She looked so cute laying there with her hair a complete disaster, the sheets pulled up to her shoulders, the strap of her tank top delicately placed on her smooth skin. She was sleeping, and he smiled. He knew it'd be tough at first, them being together, but the important part of all that was that they'd be together. They'd have to deal with Brooke, and the rumors, and the ridicule they were no doubt going to get from Nathan. He didn't care. He just wanted the girl. This beautiful girl who in the matter of about a month had somehow made him completely crazy about her.
He didn't necessarily love that she left her door unlocked and any psycho could walk into her house and into her bedroom and watch her sleep.
He sat down on the bed next to her and placed his arm on the other side of her body. She stirred, took a sharp breath, and then her eyes fluttered open. She had no idea what he was doing there, and she wasn't sure if her heart was racing because she'd essentially been startled awake, or because Lucas was sitting on her bed, smiling down at her. Most likely a little bit of both.
"Hi," he said softly. She mumbled something that may have been a hello. "You don't lock your door." She shrugged her shoulder and pulled the covers up a little higher. "That's a little frightening."
"S'fine." She took a deep breath and stretched her arms out, then finally managed a smile. "What are you doing here?"
"I ended things with Brooke," he told her. She bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling, because she felt bad smiling. But she was really, really happy. He reached up and placed his palm on her cheek, running his thumb gently over her skin. "Smile."
"No," she said petulantly, which made him laugh. "Really?" He nodded his head and she reached up to grab the front of his shirt. "That means you can kiss me after I brush my teeth," she said seductively, speaking right next to his ear.
He stifled a groan when she pushed him away and got out of bed. He just wanted to kiss her. Desperately. It didn't help that she was wearing just a tank top and a pair of shorts. He was almost positive she was trying to kill him. So, so sexy. Then she slammed the bathroom door behind her. He made himself useful and made her bed for her, just because if he didn't find something to do, he would most certainly have gone over and pushed that door open. When she walked out of the bathroom, she smiled at him, then raised her brow.
"If you ever wake me up like that again, you'll regret it," she warned teasingly.
"How about you start locking your door?"
She rolled her eyes and walked over to him. "How about you kiss me right now?"
"You're kind of bossy," he said.
"Lucas," she very nearly whined. Great. He was turning her into the kind of girl who whined. He smirked at her and she looked downright annoyed. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and stepped in front of him, and she was about to kiss him when he lowered his lips onto hers. It didn't last long, was just a gentle kiss. "This is gonna suck, isn't it?"
He laughed a little and her eyes opened. "Not exactly the reaction I was going for."
"No," she said, shaking her head as she smiled. "No I mean...Me and you. And Jake. And Brooke. Everyone's gonna hate us."
"Not Nathan or Haley," he said. Peyton suddenly broke into a wide smile, remembering the date. She was desperate to call one of the two to see how things had gone. "What?" Lucas asked when he noticed the change in her demeanor.
"Their date."
"Whose date?" Lucas inquired, utterly confused. What was she talking about.
"Nathan and Haley!" she cried, walking over and reaching for her phone from her desk.
"Wait. Nathan and Haley went on a date?" That was news to him. He wondered why Nathan hadn't said anything. The guy usually bragged about his 'encounters'. Lucas knew, however, that Haley wasn't that kind of girl. He immediately questioned his brother's motives. He had a feeling there was more to it than Peyton was letting on.
Suddenly, she set the phone down and walked over to him again. "Forget it. I'll talk to them later."
He laughed softly and smiled. "Thank you."
"Why don't you wait downstairs while I get dressed? We'll talk," she said quietly. They both knew they had a lot to talk about. Like how they were going to make this work when practically no one wanted them together. He nodded his head and kissed her quickly before leaving the room.
He knew she probably thought he wouldn't hear her, but she let out a happy little noise, almost a squeal, as soon as the door was closed behind him.
