Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, it all belongs the Schwahn and company.
Note: Over ninety reviews? You guys are amazing. I'm sorry I couldn't update this sooner but I'll try and get another one in before the end of the week. I also have a oneshot in mind I might want to try, so we'll see what happens. Thanks again for all the support and I hope you like this chapter.
Nathan drummed his fingers on the smooth surface of the kitchen table. He had his chin resting in the palm of his hand. His gaze went from his phone to the clock on the wall. He didn't want to seem pushy. He didn't want to seem overeager. But he really wanted to call Haley. He'd watched Haley and Sam drive off hours ago. Once he'd gotten home he took a short nap before heading off to practice. Practices were getting intense as the Lakers prepared for their first game of the season in two days. That meant that Nathan had tonight or the next night to take Haley out before his schedule got busy with games. Right after the first home game, the team was headed on the road. With that in mind, Nathan picked up his phone and called Haley. As the phone rang, he began drumming his fingers on the table even more fervently.
"Hi," she said. "I didn't think you'd call so soon."
Nathan grimaced, grateful that she couldn't see how embarrassed he looked.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to be pushy."
"It's okay, Nathan. It's good. I'm looking forward to going out."
Nathan smiled, relieved. "Well, I wanted to see if maybe you were free tonight? Tonight or tomorrow. The night after that I have a game and then we have a road trip."
"I need to find someone to watch Sam, but tonight should be fine."
"Okay, tonight then. I'll pick you up at six?"
"Six. Okay."
"Your place. I know you asked me out, but can I at least plan this?"
Nathan heard Haley laugh on the other end of the phone. "Yeah, that's great."
"Okay. I'll see you at six."
"Wait!"
"Yeah?"
"You're planning this; I don't know what to wear."
"Oh. Right. Well, you'll look fine whatever you wear. You'll look great."
"Well, what are we doing?"
"Just dress casually," he told her.
"You're really not going to tell me?"
"Nope. I'm keeping this a surprise."
"I'm not really a fan of surprises."
"I think you'll like this one. So much that I'll probably get a second date out of it." His confidence was returning. It was amazing the effect Haley asking him on a date was having. One minute he's nervous and the next he's back to being the confident man who knows what to do with a woman. This was different, though. He wasn't completely sure about this particular woman. The one thing always present in his mind was that she was different than anyone else he'd known.
"We'll see about that. I'll see you at six."
Haley ended the call and could feel the blush covering her cheeks. She leaned back in her desk chair and smiled.
"You're blushing and you're smiling," Peyton observed. "What's going on?" Peyton and Brooke walked into the offices of Red Bedroom Records and both took a seat on the sofa.
Haley tried ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. She was excited that Nathan had called so soon. She recalled Brooke being annoyed when they were younger and a guy would take longer than Brooke wanted him to to call her.
"Do either of you have plans tonight?"
"That doesn't answer our question," Brooke pointed out.
"I'm free," Peyton said.
"Do you think you could come over and watch Sam? Around six?"
"You need someone to watch Sam? I can do that," Brooke announced. "You know I love any excuse to hang with my favorite guy."
"Relax, Brooke. We'll both be over by six to watch Sam."
"Thanks," Haley said. "Brooke, can I take a look upstairs in the closet?"
"Of course, you don't even have to ask," Brooke replied flippantly while examining the polish on her nails. She dropped her hand and looked at Haley curiously. "Wait a minute. What do you have planned tonight?"
Haley wasn't embarrassed to answer and she didn't have anything to hide. She just didn't want anyone making a fuss. She knew Brooke and Peyton and they would make a fuss. Specifically, Brooke would make a fuss. However, come six o'clock, they would realize what exactly was going on.
"IhaveadatewithNathan," Haley spit out quickly.
Still sitting on the sofa, Peyton and Brooke looked at each other. Then, without a word, the two quickly got up and went over to Haley. They both threw their arms around their friend, Brooke shrieking loudly.
Brooke began talking right away, not letting anyone else get a word in edgewise. "We'll have to pick out a dress. We should go home right now so we can start getting you ready, I don't need a lot of time but we want to make sure everything is perfect. There's this great satin dress up there that'll go just above your knees and it has this strap that is to die for. Some shoes to match, I have some with these sparkly straps that will go perfectly. I think we should leave your hair down-"
"Brooke!" Haley was smiling but she really wanted Brooke to stop. "Slow down. It's a casual date. I don't need anything fancy. I don't really know where he's taking me but he said it was casual. And Brooke, I love you, but I really want to do this myself."
"Oh. Okay. Well, I still want to come over earlier to just talk. Like you and P. Sawyer did with me when I was getting ready for a date."
