Each Other's Comfort

It's been a hella long time, I know. Life is crazy that way when you're mixing business and pleasure. I'm finally in a groove, so if anybody's still interested, here is the latest chapter of this ridiculous love story. I'm truly sorry for the wait, guys and thank you for the continual support.

Please read and review, if you like.

CAli

Ch.11 - How Things Change

6:00 p.m. - Nathan and Haley's Apartment

Nathan sighed as he looked back to Haley's door and then to the TV again. He was getting a little antsy and his eyes flicked up to the digital clock on the cable box to check the time once again. Literally two minutes had passed before he last checked. He sighed again as he scraped his fork against his plate and guided a piece of beef patty to his mouth. He chewed twice before he looked back to Haley's closed door again.

It wasn't as if he didn't want to eat by himself. He's done that plenty of times but tonight was one of the rare moments where he and Haley were free in the evening. The only glimpse he saw of her was when she cooked his dinner then slugged her way to her bedroom and quietly shut the door. He hasn't seen her that much this week but the few times he had, she's disappearing back to her room. The second time he noticed and asked what's wrong, she simply shrugged and said Chris.

Her boyfriend's name made him growl. The fucking motherfucker was making his best friend depressed and he wanted to dislocate his jaw. And break his dick if he had the chance. The last couple of months Haley had been on an up-and-down roller coaster of emotions. There were times where Chris ravaged her with attention and praise and she was so happy. Then he would go on binges and completely ignore her. Not one fucking text message to let her know he was working late or wasn't going to be in town like he said he would. Those days had her in a funk.

He was about to get to his breaking point and confront Chris himself. His best friend didn't deserve this treatment and he also couldn't understand why she was putting up with his blasé attitude. He was all for attacking the men in her life but not her. He would go up and down kicking a guy's ass verbally and physically for making his best friend insecure in any type of way. This time, if he ever saw Chris, he'd put him in the hospital for what he was doing to Haley.

Part of him wanted to yell at Haley also for acting so dependent but he would never have the heart. Chris was something to her and as much as she wasn't acting herself, she was still happy with the douche. He couldn't interfere with her happiness even if she was making herself sick. The very concern made his stomach clench and he had to pause on his dinner.

After a long swig of his water and a couple coughs, he sighed and looked over his shoulder again. He had no idea why he expected the door to open and turned back to the blank TV feeling disappoint again. He stared off in silence and balanced his fork between two fingers as he stayed completely still.

She would never be depressed if she was my girl.

As soon as the thought was completed, Nathan shook his head as if the action physically erased the inappropriate thought. He coughed again before he resumed eating his dinner. Ignorance of what he just thought was best.

Even if he's been thinking the exact thing for several weeks now.

Noon - Haley and Nathan's Apartment

"Hales?" Nathan asked, as he peeked his head inside her room.

"Yeah, Nate?" Haley's tired voice mumbled.

"You wanna get out of bed?"

"No."

He sighed. "For me? I got a surprise you."

"Nate."

"Hales, come on!" He ventured more into her room and found himself sitting next to her on her bed. "This isn't healthy and you know it."

"You think I like feeling this way?"

"No, so why are you doing it?"

"I don't know!"

There was a tense silence. It was very rare when she lashed at him and the few times it happened left an uneasy feeling in each other's stomach. They always hated being upset with each other and this time was no different. Haley visibly deflated back into her bed and sighed as she fully turned onto her back. He hung his head low and sighed also.

"I'm sorry," Nathan broke the silence.

"No, I'm sorry," she sighed. "I honestly don't know why I'm like this, Nate. It's just…"

"You're in love with him."

She sighed. "I'm so stupid."

"Hey, you're not!" He said, fiercely. "He makes you feel happy, I get it. But this whole depressed thing when he's not around? I'm getting worried. He's not treating you great when you're like this."

"I know, it's just… it's hard to concentrate when he's not talking to me. I sometimes feel like I did something wrong, like I was focused more on something other than him and that upset him."

