Somewhere in North Carolina, Early Saturday
[OOC: Things to help this make sense: 1. Nathan is Lucas' half-brother, they share a father. 2. Haley is Lucas' childhood BFF and Nathan's high school bride who left town about a month earlier to go on tour as a musician with The Wreckers. 3. Cooper looks like Anders. Deb (Nathan's mom) is Cooper's sister, thus he is Nathan's uncle, but not Lucas'. 4. Nathan is not dealing well with his wife skipping town on him. This is why we don't get married when we are 16.]
Joseph Conrad once wrote: Who knows what true happiness is - not the conventional word, but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion.
When Lucas arrived back in Tree Hill, he hadn't expected to be heading back out again so soon. At least it was for a good cause. After visiting with his mom and Brooke and getting the low-down on Peyton and Jake's odd situation, he'd gone to find Nathan. It wasn't good. Thankfully, Nathan's Uncle Cooper had swooped into town and decided these boys needed a little visit to the racetrack as a pick-me-up. Coop seemed like a good guy, even if he was a little familiar looking - Lucas could've sworn he tended bar back in Fandom.
"So Coop," Lucas said, making conversation as he, Nathan, and Cooper walked down a ramp leading to the race track. "How great is it that you get to race cars for a living?"
"Oh, you know: fame, money," Cooper glanced at Nathan, "extremely hot wives."
"Ex-wives," Nathan corrected.
"Look who's talking," Cooper scoffed as they reached the track. "Check it out."
The two teens stared at the view of the enormous racetrack in complete awe as if they were two six-year-olds getting real, live Hot Wheels. Seriously, those weetiny kids in Fandom last weekend would've died to get to play here.
Watching them, Cooper said, "I'll tell you what, there's only one view better than this one." As he said this, Cooper's own racecar zoomed past them on the track. "That one."
Minutes later, the boys were ushered into the garage where the racecars are kept. "Uh, this is Jeff Burton's car," Lucas said, gasping as he took a closer look at one.
Cooper nodded, "Yes, it is. You guys wanna meet him?"
Nathan finally found his voice enough to say, "Yeah!"
Which was when Cooper called Jeff Burton over to meet a couple of his awe-struck fans. After the boys had finished shaking his hand and being impressed, the adults got to talking about who was driving Cooper's car on the track. Despite Cooper's assumption that it was his crew chief, Ray Green, Ray wandered by causing the three to turn their heads curiously to see who was going to get out of the driver's seat when the car pulled up before them.
"Ray, let me ask you a question. I mean, I'm not a real smart guy but if you're not in my car and I'm not in my car, who is?" Cooper asked, watching a red-clad driver exit his car.
Ray smiled and called out to the driver, "Hey, Tony?" Tony pulled off her helmet, allowing a cascade of long hair to spill over her shoulders as Lucas and Nathan watched, again they were a bit awe-struck because she was pretty and she could drive like a pro.
"It's still not right, dad. Tight in, loose off," She declared, jumping over a wall to head toward the men who were busy scoffing and in Luke's case, raising their eyebrows at her.
"Nate, you remember my daughter, Daytona?" Ray asked, grinning broadly.
"You got your braces off," Ah, how smooth the Scott me always were.
"Yeah, like four years ago," Daytona replied with a grin, allowing the others a laugh at Nathan while she reached out to hug him. "It's so good to see you."
~~~
Later, Nathan, Lucas, and Daytona were wandering around, looking at cars and hanging out.
"So, Daytona, how long's it been since you've seen Nate?" asked Lucas, starter of all conversations.
"Well, I think, last time I saw him, he was shorter than me," she replied thoughtfully. Given that at the moment, Nathan was a good 6'2" while Daytona was pushing about 5'6" or so, Lucas was more than amused.
"By like half an inch," Nathan told Lucas who was making snickering noises of shock.
"Whatever, shorty," Daytona teased.
As they approached an area where Ray and others were working, Ray told them loudly, "Hey, hey, we don't let visitors in here. Uh-uh, this is all high tech, you know, complicated, secret stuff." The boy working next to Ray snickered at the joke.
"Come on," Daytona said, beckoning to Lucas and Nathan as she rested her hand on the shoulder of the snickering boy. "So Lucas, this is my little brother, Garrett."
"What's up?" Garrett said, smiling.
"Hey, I'm Lucas, Nathan's brother," Lucas told him, holding out his fist and they knocked knuckles in that way that reminds Lucas he's a thuggish jock despite his reading level or dreams of becoming a writer.
"Hey. So, like, your mom's Cooper's sister?" Garrett asked, begging for the confusion that's coming to him.
"Oh, my mom slept with Cooper's sister's husband," Lucas deadpanned while Nathan laughed.
Garrett stared at them in shock, "OK. Whatever that means. Sounds messed up."
"It is." Lucas couldn't agree more with that statement, but his thoughts are cut off by Ray Green asking them the question that Nathan and Lucas had been waiting all day to hear.
"So, you wanna hop in a car?"
~~~
Lucas was psyched to be sitting in a real racecar, Daytona’s name emblazoned over the door. "Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed, obviously pleased with his situation.
Cooper walked over to him, looking through some papers. "What do you think, Luke?"
"This is awesome," Lucas grinned.
"You guys wanna drive em?" Cooper was winning all sorts of awesome Uncle-but-not-really points this weekend.
Lucas just looked up at him in awe as Nathan approached them in shock, "Are you serious?"
"Yep. Take a crash course today. You learn about the cars, the track. Spend the night, you can race tomorrow. How about it?" Best. Uncle. Ever. Other than Keith, omg
Lucas’s eyes widened in excitement, "Dude, I am so there!"
"Nathan?" Cooper turned to his nephew with the question.
"Yeah," Nathan replied slowly. "Hell, yeah!" Lucas hoped this would help him forget his Haley troubles for a little while.
[NFI, NFB. Oh canon, how you entertain me! Spoilers for OTH S1 & S2. Dialog from OTH episode 2.19: I’m Wide Awake, It's Morning]