AN – Alright, first things first, thank you all so much for the really encouraging reviews you guys left for the first chapter of this story. I'm really overwhelmed at the response the first chapter received and honestly want to thank you all so much for taking the time to leave the reviews, you have no idea how much of a smile they put on my face and I know I've said this before but I really do wish I could sit around all day and write so you guys wouldn't have to wait so long between the updates, but unfortunately real life, a full-time job and occasional spot of wedding planning take up most of my time!
I sent out the sneak peek to those of you that asked for it and as always just some words to those of you without accounts (that didn't ask for a sneak peek and leave an e-mail address) so I couldn't respond personally, and please do keep leaving the comments guys, they really do motivate me like you wouldn't believe. IOU – I'm so pleased you like the beginning of the story. Ha ha, you'll get to see some of what is on the list in this chapter, and the rest of it will be revealed in time and I'm glad that you are excited for the Naley smut! Keeta – Thank you so much for leaving the lovely review and I am so pleased you enjoyed the first chapter, I hope you like this one too! Janine – I am so pleased that you enjoyed the first chapter. Both Nathan and Haley's pasts will all be revealed in time, so I hope you enjoy the story! Judy – Thank you for leaving such a lovely comment, I'm so pleased you are enjoying my stories and I hope you like the update.
I know a lot of you had some questions from reading that first chapter, which I completely understand, but all the loose ties should all fit together at some point. I'll answer what I can in responses to reviews but I don't want to give too much of the story away, especially if the answer will be revealed in the story at a later point.
Okay, so with that said, I just need to say a big thank you to Rebecca, Kristen and Kelly for reading through this chapter for me, you girls are awesome!
Hope you all enjoy the update!
Chapter Two
Haley didn't say a word back to him but inside her head she was shouting every single expletive there was under the sun at Nathan. Her heart was beating so frantically in her chest she was sure that it was going to explode at any given second and she was also one hundred percent positive that the colour residing on her cheeks was about as red as red could get, she could actually feel her cheeks burning. She looked away from Nathan's smug grin and she still hadn't managed to answer the question she'd been asking herself ever since she had laid eyes on that notepad all of two minutes ago. How the hell had he found it? She furrowed her brow as she looked in deep concentration at the oven to the left of Nathan before gasping in absolute horror. She'd left it lying on her bed, open for the whole fucking world to see if they wanted to. She closed her eyes briefly as she reprimanded herself for not having the sense to put it away in a drawer or something at least before she had left the apartment earlier. Now she couldn't even be mad at him for going through her stuff which just sucked because that was the one thing she had been counting on being able to do, as a way of distracting him from asking questions about the damn thing.
"Well?" Nathan pressed as he watched Haley look at everything in the room except him and the notepad. He, on the other hand, couldn't keep his eyes off the thing. He kept sneaking glances down at it, rereading the items listed there, and in all honesty, he still couldn't believe that it was her handwriting he was looking at on the page. He could see how embarrassed she was about it, her cheeks were literally redder than the ripest tomato, but she shouldn't have written this list in the first place if she wasn't prepared for someone to find it, leaving it lying on your bed is just an invitation for someone to read it, isn't it? There was no way he was going to let her duck out of explaining this to him either, especially item one on the list, which had piqued his curiosity immensely because it had to be a mistake or something, surely?
Haley bit down on her lip, wondering how the hell she was going to be able to get away with telling him absolutely nothing, which in all reality, given that she had absolutely nothing to distract him with at all, she knew was impossible. She snuck another glance over at him, and she could tell instantly from the look on his face that he was not going to let this one lie without her telling him the truth. But even so, she was going to damn well try and get away with it. She turned around and began to walk out of the kitchen again. "Come on Nathan, we're already late and if you make me miss hearing 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' you won't be alive tomorrow." She threw over her shoulder nonchalantly as she walked through the door, pretending like the last five minutes had never happened, which is what she wished desperately.
Nathan's smirk grew even wider and he cleared his throat loudly so that she could hear him. If she honestly thought they were going to watch Phantom of the Opera this afternoon then she was sadly mistaken, unless of course she was going to offer up an explanation for this list extremely quickly because otherwise they weren't going to make it to the theatre on time. "Number thirteen, 'have sex in a public place'." He called out to her retreating form, reading from her list of whatever the hell it was, almost bursting into a fit of giggles when he saw her stop walking towards the front door and tense up. He glanced back down at the list, not really needing to read it again because he had in all honesty committed the whole of it to his memory now but still, the dramatic pause was necessary, it would only wind her up that little bit more. "Number seventeen, 'have phone sex'."
Haley ground her teeth and clenched her fists together so hard she was sure her nails were piercing into her skin as she turned around to face Nathan, who was looking at her like the cat that got the cream. She wanted nothing more than to wipe that damn smirk of his face, but she had no ammunition to use against him at all. Except for the fact that she was going to suffocate him with her bare hands if he didn't shut the fuck up right this instant. "Nathan." She said in a low, warning voice, hoping that he would take the hint and zip his mouth firmly shut, hand the notepad over to her and never mention it again. She was, of course, well aware that this wouldn't happen even in her wildest dreams but she could still hope for some compassion and understanding from him, especially as she was literally about to combust with embarrassment.
Nathan smiled evilly before continuing, as she hadn't offered him so much as a word which related to the list he had on the table in front of him and there was no way he was going to back down from this one, he was far too intrigued to let it lie, and rightly so he thought, it wasn't every day that you stumbled across a sex list relating to your best friend. "Number twenty-two..." He started again.
Haley had heard enough, she knew that if she didn't do something soon he would spend the whole of the next hour just reciting that damn list to her and she really didn't want to hear those words, words that she had written, coming from his mouth at all. She literally pounced back into the kitchen and ran for the table, her eyes never leaving the notebook, only Nathan's reflexes were much too quick for her and before she knew what was happening, the notebook was flung up over his head and out of her reach as he stepped away from the table. She huffed in agitation at the fact that she wasn't fast enough and leaned her hands on the table that was currently separating them as she glared at him furiously. "Nathan, give that notepad back to me right now." She said in a stern voice, her breathing deep and flustered as she looked pleadingly into his eyes.
"Not a chance in hell Hales, not at least until you offer up some sort of explanation." Nathan bargained with her. He raised his eyebrow at her, hoping for her own sake that she would accept this deal of his, but he watched as she took an incredibly deep breath and then jumped onto the kitchen table that was separating them. So this was how she was going to play it then? That was fine by him. He shook his head at her; she was only making this worse for herself anyway. Now not only would the notebook remain with him, but she was most certainly going to miss out on hearing 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again', given that she wasn't cooperating with him at all.
Haley marched over the table quickly towards Nathan, nothing but the notebook in her sights. She was absolutely mortified that he had not only found it, but also at the fact that he had read it too. She knew that she wouldn't hear the end of this now for the rest of her life. She could picture it in her head, she was laying on her death bed and Nathan was sitting next to her, his zimmer frame placed in front of him as he said in a shaky old voice 'do you remember that list of fantasies you wrote all those years ago?'. She shook the image from her head and took another step towards Nathan, who had retreated further back into the kitchen, that arrogant glint of his sparkling in his blue eyes. She could tell that he was bursting to tease her some more and so she judged the distance that was present between where she stood on the table and where Nathan stood leaning back against the counter, incensed that it was too far for her to jump and grab the notebook out of his hands. So instead, she placed her hands on her hips, glared at him harshly and just dared him to say one more word about it to her.
Nathan quickly roamed his eyes over her body. God she was pissed as hell. He wouldn't be surprised if she had bruises where her hands were currently digging into her hips so tightly. But he really couldn't resist the teasing and he'd stop as soon as she explained it to him, but it seemed she wasn't going to open her mouth anytime soon, so unfortunately for Haley, the teasing had to continue. He surveyed the current situation, he was effectively trapped at the back of the kitchen and needed to get past Haley so that he could retreated to safety, with the notebook of course, somewhere else in the apartment. But that meant running past Haley and the kitchen table. He needed to keep the notebook safely out of reach from her and then he'd be able to run to his room, or the bathroom, or somewhere where she couldn't get it. He raised his eyebrow at her again, and then decided to make a run for it, knowing that he would be quicker than her anyway so getting past her shouldn't be a problem.
Haley watched Nathan dash past her and knew that she needed to react quickly. He was moving past her and she panicked as she really wanted to get her notebook out of his grasp, so that she could burn it and then deny remembering that it had ever existed. She didn't know what the hell to do, he was clutching the damn thing so close to his chest she knew that she wouldn't be able to pry it out of his hands, but she wanted it back in her possession. It was hers after all.
Nathan was by now just about clear of the table, and thinking that he was safe, he decided to start the teasing again. "You know Hales; you only had to ask me if you wanted to do number twenty-eight, I'd be more than willing to help you out on that one." He said cheekily before letting out a low groan when he felt her jump onto his back suddenly. "God Haley what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Nathan Scott give me that notebook right now or I will dig my nails into your arm so damn hard..." Haley started as she hung onto Nathan's back and wrapped her legs around him, scowling at that fact that he was holding the notebook with his arms stretched far out in front of him so that she couldn't reach it. She hovered her nails above his arm in a threatening position. She meant what she was saying; the nails would start scratching soon if he wasn't careful.
