Chapter Four
Nathan walked into Lucas' bar, exhausted after another gruelling practice. The Knicks had won their game during the week and now they were focussing on the game taking place on Sunday. At least that was what the rest of the team and the coach were doing; Nathan couldn't focus on anything, anything other than Haley that is. She was constantly in his thoughts; he couldn't think about anything without having her pop up in his head, he couldn't even concentrate during the week's basketball game, which was very dangerous. His coach had given him hell for not being at the top of his game, and Nathan couldn't even argue back, as he knew his coach was right. He slumped into one of the chairs that was at the bar and put his face on the table, trying to push Haley out of his mind and concentrate on nothing. He listened to his breathing, in and out, in and out. God all he wanted to do was kiss her.
"Hey Nate, what brings you here so early? It's only twelve!" Lucas asked as he dropped the case of beers he had just brought in from the delivery that had just arrived.
"Just finished practice, and somehow I ended up here." Nathan mumbled, not lifting his head from the table.
"Are you alright?" Lucas asked.
"Yes." Came Nathan's muffled reply.
"So why have you got your head on my bar?"
Nathan lifted his head. "Cos I do."
Lucas looked up at Nathan's face for the first time since he had walked into the bar. "God you look awful."
"Thanks Luke." Nathan rolled his eyed and placed his head back down on the cool bar. He hadn't really slept at all since Haley had dropped the bombshell that she was going on that date with Chase Adams. Having his head on the bar was actually rather soothing, the cold metal was cooling his head, well something needed to cool down the images of Haley that were milling through his mind. Not only were these pictures of Haley running through his head constantly, but the images were getting worse. He was imagining her naked, on his bed, which was bad enough, but then these images of that actor that she was going on a 'date' with would flash through his head too, and then before he knew it, they were going at it on his bed. "Arghhhh!" He grunted out in frustration.
Lucas heard Nathan's frustrated grumble, got up from refilling the fridges with the beer and cracked the two bottles open that he had in his hands and handed one of the bottles to his brother and took a swig of the other one. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Nathan lifted his head and gulped the beer. "Do you know Chase Adams."
"The actor?"
"Yep, the actor."
"Well not personally, but that dude is funny! Brooke gushes over his pictures whenever he's in 'Hello!' or whatever magazine she reads nowadays. Apparently he's 'so hot and has such a pretty face'!" Lucas imitated Brooke's voice and started chuckling to himself.
Nathan glared at him.
Lucas stopped laughing once he realised Nathan wasn't joining in and was in fact looking at him angrily. "Why do you ask?"
Nathan threw his fist down on the bar. "Haley has a date with him tomorrow night." He said, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh."
"Yep, 'oh' indeed."
"Why is she going on a date with him, I thought things were going great between you two?"
"So did I." Nathan sighed.
"So what happened?"
"We met for a coffee during the week, things were going great, and then her manager called and told her she had arranged for her to go to this premiere with the dick."
"So did you tell her how you feel about it?"
"About what?"
"Her going out with someone else."
"Well it's not my place to tell her who to see is it?"
"Well no, but you could have told her that you like her."
Nathan stared back at Lucas. 'You could have told her that you like her.' He mimicked his voice in his head. Yes he could have told her that he likes her, but what difference would it have made? She would still be going to LA, still be going on this date. "It wouldn't have made a difference."
"How do you know that?"
"I just do."
"Have you talked to her?"
"Not since she left the coffee shop."
"Not even text her?"
"Nope, not a word."
Lucas slapped him on head.
"Ouch, what the hell was that for." Nathan said as he rubbed the spot that Lucas had just hit.
"You're an idiot."
"I am not an idiot."
"Yes you are Nathan. Just tell her how you feel for crying out loud. I have never in your twenty four years of existence seen you this mopey about a girl Nathan. She must mean something to you right? Have you been with anyone else since you met her?"
Nathan shook his head. "No, I'm not interested in anyone else."
"Do you know why that is Nathan?"
