Chapter Thirteen

Lucas couldn't wait to get home from practice, he was bone tired. He couldn't believe how bad his team was, it was like the more they practiced the worse they got. They only had a few more weeks before their first game and Lucas had little hope of them winning it.

If his team playing poorly, to put it nicely Lucas thought, wasn't bad enough then there was Haley. When he had gone to see her he hadn't intended on being such an ass but as soon as he seen her his mouth lost its filter. He had wanted to apologize as soon as the words left his mouth but he knew they were, at least mostly, true. Her leaving had been the cause and beginning of Nathan's spiral.

With his head full of jumbled up thoughts he was glad to see that Brooke was home. He found her in the kitchen pulling take out Chinese containers from a brown paper bag. "Hey Pretty Girl, I missed you," Lucas said spinning her around to face him and wrapping his arms around her.

"I missed you too. How was practice? Are they getting any better?" she asked knowing he was at the end of his rope with them.

"Awful, and no, if it's possible I think they're worse."

"Why don't you ask Nathan if he can help? Maybe he can give you ideas that you haven't tried?" Brooke suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," Lucas said kissing her. "Speaking of which, I seen Haley."

"Is that all you're going to give me? Details!" Brooke screeched, making him smile.

"Well, you know how I went to see her?" he asked, and after Brooke's nod he continued. "Well I said somethings I shouldn't have, or at least not in the way I said them. She chewed me out then told me she hasn't been happy in a while and would give up music if it meant she could be with Nathan again."

"Do you think she meant it?" Brooke asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. It may not be her relationship but she wanted her friends to be happy, even if Haley wasn't high on her list of favorite people right now.

Lucas took a moment before he answered her, "Honestly, I think she was being sincere, but I'm not sure how Nate is going to take her confession. He's been miserable for six years, how is he going to feel when he finds out that Haley has been miserable all this time as well? The only reason he never went after her is because he thought she would be happier and better off without him. I'm afraid this will just be something else he will blame himself for," Lucas told Brooke, feeling both hope and fear for his brother.

"Then I guess we just have to make sure he doesn't blame himself," Brooke said breaking out in a smile, plans already rushing though her head on how she could assist the mending of Naley.

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With little relief from the alcohol, though he wasn't shocked by this it hadn't helped even once in the six years Haley was gone, Nathan started his walk home. He wasn't drunk per se, he only had a few beers, but he didn't trust himself driving with the way his mind was. It was after his third beer that he realized no amount of alcohol would fix his broken heart, it hadn't six years ago and it wouldn't now. With a groan he poured the remaining three bottles over the side of the pier into the sand. With the bottles in the recycling bin he started the walk home. He was surprised it didn't take him as long as he thought it should to get home, or at least he didn't think it took him a long time.

He quietly opened the front door and was about to go up to his room when he heard his brother say he seen Haley. He hated eavesdropping but he had to know what ever he could about her. He listened as his brother told, he assumed, Brooke about going to see her and could only imagine what he had said to her. He knew how mad Luke was, that mixed with the hurt of her leaving didn't make a good combination.

What caused Nathan's heart to almost beat out of his chest was when Lucas said she would give up her music for him. He wanted to believe what he was hearing so badly and prayed it wasn't just the alcohol talking. As quietly as he could he went upstairs not listening to the rest of what his brother was saying. Nathan had heard enough. Once safely in his bedroom he changed in to clean boxers before crawling into bed, with plans on talking to Haley in the morning.