"We still do that," Peyton reminded her. "How'd this happen, anyway?"
Haley sighed. "We sort of got locked in the studio last night. Nathan, Sam, and me."
Peyton laughed. "The door?"
"Yeah. It was fixed this morning. Mrs. Glass let us out. After Sam fell asleep Nathan and I just talked. It was really nice. He walked Sam and me to the car and I just did it. I asked him out."
"You asked him out?" Brooke seemed personally offended by this. "Haley, have I taught you nothing? The guy does the asking!"
"Brooke, I've turned him down so many times and told him I just wanted to be friends. He was respecting my wishes and not asking again."
"What made you change your mind?" Brooke took a seat on the top of Haley's desk.
"Spending time with him. Getting to know him. I like him. He's the first guy that I've really liked since the beginning of college." Haley chewed on her lip some more. "I also went to a counseling session earlier yesterday and talked about it."
"I'm really happy for you, Hales," Peyton enthused. "Nervous?"
Haley nodded.
"Well, let's get you ready," Brooke grabbed Haley's hand and dragged her out of her chair and out of the office. "Peyton, grab her purse and phone, we won't be coming back here!"
Nathan looked at himself in the mirror after buttoning his shirt. Frowning, he unbuttoned it and went to find a different one. This would be the fourth shirt he tried on. Nothing looked right to him. He at least felt confident that he'd planned a nice date for Haley. He wanted to show her a good time and he wanted to show her that he was serious about pursuing a relationship with her. He didn't want to go over the top and overwhelm her. He wanted something quiet and laid back. He thought Haley would like something like that. She wasn't interested in the fancy lifestyle that surrounded them both. He could see that from her home and the way she was raising Sam.
Nathan finally settled on a shirt but left it off as he headed to his backyard. Kneeling at the flower beds, he began picking a batch of the little purple flowers his gardener had planted along the path leading to the pool. Nathan cleaned the soil off of them as best he could. He walked into his house and into the kitchen. He searched one of the drawers and found a rubber band that had been used to secure a pack of asparagus. The asparagus hadn't been his. Lucas had brought it over thinking Nathan needed to eat healthier. Nathan hated the stuff.
He looked around and did a quick inventory to make sure he had everything they'd need. He picked up his things and headed out the door.
Haley smoothed out her dress and took one last glance in the mirror. She brought her hand to her hair and fluffed it out a little more. He had said casual and she hoped what she was wearing was okay. Her casual dress was blue and she paired it with a navy blue sweater. The weather in Los Angeles was just starting to cool down and there had been a breeze all day.
Haley heard the doorbell ring and grabbed her purse before walking into Sam's room. He was sitting at a small, plastic table drawing.
"Hey, bud."
Sam looked up from his drawing, his legs swinging underneath the table. "Time for dinner with Nathan?"
"Yeah. You'll be a good boy for Aunt Peyton and Aunt Brooke?"
Sam nodded his head.
"Okay, you better be asleep when I get home." Haley kissed Sam on the cheek and hugged him.
"You look pretty, mommy," he said to her as she turned to leave.
Haley faced him once more and smiled, her head cocked to the side. "Thanks, baby."
"Hey there, Boy Toy," Brooke greeted Nathan when she opened the door. He was standing there in jeans and a gray button down shirt with the top two buttons undone. He wore it casually, not tucking it in. He held in front of him his homemade bouquet of flowers. Brooke looked him up and down and nodded. "Not bad. You look decent. And you brought flowers."
"Please don't call me Boy Toy," Nathan pleaded.
"Well, have her home no later than two, got it?"
"Two?"
"Uh huh. You're a nice guy, Nathan, but I know how you men operate. You have her home by two before Peyton and me start to worry."
"We won't be out that late," Nathan explained. He felt like he was a teenager experiencing an interrogation from his date's father. "Do you do this with every date she has?"
"No," Brooke simply stated. "I just have a feeling about you."
Before Nathan could respond, he noticed in his peripheral vision Haley coming down the stairs. His mouth opened slightly as he watched her. It never failed to amaze him how beautiful she was.
"Close your mouth, Nathan," Brooke whispered.
Nathan did as instructed and swallowed. "You look beautiful, Haley." He was amazed he managed to get the words out.
Haley blushed, smiled, and looked down as she approached the entry to her house. Brooke was standing aside, smiling. She was proud and happy. Haley was going on a date and she did it of her own free will. She hadn't had to be talked into it like the last times Brooke tried setting her up.
"Thank you," Haley said to Nathan. "You look really nice." That was a lie. Haley didn't think he looked nice. She thought he looked perfect. The shirt fit him like a glove. He didn't look like he was showing off, but you could still tell he was in shape.
