Ever since that day Nathan had been training like crazy. He wanted to have the best season of his career to impress scouts and get a full ride to do, but he also wanted to be a state champion. Many mornings Haley would wake up to the sound of panting and would look down to see Nathan doing pushups, crunches, or sit ups on the floor. Lucas patted his brother on the back walking in to the locker room. "Are you okay Nate?" He had noticed Nathan working himself to be nearly dead after every practice.
"I need a full ride Luke, if I don't get one...we can't afford for me to go to Duke and to have a baby."
Lucas nodded, completely understanding. "I'm sure you will get one, but you can't kill yourself for it. Just take it a little easier."
Nathan nodded. "Thanks Luke. I have to get home to Haley though."
"Tell her I said hi."
Nathan shut his car door and closed the garage door before heading up the stairs. He didn't hear any movement so he tried to be as quiet as possible knowing Haley might be asleep. When he reached the top of the stairs he opened the door and started laughing.
Haley was laying on the couch with a cupcake resting on her stomach and a book in her hands.
"What are ya doing Hales?" He chuckled.
"Don't even okay." She said putting out one finger to stop him.
"I wasn't gonna"
"Sure" She said rolling her eyes as he moved and sat partially on the couch next to her stomach, facing her.
"How was your day"
"I made cupcakes."
"I see" He said picking up a crumb off her stomach and eating it. "Why?"
"Because I wanted to, and we were hungry." She said trying to brush it off and rubbed her stomach.
"Did something bad happen because last I knew you were heading home to take a nap, not bake. Did someone say something to you? Did they hurt you?" Nathan asked as his blood began to boil.
"It wasn't anything big." She sighed trying to brush it off.
"Hales what happened?"
"I heard some girls calling me a whore. I was using the bathroom and they didn't know I was in there. They were saying how I'd never be good enough for you and how you'd leave me."
Nathan was pissed, who were they to say those things when they knew nothing about him and Haley. "Hales, you know that's not true. You are not a whore, I'm not too good for you, frankly it's me who doesn't deserve you, and I'm never going to leave you."
Haley smiled as Nathan moved to kiss her. "I know, I was mostly annoyed that they were taking about us. I knew none of it was true."
"Don't let them get to you." Nathan said lifting the cupcake off her stomach and taking a bite as he smiled.
"Let's do something fun tonight, we have had a rough few days." Haley suggested taking the cupcake out of his hand and taking a bite herself.
"Like what?"
"I don't know but all we do lately is talk about our future and tell people we're pregnant. We should have fun. We are teenagers throughout all of this, we're just teenagers who had a lot of sex." As Haley said that Nathan laughed before smirking.
"We could still be teenagers who have a lot of sex."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah."
"Well, you know we have never had anyone over to hang out, and our place isn't that big but I'm sure we could have Brooke, Luke, Peyton, and Jake over for a movie night."
"That still isn't as fun as our other option of what to do tonight." Nathan said a little bummed.
"Nathan you really want to, I have a cupcake laying on my stomach." Nathan lifted an eyebrow. "How about you call everyone and invite them over, and then maybe."
Brooke sat on the couch watching as Nathan and Haley moved chips into bowls, poured everyone drinks, and got everything ready. "Okay this is weird," She said "you two are so in sync."
Haley and Nathan looked up at one another and smiled. "Here you take over the drinks and then sit down, I'll get the rest." Haley nodded, doing so and taking a seat next to Brooke. She once again looked over at Nathan working and smirked. "I have a hot husband." Only causing Brooke to laugh.
"So how are you feeling Hales?" Peyton asked, taking a seat on the floor in front of the couch and looking up at her.
"Good, hungry." Lucas let out a chuckle. "I mean, I went to the food store yesterday and all I wanted was chicken nuggets. I don't even like chicken nuggets."
"And now the freezer is full of them." Nathan said sitting down next to Haley, who leaned into him. "Now did you guys pick a movie yet?"
