Chapter Four- Things We Miss
The stadium roared with cheers of excitement and anticipation mostly for the other team, but the little fans that they did have were loud enough for them to hear. Kneeled down amongst the rest of his teammates as they all mapped out what needed to be done in order for them to accomplish a win while all Lucas could think about was how he was going to survive this game as the starting wide receiver. Most people were still in shock that he was even on a team, but the shock was going to come to see him actually be a starter amongst the rest of the very jocks that picked on him. Coach Gilroy slowly made his way out of his office building up the momentum of the stirring emotion in the locker room. Standing in the middle of the circle that was formed with all his players surrounding him, Coach Gilroy surveyed each and every one of them as if he were looking for a certain something in their eyes before he would address them.
"I don't need to say much because you know what I'm going to say. I don't need to tell you what we need to do because you know what we need to do. I don't have to say what this means to us because you know what this means to us. I don't want to remind you of how much work you've put in because you know how much work you've put in. So what I will say is that leave it all out there, don't for one second step in this room feeling like you had just a little bit left in you, because then I'll know there was nothing I could say. Let's go out there and get us a victory men!" Coach Gilroy spoke as they all got riled up while all Lucas could do was look on confused as he just went through with the motions following them out of the locker room and into the tunnel
"Hey, where's your head at?" Sean asked Lucas as he pulled him off to the side, with him being the quarterback it still was a little awkward for Lucas
"In the game?" Lucas replied unsure if it was the right answer
"Yeah, okay" Sean laughed "This is your first game, so don't think you have to impress anyone on the team. Just play your game" he told him
"Okay" Lucas replied
"And if that doesn't work, just go deep" Sean laughed before he ran off with the rest of the team
"And this all still doesn't make sense" Lucas said to himself as he put his helmet on and ran out onto the field
Spotting Lucas on the field as he lined up for the next play a part of Alton felt proud to finally have a friend who was on the football team. He knew that Lucas dreaded going to practice and was always tired the next day from supposedly having a long night of studying, but deep down his friend was appreciative, that's all he kept telling himself as he watched his friend proudly. Amongst the sea of his classmates that hoped for a winning season, Alton truly felt like they belonged and it was all thanks to Lucas. Forgetting the real reason as to why he was here, he quickly put the phone back up to his ear.
"What the hell is going on?" Hanna asked
"Oh, sorry. Lucas is now running" Alton told her
"Of course he'd be running, he's a wide receiver. How is playing? Is he good or bad? Does he suck?" Hanna asked nervously "Of course he doesn't suck because then he wouldn't be on the team" she said to herself
"Uh, have you seen our football team. They collectively suck, I don't think adding one more crappy person is going to make them stand out any worse than they do" Alton replied
"Alton? Focus!" Hanna yelled at him as she instantly overhead an array of cheering "What was that? Did he score?" she asked quickly
"Uh….he caught a ball, Luke caught a ball" Alton said excitedly as Hanna began to cheer along with him
"How many yards was it?" Hanna then asked
"It was far" Alton replied hoping that she'd accept that answer
"It was far? How many yards Al?" Hanna asked
"It was like two stick thingies" Alton said
"Oh. My. God. You don't know football!" Hanna yelled in realization
"I know computers, gaming, porn, not football" Alton replied
"When were you planning on telling me this, the main reason why your there is to tell me how he is doing" Hanna said
"Because I liked how you believed in me, it made me feel special" Alton said
"Okay, just tell me when he gets a touchdown….when he gets into the big rectangle area" Hanna told him
"Thank you for the description, it helps" Alton replied as he looked on at the new girl Kate cheer Lucas on "Lucas does appear to all ready have a fan" he told Hanna
"If he's that good and give our school a chance of winning, he might have a fan club" Hanna replied
"No, I think this is of the female persuasion. That new girl Kate is cheering a bit louder than others" Alton told her
"That bitch" Hanna said to herself
"So I take it you know of her?" Alton asked
"Know of her, that's the unwanted family member or a sperm that should have been a germ" Hanna said
"Hostility much?" Alton laughed "Wait, wasn't that the girl you got in a car accident with?" he asked
"Al, she's my step sister" Hanna replied as she heard another loud roar of cheering "She's desperate. Was that her?" she asked
"No, Luke scored a touchdown. Wow! Luke scored a touchdown" Alton said slowly beginning to understand the magnitude of the situation
"Luke scored a touchdown and my step sister is trying to get with my ex-boyfriend. Somehow this still doesn't make sense" Hanna said
"Nothing ever does in Rosewood, nothing ever does" Alton said
Feeling like every part of his body was beyond sore, Lucas did his best to hold it together while the team gathered in the locker room for the end of the game speech by Coach. Once everyone had filed out of the locker room he waited behind so that he could walk by himself down the tunnel. Walking was what he had hoped to do but he found himself limping more than anything as he progressed further down the tunnel to find a familiar face waiting for him. A slight grin came to his face as he had grown to miss seeing his mentors face since the last he had seen of him was when he was leaving for home.