----
Chris' blood had been boiling since he saw Haley kissing Nathan. He didn't know why. He didn't like Haley that way, but he certainly didn't like seeing her with someone else. He hadn't slept thinking about it. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that maybe Haley had feelings for him. Maybe she felt the way he didn't. It was there in her music, and he hadn't heard it before; hadn't taken the time to notice. She sang about unrequited feelings and being in over her head. And that was all before Nathan came along, so he knew those songs weren't about that guy.
Well, they didn't used to be.
Now she was kissing the jock on public streets. The most arrogant guy in school, and a notorious playboy. Nathan was the guy that girls needed protection from. Suddenly Chris knew how Jake had felt when Peyton started hanging out with the Scott brothers. Chris didn't like it one bit that Haley was spending time with those two guys now, too. He really didn't like that she was kissing one of them.
He marched into her bedroom on Saturday morning after thinking far too long and hard about what he was going to say. He didn't think things through this much; it wasn't in him to care so much. But he did care about Haley. She was reading from one of her text books when he appeared in the doorway.
She felt something in her stomach, but it wasn't the butterflies she was used to feeling around him. It was something like...dread. A different kind of nerves.
Nathan's plan had garnered the desired affect; Chris had taken notice. Now Haley was suddenly very unsure of whether that was what she wanted or not.
"What the hell are you doing, Haley?" Chris asked angrily, trying to look a little intimidating by crossing his arms over his chest.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. She decided she'd make him spell it out.
"Nathan!? Of all people, Haley. Nathan?" he shouted.
"Why do you care?" she asked, raising her voice to match his.
"You know what he's like! You know how he treats people. And you told me you two were barely friends."
She shook her head gently. "Well...maybe things change," she said quietly. It wasn't a lie. She didn't know where it had come from though.
"I can't believe you let him kiss you. You know his reputation. The guy's a bigger slut than anyone I've ever met. And I've met some sluts," he said.
She didn't know why - maybe because she genuinely liked Nathan - but she didn't appreciate that statement at all. "He's not like that."
"Yes, he is, Hales," Chris insisted. He moved to the bed and sat down so he could look at her. "He's...not your type. You need someone...someone different." She scoffed and shook her head. "He's...I can't believe you kissed him. He's probably got some hidden agenda."
She didn't know why he'd repeated it, but she'd had enough of his accusations and the implication that there was something wrong with her for ever agreeing to a date with Nathan. She was really pissed off that he was making it sound like Nathan was only with her out of pity or something. She had done a lot of thinking since the night before, and she came to the conclusion that maybe Nathan wanted more than that. It was crazy and made her head spin a little, full of questions and wondering why, out of everyone, he'd pick her.
"He probably thinks if he butters you up, he can get you to do his homework or something," Chris continued.
Haley'd had it. She wasn't going to take that from Chris or anyone else.
"Oh, my God, Chris! I wanted it to be you, okay?" she cried, standing from the bed. It was killing her to think this was making him think less of her.
"What?" he asked, though he'd heard her loud and clear.
"You're such an idiot. I don't...I don't even know why I'm telling you this. Why I'm trying so hard. Why I've been trying so hard," she said, pacing the floor.
"Haley..." He'd put the pieces together, of course, he'd just never thought she'd admit to it.
"Chris, you're...How can you not see that I have feelings for you?" she asked, shaking her head.
"Because you're going around kissing Nathan," he said bitterly. As soon as he said it and saw the look the statement put on her face, he regretted it. "How long?"
She let out a breathy chuckle and shook her head. He really was clueless. "A while," she said simply. It sounded better than, 'since we met'.
"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked. "You should have told me."
"Chris, I know how you are. I know you. You would have...we would have..." She closed her eyes and tried to regain her composure as she realized that he probably would have kissed her and maybe taken advantage of her feelings, then moved on to the next girl. She'd never truly believed it until that moment. "I didn't want to get hurt."
"I wouldn't hurt you," he said defensively.
She scoffed and shook her head. "I've seen how you treat girls."
"You've seen how Nathan treats girls!" he shot back.
"Yeah? Well at least Nathan admits that was wrong," Haley said. "You just keep doing the same thing over and over."
