Author's Note: Hey everyone! For some reason I had the toughest time getting this chapter done. It must've been writer's block or something because halfway through I erased like a page because I wanted something different. But I tried and finally go it all written. Sorry it took so long. I've been so busy with school and all my classes. But here it is. I hope you like it!
Chapter Ten- A Blast From the Past
Nathan woke up on the couch in the beach house with Haley in his arms, sleeping soundly in her cheerleading uniform and his basketball sweatshirt, her engagement ring fitting perfectly on her ring finger, once again.
Nathan slowly adjusted himself so as not to wake Haley up from her peaceful slumber. He got off of the couch and placed a crocheted blanket over Haley's sleeping form. He looked around the rest of the house and sighed in exasperation. After the game, the entire team and their girlfriends and their friends came over to the beach house to party. Not only for winning the game, but for the fact that Nathan and Haley were together again.
He saw Lucas and Peyton cuddled up, sleeping on the loveseat together, Peyton still in her cheerleader uniform and a sweatshirt. Brooke and Tim were also sleeping on the ground, their heads on some pillows that had been discarded on the floor. And Brooke, like Peyton and Haley was still in her cheerleading uniform.
Nathan looked around at the other guys on the team and the countless others that were strewn across the room and shook his head. He began gathering up empty cups and soda cans from the floor and filling the trash can.
He was in the middle of cleaning up the glass from a broken plate when he saw Haley beginning to stir.
Her soft eyes fluttered open.
"Hey", she said as she saw Nathan's smiling face.
"Hey. How'd you sleep?" Nathan asked softly touching her cheek.
"Perfect", Haley said.
"Good", Nathan said leaning in a kissing Haley softly on the lips.
Nathan sat down and Haley leaned back into his arms and he placed a soft kiss on her head.
"Since when did you learn how to play guitar?" Haley asked looking up at Nathan with a quirky smile.
"Let's just say I owe Jake a lot of babysitting."
"Oh I see", Haley said laughing. "Well it was beautiful Nate. I loved it."
Nathan kissed her on the lips and smiled at her.
"Are you coming to New York next week for the Winter Slam Classic?" Nathan asked her.
"Mmmm hmmm", Haley responded. "There's a cheerleading competition at the Classic too. Which of course, with Brooke's amazing choreography we will undoubtedly win. And of course the spectacular Ravens basketball team will win as well." Haley said tacking that sentence onto the end just to make Nathan happy.
"Well I am going to upstairs and get a shower and change. Some of my clothes are still up there right?" Haley asked getting up.
Nathan nodded as Haley scurried up the steps.
Nathan looked around the house and no one else was awake yet. 'This is ridiculous' he thought.
"Okay!" Nathan yelled. "Everyone OUT!"
People awakened at the sound of Nathan's voice. "
"You heard me people! Get out!" Nathan said ushering people out the door.
"What the hell man?" A teammate asked as he was shoved out the door.
"Later Kyle", Nathan said as he shoved the last of them out the door.
A week later they gang was packing up the Greyhound bus that was to take them to New York for the tournament. The basketball players and the cheerleaders were sharing a bus because it was too expensive for the school to rent two. But Whitey had taken the pleasure of making sure that all the guys were in the front seats and that the girls were in the back. He wanted them fully focused for the tournament. Needless to say, this made for some very unhappy basketball players.
Nathan swiftly lifted Haley's rolling suitcase into the storage compartment at the bottom of the bus.
Haley hugged her green and navy blue shirt tighter around her and zipped up her white ski vest and shivered.
"It is so cold!" Haley exclaimed.
"Well", Nathan said engulfing her in a warming hug. "If you think this is cold Hales. Wait till we get to New York."
Haley frowned and Nathan laughed.
"What?" Haley asked hitting him playfully on the shoulder.
"Nothing. You just look so cute when you do that little puppy dog face."
"Oh", Haley said. "Well in that case." She said leaning forward and kissing him.
"Scott!" Whitey yelled from the bus. "Get on the damned bus!"
"Better go", Nathan said giving Haley a peck on the lips and throwing his backpack over his shoulder. "Don't worry we'll have plenty of alone time this trip. Not to mention all the skiing and snowboarding we're gonna get in."
"Scott!" Whitey yelled.
Nathan rolled his eyes and jogged off towards the front of the bus Haley following close behind.
Two hours later Whitey had told the guys that they needed to shut up for the remainder of the trip and "get in the zone" for the tournament. Code for "put on your headphones and go to sleep" to the guys.
Haley looked up from the book she was reading for AP Lit class and looked over to see Peyton and Brooke sleeping soundly in their seats. Most of the others girls had dozed off too.
She looked up to the front of the bus where Nathan was listening to his CD player. And at the moment she looked up, Nathan turned around and looked back at her, as well and smiled.
Haley mouthed to him, "Text me."
He nodded and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.
'How u doin way bak there?'
Haley turned her phone to vibrate and answered his message.