"You shouldn't revolve your life around his mood swings. There's nothing wrong with being focused on other things, especially when he's not around."

"I know, Nate! I know what I'm doing is stupid but I just can't help it. I haven't heard from him in two weeks."

"Two weeks you've spent in bed straight. I mean, are you even going to class?"

"Of course I am!"

"Look, you love him. I know. But do you love him more than me?"

"You know you're my first love, Nathan. Don't be ridiculous."

"So, do me this favor and get out bed. I have a surprise for you."

A beat as she stared in his eyes and for a split second he felt his breath catch. He didn't dare reveal himself, though. This had nothing to do with how he was feeling as of late, but to make his best friend feel better about herself and get her out of this depressive funk.

"Okay, she said."

1:30 p.m. - Trilogy Spa

"Manhattan Beach?" Haley asked. "We never go here."

"Which is why it'll be so special," Nathan smirked.

"What is so special?"

"You'll see. Patience, babe."

A few minutes later and cussing at several cars, Nathan pulled in a private parking lot and grinned to himself as Haley deeply frowned.

"A spa?" She asked.

"The best in the area, according to Yelp."

"Why are we in a spa?"

"I need you know why. You need your mind off Chris and obviously relaxed."

"This place looks expensive. Go back."

"I drove over an hour. I'm not going back."

"Nathan, we can barely afford this place."

"Who said anything about we? I'm paying. I can afford this place."

"Since when?" Haley asked incredulously, whipping her head to stare at him.

He smiled. "Gotta love sports scholarships."

She groaned. "Nate, seriously. I don't know about this."

He sighed. "Why are you fighting me on this?"

"Because this is like, way out of our league. This is like, stuck-up status. We mock these people!"

"But you deserve to be pampered. And if the best is stuck-up status, then we'll put our obnoxious pride aside and live like them for one day."

She exhaled a long breath and side-eyed him. "Nate…"

He mocked her, "Hales…"

"I don't know," she said after a beat.

"Haley, seriously! Let me do this. You've been in funk for weeks and you need your mind off Chris. This place will do it, I guarantee it."

Silence engulfed them as Haley stalled with an internal monologue that he knew she was going through. She nibbled on a corner of her bottom lip as her eyes focused straight ahead. Her hands wrangled together in her lap.

"Please?" He said after several minutes of her silence.

She turned to him and exasperatedly sighed at his puppy-dog look.

"You know that's not fair," she said. "I can never say no to that look."

"You know I'm right," he grinned.

"Fine!"

4:00 p.m. - Trilogy Spa

"Oh, my god," Haley practically groaned. "I will never fight you on this ever again."

Nathan genuinely smiled. He spent a few minutes just watching her actually relaxing and letting the petite woman sensually massage her shoulders. He had to look away after several minutes because he felt like a complete creeper when his eyes started to focus on her back muscles arching every time the masseuse worked out a kink. Her moans didn't help, either.

His session was done almost an half hour ago and he was just waiting on Haley to finish hers to move on to the next portion of the spa package. Both of theirs were supposed to be an hour long session but Haley requested an extra half-hour block and Nathan broke out a huge grin when the masseuse told him. He happily agreed to the extra charge and charmed his way to sit through the rest of his best friend's session.

Haley let out another moan, although it seemed more guttural to his ears and it made him turn his eyes back to her. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to school his face even though he knew there was some sort of giveaway. He knew his eyes zoned on her taut stomach that seemed to slo-mo the ripples as she breathed through her stretch. He wasn't for sure if his eyes glazed over, his breaths turned labor, or his lips dried and drool threatened to drizzle down his chin, but he hoped to God it was subtle.

There's always been an attraction between them; that much he's always admitted. But lately, it seems things had been amplified for him. He's noticing more things about his best friend that made her more beautiful, even when he thought it was impossible. The girl was so amazing, incredible, and gorgeous inside and out and he absolutely loved and adored her.

In that friend way, though.

