Thanks for the review's. Keep 'em coming. ;)
-Cap'n Kiera Sparrow- Thanks for always reviewing!
-OTHFanatic129- lOl... I hurried as fast as I could, here ya go.
-OTHForever03- Well, you don't have much longer to wait. Yep, that's right. Next chapter, destination Tree Hill, NC! Yay! (
-Jill- Heh, thanks for the loooong review, loved it. Lapril – cute, I like! I totally agree with you on the whole Luke having no interest in what kind of girl someone is. He fell for Peyton's mystique, Brooke's cleavage, and I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT HE WAS THINKING WITH THE WHOLE NIKKI THING! Gross, I shudder at the memory. Really wanting to know someone is something that is pretty awesome, so I'll have to delve into that more next chapter. I can't take credit for the donkey analogy... thank HallMark for that one, how cute is it tho? (Nowhere as cute as Nate/Luke bonding tho!) I'm putting Mason out on a loan only basis, but there's a long line. Thanks for reviewing babe!
-yngyang12- so. . . glad you liked it. ( Thanks for replying.
-OTHlover04- Thanks! Your favorite chapter? YAY! Nathan and Lucas do have siblings, Luke has Lacin, his little sister, and Nathan has Kolby, him and Peyton's little brother. I was actually already planning something along the lines of them having to keep them while the parents have plans... so be on the look out! As far as the Nate, April, and Luke hanging out – I agree it'd be to cute. But Lukie left the last chapter and went back home, so you'll have to wait for that threesome ;) till they get to Tree Hill. But you do get a little preview of it in this chapter... so enjoy! Thanks again!
-Nikki- The Naley is coming, I promise. Stick with me! ( Thanks for replying.
-cherrycheesecake- I'll forgive you for not reviewing. I do it too, or don't do it too, I guess. ANYWAY. Thanks for the review. Glad you're still enjoying it.
-Naleyfan4546- Thanks for replying, I think you were a new replier. YAY! Here's more.
LockerRoomBandit17- Thanks for both replies. You're gonna get an ass long response, sorry in advance. I was like 'Oh MY Lord' when I updated without your review. How sad is that, I've just gotten so use to it. ANYWAY. I hate when the world gets in the way of reading my fan fic's. The world can bite me, bring on the Naley. On that note, I promise you the trucks are coming. . . I PROMISE! I just don't want to bring it out when it's not time. But next chapter and every chapter from then on will have actually Naley. Actually . . .this one has some too, yay! I'd love to write you in . . .what's your (real) name and a short description? I can hook you up with one of the guy's or make you a friend of Peyton and Jake's and have you at the wedding. On the James L. note, did you see him on TRL? Everyone is talking about it and his new hair cut and I missed it. I have been searching online for pictures of it, but no luck. Dammnit. I miss OTH too. They need to start playing rerun's or something, at least. Guess what? I have a surprise for you. You talked about the lack of Naley these days, well . . .I also post on another site and they have a message board where we all post our fic's. A WHOLE SECTION devoted to Naley. TONS OF STORIES and also a NC-17 post, lol. Go to onetreehillcentral.org and click on Fanfiction board or you can go to ezboard.com and type in One Tree Hill Central for the community. My name there is BrodyJordan. It's a great little site, I love it and there are soooo many freaking wonderful stories there. Another plus, updates go up as soon as you post them unlike here, where it takes awhile. Thanks for the reply. . .ENJOY!
- Graga Serrs- Thanks for replying, it great to know people are reading. I have a fave story that I check on almost daily so the face that you do that with mine. . .WOW. Thanks again!
-Daydreamer743- Thanks for the review. . . Luke kinda melted my heart last chapter, even I did write it. (
"I got a feelin', my head's a reelin'. My heart is screaming, 'I'm about to bust loose!' Bottled up emotion, it's more than a notion. It starts with an 'I' and ends with a "You". And I got a feelin' . . . . are you feelin' it
too?"
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Chapter 10
"So, you're Nathan?" April asked as she searched his fingers for a wedding ring. When the search came up empty she got a little giddy.
He grinned and she was allowed a glimpse of what had Haley still hooked. "Guilty," he said as his baby blue's danced. "And you're April?"
"So I hear."
"Name and an attitude huh?" he joked.
"Yep."
"And people find this charming?"
"Haven't asked," she said with a grin. Luke stood back and watched the scene unfold with amusement and unfamiliarity. Not a single girlfriend, or even girl he liked, had met his family since he graduated from Tree Hill.
"So what is this place? You work here?" he asked pointing to the building in front of him.
"It's a shelter for battered women and children and they run a social work agency out of it. She's taking over as owner in January," Luke cut in.
She grinned and smiled at Luke then turned to Nathan, "I love my job, it's very rewarding."
"That's awesome," he told her then looked over at Luke and smirked before turning back to April, "Why don't you ride with us to the airport? I can bring you back by here." All the while thinking to himself, 'So I can grill you about Haley.'
April looked over at Luke who nodded his head and, "Why not?" They stepped back from the car and Luke opened the back seat door for April to climb in then followed behind her. She leaned up into the front seat and Nathan looked at her questioningly, "Don't think you're getting Haley info outta me buddy." Luke burst out laughing as she sat back and Nathan grinned shamelessly.
"Not even a little?" he prodded.
"We'll see." The rest of the ride was spent talking about random subjects until they arrived at the airport. Nathan pulled into the circle drive to drop Luke off since they were late and they all climbed out of the Tahoe.
"So. . . " Luke started as Nathan went around to the back to get his bags out for him.
"So what?" April said.
He laughed and looked at her before going semi-serious. "About the other night, I'm sorry I bolted like that. I just-"
"No, Luke. He's just-"
"It's cool," he interrupted her. "You don't have to explain. I heard a lot," he told her with a wince. "I'm just asking for a chance too ok?"
"OK," she told him as he leaned in, then suddenly Nathan was there beside them dropping the bags at Luke's feet. He leaned back then pulled her into a hug, "I'll see you in about a week." She smiled and nodded as he stepped back and shared a hug with his brother.
"Call me when you get home," Nathan told him.
"Me too," April piped up.
"I will. . . Bye guys," he told them as he left to board the plane.
Nathan opened the passenger door for April and she climbed in as he walked around to the other side and got in. They had been driving for a couple of minutes when Nathan sighed loudly, "Please" he whined.
She laughed and groaned simultaneously. "What do you want to know?"
"Anything. . . everything."
"She's happy. She's a student at –"she started then he cut in.
"Boston Law, I know. She should graduate in a year, she's at the top of her class, and she wants to specialize in family law."
April watched him amused, "Weeeellll, someone knows their Haley facts." He blushed, actually blushed and she laughed. "How about you tell me what you know and we go from there?"
"Ok. Well, uh . . . you're her roommate and best friend. That's mostly it . . . I just know the big things. She um, broke her arm sometime last year some place, um . . ."
"At a water park," she filled him in and he gave her his best 'How-The- Hell' look.
"We were goofing around in those like play thingies they have, but with water ya know? Our friend Mason, was chasing us and we ran into each other and busted our ass. She broke her arm and I had to get stitches in my knee."
He smirked. "She's always been a little accident prone. What else?" he asked as they came to a stop sign downtown.
"She used to tutor you right?"
"Yeah. Failing turned out to be the smartest thing I ever did."
"She still does it," she told him.
"She does?" he asked surprised.
"Yeah, at-"she started as she looked out the window then squealed and ducked down trying to shield herself.
Nathan looked over at her extremely amused and cleared his throat, "WHAT are you doing?"
"Look! On the sidewalk, it's Haley!" He did as he was told and laughed.
"That is not Haley."
"Yes it is."