"Do it Hales, I'm not giving you this notebook back until you at least give me an explanation." Nathan goaded as he walked through the apartment with Haley latched onto his back and entered the lounge, swinging wildly as he did so, trying to get Haley off his back but she was hanging on so tightly he knew that he wouldn't be able to get her off him without threatening the safety of the notebook.
Haley breathed in deeply, trying to control both her rage and her embarrassment as she clung tightly onto his body. "I mean it Nathan; I will dig my nails into your arm if you don't hand it over. I'll give you five seconds." Haley warned.
Nathan chuckled just loud enough for her to hear, her nails didn't scare him, he'd deal with the pain because he was absolutely desperate to find out what the hell she had written this list for and so he muttered under his breath. "Whatever. I'd like to see you try and get it." If she honestly thought that he was going to give up so easily then she was sadly mistaken.
Haley didn't think she was supposed to hear his mutterings but she did and this rush of anger washed over her entire body. Why couldn't he just let it go and give the damn thing to her? She grabbed onto his arm with both her hands, not bothering to wait the five seconds she had offered, and clawed her way along it, desperately trying to rein in the notebook that was seemingly tucked away safely in his hand but he was far too strong for her and his hand hadn't even moved an inch from where it was outstretched in front of him despite the fact that she was using all of her brute force, which it turned out wasn't anywhere near enough of a match to the strength of Nathan. "Damn it Nathan, just give it to me!" She shouted in frustration.
"Jesus Christ Haley, mind the ear!" Nathan shouted back as he flinched away from her as best he could, feeling the need to rub his ear for it was ringing now given that she had just shouted right inside of it, but only he couldn't because that would mean that the notebook would be within Haley's grasp, so instead he shook his head quickly, trying to stop the buzzing noise.
"Well just give me it and then I won't need to be shouting in your ear, will I?" Haley returned as she continued to grab onto his arm, which still wasn't moving at all. She could feel all of the muscles in his arm tensing and eventually she gave up, huffing in frustration as she realised that he really wasn't going to give it to her. She slipped down off his body and then sulked her way into the kitchen, pissed not only because he had the notebook, but also at the fact that they were now going to miss out on seeing Phantom of the Opera for sure.
Nathan turned around and watched her walk into the kitchen. He supposed that he should feel bad, teasing her like this, and he could tell from her attitude just how embarrassed she was about it but all he wanted was an explanation. They were best friends, so why couldn't she just tell him why she had written these things down in the first place, that really was all that he wanted to know, and it was pretty reasonable for him to want to know, wasn't it? It wasn't like having sexual fantasies was a crime or anything, nor was it anything to be embarrassed about, if that's what this list was anyway.
He heard her banging away in the cupboards and guessed that she was going to start baking, which is what she did when she was feeling anxious or pissed off; it was something that tended to calm her down. He grinned to himself, glad that he still had the notebook and wondered what the hell he could do with himself now. He didn't want to press Haley any further just yet; she needed some time to cool off. He looked around the living room, and supposed that he could play Gran Turismo on the Playstation for a bit, but then he turned around and spotted the moonwalker that Haley had bought ages ago and decided to give it a go instead, given that he hadn't had much of a chance to get down to the gym in the past couple of weeks as he'd been working late trying to impress his bosses at work. He walked to his bedroom and pulled on a pair of shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt, of course bringing the notebook with him and then walked back into the lounge. He plugged the machine in and placed the notebook on the shelf hovering just above the handlebars and started peddling, entering in all his details onto the thing before selecting a program and upping the resistance.
Haley spent the next ten minutes trying to decide what to bake. She was so worked up and angry at him for teasing her like he was, it just wasn't fair. So she had a few fantasies, did it really matter? Was it really that much of a shock to him that he had to demand an explanation from her? God, all she wanted was for him to drop it and let it go but she knew that wouldn't happen in a million years. She couldn't think straight and so she marched over to the shelf in the kitchen and pulled out one of her cookbooks and sat down at the table as she flicked angrily through the pages, trying to decide on something that would keep her mind suitably occupied while she came up with a game plan, a way of getting that notebook back.
She looked at all the yummy pictures of the cakes as she turned the pages of the cookbook, before she came to Nathan's favourite type of cupcake. She grinned evilly, immediately deciding that they were exactly what she would make, and consequently not offer Nathan any of them, given how much of an ass he was being, she thought it was only fair. She then spent the next fifteen minutes rooting around in the cupboards as she tried to find all the ingredients she would need, and then pulled out her mixing bowl and her wooden spoon as she placed the butter and the sugar in the bowl and began to cream them together.
Nathan had, by now completed twenty minutes on the moonwalker machine, and he also knew that twenty minutes was by far more than enough time for Haley to have decided what she was going to bake, and to say that he was a little intrigued would be an understatement of epic proportions. He was practically drooling all over the machine as he thought about all of the wonderful concoctions she could be making in the next room. Maybe she was making that chocolate fudge cake, given that it was her favourite, or maybe she was baking some cookies. He almost groaned out loud when the next thought flashed through his mind. If she was making cupcakes, he knew that he wouldn't be able to resist eating at least half of the batch she made by the end of the evening. Haley's cupcakes were heavenly, quite honestly the best he had ever tasted in his whole life, and to say he had tried a few would be a severe underestimation of just how many he had eaten in his twenty-five years of existence. If there was one thing that Nathan Scott loved in the world more than anything else, it was cupcakes. He would literally do anything for one.
He continued to move his arms and legs furiously on the machine, hoping that if he moved a little faster, the half an hour he had set the machine to do would finish quicker and he could then go and spy on Haley and see if his wishes of cupcakes were coming true. He closed his eyes and could practically taste one of them; the softness of the frosting and the light sponge of the cake. They really were so fucking good.
He looked down at the machine and saw that twenty-six minutes had passed. Just another four to go and then he could go and see what she was doing. He looked straight ahead of him and continued to push on the machine and after what had to be four minutes, he looked down at the machine, sure that it had broken or something when he found that only thirty seconds had passed since he had last looked at the timer. He whined as he watched the clock move at what had to be extreme slow motion, before it hit twenty-seven. Three minutes. He could wait three minutes, three minutes was nothing. He took a deep breath and continued, repeating the fact that in three minutes he could go and see Haley in his head, only to then give up completely. He pushed the stop button on the machine and jumped off it, grabbing the notebook and then he practically ran into the kitchen. He had to know if she was making the cupcakes.
Haley was beating the butter and the sugar, and had been doing so for the last five minutes, but it just didn't seem to want to cream at all. She lifted the mixing bowl up off the counter and held it tightly to her chest as she continued mixing, putting extra force into her actions this time. The damn thing would cream if she had to stand here all fucking night and wait for it. She knew that she should have given the butter some more time to soften but she was so aggravated and she needed to do something to calm herself down and she couldn't wait the half an hour that would have made this job much easier. Not that she was calm right about now anyway, because the sugar and the butter were not cooperating with her at all.
Nathan slowed his pace as he walked towards the kitchen and stopped in the doorway. Haley had her back to him and he could tell from looking at her that she was mixing something with probably a little too much force than was necessary, which meant that she was still pissed. He knew that he should leave her be, but he was too interested in the damn cupcakes to leave without knowing what she was making. He looked around at the ingredients she had out on the counter tops but that didn't tell him anything at all, because quite frankly he had no clue what the hell went into a cupcake anyway. He then noticed that there was a recipe book lying open on the table and so he tiptoed into the room and looked down at the book, almost squealing in delight at the fact that the cupcake page was open. He wanted to run over to her and hug her, it had been at least a month since he'd had a cupcake, what with him not being able to go to the gym and all he knew that cakes would not be a good idea if he couldn't work them off his body, he hadn't spent all that time in the gym previously to have it messed up by a weakness for a certain type of heavenly, delicious cake.
He looked over at her, and saw that she was still mixing whatever the hell was in the bowl at an extremely high speed and he resisted the urge to hug her, because that wouldn't go down well when she had a wooden spoon in her hands and was still angry at him. If she hit him with that spoon then some of the mixture would be wasted and he didn't want to miss out on any of the cupcakes. He then looked back down at the picture of the cupcake which was on the page and his mouth began to water at the fact that in just a few minutes he could eat one of them. He wondered just how long he had to wait, and so he glanced at the writing on the page only to be distracted by the chocolate fudge cake that she sometimes made which was on the opposite page. His eyes moved hurriedly between the delicious cupcakes which he had a huge fucking craving for, and the not so delicious chocolate fudge cake which would do absolute nothing to quench his desires, before they moved around the room, taking in the ingredients she had out. Which one was she making? He had to know, and he prayed to God that it was the cupcakes. He cleared his throat and watched as Haley jumped and then turned around to face him.
Haley nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Nathan clear his throat from behind her. She scowled as she turned around and raised an eyebrow at him whilst still continuing to beat the butter and the sugar together, which was still not creaming in the slightest. He was all sweaty and disgusting and she wondered what the hell he had been doing, but before she had a chance to ask him, he opened his mouth.
"What are you making Hales?" Nathan asked nicely, hoping to dissipate the anger she was feeling towards him by being pleasant to her as he tried to peer into the mixing bowl she had clutched to her chest, only it was angled so he couldn't see what was inside of it. Please be cupcakes, please be cupcakes. He chanted to himself as he waited for her answer him as patiently as he could.
