3 conversations, 2 "surprising" guests & 1 non-dinner

'You nervous?' Nathan squeezed his wife's hand supportively.

'A little,' she whispered back. 'I keep thinking what if she's some high class madam and our little house won't be good enough for her… what if my roast chicken's not roasted enough or roasted too much… and oh dear oh dear what if the pudding doesn't rise!'

'For goodness sakes Mums,' little Beth said turning around. 'I don't know why you're whispering I can hear every word you just said, our house is hardly small we have a swimming pool and…'

Nathan and Peyton looked in shock at the long speech their 6-year-old just gave. It shocked Peyton enough to stop being anxious for a few seconds.

'And, and…' said the little girl.

'They're here,' Nathan announced.

The door swung open and Shane beckoned his girlfriend in shyly. Eugenia pushed her hair away nervously from her eyes. Was it the right decision to wear contacts instead of her usual glasses? Shane had seemed pleased but what if her contacts fell out halfway through the dinner? Was blue too boring a color, was her dress too short to look decent?

Opposite her Peyton was thinking – do I look too unmatronly in red? What if the "girl" thought she was trying to act young for her age? Was her hair messy? Did she still have spaghetti sauce on her hands? Would it be unglamorous to check?

'Mum, Dad this is Eugenia Scott Keller,' Shane said at last. 'Eugenia this is my Mum Peyton, my Dad Nathan, and my baby sister Beth.'

'I'm not a baby!' came a small, annoyed cry.

After that, silence.

It's just a coincidence, she felt her logic saying.

Scott?

Keller?

No connection, whatsoever.

Just a coincidence, a total coincidence.

Nathan was silent? Why wouldn't he say something? To show her it was a coincidence? That it bore no connection to….

'Because he knows that its not,' a voice whispered in her ear.

'Keller?' she murmured faintly.

Shane gave a swift look to his girlfriend before butting in quickly, 'Oh yeah Mums I need to tell you…'

'No Shane,' Eugenia said with a soft smile. 'It's alright… I'm okay with it now…'

Eugenia gave a deep breath and began the story that until now, had hurt to recount.

'You've probably heard of my parents? Haley James Keller and Chris Keller, they were rock stars… but they died in a car crash 6 years ago…'

She paused as if to take a breath. Peyton heard a sharp intake of her husband's breath, a slight shaking in the arm she was holding onto.

'I've been living with my godfather ever since, he was my mum's best friend,' she continued. 'My first name was taken after him.'

You could have cut the tension with a knife. Tentatively Peyton asked another question, not really knowing what possessed her to do so.

'And your second name?'

'My names actually have quite a lot of stories around them,' the girl laughed and Shane laughed with her.

Peyton and Nathan did not laugh.

'My second name was taken after my Mom's high school friend, someone she cared a lot about. Strangely it's the same as my godfather's surname… but my Mom wanted to make sure I knew the difference. Eugenia after Lucas Eugene… Scott after Scott something or something Scott… she didn't say.'

This time Peyton felt her own knees giving way. Nathan dropped his arm and put his hand to his eyes.

'Haley, Haley…' he whispered in a voice so low only his wife could hear.

Shane looked at his parents, bewildered. What was going on? Why were they behaving this way?

'Lucas Eugene?' Peyton trembled as she spoke. What was she doing? Torturing herself??

'Nope,' came a slow drawl. 'You're making sure that what you're about to do is worth it… '

'Lucas Eugene Scott,' she said firmly. 'Maybe you know him? He lives down the street next to the café.'

Nathan had turned around to walk into the dining room. In her mind Peyton knew what he was doing, he was walking past the dining room into his study. He'd sit resolutely on his chair, and play the song he played once a year for 10 years. Once a year on a particular day for 10 years, after the big quarrel they had about Haley and Lucas. Once a year, on a particular day, at a particular time, a particular song.

Dancing in my wooden shoes… in a wedding gown….

'Mums? Can we go in for dinner now?' Shane looked into her eyes questioning. He was confused, lost, he didn't understand what was going on.

He couldn't comprehend the gravity of what had just taken place in her life, in his parents' lives.

'I'm sorry Shane,' she said finally looking away from her son's lost expression. 'I think you'll have to take your friend somewhere else for dinner tonight.'

------- end of scene ------

'Hey Hilarie what you doing in here?'

Hilarie looked up from the television screen to see Sophia Bush walk in the small dark room she had been sitting in for the past few hours. She removed her large headphones and smiled hesitantly.

'Oh just watching some old episodes of One Tree Hill, back in season 1.'

