Chapter 2: Footprints in the Sand.
"I'm bored." Summer exclaims with a frown, fingering a lock of her hair and twisting it as she lets out a dramatic puff of air.
Lucas laughs, bolting up right as he momentarily dis-occupies himself from his work. "Your always bored." He points out with a laugh.
"Because there's nothing ever going on." She cries out, helplessly flailing her arms up in the air before frowning. " Tree Hill sucks."
"Yeah, it kinda does." Lucas plays along, knowing Summer hadn't at all meant what she said. She loves the place, its become her sanctuary, her home. "Might as well get used to the sucky-ness, bud. Your stuck here."
"Not for long when I'm done with her." Haley chimes in, waltzing through the door with a familiar firm hand on her stomach and a glowing smile on her face.
Lucas smiles, just as Summer shouts excitedly, lunging into her aunt's arms and purposefully ignoring his plea to be careful before racing towards her favorite cousin who had been trailing behind quietly after his mother and leading him towards the back of the room.
Lucas then directs his eyes back to the brown-headed mother in front of him, watching her amused eyes dance as she sits herself down on a chair across from him and allows a smirk to pan out on his face. " You sure you want another one of them kids, I mean… One is already enough, two is just twice the hard work."
"I think I can manage." Haley responds in jest, smiling largely at the prospect that in just a few short months, she'd be having another piece of her and Nathan blooming into the world." Besides, I didn't really hear you complaining when Sawyer was born."
"Lack of judgment."
"I'm sure." Haley murmurs sarcastically, laughing afterwards and Lucas lets himself be swallowed into the mirth, smiling along after her.
"Whaddaya doing here, Haley James?"
"Haley James Scott. "She prompts, after all these years, Nathan and her are still married and blissfully in love. "And I thought I'd come kidnap your daughter for a few hours. I need to pamper my baby with some new baby clothes."
"Just don't fight with the saleslady this time." Lucas teases and Haley looks at him flabbergasted, recalling that one recent moment in time where her resolve had shattered and she let her anger get the best of her.
"Hardly I fight. I pushed her." Haley points out, a pout adorning her lips.
"For no good reason at all!" Lucas laughs.
"She was being rude." Haley insists, making Lucas guffaw loudly.
"She refused to help you because she was already helping someone else and you took it as a bad sign." Lucas remarks and she huffs, the movement blowing her dark bangs away from her eyes.
"I'm pregnant. And she wasn't supposed to tell you!" Haley shouts atrociously, referring to her soon to be seven year old neice who had sprang towards her father and had released the whole spectacle as soon as the chance arose.
"You honestly believed she wouldn't?" Lucas's eyes dance in mirth at the new information. "And they call you smart."
"Oh, shut up." Haley responds. Lucas topples into laughter once again and she frowns." I'll remember this when I pick out your birthday present next month."
"Let's just get over with finding one for the birthday girl tomorrow." Lucas retorts, his eyes landing on the particular blonde-haired girl who tilted her head backwards as she laughed contagiously at something Jamie had said.
Haley smiles, having had witnessed the scene. " How's the party planning coming along, anyway?"
"Peyton's going all out. I've never thought I'd see the day where Peyton Sawyer would be excited to be planning a child's birthday party."
"That's what happens when you have a child, Luke." Haley exclaims. " I just can't believe how big she's gotten."
"It shocks me too." Lucas agrees, sneaking a glance at the girl. "It's hard for me to imagine she had once been that frail, vulnerable little girl I once met at the adoptive center."
"You've done a good job with her. You and Peyton…" Haley shakes her head, loss for words. " I've never seen a more happier kid than I have with Summer. Excluding Sawyer." She mentioned the last bit in a daze, still midly shocked that two pre- broody teens had managed to create such a smiling, energetic kid despite everything.
"It's all Peyton. The way she is with them.. I- It makes me fall harder in love with her every single time." He exclaims, and Haley smiles.
"Its you too, you're a great father, Lucas. And judging by the look on her face, I think Summer agrees with me. Keith must be proud, I know I am."
"Despite this stubborn head?" Lucas jokes and Haley smirks.
"Despite the stubborn head, although.. That could change in the future so keep out of trouble."