'OK. B & P dozed off bout a half hr. ago n I'm readin my book for AP lit, u?'
'OK. But I wish u cud b up here wit me. I luv u.'
'I luv u 2.'
Nathan smiled back at her and closed his phone, as Haley did the same as they both drifted off to sleep.
"Alright wake the hell up!" Whitey yelled from the front of the bus, what seemed to be several hours later.
Everyone slowly began to wake up and groaned. Haley, Brooke and Peyton awakened and stretched their arms above their heads and yawned.
"Okay people", Whitey started. "We're here, The Aspen Ski Lodge. But we are not here to party. We are here to play basketball and in your free time you may ski or snowboard or do whatever it is you youngsters do today. But if anyone breaks a bone on pile of fake snow…there will be hell to pay."
Whitey looked at all of the guys with a stern face and they all nodded.
"Okay, so get your stuff and check in at the front desk and then go up to your rooms and rest for the evening because we're on the court at seven AM."
The team groaned.
"Also, roommates will be of the same sex."
There was a chorus of yeah yeahs from the guys as everyone got off of the bus and went up to their rooms.
A few hours later, after they had gotten back from dinner, Peyton, Brooke and Haley were all lying on their beds in their room at The Aspen Ski Lodge in upstate New York, flipping through channels on the television, passing countless bad TV movies and infomercials. Haley finally flicked the screen off.
"I…am…so…bored", stated Brooke as she stared at the ceiling.
"Me too", Peyton added pulling her tousled blonde curls up into a ponytail. "It's too late to board and the guys are basically on house arrest until the tournament is over.
"I mean seriously. We're in this gorgeous lodge in the middle of the mountains!" Haley said bounding up. "Shouldn't we be having fun or something?"
"If only we could. Whitey and Coach Morris have the eyes of an eagle And they have the lodge staff making sure we don't go out of the lodge tonight", Brooke added with her signature eye roll.
"It's like they have us trapped here", Peyton said flipping over on her stomach.
"We could always go down to the lobby by the fire and hang out."
"That's a great idea Peyt!" Haley said. "And apparently the lodge has some killer hot apple cider. I'll call the guys and tell them to meet us down there. You guys round up the rest of the girls."
About fifteen minutes later all the guys from the team and all the girls from the squad were sitting on the couches and chairs and some on the floor surrounding the fire chatting and sipping steaming cups of hot apple cider.
Haley was curled up on the couch with Nathan and Peyton was settled into Lucas' arms as was Brooke with Tim.
"I have an idea", Brooke said sitting up.
Everyone groaned, knowing that whenever Brooke Davis had an idea it always led to either embarrassment or just plain trouble.
"Hang on, hang on!" Brooke said holding her hands up. "Just hear me out! Let's play the couples game."
"The what?" Haley asked.
"The couples game", Brooke answered. "Basically you have couples or teams and the 'host' asks a question about one of the partners and then the other partner writes down their answer and then the first partner answers and if the other partner wrote down what their partner said, then that team gets a point. It's basically how well you know your better half."
Everyone agreed to play and then teamed up boy/girl. Jake and Clare were the hosts.
"Okay", Jake said holding a note card in front of him and reading it. "First question, If your partner could change one thing about themselves, what would it be?"
"And 'nothing' is not an acceptable answer", Clare added.
The teams took a couple of moments to write their answers down.
"Okay, first…" Jake said. "Haley, what would you change about yourself? And remember; think of what your partner would say."
"Well…" Haley began. "Probably my tenseness about school and stuff."
"Nathan", Clare said. "Your answer."
Nathan held up his paper slowly and written on it was "Worries about school."
"CORRECT!" Jake said.
Nathan and Haley kissed on the lips lightly and smiled.
"Okay Nathan", Jake said. "What would you change about yourself?"
"Well, knowing Haley she would probably said my stubbornness."
"Haley?" Clare asked.
Haley held up her piece of paper with the word "Stubbornness" on it.
"CORRECT!" Clare said.
"Well we do know each other better than we know ourselves", Nathan said leaning back on the coach in a fake-cocky manner causing everyone to laugh.
"Let's hope", Kelly said. "You two are getting married!"
They played a few more rounds of the game until everyone started to get tired and the crowd slowly tapered down until only Nathan, Haley, Lucas, Peyton, Tim and Brooke remained. Jake had left a few moments earlier to call his parents and to check on Jenny.
"That was fun", Brooke said snuggling into Tim's arms, pulling the sleeves of her white cashmere turtleneck over her knuckles.
"Yeah, it was", Haley said looking up at Nathan and kissing him softly on the lips.
"Well, well, well", a female voice said. "If it isn't our favorite island castaways."
Haley closed her eyes wishing that the people she knew were standing in front of them weren't real and that it was all just a dream. She opened her eyes and saw a girl with long, blond-brown hair facing her. Cailey. Followed closely behind by Carly and Amy.
Peyton, Brooke and Haley all looked at one another and then held on tighter to their respective guys.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Nathan asked sitting up from his slouched position.