"No, it's not and even if it was I have tinted windows."
She sat up slowly and looked out the window, "Oops," she said and smoothed out her skirt. "As I was saying," she continued like she hadn't just freaked out and basically thrown herself into the floor board, "she tutors at the Shelter. The kid's love her."
"No surprise. My little brother and Luke's little sister have always loved her too," he told her. "Does she, um, does she have a boyfriend?"
For a brief moment she considered dragging it out and making him sweat but when she saw the anxious, almost scared look on his face she knew she couldn't do it. "No."
"Really?" he asked excitedly.
"Really," she told him and noticed the huge smile that overtook his face.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Honey, I'm home!" April yelled out as she entered the apartment and made her way down the hall. She heard music coming from the study and stuck her head in to find Haley sitting in the computer chair studying for her upcoming finals. The computer was playing music lowly and April stepped back out before Haley saw her. She paused to listen to the old, familiar song as Haley sang along.
'Maybe this was my last chance, I may never get to hold your hands again. I can say that I'm a better man because you made me understand. I'm so sorry that I tore your heart apart last night and I'm sorry if I scarred you again today. I didn't mean to take your dreams and make them seem so trite. I sincerely, completely, apologize for doing what I did. Everything you told me, and everything you showed me, it never seems that I would listen to anything. But you've got my attention more than you know, I've taken it, I've dealt wit it, but I've waited too late to use it.'
Haley read over yet another study guide as she unconsciously sang along with THE Nathan c.d. She suddenly realized what she was doing and stopped reading. It was weird, cause she couldn't remember really listening to these lyrics, but she knew them well enough to sing them... she closed her eyes and let herself listen to them hoping to find the reason Nathan had chosen this song. The line "I didn't mean to take your dreams and make them seem so trite" did it for her. She remembered an exact discussion they had about college. It was some random afternoon and they had been babysitting Kolby for Deb and Larry. He was only 8 months old, but he had been particularly fussy that day so when they finally got him to sleep they were pretty beat and had snuggled up on the couch to talk. Haley had revealed to him just how much going to law school in Boston meant to her. She had visited the city countless times when she was younger because her great aunt had lived there. She had fallen in love with it and dreamed of going there ever since. So, she did and Nathan had supported it at first. Then they came home the summer after Freshman year and he had started trying to talk her into transferring to UCLA to be with him. In a moment of hot headedness he had spouted out, "I don't see what the big deal is Haley. It was just some childhood fantasy and you fulfilled it by going there your first year. Just come to UCLA with me." He had taken her dreams and made them into something trite, but he obviously realized that. She sighed and went back to her study guide, she had a lot of thinking to do when she was done with finals.
April heard the song change over to the next track and Haley had apparently gone back to reading so she walked in. "What's up best friend?"
Haley looked up, "Studying till I can't see straight. It's horrible. I think my eyes are going to rot out," she dramatized.
April laughed, "Well. . . how about I cook us some dinner and you can take a break when it's done?"
"That'd be great. So what'd you do today?"
April swallowed and her cell rang. She sent out a silent 'Thank You' to the gods for that one since it would buy her time. "Hold on," she told Haley as she glanced down at the caller ID. "Who's 341- 6283?" Haley shrugged her shoulders and April flipped her cell open. "Hello?"
"Hey. . .April?"
"Yes, whose this?" she said and took a sip out of her water bottle.
"It's Nathan," he said and she choked on the water while at the same time took back her 'Thank You' to aforementioned gods.
Haley looked up alarmed and mouthed, "Are you ok? Who is it?"
"I'm fine," she mouthed back and walked out of the room. When she reached the safety of her room she lost it, "Oh. My. God. Why are you calling me? How did you get this number?"
"Chill," he told her and was greeted back with a loud huff. He backtracked, "Sorry. I got your number from Luke. I just had a question."
"A question?" she repeated.
"Yeah, um. . . are you going to tell Haley about today?"
She hadn't really decided yet actually, but it just came out, "No."
"No?" he asked.
"No," she told him again.
"Oh." He continued, "Cause I was just trying to decide how to approach her and thinking that it might help if you broke the ice. You know, told her I was around."
She laughed," This one is all you Nathan. I'm sorry."
He huffed, "You and Luke suck."
"Heeey. . . that's not nice and not true. Well, except. . .never mind" she trailed off and his eyes widened at the almost omission.
"Well, neither is not helping me."
"Don't be such a baby you big baby."
"Mature."
"Thanks."
"Yeah."
"I better go. I was in the middle of a conversation with Haley when you called."
"Oh ok, tell her I said 'hey'," he tried.
"I'll get right on that," she told him sarcastically.
"It was worth a try, I'll talk to you later."
"Bye," she told him and hung up laughing. Nathan Scott had it bad. She walked back into the study where Haley was engrossed in her guide and said, "I'm going to start cooking. Want anything in particular?"
"Nah, just whatever. . ."
"Ok," April told her and walked out thankful she had forgotten about her earlier question. She was digging through her purse when she noticed a folded up sheet of paper. She pulled it out, unfolded it, and started to read:
'Pretty girl, I wanted you to know I'm thinking of you at this very moment. . . unless it's past my bedtime, in which case I'm dreaming about you. –Lucas'
She allowed herself a giddy smile and sighed happily.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A knock sounded on Nathan's door as he got off the phone with April and he trudged into his living room to get it. He opened the door to reveal a smiling Natalie and hyper Raegan. He smiled when he noticed her 'Lil' Baller' tee- shirt and black cotton shorts. Natalie noticed it and rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you bought that for her and I really can't believe I'm letting her wear it."
"What's wrong with it?" Nathan asked as he stepped out his door and picked Raegan up. She had her first swimming lesson tonight and she had begged her 'Natie' to go. Like he could ever say no to her.
"What's wrong with it?" she repeated incredulously.
"Yeah?" he asked as they walked down the hall and got on the elevator.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I can't wait till you have kids."
He rolled his eyes at that statement. THAT was in the distant future. "Ryan so would have bought that for her too and you know it."
"Yeah. I know," she admitted. "I guess it's kinda cute," she said looking over at her daughter bouncing around the elevator. She stopped momentarily and looked up at her mom and Uncle Nathan.
"Ryan's my daddy," she told them.
"He sure is," Nathan told her over the lump in his throat.
"And he's an angel right Mommy?" she asked innocently.
"He is sweetie. He watches over us everyday," Natalie told her as she felt Nathan put a reassuring hand on her back as if to hold her up. She smiled graciously at him and Raegan seemed to be content with the answer as she went back to hopping around. They exited the elevator when the doors opened and walked to Natalie's Accord. Nathan put Raegan into her seat and then got in the passenger seat. Natalie turned on a sing along as they pulled onto the main road.
"I'm getting off my a-s-s and doing something about Haley," he admitted to Natalie.
She glanced at him surprised before looking back to the road, "You listened to me?"
"Don't sound so surprised," he shot back. "I listen to you."
She snorted, "Rarely. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet. I made friends with her roommate though," he told her smiling.
"Awww. . . making friends! I'm so proud," she said in her 'Mommy' voice.
He rolled her eyes, "She's a cool girl. My brother's crazy about her and I think she'll help me out with Haley if I keep asking her too."
"Nate!" she said, "You need to do it on your own."
He sighed, "Why does everyone keep saying that?"
"Because it's true," she told him pointedly.
"Well-"he started.
"Save your breath, you know I'm right. Anyway. . . there's this f-a-i-r," she told him glancing in the rearview mirror checking on Raegan, "this Saturday. I'm going to take Raegan. Do you want to come with us?"
"Sure," he told her without hesitation. "Where at?"
"The park on Independence Street."