"Easier said than done." Lucas responds humor-ly, laughing at the exact same time he dodges the stray pencil being thrown his way as his best friend stands.
She calls out to the troops, telling them they are leaving for the mall and Lucas laughs as Jamie groans.
He's been shopping with his mother and Summer nearly every time and he didn't think it was awfully an incredible predicament when he was stuck being the gentleman and holding the mass of shopping bags the girls would be sure to hand over to him and be forced hours on end for his stomach to be fed as he popped in to shop to shop.
Jamie Scott is a patient and understanding kid but every boy has his limits.
Lucas pats his head in mutual understanding, stepping back to use his hands as Summer ferociously leaps into his arms and grabs a hold of his face, kissing his cheeks while giggling the whole time.
"Be good." He scolds, watching as Summer's eyes dance with amusement as that familiar smirk it seems she has adopted from him and the various Scott men she knows presents itself on her face.
"Not likely."
Lucas growls, sending her off and she giggles before exiting that door, conversing animatedly with Jamie and Haley winks as she waddles out of the door as quickly as her seven month pregnant form would allow and shutting the door after her.
Lucas shakes his head, returning back to forming up plays and tactics to use for the next game. He knows he has nothing to worry about. Summer is generally a by the book person and the troublemaking is usually Sawyer's forté.
Besides, he really doesn't think Summer would attempt to even act out just hours before her birthday when her mom has transformed into general perfect for the past few days.
With that thought, Lucas chuckles to himself before resuming back to Coach responsibilities.
----
"I can't believe we just did that." Nathan mumbles furiously, lazily plopping into a chair and Peyton feigns innocence as her dark black lashes look up at him.
"You said you would help." She reminds him and he narrows his eyes into a glare that she's forced to stifle her laughter.
"If you could call it that."
"You promised." She points out.
"Yeah, Promised." He says, dragging out the word intentionally. " I figured I'd be promising to contact a caterer for you or blow some balloons not drive across town just to figure out if we should use a blue or green tablecloth."
"I still don't know which one we should use." Peyton mumbles and Nathan groans, lifting his hands to rub his temples as frustration began to creep into his system.
"It's a freaking tablecloth! Who the fuck cares?"
"I care." She pouts. " This is a big deal to me, Nathan. I mean, pretty soon my little girl is going to grow up and face the big bad world just like I did. Every moment counts."
"Peyton , she's seven." Nathan laughs boisterously. "Pretty darn sure she won't be facing the big bad world for a very long time. Especially with you as a parent."
"Doesn't mean I can't have fun with it." Peyton mentions meekly with a simple shrug of the shoulder and Nathan scoffs.
"You really are something, Sawyer."
"So I've been told." Peyton responds, spreading herself out on the couch as her legs comfortably place themselves over Nathan's lap.
Nathan feels a smile make way to his face, already knowing what the gesture was portraying and removed the socks that were providing heat for the bare foot he has seen many times, playfully scrunching up his nose crudely to joke that her feet stunk before grabbing the nail polish that short distance away from him and lathering a deep red color on the first toe.
"You're feet are totally ugly, girl." Nathan remarks, flashing Peyton back into those high school days where this certain position was a reoccurring scene for the both of them.
"Shut up!" Peyton cries, whacking him in the shoulder furiously yet letting a smile adorn her face as he snickers. " I've actually kind of missed this. We used to do this all the time."
"And have sex." Nathan points out smugly.
"uh, ew, married you perve." Peyton states, catching the far away look that insisted he had been thinking about those rather heated encounter of theirs. " Can you believe that was us, like, a lifetime ago."
"Well yeah, I've always known you would never be able to resist me."
"Nathan!" She shouts, punching his shoulder and he yelps, momentarily halting his nail polishing.
"Look what you made me do, Sawyer." He shoots back, referring to the red paint that has slathered itself over her dark skinny jeans.
"Nathan! I'm serious." She whines. " I mean, you were the typical jock bastard who only cared about basketball and making out with his hot bitchy cheerleader girlfriend and now your some hot-shot basketball player who's fallen in love and has a seven year old kid and another one along the way. That's like.. Woah."
"Well, I've always seen the whole fame basketball thing as my career yeah, but your right.. It is pretty, Woah." He phrases, the both of them laughing at the way he phrased the sentence.