After an hour of laying in bed awake I slowly started to move out of bed. Nathan was asleep and had been for forty minutes. But tonight I couldn't sleep. Not with the baby kicking me continually and the growing feeling of hunger low in my belly. I quietly grabbed some food from the counter and moved to sit in the bathroom, so that way I didn't wake Nathan. Shutting the door behind me, I took a seat on the floor and leaned against the tub. It was then that I began to worry. "How were we going to do this? We didn't have that much money. We have to keep going to school and we were only 17."
Haley walked into the bathroom quickly "I have to pee"
"Okay" Nathan said chuckling as he continued shaving his face not affected, "you know I was thinking about growing out a beard..." he started before Haley quickly interrupted "and I was thinking I'd stop kissing you."
"But it's no shave November" He bargained.
"dDo you want to make it no sex November" She asked getting up and moving to wash her hands.
"Like you would be able to last." He smirked and tapped his razor against the sink.
"Watch me."
Nathan groaned as she walked out of the bathroom. "No wait, baby stop. I'll shave, I'll shave."
The next day was a Saturday and since they hadn't had any plans they decided to head to the rivercourt so Nathan could get in some practice. When they walked out of the house they realized it was raining they decided to head to the school gym instead.
Nathan dribbled the ball along the court as he took a shot and listened to the ball swish against the net. Haley was seated on the bleachers at the gym watching him, she should be doing her homework but that could wait. She loved to watch him play, he looked so attractive in that very moment, but most importantly he was so happy. She smiled and leaned back, running her hand over her stomach.
She noticed a man in a suit take a seat next to her but didn't think anything of it, me were in and out of the gym all the time to talk to Whitey, and who wouldn't want to stick around and watch Nathan Scott practice.
Sitting patiently she saw Nathan stop and walk towards the bleachers, he grabbed the towel of the bench and wiped the sweat off his face before standing on the ground direction in front of where Haley was sitting. "Hales, can you throw me my water?"
"You want me to throw it...you've seen me do these things." She said quickly reaching in her bag for it.
"Just throw it." He laughed shaking his head.
"Alright, protect your eyes." She said biting her lip and throwing it as Nathan laughed. It landed four bleacher steps in front of him.
"Thank you" He chuckled out reaching for it.
"Work on your three pointers." She said nodding towards the ball in his hand.
"Okay" He smirked picking up the ball and heading down court again.
"You know Nathan Scott?" The man next to her asked.
"Try married to him." She then ran a hand over her stomach. "And carrying his child." She smiled shaking his hand. "Haley Scott."
"Well then I hope you know him." He laughed. "Mike Ferris, a Duke scout."
"Duke?" Haley said quickly as her jaw dropped.
"Yeah."
"That's Nathan's dream school." Haley sputtered out quickly.
"Really, I would have thought he would be interested in Chapel Hill or UNC."
"No, Duke's been his dream since he was a kid. But now, unless he gets a big scholarship we can't afford for both of us to go to Duke."
"That's a shame." The man said looking down at his paper flipping through his charts. "Between you and me, I'll see what I can do. He's got great talent."
"He does he is amazing and he works so hard for it. Nathan...he's persistent, if he doesn't know how to do something he will work as long as it takes until he perfects it."
The man only nodded. "So how far along are you?"
"Five months. It wasn't expected, of course, but we knew we would be together anyway. We made the best of it." Haley smiled running her hand over her stomach.
"That's great. I should get going, I have to head back to the campus."
"Are you sure you don't want to wait around, I'm sure Nathan would love to talk to you?"
"No I need to get going, but good luck with your plans."
"Thanks" Haley replied as he walked off.
A half an hour later when Nathan was done he came and took a seat next to Haley. "Hey who was that man you were talking too?"
"A scout." She smiled. "From Duke."
Nathan leaned back in shock. "No way."
"Yeah, he said he was going to try and work on a scholarship for you. Now you ready to go home?"
