Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or its characters
Chapter 12: This Is the Thing
Oakley jogged up the steps of her dorm and down the hall towards the room she shared with Haley. She could hear the music playing from other girl's rooms and laughing voices that accompanied the music. She had just come back from her run and decided to grab the mail on her way back in. She reached her hand into the loose pocket of her running shorts and pulled out the key to her room and when she opened it she saw Haley sitting on her bed with the lap top on her knees. "Hey," Oakley said, "I grabbed the mail."
"Awesome," Haley said, "anything interesting?"
Oakley flipped through the mail and glanced at the names on the envelopes looking for anything of interest. She got to the end of the stack and her eyes took notice of the yellow faded envelope. Haley's name was scrolled in pen in the center and at the top of the envelope she read the name Private Nathan Scott and the address that followed. "Well, well," she said, "someone got a letter from a Nathan Scott. I don't suppose a certain someone in this room happens to know a guy by that name?" she said and smiled holding up the envelope in her hand.
Haley looked up quickly at the mention of his name. She'd been waiting forever for that letter and now that it was finally there, she didn't want to waste any time reading it. She pushed the computer off her lap and hopped up quickly from her bed and walked towards where Oakley was holding the envelope. She stuck her hand out towards her and Oakley smiled before handing it to her. Haley ripped the envelope open and pulled out the letter from inside. She smiled when she saw small messy print that belonged to Nathan. She sat down on the edge of her bed and began to read what it said.
Dear Haley,
I don't know why it took me so long to finally respond to what you wrote, because believe me, all I wanted was to send you a letter so I could get one back. But you wanted me to tell you everything, all the exciting things I was doing and really… there hasn't been that much going on. I went through training which left me sore and tired and aching for sleep for a week straight. But I definitely see why it helped me. I feel a little more prepared for what I'm gonna go through. But I don't think I can ever be truly prepared for anything.
I started writing this letter on the plane to Germany when I literally sat on a plane for hours with nothing to do, but I'm finishing it a few days after I started. When I got here I met with my captain again. He told me that my drill sergeant from training was really impressed with me. Which I guess I can't complain about. He told me that I should think about sniper school in a few years. What do you think? Do you think I should consider it? I want to know what you think.
Lately all we've been doing is more training and patrols. We walk around the cities and small towns and make sure that everything is going ok. I bet that's pretty much what we'll do when we leave Germany, too. You wouldn't believe how hot it is here. I mean the temperature is only about 75 degrees, but with all my gear that I have to carry around, it makes it feel so much hotter.
Enough about me though. What are you up to? How's school? Tell me everything. What's your roommate like? Is she hot? That was a joke by the way. I can practically see you rolling your eyes right now. But really, I want to know everything. What are your classes like, what are the people like? I want to know it all. It makes me feel closer to home. I miss you Hales. I miss you so much. Maybe eventually I can get the phone and call you, I'll try my hardest.
I have to go on another patrol and try and find somewhere to get this letter mailed so I'll end this for now. I can't wait to hear from you, that'll be the highlight of my day. Miss you and always thinking about you.
Nathan
Oh, by the way if you have any pictures from this Summer, or whenever really and you want to send them to me… I would love that.
Haley smiled and set the letter down next to her on the bed. She wanted to write back to him right now, but she didn't know what to say. She'd only started class a few days ago and they were boring so far. She was already writing tons of papers and as for meeting new people, well she stuck to spending time with Oakley, Jonnie and the boys. She'd been keeping herself busy mostly, trying to waste the time until she got a letter from Nathan and ultimately until he came home.
I don't know if you notice anything different.
It's getting dark and it's getting cold and the nights are getting long
And I don't know if you even notice at all
That I'm long gone
"Someone's got a pretty big smile on her face," Oakley said, "I wonder what could have caused that?"
Haley looked up at her and smiled, "so what if I do?"
"I think it's cute," Oakley said and laughed, "you're all crushed out on him aren't you?"
"No," Haley said, "he's my friend and I'm just happy to hear from him. I'm happy to know that he's ok."
"Uh huh," Oakley said before standing up and grabbing clothes out of her side of the closet. "I'm gonna go shower and change, I'll see you in a little bit," she said and grabbed her towel off the hook by the door before walking out. Haley nodded before laying back against her bed.
