"Scott!"
Nathan turned to see one of the older players following him out of the gym and quickly slowed before plastering a smile on his face. "What's up, man?" he greeted, as upbeat as he could sound after their killer practice.
"Listen, some of the guys…they're getting a charter bus to take us to Franklin Street on Halloween. You're in, right?" Immediately Tyler Hale read the hesitation on the freshman's face and shook his head slightly, sighing. "Scott, you were cool over summer when we were in training and you're a damn good player. But, to be honest, the team doesn't know you. You have a girlfriend and I can respect that, unlike some of the idiots we play with," he joked before turning serious again. "But it wouldn't kill you to do a little team bonding."
Nodding solemnly, Nathan had to admit that the junior had a point. He couldn't be a team leader if the team didn't trust him and, as of now, they barely even saw him outside of practice. "I'll think about it. I'll give you an answer tomorrow."
"You can bring…Haley, right? A lot of the other guys are bringing…girls, too. It's a pretty big bus," Tyler added. "When I met her, she didn't seem the partying type so you guys can always just crash in the bus if you get tired or something."
"Thanks, man, really. But I got to talk to Haley first. I don't want to make any plans without…" he trailed off, a sour look crossing his face as the center chuckled and shook his head slowly. "Actually, yeah, we'll come. I know she doesn't have anything major to do so it'll be fun, right?"
Tyler raised his eyebrows suspiciously, surprised by the freshman's sudden change in attitude. "You sure you don't want to ask her? No rush, man."
Nathan nodded his head eagerly. "Yeah, she'll be cool with it. Sign us up."
"If you say so," he agreed doubtfully before glancing down at his watch. "Have a good weekend, kid."
Nathan scoffed lightly at the 'kid' but turned and continued onto his destination: Haley's bed. He quickly kicked his shoes off outside of her door, mindful of the complaints he often got from his own girlfriend and Jenna. Popping into the room, he nearly tripped over her backpack before catching himself.
"Sorry, babe," she muttered without even turning around. "Can you throw that over?"
Grabbing the offending object, he dropped it next to her desk before launching himself into her bed. "Hello?" At the question, Nathan opened his eyes and glanced over at his girlfriend, her rarely-used reading glasses perched on the end of her nose as she peeked over them. He gave her a questioning look and she scoffed, "Get your smelly butt out of bed and off my clean sheets and go shower! You smell like a locker room!"
"Love you, too, babe," he muttered crossly, dragging himself out of the room to comply with her demands. When he came back twenty minutes later, Haley was still in the same position only this time her fingers were massaging her temples as she let out multiple deep sighs.
"What's up?" Nathan questioned, stepping behind her. He leaned down to pop a kiss on her cheek before setting to work massaging her shoulders as she murmured her thank you.
"That research paper I have in History? Muldroch wants to see a draft by Tuesday and on top of that he's pushing up the final draft, the first draft of the essay on Reconstruction, and our test to ready? the day after Halloween! How much does that suck?" Haley mumbled darkly. "There go my trick-or-treating plans."
Nathan's hands froze in place and she sighed again. "Are your hands hurting? Sorry, you can stop now. This stuff is do-able. I'm just bitter over losing my Halloween. But you should totally send Muldroch roses or something because he just saved you from dressing up as Danny from Grease."
An attempt at a laugh escaped his throat. "At least you wouldn't have gone around with a notecard explaining the true history of All Hallow's Eve to little kids, right?" he recovered, remembering the complete "experience" of a James family Halloween. The poor unsuspecting children that rang the doorbell were like lambs led to slaughter.
"It's a whole new town, babe. Completely new set of young minds to mold. And besides Dad gave the kids who made it through the speech a damn good treat. King sized Reese's and Butterfingers and a pack of Oreos? Yum, I could go for some right now." Haley rubbed her stomach exaggeratedly and winked at him. For a second, Nathan considered making a run to the nearest supermarket and buying out their entire supply of chocolate for the pure sake of groveling. "I digress, how was practice?"
"Practice was…practice?" Nathan offered weakly. The look she gave him told him he'd been caught. "Fine," he sighed out, "After practice Tyler Hale said that the team was taking a bus to Franklin Street for Halloween. He asked me if I wanted to come and invited you too."
