A/N: Enjoy. Please review!

Chapter 11: The Morning After

Haley was beginning to gain consciousness; slowly she could feel herself waking up. She could also feel her head resting on a shoulder and arm wrapped around her. Her skin was hot but she could feel a breeze coming from somewhere and she had to admit it felt nice. She was of course still naked. She took a minute to just enjoy the feel of the breeze on her back and the arm wrapped around her. Then she opened her eyes, at first all she could think was that the room was really bright. Then she looked up at Nathan he was still fast asleep. Haley could remember everything from the previous night, but before she could let herself feel panicked, she knew she had to get back to her room before someone else in the house saw her and Nathan. Gently she began to shift out of his hold, which proved to be more difficult than she had expected, because Nathan kept pulling her closer to him every time she moved. Eventually she managed to slip out of his arms and was grateful when he kept sleeping. She stood up and looked around the room, her underwear was here but she realised that her clothes were still out by the pool. She quickly put her underwear back on and then spotted a top of Nathan's, she threw that on and then went to the glass doors that lead out to the pool deck. She quietly slid the door open, as soon as she stepped outside she groaned. She was hungover as hell, and the brightness outside wasn't helping. She looked around, her clothes, Nathan's clothes and the back pack was still outside. She quickly and quietly grabbed it all and then she went back inside Nathan's room. He was still sound asleep and as he turned, the sheet he had wrapped around him, shifted a bit and Haley could suddenly see all of his chest and stomach muscles. Wow, he was hot Haley thought to herself and then mentally scolded herself. Now was not the time to be thinking of these things, the others would be awake soon enough and she didn't want to run into them leaving Nathan's room. She changed back into her clothes, left Nathan's top and clothes on a chair and then left the room still holding the back pack. She mentally kicked herself when she realised she hadn't left the back pack in his room. She opened it and saw the alcohol and baked goods in it, she went to the kitchen put the box of the baked goods on the counter, she took the alcohol out, was surprised to see how much they had actually drunk and then put the bottles back in the fridge. She then froze as she thought she heard a door open upstairs, instinctively she decided to go back to Nathan's room, she opened his door and shut it behind her leaning against it. She dropped the back pack on the floor and closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking a deep breath to calm down. She could hear the door upstairs open and close again. This would be a good time to go back to my room. Haley had her hand on the handle when a voice stopped her.

'Hales?' Nathan had mumbled out; she turned around to see that he was half sitting up and staring at her. Haley opened her mouth to say something, shook her head and then just opened the door and left. She went straight for the stairs, wishing she had picked the other room on the downstairs level. She reached her room door and had just opened it when Brooke's and Lucas's door swung open. She raced into her room, shut her door and locked it. She didn't think they had seen her but her heart was racing. As she started to calm down, her thoughts about last night started to overrun her mind. What the hell had she done? She wasn't supposed to have sex again like this? And with NATHAN? She tried to stop the thoughts and entered her bathroom, she figured a shower would help with getting her head together and to help ease the hangover. She was right as soon as the water hit her she felt better about things. So she had a moment weakness, it was the alcohol. The next time she had sex it would be with someone who meant the world to her or who she was marrying. How was she supposed to act with Nathan now? Normal, go back to how it was a month ago before Nathan somehow became more involved in your life. She began to shampoo her hair and firmly decided that yes she would just act with Nathan how she used to before he saved her from Drew, meaning barely acknowledging each other. A pang of disappointment hit her when she decided that but she pushed it aside, she stepped right into the cascading water and closed her eyes. Letting the shampoo run out of her hair, as she did her mind went back to the previous evening and she could feel Nathan touching her and she could feel what she had felt last night all over again. The sex had been electrifying and she had enjoyed every moment she had spent with Nathan last night. She groaned what the hell was going on with her? She turned off the water to the shower, stepped out and got dressed. She wanted to leave the cabin, needed to before she had to face Nathan, she wasn't ready for that. She wasn't sure if she ever would be ready for that!

Lucas woke up and pulled Brooke closer to him; he placed a kiss on her shoulder and then trailed kisses up her neck to her cheek. She stirred and turned around in his arms.

'Morning pretty,' Lucas said to her and she smiled. He leaned down then and pulled her into a proper kiss. She giggled and broke apart from him, she felt stiff but in a good kind of way.

'We should probably leave the room this morning,' Brooke paused and wrapped her arms around Luke's neck. 'And I really want breakfast.'

'Mmm, in a little bit.' Luke said and kissed her once again. The kiss was getting pretty intense when Brooke heard a noise.

'What is that?' She asked breaking apart from Lucas. He shrugged.

'Someone's probably awake,' he said trying to kiss her again but she playfully moved away from them.

'Ok then, I'm going to go shower and would you please make us some coffee?' Brooke asked him in the sweetest voice she could muster. Lucas laughed.

