One Tree Hill

The Con

Chapter Seventeen: When the guilt gets too much.

AN: Well, it's a long time coming, but here goes.

"I've got it!"

Haley looked up from the till as Brooke came rushing into the main floor of the shop, her dark green eyes lit up with a mixture of excitement and accomplishment.

"Got what?" Haley asked, feeling uncomfortable. She knew perfectly well what was going on. Brooke had insisted on designing Haley's wedding dress, and Haley had been unable to refuse. Not that she wanted to – after all, Brooke's designs were stunning, and she had eyed up more than one thing in the shop. The problem was, she couldn't stop feeling guilty. The wedding was going to be a sham, and Haley really didn't think she could handle the thought of Brooke making the effort of a wedding dress.

Not that that was the only problem… Brooke's taste in wedding dresses somewhat differed from Haley's – quite a lot. So far she had seen a giant meringue-type dress – 'You'll look like a princess' – something with too many flowers – 'You can't have too many flowers on a wedding dress' – something with feathers – 'You will totally stand out' – something in hot pink – 'So unique' – something in black – 'non-traditional but elegant' – and something below the knee – 'the wedding's in August, you're going to need to stay cool.'

The designs were all pretty stunning in their own way, but Haley knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted something simple but elegant – something timeless.

Luckily, before Haley saw the dress and had to make yet another excuse for why it wasn't quite her, a customer walked in, heading straight for the counter.

"Hi, can I help?" Haley asked, hoping the relief in her voice wasn't too evident.

The woman wanted to bring something back, and no matter how slow Haley worked, it still wouldn't stretch out until forever.

Now she felt bad. And ungrateful. And she honestly wasn't. It was just… under normal circumstances, a dress by Brooke would cheer her up immensely. If the wedding was real, Brooke would be the first person she would go to for her wedding dress, but unfortunately that wasn't the way it was. The wedding wasn't real.

But her love for Nathan was.

Stop it! She told herself. She had agreed that she would no longer think about him like that, but every now and then the odd thought popped through. It happened especially often when Nathan was actually there. Kissing her, hugging her, talking to her, touching her…

Stop it! She scolded herself again. The sooner this con was over the better. The sooner Nathan got her out of his life, the better it would be for him. He deserved so much better than her.

Brooke moved over to the counter, and for the first time, Haley found herself grateful for the dress. The undoubtedly over the top, frilly, not her style…

Completely stunning dress.

Haley gasped as Brooke opened her wedding planning book onto a new page. Around the edge of it were swathes of fabric – cream and ivory silk, delicate antique lace. In the middle of the page were two sketches – a front view and a back view – of the most perfect dress Haley had ever seen. It was a straight drop to the floor, and the top half was empire cut with a v-neck front and back and cap sleeves. Just under the bust was a delicate satin bow that tied at the back, and the dress was layered with the antique satin, with just a subtle touch of diamante stitched in.

"Well?" Brooke asked, biting her lip and looking up at her new friend for a reaction.

Haley could hardly breathe. "Brooke, it's…"

"Too plain? See, I was kind of thinking that, but you said you wanted simple, see, so I thought that maybe I should hold back on the frills and…"

"It's perfect Brooke," Haley finally managed to breathe out.

"Really?" Brooke asked, her voice rising with happiness. "Have we finally got it?"

"We've finally got it."

—x—x—x—

With it being a Saturday, the shop got busier and busier, until Haley and the other employees were all dead on their feet and cursing every human being who ever bought clothes ever.

It was after dealing with one particularly stubborn customer that Brooke approached Haley. She'd been in her office trying to sort out the ball arrangements.

"Okay, so now that I finally have an idea what your tastes are, I've decided to make you a dress for the ball," Brooke said, leaning on the counter where Haley was trying to listen to her as well as bag a customers newly bought dress.

"Oh Brooke," Haley said, turning to her best friend in shock. "You don't have to do that."

Brooke shook her head stubbornly. "But I want to. So, I was thinking green, because you suit that colour. Or maybe white, give Nathan a little glimpse of the wedding day, huh?" She winked at Haley, who quickly handed the bag over to the customer. Luckily the day was drawing to a close and the shop was emptying out a little.

"Brooke, I don't think…"

"No, actually, we should really wow Nathan on the day. A white dress at the ball might take the edge off a little bit. Um, red is out of the question, because that's my colour. I guess we could try blue? Oh my god, blue! A pale blue or a dark blue?"

"Brooke…"

"I can't decide. No, I'm thinking we should definitely put you in green. Ooh! Actually…"

"BROOKE!"

