Haley looked around the table and smiled when she took in the faces of her friends. Everyone was so grown up now. More so than the last time they had been together like that which was back in high school. Everyone had their own lives now. Nothing was still centered around cheerleading and basketball schedules...well, except for Nathan's life.

Peyton and Jake were a real family now. Peyton was like a mother to Jake's young daughter, Jenny, and although she taught art classes at the local high school, she knew that her biggest job was being there for Jake and Jenny. Lucas was a teacher as well. He taught senior literature and Haley knew he loved it. He had loved books ever since he had started loving basketball, and that was a long time ago. He and Brooke were living together now, and Haley was sure that with time, the two of them would get married and start a family. Brooke had her own clothing store in Tree Hill, but her fashion line was sold in New York and LA as well. Haley knew Luke would never admit it, but Brooke made tons more money than he did.

And then there was Nathan. She didn't consider him her friend and she couldn't even consider him her ex-husband because they had gotten an annulment. His life was all parties and basketball and women. She had read the tabloids and seen the entertainment shows. She knew what Nathan's life was like now, and she was glad to have no part in it.

Brooke stood up and began tapping on her glass. "As the maid of honor, I would like to propose a toast to our favorite couple over here." She motioned to Jake and Peyton. "Well, besides Luke and me."

"Baby, just get on with your toast," Lucas urged quietly, causing everyone at the table to laugh. Sometimes she was a little more outspoken than Lucas would have liked, but he loved her so he was okay with that.

"Sorry. As I was saying, I think I should be giving them a toast. Peyton, Jake, we have all known you since you were little kids. Peyton, you have been my best friend for as long as I can remember. We used to ride our bikes and make fun of the losers on the River Court...like Lucas," she added, teasing her boyfriend. "We used to get help from Haley in class because neither of us were good in school. And we used to check out Nathan and Jake when they were playing ball. Now here you are, getting married. And I just want you guys to know that I love you both so much and if you need anything at all when you're married, I'll do my best to get it for you. Congratulations you two. This has been a long time coming and I'm so glad to be a part of it!"

"To Jake and Peyton!" the gang said in unison, raising their glasses and toasting them happily.

Nathan smiled before locking eyes with Haley. The smile fell from his lips and he got to thinking about when they had gotten married. Lucas had been the one to give a toast for them at their reception and he could distinctly remember Haley crying because it had been such a good speech. His brother had a way with words. He always had and that was good because he knew that Lucas was trying to write a novel. Nathan was the only one that knew and he promised he wouldn't tell anyone. He had stumbled upon it one day by accident and was sworn to secrecy. Not even Brooke knew.

Haley took a sip of her wine as she saw Nathan looking at her. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was thinking of the same thing she was. They were both remembering the speech that Lucas had made for them so many years ago. She also remembered her dad giving a speech about how so many things could happen at certain points in a life...like drinking at twenty-one and being able to enlist at eighteen. He then went on to point out that even if one was sixteen, it didn't mean they were too young to get married. He asked the question of how old do you have to be before your love is real, and Haley never forgot it.

"Haley." Lucas's voice broke through her thoughts. "Where'd you go?"

"Sorry." She shook her head and looked at him. "What?"

He chuckled. "What were you thinking about?"

"Oh." Her face felt flushed. "Nothing," she said after a minute, looking at Nathan. "Nothing at all."

"Okay," he said slowly, following her gaze. He shook his head when he realized he had no idea what was going on and looked back at her. "I was telling Brooke earlier that I wanted to take you mini golfing like old times later. You up for it?"

"Mini golfing?" A smile spread across her face. "Hell yes! I haven't been since high school!"

"Then I'd say it's high time you go, Tutor Girl," Brooke jumped in, sipping her wine. "Lucas has been talking about it for weeks now ever since he found out you were coming for the wedding. I don't think he can wait another night."

"Well alright! I am more than willing to go tonight unless everybody thought we were going to do something else?" She looked around the table. Peyton and Jake were caught up in their own conversation, Brooke and Lucas were looking around like she was, and Nathan was sitting there nursing his third scotch of the night.

