2003 ― Tree Hill, North Carolina

Haley and Aurora James were at Karen's cafe. Aurora was on the clock, but Haley was not. Lucas Scott had been avoiding both twins. He knew that Haley got a ride home with Nathan, and he knew Aurora lied about taking Haley home. The James twins had no idea why their best friend was ignoring them, but Aurora wouldn't force Lucas to talk to her if he didn't want to. She figured he'd come to his senses soon enough. Aurora was standing behind the counter, and Haley was sitting at the counter talking to her sister.

Then the bell dinged, indicating that someone had come in.

The sisters looked up and saw Lucas enter the cafe, and as soon as he saw them, he walked back out. Aurora rolled her eyes, stepped out from behind the counter, and followed Lucas. Haley was quick on her heels.

"Hey, Luke, just curious, how long are we going to do this?" Aurora called out, which made Lucas sigh before turning around.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Avoid each other. I mean, you are the one who started it. You've been avoiding both of us, so what the hell is going on?" Aurora snapped.

"You both lied to me. When did we start lying to each other?" Lucas said. Aurora and Haley looked at each other. They figured out that Lucas had to be avoiding them for something Nathan-related. And then, one day, Haley came home with her beanie that Aurora always teases her about. She said that Lucas said it was in Peyton's car the night Nathan was driving it, so then Aurora pieced together he was mad at Haley for being with Nathan, and he was angry at her for lying about giving Haley a ride home to cover for the fact that Nathan did.

"Just explain to me why you were with Nathan, huh? I mean, considering the past few weeks and what he's done. I already have to share Aurora with him... not you too." Lucas said. Haley sighed as she looked at her sister, and Aurora gave Haley a knowing look. She needed to tell Lucas the truth about her tutoring Nathan.

"I can't," Haley responded as she shook her head.

"You know how I feel about him, Haley," Lucas said as he turned to walk away again. Aurora nudged her sister, and Haley sighed.

"Alright, Lucas, fine!" She called out for him, and he turned around to face the twins again. "Yes, I know how you feel about him, but there is something you don't know. I promised I'd tutor him if he left you alone." She said, and Lucas looked surprised at her confession.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"She's doing it for you, Lucas. As for me lying. I knew you would be upset if I said Nathan took Haley home, so I lied and said I did." Aurora said as she shrugged her shoulders. Lucas sighed as he looked at the twins and nodded his head. He understood where they were coming from. As Aurora was about to walk back inside the cafe, she heard a car coming down the street, and when she turned, she noticed it was Peyton's comet, and she blew right through a red light.

Aurora went back inside.

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Later that evening, when Aurora was about to clock out, Haley came to the cafe so she could clock in. Aurora opened that day, and Haley was closing. A few minutes after Haley clocked in, Lucas came in and sat at the counter. The twins went behind the counter after they tended to their customers.

"I'm an idiot," Lucas said. Aurora laughed because she knew that was his way of apologizing to them for avoiding them for as long as he did.

"We know," Haley said.

"I"m sorry. I miss hanging out with you guys. I miss it being the three of us." Lucas said.

"Yeah, we miss hanging out with you, too," Aurora said, and Lucas smiled at her, then he turned to Haley.

"Listen, Hales. I appreciate everything you did for me. I do... but how about you just let me handle the team from now on, okay?" Lucas said, and Haley nodded her head.

"Okay." She agreed.

"Alright, so you can stop tutoring Nathan now," Lucas said. Aurora looked down at the counter because she knew that wouldn't happen. Haley made a promise, and she knows her sister never breaks her promises.

"Um, no... I can't." Haley said as Aurora looked back up and glanced between them. Lucas looked confused at Haley's response, and Haley was shaking her head.

"Haley," Lucas said.

"I can't, I promised him, and if I break that promise, then I'm just as bad as you think he is," Haley said, and then she walked out from behind the counter to check on her customers. Lucas looked at Aurora, and she only shrugged her shoulders.

"You know us James twins... we never break our promises."

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The next day after school, Aurora and the rest of the cheerleaders were at practice. Aurora liked that they practiced at the same time as the guys. But they practiced on the sidelines, the same place where they cheered during the games. That way, they're not in the boys' way, and the boys aren't in their way either. As they were going through formations, Brooke walked around and checked everyone's form. She stopped between Aurora and Peyton and had her eyes focused on Peyton.

