A/N: Sooooo, thanks to a prompt from kaya17tj, I'll hit y'all with a short story. It probably won't be more than about 3-5 chapters but we'll see how it goes. This is Naley, of course.. And it starts off on a plane... Oh the magic that happens when love meets in the air! ((bahahah... can anyone tell I'm slightly sleep deprived? Yes.. the joys of owning puppies...)) B-T-Dubs, this is totally AU. However, Nathan's in the NBA and plays for the Mavericks (Dallas).. Haley's a teacher at Tree Hill High... Lucas is writer and basketball coach at THHS... He and Peyton are married.. Peyton and Karen run the cafe together and Peyton turns the upstairs of the cafe into a club at night (Tric)... Keith is still alive and married to Karen... They have a daughter, Lily, who is now 7.. Deb and Dan are married and rather nice people... Quinn, Haley's sister, is unmarried and living in Alabama, which is where Haley hops her flight to get back to Tree Hill for Christmas with her parents (who are both alive and well)... Nathan, Haley, Lucas and Peyton are all 26 (of course, you know, there's that few months that separates Lucas and Nathan, but still) So, some things are the same, some are different... Nathan and Haley have never met. Haley went to private school while Nathan and Lucas went to Tree Hill High. Lucas and Nathan have never had issues with each other. Haley and Lucas went to the same college, met there and became best friends. Nathan went to Duke and immediately into the NBA afterwards. Who knows... we'll see how this turns out.. I'm confusing myself.. lol
Chance Meeting
Nathan had been on two flights before this one. He didn't understand how it took nine hours to get from Omaha, Nebraska back to Tree Hill. He really could have just driven. Two different flights to two different states before his final flight home to Tree Hill. He wasn't sure what the purpose in flying all over the United States to get to North Carolina was but he figured the pilots must know better than he did.
He boarded the plane and placed his carry-on luggage in the overhead compartment. He noticed no one was sitting in the row with him and he relished in the fact that he might catch some sleep on this last 3 hour flight. His second flight of the day had him paired with a screaming baby on one side of him and a rowdy toddler on the other. This time he was taking the window seat. He could kick back and stretch his legs across the other two and hopefully relax. As he was buckling himself in for take-off, an out of breath woman came scrambling up the aisle. Nathan noticed the confused look on her face as she tried to figure out which row she was supposed to be sitting in. He unbuckled his seat belt and asked if she needed a hand.
"Oh, that would be wonderful! Do you mind?" said the bouncy brunette.
She was short and bubbly and beautiful. Her mid-back length, wavy brown hair was pulled up in a loose ponytail. She had big brown eyes, a gorgeous smile and the cutest little nose Nathan had ever seen. Her hip hugging, straight leg jeans accentuated her perfect legs and as she bent over to pick up her bag, Nathan noticed a gorgeous ass. She wore a deep purple wrap-around sweater and a big cream colored scarf. She was perfect. Where were women like this hiding in Dallas?
Nathan bent over and grabbed the bag handle out of her hand. "I got it." He looked at her ticket and saw that she was supposed to be sitting in the window seat on his row. Did I just get that lucky? "You're right here, next to me." he said.
She smiled. "Wonderful!I'm Haley, by the way." she said, extending her hand toward him.
"Nathan Scott. Pleasure to meet you, Haley." Nathan met so many people being in the NBA, but not one of them made him stop and appreciate the sheer beauty of a woman like this one did. Her voice alone was enchanting. He could listen to it all day. Where was she two flights ago? And sleep? Never again if he could hear her every minute. Haley and Nathan sat in their respective seats; Haley at the window and Nathan on the aisle. They buckled their seat belts and Nathan watched as Haley's delicate hands pulled her laptop from its bag. "So what takes you to Tree Hill? Or is this just a connecting flight?" Nathan asked.
"Oh no, I'm headed to Tree Hill for sure! That's where I live. I had been in Alabama visiting my sister. She's a photographer for a magazine that's based there." she answered.
"So you took a flight down to Alabama to just see her for a weekend?" he asked. He was interested in this girl's life. This hadn't ever happened to Nathan before. For as long as he could remember it was basketball basketball basketball. Never time to actually get to know girls. Always basketball. But this girl made him forget basketball entirely. All he wanted to do was get to know her. He wanted to know every single detail about her. But a three hour flight didn't seem like long enough to ask all the questions he wanted to. They were already up in the air and now she was distracted as she was typing something out on her laptop.
She stopped typing and looked up at Nathan long enough to say, "Sort of. I went down to spend my Christmas with her. It's not quite Christmas yet, I know, but she's not getting a break until after the first of the year. I've never spent a Christmas without her so I thought it fitting to go see her. Now I'm going home to celebrate Christmas with my parents and my friends." She smiled and turned her attention back to the computer.
Nathan relaxed back into his seat. There were hundreds of questions flooding his mind. Why had he never met this girl before if she lived in Tree Hill? How long had she lived in Tree Hill? Who were her friends? Did he know any of them? Where does she work? Did they go to high school together and he just never saw her? How could he miss a girl this beautiful? Before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep. The only thing that woke him up was a flight attendant walking up to him telling him to buckle up. We're landing already? We've only been in the air for half an hour! What the hell? He looked over to Haley who was already buckled and reading a copy of Les Miserables. She was smart too. Perfect package. And now they were going to have to go their separate ways and Nathan had no idea if he'd ever see this girl again.
"Good morning, sleepy head!" Haley said as she closed her book during their descent.
