Hey, everyone. Before going to chapter 2, I wanna thank you all for the awesome reviews. You guys are great!! Enjoy chap 2 and let me know what you think. Cheers. :)
--------
Chapter 2. Tonight's Forecast: Thunder Storm With A 100-Procent-Chance Of Bitchiness.
--------
Quote of the day: the people of the Office, episode 2x22
Michael: Okay, you know what? I will not donate my winnings to Comic Relief. Since, apparently, it doesn't exist. I am going to donate to Afghanistanis with AIDS.
Jim: Whoa, I think you mean the Aid to Afghanistan.
Michael: No, I mean Afghanistanis with AIDS.
Phyllis: Afghani.
Michael: What?
Phyllis: Afghani.
Michael: That's a dog.
Pam: No, that's afghan.
Michael: That's a shawl.
Dwight: Wait, canine AIDS?
Michael: No, humans with AIDS.
Creed: Who has AIDS?
Jim: Guys, the Afghanistanannis. (grins)
------------
Day 1. 3 pm.
We've been on the road for 5 hours now. That's 300 minutes… which is 285 minutes more than I expected to last in this car. What have we done in the past 5 hours? Let's recap, shall we?
We have argued, respectively, about radio stations, his speeding, which way would be the quickest, his crappy music, his speeding, when to stop for lunch, where to stop for lunch, why the hell we didn't stop for lunch, his speeding, his even crappier taste in music, my awesome "Do you think I'm sexy" ring tone that he for some reason can't stand which meant I played it over and over again just for the kicks, when to stop for dinner, where to stop dinner and just a moment ago we argued about the A/C in the car. Oh, and his speeding.
I'm telling you, it's only day 1 and we're already running out of subjects. Thank god I can always insult his basketball skills. And then there's always his speed-
"Did you just fart?" Haley asked dropping the pen she was holding.
"Maybe." Nathan said with a grin.
"You're disgusting!" she yelled while pushing the button to open the window a little bit. "Why do you have to be such a pig?"
"I thought pigs were cute." He said.
"Pigs are disgusting! And so are you! And what kind of person refuses to stop for lunch when the other person is hungry?"
"The kind that was smart enough to bring his own lunch, maybe?" Nathan suggested waving the bag of chips he'd been munching the whole day in the air.
"Ever heard of sharing, asshole?"
"Ever heard of shutting up?" he asked eating the last of the chips and turning the music louder.
"And can we please change the goddamm CD? I'm starting to get sick of this shit."
"I happen to like my choice of music very much."
"It sucks! There's a reason why rap and crap rhyme!"
"What?" he asked turning the music even louder and pointing at his ears as if he couldn't hear her. Haley huffed in annoyance and reached for the pillow that was on the second row of seats behind them.
"I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. Let me know when we stop for food. Any food! I don't care!" Haley yelled. "Ass." She muttered while leaning on the window, holding the pillow over her ears to block the music.
Nathan looked at her with a grin and chuckled. Haley reached out to take her diary and opened it in fury.
Yes, he's starting bug me. Apparently he loves fighting with me for some reason. I think he gets some weird satisfaction seeing me pissed off. I don't care but I just wanna wipe that fucking smirk out of his face! God!
Haley dug her vibrating cell phone out of her pocket and looked at the caller id. She flipped the phone open and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Lucas, hi... Hello? I can't hear you, Luke. Just hold on... Hey, Dipshit! Can you turn the goddamm music down?! I'm trying to have a fucking phone call here!" Haley yelled at Nathan. He looked at her for few seconds before reaching to turn the music down. "Thank you." She said sarcastically and put the phone to her ear again.
"Hi, Luke!" Haley said sweetly. "Oh, everything's perfect, just dandy. Right, Nathan?" Haley asked from Nathan and flipped the phone so the speaker was towards him.
"Awesome." He said in a monotone, bored voice.
"You see?" Haley said flipping the phone back cheerfully. "Yeah, ain't this great... She's there?... Sure, put her on the phone. Later, buddy." Haley said waited for Brooke.
"Brooke? Yeah, hi... No, everything sucks! This is the worst idea ever and I'm so close to slashing my wrists but this goddamm car just doesn't have anything pointy enough." Haley said and turned to look at the pair of scissors Nathan offered her before she had even finished her sentence.