"Wait, hold on. Peyton, you've got the arms wrong." Brooke said. Peyton looked at Brooke and rolled her eyes. She was in a pissy mood because the anniversary of her mother's death was coming up, and she gets like this every year around the time.

"It's not brain surgery, Brooke." Peyton snapped.

"Okay, what's with the attitude?" Brooke asked.

"What's with your life? Seriously. Aren't you embarrassed that the most important thing in your world is some stupid cheer?" Peyton snapped. Aurora turned to look at her. She understood that she was upset about her mother's death anniversary because she put the pieces together pretty quickly, but that doesn't give her the right to be utterly disrespectful to Brooke, who hasn't even done anything to her.

Aurora remembers the night Peyton's mom died. She got in a car accident and was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery, but she didn't make it. Aurora and Brooke stayed by Peyton's side the entire night; they didn't leave the hospital until she did.

"Look, I'm really sorry that things didn't work out with you and Nathan, but you don't have to go all Mariah on me, okay?" Brooke said, and Peyton rolled her eyes.

"You think this is about Nathan? You're not even close! You're not even in the neighborhood of close!" Peyton snapped at her.

"Okay, then what's wrong?" Brooke asked. She was genuinely concerned and had no idea why Peyton had just snapped at her for no reason. By this point, Peyton was so loud that the guys had stopped practicing and looked over at the girls to see what was happening. Nathan looked over when he heard his name.

"What's wrong is how... pointless all of this is," Peyton said.

"Stop saying that!" Brooke exclaimed.

"No! Because it's true. What difference does it make if you sleep with a popular guy or you go to the right party, or you know the moves to some moronic cheer to do with some lame-ass game I could care less about!" Peyton snapped before she stormed out of the gym.

Brooke was stunned.

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"Aurora!"

When she was leaving practice, she heard her name get called. When she stopped and turned around, Nathan was jogging to catch up with her. Aurora rolled her eyes, but she did let Nathan catch up to her. She was still upset about what he did at his party and hasn't talked to him since.

"What?" She asked.

"One, why are you still ignoring me? Two, have you heard from Peyton?" Nathan asked. Aurora rolled her eyes. She didn't know why Nathan was asking her about his ex-girlfriend. He knows they're not friends anymore.

"One, are you still acting like an asshole? Two, why would I have heard from Peyton? You're asking the wrong friend if you're looking for her." Aurora said, and Nathan sighed.

"Ari, please... Can we stop this? I miss my friend." Nathan said. Aurora sighed as she looked at him.

"Yeah? I miss mine too. Let me know when you find him." Aurora said as she started to walk off. Nathan sighed as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back around to face him.

"Aurora, I'm serious... and I'm sorry. Please, listen. I've laid off Lucas; there's no point to it anymore." Nathan said, and Aurora scoffed.

"Yeah, you only laid off because it was the only way Haley was going to tutor you. If you were really my friend, then me asking you should've been enough, but it wasn't, so that speaks more than any excuse you could give me." Aurora said as she took her arm out of his grasp.

"Look, Aurora... I know I screw up a lot, but you have been the only person who's never held it against me or believed that I couldn't do better. Please, don't give up on me yet." Nathan said, and Aurora sighed. No matter how much Nathan pisses her off, she'll always have the biggest soft spot for him because she loves him. 

She's known for a while that Nathan is her platonic soulmate.

"I would never give up on you, Nathan... but you can only push so far before you push away everyone for good."

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After school, when Aurora was making her way to the cafe, she noticed Peyton in her car. The light was green, but Peyton wasn't moving, and of course, the cars behind her were honking. On an impulse, Aurora ran over to her car before the light turned red, and she hopped in. Peyton looked over, and she was shocked to see Aurora, and Aurora was just as shocked at herself for jumping in.

"Why are you doing this, Peyton?" Aurora asked.

"If I were you, I'd get back out of the car," Peyton said. Aurora shook her head before quickly grabbing the seatbelt and fastening it on. She knows that Peyton's mom died in a car accident, but she doesn't know all the details. But she was pretty sure that Peyton's mother wouldn't want her to be as reckless with her life.