"All right."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Days Later . . . The Morning of 'A Day of Hope'
"Holy Toledo!" April yelled as she ran around the apartment manically, "We're going to be late! It's 7:30, I should already be there. You guuuuyyy's! Hurry up, puh-lease." Mason, Tyson, Ace, and Jet had all spent the night with the girl's because Haley had hypothesized they'd never make it to the fair on time unless the girl's were moving them along.
Mason stepped out of her room in boxer's and scratched his head, "Am I supposed to wear something special? Or just whatever. . ."
She rolled her eyes and tossed him a t-shirt she pulled out of a box.
"We're all matching?" he asked as he looked at the shirt in his hand's and the one April had on. It was a royal blue shirt with 'A Day of Hope' written across the front in white and the back read, "It's about reaching out to people; showing them that there's love and hope still left in this world."
"Yes," she said before reaching into the bag and pulling out three more. "Ace, Tyse, Jet . . . I've got your shirts!" she yelled down the hall. One by one they straggled in and took them from her, pulling them over their shirtless chest's. "Mason, sweetie go put some pants on."
He looked down at his boxer's with a surprised look, "Oh yeah."
"Hales?" April yelled.
"Right here," she said from behind April. She was holding a plate stacked with jelly toast and she handed them all a piece. She tossed the cordless phone to Tyson who looked like he was going to fall asleep standing up and directed, "Call Logan and Beck. . . make sure they're up."
He did as he was told and 10 minutes later they were out the door. 10 minutes after that they arrived at the park and set out setting up the fair. It was supposed to start at 10:30, which meant they had around 2 hour's. . . 2 hour's to do about 3 hour's work.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Haley Bell . . . want some help?" Jet asked as he observed the tiny girl trying to cart a box bigger than her to a table about 100 feet away.
"That'd be nice," she huffed out. He took the box from her and set it down as they reached the table. She started pulling out paints, paper plates, napkins, mirrors- the essentials for painting faces. She let out a deep sigh, "What was April thinking? I have NO artistic ability."
He laughed, "Come one, how hard could it be to do like, smiley faces, hearts, flowers. . . shit like that?"
She rolled her eyes, "I'll be sure to use that as my description for what I can do."
"Glad to be of help."
She chuckled as they fell into a comfortable silence as they unloaded the box. Haley stopped for a moment when she noticed Logan and Tyson carrying all the stereo equipment over to a stage. She allowed herself a momentary stare at Logan. Just cause they weren't dating didn't mean she shouldn't appreciate the cuteness that was Logan White right? Jet noticed her noticing and offered, "Second thoughts?"
She looked at him before laughing, "No. Nope. . . just enjoying the view. Logan's great, but not for me."
"What if he wasn't moving?"
She didn't even have to think about it. "He's not where my heart is."
"Oh, well. . . Pray tell, Ms. Haley. Where is your heart?"
"That's a secret," she told him.
"You got somebody tugging on your heart strings girl?"
"Maybe. . . hey, how'd your date go the other night?"
"Nice segue," he commented before sighing loudly. "But yeah, um, no it's not going to work out."
"Classic Jet Thomas," she stated.
"Excuse me?"
"You like her and you're bailing."
"Whatever, no I'm not."
"Right," she snorted and he sat down the paints he was holding and turned to her.
"I'm serious Hales. I'm crazy about Brett-"
She cut him off," Her name's Brett?"
"Yeah. . .why?"
She tried to choke back the chuckle that escaped, "Jet and Brett?"
He rolled his eyes, "Shut up," and continued, "Anyway. I'll always have a soft spot for her, but . . . a relationship like ours can't work. Things buried deep down are bound to come back to surface and destroy us."
She stared at him incredulously, "Did you just say something deep?"
"It's like building on ancient burial ground," he finished.
"Never mind," she said dryly. "So what, you realized that half way through the date, told her, and came home?"
"No. Realized it before I picked her up, took her out anyway, went back to her place, had sex twice. . . THEN, we talked about it and I left."
"You had sex with her?!?!"
"She started it," he retorted like a child. "And besides. . . come on, it was my high school sweetheart. We both knew it wasn't going to work out. We're totally different people now than we were then and it turns out the people we are now. . . well they're not right for each other. We broke up for a reason, we just had to remember it."
His words hit her like a ton of brick's. Being two different people, she hadn't even thought about that. She knew she had changed since high school and she knew it'd be a safe bet to say Nathan probably had too. Were they even settled enough into the person they had become to work things out? And what if, like Jet and his ex, those two people didn't fit. She sighed.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nathan sat up in his bed, disgruntled. He ran a hand threw his air and glanced around trying to locate what had woken him up. He groaned when the phone rang. . . 'Right, the phone.' He rolled to the other side of the bed and grabbed it. "Hello?" he said gruffly.
"Tell me you're ready," Natalie greeted him.
"For what?" he asked confused.
"You said you were going to that fair with me and Rae today remember?'
'Shit,' he thought. "Where's it at again? I'll meet you there."
"The park on Independence Street. Two way me when you get there," she said and hung up.
He roused himself out of the bed and got in the shower. When he climbed out a few minutes later he started to pull on a pair of old NIKE short's and a t-shirt, but changed his mind and pulled his khaki short's out of the closet, along with a green polo shirt. He slipped his shoes on as he scarfed down a pop tart and headed out the door.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Mommy! Mommy!" Raegan yelled excitedly, "It's fun Mommy! Can I have coddon candy? Where's Uncle Nafan? Can we ride the horsies? Can we bounce?"
"One thing at a time sweetie," Natalie told her. "And Uncle Nathan is on his way. What do you want to do first?"
A little boy walked by with his entire face painted green- Hulk style and Raegan pointed and yelled, "That Mommy!"
"OK. . .," she started looking around. She spotted the face painting booth and reached for her daughter's hand as they walked that way. They reached the booth and got in the shortest line. When it was Raegan's turn she shyly climbed into the seat and smiled brightly at . . . Haley.
"Hi there," Haley told her all the while thinking the little girl looked familiar. She finally chalked it up to she had probably seen her at the shelter.
"Hello," the little girl told her politely.
"You're a very pretty little girl," Haley told her.
"Thank you. Who are you?"
"Haley. Who are you?" she asked her with a laugh. At that, Natalie's eyes widened. 'Nah, it couldn't be,' she thought to herself.
"Raegan."
"Well Ms. Raegan, what would you like me to paint?"
"A heart!" she squealed. "Can I have a flower too?"
Haley laughed, "You sure can." She then looked up at Natalie and stuck out a hand, "I'm Haley and I apologize in advance, I am not artistic."
Natalie laughed," I'm Natalie and you're not alone in that." They laughed and continued to make small talk as Haley painted Raegan's face. As she was finishing up Natalie's cell beeped and she hit the two way button.
"Hey. . .are you here?"
"Yeah. I'm by the moon walk. Where are y'all?"
"Face painting, but she's basically done. We'll come to you."
"All right," he told her.
Haley turned to her with a smile, "Husband?"
Natalie gave a small smile, "No. I'm a widow actually. That was my best friend."
"I'm sorry to hear that, how long ago did your husband pass?"
"A little over 2 and ½ years, a few months after Raegan was born. I'm actually engaged now, but he's back in California. That's where we moved from."
"That's my Natie coming to meet us," Raegan piped in.
""Your Natie?"
"Mmhhm, my Natie!"
Haley laughed, "Well . . . we're done Ms. Raegan. It was nice meeting you."
"Thank you Hawee," she told her and climbed out of the seat.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Hey AnnaCate, do you see any of the guy's around?" Haley asked as the two girls took a break from face painting. It was now 2 in the afternoon and thankfully the crowd was thinning out.
"Isn't that Mason right there?" AnnaCate asked her.