"Uh, Tutor Girl? I don't think anyone had other plans."

"Okay then." She looked at Lucas. God, she had missed him. "Looks like I'll be kicking your ass later."

He laughed in her face. "In your dreams, Hales."

"Oh my God." Brooke rolled her eyes. "Will you two ever grow up?" she asked in a joking manner. "You're like eight year olds!"

"But cool eight year olds!" Lucas objected, throwing his arm around her shoulders.

"Yes, honey." Brooke nodded. "The coolest eight year olds I'll ever meet."

--

Lucas turned to Haley that night as they were leaving the golf course in his truck. "So, remind me again who won tonight."

"Shut up, Luke," she grumbled, throwing a glare his way. "I haven't played in six and a half years, alright? Go easy on me."

"I would, except for the fact that you were just telling me at dinner how you were going to kick my ass."

"I will if you keep bringing it up," she threatened, a devilish grin working its way to her face.

He held his hands up. "No more." He looked over and smiled at his friend. It was so good to be hanging out with her again. It was like she had never left and like all the time they hadn't seen each other didn't exist. He felt that comfortable with Haley. "So, um...can I ask you something?"

She looked up from her cell phone and at him. "You can ask me anything, Luke. You know that."

He nodded and took a deep breath. "What do you think of me proposing to Brooke?"

"WHAT?!" she shouted, dropping her phone. "Are you serious?!"

"Relax, Hales." He laughed. "It's just...I've been thinking about this for a long time now. She's the one for me. She makes me laugh all the time and she understands anything I tell her. She's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, and you know, we're already living together so we might as well make it official, right?"

"Yes!" She clapped her hands together excitedly. Her best friend was going to propose to her other best friend. She knew Brooke would be thrilled beyond belief and that their wedding would be the most extravagant she would ever attend. "You know that once you do this, it's going to be months of planning and money spending. Nothing less than the best for Brooke Davis, you know."

He chuckled. "Yeah, but this has been a long time coming, Haley. I think I'm ready for all of it as long as it means I get to spend the rest of my life with her."

"Aw, Lukey." She reached over and pinched his cheek affectionately. "When did you get to be so sweet and romantic?"

"Since I started dating Brooke," he replied. "You know how she is when it comes to that stuff. She loves it all."

"I know. So...do you think she's going to take your last name or keep her own?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'd love for her to take my last name. Or at least be Brooke Davis Scott. Kind of like you did with James Scott," he blurted out without even thinking. His eyes widened when he realized what he had said. "Oh, God, Hales, I'm sorry. I know you don't like to be reminded of that stuff."

Of course she didn't like to be reminded of it. It was a time of her life when she had made a horrible mistake - the mistake of leaving her husband behind. And by the time she realized she had messed up, it was too late. She didn't like to think about it.

She shook her head. "It's fine. It was a time in my life that I can't erase and it's not like I think about it all the time anyway. It hasn't been on my mind in a long time until I came back to Tree Hill. And this is where everything started and ended so of course it's going to get brought up now that I'm back."

"Yeah, at least when you go back to California, it will be pushed to the back of your mind again," he pointed out as they came to a stop at the light Peyton used to run in high school.

"Exactly," she responded. She smiled when she looked out the window and saw Karen's Café. "Your mom's still got that place going, huh?"

He looked over to where her eyes were. "Yeah. Her and Deb. It's really blossoming. They opened another one in Charlotte like a year ago."

"Seriously?" She shook her head. "Man, I've been gone too long."

"Damn right," he told her, reaching over to ruffle her hair. "It's been way too long. You know, Haley, when Brooke starts planning this wedding, you're going to need to be around a lot more. She's going to want your input so I'm thinking that you need to rent a house here or something."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "I'll have to check with Jared...see what he thinks."

"Jared, huh?" He raised an eyebrow. "Things with you two are pretty serious now, I take it. How long have you been together again?"

"A year and a half," she answered. "Yeah, it's serious."

