Thanks to asharp4, Emily Carol, snowbabie, luvnaley23, LaFilmeMichelle, HJS-NS-23 and xSmile for replying. Katy.
25. Candies and Flowers
Nathan walked into the elevator of Haley's apartment building and pushed the number four which lit up as soon as his finger made contact. "Be cool," he told himself once again, probably the fifth time since he woke up earlier that morning.
Tonight was the night that he and Haley had agreed to go out to dinner and so it was their first date after their successful lunch the week before.
"I don't want to rush into something that I'm not ready for," she had told him at lunch when he had pressed her for a reason why she was so reluctant to give them a try.
Haley had admitted to him that she wasn't very experienced in dating; she had only had one serious relationship and it had ended very badly. Another thing she had shocked him with was that she wasn't sure she'd ever get married.
He really couldn't blame her. The only examples of marriage she had were her parents' marriage, her sister's and her father's marriage to Melinda. Two had been unsuccessful for the same reason: adultery. The third had only come about because another had fallen apart and even though they seemed to love each other dearly, Melinda and Jimmy were not he best role models.
He couldn't see himself getting married again any time soon especially to his first wife's sister. But he had managed to convince her that all he wanted for now was to date her and that they would talk their time.
The elevator dinged when it reached the fourth floor and the doors slid open as he walked over the threshold to the familiar floor. He hoped he would be coming to the building more often in the future.
He rapped lightly on her door and waited as he heard her coming to the door.
"Hey," she beamed as she pulled the door open part way so she could remove the chain.
"Are you ready?" he asked when the door opened all the way.
"I just have to grab my purse and then I'm good to go," she replied, disappearing into her bedroom.
When she came back out, he gave took in her appearance. She wore a red sundress with a black button-down coat over it and black pointed shoes with no heel. "You look great," he said, looking at her again before pecking her on the cheek, not surprised to discover that the only make-up she wore was lip gloss and skin-toned eye shadow.
"Simple but elegant," she remarked, feeling down the fabric of dress. "That's always been my philosophy."
"A fine philosophy," he agreed. It was so refreshing to find someone who wasn't obsessed with fashion like Taylor had been, but he let it slide with her because she designed clothes for a living.
Haley looked at him and tilted her head to the side. "You don't look horrible either," she said.
"Thanks," he said uncertainly.
"Well, I can't say great too because that would be repetitive and boring." Her smile widened with amusement. "And it's my understanding that guys do not like to be called pretty or beautiful."
"I don't mind being handsome," he winked.
"How about spiffy?" she giggled.
He frowned. "Not horrible is fine."
"This is a great place," Haley said as they were seated at a table set for two at a small restaurant called Dantalia's.
"Yeah, a client owns the place," Nathan replied.
"What'd they do?" Haley asked.
"Excuse me?" he asked, looking confused.
"Well, you're a defence lawyer and if the owner is a client, then they must have done something wrong," Haley whispered as if the owner were right near them.
"That's privileged," he informed her.
"Oh, come on," she said.
"Sorry, but I want to keep my licence," he said.
"If that's your defence, then I guess it means I can't tell you about the interesting case I worked on this morning," she said, leaning back in her chair and smiled triumphantly.
His curiosity got the better of him. "What?"
"Privileged," she said, shaking her head.
"You're not a doctor," he pointed out.
She narrowed her eyes at him because she knew he had a point. "Oh, but I work with the doctors as their assistants so privilege does extend to me," she said a few seconds later.
"No, it doesn't," he said.
"Are you sure?" Haley challenged.
"Well, no, I don't deal in medical legalese but I think you would be counted as a third party like a nurse would be," he replied.
"Either way, I don't want to risk my licence," she said.
"Yeah, but in your case, you could tell me what happened, you just couldn't tell me the name," he said.
"So could you," Haley said.
"No, because you know the client owns the restaurant and so you could easily find out their name," Nathan replied.
"Then put it in hypothetical terms," she said.
"Sorry, Hales, no can do," he said.
"Anything interesting happen today?" Haley asked, changing the subject.
"Not anything you'd be interested in," he replied.
She caught the tone of his voice. "Is it about your family?" she asked.
Nathan nodded. "Yeah, but it's not pertinent information," he said.