"Yeah. . . Mace!" she yelled and waved him over when he looked up at her.
He jogged over, "What's up?"
"I need a favor!"
He raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"Some shady dude keeps coming over and bugging me. He's got brown hair and has on a blue shirt, if you see him over here, can you just like. . . I don't know. Come over and act like my boyfriend or something. Pllleeeassee," she begged.
"Of course," he told her without thinking about it. "I'll just be right there," he told her pointing to the dunking booth.
"You're getting in the dunking booth?" she asked excitedly.
"Not till 4 and did you totally miss the fact that I'm helping you out?"
"Nooooo," she told him innocently.
"Well don't sound so excited about dropping me into ice cold water please," he whined.
"Ooooh, is Beck getting in there?" AnnaCate asked as she noticed her fiancé walking that way.
"He is," Mason told her with a smirk.
"I'll be back after I dunk my fiancé," she told them walking off.
They both laughed and Mason once again pointed toward the booth, "Right over there ok?"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Natie," Reagan started pulling on his shirt, "You want to meet my friend? She's niiiiiiice!"
"Yeah," he said distractedly as he noticed a girl run by him, 'Was that April?'
"OK!" she yelled and grabbed his hand dragging him off.
"I'm going to find a bathroom Nate," Natalie told him.
"All right, we're going . . .um, somewhere," he said and then struggled to keep up with Raegan who had taken off running.
She laughed, "OK."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Haley was perfectly content sitting in her chair leaned back with her leg's propped up on the table she was using to sit all the supplies on. Her and AnnaCate had begged Beck to go buy them a battery powered fan and he had given in. She was now leaning back, soaking in the breeze. She momentarily mused it'd be nice to be able to dress like this every day, in a t-shirt and short white cotton short's, but that probably wasn't going to be allowed as a lawyer. 'Oh well.'
"Ooomhp," she grunted out as she felt someone run into her leg's and giggle. She pushed her sunglasses on her head and opened one eye, "Raegan?"
"Hey Hawee," she said and attempted to crawl into her lap.
"Where's your Mom?" she asked as she pulled the little girl into her lap.
"She had to tinkle," she whispered, "I'm with Nafan."
Nathan had caught up to Raegan as she reached the face painting booth and in his delight at not losing his god-daughter he hadn't paid much attention to the young woman she had ran into it. At First. Then he did, and he was pretty sure his brain had just lost all function. He had come up to the side of them then took a step behind them so neither one had noticed him yet. He tried to coach himself into breathing. He took a few steps closer and once again, tried to think of something, anything to say. He couldn't exactly leave Haley with Raegan while he ran to get advice from Natalie. Actually, he could, but Natalie would kill him. Turns out he didn't have to say anything because Raegan noticed him.
"Nafan," she yelled, "This is my friend Hawee!"
Haley stood and switched Raegan to her hip, then turned at the introduction. Her knees went a little weak and Nathan must have noticed, because he reached out and gently took her arm.
"Hi," he said huskily.
"Hi," she repeated. 'Holy crap, Raegan is the little girl from the park with Nathan!' she thought. Raegan reached her little arms out to Nathan, so she handed him over.
"I'm Nathan," he joked with a twinkle in his eye.
"I'm Haley. Nice to meet you Nathan," she said with the hugest grin on her face. Somewhere between the "Hi"'s and fake introductions her train of thought went something like this: 'They were meeting Natalie's best friend here. Raegan's dad died and Natalie's a widow, but she's engaged now . . .but he's in California! Oh. My. God. This is not Nathan's little girl. Yes! Yes! Yes! Holy freaking yes!'
"How ya been Hales?" he asked as he set Raegan down and she began to run circles around them.
"I've been good, what about you?"
"Pretty good," he told her.
Natalie had found them and about had a coronary when she realized her earlier guess that 'Hawee' might actually by Haley was right. She had picked her daughter up and pointed over to the horse ride's and Nathan had just nodded and went back to Haley.
"So. . ." he started, but was cut off.
"Baby, hey! There you are, I've been looking for you. How's my beautiful girlfriend?" Mason said as he came up behind Haley and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her eyes widened to about the size of saucer's and she just stared at Nathan.
"He's joking," Haley stated.
"No, I'm not," Mason shot out.
He looked at her confused and then, "I better get back to Raegan, see you later Hales."
"No, Nathan. . .," she started but it was to late and he was walking away. Again. She briefly considered following him, but then she couldn't move due to Mason's arms wrapped around her. Mason. She jerked away and spun around lightly slapping his chest, "What are you doing?" she huffed and added, "Dumb ass!"
He gave her a confused look. "What! You told me to come over here if that guy bothered you Haley!"
"Not that guy! Oh. My. God. Mason-I'm-Am-Stupid-As-I-Look-Sellers, are you color blind? I said he had on a blue shirt, that was a green shirt."
"Well, excuse me. You don't have to be such a biiii," he trailed off as she shot him a menacing glare. "Utthole," he finished.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
April was going from booth to booth making sure everything was still running smoothly when she got jerked behind the moon walk.
"Ooow," she yelled and looked up at her mysterious grabber. "What the crap! Nathan! What are you doing? What, why, why are you here?"
"You said Haley didn't have a boyfriend," he spit out accusingly.
"What?"
"YOU SAID Haley didn't have a boyfriend," he repeated.
She gave him a long look, "I haven't known you that long, but I think there may be something wrong with you." He rolled his eyes. "Now what happened? And why are you here?"
"I'm here with my god-daughter," he started.
"Your god daughter? So, you don't have a daughter?"
"What? No, why would you think I had a kid?" he asked her.
"I knew it!" she said excitedly and he gave her a questioning look. "Right, ok so what happened?"
"I ran into Haley!"
"You did??!?!"
"Yes, and we were talking and some dude came up behind her and called her his girlfriend."
"Nu-uh," she retorted.
"Yeah," he said wildy.
"She doesn't have a boyfriend Nathan. I think I would know."
"Well, he doesn't know!" he practically yelled. "Look, there he is!" Nathan whispered pointing to Mason who was walking by.
"What? That's like, our best friend. In no way is he Haley's boyfriend. He's protective, he probably thought you were bothering her." He sighed loudly and she noticed he was looking a little defeated. "Nathan, you've got to just chill. . . if it's meant to happen it will."
"I know, I know. . .it's just. God," he ran his hands through his hair and sighed again, "I want to make this work so much it hurts. I was an idiot before, I can't believe I ever let her go."
She smiled at him, "Well. . . I think sometimes, you have to lose somebody completely before you know how much they really mean to you."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It was a few hour's later and the fair was pretty much over before Nathan saw Haley again. He caught her eye as he waited on Natalie. She was making a donation to the shelter and he was holding a sleeping Raegan. They locked eyes and each walked to each other.
"Hey," she told him shyly.
"Hey. . ."
"Um, earlier. . .that was just a big misunderstanding. He's not my boyfriend. He was just, he thought you were this creep that had been bothering me, but I repeat, not my boyfriend.
"I'm glad," he admitted and her heart leaped into her throat.
"You are?"
"Yes, I am."
"Well, I'm glad you're glad," she told him and giggled, actually giggled.
"Look," Nathan started and shifted from foot to foot. "Now's the point where I'd see if you want to go get some coffee or something, but . . .I'm flying out in the morning. For the wedding, and I still haven't um, packed." He grinned shamelessly. "Do you think we could get together in Tree Hill?"
"I'd love that," she told him.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
AN: Song used is "Good-Bye" by 3rd Storee. Those guys should have made it big, I adore them. AN 2: I know the Ace and April deal hasn't been cleared up yet, but it will be. . . AN3: Please review! ( I'll love ya forever. . . .
