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Haley is patiently waiting, leaning on the counter while she looks at all of the customers leaving the cafe. It’s 8pm, and all she can think about is going home and throwing herself on her bed. Today had been exhausting, the weather was terrible, which meant everyone was grumpy, and especially the customers. She could barely stand.
Ten minutes later, everyone was gone, so she went to the door and sighed as she turned the sign from “come in we’re open” to “sorry we’re closed”. And that’s when she heard her.
“I’m still here you know?”
She recognized that voice instantly. It was Brooke Davis and her beautiful raspy voice. She turned around, Brooke was sitting at a table, drawing something on her notebook. “I’m sorry Brooke, I’m closing”.
“Just give me two seconds and I’ll be out of here”.
Haley was about to say something but she got interrupted by her phone ringing on the counter. She picked up “Hello?”
“Yes sweetie, it’s Karen, are you still at the café?” she asked. Her voice was weird, she seemed concerned, worried.
“Yeah, why?”
“Turn on the TV”.
Haley frowned as she picked up the remote to turn on the tv. A reporter was talking. She turned the volume up :
“Tonight, Tree Hill is on lockdown, the city mayor just asked everyone to stay inside until that storm passes. It might just be the biggest snowstorm in the last two decades, this is huge, John, back to you.”
Haley turned off the TV.
“Haley? Are you still here?”
“Yes Karen, what do I do?”
“Just lock the doors and stay inside, you’re safe there don’t worry, you can take whatever you want to eat, there are a few blankets in the back if you need, and call me if you need anything, okay? Are you on your own?”
“No, Brooke Davis is here.”
“Oh...I guess it’s better than being alone”
“Yeah….We’ll see” Haley chuckled.
Karen hung up.
“What’s going on?” Brooke was now standing next to Haley.
“There’s a storm coming, we’re stuck here for the night.”
“Oh c’mon, I have a party to go to...not that you can relate to me tutor girl”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You probably only have to go home to do your homework or something”
“You don’t know me”
“I know you enough”
“Maybe I had plans, you can’t know that”
“Did you?”
“...Yes?”
“With who?”
“My…” Haley sighed and gave up “bed.”
“See? I know you”
“No, you said homework, and I was planning on laying on my bed, which is totally different”
“If you say so”.
Haley rolled her eyes, that night was gonna be long. Her relationship with Brooke had always been like that, a cat and mouse game. At first Haley considered Brooke one of the mean girls, but as they started to hang out together when she was with Lucas, she discovered that Brooke was more than just a pretty girl, not that she would ever admit it to Brooke of course.
They stopped talking for a while, they both sat down on opposite sides of the café, Brooke started drawing again as Haley was reading her book.
“So, we’re gonna be stuck all night?” asked Brooke, breaking the awkward silence.
“It seems like it” said Haley, still looking at her book.
“Do you have any alcohol tutor girl?”
“What? No” Haley had closed her book.
“Look, if we’re gonna be stuck together the whole night, we should make it fun, right?”
It didn’t take a long time for Haley to give up. She rolled her eyes “Karen has something in the back, I’m gonna go get it”.
She came back two minutes later with a bottle of tequila in one hand and two shot glasses in the other.
“Ohhhh, tequila, a woman after my own heart” Brooke closed her notebook and patted the seat next to her “Come here, let’s get to know each other”.
“Sure” Haley shrugged, they were gonna be stuck here, might as well make the best of it.
“Have you ever played two truths and a lie?”
“No”
“Okay, so I’m gonna say three things about me, two of them are true and one of them is a lie, if you find the lie, I drink, and if you don’t, you drink.”
“Seems easy, let’s go Davis”
“Ohhh, we’re on a last name basis now James?”
“I guess so, c’mon, you start”.
Brooke started thinking “Okay, I found it. For my tenth birthday my dad got me a bottle of vodka, I’ve never gone to Canada, and I hate orange juice.”
“That’s...random. I’d say the lie is that you’ve never went to Canada”
“Beginner’s luck” said Brooke as she took her first shot.
