This last week has been really rough guys. If you read my profile update, you'd know that my two best friends are both dealing with really big, fucked up things. I've been trying to be there for the both of them and struggling with their situations independently as well, so it's pretty much a miracle that I'm updating so quickly. I know this chapter isn't the longest, but it's the best I could do given my current state of mind and where I'm taking the story. I was going to add something else on to this chapter, but it just wouldn't have flowed as well. Also, I posted a summary and excerpt from my next story on my profile. It's called Only If For A Night, after the song by Florence + the Machine. If you get the chance, read the excerpt and leave me a PM telling me what you think about the idea if you'd like! As always, I hope you guys enjoy and let me know what you think!

Chapter 21

"Haley?" Nathan called out as he entered the woman's apartment. It had killed him to have to wait all day to find out what had her looking so freaked out. He tried to catch glimpses of her throughout the day with no success. It seemed like Haley was purposefully avoiding him at all costs.

"Yeah sure, come on in!" Brooke greeted sarcastically when she heard Nathan just casually walk into the apartment. "It's not like I live here too or anything."

"Relax, will you Brooke? Haley told me to come over right after work; I didn't realize you would be home."

The brunette shrugged indifferently. She wasn't actually annoyed that Nathan showed up, she had grown used to it over the last month. He would come over to their apartment at all hours of the night and day whenever he felt like it now. "She's in her room freaking out right now."

"Why? What's going on?" he asked in confusion. Haley wasn't the type of person to get worked up over something unless it was a big deal.

"If you left me alone and went to talk to her, you'd find out."

"Geez Brooke, it was nice talking to you," he said sarcastically and promptly left the room. He had memorized the path to Haley's bedroom and walked there mindlessly. His head was filled with possible scenarios of what Haley was freaking out over, every one worse than the last.

He knocked on the door softly and heard her muffled response granting him entrance. He smiled at her nervously and closed the door behind him when she gestured to do so. "So what's going on?"

Haley immediately began pacing back and forth. Nathan furrowed his brow but didn't question her actions. He surveyed her bedroom for a moment and took in how freakily organized it was. He thought he recalled someone once making a comment about how all she did was clean and organize when something was bothering her. The observation did little to calm down his racing mind.

"Haley?"

She seemed to snap out of her daze and look at him. "Andy is suspicious."

"Of what?" he asked although he already had a pretty good idea what she was talking about. There was only one thing that concerned both of them that Andy could be suspicious about.

"Don't be stupid, Nathan!" she yelled exasperatedly. "You know what!"

"Okay!" he threw his hands up defensively. He didn't understand what the point in her yelling at him was. It's not like he had done anything wrong here. "What are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know. I denied it and told him we're becoming friends because you're close with Luke, but I don't know how long that'll keep him happy," she explained.

Although he dreaded what her answer might be, Nathan knew he had to ask the question that came to his mind. "Do you want to end our arrangement then? It might be for the best now."

Haley bit her lip. She knew her answer to his question, but she had no idea what he wanted. How was she supposed to answer when they could possibly want different things? That would just be awkward. She took a deep breath and decided to just be honest. "No, I don't want to. Do you?"

He fought to stifle the smile he felt wanting to surface across his face. The happiness that was bubbling inside him was strange but he didn't even care. Haley didn't want to end things and that's all that mattered at the moment. "No, I don't. I think we just have to be a lot more careful from now on."

Haley breathed a silent sigh of relief upon hearing his response. She was happy he didn't want to end it either, but made sure not to let him know that. "What should do to be more careful? I thought we were doing pretty much everything in our power to keep this a secret."

"Outside of work, we'll try to limit how often we go out with our friends together and definitely never do what we did on New Year's again. I think that was just asking for someone to see us. We need to keep this to strictly sex from now on. None of this friends with benefits stuff and then sort of acting like couple at the same time. It's just too fucked up."

