A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for all of your amazing reviews. I apologize immensely for leaving you all with a cliffhanger and not updating for ages. Lately with school starting my life has just been so hectic and I hardly have time to read let alone write. Please forgive me! I'm not so sure when I'll be able to update again, but hopefully it won't take as long as it did this time. Thanks for reading and please review!

There are times in a young girl's life when all she wants to feel is free; when she wants to fly away from it all; to be away from everything that could be holding her back; to be independent; to be able to say that it is her life and she is going to live it the way she wants to; to take control over the one thing that is truly hers…then the moment is gone.

The girl wants someone to hold her; someone to be by her side; someone she can depend on; the one person that she can trust no matter what. To a little girl that one person can be anyone and everyone. For me it was so much different. The one person I would confide in is gone and no matter how much it may hurt I know that I have to move on…fly away, even. To get away from everything even if it is just for a while, I sit here on the sand and all of my problems just wash away. There are no protective big brothers, cheating ex-friends…Peyton, and last there's no racing.

As I continue to stare out at the horizon and let the relaxing feeling wash over me, the one person I could thank for this is my best friend. At this point you must be extremely confused. Let me start from yesterday after the movies.

Oh my God this can't be happening. Of course the one time I actually agree to go out with Nathan my brother shows up…well I'm not sure really. But my car definitely was there. Or maybe I'm just hallucinating. Yeah I like that idea. As I sit here in the passenger seat of Nathan's Camaro I can feel my heart beating a mile a minute the suspense of what is going to happen in just a short few minutes is seriously getting to me. Nathan's hands are gripped on to the steering wheel and I can tell he's just as nervous as I am.

The car is moving…and at this point it doesn't feel like it. Okay that's it.

"NATHAN DRIVE!" I whisper shout bringing him out of what looked to be a deep thought. His head whipped back to look at me and he floored it. The black Camaro sped off and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I looked back as I saw my Mustang going deeper into the parking lot. Did we really get away with it?

"Breathe Hales," Nathan chuckled as he kept his eyes on the road. He kept driving and came to a stop when a girl walked in front of the car at the parking lot entrance.

And I froze…this has to be some kind of fucked up nightmare.

There in front of Nathan's beautiful car is a not so beautiful girl….Peyton. Okay so this must be my punishment for detesting the girl so much. And yes this is really happening. Everything starts off in slow motion…Nathan hitting the brake, Peyton looking up from her previous gaze at the ground, and my face burning red with guilt. I tried to come up with a way to cover my face; my eyes were squinting as a way to show my discomfort and hope of this moment to end. I saw her hand fly up and her middle finger was raised up to Nathan…but her eyes were still set ahead of her. When she finally finished her trudge and was out of the way of the car Nathan sped off, not before she looked up at the driver…and passenger side. My heart was beating the whole time. I looked over at Nathan when I heard him mumble something.

"Wow…she was nice." He said sarcastically, referring to Peyton's early gesture to him. As I saw him relax I slowly followed.

"Yeah…far from it." I grumbled out and kept my eyes on the road. I could feel Nathan's eyes on me, but I decided it was best if I just kept looking out of the window. I heard him sigh and suddenly the car is being pulled over to the side of the road.

"Hales…" He whispers. I don't look at him; my mind is still clouded with thoughts of Peyton and possibly getting found out. I'm surprised when I feel his hand take mine and shiver when I feel him so close to me. He moves closer and gently turns my head with his fingers so I could look at him. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I answer equally as low. I don't want to worry him with my thoughts.

"It's not nothing, you can trust me; you know that, right?" His deep blue eyes are pleading with me and in that moment I know that Nathan is not just some random boyfriend or fling…he's important to me and he cares about me and my feelings…he's not just with me to get in my pants…that doesn't matter to him. Nathan is the one I needed to fill the void in my heart and although I can't voice it out loud I know it's true.

"I know…I just…I'm worried she saw us and if that's true then I'm dead….you're dead. Jake will kill you if he finds out." I rush out trying to voice all of my thoughts at once. Nathan chuckles and shakes his head.

"Slow down…everything is going to be fine Hales. I'm sure she didn't even notice you. You're worrying too much."

"What if she did? What will happen to us?" I ask scared and by the way Nathan's face just dropped I can tell he is too. He shifted closer to me and opened his arms. I swiftly cuddled close to him and buried my face into his neck. I smiled as he kissed my temple and hugged me close to him.

"Nothing will happen, Haley; I don't care if she saw us or if Jake finds out somehow. All I care about is you. I knew what the risk was this whole summer and these last few weeks with you were amazing and I'm not going to give that up just because your brother doesn't like me or approve of me. All that matters are you and me…everything else is just…doesn't matter to me." He whispered into my ear. I pulled away from him just enough to look into his intense blue eyes and I can practically see the sincerity pouring out of them. I make a quick move and seal our lips. The hunger and want is there, but the passion and need overrules it as it takes over us and we give our entire being into this one simple kiss.

I can feel him bring me closer as his hands gripped my waist. He pulls me further into him and I feel myself being raised up. I squeal slightly and smile when I see what he has done. Moving to sit on the passenger side, he gently pulls me back down and sits me on his lap. He seizes my lips and gently nips on my bottom lip as I play with the hair on the back of his neck. I feel him tremble slightly as I run my fingers threw his hair and bring his face closer so our lips clash together. He runs his lips against the seams of my lips and begs for entrance. I quickly part my lips and we both sigh in satisfaction. Nathan's hands try to pull me even further on to him and I can feel just how…excited he is. At the feeling of our lower halves meeting I begin to panic. I know Nathan can't control that part of his body, but just the thought of what could possibly happen next has me nervous. We continue to kiss and I can't help but to feel relieved when we are broken apart from a knock on the car window. We both look to the side to see none other than Brooke Scott. I look behind her to see that we were pulled over at the front of Nathan's house.

