Author's Note: Slightly AU. Set around the same time that Lucas gets into the car crash. There's no crash, no injury and Haley doesn't know what went on with Peyton and Lucas.

"Lucas?" Haley called out as she entered his house. She knew that he would be home right now, and of course she was there to keep him company. It was two months until their sophomore year of high school would finally end, and the weather was just getting warm again. Haley, snug in her green tank top, stepped into the house comfortably.

She had spent the past two months here, making up the time she would be spending away during the summer. For the first half of the summer, she would be attending a serious pre-college program in Boston. There, she was to take college level writing courses and hopefully decide if she would be moving to Boston or New England in general for her college years. The rest of her summer was "claimed" by her boyfriend, Nathan Scott. He said to have already planned an exciting trip for the two of them.

"Hales? In here." He replied. Tracking the sound of his voice, Haley found him in front of a half eaten pizza, two liters of root beer and some X-box game in the living room. He was sprawled across the floor in nothing but his boxers. Haley took a step back in shock of the sight. This lazy, pigging out Lucas was unfamiliar to her. The Lucas she knew was always reading or playing basketball, something that was at least productive. Eating junk food and playing video games was not a Lucas Scott activity.

And then there was the fact that he was in his boxers. Haley, of course, had seen Lucas like that before. The two of them had been best friends since she moved to Tree Hill, when she was only seven. But now looking at his blonde hair falling across his forehead and the muscles in his arm flexing each time he moved the controller, Haley couldn't help but find him attractive.

"Ew. Haley. Snap out of it," she told herself as she took a seat on the couch. After all this was her best friend since childhood, she couldn't possibly think of him like that. Besides, she was in a committed relationship with his half-brother Instead she began talking to him about his high score on the game. She wasn't really interested in video games, but she knew something was wrong. And knowing Lucas Scott, she would have to ease him into explaining his problem.

"So, you look like you've been hungry." She said, gesturing to the open pizza box.

"Go ahead and grab a slice, Hay." He said, not even looking up from his game.

"So what's up?" she asked, exasperated. It was the thousandth time since she got there that she had asked the question, but he never really answered it.

"Nothing." He replied. "I rule at the Ninja game." The beeps and rings from the tv continued to fill the room.

"That's it!" Haley screeched, reaching over and unplugging the X-box.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Lucas screamed at her.

"Tell me what's going on." She glared at him, but he turned away. "Now, Lucas." Her voice had transformed into that of the Wicked Witch.

Annoyed, Lucas finally answered her. "Brooke broke up with me." After he said that, he immediately turned away from Haley and fiddled with the controller.

"Oh gosh," Haley said, dropping to her knees. "I'm sorry." Gently, she wrapped her arms around him.

"It just feels so..." Lucas didn't finish his sentence, he just closed his eyes and hugged his best friend.

"Shh..." she whispered, holding him tightly. "Tell me what happened." There was tender concern in her voice, but deep inside anger boiled in Haley's system.

Brooke broke up with Lucas? From the moment that relationship had began, Haley was baffled because Luke was much too much too much too good for Brooke. She didn't deserve the time he spent with her nor the attention he gave. But Haley forced herself to focus on Lucas.

"It just feels so unreal, Haley... She warned me about it. You know we were fighting. We just weren't getting things right. And." His sentences came out one by one, his voice muffled since his head was pressed firmly to Haley's shoulder. She stroked his hair gently, listening as he continued to mumble details about his relationship with Brooke.

Ever since Peyton's dad had gone "missing" and Lucas went with her to identify the body, Lucas and Brooke's relationship took a different turn. More and more often, Lucas would spend several hours on the phone with Haley asking for advice from a female perspective. His girlfriend seemed irrational to him, but was it just a girl thing? Willingly, Haley talked to him and coaxed him out of his bouts with depression. All the while explaining that girls often got scared when relationships became more serious. She was well aware of the fear in her heart now that her relationship with Nathan was continuing to escalate.

Haley continued to hold on to Lucas, rubbing his shoulder with one hand and his blonde head with the other. She hated to see him like this. All through their childhood, they relied on each other and Haley would be damned if she let him suffer alone. Especially because of some brunette cheerleader like Brooke. She whispered the same words over and over again, until she lost all sense of time and space. Solely concentrated on telling her best friend "It's going to be okay".

She was so focused on Lucas that Haley was completely unaware that someone stood at the threshold of the living room. His dark eyes flashed with anger and jealousy as he watched the scene in front of him. On the floor of living room, his girlfriend knelt next to a half open box of pizza and had her arms wrapped around the half naked torso of his half brother.

"What." Nathan's voice was rough and dark. "The." His breathing was loud and angry. "Fuck."

Haley and Lucas both looked up, both their faces filled with a slight confusion. And though Nathan hoped that the scene before him had a reasonable explanation, he couldn't deny that there was a tinge of guilt in the faces before him. Not knowing what to do, he turned and ran.