Nathan shook his head again, hoping Lucas could shed some light on the situation cos it was driving him insane. Lucas was right, he never moped about a girl, but here he was sitting in Lucas' bar, moping. Usually, by the time Haley had taken one step away from him at the bar after the game she had come to, he would have moved onto the next girl, but he didn't. It just wasn't like him at all.
"Cos you like her." Lucas whispered, as if he was revealing some amazing secret.
Nathan looked at him, confused for a second, waiting to see if there was more. When he realised there wasn't any more, he spoke, "that's all you got. God Lucas, I could have told you that when you first walked in here. I know I like her."
"So tell her."
"No."
"Why not."
"Cos she's going on this date now."
Lucas sighed in frustration. "One day you are going to get your head out of your ass little brother, and realise that you are nothing but a stubborn fool with too much pride."
"I am not a fool."
"Well then answer me this, why are you sitting in my bar at twelve o'clock in the afternoon, moping cos a girl you like is going on a date with someone else, and she doesn't even know that you like her!"
"She must know I like her."
"Did you tell her?"
"No."
"So how can she know? Look Nathan, women like you to spell things out for them, so unless you tell her, she's not going to think that you do like her, especially with your track record."
"What do you mean, 'especially with my track record'?"
"Well let's just say, you don't exactly have the cleanest of girlfriend records."
"I've never really had a girlfriend." Nathan responded, confused as to what Lucas was getting at.
"Exactly, you've just used girls instead." Lucas said simply.
Nathan looked a little hurt from what Lucas had just said but he knew he was right. He didn't have the best reputation when it came to women, but no one had really interested him before, except for now, with Haley. She was beautiful, intelligent, easy to talk to, didn't fall for his crap and most of all, he enjoyed spending time with her, even if he was only texting her, he'd have a huge smile on his face; he was acting like such a girl!
"You need to call her or at least contact her and then talk to her when she gets back bro, I don't think I can take anymore of your sulking." Lucas patted his shoulder before walking back outside to get the rest of the delivery inside the bar, leaving Nathan to mull it all over.
Nathan stared at his phone. He knew he should call her; he missed talking to her so much and couldn't believe that he had managed to keep the silent treatment up for so long, but he didn't want to. He would just wait until she got back to New York on Tuesday and speak to her then. At least that way he could tell her how he feels to her face. He just prayed that nothing went on between her and 'pretty boy' in the meantime.
~*~
Haley rushed out of the bathroom in her hotel suite and ran over to her phone, which was sitting on the coffee table; she swore she had heard it go off while she was in the bath. She picked it up, praying that she had something from Nathan on there. But when she glanced at her phone, she realised that no one had tried to call or text her at all. She threw the phone back on the table. "Great I'm going mad now too." Haley muttered to herself as she pulled out the Gucci dress she had decided to wear this evening from the wardrobe.
She missed Nathan, which was ridiculous considering that they had hardly known each other a long time at all, but after she had been to the game, they were texting and talking constantly and she liked him, she knew she did. But when she had told him about this stupid date he had said nothing, except for 'Have fun in LA'. What the hell was that?! He should have pleaded with her not to go, or at least not to go on this date. But he had just sat there and said nothing of the sort. She really didn't know where she stood with him at the moment, it was all so confusing.
Haley sighed to herself as she pulled the dress on her. It was a gorgeous dress. Shame she wasn't wearing it to something that she wanted to attend. She heard her phone ring and prayed that it was Nathan, only to be disappointed again.
"Hello." Haley answered the phone unenthusiastically.
"Ok Haley, details for tonight. Chase is going to pick you up at seven, he's bringing the limo to the front of the hotel, so I guess make sure you are down in the lobby on time."
"Great." Haley said sarcastically.
"Haley…" Peyton sighed.
"What Peyton, I don't even want to go on this stupid date."
"Well that doesn't matter now does it."
"Arghhh!" Haley shouted.
"Look, just make sure you smile and actually look like you are enjoying yourself, okay?"
"Yes Peyton." Haley sing-songed.
"Ok good. I'll speak to you tomorrow and we can gossip about how it went. Have fun!"
