Disclaimer : No, I still don't own anything related to One Tree Hill.


CHAPTER TWO

"Blue…"

Nathan's blue orbs studied his brother's face. The stagnancy of any particular reaction was absent. Lucas Scott displayed a wide range of emotions at one go – starting from shock to disbelief to hilarity to confusion to stupor to anger to being blank.

Maybe the news must have shocked him. Maybe the idea of Haley being married to him disgusted him. Until high school, Nathan had always believed that the two harbored secret feelings for each other, but when they both scrunched up their faces in utter disgust and yelled at Nathan's suggestion that they should 'hook up', Nathan was pretty much convinced that nothing could ever occur between the two.

How do two people of the opposite sex just be friends? Weird, he often used to say.

"So Haley?" Lucas finally responded.

Nathan shrugged. "Yeah."

Lucas nodded before taking a sudden punch across his younger brother's jaw. He totally caught him off-guard, causing Nathan to stumble backwards as he held his face in hurt.

"What the fuck, man! What did you do that for?" Nathan yelled, bewildered.

"Are you crazy? It is Haley you're talking about. The Haley whom you always hated; the Haley whom you always poked fun at; the Haley with whom you can't stay with alone for even an hour. You're going to destroy her life?" Lucas spoke, angrily, flailing his arms.

Was his brother seriously backing up Haley's innocence now instead of appreciating his brilliant idea? He couldn't believe it.

"Destroy – what? I am truly offended right now," Nathan said, nursing his jaw. "And that hurt like hell, Pucas."

"First off, shut up. Secondly, you deserved that punch."

"I am not doing anything without her permission. I didn't force her. She said yes!" Now it was Nathan's turn to flail his arms upwards in frustration.

"She agreed?"

Nathan took a seat on the lounge chair and closed his eyes, forcing the pain to subside. "Yes. On her own. Call her up if you don't believe me. I offered her half a million, too."

"Half of the money? Wow," Lucas led out a breath as he sat back in the other lounge chair.

"Yes. And I won't make her do anything against her wishes, either. You should know that by now," Nathan said, turning his face towards Lucas who nodded. Except for the usual jabbing at each other, neither Nathan nor Haley ever offended them in any other way.

After a long pause, Lucas finally said, "So, little brother, you're getting married, huh?" He smirked at his younger brother.

Nathan led out a soft laugh. "Can you believe it? I always thought you'd go first."

"Don't hurt her, Nate. And I mean it. She's the best," Lucas said after chuckling along.

The two brothers remained in silence for a long time, each leaving the other to mull over their own thoughts.

Suddenly, a random thought popped into Nathan's mind which had him grinning like a Cheshire cat. "I wonder what it's like to kiss her."

"Did you even listen –"


Haley let the water run down her body. The warm water soothed her stress. This marriage thing was seriously eating up her mind. She hadn't told the news to any of her family members. She figured they'd want a proper ceremony. They wouldn't understand the lack of time or, more importantly, the whole idea behind it. She wanted this to be as unreal as possible – not that she worried about falling in love with Nathan. I mean come on, it's Nathan, she thought.

She wasn't sure whether this was going to be the right decision or not. Sure she wanted to help him out in overcoming this roadblock, but marriage was a really special topic for her. She never pictured it like this – she wasn't the fairytale wedding type, either; but the whole idea seemed too sacrosanct to be messed around with.

But then again, half a million dollars would really give her an advantage in implementing one of her dreams. She had always wanted to establish a primary school in Tree Hill which she would later, perhaps, expand into a secondary school. Ever since she was a child, she loved teaching. Naturally, it was the perfect idea.

However now, she was conflicted as hell. She kept on mentally debating on the topic. But she gave her word, and like it or not, she had to stick to it. She wasn't one to go back on her word.

Turning the knob, she stepped out of the shower and walked over to the marble counter. Picking up a towel, she dried herself off before slipping on a blue set of underwear. She wrapped her damp hair in a towel, and opened the bathroom door. She stepped out dressed in only the underwear.

Suddenly, she shrieked and rushed back inside the bathroom. She locked it shut, before yelling. "Nathan! What are you doing here?"

Nathan, who was comfortably placed on Haley's bed before she emitted that deafening noise after stepping out, paused for a while before answering. He hadn't even looked at her properly. She sprinted inside so swiftly. "Your roommate let me in," he said, walking a few steps towards the bathroom.

"Rachel?"

"No, Santa," Nathan's remarked sarcastically.

Haley rolled her eyes from behind the door. He was so annoying. "Does she even know you?"

He scratched the back of his neck and smirked. "Know would be a decent way to term it."

She thought for a minute. "Ew! That's – that's' –"

"What? She was in good in bed. It was a one-time thing. And now, she wants more. Of course, she would let me in." He shrugged.

"You are disgusting," she said, shuddering at the thought of her roommate and fiancé.

"Well, you're going to be married to this disgusting guy. Might as well get used to it," he said as a matter-of-factly. "And that reminds me why I came. Be there at the registrar office at eight tomorrow."

"What!" she yelled again as she opened the door all of a sudden. "You cannot be serious." Somehow, the fact that she was standing in front of Nathan, simply clothed in her underwear, oddly escaped from her mind.

Nathan was taken aback at her sudden appearance. He subtly let his eyes roam over her body before answering, "In order for this to end quickly, we need to begin soon," he said, regaining his composure.

She bit her lip before replying. "Fine."

"I need to go now. Don't be late. Call me if you need a lift." He couldn't afford to stay there any longer. Who knew her curves were more defined now than when she was in college? And on top of that, she was biting her lip. A second longer and Nathan would have surely acted on his libido.

He walked towards the door to her room, before turning around. This time he didn't bother to hide that he was checking her out.

"By the way, Hales, you should totally wear this on our wedding night."

She looked down at herself and immediately rushed to the bathroom. "Jerk!" she yelled one last time only to be responded with a loud laughter.

Blue was so her color, he thought, smirking.


A/N : Thank you to all those who wanted this to continue. The idea sounds pretty redundant, but I hope you'll be patient. After all, we all love a cheesy Naley. ;)

GottaluvNaley , naleyhumor , 94 and the guest reviewers and all the followers and, of course, the readers - Thanks a lot. You're the best!