I can see you there with the city lights.
Running.
That word made her groan in frustration subconsciously. She sucked at gym. She sucked at any type of physical activity, actually. But seen as she's been living in New York for a month and still hasn't got a job despite her high school valedictorian status, she's done nothing but sit on her butt and watch Grey's Anatomy and eat chocolate chip ice cream. She's actually quite lucky that her best friend Lucas (who decided to move to New York too, which has been the plan since they were twelve) hasn't kicked her out of their apartment yet.
(She's not really, Lucas adores her).
She was reading a magazine the other day and it said something about running being motivational. That was it; she could attempt to run, to attempt to lose weight, to attempt to give her enough determination to search New York for a decent job.
So here she is, Sunday morning, trainers on, hair up, at Central Park.
How do I start? She wondered. Do I stretch?
''A bit lost?'' a deep voice said from behind her, his voice thick with humour.
She turned to look at him, her breath catching. Handsome was an understatement. The dark haired, sparkling blue-eyed guy in front of her was gorgeously beautiful. His lips were curved up into a smirk after seeing the stunned look on her face. No way was she giving him the satisfaction of him making her speechless.
Haley crossed her arms over her chest, raising a perfectly shaped brow in frustration. ''I'm- I'm fine, thank you.''
The guy laughed a deep throaty laugh. He rolled his eyes mockingly. ''Start off slow, stretch a little, build up your pace, and stretch again.'' he instructed, chuckling as he turned around. ''See ya, newbie.''
And then he was jogging away.
(And she didn't check him out as his did so).
She cut her eyes at the retreating figure.
I don't like him, she concluded.
''Lucas,'' she whined, pressing the DVD to her chest. ''I've got a job, finally. C'mon, let me choose.''
Her best friend rolled his eyes. ''I think everyone in this building has a job,'' he stated, motioning around the movie store. His nose scrunched at someone in the distance. ''Except him,'' he said, pointing to the guy who was begging the woman at the cash register to let him use out of date rent two movies, get another free tokens. ''It my turn to choose.''
''But it's The Notebook, you know how much I love that movie!''
''I don't care,'' he shrugged, turning to look down at one of the selections. His eyes lit up when he saw one DVD, he picked it up and shown it to her. ''We're watching this.''
''Lucas, we are not watching Transformers.''
''Yes we are,''
''No we're not.''
''Are...''
''Not.''
He looked at her, frustrated. ''Haley, you said that you thought that Shia LaBeouf was hot.'' he stated. ''He's in this movie!''
''I should have totally got the part in that movie,'' a deep (familiar) voice mumbled from a couple of metres away.
Haley turned towards the voice, sighing immediately. ''Excuse me?''
The guy looked up, grinning once he laid eyes on her. ''Hey, newbie.''
''So you two know each other,'' Lucas realised. ''See, tell her that Transformers is way better than The Notebook.''
''I've never seen that,'' the guy chuckled. ''But I think that me and LaBeouf look quite a like, don't ya think?'' he asked, his humorous eyes not leaving hers. He didn't even glance at her best friend.
Rude, she noted. ''He's way hotter than you,''
''So you think I'm hot? Thanks newbie.''
''Stop calling me that!'' she snapped, glaring at her friend. ''We're leaving, and we're watching The Notebook, okay?'' It wasn't really a question, considering she grabbed the Transformers DVD case and threw it at the stranger (which he caught effortlessly) before storming to the cash register, The Notebook case in her hand.
''Great,'' Lucas mumbled sarcastically, glancing at the stranger. ''Thanks, man.''
Coffee was now her new best friend.
Sorry Luke, she thought as she sipped a cup of the warm heaven.
As she heard many times before, big cities liked to move fast. So when she thought that she hated running, she felt like she was doing it all the time. She ran to work, ran to lunch, ran to her apartment. Luckily her job consisted of listening to music (producer at Sire Records, score) but she always happened to be late for everything. Late to work, late to lunch with her new friend Peyton, late for dinner with Lucas. Thus the running.
It was stressing her out, but the money was worth it, and she loved her job.
But she was just tired all of the time.
Thus the coffee.
A fast body hit into her side, causing her to drop her Styrofoam cup all over the floor.
''I'm so sorry, newbie.'' the all too familiar voice apologised immediately before she even had a chance to look at him.
When she did, her heart stopped for a second.
That was becoming familiar, too.
''You idiot,'' she screeched, running her hands through her golden curls. ''Are you stalking me or something? Central park, the movie store, t-''
''Random sidewalk?''
''Funny,'' she deadpanned.
''That wasn't exactly intended,'' he stated. ''But thanks.''
Haley glanced at her wrist, instantly groaning once she saw the time. ''I'm gonna be late for work now, great...''
He looked at her in concern, his joking-like expression gone. It made her heart start up again- it started racing, actually. ''I really am sorry, newbie. Can't you get a cab?'' he asked, motioning to the many taxi's zooming down the road.
''I owe Lucas money,'' she explained, not really sure why. ''I can't waste money on things like taxis.''
Her handsome stranger stepped out onto the road and hailed a cab quickly. ''Well, I can. Get in.'' he ordered, just like the first time she had met him. He gave some money to the cab driver and opened the door for her. ''My treat, to say sorry for the coffee.''