Haley gave him a small smile, "Three hours ago that would have sounded like fun but I can't, Nathan, I'm swamped with this damn class. I can try to churn out both first drafts this weekend and get in some early studying and maybe we could make it? When were you going to give him your answer?"
The sweet smile she was sending him nearly killed him. "I kind of," he cleared his throat slightly, "I kind of already told him we would be coming."
Her jaw dropped instantly, understanding, flexible girlfriend out the window. "Nathan! I can't believe you made those kind of plans without even asking me! Not even a month ago I asked you not to do that! You had no idea what my schedule was going to be like and you signed us up for something that is going to take up God knows how much of our time?"
"I'm sorry, I just…he kind of put me on the spot for answer," Nathan cringed as the words flew out of his mouth. He didn't want to falsely accuse the older player especially since it had been his idiocy that was causing this argument. "I didn't know what to say…'yes' just came out!"
"Well, you're just going to have to tell him I can't come," Haley decided, folding her arms over her chest.
Nathan gaped at her decision. "What happened to trying to make it?"
"Well that was when you were actually being a human being and asking me if I wanted to go rather than being a caveman practically demanding that I do," she explained, turning back to her work. "Tell Tyler thanks but no thanks. We can't make it."
"We?" Nathan repeated softly. Her attention was suddenly back on him, fury in her eyes.
"Yes, Nathan, we. We are a couple, aren't we? We attend these types of things together, right?" Haley asked, adding extra emphasis to each word. "When we came to this school, we decided not to break up therefore we are still a we." His stare was wide-eyed and disbelieving. "Nathan, you are not going to Franklin Street with the guys on Halloween without me there. I'm sorry but that's just too much for me to take. I can't be worried about you an hour and a half away with unlimited access to alcohol and focus on my work."
"You don't trust me?" he pushed back, a little incredulous at the shift in conversation.
Haley raised her eyebrows at that one, imitating his earlier reaction to 'we.' "Of course I trust you, Nathan. I trust and love you. That's why I'll be sitting here, attempting to write a paper on reconstruction after the Civil War and focusing on whether or not my lovable boyfriend has exceeded his alcohol limit and is passed out in some alley three towns over."
"Hales, I never go out with the team. What's the big deal if I go out with them just this once?" he threw his hands up in exasperation, knowing that arguing about the love and trust in their relationship was pointless and unnecessary.
"Because I'm asking you not to, Nathan. I know we stay in a lot but I have never once begged you to stay here and keep me company. I even volunteer to go out to parties with you but somehow we never make it. If you wanted to go out without me, I wouldn't normally care because I trust you. But you want to go to an unfamiliar place, which happens to be the watering hole of all the drunk college kids and generally weird people on the craziest night of the year, with guys still in the 'haze the freshmen' phase. I'm not being entirely unreasonable, am I?" she asked, removing her glasses to rub a hand over her eyes tiredly.
Nathan considered for a moment before shaking his head. "Yeah, yeah you are being unreasonable. If you're too busy that's fine. But I'm going to hang out with the guys." His decision made, he turned to leave the room.
"By the way, Jenna's going to be at her cousin's wedding this weekend and guess what? You're not getting any!"
The words echoed down the hall behind him and he winced as the door slammed shut by the force of her hand. One of the girls, Nancy or something, passed by him giggling quietly and shaking her head. Great, he had probably just turned every single female in the dormitory against him.
"What's up, man?" Nathan sighed out as he slammed the door behind him.
Jake looked up in surprise. He'd just gotten in from practice but that was because Nathan usually bolted out of there, immediately high-tailing it for Haley and Jenna's room. Not that he minded much since that meant the pretty blonde often found her way into theirs. "Not much," he returned slowly.
"Girls suck," Nathan bitched, tossing his backpack into a corner and throwing himself onto his bed. "Haley, especially," he mumbled, not really meaning it.
"Want to talk about it?" Jake offered, putting down his pencil and turning sideways in the chair. At Nathan's raised eyebrows, he sighed, "Fine, want to sit there silently and fume about it in your head and probably come up with the wrong decision? Or do you want to just tell me about it?"
