These Jeans
"Where are we going, Nathan?" Haley wondered out loud from the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car as they drove through town.
"You'll see." Nathan said, taking his eyes off the road for just a moment so he could flash her a sweet smile of his.
"Nathan, we don't have time for this. We should be back at school, studying. You have a huge history test coming up and it's my job to make sure you are well prepared for it."
"Hales, I've done nothing but study for that test all week, which is more than I have for any other test before. I promise, a couple hours away from the textbooks won't hurt me" Nathan insisted as he pulled off the main road into a parking lot.
"Seriously though, why are we here?" Haley asked as she looked around at their new destination. Nathan had brought them to one of the local parks in Tree Hill.
"I told you, you'll see" Nathan said as he parked the car and turned the engine off. He then reached behind him to grab a backpack from the backseat and proceeded to get out of the car and walk over to the passenger side to open Haley's door. With a smile he, grabbed her hand and pulled her out to join him. She wore some slightly baggy, light wash denim jeans, which cuffed right around her lower calf, paired with some white sneakers on her feet and a purple T-shirt that flattered her petite figure perfectly. He looked her up and down thinking how lucky he was to be with someone as beautiful as her.
Walking hand in hand towards the large open field in front of them, Nathan noticed Haley's unimpressed expression and stopped to explain "Hales, we can study later. Basketball season just ended and I finally have more time to spend with you doing fun things. You've had me stuck inside all week getting me prepared for finals and it's a nice day out, so I want to enjoy it, with you." Looking down at her and seeing that her expression hadn't changed since he told her of his plans for their afternoon, he tried to persuade her even more. "Come on babe, don't you think we've earned a study break? I'll even study for an extra two hours tomorrow if you do this with me". Nathan knew how serious Haley was about school and how seriously she took her job as his tutor. She always felt that if he failed, that meant she had failed too. But he felt more confident about this upcoming test than he ever had and with Haley being so stressed out getting prepared for not only her finals, but his as well, he felt that they could both benefit from a relaxing afternoon spent in the park.
"Well okay then" Haley said, finally giving in to him. "But you better not be lying about the extra studying tomorrow" she warned, pointing her finger at him.
"Now would I lie to you?" Nathan teased as he starting walking again, still holding her hand in his as they approached the park's entrance.
It was a beautiful spring day. The sun was out, the sky was bright and blue, the trees and the flowers were starting to bloom again. The cool breeze felt nice against their skin as the hot sun beamed down on them. Nathan and Haley walked around exploring the park for a while. They passed the playground where dozens of children were running around, laughing, playing on the slides and swinging on the swings. Nathan and Haley couldn't help but smile as they watched the young kids being so carefree and happy. It reminded them of a time when they were kids and everything was much simpler. Before they grew up and started to have responsibilities like the finals that they had been stressing out about so much. After spending some time watching a group of kids run around playing tag, they continued to stroll hand in hand, around the trails of the rest of the park. Being that it was early spring time and the weather was starting to be nicer every day, there were so many people around. Nathan and Haley shared the trails with families, people walking their dogs, others riding their bikes or getting a run in. It was nice to finally be outside, getting some fresh air and enjoying their beautiful surroundings after being stuck inside during the cold winter months.
They made their way around and eventually reached the park's small pond. This area of the park, unlike the playground and the trails was mostly empty aside from an older couple that sat on a bench nearby. Nathan led Haley over to the very edge of the water and they watched as the ducks and swans glided over the clear blue water.
"Want to do something fun?" Nathan asked, breaking the silence.
"I thought we were having fun" Haley replied.
"We are, but I brought something to make this even more fun!"
"Well okay, let's see then." she insisted.
Nathan let go of her hand, which he hadn't stopped holding since they had first arrived. He proceeded to take the backpack off and unzipped it. Haley looked at him with anticipation, excited to see what he had brought for them. After rummaging around the bag for a moment, he eventually pulled out his hand revealing a bag of white bread.
"What is this for?" she wondered.
"Would you like to feed the ducks?" Nathan asked her, with a sweet smile and his eyes filled with joy.
"I would love that Nathan! What a great idea!" she said, standing up onto her toes to reach up and give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Nathan smiled, setting his backpack down on the ground, he opened the bag of bread and took out a piece for each of them. They then started breaking off small pieces and launching them in to the air, watching as they floated down and landed in the water. They watched as the ducks all started to gather around ready for a snack. Haley giggled at the sight of the ducks eagerly watching the bread leave their hands and land near them. She enjoyed seeing them race each other to the pieces, trying to get as many as they could for themselves. As more and more started to arrive, Nathan kept his eyes fixed on Haley as her face lit up when she saw a group of seven small ducklings appear.
"Look how cute they are, Nathan!" Haley said, her voice high pitched with excitement. Nathan was so happy to see her finally relaxing and enjoying herself, instead of being stressed and freaking how about their upcoming exams.
They threw their last pieces of bread into the water and the ducks raced after them, battling each other trying to get to them first. "So, did you like that?" Nathan asked as the ducks began to slowing swim away from where they were after realizing that there would be no more.
