Part 8
Nathan was crouched next to the girl. He gazed down at her, bewildered. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the fact that there was a pretty stranger hiding directly outside his door. A few months ago, he probably would have been extremely interested by this fact. But now, since Haley, he just found it strange. And, the more he reflected on it, kind of suspicious.
Was she a spy for one of the other teams? If so, why? It wasn't like any of them couldn't have just come to watch their practice earlier. The captain of the West Roswell Comets had done so, after all. Not to mention, it was unlikely that a spy was going to learn much staring at his and Lucas' door.
He narrowed his eyes. More likely she was a distraction, sent by one of their competitors. He was one of the team's stars after all. And, as much as it sometimes pained him to admit it, she could have just as easily been sent to distract Lucas. Having Nathan's brother out of commission for the start of the tournament, perhaps by being led astray by a beautiful girl, would be just as big a fiasco as if Nathan was absent.
And, yet, none of that explained why the girl was now staring at him in open-mouthed astonishment. Because, if she had been sent to seduce either him or Luke, she certainly seemed a little surprised to see him.
"Are you okay?" he repeated, more gruffly this time. He didn't like novelty. It annoyed him. He had enough of it in his own life, thanks to his degenerate father, without some joker from another basketball team adding more drama.
"Yes," the girl replied quickly. She pushed her long dark hair behind her ears, then wrinkled her nose. "This must seem kind of weird..." She trailed off, obviously searching for words.
"Not so weird," Nathan replied wryly. "Pretty girls camp outside my doorway all the time. Weekly, in fact."
The girl stared at him for a long moment, then smiled tentatively. "Yeah, well, I guess I should still explain myself."
Nathan climbed to his feet. He reached down and offered the girl his hand. She hesitated momentarily, then reached out and took it.
It was exactly then that things went completely insane.
Looking back on it later, Nathan still couldn't describe that happened to him. It was sort of like everything went into slow motion, but sped up at the same time. He heard a rushing in his ears, and then a stream of images penetrated his mind, making him so dizzy, he felt like he might lose consciousness.
The only clear impression he came out of the whole thing with was that the girl was causing it. He absolutely knew that she was doing something to him.
It ended as quickly as it had started. When it was over, she collapsed forward into his arms, passed out.
Nathan shook his head firmly, trying to clear it. He struggled not to collapse under the girl's weight, and eventually was able to pick her up in his arms. He staggered towards his room, stumbling into the door. It wasn't that she was heavy - in fact, she was so small, it barely felt like he was carrying anything - but his head still felt like it was spinning at a thousand miles an hour.
Juggling the girl in his arms, Nathan realized abruptly that he had left his room key inside. He pounded on the door impatiently, and almost fell right through it when Lucas opened it moments later.
"What the hell!" Lucas exclaimed, as Nathan bumped into him. He reached out and steadied Nathan. Nathan was finally able to regain some of his equilibrium, after his brother held him up for several seconds. He took a deep breath and laid the girl gently on one of the beds.
There was long minute of silence. Nathan could hear the harshness of his breath in the quiet room. He met Lucas's eyes. His brother was staring at him in open-mouthed amazement, looking strangely like the girl had when Nathan had confronted her in the hallway earlier.
"Do I even want to know?" Lucas finally asked.
He was no longer looking at Nathan, but was instead staring at the girl, who was lying on the bed, still completely out of it.
"It's not what it looks like," Nathan replied quickly, without looking at his brother. The last thing he needed was for Haley to hear about this.
"What does it look like?" Lucas demanded. "Because, to me, it looks like you're bringing a drunk girl into our room. I don't even want to think about why you might be doing that."
Nathan glared at him. "Did I not just say it's not what it looks like? She's not drunk! She just passed out on me in the hallway."
"Some random girl just passed out, into your arms, right outside our door?" Lucas repeated, sounding incredulous.
"Yes," Nathan snapped. "Stop looking at me like that! I'm not the one stringing along two girls, you know!"
Lucas whitened. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You know what it means," Nathan replied. "Not that it really matters right now. This chick was hiding outside our room. She's a spy!"
"A spy?" Lucas said, sounding annoyed. "Are you joking?"