"What?" Brooke asked, looking up at Haley as if she'd been pulled out of a dream.

"I can't accept a dress off you. You've already done too much…"

"Nonsense! You're getting married! And you're making me the maid of honour! Honestly, I should be drowning you in dresses to show my gratitude."

"And besides," Haley said, cutting Brooke off. "I really can't afford it." She thought sadly of Robert and his threat.

"Is that why you're marrying my son?"

The two girls jumped at the harsh familiar voice, and looked up to see the formidable figure of Dan Scott standing just a short way away from the counter.

Haley's back stiffened, and she felt Brooke do the same. Dan was obviously not one of her favourite people either.

"Dan," she greeted warmly, but Haley could detect a note of annoyance in her voice. "Are you here about the ball? Because I've organised a colour scheme that I think you're really going to like..."

"I know you think that my son loves you," Dan said, looking straight at Haley and completely ignoring Brooke. "But pretty soon he'll get bored of you. See you as the gold digging shop assistant that you are and drop you like a hot coal."

Haley took a deep breath, feeling tears sting the back of her eyes. The accuracy of Dan's statement that she was only marrying Nathan for his money was too much for her. "Can I please leave early?" She asked Brooke, determined not to look at Dan. Not to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd hurt her. Brooke nodded sympathetically and squeezed Haley's shoulder in a way that both comforted her and made her – if it was even possible – more guilty that before.

She turned towards the staff room, but it seemed that Dan had more to say.

"You know, Nathan's going through a phase right now, just wants to defy me."

Haley was determined not to listen to him, to keep walking, but his words swam around her ears.

"God knows why. I gave that boy everything, money, a job…"

"Love?" Haley found herself saying, with venom in her voice. She turned back to Dan and glared at him. "Did you give him love too?"

Dan gave a smirk that was a colder version of Nathan's. "But he will marry Peyton," he continued, seemingly ignoring Haley's words. "Everyone has something they're ashamed of Haley. I'm going to find out what yours is, and I'm going to exploit it until Nathan sees you for what you are."

Haley gave a gasp of surprise, her eyes widened. Dan gave a quick nod at Brooke and turned around. "I'll be seeing you," he called out as he left.

—x—x—x—

Taylor was painting her toenails when she heard the door to her and Haley's suite slam. She cursed silently as the shock made her paint outside the lines, and then looked up to see her little sister run and lock herself into the bathroom.

"Haley?" She asked, the concern showing through her voice as she screwed the top back onto the bottle and set it down on her bedside table. "Haley sweetie, what's up?"

"Go away," she heard Haley's sob-muffled voice yell from the other side of the door. Taylor rolled her eyes, remembering Haley when she went through her melodramatic phase in her early teens and noting the similarities before reaching into the bedside drawer and pulling out a nickel.

"Haley Ann James," she said in her most authoritative voice, "open this door right now." She held the nickel up to the screw that held the lock in place and was about to dismantle it when the door flew open.

"Whoa, did that actually work?" She asked, or at least, she would have done if she hadn't been cut off by Haley's arms flying around her neck.

"How did we get into this?" she sobbed into her neck, and Taylor felt her heart break all over again.

"Oh, Haley," she whispered, stroking her little sisters hair and leading her over to the bed were they both sat down. Taylor grabbed Haley's hand and stroked it softly with her thumb. "What's happened?"

Haley carelessly wiped her nose with the back of her hand and looked up at the ceiling. "Dan came into the shop today," she said softly.

"Dan…"

"Scott. Nathan's dad."

"Oh," Taylor said, not sure what had happened that had caused her normally composed sister to go into such a state. Of course, a small part of her knew exactly why Haley allowed herself to get into a state over Nathan, but that was the part she tried to ignore. If she didn't, the guilt would eat away at her.

"He… he said some things," Haley carried on. "He said that I was just marrying Nathan for his mo…" her voice caught and she took a deep breath before continuing. "For his money, and he said that he was going to look into my past and tell Nathan."

"Oh," Taylor said again, feeling like an idiot for not contributing more and comforting her sister a little.

"What can I do Taylor?" Haley asked, looking up at her sister through glassy eyes. "If Nathan finds out that I… that I lied to him about who I am, then he'll… well, Hartford won't be getting his money, let's just put it that way."

Taylor squeezed Haley's hand tight, almost wanting to take her away from here and never come back, but she couldn't. She had gotten them both into a huge mess, and it was Haley who had to get them out of it. "I'll take care of it," she said softly.

"What?" Haley asked, looking confused.