"That was so much fun! I haven't done that since I was a kid" Haley explained as she remembered her childhood years. "When I was younger, my parents sometimes liked to go away for a couple weekends during the summer to spend some quality time together. My siblings and I would always stay at my grandparents' house and they liked to bring us here all the time to keep us occupied." Nathan was so intrigued, he loved listening to stories of Haley's childhood and learning new things about her. "My brothers and sisters and I would run around that playground for hours and hours. I still think my grandparents liked to do that on purpose to tire us out so it'd be easier to get us all into bed at night." Haley chuckled to herself, reminiscing on the times she spent with her older siblings as a kid. They had all moved out of Haley's parents' house now, most of them either off at college or starting families of their own. Haley's house, once filled with her many family members, was now mostly quiet and empty as she was the only James child left living there with her parents. Although she enjoyed her space and much more quiet time to get her school work done, Nathan could tell the emptiness and silence in the house reminded her that they were all growing up and moving on with their own lives and she missed the days when her whole family was together. Nathan grew up as an only child, as he was never close to, or even really knew his half-brother, Lucas that his father had abandoned. He never got to know what growing up with other kids in the house to play and create memories with was like. Listening to Haley's stories of her siblings, he could tell that it must have been a really cool thing and completely different from the childhood he had experienced.
"After we would run around and eat lunch at the picnic tables, we would all head over to this pond" Haley shared, continuing her story. "My grandma always remembered to bring enough bread for all of us to enjoy feeding the ducks together. We had the best times here, it's nice to be back. It's been so long since I spend a day just hanging out in the park" she said smiling up at Nathan.
"Well, I'm glad I brought you here then." Nathan said, leaning down to give her a kiss.
"I am too" she agreed after their lips finally parted.
After leaving the pond, Nathan and Haley made their way back to the big empty field that smelled of freshly cut grass and flowers that were in bloom. Nathan stopped as they had reached a spot that was a significant distance away from other park goers so that they could feel a little more privacy. He once again took off his backpack, placing it on the ground and pulled out a big blue blanket that he spread out onto the bright green grass. "Come and lay down with me" Nathan said as he grabbed Haley's hand and pulled her to the ground as he laid back resting his head on the backpack and using it as a pillow. Haley followed his command laying down next to him, snuggling into his side and resting her head on his shoulder as his arms wrapped around her waist. Laying in silence, feeling content and enjoying the feel of just laying peacefully in each other's arms, they both starting to drift off to sleep.
A few hours later, Haley was abruptly woken up by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled it out to look at the caller ID on the screen.
"Hello?" She answered quietly, sitting up, trying not to startle Nathan. She was still dazed from just being woken up from a deep sleep.
"Haley?" The familiar voice on the other end replied, sounding slightly worried. "Haley, are you still at school? I wasn't expecting you to be there this late. Will you be home for dinner or are you going out somewhere with Nathan tonight?" her mom asked.
"Sorry mom. We went to the park instead and just lost track of time. I didn't think we'd be here this late either. We're leaving now, I'll be home in a couple minutes." Haley said, finally realizing that they had been there so long that the sun was now starting to set.
"It's okay honey, don't rush home. I just wanted to make sure everything was alright" her mom replied.
"Okay, thanks mom. I'll see you soon. Love you." After hanging up the phone Haley turned to look at Nathan who was just starting to wake up.
"What's going on?" Nathan asked as he moved to sit up next to her, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Nathan, we fell asleep. It's going to be dark soon" she told him.
"I guess it's time to get going then?" He asked with a slightly sad tone to his voice.
"Yeah we better, I told my mom I'd be home for dinner and I don't want to keep her and my dad waiting." She responded.
"Okay then, let's go" Nathan said as they both stood up. They picked the blanket up off the ground, put it in Nathan's bag and interlaced their fingers once again and began making their way back to the parking lot.
Once they reached Nathan's car, he unlocked it and opened the back door to throw the backpack in. When he returned back to join Haley where she was standing on the passenger side, she reached her arms up and around his neck to bring him in for a kiss.
After parting their lips to get some air Haley said "You were right, we did need a day off from all that school work." Stroking his cheek with her thumb she continued "Thank you, Nathan. I really had a lot of fun with you today."
"I did too. Thanks for doing this with me." Nathan said as he leaned down to kiss her forehead.
After another moment of holding each other, they parted so Nathan could open the passenger door for Haley to get inside and they could be on their way. "Don't think this means you're getting out of that extra studying you promised me for tomorrow." she teased, pointing a finger at him as she did earlier when they first arrived.
"Darn it" Nathan said as he shut her door and started to make his way over to the driver's side. "I thought maybe you had forgotten about that".
"Me? Forget about studying? Do you know who you're talking to?" She replied.
"I guess you're right, I should have expected that." He said laughing.
Before turning the car on to pull out of the parking lot, Nathan looked over at Haley and took her hand in his. "I love you, Haley." He said as he pulled the hand that was intertwined with his to his mouth to place a soft gentle kiss on the back.
"I love you too, Nathan" Haley said with a big smile.
Driving out of the parking lot and back on to the main road, Nathan's mind was filled with thoughts of the day they had just spent together, knowing that it would be one he'd remember forever.