Author's Note: Okay so this chapter was actually supposed to be much longer and contain much more substance but I was having a little bit of writer's block (which by the way I have to thank chriswiss23 for helping me out with, she's got some killer advice and was a HUGE help) and I didn't want you guys to have to wait that long for the next chapter so I have this posted and I have part of the next chapter done so that should be up soon. I hope you enjoy this and please let me know what you think.
As she reached the top of her driveway she reached into her purse and started searching for her keys. She was at the bottom of her porch steps when she finally located them. Just as she was about to pull them out of her bag she heard a deep voice that she knew all too well.
"Haley."
She jumped, startled, before looking up into the deep blue eyes of Nathan Scott.
"Nathan? What are you doing here?" Haley's face scrunched up in confusion as she stared at the deep blue eyes before her.
"I- uh- I…came to visit you." Nathan mumbled.
Haley looked at him carefully, he seemed strangely nervous. "You came to visit me…at eleven thirty at night?" Haley eyed him suspiciously.
"Well it wasn't eleven thirty when I got here." Nathan muttered, but this time he seemed a little annoyed. "Where were you?"
"What?" Haley asked startled. She was beyond confused. First Nathan showed up on the doorstep and now he was interrogating her?
"Tonight. Where. Were. You." Nathan gritted out. His annoyance seemed to be quickly dissolving into anger.
"I-um-I was out." Haley didn't know why she felt guilty. It wasn't like she was betraying Nathan or anything, it wasn't even like she owed him an answer. But for some reason, she couldn't quell the guilt she felt.
"Out with Trevor." It wasn't a question. Nathan's face was now livid.
"Well…yeah." Haley stated. "Nathan, are you okay? You seem a little…upset."
"Me? Upset? Why would I be upset?" Nathan roared as his hands clenched into fists.
"Okay, Nathan I get that you're angry. But you need to calm down." Haley reached forward and put a hand on his chest, hoping to help him calm down somewhat. He seemed to relax at her touch, but only slightly.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want you to have to call Trevor to escort me off of your property." Nathan spat out.
Haley could feel her own temper flare as her tone grew to match his own. "No, we wouldn't, so instead I'm just going to do it myself." Haley moved forward towards him.
"You know what Haley? Don't bother." Nathan said as he moved towards the driveway. "Coming here was obviously a mistake. I'll see you on Monday." And with that he walked off down her driveway and headed down the street towards his car.
Haley shook her head as she watched him go before heading inside her own house. She didn't know what was wrong with Nathan but come Monday she was going to find out.
~*23*~
"And then he just stormed off down the street." Haley finished off. It was Sunday morning and the girls had come over to see how things had gone when she had broken things off with Trevor.
"Wait. So you didn't tell him you and Trevor were over?" Brooke asked disapprovingly.
"Well, I would have if he had just stopped freaking out for a moment to listen to me. Besides what happened between Trevor and I has nothing to do with what happened between Nathan and I."
"Don't you think you should call him and let him know anyways?" Peyton asked.
"Why?" Haley gave her a confused look. "Why would it matter to Nathan what happens between Trevor and I?"
"Ummm…because…" Peyton trailed off as she seemed to be considering something.
"Peyton!" Brooke hissed angrily, giving her a warning look. "You know we can't!"
Haley looked between the two for a moment, obviously confused. "Know you can't what? What's going on?" She asked warily, her suspicions growing as the pair remained silent. "Guys…what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing." Brooke replied quickly. "Just take our advice and call Nathan, let him know what happened between you and Trevor last night."
"But that has nothing to do with anything!" Haley protested.
Both girls just continued to look at her expectantly.
"Okay, fine!" Haley conceded. "If you guys want me to call him than I'll call him. But I'm just letting you know that this won't change anything." Haley shook her head as she dialled Nathan's number into her phone and listened to the sound of it ringing on the other line. It rang about three times before the line connected. Haley sighed in relief. At least she wouldn't have to leave an awkward message. She opened her mouth to greet him but before she could get a single word out she heard dial tone.
"What the…" Haley trailed off as she shot confused glances at the two girls across from her.
"What happened?" Brooke asked impatiently.
Haley looked at her for a moment before looking back at the phone in wonderment. "He hung up on me."