"Whatever." Haley hung up the phone and threw it down on the sofa. She couldn't believe that Peyton had arranged this farce. The only person she wanted to be seen in public with was Nathan, and he wasn't even talking to her. And after the way he had just let her walk out of the coffee shop without saying anything, well except for his snide 'have fun in LA' comment, which she knew was just a dig at the fact that she was going on this date, there was no way in hell that she was going to call him first. She looked down at her phone, was there a way that she might call him? She picked up her phone and scrolled down to his number, before throwing it back down. She was not going to look that desperate to talk to him, in fact she wasn't that desperate at all, cos she had a date and all he had was a stupid basketball game.
She was knocked out of her totally irrational thoughts of calling him first, by a knock on her door. She walked over and let the make up artist and hair stylist into the suite, before allowing them to work their magic on her.
~*~
It was five to seven and Haley was making her way down to the lobby. She was actually quite nervous, she had never even met this Chase guy, well she had seen his films, obviously, what girl hadn't, and as much as she didn't want to go on this 'date', even she had to admit, he was kind of cute, but still she couldn't seem to get excited about this, all because she was only thinking about Nathan and wondering how he was getting on in the game he had tonight.
She arrived in the lobby and could see the limo parked up at the entrance and saw Chase Adams walking towards her, a huge smile on his face, looking rather dashing in his suit, no where near as hot as Nathan had looked at the gala, but still he did look good.
"Hi Haley!" He greeted her as he pulled her in for a hug.
Haley was a little shocked but played along all the same. "Hi Chase." She replied, hugging him back.
He pulled away from her and looked her up and down. "You look lovely."
"Thank you, so do you."
"You good to go?"
"Yep, sure am."
They made their way out to the limo, chit chatting about nothing in particular; he asked about her music, she asked about his film career and about the film that they were going to be watching tonight.
They pulled up outside the theatre and the driver opened the door for them, Chase stepping out first. Haley could hear the deafening screams and also see the flashes from the press and photographers from inside the limo, which were already blinding her, so God knows what it was going to be like when they were actually walking the carpet.
He held out his hand for her to help her get out of the limo, which she took, well she couldn't leave him standing there looking like a prat could she?! Once she had stepped out, the cameras went mental. She hastily let go of Chase's hand but he seemed to have other ideas, and proceeded to wrap his arm around her waist and started walking them both down the carpet.
Haley felt so uncomfortable, knowing that these pictures would end up all over the place the next day, and of course Nathan would see them. But she tried to relax. Peyton had wanted to quash the rumours about her and Nathan, and maybe if they finally died, Peyton would get off her case and she could… well she didn't know what was going on between her and Nathan, especially at the moment but at least it would stop Peyton shouting and lecturing her about him all the time.
They continued walking up the red carpet; Chase still had his arm locked securely around her waist. The cries from the photographers were so loud; it was hard to hear anything, so Haley just smiled. Chase halted them in front of the main bulk of the photographers and leaned in to Haley to speak to her over the shouting.
"You know at my last premiere, this girl fell down on the carpet, ripped her entire dress, to reveal that she was going commando!"
Haley couldn't help the burst of laughter escaping her from that story. "No way!" Her eyes were wide in shock. She leaned back into him so he could hear what she was saying. "I would die if that happened to me."
"I know!"
Haley smiled and turned her head back to the cameras, letting the press get the shots of them that they wanted.
The walked further along the carpet, where some of the pre-premiere interviews were taking place. Someone called both of them over so Chase diverted them to where the interviewer was standing, poised with her questions.
Haley wasn't really listening to what Chase was being asked, instead finding her mind drifting back to Nathan. It was probably half seven by now which would mean that his game was just beginning. She hoped he was going to play better than he had played during the week when she had caught his game on the TV. She felt Chase grab at her waist and she looked over to him, confused as to why he was pinching her, when she realised the reporter was asking her a question.
"Sorry!" Haley apologised.
"Don't worry, I was just wondering how things are going with your music?" The reporter asked.
"Oh, things are good right now, I'm in the studio a lot recording and writing so, yeah, things are good thank you!"
