Nathan's P.O.V.

I left Haley's in a daze. I drove to the beach house to sit on the docks to watch the sunrise, just trying to clear my head. Things had been bad and I had just made them worse.

Finally, I head back to the house and park on the street. It's around 6AM and I'm try to slip into the house and up the stairs before anyone can see me.

"Son!"

Too late…

I turn around in the hallway to see the angry face of my father staring back at me.

"Where have you been?"

"What does it matter?" I ask quickly.

"Don't take that tone with me, Nathan," Dan replies sternly. "You know the rules around here…I was lax with you before and look where it got us: stealing school buses, hit-and-run accidents, racecar accidents…clearly, you're not as mature as I once thought."

I cringe at his words. He's not exactly saying anything that isn't true. I just wasn't used to the rules and the constant scrutiny of my whereabouts. In the past, Dan Scott had saved all of his scrutiny for my basketball technique.

"I was out with some friends…I promise, I wasn't racing cars or wrecking cars or anything like that, alright?"

Dan was clearly more worried about another alternative.

"You were with her weren't you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

I roll my eyes, turning to head toward the stairs again. "I gotta go."

Dan follows me out of the hallway. "I'm telling you son, watch your step. She's manipulative and calculating…you don't know what she's capable of."

I roll my eyes again but my back is turned so Dan can't see my expression. He's become a whole new level of paranoid since the dealership fire and with good reason. Dan Scott has a lot of enemies and a lot of people who wouldn't exactly miss him if he were gone.

I jog up the stairs, ignoring the rest of his comment. I am confused enough as it is.

Sleeping with Haley complicated everything a hundred times over and I know that my leaving her just made things worse. I would never want her to feel used, but I know that my behavior has made her feel that way.

I try to figure out the best way to talk to her about it. I decide I will go find her later this afternoon…but I make a decision that I cannot go back to that apartment. It's just too much temptation. She and I will have to meet in a neutral and public place. No matter what, I could not lose control like that again.

Haley's P.O.V.

"So was Nathan happy to see that his little 'pain stain' was part of our decor?" Brooke smirked, referring to the wall mural consisting of my picture covered in paint.

I cringe, "he saw it, but didn't say a word…that was just one conversation best left unspoken."

Brooke shrugged, "oh well…are you going to go find him later?"

I look at her, "why would I do that? He's the one who left…I'm not going to go chasing after him."

Brooke rolled her eyes, "you two are hopeless. Just talk to him Hales. Tell him how you feel."

"Brooke, he knows how I feel. That doesn't change anything. He told me that he loves me but he can't trust me," I said defeated.

Brooke's mouth gapes open. For the first time, she doesn't know how to respond…because for once in her life, she is witnessing a situation in which there is no 'quick fix.'

"Oh…well, it will just take time then, he'll come around," Brooke says, putting the lid on the breadbox and making her sandwich.

I nod, there's nothing more to say. It's just an endless cycle. I have literally done all that I can here – it's now up to Nathan and if or when the time will come for him to trust me again.

"I'd still love to be a fly on the wall when Nathan has to be see Rachel after he cheated on her," Brooke grins, taking a bite of her sandwich.

I shake my head. I don't share her enthusiasm nor do I share her amusement…Nathan cheating on his girlfriend with me should never have been a scenario; he should never have had a girlfriend in the first place because he and I should never have separated. If I had never left, we'd still be married and the notion of girlfriends and boyfriends would merely be a thing of the past.

That just goes to show how skewed things had truly become.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town –

Nathan's P.O.V.

I was lifting weights in my room when I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," I said, putting the barbell down.

"Hi honey," my mom said with a smile, cracking the door open.

"Hey mom," I said, trying to smile.

"I guess you had a late night last night," she hinted.

"Uh, yeah…I had some things to take care of," I replied, lying back on the bench with another weight in place.

"I'm worried about you Nathan," she said quietly, coming closer and further into the room. "You never smile, you're out all hours of the night, you never want to talk– you just don't seem happy. It doesn't even seem as though basketball makes you happy anymore."

I lift the weights, thankful for the distraction so she doesn't see my expression.

"I'm fine Mom…there's just a lot of stuff going on."

"I know…and I know it's gotten harder since Haley came back."

I put the weight down and sat up on the bench.

"Mom, if you're really so concerned with my happiness, then answer this: why are we still here…with him?"

Deb recoiled at the question and lowered her voice. "Nathan, I know things are difficult, but believe me when I say this really is temporary."

"Yeah, I know…you said that already," I said wryly. "You said we were getting out…this doesn't feel like getting out to me."

"After your father's accident, he's needed someone to take care of him—"

"—The accident was months ago, Mom…and yet we're still here. I had thought things would be different when I got back from High Flyers but nothing's changed," I said bitterly.

"Just give me a bit more time, Nathan…I promise, things will be better."

"Yeah, whatever," I scoffed, putting another weight on the bench.

I was done worrying about all of it – I knew that I needed to get out of this myself, with or without my mother.

I had emancipated myself before so I know I could this. I could be independent again.