Well. This week's episode was a doozy wasn't it?
I apologize for the long wait. The good news is I'm now done with the musical that was taking up most of my time.
Thanks for reading and reviewing! You all are wonderful.
Sunday night came way too soon for Nathan.
He and Lucas were sitting in the hospital, playing a basketball handheld video game. Lucas was still weak, but he felt better enough to be sitting up.
"Broody, you're not wearing the clothes I picked out for you." Brooke complained as she came in to say goodbye.
"While I'm sitting in the hospital, I'll stick with the t-shirt and sweatpants." Lucas said.
"Boys." Brooke sighed.
Lucas smiled and motioned for Brooke to come over.
"I guess you've got to go now, huh? School tomorrow…and everything…" He said sadly.
"Yeah, but the second it's over, I'll be here." Brooke promised.
"Thanks." He said quietly.
"Don't be sad." Brooke said, smiling weakly at him.
"I'm fine. Just tired."
"Okay, well get some rest. See you tomorrow." She said, giving him a quick kiss and leaving.
"You okay man?" Nathan asked a few minutes after she left.
"Just bummed."
"I can tell."
"I'll be fine."
"Nate, um, your mom and I are going to take you home now. School's tomorrow." Dan said quickly, standing in the doorway.
"Can we wait a few more minutes?"
"Five minutes." Dan said, and left.
"Okay, well I guess I've got to go too. I get to face the rest of Tree Hill tomorrow."
"Fun."
"Oh, sure." Nathan said sarcastically.
"You'll be fine. Just ignore anyone who gives you a hard time."
"Really?"
"Yes. I will just kick their ass later." Lucas grinned.
"Nice." Nathan laughed.
"Seriously though, ignore them."
"I will."
"Good."
"Okay, well I guess I'll find Dad…"
"Okay."
"I'll call you tomorrow when I have a break from classes."
"Good luck with practice."
"Thanks. Love you."
"You too, man."
Nathan patted him on the shoulder and left.
Lucas sat silently for a few minutes, staring out the window.
"Oh baby, I didn't realize you were all alone. I'm so sorry. Nathan and Brooke left?" Karen said, sitting on the edge of the bed next to Lucas.
"Yeah, just a few minutes ago. Nate had to go home."
"Oh, I wanted to talk to Dan before he left. Did he say when he'd be coming back?"
"I didn't talk to him."
"Oh. Well I'll talk to him tomorrow."
"Yup."
"How are you holding up?"
"I want to go home." Lucas said, his voice strained.
"I know…" Karen said gently. She motioned for him to move over so she could sit next to him.
Lucas smiled weakly and rested his head on her shoulder.
"I stopped pushing myself with basketball, and now I have to figure out a whole new future for myself after 17 years. Every single day I know Nathan and Jake are playing basketball, they still have a future with it. Meanwhile here I am, swallowing pills everyday just so I don't collapse when I exert myself even a little. I am careful, everyday. There's only been a few slip-ups, but not for a long time. And yet somehow I still end up here, in the hospital. How is that fair?"
"Its not." Karen said quietly, stroking his hair.
"When is it going to get better Mom?"
"I don't know. I wish I could tell you."
"Me too." Lucas said quietly.
Karen continued to sit there with him, until his even breathing indicated that he had fallen asleep in her arms.
"So how's school?" Lucas asked the next day.
Nathan had gone off by himself during his lunch period to call Lucas, who was glad to hear from him.
"It's not as bad as I imagined, but people still don't bother to keep their voices down when they're talking about you"
"Yeah, I noticed that."
"I think my favorite rumor is the one where we have a whole drug operation going together."
Lucas chuckled.
"That's one of the crazier ones."
"This town, I swear." Nathan laughed.
"It's crazy."
"Okay, well I should get going." Nathan said slowly.
"Right."
"I'll be over right after school."
"Practice."
"Huh?"
"You have practice."
"I can skip it."
"No, you can't."
"This is more important."
"Go or I will kick your ass." Lucas laughed.
"Yes sir." Nathan laughed.
"I'll see you afterwards. You just get into practice again."
"I will. See you soon."
"Bye."
"Hey buddy." Haley smiled as she walked into the room.
"Hey, you're here early."
"No actually it's just that I came straight from school."
"No tutoring?"
"I had someone cover for me. I wanted to see you."
"I'm glad you came." Lucas smiled.
"Me too. I know you've probably heard this question a million times-"
"I'm feeling fine, Hales. I just wanna get out of here." Lucas said, answering her unasked question.