"Well well, if it isn't our two overly affectionate couple. I find it absolutely adorable how much you too are so into each other, but…I think you might want to carry your activities back to Nathan's room before you continue to give our creepy old neighbors a show." Brooke laughed as she walked back up the walkway and into her house. I giggled at Nathan's surprised face and give hi m a chaste kiss before opening the door and following Brooke.

Nathan's POV

"So I was thinking…" Brooke started.

"Well that's not good," Haley joked laughing when Brooke stuck her tongue out at her. Brooke, well if it wasn't for her I'd probably still be in my car right now still making out with my sexy girlfriend. Of course my sister has the best timing, but then again now that I think about it maybe it was a good thing she interrupted. At this point, after hearing Haley and Brooke's conversation earlier, while behind the curtain, about how Haley was threatened by a physical relationship just makes me even more cautious around her. I don't want to push past her limit and if pulling away is going to help ease her then that's fine with me.

"So, Nate, you in?" Lucas asked bringing me out of my thoughts. Looking back up at everyone I see that all eyes are on me. I guess I should pay attention when Brooke is speaking, but after so many years of ignoring her it's just so hard to do.

"Ummm," I have no idea what they want me to say.

"Gosh, were you even paying attention?!" Brooke yelled.

"Umm, do you really want me to answer that?" I retorted, smirking at the pissed off look on my sister's face.

"Oh you little son of..."

"Okay!" Lucas interrupted grabbing Brooke from lunging at me. "Brooke, just explain it all over again." She huffs and sits back down on the sofa and looks directly at me.

"Fine! As I was saying before…I think lately everything has been a little hectic with all of us working and the racing and well you and Haley sneaking around. So I was thinking maybe we should get away for a while."

"Yeah that doesn't sound like a bad idea." I threw in.

"So I thought we could go to the beach house for the weekend and just relax. What do guys think?" Brooke finished slightly jumping up and down in her seat. Hmmm a weekend alone with Haley and no hiding…

"I'm in!"

Haley's POV

"I don't think this is a good idea, Brooke." I gulped quietly as we walked into my house, Brooke following behind me. We had just been dropped off by Nathan. Brooke decided to sleep over my house and help me pack for our weekend away…and to help me convince my mom into letting me go.

"Hales, it'll be fine…your mom loves me." Brooke smiled cheekily. Well she isn't lying.

"So true, hopefully she'll love your brother too…" I mumbled the last part to myself. Brooke stopped in her tracks so I paused and turned to her. "What?"

"What did you just say?" She questioned pointing her finger at me. OH NO!

"Nothing…"

"Yeah sure, you're thinking about introducing my brother to Mama James!" She beamed while clapping her hands excitedly.

"No, no I wasn't. What are you talking about?" I tried to play dumb.

"Yeah I don't think so Haley, I'll let it go ….for now."

"Let what go for now?" And in comes my mother. She was being her typical kooky self, glasses on and a newspaper at hand.

"Nothing…I love you, momma!" I spoke cheerfully, hugging her tight.

"What do you want, Bub?" She smiled knowingly. Darn it, I thought I was getting good at this stuff.

"Mama James, we were kind of hoping you would let Haley come on a little mini vacation with me this weekend to my mom's beach house." Brooke jumped in getting straight to the point.

"Will there be parental supervision?" Lydia asked going into mom mode.

"Since when does that matter to you?" I looked at her like she was crazy. My mom was never one to ask a million questions before letting one of us leave the house.

"I know right, but I'm trying out this new thing…it's called parenting. Now I know I let you kids off easy but that's when I know you're coming home in a few hours. I just want to make sure you'll be safe."

"Oh don't worry about it Mama James, we'll be safe, my older brother is going with us. He will keep an eye on us." Brooke grinned, showing off her pearly whites. We both waited in anticipation as my mother looked back and forth between us.

"Oh my god, I can't believe she said yes!" Brooke yelled while zipping up my duffle bag.

"Yeah I know what you mean; for a second there I thought she was going to flat out say no." I can't say I'm not excited about this weekend but as I heard footsteps coming toward my room I could feel my stomach drop. Lifting my gaze from Brooke to my doorway a flash of blonde curls swept by and stopped.

"Well where are we going?" Peyton bit out sarcastically. Bitch…oh wait, be nice, Haley, be nice.

"I'm going away with Brooke for the weekend." I answered politely.

"Hmm, so Hales how was the movie?" She smirked and left the doorway and continued down the hall. Shit!

Since that moment at the house my thoughts have been going haywire. I've been wondering if she told Jake or if she'll use it as blackmail or even ignoring it completely, but no matter how many possibilities I come up with I always end up at square one…does Jake know?

The drive here distracted me for a while. Having Nathan and Brooke there really helped, not to mention Lucas' and Brooke's bantering helped. We've only been here an hour and everything is so amazing. Looking up at the skyline I just want to be free from all the drama that's become my life. To be able to be with the boy who makes my heart beat faster when he's mentioned or when he walks into a room and not have to worry about who sees us. To be able race away from everything…just for a while.