'You watch those??' Sophia said, wrinkling up her nose. ' I absolutely detest seeing myself on TV. I never watch any OTH episodes. In fact, the only other cast member I know who does watch them is… Chad.'

There was an awkward silence. Hilarie was kind of used to it though. On the series hers and Sophia's character had been the best of friends but in real life, they hadn't really hit it off as well. Strange the difference between fiction and reality. James and Chad had gotten on fine though, but then guys usually seemed to disregard minor differences like personality clashes. A good television screen, a bag of potato chips and some random NBA match was usually enough to start a lifelong friendship.

Or at least series long.

'So how's your week been?' Hilarie said smiling brightly while racking her brains to think of appropriate small talk.

'Cool, kinda glad my episode's done with,' she said. 'Was a little upset about having such a small role in this season when what I'd done apparently created the whole season but oh well.'

Awkward silence.

'I suppose it's better than being killed off right, poor Bethany!' she laughed.

'Yeah,' she laughed uneasily.

'And you, wow… playing what is it? 3 roles right? Boy you got a good deal of screen time…'

'No wonder you're always so chirpy…'

Why did people always assume she was chirpy? Just because she was cheerful most of the time didn't mean she walked around with a balloon on her head. She did feel down or perplexed at times… like now.

When she really wished she could have Sophia as the best friend Peyton had in Brooke. So she could ask how she could talk about Chad so easily, as if nothing had ever happened between them. How she could trust men again so easily after being hurt the last time? She had hurt right? How could she not have been hurting? How could she…

'Well I'd better be going for my date…' Sophia said flashing her pearly whites. 'Good luck on your scene later, try not to burst Chad's eardrum!'

'Okay!' Hilarie's voice rang cheerily after her.

'Ciao!' Sophia called.

Hilarie relaxed the false smile on her face. She sighed to herself. Sometimes, being the cheery one felt almost as bad as being the messed up, depressed one.

-----------------------------

'What on earth do you think you're doing!'

'Excuse me?'

'Coming back to Tree Hill after all this time…. And upsetting my family again!'

'Your family?? I haven't done anything to upset your family! And the last time I checked, America was a free country I can do whatever I want!!'

'And not telling us about Haley?? How could you do this… how could you do this to Nathan?! He's your brother… you didn't even tell him about…'

'My brother? The last thing I remember was him shouting to my face that he didn't need a brother like me, and he's married to you not Haley as you have so often reminded me…'

'Why you…'

'And… they were rock stars! It was in the newspapers, on the television. Unless you switched off at the single mention of two of them… there's no reason why you shouldn't have known!!!'

There was a silence as Peyton realized that every word he said was true. How they had stopped watching the news when Haley and Chris' second album went platinum, how they had only bought a newspaper which feature strictly global news and politics, nothing about the entertainment scene. How she had stopped visiting the record stores since Nathan took to playing When the skies go blue on the eve of his and Haley's anniversary and she pretended not to notice.

Just as she pretended not to notice last night when he sat in his study all night long, replaying the chorus over and over again, as he cried himself to sleep.

Her husband was in love with another woman.

A dead woman.

'Furthermore what I do or did has nothing to do with you Peyton. You made that perfectly clear 12 years ago when you…'

'I did nothing!'

'You cut me out of our… out of his life. I will never forgive you for that.'

There was a silence, it was almost as if a tightening in her heart and for the first time in years, Peyton felt a tear slip down her cheek.

'Well I don't care what you do or don't do!' she screamed. 'But I will not let my son have anything to do with a child you raised! So leave me and leave my family alone!!'

'Fine!'

'Fine!'

Peyton put the phone down, her hands trembling so much she had to use both hands to steady the earpiece onto its hook. She breathed in and out, in and out, leaning her weight on the table to try to think clearly. She breathed in and out, in and out, tears falling off her face and onto the table in huge drops. Her body heaved as she struggled to regain composure and against her will she felt her whole body crumple onto the floor. Like how she did, 17 years ago, a broken girl… now a broken woman.

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang.

Peyton ignored it, holding firm to the belief that she had taken enough for one day, nothing worse could be about to happen.

Ding dong.

Apparently she was mistaken.

Slowly, gingerly she pulled herself up, pleading it not to be someone that she was emotionally distraught with. For at the moment, she didn't think she had the strength left in her, or as a matter of fact, the emotional capacity.

Ding dong.

She grabbed a stack of tissues from the side and swiped them across her wet face, she looked in the hallway mirror to try to disguise the fact that her life felt like it was breaking in front of her very eyes.

Ding dong.

When she felt that she at least looked human, she pulled open the door bravely.

'Peyton!'

A familiar voice.

A familiar face.

A familiar smile.

'Hello Brooke.'