Author's Note: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciated it. Also thank you to othlove419 for beta-ing my first chapter! I hope you enjoy this chapter, leave me some love!

November 3rd 2003

"Haley, he really needs your help."

"Lucas, I respect your decision to become friends with him and I think it's great that you two are finally becoming brothers, but I don't trust the guy."

"You were the one who first encouraged me to give him a chance! You were the one who said he could change! And now that he's finally started to change, you decide that you don't trust him?"

"Look, Luke…"

"This is because of Felix isn't it?"

"Lucas…"

"Haley!" Lucas exclaimed. "I'm not saying you have to date the guy, hell I'm not even saying the two of you have to be friends, I'm just asking you to tutor him. Besides, not every guy out there is like Felix."

Haley thought back on Felix, her high school sweetheart. He'd joined Tree Hill High her junior year and he'd been the first guy to really notice her, he made her feel beautiful and… wanted. She'd fallen for him hard and fast, and at the time she'd thought it was real love. She'd always wanted to wait until marriage before she gave herself fully to a man, but Felix had her convinced that he would be the man she would marry anyways. She had heard from the girls at school that he had booked a hotel room for that night, and she had gone there, hoping to surprise him, but when she had gotten there she had found him with one of the cheerleaders from school and had found out then that he had been cheating on her all throughout their relationship.

"It's not who Felix was," Haley replied softly. "It was who he made me."

"Haley, everyone gets caught up in their first love…"

Haley shot him a look.

"Even in you can admit now that it wasn't real love, you still thought you were in love at the time. The point is, that it's okay to get caught up in your first serious relationship, you can't write off ever falling in love again because of that one experience."

"I'm not. I'm just saying that I'm not going to lose myself when I fall in love."

Lucas shook his head. This had been what he'd been afraid of, that she'd lose herself once and never let herself feel again.

"Lucas, you may not agree with my decision but as my best friend, I at least expect you to respect it."

Lucas nodded. "I do, I respect it Hales. You know I just worry about you, I just want you to be happy."

Haley's smiled softly as she nodded, "I know."

"But Haley," Lucas turned back to the matter at hand. "Nathan really needs your help. Besides, I've gotten to know him these past few weeks and he's really begun to change. He's not the same guy he was in high school. Now that Dan's not there to control him he's really becoming a different person. I think he just needs some help."

"With school?"

"That too."

"So the real reason you want me to tutor him isn't because of his grades." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Well, his grades are crap too. He really does need help with his grades, but it's more than that. Hales, he's really trying to change but he's not going to be able to do it on his own, and you were the one who originally believed he could do it. Don't you remember all those nights when you lectured me about seeing the best in people? Haley you're the one person who was able to see the good in Nathan when no one else could, and you didn't even know him then. What's stopping you from giving him a chance now?"

Haley looked at Lucas skeptically. "And all I need to do is tutor him?"

"If that's all you want, then yes, all you have to do is tutor him."

"Okay." Haley sighed, "I'll do it."

Nathan wiped his hands on his jeans as he walked into the tutor centre. He was nervous as hell. Lucas had told Nathan all about Haley and had warned him numerous times what would happen if he did anything to screw up.

He searched around for the girl Lucas had described and his breath caught in his throat as his eyes met with a pair of chocolate brown ones across the room. He moved involuntarily towards her as he took in her honey blond hair and the way it framed her face as she flipped through the pages of the thick, worn book in front of her.

"Can I help you?"

Nathan snapped out of his daze as he realised the girl was now looking up at him.

"H-Hi. I'm um… I'm looking for Haley. Haley James. She's umm… she's, well she's supposed to be my tutor." Nathan mentally smacked himself, he'd never been this nervous around a girl before.

She looked slightly hurt for a moment before giving him a small smile. "I'm Haley James."

"Oh." All the breath whooshed out of him. Lucas had mentioned that Haley was beautiful but Nathan had always just assumed that he was saying that because she was his best friend. He'd seen Haley before in high school but he hadn't paid much attention to anyone in high school and all he remembered about her was her dark brown hair and her old, knitted poncho. "You… you look different, from what I remember… from high school."

Haley raised her eyebrows. "You knew who I was in high school?"

"Yeah, of course! Well, kind of… sort of…" Nathan took a deep breath. "Okay, no, not really. But I was an ass in high school, I didn't really notice anyone."

"Was?" Haley asked.