Lucas looked her in the eyes. She was hiding something from him. He could tell by the way her eyes kind of avoided his. "You're marrying him, aren't you?"

Her eyes widened. "What? Why would you say that?"

"You forget how well I know you." He smiled in her direction. "I can tell that you're hiding something by the way you're not really looking at me."

She should have known Lucas would have figured it out. Not just Lucas for that matter, but anyone. She wasn't that great at keeping secrets. She never had been and she was surprised that no one had figured it out until now. "He proposed at Starbucks," she admitted. "I've been hiding the ring because I don't want to take away from Peyton's week, you know? I just...I don't want anyone to know yet."

"Okay," he conceded. "But I need to say something and I don't want you to get mad at me for saying this."

She sighed, knowing it probably had to do with Nathan. Actually, it was more than probably. She knew it had to do with Nathan. "You're going to say something about your brother, Lucas."

"So what if I am?" he shot back. "Haley, you just sit there and take his crap and then you just agree to let him share a room with you for a night. You're not telling anyone you're engaged and I saw the way you two looked at each other at dinner. You seriously can't say that you're hiding your engagement just because Peyton and Jake are getting married."

"What do you even know about it, Lucas? You haven't seen me in months and now you're trying to tell me that I'm not telling people I'm engaged because I'm still in love with Nathan?" She frowned. "You're completely wrong."

"I never said you were still in love with Nathan!" he defended. He pulled into a parking place at the Covington. "All I'm saying is maybe you still have some feelings for him that you're refusing to acknowledge right now. Maybe your reason for hiding your engagement is different than you think it is."

"I didn't know you were a psychologist now," she muttered. "Talk to me when you get that degree...not your teaching one."

"Don't be mad at me. All I'm saying is you need to look in your heart, Haley. See what it's telling you."

"I'm going upstairs now, Luke. Thanks for tonight." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I've missed this."

"Yeah me too. Good night, Hales." He waited until she was halfway to the door before rolling down his window and yelling out to her. "Think about what I said!"

She ignored him and walked into the hotel, smiling at the concierge as she walked through. The smile didn't quite reach her eyes though. She was completely pissed at Lucas for even suggesting such a thing. She wasn't sharing her engagement because she didn't want to take away from Peyton. That was all. It was as simple as that, she convinced herself. It was Peyton's week and no one else needed to know she was engaged. No one.

She frowned as she slid the key into the lock on the room she was currently sharing with Nathan. Lucas better not tell anyone. She would seriously castrate him if he did. She knew he usually kept her secrets but then again she hadn't told him any for a long time now. There would be a big fight if her secret got out. She had a feeling.

She jumped when she saw Nathan sitting on the bed...her bed, no less, talking on his cell phone. She hadn't expected him to be there when she got back. She figured he would have checked out or into another room or he would at least be down at the bar.

He looked at her when she entered. She was still wearing the dress she had gone to dinner in. He couldn't believe she had gone golfing in that. But then again, Haley was never one to really care what she was wearing. He was on the phone with Alyssa and she was apologizing for missing the wedding. "Look, Lyss, I promise you I'm not mad and it's not a big deal. It's only a few more days."

"Did they give you the room you always get?"

He sighed. "Oh yeah, I got it," he replied. "A few surprises were in it when I got here too."

"Oh yeah?" she asked. "Like what?"

Oh, just his former wife. "Some of those little mint things on the pillows, a bottle of wine, and a basket of fruit," he lied to her.

"Really? Hmm. I wonder who sent those. I hope it wasn't a girl or anything," she teased. "If you had a secret admirer, I'd probably kick her ass."

A cross between a chuckle and a sigh left his lips. "No girls," he answered. "Hey, I'm gonna let you go," he said when he saw that Haley looked a little pissed that he was on the phone. "Good luck at work tomorrow."

"Thanks, Nate. Night."

"Night, babe." He hung up and looked at Haley. "Why do you look so pissed off?"

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Well, first of all, I am greeted on my flight from California by you, and you are a complete dickhead by the way. You could show me a little courtesy after six years, Nathan."