"These are for you." Nathan awkwardly stuck his hand holding the flowers out toward Haley. "I know they aren't much. But that night of the charity event you were wearing a purple dress. And I have these in my garden and I saw them and they reminded me of that dress. I just thought… Well, I thought you might like them."
Haley smiled broadly. It was so sweet of him to think of a dress she'd worn months ago and get her flowers that color. She had always been partial to smaller flowers. Roses were nice, lilies were beautiful. These just felt special, though.
"They're beautiful. Thank you. I'll put them in some water and then we can go."
"I'll do it," Brooke offered.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure, Hales. Go, have fun. Sam will be fine." Brooke was practically pushing the two of them out the door. "Remember what I said! Naley has a two o'clock curfew!" Brooke shut the door before Nathan and Haley could say anything else.
Nathan and Haley walked to his car. "Naley?"
Haley laughed. "Brooke thought that once the press finds out we went on a date that they'd give us some cutesy couples name. She thought she should be the one to coin the term. Brooke gets enthusiastic." Haley didn't want him thinking that she was counting on anything more than one date. She wanted tonight to go well and if it went well, she knew she'd want to go out with Nathan again because she liked him. Haley wasn't someone who dated; she was someone who was in relationships. That's how it had always been before the attack. One of the reasons she had said no to Nathan at first was her reluctance to be in a relationship because she didn't think she was enough. If it was just going to be one or two dates, that would have been a different story.
"Okay, Naley then. She'll have to get that copyrighted or something." Nathan held the door open for Haley and closed it once she climbed in. He got in on the driver's side and turned on the car. "So, I know you like your privacy and I like mine. Since this is so, well, new for us, I thought we'd do something quiet. You know how the press gets. I meet Brooke at a toy store and then rumors start. I don't want to hide anything, I just don't want anyone butting in when it isn't their business."
"No, no, I get it. And thank you for thinking of that."
Nathan was relieved. When he planned this date he was worried she'd think that he didn't want to be seen with her. That was so far from the truth. "Good. Let's get going then."
The made light conversation as Nathan drove them to their destination. They finally came to a residential street and Nathan pulled into the driveway of a small house. Haley recognized it immediately.
"This is Lucas's house."
Nathan shrugged, opening his door and stepping out to get Haley's.
"Yeah, it's Lucas's house. I just wanted us to be able to go somewhere quiet. I thought of the beach, but it's dark already and I thought maybe I could start a fire but I don't know how and it'll draw attention. I hope this is okay. If it helps, Lucas didn't really do anything except give us a place to hang out. I did everything else myself."
Haley hadn't gotten out of the car yet but noticed how nervous Nathan looked.
"I don't want you to think I had other plans, Haley. That's why we're not at my house. I thought if we were there it would look like I wanted, well, you know. I know this is a first date and I want to do this right. So, dinner and good company."
Haley nodded and stepped out of the car, taking the hand Nathan offered. The minute she placed her hand in his, the two looked at each other. Neither had ever had this reaction before to someone. They couldn't stay away, even if they wanted to.
Haley waited on the sidewalk while Nathan was gathering things from the backseat of the car. He produced a picnic basket, a cooler, and a blanket and motioned for Haley to walk toward the front door. Nathan desperately wanted to hold her hand, but with a cooler in one hand and a basket in the other he wasn't able to. He led them through Lucas's house and then to the back of the house. In the backyard several lamps had been lit.
Nathan laid the blanket down on the grass and waited for Haley to sit down. He sat down across from her and began emptying the basket.
"I'm impressed," Haley told him.
"Yeah?" Nathan stopped setting out the dishes and the food and smiled at Haley.
"Yeah. This is really thoughtful, Nathan."
Nathan continued smiling as he laid the food out. "Now, I didn't cook any of it. I figured it would be better not to make you sick on our first date."
Haley laughed. "You still planned it all. I mean it, Nathan. This is really nice."
The two began eating and talking. Nathan was right. Their date consisted of dinner and good company. It wasn't much different than the times they had hung out before. In fact, they'd spent so much time talking to each other about important aspects of their lives that this wasn't much different. For both, it felt like they'd been doing this for a long time.
"You have a scar. Under your left eye," Nathan noticed.
Haley sat back a little, somewhat unnerved by the fact that he'd been looking so closely and noticed. Even with all the photos taken of her and the billboards and posters, not many had noticed the scar.
"How did you get it?"
Haley winced. This was going well, but she wasn't ready to share that much yet. She had no idea when she would be ready for that. This was the first man in her life that she'd wanted to spend time with and get to know in a romantic sense. Telling him about that painful part of her past was an issue she knew they would have if things progressed. Tonight wasn't the night for it, though.