'Sure.' They both got out of bed and as Brooke went into the bathroom, Luke left the room, he could have sworn he had seen Haley's door shut as he left his. He figured she had probably just been downstairs getting something from the kitchen. He thought nothing more of it and went to make coffee for him and Brooke. His thoughts went to the previous day, it had been incredible. They had spent the rest of the day in the room, having sex, sometimes just talking, they even watched a movie on his laptop and then they had fallen asleep. It was the best day Luke had had, well, ever. The way Brooke made him feel, was something he had never felt before. He couldn't explain it but he was so glad he had found her.

Nathan emerged from his shower and went to the mirror, he looked and felt a lot better. He kept replaying the previous evening in his head. He wanted to blame being completely hammered on what had happened between him and Haley but he knew that wasn't the case. That swim had sobered him up, maybe not completely, but enough that he knew exactly what he had been doing. Sure the alcohol had lowered his inhibitions and let him finally just kiss Haley like he had wanted too. But it had escalated and he was surprised; that part of the evening he could not forget or deny. He had never felt anything like that before, none of his other experiences had been like that, every time she touched him it was like she set his nerves on fire. He didn't want her to stop and he didn't want to stop touching, feeling, tasting her. Sex had never felt like that before for him. It was intense and the pleasure was indescribable. He didn't know why, but he knew it wasn't the alcohol. He had had sex before after partying and drinking and it wasn't anything like last night. A month ago Haley had barely been on his radar, and now she was there and Nathan had a feeling he wouldn't be able to shake her off it. Except there was one nagging thought playing on his mind, he had seen her face when he called her name this morning, the look on her face was a combination of terror and embarrassment. That was not a look of someone who wanted to acknowledge what had happened the previous evening. I'm going to have a hell of a time convincing her last night wasn't a bad thing. The thought shocked him a bit, realising that he wanted her not to view last night as a terrible thing. He got dressed and left the room, he would need to find some time to talk to her alone. He could hear voices coming from the kitchen, as he entered he saw Brooke, Lucas, Peyton and Jake. They had coffee and were eating some of the baked goods Nathan and Haley had gotten last night. He was painfully aware that Haley was not with them.

'Morning,' he said and chorus of mornings came back to him. He flinched a bit, he was hungover and all the voices didn't help.

'We were thinking of heading down for a proper breakfast,' Peyton began and packed her and Jake's coffee mugs in the dishwasher the cabin had. 'But we were waiting for you and Haley.' Nathan suddenly felt nervous.

'Have you seen her?' Brooke added.

'Who?' Nathan asked trying to keep his voice calm. He knew who they meant.

'Haley!' Brooke exclaimed in frustration. 'We checked her room but she wasn't there.'

'She's probably gone for a morning hike,' Luke added in. Nathan doubted that, no one felt like hiking after a night of drinking. His eyes shifted to Jake and Peyton who looked a lot happier, Jake had his hands wrapped around Peyton's waist and she was smiling up at him.

'Listen, let's just go,' Brooke started and took a hold of Luke's hands. 'We will text her and let her know where we are and we can bring her something back or come back and get her. It's a quick drive.' The other three nodded and Nathan just stayed still. He wasn't enjoying seeing all the happy couples when he felt like he did. He wanted to stay behind and find Haley but he thought better of it; she would have been here if she wanted to see them... see him. Also having coffee and greasy breakfast would at least get rid of his hangover. They piled into the car and made the short drive down to the restaurant they had been having breakfast at since they had arrived.

'Haley!' Brooke exclaimed as they entered the cute little restaurant. She pointed at a booth in the back. Everyone turned and they were surprised to see Haley sitting there with her face in her hands. They walked over to her and everyone piled into the booth. Brooke and Lucas slipped in next to her, Nathan was opposite her and Jake and Peyton was next to him. She looked up as they joined her and gave them a small smile.

'What are you doing here?' Brooke asked her cheerily. 'We texted you!'

'Oh,' Haley began to fidget with hands. 'I wanted breakfast and I left my phone at the cabin. Sorry.' It was true to a degree she had wanted breakfast but she had also wanted sometime to clear her head.

'How did you get here?' It was Peyton who had asked.

'I walked.' Haley said flatly. Peyton was about to say something else but was interrupted when a waitress came and handed Haley an iced coffee, huge glass of water and a stack of pancakes with strawberries. She looked at the five new people sitting with Haley went off and returned a moment later with menus. They all quickly placed orders as Haley started to eat her pancakes. She was feeling nervous and purposefully avoiding looking at Nathan even though she could feel his gaze on her. A silence had fallen between all of them. Haley glanced up and was surprised to see that Brooke was also staring at her.

'You two,' she said pointing at Haley and Nathan, 'look hungover.' Haley flinched at the words. There was no point in denying it they would see the alcohol in the fridge.