"You can tell me, Nathan, its fine," she urged him.
"My mom's been having an affair with Keith," Nathan replied.
Haley stared at him in disbelief. "You mean Brooke's father?" she asked.
"Yeah and apparently it's been going on since before she found out about my dad and…" Nathan started to say but then realized he had broached the topic of Taylor and immediately stopped talking.
"Dan and Taylor," Haley finished for him carelessly.
"Yeah," he said.
"I don't get it," she said, looking at him curiously. "Why would she be so annoyed with Taylor when she was fooling around with her daughter-in-law's father who also happens to be her best friend's husband?"
"Actually, Keith and Deb have been separated for a while now," Nathan replied.
"They were together last time I saw them," Haley said.
"No, they weren't, they were just keeping up appearances for Brooke's sake but announced the separation a few weeks ago," he replied.
Haley chuckled. "And I thought my family was screwed up."
He stared at her in disbelief. "Your family is," he pointed out teasingly.
"Yeah, but yours is worse," she laughed.
"And I guess my mom was so mad at Taylor because she also cheated on me," Nathan replied.
"So what's going to happen?" Haley asked.
"What do you mean?" Nathan replied.
"Well, are your parents getting divorced or something?" Haley wondered.
"Yeah, they are. My mom served my dad with papers this weekend," he replied.
"Sorry," she said sympathetically.
He shook his head. "I'm fine with it. It's Luke that's having a hard time with the whole thing."
"But Brooke's helping him through it?"
"Yeah, they're helping each other plus they've got the pregnancy to focus on," Nathan said.
"Good," Haley said.
"How's your family?" Nathan asked.
She rolled her eyes. "Melinda's finally picked a name other than Lydia," Haley replied.
"How'd that happen?" Nathan asked.
"Apparently, Dad talked her out of it by explaining that he wanted me involved in the baby's life and that I wouldn't be if she named her Lydia," Haley replied.
"And the name is?" Nathan asked.
"Hannah James," Haley replied.
"Is Hannah a family name?" Nathan asked.
"Not my family but it might be from hers, I'm not sure," Haley replied.
"So you're talking to them again," Nathan remarked.
Haley smirked. "I'm a masochist," she explained.
He reached over and entwined their hands. "No, you just care," he said.
"I care about my sister," she corrected.
"So the food was amazing," Haley said after she swallowed the last bite of her roast chicken Caesar salad.
"You had a salad." He clearly didn't think she could measure the greatness of the food with a salad.
"And I liked it. Did you like your food?" Haley asked, pointing to the leftovers of his steak.
"Yes, it was great," he replied.
"Well, if you liked your dinner and I liked mine then the food was amazing," she argued.
"But all you had was a salad," he said again.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," she said, frowning at him.
"It's hardly food," he said.
"I like salads, most of them anyways," she explained. "And you're just going to have to get used to it."
"Why?" Nathan asked.
"Because I might just have one next time we go out," she replied simply, not realizing that what she said had a deep impact on him.
Nathan's eyes had widened a little and he was staring at her nervously. "We're going out again?" he asked carefully.
"Don't you want to?" she asked, looking at him now.
"Well, yeah," he replied eagerly.
Haley smiled. "And so do I," she said.
They walked off the elevator and stopped at her doorway while she got out her keys. "So I guess I'll see you…" she started to say but then stopped as she realized they hadn't set a day for their next date.
"Tomorrow is fine with me," he replied at her questioning gaze.
"Two dates in a row, huh?" she smirked.
"It's a rarity," he said, following her line of thought.
"No family drama talk tomorrow," she said, leaning forward to kiss him good night.
"Agreed," he said, pressing his lips to hers and lingering for a few minutes.
When he pulled away, Haley opened her eyes and sighed with satisfaction. "Now I understand what all the fuss is about," she said.
"Huh?" he said.
"The first kiss," she replied.
"You've been kissed before," he said.
"Well, yes," Haley said.
"I don't get it," he said.
"Well, that whole cliché of how important the first kiss is to a girl," she began to explain.
"What about it?" Nathan asked.
"If it's good, then the guy's got potential but if it's bad, then he gets dumped," Haley said.
"And?" Nathan prodded, looking at her curiously.
"Well, that kiss was great," she smiled.