-Cap'n Kiera Sparrow- Thanks for always reviewing!
-OTHFanatic129- lOl... I hurried as fast as I could, here ya go.
-OTHForever03- Well, you don't have much longer to wait. Yep, that's right. Next chapter, destination Tree Hill, NC! Yay! (
-Jill- Heh, thanks for the loooong review, loved it. Lapril – cute, I like! I totally agree with you on the whole Luke having no interest in what kind of girl someone is. He fell for Peyton's mystique, Brooke's cleavage, and I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT HE WAS THINKING WITH THE WHOLE NIKKI THING! Gross, I shudder at the memory. Really wanting to know someone is something that is pretty awesome, so I'll have to delve into that more next chapter. I can't take credit for the donkey analogy... thank HallMark for that one, how cute is it tho? (Nowhere as cute as Nate/Luke bonding tho!) I'm putting Mason out on a loan only basis, but there's a long line. Thanks for reviewing babe!
-yngyang12- so. . . glad you liked it. ( Thanks for replying.
-OTHlover04- Thanks! Your favorite chapter? YAY! Nathan and Lucas do have siblings, Luke has Lacin, his little sister, and Nathan has Kolby, him and Peyton's little brother. I was actually already planning something along the lines of them having to keep them while the parents have plans... so be on the look out! As far as the Nate, April, and Luke hanging out – I agree it'd be to cute. But Lukie left the last chapter and went back home, so you'll have to wait for that threesome ;) till they get to Tree Hill. But you do get a little preview of it in this chapter... so enjoy! Thanks again!
-Nikki- The Naley is coming, I promise. Stick with me! ( Thanks for replying.
-cherrycheesecake- I'll forgive you for not reviewing. I do it too, or don't do it too, I guess. ANYWAY. Thanks for the review. Glad you're still enjoying it.
-Naleyfan4546- Thanks for replying, I think you were a new replier. YAY! Here's more.
LockerRoomBandit17- Thanks for both replies. You're gonna get an ass long response, sorry in advance. I was like 'Oh MY Lord' when I updated without your review. How sad is that, I've just gotten so use to it. ANYWAY. I hate when the world gets in the way of reading my fan fic's. The world can bite me, bring on the Naley. On that note, I promise you the trucks are coming. . . I PROMISE! I just don't want to bring it out when it's not time. But next chapter and every chapter from then on will have actually Naley. Actually . . .this one has some too, yay! I'd love to write you in . . .what's your (real) name and a short description? I can hook you up with one of the guy's or make you a friend of Peyton and Jake's and have you at the wedding. On the James L. note, did you see him on TRL? Everyone is talking about it and his new hair cut and I missed it. I have been searching online for pictures of it, but no luck. Dammnit. I miss OTH too. They need to start playing rerun's or something, at least. Guess what? I have a surprise for you. You talked about the lack of Naley these days, well . . .I also post on another site and they have a message board where we all post our fic's. A WHOLE SECTION devoted to Naley. TONS OF STORIES and also a NC-17 post, lol. Go to onetreehillcentral.org and click on Fanfiction board or you can go to ezboard.com and type in One Tree Hill Central for the community. My name there is BrodyJordan. It's a great little site, I love it and there are soooo many freaking wonderful stories there. Another plus, updates go up as soon as you post them unlike here, where it takes awhile. Thanks for the reply. . .ENJOY!
- Graga Serrs- Thanks for replying, it great to know people are reading. I have a fave story that I check on almost daily so the face that you do that with mine. . .WOW. Thanks again!
-Daydreamer743- Thanks for the review. . . Luke kinda melted my heart last chapter, even I did write it. (
"I got a feelin', my head's a reelin'. My heart is screaming, 'I'm about to bust loose!' Bottled up emotion, it's more than a notion. It starts with an 'I' and ends with a "You". And I got a feelin' . . . . are you feelin' it
too?"
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Chapter 10
"So, you're Nathan?" April asked as she searched his fingers for a wedding ring. When the search came up empty she got a little giddy.
He grinned and she was allowed a glimpse of what had Haley still hooked. "Guilty," he said as his baby blue's danced. "And you're April?"
"So I hear."
"Name and an attitude huh?" he joked.
"Yep."
"And people find this charming?"
"Haven't asked," she said with a grin. Luke stood back and watched the scene unfold with amusement and unfamiliarity. Not a single girlfriend, or even girl he liked, had met his family since he graduated from Tree Hill.
"So what is this place? You work here?" he asked pointing to the building in front of him.
"It's a shelter for battered women and children and they run a social work agency out of it. She's taking over as owner in January," Luke cut in.
She grinned and smiled at Luke then turned to Nathan, "I love my job, it's very rewarding."
"That's awesome," he told her then looked over at Luke and smirked before turning back to April, "Why don't you ride with us to the airport? I can bring you back by here." All the while thinking to himself, 'So I can grill you about Haley.'
April looked over at Luke who nodded his head and, "Why not?" They stepped back from the car and Luke opened the back seat door for April to climb in then followed behind her. She leaned up into the front seat and Nathan looked at her questioningly, "Don't think you're getting Haley info outta me buddy." Luke burst out laughing as she sat back and Nathan grinned shamelessly.
"Not even a little?" he prodded.
"We'll see." The rest of the ride was spent talking about random subjects until they arrived at the airport. Nathan pulled into the circle drive to drop Luke off since they were late and they all climbed out of the Tahoe.
"So. . . " Luke started as Nathan went around to the back to get his bags out for him.
"So what?" April said.
He laughed and looked at her before going semi-serious. "About the other night, I'm sorry I bolted like that. I just-"
"No, Luke. He's just-"
"It's cool," he interrupted her. "You don't have to explain. I heard a lot," he told her with a wince. "I'm just asking for a chance too ok?"
"OK," she told him as he leaned in, then suddenly Nathan was there beside them dropping the bags at Luke's feet. He leaned back then pulled her into a hug, "I'll see you in about a week." She smiled and nodded as he stepped back and shared a hug with his brother.
"Call me when you get home," Nathan told him.
"Me too," April piped up.
"I will. . . Bye guys," he told them as he left to board the plane.
Nathan opened the passenger door for April and she climbed in as he walked around to the other side and got in. They had been driving for a couple of minutes when Nathan sighed loudly, "Please" he whined.
She laughed and groaned simultaneously. "What do you want to know?"
"Anything. . . everything."
"She's happy. She's a student at –"she started then he cut in.
"Boston Law, I know. She should graduate in a year, she's at the top of her class, and she wants to specialize in family law."
April watched him amused, "Weeeellll, someone knows their Haley facts." He blushed, actually blushed and she laughed. "How about you tell me what you know and we go from there?"
"Ok. Well, uh . . . you're her roommate and best friend. That's mostly it . . . I just know the big things. She um, broke her arm sometime last year some place, um . . ."
"At a water park," she filled him in and he gave her his best 'How-The- Hell' look.
"We were goofing around in those like play thingies they have, but with water ya know? Our friend Mason, was chasing us and we ran into each other and busted our ass. She broke her arm and I had to get stitches in my knee."
He smirked. "She's always been a little accident prone. What else?" he asked as they came to a stop sign downtown.
"She used to tutor you right?"
"Yeah. Failing turned out to be the smartest thing I ever did."
"She still does it," she told him.
"She does?" he asked surprised.
"Yeah, at-"she started as she looked out the window then squealed and ducked down trying to shield herself.
Nathan looked over at her extremely amused and cleared his throat, "WHAT are you doing?"
"Look! On the sidewalk, it's Haley!" He did as he was told and laughed.
"That is not Haley."
"Yes it is."
"No, it's not and even if it was I have tinted windows."