Haley actually took a step back in surprise. She hadn't expected Nathan to bring up them acting like a couple. She knew it was true but she had no idea he was aware of it too. He was usually the one that initiated sweet kisses or hand holding randomly; apparently he had become more aware of his actions at some point.

"Oh, okay," she couldn't think of a better response off the top of her head.

Nathan frowned upon hearing her. It was obvious he had been a bit too harsh towards her. It wasn't her fault that this entire arrangement had spiralled out of control. "I'm sorry, Haley. I just want us both on the same page, and that's that what we're doing is strictly for sex. I don't know how or when it moved away from that, but we can't have it happening anymore. It's not what either of us signed up for so I don't want it becoming something else."

"Yeah, I understand Nathan," she forced herself to smile. Truth be told, she didn't really know how to act around him anymore now. Sure, it would be just like when the first started sleeping together, but she had gotten so used to being more affectionate with each other than just friends with benefits. What was and wasn't allowed to be done now? She didn't know how much he wanted to change.

"Well, do you wanna stay for dinner? I think Owen's going to come over too," she offered lamely.

He scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "No, I don't think that's such a good idea right now. I'm just going to go home and do something."

"Yeah, sure, no problem. You can just show yourself out then. I guess I'll see you at work tomorrow."

Nathan nodded silently. Things had definitely taken a turn for the awkward between the two of them. He couldn't think of anything else to say to her so he just offered an attempt at a kind smile and made his way out of the apartment.

Brooke was still standing in the kitchen and watched Nathan leave silently. She was surprised. Normally when he came over, she didn't see Haley for the rest of the night and he didn't leave until the early hours of the morning. Sensing something was up, Brooke yelled for her best friend.

Haley appeared with an upset look on her face and Brooke knew her suspicion was correct. The blonde's lack of speech when she entered the room was another huge giveaway. Haley was always super talkative and the only time that wasn't true was when something was bothering her. "What's wrong?"

Haley took a deep, calming breath. She knew there was no point in trying to lie to her friend; realistically she would end up caving in the end anyway. She relayed the events of the day and her conversation with Nathan quickly.

Brooke sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. She surveyed Haley curiously. Truthfully, she didn't understand why Haley seemed to be so bothered by what Nathan had said. Yeah, it obviously came out a bit harsh and he could have been softer about it, but it was all the truth. Over the last few weeks, Brooke had noticed that Nathan and Haley seemed to be spending more and more time just hanging out and doing couplish things rather than just having casual sex. It confused her, but she saw that her best friend was happy so she never bothered voicing her concern about it.

Haley, I want you to be honest with me, okay? Her friend nodded apprehensively. "Do you have feelings for Nathan?"

"Yeah, of course," she responded. "Nathan is my friend and I care about him."

Brooke rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

Haley shrugged. Obviously she knew what Brooke meant, but didn't her clear avoidance of the real question tell the brunette that it was a topic not up for discussion? Apparently not, because Brooke continued to look at her expectantly with a raised eyebrow and a sort of cocky 'I already know the answer' smirk.

"Yes! Okay? Are you happy that I've finally fucking admitted it, Brooke? I have feelings for Nathan!"

Brooke looked sadly and surprised at her best friend. She didn't expect that kind of random, angry outburst. However, this kind of behaviour was common from Haley when something was really bothering her or she was hurting. Of course she wasn't happy to see Haley in pain. Lately though, her best friend had become so guarded and unwilling to talk to Brooke about anything in her life that it made her feel like she had to physically pull any sort of emotional response out of her.

"I'm not happy that you admitted it," she started softly, trying to calm her friend down as best she could. "I'm glad you're finally actually talking to me though. Lately you've been so closed off from me and everyone else. You've either been with Nathan or just by yourself pretty much and it was getting ridiculous, Hales. I want my best friend to talk to me about what's going on in her life and it's been so obvious to me that you started having feelings for Nathan, I was just trying to help you realize it for yourself."