"Glad to hear it, well you two certainly do make a lovely couple!" The reporter said with a huge grin as she closed the interview.
Haley laughed nervously as Chase walked them into the theatre.
~*~
The coach had just called a time out and the Knicks were huddled on the court, waiting for the coach to speak.
"WHAT THE HELL HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU GUYS?!" He shouted.
The whole team looked to the floor, none of them wanting to say anything to the coach for fear of getting their asses kicked.
The coach looked around at the team, throwing each and every one of his players a look of absolute disgust.
Nathan's heart wasn't in it tonight. He had voices in his head taunting him, 'Haley's on that date, I wonder if she's kissed him yet?' That kept playing on and on in his head, he couldn't concentrate on anything, he was playing like crap, he knew it, in fact he was surprised the coach hadn't benched him yet.
"Scott, you're playing like shit. Peterson, you too. Now go back out there and win this game."
The team put their hands in the middle and shouted 'win' before taking their places back out on the court.
Nathan tried his hardest to get back in the game and scored some more baskets, which would get the coach off his back. He felt like a zombie though, not really sure what was getting him through the game, cos it sure as hell wasn't his head.
Lucas looked on from the stands and could tell Nathan was suffering. Tonight was of course the big 'date night'. He knew that Nathan was thinking about Haley, getting himself worked up over it, and the problem was that he wasn't the only who noticed that Nathan wasn't playing his best, the coach seemed to notice too. It had been like this at the last game as well. He really needed to get Nathan to talk to Haley, cos he wasn't doing himself any favours by not sorting things out with her.
The game had ended and the Knicks had won, but only just. The coach was giving them hell in the dressing room, but Nathan wasn't listening. He wondered what Haley and pretty boy were up to right now. Whether they were holding hands while they watched the film, whether they were going to go to the after party with each other. Whether she would let him kiss her at the end of the evening. He prayed that she wouldn't let him; he didn't think he would be able to take that.
Coach had finally stopped whinging about the game and had let them go and take their showers and head home for the night. Nathan walked out of the arena to find Lucas waiting for him.
"Well you pretty much sucked!" Lucas greeted him.
"Gee, thanks Luke." Nathan greeted him back.
"So what was going on out there?" Lucas asked, getting straight to the point.
Nathan shrugged. He wasn't about to tell Lucas that he was still thinking about Haley. He wouldn't let Lucas know that he was that pathetic.
"She's on her date now isn't she?" Lucas asked when Nathan remained silent.
Nathan glared at him. "So, what does that have to do with anything?" He bit back.
Lucas laughed. "You didn't talk to her did you?"
"Nope." Nathan said in a small voice.
"Just call her or something please Nate." Lucas nagged.
"Alright, alright, I will okay, just get off my back." Nathan said as he walked towards his car.
Lucas watched him stomp off. He was a stubborn as a mule, but he only hoped for his own sake that he would talk to her. He couldn't wallow in this any longer; he needed to sort it out.
Nathan slammed his hands on the steering wheel. He knew he needed to talk to Haley, to let her know how crazy he was about her, but thinking about her being out with that actor just made his insides crawl. He knew he had too much pride and stubbornness inside of him, which is what prevented him from saying anything to her when she had first told him about this date, and it was the same pride and stubbornness that had prevented him from calling or texting her after she had left the coffee shop. And it was the same pride and stubbornness that was preventing him from talking to her right now. But, he knew that he needed to make the first move, especially after the way he had left things with her. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and decided to bite the bullet, and swallow his pride and text her, hoping that she would reply and put his mind at ease. He would do the talking once she returned from LA.
~*~
Haley stepped out of the party with Chase, ready to call it a night. Also, she was desperate to get back to the hotel to see how Nathan had done in the game tonight and see whether the Knicks had won. There was also a small part of her that hoped he had called her after the game. But she wasn't going back to the hotel room early just to see if Nathan had called, she was tired and she needed to start packing up tomorrow before she headed back to New York. That's what she had told Chase anyway.