"No!" Nathan told him. "She tried to drug me or something." He moved forward and picked up the girl's hands. He stared at them suspiciously. "I was helping her up, and I got all dizzy." He frowned when he saw no evidence of a needle or anything on the girl's hands. "They can do that, you know. Drug people with stuff on their hands. It goes through your pores."
"Are you insane?" Lucas demanded. "What the hell are you even talking about?"
"This tournament is do or die for a lot of these teams, Lucas," Nathan informed him. This was one reason it pissed him off so much that Lucas was on the team. He just didn't understand how serious basketball was to some people. But, then, of course, he'd never had to deal with dear old dad. No, that had been all up to Nathan. "It gets national attention," he added.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. What, are we suddenly living the X-Files or something? You're losing it," Lucas told him, shaking his head in disgust. He pushed Nathan aside, and sat down beside the girl. He pushed her dark hair away from her face. "Go get me a washcloth," he told Nathan over his shoulder.
Nathan rolled his eyes, irritated, although he was beginning to feel a bit ridiculous. While the tournament was important, the idea that anyone would send a girl to poison him seemed a little out there. He did as Lucas requested, and went into the bathroom, where he wet a white face-cloth under the faucet.
When he returned, Lucas already had the girl stirring. Her dark lashes were fluttering. Lucas reached out and took the cloth, gently bathing the girl's forehead with the cool water. "It's okay," Nathan's brother soothed quietly. "You're okay."
The girl's eyes snapped open. She stared up at Lucas, looking shocked. Her mouth opened, but no sound seemed to want to come out. She sat up abruptly, still staring. Finally, she said, "Max."
"No, Lucas," Lucas explained patiently. He gestured over his shoulder. "And this is Nathan."
The girl's dark eyes flickered slightly. She glanced at Nathan. Nathan felt a shiver descend his spine. There was something in those eyes that made him extremely uncomfortable. This girl was just plain weird."I'm Liz," she said. She raised her hands to her head, as though she had a splitting headache. "What happened?"
"You passed out," Nathan said. "I tried to help you up, and you just passed out." Almost taking me with you, he added silently to himself.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. Her expression was briefly distant. "That's never happened before," she finally finished, glancing at them both. "Listen, can I call my boyfriend? He'll come get me."
"Of course," Lucas said, although Nathan felt frustrated. He wanted to grill this girl. What had she done to him? And, if it had just been a weird coincidence that they both almost passed out at the same time, what the heck had she been doing outside their door?
The girl - Liz - reached into her pocket, then frowned. "My cell..." She grimaced. "I must have dropped it in the hallway."
"I'll get it," Lucas volunteered.
Nathan stared at Liz, his eyes narrowed, as they waited in silence for Lucas to return. She avoided his gaze deliberately.
"I'm sorry," Liz whispered suddenly, turning her large dark eyes on him.
Nathan frowned. "For what?" he demanded. "For spying?"
"I wasn't spying," Liz flared.
"I'm sure you weren't," Lucas said, interrupting as he returned with the phone.
"That's what it looked like to me," Nathan said.
"I'm not surprised," Liz snapped. "You're suspicious of every..." She trailed off, snapping her mouth shut. "Never mind," she muttered.
Nathan scowled even more. This girl wasn't only weird, she was also extremely annoying. He didn't even know her. Who the hell did she think she was, analyzing his character?
Liz had turned away by this time, and was speaking into her phone. "Yeah. I'm inside." Pause. "Don't ask." She hit the off button, and two seconds later a knock sounded on the door.
Nathan and Lucas exchanged glances. Lucas went to answer the door, and a tall, dark-haired guy came in, looking harassed. "Liz! What the hell?" He didn't really sound angry though. He was mostly upset, and worried, Nathan thought.
"I'll explain everything, Max," she said quickly. "Just get me out of here."
"What happened?" the guy - Max - demanded.
"She passed out," Lucas informed him. "Nathan brought her in here, and we woke her up. You should probably take her to a doctor."
Max ran his hand through his hair. "Liz!" he exclaimed in frustration.
"Does this happen a lot?" Nathan demanded. "Or only when she's spying?"
Max blinked. "Excuse me?"
"She was hiding outside our room."
"I wasn't hiding!" Liz exclaimed.
Nathan raised an eyebrow at her. "You don't call sitting behind a chair hiding?"