"It's not a good story," Haley finally answered truthfully. The story was terrible.
Nathan could tell from her reaction that she didn't want to talk about it, so he decided not to ask anything else about it. There was something else on his mind, though. "Haley, what made you finally want to go out with me?"
Haley bit her lip and shook her head. She wasn't that comfortable with this question, either. It was better than the last one he asked, though. "You did." Seeing the confusion on his face, Haley continued. "I rejected you and you didn't push, which is what I needed. I don't date a lot since I had Sam. My life has been about raising him. It's the most important thing I will ever do, so I've focused on that. But you just came in and I guess you were right. We met again after all this time, so much has changed in our lives, but maybe it's for a reason.
"You became my friend, Nathan. I just don't think there are many men in the world who would do that after being rejected. The better friends we became, the more I realized that I liked you. I realized that I wished you would ask me out again. I said no so many times, though, that I knew you had no reason to ask again. So, I decided to ask you myself.
"Brooke had set me up a couple of times. You're the first man I've ever wanted to go out with without any prompting. Well, Brooke and Peyton encouraged it. But when I told them to stop, they did. Then you and I became friends and I just wanted to do something for myself."
"Haley, I've been wanting to ask you out again every single time we've hung out. Every time. I'm glad you asked me. I don't think I had the balls to do it. I just didn't want to chance it and lose your friendship. You're the first woman I've ever been friends with."
Haley tried controlling the butterflies in her stomach. He couldn't have said anything better to her. The fact that he didn't just want to date her, but that he valued her friendship, reaffirmed Haley's belief that this date was a good idea. "I guess this is a pretty great first date, then."
"Great first date, huh?"
"Control that ego of yours, Nathan," Haley teased.
"Hey, you said it was great! Does this mean I get a second date?"
"That depends. Is there dessert?"
Nathan smirked. "As a matter of fact there is." Nathan reached into the cooler and pulled out two cups of ice cream. Reaching into the basket, he also pulled out a box of Cracker Jacks.
"Cracker Jacks?"
Nathan shrugged. "I've always liked them."
"Why don't you put some of those on top of the ice cream," Haley suggested.
Nathan opened the box and reached in. He pulled out a brightly colored plastic bracelet. Looking down at it, he smirked again. Grabbing Haley's hand, he slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. "Don't say I never gave you anything."
Nathan drove Haley home. Both were smiling the entire way there. He walked her to her door and the two stopped while Haley got her keys out.
"I'm really glad we did this, Nathan. I'm sorry for making us wait so long for it."
"Don't worry about it, Haley. It finally happened and it was great. Can I call you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, that would be great."
"And I get a second date?"
"You definitely get a second date."
Nathan and Haley stood looking at each other, neither quite sure what to do. Normally, if Nathan had to take a girl out it was with one goal in mind and by now they'd be inside with most of their clothes off. He wasn't sure how to proceed with Haley. He didn't have to decide though. Haley leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him. They'd never hugged before. Nathan only ever really hugged his mother. He liked this though. He liked being this close to Haley and feeling her in his arms. He was reluctant to let go.
When they did finally step apart, they didn't fully let go of each other. As they had countless times throughout the night, they just looked at each other. Haley brought her gaze down to his lips. Part of her hoped he would kiss her, but another part of her thought it might be better to not take that step quite yet. She was surprised, though, when Nathan leaned in and placed a small kiss on her cheek before taking a step back. " I'll call you tomorrow."
Haley managed a nod before turning and opening her front door. She gave Nathan a smile as she closed the door. She turned around and faced the inside of her house and brought her hand to her cheek. She walked down the hall and into the living room where she found Brooke and Peyton on the sofa. The TV was on, but they clearly weren't paying attention to it. They were looking in Haley's direction and both looked curious.
"Well? How was it?" Brooke got up.
Haley smiled and brought her finger to her lips, indicating for Brooke to keep her voice down.
"He's fast asleep. Now, spill."
"Haley, you know we're not leaving until you tell us something," Peyton informed her. "How was it?"
Haley's smile was wide. "It was great."
Brooke tried to keep quiet and began jumping and flailing her hands. She made her way to Haley and hugged her.
Peyton remained seated on the sofa. Brooke's reaction was big enough for two people. "Is there going to be a second date?"
Haley nodded. "I'm going to check on Sam."
Haley walked up the stairs and made her way to Sam's room, fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist. She hadn't stopped smiling since she got home.
Note: I hope their first date lived up to your expectations. If it didn't, just keep in mind that it's not the most vital moment in their relationship. There's more to come. Thank you for reading!