"Better than doing Rachel Gatina over and over," he said angrily.
Haley set her jaw. She was suddenly defensive over Nathan, and that was really new to her. Up until about a month ago, she would have been agreeing with him and laughing over the popular kids' antics. It would have been the four of them making fun of the way Nathan wore his letterman jacket like a badge of honour and Lucas walked around pretending to be nice. What she knew now was that Nathan wore his letterman jacket because he was proud of his accomplishments and his team, and Lucas genuinely was a nice guy. Now it was Chris she was unsure about.
"You should go," she said coldly. She held open her bedroom door, and he looked at her like he was surprised. She'd never kicked him out before. "Chris. Go."
"Haley..."
"Just go!" she cried.
He stood from the bed and walked out the door without another word. Haley watched out her window as he walked down the sidewalk and away from her house, and she had no idea why she was crying. Everything had already changed so much recently, and it was only changing more. She knew the fight she'd just had wouldn't be forgotten soon, and neither would her admission of having feelings for Chris.
It felt like a closed chapter. But she still hated that maybe she'd lost Chris for good.
----
Rachel let herself into Brooke's bedroom, not at all surprised to find the brunette practically comatose in her bed. It was clear she'd slept in her makeup and hadn't bothered to do anything with her hair. Actually, it was clear she'd gotten drunk the night before. The two girls had spent enough evenings together doing that very thing that Rachel knew what Brooke looked like the morning after.
Rachel also knew that Brooke was supposed to be staying at the Scott house with Lucas. In fact, the only reason she'd come over was to borrow a dress Brooke had promised she could wear. She hadn't expected to see Brooke there at all. When she saw the lacy strap of the bra they'd picked out for Brooke's attempted seduction, and the cheerleading uniform in a rumpled heap on the floor, the pieces fell into place.
Lucas broke up with Brooke. Brooke went out drinking. Rachel couldn't blame her.
"Up," Rachel said harshly, unceremoniously pulling back the covers. Sure enough, Brooke was wearing only the lingerie she'd bought days prior. "Brooke Davis, get up!"
"No," Brooke mumbled, her voice hoarse from tequila and crying.
"I know you're post-breakup. That doesn't give you an excuse to lay around and mope," Rachel said, pulling a pair of jeans and a top from the closet.
"Yes it does," Brooke insisted, pulling the covers up to her chin. "How'd you know I'm post-breakup?"
"Because you look...like that. And because I saw your car parked outside the Blue Post." Brooke groaned and buried her face in her pillow, then it all rushed back to her. The fight with Lucas, the drinks she'd had, talking with Jake and singing in his car. And...oh God, had she played with the hair at the back of his neck as he drove? Tequila always did make her a little more...friendly. "So what happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Brooke said. "I need a shower. And ice cream."
"And a party at Duke tonight," Rachel said, grabbing the dress she'd come for and holding it up to her body. "You're coming. You have no reason not to. You need a rebound boy."
"It's barely been 12 hours."
"Perfect," Rachel said, grinning devilishly. "It's time to put high school boys behind us. And get college boys on top of us."
"Rach!" Brooke cried laughingly.
But she couldn't say she hated the idea of a party. She just wasn't sure if a rebound was what she needed. For the first time in a long time, she didn't know what she needed. She thought it might be nice to try to figure it out. Sober and conscious of her actions. Then she thought that if Jake could get through his breakup with Peyton and be okay, that maybe she could get through her breakup with Lucas and be okay. After all, the two couples had started dating right around the same time.
And Jake was right. She wasn't a slut. She wasn't going to start acting like one now that she was 'single'.
----
"So wait," Lucas said, turning to Peyton a little more as they sat together on her sofa. "Nathan like...likes Haley? And he went on a date with her to help her make Chris jealous, but also to try to get her to like him, too?" Peyton smiled and shrugged her shoulder. She was a little surprised that he didn't know all about it. "That's...crazy."
