the other two.

⁽⁰¹⁻⁰¹⁾ ᵖⁱˡᵒᵗ⁻⁴

-tree hill, north carolina

madeline was currently sat in one of the chairs behind the register of her uncle keith's body shop, helping keith organize some of the important documents sprawled around his desk. "jesus christ." madeline muttered as she looked out the window, dan scott catching her attention, in his usual bright red car pulling into the driveway.

dan honked the horn as he stepped out of the car to alert keith of his presence, "keith!" the younger brother called out, causing keith to look towards the noise. "hey!" he called out as dan reciprocated the greeting. "how you been, big brother?" the younger continued on, blatantly ignoring his daughter who was sat next to keith. "not bad. how about you?" keith continued on in conversation.

dan slowly approached the pair, "good, good. dealerships good. i sent you some business not long ago." he reminded the older brother in a condescending tone. "oh, yeah. i uh.. i meant to call you and thank you for that." keith now replied in a hushed voice, with madeline casually eavesdropping, cocking an eyebrow at their voice changes.

he stared at his brother longingly, "yeah, well, were all busy, right?" dan continued the conversation, sparing a glance at madeline. "madeline." he called to her. the girl stayed quiet, standing from her chair, giving the man legally deemed her father, a sarcastic smile, walking away and flipping him off in the process, keith smiling proudly.

_____________________________________________

meanwhile, there was peyton sawyer, sat on a log overlooking the lake while lucas was finishing loading her car onto the tow, which unfortunately broke down. after calling nathan, asking if he could pick her up, to which the very egotistical nathan denied, leaving her completely stranded.

"come on. let me give you a ride." lucas offered seeing as there were still no changes in her mode of transport. "ill let you insult me." he offered as she looked up at him, standing and accepting his offer. "first of all, you dont know me. second of all, you dont know me." she began towards the dirty blonde in front of him, earning a chuckle in response.

"God, why are guys such jerks?" she exclaimed as she stumbled with her books in hand. "guys or nathan?" lucas asked looking over at peyton. peyton sighed, "him. you." lucas looked over while leaning on her car, "i dont know. we share the same father."

"yeah, i heard that." peyton stated as she looked at the ground, then towards lucas. "hes kind of an ass. so that must suck, having to see him around." lucas looked around at the scenery before diverting his attention towards peyton, "for my mom. i never knew him." he stated. "but she told you he was your dad?" peyton wondered as she kicked at the dirt around her feet.

lucas nodded at her, "yeah, eventually." he said before continuing, "we used to play in junior leagues together. me and nathan." he specified, "basketball?" peyton asked knowingly. lucas nodding in agreement, "yeah. and i loved it, and i was good at it." he reminisced before continuing. "i mean, you ever had something that you knew that you were better at than almost anybody else?"

he looked over at peyton as he expressed his emotions with his hands, "sex." peyton told the blonde scott in front of her, earning an amused look from him. "joke." she specified with a light smile as they both laughed.

lucas sighed as he began once again "anyways... the guys kept teasing me about it. about how nathan's dad was my dad, too." he shrugged without looking at peyton, "so, i asked my mom. and she said he wasnt. you know, but we get home... madeline and i hear her crying in her room."