Looking back over the last few weeks, Haley realized that Brooke was right. Aside from making the effort to go to dinner with Lucas a couple times and having Brooke or Peyton force her into hanging out with them, she hadn't been with her friends very much at all. She had been a little better about spending time with her family, but not by much. She had been skipping their regular Sunday night dinners each week and only saw her sister once or twice a week. She had been with Nathan a lot though. He had been coming over to the apartment all the time lately, or they'd be at his house. The pair would go out to eat, see a movie, or just walk around town sometimes. Haley's life had come to revolve around Nathan and she was just opening her eyes to it. Maybe Nathan restating the boundaries and rules they had laid out in the beginning would turn out to be a good thing. Despite her having feelings for him now, not spending so much time with him would give her her life back and hopefully allow her to get rid of her feelings for him. All they both wanted was sex. Haley did not want to complicate the situation by bringing in an emotional side. That's why relationships had the ability of becoming so messy and that is exactly what they were looking to avoid when they first started.

She was at a loss for words. She didn't know how to admit Brooke was right and really open herself up to her friend right now. Luckily for her, Brooke was really good at reading her best friend. "You don't have to talk about any of it right now. Why don't we just order a pizza and have a movie night like we usually do when something is going on with one of us?"

"No," Haley shook her head in polite decline. "You were gonna have Owen over for dinner, I don't want to get in the way of that."

"Nonsense, Hales. We've always said hoes over bros, right? Nothing has changed that. I can always see Owen tomorrow and we'll reschedule dinner. Right now, my best friend needs me and that's a hell of a lot more important than some dinner I could have any time."

Haley accepted Brooke's argument, but it kind of made her feel worse. Brooke was right that the two had always said 'hoes over bros' but Haley had apparently forgotten that. She had completely alienated her best friends for Nathan and that made her just want to curl up in a ball and throw a pity party about how horrible a friend she was. She wasn't about to put up a fight with the feisty brunette though, she would never be able to win anyway. Brooke threw a lazy arm around Haley's shoulders a guided her into the next room. The two girls didn't even have to speak to know what was coming next. They would spend the rest of the night watching movies, crying, and having heart to hearts. It was almost a ritual and nothing could break the bond between these two best friends.

Haley quietly walked into the house and looked around. It seemed to be mostly dark with a soft glow of light coming from the kitchen. There were arrows taped to the floor in red construction paper and Haley smiled softly to herself. Nathan had told her he had plans for the two of them tonight. Tonight just happened to be Valentine's Day and these plans looked to be a hell of a lot more than casual sex. For the guy that merely two weeks ago said they had crossed a line at some point and just wanted the sex, this was awfully contradictory.

Haley was excited to see Nathan. Apart from work, where they had to stay away from each other as much as possible, they had only met up twice in the past two weeks. Andy's suspicion and their subsequent conversation later that night had really applied the brakes to their arrangement or relationship or whatever the hell it could be called anymore. It was what made Haley realize distance wasn't just going to make her feelings go away. They were there and she couldn't just forget them. They were there every time she saw or spoke to him like a giant, neon coloured elephant only she was aware of. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stifle them and not tell Nathan and keep what was left of their arrangement in tact without throwing another complicated wrench in the works that would no doubt end any sort relations between them for good. Something had to give though, and all Haley could do was hope and pray it wouldn't have be an explosion.

Deciding against calling out for Nathan, Haley followed the arrows on the floor with a content look upon her face. She found her stomach swirling with excitement of what the night held for her and Nathan. Allowing the paper to guide her, Haley ended up in the dining room off of Nathan's kitchen where she had been correct in guessing the light was coming from. She stopped when she saw a sign in place of the next arrow telling her to stop and stand where she was. The table in front of her was set neatly and had two candles burning softly in the centre. The evening only seemed to be getting more and more romantic and it had only just begun.

