Hey everyone, the site is working again! Yay! haha, Anyway, thank you for the reviews, they make me so happy. Here's chapter 28, I hope you like!

Disclaimer: Neither James Lafferty nor One Tree Hill belong to me, and sadly, they probably never will…

Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?

A Summer to Remember

Chapter 28

"Nate! You're finally here!" Tim cheered as Nathan entered into a small air conditioned office at the entrance to the marina.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late." He mumbled. He was no longer in a mood that was even remotely close to good, thanks to Dan.

"No prob. Felix just went in the back to get the list of available vessels for the day that we want to charter one." Tim replied as he picked up the business cards on the desk and started to shuffle them.

"What the hell did you just say?" Nathan gave him an irritated look. "Tim, when you use big words like that, you only make yourself look stupider."

"You're just mad because you don't know what those words mean." Tim gloated.

"I know what they mean, I'm just surprised that you do too." Nathan admitted bitterly. Why couldn't Tim just talk like a normal person so that he didn't have to actually think in order to understand him?

"Whatever. Dude, this Felix guy, he is totally my new idol." Tim said a little louder than a whisper as Nathan gave him a weird look. "He told me that he's gone out with 5 girls…at the same time! How crazy is that?"

"Ok, first of all Tim, why would he tell you something like that? And second of all, why would I care?" Nathan said in an aggravated tone.

"God, just chill Nathan. You have some major issues." Tim replied as Felix came back out from the back room.

"Hey, you must be Nate. I'm Felix." The dark haired guy said as he extended his hand to Nathan.

"It's Nathan." He scowled as he shook Felix's outstretched hand. Nathan took a moment to actually look at the kid. He was a little scrawny, but still well built. He was wearing baggy jeans and 2 polo shirts with both collars popped.

"Right, Nathan, so are you ready to take a look at my beautiful boats?" Felix questioned with a grin.

"Yeah, let's just make this quick…"

Felix led Tim and Nathan out to the docks and carefully chose the longest one to walk down. "This right here is classy and perfect for an afternoon cocktail party." He said simply as he pointed to a small but stylish boat that had a large open patio area on the top deck.

"No way! We need something bigger! This party is going to be a off the chain!" Tim yelled excitedly as he ignored Felix's first proposal. Nathan just watched, rather bored. Didn't he tell Tim to handle this stuff?

"Ok, well this one is perfect or you then." Felix wiggled his eyebrows as he pointed to a larger boat that had a large outdoor area and also and indoor sitting room. "This one is sure to attract a bunch of hotties."

"That sounds good to me, but Nathan has a girlfriend." Tim pointed out, confused. If Nathan had a girlfriend, then why would he want a boat that would attract a bunch of hot girls?

Nathan rolled his eyes subtly at Tim's moronic statement. "Well, this boat here can certainly help a guy lucky if you know what I mean." Felix winked. "Trust me, I know from experience."

Idiot, Nathan thought as he watched Felix show them the last and biggest of the yachts. This guy had to be more annoying that Lucas. Maybe not as annoying as Chris, but definitely more annoying than Lucas.

"We'll take this one!" Nathan heard Tim shout out as he shook hands with Felix. It was then that Nathan actually looked up at the boat for the first time. It was a stunning 2 story boat with a large outdoor deck, indoor sitting area and bar, and an open patio on the top with chairs and tables. He had to admit, this yacht was impressive.

"Great! Let's step into my office and sign the papers." Felix smirked as he lazily dropped an arm over Tim's shoulder and led him into the office. Ok, that's just a little gay… Nathan thought as he watched Tim and Felix start laughing about something.


"Why can't you just say no?" Haley questioned as she sat on Nathan's balcony with him later that day.

"Because, no matter how many times I say no, he's just going to keep calling until I say yes. I'd rather get it over with than have to listen to his voice every day." Nathan said bitterly as he sat in the char next to her. He had gotten home from the Marina about an hour ago and needed someone to vent to about Dan, so he had called Haley.

"I'm sorry. I could go with you if you want me to." She offered.

Nathan thought about this for a second but quickly dismissed the idea after remembering the last time Dan came to visit and how he had referred to Haley on the phone. No, Haley coming was definitely a bad idea. "I'll be fine. Besides, I don't want you getting into the line of fire too."

"Ok, well, I'll be here all night if you need me." She said as she laid her head against his shoulder and they stared out at the ocean.

Haley could tell that Nathan wasn't telling her everything about Dan. He never really gave her an explanation of why he hadn't told Dan about them or why he didn't want her to meet him. She had just assumed it was because he hated his father that much, but now she was starting to get the impression that there was another reason, but she didn't know what it was.

Nathan looked over at Haley for a second before returning his gaze to the steadily rising and falling waves on the horizon. He had never told her about what happened during Dan and Deb's last visit and had never mentioned that his father already hated her without even meeting her. It made him feel so guilty inside to know that she was so sweet that she offered to go with him to face his father and he had told her no without telling her the real reason why. He just didn't want to expose her to the disaster that was Dan Scott.