She grabbed the letter again and looked over the words. She could practically hear Nathan's voice in her head as she read it again. She could pretty much see the look on his face when he laughed at his own jokes as he was writing. God, she missed him. She wanted to hear his voice, she hoped that he was serious and that he could actually call her soon. She would love to actually talk to him. It would be so much faster than letters. But she loved the feeling she got when she heard that she had a letter from him. She wasn't sure she would give that up for anything, except for actually seeing him.
And the things that keep us apart
Keep me alive
And the things that keep me alive
Keep me alone
This is the thing
Brooke sat at her desk where she was supposed to be doing work for her internship. She was supposed to be addressing letters that had to be sent out but she was secretly working on her sketches. As long as the letters got sent out tomorrow morning she would be fine. She could address them tonight when she got home. Lately all she'd wanted to do was work on her sketches. Well that and spend time with her new friend that she'd met. Julian was pretty much the only person she knew in New York that she was friends with. People at work were ok, but Julian was fun. He made her laugh and she really liked him. But with that like, came guilt.
She knew that she had to call Lucas and talk to him. Maybe if she was honest with him, they could work things out. If she told him how she'd been feeling neglected by him and like he'd been pulling away they could fix things. Maybe then he would realize that he was in danger of losing her. And she knew she had to tell him about Julian. She wasn't sure what he would think about that. She didn't even know if he'd be mad. Would he even care that she was becoming close with another guy? It had only been two weeks since she'd met him and she was already starting to trust him more than she'd been trusting Lucas.
She sighed and pushed her sketch pad away from her. She saw her boss walking down the hall towards where her desk was. She quickly grabbed a stack of envelopes and a pen and made it look like she'd been working on those the whole time. Her boss passed by without a word and Brooke let out a sigh of relief before pushing the envelopes away. She checked the clock on her computer and saw that it was almost 5. She only had to work for about another hour and then she was done for the day. When she heard her phone vibrate on her desk she looked down quickly and saw that she had a text from Julian. She smiled before clicking it open.
I know you're at work. Too busy for a phone call?
She smiled before quickly responding. I don't think so (:
Her phone started to ring a few seconds later and she quickly clicked the answer button. "Hey Friend," she said and smiled. She loved when he surprised her with calls at work. The truth was that she was usually bored out of her mind and calls from Julian seemed to keep her sane.
"Hey you," he said, "how's work going?"
Brooke groaned and leaned back in her chair. "Good I guess. I mean I'm just addressing envelopes and stuff so it's not exactly a party or anything. But whatever."
Julian laughed and said, "well I'd hope not. I'd be a little insulted if it was a party and I wasn't invited."
"Oh no of course not," Brooke said, "so what are you up to? Anything exciting?"
"Not really. I just had a meeting with my dad and some of the people he works with and class earlier today so there's really not that much going on."
Julian was taking film classes at NYU and also working with his dad. His dad was a big time producer and that's what Julian aspired to be. Brooke could always hear the passion in his voice when he talked about all the things he wanted to do one day. She had a feeling, by the way he talked about him, a lot of it was to please his dad. She knew that he truly loved what he did, but he also wanted to make his dad happy. But as long as it made Julian happy too, then she wanted that for him. It surprised her how much she already cared for Julian. He was already like one of her best friends.
"Sounds about as exciting as my day. I'm almost wondering if I should have just gone to college and not taken this internship."
"No Brooke," Julian said, "your stuff is good and I think working there is gonna help get you noticed. And besides if you hadn't come to New York, you wouldn't have met me."
"There is that," Brooke said and laughed, "that really makes me think I should have gone to college instead," she joked.
"Shut up," Julian said, "now you're just being mean."
Brooke laughed again, "you know I'm kidding."
Julian laughed before saying, "so what are you doing tonight? I was thinking you might want to have dinner or go see a movie or something."
Brooke sighed and leaned forward in her seat. Julian had been asking to hang out for awhile now and they had a few times, but it was usually just coffee or him visiting her at work. But she knew that he liked her and he'd been asking her on more date like activities. And part of her really wanted to say yes, but she knew that she couldn't. "Um," she said, "I don't know Julian. I mean, I'd really like to, but-"
"It doesn't have to be a date or anything like that," Julian said, "I mean I know we're just friends, and we haven't even known each other that long. I promise it's not a date."
