What is up people? If no one has told you lately that you're awesome, allow me to do so. I've got my cat giving me the death look right now because I'm choosing writing over petting her lol. Hope you enjoy. See you at the bottom.
BoSox- I'm glad you like her, she's fun to write (:
"What the hell is your problem!?" She finally let out, flailing her arms in the air.
Nathan swallowed his immediate regret of speaking but was immediately taken aback by something else fighting his force. Before he had time to react to the sudden hallow feeling in his stomach followed by the pressure of his overly moist cheeks he was spewing vomit across his glass coffee table that lay next to him; an obvious reaction to his bodies hate for the poison he overly injects into it on a daily basis.
"Shit." Haley grunted as she ran as quickly as she could to a closet down the hallway with towels in it. She grabbed the first one she saw and returned to Nathan immediately. He wasn't throwing up anymore, but his body was hanging off the side of the couch and he was still dry heaving.
She kneeled down next to him, making sure to avoid the vomit, and wiped his mouth and chin clean; he had managed to miss all of clothing thank god. After cleaning him off she grabbed another towel and wet it with cold water; she took a seat on the couch he was laying on and gently started to wipe his hot forehead with the cloth.
She jumped a little when she heard his voice, because his eyes never opened. "I'm sorry." He mumbled, obviously still very drunk.
"It's okay, Nathan." She blew it off, continuing to run the cloth over each of his cheeks.
He took her off guard again when he very gently grabbed her arm as she went to pull it away from his face. "Please don't leave again." He drunkenly mumbled.
Haley smelt the mixture of liquor and throw up on his breath and had to immediately turn her head away. "I'm not, get some rest and I'll see you in a few hours; It's still early."
She went to stand when she felt his arm on her waist and she reluctantly stayed rooted in her spot. "You'll be here when I wake up?"
"Yes." She moved his arm and stood up. "Just sleep here, I'll get a blanket."
By the time Haley had returned with a blanket Nathan was already back to sleep, snoring like a freight train. She pulled his legs back onto the couch so that he was lying down completely and covered him up.
Haley shook her head as she turned around; pulling her short blonde locks up into a bun. Once again she was going to have to scrub this place from the floor to the ceiling. She let out a grunt when she turned to the vomit on the table, she really didn't sign up for this shit.
"Nat-" Clay stopped his call as he walked in the door when he saw Haley on all fours scrubbing the ground. He raised an eyebrow as she blew him off. "What are you doing?"
She rolled her eyes as she flipped her head up. "Cleaning."
He gave her a hopeless look. "Your job is not to clean."
She sat up on her knees. "Now, I may be taking this wrong because I'm really not in the mood right now, but if you're about to tell me how to do my job; stop while you're ahead."
He smiled as he started to roll the sleeves up on his button up. "What happened?"
She sighed and went back to scrubbing. "He decided to have a little party after freaking out on my partner. I haven't been able to talk to a sober him yet so I really don't know though." She pointed over to his sleeping form on the couch.
Clay nodded as he looked around the house. Based on what he knew about Nathan Scott and drinking, Haley had made a lot of progress on the cleaning. The floor was spotless and the whole living room had been thoroughly cleaned. The kitchen was the only place that needed tending with the dishes and dirty counters with pizza and nacho fry scrapings tossed about. If you wouldn't have known what a drunken Nathan was like, you would assume there was a food fight in here.
He glanced at his sister, who had already forgotten he was here and was back in full force of her cleaning mission. He looked at Nathan next, but could only stand it for a minute. It really was a heartbreaking sight; his client and best friend in complete disarray in front of God and everybody. The four time NBA finals champion; the rookie of the year; the three-time MVP; Nathan motherfucking Scott.
What was he now?
Nothing.
He shook his head, denying his own thoughts and approached the dish-piled sink and cranked the hot water on high. If there's one thing he and Haley still had in common it's that messes just don't fly.
Haley gave a wholehearted laugh as she took a bite of her pizza. "There was nothing worse than your jean-shorts phase."
Clay scoffed as he took a bite as well. "I made those things look great."
He smiled when Haley rolled her eyes; it had been a long time since they had simply sat back and had a laugh with each other. They had finished cleaning in record time; four hands seemed to work better than two. With Nathan still out like a light, Clay suggested pizza for lunch. Ever since then they had been sprawled out on the hardwood floor a little ways away from the kitchen, eating their pizza and chatting away.
