Turning the key in the lock, Haley was slightly surprised when it was met with no resistance. Haley stumbled into her darkened room and moved to switch on her desk light. She surveyed Jenna's side of the room and was surprised to see her roommate's bed unoccupied and even more surprised to find Nathan passed out in her own bed.

Sighing lightly, she dropped her bookbag next to her desk, the dull thud awakening her slumbering boyfriend. He rolled over to face her and mumbled out a throaty "Hey." Haley patted his leg in acknowledgement before switching her jeans for plaid pajama pants and stripping off her t-shirt and bra. Nathan watched attentively as she quickly rummaged through her dresser for one of his Ravens shirts and then went to brush her teeth.

"Where's Jenna?" Haley questioned softly as she slid into bed with him, his arm immediately settling around her waist. Nathan mumbled something into her hair but she could only make out the words "Jake" and "room." It concerned her since Jake apparently wasn't making as much progress as Jenna had hoped but she certainly wasn't one to complain.

"Brooke emailed me today," Haley spoke, hoping that Nathan was coherent enough to remember her words in the morning. Hearing him sigh, she felt him shift back slightly to rest on his back, pulling her with him. "She's going to be cheering at the NC State football game. She's demanded that we stop having sex long enough to go out to dinner with her."

Nathan threw an arm over his eyes, shielding himself from his girlfriend's pearly whites. He had hoped, after high school, to be free of Brooke Davis but that apparently wasn't going to happen. "Fine, just remind me the Friday before or something."

"She's "seeing" a guy on the football team. She thinks you two would get along," Haley told him, pulling his arm down.

Nathan felt himself scoffing despite his exhaustion. "I don't want to get along with any guy who would date Brooke Davis," he returned, rolling his eyes, "especially not a football player. Even I thought she had better taste than that."

"I don't care what sport he plays, just be nice. He sounds like a good guy, for once. And I got a postcard from Tim today. It's in my backpack," she mumbled into his shirt, the tiredness contagious.

Nathan felt her squirming atop him, presumably to get the postcard out of her bag, and in retaliation he gripped her tighter. "I don't need to see it," he insisted, never loosening his hold. "And who still sends postcards these days?"

"Um, your best friend. I don't know…it's unique," Haley defended, thumping him lightly on the chest. Nathan just grunted in response, his breathing beginning to even out again. "Don't you want to know what it said?" she questioned, indignant that he had fallen asleep on her.

"Haley, shut up and go to bed," Nathan gruffly ordered, his mind not catching up to his mouth. Two seconds later his eyes flew open as a weight landed on his chest. He looked up to see his pissed off girlfriend sitting cross-legged on his upper stomach. "You're crushing my diaphragm," he wheezed out, worried that she'd be offended by the implication. Thankfully she wasn't and just settled on his lower stomach.

"You don't want to talk to me," Haley pouted, slightly, or more than slightly, put off by her boyfriend's blasé attitude.

Nathan sighed, hearing the pout in her voice. "I'll talk to you when I'm not dead tired from practice and can actually remember what you're saying. Tell me now and you'll only get pissed off when you have to repeat it in the morning. Please go to bed, babe."

She didn't say anything but she did climb off his chest and stretch out alongside him. Nathan let out a silent 'thank you' and whispered a good night into her hair, the familiar feeling of her body against his drawing him back into sleep.

The next morning he woke with the room still in relative darkness and squinted across the room at the clock on the microwave. "Hales," he urgently whispered, nudging her shoulder gently. "You're going to be late for class," Nathan murmured into her ear, using a hand to lightly massage her shoulder.

"Mmm," Haley sighed, wrapping her arms tighter around his waist and snuggling further into his chest. "Cancelled," she managed to mumble out, sighing happily when he stopped prodding at her.

In a few short moments Haley had peacefully fallen back asleep on his chest, leaving an extremely bored Nathan trapped beneath her. "Hales," he whispered again, this time rubbing her back with one hand. She murmured something into his chest and just seemed to relax even further. "Haley," Nathan spoke at normal voice. He didn't want to wake her but she'd either have to entertain him or let him get out of bed.

