"Lucas, I know you're in there," Haley insisted as she banged on the front door. "Please open up. We really need to talk."
Lucas stood on the opposite side of the front door and listened as Haley pleaded. After yesterday's revelations, he couldn't bear to look at her.
When Lucas stormed away from Haley during the party, he burst into the Scott home and practically dragged Karen and Keith out of there. He hadn't said anything to either of them about what had transpired during the party. Thinking, let alone speaking, about Nathan and Haley together made him sick to his stomach.
But despite this, Haley was his best friend. He tried to come up with every excuse for her when he got home. Haley wouldn't have slept with Nathan. It made no sense. She hated him just as much as he did. However, the video seemed to disprove that notion.
Giving Haley the benefit of the doubt, Lucas opened his front door, but kept the screen door closed acting as a barrier between him and Haley. "You have five minutes," Lucas said, with his arms crossed.
Haley took a deep breath. This was her chance to explain herself to Lucas. She didn't want to mess up. "I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry. It was a mistake and it never should have happened," Haley began. Lucas listened on unaffected by her apology. "It was the night of the party at the beach house. Remember how you left me there after you stormed out?"
"After he humiliated me and my mother by playing Dan's prom video," Lucas added. "Exposing her and Dan's relationship in front of the entire student body." They all knew about Karen and Dan's prior relationship as Lucas was the living proof of their time together. It simply wasn't fair to play the video in which his mom mapped out the perfect life with Dan which turned into Nathan's life.
"Yes," Haley confirmed. She felt even more guilty of her actions once she learned what had caused Lucas to leave. "I called a cab and it never showed up. Nathan saw me outside and offered for me to stay the night."
"In his bed with him?" He couldn't believe that Haley was so gullible and allowed herself to be with Nathan intimately so fast. The Haley James he knew would have stuck to her guns and found another way home rather than spend the night with Nathan Scott.
"No, in the guest room. We started drinking and that's when it happened. If I were sober, then none of this would have ever happened." She blamed the alcohol. Haley was confident that without the presence of liquid courage, her and Lucas would not be in this predicament.
"Look, I get that, but drunk words are sober thoughts. Same could be argued for actions. The guy relentlessly made my life a living hell for weeks. Yet you had sex with him? I thought you wanted to wait. I thought you were saving yourself for marriage." He respected Haley and her choice to wait. He found it admirable that she wanted to save herself for someone she loved, but instead all it took was one drunken night and she'd given it way to Nathan.
"I was." Haley really did want to wait, it's just the alcohol, lighting, setting, and hormones all got the best of her. "If I could go back in time, I would. You have no idea how horrible I feel."
"The point isn't that you just slept with the enemy, literally. You kept it a secret from me for a month and didn't bother to tell me. Did you think I couldn't be trusted?" Lucas considered the possibility that if Haley had confided in him from the beginning, then maybe they would actually be on speaking terms. He would have been pissed but not as pissed as he currently was.
"It wasn't that. I thought that you would flip out and refuse to talk to me. Kind of like what you are doing now. All I did was try to protect you, Lucas. That's the real reason I started tutoring Nathan, so he would keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, as last night proved, he lied."
Lucas stared at Haley in silence for a solid minute. He had nothing else to say to her. Time would tell if they were okay and could make it through this. But as of this moment, Lucas couldn't be with her.
"Your time is up," Lucas said as he closed the door in Haley's face.
"So do you want to tell me what is going on with my son?" Karen asked, handing Haley her apron for today's shift. "He seemed pretty tight lipped about what happened last night. Care to fill me in?"
"It was nothing," Haley lied as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. She tried to get Lucas' attention back by banging on the door. When he shut the door on her, she wasn't done talking to him. Haley needed to plead her case. She had to make Lucas understand, but he never came back. Haley slumped down on Lucas' porch and cried there until her alarm went off indicating that she had fifteen minutes before her shift at the café started.