"Where the hell did you get these? Very funny. I'm surprised you'd be willing to get your new car bloody." Haley said to Nathan.
"In your case?" Nathan asked. "In your case, I'd be willing to slash the tires, tar and feather the leather seats and smash the windshield with my very own wrists while being well aware that I'd be jeopardizing the ability to ever play ball again." He said in a sweet voice.
"You'd be willing to quit basketball for me?" Haley said faking to be touched.
"To get you out of this car? Out of my life? Yeah, I'd consider it." he said annoyed.
"Can you feel the love?" Haley asked sarcastically from Brooke and listened to her for a while. "No, you have to fix this! Book me on the next flight!... But-... I don't-... Brooke-... It's not-... Fine... I said fine!... Ok, bye." Haley said and flipped the phone shut annoyed.
"What did she want?" Nathan asked.
"She wanted to make sure we don't get her dresses bloody." Haley said and looked at Nathan's hands. "So you might wanna put the scissors away."
Nathan looked at the scissors and threw them on the dashboard.
"Dangerous much?" Haley asked. "If you slam the breaks those things will fly straight to my face."
Nathan turned to look at her with mischievous look.
"Don't you dare!" Haley said grabbing the scissors from the dashboard and pointing them at Nathan's direction.
"I wasn't going to." He said pouting.
"Yeah, right. The minute I turn my head you'll be putting these back on the dashboard."
"One can only hope." He muttered.
"Ok, I'm done. I need food. Now! And coffee. First gas station you see, we stop!" Haley said waving the scissors madly in the air.
"Ok, put the scissors down. We'll stop, just put the scissors down." Nathan said looking sternly at the scissors as if they were about to attack him any second. Haley reached to open the glove compartment and threw the scissors there before closing it.
"Happy?" she asked.
"Very."
"Awesome, now let's find a gas station before I lose it." Haley said right when Nathan took the first exit out and drove to the gas station that was close by.
"Thank you." Haley yelled and jumped out of the car before Nathan had even put it on park.
"You're welcome." He yelled after her while unbuckling. "You psycho..." he mumbled under his breath.
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" Haley asked while filing her nails bored. After a 15-minute-break they were now back on the road.
"No!" Nathan said.
"Hey, I'm an excellent driver." Haley said.
"Sure you are." Nathan said disbelievingly.
"You should take a break, Nate. You've been driving for 8 hours now."
"Didn't know you cared."
"I do care..." Haley started. "... about my health. If you crash this car because you're tired and the crash in itself doesn't kill you, I will."
"Unless you're the one who's dead." Nathan pointed out.
"Then my brothers will kill you." Haley said.
"Ooh, I'm so scared. Are they as big of nerds as you are?"
Haley stopped filing her nails and turned to look at Nathan surprised.
"You don't know my brothers, do you?"
"Hell no. Why?"
"No reason." Haley said innocently. "You'll meet them during this trip."
"Like I care." Nathan singsonged.
"Well, you should." Haley singsonged back.
"Well, I don't." He singsonged.
"Just get us to New York, will you." Haley said in her normal, annoyed voice.
"Trust me, I'm trying. 2 more hours."
2 hours later
"I'm telling you, we missed the exit."
"Nathan, just follow the MapQuest instructions! What's so damn hard about that?"
"MapQuest sucks! You suck!"
"Very mature, Nathan, very mature."
"Shut up, I'm taking this exit."
20 minutes later
"Nice job, asshole."
"Hey, I got us to New York City."
"We're in the Bronx!"
"Shut up, bitch and let me just concentrate on getting us to Manhattan."
"And not killed, Nathan. Not killed would be nice."
"Finally..." Haley muttered when they finally got in front of the hotel. She jumped out of the car and went to open the truck where her suitcases were. She took the smallest one out where she had packed all the stuff she would need during the road trip.
"Hey, at least I got us here." Nathan said while throwing the keys to the valet and taking his duffel bag out of the trunk.
"Let's just get the damn rooms and not see each other until tomorrow night when we have to deliver the dress." Haley said while making her way to the reception. He followed Nathan and almost hit the front door of the hotel when he didn't hold it open for her.
"You could hold out the goddamm door, you know." Haley said annoyed behind him.
"Whatever." He said just as they reached the reception.
