Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I love reading them. Please review!
"Hey Haley, it's me. Again. I guess you're not answering your cell phone still. Maybe you lost it. I don't know why you aren't answering. Call me back when you get this, I guess. I'll talk to you later. Bye." Haley listened to the voice that was playing on the voice mail of her cell phone. She hadn't answered any of his calls for the past two days. The whole weekend. He wasn't calling her because he wanted to anyway. He was only calling her because she wasn't answering his calls. It wasn't as if he actually called her this much all of the time. She wished he did things like that. He didn't even do things like that in the beginning of their relationship. She always had to call him first.
She didn't know what to do anymore. Of course she still loved him, but she wasn't sure that it was still the same kind of love that it used to be. If that made any sense at all. She couldn't figure out if that spark that they had was still there. Sometimes it felt like their spark was completely burnt out. She didn't feel like she used to feel about him and them. Things were just different. There wasn't anything left for her to do to change it either. Her feeling this wasn't something that just recently developed over the course of one night. She had been starting to feel it a little bit of last year and she kept trying the hardest that she could to make things better, but it always seemed as if she was the only one who was trying to fix things. He just wasn't interested in their problems. He would claim that everything was fine, that they had no problems, and that there wasn't anything that needed to be fixed. Therefore, she let it go and kept trying to ignore the negative thoughts she was having about their relationship. She knew then, that it was on the way to becoming broken and now she felt like it was officially broke. It couldn't be fixed or put off anymore. She just wasn't sure she could handle the break up that was bound to end horribly. She wasn't even sure that she could handle it now, but she definitely knew that she couldn't take feeling like this any longer than she needed to. Everything was so frustrating, and confusing. It was a hassle and stressful. It shouldn't be.
Lately, he had been trying to convince her to drop everything and drive or fly up to New York to visit him at college. Except, if she did that then it would mean that she would have to miss her own classes. She couldn't do that. She wouldn't do that. She couldn't even afford to do that. She didn't have the money to get to New York. Plus, she was at Duke on an academic scholarship. She couldn't afford to go to college without it. It wasn't like her family was poor, but they didn't have enough to pay for her to go to school. Growing up in a family with six older siblings, she had learned from an early age that money wasn't going to be something that was just handed to her. She had to work for money and that was when she decided to get a job waitressing at a small coffee shop near her house. She always tried explaining to him that she would lose her scholarship if she just skipped class because she was out of town going to visit her boyfriend. That wasn't a valid excuse for missing a bunch of classes as far as the university was concerned. Besides, if he really wanted to see her that badly, why couldn't he come and visit her? He wasn't on any type of scholarship. He was always so complicated. He mad things so much worse than they actually were.
Sighing, she ran a hand through her long honey colored hair and glanced at the clock. Twelve o'clock. She still had another two hours before her class began. Her stomach growled out loud, reminding her that she was hungry. She wanted to get something to eat before her class started. It was lunch time anyway.
Haley grabbed her keys and locked the door behind her on her way out. She opted for walking instead of driving. The café that she wanted to go to was close by to the school's campus anyway. There wasn't a reason for her to drive.
As she was walking, her mind traveled back to thoughts about the events that had been going on recently in her life. The morning after the party that she had made a quick appearance at, she went shopping at the mall with Peyton and her new friend, Brooke. At first, Haley wasn't quite sure that she was going to like Brooke. She didn't think that they would get along together well, but it turned out that they got along great and had found they had an almost instant liking for each other. It was the beginning of a great friendship. Haley liked Brooke. She was glad that Peyton had introduced them to each other.
Her and Peyton finally went music store searching together. They ended up finding a couple of really good shops. It was fun going music shopping with Peyton. She knew so much about music and shared her knowledge of it with you. It was nice to see Peyton talking about something she really loved and in her case it just so happened to be music. Peyton had actually applied for a job at one of the shops. She needed to get a job for money and what better place to work than at a place that you love. Her music collection was probably going to triple, especially, if she got discounts.
Thinking back to the party on Friday night, she felt like she wanted to scream. He had called her not even ten minutes after she had arrived there. It was like he knew when she was having a good time and that was when he would call her. It was annoying. It happened all of the time. She answered anyway. Seeing it was him, she had went out into the backyard because she didn't want people that she knew to hear the conversation she was going to have with him. She never knew what was going to be said during these conversations, especially if he was drunk, that was a whole other story.
Coincidentally, she found herself talking to the guy she ran into at the grocery store. Apparently he was some hot shot basketball player named Nathan Scott that she should have already known, but didn't. She wasn't interested in sports so why should she know who the players are. He acted as if it was a crime that she didn't who he was. She didn't understand what the big deal was. It was only college basketball. They ended up talking for a little while and she found that it was rather easy to talk to him. She liked talking to him and she didn't even know him. He was fun to be around as far as she knew of. She couldn't help but wished that he would of called her. He did 'steal' her cell phone number. She mentally cursed at herself for thinking that she wanted him to call her, yet she had been ignoring all the calls she was getting from her boyfriend. Even if he was a crappy boyfriend, he was still her boyfriend.
