Hey, everyone. Thanks for all the reviews, please keep them coming. :) Hope you enjoy chapter 10.

Quote of the day: The O.C.

Seth: I'm not self-absorbed, am I, Ryan?
(Ryan looks away)
Seth: Me? Me? Me?

Chapter 10. Betrayed Plus Boozed Equals Bruised.

Day 7, Nebraska.

Dear diary, you're looking at a single woman. A single, hung over, woman. I know what you're thinking. Haley James hung over? What on earth?

See, it's very simple: Chris Keller cheated on me.

Actually, he didn't cheat on me, he was cheating on me. Cheating, as in doing it several times instead only that one time yesterday when I walked in on him. There he was some dumb, shirtless blonde on his lap. And he even had the nerve to say that he'd been doing it all along and that I was stupid for thinking we were exclusive.

And I have to admit, he was partly right. I should've known better. Everyone told me to not trust Chris. Luke, Brooke, Quinn, the twins.. Even Nathan and he had never even met him before!

I was in a pretty bad shape yesterday after I found out about Chris. I was determined to not fall apart and start crying so I tried to keep it all to myself. But since I'm probably the most emotional person on the planet, you can imagine how well that went...

Not to even mention that I decided to start drinking too because I thought it would "numb the pain and help me forget about him". I know, I know. So stupid.

So, needless to say I was a total mess last night. Too bad Nathan had to witness it all... I was afraid that I freaked him out but he's been really cool and supportive about everything. But I still made a complete fool out of myself in front of him. Here's what happened... (Insert a voiceover: Previously, on "The Diary of Haley James".)

Haley looked at the bottle of vodka that had about 1/4 of the liquid left. Just enough for few nice drinks, Haley thought while twisting the cap open.

"To Chris." She muttered before taking a sip straight from the bottle.

After feeling the warmth of the alcohol spread in her body, (and the burning in her throat) she could feel herself relax a bit more and forget about her problems. It was among many things what she wanted to do, forget about him. And for some reason, she was starting to feel that way.

It was then when she understood why there were so many alcoholics in the world. The liquor really did help you forget about your problems, or at least feel numb. And that was exactly what she wanted to feel and remember.

Nothing.

She wanted to forget that Chris Keller ever even existed. She looked at the bottle and took a much bigger sip, this time finishing the bottle. Ignoring the burning in her throat and focusing on the warmth instead, she set the empty bottle on the table disappointed. She was disappointed because she could still remember him and she was already out of alcohol. She then remembered seeing a bar close to the motel.

She looked at herself in the mirror with a forced, pained smile.

"Let's feel number."

A while later there was a knock on Haley's motel room door.

"Haley, it's me. Open up." Nathan said and knocked on the door while holding a pizza box on his other hand.

"I have food." He said knowing that she could never resist an offer of free food.

He knew she had said that she just wanted to sleep but something told him that he needed to check up on her.

After few more minutes of knocking and not hearing a sound, he finally tried the door handle and opened it when he found it unlocked.

"Haley?" he asked looking around curiously. When he didn't see her, He went to check the bathroom but it was empty just like he had predicted.

As he set the pizza box on the table, his eyes fell on something. An empty vodka bottle. His empty vodka bottle.

"Shit!"

Nathan ran out of the room and stopped once he got outside. He ran his hand through his hair trying to figure out where she was. The car was still on the parking lot and he had the keys, so she couldn't be far. He had just been in the reception where he had had the pizza delivered so he knew she wasn't there.

He looked around trying to figure out where she might've gone.

His eyes then fell on a sleazy bar across the street. It had a 24-hour-open neon sign on the window.

"Bingo."

Nathan ran across the parking lot and the street. He opened the door of the bar and tried to look around but his eyes were still adjusting to the sudden darkness. Few seconds later his eyes fell on a small figure who was sitting alone, leaning on the counter heavily.

And that same person just slammed a shot down their throat.

"Haley?" Nathan asked walking quickly across the room.

"Yup?" she asked and ordered another shot from the bartender.

"Haley, what are you doing?" he asked standing next to her and looking at her worried.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting wasted." She slurred matter-of-factly.

"You don't get wasted. Ever. I'm the alcoholic asshole, remember? Not you."