"I said I'll take care of it," Taylor repeated. "Just leave it to me. Don't you worry about it."

—x—x—x—

"Nathan, you're making me nervous," Lucas said, watching as his brother looked over his shoulder yet again. "What is up with you?"

Nathan gave a nonchalant smirk and shrugged. "Nothing, man. I'm fine."

"Yeah?" Lucas asked, taking a deep gulp of his whiskey and setting it back down on the bar. "Then why have you been looking over at that door as if the Grim Reaper himself is going to come in and take you away?"

Nathan pulled the kind of face he always pulled when Lucas made some kind of analogy and took a deep swig of his beer. "It's just… I hate this place. We should go somewhere else."

Lucas raised his eyebrows and searched his little brother's face for a sign that something was wrong. "You love this place," Lucas stated as a fact, because… well, it was. "You're always in here."

He was referring, of course, to Nathan's regular bar. The one he went to pretty much every day after work. The one that Lucas had brought him to for a congratulatory drink.

Nathan shook his head. "No, I'm not," he said firmly. "I haven't been here since…" his voice trailed off and he looked down at his beer as if it contained the secret of life. Lucas's brow furrowed and he was about to probe, but Nathan cut him off before he had a chance.

"I may as well tell you," he said softly. "I haven't been here since I kissed Lisa."

"Lisa?" Lucas asked, wondering why the name sounded vaguely familiar. "Who's…"

"Just a random," Nathan answered before Luke had a chance to ask the question. "Just some girl who I got drunk with and kissed."

The cogs in Luke's brain started whirring and he narrowed his eyes. "When?"

The look of guilt on Nathan's face said it all. Lucas gritted his teeth and shook his head. "While you were dating Haley?" he asked, only his tone of voice said that it was more a statement than a question.

Nathan shook his head. "It was before that date we had, when you and Brooke crashed on us."

Luke felt confused again. "But… I thought that was your first date."

"It was," Nathan nodded. "I mean, officially it was. We'd met a few times before that, but I always thought she kind of wasn't that interested. She'd always be finding excuses to go, or turn me down flat when I asked her out."

"So… what's the big deal?" Luke asked. "I mean, if you weren't together, then why…"

"Don't you get it?" Nathan asked, his cerulean eyes imploring for Lucas to understand. "I was in love with her. I barely even knew her and I was already in love with her. I just… I'm scared, you know?"

Luke bit his lip, not entirely sure what to say. "Why?" he asked.

Nathan took another swig of beer and sighed deeply. "I was in love with her and I kissed another girl. How do I know that I'm not going to be tempted like that again?"

Luke gave a small smile and put his hand on Nate's shoulder. "You won't," he said confidently.

"How do you know?"

"I've seen the way you look at her Nate. Trust me, you're crazy about her and she's crazy about you. I know you're not a bad guy; you're just not used to feeling like this. I have faith in you little brother. I know you'll be fine."

—x—x—x—

Haley lay on her stomach, trying to read a book through bleary eyes when the phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered, rubbing her eyes quickly as if the person on the other side could see her.

"Haley? It's Brooke." Brooke's voice was soft and sympathetic and Haley blinked quickly.

"Brooke, I am so sorry about today," she said. "I just…"

"Actually, I rang to apologise to you," Brooke said, and Haley realised the edge of guilt in her voice. "I shouldn't have let that bastard speak to you like that, I should have…"

"Brooke," Haley said, cutting her off. "I wouldn't want you to do anything that jeopardised your position designing the ball, or as Dan's future daughter-in-law…"

"God, don't remind me," Brooke laughed bitterly. "But still, I should have…"

"You should have done nothing. I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself."

"So you're not mad?"

"Of course I'm not mad!" Haley exclaimed, amazed that Brooke could think any such thing. "I think of you as a true friend Brooke. You mean a lot to me."

"Really?" Brooke asked, her voice perking up. "Well, that's good, because I view you as a true friend too."

"I'm glad," Haley said, smiling into the phone and forgetting her whole horrible mess for just a second.

"Which is why I've decided to make you a dress for the ball free of charge."

Suddenly the horrible mess came flooding back.

"Brooke, I can't accept that," Haley said, fighting the guilt that flooded up in the gut of her stomach.

"Oh hush," Brooke said in a voice that Haley was sure accompanied a pout. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to Nathan, and that's payment enough."

"Brooke," Haley said, her voice cracking at the thought of how her betrayal would affect all these people.

"And I'm hanging up now so you can't argue. Okay? Bye!"

The phone went dead, as for what felt like the thousandth time since she came to One Tree Hill, she started crying.