She sat up slowly and looked out the window, "Oops," she said and smoothed out her skirt. "As I was saying," she continued like she hadn't just freaked out and basically thrown herself into the floor board, "she tutors at the Shelter. The kid's love her."
"No surprise. My little brother and Luke's little sister have always loved her too," he told her. "Does she, um, does she have a boyfriend?"
For a brief moment she considered dragging it out and making him sweat but when she saw the anxious, almost scared look on his face she knew she couldn't do it. "No."
"Really?" he asked excitedly.
"Really," she told him and noticed the huge smile that overtook his face.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Honey, I'm home!" April yelled out as she entered the apartment and made her way down the hall. She heard music coming from the study and stuck her head in to find Haley sitting in the computer chair studying for her upcoming finals. The computer was playing music lowly and April stepped back out before Haley saw her. She paused to listen to the old, familiar song as Haley sang along.
'Maybe this was my last chance, I may never get to hold your hands again. I can say that I'm a better man because you made me understand. I'm so sorry that I tore your heart apart last night and I'm sorry if I scarred you again today. I didn't mean to take your dreams and make them seem so trite. I sincerely, completely, apologize for doing what I did. Everything you told me, and everything you showed me, it never seems that I would listen to anything. But you've got my attention more than you know, I've taken it, I've dealt wit it, but I've waited too late to use it.'
Haley read over yet another study guide as she unconsciously sang along with THE Nathan c.d. She suddenly realized what she was doing and stopped reading. It was weird, cause she couldn't remember really listening to these lyrics, but she knew them well enough to sing them... she closed her eyes and let herself listen to them hoping to find the reason Nathan had chosen this song. The line "I didn't mean to take your dreams and make them seem so trite" did it for her. She remembered an exact discussion they had about college. It was some random afternoon and they had been babysitting Kolby for Deb and Larry. He was only 8 months old, but he had been particularly fussy that day so when they finally got him to sleep they were pretty beat and had snuggled up on the couch to talk. Haley had revealed to him just how much going to law school in Boston meant to her. She had visited the city countless times when she was younger because her great aunt had lived there. She had fallen in love with it and dreamed of going there ever since. So, she did and Nathan had supported it at first. Then they came home the summer after Freshman year and he had started trying to talk her into transferring to UCLA to be with him. In a moment of hot headedness he had spouted out, "I don't see what the big deal is Haley. It was just some childhood fantasy and you fulfilled it by going there your first year. Just come to UCLA with me." He had taken her dreams and made them into something trite, but he obviously realized that. She sighed and went back to her study guide, she had a lot of thinking to do when she was done with finals.
April heard the song change over to the next track and Haley had apparently gone back to reading so she walked in. "What's up best friend?"
Haley looked up, "Studying till I can't see straight. It's horrible. I think my eyes are going to rot out," she dramatized.
April laughed, "Well. . . how about I cook us some dinner and you can take a break when it's done?"
"That'd be great. So what'd you do today?"
April swallowed and her cell rang. She sent out a silent 'Thank You' to the gods for that one since it would buy her time. "Hold on," she told Haley as she glanced down at the caller ID. "Who's 341- 6283?" Haley shrugged her shoulders and April flipped her cell open. "Hello?"
"Hey. . .April?"
"Yes, whose this?" she said and took a sip out of her water bottle.
"It's Nathan," he said and she choked on the water while at the same time took back her 'Thank You' to aforementioned gods.
Haley looked up alarmed and mouthed, "Are you ok? Who is it?"
"I'm fine," she mouthed back and walked out of the room. When she reached the safety of her room she lost it, "Oh. My. God. Why are you calling me? How did you get this number?"
"Chill," he told her and was greeted back with a loud huff. He backtracked, "Sorry. I got your number from Luke. I just had a question."
"A question?" she repeated.
"Yeah, um. . . are you going to tell Haley about today?"
She hadn't really decided yet actually, but it just came out, "No."
"No?" he asked.
"No," she told him again.
"Oh." He continued, "Cause I was just trying to decide how to approach her and thinking that it might help if you broke the ice. You know, told her I was around."
She laughed," This one is all you Nathan. I'm sorry."
He huffed, "You and Luke suck."
"Heeey. . . that's not nice and not true. Well, except. . .never mind" she trailed off and his eyes widened at the almost omission.
"Well, neither is not helping me."
"Don't be such a baby you big baby."
"Mature."
"Thanks."
"Yeah."
"I better go. I was in the middle of a conversation with Haley when you called."
"Oh ok, tell her I said 'hey'," he tried.
"I'll get right on that," she told him sarcastically.
"It was worth a try, I'll talk to you later."
"Bye," she told him and hung up laughing. Nathan Scott had it bad. She walked back into the study where Haley was engrossed in her guide and said, "I'm going to start cooking. Want anything in particular?"
"Nah, just whatever. . ."
"Ok," April told her and walked out thankful she had forgotten about her earlier question. She was digging through her purse when she noticed a folded up sheet of paper. She pulled it out, unfolded it, and started to read:
'Pretty girl, I wanted you to know I'm thinking of you at this very moment. . . unless it's past my bedtime, in which case I'm dreaming about you. –Lucas'
She allowed herself a giddy smile and sighed happily.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A knock sounded on Nathan's door as he got off the phone with April and he trudged into his living room to get it. He opened the door to reveal a smiling Natalie and hyper Raegan. He smiled when he noticed her 'Lil' Baller' tee- shirt and black cotton shorts. Natalie noticed it and rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you bought that for her and I really can't believe I'm letting her wear it."
"What's wrong with it?" Nathan asked as he stepped out his door and picked Raegan up. She had her first swimming lesson tonight and she had begged her 'Natie' to go. Like he could ever say no to her.
"What's wrong with it?" she repeated incredulously.
"Yeah?" he asked as they walked down the hall and got on the elevator.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I can't wait till you have kids."
He rolled his eyes at that statement. THAT was in the distant future. "Ryan so would have bought that for her too and you know it."
"Yeah. I know," she admitted. "I guess it's kinda cute," she said looking over at her daughter bouncing around the elevator. She stopped momentarily and looked up at her mom and Uncle Nathan.
"Ryan's my daddy," she told them.
"He sure is," Nathan told her over the lump in his throat.
"And he's an angel right Mommy?" she asked innocently.
"He is sweetie. He watches over us everyday," Natalie told her as she felt Nathan put a reassuring hand on her back as if to hold her up. She smiled graciously at him and Raegan seemed to be content with the answer as she went back to hopping around. They exited the elevator when the doors opened and walked to Natalie's Accord. Nathan put Raegan into her seat and then got in the passenger seat. Natalie turned on a sing along as they pulled onto the main road.
"I'm getting off my a-s-s and doing something about Haley," he admitted to Natalie.
She glanced at him surprised before looking back to the road, "You listened to me?"
"Don't sound so surprised," he shot back. "I listen to you."
She snorted, "Rarely. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet. I made friends with her roommate though," he told her smiling.
"Awww. . . making friends! I'm so proud," she said in her 'Mommy' voice.
He rolled her eyes, "She's a cool girl. My brother's crazy about her and I think she'll help me out with Haley if I keep asking her too."
"Nate!" she said, "You need to do it on your own."
He sighed, "Why does everyone keep saying that?"
"Because it's true," she told him pointedly.
"Well-"he started.
"Save your breath, you know I'm right. Anyway. . . there's this f-a-i-r," she told him glancing in the rearview mirror checking on Raegan, "this Saturday. I'm going to take Raegan. Do you want to come with us?"
"Sure," he told her without hesitation. "Where at?"
"The park on Independence Street."
