Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.
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CHAPTER TEN
I'm learning how to livethrough a life I have to give
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Haley didn't know what else to do for Brooke besides give her a shoulder to cry on. She had never actually met the Davis' nor did Brooke ever really speak of them. The only things she knew were what Peyton had told her, they were far from parents of the year, never around, replaced love with money. Haley had told her parents the situation and they wouldn't dare dream of not having her spend Thanksgiving with them, and even told her she could stay as long as she needed. Brooke obliged and seemed somewhat excited to see how a real family spends their holidays together.
Lydia woke the girls up just as the parade was about to start so they could help her with the cooking. She had already started the turkey an hour prior and it would take a while. "Mrs. James I cannot thank you enough for letting me stay last night, and inviting me to spend Thanksgiving with your family" Brooke smiled as she snapped the green beans into a bowl.
"The pleasure is all our Brooke, and please call me Lydia" She smiled and wiped her hands on her apron, "I am going to wake up the boys, they will want to the see the end of the parade" Lydia quickly left the room leaving Haley, Brooke, and the food alone.
Haley looked at her friend and smiled slightly, "How you doing Brooke?"
"I'm fine," She smiled "I cannot believe your family wakes up so early to start kissing"
"It's our family tradition, we spend hours cooking so everything is perfect for dinner" Haley explained as she put together an apple pie.
"Good Morning!" Mark voice boomed as he came downstairs and headed toward the kitchen.
"Oh my god!" Brooke's eyes widened with fear, "I'm still in my pajamas and have no make up on!" She was dressed in a pair of flannel pajama pants, a white tank top with a sweater over it, all stuff she borrowed from Haley.
"Brooke" Haley chuckled, "You look fine, besides my brother's seen you in less"
"Tutorgirl!" Brooke laughed as she threw a bean at Haley.
"Morning ladies" Mark smiled as he came in and gave Haley a kiss on the cheek before going to the same thing to Brooke, "How's the cooking going?"
"Well, still a long time till foods ready" Haley responded.
"So is Nate coming over today?" Mark asked as he grabbed a roll and started to eat it.
Haley just shrugged, "He's planning on coming for dessert later"
"O! We are going to make you look super sexy tutor girl!" Brooke loved to play dress up with Haley; she had a knack for clothes.
"Okay gross, she's my sister" Mark cringed "She needs to be anything but sexy, you should probably just wear a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants"
"Oh sh!" Brooke nudged him in the side with her elbow.
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Nathan yawned loudly as he entered the kitchen in hopes of stealing a taste of his moms cooking, but when he entered the kitchen he couldn't believe the sight in front of him. There was no turkey being cooked, no food preparation of any kind. "Mom!" Nathan stormed out of the kitchen in search of his mother, "Mom where are you?"
"Right here Nathan" Deb was sitting on the couch with her legs crossed as she flipped through a magazine. She was dressed like she was going out somewhere, "Everything okay?"
"Why aren't you cooking? And why are you dressed?" usually his mom stayed in her pajama's while she prepared everything.
"Because I'm not cooking this year sweetie" She shut the magazine and placed it down on the table, "Your father accepted a dinner invite from an old college buddy that lives in Charlotte"
"We're going to Charlotte?" She had to be kidding; Nathan prayed that this was a big joke.
Deb nodded, "Yeah, so you should probably start getting ready"
"But I'm suppose to go to Haley's for dessert"
"Oh Nathan" she sighed as she stood up, she could see the disappointment in his eyes, "We won't be back in time"
"Then I'm not going"
"Nathan, you can't spend Thanksgiving alone"
"Oh I wont, the James' will be glad to have me over" he turned and walked out of the room to go call Haley.
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Lydia and Jimmy were more than pleasured when Nathan called and asked if he could come over for dinner, but of course they were not as pleased as Haley was. As soon as they got off the phone she begged Brooke to help her find an outfit. She ended up choosing a gray sweater with three buttons on the upper right side with a long black tube top under it, and a nice pair of jeans. Since Brooke hadn't brought any clothes besides the ones she wore, she put her jeans back on and borrowed a black cardigan, wearing over it a long white tube top and left the top three buttons undone.
"So tutor girl, what have you and Nathan actually done?" Brooke asked as she sat down on the bed.
"Okay, you and Peyton need to stop"
"What?"
"Asking me that question," Haley started to blush, "It's embarrassing to talk about"
"Haley, it's me! The girl that showed up on your doorstep crying lasts night. Don't be embarrassed"
Haley sighed and took a seat on her bed next to Brooke, "We haven't really done anything beside's make out.. I mean we've umm.. Like rubbed our bodies together"
"Dry hump"
"Okay ew"
"What!?" Brooke exclaimed, "That's what it's called!"
"It just sounds…"
"Dirty?" Brooked wiggled her eyebrow.
Haley went to open her mouth to say something, but a knock at her bedroom door cut her off. The door slowly opened and in walked a smiling Nathan, "hey your dad said you were up here"
"Hey" Haley smiled as she got up and went to give him a hug.
"Well, I'm going to go find Mark Brooke stood up and headed out of the room, but not before winking at Haley.
"How she doing?" Nathan asked when Brooke was finally out of ear shot. Haley had texted him after everything happened the night before.
"She's alright, she seemed to have a lot of fun cooking with my mom and me this morning" she leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips, "But I want to know how you are. Was your dad made about you not going to Charlotte?"
Nathan just shrugged, "Didn't see him"
"I feel like it's my fault you're not spending today with your family"
"Nonsense, I'd rather spend today with you anyway" he leaned in to capture her lips.
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The car ride to Charlotte was torture, Lucas tried to block out Dan and Deb's arguing with his ipod, but it didn't seem to be working that well. Dan was clearly mad that Deb allowed Nathan to go to Haley's rather then going to Charlotte with them.
