Tree Hill
(based on season 2)
Ethan and Luke were in Nathan's hospital room, each on one side of the black-haired boy's bed. The two teenagers hadn't spoken, Ethan barely looked in Luke's direction. Luke wasn't just worried about Nathan, who was in a coma, he was worried about his cousin. Luke had no idea what was going through Ethan's head, although he wanted to ask the boy, he knew Ethan wouldn't tell, not while their relationship was like this.
The two teenagers heard Nate's voice, like a whisper calling for Haley. Luke calmed Nate down, while Ethan ran to get one of the doctors. After the doctors checked on Nathan, Ethan and Luke continued with the boy.
"What was that anyway, huh? Some sort of messed up 'anything Lucas can do, I can do better?'" Lucas asked Nathan.
Ethan shook his head in denial and frowned at his cousin. Before Ethan could say anything, Nathan denied it and told him that he had thought he had died and gone to heaven, but heaven was a place where Dan had chosen Karen, Haley was tone-deaf and that he had beaten Luke in the one-on-one.
Luke told him that he had called Haley, and then drew Nathan's attention. Nathan had remained silent, looking at Ethan, who didn't seem to agree with Luke.
"Nate, I have to ask you something." Nathan looked in Luke's direction. "When you hit the wall, there were no brake marks on the track."
Ethan stood up, not believing Luke's audacity in asking Nathan this when he had just come out of a coma and undergone surgery. Ethan stood at a distance near the door.
"You're asking me if I did this on purpose?"
Deb entered Nathan's room, Ethan took the opportunity to leave and Luke followed. Ethan pulled his cousin by the arm away from Nathan's room.
"Ethan, what-?"
Ethan let go of Luke's arm and ran his hand through his hair, messing it up. The boy let out a loud sigh and stared at Luke.
"Luke, you were....." Ethan looked Luke in the eye. "You were rude and inconvenient as hell."
Lucas stared at Ethan and laughed humorlessly.
"You don't say a word to me, and the first thing you say is that?" Luke shook his head. "What were you trying to do there too, huh, Ethan?"
Ethan shook his head and pointed at Luke.
"It's none of your business. I'm just saying that you shouldn't have bothered Nathan with that kind of question now." Ethan explained.
Lucas pushed Ethan's hand away.
"It's my brother, Ethan. You wouldn't understand...." Lucas didn't finish speaking because Ethan had already turned his back to Lucas, cutting him off.
"Screw you, Luke."
Ethan found Karen sitting in an armchair talking to Whitey.
"He needs to know what's happened with Nathan, and Ethan..." Karen started crying at Whitey's side. "I can't even leave him a message. Where is he, Whitey?" Karen cried.
"I whish I knew." Whitey replied.
"Me too." Ethan whispered.
Ethan went to Andy's house, and as soon as the boy sat down on the bed, Andy appeared and sat down next to him.
"Ethan, how would you feel about talking to someone?" Andy asked the boy in a soft, calm voice.
Ethan turned his face to look at Andy.
"What? Like a therapist?" Andy nodded. "Andy, I'm not crazy." Ethan replied.
"I know you're not crazy, Ethan. Therapists aren't for crazy people, but maybe it'll be good for you." Andy tried to explain to the boy.
"You don't have to pay someone to talk to me. I talk to Emma, and Brooke sometimes." Ethan replied.
Andy put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"I know. I'm just saying that talking to someone who can help you understand your emotions, put your thoughts in order can be helpful. I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to, Ethan." Andy said to the boy, who was looking down at his feet as he fiddled with his fingers.
"Do you think I need one?" Ethan muttered.
"I think this can help you with a few things, Ethan." Andy replied.
"Okay."
[....]
Emma had managed to get Deb to convince the nurses to let her spend the night keeping Nathan company. It hadn't been easy, considering that a nurse had kicked Luke, Peyton and Brooke out of the boy's room.
As soon as the group had left Nathan's room, the nurse went back to turn off the light and looked at Emma who was coming in, as she had gone to say goodbye to her sister.
"Let him rest." The nurse said to Emma, and the girl nodded.
Emma sat down in the armchair next to Nathan's bed.
"Emm's, can you put the phone closer?"
Emma didn't question it, and gently placed the phone on Nathan's lap, who made a call.
"It's me, Nathan. I'm gonna be okay. Actually, no. It's not okay. Don't come home, Haley. No you don't. You have to go after your dream, just like I have to go after mine, 'cause if we don't... then we're just gonna end up regretting it. And we're gonna end up resenting each other." Emma heard Nathan saying a few more things to Haly. "Don't come home, Haley. Because I don't want you to."