They've always been friends. Their bond, it was more than that trite concept of friends with benefits. Nathan and Haley; that's always been their title. Friends who had the rapport of soul mates but never had the urge to make that transition from friends to lovers. There was no reason to, you know? There was just something about Haley that was special and vice versa to her about Nathan that was just more than friends and lovers. They didn't need to be both but they were. Nathan could look at her and just knew that he loved her. And he saw the same look reflect in her eyes every time she looked at him. There was just something that didn't need to be explained about them. They accepted the unexplained bond that was just on a higher level then any relationship definition or boundary.

But something was changing for him. He felt it every time he looked at her. It was like all his previous feelings towards Haley were evolving. He was noticing different things about her that made him feel like a dick for not being observant before until now. He would get mad at himself because he should've known these things in their ten-plus-year friendship. Like how she wore her hair depending on her mood or how her bottom lip was slightly more plumper and jutted out predominantly when she felt inspired. Or when her eyes sparkled in the light and the color melted into a soft cocoa and he literally felt emotion behind them.

Now he thought about it, her eyes never shined until she saw Chris, and that was rare nowadays.

The subconscious thought had him automatically clenching his fist. The fucking bastard didn't deserve his best friend if all he cared about was his art and his girlfriend second. Haley never came second place, even to his basketball. Always, their friendship was their number one priority. He never understood how anyone couldn't see how the woman in front of him deserved someone's divided attention and worship. Once again, he thought how if she was with him, Haley would felt like she owned the world every day.

He shook his head. He needed to stop thinking like that. Haley wasn't his girl, she was his best friend.

"Nathan!" Haley's voice boomed through his zone.

Nathan did a double-take and blinked his eyes several times before Haley's amused face focused in his eyesight. He was embarrassed but Scotts never showed that type of emotion so he made a strong-willed mental note to keep the same facial expression. Her eyebrows crinkled for a split second and his heart fluttered that she was able to know the difference in his mood by facial expression. Just like he knew hers by her eyes. Did Chris even know when she was upset but trying to hide it? He highly doubt it since he was never around to make her feel special. Was it possible to feel his blood pressure literally rise to the surface of his skin?

"Yes, Hales?" He asked, making sure his tone was light.

"Can you answer my phone? It's right by you."

"Yeah, no problem."

He gave her a wink and she gave him his smile before she relaxed back into her massage. Finally, he thought, she's happy. A small smile stayed stitched as he reached over to Haley's pile of clothes and fished her phone out of the back pocket of her shorts. He turned the phone on and noticed an email notification.

"It's an email," he said.

Haley gave him a noncommittal moan and he looked up with a quick quirk of his eyebrow when he noticed she wasn't even paying attention to him. She gave a louder moan and he cleared his throat before he focused on her phone in his hands. He cannot be thinking about her like that.

With his sole focus on her phone, Nathan typed her numerical password and swiped down on the touchscreen and read that the email was from Haley's advanced musical technology professor with an alarming subject line. He read the opening sentence that the phone allowed in the notification bar and his brows furrowed deep. He couldn't swallow the lump in his throat.

"Hales?" He asked, his voice lower and deeper even to his own ears.

"Yeah?"

He closed his eyes when it sounded like she didn't even look up at him. As difficult as it was, he forced a swallow-motion in his throat and licked his very dry lips. He needed to be calm about this and give her the benefit of the doubt. He licked his lips again and titled his head but kept his eyes closed.

"You went to class Tuesday, right? Turned in the rough draft of your final?"

"Yeah."

Her voice was louder and clearer now so he knew she raised her head from the headrest. He raised his hung head and opened his eyes. He gave her the purest look he could give and conveyed his complete trust in her. She made eye contact and kept her tone even, even when there was a slight crack towards the end of her sentence, she still remained calm in her lie.

"Of course I did," she continued. "You know I would never blow off an assignment."

His heart sank as the truth revealed itself. She looked him in the eye and lied to him. He kept his stare on her and clenched his jaw before he relaxed the motion. He needed to hide the disappointment even though he knew he was caught. Her eyes narrowed in the slightest but she kept her easy smile. He nodded and pressed the button on top of her phone to turn it off.