"So it's true. My protégé is a football player" Mr. Smith laughed "Very nice out there" he said
"Yeah, and my body is paying the price for it in the end. So are you back for good now?" Lucas asked as he limped over to rest against the rail
"I'm back for the year until next summer that is. Are you enjoying Coach Gilroy?" Mr. Smith asked
"I enjoy him about as much as I enjoy a trip to the dentist" Lucas replied "He rides my ass at practice" he said
"I told him not to ride you to hard because you're a rookie" Mr. Smith laughed as Lucas looked at him confusedly
"Wait, what?" Lucas asked "You talked to him about me?" he asked
"Luke, you needed physical education credits and you wouldn't have made enough credits to graduate. Football happens to get one extra credit that would put you at the max for credits, and I also remembered that dumb prank that Alton did so it fit" Mr. Smith said "The twist about all of this is that your actually pretty damn good at football" he said
"Do you know how brutal Gilroy is?" Lucas asked
"He's brutal but he's a damn good coach. You can't spend your senior year in the shadows, besides I thought you wanted to live it up this year" Mr. Smith said
"Yeah, but the key word would have been live, I feel like crap right now" Lucas said
"And you'll survive. Point is that you want to enjoy high school, there is no better way then through the eyes of a football player. Just because Hanna and you didn't work out doesn't mean you have to fade away from what you wanted to begin with" Mr. Smith said
"What I wanted was…I don't have anymore, and believe me I have come to terms with it and have even gone on civil terms, but I don't need to be a football player in order to enjoy my last days" Lucas said
"That's great, but you'll still be playing tomorrow. Luke, you were freakishly good out there. You scored two touchdowns, you look like you belong in the NFL, your that damn good" Mr. Smith declared "Tell me you didn't enjoy that moment? The moment were people were cheering for you" he said
"My parents need me at home, I'm not here to entertain people. I'm here to take care of my family" Lucas
"And you will but remember your still a teenager at the end of the day. I get that you want to help your family, but I'm just here to remind you that your still a teen in all of this" Mr. Smith said "Never forget that" he said
"If football gets in the way of my family, I'm choosing my family every time" Lucas told him
"I would expect you to" Mr. Smith replied
Looking down at the piece of paper, Alton checked the address again and again to make sure that he had the right address. It had been a while since they had talked but he knew he couldn't avoid her much longer but he knew he couldn't protect her if he didn't know the whole truth. Jake was digging more and more into the events of last three years, and he wasn't sure what he would find but he knew that whatever comes up that he needed to be sure about her. The door quickly opened leaving him surprised as he stood there nervously. Alton had always know that the Hastings were a well known family but he had only witnessed a bit of the magnitude when at the retreat they had gone to during the summer. He was lead back towards the tennis court where she was practicing. Catching a break from her instructor she was surprised to see him waiting for her.