Nathan laughed quietly. "Yeah, sorry about that. I think I'm jet lagged from all the flying today."
"It's okay. I was working on some lesson plans anyway! I doubt I'll get the chance to finish up over the holidays."
She's a teacher! "What do you teach?" he asked.
"English and Literature. I double majored in college. It was a lot of work but it's definitely worth it. I love my job. Knowing that I have the ability to change just one kid's outlook on life or make them thirst for an education, the feeling is amazing!" Haley said, her eyes lighting up.
This made her even more attractive. She had such passion, such drive. Nathan couldn't help but wonder what other passions she had. "Well that's awesome! Sounds like you really love your job." he said. They had successfully landed and first class was starting to get off the plane. Nathan got up and grabbed his and Haley's bags out of the overhead. He wasn't ready for this to be over. He still had so many things he wanted to know about this girl. He was kicking himself in the ass for falling asleep.
"Thank you, sir! I appreciate it!" she said.
"My pleasure. It was nice meeting you, Haley. Maybe we'll see each other around town sometime over the holidays."
"You too, Nathan." she said as she turned to walk away. He stood there stunned. There she went. The girl of his dreams. Then she stopped. There's hope... She looked over her shoulder and said, "I'll be seein' ya!"
"Luke, you don't understand! This girl is... she's... gorgeous doesn't even start to describe her. She's like... an angel..." he said. He was desperate for a word to describe Haley. All words were lost when he thought about her. Nothing fit. "I just can't believe that all the time that I lived here, I never met her. I don't get it."
Lucas laughed. He had never seen Nathan so intent to get to know a girl. "What'd she look like?" he asked.
Nathan gave a 5 minute long description of Haley. Right down to the color of the shoes she was wearing on the flight. He told Lucas that she was a teacher, he just didn't know where she taught.
"But I don't remember any teacher that we had EVER looking like this! If they had, I probably wouldn't have graduated 'cause my grades would have been worse!" he exclaimed.
Lucas couldn't stop laughing and this was pissing Nathan off. "Dude, it's not funny. I want to know who she is. I mean, I don't even know her last name." he said.
Lucas composed himself and cleared his throat. "Sorry, little brother. Well, maybe I can help."
Just then, Peyton walked out on the patio with them. "Anybody need another beer?" she said as she held up two bottles.
"That's my girl. Yes, please!" Lucas said.
Nathan was frustrated by the interruption but grabbed a beer anyway, not thanking Peyton.
"Well you're welcome, ass!" she spouted off at him.
"Thanks, sis. Sorry. I just really want to know who this girl is!" Nathan said, throwing his hand in the air.
"Ooooo! Natey's got a crush! Bout damn time! Who is she?" Peyton mocked.
"Ughhh! I don't know!" Nathan lashed out.
Peyton put her hands up in front of her. "My bad! Didn't mean to hit a nerve!"
Nathan sat his beer down and hugged Peyton. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry... I'm so pissed at myself for falling asleep and not finding out more about her and I'm kinda takin' it out on people. I'm sorry." he apologized profusely.
"It's alright," she said as she patted his back. Pointing a finger in his face she said with a smile, "just don't let it happen again!"
"No worries. So Luke, you said you'd help. How can you help if I don't know her last name?"
Lucas eyed Peyton. He was trying to hint to her that he might know who the girl was that Nathan was so adamant to find. Peyton caught on but after being yelled at, she didn't really want to antagonize Nathan anymore. After a long silence, she piped up.
"Quit torturing the kid, Lucas! I think he's about to explode!"
Lucas let out a small laugh, "Heh, well, I think I know who she is. From the ridiculously long description you gave, she sounds like the English teacher at Tree Hill High."
Peyton shot him a look of excitement. She knew that this girl was Haley James, Lucas' best friend from college. Haley and Peyton had hit it off right away and Haley even helped Lucas and Peyton get together. Peyton was sad when Haley had to turn down her offer to be the maid of honor at her wedding. Something about moving her sister to Alabama and that none of her other siblings could help and her parents were off on some safari in Africa. Haley had still been a big part of their lives and since she and Lucas both worked at the school, they all got to see a lot of each other. Peyton wasn't sure if she should let on as to just who the teacher was yet. Or how close they were to her. Oh this was match-making Heaven right here! Pure gold! Haley had helped them and now they were going to get to help Haley!
"Lucas! Really?" Nathan said. He was so desperate to find this woman again. He didn't know what he would do if he couldn't learn everything there was to know about her.
"Yeah. If who you're talking about is who I'm thinking about, and I'm pretty sure that it is.. Then I know her pretty well. Is her name Haley?" Lucas smiled as he spoke the last words. He knew this was getting to Nathan. It was only a matter of time before he burst.
"Yes! That's her! Haley! What the hell? Hook me up! At least get me a chance to meet up with her for coffee or something. Anything. Please, Lucas." Nathan begged. This was making Nathan feel nuts. He didn't like this feeling at all. He was helpless. If only Lucas would set him up...
"Okay, okay.. relax. You know, Christmas is this weekend. We're having the Scott family Christmas party at my parents house this year." Lucas stated.
"Invite her!" Nathan nearly screamed. At this point, Peyton was almost rolling on the ground laughing. She hadn't seen Nathan so determined since high school. This was sure to be a wonderful Christmas!
A/N: So, flames are welcome as well as good things... All I ask is that if you read, you review. Thanks guys! Lemme know whatcha think!