Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.
A/N: Hi all. Thanks as always to everyone reading this and huge thanks to those of you commenting. It is much appreciated. Love you all. And yay, school is done until September. I'm super excited!! Anyway, hope you all enjoy this one. Feel free to let me know. Good or bad, I can take it. LOL.
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Peyton sat alone in the Lee residence, hugging her knees tightly to her chest, wondering when Nathan would be returning. Somehow she doubted it would be anytime soon. He'd been so angry and hurt when he'd gone upstairs to shower and his mood hadn't lightened any when he'd come down. She'd tried to talk to him but it fell on deaf ears as he just dropped his car keys on the counter, in case, he'd said, she wanted to go ahead and meet the others at the restaurant like they were supposed to do. He, apparently, had lost his appetite and wouldn't be joining them.
She was more than a little angry at that. They were his relatives, after all, and he'd just basically hung her out to dry. She had a few choice words for him whenever he came back. In the meantime, her mind ran through what had taken place just moments before.
Flashback
A smile tugged at her lips and her stomach fluttered happily as Nathan's blue orbs bore into her green ones. The rigid set of his jaw, along with the fervent look in his eyes ruled out any possibility that he was anything but dead serious. And that's what threw her off the most. Often times they'd joke about marriage and her heart would always race at the very idea, but this was no joke.
Her heart pounding painfully in her chest, she opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out at first. He'd taken her completely off guard. Of all the times she'd fantasized about this, never once had she imagined it like this. Oh, it wasn't the way he'd done it. Oddly enough, just blurting it out the way he had was exactly the way she'd imagined he would do it. He was never one for big, romantic speeches full of fancy words, so this was just right in her eyes. But never in a million years would she have guessed that he would do it under such circumstances – in the middle of his uncle's kitchen with a disaster for breakfast, her, dressed in sweats, hair pulled back in a ponytail, and both of them covered in flour. She must look a complete mess.
Her first instinct was to jump in his arms and accept, but reality quickly took over. This proposal was clearly a spur-of-the-moment thing. Finally finding her voice, she said, "Nathan, we can't…we can't get…married."
"Why not?" he asked her.
"Because that's crazy," she replied. "We're only 17. We're not even out of high school yet. It's just…crazy," she repeated.
"I don't mind being crazy," he said with a shrug.
"Ok, we just got back together. Did you even take a minute to think about this?"
"I don't need to," he countered. "I know I never want to be without you again."
"Neither do I…want to be without you…but that doesn't mean we have to get married."
"Doesn't mean we can't either," he argued persistently. "We can do whatever we want, Peyt."
"It's really not as simple as that, Nathan."
"How's it complicated? People get married every day."
"I know, but we still have so many issues, so many things we haven't talked about…."
"Kay, let's talk then," he said agreeably.
"Need I remind you that we've been off and on for over a year?"
"No, but that was because of me," he told her. "But it's gonna be different now. I'm gonna be different. I know that's hard to believe, considering my history, but it's true." He squeezed her hands tighter. "Peyton, I love you and I want to be with you forever." His eyes penetrated hers deeper. "Just say yes, Peyton, and I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret it."
To his dismay, she was shaking her head.
"Nathan, you know I love you…"
"But…?" he asked desolately, sensing it was coming.
"But…a lot of things. What about college? You want to go to Duke…"
"I can still do that if we're married. You could come with me. You've already said you don't care where you go to college or know if you even want to go at all."
"True, but where are we supposed to live?"
"I don't know. We'll get a place. Our own place."
"With what money?"
"I have money."
"No, your parents have money. You don't have money."
"Whatever. We'll get jobs then. Or I just can. You don't have to if you don't want."
"And when we fight? Because you know we will. What then?"
He gave her a slight smile. "Then you kick me out of the bedroom to the couch like other wives do."
She smiled back. "You have it all figured out, huh? Got an answer for everything."
"I want this, Peyton. Being here with you the past few days, I…I want it to be like this always. I want us to be a family."
"I hear you, Nathan. I want that too…"
"Then let's do it, let's…"
"But let's be reasonable here. Our relationship has been anything but solid. We argue all the time. Do you know how much wear that couch would get?"