"Nothing." Haley returned before turning back around and placing the mixing bowl on the counter top as she continued to try to get the damn butter and sugar to cream. There was no way that she was going to let him know that she was making cupcakes when he still had her damn notebook in his hands. She was going to tempt him into giving the notebook back to her with the smell of them baking in the oven. She knew that he would give in, and if he didn't at that stage, then she could always just eat one of them in front of him, which she knew would aggravate him so much he wouldn't have a choice but to hand the notebook over to her.
Nathan breathed in deeply before continuing, getting rather distressed at the fact that she wasn't just telling him, because if she wasn't making cupcakes then he was going to have to go out and buy himself one, even though it wouldn't be as good as her own, he'd got the taste for them now, and he needed one. But he knew that he needed to remain calm otherwise she would tell him anything, especially given that he had already pissed her off with the whole notebook thing, which he still had in his hands. "Well you're obviously making something Hales." He said, stating the obvious.
"I am." Haley returned, her arms growing incredibly tired from all this mixing but she knew that she needed to keep going. The cupcakes were her only hope of getting the notebook back without her having to explain anything to him.
"Well why did you just say you were making nothing then?" Nathan asked as he traced the outline of the picture of the delicious looking cupcake in the recipe book.
"Because I'm making nothing for you, but something for myself." Haley replied as she stopped mixing for a second and shook her arm a little, trying to relieve the ache that was building, before continuing to mix.
Nathan furrowed his brow. She surely wasn't making cupcakes with the intention of not giving him one. That was just pure evil. But then again, she could also be making the chocolate fudge cake she loved so much, almost as much as he loved cupcakes, but not really, because no one loved anything as much as he loved cupcakes. "Well you're obviously making either chocolate fudge cake or cupcakes, so which one is it Hales?" He asked as he looked over at her back, almost begging her to tell him which it was so that his mind could be put to rest. She knew how much this had to be torturing him, surely she would tell him, she wasn't that mean.
"It's none of your business what I'm making Nathan, because you're not going to be eating any of it." Haley returned as she continued to mix, still not making any headway with the still hard butter. "Damn this fucking butter!" She shouted out as she stopped stirring and ran an extremely tired hand through her hair.
Nathan watched, pleased that she was still pissed off because her mood now matched his own. "I bet you're wishing you didn't trade that food mixer I got you for those ridiculously expensive shoes that you can't walk in right about now aren't you?" He asked her snidely.
Haley clenched her fists together and turned around to face Nathan, spying her notebook in his hands as he turned and stalked out of the kitchen in a mood, leaving her alone to cream the butter and sugar that would not fucking cream at all.
~*~
Nathan sat on the sofa in the living room, the notebook placed in his lap as he played Gran Turismo. He was playing the game as a way of quelling his anger but it wasn't really working. He knew that it was silly to be this upset about some cupcakes, but he really fucking wanted one of them now that he had thought about them. He sniffed as that delicious smell of vanilla and sponge wafted through the lounge and he instantly felt better, a smile slowly spreading across his face. She was making the cupcakes and not the damn chocolate fudge cake. He sat back on the sofa and continued playing, the smile now plastered across his whole face at the thought of those cakes being inside his mouth in the not too distant future, before he jerked upright and hit the pause button, suddenly remembering the fact that Haley had said that she was making something that wasn't for him but was for herself. He realised that she wasn't planning on letting him have even one of those little bites of heaven.
He knew that he needed to do some damage control, and quickly because there was no way in hell that he was going to let her have those cupcakes in the apartment without at least five of them being eaten by him, and so he looked down at his watch, noticing that it was nearly dinner time, and he then ran into the bathroom, took a quick shower and then pulled on a pair of jeans and a grey polo shirt, before sprinting out of the apartment, with the notebook in his hands of course. He wasn't letting that thing out of his sight until he had got what he wanted from Haley.
The timer had just gone off on the oven and Haley pulled out the perfect looking cupcakes. The grin currently on her face was spread as wide as was possible and she placed the cupcakes on the cooling rack right by the door to the kitchen, so that Nathan could smell them. She placed her hand on her hip as she admired her handiwork. They really did look amazing, even if she had made them herself. She glanced through the door, expecting to hear Nathan groan at the delicious smell that was wafting through the apartment, only she heard nothing. She wondered if he could smell them at all, was there a draft running through the apartment which mean that the smell of the cupcakes was just being carried into the kitchen and not through into the lounge? She panicked because she really needed him to smell them and so she picked them up with her oven gloves and stood just inside of the doorway, pleased when the steam rising from the cakes wafted through in the right direction.
After standing with the cooling rack in her hands for a whole minute and hearing nothing from Nathan whatsoever, she frowned. Why wasn't he reacting to this? She then slammed the cakes back down on the counter and marched through to the lounge, seeing a game of Gran Turismo paused on the ridiculously large TV screen he had insisted was necessary, and no Nathan sat on the couch. She furrowed her brow as she wandered through the rest of the apartment, looking for him in his bedroom, her bedroom, the bathroom, the study, but he was nowhere to be seen. She noticed that his keys weren't on the hook in the hallway and then realised that he must have gone out. That was just fucking typical.
She then marched into the kitchen and decided to start on the vanilla butter frosting while the cakes were cooling as something to distract her anger at the fact that she had spent so long mixing those ingredients together as a way of getting Nathan to give her the damn notebook back and he wasn't even here to appreciate, or rather be enticed, by her creation.
~*~
Half an hour later, Nathan returned to the building, and he could still smell the faint vanilla of the cupcakes when he walked into the apartment, which just made his mouth water uncontrollably. He walked into the lounge and noticed that Haley was sat on the sofa, having changed into a pair of fleece shorts and a tank top, with her arms crossed over her chest, not even acknowledging the fact that he had just walked in.
He continued down the corridor into the kitchen placed the Chinese he had been out to get, as well as the two bottles of her favourite wine that he had also managed to pick up, and the notebook that was starting to become his latest accessory given that it had been permanently attached to himself ever since he had found it, on the counter and immediately began searching every single cupboard for the cupcakes.
He groaned when he realised that she had obviously hidden them somewhere where he would never find them and so he gave up. He slid the notebook inside his jacket as he wandered to his bedroom, hiding it underneath his mattress as he had meant what he had said. He wasn't letting her have it back until she explained, even if she was going to use cupcakes as a bargaining chip, which he highly suspected was the case. He could resist a fucking cupcake right? At least he hoped he could. He then returned to the kitchen and started to get the food ready, before carrying it back into the lounge and placing it down on the coffee table.
Haley scowled at him as he walked into the lounge and then placed the Chinese food down on the table. She rolled her eyes. He knew Chinese food was her favourite, and she knew instantly, from the containers the food was in, that he had gone to her favourite restaurant to get the takeout, which was further away than his favourite. She instantly felt a little bad at the fact that she was withholding the cupcakes from him, given that he had gone to all this trouble for her, before remembering that her notebook was still being held captive by him, and all thoughts of caving and maybe giving him one cupcake were erased from her mind completely. She watched as he walked out of the room and returned with some plates, cutlery, two glasses and a bottle of her favourite wine.
Nathan sat down on the sofa and handed Haley a plate and some cutlery before opening the bottle of white wine and pouring them both a glass. He handed one of the glasses to her and noticed that she didn't even look at him before she launched herself forward and started to pile the food on her plate. He rolled his eyes at her, she could at least say thank you before diving in, but he brushed it aside because he did still have that notebook of hers. Once she had finished and had settled back on the sofa, he put some food on his plate before switching on the TV and turning it to ESPN, pleased to see that there was a basketball game showing, and that it had just started. He sat back and started to eat as he watched the game.
Haley huffed, wasn't it enough that he had her notebook; he was now taking control of the TV as well? She sat back though and didn't complain at all, for she had her bargaining chip tucked away ready for use as soon as they had both finished eating. She watched Nathan out of the corner of her eye; he was completely engrossed in the game and she always found it more entertaining to watch him than the TV when he watched sports, mainly because some of the facial expressions he made were so funny. She almost jumped out of her seat and chucked her entire plate of noodles on her lap when Nathan shouted something at the TV so loudly, but luckily she managed to save her plate just in time. She scowled at him harshly but he didn't even notice.
Half time was just about coming to an end and Nathan looked over at Haley's plate and saw that she had finished, and so he poured them both another glass of wine before he quickly piled up the plates and the empty containers and ran them into the kitchen, placing the containers in the trash and the plates and cutlery in the dishwasher, giving them a rinse first because otherwise he'd have to listen to another one of Haley's lectures once she discovered the still dirty plates when she unloaded the dishwasher in the morning.
As soon as Nathan left the room, Haley reached over to his side of the couch and grabbed the remote, flipping through the channels until she came to some mindless teen drama that would keep her brain occupied at least for the next fifty minutes or so. She reached down underneath the table which sat next to the sofa and pulled out the carton of cupcakes, picking one out for herself and then closing the lid and returning them to her hiding place. She sat back on the sofa; the cupcake placed by her thigh, ready for use as soon as Nathan came back in the room and began to watch the show, trying desperately to wipe the grin of her face as she didn't want to give anything away. That notebook was going to be in her custody very, very soon, she could almost taste the victory it was so damn close.
Nathan walked back into the lounge and sat down on his side of the sofa, watching the commercials pass on the TV. He looked over at Haley, who was looking more than a little pleased with herself over something, which he thought was strange, but he shrugged it off as he turned his attention back to the TV screen waiting for the game to come back on. He furrowed his brow as some weird, loud and trashy music started to play through the TV and he watched in horror as he realised that Haley had flipped the channel while he had been out of the room. He frantically looked for the remote control, which he instantly spotted on her arm of the sofa. "Haley, switch the TV back." He demanded, not ready to play this stupid game with her.
