Disclaimer: I may own all the box set DVDs of One Tree Hill, but I don't own the show itself.. sadly. :)

Summary: She was dying to be found, he just wanted to get lost. She wanted something stable in her life, he wasn't looking for commitment. She was falling apart, he was falling in love. All love stories first start with a girl and a boy, with their heads in the clouds and their feet firmly on the ground.

Same in Any Language

Four years ago, Haley James would have told you love was a beautiful tragedy, and anyone lucky enough to experience it, even if only for a moment, would be truly blessed. Four years ago, Haley James would have told you love was rare and was a necessity to be complete. Four years ago, Haley James would of told you love did indeed exist, and there is no need to look, it finds you. Four years ago, Haley James would of told you there is no past tense in loving someone, you either do or you never did. Four years ago, Haley James would of told you she was in love.

Its funny how four years can completely alter your life, your mind, yourself. Because four years ago, Haley James was the happiest, most loving girl there ever was; and four years ago, she was broken in two. Now if you asked Haley James she would tell you love doesn't exist, love is a hoax they tell you when your young, much like Santa Claus and the Easter bunny; created to make naive children behave throughout the course of the year. Now if you asked Haley James she would tell you happiness comes with a price, and not all are equipped to pay it.

Its true Haley James had been burned in her past, and it was true that she promised herself, never again would it happen. If only Haley James could predict the future.

There in the middle of the dance floor, stood a tall, confident woman.

You could tell by the way she swung her hips to the beat of the music, she knew what she was doing. Her blonde locks fell around her, framing her slender face. Her tight, red, low-cut, sleeveless shirt revealed enough to tell a stranger she was not shy. Her dark wash skinny jeans, showed she was toned in all the right places. Her black stiletto heels made her all the more desirable. The drink in her hand gave the idea that she was here to have a good time, and she was. She grabbed the closet person of the male gender and pulled them to her, and who could refuse Haley James? She placed his hands on her hips and linked her arms around his neck, she then let her body do the rest of the work. They moved in synchronized motions, always predicting what the other would do.

She wasn't always this way. No, there was a time when Haley James had respect for herself, she had morals. Believe it or not, but Haley James used to be a good person. Honorable mention all her high school years, head of the tutor center, co-captain of the cheerleaders, valedictorian.. or she would have been. If she hadn't let everything fall to hell her senior year. When a boy named Jimmy Edwards brought a gun to school, she thought her life had ended already, held against her will there in the tutor center with 7 other hostages. But it didn't, but it might as well had. That day she saw nine children die, and four of them were never coming back. Taylor James, Ryder Campion, and Jimmy Edwards were shot and killed instantly that day. And those remaining 6 hostages in the tutor center were forced into the real world, into real tragedy all before they turned 18.

A wise woman once wrote "innocence involves an unseen acceptance of things at face value, an ignorance of the area below the surface. In that humiliating moment I looked beyond myself and into the depths of another person. This was the beginning of compassion, and one cannot have both innocence and compassion," that day Haley and 7 others lost their innocence and finally came to know the true meaning of compassion. Unfortunately for Haley, it came all too soon. Not only did her two best friends, her first true love, her sister, and her two solid rocks die that day, she did as well.

But sadly, the world kept spinning, she could still see, hear, smell all the aspects of life around her, but she had lost feeling in her body, in her heart. Never once did she stop smiling, when she dropped out of school, when she took to writing poetry that could make even the toughest stoic fall apart, she still kept a smile. It wasn't a happy smile by any means, but nor was it a sad smile, it was just there and it scared everyone around her.

She signed a record deal the day everyone else graduated. She turned her poetry into music, and sang it with such a broken beauty it enveloped audiences all around. Her best friend Brooke Davis took to a part-time college life and began her company 'Clothes over Bros'. Together they became famous, together they would stand together, together they would fall apart.

It didn't take long for the party life style to take control of Haley's life. She was just dying for a change, and what better way to corrupt your senses and fool everyone else than learning from Hollywood's finest?

So there she danced, now with two new drinks in her hand, and a man before her. But she still didn't feel complete, then again, she believed she never would.

Suddenly, her body became numb and she began to feel lightheaded, she pushed the guy away and started walking deeper into the crowd. Darkness crept into her vision, her legs couldn't hold her anymore and she fell onto the floor. Then it all went black.

There in the middle of the dance floor, lied a small, terrified girl.

"No baby, it's okay."

"Yeah, I will, don't worry."

"Mhm, love you too."

"Bye babe."

The slender brunette snapped her phone shut, and look at the motionless body beside her. She took a deep breath, and refused to let the tears fall. She slowly ran her hand over the cheek of the petite blonde laying in the seat next to her.

"Hales, what did you do?" she whispered, not expecting an answer from the stone cold body beside her.

Mumbles and incomprehensible words were heard from the previously silent body.

"Hales?" The brunette continued to stroke her friend's cheek, she felt the wet drops falling from Haley's eyes.

"Brooke, I can't do it anymore, I just can't." Haley continued to cry softly as Brooke leaned over and comforted the girl that had been her rock so many times before. She remembered when she was in this same exact position, and Haley refused to let her give up on life, on love. She remembered how it was Haley who had gotten her through the darkest times in her life, even when it seemed the light had gone from the world. In that exact moment, Brooke Davis silently vowed to herself, and to her best friend, that she would fight forever if that's what it took; Haley James would never let Brooke Davis quit, and it was time for Brooke to return the gesture.

"It's going to be okay baby, everything's going to be okay." Brooke cooed into Haley's ear as she rubbed her bare arms, "I'm going to fix everything, I promise."

There in the backseat of the notorious 'Clothes over Bros' limo, the brunette watched as her best friend fell to pieces once again, and cried herself to sleep another night. There in the backseat of the 'Clothes over Bros' limo, is where we start our story.