"I mean, I'm just shocked we've reached this point. I mean, seriously? Peyton Sawyer as a mom, did you really see that coming?"
"Nah, but as disbelieving as it is, your pretty darn good at it. Just shows just how much you've changed, Sawyer. " Nathan says fondly. " I don't think you would've turned out the way you are now if you'd stuck with me."
"We were pretty destructive."
"We had our moments." Nathan agrees, pulling his sister-in-law and best friend nearer to him as he places an arm around her shoulders. "I'm proud of you, Sawyer."
"You too, Nathan. You too, even if you are annoying the hell out of me most of the time."
"Don't deprive a man from his job, Peyton." Nathan retorts and she snorts, rolling her eyes.
"Stick to basketball, stud." She exclaims, recalling at how joyful she had been to discover that one night last year that he had been selected to play for the NBA bobcats.
"Oh, I plan on it."
"Good. Now we've got a special someone waiting for us so let's get the hell out of here."
"If it's Lucas, I am so waiting in the car." Nathan grumbles, his hand barely grazing the living room door as he exits the house.
He had already seen Lucas and Peyton when they were waiting for each other and it always managed to make his stomach churn as he found out what exactly that term of endearment was held for.
Peyton plainly laughs, fixing her coat over her shoulders as she prepares to get her mini- carbon look alike from her grandmothers.
---
Lucas Scott adjusts his eyes from the darkness revealed to him, jerking his head to the side as he reads the dark red letters blinking up at him with the letters twelve and two zeros separated from the two dots that informed him it was precisely six in the morning.
He bolted upright, grinning as he heard the soft sounds of soft breathing escaping those perfect lips that belonged to his wife, afterwards pressing his lips to her delicate skin, lingering above her and walking out that door.
His grin largens, already knowing what is to be expected. It's his daughter's birthday, and while he's only known her for three years, each single moment he has spent with her has been special and worthwhile and he takes pride in the fact that this single moment in time is just another mark that she is alive and well and in their custody and continuing to allow him the right of spending each waking moment with her as her father.
He trots down the stairs, landing to the kitchen and leans at the kitchen doorway, eyes fixated on the sight that he's met with and crossing his arms as that smile of his spreads, his head going back in time to where this whole tradition commenced.
Flashback- Two years ago.
Lucas sighed, sitting upright with exasperation splattered all over his face. He had been tossing and turning all night, with envy.
Sleep hadn't occupied him the past three hours he had spent lying awake in bed and upon being jerked into a sitting position by his wife who had stirred plainly to thwack him with that cursed b-davis magazine she never got tired of reading, he was forced to rise with the sight of the darkness being his entertainment as he watched his wife return back to sleep with ease.
His covers scurried off of him as he lifted himself off the bed and padded down the stairs with the obvious assumption that perhaps a glass of cool milk and a midnight snack would help him with his slumber issues.
He hadn't expected a certain somebody to be falling into that similar predicament.
He cleared his throat, his body leaning against the doorway with crossed arms and amusement brightening his eyes as Summer jumped from her position at the stool, looking up at him with alarm.
"You scared me."
"And you shouldn't be up." He exclaimed, raising an eyebrow as he neared her and slipped into the vacant stool beside her.
"Couldn't sleep." Summer explained briefly, shrugging her shoulder causing Lucas to grin widely, the light bulb flashing heavily in his mind.
"Could be because it's your birthday?" He hinted, dragging out the word 'birthday' and watching as a tint of pink colored her cheeks before letting out a low whistle. " Five huh? Big deal."
"Not really." She dismissed and he scowled, thinking the term was absolutely ludicrous.
"Well it surely is in this house. I thought Peyton's frazzled behavior was a perfect example of that."
Summer giggles, squarely thinking of how her mother had been acting straight out of the ordinary making sure she had everything intact for the big birthday party she was throwing her, thinking that she hadn't found out her master plan yet.
Everything had made sense once she found a string of presents in the attic and a large banner that held big letters revealing the words 'Happy Birthday' that one time last week when she had been playing hide and Seek with Jamie.