"Yeah," Nathan nodded. "I'm not that guy anymore."

"Good," she smiled as she looked into his deep blue eyes. She couldn't help but notice that they were much darker than Lucas', and much more captivating. "Now let's get started."

Haley smiled as she thought back to that day. That was the first day she met the real Nathan Scott, and while at the beginning he would occasionally revert back to his old-self, those instances got less and less frequent as time passed. Haley was so proud of the man he was today, he had turned into such an amazing person. Her smile faltered however, when she thought about the previous night. His words still rang in through her head. I hate you. I wish I had never met you…

December 13th 2010

"Hey, Nathan." Nathan heard a soft voice beside him.

"Go away," Nathan muttered as he pushed his face further into the pillows. "It's too early."

"Well, this brings back old memories," he could hear the smirk in Peyton's voice. "Although, if I remember correctly, you only wanted me to leave after the sex."

Nathan groaned as he turned his head to the side to glare at her. "What do you want?"

Peyton smiled softly at him. "What happened last night? Haley called Lucas after we got home, she sounded pretty upset. She said something about you hating her."

Nathan groaned again. "I might have said something like that."

"Nathan!"

Nathan squeezed his eyes shut. "Peyton, keep it down."

"But you…"

"I know." Nathan muttered. "I was drunk, and I wasn't thinking, and I, I don't know…"

Peyton shook her head. "You need to go talk to her."

"I know," Nathan closed his eyes. "I just don't know how I'm going to get her to talk to me."

"It's Haley, Nathan. You know she'll talk to you. She's just hurt." She noticed the dejected look on his face. "No. I'm not going to let you wallow in your own self-pity. You're going to get up, get ready, and come with me."

Nathan smiled weakly. "You bossing me around? This reminds me of old times."

Nathan knocked on the door and was surprised when Adam opened it. "Hey," Adam smiled. "I'm guessing you want to talk to Haley."

Nathan lowered his head. "I guess she told you."

"Look," Adam put his hand on Nathan's shoulder. "You were drunk, we all say things we don't mean when we're drunk. Haley knows that, she just needs some reassurance." Adam stepped aside as he let Nathan in. "She's in her room."

Nathan stepped inside and watched as Adam took a seat on the couch, turning the television on to make it clear that he wasn't going to intrude on whatever conversation they were about to have. As Nathan looked at him in that moment, he hated him more than he had ever hated anyone. He hated him because he got to have Haley, he got to share this place with her, to wake up every morning and look into her eyes and know that she was his. But more than that, he hated Adam because he knew that Adam deserved her. The guy was fucking perfect.

"Nathan," Nathan looked up to see Adam looking over at him sympathetically. "Don't worry, it's going to be fine, just go in there and talk to her."

Nathan clenched his teeth to keep from saying something he was going to regret. He knew Adam was only trying to help. So instead he nodded politely and made his way down the hall to Haley's room. He knocked softly on the door.

"Come in." He heard a soft voice call. He entered the room and stopped short at what he saw. Haley was sitting on the edge of her bed with her back turned to him. He could tell from the slight hiccups in her breath that she had been crying recently.

"I'm sorry Adam," He heard her say. "I know you probably think I'm making a big deal out of this, but it's just that he's my best friend and I know that something's wrong but he just won't tell me what it is, and I just keep thinking back to see if I could have done something to have hurt him because… you should have seen his face… he was hurting so bad…"

"Haley…" Nathan murmured as he moved towards her.

She turned to him and he could see the tears glistening in her eyes. He sat beside her on the bed and wrapped his arms tightly around her, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head as he felt her tears soaking into his shirt. "Haley, I'm so, so sorry. I never meant to hurt you and I didn't mean what I said. I don't hate you, I love you, you're my best friend."

"I love you too Nathan," Haley replied softly, and even though he knew how she meant it, it didn't stop his heart from skipping a beat. "And I never meant to hurt you. I don't know what it is I did but-"

"Shhh…" Nathan silenced her. "You didn't do anything. I was just really drunk, it was just the alcohol talking."

"But there was something you were upset about…" Haley pressed.

"No…" Nathan muttered. "I'm not upset about anything. I was just scared that… with you getting married and all, that I was going to lose my best friend."

Haley pulled back and gave him a small smile. "You could never lose me Nathan."

Nathan smiled back at her before pulling her close again, hoping that, for just one second, he could be there with his best friend without feeling the searing pain of his heart breaking in his chest.