"What are you doing here?" Spencer asked him after she got a quick swallow of water
"I missed our usual banter, and I figured we should talk" Alton said
"I'm not quite sure I want to talk with you. Let's keep it light" Spencer said
"Keep it light? We need to talk Spencer" Alton said
"About what?" Spencer asked
"Oh, you think I wanted to talk about…I wanted to talk about that summer" Alton said
"Then we really don't need to talk because I told you everything" Spencer said
"Hastings why won't you let me protect you?" Alton asked
"You protect me? That's a joke. Alton I don't need protection" Spencer said
"So this is nothing to you, it's just whatever?" Alton asked
"Look I care about what you feel but there is nothing I can do for you" Spencer said
"Maybe so. The one thing I hate the most about you is that you can't seem to shed the damn walls you put up, especially when the only thing that people are trying to do is be there for you" Alton said
"You don't know me Alton! You have no clue about who I am and whatever banter we have, you know nothing about me" Spencer yelled at him
"Your right. Your really right about that, I know nothing about you" Alton said before he stormed off leaving her to watch him. Unable to take the sight any longer Spencer sifted through her gym bag to pull out her cell phone to dial a familiar number
"We need to talk tomorrow" Spencer said demandingly
He barely had enough energy to stay awake during class due to how late he had to stay up helping his mother out with the chores since his dad had gone in hibernation in his room. Everything seemed to come down him all at once when he woke up that morning from the game he played in last night to staying up late. All he heard were cheers and praises for his performance in the game last night, and he had to admit that it did lift him up but it still didn't change the fact that he felt like he could drop at any second. The teacher went on and on about the English lesson trying to make it relatable to the class, which he found ridiculous because at the end of the day, English was always just going to remain English as in verb or noun. Looking over at the barely woke Lucas, Hanna worried for him because it was unlike him to be so disinterested in class seeing as he was always eager when it came to school, but then again she knew that he was beyond smart and he could probably learn this stuff in a matter of minutes on his own.
"So with further notice, today's lesson is hereby done with, but I do have an interesting twist for today" The teacher said as the class groaned at the though of what this twist was going to be "We will be having an assignment that incorporates relatable literature that evokes emotion. So look to your neighbor beside you and plan out when you can get together because that will be your partner. The assignment will be due in two days, so get together and plan out a session to bang out the assignment because I will be grading these heavily off the material we've discussed in class" the teacher said before Hanna quickly looked over at Lucas to see that he was wide awake for that bit of information as they were dismissed from class.
"So how are we gonna do this?" Hanna asked as they both rose from their seats and began to walk out of the classroom
"I'm not even sure I was wide awake for that" Lucas said as he rubbed his eyes
"Late night after the game last night?" Hanna asked
"Something like that. I can just take care of the assignment, you don't have to worry about it" Lucas told her
"Yeah, its not going to work like that" Hanna replied
"And how is it going to be?" Lucas sighed as he leaned against his locker
"Look I know that you don't want to be around me and I fully intend to give you that space, but we have to work on this together because the teacher is going to know your work from mine" Hanna said making Lucas hate the fact that she was right
"Ugh…your right. Well I have a little bit of time tonight" Lucas said
"Do you want to meet at the café?" Hanna asked
"Yeah, we can do that" Lucas replied as Alton slowly creeped down the hallway, thrilled to see the two of them together again
"Are you sure your okay?" Hanna asked observing more of his behavior
"Yeah, I'm fine" Lucas sighed as Alton quickly put his arms around the two of them to pull them into a hug
"I'm so happy we're talking again" Alton replied happily
"Your squishing me" Hanna complained as Alton held on a little bit longer before he finally let go
"So what brings you two together?" Alton asked
"We have an assignment together, don't get your hopes up" Lucas replied lazily
"An assignment is a good starting point to rekindle the love that was once there and just vanished out of nowhere" Alton said as Lucas and Hanna looked at each other awkwardly
"I should go. I'll see you tonight" Hanna said before she walked away
"This is great, putting the group back together and all" Alton said
"We're not getting back together in any form….we're just working together on an assignment, that's it" Lucas replied
"Yeah, well I think need to kick out a member" Alton shrugged
"Who?" Lucas asked
"Spencer Hastings. Its official now and forever, she is a bitch" Alton declared
"And what constitutes her as a bitch?" Lucas asked
"She's just so damn difficult" Alton replied
"Well I thought you liked that she was so difficult, it was a turn on" Lucas said
"New things have changed that perspective, but I've cleansed by blurred vision and I'm not holding back anymore" Alton said
"Okay, I'll pretend to understand what your saying" Lucas replied
It was late last night when Spencer had sent out a panic text to the girls wanting to meet up the next day, so with diligence they all set aside time to meet up for what was sure to be something A involved and at this point they were all nervous to see what new information A dug up on one of them. Avoiding her father's calls, Hanna was glad that Spencer wanted to meet up so that would place her outside of her house so that it was harder for her dad to track her down so that they could hang out. It had taken some time for her to adjust to her father but now all Hanna wanted to do was just avoid him as much as possible because it was like he wanted to make up for every little crime he committed and she just didn't have the time or want to repair the already damaged relationship.
