Always and forever and in between

Chapter 6

His feet pressed down harder on the gas pedal, hoping the booze and his girlfriend would get his mind off this whole ordeal, getting in bed with Peyton was what he needed at the moment, he fiddled with the dial on her radio, when a loud crashing noise and a blow from the passenger seat side; Haley's side, lit up with sparks. Nathan attempted to swerve and avoid additional damage when he lost control completely and hit a tree head on.

Peyton was going to rip his head off, Nathan tried starting the car up again but it wouldn't. Before panic kicked in, he could hear another car pulling up behind him, he felt relieved for a second, before taking a glance in the side view mirror; it was the bastard himself. Nathan stepped out of the car, hiding any signs of shakiness underneath a cocky façade; it would be similar to everyday of his life lately. Lucas came charging his way, voice frantic "Peyton are you okay?"

"Yeah, she is fine. Can't say the same for her car though" He bent down to pick the beer he had bought on his way back from Haley's, then looked up at Lucas accusatorily "What the hell are you doing following my girlfriend?"

Lucas spoke defensively "I wasn't, look I thought she was driving and she was drinking". But Nathan only shook his head, and turned to walk away, when the blond yelled after him "hey where are you going?"

"Back to the party, dumbass" Nathan huffed out a laugh.

"Are you gonna leave her car like this?"

If you hadn't showed up then probably no, but now...

"Yeah, and if you stand there, you can watch me"

"You know this is a crime" Lucas tried reason.

"So call the cops"

Nathan's heart started beating faster, betraying his careless attitude.

Once again, Lucas tried calmly "Nathan, you can't walk away from this. I saw you do it"

An idea popped in Nathan's head faster than whack-a-mole "No, you didn't see me do it, cause I was with Tim the whole time, which is exactly what he is gonna say if anybody asks him. He owes me, so looks like it's your word against hours then. You can guess how that's gonna go down"

"So, you are just gonna lie and walk away! What about Peyton?"

Lucas could almost spot that Nathan cared behind the douchey attitude, before he continued "your girlfriend"

The younger one smirked "my girlfriend? The one you have been hitting on" he thought

"The car is registered in her name" Lucas finished his guilt rant.

"Yeah, and you know what? Come to think of it, like you said, she was really drunk last time I saw her. Maybe she did this" He tried to freak Lucas out; he wouldn't actually rat out his girlfriend, would he? "But then again, all I see is a wrecked car and you"

With that Nathan took off walking to the beach house. The walk back was a blur, Peyton was on his mind, the way he did her was awful but he was so mad he couldn't bring himself to care, on the one hand; getting back at the Peyton who favored Lucas felt nice, on the other hand, pushing his girlfriend under the tracks like that felt entirely wrong, a part of him knew that Mr. goody-two-shoes won't actually let it happen, and the thought comforted him for a minute.

He arrived to see Peyton sulking on the couch, still watching that stupid prom tape "you reinvented cruel tonight"

"It was a joke"