"I can't believe you let him go!"
Deb sighed and rubbed her temple, clearly agitated "He would have just been pissed off the entire time if he came"
"I don't know why he had to go to her house"
"She's his girlfriend! They wanted to spend their first Thanksgiving together"
"Why?! It's Thanksgiving not Christmas!" Dan yelled and slammed his hand down on the steering wheel.
"Maybe I should've gone to the James' with him" Deb mumbled under her breath as she looked out the window.
"What was that?" Dan asked as he shot a glare to his wife.
Deb turned and looked at Dan, "Maybe I should have went with him, I mean since you are clearly going to be pissed off this entire car ride." she shook her head, "I am sorry that I wanted my son to be happy, you didn't even bother to ask if I cared about not cooking Thanksgiving dinner. You know I wanted to, and you didn't even bother ask. You just decided to go ahead and accept this invitation; you actually think we wanted to go to your old college buddy's place for dinner? And see his stuck up wife and spoiled kids. You wanted to put Nathan and Lucas through that?"
"Are you still talking?" Dan finally said after a moment.
"UGH!" Deb groaned and just went back to looking out the window.
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Dinner was fantastic; Nathan never ate so well in his entire life. And the James' made him feel so comfortable. After dinner they all sat in the living room watching 'March of the Wooden Soldiers'. Haley laid on the one couch against Nathan, who had his arm snaked across her waist, rubbing little circles on her thigh.
"I'm going to start getting dessert ready," Lydia stood up and looked at Jimmy, "Want to help?" He nodded and they retreated toward the kitchen.
Mark stood up and stretched, "Why they get dessert ready, what do you guys say to a little game of touch football?""
"hell yeah!" Nathan exclaimed at he gave Mark a high-five.
"wait like all 4 of us?" Brooke asked wide eye.
"Yeah, why you scared Brooke?" Mark smirked down at her.
"Never!" She jumped up and stood in front of him, clearly a foot shorter than him. "What are the teams?"
"Well to be fair I think it should be Nathan and you against me and Haley Bob"
"Bob?" Nathan and Brooke asked at the same time.
"Yeah, let's not talk about that" Haley buried her head into Nathan's arm.
"Okay well girls grab your jackets and let's play some touch football!" Mark yelled as he ran out of the room to go get his football.
Once outside the game started, and if you were watching you'd probably end up laughing your ass off. Brooke was clueless and Haley kept tripping over her own feet, and Mark and Nathan just enjoyed it all. Both teams were in their little huddles, trying to go over their next play.
"You got it Brooke?" Nathan looked at her knowing she did not get it at all.
"Yeah I think… um yeah no.."
Nathan sighed, "Okay, Haley's got the ball, so instead of you going after her, do something to distract Mark and I'll get Haley. Kay?"
"Yes! I get it!" Brooke smiled.
"You losers ready?" Mark asked as him and Haley got into position.
"yeah, yeah. Bring it on" Brooke said trying to sound all tough.
"Okay. Ready!" Mark threw the ball to Haley and she started to run, Brooke ran over to Mark and pulled up her shirt flashing him, leaving him dumbfounded. Nathan took this opportunity to go after Haley and grab her by the way spinning her around.
"NATHAN!" she squealed as she held onto the ball, "Let me go!"
Brooke lowered her shirt and smirked at Mark, "Good right?"
"I uh." Mark scratched his head then slowly began to grin, "real good.. Wait, you tricked me!"
"Little old me?" Brooke tried to look innocent.
"Oh yeah" Mark grabbed Brooke and threw her over his shoulder.
"Nathan! I'm getting dizzy" Haley whined and he instantly stopped putting her down on the ground.
"You okay?" She smirked then started to run to her and Marks' 'end zone' Nathan just shook his head and laughed "Haley James! You are a tricky girl" he ran after her but didn't make it there quick enough. She threw the ball down and threw her hands up in victory. "My girls a football player now"
"I rule, oh yeah I rule" she giggled and threw her arms around Nathan's neck. "Thank you for coming today, it meant a lot to be able to spend today with you"
He smiled and placed his forehead against hers, "Hales you've done something to me. You've made me happy; you've made me want to be a better person"
"Hey, I told you I rule" she grinned and leaned up to capture his lips.
"Get a room!" Brooke and Mark laughed as they stood a few feet away. Mark had his arm around her and she had her head on his arm.
"Well actually," Brooke smirked. "Tutorgirl has a room in there"
"Brooke!" Haley laughed as she turned her attention back to Nathan.
"Let's finish the game so we can go eat some dessert!" Mark went and picked up the ball.
"Why don't we change teams," Brooke smirked as she ran over and hooked Haley by the arm and pulling her to her. "Girls against boys"
"Brooke do you want to lose?" Haley looked at her friend.
"Apparently," Nathan laughed as he went over and stood next to Mark.
"Well, if you guys are prepared to lose. I say let's play some football!" Mark called up and pounded his chest like he was king kong.
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The trip to Charlotte was a failure, after the continuous fighting, Dan decided just to turn around and head back to Tree Hill. Lucas was starving, and couldn't wait to get out of the car and be able to actually eat something. He was staring out the window when he realized Dan had turned on to Haley's block, but he probably didn't even know it was Haley's block. As they slowly approached her house he noticed four people outside playing touch football, having the time of their lives. He smiled weakly as he saw Nathan pick Haley up in his arms and swing her around; they looked like they were in love.
"Lucas you want me to make some chicken when we get home?" Deb's voice broke his train of thought.
He leaned back in his seat and looked straight ahead, "Yeah that would be nice Deb, thank you"
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A/N: hey everyone, hope you liked the update! I got my new laptop and it rules. Please R/R! let me know what you think.