"What! What?" she blew out frustrated, her head coming up off his chest. Nathan just pouted at her and Haley sleepily rolled her eyes at his "Bored. Amuse me now." face. "No," she grumpily replied, purposefully burrowing her head into his chest. When she felt it rumbling beneath her cheek, she sighed, lifting her eyes to his. "What happened to shut up and go to bed?"

"Maybe if you'd listened to me the first time instead of arguing about it, you wouldn't be so tired," he grumbled out under the heat of her glare. "Let me up," he whined, pushing at her shoulder lightly until she rolled onto her side.

Haley pouted as Nathan slid out from beneath her, pulling on his sweats that he'd left on the floor. "Yeah because those two minutes I spent protesting mattered so much," she quipped, fluffing her pillow to get it as comfortable as her boyfriend's chest. "Go, go," Haley commanded, waving a hand towards the door. "I'm much too fatigued to deal with the likes of you," she continued with a mock British accent.

Nathan just chuckled at his girlfriend's dramatics and grabbed his backpack from where he'd dropped it the night before. "Sleep tight," he replied, leaning over her body to lightly kiss her forehead. Carefully he pulled up the covers that he had kicked off getting out of bed and slipped out of the room.

***

"Nathan!"

He groaned at the loud voice waking him from his deep slumber. Cracking an eye open, he affirmed that it was in fact his psycho girlfriend standing on the foot of his bed and staring down at him expectantly. With a simple movement of his feet, he could throw her off balance, hopefully sending her sprawling across his body. Then he could go back to sleep and much more comfortably.

"Nathan!"

"Damn it, woman!" he tried to yell but it came out as a mere grunt. He just had to move his feet, then all would be well. Then again, she could go flying in the other direction and crack her head on the floor which would also make her shut up, but wouldn't be very good. As she stepped on his leg, letting out a breathless 'oops,' he forgot why that wouldn't be good.

"Nathan! It's almost noon! Wake up!"

The voice had moved to right next to his ear. Blindly, he reached out with his hand until he encountered his girlfriend and used one arm to pull her close to him, slipping a hand over her mouth. "Shh," Nathan whispered into her ear as she squirmed in his grip. "Go to sleep, Hales," he murmured, nuzzling his head into the crook of her neck.

"Sleep?" she repeated back to him but thankfully at a much more reasonable volume. "You want me to sleep? Nathan, I've already been up for three hours waiting for YOU to wake up. We have to go to the football game today."

Widening his eyes, Nathan stared at her incredulously. "You want me to go to a football game to watch Brooke cheer? Like I've seen her do for the past four years at every single one of my basketball games except this time for the other team? I know the football team's good this year but no way in hell, Hales! Find someone else to torture! Like Jake!"

"Nathan! Jake's already at the game!"

Groaning, Nathan flipped over and buried his face in his pillow, trying to drown out her voice. He had no idea what god he had pissed off but surely someone somewhere was having a ball watching him suffer. For starters, during the past week the only times he had "seen" Haley was when they were both exhausted and passed out with barely two words to the other. And now, now that it was finally the weekend and he could catch up on sleep and spend some time with his girl, she wanted to drag him to a football game of all things to see Brooke of all people. Yep, someone hated him.

"Haley!" Nathan yelled, unable to stand her shouting any longer. The look in her eyes quickly changed from annoyed to straight up pissed off for being yelled at. "Please! I'm begging you. Lay here and be quiet or find something to do until we have to meet Brooke for dinner because I plan on sleeping till then. If you're lucky I might actually get up and shower before we go."

Rubbing at his eyes, he turned onto his back and slammed his head back down on the pillow, reluctantly pleased with himself for shocking her silent. He felt her shifting on the small space of bed next to him and was surprised when her side pressed lightly into his, her lower body somehow beneath the covers. Scrunching his forehead, he felt her gaze concentrated on his face and sighed. "What?"

"You're pretty," Haley remarked in a teasing voice, tracing down the curve of his jaw with the tip of a finger. "Really pretty," she giggled this time, recognizing the pout on his lips.