"Tomorrow, right?" Haley smiled.
"Yeah."
"Moms or Dads?"
"I think my moms."
"Okay, I'll definitely stop by."
"I guess it would be kind of awkward if I was going home with my dad."
"Just a little bit."
"Talk to Nathan yet?"
"No, I just want things to calm down a bit."
"Don't wait too long, Hales."
"It's already been too long." Haley sighed.
"Alright Nathan, I just want you to know that I worked very hard for the administration to let you back on the team. Don't disappoint me." Whitey said firmly before practice.
"I won't. I promise."
"Good." Whitey said, getting ready to start.
"Coach?"
"Yes, Nathan?"
"I'm sorry. I made a lot of stupid mistakes. I'm going to work extra hard now."
"I'm proud of you for working through all this."
"Thanks. I had a lot of support."
"I bet."
"Hey, what did you mean at the game?"
"What?"
"At the game, you said something about Lucas not looking you in the eye."
"Oh…well…I wanted to talk to him about everything, and he avoided me."
"Talk about me?"
"You, basketball. He's not always the cheeriest kid around, but he was definitely down these past few weeks."
"Yeah, that's what I've been hearing."
"Of course, at the game that was the happiest I've seen him in a long time."
"Yeah." Nathan smiled.
"How's he doing?"
"He's coming home sometime tomorrow I think."
"Good."
"How does it feel to be back?" Jake asked after practice.
"Good, I got to talk to Whitey."
"That's good."
"I need to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Okay, well everybody has been alluding to Lucas being depressed while I was gone. Whitey was the first person to come right out and say it. What happened, Jake?"
Jake sighed and sat down on the bench. Nathan followed suit.
"That day, after the whole blow up…Peyton and I were walking home from school. We see Lucas, running, actually sprinting down the street. I called out to him, because I knew he shouldn't be doing that, but either he ignored me or didn't hear me. I figured he was too wrapped up to notice what was going on around him."
"What did you do?"
"I ran after him, but he had already stopped. This whole HCM thing…it's bad, Nate. He looked like he was going to pass out. I...I wondered if that's what he wanted for a little bit."
Nathan swallowed hard.
"Is that it?"
"Yeah, me, Brooke and Peyton all talked to him for a little bit, and then we all went home. I mean, he was understandably bummed for awhile and all, but nothing major."
"Okay." Nathan sighed.
"Look, Nathan, you don't need to feel guilty about all that. He was just blowing off steam. He just did it in a stupid way."
"I guess. I need to go talk to him." Nathan said.
"Okay."
"Thanks, Jake. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Say hi to him for me."
"No problem."
"Hey, what took you?" Lucas asked when Nathan walked in.
"I talked with Whitey for a bit. Move over." He said, sitting next to Lucas.
"Something wrong?"
"Today I heard a lot of crazy things. These were all from people I barely knew, and there was no way they were telling the truth." Nathan said slowly.
"They're just bored with their own lives."
"That's not my point though. People I didn't trust were saying crazy things, but then people I do trust told me things that I'm also having a hard time believing."
"Nathan, you're confusing me."
"Luke…did you purposefully try to black out the day I left?"
Lucas bit his lip and looked away.
"Come on, look at me." Nathan said, making Lucas face him again.
"I don't know what I was really doing, I was just trying to forget everything that happened, and it felt good to just run…push myself again."
"But did you want to…"
"I don't know, Nate. No. I wasn't even trying to think about anything."
"You promise me?"
"Yeah. I was just miserable that day."
"I know…"
"Did that clear everything up?"
"I guess so."
"Okay. So how was practice?" Lucas said, desperate to change the subject.
"Whitey kicked our asses as usual."
"Sounds about right."
"Oh, Jake couldn't come by, but he told me to tell you he says hi."
"Uh huh." Lucas said dully.
"Look, they were just trying to help out when they told me all that."
"I didn't realize that I needed babysitters."
"Lucas, come on."
"I was upset. Understandably upset, but people have to turn everything I do into some big issue." He said angrily.
"They're not. They care about you, they just wanted to make sure you're alright."
Lucas turned and stared out the window again.
"I'm just…tired." He said almost inaudibly.
"I know. Tomorrow I'll come home right after practice and we can hang out."
"Alright…"
"You'll be out of here soon."
"Hopefully this will be it with the HCM problems." Lucas sighed.
"We'll just have to make sure it is." Nathan said firmly.
Poor little depressed boys.
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