She thought about it for a moment before answering. "Ok," she said, "but it's not a date."
"Not a date," he repeated.
She smiled before remembering something. "Oh damn," she said looking down at the stack of envelopes on her desk. "I can't tonight I have to get a huge stack of envelopes addressed and mailed out in the morning. It's probably gonna take me hours. Rain check?"
She could hear Julian sigh before speaking up again. "How bout this?" he said, "what if you come over tonight and I'll make you dinner in a totally friend like way and then I can help you address those envelopes and we can just hang out."
"Are you sure? I mean really it's gonna take me a long time and you don't have to do it."
"No I don't mind," he said, "really."
She smiled before nodding. "Ok. That would actually be awesome." She smiled again before looking behind her when she heard her boss's voice. "I have to go but text me your address and the time and I'll see you tonight." She quickly hung up when she saw her boss walking back towards her.
"Miss Davis," Shayna Goldberg, her scary boss said walking towards her. "I hope you didn't forget that you need to have those invites addressed and mailed out by tomorrow. If I find out that you forgot I can have you out of her so fast. You better not let me down."
Brooke smiled, "I wont. Don't you worry."
Shayna smiled before walking away and back towards her office. Brooke sighed before checking the clock again. Only a little while longer until Julian.
Nathan sat in the back of an open truck bed with his gun slung across his chest held secure by the strap it was connected to. The sun seemed to be beating down especially hard today and he was burning up already and it wasn't even noon. He hated days like this. All they did was drive around. He was bored and tired and hot. But he wasn't going to complain. Like Owen said, it was what he signed up for.
Nathan sat between Clay and Felix. Felix was of course talking about all the girls he'd "banged back home." Nathan wondered if he ever shut up. He sure hoped so because he was really getting tired of listening to his voice. It was starting to put him in an even worse mood. And Damien wasn't helping either. That dude seriously had not filter and he didn't even think about the words that came out of his mouth. Nathan turned his head and tried to tune them out. He let his eyes sweep over the area around him. He mostly saw people in shops or in the small houses and apartments that were around. He knew that this was just training for what he would be experiencing in Afghanistan. The only reason they were even in Germany was because there had been people caught in some of the small towns harboring terrorists and feeding them information about places in America.
"What about you Scott?" Felix said, "you got a girl back home?"
Nathan couldn't help the small smile that come on his face when he thought about Haley. It was true, she wasn't really his girl, but he liked to think that she was what he had to come home to. "Nah," Nathan said, "not really."
"What's not really mean?" Damien asked. "I mean you either got a hot piece of ass waiting for you back home or you don't. Or maybe girls aren't your thing," he joked and he and Felix laughed.
"No," Felix said, "I saw the look on his face when I mentioned a girl back home. There's definitely one, I can tell. Come on tell us about her," he said and smirked, "she's gotta be pretty hot right?"
Nathan scoffed before looking away from them. He would have loved to push both of them out of the back of the truck but he knew that wasn't allowed. Owen would be pissed if he did that. But God, he wished they'd stop talking. They didn't deserve to even know anything about Haley. She was his piece of home, not theirs and he wanted to keep her to himself.
I don't know if you notice anything missing
Like the leaves on the trees or my clothes all over the floor
And I don't know if you even notice at all
'Cause I was real quiet when I closed the door
"What's your problem?" Damien asked, "we gotta share the stories if we're gonna make it through the months away. And clearly you got some stories." Damien laughed before saying, "maybe she's just such a great fuck that you're worried that if she ever meets me you'll lose her."
Nathan was now livid. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? He didn't even know Haley and he hated that he was saying these things about her. If he even knew her he would know that she was so much more than a beautiful girl. She was sweet and funny and amazing and that anyone with her would be the luckiest person in the world. But of course all Damien was thinking about was sex.
"Hey fuck you West," Tony said from his spot close to the front of the truck. He saw the angry look on Nathan's face at Damien's last comment and he knew that he was close to pushing Nathan over the edge. The last thing Tony wanted was for Nathan to get in trouble for something Damien started. "Like you could get any anyways."
