Chapter Twenty-One: Distractions Before the First Date

Nathan woke up to the sun bursting through his blinds in his bedroom. He took a quick glance at his alarm clock and noticed it was already 10 o'clock. He climbed out of his queen sized bed and walked to his bathroom. He took a quick shower, shaved, and got dressed. He threw on his blue Duke Basketball shorts and white Duke t-shirt. He traveled to the lower level of his house and walked into the kitchen. He saw a note on his counter from his mom.

Nate,

Your dad is at work and I decided to go run some errands. I decided to let you sleep in. I heard you come in last night but didn't say anything. I figured you could use some extra sleep considering the day you had yesterday. I'll be home by 3. Have a good day! Love you!

Mom

He put the note back on the counter and opened up the refrigerator. He pulled out the orange juice and poured some for himself. He guzzled it down and picked up his phone to call Luke. He listened to the ring five times before he hung up. He figured Luke was out with Brooke doing who knows what.

He went up to his room, grabbed some money and his iPod, went back downstairs, locked the front door, and began to walk down his driveway. As he was walking on the sidewalk, he noticed his Dad's car was coming towards him. He decided to turn up his iPod and began to run.

He really didn't want to talk to his Dad, figuring he would try to stop him and make him come home. He could see his Dad waving his arm at him from the car but he pretended not to see him. Finally, his father gave up, allowing Nathan to get away. Sure, Nathan did love his father, he could be a really good one sometimes, but lately he was being a plain old dirt bag, and he didn't want to associate with him at all.

He ran all the way to Karen's Cafe, hoping they would still have some bagels left, knowing the morning crowd always got there and took them all. He opened the door, made the little bell on the door ring, which notified Karen that someone had just entered her cafe. She looked up and saw Nathan, completely out of breath. She motioned him to come over at the end of the corner. He sat down and turned off his iPod. He gave her a polite smile and she returned the smile.

"So, why is it that you are completely out of breath, Nathan? Wild goose chase or something?" Karen said jokingly.

"Nah, I was running from my Dad actually. My Mom and Dad were fighting yesterday, he was being a complete jerk as usual, then he proceeded not to be home for dinner, and since I was out last night I haven't been able to talk to him yet. I really don't want to anyway, so I have been avoiding him. He tried to wave me down while he was in the car but I avoided him by running away from his car. Probably not the best idea but oh well."

"Well that definitely wasn't a wild goose chase you had. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine or I will be fine. I would be even better though if you had a chocolate chip bagel and cream cheese for me" Nathan said with a big smirk on his face.

Karen walked into the back and came back with the bagel and cream cheese. She handed it to Nathan and his smirk got even bigger.

"How much do I owe you, Karen?"

"It's own the house this time, Nate."

"You don't have to do that."

"No, I don't but I want to. If you would like you could come over for dinner tonight. Lucas and I are having pizza night and you are welcome to join us."

"Well thank you for the offer but I am going on a date tonight!"

"If I may ask, who with?"

"Haley. Our English classes were pen pals when she lived in Colorado. Then, her Dad got transferred to a job in Tree Hill. So, I took her out with Lucas, Peyton, Brooke, Mouth, and Jake. We all got along well so I decided I would ask her out on a date."

"I'm so happy for you Nathan! Lucas mentioned that you had all gone out together. I'm glad she is fitting in so well. Do you know what you're doing on your date yet?"

"I think I might take her down to the river walk for dinner. I'm not sure though. I'll figure something out. She's really easy to please but I want to make our first date special" Nathan said as he continued to devour his bagel. He was always a very fast eater.

"I'm sure it will be very special Nathan. Oh and Lucas is out with Brooke, so if you try calling him, he won't pick up."

"Yeah, I tried calling and when he didn't pick up I figured he would be with Brooke. Well, I better get going. I'm going to go pick up some flowers for Haley."

"Alrighty, have fun Nate!"

"Thanks Karen!" Nathan said as he opened the front door.

He walked down the street to the nearest flower boutique. He picked out a bouquet of purple little flowers. He thought Haley would like them. After he paid the cashier, he began to walk home when he heard someone yelling his name.

"Nathan!" Lucas yelled.

"Hey Lucas! Hey Brooke! What's up?"

"We are just about to go and grab some lunch. Would you like to come with us?" Brooke said sweetly.

"Nah, I just ate a bagel at Karen's and I'm about to head back home to the Scott war territory."

Lucas began to laugh. "Dude, you don't have to go home if you don't want to."

"I know but I can't avoid my Dad forever. I mine as well just get it over with."

"Got it" Lucas said.

"Hey Nathan, who are those flowers for?" Brooke said.

"Ahh, these are for Haley. I asked her out on a date and I thought I would give her some flowers."

