AN: So this is just some Valentine's Day fluff. Couples are Brucas and Naley, and Peyton with whom?? Read to find out. Send me some love and review :)
"Crushes! Have an eye on that someone special?? Send them a secret Crush!" Brooke cheered to every passer by.
Nathan and Lucas walked up to the table. Lucas leaned down to kiss Brooke lightly on the lips. "Hey, babe."
"Hey." Brooke said as they broke apart. "So you're sending me a crush right?"
"Um, I wasn't planning on it. Am I supposed to?" Lucas asked timidly, slightly afraid of Brooke's answer.
"Of course! Just because we're already dating doesn't mean that you can't send me a crush, Lucas! A good boyfriend would know that." Brooke joked, with just a hint of seriousness behind her words.
"But I thought these were for secret lovers or something like that?" Lucas asked confused.
"They are for anyone who wants to send a crush to someone they care about for Valentine's Day." Brooke stated. "And you are getting me one! Now, fork over the dollar, mister!"
Lucas begrudgingly pulled out his wallet and pulled out a single. "Fine. Fill out the stupid crush, cheery."
"Aww, thanks Broody. Are you sure?" Brooke asked in a wickedly sweet voice.
"Oh, of course, what was I thinking not sending my girlfriend a crush for Valentine's Day when I already have a whole day planned?" Lucas asked sarcastically.
Brooke ignored him and turned to Nathan. "So, Nate, are you going to send out any crushes?"
"No, I'm a receiver not a sender." Nathan smirked.
"Are you sure there's not that someone special you want to send one to? Maybe some girl that you want to show you like?" Brooke hinted.
Nathan looked to be in thought for a minute, then responded. "Nope, I don't think so."
Brooke sighed, "Men!"
She took Lucas' dollar sitting on the table and stuffed into the money box and slammed the lid.
"I think that's our cue to leave, dude." Nathan whispered to Lucas.
"Yeah, okay."
"Bye, Cheery. See you later?" Lucas asked as he leaned down and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.
"Sure, see you later." Brooke said before walking to help customers at the other end of the table. Customers that didn't seem oblivious to the world around them. CoughLucasAndNathanCough.
Haley was walking to her locker when suddenly she was practically flying in the opposite direction. She rammed right into another kid, knocking down all the poor freshman's books.
"Oh man! I'm sorry!" Haley quickly exclaimed as she tried to pick up all the papers she could. She handed them back to the owner as soon as she got all of them. "Here. Sorry again."
"That's okay." The freshman mumbled before scurrying off.
Freshman. Haley laughed before turning to her right and slapping Nathan's shoulder. "What the hell!"
"Sorry, I didn't think I hip bumped you that hard." Nathan was trying to suppress a laugh.
"Well you know I'm already uncoordinated. I don't need anything else to disturb the balance." Haley laughed as they started walking down the hall to her locker.
When they reached it Haley was spinning in the combo. "So, what's up?"
"Not much. Lucas is in the dog house again." Nathan laughed, heartily.
"Now what did he do?"
"He wasn't going to send Brooke a crush."
"Oh no! Her life is going to end!" Haley joked. "But he should have known that she would want one, especially since she's in charge of them this year."
"Yea, I guess." Nathan agreed. "So are you going to send out any crushes?"
"Besides the ones Brooke forced me to buy for her and Peyton? No." Haley grabbed another book from her locker and slammed it shut before locking it.
"Really? No one?" Nathan asked skeptical.
"Yup. What about you? Are you sending them to anyone?" Haley asked pointlessly, she knew what he was going to say.
Nathan chuckled. "Hales, I'm Nathan Scott. The Nathan Scott. I don't send those out, I just get them."
"Cocky much?" Haley smirked, as they walked down the hall to their Zoology class.
"Oh, whatever. You know it's true." Nathan smirked.
"Unfortunately." Haley muttered.
"What?" Nathan asked. "I couldn't hear you."
"I just don't understand how when every single girl knows how you are they still line up to get a piece of you."
"Like I said, I'm Nathan Scott, the ladies man."
"Hales, come on just send one!" Brooke pleaded at their lunch period. Brooke forced Haley to help behind the table with selling the Crushes.
"No! I'm not sending him one. You know that it would be so pointless." Haley told her forcefully. "I'm just going to make a fool out of myself!"
"No, you won't. If anything you can just say that you sent it as a friend. You can send one to Lucas, too." Brooke suggested.
"I already told Nathan that I wasn't sending any out besides the two to you and Peyton. I can't just send him and Lucas one without looking stupid." Haley told her.
"You won't look stupid. I swear."
"Well I'm not going to believe the person that is selling the damn things."
"Oh, here comes Peyton. We'll see what she thinks." Brooke said giddily.
When Peyton took a seat next to Haley behind the table, Brooke immediately leaned over Haley and pulled Peyton closer. "Don't you think Haley should send a crush to Nathan?"
"Oh, for sure." Peyton quickly agreed.
"You didn't tell her all of the story!" Haley pouted. "I already told him that I wasn't sending out any Crushes other than for the two of you, so he's going to think I went out of my way to send one to him aka making me look like an idiot."
