Chapter 20
The day was passing by quickly for Haley. She was glad, but felt anxious at the thought of the game later that day.
There was never a bone in her body that didn't believe Nathan would play amazing. It was the other players Haley worried about. What if they got too physical with her husband and put him in worse condition?
Shaking away the negative thoughts, Haley entered the quad for lunch, quickly spotting Brooke and Peyton chatting at the table.
"Well hello friends," she laughed, joining in on the conversation.
"Tutor girl, you are just in time! Lucas was telling me that Nathan had some interesting information, hopefully you can give us the deets on that," Brooke prompted eagerly.
Haley sighed, thinking of the night before. It wasn't till she was fully rested this morning when she realized the severity of what had happened.
Dan Scott had put her and her husband's life in danger twice. Once directly, and once not so directly. It was really serious and who knows what Dan would do now that he was exposed.
Haley redirected her attention to her friends.
"It's a long story, but basically Rachel and Dan were working together to break Nathan and me apart, and they were both behind to break in at the Scott residence and the school shooting."
"That hoe bag! She's been teaming up with your evil-but-handsome-for-an-old-guy father in law? I should have known."
Peyton looked confused. "How were they responsible for the shooting? Did they talk Jimmy into doing it or something?"
Haley shook her head. "No, but Dan is the one who hinted to Rachel that the time capsule could do damage to our marriage, and then she was the one who broke in and released it. It's not like they could have known that Jimmy would take things to the extreme, but still. It was a catalyst in the events, and who knows, maybe if the tape was never released, Jimmy could have gotten help."
The three girls sat in silence, that day had scarred them all. It was crazy to reflect on just how much their lives had changed since that day, how much their perspectives had changed.
Finally, Brooke spoke up.
"Well, enough of the drama. Let's talk about Homecoming! We have a few weeks but still, I want to make sure none of us have the same dress."
Peyton and Haley laughed. Brooke sure did have a one-track mind when it came to school functions.
"And Ms. President," Haley giggled, "what's this year's theme?"
"A night in Paris! I thought of it myself."
Peyton snorted. "Very original, B. Davis. Wasn't that the theme, like two years ago?"
Brooke huffed. "Maybe, but who cares? It's super romantic! Speaking of romance, have you ladies been asked yet?"
Peyton laughed. "I'm going with Mouth, so I told him not to ask me in a formal way. Besides, I'm not into all that mushy "promposal" ideas."
"Well that makes one of us, P. Sawyer, because I for one cannot wait for Lucas to ask me in front of the whole school."
Haley looked at Brooke confused. "Lucas told me he was asking you yesterday."
"Yeah, he did, but I want it to be more public and romantic so I told him to do it again."
Once again, Haley and Peyton laughed at their friend's antics.
The bell rang signifying the end of their free period, and the three girls went on their separate ways through the halls.
Haley walked towards her locker, hoping to see Nathan before their next class. In her distracted thoughts, she failed to see the red head standing in the doorway of the girl's bathroom, talking on the phone.
"So you can make it down to Tree Hill in two weeks for the Homecoming dance? Perfect, I promise it will be a night neither of us will forget. No, thank you my dear cousin."
With that, Rachel shut her phone with a smirk on her face as she watched the honey blonde tutor walk naively down that hall.
OTWHOTWHOTWH
The final bell rang, signifying the end of the day. All the students poured out of the front doors of the school, minus the cheerleaders and basketball players who were getting ready for the big game.
Head cheerleader Brooke Davis slid into Principal Turner's office, dropping a note on his desk for him to see the following Monday morning. Knowing that it was her responsibility as Student Council President to keep the school safe if she knew any information, Brooke felt confident in the information she was revealing to her Principal about the leaked time capsule.
Once completing her task, she slipped back out and headed for the locker room to get ready for tonight.
Tonight was a big deal. It was the opening game for the Raven's star player and captain Nathan Scott, who would be stepping on the court for the first time since the previous season and since his gunshot wound.
Speaking of which, number 23 was currently in the tutor center, making out with his wife.
Haley sat on one of the cabinets with Nathan between her legs, one of her hands on the back of his neck pulling him closer while the other was tangled up in his tie.
"You know, a good luck quickie might help me play better tonight," Nathan whispered confidently as he left open-mouth kisses on her neck.
"Nathan," Haley tried to say in a warning tone, but it came out sounding more like a moan.
Just as Nathan began to push her cheerleading shell above her breasts, the door swung open.
"Ahhh!"
Nathan quickly pulled down the shell top before facing his brother in frustration.
"Seriously, Luke? You're a total cock block!"
Haley blushed feverishly as her best friend/ brother-in-law kept his hands over his eyes.
"Okay, seriously Luke, it was just a bra. Not that I'm not happy that you don't want to see my wife naked, but it's not even like you saw her tits," Nathan remarked.
Haley smacked her husband's shoulder while Lucas shot daggers towards his brother. "Whitey wants to see us before the game. And Brooke is looking for you Haley."
With that, Lucas stalked out of the room, murmuring about going at it like rabbits and being scarred for life.