"What took you so long?" Spencer asked
"Avoiding my dad, its actual hard work. So what's up? What did we need to talk about?" Hanna asked as she took a seat next to Emily on the park bench
"Alton" Spencer declared
"You woke me up in the middle of the night with your multiple texts because of Alton?" Aria asked "You've got to be kidding me" she said
"You two should just get it over with and tell each other how you feel instead of denying it and the banter that's becoming transparent" Emily said
"Guys focus! I didn't call you out here for personal reasons, I called you out because Alton is looking in to what happened that summer, and he's uncovered the fact that I was there" Spencer said
"When did he start doing this?" Hanna asked
"I don't know, maybe when Lucas left" Emily replied "What motivated him to just pick that summer though?" she asked
"Because he feels guilty about killing Toby and he feels like bringing justice to him will make things better" Spencer said
"So what do we do?" Aria asked "I mean if he put Spencer at the scene then I'm sure we all won't be too far behind" she said
"So I guess the plan is to convince Alton to give up the search" Hanna concluded
"What made him spring this news on you?" Aria asked
"He confronted me about it because he's been working with this guy" Spencer replied "Things got a little heated" she said
"Heated? You two heated that should have been fun to watch" Hanna laughed
"No, it really wasn't. It was a mistake" Spencer sighed annoyed with what took place between them
"A mistake? With the argument or with…" Emily asked her
"Wait, wait a minute" Hanna said as she began to read Hanna's nervousness "You two hooked up" she declared
"We're not discussing this" Spencer replied
"You had sex with Alton?" Aria laughed hysterically
"Was it good?" Emily asked
"Oh, God. Before we even manage to stop the perv we have to know if his research has paid off" Hanna said
"No, you really don't need to know" Spencer replied
"You had sex with Alton" Emily said in disbelief still "How did it even get to sex?" she asked
"I don't know. We were arguing and I stormed off into the locker room. I was still upset then next thing I know he comes into the locker room and we argue some more then he kisses me and then we…you know" Spencer said
"Locker room sex, that sounds hot. Way to go Alton" Hanna smiled at the thought of the boldness he took when it came to Spencer
"Was he good?" Aria asked
"Does that really matter?" Spencer asked
"Yes" Hanna, EmilY, and Aria all replied
"We're not talking about this. Let's just fix the problem and be done with this and him" Spencer replied as the girls just looked on at her with confusion "Are we in agreement?" she asked politely
"Yeah, sure" Aria replied
"Yes" Emily said
"Hanna, how about you?" Spencer asked
"I still can't believe you boned Alton" Hanna replied as Spencer quickly grabbed her stuff and stormed off
"It was good" Aria said as she watched Spencer storm off
"How can you tell?" Emily asked
"Because if it was bad then she would have then she would have said so, but it was good and that's why she wants to conceal that little detail" Hanna told Emily
"To good sex" Aria praised
"To good sex" Hanna and Emily agreed
"We're so like a high school version of sex in the….town or whatever" Hanna said as the girls just laughed
Rushing through his house after coming in late from football practice, Lucas had realized that he had scheduled to meet up with Hanna at the café. As soon as he got out of practice he had every intention of rushing to change clothes then check on the home front but little did he know that his father's hibernation had ended that day as well. When he had came into the house he could see his father passed out on the floor in the living room with beer cans surrounding him like he was in a sea of beer cans it seemed, there was no way his mother could see him like this, so doing the best he could Lucas managed to get his father upstairs and washed up so when his mother did get home she would just think he had yet another crappy day. Losing track of time he had realized that he was about an hour late from the allotted time he was suppose to meet Hanna. Grabbing his phone to see that Hanna had called, Lucas opened the door only to find Kate preparing to knock on the door but surprised to see him instead.