He rationalized he didn't blow up on her by noticing how her eyes sank in color and he knew she regretted the lie the moment she recognized his disappointment. The nagging feeling, however, etched in his mind of why she felt guilty. Was it that she lied to him for the first time or the fact that she got caught? He shook his head violently this time at the thought. Haley was never manipulative, and she would never start now.

He looked at her one more time before he sighed and made an excuse to go to the bathroom. He'll figure this out once they get home. Haley never lied to him and this dickhead Chris was making her. Out of all the undeserving pricks she dated, he hated this one the most and he was going to get what was coming to him.

Nathan's face hardened at the thought of his vow as he left the room.

9:00 p.m. - Nathan and Haley's Apartment

Haley,

I'm very concerned; you haven't showed up all week and the rough draft of your final composition was supposed to be sent by 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday via upload. Is everything okay? It's not like you to skip class this long and this consistent.

Nathan couldn't read the entire email without Haley knowing. But those three sentences were enough. He was quiet on the way home and it took everything in him to ignore his best friend's concerned looks she threw him every three seconds. He needed to process.

Multiple sources of emotions went through him and none of them were good. He tried his best to approach this like any other time they had a disagreement, no matter how much he wanted yell at her while his heart broke. This wasn't his Haley but he'd be damned if he treated her any less. He never yelled at her when they disagreed on something. See, they were never fights; always disagreements and those were talked out until a solution was agreed upon.

He was bound and determined to see this the same way. This was a disagreement and they were going to talk it out. He wasn't going to throw accusations of lying and deceit and he sure as hell wasn't going to raise his voice. Once and for all, he was going to tell her that her boyfriend was a motherfucking dickhead that had her acting like a lovesick teenager, dependent on someone else's availability.

For Christ's sake, she fucking lied to him! Lied!

That ugly word kept replaying in his mind, and if he was honest with himself, it was stopping all rational thought. He was going through all sorts of negative emotions and he wasn't like the built-up tension inside him. He was brimming by the time they entered their apartment and he didn't want to confront her. He was afraid of what he would say because what he really wanted to scream at her for her stupidity.

Most of all, he wanted to cry how she lied and betrayed him.

It was pathetic how he was letting his emotions get to him so he thought it was best to walk away. There was a first for everything, after all. So the moment their front door opened, he breezed through it, intent on slamming his keys on the nearest surface and beelined to his room where he could fume and rant in his trapped mind.

Haley wasn't having any of that, though.

"Where are you going?" she asked, meekly.

He barely looked over his shoulder. "Away from you." He said, harshly.

"Nathan."

The way she said his name, he cursed. Her tone was soft and resigned. He knew she was ashamed and it said as much in her tone and she sounded on the verge of a breakdown. She looked just as much when he turned around with his fists clenched and he immediately unclenched them. She was hugging herself and fidgeted which immediately concerned him because she was never nervous or timid with him. His Haley was confident, even annoyed and always had an assertive stance. She was small, and he vapidly hated Chris for it.

"I can't even stand to look at you right now," he spat out. His anger was starting to get the best of him. "So I need to walk away."

He turned to go again when she practically sprinted down the hall to catch him. Even thought their apartment was carpeted, he still felt her urgent steps and then her small hand clasped his wrist. He ignored how his heart jumped at her touch.

"We never walk away from each other," she said, and her tone made him turn around.

Almost, almost he dropped why he was upset in the first place as he saw a flicker of his Haley. She maintained eye contact and there was this burning light in her eyes. Her voice was stronger when she said that sentence and it was like everything was okay again for him. His Haley was still there somewhere and it gave him hope that this was just a bump. But then her eyes softened and the vulnerability was back and bottom lip jutted out, and not in that cute/fake pout she does to get her way. All hope dashed like it was cruel joke.

And his anger was back.

"Like we never lie to each other?" He gave her a pointed look.