"I don't mind."
"And what about food? Neither of us can cook a decent meal…"
He dropped her hands before she finished, realizing he wasn't going to be able to convince her. "Why don't you just say you don't want to marry me instead of coming up with all these lame excuses why we shouldn't?"
"Hey, don't do that," she said, grabbing his arm. "Don't pull away from me…"
"We can learn to cook, Peyton. We could take cooking classes, or hire a cook if worst came to worst. Either way, we wouldn't starve. And everything else could be worked out too if we wanted it to, but obviously you don't want to…"
"Nate, you're completely missing my point. I want to marry you, ok? But we are so not ready for that. Not even close. In a few years, after college…"
"That's not a few years, Peyton," he scoffed. "That's five. At least."
"And we'll only be 22 by then. Not exactly over the hill."
"But I don't want to put off our life together that long. We could be celebrating our fifth anniversary by then."
"Nathan, you're not listening."
"I am listening. I hear what you're saying without actually coming out and saying it. No."
End of Flashback
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"Can I see some ID?" the man behind the bar asked.
Nathan pulled out his fake ID and tossed it on the counter.
The man inspected it and then, satisfied, tossed it back before proceeding to pour the drink Nathan had ordered. "Little early, ain't it?" he commented.
Nathan simply shrugged in response, in no mood to be lectured. The man made conversation and Nathan was annoyed with that too. He just wanted to sit, sulk, and drink. But the guy kept trying to lure him into casual chatter, asking if he was new to the area and then commenting nicely on the Lee family when Nathan informed him he was visiting them. "Look," Nathan said impatiently after a while. "You being paid to talk or pour?"
"Well, technically to pour, but my regulars have come to expect…"
"Great," Nathan cut him off. "I'm not a regular so just keep the drinks coming."
"Whatever you say," the bartender replied off-handedly.
Nathan's cell buzzed and he reached into his pocket. He didn't recognize the number so he answered it.
"Hello?"
"Oh, your little girlfriend let you answer your own phone this time?" he heard. Katie. Damn it. He should have let it go to voicemail.
"You're seriously using another phone to call me?" he asked snidely.
"Well, I knew Peyton wouldn't let you talk to me."
"I'm the one who doesn't want to talk to you."
"Right," she scoffed. "You back in Tree Hill yet?"
"No. Why?"
"You know why. Give me a call when you get back in town."
He rolled his eyes and sneered. "Are you even for real? Look, I meant what I said before. We're over. I'm not gonna be coming around anymore so quit fucking calling me. And stop lying to Peyton too."
"What did I lie to Peyton about?"
"About us being together the other night," he reminded her.
"Oh, right, that. But not the part about us being together again?" she taunted.
"About all of it," he countered irately. "Just leave me the hell alone, all right. Me and Peyton are back together so deal with it and quit trying to cause shit."
"Ahh, did I cause trouble? Maybe that's because your precious Peyton knows you too well."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Come on, Nathan. "You're gonna be knocking on my door in no time. You know it, I know it, and she knows it."
"Not gonna happen. Keep dreaming."
"You were coming to me long before you two ever broke up so don't think for a minute that I buy this whole fidelity crap," she threw back. "A leopard doesn't change its spots, Nathan. Once a cheater, always a cheater. But you keep dreaming if you think you can, all of a sudden, be reformed. In the meantime, I'll be expecting your call."
"Yeah, well, you'll be waiting a long time," he shot. "And if you think I'll have any trouble staying away, think again. I only ever went to you whenever I wanted an easy lay."
"I don't believe that."
"Well, you should because it's true. And, to be honest, you never really did it for me, but at least I didn't have to work for it."
"Nathan, how can you say that? After what I've done for you?"
"What you've done for me?" he ridiculed. "What, besides fuck me, have you ever done for me?"
"I vouched for you that night Lucas' room was trashed. Remember? I was your alibi."
"All you did was tell the truth," he pointed out.
"But if I hadn't…"
"Look, whatever, just give it up, ok? We're never gonna be together."
"That's not true. One day, you'll open your eyes and realize that you love me…"
"I asked Peyton to marry me," he told her.
