Chapter 10

First Dates, First Threats and First Kisses

After a day of being plucked, curled, shaved and twisted by Brooke. Haley was officially ready for her date with Nathan. He would be there any minute and Haley couldn't be anymore excited.

Earlier in the day while she was preparing for her evening with Nathan she had received a call from Deb telling her that they had an appointment with a wedding planner to began discussing a theme. Haley was dumbfounded, a wedding planner, she thought. Of course there would be plans to discuss and things to be done, but hiring a wedding planner made this wedding all to real in Haley's mind. Her doubts about Nathan were long gone and of course she knew she would be married soon but somewhere in the back of her mind were those lingering doubts of love and trust stemming from her severe lost as child. Was it something she could ever get over, the feeling of abandonment and lost ,could she completely trust her heart to Nathan, she didn't know but she promised herself she would try her damndest to be the wife Nathan deserved. She would not project her insecurities from her mother onto their relationship. She owed him that and more importantly she owed herself that. Shaking off all of her thoughts Haley heard the doorbell ringing alerting her of Nathan's arrival, with one last look at herself she made her way to front door.

"Hey", she greeted.

"Hey, he said back passing her a bouquet of white roses. You look beautiful", he complimented.

"Thanks and look beautiful too ,I mean handsome" ,she quickly corrected. Her face burned of embarrassment from her slip.

Nathan couldn't help but laugh at how cute she looked all flustered.

"I know what you meant, he laughed. For the record ,I think you look handsome too ",he joked causing Haley to laugh.

"So give me one second to grab my purse and then we're out of here."

Nathan nodded and smiled as Haley went in search of her purse.

"Jackpot", Haley said walking back into the entrance way of the house were Nathan waited. That must to have been some type of record for me finding this thing, I can never keep track of it."

"Set?"

"All set", she answered.

Nathan extended his arm out to her allowing her to loop her arm through as they left the house for dinner.

The ride to the restaurant was a little too quiet for Haley, she was a talkative person by nature and Nathan seemed more reserved and quiet, a speak to when spoken to type of guy, so she decided to break the silence.

"So I have a game."

Nathan turned his head giving her a look to continue.

"OK?",he said.

"This is how it works, we'll take turns asking questions that we both have to answer, no exceptions. That way we can learn more about each other .How does that sound?"

"Ok, you first."

"Hmm, Haley said, I got it. What's your favorite color?"

"Black."

"Black?"

"Yeah, black", he said.

"That's not even a color", Haley laughed.

"Of course it is."

"No it's not, it's black. It's so depressing."

"Oh yeah, then what's your favorite color?'

"Blue."

"That's so predictable", Nathan laughed.

Haley swatted him in his arm for laughing at her answer.

"That's not predictable, she laughed. Most of the airheads in our circle would probably say their favorite color was pink. I hate pink."

"You're right, he agreed .My turn."

"Oh no mister, that was your turn", Haley screamed.

"Aww come on Hales, that hardly counts."

"Hey it counted for me."

"Next question. What's your favorite food?", Haley asked.

"Prime Rib."

"You?"

"Mac and Cheese."

"Mac and Cheese? What are you 5?"

"Hey!" I resent that, mac and cheese is the food of the gods."

"Yeah if the gods are 5 year olds", he laughed.

"Whatever , she giggled. Alright first kiss?"

"Susie Smith at some kid's 13th birthday party, playing spin the bottle."

"And?",she asked.

"And?"

"How was it genius?"

"Ok I guess ,it wasn't exactly some mind blowing, earth shattering moment. We were 13 in a closet with 25 of our closest friends surrounding it. It was hardly memorable."

"How about you? First kiss?"

"Oh look, we're here", Haley said quickly hopping out of the car.

"Hales that's no fair", Nathan called out to her.

He was left to trail her giggling figure as she so expertly dodged answering his question, he was sure she didn't want to answer .Finally catching up to her, Nathan was surprisingly winded trying to keep up with Haley's fast pace, the girl was fast which was surprising considering her legs were half the length of Nathan's.

"You ,Nathan breathed hard trying to catch his breath ,owe me an answer Hales."

"I answered everything", Haley said throwing him an innocent look.

"That's it, he said. You asked for it."

Before Haley knew what was happening, Nathan scooped her up into his arms bridal style threatening to tickle her answer out of her.

"Nathan are you crazy?, she squealed. Put me down."

"Nope, not until you answer."

"Never! ",she yelled.

"Alright, I guess I'll have to resort to desperate measures", he smirked as he began walking toward the large fountain in the restaurants waiting area.

"You wouldn't" ,she exclaimed.

"Hales, Hales, Hales, I would", he laughed.

"Not if you want a wife", she screamed.

"Resorting to threats are we?"

"Whatever it takes for you to let me down."

"You know what it'll take", he said leaning her body closer to the fountain.

"Alright, she screamed. I'll tell you."

He gave her a satisfied smile before slowly backing away from the fountain of water.

"Put me down! People must think we're crazy", she laughed.

Nathan slowly turned his body making him and Haley face the main dining area of the restaurant. Haley's breathe caught in her throat when she realized they were the only ones there with the exception of the Matre' D , a few waiters and a beautiful piano player who filled the room with romantic music. She couldn't believe her eyes, the place was absolutely stunning. The room illuminated with candlelight, the air smelled fresh with the flowers that were seemingly everywhere, it was a fairytale.