"I'm sure there's a logical explanation to all of this," Lucas interjected patiently, making Nathan want to punch him. "You weren't really hiding, were you?" He directed this at Liz.
She wrinkled her nose again, in the way she had when Nathan had first confronted her. "Well..."
"It doesn't matter," Max interrupted firmly. "The important thing is that we get her to a doctor." He turned to Lucas, whom he seemed to have identified as the least difficult party, much to Nathan's irritation. "Thanks for taking care of her. I'm Max, by the way."
"It was no problem," Lucas replied. "I'm Lucas. This is Nathan."
"No problem for you," Nathan muttered. "You weren't the one who was almost knocked out."
Max looked at him strangely, as did Liz. They exchanged glances.
"What do you mean?" Liz asked nervously.
"When you passed out, you almost took me with you," Nathan replied. "I barely managed to get you in here. Did you drug me or something? I've heard of drugs that can be transmitted through touch."
Liz stared at him. "What? No!"
Lucas was rolling his eyes. "For God's sake, Nathan, give it a rest. You're probably just dehydrated from practice or something."
"I'm not dehydrated," Nathan snapped. "I know what I felt!"
"We need to go," Max said abruptly. He put his arm around Liz's shoulder and ushered her out of the room. "Thanks again!" he called over his shoulder.
The door slammed shut behind them.
"Look what you did!" Lucas said, sighing. "Now they think we're freaks or something."
"We're not the freaks," Nathan replied with certainty. "Something's not right with that girl."
"Something's not right with your head," Lucas retorted.
"I'm telling you, there is something weird about that chick," Nathan bellowed, beginning to feel almost apoplectic with frustration. Why did Lucas always have to be so difficult?
"Whatever," Lucas replied, sounding dismissive. He headed towards the doorway.
"Where are you going?" Nathan demanded. He hadn't yet told his brother about the pool party, or that Brooke had been by to see him. Which meant that he had a very sneaking suspicion he knew exactly where Lucas was going. "You better not be going to see Peyton!"
Lucas paused at the door, but he didn't turn around.
"I know all about what's going on," Nathan added.
Lucas turned very slowly. "What do you know?"
"I know that something happened between you and Peyton," Nathan said, scowling at him.
"You don't know anything," Lucas replied, although Nathan took note that he didn't deny it.
"I know that you two haven't exchanged a word in almost a week, which is weird, because before you went away with her, you, her and Brooke were attached at the hip."
"And this seems to imply to you that something's going on with me and Peyton?" Lucas demanded. "You're crazy. Not to mention, I'm sure that Hales will be thrilled to know that you follow your ex-girlfriend's movements so zealously."
"I'm not crazy," Nathan replied firmly, ignoring Lucas' veiled threat. "Just know, if you mess with Peyton, I'll kick your ass. Just because we're not dating anymore, it doesn't mean I don't still care about her."
"I have no intention of messing with Peyton," Lucas replied.
Nathan glared at him. He could tell that Lucas was deadly serious. "Just see that you don't," he warned.
Lucas stared at him for a long moment, then turned on his heel and left, slamming the door behind him.
Nathan snorted in annoyance. Drama! He hated it.
He flopped down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. And it was only going to get so much lovelier around here, with his father's impending arrival. What was supposed to have been a fun weekend, away from the pressure his dad placed on his shoulders daily, had turned into another weekend he couldn't wait to end.
There was only one person who could make him feel better when he felt like this. If only she had been able to come! But Haley was stuck at home, not being a member of the cheerleading squad, nor having enough money to make the trip on her own. Not that Nathan would have asked her to do that. It would have been ridiculous for her to come all this way, just for the weekend.
But it didn't mean he didn't still wish she was there. He missed her.
Well, if he couldn't see her face to face, he could at least do the next best thing. Heaving a sigh, Nathan reached out and picked up the telephone from the bedside table.
She answered on the second ring. Nathan felt his mood brighten immediately.
"Hey, Hales."
At least someone wouldn't think he was crazy. Not that he planned to tell Haley anything about the strange girl. He didn't want her to worry or anything.
Nathan realized abruptly that he really did think that Haley might have something to worry about. Not because he was interested in that girl, but because he suspected that meeting her was somehow going to change things permanently - and, not for the better.