"Oh, you better get going if you want to be ready on time." Haley said as she looked down at her watch. "I'll see you later?"

"I'll call you when I get back." He assured her as he stood up, left a soft kiss on her forehead, and then went into the bathroom to take a shower.


"Nathan! I knew you'd come!" Dan proclaimed happily as he sat at a table in Buffalo Wild Wings and watched his son approach him with a sullen face.

"So, what exactly do you want Dad?" Nathan said bluntly as he sat down across from his father.

"What do I want? I want to spend some quality time with my son, watch a few games, and have a few drinks. Is that really that difficult for you to believe?" Dan asked in his best hurt voice.

"Yeah, actually it is." Nathan said seriously.

"Nathan, all I want is for my son to have a good summer. And I want to be a part of that summer." Dan persuaded.

"Can I take your drink orders?" A tall black haired woman said as she came up to the table.

"I'll just have a coke." Nathan said while still glaring at Dan. Something was wrong with him, Dan Scott never wanted anything for anyone except himself.

"I'll have a Bud Light." Dan smiled sweetly and then went back to his conversation with Nathan. "So how is your summer going?"

"I already told you, fine." It was obvious that Nathan would rather be anywhere but here.

"Really? I never would have guessed that becoming the janitorial staff for the condo you're living in could be classified as fine." Dan pressed on.

"Just drop it, Dad." Nathan mumbled.

"Nathan, I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble believing that you are so passive about this whole thing. It seems almost as if you don't care." At this moment, the waitress came back with their drinks and took their meal orders.

"All I'm saying is that maybe you should consider the person who got you into this mess and refocus some of your misplaced anger towards me onto that person." Dan was doing his best to stick to the plan that he and Tom had worked out, the one where they convince Nathan to help them in bringing a certain somebody down, but he hadn't expected Nathan to be this cold towards him.

Was this conversation seriously going back to Haley? How many times did he have to tell his dad that he wasn't going there! "Just shut up, Dad."

"Look, son, all I'm saying is that if little Haley James would have kept her pretty little nose where it belongs, then you wouldn't be stuck wasting your whole summer away cleaning floors." Dan wasn't sure if it was a good sign or a bad one that Nathan looked so irritated right now.

"I thought you said that you had a letter for me." Nathan said, changing the subject.

"A letter? Oh right, the letter from Duke." Dan concluded out loud. "I read it. It was a load of crap so I fed it to my new shredder."

"What?" Did Dan just say that he shredded his letter without even letting him see it? "Are you kidding me? Dad! It wasn't your letter to read and it sure as hell wasn't your letter to shred!" By this time Nathan was furious. Dan had invited him to this dinner and Nathan had thought that the reason was to give him this letter, but apparently Dan had hidden motives, again.

"Listen, in my defense, the letter was addressed to a Mr. Scott, and last time I checked, that was my name too." Dan really couldn't see why Nathan was so angry, it was just a useless letter that offered him a chance to go to a 3 week basketball camp during the Christmas season, it's not like there would have been scouts there anyway.

"Are you serious? You read the letter and then after knowing it was mine you still threw it away?" This was unbelievable. He had absolutely no privacy or freedom as long as he was part of that family.

"Nathan, I'm telling you, that letter was a waste of your time. Now about Haley-"

"Why the hell do you keep bringing her up?" Dan didn't know about him dating Haley so why was he so interested in her? And there was no way that Nathan was going to let his father get away with going through his mail, so Dan might as well drop the Haley subject right now.

"She's the reason that your summer is turning out so horrible. I was just thinking that maybe you might want to help me in putting her in her place. I already tried a few things but-"

"What are you talking about?" Nathan was suddenly listening intently to what Dan was saying. Did he just say that he had already done some things, as in, to Haley? What the hell?

"I knew you'd be interested." Dan smirked as Nathan stared at him with wide eyes. "I paid this guy who works at Dairy Queen to dig up some information on her and then told him to call her with a mysterious message, to, you know, scare her a little."

Nathan looked at his father with disgust as Dan started laughing at his own brilliance. "Do you have any idea how damn sick you make me?! How the hell could you even think about doing that? I told you to leave her alone!" All along, Dan had been the reason that Haley got that call, not Bobby. "God, do you have any idea what you did to her? How scared you made her?!"

"She was scared? It worked? Wow, I was under the impression that it was a total failure. But I still think that we need something bigger for next time-" Dan was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Nathan get out of his seat.

"No, there will be no next time." He warned. "If you ever come near her, or me for that matter, again, I swear to God I will beat the hell out of you." Nathan normally didn't talk to his father this way, but it actually felt kind of good to get it all out and let the bastard know how he really felt.

"Whatever you say…" Dan mumbled as he tried to hold in his laughter. "But when you come to your senses and realize that this girl ruined your entire summer, I'll be waiting with open arms."

The last thing that Nathan did before he left the restaurant, was finally take out all the frustration that had built up because of Dan in the past few years in the form of a punch, delivered right into Dan Scott's left eye.