“My turn, one day me and Lucas were throwing water balloons and one of them landed on your father’s head, I love orange juice, and in fifth grade I got grounded for not doing my homework”
“Oh my god” Brooke started laughing uncontrollably “That was you? My dad was so mad”
“I guess so” Haley chuckled.
“Tutor girl, you’d never go to school without having done your homework, so the third one is the lie”
“I guess you know me a little”
“Bottoms up James”
Haley took the shot without a hesitation, much to Brooke’s surprise who was expecting the brunette to at least cough after. She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
As the evening went on, both girls were tipsy, and the questions started getting more and more personal.
It was Brooke’s turn “I had sex for the first time at 15, I’ve never been in love, and my first relationship was with a girl named Leah”
“Leah is the lie, that’s for sure” said Haley, chuckling.
“You’re wrong, drink”
“What?” her eyes opened wide.
“Your turn”
“No, we’re not gonna keep going until you tell me everything. First of all, what’s the lie?”
“I had sex for the first time at 16”
“So...you’ve never been in love, huh?”
“It’s not a big deal”
“I know it’s not, but you’ve been with so many people”
“And none of them made me feel the way I’m supposed to feel, that’s why I’ve never been in a long relationship”
“And...what about Leah?” Haley was dying from curiosity.
“What about her?”
“Tell me”
“We were kids, she was my best friend when we were 7 and we kissed a few times, but nothing more”
“That’s cute”
“Shut up”.
Just a few seconds later, they heard a big noise and they were in the dark. Brooke screamed while Haley stood still.
“What’s going on?” asked Brooke.
“Looks like there’s a power cut”
“Go fix it, go fix it, I hate the dark”
Haley got up to go see the electrical panel. “Wait, Haley! Where are you going?” asked Brooke, panicked. Haley could see that it was real, she wasn’t faking it. “I’m going to fix it ”
“Don’t leave me alone”
Haley grabbed Brooke’s hand and they went together. She took a look and it didn’t take her a lot of time to figure out that the whole neighborhood was touched and that she couldn’t do anything about it.
“I think Karen has some candles stacked in the back, let’s go get some”
“Okay” Brooke didn’t let go of Haley’s hand.
A few minutes later, they were back where they were with three candles around them. Brooke was still scared, and Haley was trying to calm her down, but she didn’t know how.
“There’s something I didn’t tell you about myself” she said.
“What is it?” asked Brooke.
“I can sing”
“Really?”
“Just a sec”
Brooke stayed alone, trying not to freak out. She wasn’t afraid of a lot of things, but the dark freaked her out.
Haley came back immediately with a guitar.
“Are you gonna sing for me Haley James?”
“If you shut up and never talk about this to anyone yes I will”
“Go ahead”.
Brooke smiled as Haley started touching the strings of her guitar. Brooke immediately recognized her favorite song : The Other Side by Jukebox the Ghost. Her eyes filled up with tears.
Brooke waited for the end of the song to talk. “You remembered”
“Of course I did”
“You know I’ve always liked you tutor girl” Brooke’s tone was serious.
“Yeah, sure” Haley chuckled.
“You don’t believe me?”
“Honestly? No”
Brooke tried to figure out what she could say to make the girl in front of her believe her. But there was nothing she could say, so she decided that she was going to show her. She leaned towards Haley’s face and delicately put her lips on hers. It only lasted a second, but it was enough to take both of their breaths away.
A few seconds later, Haley tried to make sense of what had just happened.
“You okay Haley?” asked Brooke, concerned.
“Brooke you’re drunk”
“I’m not, I just like you.”
“You like like me?”
“I like like you” said Brooke, smiling.
Haley was still in shock, she didn’t know what to say.
Brooke tried to analyze Haley’s face, and suddenly stopped smiling. “I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable or-”
Haley cut Brooke by kissing her in return. “Just so we’re on the same page, I like like you too Davis”
Brooke smiled again. That snowstorm might have been the best thing that has ever happened to her.