Truth be told, she'd had a good time with Chase. He was easy to talk to and made her laugh. But she didn't feel the same way she had felt when she first met Nathan. When Chase had put his arm around her, she didn't feel that jolt of electricity that had run through her body whenever Nathan touched her. She didn't feel like her stomach was filled with butterflies every time he looked at her, like she did with Nathan. But he had been fun and it was just what she had needed after the week she'd had, what with Nathan all but ignoring her.
The limo pulled up outside her hotel and the driver left them in peace for a couple of minutes before opening the door for Haley.
"Thank you for tonight Chase." Haley started, not wanting there to be any awkward moments where he felt the need to kiss her, because she didn't want him to kiss her, the only person she wanted to be kissing was Nathan.
"Thank you for coming Haley, I hope the film didn't bore you too much!"
"Not at all, the film was great, you were great!"
"Thanks!" Chase responded, before that horrid awkward silence descended upon the limo. "So…" Chase started.
Haley looked at him, putting her hands on her knees, trying to put as much of her body in front of her so it made it harder for Chase to lean in.
"I think I might be coming to New York soon, it would be good to catch up then." He said hopefully.
Haley eyed him carefully, not really sure what she was committing to by saying yes, but he seemed nice enough and she had enjoyed herself, and Nathan was giving her the brush off so why the hell not. "Yeah, okay, that sounds like a plan."
"Good, I'll have my manager call yours or something so we can sort it out nearer the time."
"Okay."
He leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, before helping her out of the limo.
"Goodnight Haley."
"Bye Chase." She said as the driver closed the door.
Haley walked into her suite and kicked off her shoes, which were killing her. She couldn't help the smile that played across her face as she thought back to the phone conversation she had shared with Nathan where he took the piss out of her wearing shoes that hurt her. She shook her head as she walked over to the coffee table and picked up her phone. She had all but given up on Nathan calling her if she was honest with herself. He had a game tonight which would have meant that he was concentrating on that, not on her, if he even was concentrating on her at any time the past week, which given the lack of communication that had occurred between them, she was thinking not. She had no idea what was going on between them, things had been left so open, nothing had been defined, nothing was clear to Haley, and she hated feeling like that.
She scrolled through her missed calls, all were from Peyton, no doubt calling about the pictures she had seen that were going to press in the morning, or to find out how things had gone with Chase, and nothing was from Nathan. Well there's a surprise! She thought to herself as she slumped herself on the couch, ready to read the texts she had received, which were also no doubt from Peyton.
She scrolled through her messages, deleting the ones from Peyton; she would just speak to her in the morning, when her heart stopped a beat. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand just to make sure that she wasn't seeing things, for there; in her inbox was a message from Nathan!
She opened it, willing her phone to hurry up; it was too damn slow for her. She took a breath, calming herself down before reading it.
'We need to talk when you get back.'
What the hell was that?! She was infuriated. Here was the first line of communication they'd had since his petty, 'Have fun in LA' comment, and all he could come up with was 'we need to talk when you get back'?! Damn straight we need to talk. Haley thought to herself as she threw her phone on the sofa next to her in frustration, stripped her dress off and got into bed, not caring that she was only dressed in her underwear, or that she still had all her make up on. She was too pissed off to care.
~*~
It was five am and Nathan was still tossing and turning in bed, checking his phone every minute to see if she'd responded to his text message. He reached over and took his phone in his hands, knowing that nothing had happened since he'd last checked it, but he needed to make sure. Nothing. He threw himself back against the pillows and ran his hands through his hair. He was officially going insane. She hadn't responded, that must mean that she was fucking that Chase guy. Why else would she not respond? But Haley didn't seem like the sort of girl who would just sleep with someone, but then again, did he really know her well enough to discount that? "God!" He cried out as he got out of bed. If he laid there any longer he was going to start hitting himself, and lord knows what thoughts would be running through his head if he stayed there thinking about her and him a second longer.
He poured himself a coffee, he was going to need all the caffeine he could get to stay awake today after the night he'd just had, and sat down in his kitchen, deciding to go for a run to take his mind off Haley. Then he would have another coffee and read the paper.