"You know what though? Not really," Peyton said. Lucas furrowed his brow at her. "Honestly, I mean...Nathan may have a reputation, but even if it used to be true, it's not anymore. Maybe they'd be good together."
"Nathan and Haley," Lucas stated doubtfully. He realized he wasn't touching Peyton at all, save for where her knee was brushing his thigh. He took her hand, delighting in the smile she tried to hide. "I just don't see it."
"I'm sure that's what people will say about us," she said quietly. He shook his head, but she knew she was right. "Lucas, you're like...Mr. Popular, and I'm the art geek with three friends."
"I don't care about that," he said seriously. "I don't care about popularity. Being on the team puts me in that group. I never wanted to be there. I just wanted to play ball."
"But no one else knows that."
"I don't care." He shrugged his shoulder. "And by the way, you're kind of a hot commodity."
"Shut up," she laughed, shoving is arm. He reached for her hand and held it in his own.
"You are. The guys on the team have been asking about you," he explained.
"And what'd you say?" she asked, raising her brow and moving ever-so-slightly closer to him.
"I told them you were really having a hard time getting over Jake so that they wouldn't go after you," he admitted, smirking at her when her jaw dropped.
"Luke!"
"I just...couldn't stand the thought of you with anyone else," he said quietly, looking to their hands instead of at her. She leaned over and kissed his cheek gently, then he turned his head and pressed his lips to hers before she moved away again. "It's selfish."
"A little," she admitted. "Try being me and seeing you with her."
He nodded gently. That had to suck for her. "I'm sorry."
"She was your girlfriend, Luke. It's not like I can be mad at you," Peyton said. She moved even closer, curling up against his side. "What are we gonna do? I mean, this is crazy, right? You and me."
"It's not crazy," he said firmly, hoping she'd start to believe him. "I like you. So much." She smiled though he couldn't see. "And we'll just...keep it quiet for a bit."
"I'm just scared. Luke, you were with her for a year," Peyton said.
He pulled away from her, forcing her to look at him. "You were with him for a year."
"Yeah, but I've been single for more than a day," she argued. "I don't want to be...I can't be your rebound."
He was almost offended. That she could even think she was a rebound was crazy to him. "You're not. I swear you're not."
She swore there were a million butterflies floating around in her stomach. Maybe it was the wrong time - or the perfect time - to think it, but being with Jake never felt like this. Sure, there had been nerves and some butterflies in the beginning, but this was different. She couldn't even look at Lucas without feeling wonderfully tense. He was beautiful and sweet and funny. He treated her delicately. They hadn't done anything more than just kiss on the lips, and she knew that was maybe for the best.
That didn't mean she had to like it.
"So what? We're just going to stay at my house and talk and make out all the time?" she asked, a mischievous grin on her lips.
"No," he said. His heart raced when he noticed how dark her eyes were. "We can go to my place sometimes." She started laughing. He loved that sound. "And there really hasn't been any making out."
"Hmm," she murmured. She bit her bottom lip and moved to lay down on the sofa, pulling his arm so he lay on top of her.
For the rest of the afternoon, they alternated between kissing, to varying degrees of intensity, and talking about whatever they could think to talk about. When Lucas said that maybe this was the start of a really good thing, Peyton wholeheartedly agreed. Then she kissed him again, and he could really get used to that whole 'making out all the time' thing.
----
Haley drove around for a while, barely able to keep the tears out of her eyes. She'd spent all afternoon alone, then her parents invited friends over after dinner and things got louder and louder the more wine was consumed. All she wanted was to be alone, but since that wasn't possible, she decided she could use a friend. Jake was out of the question, and when she drove to Peyton's place and walked into the house, she heard Lucas' laughter, and she quietly stepped back outside and closed the door. They didn't need her interruption, and she actually found herself smiling, thankful that Peyton was happy. And that Lucas was happy, for that matter. She didn't know any of the details, but Peyton had insisted that she wouldn't do anything more with Lucas until he broke up with Brooke. Haley kind of thought the two blondes were perfect for each other.