"What people", Nathan smirked.

"Nathan, Haley said in a breathy tone. This is too much, how did you manage this?"

"I called in a few favors", he laughed.

He let her down gently but Haley couldn't tell as she felt so light and happy ,like floating on cloud nine that she hardly ever felt her feet touch the ground.

"Shall we sit" ,he asked.

She smiled and nodded her head, to overwhelmed to actually speak words at the moment.

Dinner was going well, they enjoyed an complete 3 course meal that Nathan specifically choose. The conversation stayed light and the questions kept flowing giving them more insight into each other's lives. Haley had yet to answer the" first kiss" question and she was pretty confident that Nathan completely forgot about it.

"Ok Hales, time to pay the piper."First kiss?"

"Damn it, she thought. Spoke to soon."

"Do I really have to?", she asked giving her sweetest smile.

"No, but doesn't that fountain water look so refreshing Hales, how about I give you a closer look? ",he threatened.

"I can't believe you want to know this, it's so embarrassing. There was this guy Jake Jagielski and I had the hugest crush on him from like sixth through eighth, but anyway one day about a week before school ended for the summer Brooke dared me kiss him. Me being one to never back away from a challenge agreed.

"What happened?",Nathan asked.

"So Friday afternoon, I spot Jake with all of his friends in the quad ,I just walked up to him and kissed him, Brooke's suggestion by the way. He had braces, let's just say it was not pretty. I think I chipped a tooth, not to mention the boy had food stuck in them since the previous Christmas. I was horrified.

Nathan smiled trying his hardest not to laugh but failing horribly as he burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

"Nathan ,that's not funny ,see that's why I didn't want to tell you."

"I'm sorry Hales ,but that's hilarious."

"It was traumatic, it scarred me for life. I haven't kissed a boy since, not even the ones I dated."

"Are you serious?",he questioned. Hales, he laughed. I hardly think one horrible adolescent kiss justifies never kissing a guy again."

"It did for me, I brushed and flossed obsessively for weeks after that."

"Well we'll just have to make sure your next kissing experience goes much better", he smiled.

Haley couldn't contain the blush on her face, she suddenly found the white linen cloth very interesting, making sure she looked anywhere but at Nathan.

"Do you want to dance?",he asked sensing her nerves.

"Sure", she replied.

Nathan held out his hand for her as he lead them to the dance floor.

"So are you enjoying yourself?", he asked as they began to sway to the music.

"Yes, this by far is the best date I've ever been on."

"Thank god, I'd hate to have to kill the guy who showed my wife a better time than I did", he joked.

"Nothing is better than this, trust me", she beamed hearing him refer to her as his wife.

Closing her eyes as she got lost in the music, she laid her head gently to Nathan's chest as their bodies molded together seemingly perfected for one another.

"Hales?",Nathan called.

She opened her eyes realizing the music had ended.

'Sorry, I didn't realize", she said.

"Oh it's not that. I wanted to ask you a question."

"OK", she answered.

Nathan got down on one knee in front of a wide eye Haley digging into the pocket of his blazer jacket revealing a black velvet box.

"Haley, I know this isn't a normal situation we find ourselves in, but I think the unexpected surprises in life are usually the best. I promise to always love you, support you, and never take you for granted. I will love and cherish you completely for as long as we both shall live if you do me the honor of becoming my wife."

"Haley James, will you marry me?"

Haley was speechless, she could not stop the steady flow of tears that began flowing down her face. The words he said to her were so beautiful and heartfelt, she thought she was dreaming.

Nathan looked up at her expectantly wondering to himself, were those tears of joy or tears of pain.

"Haley?",he questioned still not having received an answer.

"Yes", she whispered.

He could barely hear her response because she spoke so quietly.

"What?"

"I said yes I'll marry you", she screamed.

Immediately standing from the kneeling position he was in he crashed his lips onto Haley's shocking them both. He didn't know what came over him ,he just knew she made him the happiest man on the planet by agreeing to become his wife.

Shocked that Nathan was kissing her, Haley stood completely still a first before she gave into the kiss. Oh could he kiss, Haley thought .All current thoughts of anything else flew out of her mind as she felt Nathan's tongue begging for entrance into her mouth. Granting him full access, she was sure her legs were giving way as Nathan explored every crevice with his talented mouth.

Feeling her body slump further away as he continued kissing her, Nathan used his free hand to grab a hold of Haley's waist securely holding their bodies closer together .Air becoming an issue for both of them, Nathan disappointedly pulled away his trying to regain his composure.

"Wow!",he said, pretty sure that kissing Haley was the best experience he had ever had in his life.

Opening her eyes Haley flushed head to toe realizing the entire wait staff was furiously clapping and cheering at the scene in front of them. She was so lost in Nathan kissing her lifeless that she forgot they weren't completely alone. She buried her face into Nathan's chest thinking she would die of embarrassment.

"That's so embarrassing", she finally spoke.

"Kissing braceface embarrassing or good embarrassing?", Nathan asked.

"Definitely good embarrassing", she said.

"Good" , he chuckled.