He returned from his run an hour later, still not feeling any more settled about Haley, she still hadn't responded to his text. He grabbed the paper from the front of the house and threw it on the table, before having a quick shower and then grabbing his coffee.
He flicked through the sports pages, finding nothing of particular interest to him. He then threw the paper back to the front and started flicking through the news while sipping his coffee. He had just taken the last gulp of his cup when he turned to the celebrity gossip column and spat the coffee out all over the table.
There in front of him was a picture of Haley and the dick. He was leaning into her ear and she was laughing. His hand was wrapped around her waist and her arm was resting on his shoulder. He was touching her. Why was he touching her?! He felt like he was going to be sick, his stomach was doing somersaults. Nathan couldn't bring himself to read what blurb was written underneath. He closed the paper and headed into the lounge, flicking on the TV, trying to distract himself. She fucked him, definitely fucked him.
A few hours later, he pulled up outside Lucas' bar. He needed to get out of his house, he was driving himself mad. He had thrown the paper in the bin on the way out; he didn't need to see that picture ever again, for it was permanently engrained in his memory.
He walked into the bar to find Lucas hunched over the bar looking at something, which once he started flapping around trying to hide it from him, he knew it was the paper. "Relax Luke, I've already seen it." Nathan said dejectedly as he took a seat in front of his brother.
"Seen what?" Lucas asked as he not-so-subtlety threw the paper down on the floor with his elbow.
"The paper, with the picture of Haley and Chase."
"Oh."
"Hmmm." Was all Nathan could say as he fiddled with his hands.
"Did you talk to her?" Lucas asked.
"I text her last night saying I wanted to talk to her when she got back from LA, which she hasn't responded to. That was before I saw that picture."
"And what do you think about it?"
"I honestly don't know Lucas." Nathan sighed. "I mean did you see it?"
"Yeah I saw it."
"As much as it pains me to say it, she looked happy in it."
"Yeah but Nate, it was just some stupid celebrity date. Don't give up on your feelings for her just because of some picture."
"Easy for you to say." Nathan mumbled.
"Come on Nate, I've seen how happy you were before she left, I don't think it's worth not telling her how you feel."
"I know, but what happens if something happened with that guy?"
"Like what?"
"Like what if she slept with him, or what if they are dating now?"
"She wouldn't have slept with him Nate, you can't think that."
"Well why not? She hasn't replied to my text yet."
Lucas laughed. "That doesn't mean she slept with him!"
Nathan ran his hands through his hair. This whole thing with Haley was turning him into a crazy, obsessive freak.
"Just tell her. You'll regret it if you don't Nathan."
~*~
Haley walked through her front door after having arrived back in New York, to hear the phone ringing, so she ran over and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Haley, at last I get through to you!"
"Hey Peyton, yeah sorry about that, I was really busy."
"So…. How did it go?"
"How did what go?"
"The date with Chase?"
"It wasn't a date."
"Whatever, what was he like?"
"Nice."
"Did he kiss you?"
"On the cheek."
"What did you talk about?"
"Stuff!" Haley shouted. "God Peyton, what's with the interrogation?"
"Sorry! I was just asking."
"Well it was fine."
"The pictures were good. You guys looked close."
"Yeah I saw." Haley responded. In fact, she was not happy with those pictures at all. It just so happened that some bitch of a photographer had taken the snap right at that moment where Chase was telling her the story about the girl that had tripped on the red carpet. And, even she had to admit, any rumours about her and Nathan would have definitely stopped after anyone saw the pictures of her and Chase. She didn't even want to know what Nathan must be thinking, he would surely be furious with her, either that or incredibly confused.
Her mobile vibrated just as she was saying her goodbyes to Peyton, and she nearly dropped her phone when she saw that Nathan was asking her to meet up with him.
She responded immediately, saying she was free now if he was, wondering if he had seen those pictures…
~*~
Nathan walked into the coffee shop to find Haley sitting with her back to the window. His heart rate increased just at the sight of her. He took a deep breath, convincing himself that he was doing the right thing and made his way up to her table. "Hey Haley." He said as he took a seat at the table.
"Hi Nathan!" Haley smiled at him. "I got you a coffee."