"What the hell?" Brooke grabbed the phone and hit redial, putting the phone on speakerphone as she waited for Nathan to answer. The phone had barely rung for the second time when someone picked up. Brooke opened her mouth to yell into the phone but just like the previous time the person on the other end of the phone hung up before she could utter a word.
"You know what." Brooke stated as she started to get up and gather her stuff. "I have some business to take care of."
"Brooke…" Haley warned. "Don't."
Brooke turned around and looked at her for a second. "I'll catch up with you guys later." And then she was out the door.
Haley looked after her as she left before groaning. She didn't know where Brooke was going but she did know one thing. "No good can come of this." She muttered.
~*23*~
"NATHAN ROYAL SCOTT! YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE THIS SECOND OR I'LL-"
Nathan cringed as he heard Brooke's loud voice resonating through his house. "Brooke," He called weakly. "I'm in here." Nathan listened as he heard Brooke's high heeled shoes tapping up his stairs and towards his room. Before he knew it his door was flung wide open and he was faced with a very angry looking Brooke. Nathan cringed once more.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HALEY LAST NIGHT?!" Brooke boomed.
"Brooke." Nathan squeezed his eyes shut as he put his hands over his ears. "Could you keep it down a little."
Brooke looked at him angrily for a second before she paused and took a few deep breaths. Once she had calmed down she took a moment to look around the room. It was only then that she noticed all the empty beer bottles that littered the floor. Her jaw dropped slightly before she turned to get a closer look at Nathan. She seemed to take in his dishevelled hair and his bloodshot eyes before giving him a bewildered look. "How much did you drink last night?!"
Nathan groaned as he pulled his arm over his eyes. "I don't know."
"Well, what made you drink this much?" Brooke asked as she moved towards the bed.
Nathan groaned again. This question, he did know the answer to. How could he forget? "I was kind of an ass to Haley last night."
"Kind of?" Brooke asked sarcastically.
"Okay so I was a huge ass to Haley last night, but what was I supposed to do? I mean I go over to her house only to find her with Trevor." Nathan spat out his name. "I mean, what was I supposed to do?"
"Why did you go there in the first place?" Brooke asked him quietly. She seemed to have realised what an effect the previous night's events had had on and her face had softened as a result.
"I don't know, I'm an idiot." Nathan muttered, not making eye contact. "Lucas and I were talking yesterday about what had happened when I had gone over to Haley's after her date on Friday-"
"You went to Haley's on Friday?!" Brooke exclaimed. "Oh my gosh! How could Haley not tell me about this? I can't believe she didn-"
"Brooke." Nathan cut in. "Haley didn't tell you because she didn't know."
Brooke looked up to see Nathan staring down at his hands, his face sullen and his eyes full of hurt.
"On Friday, I went to see her. I thought maybe we could talk. I mean I knew she was on a date but I thought that maybe once she got back… Anyways, she finally came back from her date and I went over to talk to her but then… then I saw her with Trevor…kissing." Nathan flinched as he said it. "I couldn't do it, couldn't tell her, so I left."
"Wait. Tell her?" Brooke prodded.
"Tell her how I felt about her." Nathan clarified. "I figured that she should know so I was going to wait until Trevor left and then tell her." Nathan face turned sour for a moment as he muttered. "That obviously didn't work out." He seemed to dwell on that thought for a moment before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Anyways, I talked to Lucas about it yesterday and he thought I should have told her so I gave it some thought last night and figured that maybe if I went when Trevor wasn't there, I'd be able to do it…"
"But Trevor was there." Brooke finished for him with a sad smile as she came to sit beside him of the edge of his bed.
"Yeah." Nathan breathed out. He was quiet for a long moment as he seemed to be deep in thought. Brooke just sat with him, letting him know that someone else was there if he needed. After a couple of minutes she figured she should go, maybe he needed some time one his own. Brooke was just starting to lift herself off of the bed when she heard his voice, no louder than a whisper. "Do you think I'm wasting my time?"
Brooke stopped for a minute as she sat back down and gave Nathan a confused look. "Wasting your time? What do you mean?"
"With Haley." Nathan explained, his voice barely louder than before. "I mean…" He paused as he tried to figure out exactly what he was going to say. "I mean, here I am, chasing after a girl who I know doesn't have feelings for me. She's with the guy she wants to be with and knowing all this I'm still trying to tell her how I feel. How pathetic is that?"