"Well don't you think all of these people are going out of the way to send these Crushes? I mean it's a dollar to send a paper that has a handwritten note, a can of Crush pop, and a box of conversation hearts. Honestly, Hales, who is not going out of their way here?" Peyton smartly points out.
"Exactly!" Brooke exclaimed as she clapped her hands together excitedly. "It's settle you're sending him one and we'll send Lucas one for good measures."
Brooke pulled out two sheets of paper and slid them across to Haley. "Write your notes so I can connect them to the pop and candy."
"No, I don't want to send these." Haley slid the papers back down the table.
"Haley, if you do not write in these notes right now, I'm going to right them. And I can assure you that you're going to like what you wrote a whole lot better than what I write. Understand? Good." Brooke handed her a pen.
"Fine, but if this backfires on me I'm going to kill you!" Haley said with a sarcastic smile on her face.
The next day, Friday, was the day the Crushes were being handed out. Haley managed to successfully dodge Nathan all day. She even asked the teacher to go to the nurse the one period they have together so she could lay down the whole period.
Later that night Haley, Brooke and Peyton were all getting ready in Peyton's bedroom. There was a big Valentine's Day party at one of the basketball player's house. They were going all out, dressing up in Valentines themed colors. All three of them had deep red tight corsets, that managed to push up their cleavage even more, something they did purposefully with the hopes of attracting a boy or pleasing an already captured boy. There choice of attire stopped matching there. Brooke wore a tight red skirt with cute black pumps and a black shiny headband. She curled her hair in loose spirals. Haley chose to wear a black skirt and black knee-high boots. She wore her hair straight, but had her bangs back in a slight puff. Peyton chose to wear tight, black skinny jeans and her classic Chucks. She left her hair curly, adding a few sprays of gel to hold it. She also slipped on her leather jacket.
"Damn, we look smokin'!" Brooke claimed as they stood in front of the mirror.
"I couldn't deny that." Peyton chimed in.
"Are you sure that this isn't too slutty?" Haley worried aloud to her friends.
"Not at all. You look so sexy and Nathan's not going to know what hit him when he sees you in that." Brooke comforted Haley's worries.
"Let's take a picture!" Peyton suggested. She walked towards her bed and grabbed her camera.
They snapped a few from the front of them, but they could only get the top half and Brooke wanted the whole thing, so they stood in front of Peyton's mirror and took a few more. Some with weird, funny faces, some normal.
"Okay let's go." Brooke said as they finished taking the last picture.
They all got into Peyton's car and drove to the party. When they got there, cars already lined the streets. They had to park two blocks away. About a second after they started walking Brooke began to complain. "My feet hurt!"
"Then maybe you should have worn sensible shoes, ." Peyton said with no sympathy. Brooke would always wear uncomfortable shoes, but in her words "beauty is pain."
"Whatever, how much longer." Brooke whined.
"It's right around the corner." Haley pointed to a house that had people going in and out, and music blearing.
When walked into the party, guys immediately started checking them out, even the guys that came with dates. Which then caused the girls to glare at them in jealousy.
The three reveled in the attention, but they were so used to it. It was like this at every party, it actually kind of got tiring. When Haley spotted a bunch of players lounging in the kitchen, Nathan and Lucas among them, her stomach started knotting. God, what was I thinking? I can't believe I sent that stupid crush. I can't believe I wrote that. Haley took a deep breath but then turned around to run back out the door.
Brooke caught her by the elbow. "Oh no you don't. You're not going anywhere."
"But…" Haley pouted.
"No buts, Hales." Peyton said as she grabbed her other elbow and started dragging her forward. "You are going to go through this or else you will regret it, trust me." Peyton whispered the last part, as she looked sadly over the table of guys, specifically one guy who had a girl sprawled across his lap.
Haley heard the hurt in Peyton's voice and saw where her gaze landed. "Sorry, Peyt."
"About what? It was my choice and now I have to live with it." Peyton attempted to smile.
Haley just nodded and let them lead her towards the kitchen. When they got to the table, a guy handed them some drinks. Brooke walked over to Lucas.
"Broody, what you wrote in your Crush was so sweet." Brooke leaned up and gave him a passionate kiss. "You are such a charmer."
"I try." Lucas laughed before he leaned down and captured their lips once more.
Nathan didn't look towards Haley and she certainly wasn't going to be the one to walk up to him. So she grabbed Peyton's arm and walked out the kitchen door to the outside patio.
"Thanks. It's still kind of awkward to see Jake with Rachel." Peyton said.
"What? Oh, yea. No problem." Haley responded, caught up in her own thoughts. She could let Peyton think she was the only one that needed to get out of the room. They took a seat at the chairs next to the pool.
"Peyton, I know you don't want to hear this and probably won't believe it. But I think if you just told Jake that you were sorry and that you just weren't ready before, if you tell him how you really feel, he will be quick to dump Rach-ho for you." Haley told her the honest truth.
"I'm not so sure." Peyton disagreed.