"The team's going to Franklin Street for Halloween, right?" Nathan asked, making sure that Jake knew about it since he had to be the most reclusive player on the team. His roommate quickly nodded, raising a curious eyebrow. "Well, Tyler said there's room on the bus for Haley, too, so I told him that we'd go."
"And?" Jake wondered, having also been approached by his teammates for the night out.
"Haley's all pissed off at me because I didn't ask her about it first," Nathan practically yelled, still remarkably mad at his girlfriend's reaction. "She's got all these papers due and a test the day after so she can't go and she won't let me go either."
"She won't let you go because she can't?" Jake questioned, confused since he always got the feeling that Haley was a trusting girlfriend. "Or she won't let you go because she's worried something bad might happen?"
Nathan shot his roommate a death glare. "You're such a girl, Jake," he muttered disapprovingly. Jake managed a small smile at him and turned back to his work. Nathan just sighed at his new record, two people pissed off at him in under five minutes.
Nathan leaned against the charter bus someone's daddy had rented for the basketball team and scowled menacingly at any girl who dared approach him. Thankfully, Jake was right next to him, pissed off for the nearly the exact same reason. They had reconciled earlier in the week, Nathan mumbling a 'sorry' and then the two going back to living in relative silence.
Of course then they had bonded over their misfortune. Someone had come up with the lame and utterly stupid idea of the freshman players dressing up as superheroes. So that left them leaning against the bus, Nathan in his stifling Batman costume and Jake in his Superman one, and without the main girls in their lives. He knew Jake had asked Jenna if she wanted to ride with them to Franklin Street but didn't know how the girl had responded. If the deep frown on Jake's face was a sign, she wasn't coming.
Then again, Jake had seemed pretty depressed the entire week. Nathan knew it had something to do with him being a dick to be around and also the fact that he had actually been living in their room and Jenna didn't stop by nearly as often. But when she did, she made it perfectly clear that Haley was as miserable as he was and that the both of them were tired of living with such irritable people.
Nathan kicked at some pebbles on the ground, wondering when in the hell they could get on the bus and get going. Some of the other players were already well on their way to being plastered but the beer he had downed earlier tasted remarkably of guilt and he wasn't looking forward to another one.
The familiar name of his girlfriend was being called out by the noisy upperclassmen and his head immediately snapped up in attention. He was genuinely confused as he recognized her small figure doling out hugs to a few of the players drunk enough to be touchy-feely with her and his lips pressed together in irritation.
His eyes carefully tracked her movements through the crowd and he eagerly awaited the moment she broke free of the others. Upon seeing her costume, Nathan accidentally bit down on his tongue and muttered out a strangled "Fuck!"
Nathan knew that he was choking on his tongue and looking like a damned fool in front of his teammates but he could hardly care less. She must have had some kind of informant from the team because the Catwoman costume she was wearing to match his own was leather and skintight, hugging all of her curves. The costume was the farthest thing from revealing, skin-wise that is, but he felt like passing out with how hot his own costume had become. Briefly he wondered how long it'd taken her to shimmy her way into that thing before moving on to more important matters like how long it'd take to get her out of it.
Haley approached the bus, her eyes smoky and her smile mysterious, and his feet made some attempt at moving towards her. Remarkably, it was only when she fixed him with a cold glare did he remember that they were fighting and he had a one in a million chance of seeing what was beneath the tight leather.
Long after she'd climbed on the bus, Nathan returned to reality. He had vaguely been aware of Jenna trailing behind her, which might have been the reason for Jake's wide smile, but he could have easily been mistaken, his draw to Haley had been that strong. Jake thumped him lightly on the back of the head and gestured towards the bus and how everyone was slowly boarding. Nathan followed Jake up the steps, unaware that his roommate's light chuckles came from watching his bugged-out eyes and drooling mouth.
They approached the middle of the bus where Haley and Jenna were happily engaged in a conversation. Jake slowed as they got closer and Jenna immediately jumped up when she spotted them. "Oh, hey, I'm going to sit with Jake, okay, Hales?" Nathan heard Jenna's excuse as he neared and couldn't stop the small grin. The two retreated a few rows without waiting for her answer and Nathan plopped down in Jenna's vacated seat, not bothering to hide his excited smile. His girlfriend was hot as hell, no matter how pissed she was at him.
