Thanks for reading and reviewing!
"There's no way that we're starting school in two weeks." Nathan complained.
"But yet we are." Lucas said, tying his shoes.
"I guess we should start packing."
"Yeah…" Lucas said sadly.
"You okay?"
"It's weird without my mom being here for school."
"That sucks, man. I wish she were here. Well, kind of. I don't want you to leave either."
"When she gets back, I'm telling her that I want to live here too. Joint custody."
"Think she'll go for it?"
"Probably not."
"What would you do, if they made you choose?"
"I don't know. I mean, technically, Dad does have custody of me."
"He does?"
"Yeah, we had a whole mediation thing when I was living with Dad, and I said I wanted to live with him."
"Oh…wow."
"I want her to go with this. I really do."
"She will if you really want her too."
"I hope so."
"So…talked to Brooke lately?"
"Yeah, just the regular small talk phone calls. She said Peyton got back, so they're probably together."
"Girls." Nathan laughed.
"Yeah." Lucas laughed.
"I feel like we've let our friends slide." Nathan commented.
"I know what you mean. I mean I've barely talked to Hal-" Lucas stopped abruptly.
Nathan cleared his throat and looked down.
"Sorry." Lucas whispered.
"That brings up so many bad thoughts I can't even explain it to you."
"For me too."
"Like what?"
"Well, my best friend skipped town on me, my brother was a complete mess, he almost killed himself..."
"Good point."
"It's been bad, Nathan."
"Yeah…that's why I don't want to do it again. At least not for a long time."
"I understand."
"You do?"
"Of course. I…honestly would need a lot of time before I got over it. In fact, I feel like I need time to get over it anyway. I mean we're still friends, and I talk to her and stuff but still, it's always on my mind"
"Yeah…"
"I was so scared, Nathan, after you crashed your car, I didn't know what I would do…"
"That part of my life is over, for the first time in my life, I believe that I have people who are truly there for me."
"You better." Lucas sniffled and laughed.
"Softy." Nathan smirked.
"Bitch." Lucas smirked back.
"Boys are you packed up?" Deb asked poking her head in the door, seeing them sitting on the floor talking, clothes everywhere.
"Not exactly." Lucas laughed.
"Get a move on, your dad needs to get settled again before he goes back to work."
"Isn't his dealership, like, ruined?" Nathan asked.
"They've been working on the repairs for awhile now. Obviously it's not up to full working order, but there are still things to be done."
"Oh." Nathan said.
"Yeah, so get a move on we can drive back and then have dinner."
"Okay." They said.
Later that night, Nathan wandered into Lucas' room, where Lucas had just finished putting everything away.
"Packing and unpacking seems to be your theme this summer." Nathan said.
"Not just for the summer, if my mom agrees to the joint custody thing."
"That's true. So how do you plan to get your mom to agree to it?"
"No idea. She didn't want to do it when I was born, and now she seems to hate Dad more and plus she and I aren't really that great right now."
"But it does matter what you want, doesn't it?"
"It should. I just hope it does. I think…I have Andy's number…should I call her?"
"Definitely."
"Okay…crap it's long distance." Lucas remembered.
"I'm sure they'll be fine with it. I'll be…somewhere else." Nathan said and left the room.
Lucas dialed and waited.
"Hello?" Karen answered.
"Oh…Mom…hey I was expecting Andy to answer the phone."
"He's in the shower…" Karen said.
"Oh…okay…so how are you?"
"I'm good."
"Good." Lucas said awkwardly.
"And how are you? Is everything okay with your new living arrangements?"
"Yes, it's really great." Lucas said excitedly.
"I see."
"I miss you though."
"I'm glad. I miss you too. I'm coming home next week, so I can be there for the beginning of your senior year."
"That's so great, because I wanted to discuss something with you. About me living here…"
"You want to live with your father full time still?" Karen said, upset.
"No, no. I want…you and Dad to have joint custody."
"What?"
"Mom, come on."
"Lucas I cant believe you'd be willing to forgive everything you've been through with them."
"It's not that I don't remember what's happened in the past, but things have changed mom, we're moving on."
"Lucas, I just don't think this is a good idea."
"Don't take this away from me, please."
"We can talk about it when I get back."
Lucas smiled, it was something at least.
"Okay. See you soon."
"Bye, love you."
"You too." He said and hung up.
Lucas found Deb, Dan and Nathan in the living room. Nathan looked away from the TV and looked at his brother.
"How did it go?"
"I think there's a chance."
"A chance for what?" Dan asked.
"I hope you don't mind, but I kind of asked my mom about maybe having a joint custody agreement?" Lucas said cautiously.
"You'd really want to do that?" Dan asked in surprise.
"I would. If you'd want to."
"I'd love that." Dan said, getting up and hugging his son.
Crikey that seems short. Oh well, I got almost 2 chapters ahead in this story while my internet was down :)