"Haley!" She heard someone call her name and bringing her out of all of her thoughts. Turning around, she saw that there was none other than Nathan Scott, himself. She stopped walking to wait for him to catch up with her. She had been seeing him everywhere lately. Ever since she had met him at the grocery store. It was weird.
"You know, I have actually been wondering where my stalker was, but I forgot to look in the most obvious place and of course he was there, behind me, all of this time." Haley said to him with a smile on her face as he reached her.
He smirked at her. "You're funny. What's your major? You going to be a comedian after you graduate?" He questioned her.
"Now that you mention it, I am thinking about considering that profession." She joked. "So, what's up?" She asked him. She was wondering where she was going to run into him next. It seemed that everywhere she went that he was there too.
"Just trying to kill some time before I have to go to practice today." Nathan answered her.
"Me too. Except class, not practice. I'm actually on my way to this small café for lunch if you want to come with me, but if not then that's cool too. It's not like you have to come or anything. Whatever you want to do is totally fine. You don't have to come just because I asked you, but-" She rambled on unknowingly.
Nathan cut off her rambling. "Haley." He said interrupting her. "Haley, you're rambling." He pointed out and smirked at her. He remembered back to the incident at the grocery store and realized that she had rambled on then too.
She bit at her bottom lip. "Sorry. I kind of tend to do that a lot. I don't even know when I am doing it, so it's not like I can help it. I'm doing it again, aren't I?"
He nodded his head and continued smirking at her. "Yeah. Just a little bit."
"Sorry." Haley apologized once again. She couldn't help it that she sometimes rambled. She did it unintentionally. She wasn't even aware of it when it was happening.
"It's fine. No big deal. So, are you going to lead the way to lunch or what?" He said. He was happy when he had spotted her walking down the sidewalk, but now he was even happier.
Haley looked up at him and smiled a big smile at him while nodding her head. She latched onto his arm and started leading them to the way in which the café was in. "Let's go." She said pulling him along in all of the right directions.
Ten minutes later, Nathan and Haley found themselves walking into the small homey feeling café. Although it was close to the school campus, Nathan had never noticed it before. Haley pulled him over to a table that was placed next to a window. They sat down and the waitress came over to take their order. After they left, the conversation began.
"Macaroni and cheese? You ordered macaroni and cheese?" Nathan asked her. He had a confused look on his face and Haley couldn't help but notice that he looked kind of cute when he was confused. She mentally cursed at herself for noticing small things about him like that. She wasn't supposed notice things like that except when it was about her boyfriend.
"Hey, macaroni and cheese just happens to be my favorite. It is the food of the gods." Haley replied, fully content with her meal choice.
Nathan laughed. "Yeah, if the gods are five year olds. How old are you again?" He joked.
She playfully rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up! I love mac and cheese."
"Okay. So, when did you find this place anyway? I didn't even know it was here." He said to her, seriously wondering how he had never noticed it before. He walked down this street all of the time.
"Last year." Haley answered him. "One day I was in desperate need of coffee and I saw this place. I ordered a cup of coffee and it was like the best I had ever had. It's so good here." She explained.
"I'll have to take your word for it. I'm not a coffee person."
"Okay. So, I started coming here all of the time for coffee and one day I tried the food. It turns out that the food is good too and I can get my favorite meal here, which is always a plus." She said.
"I'll be deciding that after I try this cheeseburger." He said while nodding to the food that their waitress had just brought over to them.
"I'm telling you it's good." She told him. "Would I lie to you?" She asked with a small smile.
"I don't know. I don't really know you." He pointed out. She was so comfortable with talking to him that she kept forgetting that they didn't even really know each other. When she was talking with him she felt like they had been friends for a long time.
"That is true. I kind of keep forgetting that I don't really know you. I just feel so comfortable talking to you, though. It's like we have been friends for a while. Is that weird?" She admitted honestly. She was curious to know if he felt that way to or if it was just her. She wondered what gave her the courage to ask him.
"I don't know. I know what you mean though. So, it can't be that weird." Nathan answered.
"There, now you know three things about me. I like talking to you, I don't lie, and I love macaroni and cheese. You should've known about the mac and cheese anyway."
The confused look reappeared on his face. "What? How could I have known that? I don't read minds. Or favorite foods." He said.
"From the grocery store. There was two boxes of mac and cheese in my basket, or on the floor, whatever." Haley filled him in.
"I didn't notice." He answered her honestly. The truth was he was too preoccupied with noticing her to notice that she was planning on buying two boxes of macaroni and cheese, but he wasn't going to tell her that. At least not yet he wasn't.
She gave him a knowing look, telling him that he wasn't surprised he didn't notice."I figured." She said. "You were probably too busy laughing at me and how clumsy I am."
"No, actually I was wondering how you didn't know who I was." He smirked. He really was surprised when she was completely clueless as to he was, especially seeing that she had a Duke sweatshirt on.
"You are so cocky. Not everyone at the school knows you." She laughed.
"I think it was everyone except you, but we fixed that so there is nothing to worry about." He joked. "You never did get that autograph."