Now Haley looked down at her outfit and didn't feel so overdressed. When Nathan told her he had plans for them tonight, she had no idea what to wear. His response of, 'just wear something you think you look nice in, which is anything,' had not helped her at all. It was a charming response and she had blushed softly upon hearing it, but it didn't offer any hint of what they might be doing. Eventually she opted on a simple, light green dress with thick straps that ended at her knees. She paired it with a pair of black stilettos, always looking for the opportunity to boost her height a little.

Nathan must have heard the sound of her clicking heels as she walked through the house because he appeared in the dining room a moment later. He looked absolutely handsome in a pair of black dress pants and shoes and a dark blue button up shirt that was rolled up to his elbows. The colour of the shirt made his eyes pop and she found herself unable to look away. He noticed her staring and smirked, that is until he actually took a moment to survey her own outfit. She looked stunning. Even in the simplest of dresses, Haley managed to take his breath away. Hell, she could take his breath away when she first woke up in the morning, still dressed in sweat pants and an old t-shirt.

"Hi," he greeted her softly as he walked across the room to her.

"Hey," she bit her lip as she responded. He took her hand in his and led her the few steps over to the table. Pulling out a chair, he gestured for her to sit on it and tucked it in gently when she had done so.

"Dinner is ready; I just have to put it on plates for us. You just sit here and I'll be right back," he promised with a smile. Haley didn't even have a chance to respond before he was gone again.

Nathan re-entered the room juggling two plates and a bottle of white wine. He placed the first plate down in front of Haley and she looked up at him in shock. "How did you know?"

"You may have mentioned it once to me," he shrugged. The mac n' cheese looked delicious. Haley was still in shock but smiled warmly at him. He returned the gesture and poured them each a glass of wine. She watched him hold up his glass and did the same. "Cheers. I hope you have a good time tonight, Hales. No one deserves to be treated like a princess more than you. I'm glad I could be the guy to do it," he said and they clinked their glasses together.

"Thanks, Nathan."

"Don't thank me yet," he grinned and pulled a small box from his pocket. It was a type of box any woman would recognize in a second. The tell tale velvety surface and smooth corners gave it away. Jewelry. He slid the box across the table to her. "Open it."

"Nathan, you didn't have to get me anything. You're just being a nice guy and treating me to dinner. Our arrangement doesn't require you to get me gifts like this," she began to object aloud, but her insides were doing somersaults at the thought of Nathan actually wanting to get her a gift.

"I wanted to Hales, so just open, will you?"

Haley didn't need to be told twice. She took the box into her hand and slowly opened it. Inside it was a pair of simple, diamond stud earrings. She had never received anything so beautiful in her life. Nathan had really gone too far in spoiling her. She looked up at him with watering eyes. "Thank you so much, I love them."

"Really? Lily didn't think they were your taste. She said you only wore earrings now so the holes wouldn't close. I don't know though, there was something about these that when I saw them I just knew I had to get them for you."

"They're perfect," she confirmed with a small nod. She inwardly shook her head. She finally knew what Nathan and Lily had gone shopping for. Lily hadn't been budging when it came to keeping Nathan's present a secret. She reminded herself to tell Lily to never keep something like this from her again. She didn't need to be blindsided with such an overwhelming present again.

"Well that's good because you're perfect, too, Haley James," he said and took her hand in his. He dropped a soft kiss onto it before letting it go.

Haley blushed slightly and looked down at her plate. He sensed that he had embarrassed her slightly and chuckled to himself. "Let's eat before this gets cold."

Haley took his suggestion and began eating the delicious meal. She had to hand it to Nathan, he had done a wonderful job with everything tonight. Haley was confused though. Less than two weeks ago Nathan had practically yelled at her because all he wanted was sex and now this dinner was happening. Was this just him being a nice guy and possibly feeling guilty for being harsh with her? Whatever had sparked this in him, she didn't mind it. She wasn't going to point it out either. Haley James had done the unthinkable and developed feelings for Nathan Scott. Things were about to get really messy and she just wanted this one last night to have a good time and be happy with him, feeling like they were so much more than just fuck buddies.