Nathan hung up the phone and Emma put it back. Nathan knew that Emma wouldn't press him to talk about anything, about the accident, about how he was, or about what she had heard him say to Haley. The boy held his best friend's hand and looked at her.
"I want her back, Emm's... but not like that." Nathan confessed.
Emma wanted to be able to hug the boy, but she would end up hurting him.
"I know, Nate."
Emma stood, still holding Nathan's hand, and used her other hand to wipe away the tears streaming down the boy's face.
"You need to rest." Emma muttered.
"Are you staying here?" Nathan asked, making the girl nod.
Nathan would be fine.
[....]
Emma, Ethan, Luke, Peyton, Brooke, Mouth, Fergie, Skills, Junk and Tim were meeting at Karen's café to think of a way to help Nathan, who was having financial problems.
"We could have a car wash." Tim said to the group.
Luke scoffed. "Nathan and cars, not a good combo."
Mouth came to the table with a glass of coke.
"Bake sale?" The boy suggested.
Brooke arched an eyebrow and said it wasn't a good idea, Junk suggested that Peyton could help out by doing something at Tric, but Peyton said that Haley and Keller met at Tric.
"I bet he do be down with a brothel." Tim suggested.
The rest of the group looked at Tim, Emma and Ethan, who were standing next to each other, looked at each other and laughed at the boy's suggestion.
"I don't think so, Tim." Emma said.
"It worked for Tom Cruise in 'Risky Business'." Tim explained where his suggestion came from.
"Tim thinks Nate is Tom Cruise's character?" Ethan whispered to Emma, who shook her head, still laughing at the situation.
"That's it!" Peyton exclaimed.
"Peyton, don't encourage him." Brooke demanded.
"No! We throw a movie night, okay?"
"Okay." Ethan and Emma replied.
Peyton explained that they could sell some things to raise money to help Nate, and accept donations. Luke suggested they do it at the River Court. Everyone would help contribute in some way to make it work.
[....]
Ethan and Emma decided to go for a walk after deciding what they would do to help Nathan. The two teenagers ended up stopping at the same point as always, on the bridge.
Emma sat next to Ethan as he sipped his milkshake. Ethan looked up at the sky, which was the same shade as Emma's eyes, and the blond boy closed his eyes for a moment.
"How are the therapy sessions going?" Emma murmured.
Ethan opened his eyes and turned towards his girlfriend.
Ethan had had his second therapy session over the week, and the boy was attending the sessions. The boy felt bad for making Andy spend and worry about his well-being.
"Okay." Ethan replied.
Emma continued in silence, drawing shapes on the back of Ethan's hand that she was holding.
"Emm's, I feel tired." Ethan muttered.
Emma started to get up, telling him to leave so that the boy could rest. But Ethan shook his head and still holding the girl's hand, tugged her lightly as a signal to sit down again.
"It's not physical tiredness, Emm's. It's like I'm exhausted from everything." The boy tried to explain.
Emma realized that perhaps it was mental fatigue, the whole situation the boy was going through was exhausting.
"Did you tell the therapist?" Emma murmured and the blond boy nodded.
"But I'm trying to be okay, I swear I am." Ethan promised. "It's just..." Ethan trailed off.
"Difficult?" Emma asked.
"Yeah."
Emma wrapped her arm around Ethan's waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I'll be fine, Emm's." Ethan vowed.
"I know, E. I know, everything in its own time. Okay? I'll still be here for you." Emma whispered.
[....]
Brooke had dragged Emma and Peyton shopping. Brooke looked like a maniac picking up various items of clothing saying how much she needed, Emma was by Peyton's side.
"Brooke really missed being rich." Emma laughed.
Brooke was wearing several items of clothing, and Peyton asked the girl to take it easy, but Brooke refused.
"Don't let me lose track of time, because I promised Lucas that I would help him cook for Nathan." Brooke recounted.
Emma and Peyton looked at each other for a moment.
"Brooke, you can't cook." Emma reminded the girl.
Brooke looked at Emma.
"I mean order pizza." Brooke recounted.
Peyton then pointed out that Brooke was spending a lot of time with Luke, but Brooke continued to say that they were friends.
"If I didn't know you any better, I'd say you were vibing on him again." Peyton said.
Emma pointed in Brooke's direction.
"Brooke Penelope Davis, don't fall for his bullshit again." Emma ordered.
"Emm's, chill out. We're just friends." Brooke mumbled.
Peyton disagreed with her sister, saying that it would be okay if Brooke was into Luke again. Brooke even asked if Peyton wasn't afraid of them getting sucked into a love triangle again, but Peyton denied it.
[....]