"Plus, they weren't nearly as bad as the Destiny's Child phase you had."
Haley's mouth dropped open in mock shock. "Dude, Survivor was like the best album ever."
Clay gave her an unconvinced look. "If I had to hear your acoustic version of Bootylicious one more time my ears might have fallen off."
She immediately reached over and punched him in the arm. "You always told me it was good."
He gave a fake pout as he overly dramatically clutched his arm and she smiled at him shaking her head. It stayed comfortably silent for a little as they ate some more before Clay interrupted again. "Haley," She turned to look at him. "Every song you sing is good." He gave her a genuine smile.
Haley smiled her identical smile. "Th-"
"Clay?" They heard a groggily voice from somewhere else in the room.
Clay jumped to his feet and saw Nathan fling his feet over the couch as though they were dead weight and nurse his head in his hands.
Nathan groaned as he rubbed his eyes; the action sending an instant migraine to his already suffering head. He had been woken from his sleep to what he thought was Clay, and was a little taken off guard as he slowly lifted his head. His house was clean and he had no idea how. All he had remembered was trying to trash what Haley had once made beautiful and now you would never know.
His migraine only seemed to grow as he tried to figure out what was real and what wasn't. Had he dreamed trashing the place and Haley giving up on him? By some miracle had all that not happened and it was still two days earlier and he had completely destroyed his chances at anything?
As much as he wanted to believe it, he knew that wasn't true. He could feel it in his gut and in his soul; the pain from her just sending someone else to work with him, after feeding him all her crock of shit about how she wanted to help him. He didn't really understand why it felt like his heart actually broke when the girl had said she had other clients and wouldn't be seeing him. He felt like an absolute fool for believing he was something special, someone she really believed in. He wasn't any of that, though, he wasn't even her client. He was her brother's client and he shouldn't have believed for a second she actually cared about his well being.
"Hey Nate." Clay pulled him from his thoughts as he walked over to sit on the other couch.
Nathan couldn't hide the flabbergasted look on his face when he looked up and saw Haley with Clay. Maybe it had all been a dream? There was no other way she could have been here. "Haley?"
She looked at Nathan as she sat next to Clay and raised her hand slightly. "Present."
He tried to roll his eyes at her but his migraine put that thought out of commission and with the pressure building again he lowered his head back into his hands.
"Had a real rough one huh?" Haley added in a sly tone.
He growled as he ran his fingers over his buzz cut head. "Why are you even here? Don't you have real clients or something?"
Haley cocked her head in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Clay leaned in, equally curious.
"You know exactly what the fuck I'm talking about!" He roared, lifting his gaze to her.
Clay stood up defensively. "Hey watch the tone, Nate. You're talking to my sister."
Haley stood up as well and patted his chest. "Thank you, but I need a moment alone with him."
"Haley-"
"Clay, what'd I say about my job?"
He tried to give her a pleading look but when she didn't budge he let out a frustrated sigh. "Call me soon."
She nodded as she watched him walk out of the house. "Thanks for helping me clean!"
Nathan had to fight his internal groan becoming vocal as he heard those words. He definitely knew what was real and what wasn't now.
Instead of returning to her seat, Haley walked to the coffee table in front of Nathan and sat on it. "No yelling, ok?"
He gave her an apologetic look and nodded his head.
"So, what makes you think you're not my real client?"
He sighed and lowered his head. All of a sudden talking about this wasn't something he wanted to do; it seemed a lot simpler when he could just yell.
Haley saw him pulling his walls up and snapped her fingers in his face, drawing his attention again. "Don't shut me out."
He looked at her for a moment, studying both of her eyes one by one. He had never noticed how absolutely beautiful and open they were. That was the first time he ever noticed that eyes really did say a lot about a person's soul, or at least a lot about hers. He took a deep breath before giving in. "Your colleague said you had another client and that she was going to work with me." He looked down in shame. "But you said you wanted to help me, you said that I could do it, and that you believed in me, and for some odd reason I thought you cared. "
"Nath-"She was going to start correcting him, but he just continued to talk as though he had to get it all out before he exploded. She immediately shut her mouth, taking advantage of any sincere moment she could get with him.
"It's crazy though, I mean, you shouldn't care. I've known you like two days, but I believed you. I don't know why but I believed someone for once and it was you and then I saw her and I knew you lied and I just… I felt like an idiot." He finally finished, taking a huge breath to steady his tears. It was pathetic, he opened up about one little thing and every emotion he's been holding in just breaks right through the barrier, all at once. As if he didn't feel weak enough.
