Love Rectangle Plus One (Whatever That Is)

Chapter 27: Coming Clean

After breakfast, Peyton headed out of the cafe to let Haley and Brooke catch up on details from the night before. Plus she had an errand to run. She drove up to the River Court to see Jake and Lucas engaged in fun loving one-on-one game. She waved as Lucas turned and noticed her. He nudged Jake and Jake smiled at her. She smiled back and parked the car.

"Hey guys," she called out, as she approached.

"Hey baby," Jake said leaning in to kiss her, as Lucas nodded his hello. "So what brings your beautiful presence out to this neck of the woods?"

Peyton laughed. "I was just looking for Nathan. Have you guys seen him?" Lucas shuffled his feet, and Jake just looked at Peyton. "What?"

"Nate's kind of a sore subject here," Jake mouthed.

"Right," Peyton replied, "Well if either of you see him," she said pointedly, looking at Lucas, "Tell him I'm looking for him."

"Ok," Jake said guardedly.

Peyton gave him a weird look, but gave him a kiss goodbye. She started walking back to her car, and turned momentarily, with a smirk on her face to say "By the way Lucas, you're apparently really good in bed."

Lucas blushed before reciprocating, "Well you would know." Peyton and Jake froze. "Too soon?" Lucas asked giving an awkward smile.

"Too soon," Peyton concurred before laughing and walking off into the wind and the direction of her car.

She drove to Nathan's house, which she hadn't been to in awhile. The house looked almost deserted, which was probably a good thing, because she really didn't want to see Nathan's dad. Yet, due to familiarity she could hear the slight touch of a ball bouncing against gravel. She made her way through the arch over the driveway closer to the garage, where she could see Nathan dribbling and shooting the ball. He looked so calm and so at peace that Peyton smiled. All her memories of the two of them had been so intense, and he had always been on edge and on guard then, but he genuinely seemed carefree now.

"Oh hey Peyton," Nathan said, turning noticing her, "This feels kind of like déjà vu doesn't it?"

"Little bit," Peyton agreed.

"So what can I do for you?"

"I needed to talk to you about Haley."

Nathan's eyes lit up at the mention of her name, and he gave her a curious look. "What about Haley?"

"She really cares about you, Nate. Don't fuck it up with her."

His face formed into an amused smirk. "I wasn't planning on it."

Peyton blushed slightly, but resolved to get out what she had to say. "Haley's a much different kind of girl than anyone else you've ever been with, Nate. She's special. And she deserves someone who recognizes that. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you don't, I just want you to make sure you won't mess things up with her like you did before." Nathan stared at Peyton with an angry look on his face. "Please say you're not mad," Peyton said in a small voice.

Nathan's face relaxed into a grin and he started laughing. "I should be mad at you, but I know you're just looking out for Haley. And for the record, Haley is the most amazing girl, I've ever met. I'd beat myself up if I ever hurt her, before anyone else got the chance."

"Good," Peyton said.

"But nice job falling for me being mad at you," he added with a smirk.

"Oh you suck, Nathan Scott!" she said running over to slap him.

"Yeah but you love me," he said. And then they did something they hadn't done in the longest time. Just hung out and messed around, like the friends they knew they should have been all along.

__________

Brooke made her way to the River Court after dropping Haley off at home. They had had a good talk about the reunion of Brucas, as Brooke had dubbed it. She was so happy, she couldn't think straight. But even though, Haley had been happy for her, Brooke could still tell that something was bothering her. At first, she had assumed it was leftover resentment for the horrible treatment she had received the night before, but then she realized it was Lucas. Haley had almost everything going well for her in her life. She was falling in love for the first time; she had amazing friends (if Brooke did say so herself), but there was one thing missing. Her best friend was still pissed off at her. It wasn't fair, and Brooke decided that something had to be done about it.

Lucas noticed Brooke approaching, the breeze swaying her hair, as she walked towards him. God, she was beautiful. "Hey pretty girl," he said, with a gigantic smile on his face.

"Hi Broody," she said, immediately wrapping herself in his arms, and giving him a giant hello kiss.

"Mmm," he said pulling back, "I've missed that."

"Oh yeah," she said, as she kissed his earlobe, "Well let me show you some more." Brooke attacked his neck and jaw with kisses before finding his lips again. Lucas moaned before moving his own mouth to the pulse point. Brooke started to lose it, and began to melt into his arms before she realized the purpose she had come for. "Wait, wait, stop."

"What?" he groaned.

"I forgot I needed to talk to you. But don't worry," she murmured, "We can do more of this when we're done."

"If you promise," he said giving her a miniature smirk.

"I wanted to talk to you about Haley."

"What about her," Lucas asked, his voice low, as he looked away.

"Look Luke, I know you're pissed, and I understand why. But she's your best friend. Do you remember how with Peyton, you kept trying to get me to talk to her, even though I was so angry and betrayed by her. Because you knew, that a best friend is irreplaceable mo matter what they did. Haley feels so bad, Luke. You should at least talk to her."

Lucas sighed and stared at Brooke. "Why are you so right?"

"It's a gift," Brooke said, winking at him.

"I knew there was a reason I loved you," Lucas proclaimed, wrapping his arms around her and bringing Brooke close.

"So you'll talk to her," Brooke asked, stepping out a little.

"If it means that you'll finally kiss me, then yes of course."

"You're so silly, Lucas Scott. But I love you for it," Brooke smiled. And they spent the rest of the day just being together.

__________

Later that evening, Haley stood outside the almost empty Scott House. She pulled open the door quietly, and made her way up the stairs. She lingered outside Nathan's room, shuffling her feet, trying to gather the courage to talk to him. After her chat with Brooke and Peyton earlier that morning, she had gotten worried about the topic of sex. Did Nathan expect it sometime soon? Did he even want to have it with her, lowly Haley James? On top of that, she felt bad about not being honest with him about how she herself felt about sex. Finally she remembered what she had revealed in the cafe that morning; she could love Nathan Scott. In fact she was almost there. And with that she prepared to enter.