"Haley - "

"No." She held up her finger. "There's that and then you throw a complete fit about this room saying you won't accept anything from me. Then you decide to take the room and after that, you get all in my business with Jared, I insult you once compared to the forty-seven times you insulted me today, and you call me a bitch. You sat there and pouted at dinner and drank God knows how much and I come back and here you are." She ticked the reasons off on her fingers as she went. "So yeah, Nathan, I'm a little pissed off."

"You want me to find another room, Haley?" He stood up. "Because I will."

She sighed. "Nathan, if you were just going to find a new room then why did you need to come up here in the first place?"

He sat back down on the bed and surprisingly, she sat beside him. "I know I was a dickhead all day, Haley, and the truth is, that's probably not going to stop for a while. I can't help it. It's who I am and you know that. But I was kind of hoping maybe we could catch up. That's why I agreed to stay in here for a night."

She was shocked at his honesty. She hadn't expected him to tell her anything. She had just figured he would leave the room after she told him why she was mad, but he hadn't. Maybe he wasn't as immature as he was the last time she had spoken to him. "You had six years," she reminded him. "Six years if you wanted to catch up. Why now?"

He knew she was right. She usually was when it came to their arguments, but he would never admit that to her. He was still not going to lose his pride to Haley James. He hadn't six years ago, and he wasn't about to now. In those six years, there were plenty of times he wanted to catch up with her; he wouldn't deny that. He thought about her for months after he had sent her away, but he wasn't going to just call her up like old friends. There was too much history there for that.

When Brooke had said they needed to talk things over, he knew she was right. There were plenty of things they needed to say to each other, and he was interested in her life, whether she liked it or not. There were times when he would see her being interviewed on TV and he would stop and watch it. He especially thought they needed to get to know each other better now considering there would probably be another wedding coming up. He knew Lucas was thinking about proposing to his longtime girlfriend. He could tell every time he spoke to him.

"I just think we'll be in each others' lives more now," he admitted to her, watching her take off her jewelry and set it down beside her. "Peyton and Jake are getting married. Soon, they'll probably have more kids, and I know that Lucas and Brooke will probably be getting married sooner or later. We'll see each other again, Haley, and we'll be in another wedding party together. We need to catch up and be civil."

"Yeah," she scoffed. "You couldn't tell me that without biting my head off all day and taking cheap shots at me?"

"You know what? You're right." He stood up angrily, knocking her jewelry to the floor.

"Nathan! Damn it!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I'm never doing what you want me to do, Haley! Sorry I'm such a disappointment that you can't even talk to me when I admit that I want to talk to you! Just...sorry!" He slammed the door to the bathroom and a second later, she heard the lock click.

She chalked his anger up to drinking. He had done a lot of that tonight, and if she was guessing correctly, it was because of her. He was mad for a lot of reasons at her and she knew it. So he was probably drinking over her and how much he hated her.

Sighing, she walked over to the bathroom door and knocked gently. "Nathan?" she called out softly. "Hey, I'm sorry for being like that. You can - "

He interrupted her speech by opening the door. "All of this is so hard," he told her as soon as he saw her face again. "I came here knowing you would be here, and I was going to try to keep my anger in check...but when I saw you on that plane, I just...snapped."

"Well." She moved so he could walk out of the bathroom. "Everything that happened was a long time ago, Nathan. We can try and put it behind us and start over, right?"

He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "You're right."

"Alright, so..." She walked a little closer to him and she could smell his cologne. It was the same as it had been six years ago, she remembered. "We can try and be friends."

He nodded, unable to speak. She was so close to him and he could smell the vanilla from her perfume. It smelled good and it filled his senses so much that he could barely breathe. "Friends," he repeated after a moment.

"No more insults, okay?" She smiled genuinely at him. "Exactly what Peyton asked for earlier...we'll do it for her and Jake and Jenny, and then whenever Lucas and Brooke decide to tie the knot, we'll do it for them too."

"Okay." He smiled back at her. "Okay."