"Awww, Nate! That is so cute! We should double date! That would be so fabulous! What do you think, Nate?"

"I think I need to get through the first date first before we begin to think about double dating; if that's okay with you Brooke."

"Fine by me!" Brooke said with a smile as she turned to Lucas. "Luke, I am getting very hungry. Can we go now?"

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty hungry as well. We'll see you later, Nate! Good luck on your date!"

"Thanks guys! See you later!" Nathan said.

He continued to walk home in a very slow pace. He didn't want to talk to his dad, but he knew he had to. He approached his driveway and his dad's car was nowhere to be seen. He walked into the foyer of his house and heard absolutely nothing. He walked into the kitchen, set down Haley's purple flowers, and turned on his answering machine because the red light was blinking.

"Nate. It's your father, the man you're avoiding. Something came up at work and now I am on my way to the airport. Some business client mess that you wouldn't understand...but anyway...your mom knows I'll be gone," there was a short pause. Then, in a much more stern voice he said, "We'll talk when I get home! Don't think you're going to get away with avoiding me! I am your father and you need to know my side of the story before you start judging me!" The message ended and Nathan continued to stare at the machine.

"Jack-ass!" Nathan screamed.

He grabbed the answering machine and slammed it against the wall. He stared at the floor and couldn't believe he had just destroyed their answering machine. His Dad had never angered him so much. He walked up the stairs and into his bedroom. He turned on the stereo to the CD he had made of rap music. He turned on his television and Game Cube. For the rest of the afternoon, he sat in front of his television screen. He heard the garage door opening, which he figured was his mom, so he turned off his game and stereo and headed downstairs.

Deb Scott walked into the house and straight into the kitchen to lay down her shopping bags. She noticed the answering machine, or what was the answering machine, in little pieces on the floor by the patio door. She heard Nathan running down the stairs and walked to the doorway.

"Mom, I can explain!" Nathan said.

"What happened Nate?" Deb said, trying to be calm.

"Dad called and left a message on the machine. I avoided him this morning when he was driving home. He tried to wave me down but instead I just ran away. I didn't want to talk to him. When I got home, I turned on the answering machine and he had left a message that he was going out of town. At the end of the message, he told me that he would make sure I didn't avoid him when he got home, in a really rude voice. I got so angry that I threw the answering machine at the wall. I'm really sorry Mom! I got carried away but he makes me so mad."

Deb walked over to her son and gave him a hug. Sure she was mad that they didn't have an answering machine but that could be replaced. She wanted the best for Nathan and she was beginning to realize that this marriage needed to be ended.

"Nathan, I am so sorry that your father did that to you. I want you to know that I talked to him about counseling and he had nothing of it. He refuses to go see a marriage specialist so this morning I decided to go get some divorce papers. I've had enough and so have you. We're going to get out, Nate."

"I don't know what to say, Mom. I never thought this day would come."

Deb smiled at her son. She knew she had just taken a load of stress off of her son's back.

"Mom are you sure you aren't mad about the answering machine?"

"Oh I will replace that. Don't worry about it. Now, what should we have for dinner?"

"I have my date with Haley tonight, Mom. So, I won't be here for dinner."

"That's right. That completely slipped my mind. I suppose I will go grab a sandwich at Karen's then. I haven't seen her in a while and it would be nice to be able to catch up. You know, I'm really glad you and Lucas became friends because that allowed me and Karen to become friends as well."

"Yeah, it worked out well for both of us, huh?"

"Sure did!" Deb said.

Nathan glanced at the clock. It read 5:30. "I'm going to go take a quick shower Mom before my date. I'll let you know before I leave, okay?"

"That's fine, Nathan" Deb said.

Nathan walked up the stairs and hopped into the shower. In the meantime, Deb cleaned up the broken pieces of the answering machine. She couldn't believe Dan had made her son so mad. She felt a bit guilty when she picked up the divorce papers this morning but after seeing the kitchen floor when she got home, her decision this morning was one of the best decisions she had ever made.

Nathan got ready in his bedroom. He put on a black short sleeve polo, khaki cargo shorts, and his black and white Nike basketball shoes. He took the cap off of his cologne and sprayed it on himself. He looked in the mirror to make sure he looked okay. He grabbed his wallet and wristwatch off of his nightstand and walked back down to his kitchen.

"It's time for me to go Mom."

"Okay Nate! Have fun on your date! Please try not to get home too late."

"I won't. I'll probably be home by eleven."

"That sounds fine. I'll talk to you when you get home."

"Alright, bye!"

"Bye" Deb said.

Nathan grabbed the purple flowers off of the counter and walked out the front door. He couldn't wait to see Haley.