''I can't let you do that...'' she insisted weakly, her face softening as her pulse quickened at his extremely kind gesture. She even started to feel guilty about yelling at him, and being rude to him at the movie store. As much as she didn't really want to admit it, he was kinda-maybe-a little hotter than Shia LaBeouf.
''Too late, I've already given him the money.''
''B-''
''Get in.'' he repeated, smiling.
Swoon, she thought, while almost doing so. She climbed into the cab slowly, feeling her cheeks start to burn in embarrassment. People weren't usually this kind to her, especially not people this attractive. ''Thank you,'' she said sincerely with a matching smile.
His smile widened as he closed the door, sending her a small wave.
After she gave the cab driver her work address, she leaned back against her seat, forcing herself not to look back.
Her eyes suddenly widened when she recalled their conversation in her mind.
Her handsome stranger?
''She's going to be here in five minutes,'' Haley announced excitedly, beaming as she fought the urge to jump around in delight. ''I'm so excited for you!''
Lucas buttoned his shirt, rolling his eyes. ''I'm still not sure about this. I've never been on a blind date before...''
''It's not a blind date,'' she reminded him. ''She's my friend, she likes the same music at you, you have a similar hair shade. Lucas and Peyton, it has a certain ring to it, don't you think?''
''Not really...''
''It does,'' she stated. ''You're going to love her, I know it.''
He rolled his pale blue eyes for the second time. ''I still don't get why you got dressed up.''
''Well, I did tell you what bar to go to. So I thought I might stop by to see how you're doing later on,'' she shrugged, quickly applying some pink shiny lip gloss. ''Don't worry, if you guys are having eye sex then I won't disturb, promise.''
There was a quick knock on the door, causing Haley to quickly jump from the couch and hurry to the door, grinning from ear to ear.
Her smile fell once she opened the door.
''Hey, newbie.''
''Lucas, I have a stalker!''
Peyton laughed nervously, she had never seen her friend so flustered before. ''Um, no, this is my best friend. He wanted to 'interrogate' Lucas before the date, even though I've never even met him before. I told him that he's your best friend, so there's no need to worry, but he didn't listen.'' she looked at her best friend. ''Wait, you haven't been stalking anyone, have you?''
He shook his head, chuckling. ''No, I just keep running into newbie here.''
She glared at him at the nickname. It made her feel childish. ''Stop calling me that.''
Lucas appeared at the door then, his eyes widening at the blonde haired girl in front of him. ''Uh, hi, I'm Lucas.''
''Hey Lucas,''
Lucas looked at the deeper voice that had greeted him. He smiled in recognition. ''Oh, hey, Shia.''
Peyton stared at the three strangely. ''Am I missing something?''
''No!'' the guy who liked to call her 'newbie' exclaimed. ''You two should go, you have a reservation, right?''
''Uh, yeah.'' Lucas nodded, grabbing his coat from the rack. He kissed his best friends' cheek quickly. ''Later, Hales. I'll see you when I get home, no sooner, okay?'' he said, fearing that she in fact would turn up at the bar and disturb his date with possibly the most beautiful he's ever seen in his life.
''Bye guys,'' Peyton waved her hand before taking Lucas' and walking down the hallway of apartments towards the elevator.
Haley crossed her arms across her chest, biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling. The guy in front of her was annoying, cocky, arrogant, and the complete opposite of the guys she usually goes for. That didn't mean that her body didn't tingle when he was around, or that when his body hit into hers on the sidewalk the other day her head didn't spin.
''You can leave now,''
He mocked hurt, shaking his head. ''Did you know there's a word for what this is?''
''Stalking?''
''Fate.''
She snorted, rolling her eyes. ''You really believe in that?''
He shrugged. ''I didn't, but I think I'm starting to.''
Annoying, cocky, arrogant and cheesy.
She may have just fallen for him a little bit more.
(Not that she was falling for him in the first place or anything... right?)
''All I know is that over the past few weeks,'' he continued, taking a step towards her. ''I keep bumping into you in the weirdest of places, and ever since the first time, I can't get you out of my head.''
A blush spread across her body, making her cheeks turn a shade of red. She was utterly speechless. What do you even say to that?
She grabbed his collar and pulled him closer to her, pressing her lips into his.
Nothing. You say nothing, apparently.
He stumbled into her apartment, kicking the door shut behind him as he kissed her ferociously.
''My name's Haley,'' she mumbled against his lips, running her hands through his hair. ''Not newbie.''
His lips pulled away from hers. He rested his hand on her cheek as he ran his thumb across it gently, smiling widely. ''I'm Nathan,'' he said. ''And I totally wouldn't mind watching The Notebook with you.''
''I think I've turned into a more Transformers fan myself, I'm thinking about watching it tomorrow.''
Nathan kissed her again, making her melt into him.
''It's a date.''
AN: This is probably the most random thing I've ever written. But I really wanted to write something Naley, and this is my twentieth story posted on here. Yey, I think I may be back to writing One Shot's again. I've not written a Naley one since... February? I think my writing's changed a little since then. But hopefully you guys enjoyed it. The little line was the top was from the parachute song kiss me slowly. By the way, I don't think Nathan/James looks like Shia LaBeouf, I'm just pretty sure he said it in season6 when Lucas was casting for his movie.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or it's characters, The NoteBook, Transformers, Grey's Anatomy, or Shia LaBeouf unfortunately, or any other thing that was mentioned, I just don't own it.
Please review. I'm dying to know what you thought! x