Karen immediately clocked Haley trying to discard her tears secretly. She brought a hand to Haley's face and saw her puffy, bloodshot eyes. It looked like she had been crying for days. "Oh my god, Haley. What happened? Is everything alright?" Karen asked.
"I made a mistake that I don't think I can go back from," Haley sniffled.
Karen was supposed to open the café in a minute, but seeing Haley crying in her kitchen took priority over her business. It was obvious Haley was hurting. Karen went to Haley's side and wrapped her in a soothing hug. "Everyone makes mistakes, Haley. That's life."
"Yeah, but did you ever sleep with your best friend's sworn enemy who also happened to be his half-brother?" Karen relaxed her grip on Haley and pulled slightly away to look at the girl. She was without words. No wondered Lucas was in such a mood last night and that morning. It definitely explained a lot. When Karen didn't say anything, Haley chuckled to herself. "Didn't think so."
"You and Nathan?" Karen, like Lucas, was trying to understand how this happened. She knew Haley was tutoring Nathan, but didn't realize that they were involved.
"There was no me and Nathan and there will never be a me and Nathan." The moment Nathan betrayed her trust was the moment any possible feelings she may have had towards him vanished. She couldn't be with someone like him. Haley was kidding herself when she started developing feelings for him. "We were both drunk. It happened only one time and I've been regretting it ever since. Lucas found out last night and refuses to speak to me."
"How long ago did this..."
"A month," Haley answered as if reading Karen's mind. "I made a deal with Nathan that he wouldn't tell Lucas if I tutored him. And he didn't. Last night he went back on our deal."
"Oh, Haley." Karen kept Haley tight in her grasp and refused to let go as Haley sobbed into Karen's arms. Even after a day filled with tears shed, Haley still had more.
"He hates me. He doesn't even want to talk to me. I tried to reason with him and he shut the door on my face." Lucas was her best friend and she'd lost him. The idea of no longer having him in her life terrified her and hurt her to no end.
"Give him time. He just needs time to process this, and when he does, he'll realize that you never meant for this to happen and he'll forgive you." Karen knew her son quite well and though he was angry now he would get over it. The information was too much at once for him. "Why don't you take the day off."
"No, I need the money." Haley pushed Karen away gently and started to wipe her eyes. "For Stanford."
Karen understood, it's why Haley constantly worked. It was all for Stanford. "Okay, but no rush. Take all the time you need. I'm going to open up, come out whenever you're ready."
Haley was thankful that Karen didn't make her feel more guilty than she already did. At least one person was on her side. Karen didn't ask many questions and just listened to Haley's side of the story free of judgement. Haley wished it would have gone that smoothly with Lucas.
Wiping her tears away, Haley dusted herself off and took a quick peak at herself in the mirror. She hated how she looked. The incessant crying made her face all red and her eyes too, but Haley wouldn't let her appearance get the best of her. She had customers to serve and money to earn.
"Hey, Mr. Murphy, what can I get you?" Haley asked flashing Mr. Murphy a welcoming smile. Perhaps her favorite customer could cheer up. Seeing him smile back has been the best part of her day.
Adjusting his glasses, he held up the menu close to his face to see better. "I would like..." Mr. Murphy began.
"Haley!" Brooke exclaimed, trying to get the tutor girl's attention. When she awoke with a killer headache and about twelve missed calls, she instantly regretted the way she handled last night.
She was mad at Nathan, not Haley. Brooke realized that she shouldn't have involved Haley in her petty revenge against Nathan. Watching Haley run out last night temporarily brought a smile to her face as Nathan was visibly upset by her actions, but that bliss faded when she saw the hurt it caused Haley. Thus it became Brooke's mission to make it up to Haley as well as everyone else she scorned last night.
Haley narrowed her eyes in at Brooke, scowling. There were many things she wanted to say to her, but the café was no place to unleash her wrath.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Murphy. As you were saying?" Haley ignored Brooke and went to jot down Mr. Murphy's order. She did have a job after all.
"Hello, Tutor Girl!" Brooke continued to pester to get Haley's attention. Seeing as Haley proceeded to not face or acknowledge her, Brooke sat down next to Mr. Murphy to talk to Haley. Obviously she was only talking to customers. "Can we talk?"