"No." Haley replied as she took a sip of her wine and placed it back in her lap, her eyes fixated on the TV screen, a self-satisfied grin present on her face, knowing that she was pissing Nathan off immensely, and she almost felt sorry for him, almost, because it was about to get so much worse for him, and he didn't have a clue about what was coming his way.
"Haley, come on, that was a really important game and I was watching it." Nathan whined as he eyed the remote control, which didn't go unnoticed by Haley, as he watched her hand lower onto it protectively. He had no idea how she did that, because her eyes were glued to the TV screen, it was like she had this sixth sense or something.
"I know you were, but it was boring me and I want to watch this." Haley returned, still not moving her eyes off the TV screen.
"But I don't want to watch this Haley, it's nothing but shit!" Nathan moaned as he eyed up the remote, knowing that there was no way he was going to be able to wrench it out of her grasp now, she'd only end up scratching him with her nails or something if he were to try and he was sure he still had the grooves of her nails planted on his arm from earlier, he didn't want any more Haley induced scars on his body.
"Tough." Haley responded, pleased to see that Nathan had seemed to give up arguing with her as he sat back in the sofa, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, his own glaring at the TV, which almost made her chuckle.
She waited until the next ad break, knowing that each passing second that he had to spend watching what she wanted instead of his precious basketball game would wind him up just that little bit more, and then she pulled the cupcake out from where she had been hiding it next to her leg.
Nathan watched Haley shift from the corner of his eye and then turned his head, his mouth hanging open in absolute horror as she took a bite out of one of the cupcakes.
Haley turned to face Nathan just as she took a rather large bite of the cupcake. "Mmmm. So good." She moaned before turning her attention back to the TV, licking off the butter frosting from her lips.
Nathan waited patiently for her to hand one over to him. She had to know how torturous it was for him to watch her eat one of those amazing cakes in front of him, she wouldn't be so mean as to not give him one, not after he had walked all the way to her favourite Chinese takeout restaurant and picked up two bottles of her favourite wine, would she? He knew that the notebook was still in his possession but still, didn't what he had done for her tonight count for anything? Didn't that warrant one measly, little, gorgeous, fucking amazing cake? He watched, his mouth still agape as she took another bite of the damn cake she had in her hand. And he soon realised as she continued to ignore him that apparently, food and wine was not enough for her to share. He knew exactly what she wanted, she wanted the damn notebook. Well she wasn't going to get it. It was just a cake. He didn't need it. I do not want a cupcake. He chanted to himself.
He settled himself back down in the sofa and tried to get into the piece of shit program that she was watching, but now that he had seen the cupcake, he couldn't concentrate on anything but the damn cupcake. God, she was killing him. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she leaned in to take another bite, and he willed his eyes not to look, he didn't want to torment himself any more that she was already doing, but his eyes just seemed to zone right in on the thing. He could feel the growl building in his chest, the temptation was far too much for him to take, and as much as keeping the notebook meant that he would have something to tease Haley about, he just could not resist one of those cakes. He clenched his fists together, calling in his last inch of willpower but it was no use. He needed one of those cakes. He stood up and stalked out of the room to his bedroom, muttering various swear words underneath his breath as he moved out of the room.
Haley sat there with a self-satisfied grin on her face. Her plan was working to perfection and she knew that it was probably just a matter of seconds until he caved and gave the notebook back to her. Only then she watched in disbelief as Nathan got up from the sofa and walked out of the lounge. She heard him walk along to his bedroom and cursed to herself. She hadn't bargained on him removing himself out of the way of the temptation of the cupcake. That hadn't been what she thought would happen at all. She expected him to beg and plead with her until she made her demands, the notebook and no mention of the notebook ever again, she was going to make him sign something if she had to, in exchange for a cupcake, two if he was lucky. But now he had gone and locked himself away in his bedroom, presumably for the rest of the night, which wasn't good, not good at all.
Nathan grabbed the notebook from under his mattress and marched his way back into the living room. He sat down on the sofa with the notebook held firmly in his hands and watched as Haley smiled smugly at him. "How many cupcakes are left?" He asked once he had given her enough time to look at the notebook and realise what was at stake here.
"Eleven." Haley returned, still unable to hold back the smile that was currently plastered all over her face. Her plan was working; he had just hidden the notebook away in his bedroom. She was feeling more than a little pleased with herself right now to say the least.
"I want all of them." Nathan demanded, laying his cards on the table.
Haley scoffed at him. After all the damn trouble she had gone through, beating that butter and sugar together until it felt like her arm was going to drop off, did he honestly think that she was just going to hand over all the remaining cakes to him? "Fat chance." She replied as she took another bite of her cupcake, watching in satisfaction as Nathan eyed it greedily.
God, he really wanted a damn cake. "Ten of them then?" He said distractedly as he watched Haley sink her teeth into the creamy frosting and then the light sponge.
"Three." Haley returned to him with a mouth full of cupcake, going in with a low offer as she needed some room to bargain with him.
"Eight." Nathan responded, licking his now too dry lips, thoughts of eating one of those delicious cakes completely warping his mind.
"Six." Haley responded as she turned to him with a raised eyebrow. She was doubling her offer, and she watched as Nathan furrowed his brow, considering it.
"Seven." Nathan demanded, needing one more because the first one would be demolished in a total of two bites, that was how much he needed it, so if he had seven he could see the demolished cake as an extra one and not feel too guilty about how quickly it had been eaten as he would know that he still had six left to devour at a later stage.
"Okay seven, as long as the notebook never gets mentioned again. Ever, and I mean that Nathan." Haley warned.
Nathan frowned. The notebook was gold as far as being used in future disagreements and was something that was going to be extremely effective as a bargaining tool, he had the thing memorised and he could easily threaten to tell people about it. But the cakes were just stunning. "Deal." Nathan said as he watched Haley lean over the sofa and pull out the container from beside the couch and hand him the first cupcake, which he immediately bit into. "God!" Nathan cried out. "I swear these get better every single time." He moaned with pleasure as he bit into the delicious cake.
Haley handed him the rest of his cakes in the container and rolled her eyes at how quickly he ate the first one, before he handed over the notebook. Haley stood up as soon as she had it in her hands and ran to her bedroom, hiding it away under a pile of clothes in one of her drawers, ready to be burned as soon as was practical, before coming back into the lounge, finding that Nathan had switched the channel back to ESPN. She rolled her eyes as she sat down, seeing two empty cupcake wrappers on the coffee table and watched the game with him, knowing that it would be a completely wasted effort if she asked him to change the channel, and besides, she had the notebook back, and a promise that he would never mention it again, which was exactly what she had wanted.
Once the game had finished, Nathan got up, handed Haley the remote and grabbed the second bottle of wine from the fridge before bringing it into the lounge. He poured both himself and Haley a glass and handed her glass back to her as he took a sip of his own. He then sat back down in the sofa and turned to face Haley, who was channel flicking. "Hales..." He said catching her attention.
"Hmmm." Haley returned as she continued flipping through the channels.
Nathan took a deep breath before continuing. "I know we said that I wasn't going to mention the notebook again..." He started.
Haley immediately stopped flicking through the channels and turned to face Nathan. "I will take the rest of your cupcakes away from you Nathan if you don't shut up right now." She threatened as she briefly glanced at his container of cakes which was currently placed on the coffee table, letting him know that she meant what she said.
Nathan instantly grabbed the box and huddled them to him, there was no way she was going to take them away from him, not when he had worked so hard to get them in the first place, and sacrificed five of them to Haley. "I know what we said Hales, but I just want to know what it is, that's all."
Haley could already feel herself growing red, the blush covering her face. "Nathan I wish you would drop it, it's embarrassing." She said as she crossed one of her arms over her chest and brought the wine glass to her lips as she took a sip.
"Why is it embarrassing? It's only me Hales; you know you can tell me anything." Nathan returned, and he meant it. "Look I'm sorry for being a bit of an ass about it today, but honestly I was just a little bit shocked and confused about what I stumbled upon."
Haley bit down on her lip and raised her eyes to Nathan's, realising it was a big mistake because it only made her want to tell him about the list. He was right, it was only him, they were best friends and she did know that she could tell him anything and he wouldn't judge her about whatever she told him. She took a deep breath and lowered her eyes to her wine glass, suddenly finding it fascinating as she ran her fingers up and down the long stem. "After I broke up with Chase, Brooke thought it would be a good idea for me to write down some stuff. You know like a fantasy list as a way of, I don't know, broadening my mind when it came to sex or working out what I wanted from sex or something,. Not that it worked of course."
Nathan watched her with an earnest expression, his first thoughts about what the list was were confirmed, and he wasn't at all surprised that Brooke had been involved in this thing because it wasn't really very Haley like to do something like that. But there was still something niggling away at him. "Haley?" He asked and waited for her eyes to meet his, and he smiled softly and shook his head at how red she was. "There's nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about gorgeous."
"I know that." Haley replied but she couldn't help that she was. She took a sip of her wine and looked back at the TV, flicking the channels until she settled on some romantic comedy that she had seen a thousand times before, but it would hopefully distract her for a bit and calm down the burning in her cheeks.