Nathan cracked an eye open, shooting her a glare from the corner of his eye. She smiled brightly in response and moved in to leave a smacking kiss on his cheek. "You're distracting me," he mumbled, trying to sound annoyed but overwhelmingly charmed by her bright eyes. "You're not shouting anymore but you're not letting me sleep…on purpose," he added as an afterthought, resisting a smile as Haley shrugged innocently. "Innocent, my ass. Why aren't you storming out?" Nathan grumbled at her as she chuckled.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, moving her head to rest on his broad shoulder before pressing a kiss against the side of his neck. "I just…we've been so busy lately," she murmured into his ear and he grunted in response. "I miss spending time with you. Don't you—"

"I miss you too," Nathan cut her off gruffly, not allowing her to finish the question. "You don't have to ask, you know that." He slipped an arm under her shoulders and drew her closer to his side. "I just want a little sleep. Brooke's going to be tiring and it's going to be worse making nice with some guy I could care less about. I just want a little sleep," he repeated, calmed by her hand rubbing lightly over his chest.

"Don't you think it'll be nice seeing one of our friends again?" Haley questioned, her curiosity piqued. She thumped him lightly over his heart, prompting him to answer.

"I don't really care, Hales. You're the only one I need around. Maybe if it was Luke coming to visit," Nathan muttered, already half-asleep. He was aware of just the faintest touch of her lips to his before he mumbled an 'I love you' and drifted off.

Nathan woke up to fingers running softly through his hair and sighed peacefully. Somehow Haley had managed to sit up, her back to the wall, and maneuver his head into her lap while he had hugged her legs to him. "You're up," she commented quietly as he looked up at her. She bent her head to brush a simple kiss against his forehead and he smirked lazily in response. "We won. 25-23," Haley gestured to the TV across the room.

The TV was on mute and showing a local channel that was still replaying the game highlights. "That's good," he mumbled, his throat scratchy. "What time's it?" he questioned slowly, looking around the room for some kind of time-keeping device. No wonder he and Jake could never get to practice or classes on time.

"Ten to five," Haley responded, smiling at his bedhead and bleary eyes. "You should shower and get ready. We're meeting Brooke and Evan at the Village Tavern at six." Nathan nodded in agreement, pushing his upper body off the bed. He leant up to give her a kiss and she knowingly kept her lips pressed tightly together. "Brush your teeth, babe," she ordered, lightly slapping at his butt when he reluctantly turned to get out of bed.

Nathan forcefully jammed his toothbrush into his mouth, turning back around to face her as she resituated his pillows behind her. "Aren't you going to change?" he asked, removing the toothbrush for a moment. She must have left his room for a few minutes since she had first come in with jeans and a hooded light pink sweater but was now dressed in sweats and a Ravens t-shirt.

"And miss the striptease?" Haley asked with a teasing smile. She laughed loudly at what he imagined was the look on his face and he turned back to the sink, spitting out the toothpaste. "Aw, I'm sorry, babe. I just figured I could get some more use out of my Boy Toy," she smirked, easily recalling the Boy Toy Auction during their senior year. It had been a repeat of his stripping junior year, only this time she'd gotten a private show.

"Never again," Nathan warned her, shaking a mock stern finger at her. He swiftly crawled on top of her, kissing her passionately and easily slipping his tongue between her parted lips. "Eager to kiss me now?" he asked playfully as she grinned up at him.

Haley nodded her head quickly, both hands coming up to grasp his face and pull him back towards her. "Minty fresh," she quipped, covering his lips with hers. "Now go shower," she pushed him away lightly, laughing at his look of disappointment. "Don't look at me like I just kicked a puppy. Go shower."

"You might as well have kicked something else," Nathan shot back, pouting at her. Grudgingly, he settled his feet back against the cool tile and pulled off his t-shirt and boxers, reaching for the towel hanging on the back of the door. "Go get dressed," he mocked her tone, closing the towel around his waist and breezing out the door.

Twenty minutes later, he walked back into his room to find her sitting at his desk and playing with his laptop. She had redressed into the jeans and sweater and brushed her hair out, the ends slightly curling over her shoulders. "You look nice," Nathan complimented, beginning to dig through his closet for something to wear.

"Thank you," Haley returned distractedly, "On your bed." Her hand flew up to gesture behind her and he glanced over to his bed to find jeans and an ironed blue polo shirt laid out. "We should probably get there a little early. The restaurant will probably be full since it's Saturday and a lot of people are in town for the game."

"Whenever you want to go," Nathan mumbled, carefully pulling the shirt over his head. "Ready now if you want," he offered when she didn't respond to him. Quietly he approached the chair, leaning down towards her shoulder to faintly catch the scent of her perfume. "What are you looking at?" he asked curiously, peering at the screen.