"I think you already said enough last night," Haley said, not wanting to have to deal with Brooke at work. She finally stopped crying and did not wanted to be reminded of the worst moment of her life.
"I wanted you to know that it wasn't Nathan's fault. It was all mine," Brooke admitted. "I was in a bad place last night. Peyton kissed Lucas and Nathan basically helped them do it. I was hurt."
"So that gives you the right to humiliate me?" Haley asked. Any excuse Brooke came up with in defense of Nathan still didn't change how she felt. Even if she believed that Nathan had no part in last night's events, he still kept the tape. Anyone could have found it.
"No." It took a lot out of Brooke to be the bigger person and confess her mistakes. She knew she was wrong about how she handled last night. Brooke hoped to make amends for it. "I just wanted to get back at Nathan and when I found the video, I thought blasting it in front of everyone would make me feel better, but it didn't. When I saw you run out, I knew I made a mistake."
"That's nice to hear, but if you're looking for forgiveness, you've come to the wrong place." Haley started to walk away from Brooke and tend to her other customers, but Brooke pulled her back in.
"I'm not." Brooke knew she wasn't deserving of Haley's forgiveness and hadn't come in expecting it. She wanted to set the record straight and make things right with Haley and Nathan again. "I just wanted you to know that if you're mad at anyone it should be me, not Nathan. Nathan had nothing to do with it. In fact, you should have heard the earful he'd given me."
After Haley left the party, Nathan stormed up to Brooke and broke the projector so no one else could see anymore. The video was getting pretty hot and heavy and Nathan didn't want anyone to see Haley like that. Once destroyed, he let Brooke have it. It was one thing to mess with his life, but he demanded that she'd leave Haley out of it.
Nathan didn't need to explain any further for Brooke to realize the real reason he didn't want Peyton back. He'd moved on and had fallen for Haley. And judging by how heartbroken Haley was last night, Brooke surmised that she felt the same way. Maybe she could even get them together and set them up on a date to make it up to them.
"I don't doubt it," Haley commented. She had every reason not to believe Brooke, but the earnestness in her voice swayed Haley. "Thank you for explaining everything, but I just want to be alone. Lucas won't even talk to me and everyone at school knows that I slept with Nathan Scott." Mr. Murphy's eyes bugged out at the last part. Haley swatted Mr. Murphy with a towel. "I know Nathan had no part in this, but he still hurt me. He kept the tape. It was bound to get out because of it. I was a fool for trusting him."
"I don't think so," Brooke insisted. "Haley, Nathan really likes you. He didn't tell me himself, but you should have seen him last night. He cares. If you're afraid anyone is going to talk at school tomorrow, Nathan already took care of it. No one is going to talk."
The promise was reassuring as Haley had been not looking forward facing her classmates on Monday. She hated being the center of attention, with exceptions of course being related to her achievements, especially with this particular situation.
Yesterday, whenever Nathan heard a guy on the basketball team make a joke about Haley or how easy she was, Nathan did not hesitate to fight. He punched a few guys in defense of her. The comments quickly died down after he knocked Tim to ground for making one of those comments about Haley's body.
Haley smiled at the generosity Brooke was showing her. It was nice to have someone to talk to. With Lucas out of the picture momentarily, she was friendless. Sure she talked to Mouth, Skills, Jimmy, Junk, and Fergie, but she had been seeing less and less of them as Lucas barley had time to play a pick up game at the river court.
"Thank you," Haley said. "I really appreciate it."
"No problem," Brooke smiled, readjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder. She stood up from the barstool she sat on and gave Haley a ten dollar tip, even though she had nothing to eat. Payment always made things better. "I have to go. You know, make amends with other people. First you, then Peyton. I really screwed up with her, too." Brooke started to head towards the door, Peyton and her needed to talk. As she placed her hand on the doorknob, Brooke turned around before she left. "If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm a good listener. Don't hesitate to give me a call sometime."