Damien mumbled something about being able to get any girl he wanted before he began talking about another subject that Nathan wanted no part of. He really hated his kid now and he was sure there was no way that he was ever going to be friends with him. When he got here, he promised himself that he was going to try and be more open to people and not close everyone off so easily. But not Damien. There was no way that he was ever going to even pretend that he liked Damien. Damien was a prick and he wasn't going to change, Nathan knew that.
When they finished their patrol they headed back towards camp. The hours had passed by in mostly silence and boredom as they patrolled. When they got back Nathan went straight to his bunk and laid down. He didn't know why he was so exhausted but he was. All he wanted to do was sleep. It didn't take long for his exhaustion to take over his body and his eyes slipped closed after a few minutes
In his dreams he saw Haley. They were back home in Tree Hill and they were together, the way he wanted them to be. She loved him and he loved her, just the way it was supposed to be. There was nothing complicated about it, it was just love. In his dreams, Jake was still alive. He and Peyton were together with their baby and they were happy. That was the way it was supposed to be.
When he woke up her heard the voices of the guys in his tent. Most of them talking about what they missed from home. Their families, their wives, their girlfriends. Some talked about what they wouldn't give to go to another football game or baseball game. Nathan could relate. He missed home so much and he missed the way his life used to be. It shouldn't have turned out so different but he knew that was the way it was supposed to be. He chose his life for himself and he understood this was the way it was. Even if he wanted things to be different. But he couldn't change it now, and part of him thought that he wouldn't change it if he could.
He'd never really thought about it until recently. If things hadn't changed, his life would be so different than it was now. If Jake hadn't died, Nathan would have never decided to give up his scholarship and enlist. If Jake hadn't died, Nathan would never have gone on that trip with Haley. If he never gave up his scholarship he would have gone to Duke and he would have played basketball and who knows how much he would have actually seen Haley and his friends. Even though Jake dying was the worst thing he'd ever gone through in his life and he would have given anything to have his best friend back, it brought him to Haley. He hated the idea that it had to be one of another when it came to them, but it seemed like it was that way. It was Haley or Jake and the universe had chosen Haley for him.
He wanted so badly to have both.
Maybe if Jake hadn't died eventually he and Haley would have been brought together. Maybe they would have realized through something else how they felt for each other. But he also had a feeling that if Jake never died, he would have never changed. He would have been the same jerk who hurt people without really thinking about it. Who knows what sort of things he would have done that would have hurt people. What if he had Haley in some sort of other world and he ended up doing something to hurt her? He felt like he'd hurt her enough already.
And there are things that keep us apart
Keep me alive
And there are things that keep me alive
Keep me alone
This is the thing
Peyton stood in her kitchen with her hand over her small bump while looking through the fridge. She was hungry but she had no idea what she wanted. Nothing looked good to her. For some reason she'd really been craving grapefruit and she had no idea why. She'd never even really liked it before, she always thought it had a bitter taste. But now that was all she wanted, but of course she didn't have any in the house. She continued to look into the fridge like she expected it to magically show up. She sighed and shut the door. "Hey dad?" she yelled and waited for her father to answer her.
Larry Sawyer walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where his pregnant daughter sat. She smiled when he came into view and he immediately knew what that smile meant. She wanted something. "What do you need honey?" he asked. Whatever she needed, he was going to be happy to get it for her. That was the reason he'd come home. She needed him. She had told him that it was completely unnecessary that he come home and that she could take care of herself, but he came home as soon as she uttered the words, 'I'm pregnant.'
At first Larry didn't know what to think. Like any father would be when he found out his 18 year old daughter was pregnant, he was a little disappointed. He wanted more for her, he wanted her to go to school and get a great job and he saw that all slipping away when she told him the truth. But the more he thought about it, the more excited her became. He was going to be a grandpa and he couldn't wait. Peyton was going to need all the help she could get when the baby came, especially since Jake was gone. He didn't even know how she had been so strong up until now. He knew that strength must have come from her mother.
"Can you go get me some grapefruit?"