She drove some more, and it surprised even her when her car ended up parked in the driveway of a familiar house. If you had asked her a month ago if she'd be showing up on Nathan Scott's doorstep on a Saturday night, she would have laughed in your face and said something along the lines of, 'over my dead body.' The truth was, she was very much alive, and feeling even more alive when she heard footsteps coming to answer the door.
"Haley?" Nathan said, surprised. He hadn't expected the person on the other side of the door to be her.
"Hi," she said softly.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Judging by the tears in her eyes, he knew the answer.
"Nothing. I just...I'm the stupidest girl in the world," she choked out.
"Hey," he said hurriedly. "No you're not." He moved aside and ushered her into the house, and she kicked off her shoes and shed her jacket.
"Yeah, well only a stupid girl would tell the guy she knew didn't like her, that she liked him," she said, a teary laugh punctuating the sentence.
"I'm sorry," he offered.
Since he'd kissed her the night before, he really couldn't get her off his mind. It was driving him crazy. He'd never needed to see someone so badly before. He could still remember how her lips tasted and felt, and the way she'd said his name afterward. He liked the way her hand felt tucked into his, and he definitely liked the little outfit she'd worn. The thing that scared him most was that he liked talking to her. He liked hearing about her crazy family and her life. They'd never really talked about her. He wanted to know her.
And with her standing there in his living room, wearing just jeans and a pale blue hoodie with a white tank top underneath, he realized that he might just do anything for her.
"Where are your parents?" she asked, noting how quiet the house was.
"They're away for the weekend. It's just me," he said sincerely. There was a quality to his voice that put her at ease. That surprised her more than she could have imagined. "Well, me and Lucas, but I don't know where he is."
"Peyton's," she said, smiling when he raised his brow. He shook his head and she shrugged her shoulders.
"Come here. Tell me what happened," he urged her, gesturing for her to take a seat on the sofa.
"He came over today. He started in on me right away, asking how I could kiss you, of all people," she explained, wiping her eyes with her hand.
"Ouch," he chuckled. It made her smile, which he was grateful for.
"Sorry," she said, cringing slightly. Honestly, it wasn't like kissing Nathan had been that bad. It had been pretty damn good actually. "He basically froze when I told him I had feelings for him. I don't know why that surprises me. I'm just a girl. I'm not Peyton with her four foot legs, or Brooke with her leopard print bra. Or Rachel with her...sluttiness."
"Haley," he laughed.
"No. I'm just...not even in the same universe as them," she explained, tugging at the bottom of her shirt for no other reason than it gave her something to do with her hands. "I just...I should have known better. I mean he's...he's Chris Keller."
"But you like him," Nathan said. It killed him to do it.
Haley shook her head, not because she was trying to tell Nathan she didn't have feelings for Chris, but because she was starting to realize that it was stupid and her attention was probably better focused elsewhere. "Some of the things he said...I just thought he was different."
"Guys tend to go a little crazy when they're jealous," Nathan insisted. Haley rolled her eyes. "And before you say he wasn't, he was. He is."
She pulled her legs up on the couch to sit indian style. "I might not care," she admitted quietly, almost too softly for him to hear.
His heart raced. It wasn't that he didn't wasn't confident that his plan would work, but...this was Haley. He honestly couldn't read her half the time. That might have been what he liked most about her. She wasn't feeding his ego or trying to get something out of him. She was just...normal. He really, really liked normal.
"Everything's just...different. Everything's changed. Jake is afraid to talk to me because he thinks I'll tell Peyton, and now Chris is...whatever," she said quickly before stopping to take a deep breath. "Everything changed."
Nathan knew he had to make his next point delicately. "Maybe that's a good thing."
"How do you figure?" she asked.
"Well, did you ever think you'd be sitting on my couch, bitching to me about some other guy being a jackass?" he asked with a smirk.
"You raise a good point," she laughed. "So here's a question you can't answer, but I'm going to ask anyway." Nathan chuckled and nodded for her to continue. "Why do I go after the wrong guys?"