Nathan sat back in the chair but didn't take his eyes off Haley. He wanted to ask, but only he didn't because he knew how uncomfortable this was all making her, but he had to know. If this was a fantasy list then it had to be true but it just couldn't be, not after she had been with Chase for five years. He cleared his throat before he started talking. "So item number one on that list..." He started.
Haley turned around to face him. "I know what you're asking Nathan, and the answer is yes, it's true." She said before returning her attention back to the TV, completely dying of mortification.
Nathan tried to wrap his head around it but he just couldn't. He let out a long breath, completely in shock. "So you've never..." He started.
Haley sighed heavily, turning her attention back to Nathan. "No Nathan, I've never had an orgasm from sex." She said and then turned her eyes back to the TV, hoping that now he had the answer he would leave it all alone.
"Wow." Nathan breathed out, completely shocked at this revelation of hers. "But you've..."
Haley rolled her eyes at him. "Of course I've had an orgasm before Nathan."
"Okay, well at least that's something I suppose." Nathan returned, wondering if they were self-induced or not. He shook his head at the thoughts running through his head. He knew that Haley had only ever had sex with Chase and no one else but he still couldn't believe that she was twenty-five years old, and hadn't had an orgasm from sex. He'd understand, obviously, if she'd never had sex before, but she had, and it was just wrong and wouldn't sit right with him at all. "So Chase never..." He started, needing to ask again for clarification purposes.
"No." Haley interrupted him, this time not bothering to take her eyes off the TV screen. "Can you just drop it now please and stick to the deal we made earlier?"
"Did you talk to him about it?" Nathan asked, unable to just drop it like she requested. He had to know if she had bought this up with Chase because being in a five year relationship and having no orgasms from sex? Well she must have talked to him about it, how the hell could she have not?
Haley sighed again, pressing the mute button as she turned to face Nathan. "No I didn't talk to him about it."
"Why not?" Nathan asked, now completely puzzled by all this. "Didn't he kind of know that you weren't climaxing?"
"I faked it, and got very good at faking it." Haley shrugged like it was no big deal. Most girls faked it at some point, didn't they? At least that was what she had read in Cosmo or some other magazine while she had been growing up.
"Every time?" Nathan asked incredulously, wondering how the hell she managed to keep it up. If she had sex regularly with Chase, which is what you would expect from a long-term relationship, well surely she would have just got sick of it in the end. What the hell was she getting out of sex? It shouldn't all be one sided, according to him anyway. Sex was about giving and receiving, not just taking.
"Most times." Haley returned.
Nathan furrowed his brow. "What and the times that you didn't fake it he just got what he wanted and then stopped?" He asked, wondering what the hell kind of selfish that was. He always made sure his partner was satisfied; he'd thought that most men had been the same too.
"Nathan, please can you just drop it, it's not a big deal, honestly." Haley pleaded with him, wanting this subject closed right this instant and to remain closed for the rest of their lives.
Nathan sighed angrily. He didn't know who he was angry at, well mostly he was angry at Chase for being such a selfish fucker but he was also a little pissed at Haley for not telling him, or asking him to do something different. "Hales I'm sorry but it is a big deal!" He retorted a bit more harshly than he had intended, taking all his frustration out on her because she was sitting next to him and Chase wasn't, thank God because if he was he'd be on the floor bleeding by now, after everything he'd done this was just yet another thing for Nathan to hold against him.
"No Nathan, it isn't." Haley returned in a stern tone, feeling incredibly pissed off that he wasn't doing what she wanted him to do, which was to just leave the subject well alone. So she'd never had an orgasm from sex, was it really that big of a deal that they needed to have an argument about it? Her relationship with Chase was in the past as far as she was concerned. Her insecurities might still be with her but she didn't want to have to explain herself to Nathan.
Nathan ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down a little. "Sorry Hales, I didn't mean to say it like that, it's just, why didn't you talk to him about it?" He asked. "I mean you must have got really frustrated with him, why not just tell him?"
"Because Nathan, it's embarrassing!" Haley returned, in a high pitched voice.
"Haley, honestly, you should not feel embarrassed about talking to your boyfriend about sex! I mean for crying out loud! You should have called that selfish bastard up on his shit Hales. What kind of a sexual relationship did you have with him anyway? He can't have been any good at sex; either that or he was too fucking self-absorbed to even think about your needs..."
"Not everything in a relationship is about sex Nathan!" Haley interrupted him as she spun around to face him.
"I know that Haley but it is still a pretty important part of a relationship, you know, being intimate with someone. And you should at least have the confidence to tell him that what he was doing was shit, you know, suggest changing it up a bit or something." Nathan returned.
"I don't think that would have gone down too well Nathan." Haley returned as she took a gulp of her wine.
Nathan frowned. "Haley if I'm being totally honest with you, if I were in a long-term relationship with someone and the girl I was with wasn't enjoying sex, I would want them to talk to me about it." He said.
"Well I didn't feel comfortable talking to him about it." Haley replied defensively. The truth was that she was sure it was her and not Chase and she really didn't want to bring up the fact that she had been faking orgasms every single time that she'd had sex with him because she knew that it wasn't him and he'd put the blame, rightly so, on her anyway. "I mean honestly Nathan, what the hell was I supposed to say? 'Oh by the way Chase, I've been faking orgasms for the past three years'?" She scoffed.
"Yes!" Nathan returned. "That's exactly what you should have said to him." He continued, and then watched as Haley stood up and walked into the kitchen. She was running away from discussing this, wanting the subject to be closed but he needed her to understand that she should have the confidence to talk to her boyfriends about this kind of thing. So he stood up and followed her into the kitchen with his wine glass in his hands.
Haley was breathing deeply, trying rein in the doubts that were bubbling away inside of her. She was sure that Chase wasn't the problem and that she was, in fact, she was more than convinced of that fact. She could feel those treacherous tears forming in her eyes and she tried to blink them away as she walked straight towards the freezer. She pulled out the bottle of vodka and just as she was closing the door she felt Nathan take it out of her grasp. "Nathan give that back." She demanded as she shut the door to the freezer and turned around to face him.
Nathan shook his head at her and placed the bottle of vodka down on the countertop beside him along with his glass of wine. He watched as she wiped at her eyes and wondered why the hell she was crying about this. He hadn't said any of this with the intention of upsetting her, he just wanted her to realise that talking about sex, especially when it wasn't working with someone, wasn't a crime. And now that she was nearly crying, he wanted to just give her a hug. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her back and tried to pull her to him, but she put her hands up on his chest and tried to push him away. He took one step back and looked down at her, seeing that she was currently looking down at her hands and was fiddling with her fingers. He sighed softly at how silly she could be and then placed his hand underneath her chin, raising her eyes to meet his. "What are you getting so upset for gorgeous?" He asked.
Haley looked away from him, not wanting to admit the real reason as to why she was getting so frustrated with herself. "Nothing." She replied before returning her gaze to him and forcing a smile on her face.
"It's obviously something Hales, if it's what I said to you then I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you…" Nathan started, seeing right through the façade she was showing him.
"I know you didn't Nathan." Haley returned, and she knew that he didn't, he was just trying to help, he was trying to make her realise that she shouldn't be such a little girl when it came to these types of discussions, but she just couldn't help it. It was the way that she was and she wasn't sure if that was going to change anytime soon. But regardless of that thought, his words weren't upsetting her, it was her own insecurities. "I'm not upset at what you said." She continued, not wanting him to think that he had made her cry.
"Well then what are you upset about gorgeous?" Nathan asked, the concern etched across his face as his eyes searched her face for answers, but he didn't find any. He watched as her expression changed and knew that she was reinforcing the walls she built up when she was trying to protect herself from something, but if it wasn't his earlier words then he didn't have a clue what is was, which was concerning him deeply. "Hales what is it?"
"It's nothing." Haley returned with a frown on her face and stepped away from Nathan, wrapping her arms around herself as she leaned against the countertop behind her.
"Hales it is something and I want you to tell me what it is." Nathan demanded as he ran a hand through his hair. He could see that she was distressed about something and he just wanted to know what it was so that he could try and fix it. All sorts of thoughts were running through his head but he couldn't cling on to any of them for long enough to completely comprehend what they were. All he knew was that he was incredibly worried about what was according to Haley nothing.
Haley sighed deeply, wondering if she could voice the very thought that had been niggling away at her for almost six years or so. She'd never told anyone this before and she supposed if she was going to tell someone then it might as well be her best friend, but she somehow couldn't find her voice, or the words to begin.
Nathan was starting to get impatient with her. The longer that she didn't tell him, the worse the thoughts in his head were getting. "Haley, did Chase do something to you? Like force himself on you?" He asked, practically having to hold his fists down at his sides to stop them from trembling with anger. He couldn't even begin to think about how much fury would wash over him if that were the case. He would literally hunt Chase down and kill him with his own bare hands if he had done anything of the sort to Haley.
"What?" Haley asked as she flicked her gaze over to him. "Don't be so stupid Nathan, I know he was an ass but he wasn't that much of a bastard." She said as she rolled her eyes and watched as he relaxed a little, but she could tell that he was still tense and the longer she didn't tell him what was on her mind, she knew that he would just become even angrier at her for not telling him.
"Well if it's not that Haley, then what the hell has got you doubling up those walls you build around yourself?" He asked through gritted teeth, really just wanting her to spit it the hell out.
Haley furrowed her brow and took a deep breath as she tightened her grip around herself. "It's about what we were discussing before on the couch." She started, hoping that he could take a hint and work it out for himself, therefore stopping the need for her to actually say the words out loud.