Brooke shook her head. "Nathan, can't you see? Haley fe-" Brooke's face suddenly went blank with surprise as she realised what she had been about to reveal. She quickly shook her head and paused for a moment as she tried to re-gather her thoughts. "No Nathan, I don't think you're wasting your time and I definitely don't think you're pathetic. I think it's sweet, really sweet, that you feel so strongly for her but you have to tell her. You can't move on until you do, until you know for sure she doesn't feel the same way."
"I already know for sure she doesn't feel the same way." Nathan exclaimed in frustration as he shot up into a sitting position, grabbing his head as the to room started to spin.
"Here," Brooke said softly as she headed into the bathroom and got him a glass of water and some aspirin before returning to her spot beside him. "Take these."
Nathan nodded his thanks and gulped down the pills before continuing. "I can't help it Brooke, I tried to make myself stop but I can't and sometimes I think…I think that maybe I don't want to. I mean…I've never felt this way before Brooke. And yeah it hurts, it hurts like hell, but I don't want it to go away either. I just-I just want her. I just want to be with her Brooke. But I can't. What am I supposed to do Brooke?"
Brooke smiled down at him. "You need to tell her that, you need to let her know. Trust me, it's the only way it'll stop hurting. You have to tell her."
Nathan looked up at her for a moment before nodding. "This is so embarrassing." He muttered. "This kind of thing never used to happen to me before, I would have never told anyone about this kind of stuff before, never felt this kind of stuff before and then Haley comes along and now…" He trailed off as he smiled fondly at the thought of Haley and Brooke smiled to herself as she noticed the dreamy look in his eyes.
"That's what happens when you fa-" Before Brooke could finish her sentence the shrill sound off the telephone ringing cut through the warm conversation between the two friends and Nathan cringed before reaching over and hitting the talk button. Brooke waited patiently for him to answer the phone but her eyes widened when instead he quickly pressed the off button without even glancing at the caller ID.
"Nathan!" Brooke shrieked.
Nathan flinched at her harsh tone before turning to look at her.
"What?" He asked, clearly confused and a little annoyed.
"Who was that?" Brooke motioned towards the phone laying on his nightstand.
"I don't know." Nathan mumbled. "Probably Lucas. He's always calling me at odd hours."
"So your just going to hang up on him?" Brooke asked.
"Well right now I have a killer headache and I'm really not in the mood to hear Lucas talking about basketball or some new meal over at Karen's. I'm sure he won't mind if I call him back later."
Brooke shook her head as she reached over him to grab the phone from the nightstand. "Stupid boys, can't do anything right." She muttered.
"What are you doing?" Nathan asked as he watched her frantically hitting buttons on his phone.
"I'm showing you what an idiot you are." Brooke muttered as she shuffled through his call history. "Here." She shoved the phone in his face.
Nathan stared up at her, startled by her sudden annoyance, before turning his attention to the glowing orange screen in front of him. His head was still pounding and his vision was quite blurry but after squinting at it for a moment he could make out the name. 'Haley. 10:30 a.m.' Nathan looked at it for a second before Brooke hit the down button. 'Haley. 10:33 a.m.'
He looked up at Brooke who gave him a pointed look.
Nathan groaned. "I am an idiot aren't I?"
"Yes, you are." Brooke agreed. "She called to talk to you about yesterday, maybe give you a chance to explain, and you hung up on her." Brooke shook her head. "And all because you thought it was Lucas."
Nathan rested his head back against the headboard in defeat. "Ugh. I can't believe I did that."
"Well there's no use moping about it now." Brooke said. "We were all supposed to meet at Karen's ten minutes ago. Come on, I'll give you a ride."
"Can't you tell them I can't make it?" Nathan asked as he smiled up at Brooke hopefully.
"Well I could…" Brooke started. "But Haley's going to be there and now would be the perfect time for you to apologize."
Nathan considered this for a moment before he nodded his head. "I guess you're right."
"I'm always right." Brooke smiled smugly. "Get ready and I'll meet you in the car in ten minutes." She started making her way out of the room before swiftly turning and giving Nathan a hard glare. "Don't be late." And then she turned her back on him and skipped out of his room and down the stairs.
Nathan smiled and shook his head. Brooke Davis was definitely one of a kind.
~*23*~
"And for you Haley?" Karen asked as she held her pen over her notepad.