She fell silent for a moment, swallowing the pain. "You what?"
"I asked her to marry me," he repeated. "Because I love her, not you."
"I see. And what did she say?"
"Look, just stop calling me, ok."
"She turned you down, didn't she?" she guessed. When he didn't reply, she knew she was right. And she took it as an in. "Nathan, don't you see? She doesn't love you."
"Yes, she does," he argued defensively.
"Baby, I would marry you in a heartbeat. If she can't do the same…"
"Don't call me that. And she does love me, she's just not ready."
"If she loved you, she'd be ready. Just like I am, Nathan. Can't you see, you and me…?"
"Wake the hell up, will ya," he scoffed. "You're nothing to me. Never have been, never will be."
"Ok, I'm gonna give you one chance to take that back," she warned.
"And why would I do that?"
"Because you're going to regret it if you don't."
"No, trust me, I won't."
"Fine, but just remember you said that," she huffed before hanging up on him.
"Give me another one," he said to the bartender, pushing his empty glass toward him.
"Coming right up."
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Nathan asked.
"Shoot."
"Do you think people can change?"
"Well, they can try, but honestly, I'd say no. People are who they are. That's my motto."
"And what do you think if you ask a girl to marry you and she gives a million reasons why it's a bad idea?" he asked before gulping down his second drink and asking for another.
"I'd say if she can find that many reasons not to get married, then it probably is a bad idea."
His third drink gone as quickly as the first two, he asked, "Do you think it means she doesn't love you?"
"Possibly. Or it could be the other million reasons she gave."
Nathan nodded. Yeah. Why was listening to Katie anyway? Of course Peyton loved him. He took another drink. She just didn't want to marry him.
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"You know, Luke's right," Jimmy said as he and Mouth sat on the picnic table at the rivercourt waiting for the rest of the gang. "They shouldn't have let him go. He should still be sitting in that jail cell for what he did to Haley."
Mouth looked away, uncomfortable with the situation and not any closer to finding a solution. He was still at odds trying to figure out which of his friends was telling the truth and which was capable of such vindictiveness. He still couldn't bring himself to believe it of either Nathan or Haley, but he knew one of them was guilty. He had to keep it to himself though since everybody had seemingly already taken sides.
He wouldn't stay quiet long, however, since Jimmy quickly picked up on the fact that he didn't comment, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with his assessment. He glanced at Mouth in wonder. "What's up, Mouth?"
"Nothing, I didn't say anything."
"Well, don't you agree that Nathan should be locked up?"
Mouth took a moment before responding. "Yeah. I mean, if he raped her, then of course he does."
"If?"
Mouth turned to face him. "Yeah, if," he said sternly. "I've been thinking about it and, you know, we don't actually know that he did rape her."
"Mouth, they've got his DNA," Jimmy reasoned. "Plus he admitted it."
"He admitted sleeping with her only."
"Because he had no choice," Jimmy argued. "Since, like I said, they found his sperm in the condom."
"And there's another thing," Mouth returned. "Why would he just leave it there for the police to find?"
"Gee, I don't know, but the words brainless jock come to mind."
"He's not stupid."
"Well, what was he supposed to do, Mouth? Carry around a used condom?"
"Anything but leave it right where the police are going to look."
"Maybe he didn't expect her to report him," Jimmy shot back. "Or maybe, he just figured he'd get away with it even if she did, which so far, he has. I can't believe you're turning against one of us to stick up for him after all he's done. What's wrong with you? I know you've got this man-crush on the guy, but come on, how long have you known Haley?"
"I don't have a man-crush on him, Jimmy. He's my friend."
"We're your friends, Mouth. Haley's your friend. Nathan, he's not your friend. Don't be so naïve. He hung out with you to piss Lucas off."
"I disagree," Mouth said. "I know you're jealous that I've made other friends, but…"
"Whatever," Jimmy scoffed. "If you want to take his word over hers…"
"That's not what I'm doing," Mouth said insistently. "All I'm saying is either one could be lying. And I'm not sure which. I do know that his track record is sketchier than hers, but that doesn't mean she can do no wrong. She's human like the rest of us. And remember all those times she's stared at him? She definitely liked what she saw. Skills even asked if she was crushing on him. Remember that?"