Haley studied him for a second after he finished, prepared to let him cry if that's what he had to do. He seemed to pull it together after a moment, though, so she continued the conversation. "It was only for the day."
Nathan's head snapped up. "What?"
"My partner, Quinn, the girl you told to fuck off," Nathan grimaced at the memory. "It was just for that day." She continued. "I have been working with this ten year old boy named Michael for two years, and we had our final session as well as dinner with his family. So, I asked Quinn to come here and check up on you."
Nathan cursed himself as he closed his eyes and lowered his head. There wasn't much in the world worse than this feeling.
"She would have been happy to tell you that if she had five seconds." Haley attempted to joke, nudging his arm.
Nathan looked up again, obviously confused. "You're not mad?"
She smiled at him. "No, I'm mad, but its ok, Nathan. People make mistakes all the time and you're just as much a person as anybody else. You are going to apologize to Quinn, though. Other than that, how about we just let it go? I'm sure I'll spend a whole lot of time mad at you anyways, so there's no need to hold up on this one."
Nathan couldn't fight the genuine smile at the honesty in her words; they would definitely drive each other nuts. "I will." He confirmed.
Haley crinkled her eyebrows at him.
"Apologize to Quinn." He finished.
She gave him a soft smile, both at his agreement and how well he seemed to let the subject go. She got stopped from falling into thought when she saw him pull his wheelchair closer to the corner of her eye. She moved her knees out of the way so he had an easier path and he made an effortless move from his spot on the couch to the chair.
"I'm going to go clean up." He stated as he made his way out of the room.
"Ok, I'll leave some clothes for you on the bed." She responded as she took off up the stairs.
Haley stayed to make Nathan dinner. It wasn't something she normally did for her clients, but he was a big guy and God only knows how long it had been since the last time he had a real meal. So, she couldn't help herself. After getting a little carried away at the store she ended up with couple pieces of chicken, some potatoes and a vegetable mix. After fixing it up and getting good responses from him on her many tastes tests she finally got around to serving him.
As soon as Nathan started to devour his food, there was a swift knock at his door. Haley, who was already standing, went to open it to a smiling Lucas. "Hey Haley, where's my little brother?"
"Hey Lucas, he's eating in the dining room. You hungry?" She asked as they started to walk in opposite directions; he towards the dining room and she towards the kitchen.
"Yeah sure, thanks Haley." He smiled at her before he disappeared behind the corner.
She quickly fixed him a plate as well and brought to him, and then quickly left, giving them their privacy.
"How's it going little brother?" Lucas asked as he cut up his chicken.
"Witty wood." He mumbled as he put all his attention on his food.
Lucas laughed as he took a bite, but quickly wiped the smile off his face. He started to chew and his eyes got wide as he looked at Nathan. "Holy crap this is delicious."
Nathan gave him an obvious look before returning to his food.
Lucas continued to eat, trying to figure out where to start the conversation.
"Can I ask you a question?" He finally croaked out, no confidence in his tone.
Nathan looked at him and for once finished chewing before he spoke. "Yeah."
"When's the last time you thought about dad?"
Nathan continued to stare at him for a moment, but instead of speaking he shrugged at went back to eating.
"He's up for parole." He spit out.
Nathan immediately started to choke on his food. He took a drink of water and a breath before speaking again. "What did you say?"
"Parole." He annunciated.
"How?"
"I guess since him killing me was an attempt instead of a success they find it more socially acceptable."
"But he was doing 12 years, Luke."
"Good behavior." He sighed.
Nathan crinkled his eyebrows together and shook his head. This really was a messed up situation, Dan deserved to rot in hell for what he did; or tried to do. Since when does something like a good attitude make everything else he did ok? He was broken out of thought and hit with a state of shock at Lucas' next words.
"They want me to go to his meeting and testify against him."
Nathan just stared at him; he had absolutely no idea what to say right now. He knew Luke was strong, and a little person like Dan Scott could never bring him down, but that didn't mean he should have to face him. He should never have to be put within 500 miles of Dan Scott, no one should be.
"Are you going to?" Nathan asked cautiously.
He shrugged. "I don't know. They want me at San Quentin tomorrow."
Nathan ran his hand over the top of his head and down his face. "Wow."
"I was… uh…"
Nathan turned his head to him. "What?"
Lucas sighed. "I was wondering if… if you'd go with me."