"Not until you tell me what's going on. I know it's the anniversary of your mom's death, but if you're trying to honor her in some freaky way by getting yourself killed in a car accident just like she was, I don't think that's a good idea... and frankly, I don't think she would want you to put your life in danger." Aurora said right as the light turned red, and Peyton sped through it. She got honked at by cross traffic, of course, and Aurora sighed. "P. Sawyer, come on! Slow down. Peyton! Slow down. Seriously, Peyton! Slow the hell down." Aurora snapped as Peyton raced through the streets.

"She was driving to school to pick me up. She was late, so she ran a red light. It was one light at the wrong split second, and it ended for her. That's how she got in the accident." Peyton said as she stopped the car. Aurora sighed as she finished her story because she didn't know the extent of the accident; she just knew it was a car accident. "She ran one red light, Aurora. I run them all the time, and nothing happens. It's not fair."

"You're right... it's not... but this, Peyton, this isn't the answer either." Aurora said. Peyton didn't say anything for a moment, then she put her car back in drive.

"You can get out now," Peyton said. Aurora nodded and took off her seatbelt before getting out of the car. Before Peyton pulled off, she looked at Aurora. "But thanks for remembering. It was more than Brooke did." Peyton said, and Aurora nodded her head.

"Just be careful, Peyton."

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Aurora James found herself at the river court. Sometimes, when she just wants time to herself and she wants to think, she'll come here and lay in the middle of the court, which is what she is doing right now. Her eyes were closed, but she could still feel the sunlight against her closed eyelids, and when that sunlight faded away, she knew someone was there.

"Hey, I've been thinking about you." She heard Lucas's voice, and then she opened her eyes to see he was standing over her.

"Try a cold shower." Aurora teased, and Lucas rolled his eyes which made her laugh. "You set yourself up for that one... and you're blocking my sun," Aurora said as she sat up from the ground. She had a blanket on the ground that she was lying on, and she gestured for Lucas to sit down. He took off his shoes before stepping on her blanket and sat down next to her.

"I know, I know... Are you okay? What are you doing out here?" He asked.

"Sometimes, I just come out here to be alone with my thoughts," Aurora said.

"And what were you thinking about?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know... where my friendship with Peyton went wrong... Where life, in general, started going wrong." Aurora said as she laughed and shook her head. Lucas laid his hand down on her knee, causing her to look at him.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked.

"Nothing horrible. I don't know... I saw Peyton sitting at a green light today, so I got in the car. I don't know why I did; I know I shouldn't have, but I did. She's been running red lights on purpose." Aurora said, and Lucas's eyes widened.

"Aurora, that's really dangerous. You could've gotten... both of you could've gotten seriously injured or killed." Lucas said, and she nodded her head.

"I know... like I said, I don't know why I got in the car... but it was because she was trying to understand," Aurora said.

"Understand what?" Lucas asked.

"I always knew her mom died in a car accident. I mean, we used to be best friends, I was at the hospital with her and Brooke all night the day it happened, but I never knew the details. Her mom ran a red light on her way to pick up Peyton from school because she was late; that caused the accident. Peyton says she runs them all the time and nothing happens... so she was trying to understand how the one and only time her mom ran a red light resulted in her death, but she runs them all the time, and nothing happens." Aurora said. Lucas sighed as he nodded his head because he understood as well.

"Ari... that's awful," Lucas said, and she nodded.

"Such is life, for life is full of contradictions. Loosely paraphrased from Tim Blake Nelson." Aurora said, which made both of them laugh.

"I think you got in the car because you still care about her despite the fallout," Lucas said, and Aurora shrugged her shoulders.

"Of course I do. She was my best friend for years." Aurora said, and then she looked at Lucas with a sheepish smile. "Are you ready for the father-son game?" She asked, and Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm playing with Keith, and you know... no matter what, I just want to have fun," Lucas said, and Aurora nodded her head.

"And I want that for you too." She said.

"You'll be there?" Lucas asked, and she nodded her head.

"Of course, I will... official game or not, if you're playing, you know I'll be there," Aurora said, and Lucas smiled at her.

"Hey... thank you," Lucas said, and Aurora tilted her head to the side as she looked confused.

"For what?" She asked.

"For being my best friend," Lucas said. Aurora smiled and reached for his hand, which he took since they were sitting opposite each other, and she squeezed Lucas's hand.

"Always, I love you, Lucas Scott," Aurora said, and Lucas smiled as he squeezed her hand.

"I love you too, Aurora James."

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─── AUTHOR'S NOTE
i love cute lucas and aurora moments.

don't forget to vote/comment. 

xoxo.