"Well, now we can be alcoholic assholes together. How about that?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why am I doing this? Uh, lemme think." She said and paused. "What could have possibly happened to make me want to get wasted? Any ideas? No? Here's one: getting cheated on!" She said practically yelling the last words.

"How many of those have you had?" he asked pointing at the shot glass she had just emptied.

"Will you stop with the questions?!" she snapped annoyed.

"How many?"

"Just one." Haley said and drank another shot she got from the bartender. "Correction: two."

Nathan looked at the bartender for confirmation. He held up five fingers.

"That's it, Hales. We're leaving." He said and took a hold of her hand.

"Let me go!" she yelled shaking her hand away from his. "Beer and another one of these!" she said waving the empty shot glass to the bartender. She looked around the room and spotted a jukebox on the corner.

"Music!" she squealed excited.

She got up to go put some music on but because she had been sitting the whole time when she had drank the shots, she hadn't really felt the complete impact of the alcohol yet. So, when she stood up, she almost fell back on the floor but managed to grab the table before doing so.

"Woah..." Nathan said getting up to catch her.

"I'm good, I'm good." She said and took the shot glass and the beer she had just ordered before making her way across the room to the jukebox.

"You're giving those for free?" Nathan asked from the bartender when he realized that Haley hadn't paid for any of her drinks.

"Open bar for her." The bartender said. "Compliments of the men in the corner." He said pointing at the back of the room where three men in their 50's and 60's were sitting... and they were grinning and drooling at Haley's direction.

"An open bar?" Nathan asked and turned to look at the bartender with a glare. "Close it." He said glaring at him as he gave him a five-dollar-bill. "And get me a beer. I don't think I can handle her sober."

"Coming right away."

After getting the beer he turned to look at where Haley had gone.

"My god..." he whispered in shock when he saw her by the jukebox, dancing on the pool table. It reminded him of that one scene in 'Sin City' where Jessica Alba's character was dancing slowly and seductively on a bar counter.

The three guys in the corner who obviously had no problem with getting drunk at 7 pm, were looking at Haley with lust filled eyes and wide grins.

"Uh, Hales?" Nathan asked as he quickly walked across the almost empty bar while glaring at the men's direction.

"Dance with me!" Haley said leaning over and reaching for Nathan's hands so she could help him up on the table.

"Naw, I don't think so." He said. "Come on, let's play a game." He said grabbing her from her hips and pulling her off of the table.

He set her carefully down right in front him so she was sitting on the pool table. Still holding her hips, he couldn't help but look at her chocolate brown eyes deeply. He couldn't believe how someone could be stupid enough to want to cheat on her. Her of all the people.

He suddenly got a strong desire to protect her from everyone else and keep her safe. He could easily understand why Lucas had been so content on making sure that Nathan would look after her.

"A game? A drinking game?" Haley asked slurring the words while being completely unaware of how close to Nathan she was being and how intensively he was looking at her.

To Nathan's disappointment she jumped down from the table and walked up to where her beer and shot glass was. She sat down on the chair, nearly falling on the floor again because of being so drunk.

Nathan looked at Haley, whose eyes were looking around the room slowly. She was swaying slowly from side to side and she had a stupid smirk on her face. She was obviously blastered and Nathan knew that if she drank anymore, she would probably get sick.

He saw her reaching for her beer slowly. Being the quicker (and the sober one), he quickly took it before she could reach for it and hid it behind some fake plant.

"Hey! Mine!" she said annoyed but then noticed that she still had a shot left. She grabbed the small glass.

"Why don't you give me that shot?" Nathan asked.

"My shot, my tequila, go away." She said holding it with both hands.

"Look, uh, a clown!" he said randomly and pointed his finger somewhere behind Haley.

She immediately turned around with a loud scream. Nathan grabbed the shot glass from her hands and poured the vodka on the fake plant before setting the glass back on the table.

"Haley, calm down." Nathan said when she still looked around with a freaked out face. Who'd known she'd react to clowns like that. Poor thing must've had a rough childhood. Nathan thought.

"There are no clowns." He said reassuringly.

"I. Fucking. Hate. Clowns." She said slowly as she looked around with a paranoid look, making sure there were in fact no clowns. She then turned to look at the table where her drinks had been.

"Where's the shot?"

"You already drank it." Nathan said pointing at the empty shot glass.