"Well, I don't really need one know. Instead I'll just have to bring you everywhere and show everyone that I know The Nathan Scott." She laughed. "Keep your autograph, Scott. You never know, I might want it later." She said to him.
He laughed at her. She made him laugh a lot. It was rare that he laughed or smiled a real, genuine smile this much, but when he was with Haley it seemed that he smiled and laughed all of the time. She was so different than all of the other fake girls that he knew. He figured that was what had attracted him to her in the first place. It was a nice change to be around someone who treated him like any other regular person.
The waitress then brought the check over to their table. Nathan grabbed it before Haley had the chance to see how much it was. He took out his wallet and starting counting money.
"Nathan, how much is it?" Haley asked him. She needed to know so that she could pay.
"Don't worry about it." He said to her without looking up from what he was doing.
"Nathan, I invited you to come with me to lunch, I should pay. It's not that big of a deal. Let me pay." Haley said to him. She invited him here, it only made sense that she was the one that paid the bill.
Nathan shook his head. "No. I got it." He said getting up and walking over to the counter to pay, Haley still not knowing how much it was. She smiled at him from her spot at the table. She hadn't expected him to pay for lunch.
She had talked to Peyton about the Scott brothers earlier that weekend and she had heard some rather not so good things about them. That they used girls, got drunk and hooked up with one leaving her as soon as it was over. They said even though Lucas has a girlfriend he is only using her to make himself not look like an egotistical man-whore. She couldn't believe that people were saying kinds of these things about one of the same guys she had been hanging out with recently. He always seemed so nice and fun. If this was true she wondered why she had never seen him behave that way. The Nathan that she had been hanging out with didn't seem like a bad guy, but then again could she really know that yet? She hardly knew who he was. In fact, she had never even heard of him up until three nights ago at a grocery store.
Life was so confusing right now.
She watched as Nathan walked back over to the table.
"Ready to go?" He asked her.
Haley nodded her head and stood up from the table and they walked out of the café. "Thank you" She said to him.
"For what?" He questioned.
"Lunch. For coming. For paying. Just lunch." She replied.
"I told you, I wanted to pay. And I should be thanking you for inviting me to eat lunch with you."
Haley laughed. "Are you serious? I was the one in the sharing a table with a college basketball superstar. I bet everyone was so jealous." She joked with him.
"They should have been. I was sitting with the prettiest girl." He said.
Haley took her bottom lip in between her teeth and stared at the cement sidewalk she was standing on. She most certainly was not expecting him to say something like that. She knew she had to tell him. She didn't want to, but there was no way that she couldn't now. Haley wished she didn't have to say anything about it. It was something she began to hate talking about and think about, although she would think about it all of the time.
There was an awkward silence and Nathan wished he had never said that. He was usually a cocky, confident, and self-assured person, but around her it seemed as if he cared about what he said and did to her. He didn't know her all that well, but he knew she was different and he knew that he liked her.
As if on cue, her cell phone started ringing loudly. Nathan looked to her to see if she was going to answer it, but it didn't seem like she was making any movement to pick it up. She wasn't going to answer. She didn't even need to check who it was, she knew. He had impeccable timing. He always called whenever she really did not want him to. It was like he had a clock telling him when exactly to call her.
Haley cleared her throat and finally looked up from the ground. "Um, thanks, I think." She said to him. "Look, Nathan-"
He interrupted her. "I get it. It's okay if you don't like me. I knew you were different from when you first ran into me and didn't know who I was, but you've probably heard things or you're just not interested. It's cool. I'm just going to go." He said to her.
"No Nathan, wait!" She said. He looked at her waiting for her to continue. "That's not it. Really. I do like you. You seem fun to be around and I do want to get to know you more if you want to. You know, be friends. It's just that, well, I'm kind of in a relationship right now, if you could even still call it that." Haley tried explaining.
He stared at her. Maybe that was who she was having that secret conversation with at the party on Friday night. He blinked a couple of times, unsure of what to say. "Okay." That was all he could come up with to say the moment. He didn't know why he felt a pang of jealousy run through him when hearing her say that she had a boyfriend. He didn't need her, girl were throwing themselves at him all of the time. "I got practice. I should go. Good luck with that class." He said before leaving and heading off towards the gym.
Haley felt terrible. Even though her and Nathan had just met and starting hanging out with each other only three days ago, she felt an instant connection with him. She liked hanging out with him and talking with him. Actually, she just liked him. Or at least what she knew of him so far. He had just told her that he liked her and then she had to tell him that she had a boyfriend. If he even counted as one anymore, but they had never actually broken up and Haley was not the type of girl to cheat on her boyfriend, no matter how he treated her. She hated cheating and she had no respect towards people who cheated, she didn't want to become one of those people.
She still wasn't sure what exactly she was going to do about everything. She knew that she didn't want to be stuck in her crappy relationship, if it still was one, but she didn't know if she was ready for the brutal break up that was bound to occur. As selfish as that sounded, she couldn't help but be scared for what was going to happen. She knew what she had to do. She couldn't live like this any longer. It was already too long.