Nathan heard a knock at his door. Before he could even ask who it was, the door turned slowly to reveal his girlfriend. She took a few steps forward into the room, closing the door behind her. She smiled softly at him but didn't say anything.

"Hey Hales, what's up," Nathan asked surprised to see her standing in his room.

"Oh, I just wanted to hang out."

Nathan raised his eyebrow in suspicion. "You sure that's just it?"

Haley sighed. Why did he have to know her so well? "I guess, I just…I needed to talk to you."

"Sure," he said, and scooted over on the bed to give her room.

"Thanks," she said smiling softly, before sitting down next to him. "Look, last night I got really upset."

"You don't have to explain yourself, Haley. What they did was really shitty, of course you were upset."

"No," she said shaking her head.

"No?"

"I mean yes I was upset, but there's more to it, Nathan."

"Ok," he said gently, "What is it?"

"When they said that stuff, it didn't just hurt because they were essentially calling me a nerd and not deserving of someone like you, but it made me think that you belonged with girls like the ones making fun of me."

"Haley, I don't want to be with other girls. I want to be with you."

"I know that, Nathan. I just I worry," she paused, collecting her breath as he stared at her anxiously to finish, "Because in addition to not being pretty and popular, I'm not really sexy like that, and I'm not experienced, and I know you are, and I'm just scared," she let out in a rush.

"Hales," Nathan said wrapping his arms around her, "You're beautiful. And I like you for who you are, my girlfriend. The gorgeous, smart, and kind Haley James. And sexy," he winked. She blushed, but smiled at him halfheartedly. "There's more, isn't there?" he asked, and once again Haley cursed him for being able to read her so well.

She answered hesitantly, "I guess what was really bothering me, Nathan, is that, I was talking with Brooke and Peyton today, and I told them that I've never you know had…" her voice petered off in embarrassment.

"Sex," he suggested, smirking at her, so that her blush deepened.

"Yeah that, and I don't know if I'm ready for it," she added, her voice a low murmur, as she looked down. She really hoped he wouldn't break up with her on the spot because of it. She knew he cared about her, and wasn't that kind of guy, but still she knew his reputation and she was worried. So of course, as she was nervous she began to babble. "And I know that's probably really unfair to you, and I understand if you don't want to wait for me…" her voice petered out as she noticed him laughing. She immediately blushed furiously, and started staring at the bedspread.

"Hey," Nathan said softly, lifting up her chin, and staring deep into her warm brown eyes, "It's not about sex with me. I like you, Haley. I care about you. When you're ready, then I will be too."

Haley's face melted into a smile at the unexpected response. "Thanks Nathan."

"Now come here," he said, cupping her face in his hands and bringing his lips to hers. He broke away and smiled at her, before adding "There's still a lot we can do without sex," with a smirk.

"You're so bad!" Haley said swatting at him.

He caught her hand before it came in contact with his cheek, and looked straight into her eyes, "You love it." Haley rolled her eyes, in order to dissociate from the butterflies running through her at his words. "Fine," Nathan said, "Roll your eyes, but I'll prove it to you." He grabbed her head again, found her lips with his, and lightly pushed her down on the bed, as he lay on top of her.

"I surrender," she muttered, her mind still reeling from his kiss, and he smiled, before claiming her lips once again.

__________

Late that night, Peyton said in her room, thinking over her day. Hanging out with Nathan platonically had been great. She missed what it was like to just be a friend with him. A smile played on her face as she thought about it. Suddenly, she heard a knock on the slightly ajar door, and Jake's form poking through. Her smile got wider.

"Hey, come in. How are you?" she asked stepping up to hug him.

"I'm good. How are you?"

"Really good now. I had such a great day and now you're here," she said smiling up at him and leaning in to give him a kiss. Jake smiled back momentarily.

"Oh yeah? How was Nathan?" he asked. Peyton stared at him curiously. She could hear the hint of sarcasm and suspicion in his voice.

"He was fine," she said coolly but with finality.

"Really," Jake said flatly. "So what did you need to talk to him about?"

"Jake, that's really not your business," Peyton said, getting annoyed.

"What did you need to talk to him about?" Jake repeated, without paying attention to her aggravation and her warning to stop.

"I just needed to talk to him!" Peyton exclaimed, "What's the big deal?"

"There's no 'big deal', Peyton. You guys just have history, and I want to make sure you're totally okay with him about the whole Haley thing."

"First off, you're the one who helped me be okay with it, so why are you acting as if I'd suddenly revert back to being pissed off without at least talking to you about how I feel. And second of all, a lot of people in this town have history. But it's just that, history! I can't believe you don't trust me with him!"

"It's not that I don't trust you, Peyton, I was just worried. Look I'm sorry," he said running his hand through his hair and taking a step closer to her.

"Save it," she said backing up from him. "Get out."

"Peyton," he said in a soft voice, but was granted only a cold stare. "You're joking?" Jake said, now sincerely upset.

"Do I look like I'm laughing?" Peyton asked, deadly serious.

"Peyton," Jake pleaded, "Come on, you know I didn't mean it like that."

"Jake, as far as I'm concerned the only thing you mean is that you don't trust me. And I don't want to hear it. So leave me alone."

Jake sighed, and walked out of her bedroom without another word. Peyton screamed out in frustration. Yes, she knew she had made mistakes, but did people have to constantly judge her for them. Jake was supposed to be her boyfriend. He was supposed to love, trust, and support her. And as of now, he had failed on two out of three.