Her ashamed look constricted his heart to a death grip, but he stood his ground. There was no adverb to describe how upset he was. Silence engulfed him so he felt it was his cue to get away from her again.

"Nathan, don't!"

He closed his eyes in an attempt to calm down. "Haley," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm trying really hard not to do something I swore I would never do. Do not make this harder."

"I know an apology can't even amount and I don't even know why I did it—"

"Do you know how tight our bond is supposed to be?"

He spun around as fast as whiplash and quickly grabbed her upper arms in his rage and pulled her close. Something snapped when she started to give excuses and they never played that with each other. Every action they've ever done to upset each other was owned and justified. Each admitted their mistakes and acknowledged how it could have been handled better, but never did they stoop to where they gave excuses for their behavior. It was just another tell-tale sign that Chris was no good and corrupted his best friend. He wanted to murder him for it, but most of all, he wanted Haley to see what she had become.

It hurt so much that he couldn't do either.

She gasped at their proximity and he would've done the same if he wasn't so angry. The tension between them changed to something charging and he held on as best he could while he kept eye contact. Her eyes broke and he swore to himself that he imagined her gaze drop to his lips and she leaned closer, just as ever. His mind was playing tricks on him and he tightened his jaw as the word practically squeezed through his teeth.

"Tight," he said. "Nothing is supposed to come between that."

"Nothing has," she implored.

"Are you fucking shitting me right now? Do you know Chris is having you do?"

"He's not making me do anything."

"So he's not having you willingly lie to me? Blatantly? You did so effortlessly, Haley!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I don't fucking care! Look at what he's having you do. You're blowing off the one thing you love more than me."

He thumped her chest where her heart was.

"You loved producing music," he said, softly. "Now you're blowing off your final because what, he can't return a fucking phone call? That is not like you."

"Do you think I like being this way?"

He released her arms in frustration and threw them up in an annoyed gesture. He bit his lip to cut off the cuss word he really wanted to stream out and instead, growled. He put some distance between them and regarded her with his eyes. He felt fire burning inside him and he hoped his ice blue eyes conveyed the flames.

"Then why are you acting like some lovesick pathetic teenager girl pining over a pop star? This isn't like you! Chris is like the rest of them and you would've just buried yourself in your work because none of them was worth your time. That's who you are. Your happiness over theirs, remember?"

"He makes me happy."

"He makes you delusional! Look at you! Look at what you're doing to yourself, you can barely get out of bed while he's living his lifestyle being the pretentious fucking dick he is! Like, really, he can't manage a fucking text and here you are moping that he's not paying attention to you. You would have never put yourself through that."

He never had a filter, but he always built Haley's confidence up so he felt awfully sickened with himself when he tore her apart. He couldn't stop, though. This was weeks of frustration built up to the point where it just boiled over and flowed as elegantly as he could put it. And "elegant" wasn't a nice word when describing his honesty.

"My Haley never would have been reduced to some clingy girl who can't manage to get the time from her boyfriend. You would have said 'fuck him' a long time ago or even better, not even give him a blink of your attention. You would have got your shit together and moved on a long time ago. Shit, look at what he's doing to us."

"What do you want me to do, Nathan?" She practically begged.

Tears brimmed her eyes and in that moment, he really despised his no-holds-barred honesty. He swore on his life he would never make Haley cry. Her face was so heart-breaking, he wanted to cause harm to himself for making her feel that way. That cold, honest truth was breaking her self-confidence and that's not how someone treats the person they loved. He really hated himself - and Chris too - for breaking her down like this. He had to fix it; he had to make her happy.

"Break up with him," he said simply. "And be with me."

End of Ch. 11.

I know I shouldn't leave it at a cliffhanger, especially with my reputation when it comes to infamous droughts of updates but I felt this was a perfect way to set up the ending chapters. And maybe the fact I'm evil to leave this at a cliffhanger will inspire me to update faster.

Please review if you'd like.

And again, thank you for the patience.

CAli