Nathan took a deep breath, pleased that he seemed to be getting somewhere with her now at least and tried to remember what they had been discussing on the couch, the list, number one on the list and the fact that she hadn't had an orgasm from sex before. He tried to connect the dots, the fact that she was upset about not ever having had an orgasm from sex before was completely understandable, but there was more to it than that, he could tell by looking at the way she was standing, biting down on her lip and playing with her fingers nervously, that there was more but he just didn't know what the hell it was. "I don't understand." He eventually said when all the thinking and waiting became too much for him to bear.
Haley continued to gnaw at her lip with her teeth before raising her eyes to his, and then she looked away again, staring down at the floor. It was going to be much easier for her to say this if she wasn't staring at her best friend. "I don't think Chase was the problem." She said quietly.
Nathan had to strain his ears to hear her properly. "You don't think Chase was the problem for what?" He asked, wondering where the hell she was going with this. Of course it was Chase's problem that she hadn't climaxed from sex before, he obviously was shit in bed and didn't have a fucking clue what he was doing. So what the hell was she banging on about now?
Haley lifted her gaze and looked up at Nathan, finding herself completely flustered at the fact that he wasn't getting what she was trying to tell him, realising that she was going to have to just say the words out loud for him to understand. "I think I'm the problem Nathan, I don't think I can orgasm like that." She said, almost shouting the words with the aggravation she felt.
Nathan frowned as her words registered with him and then he realised that she was blaming herself for this, which was just plain ridiculous. He scoffed at her. "What the hell gave you that idea?" He asked incredulously, not believing that she wasn't going to hold Chase responsible for this. He knew that she could be a little insecure about things but he had no idea how she could even begin to blame herself for this.
Haley shrugged. "I don't know, I read some stuff. Some women can't do that Nathan." She responded as she tightened her grip on herself yet again.
"You've got to be kidding me Hales. You honestly believe that this is your fault and not Chase's?" He asked in amazement.
Haley didn't say anything; instead she took a deep sigh and glanced quickly down at the floor before lifting her eyes back to Nathan's, feeling completely exposed.
"Haley please trust me, I can guarantee that you can orgasm from sex, and I can also guarantee that this is entirely Chase's fault and not yours. I can't believe you could even think something like that…" He started muttering to himself.
"Well how the hell can you guarantee that I can Nathan, it's not like I only had sex once for crying out loud." Haley returned back to him, feeling the strange need to defend her theory.
"I know that Hales, but you've only ever had sex with one person." Nathan threw back at her.
"So, that doesn't matter! If I wasn't able to, you know, throughout a five year relationship, and he was, doesn't that kind of confirm the fact that I just can't do it?" She replied.
"No Haley it doesn't, all that confirms is the fact that he was crap at sex." Nathan replied, wanting to bang her head against the wall so that this would all sink in and she would stop blaming herself for it. It was the most stupid thing he had ever heard in his life.
"Whatever Nathan, it doesn't matter anyway." Haley returned before she started to walk out of the kitchen, not wanting to argue with him anymore than she already had about something that she knew was true, whether he was going to accept it or not.
Nathan watched as she began to walk out of the kitchen, finding that his whole brain was distorted with confusion. How the hell could she think such a thing? If she'd had an orgasm before, then she surely knew that she was capable of climaxing, so why the hell didn't she think that she could do it from sex? It just didn't make any sense, and he hated the fact that she was beating herself up about it so much. He had this bothersome feeling that deep down she somehow thought that this was partly why their relationship had ended and he just couldn't have her thinking things like that, not when they were totally unfounded and just plain ridiculous. He spotted his wine glass on the counter and finished it off in a large gulp before placing it back down on the counter. "I'll show you." He said before he had a chance to even stop himself from speaking.
Haley completely froze at his words. She turned around to face him, wondering if he had just said what she thought he had. "Excuse me?" She asked in complete shock, sure that her mouth was hanging wide open.
Nathan shuffled on his feet as he realised what had just come out of his mouth, before straightening up, determined to show her that she was talking absolute shit. "I'll prove to you that you can orgasm though sex." He said clearly, so that she knew he wasn't messing around.
Haley couldn't help but laugh at him. "And how the hell are you going to do that?" She asked as she shook her head at him. "If you are going to prove this to me then that means that we have to sleep together, which…" She said, her voice trailing off as she watched Nathan raise his eyebrow at her in a 'so what' kind of way. He was serious. How the hell could he be serious about something like this?
Nathan breathed in deeply as he tried to rationalise his suggestion to her. "Look Hales, you're beating yourself up about something that I know is completely false and I know that I can prove to you that it is a load of crap. Okay, so it means that we're going to have to have sex to do it, but I promise you that you can orgasm from sex. I can show you that you can and then maybe you can stop blaming yourself for something so silly."
Haley had to stop him before he went any further. "Nathan you and I cannot have sex!" She said in an incredibly high pitched voice, needing him to understand that it just wasn't an option.
"Why not Hales?" Nathan returned quickly. "It won't change anything between us, it'll just be like, I don't know, me doing you a favour. Like when Lucas pushed you in the pool at the summer house when you were seven and I got him back for you, or like when I saved you from Lauren the bitch when you were thirteen and she was taking the piss out of you for scoring so highly in that English test. Or like me paying for your flight home from Chicago when you had no money to pay for it yourself. It's no different to any of that." He reasoned.
"Nathan this is not something like any of that at all, this is something completely different." Haley returned, still not believing that he had just offered to have sex with her.
"It is a favour Haley; I'll be putting your mind at ease, clearing your conscience. I don't want you to go into your next relationship with someone scared stiff to get intimate with them because you don't think you can orgasm from sex. And I know that you will do exactly that!" Nathan threw back at her.
Haley had to frown at that one. He was right, of course. Out of the five hundred or whatever dates that Brooke had set up for her over the last year, the three guys that she had kind of liked had never amounted to anything because of her insecurities, and it was far better to stop anything from developing into more for her after one date so that she wouldn't have to face her fears at a later stage.
"Come on Hales, it'll just be one time and I swear that nothing will change between us. If it does I'll, I don't know… give you back the remaining cupcakes I have left and take you on a trip to London as a way of saying sorry." Nathan pushed again, wanting to do this for her.
Haley had to laugh at that one. "Well you must be pretty convinced that nothing will change between us if you're willing to use the cupcakes as a sacrifice."
"I swear I'll never ask you to make them for me again if anything changes between us Hales, that's how sure I am that it won't." Nathan returned with a smirk.
Haley frowned as she considered his offer, still not sure that it was a good idea, in fact, to Haley it seemed like if she were to say yes to this, that she and Nathan would be walking into a complete disaster zone. "What happens if I don't orgasm?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow in a challenging way.
Nathan raised his back at her in return. "Trust me gorgeous, you will."
Haley had to laugh at his optimism, because she was so sure that she wouldn't. She shook her head, not believing what was going to come out of her mouth next. "Alright fine. Let's see if you can make me orgasm, which, by the way I am totally sure that you won't be able to but anyway, if you want to try then fine. When?"
Nathan grinned at her pessimism, because he was going to make damn sure that she did orgasm so that she knocked all of these stupid irrational thoughts right out of her head. "How about now?" He asked.
"Now?" Haley squeaked. She'd been banking on having at least a bit of time to prepare herself for this.
Nathan shrugged. "Why not now?"
"Because…" Haley started as she looked down at her clothes. She was hardly dressed for sex, all she had on was a pair of shorts and a tank top, but then she realised that it didn't matter what the hell she was wearing because it was Nathan and sex with him didn't mean anything. She then gave up trying to come up with any excuses because if this was just one friend helping out another then it didn't really matter what she was wearing or where or when they did it, did it? But she couldn't help the fact that she had butterflies the size of giant moths fluttering around in her stomach. It had been over a year since she had last had sex, she was right to be nervous about this, wasn't she?
"So you're good with right now?" Nathan asked nonchalantly, trying to ease the tension he could practically feel running between them both and he saw the hesitation from Haley once again, before she slightly nodded her head. "Okay, so where do you want to do it, my room or yours?" He asked, pleasantly surprised that she was going along with this idea of his.
Haley thought about it for a second, where the hell would she feel more comfortable with this? God she had never felt more uncomfortable in her life. It wouldn't matter if they were outside and he was about to lay her on a bed of rose thorns or something, did it really matter where this ridiculous thing was about to happen? "My room." She said and then watched as Nathan walked past where she was currently standing in the doorway of the kitchen and grabbed onto her hand, and began walking them towards her bedroom. "I'm not going to kiss you." Haley blurted out as she walked along with him.
Nathan stopped walking and turned around to face her, rolling his eyes at her. "Fine, no kissing on the lips. I wouldn't want to do that either." He replied and then continued to walk along the corridor with her towards her room.
"What do you mean no kissing on the lips?" Haley asked nervously.
Nathan stopped walking when they were outside her door and dropped her hand from his. "Well Haley I'm not just going to get naked and thrust into you right away, am I?" He said and chuckled as Haley blushed furiously.
"No I suppose not." Haley said while looking down at her fingers which she was currently playing with nervously. "So no kissing on the lips, are there any other rules?" She asked.
Nathan rolled his eyes and opened her bedroom door before walking inside and turning her light on. "Stop trying to overcomplicate this Haley. I already told you, I'm simply going to show you that you can orgasm from sex, that's all."