Normally she would have just gone and got it herself but today she was just so exhausted. It wasn't like her stomach was so big that it caused so much extra weight, but today she was just tired. She hadn't slept well at all the night before. She kept having nightmares about losing Jake again. That caused her to wake up in the middle of the night with tears streaming down her face. The only thing that helped her calm down enough to be able to fall asleep was that Jake was there when she woke up. He was sitting next to her on her bed and he laid next to her telling her that everything was ok and how much he loved her until she fell asleep again. She wished that he would have been able to hold her in his arms until she fell asleep again. Normally that's what he would have been able to do. She would have given anything for him to be there again, really there.
"Of course," he said and grabbed his keys off the hook near the back door. He smiled at his daughter on the way out the door and said, "I'll be back in a little while." She smiled and sat down on the stool at the kitchen counter. When she told her dad that he didn't need to come home and take care of her, she really hadn't meant that. She wanted him there but she didn't want him to feel like he had to give up his life and work to take care of her. But she was really happy that he came home. She'd missed him so much. Maybe with him there it would take her mind off the fact that Jake really wasn't. She could pretend that both of men she loved were home.
"Since when do you even like grapefruit?" she heard Jake ask from the door. She smiled and turned to face him. He was still wearing his jeans, t-shirt and converse. Every time she saw him she remembered why she loved him so much. He was just so perfect, in every way.
"I don't usually," she said, "but now I'm craving it! I don't know why."
Jake laughed and walked over to where she was. He leaned back against the counter next to her and said, "I would have gotten it for you, but that would probably be a little weird for the people at the store."
"What you think a ghost buying some grapefruit isn't a normal occurrence?"
Jake smiled before looking away from her. She could see the far off look on his face and she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about. She knew that look. He was obviously worried about something. "Are you ok?" she asked and pushed her curly blonde hair behind her ears before turning on the chair to face him. Jake turned back to her and smiled.
"Yeah," he said, "I just wish I could actually do something for you. I mean I feel bad that I can't be the one who goes out and gets you what you need. I wish I could go to your doctor's appointments with you. I wish I could hold you again," he said and looked up at her so his eyes met hers. "I miss everything about you."
Peyton could feel the tears pooling in her eyes and she tried to blink them away. "I wish that it could be that way too, baby. I miss you so much." Now she could feel the tears falling and she saw Jake's hand move like he was going to wipe them away but then he remembered he couldn't. "If I could change the way things are, I would," she said, "I would do anything to have you back. Sometimes I wish I could trade my life for yours."
Jake shook his head, "no," he said, "I would never want you to ever do that. I don't want you to even think like that. I want you to live and have an amazing life even though you can't have it with me." He stared at her and he felt like the tears in his eyes now too. He hadn't cried in a long time. The last time he cried was when he told Peyton about his cancer. Even through all the treatments and all the hurt he went through, he never cried. He didn't want anyone to feel sad for him, he wanted them to accept the fact that he wasn't going to make it. He felt like he had to be strong for them.
"Don't ever leave me," Peyton mumbled and moved as close to him as she possibly could. "I can't live with losing you again."
"I already told you," Jake said, "I'm here as long as you want me to be."
Brooke checked the address on her phone again and saw that she was at the right place. She looked up the cement steps that lead to the apartment complex that Julian was living in. She walked up the steps until she got to the locked glass door. She saw the buzzer by the door and she searched for Julian's name. When she saw J. Baker she clicked the button next to it. She waited a minute before she got an answer. "Yeah?" she heard Julian's voice from the other side. She smiled and pushed her hair behind her ears.
"Hey," she said, "it's me."
"Hey!" he said, "I'll buzz you in," he said and seconds later she heard the door click open. She turned the handle and walked through the door. She saw a few apartment doors on the ground level and then there were carpeted steps that lead up to more apartments. His was on the second floor and she started to make her way up the steps. When she got to his door she knocked and waited for him to answer the door. When he did he smiled before opening the door all the way for her. "Hey," he said and took her in a hug.
She liked the easy going feeling she got when she was around him. It didn't always come so easily with everyone else, but with Julian, it was just natural. She moved into the apartment farther and took her opportunity to look around. The walls were painted dark green and there were movie posters everywhere. He had a big black leather couch in front of a flat screen TV and two leather chairs that faced each other on either side of the couch. The table in the middle of the chairs and couch was covered in DVD cases and magazines.
The kitchen connected the living room and she could smell the food he was making. It smelled delicious. She saw two doors along the wall and she assumed one of them lead to Julian's room. She walked towards the couch and dropped her bag on the floor next to it. "I like it here," she said, "it's very you."