The bus started to move and the alcohol began to flow. Nathan constantly passed along cans of beers and handles of liquor, ignoring the looks of disapproval being sent his way. Getting wasted would definitely not be a shortcut to getting back on Haley's good side and he knew that he would still taste the guilt, even if said girlfriend was sitting right next to him.
As the conversation picked up around them, the silence became even more noticeable and they both began to fidget with the masks in their laps. Nathan knew he wouldn't be using his but he brought it along in case…of what he wasn't quite sure but it was becoming more interesting by the second.
Haley sighed out and he felt her shift away from him and turn towards the window. Slowly he turned his head to study the profile of her face. God she was pretty. So pretty and damn sexy his brain screamed at him as his eyes traveled the length of her body. As if she sensed his gaze on her, Haley turned her head and sent him a cold glare that he didn't bother flinching from.
He inched closer to her along the connected seats and she shrunk back but only slightly. "We're fighting," she reminded him, the soft nature of her voice being drowned out by the surrounding drunks. Nathan could barely decipher her words by the way her lips moved.
Haley sighed again when he didn't retreat and set a hand on his chest to push him away. Nathan smiled as her hand froze for a moment on top of the costume and she drew her bottom lip between her teeth before giving him a hard shove. On a shorter person or a less buff one, the costume would have been so much less effective. But. given his stature, Nathan knew she had felt the hard muscle beneath the rubbery surface just as he could feel the warmth of her hand through it.
He chuckled at the undeniable look of lust on her face as she blatantly eyed his chest. A moment later, she shook herself out of her reverie and sent him another dirty look that was the exact opposite of effective. Nathan began to move closer again since she was obviously flustered when a dead weight fell into his lap.
"Oh my god! Nathan Scott! Number 23!"
Nathan arched an eyebrow before letting out a loud groan as she wrapped her arms around his neck, turning his head away from the smell of liquor coming from the girl's mouth. Quickly, he reached for her waist to move her off his lap and was surprised to encounter bare skin. Glancing down, Nathan realized that the girl was less than decently dressed and stole a quick glance at his scandalized and otherwise pissed off girlfriend.
"You! Off, now!" Haley practically growled at the unsuspecting cowgirl. Taking both of her wrists, Haley stood, dragging the girl up with her despite her protests. Noticing another girl in the aisle wearing a matching outfit, she sent her stumbling in that direction before focusing her attention back on her cowering boyfriend. Nathan's jaw hung open in surprise and she almost laughed at his expression. "Sit over there," she commanded, gesturing to her window seat. When he reluctantly moved over, she collapsed into his before letting out an annoyed sigh.
Nathan was still in some form of shock as Haley fumed at imaginary people, her hands constantly twisting together. So caught up in her internal bitchfest, she didn't even notice when he leaned close to her ear. "Do you have any idea how sexy that was?" he whispered huskily, reveling in the way she froze up and lightly shivered as his breath hit her ear.
Without warning, Haley turned her head and grabbed his chin, crashing their lips together. His lips parted in surprise and she instantly thrust her tongue into his mouth. Nathan moaned quietly as his hands moved to run through her hair and he felt her shifting closer to him on the seat. Around them, the catcalls and whistles of his teammates echoed, causing Haley to jerk away harshly and turn her head away, staring down the aisle.
"You little…" he panted out, unable to stop the pout from forming on his lips. When she didn't respond, he sank back into his seat, petulantly crossing his arms over his chest. Staring out the window, he couldn't help but smirk because as frustrated as he was, that had been hotter than hell. Haley sure had come a long way from being embarrassed of making out in an empty classroom.
Turning to her, Nathan easily reached out and picked her clean up off the seat, dropping her in his lap despite her protests. "Sit still," Nathan demanded as she continued to struggle in his hold. "We both know you can't win this fight, so just hold still," he muttered lowly even as he buried his face in her hair, inhaling the clean scent.
"So what? You're just going to manhandle me every time we get into an argument?" Haley spat out at him. The expression on her face showed nothing but pure fury and rage.
Nathan sighed out, his hands coming up to run through her soft hair, and shot her a fake smile. "No, but I've missed your clingy, suffocating ass in bed with me this week so just stay still for two damn minutes," he bit off, wrapping his arms ever tighter around her. One hand remained in her hair, lightly brushing through it, while the other traveled to her lower back, massaging the skin beneath the leather. "Jesus, you're difficult," he murmured, letting out a relieved sigh when she practically melted into his embrace.