'That's because we are,' Haley said and watched the grin spread across Brooke's face.

'We did a lot of shots last night,' Nathan added and for the first time Haley glanced at him briefly. It sparked a tiny bit of relief in him.

'Really now?' Brooke exclaimed and leaned forward. 'Tell us what happened.' Haley looked lost for words so Nathan decided to answer.

'Well, we had to do something,' he pointed at Brooke and Lucas, 'well you two were busy in your room,' he paused and pointed at Jake and Peyton. 'And these two were busy sorting out things. We were bored so we drank together.' Luke had flushed a bit at Nathan's word but Brooke looked unabashed.

'Yeah sorry about that,' Brooke said cheerily.

'Don't be, I had fun with Haley.' Nathan said causing Haley to glance back up at him, he could see a slight flush forming across her cheeks.

'Really-' Brooke began but Haley interrupted her.

'I'm glad to see you two sorted out things out.' Haley said to Peyton and Jake. They turned to smile at each other and Jake kissed Peyton on the cheek.

'Yeah, it took nearly all of last night,' Jake said. 'But we're good now.' Just then the waitress arrived and started handing out drinks and food to the others. A silence fell as everyone began to eat. Nathan who had ordered, scrambled eggs, bacon and pancakes, ate for a few minutes without looking at anything but his food. It was painful sitting across from Haley being unable to talk to her. Just then they both looked up at each other. Nathan had a pleading look in his eyes; Haley could feel her whole body tense. She wanted to leave the restaurant but it would spur too many questions. Nathan opened his mouth to say something but Haley gave a small shake of her head. Small talk had started up at the table again. Brooke and Peyton were talking about some band and Luke and Jake were talking about basketball practice. Nathan was itching to reach out to Haley. She had finished eating and was just sitting there quietly.

'How are you feeling?' Nathan asked her casually, the question was neutral enough. Haley looked a bit taken aback but held Nathan's gaze.

'I'm ok,' she said and rubbed the back of her neck. 'Breakfast helped a lot.' Nathan leaned a bit forward.

'You were gone this morning-' Nathan had begun a bit quieter.

'Nathan,' Haley said firmly, the start of his question wouldn't raise suspicion as she had left before all of them but she knew the underlying the message. 'I think I'm going to get some Aspirin.' She said the last part a bit louder than was necessary. She turned to Brooke and Lucas. 'Sorry guys, do you mind letting me out so I can run and get some Aspirin from the supermarket?' Brooke smiled at her and laughed.

'Not at all,' Brooke replied cheekily. She was enjoying seeing a hungover Haley. They both slipped out of the booth and she quickly left. As soon as she was outside she felt better, she had began walking to the store when she felt someone grab her arm. She jumped and turned around to see Nathan.

'Nathan, what are you doing?'

'I told them I wanted some stuff from the store too,' he looked at Haley seriously, he hadn't let go of her arm. 'Haley, we have to talk about last night.'

'There is nothing to talk about, Nathan.'

'Yes there is, Hales. We slept-'

'I know what we did, Nathan!' Haley snapped. 'And we shouldn't have.'

'Why?!'

'Why? Isn't that obvious?' Haley's voice was shaking a bit. 'I'm not a one night stand girl, Nathan. Sex is a big deal to me. It wasn't… I wasn't-' she stopped talking. Nathan was looking at her full of concern.

'You weren't what, Hales?' he took a step closer to her and pulled her a bit closer to him.

'The next time I wanted to have sex it was supposed to be important,' she paused shifting uncomfortably. His grip on her arm tightened. 'Not some drunken night with the universities biggest-' she cut herself off again. She took a deep breath. 'We just need to pretend nothing happened, go back to how things were.' Nathan was stung by her words. Regret for last night was attached to every word she was saying.

'I don't want to pretend anymore, Hales.' Nathan said flatly. 'For a month we've pretended like we haven't been interacting, every time Brooke asked me something about you I brushed it off, but last night. I won't pretend about that.'

'You don't have a choice!' Haley bit out and yanked her arm out of his grasp. She looked at Nathan and could see the agitation etched into his features. 'You don't get it, last night was a mistake. There's nothing else to it.'

'Haley,' Nathan shot her a look. 'did you not feel anything last night?'

'I felt drunk.' Haley responded sharply. She felt so much more last night but she wasn't about to admit that. She didn't understand why Nathan wasn't willing to just let this go, brush it off. She had been sure he would have agreed to pretend like nothing happened.

'Right.' Was all Nathan said, he gave her one last look. It was filled with frustration and exasperation. He shook his head and turned around, walking straight back for the restaurant. Haley watched him go and had to take a few deep breaths. Then she turned around and went to buy Aspirin.