Haley looked at Nathan suspiciously but then nodded her head.

"Ok." She said looking at Nathan.

They were both quietly looking at each other. Haley was still slightly swaying from side to side, looking at him with a blank look. When she gave a small, sad sigh and looked down at her lap, Nathan knew she was thinking of Chris again.

"He's not worth it, Haley." Nathan said quietly.

"Worth what?"

"Worth this." Nathan said motioning at the empty shot glass. "He's not worth you getting drunk and feeling like shit tomorrow. He's not worth your tears or anything. He's nothing."

"I know." She said.

"Then why are you doing this?" he asked.

She looked at him with a surprisingly clear, sober look.

"Like you said, he's not worth of my tears and getting wasted is the only way I can keep those tears away. So, if I don't wanna cry I get drunk and feel numb but feel like shit the next day. Or I don't get drunk but cry. So, whatever the fuck I do, I always lose."

"You're right. He's not worth your tears. But you are."

"Huh?" she asked confused.

"It's OK to feel sad because it helps you heal and get over him. It's normal. You shouldn't feel like he would win no matter what, because the truth is that he's the one who's already lost. He lost you." Nathan said trying to make some sense to Haley.

"He's the loser, with the capital L, remember? So, just do what you have to do get over him and if you need me, I'm here."

Haley looked at Nathan and gave him a drunk, sad smile.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Anything for you, babe." Nathan smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "So, you ready to leave this shit hole and catch up on that sleep you're missing?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, let's go." She said getting up from her chair.

Just like before, she couldn't predict the way alcohol affected her but luckily for her, Nathan could, because right when she almost fell back on the floor, he caught her.

"Easy there..." Nathan said holding her close to him.

"Whoooops..." Haley said with a stupid grin while enjoying Nathan being close to her.

Nathan wrapped his other arm around her so he could keep her steady as she took hold of him by throwing her arm over his shoulders.

"Lemme help you." He said and started to walk them back to their motel.

"You know, you're really hot." She slurred with a stupid grin as they were leaving the bar, once again in a drunken mode.

"Is that so?" he grinned while enjoying the confessions of a drunken Haley.

"Oh, yeah. You're like the hottest guy I know. It's no wonder you get like hundreds of girls." She said leaning on him heavily.

"I think you're exaggerating a bit." He said smiling.

"Damn, you're ripped." She said suddenly while poking his bicep as Nathan burst out laughing.

"Man, I'm gonna have so much fun tomorrow." He said laughing.

"I don't feel so good..." she mumbled under her breath when she started to feel the complete effect of the tequila in her small body.

"Yeah, I know but try to hang in there." Nathan said. "We're almost there." He said as he got in front of her motel door.

Somehow managing to open the door and not drop Haley, they walked inside her motel room. Nathan set Haley on her bed and went to close the door.

"So, do you need anything before I go back to my room? Some water? Some food?" Nathan asked and pointed at the table where the cold pizza was. "There's some-"

"PIZZA!" she suddenly screamed when she saw the pizza box on the table.

"My god!" Nathan said holding his ears when he heard her high pitched scream. "Hungry much?"

"So good..." she mumbled while shuffling the cold food down her throat.

"Yeah, I can see that." He said. "So, I think I'm gonna let you get some sleep..." he said.

"Yeah, whatever, ok." She mumbled her mouth full of food.

"Good night, Haley." He said.

"Good night, Nath-"

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked when she suddenly stopped in mid sentence.

She suddenly turned green and covered her mouth with her hands. A second later she had already gotten up, ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

Nathan sighed as he heard Haley emptying her stomach into the toilet. He was sad that she was feeling so sick but also glad that she was getting some of the alcohol out of her system. He wasn't really sure if he should leave her alone or stay until she was feeling better. After deciding to stay to make sure she was ok, he turned the TV on and started to flip through the channels.

Haley had never felt worse in her entire life. She was hugging the toilet seat hard as she emptied her stomach. She had obviously drank too much, so much that it felt like her stomach was doing flip flops on its own but even in her drunken state, she realized that she wasn't only reacting to the alcohol.

She was reacting to Chris.

The mere thought of him made her want to throw up. So, it really didn't help that she couldn't stop seeing the flashbacks of Chris in her head. It was as if her subconscious was showing her every single piece of memory she had of him. She wasn't sure why, but she hoped that it was like a cleansing ritual, something that would help her get over him.