Haley clung tightly to Nathan's shoulders when the bus jolted, the wheels bouncing into a pothole, and let out a nervous laugh when he smirked at her gasp of surprise. "This isn't funny," she whispered fiercely at him, "so don't you dare smirk at me. And don't think this lets you off the hook because I'm still pissed as hell for what you said to me and for even being on this bus."
"Then why'd you come?" Nathan returned, his eyes darting around to see if anyone had caught onto their little argument. The last thing they needed was a public spat in front of his teammates and their groupies. He caught Jake staring at them interestedly out of the corner of his eye and sent his roommate a 'cut it out!' look. "No one asked you to be here."
"Uh, yeah, you did," Haley pointed out, harshly. "It may have been a week and a half ago but surely you remember storming out of my room after calling me unreasonable and distrustful. Besides where the hell else would I be? In the library working on my reports and studying for my tests? Who wants to do that when I can watch you get wasted along with the rest of the basketball team and then take care of you the entire night?"
Nathan glared, his jaw clenching tightly. "I didn't call you distrustful. And I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I don't need my five feet three girlfriend watching over me. What are you going to do? Drag me away from a bar fight?" he spat out sarcastically, watching as her eyes widened in surprise.
"So help me God if you get into a fight…" she just trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief at him. "You've got be freaking kidding me," her laugh was entirely hollow, "Threatening to get into a bar fight? That just takes the cake on your immaturity quota this month, Nathan."
"What? I have a quota?" he questioned, part-curious and part-offended. "I can act up so many times a month before you dump me, is that it? Yeah, I bet that's it. Good thing it's the last day of the month then. I get to start all over tomorrow."
Practically gawking at him, Haley drew her arm back and socked him in the side of his stomach. "Yeah you bet that's it!" she spewed back sarcastically. "Now that's got to be the most immature thing you've ever said to me in a long ass time, Nathan! You can't honestly believe that about me! Or our relationship!"
Nathan had the good sense to look a little ashamed and made no protests when she scurried from his lap, moving so far from him she practically fell off the seat and into the aisle. He sighed and turned his stare to the window, wondering how much of his father's jackass gene he really did inherit.
Some time later the bus came to a rumbling stop and the people began drunkenly stumbling out into the parking lot they were stopped in. Nathan reluctantly followed the crowd off the bus and spotted Haley who had zipped ahead of him and linked her arms through Jake's and Jenna's, seemingly tagging along with them as they followed a few players into a nearby club. Thankfully, his long legs allowed him to catch up easily but he remained silent when he did, not trusting his mouth not to screw up anymore.
Once they were inside the club, due to some fast talking and large bills from one of his teammates he was sure, Nathan immediately went on edge. Large crowds weren't his thing and his mouth twisted into a frown when someone stepped into his path, separating him from the trio. Easily pushing the person away, Nathan caught up once again and placed his hand on the small of Haley's back. Her head snapped up in surprise, obviously in a snit and ready to bitch someone out, but she stopped seeing that it was him and not some drunkard. He could tell she was still mad but not nearly enough to deny his presence in a crowded and unfamiliar place where he knew she felt uncomfortable.
"Oh thank god!" Nathan exclaimed as he finally spotted her, pushing her way through the crowd to get to him. She scowled darkly at the girls surrounding him but he paid them no mind as he threw his arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly to his chest. Haley stayed like that, awkwardly smashed up against the rubber of his costume, before he pulled away, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her lightly. "Where in hell have you been?"
"What?" Haley blew out, annoyed when he took her by the elbow and dragged her outside, pushing through the people waiting to get inside. "What are you talking about, Nathan? Have you completely lost it already?" she questioned, tiptoeing to look closely into his eyes.
Nathan pushed her back down, his own frustration growing. "Stop that!" he muttered crossly. "I haven't been drinking. Where have you been? You scared me shitless, Hales. Do you know how many psychos are out wandering around here right now? I turn away for two seconds because some ho bumps into me and you disappear! What the hell is with that?"