Nathan's mood progressively got worst as the day went on; they had decided to head back to university in the late afternoon. So when they had returned he had immediately gone and packed and then watched TV, waiting for when they could leave. He hadn't spoken to Haley since the morning and she had made sure she hadn't been anywhere around him either. He tried to stop himself from thinking about last night but the attempt was futile. He sighed and settled down hoping to be distracted by some TV.

Brooke was busy packing up, her and Luke wanted to go for one more walk before they left, so they had decided to pack first. Lucas was downstairs busy helping Jake with something. She had just packed a top back into her bag when she heard a phone begin to ring. She looked at the dressing table, it was Luke's phone. She shrugged and walked over to it. She didn't check the caller I.D. and merely answered the call.

'Hey babe,' were the first two words Brooke heard before she could say anything. She froze and then shook her head she probably just heard wrong but then the female voice spoke again. 'Babe? Babe, are you there?' Brooke didn't say a word. She just ended the call. She hadn't heard wrong. Some girl had just called Luke's phone and called him Babe. A term that was in no way platonic. Her heart was racing and so was her pulse. She went to the call logs and checked the recent calls, the girl who had just called was saved as Hannah. Brooke threw the phone on the bed. She could not believe this. She was stupid to think Luke was different. That he wasn't just like every other guy. And she had had sex with him. Why! She threw everything else into her bag and left the room, slamming the door behind her. She went downstairs and walked straight past Lucas not saying anything. She would have her chance but right now she just wanted to leave. She found Nathan sitting on the couch looking just as miserable as she currently felt. She sat down next to him and for a moment felt a sense of familiarity that comforted her. He looked at her when she sat down and he could immediately tell something was wrong.

'What's wrong, Brooke?' Nathan asked her concerned.

'I want to leave,' she paused. 'Now!' she added desperately.

'Did Luke do something?'

'Yes.' The anger in her voice was evident.

'Do I need to beat him up?' Nathan asked seriously and it made Brooke give a small laugh.

'Can we just leave?' she asked him pleadingly.

'I think I want to leave almost as much as you do,' Nathan said turning the TV off.

'Why?' Brooke asked him curiously. He didn't say anything he merely pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

'I will go tell the boys,' Nathan said standing up. 'You get Haley and Peyton.' Brooke nodded and stood up.

'Thank you.' Brooke said and went to go find Haley. There was some confusion as to why they were suddenly leaving earlier. They only real resistance to the change of plans came from Jake and Peyton. Haley immediately agreed and Lucas quickly realised Brooke was angry at him. He had tried talking to her but she told him to leave her alone and then Nathan ran interference. Two minutes later they had convinced Jake and Peyton and the two had gone to pack quickly. Brooke stood outside with Haley. They had their bags packed in the car already.

'What happened?' Haley asked Brooke, she could tell she was upset. Brooke rehashed the story and Haley listened with some horror.

'What the hell is wrong with guys?' Haley said and then realised she may have some misplaced anger and that she knew Luke better than that. She sighed. 'Listen, Brooke, when you calm down just confront him about it. At least give him the chance to explain.' Brooke sighed in frustration but agreed.

'I just need to some space first,' Brooke said sadly. 'What's wrong with you?' she asked a second later. 'And don't say nothing because you look upset and Nathan looks miserable. What happened?'

'You know us too well,' Haley replied she had been trying really hard to act happy and normal. 'If you don't mind, I don't feel like talking about it.'

'I do mind,' Brooke countered. 'Did Nathan do something?' Haley shook her head alarmed.

'We just…' she paused looking for the right words. 'Had a misunderstanding.' Brooke didn't question Haley any further. She figured she would find out when they were ready to tell her. She thought that maybe they just needed to do some damage control first. A minute later Brooke and Haley climbed into a backseat of the car together. Nathan and Luke had come out and packed their stuff in the car and then they climbed in the front of it. Jake and Peyton were the last to come out.

'Is it just me,' Peyton said to Jake as they walked towards the car. 'But do the four of them look almost as unhappy as we were at the start of this trip?'

'Something definitely happened,' Jake replied back agreeing with Peyton. 'They all seem to be upset and angry.' Peyton gave a small laugh.

'Isn't it ironic that we're leaving as the happy ones?' Peyton said and Jake smiled at her and gave her a small kiss.

'Probably,' he said as he packed their bags in the car. 'but I'm glad we aren't as unhappy as they all are.'

'Or that we have to deal with whatever they are dealing with.' Peyton added they walked around the one side of the car.

'What do you think is upsetting Haley and Nathan?' Peyton asked before they got into the car. She found it strange that something would have upset them this weekend. Jake looked at the two and thought of the looks he noticed passing between them at breakfast this morning.

'To be honest, I think Haley and Nathan are upset with each other.' Jake finally said and opened the door for Peyton. She got into the car and considered Jake's words. She didn't know what happened between any of them this weekend but looking at them at all now she knew that the next few days, possibly weeks, were going to be stormy ones for the four of them.