AN – Thank you all very much for leaving such lovely comments about the last chapter, you all make me smile so much!
As always just a few words to those of you who don't have accounts and didn't leave an email address so I couldn't respond personally – BlueJean452 – I'm so pleased you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one too! T – Glad you are enjoying the story so far, and I hope you enjoy the update.
Right so on with the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it!
Many thanks go to Rebecca and Kristin for giving this the once over before I posted it, you girls are great!
Chapter Four
Nathan couldn't believe how nervous he was. He had honestly thought that his nerves had hit their peak on Thursday morning when the magnitude of what he had agreed to do with Haley hit him like a ton of bricks as he rolled out of bed, but he found that his nerves just kept building and building up inside of him with every hour that passed since then, and every time he thought he couldn't get any more anxious about it all, the nerves seemed to then crank up another notch. He dreaded what he would be like tomorrow, he wondered if he'd have a heart attack or something equally as serious, for tomorrow was Saturday, the day that this whole agreement with Haley was supposed to kick in and he was scared as fuck about it.
He was having doubts, serious doubts about it all. Should they really go through with this arrangement, this crazy idea of his? Wouldn't it change everything between them just like Haley had argued with him when he had first suggested it? It shouldn't, he reasoned with himself, having sex with Haley last Saturday hadn't changed their relationship with each other in the slightest, but could he honestly live with himself if constant sex with Haley did eventually change things? Could he really risk losing her for this, for what ultimately came down to being just sex? But wasn't he just being a good friend to her, wasn't that the reason why he had suggested this in the first place? He sighed heavily as he leaned back in his office chair and rested his legs on his desk. He brought the pen he had in his hands and clenched it between his teeth while he pondered and debated with himself. He then realised that he had a pen in his mouth and quickly chucked it back down on his desk in disgust, running his hands through his hair in pure frustration with himself, he hated it when Haley bit on pens and now he was doing it himself. His brain had to be becoming completely warped with worry, that was the only explanation for the fact that he had put that pen in his mouth and for the reason that he was in this ridiculous state of mind.
He glanced down at the clock on his computer and saw that it was quarter to seven, so he shut down his computer and put his suit jacket back on himself as he walked to the elevators, still completely deep in thought. He had this overwhelming feeling that, should he go through with this arrangement with Haley, that it wasn't going to end well. He wondered whether he should just quit while he was ahead because the feeling that was in the pit of his stomach right this very instant was not a good one, and the last thing he wanted to do was to jeopardise his relationship with Haley. She was his best friend and he knew that he would hate himself forever should anything come between them, especially something as ridiculous as sex.
He walked out of the office building's revolving door and glanced from left to right, not seeing Haley anywhere. He rolled his eyes; her not being here meant that they were going to be late, which in turn would mean that he would end up paying for the whole night's drinks for the second week in a row. He then walked to the left of the door and leaned his right foot up against the wall while he considered his current predicament some more. He then closed his eyes and leaned his head back, still debating internally with himself; eventually coming to the conclusion that helping Haley with this list of hers was just plain wrong and that they shouldn't do anything to disrupt their relationship. He wouldn't be able to stand it if things changed, and besides, if it felt right, if this was supposed to happen, well he wouldn't be this nervous about it all, would he? He breathed in deeply and told himself that he would tell Haley that the arrangement was off once they got back from the bar tonight. It was most certainly the best course of action, for them both. He just hoped that she would see it that way too.
Haley walked along the bustling sidewalk, not really concentrating on where she was going at all, for her mind was completely preoccupied with the impending thoughts of what tomorrow would bring. She had absolutely no idea why she was having these thoughts, things hadn't been at all awkward between her and Nathan after they'd had sex on Saturday night so why the hell was she feeling this nervous when nothing more had happened between them yet?
Yet. She clasped her hands together and began to play with her fingers as she bit down on her lip, sighing heavily to herself. What the hell had she been thinking, agreeing to something so stupid? She should have just said no to Nathan's offer of sex in the first place, that way they wouldn't even be here in this ridiculous situation. It was all Nathan's fault for suggesting that they have sex last Saturday, and she supposed that it was partly her fault for agreeing to do that with him in the first place. But then again, if Brooke the biggest pain in the ass on record Davis had never suggested that she write the damn list last year, well then she and Nathan would just be she and Nathan as they always were, and none of this nervousness would be consuming her whole being.
If she was having these doubts, then the whole idea couldn't be a good one, could it? If she were happy with this arrangement then she wouldn't be feeling this anxious about it all, would she? No, she wouldn't, she finally reasoned with herself, and just before she came to the corner before Nathan's office, she had made the decision to put an end to this arrangement before it had even begun. She needed to, for the sake of her relationship with Nathan and her own sanity; she hadn't been able to think clearly since Wednesday at all.
She glanced at her watch as she rounded the corner, seeing that she was a couple of minutes late, probably due to the worrying she had been doing on her way over to his office rather than concentrating on where she was going, she knew that she had been dawdling. She craned her neck and spotted Nathan leaning against the office building and she couldn't help but smile to herself at the sight of him. Instantly her worries started melting away, fading to the back of her mind. There was something about being in his presence which seemed to do that to her, he always managed to calm her down. She began walking towards him and noticed that he eyes were shut and she couldn't help but sigh, he had been working far too hard lately and really needed to sleep more than he currently was.
Nathan knew that she was somewhere close; he had that feeling inside of him which appeared suddenly whenever she was near him. He opened up his eyes, turned his head to the left and spotted her coming towards him through the crowd. He pushed himself away from the wall and began walking towards her, smiling wildly at her. "Hey gorgeous." He said when he was close enough for her to hear him.
Haley beamed back at him just as brightly. "Hey!" She responded and then felt his arm wrap around her shoulder as he pulled her into him and kissed the top of her head. "Did you have a good day?" She asked once he had allowed her to pull away from him a little bit.
"Hmm, so so to be honest, I definitely need a drink, put it that way." Nathan replied and then began to walk them both in the direction of the bar, twisting his wrist slightly from its current position on her shoulder so that he could catch a glimpse of the time as he looked over Haley's head, speeding up their pace once he realised that they might just be able to arrive on time if they hurried up a little bit. He really didn't want to have to put his credit card behind the bar for the second week in a row. "How about you gorgeous?" He asked.
"Same as you to be honest." Haley responded and then twisted her head so that she was looking up at him, giving him the once over and taking in how he was properly and instantly agreed with her earlier assessment of him when she had first spotted him leaning against his office building. "You look tired. I think you need to sleep more and to calm down the workload a little."
Nathan chuckled at her and then pulled her in tighter to him. "What makes you think I'm tired Hales? I'm fine." He said, rolling his eyes at her because she was worried about him, and quite honestly she was worrying about nothing, he was used to working to deadlines, it was what he did.
"You were practically falling asleep against that wall Nathan." Haley chastised him as she pointed over her shoulder at his office building. "You really do need to calm down the workload a bit, you didn't come home until gone eleven last night..."
Nathan interrupted her before she went on another one of her rants, knowing that the real reason as to why he had worked so late last night was because he had spent most of the day worrying about their arrangement instead of concentrating on his work, and he had needed to make up the time. "I have a big project on at the moment Hales and I need to put in the hours..." He started and then found that he was cut off by Haley interrupting him.
"Not that many hours Nathan, you're going to burn out soon, I promise you will. You left the apartment before I had even got out of bed on Thursday which means at the very least that you did a sixteen hour day which is just plain stupid, and you couldn't even meet me for lunch. Did you manage to have some dinner last night or did you skip it?" Haley asked as they rounded the corner towards the bar.
"Yes I had some dinner." Nathan answered as he rolled his eyes at her once more. She was turning into him, he was sure of it. "And quite honestly Hales, if anyone around here should be worried about someone's eating habits then it's me, not you. What did you have for dinner yesterday?"
Haley scowled at him as he opened up the door to the bar for her to walk through. "Don't you dare start that one again Nathan, I had enough of your ridiculous talk about my eating habits at lunch on Wednesday thank you very much." She said as she walked into the bar.
"And I've had enough of your ridiculous talk right now." Nathan responded as he raised an eyebrow at Haley, letting her know that if she didn't drop the subject then neither would he.
"Fine, I'll stop moaning at you." Haley conceded as she really didn't want to have to recount every single piece of food that had gone past her lips in the last two days to him, knowing fore well that he would make her do just that if she continued to talk about the subject of his working hours any longer than she already had.
"Good girl." Nathan said with a victorious smirk as he leaned in and placed a kiss on the top of her head again. "Vodka and coke?" He asked as he motioned his head towards the bar, seeing the rest of the gang seated at the usual table. He then took a quick glance at his watch, smiling at the fact that they had managed to get to the bar on time.
"Nope, vodka and diet coke please." Haley corrected him with a smile.
"Why diet?" Nathan asked.
"It tastes better." Haley responded.
"Well the full fat coke didn't bother you last week when I ordered it for you." Nathan challenged.
"It did bother me; I just chose not to mention it because I was pissed off enough about that slime ball Damien to worry about the taste of diet or full fat coke. Tonight I'm not so angry, but I will be if you don't get me the diet coke." Haley replied.
Nathan raised his eyebrow at her and then turned around so that he could walk in the direction of the bar, deciding that he wasn't going to bother with the diet coke, hopefully she wouldn't notice the difference anyway.
"Oh and Nathan?" Haley called after him and then waited until he had turned around to face her. "Don't even think about swapping the diet coke for the full fat stuff because I can taste the difference, you know that I can." She said with a smile before turning herself around and heading for the table where their friends were currently seated.
Nathan rolled his eyes at her and turned around as he continued to walk to the bar, still deciding that he was going to try to trick her with the full fat stuff. It tasted just the same to him and she didn't need the diet version anyway.
"Hey guys!" Haley greeted the table as she slipped in the booth next to Brooke.
"Hey Haley, are you feeling better?" Jake asked as he leaned over Peyton so that he could see her properly.
"What?" Haley asked, wondering what he was going on about because she hadn't been feeling ill at all this week.
"Wednesday night you and Nathan left poker early because you weren't feeling too good. Remember?" Peyton explained.
"Oh that!" Haley said, the question Jake had asked her finally clicking in her mind. "Yeah I'm fine now thanks, it really wasn't that bad, it was just Nathan overreacting."
"As always." Lucas said as he rolled his eyes. "He always has been ridiculously overprotective of you Haley."
"Shut up Luke, I think it's sweet that Nathan's like that with her; it's the only time I don't see him acting like an absolute ass." Brooke admonished him before turning her attention back to Haley. "So what were you two arguing about when you walked in here?"
Haley rolled her eyes at Brooke. "We weren't arguing about anything."
"Yes you were I saw you two just a moment ago, he was rolling his eyes at you." Brooke countered Haley, wanting to know what their disagreement had been about this time. They were usually extremely interesting, well; more interesting that discussing how the rest of everyone's week had been anyway.
Haley sighed as she turned around in her seat to face Brooke. "I think he's working too hard and not getting enough sleep, he's worried I'm not eating properly." She revealed. "So there you go, we weren't discussing anything remotely interesting."
"And are you?" Brooke asked.
"Am I what?" Haley replied, confused about what Brooke was asking her.
"Eating properly." Brooke stated as she waited patiently for Haley to answer her.
Haley rolled her eyes at Brooke. "Jesus Christ, not you as well! Yes am I eating properly, why the hell is everyone so interested in my eating habits all of a sudden?" She asked, finding that she was completely exasperated about this topic of conversation, it was driving her insane.
"Alright, calm down, I was only asking. Why would Nathan bring it up if he didn't think there was something wrong?" Brooke asked.
Haley shook her head and sighed. "I don't know, we went out for lunch on Wednesday and I ordered a salad and he went completely ape shit at me."
"Because you ordered a salad?" Brooke asked, wondering what the hell was wrong with that, she ordered salads all the time.
"Well that and also he called me unfit earlier on in the day, I think he was just putting two and two together and thought that he was coming up with four." Haley responded.
"Oh?" Brooke questioned, still wondering how this all fitted together.
Haley looked up at Brooke and knew that she needed to explain things a little more to her. "He felt bad about calling me unfit, I said that I could probably do with losing a few pounds and then he got all worried about it." She explained.
"Okay, now I get it." Brooke said as she rolled her eyes at their Nathan and Haley like behaviour. "So are you trying to lose a few pounds? You don't need to you know Haley."
"I'm not really trying to lose a few pounds, just trying to tone up a bit. I couldn't even walk up the stairs to the apartment without stopping at the third floor for a breather, it's ridiculous." Haley responded, instantly pushing those thoughts and memories out of her head because Wednesday night was the night when she and Nathan had entered into this stupid agreement, the one that she needed to end tonight and so she quickly found herself changing the subject onto much safer matters which hopefully meant that she wouldn't spend the entire night worrying about the arrangement. "I joined a gym."
"Really? Which one?" Brooke asked.
"Shapers, you know the one that is kind of near to my work, it's the one I pass on the way back to the apartment." Haley returned.
"No way!" Brooke squealed at her. "I go to that one!"
"You do?" Haley asked, wondering how she hadn't known that piece of information.
"Yeah! Oh my gosh, this is going to be so much fun! We can start going together, we can be gym buddies! Who's your induction with?" Brooke asked, her eyes dancing with excitement.
Haley rolled her eyes at Brooke's enthusiasm, but she supposed that if she had Brooke waiting on her at the gym she might actually use it a little more often than she had originally intended. "Erm, my induction is with some guy named Ryan." She answered.
Brooke's mouth dropped open. "You got Ryan?" She screeched.
"Jesus Brooke will you lower the tone of your voice, I think there was even a dog on the moon that caught that." Lucas said as he rolled his eyes at his girlfriend.
Brooke raised her eyebrow at Lucas who quickly went back to his discussion with Jake and Peyton. "Oh my god, Ryan is so lovely, how good looking is he?" Brooke gushed as she turned her attention back to Haley.
"Erm, he's okay I guess, to be honest I didn't really notice." Haley returned, rolling her eyes at how flustered Brooke was getting, she didn't even get like this over Lucas, and she completely adored Luke, in her own little Brooke-like way.
"How the hell could you not notice Haley? He has the most amazing eyes, literally I get completely lost in them sometimes, and oh my gosh, his body is just amazing…" Brooke started as she fantasised about Ryan, finding her happy place, only to have her thoughts interrupted rather rudely by Haley.
Haley laughed at Brooke. "I think you'll find that your boyfriend is sitting right next to you. You do remember who he is, don't you? The guy you've been dating since High School, blonde hair, blue eyes…"
Brooke sighed as she came back to reality. "I know, but a girl can dream right?" She giggled.
Haley giggled alongside her. "You might be better off doing that when you aren't sat next to your boyfriend though."
"Yeah you might be right." Brooke sighed. "So when is your induction with the lovely Ryan?" She asked.
"Sunday at four." Haley returned. "But I haven't told Nathan about the whole joining a gym thing yet, given how much of a freak out he's been having with me lately about all that kind of stuff I didn't think it would be a good idea…"
"Oh I see…" Brooke said and then smiled at Haley, knowing that she didn't want him to know about her joining a gym just yet, which was fine with her. "Where the hell is he anyway?" She asked.
"I have no idea." Haley returned as she turned around in her seat and began searching for Nathan at the bar.
Nathan walked up to the bar, muttering under his breath about the fact that there clearly was no difference between diet and full fat coke. Haley was just being ridiculous. Eventually, he ended up at the bar and waited patiently to be served. He picked out his blackberry from his pocket and rolled his eyes as he looked over the seven e-mails he had received since leaving the office and deleted the ones that had nothing to do with him, before glancing up when someone cleared their throat in front of him. He raised his gaze and noticed that there was a woman was standing behind the bar, which was unusual; he didn't recognise her at all. "Are you new?" He asked.
"Yeah I am new, I'm Sarah, what can I get for you?" Sarah asked as she smiled up at Nathan.
"One vodka and coke and a beer please." Nathan said and then watched as she grabbed a glass from above the bar and twisted around to pour the vodka into the glass while simultaneously reaching down to grab a beer from the fridge below.
Sarah turned around and placed the beer next to the man and placed the glass down in front of her, getting ready to pour the coke into the glass. Before she pressed the button she double checked with him. "Normal or diet?" She asked.
"Normal." Nathan confirmed and then smirked as he watched Haley's vodka get filled with normal coke instead of the diet she had ordered. There was no way in hell that she would be able to taste the difference, he certainly couldn't.
"Here you go." Sarah said as she placed the vodka and coke down on the bar in front of him.
"Thanks." Nathan returned and smiled at her. "We should have a tab set up; I'm with the table in the corner over there." He continued, pointing back at his friends before twisting himself back around again to face Sarah.
"Oh okay, yeah they set one up when they came in. So are you guys regulars?" Sarah asked.
"Every Friday at seven." Nathan smiled at her as he took a swig of his beer.
"So it looks like we'll be seeing more of each other then." Sarah smiled back at him.
"Indeed." Nathan returned, and then lowered his gaze down to the drink he had ordered for Haley, before lifting it back up to Sarah's. "Well I'd better get this drink back to the table otherwise she'll castrate me or something." He continued and smiled back at Sarah once more. "It was good to meet you, I hope you like working here."
"Good to meet you too." Sarah returned and then moved on down the bar; taking another order from another customer, while not being able to remove her gaze from the boy with the blue eyes.
Nathan turned around and carried his and Haley's drinks over to the table, placing her vodka and coke, normal, not diet, in front of her before sliding into the booth next to Peyton.
"She looks cute." Haley said as she pulled her drink towards herself.
"Who?" Nathan asked as he eyed Haley suspiciously. What the hell was she going on about now?
"The new bargirl." Brooke replied, her eyes glistening with mischief.
"I didn't notice." Nathan returned nonchalantly as he took another sip of his beer.
"Please, she was blatantly flirting with you, did you not notice the way that she bent down to get your beer out of the fridge?" Brooke said as she rolled her eyes at how dumb he could be sometimes.
"Like I said, I didn't notice." Nathan returned, not wanting to be subjected to any of Brooke's matchmaking skills tonight, or any other night for that matter. He'd seen firsthand the disaster that was Haley and her many dates and there was no way that he was ever going to allow himself to get involved in any of that shit. And besides, he didn't really want to date anyone at the moment anyway.
Haley played with her glass and glanced up at the bar, seeing the new bargirl staring over at Nathan. She quickly moved her gaze back down to the glass in front of her. "She's looking at you Nathan! I think she likes you!" She said with a smile as she lifted her eyes and caught Nathan's glare.
"Will you stop looking at her? You're both so flipping obvious." Nathan chastised them both.
"Do you like her?" Brooke asked excitedly.
"No I don't like her, and will you both stop looking at me like that?" Nathan cried out as he took in both of their surreptitious glares.
"What's her name?" Brooke asked casually as she took a sip of her drink.
"Sarah." Nathan returned.
"Ha! You know her name! That means you did more than just order drinks from her, you must like her!" Brooke squealed and then bounced up and down in her chair as she glanced over at the bar quickly and caught Sarah looking at Nathan once more. "She just looked at you again!"
"For God's sake Brooke will you stop looking at her?" Nathan hissed at Brooke, finding that he was quickly losing his patience with her and he hadn't even drunk half of his bottle of beer yet.
Haley giggled quietly to herself at how irritated Nathan was getting and took a sip of her drink, scowling as soon as the liquid entered her mouth, knowing that he had ordered her a normal coke instead of the diet she had asked for with her vodka. She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, but saw that he was currently glaring at Brooke. She sighed and then pushed her glass across the table towards him.
"And she told me her name, I didn't ask for it, not that it's any of your business anyway." Nathan continued to hiss over at Brooke. He glared at her for a while and then noticed that something was moving towards him in his peripheral vision. He glanced down quickly and saw that Haley's hand was pushing her drink over to him. He lifted his eyes to hers and raised his eyebrow. "Why are you pushing your drink towards me?" He asked.
"Its full fat coke and I asked for diet." Haley stated, raising her own eyebrow at Nathan, daring him to challenge the fact that it was indeed normal and not diet coke.
"Haley there is no difference between full fat and diet coke." Nathan returned through gritted teeth, pissed off at her for the fact that she had mentioned something about the new bargirl, which had in turn allowed Brooke to release the full force of her incredibly unsuccessful matchmaking skills on him.
"Actually Nathan, there is the difference of about a hundred or so calories." Brooke interjected.
"And who the fuck asked you Brooke." Nathan bit back at her, the volume of his voice rising with every word that came out of his mouth.
Haley quickly intervened before another Brooke Nathan fight broke out. "Look Nathan, there is a difference and I can taste the difference, it has nothing to do with calories, I just prefer the taste of diet coke…." Haley started but found that she was interrupted by Nathan.
"There is no difference in taste!" Nathan cried out in frustration.
"Yes there is Nathan, so can you go and get me a vodka with diet coke like I asked please?" Haley returned with a raised eyebrow.
"Why can't you go and get it yourself?" Nathan returned as he folded his arms across his chest. "Why should I go and get it for you?" He asked suspiciously, sure that she was just using the drink as an excuse to get him to talk to Sarah again.
"Because you messed my order up." Haley replied. "Please?"
"No Hales, I'm not going to go back to that bar to get you another drink when you have one in front of you that tastes exactly the same that you aren't even going to finish." Nathan said, standing his ground.
"Oh come on Nathan, please?" Haley whined and then pouted at him.
"Don't even think about whining at me Hales. It's not going to work. There is no difference in taste so just deal with it and drink it." Nathan replied sternly, shaking his head at her.
"You'll get to speak to the cute bargirl again…" Haley said suggestively.
"I knew that was what you were up to!" Nathan returned incredulously. "There is no way I'm going to succumb to your silly high school matchmaking games. I'm not even interested in her for crying out loud so will you both just stop with the suggestive staring." He said as he pushed Haley's drink back at her. "And besides, like I've said a thousand times already tonight, there is no difference in taste so just drink it will you for God's sake."
Haley continued to glare at him. "There is a difference Nathan." She returned once again and then proceeded to stand up from the table. "Come on, I'll show you." She said as she motioned for Nathan to get up from the table.
"Haley I really don't care about the difference in taste of full fat and diet coke that much, I'm happy where I am." Nathan returned and then turned around in his seat to see the look on Haley's face. He knew not to mess with that look.
"Nathan come on, otherwise I will drag you to the bar myself." Haley returned with her free hand placed firmly on her hip, the other carrying the vodka and coke, normal not diet.
"Fine. I'm coming." Nathan returned and then slipped out of the booth.
Haley started giggling, she couldn't help it.
"What the hell are you finding so funny? I swear to God Haley if you try anything with the bargirl I'm going to get so angry at you." Nathan started.
"No it's not that, I'm not planning anything Nathan with this Sarah girl, don't worry." Haley returned as she turned her face to look up at Nathan. "I was just remembering you taking the piss out of me on Wednesday after I said those words."
"What words?" Nathan responded as he continued walking up to the bar with Haley.
"I'm coming." Haley returned just as they got to the bar. She sat down on one of the bar stools and watched as Nathan followed, sitting down in the empty one next to her, a look of pure confusion swept across his face. Haley sighed and then leaned into him. "You know after we had sex and you were in the living room…"
"Oh!" Nathan replied as the light bulb finally switched on in his head and he chuckled to himself. "That was quite funny actually."
"Back so soon?" Sarah asked as she placed her hand on her hips and raised her eyebrow at Nathan.
"Erm, yeah, I guess so." Nathan replied and then smiled back at her politely.
"Can I get a vodka and diet coke please." Haley asked and then watched as Sarah poured both the vodka and the diet coke into the glass, and then placed it in front of her. "Thanks."
Nathan swivelled around slightly in his seat so that he was facing Haley. "I'm telling you there's no difference in the taste of either drink gorgeous so you're just wasting my time as well as yours."
"We'll see about that." Haley responded. "Close your eyes."
"What?" Nathan replied incredulously. "You're not serious Hales. You want me to close my eyes?"
"Er yeah, otherwise you're going to be able to cheat." Haley said and then raised both her eyebrows at Nathan as she waited for him to close his eyes.
Nathan sighed heavily at her request, she was officially crazy. "Fine." He responded and then shut his eyes, not believing that he was sitting in a bar with his damn eyes closed, presumably so that Haley could hold the drinks up to his mouth, he must look like a right idiot.
Haley smiled and then brought the first of the drinks up to his lips, letting him suck through the straw she had placed in the drink. "Okay, that's the first one." She said and then brought the other drink up to his lips, letting him take a sip of the other drink. "And this one is the second."
Nathan tried to distinguish the taste of the drinks he had just tasted. "Can I open my eyes now?" He asked.
"You can." Haley said once she had placed the glass back down on the table. "So which one was diet, drink number one or drink number two?" She asked.
Nathan leaned in closer to Haley, who was looking at him like she had just made a major breakthrough with him. "They both tasted exactly the same." He said and then chuckled when she scowled back at him.
Haley huffed at him, how he couldn't tell the difference was completely beyond her. They tasted so different to her, she could practically taste the sugar in the full fat coke eroding her teeth as she drunk it, it was disgusting. "Well you're obviously just silly Nathan because I can taste the difference." She returned and then took a sip of the diet drink. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my vodka and diet coke and head back to the table." She said as she slid off her stool and then walked back to the table where her friends were sitting.
Nathan shook his head as he watched Haley walk back to the table and then turned around to find that he had been left at the bar with Sarah. He smiled awkwardly at her, not knowing what he should do now that they were alone. "Can I get another beer?" He asked eventually, wanting to break the awkward silence that was surrounding them.
"Sure." Sarah returned and then grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge behind her.
Nathan lowered his gaze as he waited for his beer bottle, noticing that Sarah was sticking her ass out just a little bit too far than was necessary, but was it really intentional? She smiled at him as she turned around and then placed the bottle of beer down in front of him. "Thanks." He said and then took a sip of the beer.
"So is that your girlfriend?" Sarah asked as she leaned down on the bar in front of him.
"Who Haley?" Nathan asked as he pointed with his hand in the direction of the table where his friends were sitting, and watched as Sarah nodded her head. "Oh no, she's my best friend."
"Oh! Sorry, I just presumed you were together." Sarah responded.
"You're not the first one to assume that." Nathan replied as he took another gulp of his beer, the awkward silence returning. He cleared his throat and then decided that he should get back to the table. "Well I should head back to my friends."
"Sure, I need to get back to work." Sarah replied.
Nathan looked down at the vodka with the full fat coke in it. "You might as well chuck that, there's no way she'll drink it." He said and rolled his eyes.
Sarah chuckled and grabbed the drink from beside him. "Well for what it's worth, I can't tell the difference between normal and diet coke either." She smiled at him and then threw the vodka and coke into the sink.
Nathan smiled back at her and then watched as she moved down the bar and began to serve the other customers, before he twisted himself around and walked back to the table.
"So what are your plans for tomorrow?" Brooke asked just as she saw Nathan turn around from where he had been standing at the bar, wanting it to look like she and Haley had been in deep conversation instead of watching Nathan and Sarah at the bar.
"I need to go shopping for some clothes for Sunday, you know…" Haley said, hoping that Brooke got what she was talking about given that Nathan had just sat back down in the booth. She glanced over at him quickly and saw that he wasn't acknowledging either her or Brooke and had started up a conversation with Lucas, Jake and Peyton.
"Oh!" Brooke responded, instantly knowing what Haley was talking about. "I'll come with you if you want, we can get you some hot gym clothes to impress Ryan." She whispered to Haley and then started giggling.
"Brooke, I am not going to the gym to impress anybody thank you very much." Haley returned in a whisper as well, not wanting Nathan to overhear their conversation.
"Whatever Haley. You're single, Ryan's hot, I totally think you should go for it." Brooke returned, still keeping her voice to a whisper.
"Brooke. I thought we had an agreement, no more dates." Haley admonished her.
Brooke glared at her. "Alright fine. But I'm still coming shopping with you tomorrow."
"Fine." Haley conceded, knowing that it was pointless arguing with Brooke where shopping was concerned.
"So what do you think about Nathan and this Sarah girl?" Brooke whispered to her.
"I don't know, I have no idea whether he likes her or not." Haley responded.
"Well I think they'd look cute together, don't you?" Brooke said as she looked over towards the bar, trying to find Sarah and caught her looking right at Nathan again. She started to giggle. "She's staring at him again."
Haley turned around in her seat and sure enough, caught Sarah looking over at Nathan. She turned her gaze onto Nathan, who was engrossed in a conversation with Lucas and smiled at him, before turning back around to Brooke.
"I totally think we should set them up." Brooke whispered, her eyes dancing with excitement at the prospect of setting up yet another date.
"I'll talk to him tonight and try and suss out where his head's at." Haley returned.
"And make sure you tell me everything tomorrow." Brooke said.
Haley rolled her eyes at her friend who was all but pleading at her with her eyes. "Okay I will."
~*~
Four hours later, Nathan was feeling a little worse for wear. The beers had turned into glasses of Scotch somewhere along the way and Haley's vodkas and diet cokes had turned into God knows what, but he decided to call it a night for them both before they both ended up ridiculously hung over and sick the next day. "Come on gorgeous, let's go home." He said as he stood up from the booth and leaned against the table for support, as he waited for Haley to stand up with him.
"Okay, Brooke, I'll call you tomorrow about shopping. I'll see the rest of you guys later." Haley said as she slipped out of the booth and latched onto Nathan's arm which had wrapped around her shoulder, and she slipped hers along his waist. The bar had died down a little by now and there weren't as many people in there as there had been at the start of the night.
"Bye Nathan." Sarah called out from behind the bar.
Nathan turned around quickly and saw that she was waving shyly at him. He smiled back at her, wondering how she knew his name. "See you next week Sarah." He responded and then led him and Haley out of the bar.
Haley looked back at Sarah and smiled at her as she walked through the door of the bar, heading out onto the street. It was pretty obvious that Sarah liked Nathan, and she couldn't help but wonder what he thought about the whole situation. She then leaned her head slightly and smiled up at Nathan, who glanced down at her and smiled back at her in return.
"Right then gorgeous, what shoes have you chosen to wear tonight?" Nathan asked as they walked to the curb.
"Do you like her?" Haley asked, wanting to know what was going on in his head. She couldn't tell whether he did like Sarah or not, maybe it was the alcohol she had consumed that evening which was making her unable to read him like she usually could, but either way she wanted an answer.
Nathan deliberately ignored her question and looked down at her feet, seeing that she was wearing another pair of high heels. "Cab it is then, I'm not carrying you all the way home again." He said and then walked out into the road, hailing the first cab he could see which drove up to them and came to a stop right where they were standing. "Come on Hales." He said as he held open the door for her to climb in and then followed after her, shutting the door behind him. He gave the driver their address and then leaned back in the chair, shutting his eyes and quickly changed the subject. "So it's Saturday tomorrow?" Nathan asked.
Haley sighed at his obvious change of subject but decided to go along with it for now. "Yep." She replied as she twisted herself in the seat so that she could look at him properly.
"And you're going out with Brooke?" Nathan asked, suddenly remembering once again that tomorrow night was the first night that their arrangement was supposed to take place. All thoughts of calling the whole thing off had completely vanished from his mind, in fact after the fact that Brooke had tried to meddle in his love life he realised that he needed some action of some kind, so that he could tell Brooke that he was having sex and that she needed to fuck off out of his business.
"I am, sometime in the morning or early afternoon probably." Haley responded, and then thought some more about changing the subject back to Sarah, only Nathan started to talk before she'd even had a chance to process a coherent sentence in her mind.
"So what time do you want the arrangement to begin?" Nathan asked with his eyes still closed, wanting to know if she still wanted in on this thing or not and also wanting to divert the conversation away from Sarah.
Haley furrowed her brow as she remembered what tomorrow meant. She began to play with her fingers again. "Nathan are you sure you still want to go through with it?" She asked eventually, her voice filling the otherwise silent car, save for the sound of the engine driving them towards their home.
Nathan opened his eyes and looked right at Haley, his expression softening immediately. He could tell that she was still nervous about it and suddenly the nerves he had managed to quash earlier on in the night fluttered up inside of him again. "I only want to do it if you still want to gorgeous. If you're that worried about it then we won't do it, okay?" He responded.
Haley looked up at Nathan from underneath her eyelashes. "You still think nothing will change between us?" She asked, wanting affirmation and confirmation of that fact, because if she didn't have that from him, then there was no way in hell that she could even think about going ahead with the arrangement.
Nathan reached down and pulled one of her hands into his. "Nothing changed since last Saturday, did it?" He asked and watched as Haley shook her head at him. "So I swear nothing will change after this too gorgeous, but like I said, you just say the word and we won't do it, we'll burn the list and act like it never existed, if that's what you want."
"As long as you're sure nothing will change." Haley responded as she bit down on her lip nervously. She wouldn't be able to take it if everything changed, things were perfect between them as they were and she didn't want anybody or anything to rock their friendship.
"Hey, you made me sign something gorgeous, so I know nothing will go wrong." Nathan teased her, rolling his eyes once again at her incredibly nerdy behaviour.
Haley laughed along with him, even though she knew that he was laughing at her, and then relaxed back in her chair and leaned towards Nathan. "That's true, at least I have written evidence that nothing will change."
"You do." Nathan replied and smiled at her, watching as she relaxed into his arm.
Haley sighed deeply and then turned her head up so that she was looking right at Nathan. "I'm good with it as long as you are."
"I'm good with it." Nathan responded, looking back into her deep brown eyes.
"Okay then." Haley said and then turned her head back so that she was resting more comfortably on his arm.
"Okay." Nathan replied and then placed a kiss on the top of her head as he waited for them to arrive back at the apartment.
~*~
It was five o'clock in the afternoon and Haley sat in the changing room, after having yet another set of shorts and a cropped sports top thrown at her through the curtain courtesy of Brooke. She was completely worn out; every item of clothing she had tried on had looked exactly the same as the last to her, but seemingly not to Brooke. One didn't hug her ass in the way that she wanted it to be hugged, the other made her boobs look too flat, and mother of God if she said one more thing about the shape of her thighs then she was about to suffocate her with her own hands. "Brooke this is the last damn thing I am trying on." She said in a stern tone. "I've had enough."
"That's fine because I already know that this set is going to look perfect on you, I've got a really good feeling about this one." Brooke said excitedly as she stood right outside the dressing room. "Don't forget to show me when you've got it on."
Haley scoffed as she pulled the ridiculously tight shorts onto her body. "Brooke, you said that the other twenty I tried on were going to be perfect too but somehow you managed to pick holes in all of them as well."
"No I did not! I thought that the seventh one was also perfect but you need more than one set of gym clothes Haley, you can't keep turning up dressed in the same stuff." Brooke explained as she rolled her eyes at Haley. Why she hated shopping so much was completely beyond her, shopping was the perfect way for Brooke to relax and she didn't understand why Haley didn't enjoy it at all. "And besides, you want to look hot for Ryan, don't you?"
It was Haley's turn to roll her eyes at her friend. "Brooke I am not going to the gym to pick up guys, least of all one of the gym instructors. I am going to tone up my body, and for no other reason than that, so will you please stop banging on about how hot he is or whatever and just let me get the hell out of this changing room already." She said in a huff as she pulled back the curtain, ready for Brooke to give the shorts and top the thumbs up, because if she didn't then she wasn't going to be held responsible for her reaction to having to try on another set of clothes. There would be blood, she was certain of it.
"Oh, it's perfect, I love it, look how good your boobs look, they don't look flat at all, and your ass looks hot Haley. Ryan won't be able to keep his eyes, or his hands, well hopefully his hands, off you!" Brooke shrieked as she grabbed onto Haley's body and twisted her around just so that she could make sure that the clothes were indeed perfect.
"Brooke, I already told you, I am not going to the gym to pick up guys. What the hell is your obsession with Ryan anyway? I'm not interested in him in the slightest." Haley scolded her friend as she turned around and looked at her reflection. She hated to admit it but Brooke was right, this looked just as good as item number seven, if not a little bit better, but of course she would never tell Brooke that, it would only encourage her.
"Please Haley; everyone says that when they first meet him, but trust me, after your induction session with him, you're going to be just as obsessed with him as the rest of us are." Brooke said knowingly, and then drifted into another daydream of Ryan.
Haley sighed heavily and shook her head at Brooke. "Anyway, I'm getting this and number seven right?" She asked as she walked back into the changing room and shut the curtain, beginning to peel the skin tight clothes off her body.
"Oh yeah you're definitely getting those two." Brooke said as she waited patiently for Haley to get changed. "I just want to have a look at the lingerie before we go home."
"Brooke are you kidding me?" Haley moaned as she slipped her jeans onto her legs. "Haven't we done enough shopping for one day?"
"We won't be long; I just want to pick up a few sets of stuff." Brooke said with a smile, knowing that all this shopping was probably killing Haley but they were here and she wanted to look so Haley was just going to have to deal with it.
Haley pulled the curtain back and scooped up the mountain of shorts and tops that she wouldn't be purchasing and carried them to the woman who was manning the fitting rooms, before heading back and picking up the four items of clothing that she would be buying. "Not long to you feels like an entire lifetime to me where shopping is concerned." She said as she walked with Brooke through the department store and let Brooke lead the way to the lingerie department.
"Just quit your moaning, I promise I won't be long." Brooke sighed as she stepped onto the escalators and headed up to the next floor which housed the lingerie.
Half an hour later, Brooke had about ten sets of underwear in her arms and had just disappeared into the changing rooms. Haley had opted not to join her and instead walked towards the checkout, intending to pay for her purchases in an effort to speed up the remaining time she would need to spend in this department store. She walked past all the lace and satin underwear and couldn't help the fact that her thoughts were slipping to tonight and what it would entail; sex with Nathan, again.
She could feel her heart rate begin to accelerate as the thought ran through her mind. She didn't even have a clue what the hell they were going to do tonight, which item on the list were they going to tick off first? Would it be something from her list or something from Nathan's mystery list that he had put together quickly on Wednesday night? Then thoughts of what could be on that list ran endlessly through her mind, each thought more disturbing than the last.
But as quickly as those thoughts had entered her head, she managed to calm herself down just as fast. She knew that Nathan would never let her do, or force her to do something that she wasn't entirely comfortable with and despite what he had written down on his fantasy list, if she didn't want to do it, she always knew that she could just simply say no to him and no offence would be taken. Wasn't that the beauty of doing something like this with someone who knew you so well? There shouldn't be any embarrassment there, and there was also this level of understanding that ran between them both, a level of trust that was the foundation of their friendship that already cemented them together so tightly.
She walked through the bras and panties towards the checkout and stopped in front of a black lacy set of underwear, pulling her free hand out to touch the lace of the bra. She then looked around to make sure that Brooke was nowhere to be seen, she didn't want to be explaining why she was buying sexy underwear at the moment when she didn't even have a man in her life to show it off to, as that would only serve to raise her suspicions which was definitely something that Haley didn't want to do. She didn't have time to try it on; she'd just have to hope that it fitted well enough when she put it on tonight and grabbed her size, stuffing the underwear set underneath her gym clothes. Why she was buying sexy underwear for Nathan she didn't know, but if they were going to do this, she could at least make the effort, right?
~*~
Nathan hadn't really done much since Haley had left to go shopping with Brooke. As soon as she had left the apartment, he had jumped on the moonwalker for an hour and then took a shower once he had finished. He then sat down on the sofa and played some Gran Turismo to pass the time and before he knew it he heard Haley walk back into the apartment. He grunted a hello at her as he quickly turned his head up to smile at her only to then return it back to the game, for he was in the middle of a race and was finally about to win and he wasn't going to allow her to distract him, he'd been trying to win this damn race for the past half an hour.
Haley leaned against the door frame and rolled her eyes at the grunt she had received from Nathan. She watched as he raced, almost laughing at how in the zone he looked at that moment. She shook her head at his boyish antics and then walked towards her bedroom; nearly jumping out of her skin when Nathan yelled out in what she presumed was victory. She then walked into her bedroom and shut the door behind her, satisfied that Nathan would at least be occupied for the next couple of minutes, giving her a chance to change into her new underwear. She stripped off her jeans, followed by her tank top and then slipped her bra and panties off her body. She rooted around in the bag and pulled out the new underwear, hoping that it fit her properly.
As soon as Nathan had won his race, he saved his game and then turned off his Playstation, before bounding down the hallway towards Haley's room. "Sorry gorgeous, I just needed to finish that race off, it was annoying the hell out of me." He said as he continued down the corridor until he got to her room and then placed his hand on the doorknob before turning it. "How was shopping..." He started but was interrupted by Haley shouting at him through the door.
Haley could hear him getting closer and closer to her room and she was standing there in nothing but her new underwear. She ran over to the door and banged her body against it. "You can't come in here!" She shouted through the door, feeling incredibly relieved that she had managed to stop him walking into her bedroom and having him catch her in her underwear.
Nathan frowned at the door as he felt Haley push back against it. "Why not?" He asked, confused as to why she wasn't letting him inside.
"Because I'm in my underwear, that's why." Haley said through the door, and she also needed to hide her gym clothes from Nathan before he started asking what she had bought from the shops.
Nathan smirked through the door. "It's nothing I haven't seen before gorgeous, in fact, I've seen much more than you in your underwear, and I think, if I remember correctly, I'm going to be seeing much more than you in your underwear tonight as well." He said with a raised eyebrow.
Haley rolled her eyes at him. "If you carry on like that you won't be seeing anything tonight." She bit back at him, still pushing her body up against the door in an effort to stop him from entering her room.
Nathan had to laugh at that one. "Like you could resist me Hales." He said through his laughter, before quickly changing the subject just in case she was being serious. "So why are you in your underwear?" He asked.
"I'm just changing." Haley returned. "Just wait there, I'll be out in a second."
"Okay." Nathan replied as he stepped away from the door and leaned back against the wall on the other side of the hallway. "How was shopping with Brooke?"
Haley quickly hid the bag of gym clothes in one of her drawers and pulled her jeans and her tank top back on her body. "Urgh. You know what she's like. It was absolute torture." She shouted back through the door so that he could hear her.
Nathan laughed. "I don't know why you agree to go with her if you hate it so much. Did you buy anything?"
Haley bit down on her lip as she ran her hands through her hair, giving herself the once over in the mirror. "Nope." She responded as she walked towards the door and opened it, finding Nathan eyeing her up and down with a very strange look on his face. "What?" She asked, wondering if she had grown an extra head or something.
"You didn't change." Nathan replied, looking at her with utter confusion.
"Yes I did." Haley said, mentally kicking herself for not having the sense to at least change the top she was wearing, but she didn't think Nathan had taken any notice of what she was wearing when she had walked back into the apartment, he had only looked at her for half a second for crying out loud.
"No you didn't, you were wearing that exact same thing five minutes ago." Nathan responded as he followed her down the corridor away from her bedroom.
Haley closed her eyes briefly, wishing that he wasn't so damn aware of everything about her at times like this. She knew that it was pointless to argue with him so she decided to quickly change the subject. "So what do you want for dinner?" She asked as she walked past the lounge and headed to the kitchen, pulling out a bottle of wine from the fridge and pouring both herself and Nathan a glass, before checking to see what food they had in the fridge.
Nathan didn't have a clue why she had lied to him but it didn't really matter, so he decided to drop the subject. "I don't really mind, what can we have?" He asked as he took a sip of the chilled wine.
"We can do chicken? Or pasta?" Haley called out from the fridge as she looked at what ingredients they had available.
"Pasta sounds good." Nathan responded.
"Okay, pasta it is." Haley said as she took out the fresh pasta, parmesan, eggs, and cream, together with the pancetta, deciding to make a carbonara.
"Do you want any help?" Nathan asked as he watched Haley fill a large pan with water.
Haley shook her head at him as she took a sip of her wine before placing it back down on the counter top. "No, I'm fine." She responded, placing a frying pan on the heat so that she could start cooking the pancetta.
"Alright. I'll be in the lounge, give me a shout if you need anything." Nathan said as he walked out of the lounge and sat down on the sofa, switching the channel to ESPN. He watched the basketball game that was showing, not really taking any interest because his mind had slipped to what he and Haley would be doing in a couple of hours. He didn't know what she wanted to do first. He thought it would be best if they started with something simple from her list rather than his but he had no idea really what her expectations were of tonight, or even of him. He ran his hand through his hair nervously, before deciding that he was over thinking this far too much. Wasn't it best just to let things happen of their own accord rather than try to force it to happen?
Haley had just finished boiling the fresh pasta and was draining the water in the sink. She picked up the colander and shook it a bit, getting rid of the excess water before placing the pasta back in the pan. She then threw in the remaining ingredients and mixed them all together, finding that her mind was wandering. She bit down on her lip nervously as she stirred, wondering if she should talk to Nathan about this evening. But what the hell would she say? 'What position did you fancy doing tonight?' or 'What list should we use, yours or mine?' She shook her head at herself. Why was she getting so worried about this? Everything had been fine last time, Nathan knew exactly how to make her feel at ease and she was sure that he would do exactly the same thing tonight. He was good like that; he always knew what to do to help calm her down.
She gave the pasta one more mix and then served it on the plates. She then grabbed some cutlery out of the drawer. "Nathan, it's ready, can you come and get your plate?" She called out to him as she picked up her own, a fork and a spoon and grabbed her wine glass.
Nathan walked into the kitchen and licked his lips as the delicious smell of the food swirled around him. "Smells great gorgeous." He said as he walked past her and picked up his plate of food together with his cutlery and followed her into the lounge. He handed her the remote, not wanting to argue with her about what they were going to watch tonight, he wasn't really concentrating on the game that was showing anyway.
Haley raised her eyebrows at him. "You're actually willingly handing me the remote?" She asked, completely surprised by this turn of events. Usually they argued for at least ten minutes about what program they were going to watch while they ate their dinner.
Nathan smiled back at her. "Just don't get used to it." He said as he dug his fork into the spaghetti and swirled some around before placing it in his mouth. "Mmm, it's delicious." He said before swallowing. "Thanks for cooking gorgeous."
Haley also took a bite of the food and swallowed it before answering him. "You're welcome, I'm glad you like it." She said as she switched the channel with the remote.
"It's amazing." Nathan said with another mouth full of food.
"Nathan stop talking with your mouth full." Haley chastised him as she rolled her eyes at his behaviour.
"What? I'm just complementing your cooking skills Hales." Nathan defended as he sat back in the chair and waited for her to settle on a channel, switching off completely because he knew that he would be finished with his food before she'd picked something for them to watch anyway.
Haley had settled on some game show and was having fun trying to guess the answers. She and Nathan had both finished their dinner and their plates were now on the coffee table. She was sat on the sofa with her legs curled under her, sipping on the last of her wine, waiting for the next question to come up. "It's a Christmas tree." She said.
Nathan furrowed his brow at her. "Why the hell would the answer be a Christmas tree?" Nathan questioned as he gulped down the rest of his wine.
"Because it's the right answer." Haley answered as she too swallowed the rest of the wine that was in her glass.
"Why would Norway give the people of London a Christmas tree each year?" Nathan continued to pick at her, she had to be wrong, a Christmas tree was the most absurd answer ever.
"They give the people of London a Christmas tree each year to thank Britain for the support they gave Norway during the war." Haley said matter of factly as she grabbed Nathan's wine glass from his hands. "Can you carry the plates into the kitchen?" She asked as she started to walk out of the room.
"Wait a second; I want to hear this answer because you have to be wrong." Nathan responded as he sat on the edge of his sofa and watched as Haley walked towards the kitchen. "Why aren't you waiting?" He asked as he turned his attention back to the TV.
"Because I already know I'm right." Haley shouted back to him as she started to run the water so that she could begin to wash up all the pots and pans that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher, and then turned around to find that Nathan had walked into the kitchen once she heard him turn the TV off. "Well?" She asked with a smug smile on her face as she folded her arms across her chest.
Nathan shook his head at her. "You were right." He said and the rolled his eyes as she proceeded to laugh at him.
"I told you." Haley said and then grabbed one of the pans from the stove and placed it in the sink, only to find that the spray from the tap was on too strong and she ended up getting completely soaked and she shrieked as the water sprayed all over the front of her top causing her to jump away from it.
"Nice one Hales." Nathan said as he laughed at her.
Haley turned around to face him which only caused him to laugh harder. "You think that's funny?" She challenged him as she grabbed one of the wine glasses that she had placed beside the sink and filled it with water. She then held the wine glass out in front of her and walked towards Nathan.
"Hales, gorgeous, don't do it." Nathan said as he held his hands out in front of him, hoping that if she did in fact soak him with the water that his hands would absorb most of the impact as he tried to move around the kitchen away from her. "You'll only regret it if you do."
"I don't think I will Nathan." Haley responded as she followed him around the kitchen with the glass still full of water held out in front of her.
"I promise you will regret it Hales, just put the damn glass down. I'm sorry I laughed at you for getting wet." Nathan pleaded with her, while also trying to sound deadly serious.
Haley smiled evilly at him. "You're sorry you laughed at me?" She asked.
"I am very sorry I laughed at you." Nathan responded, pleased that she seemed to be lowering the glass a little. "Very, very, very sorry." He continued and watched in satisfaction that the glass had been lowered some more.
Haley bit down on her lip and lowered the glass to her hip. She heard Nathan breath out a sigh of relief and couldn't resist it now that he thought he was safe. She threw the glass towards him and watched in satisfaction as the front of his t-shirt got wet. "Oops." She said as she smiled at him, noticing that his eyes were wide in complete shock at what she had just done.
"Oh no you didn't." Nathan responded, chuckling darkly at her as he turned around and grabbed a pint glass from the cupboard before walking towards the sink, switching the water to cold and then filling it up to the brim before switching the tap off.
Haley looked down at her small wine glass and then looked at the now full pint glass that was in his hands. "Nathan, come on, that's not fair." She pleaded with him, placing the wine glass down on the counter and holding her hands up in mock surrender, hopeful that he would take pity on her as she pouted at him. It usually worked.
"I told you you'd regret it Haley but you just didn't listen, did you?" Nathan said as he walked towards her like a hunter stalking its prey, smirking as Haley retreated further around the kitchen table. He made a dash for it and watched as she started to run around the table in a circle, but he quickly changed his direction and then caught her, chucking the pint glass of water right in her face.
Haley's mouth dropped open as she squeezed her eyes shut, the cold water shocking her into complete silence, until of course, she heard Nathan's laugh fill the silent room.
"Oh my God Hales, your face!" Nathan laughed as he closed his eyes and bent himself over his knees, trying to control his breathing as his laughter overtook his entire body.
Haley opened her eyes again, brushed her now soaking wet hair away from her face and huffed at him, only he didn't notice because he was now practically rolling around on the floor laughing at her. She glared at him before she opened the cupboard by the oven and grabbed her mixing bowl. He was going to pay big time for that stunt of his. She walked over to the tap and switched the cold water on, filling the mixing bowl to the brim, the steam practically coming out of her ears as Nathan's hollering and laughter continued to fill the room. She then walked behind him and tipped the whole bowl over his head, jumping out of the way as she did so to make sure that none of the water hit her in the process of it all falling onto Nathan and once all the water had gone, she placed the bowl on the counter, highly satisfied with her move, he was absolutely soaking wet now.
Nathan immediately stopped laughing. The water continued to pour down onto him and it was absolutely freezing, it felt like it was endless, where the hell was she getting all this water from? Once the water had finished cascading down onto him he stood up and turned around to face her, the water still dripping down his sopping wet back. "That wasn't very nice Hales." He said in a dangerously low voice.
Haley bit down on her lip. She didn't know what the hell he was going to do next but the tone of his voice almost made her shiver involuntarily. He sounded so menacing and all she could do was stand in front of him, rooted completely to the spot. She could see that his eyes had turned a much darker blue that the usual shining bright colour that they were and his breathing was deep and heavy. She backed away slightly, knowing that she should be running away from him but he had her locked in this enticing stare that she couldn't seem to break from, even if she had wanted to.
Nathan held her stare while he pondered a way to get her back. He could see her chest rising and falling rapidly, presumably she was trying to anticipate what he was going to do next but he didn't even have a clue himself, he just knew that he needed to get her back for that. It had felt like she had poured the whole of the River Nile onto his back, how the hell had a measly pint glass warranted a mixing bowl full of water? Suddenly, he got an idea and began to walk towards her.
Haley watched as Nathan walked towards her, an intimidating look covering his whole face and once again, she knew that she should at least try to run away but it was those damn eyes of his that had her completely hooked on him. Before she knew what was happening, Nathan had wrapped his arm around her waist and had thrown her over his shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?" She shouted as she tried to wiggle free from his grasp, sure that this couldn't be a good thing.
"Getting my own back." Nathan replied as he tightened his grip on her thighs so that she couldn't wiggle about any more and walked them both out of the kitchen and along the corridor.
Haley watched from her upside down position as Nathan started to walk them out of the kitchen. "Nathan put me down." She said in a stern voice, only he completely ignored her request and chuckled darkly at her. She scowled as she beat her fists on his back. "I said put me down Nathan." She shouted as she watched Nathan turn into the bathroom and then switch the light on. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." She said as she started to wiggle and pound on his back simultaneously, knowing exactly what he had planned for her.
Nathan smirked to himself as he walked towards the shower and switched it on, throwing Haley right underneath the spray as she shrieked at him loudly. "It's not cold is it?" He asked and he laughed wholeheartedly at her, seeing that she was staring down at the floor of the shower. He leaned his hands on to the tiles behind her, trapping her in so that she couldn't escape.
Haley couldn't believe that he'd done that to her. She brought her hands up to her matted hair and pushed it away from her face, breathing in deeply, trying to keep herself calm. The water had started to get warm, but Haley's rage was running right through her. She wiped the water from her eyes and straightened herself out, finding that she was unable to move given that Nathan had her trapped in with his hands.
Nathan stopped laughing when she stood up straight in front of him. His eyes looked all over her face and then lowered to her body, he could tell from her stance that she was incredibly pissed off at him but there was something else about her, whether it was the fact that the water was running all over her body, whether it was the fact that he had all this anticipation building up inside of him for what tonight would actually entail, he didn't know, but suddenly, water fights with Haley weren't as funny as they had been a second ago. He lifted his gaze up her body, appreciating the curves of her breasts, seeing her hardened nipples peeking through the material, and he had to tear his gaze away from them as he moved his eyes up to her shoulders before they rested on her neck and he found himself leaning towards it, unable to stop himself from wanting to taste her.
"You fucking…" Haley started but soon shut the hell up when she felt Nathan's mouth land on her neck. His kisses were soft and light, just as they had been last weekend and all thoughts of getting her own back on him, of shouting at him for getting her so wet completely drifted from her mind as she felt his arms wrap around her back and he stepped in closer to her so that he too was now standing under the shower spray. He pulled her in closer to his body and she automatically wrapped her hands around his neck as she leaned her neck to the side, giving him the access he needed to do more with his mouth, she needed him to do more, light kisses were not enough for her at the moment, she wanted to feel him properly on her skin.
Nathan felt Haley's hands wrap around his neck and she started to drag her fingernails over his skin. She had leaned her neck to the side a little more and he took it as an invitation for him to kiss her more forcefully on the neck. He moved his mouth along her skin, nipping and biting at it until he found her pulse point. He opened his mouth and felt the water cascading down her neck and he licked his way around the sensitive spot before closing his mouth on top of it, sucking lightly on her skin. His hands were at the small of her back, his fingers spread out as he pushed her body into his, wanting to feel as much of her as was possible.
God his mouth felt fucking fantastic. She moved her hands into his wet hair, grabbing fistfuls of it and she tugged on it, eliciting a low groan to fall from his mouth which she felt vibrate over her skin. She couldn't help but moan as she rested her head on his shoulder, feeling the water beat down on her head, happy to find that Nathan had such a strong grip on her body because she was sure that she would melt into a puddle and wash down the drain with the rest of the water if he ever let go of her.
Nathan was completely wrapped up in everything about her, especially the sounds she was making. She was arching her back into him and he could feel her hardened nipples poking him in the chest, and he couldn't fight it any more, he had to see her, he wanted to take her again like he had last Saturday. The sexual energy he was feeling was coursing through him relentlessly and his body was responding in the only way it knew how. But he had to make sure that she wanted this too. He needed to know that she was still okay with this, one last time. He moved his mouth up to her ear and found her earlobe, catching it between his teeth and tugging gently on it. He felt Haley's grip on his hair increase and she moaned loudly, her sounds echoing around in the shower, causing him to get even harder than he already was. God she sounded so damn sexy when she moaned like that.
Haley could feel him tugging on her ear and she had no idea why but it seemed to set something off inside of her. She was itching to get closer to him, even though her back was already arched into him as far as it could go; her entire body was pressed into him and yet somehow it didn't feel like it was enough. She could feel his cock poking her in the stomach and she wanted him to get inside of her right this instant. But of course, she'd never be able to tell him that, she just hoped that the noises she was making were letting him know what she wanted.
Nathan let go of her earlobe and then ran his tongue around the outer shell of her ear and then he pulled away slightly. "Number eight?" He whispered hotly in her ear as the water continued to rain down on top of them both.
Haley nodded her head and pulled his mouth back to her skin, wanting to feel him on her again, but he pulled away from her completely, holding her at arm's length as her arms fell limply to her sides. She looked up at him, confusion masking her features.
"I need you to say it Hales, I need to know this is exactly what you want." Nathan said as he stared into her deep brown eyes. He had to hear the words from her mouth, a simple nod from her would not suffice for him, not when they were about to overstep this huge boundary with each other. This was different to last weekend, this was them agreeing to constant sex with each other, and he wanted her to be sure and he needed to hear her consent to this arrangement for his own peace of mind.
Haley looked back into his blue eyes, completely understanding what he needed from her, and she was completely willing to give it to him. "I want this." She said quietly as she then bit down on her lip, still holding his gaze, letting him know that despite her embarrassment, she meant what she was saying.
Nathan breathed a quiet sigh of relief, if she had said no to this then he would've had to chuck her out of the shower right this instant and beat himself off, he was that desperate for a release. But now he knew that she wanted this, he forced himself to wait a little bit longer, after all, this was one of Haley's fantasies and he wanted to make sure it was an experience she wouldn't forget in a hurry. He ran his fingertips up to her shoulders and then trailed them down the side of her body, past her breasts and down to the edge of her soaking wet tank top. He moved his fingers underneath the top and traced along her skin with both of his hands, before gripping the material in his hands and then pulling it up towards her head. He dropped his eyes to her body, seeing her flat stomach become exposed to him, before he lifted the material further, exposing her breasts. Once he saw the bra she was wearing he practically ripped the top off her body. His eyes were completely transfixed on her and he threw the top into the corner of the shower in a big heap once he had got it over her head.
Haley lowered her gaze to the floor once her bra was revealed and her top had ended up in a pile in the corner, and she couldn't help the fact that she felt embarrassed and silly about wearing it now. It was Nathan for crying out loud, why the hell would he care what underwear she was wearing? She could feel his eyes boring into her and she didn't know what the hell to do, so she just stood there, getting redder and redder with each silent second that transpired between them.
Nathan brought his hand up to the corner where the strap of the bra met the cup of the bra and traced along the edge of it until he reached the centre, before moving his finger up the other side, repeating the same action. Her nipples were jutting out against the material and it didn't have any padding, so half of it was practically see through and he was fighting hard with the desire to just take one of her nipples in his mouth right this very second. "Is this new?" He asked, still unable to tear his gaze away from it.
Haley bit down on her lip. "Yes." She answered him simply, her voice not sounding half as strong as she had intended it to.
Nathan looked up at her in confusion upon hearing the tone of her voice, and he couldn't help but notice that she was bright red. "Haley, have you got any idea how sexy this bra is?" He asked her in a husky tone.
Haley looked up at him and frowned. "You like it?" She asked bewilderedly.
Nathan raised his eyebrows at her before lowering his mouth to her shoulder, placing a series of kisses on her skin as he reached around to her back and lightly glided his finger up her spine, feeling the water pushing against his hands as he did so. He eventually got to the clasp and then undid it expertly, before bringing both of his hands up to her shoulders, lifting his mouth away from her skin as he slipped the straps down her arms and threw the skimpy material down onto the floor. His mouth then moved down her chest towards her breast. "I fucking love it gorgeous." He said as he kissed his way down to the top of her breast. "But what's hidden underneath it is so much better." He muttered into her skin as his mouth skirted around her nipple and then moved to just underneath her breast as he placed a kiss on her skin, before dragging his tongue back up her breast to her nipple, running it around in a few languid circles before closing his mouth over her nipple and sucking it into his mouth, his ministrations causing Haley to moan deeply.
God did he have any fucking idea what he was doing to her? She was literally throbbing for him, she needed him inside of her right this second but it seemed that Nathan had other plans. She needed to get him off her nipple and fast because she could feel herself getting wetter and wetter and besides, he still had all his clothes on which really didn't seem fair. She wrapped her hands back in his hair and tugged him away from her breast and pulled him upright, needing to get him naked as quickly as she could. She reached down and peeled his drenched polo shirt off his body, throwing it nosily to the floor as her eyes feasted on the sight of his toned chest. She watched for a second as the water cascaded down his body, running in and out of the grooves of his muscles and she couldn't help but run her fingertip along some of the lines on his body, catching some of the water as she did so.
Nathan could see her watching him and it was turning him on far more than it should have. He felt her finger running down his chest and it was such a simple gesture, but that alone was causing his rock hard cock to twitch against his jeans. He needed to take back some of the control in this situation instead of standing there like a complete idiot. He grabbed a hold of her hand and stilled her motions as he stepped forward, closing the distance between them, using the other hand to unbutton her jeans. He then released his grip on her hand and peeled her jeans off her body, revealing the matching lace panties that went with the bra. "Fuck Hales." He moaned as his eyes latched onto the lace.
Haley stepped out of her jeans and watched as Nathan hooked two of his fingers into the waistband of her panties, lowering them down to her knees, so she brought her left foot up and dragged them down the rest of her leg and stepped out of them, kicking them to the side of where she was standing. She felt completely and totally exposed, especially given that the light was on this time, whereas last Saturday they had been bathed in darkness, but despite her reservations, she also felt incredibly safe with Nathan.
She really was beautiful. He knew that she was his best friend but she really was stunningly beautiful, there was no other way for him to describe her. He lowered his mouth to her neck as one of his hands trailed down her body, over her hip before slipping down to her thigh. He nudged her legs apart with his knee as his mouth worked down her neck, leaving hot, wet kisses over her skin as the steam from the water swirled around them. He then moved his hand up her inner thigh and dragged his finger slowly up her soaking wet slit, moaning into her skin at how ready she was for him, at how much she appeared to want this.
Haley felt his finger trail up her slit until he reached her clit, and he lightly grazed his middle finger right over it, causing her to gasp. She wrapped her hands around his neck and tightened her grip on him, needing something to hold onto. She desperately wanted him inside of her; she didn't care what part of him that was at this point, her whole body was screaming for a release of some sorts. She felt his finger trail back down her slit and he circled her entrance a couple of times, and she wiggled around a little, hoping that he would slip inside of her but he moved his hands back up her slit again.
Nathan chuckled into her skin when she let out a groan of complete frustration. He found the sensitive spot of her neck just below her ear and licked his way around it before leaving a kiss on her skin. "What do you want gorgeous?" He muttered, wanting to hear her say it, she had been far too quiet last weekend, it was due to a lack of confidence he was sure.
Haley moaned at him. How the hell could he not know what she wanted from him right now? His hands were back at her entrance, running in ridiculously slow circles and she needed them inside of her. But she couldn't say the words; she was far too embarrassed to ask something like that of him.
Nathan sighed softly into her skin, deciding to make it a little easier for her, this time at least. He moved his mouth up her neck and found her jaw line, before pulling away and resting his forehead against hers. Haley's breathing was deep and uneven, his matching hers, he was so turned on from just touching her, the anticipation of having sex with her again had warped his brain ever since this arrangement had been set up, aside from the obvious worry, and knowing that he was only an inch away from doing that had his mind working in overtime. "Do you want me to make you come?" He asked in a gravelly voice as his fingers continued to circle her entrance.
"Mmmm." Haley moaned as she closed her eyes, still not being able to say the words.
Nathan increased the pressure of his fingers, slipping one of them just inside of her, enough to earn a sharp gasp from Haley before he withdrew it. "Tell me what you want." He demanded.
Haley bit down on her lip and opened her eyes, finding his intense blue eyes staring right at her. "I want you to make me come." She said to him quietly and timidly, though needing to find that release that she so desperately craved.
Nathan smirked at her as he pushed two of his fingers inside of her while simultaneously pushing her back against the tiled wall, his fingers gliding into her easily, and he pulled his forehead away from her as he did so. He felt Haley rise up onto her tiptoes and gasp, trying to get him to go deeper. He withdrew his fingers from her and added a third, stretching her slightly, feeling just how tight she was. Once his fingers were all the way inside of her, he curled them up at the ends and dragged them along her upper wall, searching for that sweet spot of hers; the one that he knew would bring her so much pleasure.
Haley could feel his fingers moving along inside of her and she wondered what the hell he was doing. He was moving them so slowly, it was absolute torture, but then, his fingers grazed over something which caused her to gasp and she felt every single muscle in her body tighten as her hips jutted forward into him.
Nathan could feel her tighten up around his fingers and couldn't help but smirk at her again. He moved his fingers in and out of her then, being sure to hit that same spot repeatedly. He could hear that her breathing had become completely erratic and as he increased the speed that his fingers were entering and withdrawing from her, he could feel her inner muscles clenching around his fingers. He watched her as he continued his ministrations, wondering what she would look like when she came. Her eyes were squeezed shut tightly but he wanted to see her. "Open your eyes gorgeous." He said as he continued to move his fingers in and out of her.
Haley had to force her eyes open and when she did she was met with Nathan's intense stare. She felt his fingers move in and out of her one last time before this overwhelming shudder overcame her entire body, the force of her orgasm ripping through her, completely blocking out any other thought other than that of the deep pleasure that was running through her whole being.
Nathan slowed down his motions, letting Haley ride out her orgasm, and watching her come like that from his touch only fuelled his desire to be inside of her properly even more than it had been running through him previously. He released his fingers from her and made quick work of unbuttoning his jeans, pulling his boxers down his body with his jeans as he kicked them off his body, freeing his incredibly hard cock from the confines it had been trapped in. As good as it felt to have her come from his hand; he knew that feeling her come around his cock was even fucking better.
Haley moved her eyes down Nathan's body as he stood up from taking off his jeans and his boxers. Her eyes ran down his toned chest, over his phenomenal abs until they landed on his rock hard cock and she couldn't help but stare at him. Before she knew what was happening, Nathan had moved towards her again, and she lifted her gaze back up his body towards his face as she felt his fingertips run down the centre of her chest and along her stomach until they settled on her hips. The water was still cascading around them and as he moved closer to her his scent swirled around her, drawing her closer to him. She felt his hands move down her thighs and she hopped up, wrapping her legs around his waist as he rested his hands on the back of her thighs, supporting her weight as she leaned her back against the wall, feeling the cool tiles press against her back, a huge contrast to the warmth of both the water and Nathan's body which was pressed up against the front of her. She leaned herself forward tentatively and pressed her lips to the skin of his neck lightly as her hands wrapped around the back of his neck.
Nathan closed his eyes the second her mouth landed on his skin. She hadn't kissed him last Saturday when they'd had sex, and of course, she'd kissed his cheek in that friendly kind of way that they kissed each other more than a thousand times before, but this felt completely different. Her mouth felt so soft and gentle against his skin and he couldn't help but groan at the fire that started to burn deep inside of him from her touch. He then felt Haley's mouth land more forcefully on his skin, and she started to leave a trail of open-mouthed kisses along his neck, before she snuck her tongue out in between her lips and trailed it around his pulse point and then sucked down on his skin, and Jesus Christ that felt amazing. He knew that he couldn't take waiting any longer; he needed to be inside of her right this instant, so he bent his knees and released his right hand from its grip on her thigh and found his cock, and guided it towards her entrance, pushing himself inside of her.
Haley gasped into his skin when she felt him enter her and closed her eyes as she felt him slide all the way inside of her. She continued to move her mouth over his neck, enjoying the feel of the roughness of his stubble against the softness of her lips. She used her tongue to move across his skin which earned a low groan to fall from Nathan's mouth as she felt the water move along his skin with her. She then felt him begin to move himself in and out of her and she tightened the grip of her legs around his waist, pulling him in closer to her.
God her tongue felt so fucking good against his skin. He upped the pace of his thrusts slightly, feeling himself moving in and out of her tightness as she wrapped herself around him tighter, digging the heels of her feet into his ass. He chuckled at her quietly. "You want it faster?" He asked in a husky voice and in response to his question he felt Haley moan and nod her head against his neck. He would have asked her to answer him properly but her mouth felt so good on his skin he didn't really want her to remove it from him. He slipped his hands from her thighs and rested them by the side of her shoulders against the wall as he bent his knees and thrust up into her, the new angle allowing him to go even deeper than he had before; he needed to place his hands against the wall for extra leverage.
"Fuck!" Haley gasped as she removed her mouth from his neck and rested it against his shoulder, needing to find some oxygen quickly. She felt him withdraw from her and then he slammed himself back into her, causing her back to slide up the wall with the force of his thrust. She couldn't think straight, he was going so deep inside of her, filling her completely and it just felt fucking amazing. She moved her hands to his shoulders and dug her nails into his skin with each of his thrusts. "God Nathan." She cried out when she felt him angle his hips again and hit that same spot he had touched with his fingers earlier.
Hearing her scream out his name like that made this fire rush through his entire body. He upped the pace of his thrusts even more and pulled himself away from her body slightly, wanting to watch the pleasure on her face, he wanted to see what he was doing to her. He couldn't believe how different she was this time, granted she wasn't as outgoing with him as he would have liked but the shy girl he'd had sex with last weekend seemed to be coming out of her shell a bit more, which he only saw as a good thing. His eyes moved over her face, her lips were parted slightly and her breathing was sharp and fast, and as if she sensed that he was looking at her, her eyes fluttered open as she stared back at him. He kept his gaze locked with hers as he continued to thrust into her, the force of his actions causing her to slide up and down the wall of the shower with each movement of his hips.
Haley couldn't tear her gaze from him at all, his eyes were so captivating, they drew her into him completely and all she could feel were the increased movements of him thrusting in and then pulling out of her, and all she could see were his intense blue eyes boring into her. She could hear their breathing, both she and Nathan were gasping for breath, along with her moaning softly which was echoing off the enclosure and she heard the occasional grunt come from Nathan. As he upped the pace of his actions once more, she raked her nails over his skin until her hands were at the top of his back, and then she moved one of her hands into his hair, feeling that tingling sensation build up inside of her once more. She tightened her inner muscles as he entered her again. "Nathan…" She moaned deeply.
"Oh fuck Hales." Nathan groaned when he felt her tighten around his length. She was already tight enough and her doing that made his cock feel so fucking good. He felt her breathing quicken yet again and her body started to shudder and her muscles clenched around his cock frantically as he felt her orgasm wash over her. He continued to drive into her at a furious pace, before stilling his movements and leaning his head on the wall above her shoulder as he found his own release.
Haley loosened the vice-like grip she had on him as she rested her hands behind his neck and rested her body against the cool wall behind her, her breathing still completely out of control. She felt Nathan pull back from where his head had been resting on the wall and he placed a kiss on her shoulder before he pulled himself out of her and then she released her thighs from his body and sunk down onto the floor, still clinging onto his neck. She smiled up at him shyly as she let go of his neck.
Nathan smiled back down at her before he moved himself underneath the spray again, giving himself a quick wash, before moving out of the way and letting Haley do the same. He watched as her lilac loofah moved over her skin, the shower gel trailing over her body before dropping onto the floor and getting washed down the drain with the rest of the water. "So that's the second thing you can tick off the list gorgeous." He said once Haley had turned the shower off.
Haley turned around to him and smiled, feeling rather pleased that she had began to work her way through her list. She watched as Nathan stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, before holding out a towel for Haley to step into. "It is." She responded. "Are you ever going to tell me what's on your list?" She asked as she turned around and followed Nathan out of the bathroom, before turning back around, remembering the clothes that were still sat in the shower.
Nathan turned around when he didn't hear Haley following him and sighed. "Leave the clothes Hales; we'll get them in the morning." He said and then chuckled to himself when she turned round and scowled at him as she walked away from their soaking wet clothes. "And the answer to your question is no, I'm not going to tell you what's on my list, I'll leave it as a surprise. But maybe we'll tick one of mine off next week." He said as he walked past Haley's room and continued down the corridor to his own. He turned around when he got to his door and saw Haley standing at hers as she bit down on her lip. He frowned at her for a second, before continuing to talk to her. "If you still want to keep up the arrangement, that is?" He asked.
Haley bit down on her lip as she pondered Nathan's words, her mind once again reeling about what was written on that damn list of his. She was going to have to try to get her hands on it one way or another; didn't she need to know what his fantasies were before she agreed to participating in them? But then again, wouldn't it be more exciting for her if she didn't know what he wanted to do with her? "I still want to do it Nathan." She replied in a determined tone as she released her grip on her lip.
"Good, so do I." Nathan returned with a smile. He then watched as Haley put her hand on the doorknob to her room and twisted it. "Goodnight gorgeous, see you in the morning." He said softly to her.
"Goodnight Nathan, sleep well." Haley returned as she walked into her bedroom, flicked on the light and headed straight for the drawer where her notebook was currently residing. She grabbed a pen and placed an incredibly satisfying tick next to number eight. She cast her eyes quickly over the whole of her list and bit down on her lip in excitement before she closed the notebook and placed it back safely in her drawer. They still had a hell of a long way to go but she was more than happy with the way things were currently headed, especially as she was sure that things weren't going to change between them. Nathan had, of course been right about this whole thing not changing them. In all honesty, she shouldn't have ever doubted him, when it came to her and their friendship, he never had been wrong.
AN – So the list ticking has begun. And what part do we think Ryan and Sarah are going to play in all this?
Please do let me know what you thought of the chapter by dropping me a review.
A preview of the next chapter will be available to those of you that want it, just let me know in a review if you do want it and I shall get it out to you ASAP.
As for a posting a picture teaser for the next chapter on the blog, I should be posting something soonish too so keep a look out for that.