"It's kinda messy," Julian said, "I'm working on that."
"It's ok," she said and smiled, "I don't mind."
He smiled again before walking back into the kitchen. She could hear him getting things ready for dinner and she smiled. No guy had ever made her dinner before. Sure, Lucas had taken her out and he was always a gentlemen, but that was all. The spark had faded out with them and she needed to talk to him about that and quick. She hated that she was lying to him, and she also lying to herself if she thought that she could completely fix things. She sighed as she thought about how that conversation would go. It broke her hear to think about it. She loved Lucas, she probably always would, he was the first guy she ever truly loved. But things just weren't working with them anymore. And it was going to be hard to say goodbye.
Julian walked out a few minutes later and set down two plates. She looked down at the plate and saw the chicken parmesan that he had made for the night resting on top of a plate of steaming pasta. "This looks really good," she said, "do you like to cook a lot?"
"Not really, I mean I don't mind it and surprisingly the stuff I make is edible, but it's not really my thing."
She took a bight and swallowed it down, "well it tastes delicious so at least your good at that." She smiled and then took another bite. They continued to eat and talk for the rest of the hour. She was learning more about him, more about his parents and what it was like for him growing up. Like her, he didn't have the best parents. His were divorced and he spent a lot of his childhood going back and forth between their houses. She knew what it was like to have parents that weren't really together. Even though her parents never divorced, they might as well have. They never spent anytime together and she felt like she lived in a divided house.
After they finished eating she helped him clean up in the kitchen. Even then she was surprised by how easily it was for them to talk and get along. She'd never had an instant connection with a guy before, and it kind of scared her. She was always so guarded, but with Julian, he seemed to see right through all of that.
They walked back out to the living room and she pulled out the stack of envelopes that she had to address and Julian groaned. "You weren't kidding," he said, "that is a lot."
"I told you," she said, "not too late to back out now."
"No," he said and took a seat on the couch, "I told you I'd help you and I will."
"Well thank you," she said, "I really appreciate it."
She pulled out the list of names and addresses that needed to be put on the envelope and the two went to work addressing them. She was happy that it seemed to be going rather quickly thanks to Julian. She knew that without him it would have taken her forever to get this done. They talked which helped pass the time and when she looked up at the clock she saw that it was almost 11:30. "I should go soon," she said, "there's only a few more to do and I can do them myself." She stood up and gathered the envelopes and he stood up as well.
"Thank you again Julian," she said and smiled, "really this was… really helpful. I don't know how long it would have taken me to do this without your help."
"I'm happy to help," he said, "besides, it meant I got to spend sometime with you." He smiled and walked with her towards the door. He knew that she was hesitant to admit that she felt anything for him. But he could tell that she did. Maybe she was just denying it because they had only known each other a few weeks. But he was already starting to fall for her. She was one of the most amazing people he'd met in New York.
She smiled at his comment and tucked her hair behind her ear. "That's sweet," she said. Julian took a step closer and before she knew it his lips were on hers. She leaned in closer to him and kissed him back but only for a moment before she realized what she was doing. She pushed at his chest and pushed him away from her. "I'm sorry," she said, "I can't do that."
"I'm sorry," he said, "I just thought, well I thought we were on the same page. I thought you kinda liked me."
"I do," she said, "I really do, but I have a boyfriend."
"Oh," he said and took a step back, "I didn't know that."
"I know. I should have told you awhile ago. This is my fault. It's just that things with us aren't that good right now and I need to talk to him about it. And until I do that, I can't start anything with you. It wouldn't be fair."
"No," he said, "you're right. Look I'm sorry, you said you wanted to keep things with us friendly and I took it too far, so I'm sorry."
"So am I," she said, because she truly was. She wished things were different for them but right now, they weren't.
Nathan was getting ready in the morning for another day of patrolling. The day before had gone relatively quickly and he hoped today would be the same. He could only live through the days until he could go home again. There was nothing more he could do to make them go any faster. He looked at Clay who was busy finishing up a letter that he assumed he was sending back home to Sarah.
