Always and forever and in between

Chapter 4

Hello everyone, first I want to say thank you for making my story #306 in soulmates, I know it might not seem like much but the fact that you even thought of leaving a review or voting means the world to me. Second, I will be gone till the end of November, until then I really hope you stick around and share this story, I also have another story on my account "Lab Rats" it is something new I am working on and I hope you would read and share.

Kisses.

Now the chapter:

So far in her life, she had seen things from Lucas' perspective, as the child abandoned by his father in favor of another son, as the brother of a bully who only cared about himself. But she didn't think about what it was like being Nathan Scott, living in his father's idea of a perfect life, constantly reproved and pressured into being what everyone expected him to be, with Dan pitting him against his brother, feeding him lies on how worthless Lucas is. It wasn't like children are born with malicious thoughts, he was probably taught from a very young age how his older brother was a hurdle in his path. His mother was right; the fact that Lucas had made his way into the team, and even took his position must have been confusing to Nathan; even downright scary. All in all, Nathan wasn't a bad guy, just a really confused kid.

Someone attempting to open the door snapped her out of her thoughts "Hang on a minute" she called, flushing the toilet for good measure and walked out.

"Sorry" Haley said sheepishly, walking away from Peyton.

"How is the tutoring going?" Haley turned around, and the blonde continued "you are tutoring Nathan, right?"

Haley waited a little in uncomfortable silence before Peyton reassured "its okay he tells me everything"

"Yeah, he said he needed some help" she shrugged casually.

"Maybe you can teach him to stop being such a jackass"

"I will put that on the lesson plan" Haley joked, though it was her intent.

"Just be careful, okay?"

Haley felt her heart sink, but dismissively said "Yeah, sure."

She had almost turned away when Peyton asked "Does Lucas know you are helping Nathan?"

The shorter girl responded with an affronted laugh.

"You know?" Peyton moved a few steps back "You say a lot when you keep your mouth shut"

"Um..."

"It's okay, I keep mine shut too" with that remark she got into the bathroom, leaving Haley feeling queasy.

There were more family photos of the Scott's downstairs, between many basketball awards and trophies, a place of honor it must be. In those photos however, Nathan was a grown up, with his parents, she picked up one of his and his parents; all of them flexing their muscles and smiling. When she looked up, Lucas was standing across from her, his hand knocked one of the photos down, his face showing a mixture of anger and pain.

Uh oh, that wasn't good "What happened?"

"Ah, same old crap" emphasized Lucas "he thinks if he keeps hammering me I will quit the team"

"Uhh" sighed Haley, sick of it all "What did he do this time?"

"He made some feeble comments"

"That is just perfect, Nathan!" Haley thought angrily, as Lucas continued "I am not going to let him get to me"

"Yeah, obviously that is working out for you" Haley smiled mockingly, and Luke couldn't stop himself from smiling either.

"Luke, have you guys ever actually talked?" she tried.