And yet, she still refused to cry. But it was starting to get harder and harder...

Hugging the toilet seat, she soon felt like most of the alcohol was out of her body. She got up and washed her face while avoiding looking at herself in the mirror. Because of the terrible taste in her mouth which almost made her want to throw up all over again, she took her tooth brush and tooth paste and started to brush her teeth furiously.

After brushing her teeth and washing her face again, she finally got the courage to look at herself in the mirror. As soon as she saw her sad, miserable, drunk face, it all finally hit her.

She had been cheated on.

It took her all about 2 seconds to burst out crying and collapse on the floor.

Still watching ESPN, Nathan looked at the bathroom curiously. He hadn't heard any sounds since he had heard her flush the toilet and brush her teeth. He turned the TV off and tried to listen to any sounds coming from the bathroom. He could only hear some muffled sounds but didn't know what they were.

He stood up and walked slowly to the bathroom.

"Hales?" Nathan asked as he knocked lightly on the door. "You ok?"

He opened the door slowly and felt his heart drop when he saw her. She was sitting on the floor, leaning on the wall behind her and hugging her knees as she hid her face in her hands, trying to muffle the body wrecking sobs that she couldn't keep inside any more.

He slowly walked up to her and without a word, leaned over and picked her up. He carried her to her bed, covered her with the blankets and wiped a few loose strands of hair from her face.

"It's gonna be ok." He whispered and kept stroking her hair.

After few more hours of sobbing, Haley finally fell asleep. Nathan got up from the side of the bed where he had been sitting the entire time. Looking at her cry for two hours had given him plenty of time to think. And plot revenge.

The second he had seen Haley crying in the bathroom, he had gotten the sudden urge to beat the living daylight out of Chris Keller. After watching her sob for two more hours, he was more than determined to do something about it. Making sure he didn't wake her up, he grabbed his car keys and left the room.

Chris Keller was about the know the text book meaning of pain.

The next morning...

Haley woke up to the rays of sunlight on her eyes. Almost blinding her, she tried to adjust to the light and the throbbing headache inside her head that felt like someone played bongo drums.

"Oh, man..." she whined as she held her head in pain keeping her eyes closed.

"You ok?"

Haley looked at the other side of the room where Nathan was sitting on an armchair.

"My head feels like there's a huge elephant sitting on it. And based on the way that I smell, the elephant must've done something else than just sat on it." she said while smelling her shirt that she had worn to the bar the previous night.

"You okay?" he asked referring to Chris.

"No." she said sadly. "But I'm better." she finished and gave him a weak smile. When the limp in her throat started to rise, she coughed quickly.

"Jesus, I feel like shit." She said changing the subject, letting Nathan know that she didn't want to talk about Chris Keller.

"No wonder after some vodka straight from the bottle and five tequila shots."

"What? Where did I get tequila?" she asked confused.

"The bar across the street."

"Oh yeah..." she said when it finally started to come back to her. "I distinctly remember being there and drinking and- OH MY GOD! Please, tell me I didn't dance on a pool table." She said looking at him mortified.

"So, you want me to lie?" he asked with a grin and laughed as Haley groaned in embarrassment and fell back on the bed.

"It's okay, only like three 50-year-olds saw you and they thought you looked very hot."

"My god..." she said. "What else did I do? Actually, no, don't tell me. I don't wanna know. If don't remember it, it's like it didn't happen." She said.

"The rules of denial."

"Exactly." She said.

"Ok, I'll keep my mouth shut..." he said but then looked at her mischievously. He suddenly flexed his bicep and kissed it. "You like?"

First Haley looked at him confused but then mortified when she remembered what she had said about his looks.

"Oh my god... You need to forget everything about last night! Everything!" she said.

"Even the moment when you said that you think I'm the hottest person alive?"

"Shut up!" she said covering her face embarrassed.

"Calm down, you're hot too. I promise I won't make fun anymore." He said. "But we do gotta go now. It's almost noon." He said.

"I seriously need a shower." She said.

Nathan handed her a towel that was drying on the back of the chair. She reached to grab it from him but her eyes fell on something else.

"What happened?" she asked as she saw his bruised knuckles. Nathan quickly hid his hand behind his back.