"Nothing," Haley quickly returned, spinning around to meet him. Before he could even read two words, she had hit a few buttons on the keyboard and shut down the window. "You ready?" she questioned, smiling brightly at him. Nathan just shot her a funny look before standing up and reaching his hand out to hers.

He grabbed his car keys from the top shelf of his desk and pulled her out to the parking lot behind him. "What were you looking at?" Nathan questioned again as they settled into the car. He started the engine, turning down the stereo when the speakers began to blare out rap music.

"Nothing," Haley shrugged again with a tight lipped smile. He sent her another look before she made a face and sighed. "Fine. It was just this program called Teach For America. They train people to teach disadvantaged kids in inner-city schools. I mean they only take college graduates so it's not something I would…I was just looking at the site," she shrugged half-heartedly, cutting off her own ramble.

"Are you kidding?" Nathan asked incredulously, glancing over at her every few seconds to see her fallen expression.

She moved her gaze out the window and sighed. "I know. I know. It's not something I'd be good at. I was just looking," she repeated, obviously put off.

Nathan imitated her sigh wishing he wasn't driving so that he could hit himself. "I meant are you kidding that sounds amazing and you'd be great at it. If it's something you really want to do, Hales, I think you should look into it more and apply after graduation."

"It does sound interesting, doesn't it?" Haley asked, her words coming out more confident. "I don't know. I know we have four years here but I was thinking about what I would do after we graduate. I was thinking grad school for who knows what but maybe I'll take a year off and do that…teach. What do you think?"

"That you'll be great at it," Nathan repeated confidently, "Or grad school. You'd be great at anything. Especially if I'm around."

"Especially," Haley agreed, leaning over the center console to peck his lips as he pushed the car into park. "Okay, now that my mini-breakdown over the future is done, you want to go eat?" she could only laugh as Nathan nodded eagerly and threw his door open, racing across the parking lot.

The restaurant was nearly full as Haley had expected and minutes after they were seated, more people and sports fanatics poured in from the growing cold. Haley recognized the distinct laugh of her high school friend and made Nathan stand up to use his height and long arms to wave down Brooke and her date as they pushed through the crowd.

Nathan noticeably leaned away from the two females when they started squealing and embraced each other in enthusiastic hugs. He shared a look with the decently tall brunette who had just removed his hand from Brooke's and they lightly chuckled together. "Natey," Brooke teasingly called as she tiptoed to kiss his cheek. He smiled at her briefly before his fidgeting hands encircled Haley's waist and his eyes were drawn to the flat screen TV behind the bar.

"Nathan, Haley, this is Evan. Evan, this is the old married couple," Brooke playfully introduced them, smiling brightly when Haley drew him into a short hug and Nathan didn't lunge for his throat, instead heartily shaking his hand.

The girls sat next to each other with their respective dates across from them and quickly slipped into a loud conversation, leaving the two males in awkward silence. "So I hear you're the next big thing for Wake basketball," Evan remarked casually, as they studied their menus with forced concentration.

Nathan let out a practiced laugh of modesty, glancing over at the football player and overtly sizing him up. "That's what they call me," he returned humbly. "I didn't think you'd be into basketball. Brooke said you play for NC State football."

"Keep your voice down. I don't feel like getting jumped today, even though we did lose," Evan joked good-naturedly. "I'm from Fayetteville. I grew up loving basketball. I also grew up with the crappiest jump shot in my entire high school league. We can't all be superstars," he shrugged, "Not like you, man."

"Guess not," Nathan returned with an appreciative smirk. He glanced across the table at the two laughing girls and was mildly surprised when, without even looking, Haley reached over the place settings to grasp his hand in hers, comfortingly rubbing her thumb along the back of his hand. Her head turned slightly, not enough to alert Brooke that she had withdrawn from their conversation, and they shared a small smile as her eyes caught his.

"You do know that I'll have to kill you if you hurt her," Nathan alerted Evan in a quieted voice. Evan nodded in agreement, his own eyes trained on the smiling brunette across from him. Overhearing his protective threat, Haley squeezed his hand in appreciation, and they returned to their previous actions: the girls chattering away while the boys watched in companionable silence.