"Well I am and since you made me send that Crush to Nathan you have to go talk to Jake, right now." Haley smiled.
"I don't know, Hales."
"Well I do. Go talk to him. Tell him how you feel. You'll feel better once you finally say it out loud." Haley encouraged her.
"Fine, but if this blows up in my face I'm going to kill you." Peyton laughed as she repeated Haley's earlier words. She got up and headed into the house, while Haley just leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her drink.
"Hey." Haley jumped at the sound, letting out a little screech. She turned around and saw Nathan standing there, in a snug, red polo and perfectly tight dark jeans. His hands were in his pockets, something she knew he only did when he was nervous. Well that makes two of us.
"Sorry I didn't mean to sneak up on you." Nathan apologized.
"It's okay." Haley smiled up at him. "Want to sit down?" She pointed to the chair next to her.
"Sure." He walked around the chair and plopped down.
"So what's up?" Haley asked shyly.
"This." Nathan reached in his pocket a pulled out a slightly crumpled Crush slip.
Meanwhile inside, Peyton managed to drag Jake into an empty room away from Rachel.
"Peyton, what do you want?" Jake bit out coldly.
"Umm..I jus-just need to talk to you." Peyton stammered. What the hell, I never stammer! What is happening to me?
"Yea, what about?" Jake asked slightly curious.
"About what happened between us." Peyton just came out with it.
"There techniquely wasn't even an 'us'" Jake pointed out.
"I know. That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about." Peyton started twisting her hands together as she stared at the ground. "Jake, I love you."
Peyton just blurted out to a very shocked Jake. "Wh-what? Don't say that to me, I know it's a lie."
"Just let me finish, please." When she looked up slightly she saw him nod. "Jake, I do really love you but before when you told me that you had a daughter I was shocked and pissed. I mean I was pissed that you didn't tell me you had a daughter. We were seeing each other, or whatever, for four months and we were friends before that and it hurt that you felt you couldn't tell me."
"Peyton, that wasn't it. It was just that I've never told anyone about Jenny and it is hard to just bring up."
"I know that it must have been difficult to keep a secret like that to yourself and I know why you did it. But it hurt nonetheless when I found out. Can you understand why that would hurt me?"
"Of course I can, I just didn't think you would walk away." Jake admitted sadly. "I was so mad that you did that, that's why I jumped into a relationship with Rachel."
"You mean you don't like that hoey bitch?" Peyton joked.
"I think you already know the answer to that." Jake said as he walked up closer to her.
"So if I told you that I would want to be with you and be there for Jenny, your response would be?" Peyton whispered, closing her eyes waiting for an answer.
"I think you already know the answer to that, too." When Jake finally responded, he was closer than she thought. He was just centimeters from her lips.
"Why don't you show me the answer?" Peyton whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his.
"It would be my pleasure." Jake smiled as he leaned in, closing the small gap left between them. He moved his lips gently, lovingly, over hers. His hands tangled in her hair as he moved them against a wall so he could leave hot, open kisses on her neckline. He moved back up her jaw line and then stopped when he reached her lips. She opened her eyes at his sudden retreat and she saw his eyes bearing into hers.
He rubbed his nose against hers, before he whispered, "I love you, too."
"Oh, that." Haley whispered as she looked away, staring into the pool.
"Yea, this." Nathan said, but then he didn't say anything else.
Haley couldn't stand the silence, "Look Nathan it's okay if you don't feel the same way. I knew I was a long stretch anyways." She started to stand up, to walk away.
"Hales." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to sit back down. "Is everything you wrote in this the truth." He unfolded the paper so he could read it once again.
Nathan,
I know this might seem out of the blue,
But I've liked you for a while.
I don't know why, but I feel this connection
To you and I don't know if I'm crazy or what,
But I was hoping maybe you felt that same
Connection? What better way to ask then
To send a Crush? If anything you can
Enjoy the pop. :)
Hales
"Of course it is." Haley told him honestly.
"Haley, I don't know how to tell you this but…"
Haley cut him off, "It's okay. I know you get a lot of Crushes. You can just chalk this up with the rest."
"Will you let me finish a sentence?" Nathan smiled at Haley's blushing cheeks.
She shook her head silently and waited for him to continue. "As I was saying I don't know how to say this but I've felt this way about you since freshman year."
"What?" Haley's head snapped up at that. "Freshman year? Honestly?"
"Honestly." Nathan smiled at her shocked expression.
"Wow. I wasn't expecting that one."
"Well I like to be unpredictable." Nathan said in his usual cocky tone.
"Sure you do." Haley smirked.
Nathan leaned up so he was facing her directly. His head was only inches from hers. "Okay, Haley James I just have one more question for you?"
"Oh yea? What would that be?" She said in a mocking tone.
"Would you be my Valentine?" Nathan leaned his head forward, turning it slightly, and pressed his warm lips against her moist, wanting lips for the sweetest first kiss, ever.
AN: So I know I have to update my other stories, but this idea came to my head when my school passed out Crushes today. Hoped you loved the fluffy, V-day love. Leave me some love for V-day (in the form of reviews ;)) Thanks for reading!