"I didn't disappear!" Haley yelled back, just as loud. "I told you I was going to the bathroom and when I looked back you were talking to someone! What? You didn't see me walk away?"
"No!" Nathan shouted, grabbing her arms. "You're wearing all black!" he gestured wildly down at her costume. "That stupid club is so damn dark I can barely see my own damn hand. And I know you lightened your hair but shit! You're in all fucking black! How the hell was I supposed to see you walk away? And then Jenna and Jake didn't know where you were! Damn it!" Nathan turned away from her then, breathing heavily and furiously running his hands through his hair.
"Sucks doesn't it?" Haley muttered and he felt her hand come to rest on his back before he processed her words.
He turned to face her again, shrugging off her hand, and was not amused by the small smile on her lips. "What? What sucks?"
"Worrying. Thinking something bad happened. I'm in the same damn club as you, Nathan, and you freaked out when I went to use the bathroom for all of fifteen minutes. Do you know how I would have felt, sitting back at school and wondering what the hell was happening to you over here?" Haley asked softly, watching as his face flushed a deep red.
Nathan refused to meet her eyes and cursed under his breath. "That's different," he managed to mumble and she sent him a placating smile. "No, it is!" Nathan blew out, bothered that she wasn't more bothered. "You're tiny! Anyone can just pick you up and go. At least I've got a chance of defending myself, okay? You're just…do you know how many people in that club you actually outweigh? Someone could hurt you!"
Haley was silent as he gathered her into his arms, burying his head into her shoulder. He'd sprouted a few more inches during senior year so the position had to be uncomfortable at best for him, but Nathan refused to let go and she reluctantly slid her arms around his waist to hold him. "God, I was so fucking scared," he murmured lowly into her ear, turning his head to press kisses on the side of her face. "You have no idea how scared I was. I can't lose you."
Staving off the urge to mutter 'the hell?', Haley moved her hands to caress the back of his neck and Nathan slowly shifted to rest his forehead against hers. "You're not going to lose me. Are you insane?" she chided gently, amazed at the tears in his eyes. "You're really scared of that?" she asked softly. "Nathan…" He cut her off as he pushed a tender kiss to her lips.
"I'm sorry, okay?" he mumbled out. "I should have believed you when you said you were just worried about me. I'm sorry I threw a stupid fit about it. I didn't really get what you were saying until I couldn't find you. Then all I could think about was the news stories about those psychos kidnapping pretty young college girls and rap…god, I could barely breathe. I felt like I was going to pass out and Jenna didn't know where you went and the guys kept telling me to chill out. I almost punched Casey for…I can't even remember right now."
"You hear about all the shit that happens at colleges. This is like six colleges all shoved onto one block and everyone's drunk and they don't give a shit about other people," Nathan could have hit himself at this point. He was practically hyperventilating just thinking about it and from the look on her face he was scaring the crap out of his girlfriend, too.
Haley pushed herself into his arms, resting her head against his chest. "Your heart's racing…and not in a good way. Stop it," she commanded. "I didn't mean to worry you, but nothing happened to me so please calm down. You're going to give yourself a heart attack at this rate."
"I don't care," Nathan muttered. "Maybe this is just payback for me being an ass about coming here tonight but I don't care if I put myself in the ground worrying over you. You're worth it."
"Well I care if you put yourself in the ground so stop it. I'm fine so there's no reason for you to stress out anymore," Haley smiled softly when his breathing began to even out and he dropped his forehead to hers. "And this isn't payback. I wouldn't make you worry about me on purpose. I'd never do that."
"I know you wouldn't," he spoke gently, allowing his hands to move up and caress her face. "I didn't mean it like that. I just…it's ironic, isn't it?" his eyes moving to hers, questioning.
She smiled a little; maybe it was a tad bit ironic. Haley pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. "Yeah, you got that one right. Come on, let's go back inside. You can hang out with the guys and I promise not to leave your side."
"Alright," Nathan agreed, a little reluctant to go back inside. He pulled her to his side, squashing her slightly against the bulky costume, and sighed in relief. "Hey, wait," he broke out suddenly, "what happened to girls always using the bathroom in groups? You didn't just go off by yourself, did you?"