Flashback (chapter 4)
"Thanks guys," Luke said when everyone, except Haley, who was busy watching Nathan walk away, agreed.
Lucas gave her a look. "Earth to Haley."
Only after Nathan had disappeared did she turn her attention back to the group. She noticed them all staring at her. "What?"
"Girl, don't tell me you're crushing on Nathan like all them other girls in school," Skills said.
"I'm not crushing on him. I don't even know him."
"Hey, that ain't never stopped Luke from crushing on Peyton."
"Well, I'm not Luke. Besides, from what I do know of Nathan, I don't like," Haley stated.
"Ok," Jimmy Edwards said teasingly. "Then why were you staring at him?"
"Because, even though he's a jerk, he's not too shabby to look at," Haley answered simply, causing everyone to laugh at her.
"Right, he's not too shabby," Mouth teased.
"Oh alright. The guy's hot, ok," she admitted in mock frustration.
They all began teasing her mercilessly. "Ok," Haley said jokingly but sternly. "Enough already. I was just looking at him. Luke, go take a shower. You stink."
End of Flashback
"Yeah, I remember," Jimmy said. "But she said she didn't like him. What's your point?"
"She's also called him eye candy," Mouth pointed out.
Flashback (chapter 19)
"I swear if he asks me out one more time, I'm going to scream," Haley grumbled. "I mean, how many times does a girl have to say no thank you, before the guy gets it?"
"Damien still?" Lucas questioned, knowing she'd been having problems with the guy.
"Who else?" Haley answered with a nod. "You know, I'm trying to be polite about it and all, so I don't, you know, bruise his male ego, but I think I've made myself quite clear that I'm not interested."
"What's the matter, Haley?" Junk teased. "Not into the whole popular jock thing?"
"Not that one at least," she fumed.
"Oh, so if it were Nathan," Mouth joked, remembering how she'd ogled him in the gym that day.
Haley sighed. She wasn't in any mood to be teased. "Look, I'll say this again; I do not have a crush on Nathan. He's eye candy. That's it. End of story. Got it?"
End of Flashback
"Again, she mentioned not liking him," Jimmy stated.
"Yeah, well, that's a lot of staring from someone who doesn't like him," Mouth argued.
"So, what are you saying, Mouth?" the two boys heard from behind them. "That because she finds him good looking, she wanted to jump in bed with him?"
They turned to find the rest of the gang, looking none too pleased with Mouth. Lucas, who'd spoken, glared at him like he was sitting in enemy territory.
"Luke…" Mouth began.
"Is that seriously what you're saying?" Lucas repeated, his voice cold as steel.
"No, I'm saying she was clearly attracted to him."
"So she deserved to be raped by him?"
"Of course not."
"Then?"
Mouth sighed. It'd been hard enough to reveal his thoughts to Jimmy. It would be ten times worse telling Lucas, who seemed to regard Haley as this angel incapable of wrongdoing. "I'm just not sure she was raped, that's all," he mumbled.
"What?" Luke seethed. "You're accusing her of lying?"
"I'm not accusing her, but the possibility has crossed my mind."
"Yo, Mouth, how ya gonna play Haley like that?" Skills asked. "That's messed up."
"Apparently his loyalty is with his new friends instead of the old ones," Junk said.
"If you can even call him friend," Luke said through gritted teeth.
"Come on, guys," Mouth countered. "I don't want to think she made it up any more than you do, but we were all at that party, except Luke after a while. We all saw her with Nathan. If anyone thought she was in trouble, then why didn't any of you step in and at least tell Nathan to back off?"
"That's a good question," Lucas thundered. "One I've actually been wondering myself. Why didn't any of you do anything to protect her?!" He glanced from face to face, his own tight and rigid. Nobody had an answer for him and that just made him angrier. "Every one of you was there but not one of you did a damn thing to stop him from…" He couldn't finish, just took several deep breaths to regain control of his rage.
Skills was first to defend their actions, or lack thereof. "She looked like she be having a good time, dog."