"All right."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Days Later . . . The Morning of 'A Day of Hope'
"Holy Toledo!" April yelled as she ran around the apartment manically, "We're going to be late! It's 7:30, I should already be there. You guuuuyyy's! Hurry up, puh-lease." Mason, Tyson, Ace, and Jet had all spent the night with the girl's because Haley had hypothesized they'd never make it to the fair on time unless the girl's were moving them along.
Mason stepped out of her room in boxer's and scratched his head, "Am I supposed to wear something special? Or just whatever. . ."
She rolled her eyes and tossed him a t-shirt she pulled out of a box.
"We're all matching?" he asked as he looked at the shirt in his hand's and the one April had on. It was a royal blue shirt with 'A Day of Hope' written across the front in white and the back read, "It's about reaching out to people; showing them that there's love and hope still left in this world."
"Yes," she said before reaching into the bag and pulling out three more. "Ace, Tyse, Jet . . . I've got your shirts!" she yelled down the hall. One by one they straggled in and took them from her, pulling them over their shirtless chest's. "Mason, sweetie go put some pants on."
He looked down at his boxer's with a surprised look, "Oh yeah."
"Hales?" April yelled.
"Right here," she said from behind April. She was holding a plate stacked with jelly toast and she handed them all a piece. She tossed the cordless phone to Tyson who looked like he was going to fall asleep standing up and directed, "Call Logan and Beck. . . make sure they're up."
He did as he was told and 10 minutes later they were out the door. 10 minutes after that they arrived at the park and set out setting up the fair. It was supposed to start at 10:30, which meant they had around 2 hour's. . . 2 hour's to do about 3 hour's work.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Haley Bell . . . want some help?" Jet asked as he observed the tiny girl trying to cart a box bigger than her to a table about 100 feet away.
"That'd be nice," she huffed out. He took the box from her and set it down as they reached the table. She started pulling out paints, paper plates, napkins, mirrors- the essentials for painting faces. She let out a deep sigh, "What was April thinking? I have NO artistic ability."
He laughed, "Come one, how hard could it be to do like, smiley faces, hearts, flowers. . . shit like that?"
She rolled her eyes, "I'll be sure to use that as my description for what I can do."
"Glad to be of help."
She chuckled as they fell into a comfortable silence as they unloaded the box. Haley stopped for a moment when she noticed Logan and Tyson carrying all the stereo equipment over to a stage. She allowed herself a momentary stare at Logan. Just cause they weren't dating didn't mean she shouldn't appreciate the cuteness that was Logan White right? Jet noticed her noticing and offered, "Second thoughts?"
She looked at him before laughing, "No. Nope. . . just enjoying the view. Logan's great, but not for me."
"What if he wasn't moving?"
She didn't even have to think about it. "He's not where my heart is."
"Oh, well. . . Pray tell, Ms. Haley. Where is your heart?"
"That's a secret," she told him.
"You got somebody tugging on your heart strings girl?"
"Maybe. . . hey, how'd your date go the other night?"
"Nice segue," he commented before sighing loudly. "But yeah, um, no it's not going to work out."
"Classic Jet Thomas," she stated.
"Excuse me?"
"You like her and you're bailing."
"Whatever, no I'm not."
"Right," she snorted and he sat down the paints he was holding and turned to her.
"I'm serious Hales. I'm crazy about Brett-"
She cut him off," Her name's Brett?"
"Yeah. . .why?"
She tried to choke back the chuckle that escaped, "Jet and Brett?"
He rolled his eyes, "Shut up," and continued, "Anyway. I'll always have a soft spot for her, but . . . a relationship like ours can't work. Things buried deep down are bound to come back to surface and destroy us."
She stared at him incredulously, "Did you just say something deep?"
"It's like building on ancient burial ground," he finished.
"Never mind," she said dryly. "So what, you realized that half way through the date, told her, and came home?"
"No. Realized it before I picked her up, took her out anyway, went back to her place, had sex twice. . . THEN, we talked about it and I left."
"You had sex with her?!?!"
"She started it," he retorted like a child. "And besides. . . come on, it was my high school sweetheart. We both knew it wasn't going to work out. We're totally different people now than we were then and it turns out the people we are now. . . well they're not right for each other. We broke up for a reason, we just had to remember it."
His words hit her like a ton of brick's. Being two different people, she hadn't even thought about that. She knew she had changed since high school and she knew it'd be a safe bet to say Nathan probably had too. Were they even settled enough into the person they had become to work things out? And what if, like Jet and his ex, those two people didn't fit. She sighed.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nathan sat up in his bed, disgruntled. He ran a hand threw his air and glanced around trying to locate what had woken him up. He groaned when the phone rang. . . 'Right, the phone.' He rolled to the other side of the bed and grabbed it. "Hello?" he said gruffly.
"Tell me you're ready," Natalie greeted him.
"For what?" he asked confused.
"You said you were going to that fair with me and Rae today remember?'
'Shit,' he thought. "Where's it at again? I'll meet you there."
"The park on Independence Street. Two way me when you get there," she said and hung up.
He roused himself out of the bed and got in the shower. When he climbed out a few minutes later he started to pull on a pair of old NIKE short's and a t-shirt, but changed his mind and pulled his khaki short's out of the closet, along with a green polo shirt. He slipped his shoes on as he scarfed down a pop tart and headed out the door.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Mommy! Mommy!" Raegan yelled excitedly, "It's fun Mommy! Can I have coddon candy? Where's Uncle Nafan? Can we ride the horsies? Can we bounce?"
"One thing at a time sweetie," Natalie told her. "And Uncle Nathan is on his way. What do you want to do first?"
A little boy walked by with his entire face painted green- Hulk style and Raegan pointed and yelled, "That Mommy!"
"OK. . .," she started looking around. She spotted the face painting booth and reached for her daughter's hand as they walked that way. They reached the booth and got in the shortest line. When it was Raegan's turn she shyly climbed into the seat and smiled brightly at . . . Haley.
"Hi there," Haley told her all the while thinking the little girl looked familiar. She finally chalked it up to she had probably seen her at the shelter.
"Hello," the little girl told her politely.
"You're a very pretty little girl," Haley told her.
"Thank you. Who are you?"
"Haley. Who are you?" she asked her with a laugh. At that, Natalie's eyes widened. 'Nah, it couldn't be,' she thought to herself.
"Raegan."
"Well Ms. Raegan, what would you like me to paint?"
"A heart!" she squealed. "Can I have a flower too?"
Haley laughed, "You sure can." She then looked up at Natalie and stuck out a hand, "I'm Haley and I apologize in advance, I am not artistic."
Natalie laughed," I'm Natalie and you're not alone in that." They laughed and continued to make small talk as Haley painted Raegan's face. As she was finishing up Natalie's cell beeped and she hit the two way button.
"Hey. . .are you here?"
"Yeah. I'm by the moon walk. Where are y'all?"
"Face painting, but she's basically done. We'll come to you."
"All right," he told her.
Haley turned to her with a smile, "Husband?"
Natalie gave a small smile, "No. I'm a widow actually. That was my best friend."
"I'm sorry to hear that, how long ago did your husband pass?"
"A little over 2 and ½ years, a few months after Raegan was born. I'm actually engaged now, but he's back in California. That's where we moved from."
"That's my Natie coming to meet us," Raegan piped in.
""Your Natie?"
"Mmhhm, my Natie!"
Haley laughed, "Well . . . we're done Ms. Raegan. It was nice meeting you."
"Thank you Hawee," she told her and climbed out of the seat.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Hey AnnaCate, do you see any of the guy's around?" Haley asked as the two girls took a break from face painting. It was now 2 in the afternoon and thankfully the crowd was thinning out.
"Isn't that Mason right there?" AnnaCate asked her.