"The usual." Haley smiled up at Karen as she placed her order. Karen returned the smile before quickly writing it down and making her way towards the kitchen.
"Mac and cheese again! Don't you ever get sick of it Hales?" Lucas asked with a teasing smile as he leaned back into the booth.
"I could never get sick of Mac and Cheese." Haley protested indignantly. "It's-"
"Food of the gods?" A smug voice asked from behind her.
Haley jumped in her seat and looked up to see none other than Nathan Scott smirking down at her. His blue eyes stood out against the light blue polo shirt he was wearing and she noticed that they seemed to turn a shade darker as they met with her own. Their eyes remained locked with each other's and their intense gazes did not go unnoticed by the rest of the table.
"Yeah…" Haley trailed off as she felt herself melting. Melting away into those beautiful, ocean blue eyes.
"Eh-hem." Brooke cleared her throat loudly before stepping around Nathan and making her way to the booth to sit beside Lucas.
"Nathan." Brooke asked as she looked up at him innocently. "Aren't you going to take a seat?"
Nathan shook his head slightly to clear the Haley-induced haze from his mind before looking around the table. Brooke, Lucas and Jake were all sitting together on the booth on one side of the table and Haley and Peyton were sitting side by side on the chairs across from them. That meant that the only available spot would be right beside…Haley. Of course.
Nathan looked over at Brooke to find her looking quite pleased with herself, a cheeky grin plastered across her face. Nathan shook his head and gave a small chuckle as he took a seat beside Haley. His body was so close to hers that he could feel his skin tingling almost immediately and that all too familiar itch to touch her was creeping into his fingertips. He clamped his hands tightly together and placed them in his lap before risking a glance in Haley's direction. He noticed that she was peeking at him out of the corner of her eye and offered her a small smile, hoping in vain that she wouldn't be too upset about the night before. For a second she looked like she was about to smile back- the corners of her mouth twitching upwards into that smile he loved so much- but then she turned away, her eyes focusing themselves somewhere else. Nathan shook his head. He knew he had to apologize- and he wanted a chance to- but he wanted to do it alone, not in front of all of their friends. He had to get her alone so that she could hear him out. The only problem now would be getting her to actually talk to him.
"Haley." Nathan muttered quietly, hoping to get her attention.
He noticed eyes dart swiftly in his direction but other than that she acted as if she hadn't heard him.
Nathan sighed. "Haley can we please talk later…alone."
Haley turned her head towards him for a fraction of a second before turning back to look at the wall. "I have nothing to say to you."
"Please Haley," Nathan made sure to keep his voice low. "It won't take long, I promise, I just want a chance to apologise. Please."
This time Haley turned to look at him. She seemed to analyse his expression for a moment before her face softened slightly. "Okay, after lunch today you have five minutes, that's it."
Nathan sighed in relief before turning back to the table so as not to arouse suspicion. Lucas, Jake and Peyton were in a heated argument about some musician he'd never heard of but Brooke was just staring at him and Haley, a smile on her face.
"Brooke didn't anyone ever tell you it's not nice to eavesdrop?" Nathan asked her.
"Nathan didn't anyone ever tell you it's not nice to hang up on people?" Brooke retorted as a teasing smile spread across her face. "Especially if their name is Haley James, and if you have a huge crush on them."
"Brooke!" Nathan hissed as he quickly turned to make sure Haley hadn't heard. Luckily she seemed quite engrossed in her conversation with Lucas, Jake and Peyton.
"What are you two whispering about over there?" Peyton asked as she turned to Nathan and Brooke.
"Nothing." Both of them answered quickly.
"Uh huh." Peyton looked at them knowingly. "Come on you two. Spill."
Everyone else stopped talking as they turned to see what had captured Peyton's attention.
"We were just…ummm…" Nathan paused as he racked his brain for an excuse.
"We were just talking about this girl Nathan's crushing on." Brooke finished for him.
"Brooke!" Nathan exclaimed.
"What?" Brooke asked innocently. "They're your friends, they should know." She then turned to the rest of the table. "You should see him around her, he's totally head over heels for her. I've never seen a guy so whipped in my life."
"Brooke!" Nathan shouted out. Some people turned in their direction and Nathan quickly lowered his voice. "I am not whipped!' He gritted out.
"You are so whipped." Brooke taunted.
"So…" Peyton broke the two out of their argument, turning to give Nathan a sly look. "This girl. Is she anyone we might know?"