Okay, she was right. He couldn't answer. He had no idea what to say. But he had a question of his own. "Well...how many guys have you gone after?"
She was a little surprised, he could tell, but he knew she hadn't taken it the wrong way. He was just curious. "Not many," she admitted. "I just don't know what I have to do to get a guy to notice me. I mean, I know I'm not super pretty, but I'm smart, and...and ambitious, apparently."
"What?" he asked, completely stunned.
"What?" she echoed, wondering what he was questioning.
"You don't think you're pretty?" He draped his arm over the back of the sofa, turning his body so it was facing hers.
"I didn't say that. I'm just..."
"Haley." He interrupted her adorable rambling. She tended to do that a lot, he'd noticed. "You're beautiful. And...and I notice you."
Say what you want about Nathan Scott, but he knows how to surprise.
She couldn't believe he'd just said that. He said those words about her, and when she looked over at him, she could tell he meant them. She wasn't sure why, but she still thought she had to question it. "Nathan, you don't have to say that," she said, shaking her head and looking down to avoid his eyes.
"I know I don't. I wanted to," he said sincerely. This side of him was surprising both of them.
"Thank you," she whispered. He watched the tear fall from her eye. God, she was amazing. He'd never realized it fully until right now. She just needed someone to see her. She needed someone to tell her how special she was. He was glad to have been the one to do it.
"Come here," he said, taking her hand and pulling her towards him. She leaned her back against him, tensely at first, then she relaxed when his arm draped around her.
She'd always thought it was funny how much bigger he was than her. He was taller and broader and his hand covered almost the whole width of her back; he'd proven that when he kissed her the night before. She'd taken note of it. Now, with his arm around her and her thigh pressing against his, she felt wonderfully petite. She kind of felt womanly, secure in the arms of this boy/man. She was comfortable.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked after a while.
"Sure," he answered.
"Why do you act like this with me but you're the total opposite with everyone else? I mean, yeah, you and Peyton get along, and...But you're different with me."
"I don't know," he answered honestly. "You just never give me a chance to put on the act. I kind of like being like this with you."
She smiled and closed her eyes, and she didn't know why, but she shifted against him and wrapped her arm around his waist, drawing herself even closer to him. She felt his hand move over her shoulder a couple times, and she took that as a sign that he really didn't mind that she was getting so close.
She wondered if maybe he felt that kiss the same way she had.
"Maybe I picked the wrong guy," she whispered. It was so soft that he almost couldn't hear her, but the way he pulled her closer to him proved to her that he had.
"You want to stay here tonight?" he asked, catching her by surprise. She pulled away to look at him, her hand unconsciously placed on his thigh. It sent a current through him that he couldn't ignore. He was still a guy, and she was still the girl he thought was gorgeous and couldn't stop thinking about.
"What? Nathan, I can't," she said, shaking her head.
"We have spare rooms. I just don't really like being alone," he said softly. She sat for a moment, as though she was giving the decision a lot of thought. He saw her caving and her eyes met his.
"Are you sure?"
"If you want to," he said. He shrugged his shoulder, but she could tell he really wanted her to. She just nodded her head and smiled at him.
She wasn't really nervous. Maybe she should have been, since she was sitting alone in a house with a boy - with Nathan Scott - and agreeing to sleep over. But of all the guys she knew, she was kind of starting to trust Nathan most. She trusted he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Maybe ever. He'd actually been really supportive and understanding. Not to mention, when they put a movie on and he sat down on the sofa, he put his arm around her again, and she'd never felt so at ease with a boy. He was just full of surprises.
She didn't know when they fell asleep, but she was laying in his arms on the sofa with her back to his chest and his hand resting on her thigh. She woke up only when the front door opened and closed, and she knew it had to be Lucas. She was afraid he'd walk in and see them together, but he walked straight up the stairs without noticing the people on the sofa.
She smiled and closed her eyes again when she realized she didn't really care if anyone saw her laying with Nathan like that. She'd never fallen asleep with a boy before. She liked that Nathan was her first.