"Yeah. . . Mace!" she yelled and waved him over when he looked up at her.
He jogged over, "What's up?"
"I need a favor!"
He raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"Some shady dude keeps coming over and bugging me. He's got brown hair and has on a blue shirt, if you see him over here, can you just like. . . I don't know. Come over and act like my boyfriend or something. Pllleeeassee," she begged.
"Of course," he told her without thinking about it. "I'll just be right there," he told her pointing to the dunking booth.
"You're getting in the dunking booth?" she asked excitedly.
"Not till 4 and did you totally miss the fact that I'm helping you out?"
"Nooooo," she told him innocently.
"Well don't sound so excited about dropping me into ice cold water please," he whined.
"Ooooh, is Beck getting in there?" AnnaCate asked as she noticed her fiancé walking that way.
"He is," Mason told her with a smirk.
"I'll be back after I dunk my fiancé," she told them walking off.
They both laughed and Mason once again pointed toward the booth, "Right over there ok?"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Natie," Reagan started pulling on his shirt, "You want to meet my friend? She's niiiiiiice!"
"Yeah," he said distractedly as he noticed a girl run by him, 'Was that April?'
"OK!" she yelled and grabbed his hand dragging him off.
"I'm going to find a bathroom Nate," Natalie told him.
"All right, we're going . . .um, somewhere," he said and then struggled to keep up with Raegan who had taken off running.
She laughed, "OK."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Haley was perfectly content sitting in her chair leaned back with her leg's propped up on the table she was using to sit all the supplies on. Her and AnnaCate had begged Beck to go buy them a battery powered fan and he had given in. She was now leaning back, soaking in the breeze. She momentarily mused it'd be nice to be able to dress like this every day, in a t-shirt and short white cotton short's, but that probably wasn't going to be allowed as a lawyer. 'Oh well.'
"Ooomhp," she grunted out as she felt someone run into her leg's and giggle. She pushed her sunglasses on her head and opened one eye, "Raegan?"
"Hey Hawee," she said and attempted to crawl into her lap.
"Where's your Mom?" she asked as she pulled the little girl into her lap.
"She had to tinkle," she whispered, "I'm with Nafan."
Nathan had caught up to Raegan as she reached the face painting booth and in his delight at not losing his god-daughter he hadn't paid much attention to the young woman she had ran into it. At First. Then he did, and he was pretty sure his brain had just lost all function. He had come up to the side of them then took a step behind them so neither one had noticed him yet. He tried to coach himself into breathing. He took a few steps closer and once again, tried to think of something, anything to say. He couldn't exactly leave Haley with Raegan while he ran to get advice from Natalie. Actually, he could, but Natalie would kill him. Turns out he didn't have to say anything because Raegan noticed him.
"Nafan," she yelled, "This is my friend Hawee!"
Haley stood and switched Raegan to her hip, then turned at the introduction. Her knees went a little weak and Nathan must have noticed, because he reached out and gently took her arm.
"Hi," he said huskily.
"Hi," she repeated. 'Holy crap, Raegan is the little girl from the park with Nathan!' she thought. Raegan reached her little arms out to Nathan, so she handed him over.
"I'm Nathan," he joked with a twinkle in his eye.
"I'm Haley. Nice to meet you Nathan," she said with the hugest grin on her face. Somewhere between the "Hi"'s and fake introductions her train of thought went something like this: 'They were meeting Natalie's best friend here. Raegan's dad died and Natalie's a widow, but she's engaged now . . .but he's in California! Oh. My. God. This is not Nathan's little girl. Yes! Yes! Yes! Holy freaking yes!'
"How ya been Hales?" he asked as he set Raegan down and she began to run circles around them.
"I've been good, what about you?"
"Pretty good," he told her.
Natalie had found them and about had a coronary when she realized her earlier guess that 'Hawee' might actually by Haley was right. She had picked her daughter up and pointed over to the horse ride's and Nathan had just nodded and went back to Haley.
"So. . ." he started, but was cut off.
"Baby, hey! There you are, I've been looking for you. How's my beautiful girlfriend?" Mason said as he came up behind Haley and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her eyes widened to about the size of saucer's and she just stared at Nathan.
"He's joking," Haley stated.
"No, I'm not," Mason shot out.
He looked at her confused and then, "I better get back to Raegan, see you later Hales."
"No, Nathan. . .," she started but it was to late and he was walking away. Again. She briefly considered following him, but then she couldn't move due to Mason's arms wrapped around her. Mason. She jerked away and spun around lightly slapping his chest, "What are you doing?" she huffed and added, "Dumb ass!"
He gave her a confused look. "What! You told me to come over here if that guy bothered you Haley!"
"Not that guy! Oh. My. God. Mason-I'm-Am-Stupid-As-I-Look-Sellers, are you color blind? I said he had on a blue shirt, that was a green shirt."
"Well, excuse me. You don't have to be such a biiii," he trailed off as she shot him a menacing glare. "Utthole," he finished.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
April was going from booth to booth making sure everything was still running smoothly when she got jerked behind the moon walk.
"Ooow," she yelled and looked up at her mysterious grabber. "What the crap! Nathan! What are you doing? What, why, why are you here?"
"You said Haley didn't have a boyfriend," he spit out accusingly.
"What?"
"YOU SAID Haley didn't have a boyfriend," he repeated.
She gave him a long look, "I haven't known you that long, but I think there may be something wrong with you." He rolled his eyes. "Now what happened? And why are you here?"
"I'm here with my god-daughter," he started.
"Your god daughter? So, you don't have a daughter?"
"What? No, why would you think I had a kid?" he asked her.
"I knew it!" she said excitedly and he gave her a questioning look. "Right, ok so what happened?"
"I ran into Haley!"
"You did??!?!"
"Yes, and we were talking and some dude came up behind her and called her his girlfriend."
"Nu-uh," she retorted.
"Yeah," he said wildy.
"She doesn't have a boyfriend Nathan. I think I would know."
"Well, he doesn't know!" he practically yelled. "Look, there he is!" Nathan whispered pointing to Mason who was walking by.
"What? That's like, our best friend. In no way is he Haley's boyfriend. He's protective, he probably thought you were bothering her." He sighed loudly and she noticed he was looking a little defeated. "Nathan, you've got to just chill. . . if it's meant to happen it will."
"I know, I know. . .it's just. God," he ran his hands through his hair and sighed again, "I want to make this work so much it hurts. I was an idiot before, I can't believe I ever let her go."
She smiled at him, "Well. . . I think sometimes, you have to lose somebody completely before you know how much they really mean to you."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It was a few hour's later and the fair was pretty much over before Nathan saw Haley again. He caught her eye as he waited on Natalie. She was making a donation to the shelter and he was holding a sleeping Raegan. They locked eyes and each walked to each other.
"Hey," she told him shyly.
"Hey. . ."
"Um, earlier. . .that was just a big misunderstanding. He's not my boyfriend. He was just, he thought you were this creep that had been bothering me, but I repeat, not my boyfriend.
"I'm glad," he admitted and her heart leaped into her throat.
"You are?"
"Yes, I am."
"Well, I'm glad you're glad," she told him and giggled, actually giggled.
"Look," Nathan started and shifted from foot to foot. "Now's the point where I'd see if you want to go get some coffee or something, but . . .I'm flying out in the morning. For the wedding, and I still haven't um, packed." He grinned shamelessly. "Do you think we could get together in Tree Hill?"
"I'd love that," she told him.
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AN: Song used is "Good-Bye" by 3rd Storee. Those guys should have made it big, I adore them. AN 2: I know the Ace and April deal hasn't been cleared up yet, but it will be. . . AN3: Please review! ( I'll love ya forever. . . .