Nathan glared at her before shaking his head. "Nope, no one you know."
"Really?" Peyton asked. "That's…interesting."
"It is." Lucas chipped in, a smug smile on his face.
As Nathan looked around the table he noticed everyone was giving him a knowing smile. Well everyone except for Haley, who looked a little sick to be honest.
"Hey Hales, you okay? You don't look so good." Nathan asked as he looked down at her.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Haley smiled up at him. "Just a little hungry." The truth was that she felt sick to her stomach. She really didn't think she could listen to this conversation. Sure, she always knew that this day would come, she knew that eventually some girl was bound to catch Nathan's eye, but just hearing everyone talk about Nathan's secret crush made her feel like she was going to be physically sick.
"So this girl," Lucas asked, breaking Haley from her thoughts. "What's she like? Tell us a little bit about her little brother."
Nathan glared at Lucas for a moment before taking a deep breath and leaning back in his chair. "She's amazing." He breathed as the image of Haley filled his mind. "She's the kindest person I've ever met. Her goodness is staggering. She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I can never seem to take my eyes off of her. The funniest thing is, she doesn't even know how amazing she is, but if she could see herself through my eyes for just one day, one minute even…" Nathan trailed off as he looked down at Haley. She was looking at her hands in her lap as she fiddled with her pinkie ring.
"Aww, that's so sweet. Don't you think that's sweet Haley?" Brooke asked as she looked over at Haley. Surely Haley must have seen the way Nathan kept glancing at her as he spoke, the look he kept giving her, like she was the only woman in the room, like she was the most precious thing on the planet. Haley would have to be blind not to see how clear his feelings are. Brooke thought to herself with a smile.
"Umm…yeah." Haley nodded weakly. "That's...really sweet." What was she supposed to say? This was the guy she hadn't been able to get out of her head for almost two months and here he was, talking about his feelings for another girl!
"So don't you think Nathan should tell this girl how he feels?" Brooke prodded. "I mean if he feels this strongly about her then he should let her know don't you think Haley?"
Haley glanced up at Nathan nervously and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, you should. You should be happy Nate. You should go for it."
Brooke smiled triumphantly as she turned towards Nathan, expecting him to be wearing a matching grin. However instead she was faced with an expression so broken she felt like her own heart was breaking.
Nathan closed his eyes as he took in Haley's words. He knew that Haley would probably say something like that but to actually hear it was a whole other story. It wasn't what she had said in particular, it was what she had meant. It was the fact that she didn't know he was talking about her, that she thought he was talking about some other girl and the fact that she wanted him to 'go for it.' It only proved that she was perfectly happy with him being with someone else, that she wanted him to be with someone else.
"Excuse me." Haley said, cutting through the silence as she got up from the table and bringing Nathan out of his thoughts. "I think Nathan may have been right. I'm really not feeling so good, I'm just going to go home." And with that Haley gathered up her things and hurried out of the café.
"You know what?" Nathan said as he started to get up too. "I'm not feeling too good either. There must be something going around. I'll see you guys later."
Brooke waited until both of them were out of the restaurant before smacking her head against the table. "Stupid idiots!"
Jake looked a little shocked as everything that had happened sunk in before turning to Brooke. "Brooke! Why would you ask Haley that? What good did you think could come of it?"
Brooke lifted her head from the table. "I thought seeing Nathan when he talked about her would make her realise he was talking about her! I mean it was so obvious! Hell, even a blind man could have seen it!"
"But asking Haley what she thought of him acting on it?!" Jake asked incredulously. "Why Brooke?"
"I thought it would make him tell her! I thought he would realise that she would want him to tell her. It was a sure-fire plan!" Brooke exclaimed exasperated.
Jake looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Brooke you don't get it do you? They didn't realise anything. Now Nathan thinks Haley's fine with him dating someone else and Haley thinks Nathan has feelings for another woman!"
Brooke looked at Jake blankly for a moment before suddenly smacking her head against the table once more. "Ugh. Stupid, stupid idiot!" Only this time, her comment was directed at herself.
Okay so I know you guys might hate me a little cause there's not that much action in this chapter but this is just build up and I promise the good stuff is coming soon...
Please let me know what you think because I love to hear from you guys and your reviews are always so awesome and never fail to put a smile on my face :)