"Yeah," Fergie said. "We thought she finally let loose."
"You mean you guys were too busy partying to keep an eye on her," Luke returned snidely. "Good to know she can count on her friends."
"Yo, Luke, she's a big girl," Skills argued. "Ain't none of our business who she want to get with. You know what I'm sayin'?"
"Yeah, except she didn't want to get with him."
"We didn't know that, Luke," Junk said. "She seemed to be into him."
"And don't you think we woulda beat his ass if we knew he slipped her something?" Skills asked.
Lucas nodded in acknowledgement, knowing these guys would have helped her if they'd known she needed it. The question was, why didn't they know? They all knew Haley and her values so why didn't they suspect anything? He shook his head and then glared at Mouth. "Yeah, he slipped her liquid ecstasy," he said dangerously low. "Remember that next time you want to preach his innocence."
"Luke…"
"I'm outta here," he said, throwing the basketball he'd been holding to the ground and walking off.
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"Can't believe neither Nate nor co-coach Pucas showed up for practice," Tim complained. "I thought we'd get to watch Nate take the bastard down once and for all."
"Who knows?" Jake said. "Maybe they finally killed each other. Would explain both of their absences."
"Nah," Damien said. We should be so lucky. "Nathan went down to Charlotte with Peyton for the week."
"With Peyton?" Tyler asked. "They back on?"
"Apparently," Damien replied dully.
"About damn time," Tyler said.
"Nice," Tim said. "Maybe now he'll be in a better mood."
"We knew it'd happen eventually, right?" Jake responded.
"I started to wonder when she started dating Lucas, but yeah, it's good," Vegas said. "And good timing too, with the whole rape thing. Can't believe that chick accused him."
"Yeah," Tyler said. "But she hangs out with Lucas so that's why. Perfect set up, but good thing it didn't work."
"Tell me about it," someone else said. "Who does that?"
"I don't know, but I guess the lesson here is don't sleep with the enemy," Tyler stated. "Or, in this case, the enemy's girlfriend?"
"I don't think she's his girlfriend. I mean, he went out with Peyton, right?"
"Maybe they have an open relationship."
"Well, whatever she is, she's got some nerve accusing Nate like that."
The banter continued, only Jake and Damien remaining silent.
After a while, Jake took them all by surprise with his quiet comment. "I hate to be the one to bring this up, but, are we really so sure that Nathan didn't do it?"
Everyone's eyes shot toward him.
"Why?" Tyler asked. "You know something we don't?"
Jake shook his head. "No, I know what you all know – that Nathan has been set on revenge against Lucas since the day he joined the team."
"He wouldn't stoop that low though," Tyler defended.
Jake sighed deeply. "I hope you're right, Ty. I really hope you're right. But I can't help but think of all the stuff he's pulled already. You can't deny he plays dirty."
"Hey, don't be dissing our boy," Tim piped up. "You were at the party. That bitch was all up on him."
"Yeah," Vegas agreed. "She definitely wasn't resisting."
"Well, given that her drink was spiked, she wouldn't have," Jake reasoned. "Look guys, I'm not saying he did it, all right. I'm just saying, and again I hope I'm wrong on this, that it's possible that he may have taken revenge way too far this time."
"He might have a point," Damien said, trying to seem contrite, but barely able to conceal his smirk. Thank you, Jagielski. About time someone saw Nate as less than some kind of God. "I hate to say it, but Nate has been dead set on getting back at Lucas, especially when he started dating Peyton," He gauged the others' reactions, pleased that most seemed to be considering what he was saying. "And, if you remember, he did say Haley was cute."
"Yeah, but still," Tyler responded. "He wouldn't rape her. I mean, why resort to that when most girls fall at his feet?"
"Because she didn't?" Damien offered.
"Can't see her being any different than any other chick," Tyler argued.
"Especially when she's had nothing but the geek squad before that," Tim said. "Come on, she hangs out with all them dudes. Can't tell me she's not spreading the love, if you know what I mean. No way she'd turn our boy, Nate, down."
"She turned me down," Damien stated.
"I thought you said you got with that," Tim countered.
