of diseases you could have got if you'd stayed together? Haley's already onto her next conquest. Oh wait, I forgot. Nathan was the one who cheated on you, wasn't he? Ouch, that must have hurt."

I hate Dan Scott. I want to murder Dan Scott. Just once, I wish Nathan would lose his cool and hit Dan Scott.

Again, someone must be answering my prayers because Nathan does lose his cool. He swings out and his fist connects with Dan's jaw. Dan, who was looking at me, doesn't expect the blow and can't parry, so he goes flying into the tree I was just hiding behind.

"Whoa!" Sam cries, his arms still linked in mine. I shrug it out and run up to Nathan.

"Nathan! What did you… why did you…" I'm at a loss for words.

Nathan looks up from Dan and stares at me. His blue eyes see through to my soul and I know that he knows I'm not with Sam. That I could never do that. I want to fling my arms around him, kiss him, tell the world that I love him.

"What the hell!" Dan roars, and all our eyes are drawn back to him.

"We should get out of here," I say, grabbing Nathan by the hand and dragging him away before Dan can regain his composure and probably hit his son back.

"Wait, what about…" Sam shouts.

"Uh, we'll talk later, 'kay?" I shout back over my shoulder.

Nathan still hasn't said a word.

AN: Ha ha, had to have a little Nathan Jealousy in there. Next chapter there shall be more Naley. Yay!

And Lorilozz, that's a really great idea. I might just have to use that somewhere XD