"No way, I need to train more. Why don't you take the car and I'll run home when I'm done, it was supposed to stop raining in an hour."
"Okay" She half sighed "See you"
"Bye Hales."
Walking out of the gym she ran a hand through her hair, sometimes she felt like she was losing her husband to basketball. He was a great player but recently he had been pushing himself too far to try and make himself better.
Haley was walking down the hall when she saw Rachel. As she got closer she realized Rachel was putting a note into a locker through the vent holes at the top, Nathan's locker. "What are you doing?"
"Mind your own business." She quickly said.
Haley laughed and smirked before opening Nathan's combination lock and pulling out the note from inside the locker.
"Dear Nathan, don't worry when ever you decide to leave her I will be waiting for you. I know you want me and eventually you wont be able to resist. XOXO Rach" Haley laughed. "Okay Rachel, now this is funny that you seriously think you have a chance."
"Wait until you pop out that child have extra weight, stretch marks, and a screaming infant. Then you'll see." She smirked before walking off as Haley rolled her eyes. Nathan wouldn't do that...but she couldn't help but wonder if there was the possibility that Rachel could be right.
As she headed home she thought about it. Nathan was never home anymore, he was always training. She began to worry about how unhealthy it was because he would spend four or five hours a day at the gym. In fact she would wake up most days alone and walk into the kitchen only to see notes on the counter saying he had already left to practice. She couldn't help but be a little suspicious of if that was what he was really doing. Haley had brushed it off like it was all okay, but she was sick of never seeing him unless she was watching him play basketball.
Haley went home, finished her homework, took a nap, made dinner, and waited for Nathan to come home. She ended up eating by herself because he still wasn't home. She was able to clean the entire apartment but the time he actually walked in the door.
"Hey babe." He called out kicking his sneakers to the side, dropping his gym bag by the door, and taking off his sweaty t-shirt, and throwing it on the bedroom floor.
"Are you kidding me Nathan" She said moving to pick up the shirt and put it in the hamper. "I just cleaned."
"Sorry."
"I'm your wife not your maid or your mother." She whispered under her breath, moving to line his shoes up with hers before packing up her books she left on the table.
"Hales, it was one shirt." He sighed moving to get a drink.
"Yeah, plus the other ten on the floor that I just washed."
"Hey what's wrong?" He said stopping her and putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Don't touch me your sweaty and gross right now." She said sliding out from his arms.
"Haley, why are you mad at me?"
"Maybe if you were home every now and then you would know." She muttered before moving his gym bag into the hall closet.
"Haley, I'm home all the time." He argued lightly turning her around to face him.
"I would hardly call being home from midnight to six a.m. all the time. If you are training all the time Nathan that's unhealthy."
"What do you mean if? Of course I'm training, what do you think I'm doing?"
Haley pulled the note from Rachel out of her pocket. "Dear Nathan, don't worry when ever you decide to leave her I will be waiting for you. I know you want me and eventually you wont be able to resist. XOXO Rach...I found Rachel putting this in your locker. Want to explain?"
"Explain what? She's psychotic and won't leave me alone but that doesn't mean I want anything to do with her. You think that I'm screwing her don't you. Wow Hales, I'm glad our marriage is built on trust." He fired at her.
"Well what am I supposed to believe when you spend all of your time out, and away from me. How do you think that makes me feel?" She said, annoyed that he didn't understand what she meant.
"I'm out all the time because I'm trying to build a life for us."
"And destroy us in the process?"
"Do you think that we can both go to college Haley if I don't get a full ride to Duke? I mean you're the smart one so if you think we can then we are definitely screwed."
"Nathan I don't care about the money, I don't care about college if it means that your sleeping with other women."
Nathan laughed loudly. "Whatever, I'm going to go stay at Jake's because I'd rather be there than get called a cheater."
"Nathan don't you walk out that door." Haley said storming after him before he slammed it behind him.