Emma and Ethan were like Nathan's parents, constantly checking to see if the boy was all right, if he needed anything. Ethan was almost carrying Nathan on his back so that he wouldn't make too much effort, he even forced Nathan to lean on him.
Don't take this the wrong way, but the boy actually found the situation funny. Nathan even ran away from the couple for a while during the event at Tric, but Emma arrived with a pretzel for him and told him to eat it.
"Emm's, the day you and Ethan have a child and that child gets hurt, I'm going to have to help the child." Nathan said between laughs.
Emma frowned and looked at Nathan.
"Why do you say that?"
"Emm's, I'm not porcelain. You can rest easy." Nathan said calmly.
Emma got up from the sofa next to Nathan.
"If you fall on your ass, I don't care." Emma left Nate behind.
Emma walked around Tric until she bumped into Ethan, who was leaning against the counter drinking water.
"Hey, Pompoms." Ethan greeted his girlfriend with a smile, but saw the girl's frown. "What happened?"
Emma stood with her arms crossed.
"Nathan thinks we're suffocating him. He said it's not porcelain, asshole." Emma pouted.
Ethan smiled and pulled his girlfriend into a hug.
"Let's let him fend for himself a bit, okay? If he needs help, he'll ask." Ethan replied.
The two teenagers heard Peyton on stage saying that they were going to start the movie night with some cartoons.
'The number one killer of young people is traffic accidents...'
Several images of car accidents appeared on the screen, Emma and Ethan looked in Nathan's direction just as other people also looked in the boy's direction. Mouth was having trouble getting the movie to stop playing, while some people didn't understand why it was playing. But Nathan ended up cheering for Peyton and Mouth not to take the movie out, and some people became more excited.
[....]
When Ethan arrived at Nathan's house the next day, he heard Luke arguing with Nathan. Luke walked past the angry boy and left.
Ethan approached Nathan, Nathan looked at his cousin.
"Did you hear?" Nathan asked.
Ethan pulled up a chair to sit next to Nate and looked at the boy.
"Just shouting, I didn't understand what it was about, but it's none of my business either." Ethan shrugged.
Nathan sighed.
"I'm going back to my parents' house. I need to concentrate on myself and my mother's recovery." Nathan explained.
Ethan pointed to the boy's suitcase.
"Do you want some help?" Ethan offered.
Nathan frowned and stared at the boy. Nathan knew that Luke and Ethan were different in many ways, Luke had just had a fight with him about what he had just told Ethan, but Ethan had not shown any emotion.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Nathan asked.
"About?"
"About what I just told you, dumbass." Nathan retorted.
"What do you want me to say? It's your life, Nate. If you think it's for the best, so be it." Ethan clarified.
Nathan sighed with relief that at least Ethan was by his side, the boy thought that maybe he would be annoyed or angry since Dan had screwed Keith over and the DNA test hadn't come out yet.
"Thanks, and yes, I want help."
Ethan laughed and started to help Nathan pack his things. While the two boys were putting Nate's things together, Ethan caught his cousin's eye.
"By the way, if you're rude to Emma again for looking after your sorry ass, I'll kick your ass." Ethan announced.
Nathan laughed, but stopped after Ethan stared at him.
[....]
Ethan was at Andy's house in the living room playing video games. Nate had texted that he had gone to his parents' house and that Luke had moved back in with Karen.
While Ethan was playing a game of basketball, Andy arrived and threw himself down on the sofa next to the boy. Andy looked at the TV.
"Don't you get tired of all this basketball?" Andy asked the boy, who laughed.
"Nops."
Andy pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
"Hey, what do you say about pizza?" Andy asked.
"No pineapple in it."
Ethan replied, still focused on the game, and Andy laughed at the boy.
"Okay, when the pizza arrives, the video game is off. Okay?" Andy pointed at the boy as he got up from the sofa.
"Okay."
When the pizza arrived, Ethan turned off the game and went to dinner with Andy. Ethan liked the routine he had created with Andy, during dinner the man always asked him about his day, what he had done, about Emma and even about how he was doing regarding his therapy sessions.
"You're about to go to the High Flyers, aren't you?" Andy asked.
Ethan nodded.
"Yeah, during summer vacation." Ethan said.
Andy smiled and nudged the boy.
" Can you handle being away from your girlfriend all the time?" Andy asked with a smile.
Ethan shook his head and groaned.
"Don't remind me of that part. We promised that we'll try to talk whenever possible by cell phone, skype and Emm's said he'll try to send me letters." Ethan explained.
The two continued talking until Ethan got ready for bed.
Ethan had turned off the light and pulled out his cell phone to send one last message.
'Good night, Pompoms.'
It wasn't even five minutes before the boy's cell phone vibrated with a new notification.
'Good night, pretty boy.'