"Oh, thanks."
Haley looked at him briefly, trying to gauge whether he had seen that picture of her and Chase or not. He was being quiet and wasn't looking directly at her, but that didn't necessarily mean that he had seen it, but it didn't mean that he hadn't.
Nathan was so nervous he couldn't look at her. He knew he needed to tell her how he felt but he couldn't seem to find the words, and everything he thought of saying in his head sounded ridiculous. So instead he said nothing, he would need to think about what to say a little more before he said something that made him sound stupid.
"So you guys won the two games you played!" Haley said, wanting to kill the silence that had fallen on them.
"Yeah, to be honest, we didn't play that well though."
"Oh well, I saw your game on Thursday, you played really well."
"Thanks." He said as he gave her a small smile.
Haley fiddled with her hands; she didn't know what else to say to him. She deduced that from the fact that he wasn't engaging in any conversation with her meant that he had to have seen the pictures and that he wasn't happy about them. She watched as he gulped down his coffee and she did the same. She was convinced that he was going to say that nothing could happen between them, and she didn't want to hear him say things like that. She at least wanted them to be friends.
Nathan was gulping down his coffee so fast; he had finished it before he knew it. He kept taking really deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves. He didn't know what was wrong with him; he was only going to tell Haley that he liked her! But what if she already had something with the actor dude? He didn't think he would be able to stand hearing her say it, even though he knew he was just going to have to suck it up and listen, for he couldn't do anything about it if there was something going on between Haley and Chase.
Haley couldn't stand listening to him breathe so deeply anymore, she needed to get out of here before he started talking about how he couldn't see or speak to her anymore, at least if she got out of here quickly, she could call him later and hopefully the chat between them would go back to how it was before the whole LA thing happened, back to when it was easy for them to talk and flirt with each other. She longed for that easiness more than anything. "Okay, well I think I am going to head off home, I still need to unpack and stuff… so…" She got up and grabbed her bag from the floor.
"Okay." Nathan got up and followed her out of the door.
"I'll call you later okay. Bye Nathan." Haley said as she started to walk away.
She was walking away from him, he needed to stop her, he needed to tell her how he felt. "Haley!" He called out, and before he knew it she had turned around and was walking back up to him, a confused, sad look on her face.
Nooooo! She shouted in her head. This was exactly the moment she had been trying to avoid; she didn't want to hear him tell her that he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She turned around, and walked back up to him, deciding that her best course of action would be to start talking before he could. "Nathan, look, I really want to be friends with you, I think we have something really good going on, and I know things haven't been great between us this past week, but I really do want to be your friend. So what do you say?"
Nathan listened to what she was saying. She wanted to be his friend. Great. He thought to himself, convinced now more than ever that something was definitely going on with her and Chase, it had to be if she was spouting all this crap about being friends. He looked at her, seeing the apprehension in her eyes, hoping that his weren't showing the disappointment he felt ripping through him. He wanted to scream and shout at her about Chase, and about the pictures. He wanted to ask her a thousand and one questions about what had happened on her date, but he knew he couldn't, it wasn't his place to ask, she didn't owe him any sort of explanation for her actions, and she was free to do as she pleased. He looked down at her. she was so beautiful, and as much as he knew it would kill him to see her with someone else, he couldn't bare not being around her, as this past week had shown, and if she wanted to be his friend, then he was going to have to find a way to be at peace with himself if she had found happiness elsewhere. "Sure, we can be friends." He said with a small smile. His only saving grace was the fact that he hadn't opened his mouth about wanting to be with her. At least he still had his pride, even if had just given up the only girl that he could ever see himself having a proper relationship with.
AN – Hey guys, so what do you think of the chapter? I know it probably isn't what any of you wanted to happen but I promise you it all only adds to this story… so please stick with it! I find myself getting so carried away when I'm writing this, it's only when I stop that I realise how long the chapters are! I'm glad you guys don't mind though, and thank you for all the amazing reviews you left me for the previous chapter! Anyway, I hope to update again relatively soon, so let me know what you all thought of this chapter by dropping me a review x