"Kate, what are you doing here?" Lucas asked
"I wanted to apologize about what I said the last time we spoke. I'm new here and I don't quite know the circumstances" Kate apologized as she began to babble
"That's fine, I really never even thought about it" Lucas said hurriedly
"Good, good. You looked good last night" Kate said not realizing how awkward that sounded after she had said it "Oh, I really wish I could take that back" she squirmed
"No, I get what you mean and thank you" Lucas replied as he searched through his pockets for his keys
"Are you going somewhere?" Kate asked
"I have to meet Hanna" Lucas said
"Right, because you two are…what exactly are you two?" Kate asked throwing Lucas off by the question
"Huh? We're broken up and why?" Lucas asked
"I just…I get this vibe from her and I'm sort of getting it from you" Kate said
"It ended badly, I still care about her but I don't want to be with her so is that the vibe you pick up on?" Lucas asked
"Yeah, something like that" Kate replied
"Look I would love to chat further but I really need to meet up with Hanna before she thinks I blew her off" Lucas said
"Do you mean that? Talk further?" Kate asked "I know I sound crazy and a little stalkerish but you seem to be the only person who will actually talk to me and give me crap when I say something stupid, and I..I" she said trying to find the words
"Yes, I mean it" Lucas replied as she rushed over towards his car to open the door
"Just what exactly are you saying?" Kate asked nervously
"Let's talk further" Lucas smiled before he got in his car and quickly backed out of his driveway
Giving up all hope that Lucas was going to show up, Hanna quickly grabbed her stuff and was more than ready to leave until she saw Alton walk in with some guy. A part of her didn't care what he was up to but she couldn't help but remember what Spencer had told them and all the ramifications it could have if A caught wind of the fact that someone was onto the trail of what happened that summer as well. There was a small part of her that wanted Alton to figure it out because then maybe she could be free from this hell and she could work on getting Lucas back instead of just hoping that he didn't hate her or could look her like he used to, but those days were gone and she knew it. Catching Alton in a free moment while the guy went to go order himself a drink she wasted no time in getting to him.
"We need to talk" Hanna said taking the guys seat
"Hey Hanna" Alton said strangely by her sudden appearance "What are you doing here?" he asked
"Why didn't you tell me you were looking into what happened to Toby?" Hanna asked
"Uh…I see Spencer wasted no time in telling you" Alton laughed to himself
"We're best friends, of course she would" Hanna replied "What are you trying to accomplish with this?" she asked
"I'm just trying to get answers" Alton replied
"Look I get that but I don't want you to cause an uproar over a touchy subject in this town, you saw how it was at the funeral" Hanna said
"He was my friend, don't you think he deserves justice as well?" Alton asked
"Yeah, he does but are you doing this for him or for you?" Hanna asked "Justice is one thing but avoidance is another thing" she said
"What's that suppose to mean?" Alton asked
"Have you talked to anyone about the shooting?" Hanna asked
"That's a low blow" Alton replied
"How is it a low blow? Its an issue you've clearly been struggling with because you were the one who killed Toby, albeit that Toby wasn't in the right state of mind but you still pulled the trigger" Hanna said "Have you dealt with that or are you still avoiding it?" she asked
"Look I'm trying to make sense of what happened that day and what caused him to act that way but the only info I have is that Spencer and Alison were arguing at the site of Jenna's accident" Alton said "I just want to know why?" he said
"Girls argue all the time over dumb things, and Spencer is a softy when it comes to people even though she tries to hide it. She felt bad for what happened to Jenna" Hanna said
"So you saw her that night?" Alton asked
"Word gets around quick in this town, but I know Spencer" Hanna said
"I'm not trying to hurt Spencer, in fact I wish she would just be honest with me so we could address this" Alton said
"Together?" Hanna asked "Was that what you were going to conclude with?" she asked
"She could have very well been arguing with Alison about lipstick at a dumb place, but there was a huge effort made in the fact to cover up the fact that Spencer was there" Alton said
"Her mom is the District Attorney, I'm sure it won't look good if the District Attorney's daughter was at the scene of a tragedy" Hanna said
"That's not good enough for me" Alton replied "But I guess my next question is, why do you care so much?" he asked
"Because I just want to make sure your going after Spencer for the right reason and not some lover scorned type of scenario" Hanna said