Lucas frowned, detecting a bit of sorrow in her tone and lifted her head with his finger as he intensely looked into her baby blue eyes. " You know, most people have more enthusiasm on their big day. Care to share why this Scott, doesn't?" He hinted and she sighed, seeming to find the floor appealing.
"It was always our thing." She mumbled and upon seeing Lucas's confused state, continued on. "He always refused to throw me a birthday party, no matter how much I wanted one. He'd always laugh in my face when I asked him and tell me I don't have any friends and they wouldn't wanna come so there was no point in having one, so I didn't.
I used to stay all day, hidden in my room with the door closed all the way shut to block out the noise of my parents arguing.. again. I remember last year, when I turned four. Mom came back with bruises on her face with a glass of milk and a mars chocolate bar and we'd just drink and eat and cuddle up in silence. I knew it was her way of saying happy Birthday to me.
I miss that." Summer revealed, feeling ashamed. She felt bad that she missed her mother so much even though she had a great mother that was around and loved her with all of her heart. She felt like she was betraying her.
"You're not betraying Peyton, Summer." Lucas said, as if reading the thoughts scattered around in her head. " It's okay to be feeling that way."
"I know but-"
"No buts." Lucas interrupted, wordlessly getting up and scanning the fridge and smiling as he grabbed the contents that he needed, before taking out a glass and another content from the pantry.
He could feel her inspecting eyes on him, and as he turned around with the items, felt her surprise and her overwhelming emotions penetrate through him. He grinned at her, closing the distance between them by slipping back on to the stool that he had been sitting on and sliding the two items towards her.
Milk and a chocolate bar.
Silence was all that consumed them as he poured the milk into her glass before he turned his tender eyes towards her.
"Just because her body isn't alive doesn't mean we can't keep her alive." He stated, and most kids her age wouldn't even comprehend the statement that he had just hit her with but he had a feeling, by the way she had hugged himself to her, she had understood completely.
And with that, father and daughter plainly sipped from their milk and nibbled on their chocolate bar as three words made that primal moment in history all the more meaningful.
"Happy Birthday, Princess."
And then he winked.
It's been a tradition since. Every morning, that special moment where Summer's birthday would enlighten the world with its presence would come around, they would set their timers the previous day to 12:00 and arise, pad to the kitchen and pan out that tradition that they had fabricated those long two years ago.
And that's how Lucas Scott found himself. Lounging on the stool, with a glass of milk in one hand and a chocolate bar curled in his hand and basking in the silence as he flashed out of that reverie he had once had, seated right beside his daughter.
He turned his head, meeting her blue mirthful eyes and grinned largely, pressing his lips against the tangled mess of blonde locks before him , saying those three familiar words he says every year with every piece of affection he's got.
"Happy Birthday, Princess."
Summer just tucked herself into his embrace, resting her head in the crook of his neck and grinning to herself.
"Thanks, Dad."
And with the traditional wink, Summer's birthday commenced.
It wasn't until after, six hours later, when she was awakened once again by the babbling of her impatient younger sibling and the emotional appearance of her mother was presented to her as she stood before her with that traditional cupcake in her hands…
Did the festivities commence.
Summer found herself loving each part of it.
---
O-kay, first. Thank you all for the birthday wishes, they all meant a lot to me. My birthday had surprisingly gone smoothly and the fact that I woke the next day, typically checking my messages only to be granted with a positive amount of reviews from you guys was just amazing. The fact that you also cared enough to wish me a happy birthday was just the icing on the cake. I love you guys.
Secondly, I tried putting this up earlier but my computer crashed. There was a huge virus and my dad kept procrastinating and only decided to buy the anti-virus this morning.
so I just thought I would leave you guys with that to do with what you will and thank you once more for the birthday wishes, you don't know how much I appreciated those.
I expect to post the wedding date tomorrow after school, I'm writing the chapter as we speak.
Hope you guys had a good day, may god bless you and I'm sorry the chapter is so shitty, I just... I have a whole load swarming around in my head and I wouldn't even be writing this in the first place because of it but I just thought you guys deserved this chapter for the long wait and your sincerity.
In return, if you could do me a favor and review to see the rest of Summer's birthday pan out, that would be great. ( hint, hint... )
;)
Ps. For all of you who wanted to know, I am actually seventeen years old.
Aundrea.