Nathan did a double take. "What?"
Lucas chuckled and shook his head. "Don't worry about it."
"Luke… I would, but I mean… what would Dan do if he saw me in a wheel chair? I just… I can't face him. You-"
Lucas cut off his irrelevant rambling; he was silly to think Nathan would take a second to worry about something other than Nathan. He should have known better. "Its fine, little brother. I have to get out of here; I told Brooke I'd be at her place by 7. I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright?" He didn't wait for a response as he stood and immediately took off out of the house
Nathan sighed as he quickly took off, not bothering to say anything in response; he knew he wasn't listening. He had every right to treat Nathan like the ass he was, even Nathan knew that.
Haley took a breath when she heard the door shut with a little more force than was necessary. She really hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the whole thing, but she had and she had no good excuse. She did know she had to do something though.
Haley quickly hid the crutches on the side of Nathan's house, before grabbing his big beach bag and slinging it over her shoulder. She didn't bother knocking; he knew she would be here at ten. She tried masking her surprised expression with pride as she noticed that the house was perfectly clean and Nathan was showered and looked decent sitting on the couch watching TV.
He turned to her and smiled. "Hey."
"Hey." She walked over and took a seat on the couch across from him. She slung the bag from her shoulder to the table and put it down lightly.
Nathan raised an eyebrow and the many different rattles and clanks that came from the bag. "What ya got?" He asked, turning his attention away from the TV.
"I want to try something, you okay with that?"
He nodded and turned off the TV, giving her his full attention.
He watched as she looked in her bag and pulled out an empty mayonnaise jar. He raised an eyebrow and rested his chin in his palm.
Next she pulled out four packets of golf balls, one by one; she opened them and placed them in the jar until it was full. After throwing the extras back in her beach bag she tightened the lid on the jar and lifted it to Nathan.
"Is this jar full?"
Nathan smiled. "Yes it is."
She nodded and placed it back on the table. She opened the lid and reached in her bag, pulling out a box of pebbles; they vaguely resembled the red and blue ones in his fish tank. He watched amused as she poured the box of pebbles in the jar. After emptying the box she put the lid on the jar and shook it again so that all of the pebbles fell in the open spaces between the balls. She held it up again.
"Is it full now?"
Nathan crinkled his eyebrows and nodded his head.
She smiled at the fact she finally had him thinking and placed the jar back down. She opened the lid and reached in her bag, pulling out a jar of sand.
Nathan smiled and turned his head away for a moment, knowing where she was going with this.
She opened the jar of sand and poured it in the jar, effectively filling up all of the open spaces. Nathan laughed and she smiled at him. She closed the lid again and shook the jar, making sure to fill it completely, and then placed it back on the table.
"Now," She pushed the jar towards him. "I want you to think of that as your life."
He looked at the jar and then her. "The demonstration or the mayonnaise?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "The mayonnaise."
He leaned back, obviously confused, and crossed his arms over his chest. This had to be interesting.
"The golf balls are the important things in your life – your passions, your family," Nathan caught that immediately and his head snapped up, "your health, your friends." She continued. "If everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full." He sighed in understanding and leaned back forward, his head in his hands.
"The pebbles are the little things that matter – like your house, or your job, or your car." She explained. "And the sand's just everything else, the small stuff."
She stayed silent for a moment so Nathan looked up to her to let her know he was still listening.
"If you put the sand in the jar first," She started to clarify. "There's no room for the golf balls and the pebbles. Same goes for life. If you only focus on the little things, you never have room for the things that are important in life. Family and friends – your golf balls, you have to take care of those things first. The rest is just sand." She finally finished.
Nathan looked into her eyes. "You heard mine and Lucas' conversation?"
She nodded. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I promise, but it just kind of happened."
"It's cool, but Haley, you really don't understand what you're talking about. You don't know my dad."
She shrugged. "I don't know your brother either but I know it took everything in him to come here and ask for your help and you probably broke his heart."
He sighed. "I want to be there for him, he's always been there for me, but look at me. I'm pathetic. I can't even stand, no one is going to take me seriously."
Haley rolled her eyes as she stood from the couch and only vaguely heard Nathan shouting after her as she went out the door. She quickly went to the side of the house and grabbed the crutches and walked back in his front door with one in each hand; a huge smile on her face. "Oh look," She half-joked, "you're out of excuses."
Well, there it was. Hope you guys like it. Review and talk to me and stuff. Have a good day (: