Hi ya'll. I'm back with chapter 4. Thank you so much for all the great reviews. You rock! Hope you enjoy chapter 4. And don't forget to review. :)

The Quote of the day:

"But, Mulder, the new millennium doesn't begin until January 2001."

"Nobody likes a math geek, Scully."

-Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, the X-Files

Chapter 4. Special Of The Day: Spicy Arguments With A Side Dish Of Sarcasm Served On A Sympathetic Platter.

Day 3, Pennsylvania

Haley took a deep breath and knocked on the motel room door next to hers. As she waited for Nathan to open it so they could finally hit the road, the previous night's events filled her mind. Everything from the near collision with the truck to being in the hospital and finally seeing some sort of humanity in Nathan.

"I'm glad you're ok, Haley."

She had played those words over and over again in her head. It wasn't even the words, it was the way he had said it, the way he had looked at her. Those eyes had haunted her throughout the entire night.

Up until that point, Haley hadn't really thought of Nathan as anything else besides an asshole jerk who cared about nothing else besides basketball and getting laid.

Just as she had written on her diary, she was starting to see a real person behind that facade. She was actually looking forward to spending the day on the road with Nathan so she could get to know him better.

Nathan woke up to the sound of a knock on his motel room door. He opened his eyes and groaned while forcing himself to get up from the bed and walk to the door. He opened the door with a yawn.

"Morning." Haley said looking at Nathan with a grin. He was leaning on the door frame wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. His eyes were almost closed because of being so tired and his dark hair looked like it hadn't seen a comb in years.

"You look like shit." Haley said with a grin and looked over his shoulder inside the dark room. "And so does your room." she said and walked under his arm that was resting against the door frame so she could get inside the room, while trying to ignore the fact that he looked absolutely gorgeous shirtless.

"Why are you being annoying?" Nathan groaned as he flopped down on the bed, snuggling the pillow.

"I told you I wanted to hit the road early." Haley said with a grin.

"I didn't know you meant in the middle of the night, Haley." He mumbled in a tired voice.

Haley pulled the curtains away from the window and let the bright sunlight in the room. "Get your sleepy ass out of the bed, Nathan. It's noon."

"Like I said, the middle of the night." he mumbled.

"Get up. You can sleep in the car." she said and pulled the covers from his bed.

"Who's gonna drive then?"

"Oh, I thought that was already settled." she said sweetly. "Since you almost killed me last night there's no way in hell I'm letting you drive." she said.

"Fine, whatever." he mumbled still not getting up.

"Get up, Nate. We need to leave. I already checked us out and we have 30 minutes to get out. And you need a shower." she said her nose crunched in disgust.

"You're annoying, did you know that?" he asked while slowly getting up from the bed.

"You may have mentioned that once or twice." she said with an innocent smile.

"Great. Now get the hell out of here." he mumbled while searching for a towel.

"Is that a way to talk to someone who you almost killed?"

"You're gonna keep reminding me of that for the rest of my life, aren't you?" Nathan said with a small grin finally starting to wake up.

"Hell yeah." she said and smacked him in the ass with the towel she had found. "I'll be waiting in the car. Hurry the fuck up."

"Took you long enough." Haley said when Nathan finally opened the passenger side door.

"What's the hurry?" he asked.

"Chicago is 9 hours away." She said as she left the parking lot.

"We're driving there today? I thought the dress needed to be there tomorrow. Do we even have a reservation for a hotel?" he asked confused.

"My sister lives just outside of Chicago. I promised to visit her."

"Thanks for asking me." Nathan said pouting. "I mean, it's not really fair that you just decide for the both us what to do." He said and looked at her with a face that clearly said that he was messing with her.

"Oh, quit the act, Nathan. We both know you don't give a crap where you spend your nights." Haley said smiling.

"So, it's ok if we start to decide on things without asking the other?" Nathan asked.

"Well-" Haley started.

"Because did I ever tell you about all the great basketball arenas that are right on our way? I mean, there's at least one in every state and I'd be more than happy to drag you- I mean, take you to all of them. And some might say that they're all the same but only a professional, such as me, can tell the difference. But I'm sure you'd be able to enjoy them if you really tried-"

"Fine! Shut up!" she said and glared at him when she saw him give her a cocky smirk. "Fine! Nathan, do you mind if we spend the night at my sister's place?" Haley asked with a sarcastic politeness.

"No, of course not. Why would I?" He asked sweetly.

"What?! Argh! You are so-"

"Gorgeous? Sexy? Hot?" Nathan suggested with a smirk.

"Try annoying."

"You really need to come up with something new. I think we've both established that we find the other annoying."

"Shut up." She said and then narrowed her eyes at him. "And since when do you blabber? I thought that was what girls do when they want something."

"I guess I've spent too much time with you." He said with a grin that earned a quick smile from Haley.

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, can you hand me the CD case from the back?"

"You don't seriously think we're listening to your music?" he asked as he handed the small CD case to her.

"Hey, since I'm driving, I get to choose the music. So, shut it." She said and inserted a CD inside the player.

We in the car,

we ride slow.

We doing the things

that the girls don't do.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked when Danity Kane started to blast from the speakers.

"Nope. And you can thank Brooke for this wonderful CD." Haley said with a grin.

"Do you even like Danity Kane?"

"This is the first time I'm listening to this CD. I'm sure you'll love it." She said knowing that Danity Kane was the farthest thing from Nathan's taste of music.

"Wonderful." Nathan said and groaned while closing his eyes. "Now, there's no way I'm gonna be able to fall asleep."

"Dude, don't hate the player, hate the game."

"... so then Rocky just started flirting with all these guys and Alex, that's the ex, got totally pissed off even though he was asshole enough to ask for girls' numbers right in front of her like two minutes after they broke up! I know what you're thinking-"

"I seriously doubt that."

"-what an ass, I know! So, then he called her a slut or something and she was all devastated and shit. I mean, it was heartbreaking. So sad. But you know what?"

"Do tell."

"They went to Prom together! So weird, I know! But then he made a scene or something but guess what?"

"Mmhmm?"

"After graduation he gave her a promise ring because she was a year younger and had her senior year still left. How frigging romantic is that!"

"Very."

"So, that was Alex and Rocky's relationship from the third season of Laguna Beach. And I already told you all about the LC-Stephen-Kristen –triangle, right."

"Uhhuh."

"You caving yet?"

"Never."

"So, it's only suitable that I continue with Cameron and Kyndra's relationship."

"Yep."

"Yay!"

Haley squealed excited before starting to tell the extremely long and painful story, at least that's how Nathan felt about it.

For the past three hours Nathan and Haley had had a dare. It had all started when Nathan stole Haley's CD case after getting tired of listening to her music, which was about 15 minutes after they left the motel.

First Haley had cursed herself for not doing the same to Nathan's rap collection but then she had decided to fight back. She had asked him nicely, then demanded, after which she resolved to yelling. When nothing had helped she had settled on punching him with her right hand. Repeatedly.

After that they had both discovered very quickly that Haley was not the most coordinated person, at least if the way the car swerved right every time she punched him was any proof. After that Haley had threatened to not stop for food at all.

She had kept that for about 10 minutes until she had gotten hungry. Then Haley had gotten the master idea. Since she couldn't physically force him to hand her CD's back, she had decided to use the agelong trick every woman knew.

To bore their man to death.

Ever since the realization, Haley had blabbered about all and everything. Make up, music, romantic movies, candle lit dinners, ice cream, mac and cheese, clothes, and more recently: the relationship developments of several teenage reality TV shows including the queen of all: Laguna Beach.

So far, Nathan had been looking out the window with a bored, suicidal, 'help me' –look but being as stubborn as he was, he refused to cave in. And Haley had nothing but time.

"... so then she just kissed him, which was totally cheating her boyfriend, I mean how much of a slut is she? And then she made this huge scene but ended up together with her ex anyways..."

"Natasha Bedingfield?"

"No. P. Diddy?"

"No way. The Sounds?"

"Nope. The Game?"

"No. The All-American Rejects?"

"No. Snoop Dogg?"

"No! God, don't you listen to anything besides rap?"

"God, how many times have you asked that already?"

"Sheryl Crow?"

"No!"

"Argh! Focus Nathan!"

"Hey, I told you this was a bad idea!"

"You didn't really leave me a choice after taking all my CD's, you ass!"

"Whatever, they all suck."

"You suck!"

Nathan and Haley had been on the road for over 6 hours now.

After Haley had probably done a Guinness World Record by babbling the longest about subjects the guys care the least, they had decided to try to settle their little music dilemma.

They decided that they would try to find 5 artist or bands they both liked and both could also choose 3 on their own. They had immediately chosen their own but hadn't reached any sort of agreement on the mutual bands yet. It had been over an hour.

"We're never gonna find something we both like." Nathan said.

"Well, we wouldn't have to do this if you just let me listen to my music since I'm the one who's driving." Haley pointed out.

"It's my car." Nathan said.

"Let's just try to find some band or artist we both agree on, ok?" Haley said.

"I seriously doubt that since you only seem to like crap." Nathan said. "What were your three choices again? Michelle Branch, Snow Patrol and The Fray. Crap, crap, crap."

"Oh, what about yours then? D-12, Eminem and 50 Cent."

"Which are all excellent choices."

"Whatever. You're missing the big picture here, anyways."

"Which is?" Nathan asked bored.

"That it's only day three. We still have a week left of this marvellous little road trip of ours. And it's only getting harder and harder for me to hold myself back from strangling you." Haley said through gritted teeth.

"I'd like to see you try that." Nathan said with a smirk.

"And I'd like to see me succeed in it." Haley said mentally picturing the wonderful image of finally shutting up Nathan for good.

"With those little hands I doubt you'd be able to kill a fly even if you wanted." He said.

Haley tried to punch him again just like Nathan predicted. He grabbed her hand with his right one as he held the wheel with his left one, knowing that she couldn't punch him and drive the car straight at the same time.

Haley looked at him furiously and pulled her hand away from his while bumping him with her shoulder to let go of the wheel.

"Hey, I'm driving!"

"Doesn't look like it." Nathan mumbled.

"You're starting to piss me off..." Haley singsonged cheerily, the forced smile never leaving her face.

"And you're almost killing us." He replied in the same voice.

"Just shut up."

"Ditto."

Haley was about to say something back when she saw the flashing red and blue lights in the distance.

"What the fuck..." she mumbled while they came closer and closer to the lights.

Nathan looked at Haley's confused gaze and followed it. He sat up and buckled up quickly when he saw the police cars.

Haley slowed down and followed the police officer's hand signals. One car right behind them, she drove the car to a small parking lot where they had been directed. It was a parking lot of a motel and it was already filled with cars.

"What the hell is going on?" Haley mumbled while unbuckling. She and Nathan got out of the car at the same time as a young police officer walked by.

"What's going on, officer?" Haley asked from the cop.

"Haven't you been listening to the radio? A truck that contained hazardous material fell on its side. The roads are closed because they want to secure the whole area." He said looking at Nathan and Haley.

"Do you know when the roads will be opening again?" Nathan asked.

"Not until tomorrow morning, if even then."

"So, no roads are open? We're stuck here? Until tomorrow morning at least?" Nathan asked not believing their luck.

"Yes, sir."

"You're kidding me." Nathan said.

"Just wanted to let you know that this is the only motel within 50-mile-radius and it's starting to get pretty full, in fact I think I heard someone mention there's only one available room. So, unless you want to drive 50 miles back or alternatively spend the night in your car, I'd suggest you'd get going now." The cop said looking between the two.

"There's no way I'm sharing a room with you again!" Nathan said looking at Haley when the cop left.

"Well, you can sleep in the car then because I'm taking that room." Haley said and took her overnight bag from the car.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You're not the one who's getting the room! I am!" he said and also took his bag from the trunk before closing it.

"Haley, get back in the car!"

"Nathan, get back in the car!"

"I'm not sharing that room." Nathan said stubbornly.

Haley sighed deeply and looked around. She saw the same cop talking to a young couple who had driven behind them. The couple looked at Haley and Nathan and quickly got out of their car and started to gather their stuff from the car.

"Nathan, unless you want us both to lose the room and spend the night in the car, you better start running." She said and pointed at the couple.

"What the hell?" he asked looking at them. The guy of the young couple looked at Nathan for a second before sprinting towards the motel.

"Whattaa...?" Nathan asked still confused.

Haley grabbed the front of his shirt.

"Think, Nathan. Alone with me in an actual motel room or in a tiny car?"

Nathan looked at her for a second before sprinting after the guy.

"Go get the room, Nathan. Go get the room!" Haley cheered.

"Go Steven! The bitch has got nothing on you, honey!"

Haley glared at the blonde girl who was standing next to her cheering for her man.

"What did you just say?" Haley asked.

"Your guy's got no chance." The girl said smugly.

"Oh, yeah? My Nathan's so kicking your guy's ass." Haley said.

"Never gonna happen."

"Wanna bet twenty on it?"

"Sure." she said.

The girls walked to the motel together. Once inside they saw Nathan and Steven talking to each other loudly next to the reception that had a "FULL" sign on the counter. Haley and the other girl, Laura, walked up to the guys.

"Honey?" Laura asked and looked at Steven hopefully.

"Nathan, please tell me you got the room." Haley said.

Nathan and the other guy turned to look at the girls.

"Have some faith, Hales. Of course I have it." Nathan said and flashed the room key to her. Haley squealed loudly and hugged him quickly.

She then turned to look at Laura who was swatting the poor Steven angrily. Haley coughed loudly and looked at Laura with a smug grin while holding her palm open. Laura sighed angrily and slammed a twenty-dollar-bill on her hand.

"Nice doing business with you, honey." Haley said. "Wanna bet whose guy can bench press more? Throw more free throws? Hell, I'd even put my money on Nathan beating your guy at golf."

Laura huffed annoyed and dragged Steven away from Haley and Nathan.

"What the hell was that about?" Nathan asked as they walked back outside to their room.

"Just a little friendly bet, nothing more. We won twenty bucks!" she said and jumped excited.

"Nice." He said and looked at her closely.

They walked up to their hotel room, opened the door and stopped in their tracks when they saw the bed. The only bed.

Never breaking eye connection with the bed, they both held up their fists in the air and 'knocked' them three times before turning to look at them. Haley had a rock, Nathan a paper. He covered her fist with his hand with a smirk.

"Paper covers rock." He said and flopped down on the bed with a grin while reaching for the remote.

"Out of three?" she suggested as Nathan turned the TV on.

"Nope." He said. "But I can share." He said with a grin and turned the TV off when he couldn't get any channels because of the bad reception.

"No, thanks. You'll probably end up bringing some bar slut here and I don't feel like ménage à trois tonight." She said.

"But you normally do?" he asked with a grin.

"You're disgusting, Nathan." Haley said with a huff. "I need a shower. And this time when I come from the bathroom it would be nice if there wouldn't be a room full of strangers." She said referring back to New York when Nathan had invited all of his friends to their hotel room.

"Whatever. They were selling some sort of food and beverage by the reception. I'm gonna try and score some food and if god wills, alcohol. Anything you want?"

"Besides you and your soon-to-be drunken ass gone? Nope. Not really." She said slamming the bathroom door shut behind her.

"Bitch..."

20 minutes later Nathan came back with two bags of "groceries". He looked at Haley who was sitting on the bed wearing a pair of shorts, a tank top and a towel in her head while flipping through the channels bored.

"What's up?" he asked while unpacking the grocery bags.

"Nothing." She snapped while shutting the TV and getting up from the bed.

"You hungry?"

"Depends what you bought." She said and looked in the bags. "Beef jerky, two cans of Battery and Cheetos." She scrunched her nose in disgust and looked at Nathan. "White trash much?"

"Hey, considering we're stuck in the middle of nowhere with a motel full of people, there's not that much of a selection out here." He said.

"What's in the paper bag?" she said and looked inside. "A bottle of vodka and a six-pack of beer. Not very original, Boozy."

"Anything to get by your company..." he muttered while pouring himself a drink. "Want a drink? You know, there might be the slightest possibility that you're only a bitch when you're sober."

"How the hell can you even drink this often? This is like the 2nd time in three nights. Does your new coach approve of this healthy lifestyle?"

"Well, since season hasn't officially began yet..."

"Figures that I had to get stuck with the wrong Scott." She said annoyed.

"Hey, why don't you shut your bitchy little mouth for one minute since there's nothing to do in this place."

"Bite me, asshole." Haley said and dug for her cell phone that was in her purse by the door. She took her cell phone and started to scroll down the menu to find the right number.

She hit dial and waited for the longest time until she got the answering machine. She sighed loudly before leaving her message.

"Hey mom, it's your daughter Haley... The last one, in case you've lost count. Give me a call." She ended the call and chose another number.

She pressed dial and waited for someone to pick up the phone. Again, it went to answering machine. She huffed annoyed while tapping her foot impatiently.

"Hey Chris, it's me again. Just wondering what you're up to. Give me a call when you get this. Miss you. Bye."

She hung up the phone annoyed while mumbling something incoherent under her breath and chose another number. She pressed dial and again had to wait for the voice mail. By this time she was fuming.

"Luke, I'm still missing your daily call and for some godsaken reason no one's answering their FUCKING PHONES! So, be a dear and call your best friend before she decides NOT TO BE ONE!" she said practically screaming the last words. She pressed end call before she said something she would regret. She looked at the phone in annoyance before throwing it back in her purse in anger.

The whole time Nathan had been watching her every single move carefully. How she had gone from sad to annoyed to furious. He poured some vodka in a glass and filled it with battery and handed it to her without a word. She accepted it gladly and took a few sips before whipping her head down and taking the towel off of her head. She groaned when she felt the pain on her neck.

"Your neck is still hurting?" He asked when she rubbed it lightly.

"No, I just like to look like it is hurting." She snapped.

"So, the lotion and the pills didn't help?" Nathan asked ignoring Haley's attitude.

"I wouldn't know. The pills just made me sleepy and I never used the lotion." She mumbled.

"What? Why?"

"Because every time I tried to bend my hands so I could apply it to the back of my neck, it hurt so much that I wanted leave the comfort of my room and find you in the middle of the night so I could strangle you for causing the pain." She said annoyed.

"Do you need some help with the gel?" he asked once again ignoring her attitude.

"And let you touch my neck? No, thanks."

"Fine, be a bitch. Just don't complain and whine anymore." Nathan said annoyed.

Haley winced as she touched her painful neck again.

"Wait!" she said and sighed. "You're right, I may have been a bit on the edge today." She admitted slowly and almost laughed when Nathan gave her a 'No shit' look. "I'm sorry." She said.

"It's ok. You need help?" he asked when Haley picked up the muscle relaxant gel from her purse.

"Sure." she said and went to sit on the floor in front of the bed.

"It hurts like right at the back of my neck and the upper back." She said as she gave the bottle of gel to him.

"Here?" he asked while massaging the gel on her neck.

"Yep, that's the spo- Oh my god." She moaned.

"What?" he asked and froze on the spot.

"Don't stop." She said when Nathan quit the massage afraid that he was hurting her. He slowly continued the light touches on her neck.

"You ok?" he asked when she moaned again.

"Stop asking me that and concentrate on the neck." She snapped and realized that Nathan might stop the massage if she was rude. "Please?" she added with a sweet voice and a wide smile.

Nathan chuckled as he continued the light massage.

They stayed like that, Nathan massaging her neck softly and Haley enjoying the relaxing touches, neither keeping track of time. Neither said anything, just enjoyed the relaxing peace and quiet. Nathan took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere.

"So, wanna tell me why you've been acting like a PMS-ing Brooke the whole day?" he asked quietly.

She opened her eyes and was about to say something but then decided to just take a sip from the drink.

"Is it because of your parents and Luke?" Nathan asked when she didn't answer. Haley took another sip and shook her head.

"No, not really." Haley said. "I mean, yeah I'm pissed that no one's answering their phones but that's not the reason." She said quietly.

"Then what is?" he asked.

"It's Chris." Haley said quietly as Nathan rolled his eyes annoyed. He had quickly learned to hate the guy after spending three days listening to Haley leaving messages on his answering machine.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Lately he's just been so distant. I mean, we were never really as close as couples normally are because he started his tour and everything but I learned to live with that. But now he's not even answering his phone anymore. I don't remember when was the last time we had a discussion for more than 30 seconds." Haley said playing with her hands that were on her lap. It was so hard for her to admit it to anyone, especially Nathan who had been saying that all along.

"I'd hate to say 'I told you so'..." Nathan mumbled.

"But you're gonna say it anyways. Gee, thanks. I feel so much better." Haley said sarcastically while taking a sip from her drink.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. I'm just probably not the best person who can help you." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've probably noticed that I'm not the biggest gentlemen when it comes to dating and girls and all that." He mumbled.

"Yeah, why are you like that, anyways?" Haley asked interested. "Is it really all because of sex? Getting laid?"

"No! I mean, that's obviously a perk and all but it's not the reason. I like hanging out with girls. I like flirting and all that. But I just haven't found anyone who'd interest me for more than one night. I guess they haven't been my type."

"What is your type? Loose, blonde and C-cup? Have you ever thought that that right there might be the reason you haven't found someone interesting enough?" Haley asked.

"Don't get all Dr. Freud on me." He said.

"Fine, live in denial." Haley said smiling. "Just remember what I said the next time you dump another dumb blonde."

"Oh, whatever. I thought we were supposed to discuss your pathetic love life, not mine."

Haley's face fell at the reminder of Chris. She started to get up from the bed but Nathan grabbed her arm gently.

"I'm sorry. That was rude." He said looking at her sincerely. "But you shouldn't be with him if he makes you feel like crap. You know you could do better, right? You deserve better."

"Thanks." She whispered tears glimmering in her eyes. She took a sip of her drink to calm herself down.

"Anytime."

"You know, why don't we discuss the band selection. I think I might be ok with Diddy. I've heard Press Play is supposed to be pretty good." She said clearly wanting to end the discussion of Chris before she would embarrass herself by bursting out crying.

"Really? Because I'd be down for The All-American Rejects."

"Really? Awesome. What else is there..."

"Foo Fighters?" Nathan suggested.

"Yes! We can have Kanye and the new Jay-Z."

"Thanks!" he said smiling.

He then lifted his plastic cup of beverage in the air.

"I'd like to propose a toast."

"Oh god, you're drunk." Haley muttered with a grin but held her plastic cup in the air nevertheless.

"To our first real agreement." Nathan said ignoring Haley's comment. "May this be the start of a beautiful friendship."

"Or an interesting one at least."

"Cheers!"

So, there you go. Lemme know what you think :)

-Fes-