"Welcome to the New York Helmsley, how may I help you." The receptionist said.
"Yes, hello. We had a reservation for two rooms under the name of Davis, Brooke." Haley said politely.
"Davis, Brooke? Let me check... Oh, she was the one that called this morning. Said that only two people would be coming so she cancelled the reservation for the other room." The receptionist said smiling. Her smile faded quickly when she saw the shocked, angry looks on Haley and Nathan's faces.
"You fucking kidding me?" Nathan cursed angrily.
"Ex-cuse me?!" Haley said more polite but still just as angrily.
"Miss Davis called here earlier-"
"We heard you the first time!" Haley snapped. "Listen to me, woman." Haley started and Nathan looked at her surprised. He knew that she could be mean to him but he had never seen Haley give attitude to anyone else than him, especially to some stranger.
"We've had a very long day. We have driven over 600 miles. We've been in the same car for over 10 hours now and we are gonna be in that same car for the next 9 days so there's no goddamm way we're gonna be spending the nights in the same room as well."
"But-" the receptionist tried to say but Haley wasn't done.
"So, this is what's gonna happen. You will give us our original reservations back. We will have two rooms as planned and in return we promise not to make your life a living hell, which we will if we're stuck in the same room. Capiché?"
"Miss, I'm sorry but we're full." She said now looking even more scared.
"This is unacceptable." Haley said. "We want two rooms! We need two rooms!"
"We can comp your food and drinks but room-wise there's nothing we can do. We're full. I'm so sorry."
"No, this is unacceptable." Haley said.
"Wait, free food and beverage?" Nathan asked.
"Yes, we will certainly do that but unfortunately there are no extra rooms available."
"No, we're leaving." Haley said stubbornly.
"Haley, a word." Nathan said and dragged the protesting Haley away from the relieved looking receptionist.
"What?!" she snapped when Nathan stopped them.
"Free food and free drinks?" he hissed.
"Yeah, so?" Haley asked and Nathan rolled his eyes.
"Addition to being a bitch, are you a goddamm idiot as well? That's a pretty good deal." Nathan said.
"You think they will let you have alcohol? The last time I checked, we were both underage."
"Not according to Brooke's fake i.d's." Nathan said grinning. "The reservation is under Brooke's name anyways, not ours." Nathan said. "Come on, I know you have a fake id as well. Don't be such a bitch."
"Argh, you don't even see how frigging annoying you are being." Haley said wanting to strangle him.
"All part of my charm." Nathan said with a grin. "Come on, Haley. I'll owe you one."
"Fine! But you leave me the hell alone." Haley said.
"Deal."
"Deal." Haley said and Nathan dragged them back to the reception.
"Miss, we thought about it and I guess we'll take that one room." Nathan said and flashed her a grin as Haley tried her best not to roll her eyes.
"Great! Again, we're very sorry for the inconvenience."
"Here are our id's." Nathan said and they both showed their fake id's to the receptionist. So relieved that Nathan and Haley were cooperating, the receptionist barely even looked at the id's.
"What would you like to have?" she asked politely.
"Beer." Nathan said.
"White wine, please." Haley said politely. She was looking forward to a quiet night, taking a long bubble bath while sipping some wine.
"Here are your room keys, you will be staying in the 26th floor." She said and snapped her fingers at one of the bellboys direction. "Jason here will take care of your bags. Have a great stay and if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask."
"Oh, we won't." Haley said smiling.
"So, what are your plans for tonight?" Nathan asked as they waited for an elevator.
"Do you really care?" Haley asked and looked up when she heard the sound of elevator doors opening.
"Nope, not really." He said as they stepped inside the elevator and pressed the right floor.
"Awesome." Haley said bored.
They waited in silence as the elevator passed the first 25 floors before finally stopping on the 26th. They exited the elevator, looked for their room and opened it.
"Not bad." Nathan said looking around. The room had two big beds, a TV and a nice looking bathroom.
"What did you expect? It's a four-star hotel." Haley said and went to check the view. "Oh my god!" Haley said looking out the window her eyes wide.
"What?" Nathan asked and came to stand next to her. "Wait, is that the-"
"The Empire State Building." Haley said looking at the tall building that they could see in the distance between two skyscrapers.