When he finished getting his gear on he walked out of his tent and his eyes scanned for Owen's. Owen was the only one who had a phone that could be used to call back home. Sometimes they got to use it, but only with his permission. He walked over to Owen's tent and waited for him to acknowledge him standing there. "Scott," Owen said when he saw him standing there. "What can I do for you?"
"Well Sir," Nathan started, "I was wondering if I could get your permission to call home."
"Something wrong there?"
"I hope not. I just told my family I would try and call when I got a chance."
Owen nodded and pointed back to where the large cell phone with the long antenna sat on a desk near a small cot. "Go ahead. You've only got 10 minutes before we leave though so make it quick." Owen walked past him and Nathan hurried inside to where the phone was. He picked it up and quickly dialed the number he'd memorized before he left. It felt like hours that he waited listening to the ringing on the other end. In reality it was probably only a few rings before there was an answer.
"Hello?" he heard the sleepy voice ask from the other end. He smiled instantly.
"Haley?"
"Nathan?" he heard her ask. He could tell that she was more awake now. "Nathan is that you?"
"Yeah it's me." He smiled again. He missed her voice. "I know it's late there. I woke up didn't I?"
"Yeah, but it's totally ok! Oh my God, how are you? Where are you? What are you doing? I was hoping that you'd call me!"
"I told you I would didn't I? I'm about to do another patrol so I wanted to call you before I did."
"I'm so glad you did."
"I can't talk long," he said, "but I wanted to know what you've been up to. How are things?"
"Boring," she said honestly and laughed a little, "I have classes tomorrow and but not til 9. Then after that I don't know what I'm gonna do. But, oh! Guess who I ran into and who I've been hanging out with."
"Who?" Nathan asked and smiled at the enthusiastic sound of her voice.
"Jonnie!"
Nathan thought for a moment trying to think of who that was. He knew that he should have known, but for some reason he couldn't remember. "Jonnie?" he asked.
"Yeah, you remember! We met him at that beach party…" she said trying to jog his memory. "He was friends with that kid Mason, the one who was trying to hit on me."
Mason he remembered… he hated that kid. He thought about it some more and then he remembered the blonde boy who looked like a real California boy. "Oh," Nathan said, "yeah now I remember him. He was pretty cool. So you ran into him?"
"Yeah, he lives in the building next to mine. I met his brother and his friends and there really nice. We've been hanging out sometimes and I really like them."
"Oh," Nathan said. She really liked them. He didn't really know how he felt about her liking a group of guys. He didn't like the idea of her hanging out with them a lot. He knew that Jonnie was a nice guy and his friends probably were too, but still. Haley with a group of guys wasn't something he liked to hear. He knew that he was just being ridiculous, but still, she was his Haley. "That's cool I guess."
"You guess?" Haley asked and giggled, "Nathan can you pretend to be happy that I'm making new friends?"
"No I am happy Hales," he promised, "but I don't know how I feel about it being a group of guys. I know how guys think, it's not always that good. And you're my friend I want to make sure you've got good people around you."
There was a few seconds of silence before she answered, "well I'm smart when it comes to stuff like that. I know who to trust and believe me, Jonnie is a really great guy. I like him a lot."
Nathan sighed, "well then I'm glad."
"Are you?"
"Yes," he said. "Look I gotta go, we're heading out but I really wanted to talk to you. I miss you a lot Hales. More than you know."
"I miss you too Nathan," she said in a quiet voice, "I'm really happy to hear from you. I'll send the letter I wrote out tomorrow."
"I can't wait to get it," he said honestly, "but it's probably gonna take me awhile to respond. We're leaving Europe in a week so it might be awhile."
"As long as I know it's coming."
"It is." He sighed again and ran his glove covered hand over his now buzzed hair. "I gotta go. I miss you."
"I miss you too. Bye Nathan."
"Bye Hales." He took the phone away from his ear and clicked the end button. He could feel his heart sink when he ended the phone call with her. He wanted so badly to dial her number again and just talk to her for hours. But he couldn't. He didn't know when the next time he would hear her voice would be. He had a feeling it would be a long time. The thought of that was killing him.
And I don't know if you notice anything different
I don't know if you even notice at all
REVIEW (:
So ya'll probably want more Naley and I'm trying to work as much in as I can, it's just hard with him being away. But I'm trying to get past his months away as fast as I can (: please let me know what you think about this!