"We're just on a little ski trip", Cailey said holding her hands up. "You all remember Carly and Amy."
"Like we could forget", Brooke muttered.
"What are you all doing here?" Amy asked oblivious to Brooke's comment.
"Basketball tournament", Lucas said not looking up.
"Cheerleading competition", Peyton said emotionlessly.
"Oh, how nice…a cute little high school cheerleading competition", Carly said. "How adorable."
Brooke smirked sarcastically at Carly. "Well at least we have a purpose other than drinking and partying to be here."
The three girls smirked at Brooke. "Well I guess we'll be seeing an awful lot of each other then. We might come to one of your guys' basketball games. Wouldn't that be fun?"
"The most", Tim said sarcastically.
"Well ta-ta", Cailey said with a curve of her fingers to resemble a wave.
The three sauntered off, leaving the six others in a disgusted state.
Haley shrugged away from Nathan and stood up. "We should probably go up to our rooms…" she said starting to walk off.
"Haley", Nathan said lightly taking her arm.
Haley turned to face him a saddened look on her face.
"Come here", he said drawing her into an embrace. "Everything's going to be fine. They can't do anything to us Hales. I love you. You believe that right?"
Haley nodded. "I love you too."
"Okay", Nathan said kissing her forehead. "I'll see you in the morning."
The next morning Haley, Peyton and Brooke stirred about 10am, knowing the guys were probably still practicing for their game tonight and the girls didn't have the first round of the cheerleading competition till later in the afternoon.
Peyton came out of the bathroom in a pair of faded flares and a black baby tee with a black zip-up hoodie on, squeeging her curls with a towel. Haley and Brooke had already gotten in the shower and dressed earlier, so they were flopped on the bed watching a 90210 re-run on cable.
"What do you guys wanna do today?" Haley asked rolling over and sitting up.
"Well", Peyton started but before she could finish there was a knock at the door.
Peyton went over and answered it and there stood Lucas, Nathan and Tim.
"Ewwwww!" Peyton said as Lucas went in to hug her. "You are all sweaty and gross!"
Nathan made his way over to Haley. "Oh no Mr. Scott! You go get a shower and then maybe we'll talk."
"Alright we get it", Tim stated. "We'll get showers and then take you girls out to lunch."
"Mmmm…a boyfriend sponsored lunch", Brooke said. "I'm in."
"Yeah, me too", Peyton added. "But we have to be back before 4 because round one of our competition starts then."
"Okay, sounds good", Nathan said. "We'll see you girls in about a half hour?"
"Okay."
"Alright, bye baby", Nathan said leaning in to give Haley a peck on the lips.
Haley kissed him lightly.
"Okay, okay…" Lucas said still not completely comfortable with his best friend kissing his brother. "Later."
"Thanks for lunch baby", Haley said eating her hot fudge sundae as they walked down the street, back to the lodge where they were staying.
Nathan wrapped his arm around Haley's waist.
"You guys go ahead", Nathan said to the others. "We will meet you guys back at the lodge later."
"Okay", Lucas said. "Later guys."
Once the others had rounded the corner Nathan pulled Haley into a kiss.
"Mmmm, you just wanted to get rid of them didn't you?" Haley said returning the kiss.
"Well, I wanted to show you something. Come on."
"Where are we going?" Haley said as Nathan led her.
"You'll see."
They came upon an old church. Nathan led them around to the side, where they peeked through a window. Inside a wedding was going on. The bride was dressed in a flowing, white gown, with a lace vale on her head. At the end of the aisle, the groom stood happily awaiting the bride.
Nathan looked at Haley who was fixed on the inside of the church. Her eyes were filled with wonder and she had a soft smile on her face. The preacher inside pronounced them husband and wife and they kissed. They exited the church holding hands, with people throwing rice on them, as they got into a limo. They drove off to the reception and one by one people got into their cars to follow them.
After a few minutes everyone was gone from the church, leaving it empty inside.
"Come on", Nathan said grabbing Haley's hand. He led them to the front of the church and opened the door. The church was still decorated from the wedding.
Nathan led them both to the front and took Haley's hands.
"What are you doing?" Haley asked.
"Getting married", Nathan said.
"You're crazy."
"Do you Haley James, take this man Nathan Scott, to be your lawfully wedded husband. To have and to hold, forsaking all others, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"
Haley smiled. "I do. And do you Nathan Scott, take this woman Haley James, to be your lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, forsaking all others, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do." Nathan said. He walked over to the bench where some flowers lay. He broke the stem off of two of them and then tied them in a knot. He walked back over to Haley and slipped the circle onto her finger. "With this ring, I thee wed."
Haley took the other circle from Nathan's hand and placed it on his finger. "With this ring, I thee wed."
Nathan moved closer to Haley, so that they were only inches apart and whispered. "You may now kiss the bride."
A/N- What'd you all think? I had the toughest time getting this chapter out for some odd reason…but now I think I'm on a roll. Review please!