This is an AU fic, I'm not going to explain too much here but everything that happened in the series happened just without Haley, she lived somewhere else and doesn't know anyone from Tree Hill, the only difference this makes is that Nathan is still a bit of a player and kind of selfish but thanks to Lucas he's becoming better and as he never had Haley he doesn't point shave so Duke remains an option. Keith is gone, Lucas and Nathan did run back into the school but it was for Peyton. We pick up the story in season 3. Lucas is away with Karen and Brooke and Nathan go to check out Duke for a much needed distraction.
"I love college parties!" Brooke sighed as she and Nathan threaded their way through the crowds.
"How is this different from our parties back home?" Nathan asked leaning in close so she could hear.
"It's College!" Brooke said as though that were answer enough and the two of them laughed. "Oh there's my friend Andrea" Brooke dragged Nathan over and introduced them, the two girls knew each other from cheer camp and as Brooke had seriously been considering going to Duke for Lucas she'd wanted to see what the life was like. Nathan stood feeling bored as the two girls gossiped, Andrea had given him the usual admiring look but Brooke had already warned him she was off the market so he was looking elsewhere for his fun tonight.
He was just honing in on a blonde with a streak of pink highlighting her hair, when he spotted a dark haired girl trying to get out from under the arm of a drunken frat guy. She wasn't dressed for a college party wearing jeans and a sweater and it certainly didn't look as though she knew how to handle herself. Nathan sighed, this was Lucas' domain. he was usually the hero for innocent girls, but Luke wasn't here putting down his own drink Nathan walked over, he heard them before he got to them.
"Look I told you I came here to see my boyfriend not hook up with jerks like you!"
"Well if your boyfriend hasn't the time maybe I could make you feel good instead."
"Get off me loser" she was tiny against the bulky teenager so Nathan knew he had to intervene.
"Hey Honey" he said loudly pushing the guy away and giving her a hug 'just go with me' he whispered and though her dark eyes were mistrustful she nodded "Who's your friend?"
"Hey..." The guy was about to argue when he got a look at Nathan and obvious recognition covered his face "Look she never said you were her boyfriend, I know you... you're still in High School... why are you?"
"We're looking around aren't we sweetie?" he grinned down at Haley "Look nice meeting you man but I'd walk away now if I were you" the frat guy did so stumbling into a group of stoners gathered by the door in his rush to get away.
"Oh my God thank you" her eyes were chocolate brown and full of gratitude as he dropped his arm.
"No problem, I think I scared him a bit" he grinned at her "we better go find your boyfriend"
"Yeah" to Nathans disappointment she really had a boyfriend but he decided to stay with her till she found him, just to keep her safe, he looked back at Brooke who kinked her eyebrow knowingly but he shrugged it off, let her think what she liked. She led him through the crowded hallway till she reached a door, she knocked looking excited but got no answer, after knocking again she shrugged and opened the door.
It had been said Nathan had broken many hearts in his time but they were wrong, he'd never seen a heart break actually displayed on someones face until this moment.
She didn't move, didn't scream just watched as a young man with short dark hair rolled off some blonde bimbo telling her it wasn't what it looked like, officially the stupidest use of that line ever. After a moment she turned around and Nathan heard the idiot calling after her although it sounded like he was calling her James which seemed weird. The girl looked like she was about to collapse so Nathan guided her down the hallway and out into the open air. Once they were outside he held her up as she gasped trying not to cry taking her to some seating that had obviously been set up for the party judging by the alcohol stashed around it.
He sat with her worried as she grabbed one of the beer bottles from a nearby cooler and opening it began to chug it down
"Careful" he muttered as she opened a second beer
"Shut up" she spat at him taking a long drink, she then looked at him and gave a half smile "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that to you"
"It's OK" Nathan shrugged it off "you're hurting."
"No it wasn't OK, you're my knight in shining armor, I am grateful to you." she smiled weakly "You can go back inside and enjoy the party though, don't worry about me"
"Nah, I was getting bored before anyway"
"Not one for college parties?"
"Too much like my high school parties" she laughed at his boyish grin.
"I never went to any of those parties"
"Ah a good girl" he grinned and she nodded "Let me guess, good grades, always kept curfew, never had detention or missed assignments hand in dates, valedictorian?"
She preened a little "Yeah that's me, you?"
"Oh I'm not a good girl" he joked smiling when she laughed again "Nah, dumb jock, only just scraping a passing grade me."
"Kinda like..." she trailed off looking sad again.