Haley closed her eyes briefly, wondering if she really should be doing this, before following him inside and closing the door behind her. Her room was a complete state from when she had been trying to find that damn notebook last night and she reminded herself to actually physically hurt Brooke the next time she saw her. Why she had to bring the damn list up with her last night she'd never know, but she was sure in some way that this was all her fault, somehow it had to be.
"So, do you want me to take your clothes off or do you want us to undress ourselves?" Nathan asked her once she had closed the door.
Haley could feel the blush rising to her cheeks yet again and she realised that she couldn't see him completely naked, she just couldn't, it would be weird and to then think that he was going to see her naked was just even weirder. She quickly reached up and flicked the light off, plunging the room into darkness, except for the slither of moonlight that filtered in through her window. "I think we should undress ourselves." She said nervously.
"Okay." Nathan said and took his polo shirt and lifted it up over his head, throwing it down on the floor somewhere. He then reached down and unbuckled the belt on his jeans, before unbuttoning the buttons and sliding them down his legs, letting go of them as they landed in a thud on the floor. To Nathan, this was simply just sex. It didn't mean anything and he had meant what he had said, he was just doing her a favour. He couldn't have her being so insecure about something he could correct.
Haley could hear his clothes hitting the floor and she knew that he had to be naked or nearly naked right about now. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her building nerves and turned around, not really sure why she was doing that as it was dark in the room but somehow it kind of made it a bit easier for her to begin undressing herself if she wasn't facing him. She reached slowly down to the hem of her tank top and pulled it over her head, letting it drop to the floor softly. She then reached down for her shorts and hesitated for a second as she lowered her thumb into the waistband and then pulled them down her body stepping out of them so that she was left in nothing but her underwear and all she felt was just weird, knowing what was going to happen next, it was all strange and foreign and she had no idea what was going to happen if they went through with this. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to find out either. And as much as she knew that was the case, she was also hesitating because she didn't want Nathan to try this and for it not to work. He sounded so convinced that he could do this, so much so that she had almost started to believe him…
Nathan could tell that she was hesitating and as much as he knew that this wasn't the most conventional way to spend a Saturday night with your best friend, he still wanted to do this, she had to know that what happened with Chase was not her fault. He walked over to where he saw the silhouette of her body across the room and wrapped his arms around her waist before lowering his mouth to her neck, placing feather light kisses in the same spot as his thumbs moved in what he hoped was relaxing circles on the skin of her stomach. He had touched her body countless times before, even matching her current state of undress when they would spend weekends up at the summer house playing in the pool, with her on his shoulders, but there was something entirely different about the way she felt to him right now.
God he was kissing her neck and his hands were on her near naked body. What the hell was she doing? She closed her eyes and tried to stop thinking of the disaster she was sure she and Nathan were walking into and she couldn't help the fact that she wiggled away from him and then twisted around to face him. "Nathan I don't think this is a good idea…"
Nathan sighed as she wiggled away from him. "Hales, if you don't want to do this then that's fine, we can stop this right now. I know that you must be thinking that this is going to change things between us but I promise it won't, I'll still be your Nathan afterwards and you'll still be my Haley."
Haley turned away from him again; she wasn't sure why but somehow not looking at him made it easier for her to think. "You promise nothing will change?" She asked, the trepidation clear in the tone of her voice.
"I promise Hales, but as I said, if you don't want to do this then just tell me. We can put our clothes back on and go back into the lounge and watch a film or something." Nathan returned softly as he watched the back of Haley's head nod at him. What the hell did that mean? Did she want him to stop or continue? "Hales..?" He asked.
"It's okay. I mean, I'm fine with this." Haley said quietly as she felt Nathan's hands begin to ghost along her stomach as he stepped forward and lowered his mouth to her neck again. She could feel his warm breath fan out on her skin, tickling her almost, as his fingers danced lightly over her stomach.
"Have you got a condom Hales?" Nathan asked as he hovered just above her skin.
"I went on the pill last month and had a test done at the same time, I'm clean." Haley responded.
"I had one done two weeks ago and I'm fine too, but I'll use one if you want." Nathan said.
Haley shook her head. "No need." She said as she the felt Nathan's lips touch her skin softly, his hands continuing to run over her stomach.
Nathan continued to kiss her neck lightly, his lips landing in exactly the same spot each time as he moved his fingers over her skin. He lifted his mouth up and softly trailed his lips closer to her ear, finding her pulse point and he placed another kiss on her neck right on top of where her pulse was beating underneath her skin. "You okay gorgeous?" He whispered into her skin.
Haley nodded her head and tried desperately hard to relax but there was this voice that was shouting at her in her head, just repeating the fact that Nathan was kissing her neck, that she and Nathan were going to have sex over and over. That everything was going to be different between them once they had finished this.
Nathan moved his hands up to her waist and ghosted his hands up her sides and underneath her arms before he took a small step back from her and then trailed them along the lace of the bra she had on. It was white, he could tell from the moonlight that was shining in from the window and he found the clasp and unfastened it, feeling the material begin to hang loosely on her body. He then trailed his hands up her shoulder blades and then found the straps that sat on her shoulders. He started moving them down her arm as he leaned in and placed a kiss right in the middle of the top of her spine. He could tell that she was still nervous and he kind of was too. "Just relax Hales." He said softly as he lifted his mouth from her skin, peeled her bra off her body and threw it down on the floor.
Haley breathed out shakily and she shuddered when she felt his hands move to the underside of her breast, softly caressing the skin there and she closed her eyes, feeling herself begin to relax a little underneath his touch. She felt his thumbs move in slow circles as they moved up towards her nipples and then she felt his fingers moving in circles around them. She moaned when she felt his mouth land on her pulse point at the same time his thumbs grazed over her hardened nipples.
Nathan could feel her beginning to relax but she was still a little apprehensive. "That's it gorgeous." He whispered into his skin as he opened his mouth slightly and ran his tongue languidly over her pulse point as his thumbs continued to move over her nipples. God she tasted phenomenal, like vanilla and… just like a cupcake or something. He felt her shudder slightly underneath his touch as she moaned breathily and leaned her body further into his.
Haley leaned back into his chest and could feel his hard cock pressing into her back through his boxers. She thought that she would jump away from something like that but she actually found herself getting even more turned on at the fact that it was her who had got him that way. She closed her eyes, feeling that his hands had now left her breasts and were now trailing down her stomach. She flinched slightly from his touch when he ran over a particularly sensitive spot on her skin.
Nathan smirked into her neck when he felt her shudder from where his hands were moving, as he already knew where all her tickle spots were.
"Shut up Nathan." Haley said with a grin on her face, her eyes still closed, knowing that he had run his hands over the sides of her ribs on purpose.
"Make me." Nathan mumbled as ran his teeth along her neck and felt her giggle underneath him, which in turn caused him to start laughing too, given that his hands were currently running over her half naked body, his cock was pressed into her back and he was about to take her panties off, yet they still had managed to find something to bicker about with each other.
Haley shook her head slightly as she felt Nathan's mouth close over the skin of her neck, pleased that even in the middle of all this, they were still the same old Nathan and Haley, which helped ease her doubts of things changing between them afterwards somewhat. She felt his fingers hook into the waistband of her panties and she stopped laughing as she felt his mouth move over her skin towards the back of her neck, leaving a trail of kisses as he did so and then he started to leave butterfly kisses all over her back as he lowered her panties to her ankles, and she stepped out of them. Her breathing had increased tenfold as she realised that she was now standing completely naked with her best friend standing behind her, but somehow the tension had just evaporated between them. She felt Nathan move back up her body and he took one of her hands in his. She twisted around as he walked them both towards the bed.
Nathan turned around to face her as he reached the side of the bed and smiled down at her as he looked into her eyes, seeing no hint of nervousness in them at all, which he was slightly surprised about. In all honesty he thought that she should have run away screaming as soon as her bra was off.
Haley lowered her eyes to his chest and reached out as she placed her hands on his body. She had obviously seen him half naked before and she couldn't deny that he had a good body. She ran her fingers down the middle of his chest and started to trace the lines of his ab muscles, until her hands found their way to the waistband of his boxers. She bit down on her lip as she pushed her hands underneath the elastic and then trailed her hands to his hips before lowering them down his body. He stepped out of them and then as she stood up to him again, she felt his hands wrap around her back as he lifted her off the floor. She wrapped her legs instinctively around him as he turned them around and lowered them to the bed.
Nathan felt Haley's legs unwrap from around his waist as she laid them out on the bed with her knees in the air. He was still sat in between them and he smiled down at her from his position above her before his eyes roamed over her body. You'd have to be a blind fool if you didn't notice that Haley was attractive. He lowered his mouth to her chest as he shifted down on the bed and left three kisses in between her breasts as his hand trailed up her leg before slipping to the inside of her thigh. He then trailed his finger closer until he found her slit and then trailed his middle finger up until he grazed it lightly over her clit, finding her wet and ready for him. He felt her arch her back and lift her hips towards him, wanting more, but he knew that her body at least was ready for him. He ran his finger lazily over her clit and could hear her heart thudding in her chest.
Haley gasped when she felt Nathan's finger graze over her clit, the tingles already beginning to make themselves known inside her body. She felt Nathan smirk a little into her chest before he lifted his head up from her body. She licked her lips and then he climbed up her body again until his face was hovering above hers. She could feel his hard cock pressing against the top of her thigh and she almost moaned at how close he was to her. She couldn't believe how much she wanted him inside of her. It had been a whole damn year since she'd done this with someone and the craving for sex was making itself known.