"Oh, well, yeah, but not till much later," Damien replied, sorry now that he'd made that false claim.
Tim simply shrugged. "Well, you're not Nate. You don't have the same effect on the ladies as he does."
Damien bit down on his lip to hide the grimace that threatened to appear on his face.
"And as for the drink," Tim continued. "She probably spiked it herself."
"I don't know, guys," Jake said as he shut his locker, his tone truly remorseful. "As his friend, I hope things went down like you say, but given his temper and his need to settle the score…" He let out a sigh and shook his head sadly. "I just don't know."
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"Hey, what happened to you two?" Cooper asked as he, Jess and the kids entered their home. "I thought you were meeting us there."
Peyton stood awkwardly, silently cursing Nathan for putting her in this position. "Yeah, ummm…" She struggled for words until finally deciding to just tell them. Why should she have to come up with an excuse because he was being a jackass? "We kinda got in a fight and he took off."
"You're kidding," Jess said sympathetically.
"His car's here," Cooper mentioned.
Peyton nodded. "Yeah, he was walking."
"Well then, you should have joined us," Cooper said. "No sense the both of you going hungry."
"I wasn't really up to it. I'm sorry."
"No, don't be," Jess said. "Nathan should have known better than to just leave you here. Coop, you need to talk to that nephew of yours."
"As soon as he walks in the door, his ass is mine," he promised. "Well unless Peyton wants a shot at him first," he joked.
Peyton had to chuckle. "I just might," she said, grateful that they put her so at ease.
"Well, you probably won't want it," Jess began, "but since you guys didn't show, we brought you back breakfast."
"Actually, I'm starving," Peyton revealed.
"Good, you can eat Nathan's share too. You snooze, you lose, right?"
"Right," Peyton said with a firm nod.
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She stepped inside the building and made her way to the front desk.
"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked.
"Yes, I have some information regarding the Haley James rape case," she replied.
"Ok, and what's your name?"
"Katie Sanders."
"Alright, Katie, come with me," she said, leading the younger girl to a uniformed officer.
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"Where is that boy?" Jess asked hours later as Cooper and Peyton cleared the dinner dishes. "I'm starting to get worried."
"Don't," Cooper ordered. "Worrying's not good for the baby."
"Well, I know that, dear, but it's not like I can help it."
"Don't worry," Peyton said. "He's fine. He's just mad."
"Is this a habit of his to just take off like this?"
"Sometimes," Peyton replied. "Although, to be fair, it's usually me screaming at him to leave. But this time he just did it on his own."
"Well, where could he be?" Jess thought out loud. "He doesn't exactly know this area. I hope he didn't get lost."
"I'm sure he didn't," Peyton assured her. "Listen, if you don't need me for anything else, I was gonna head up to bed."
"It's only 7:00," Cooper said.
"I know, but I'm really tired."
She caught Jess' eye and she knew the woman caught on that it wasn't sleepiness that made her want to lock herself in her room.
"You go ahead, sweetie," Jess said.
"Thanks," Peyton said. "And if Nathan's not back by morning, I'll call a friend to come pick me up."
"That's not necessary," Jess told her. "You're welcome to stay. And besides, I'm sure Nathan will be back long before then."
"Don't count on it," Peyton returned. "See, I may not know exactly where he is, but unfortunately, I have a pretty good idea what he's doing," she added sadly before heading up the stairway.
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He polished off another drink as the pretty brunette sauntered over and took the stool next to him.
"Hi, cutie," she said. "I've been sitting over there, watching you for the past two hours, just trying to get my courage up to come talk to you."
Nathan looked at her, his vision blurry. "Yeah?" he asked. "And was it worth it?"
"We'll see," she flirted, licking her lips. "Buy me a drink?"
We can't get married. We are so not ready for that. Once a cheater, always a cheater. She doesn't love you. If she loved you, she'd be ready. People are who they are. All these thoughts scattered through the fog of his brain and he shook his head to clear his mind. It didn't exactly work. We can't get married. She doesn't love you.
He gave the woman a drunken smile as he tried to push away his unwanted thoughts. He nodded. "Why not?" he asked.