sleepinghideous
𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 . . . Piper Collins has always lived somewhere between the Scott family's front porch and Lucas Scott's passenger seat.
She's not a Scott by blood, but everyone in Tree Hill swears she might as well be.
Karen keeps her favorite snacks stocked, Keith greets her with a hug every time she walks in, and Lucas and Haley treat her like the little sister they're somehow both responsible for.
Piper is the calm in all their storms, the girl who listens without judgment, who notices when someone is hurting before they ever say a word.
She knows everyone in Tree Hill, and everyone somehow trusts her.
Nathan Scott is the one exception.
He doesn't know what to do with a girl who's both in his world and above it.
So he teases her, constantly. Too much. Too obviously.
Piper pretends not to notice.
She pretends not to notice a lot of things.
Like the way Nathan's gaze lingers on her a second too long. Like the warmth in her chest she absolutely refuses to name.
And that's where everything begins.