"Kinda like the douche back there?"
"Yeah but he's not sporty, he was a musician." she sighed having another drink "God this stuff tastes awful"
"You get used to it... so back there he called you James?"
"My surname, when we first met I was partnered up with him and I got his names mixed around so after that we called each other by our surnames. It was our thing" she bit out the words "I guess it must've made it easy for him to talk to me on the phone while he was with another girl." she took another long gulp of beer finding the taste was a little more palatable now.
"So do I get to find out your first name?" he asked his natural flirtation coming out in his words
"Nope, call me James, it can be our thing!" she was obviously a little buzzed and seemed to think it was funny giggling to herself.
"OK, call me Scott" he was perfectly fine with that, "And pass me a beer."
"You're still in high school" she pointed out holding a bottle and staring at him.
"Well college girls are supposed to give naive young high school boys beer. It's a thing."
"Ah... but I'm not a college girl"
"No?" he was surprised, she seemed mature for her age despite the obvious bad boyfriend taste and the inability to drink. "You're in high school too?"
"Yep!"
"And you were lecturing me on drinking! So you thinking of going to Duke?"
"Not any more, I was supposed to be coming here next year... for him" she spat out the words "I was giving up my dream school for him. That no good, two timing piece of..."
"Shit?" Nathan offered
"Exactly, I'm not so good at the swearing" she admitted "or the drinking" she made to stand up but fell down into her seat straight away.
"Or the standing" Nathan laughed "One and a half beers and you're already gone"
"Well sports guy we can't all be big, tall, muscular... hot" Her head tilted to the side as she studied him "attractive, sporty..." her eyes took him in and she trailed off "I can't remember how this sentence was supposed to end."
"That's OK" Nathan told her with a smirk "I do" and then he kissed her, she was tentative, nervous but after a few moments very skilled and sweet "you taste good James" he whispered in her ear kissing her neck, he knew he was sort of taking advantage but there was no way she was so drunk she wouldn't stop him if she wanted too "Come back to my hotel with me."
Good girl Haley James was unable to think straight when his lips did such magic things to her, looking back at the dorm rooms she could see Andrew Roberts leaving them probably in search of her. She was furious at him, she wanted revenge, she was a little drunk, she wanted to forget what she saw, she wanted to get away from him and she wanted this Scott guy to keep doing amazing things with his mouth.
"Ok"
Her head hurt, her mouth was dry and she felt like she was about to throw up. Haley ran a hand through her dark hair as she slowly started to sit up. The world rocked as she moved but as she looked at her surroundings she felt nauseous for a whole other reason.
"Oh God"
She muttered looking at the attractive young man still asleep next to her, last night they'd drunk even more when they got to the hotel room and Scott had done wonderful things to her body for most of the night, she was surprised she was even awake now but she'd always been an early riser and she had never been so glad of it before.
She had to get out of here before he woke up.
She searched for her clothes as silently as possible, this was so not her thing, this was Taylor's thing, how did Taylor ever find bras when boys threw them around like that? Once she was redressed she grabbed her back pack and looked back at the bed, he was snoring a little it was kind of cute.
"Bye Scott" she muttered and left.
"Hey Boytoy!" Brooke's annoying cheeriness was far too much at this time of the morning when he was this hung over.
"Urgh"
"Wakey wakey Nathan!" Brooke was loving every moment of this as she tormented the man desperately trying to bury himself into the mattress.
"Go 'way"
"We have to get back on the road soon, Lucas and Karen will be back in town tomorrow and I want to have stuff at the house for them!"
"I want to die"
"Well you shouldn't have drunk so much" she taunted "or maybe exhausted yourself with that little brunette"
Her words suddenly hit home and Nathan remembered everything about the amazing night before "James!" Nathan sat up looking around "Is she here?"
"Wasn't when I came in." Brooke looked around "Looks like she made a run for it... her name was James?"
"Last name" Nathan saw something on the floor and was about to jump out of bed to get it when he realized something "Brooke turn around I need to get dressed."
"I don't mind" Brooke teased but seeing his shock began to laugh "Sorry Boytoy, my broody is the only one I want to see naked. I'll be back in a few." after she left Nathan stood and went after the only thing that had been left behind by his mystery girl. It was an earring, a small turquoise earring. After a moment or two staring at it Nathan dropped the earring into his wallet and began to dress. He had a game in a few days, he had to get home and practice.
OK so I'd like some opinions on this story, there won't be any Naley for a while but we're about to have timeskips galore!