Chapter 18: Perfect
"What do you think?" Damien yelled as he leaned into Nathan. The music at this bar was so loud, Nathan couldn't even hear his ears ring.
"I think..." Nathan got shoved to a side by an older man. He pushed his way through the huge crowd and finally sat on a bar stool next to Damien. "I think we're underage." He said in a smaller voice so that no one would hear him. "How the hell did you get us in here?" He asked for the fourth time.
"I told you, I have connections." Damien grinned. Nathan looked at the bar tender nervously who was giving him a wondering look, he must have been able to tell he was underage. But not for long, in a couple months he'd be nineteen, what's the big deal? The bartender was still looking at Nathan when he noticed Damien at his side. Then the suspicion in his eyes faded and he smiled brightly.
"The usual?" He asked in a deep stern voice.
"Yup!" Damien beamed. "And make it a double for my friend here, he has some lady troubles." He yelled. A few guys sitting next to them laughed while two girls that seemed to be their age looked at him with pity. Nathan blushed in embarrassment.
"I do not have lady troubles." Nathan snapped, wanting to sound independent, like he didn't need a girl at all, let alone need Haley.
"Right." Damien laughed. "Who's the chick?" He asked with a serious tone in his voice. He turned and looked Nathan in the eye as Nathan's eyes narrowed. He could tell he hit a nerve.
"What makes you think there's a chick?" He asked as his voice suddenly got caught in his throat.
"I saw her name on our caller id the other night." Damien said as he sighed and glanced over at the girls sitting across from them. They were winking and biting their lips seductively.
"Haley called?" Nathan said quickly, sitting up straight and opening his eyes wide with desperation. His breaths were short and he seemed to be excited to hear she called.
"No, but I figured I'd get it out of you like that." Damien laughed then tossed a bill onto the bar top as the bartender passed them their drinks. "So..." He asked again. "Who's Haley?"
"She's ..." Everything. The one. My best friend. The one person I used to trust with everything. The only person who could break my heart. The only person who did. She's all these things, and still, she's wonderful. Nathan kept thinking about what to say over and over in his head. "She's... no one." That kind of sums it all up.
"Riight.." Damien laughed. He took sip of his drink and made a screwed up face. Stronger then his usual. He switched his with Nathan's. "You're going to need that." He grinned. Nathan just rolled his eyes. Damien looked around and started talking to two girls at his side. Nathan couldn't even look at them, even looking at another girl made him feel guilty. But why? He hadn't been with Haley, nor was he with her now, he had done nothing wrong and he needed to move on, he knew that.
"Nathan..." Damien smirked as he turned and one of t he girls walked behind him and sat next to Nathan. "This is Cara." Nathan looked at her. She was beautiful. She seemed so out of place in this club. She was drinking soda and she wasn't wearing clothing that barely covered her. She had light hair that was pulled back in a pony tail and she barely wore any make up. She was breath taking. She was exactly like Haley. She was perfect.
The room was dark and dingy. The sun barely gleamed through the window because the blinds were pulled all the way down. She sat on her bed, surrounded by walls covered with sad and depressed drawings, her cheerleading uniform belonging to the squad she had just joined at her new school, wrinkled while she curled in a ball. Her curly blond hair shed over her knees while she rested her head on them, and her back arched and swayed while she cried.
I can't believe this is happening to me. She thought to herself. Next to her, her phone was ringing off the hook. Her answering machine then cut it.
"Hey, you've reached Peyton Sawyer... leave it."
"Peyt!" A desperate voice pleaded her. "I know you're there, please pick up!" She begged her. "It's Bevin, please Peyton. I know things are going to be hard, and a lot must be going through your mind since you found , but you can't be alone. Peyton! Please!" She could hear Bevin's voice break out in sobs. "Call me, please." Then the answering machine cut out and Peyton just stared at it. She stood up and looked in the mirror, running her fingers through her beautiful locks of hair that she used to complain about.
"Peyton?" She heard a viscous knock on her door. She just turned and stared at it. She lived in this dorm room alone, she had requested it, and now even though the last thing she wanted was to be alone, she didn't want to face that look that would be in everyone's eyes, pitying her. She just turned and sat on her bed again, listening to everyone trying to get her to let them in, between knocks on the door and phone calls, her head was spinning.
"Peyton, it's Jake, please let me in..." Peyton's eyes widened as she ran to the door, swinging it open. They just stood there and she saw the look. The one she didn't want to see, but coming from him it was like a saving grace. It told her he was going to stand by her whenever this became too much for her. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Im going to have to go back to Tree Hill with my dad for a bit, I can't handle all this here, on my own." She whispered as he closed her door behind them.
"Im going to come with you." He whispered. He tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek as she shook her head.
"No, don't throw down everything for me." She actually did want him to be there with her, but it sounded incredibly selfish to let him.
"Too bad." He smiled and leaned back to look her in the eyes. "I already did." He reached into his pocket and pulled out two place tickets directed straight to Tree Hill the next day.
"I don't know if Im strong enough to do this." She whispered.
"Yes you are Peyton." He whispered back.
Haley sat on her couch. Flipping through the pages of her biology book. Trying to study but this year it seemed that she couldn't find the motivation for it at all. All she could think about was Nathan and Lucas. And she felt terrible for that. How could she have feelings for two people at once? Not to mention brothers. Mark sat at her side flicking through the channels on the television.
"Mark?" She questioned, breaking the silence. He looked over at her and waited for her to continue. "Do you think its possible to have feelings for two people at the same time?"
Mark chuckled a little, but he wasn't making fun of her, there was a certain sincerity in his laugh that eased her discomfort a little. "Of course." He went back to watching TV.
"How?"
"Well..." This time he turned off the television and turned to face her, he could tell she really needed some reassurance. "It has to be possible, I mean, you do don't you?" This question brought Haley's mind to a stop. Of course it was possible...
"But is it right?" She rephrased her question.
He sighed and smiled at her sadly. "No..." He laughed. "But since when did we always do what was right?"
"I always try to." Haley said, feelings as if she needed to defend herself.
"Holding a grudge over someone who actually did nothing... is that right?" Haley had told Mark about what Nathan had did, but he hadn't really commented on how he felt about it until now.
"No..." He was right. Nathan did nothing wrong. She was the one who was pushing him away, who blamed him for the pain she felt because of Lucas. She was the one who ran away. She was starting to feel as if that was all she did, run away. "I should call him." She whispered. Mark didn't respond, just got up and walked to the washroom, as he walked away he whispered,
"You do what you gotta do..." Truthfully though, he would be disappointed if she did. It wasn't that he didn't want her to. But there was something about her honesty and purity that got to him, it drove him nuts and he loved it. And he could feel himself getting close to her, he though that maybe, in the future he could even change for her, if that was what she wanted. But right now he could tell that all she wanted was her best friend back- Nathan back...- and he couldn't stand in the way of that.
Alritey.. there ya go... review please... yes I brought Peyton back in, she's a part of OTH and i couldn't cut her out completely no matter how much i wish Mark would! agh... anyways... do your thing! LOL
Michelley P