"We can see the Empire State Building from our hotel room, how friggin' awesome is that!" Nathan said excited.
"Pretty nice... Have you been on it?"
"Yeah, once. My mom, dad and I came here for spring break when I was in junior high."
"Sounds like fun." Haley said mesmerized by all the lights in the city.
"Yeah, it was until my dad decided to ruin it all like he normally does."
"Sorry." Haley said sincerely.
"Thanks."
They stared at the people, the cars, the buildings for few minutes in silence both in their own thoughts. The first comfortable moment they'd had so far broke when there was a knock on the door. Haley went to open the door.
"Evening, I have your bags and your beverage." Jason, the bellboy, said.
"Thanks." Haley said and let him inside. He set the beer and the wine bottle on the counter on ice and brought the bags inside. She tipped him and closed the door.
"So, I'm gonna take a long bubble bath to relax from all the anger and annoyance that the day with you so far has caused." Haley said opening her suitcase.
"Whatever." Nathan said taking his cell phone out of his pocket and started to look for his friends' numbers.
"So, you do what the hell you wanna do." Haley said.
"I will." He said not taking his eyes off of the phone.
"I'm probably getting up early tomorrow." Haley said while taking some stuff out of the suit case.
"Don't wake me up." Nathan said. "What time did we have to take the dresses to that woman?"
"8 pm. But you can just leave the car keys to me and I'll take care of it." Haley said and grabbed the wine bottle and the opener and started to open it.
"You think I'm gonna let you drive my car? Alone? In Manhattan? Hell no."
"Fine, so meet me at 7.30 pm in the lobby." Haley said annoyed that he didn't trust her more.
"Fine." He said.
"Don't be late!" Haley said and lifted the bottle opener until the cork was out of the bottle.
"Don't be late." He mimicked her in a high voice. Haley just rolled her eyes, grabbed change of clothes, the ice bucket that had the bottle and a glass before slamming the bathroom door shut behind her.
Nathan opened one can of beer and sipped it while scrolling down his name list until he found his friend's number. He pressed call.
"Tom, it's Nathan... What's up, man... Yeah, I'm in the city... We're at the New York Helmsley hotel... It's on the 42nd street, between 2nd and 3rd avenues... We still going out tonight?... Awesome, where do you wanna meet?" Nathan listened to his friend on the phone and suddenly looked towards the bathroom door with a wide grin.
"Yeah, of course the whole gang can come here. Room 2641." He said and flipped his phone shut the smirk never leaving his face.
Haley had just left another message on Chris' answering machine, finished her hour-long bath and almost half a bottle of wine and was in the process of starting to blow dry her hair when there was a knock on the front door of the hotel room. She heard Nathan make his way across the room and open the door. Expecting him to have ordered room service or more beer, she was surprised to suddenly hear load voices.
"Nate-dawg, so good to see you!" Nathan's friend Tom said.
"You too, man. Hey, come on in!" he said and let Tom and two other guys from High Flyers in.
"Man, we had to sneak past the reception to get here." Josh said.
"Nice, who wants beer?" Nathan asked
"ME!" they all said and laughed.
Soon the guys' smiles turned into wide grind and few of them even whistled. Nathan who had his back towards the bathroom door, looked at the guys confused.
"What the fuck, Nathan?" Haley asked behind him annoyed.
Nathan rolled his eyes when he heard her voice and turned to look at her. She was standing by the bathroom door wearing a small pair of shorts and a tight tank top and obviously no bra. Her hair was still wet and her other hand was firmly placed on her hip. She was tapping her foot on the floor annoyed and glaring at Nathan. Nathan swallowed hard and concentrated on getting himself together.
"Oh, it's you." He said and went to open another can of beer to distract himself. By the time he had taken a swig out of it, he was back to being his normal confident self. He sat down on Haley's bed, spilling a little bit beer on the blanket and looking at her with smirk that drove her crazy, and not in a good way.
"Argh, get up!" Haley said walking up to him and leaning down so she could start swatting Nathan on the arm. He easily grabbed her wrists and held them.
"Haley, you're being rude." Nathan said still holding her. Haley looked over her shoulder at the three guys. She then looked at Nathan and finally decided to calm down. She got up, freeing her hands from Nathan's grasp and turned to look at the guys with a wide, bright smile.