"I see, so you think that I would intentionally dredge up memories of her dead best friend because we clearly aren't all lovey dovey after our sexual encounter?" Alton asked "Wow, I always knew you saw me as some loser but I just thought it was in a joke way, but you honestly see me as that" he said
"Alton I don't think you're a loser" Hanna said just as the guy returned back to the table to stumble upon a disagreement between the two
"Do you want to meet up another time? I see your busy" The guy said
"No, we're good. Hanna was just leaving us losers" Alton said staring at Hanna
"Al" Hanna replied
"I really don't even want to talk anymore" Alton said as all Hanna could do was oblige his wish before she quickly got up from her seat to flee from the café
"What was that all about?" The guy asked
"That was nothing" Alton quickly brushed off "So your helping Jake out?" he asked
"Yeah, he says your paying him pretty good money so we split his cut some times, but I'm pretty familiar with everything" The guy said
"That's great. There's been a recent development that I want to address on account of Spencer Hastings" Alton said
"That had a lot of red tape around that one, imagine the District Attorney's daughter being at the scene when everything went down with Jenna" The guy said
"That's the thing, I don't want to imagine what happened. I want to get to reality but involving someone else" Alton said
"What do you mean?" The guy asked
"I don't want you to look into Spencer. Everything strictly stays to Toby and Alison, no one else" Alton said
"She could possibly be a suspect" The guy said "She could know what your trying to figure out" he said
"I know that but I don't want to find out through digging through police records and medical records or any record that the public doesn't have access to. I want to wait until she comes to me" Alton said
"Basically let her off like the cops did" The guy said
"Look I pay good for all this digging and red taping, which means I get to dictate what I purchase and in this product I don't want Hastings near it. I'll handle her on my own time, but she's to be left alone" Alton said
It had finally turned to night in Rosewood which made Hanna even more pressed to get home but it became more of an obstacle as she had to pull over to check a flat tire. That was all she needed, another car problem, it plagued her every time she drove that she could potentially have another accident but she thought she'd feel at ease driving her mother's car as opposed to her father's. Realizing that it was indeed a flat tire she wasted no time in calling a repair truck out as she reached inside to grab her cell phone. Torn from her task at hand she spotted a swerving vehicle from behind her, stepping back in fear that the vehicle would hit her due to its lack of control all she could do was hope that nothing else bad would happen to her because it was all ready imbedded her mind that she had bad luck on the roads at night. The vehicle continue to swerve as it passed her but it wouldn't travel much distance as the driver lost all control of the car and slammed into a tree. Looking on at the car she began to feel like there was a familiarity to the vehicle but she couldn't be sure in the night. Rushing over to give assistance to the vehicle, Hanna began to observe who was in the car to see that only person was in the car but it was who was in the car that alarmed her the most.
"Oh my God, Mr. Gottesman are you okay?" Hanna asked as she pried at the door to get it open and with a few pushes she managed to do so
"My head. It's ringing" Mr. Gottesman complained as he tended to his head while falling out of the vehicle with no sense of control like his driving
"It's going to be okay, I'll call for help" Hanna said as he lay on the ground holding his hand
"No! don't" Mr. Gottesman groaned in pain
"You hurt, I should call like an ambulance or something" Hanna said
"I'm good, just…just call Luke" Mr. Gottesman said in between coughs as his odor began to arise between the two. Looking on at the man, Hanna tried to tend to him as best as she could trying to figure out why he protested his need for help but getting a quick glance into the car she quickly learned as to why he protested the idea of an ambulance to come when she spotted beer cans all in the passenger seat and some in the back as well
"You've been drinking" Hanna said softly to herself before she kneeled down to check on him "Just lay right here, don't move too much. I'm going to call Luke" she told him
"Okay" Mr. Gottesman barely said clearly enough for her to understand before she stepped away to dial Lucas's phone number. It took a few rings before Lucas finally answered his phone
"I know, I know. I just pulled into the parking lot" Lucas said hurriedly
"You need to come meet me on highway five" Hanna said
"Why highway five?" Lucas asked "Hanna I don't have time for this, I have a lot of crap to do tonight" he said
"It's your dad. He got into a car accident" Hanna said as it sent a wave of shock over Lucas to hear those words
"I'll be right there" Lucas said before he quickly hung up the phone and swiftly out of the driveway