Haley hopped down from the counter and kissed Nathan's cheek before leading them out of the classroom.
The two brothers walked down the hall towards the boy's locker room together.
"Nate, I just want to say that it's good to see you so happy again."
Nathan grinned. "Thanks, man. Even though it was some pretty rough stuff that happened, I'm just glad Haley and I are back together. And by the looks of it, you and Brooke are doing pretty good too."
Lucas frowned as he scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know man. She's been pulling away a lot lately, and I don't really know how to confront her on it. I feel like our relationship is for show these days. She doesn't seem happy."
"Has she said why?"
"Not really, I mean, after the shooting, she did mention something about how I need to open up more and stop holding things back from her."
Nathan looked at his older brother. "What do you mean? Do you have anything you might be holding back?"
Lucas looked down sheepishly. "Honestly, yeah. After that talk we had in the library, the one about how you saw all our futures, I've really been wondering if I went back to Brooke when I should be with Peyton."
Nathan's eyes widened. "You like Peyton again?!" He couldn't believe his brother. Last time the whole love triangle drama went down, he and Haley were dragged into it. Nathan definitely wasn't looking for any more drama.
"No, not more than just a friend." Lucas shook his head feverishly.
"Then why would you be thinking that?"
"Well, you said that you saw Peyton and I together, and it really got me to thinking, did I choose the wrong person if my brother sees my future with someone else?"
Nathan laughed. "You seriously took that all to heart?" When Lucas nodded his head yes, Nathan let out another chuckle. "I was bleeding out, man. Some things can be chalked up to blood loss. Besides, you're 17. You and Brooke are at a good place and you love each other. If the time comes where you no longer have those feelings for each other, then so be it. Live in the moment. You're far too young to be settling down."
Lucas punched his brother's arm. "That's grand coming from you, little brother, seeing you got married at 16."
Nathan smirked as he opened the door to the locker room. "What can I say, I know what I want."
OTWHOTWHOTWH
It was coming down to the final minutes of the game, and despite all the exciting energy in the room, Ravens fans weren't sitting on the edge of their seats. The score was 72-50 with the Ravens on top, as they had been for the entire game. Nathan was on fire, sinking shot after shot. It didn't hurt that he also had a well-practiced team to help him out.
The final buzzard rang and the gymnasium was filled with cheers. Once again, the Ravens had sealed a victory.
Lucas ran quickly into the locker room, leaving his girlfriend befuddled, who came to congratulate him.
Nathan shook hands with some of his teammates before wrapping his arms around his wife, pulling her into a great big bear hug.
"Ew, Nathan, you're all sweaty!" Haley squealed.
Nathan just laughed and lowered his arms loosely to her waist and began talking to Tim.
Suddenly, Lucas came over the announcer's microphone as he stood by the stands with flowers in his hands.
"May I have everyone's attention please."
Haley and Nathan laughed, both knowing exactly what was going on.
"Brooke Davis, will you please be my date to the Homecoming dance next weekend?"
The crowd of 300 people awed at the gesture as Brooke gave Lucas a big kiss and took the flowers. "Well, since you asked so nicely."
Everybody laughed at her response. The gym then quickly filtered out, and Nathan couldn't help but notice that this was the first game his dad had missed without a real reason to. And he immediately tried to push the thought out of his mind as a slight ache filled his heart.
"Why don't you go shower and I'll wait out here for you," Haley suggested when she saw the far-off look in her husband's eyes.
"Yeah, sure," he replied, giving her one last squeeze before going into the locker room.
OTWHOTWHOTWHOTWH
Nathan laid in bed staring at the ceiling. Haley's body was curled up on him, her head resting comfortably on his chest. Stroking her hair, Nathan struggled to fall back asleep at 6 in the morning.
What his dad had done was really shitty, there was no doubt about it. But Nathan couldn't help that for once in his life, Dan Scott felt remorse. And maybe that's a sign that he was changing.
Nathan sighed. It was all too much to think about.
Getting up, he decided to go make breakfast.
The waffles popped out of the toaster as Nathan finished the omelets, and suddenly he had an idea.
Taking the flowers in the vase on the counter and laying them next to the plates of food, Nathan carefully placed the bacon in the letters 'HC' over the meal and went upstairs.
Haley woke up when she felt something resting in her lap, and was surprised to see the breakfast meal on a tray in front of her. She smiled at her husband, thankful for his thoughtfulness.
Nathan had a goofy smile on his face, waiting for Haley to realize what he was asking her.
"Aw thanks babe! I'm starving!" Haley remarked, sitting up in bed.
Glancing at the food, she looked up to see the grin on her husband's face. Her gaze returned to the food, and noticing the 'hidden' message written in bacon, a grin appeared on her face, too.
Haley grabbed the back of Nathan's neck and pulled him forward to meet her lips in a searing kiss.
"So Haley James, will you go to homecoming with me?"
Haley giggled at his antics and nodded her head yes.
"Yes!"
If only they had known what would happen at the dance, maybe they would have decided to stay in bed.