"Hey guys, what's up. I'm Haley, sorry about that... Nathan and I have some, uh, unresolved issues." She said glaring at Nathan's direction before turning to look at the guys again with a smile.
"Hey, no worries. I'm Tom, and these gentlemen here are Josh and Mike." One of the guys said and Haley shook hands with all of them.
"So, you guys are actually free willingly hanging out with Nathan?" Haley said and laughed with the guys.
"So, I take it that you two aren't the best of friends?" Mike asked.
Haley and Nathan looked at each other thinking of a way to explain how they felt about each other.
"That's an understatement." Nathan said.
"Yeah, the only thing we agree on is the mutual hatred towards each other." Haley said.
"Nice..." Tom said. "So, why the hell are you doing the whole road trip together then?" Josh asked. Both Nathan and Haley huffed annoyed.
"Long story short: our friends suck." Nathan said.
"Those bastards... Had some lame excuse for not making here. Weak..." Haley muttered and suddenly heard her cell phone ringing in the bathroom where she had left it. "Excuse me." Haley said and went to the bathroom.
"Dude, why didn't you tell me she was hot?" Josh whispered to Nathan.
"What? No, she's not." Nathan said immediately.
"Dude, she's hot." Tom said.
"Yeah, I gotta agree." Mike said.
"What the hell?" Nathan asked confused. He had known Haley for few years now and had never really looked at her that way, only as the annoying best friend of his half brother.
"No, the question is that what the hell are you doing?" Mike asked.
"Dude, she's hot. Nice. Hot. Smart. Did I mention hot? Go for it." Josh said.
"Shut up." Nathan said just as Haley came back holding her cell phone.
"That was Luke. He wanted to know if we made it safely to the big city. I told him about your wonderful sense of directions." she said sweetly.
"Thanks, ho."
"No problem, ass." Haley said.
"So, how long are you staying in New York?" Josh asked interrupting them.
"We're leaving tomorrow night." Nathan answered.
"So, Haley. What are you doing tonight?" Tom asked.
"Tom!" Nathan said annoyed.
"What? I'm just making conversation with your lovely friend."
"We're not friends." Nathan and Haley said at the same time.
"I think I'm just gonna take it easy tonight. Watch a movie or something." Haley said to Nathan's relief.
"Oh, but that's no fun." Josh said.
"Actually I'm very much looking forward to my Nathan-free night." Haley said grinning.
"Bitch." Nathan muttered under his breath.
"Jerk." Haley said coughing.
"Aww, too bad. We could've showed you the New York party scene." Josh said.
"Sounds great but I really need a low key night, sorry." Haley said.
"Hate to break the discussion but we really need to get going." Nathan said to his friends.
"Nice to meet you all." Haley said to the guys.
"No, it was our pleasure. Next time you're in New York, call me." Josh said with a wink.
"I will." She said and watched the guys gather their stuff and head to the door.
"Nathan, we need to check out by noon but I'm getting up the latest by 9 am so leave me your car keys and I can take my stuff to your car."
"I'm not giving my car keys to you. Just pack your stuff and I'll take all of our stuff there."
"Ok, whatever. Remember, 7.30 pm in the lobby. Don't be late!" Haley said.
"Whatever..." Nathan said leaving the room annoyed. The guys followed him one by one. Haley grabbed the last guy's arm.
"Hey, Josh. I've got a favor to ask."
"Yeah, what do you need?"
"Can you look after him?" Haley asked quietly nodding at Nathan's direction. Josh turned to look at Nathan who in the hallway, laughing with the other guys.
"Yeah, of course."
"Just, you know, make sure he gets back here safe and all." Haley said.
"Yeah, of course. Don't worry." Josh said.
"Ok, thanks. It was nice to meet you." Haley said.
"Yeah, you too." He said and started to walk away. Haley watched the guys walk to the end of the hallway and wait for the elevator.
"Have fun!" she yelled and blew a kiss to the guys.
"Why don't you go back inside and not annoy anyone for one night? How about that?" Nathan yelled while stepping into the elevator.
"Fuck you." Haley singsonged with a smile and burst out laughing when the last thing she saw before the elevator doors closed, was Nathan's middle finger.
So, any comments? Thoughts? Please, lemme know what you think. :)
-Fes-