"Last chance to say no gorgeous. Are you sure you want to do this?" Nathan said as his eyes roamed over her face looking for any hint of apprehension. But all she did was nod her head at him and wrap her hands around his neck as she looked into his eyes, and he was then sure that she wouldn't regret this, because that was the last thing that he wanted to happen. If he had seen any hint of trepidation in her eyes, he would have stopped. But he was more than a little happy that he hadn't found any because he was so close to her now and needed to be inside of her, the anticipation had been building ever since they had walked into her room and it was getting almost too much for him to bear.
Haley felt his finger move from where it had been on her clit and she whimpered at the loss. She watched as he chuckled above her and she moved her hands down his back and slapped his other arm that was holding up all his weight to the side of her shoulder playfully.
Nathan rolled his eyes at her before wrapping his hand around his cock and guiding it towards Haley. He ran his cock up and down her slit a few times, coating his cock with her juices, looking down into her eyes one last time.
Haley could see the silent question he was asking her, knowing that he was asking her one last time if she wanted to do this before it was too late for her to say no. She nodded her head once and then felt him push his cock inside of her. She closed her eyes and she heard Nathan groan above her as she bit down on her lip as he entered her to stop herself from moaning out loudly.
"God Hales you're so damn tight." Nathan groaned as he started to move his hips in and out of her, while lowering his mouth to her neck and leaving hot, wet kisses over her skin.
Haley could feel how big he was, he was so much bigger than Chase had been. He was literally filling every part of her, and it just felt so good. He started in a slow pace, entering her with controlled deep thrusts and she couldn't help but moan softly at the sensations building up inside of her. She felt him pick up the pace a little, which she was damn thankful for because his previous slow motion thing was starting to drive her crazy with wanting more. She could feel him hitting spots deep inside of her that she never knew had existed and she found herself wanting him deeper and wanting more from him. She lifted her legs up of the bed and wrapped them around his waist, and lifted her hips to meet him, gasping as she felt him go deeper, just like she had wanted.
God Nathan could feel himself going even deeper and damn it he needed to up the pace even more because he wanted to feel more of her. Her legs were now wrapped around his waist and he could feel her hips rising up to meet him thrust for thrust and as he upped the pace, she continued to lift her hips up towards him, matching his increased speed and he couldn't help but groan at the feel of just how tight she was around his cock.
He was going even faster now but Haley still wanted more. This tingling feeling that had been a distant tremor inside of her body was building and building from deep inside of her and all she wanted was more. She dug her heels into his ass, hoping that this would encourage him to up the pace even more, which it did. By now her breathing was so erratic she was practically gasping for air and she felt Nathan's mouth continue to work her neck and she couldn't help the light moans that were falling from her mouth.
Nathan lifted his mouth from her neck and hovered above her as he continued driving into her at a completely frantic pace, changing the angle of his hips slightly, as he felt his cock brush against the top of her inner wall. He watched as her back arched into him and her eyes looked up to him, almost in wonder and he could feel her body begin to respond to his efforts.
The tremors were now developing into full blown waves and Haley could feel her body begin to tighten. She looked up into Nathan's eyes, completely taken by surprise at what was happening to her body. "Nathan?" She moaned.
"Yes gorgeous." Nathan returned breathlessly as he continued to thrust into her body, feeling her body start to shudder slightly underneath him.
Haley breathed in sharply as he hit that spot inside of her again. "I think I'm coming." She breathed before her body seemed to explode as wave after wave of pleasure ran through her body. She could hear herself softly moaning his name as her orgasm continued to rip through every single inch of her body, making her tremble and shiver involuntarily underneath him.
With two more thrusts, Nathan felt his cock twitch inside of her and he came too, her name dripping off his lips as he stilled his movements and rested his head just above her shoulder on the pillows beside her. He waited a few moments before his breathing calmed down slightly and placed a single kiss on the top of her shoulder before pulling out of her and rolling onto the bed next to her, never feeling more pleased at seeing a woman orgasm from his efforts before.
Haley couldn't believe that she had just had an orgasm like that. She continued to breathe in deeply as she started up at the ceiling from her bed. She could hear Nathan breathing just as heavily next to her and she furrowed her brow as she waited for the awkwardness to begin, because it had to come didn't it. You couldn't do something like that with your best friend and it not be awkward, could you? She desperately didn't want it things to be uncomfortable between them and with each passing second she could feel that sinking feeling grow in the pit of her stomach. She then felt Nathan lift himself up onto his elbows before he jumped out of the bed completely.
Nathan rooted around on the floor for his boxers, eventually finding them and he slipped them back onto his body. He also found his polo shirt on the floor and threw it onto the bed towards Haley. "Here." He said as he heard his top land on the bed and he then walked towards the door, placing his hand on the doorknob, ready to walk out of the room.
"Nathan…" Haley said in complete distress as she slipped his polo shirt over her head. Why the hell was he just walking out on her like this? Did he regret what they had just done? God she didn't know what the hell she would do if they had just completely ruined their friendship.
"I'm just going to get a cupcake and find Phantom of the Opera Hales; given that we didn't go and watch the show today I thought we could watch the film instead." Nathan responded, knowing exactly what she was saying his name like that for. He rolled his eyes, wondering why she thought things would be any different between them after what had just happened. "Oh and by the way, I think I earned the right to say I told you so." He teased as he turned around and leaned against the door, looking at her as she sat up in the bed facing him.
Haley shook her head at his arrogance. "Whatever Nathan, I totally faked that. I told you I was good at it." She said dismissively a grin etched over her face.
"Haley you might be good at faking it, but you certainly aren't that good at faking it. And anyway, I know when a girl is faking it, and you were doing nothing of the sort. So don't lie to me." He returned with a smile as he opened the door and walked down the corridor of the apartment into the lounge to grab a cupcake and find the DVD.
Haley giggled quietly to herself as she stood up from the bed, slipped on a new pair of panties and her shorts and then walked towards the door. She looked back at her bed, still in complete surprise that she had just not only had sex with Nathan but also at the fact that she'd had an orgasm from it too. She had just started walking down the corridor towards the lounge when she had an idea and ran back into her bedroom, flipped the light on and rooted around in her drawer until she found the notebook she had underneath the pile of clothes. She grabbed a pen from her desk and opened it up at the page entitled 'Haley's Sex List', placing a tick next to item number one. She grinned down at her list, wondering how much longer she was going to have to wait before she could tick any more of the items off it, pleased at least that the next time Brooke asked her, she could say that yes she had ticked something of it.
"Come on gorgeous, I'm about to press play." Nathan shouted with a mouth full of cupcake, the remote control in his hand pointed at the TV, wondering what was taking her so long.
Haley giggled softly to herself again, knowing from his muffled voice that he was already tucking into his cupcakes before she snapped the notebook shut and placed it back in her drawer, hidden underneath all the clothes. She hoped she wouldn't have to wait too long to tick something else off the list, but for now, she was just thankful that she still had her Nathan. She stood up straight and walked to the door, glancing back at the bed as she switched off the light and ran down the hallway to the lounge. "I'm coming." She shouted and entered the lounge to find Nathan chuckling loudly. "What?" She asked, wondering what in the hell he was finding so funny.
Nathan managed to get a hold of himself and turned to face Haley, only to find that he burst into another round of giggling. He eventually stopped long enough for him to speak. "I'm just remembering the last time you told me you were coming." He laughed.
Haley shook her head at him, instantly realising that he was referring what they had just done, and she picked up one of the pillows from the sofa and whacked him around the head with it.
"Hey! Mind the cupcake!" Nathan screamed as he tried to protect the cupcake from another one of Haley's blows.
"Say you're sorry for being an ass then." Haley said as she held the pillow out, ready to strike again. She eyed his cupcake this time, threatening to hit it instead of him, it would probably hurt him more so if she knocked the cupcake onto the floor instead of hitting him around the head with the pillow anyway.
Nathan watched her eyes zone in on the cupcake and he knew he needed to protect it. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry for being an ass." He repeated and breathed a sigh of relief when she lowered the pillow and sat down next to him.
"Just so you know, I did fake it." Haley returned to him, knowing that he wouldn't believe her but still it was worth a shot.
Nathan chuckled. "Did not."
"Did." Haley returned.
"Didn't." Nathan quipped back.
"I did!" Haley responded as she folded her arms across her chest.
"You so did not!" Nathan returned incredulously.
"Nathan?" Haley said.
"Yes gorgeous?" Nathan responded.
"Shut up and press play." Haley instructed.
Nathan grinned at her and then pressed play on the remote before wrapping his arm around Haley as he pulled her into him.
Haley settled down beside him, her head resting on his shoulder and smiled as Phantom of the Opera started to play on the TV. It wasn't as good as seeing it live, but it would do, and besides the only thing she really cared about was the fact that it seemed that having sex with Nathan hadn't changed anything at all, which she was more than a little thankful for.
AN – Okay, so there's chapter two, and they've had sex and everything seems to be back to normal between them… but for how long?!
Please let me know what you thought of the chapter by dropping me a review.
And as with the first chapter, and the rest of my stories, I'll be offering a sneak peek for the next chapter, just let me know in your review if you want it and I'll get it out to you as soon as it's written.
Thanks!