"Oh, nothing. Just basketball, you know." He said.

Haley looked at him suspiciously but let the subject drop. She took the towel from him.

"So, take your time. I'll wait in the car." Nathan said and left the room.

And here I am, sitting in the car on our way as far away from Nebraska, and Chris Keller, as possible. Nathan's been pretty weird ever since I asked about his hands. I'm pretty sure his hands were fine yesterday but he told me that he just stayed in my room the whole night... Oh, well. I'm sure it's nothing serious.

Yay! We're stopping for food. Gotta go.

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." Haley said as she closed her diary and put it in her purse. "Which is kinda weird since I ate pizza last night."

"Which you threw up." Nathan said.

"Ugh, don't remind me." Haley said crunching her nose disgusted. "Ooh, Wendy's!"

"Junk food is the best for hung over." Nathan said as they got out of the car and walked inside the fast food place.

"Oh, man. I could eat like the whole menu." She mumbled as she tried to think of what to eat.

There were a couple of girls in front of them on the line and Nathan and Haley couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

"... you remember Mandy? The one who works as an intern at the hotel by the University? Anyways, I ran into her like an hour ago and guess what she told me?!" the blonde girl told her brunette friend.

"Yeah?"

"She said that Chris Keller and his entourage stayed at the hotel last night!"

"What? Oh my god! My sister got the tickets to last night's concert and I was so mad when she decided to take her boyfriend instead of me. So, did Mandy see him? Get to talk to him?" the brunette asked.

"No, but she did see Chris Keller this morning and guess what! He had a black eye and broken nose!"

"What?" Haley asked loudly from the girls who turned to look at her.

"Yeah, how frigging weird is that! Apparently someone had like beaten him up or something! And when my friend asked if he was okay and if she should call the cops, he just said that he had fell playing basketball or something. But there's no basketball court at the hotel!" the blonde said.

The girls turned to give their orders.

"Can you believe that?" Haley asked from Nathan who was looking at the floor uncomfortably.

"Yeah, amazing huh." He mumbled.

Haley looked at Nathan for a while before looking at his knuckles again. She gasped as the realization finally hit her.

"Oh my god, it was you!" she said looking at Nathan who quickly looked around to make sure no one heard them.

"You went to his hotel and beat him up." Haley said.

"So? He totally deserved it!" he said defensively. "No one messes with you and gets away with it." He muttered.

Nathan looked at her closely, trying to figure out whether she was mad or happy. Suddenly her eyes watered and she sniffed loudly.

"That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." She said and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

He breathed out a sigh of relief and hugged her back happily.

"Hey, it's the least I could do." He said.

Haley took a step back and looked at him in the eyes before giving him a small, lingering kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you." She said in a quiet, sincere voice that caught Nathan off guard.

He had never seen Haley so open, so vulnerable and honest. He swallowed deeply and was about to say something, but as always, they got interrupted.

"Next!"

Haley turned to look at the impatient woman behind the counter. She let go of Nathan while blushing and turned to look at the woman.

"Yeah, can I have number four and six with extra cheese and large fries. One milkshake and a piece of apple pie. Oh! And onion rings." She said.

"Will that be all for you guys today?" the woman asked looking at Nathan and Haley.

Haley looked at the woman and let out a loud laugh. She looked at Haley with raised eyebrows like she was crazy.

"Oh, honey. That was just my order. Nathan, what do you want?" she asked turning to look at Nathan, who was touching his cheek lightly with a smile. He quickly folded his hands over his chest when Haley looked at him.

"Jesus, hung over much?" Nathan asked with a grin. "I'll have what she's having." He said to the woman as she shook her head slightly and mumbled something about heart attacks under her breath.

"Thank you." Haley said to Nathan as they waited for their food.

"For what?"

"For beating up Chris. I owe you." She said.

"He totally deserved it."

"True, but I still owe you."

"Okay. If I ever need you to bitch slap and cat fight some girl, I'll let you know." He said with a grin.

"Deal." She said and bumped her fist against his.

"And we should also discuss your cat fight outfit. See, I'm thinking a string bikini and mud."

"You're so disgusting." Haley said laughing as she accepted the bags of food from the woman. She handed the other one to Nathan.

"Ready for our deliciously unhealthy, little snack?"

So, thoughts on the chappie:)

-Fes-