Haley shook her head, leaning up to kiss the corner of his frowning mouth. "Of course not, I went with Tessa from my Psych class and one of her friends. I'm not stupid, Nathan," she chided lightly.
"I wasn't saying you are," he defended, "just making sure you're being safe."
"Uh huh," Haley scoffed knowingly.
They approached the front of the club again and Nathan hustled them to the front, ignoring the dirty looks and yells of the already drunk partiers. He glowered deeply at the large bouncer as he blatantly eyed Haley's costume-encased body before smiling at her and stepping back slightly. The bouncer nearly refused to let him in until Haley latched onto his arm and pulled him inside, smiling sweetly at the larger man the entire way.
Nathan didn't even have time to complain about it since the loud, pulsing music surrounded them almost immediately and he had to quicken his pace to keep up with Haley who used her small size to her advantage and shimmied through gaps in the crowd. Finally they neared the small table from earlier, and Nathan had never been happier to see his drunken teammates acting like…drunks.
Once Tyler was dragged away to dance by some girl, Nathan quickly took over the barstool he'd been sitting in, pulling Haley up onto his lap. He smiled and nodded at his teammates, who were completely oblivious to the fact that he couldn't hear them, and turned his head when Haley subtly nudged him with her elbow.
Haley leaned back to whisper something undecipherable in his ear and he simply shrugged, causing her to laugh slightly before pointing out into the crowd. Carefully, Nathan followed the direction of her finger and, using the next burst of light from the strobe light, spotted what she had been laughing at. In the time they had been gone, Jenna had somehow cajoled Jake into dancing, something he hated more than Nathan did. The brunette was holding a beer bottle in one hand, while Jenna had taken hold of both his wrists, attempting to move him in some way that looked rhythmic. Jake also sported a look of utter embarrassment despite the fact that not many people would remain sober enough to remember his humiliation.
Jenna apparently spotted them back at the table because she let go of one of Jake's wrists before using her hold on his other to lead him through the crowd towards them. "Hey!" Nathan read off her lips before shaking his head to indicate that they couldn't hear them. She gave them a sheepish smile before pointing back towards the front door, suggesting that they were going outside.
Before he knew it, Haley was sliding off his lap and tugging on his arm to follow them out the door. He turned his head back for a second to glance at his teammates dancing and drinking with the girls they had brought and some they hadn't before following Haley's lead and stumbling out the door once again.
"Sorry," she grinned up at him, "It's still early. Can you hang out with the guys a little later? It was getting way too loud in there." Her apology came with a sweet smile and an even sweeter kiss against his lips. Nathan nodded his head, gripping her hips and pulling her flush against his body. Over her shoulder he gestured at Jake and Jenna a ways off, still holding hands. Haley smirked triumphantly, moving her hands gently over the material of his costume. "So this is hot."
Nathan scoffed gently, "I don't know if you noticed, considering we were still fighting, but I nearly slipped in a puddle of my own drool when you first showed up. You're hot, Hales. I can't wait to get you out of this thing." His hands lightly trailed up and down her sides, matching her moves over his chest. Stealthily, his hands wandered to her back, fiddling with the zipper until she smacked him lightly on the chest in mock outrage.
"Oh I noticed," Haley returned, "It was actually really funny. Big bad Nathan Scott all tripped up over a girl."
"I'm always tripped up over you," he smiled charmingly, ignoring the eye roll she responded with.
"Are you having fun hanging with the boys?" she questioned, suddenly curious about his reasoning for dragging them to the biggest party in the state. "I mean, other than the time you spent being an overprotective worrywart."
Nathan shrugged lightly, "I don't know, I guess. I kind of forgot what guy bonding is. They're all drunk and all over girls. It's not like we're actually hanging out or anything. I'm pretty sure no one noticed both of the times that we were gone."
"Probably not," Haley agreed. "Doesn't matter, really. We're here and we're having…fun?"
He couldn't help the light chuckle as she confusedly recalled the night's activities. "Sure, if you consider giving me a heart attack and nearly going deaf fun. I think I'd rather be trick-or-treating with you and your crazy family. You've ruined other people for me, Haley James."
"You wouldn't have it any other way," Haley spoke knowingly. Nathan smirked and shook his head before she grabbed the back of his neck, bringing his mouth down to meet hers.