Hey guys, thank you so much for the reviews. I was super excited to write this chapter and the next one…I hope you enjoy!!!
Disclaimer: One Tree Hill…not mine.
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 34
"Do you want something to drink?" Nathan asked as he guided Haley through the crowd with his hand on her lower back.
It was so loud with all of the people and the booming sound of 'This is Why I'm Hot' by Mims through the loud speakers, that Haley almost couldn't hear what he had said. "Is there anything besides beer?" She said hopefully.
He smiled down at her when they reached the bar and he pulled out a can of lemonade. "I got these just for you."
"You are so sweet." She gushed as she took the lemonade from his hand.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
Both Nathan and Haley looked up, praying that they had heard wrong, that the person they thought was not standing right behind them. It didn't work, because it was him.
"What are you doing here, Chris?" Nathan asked, more than a little annoyed by his uninvited appearance.
"I wanted to come to the party." He explained as he reached around Haley and grabbed a can of beer off of the bar.
"How did you even get on here? I thought you didn't have an invitation?" Haley questioned. It was very peculiar that Chris was able to get on the boat at all.
"Tim let me in." Chris defended himself against both Haley and Nathan's hostility.
"Ok, well now I'm telling you to leave." Nathan deadpanned.
"Oh, come on man. You can't have a party without the Keller!" Chris exclaimed with a laugh.
"I can, and I will. I want you to go." Nathan said simply. If Chris didn't get off this boat soon, Nathan was sure that he's lose his temper at one point or another and throw him over the edge into the ocean. Actually, that's not a bad idea.
"Fine, dude, I'm leaving." Chris huffed. Just as he was approaching the door that led out of the indoor bar and sitting area, a loud whistle was heard, signaling the boat's departure from the dock. "Oh, too late." Chris laughed before turning the corner and climbing up the steep stairs to the patio.
"Asshole." Nathan muttered.
As Chris arrived upstairs on the patio, a guy carrying a large keg of alcohol slammed right into him, sending the alcohol spilling out all over the floor.
"Shit. Watch it loser." The guy mumbled as he left the keg on its side and continued past Chris.
"You're the one who spilled the keg all over the floor!" Chris retorted as he jovially made his way towards the spot where two girls were sitting. "What's up ladies? Did you know that I once met Michael Jackson?"
"Ew, that's weird." The red haired one exclaimed.
"I meant Michael Jordan." Chris clarified.
"Lame." The black haired one huffed in an annoyed tone.
"Did I say Michael Jordan? I meant James Denton, the guy that plays Mike on Desperate Housewives."
"Really?" The red head said, turning to face him with sudden interest.
"Chris is such a loser." Brooke laughed as she watched him from the other side of the patio.
"Yeah, I know." Lucas mumbled.
"Hey guys." Peyton greeted as she walked up to Nathan and Haley with a brown haired guy behind her. "Haley, have you met Jake?"
"No, I haven't." She responded with a smile as she set her lemonade behind Nathan.
"Well then, Haley, this is my boyfriend Jake, and Jake, this is my friend Haley." Peyton said as she motioned back and forth between the two. "Haley is Nathan's girlfriend." She added.
"Hey," Jake said cheerfully as he shook Haley's hand.
"Hey Jake. How's it going?" Nathan asked when Jake moved on to him and they shared a man-hug. Nathan had met Jake a few weeks ago, but this was Haley's first time seeing the guy that Peyton spent almost 24/7 with.
"Pretty good." Jake responded with a grin as he wrapped his arm around Peyton's waist.
"How's Jenny doing?" Haley asked and watched as Jake's whole face lit up. It was obvious that that little girl was his life.
"She's great. She's getting so big." He beamed.
"Yeah, I got to see her when Peyton was babysitting about a week ago. She's a doll." Haley smiled.
Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard in the distance, but not too far off. It sounded like fireworks or something, but none could be seen in the sky.
"What the hell was that?" Nathan asked as he instinctively put his arm around Haley's shoulder, pulling her slightly closer to him.
"It was probably one of Tim's idiotic friends." Peyton said dully. Tim's friends sometimes seemed so stupid that she could see them jumping off of a bridge if someone told them that they would be able to fly.
"Yeah." Nathan agreed as he dismissed the sound and kissed Haley lightly on the top of the head.
"Tom! What did you just do? I heard that!" Dan yelled through the Phone that Tom had on speaker in his little motorboat.
"Sorry, Dan, one of the fireworks went off, but it fell into the water before it exploded, don't worry." Tom assured him.
"I cannot believe that I am paying you a fortune to handle this for me and you are still screwing it up!" Dan scolded through gritted teeth. "Do you still have the ones we need left?"
"Yeah, I got them." Tom confirmed as he opened the lid of the crate again and peered inside. The plan was to shoot the fireworks off right above the boat. If the sound of fireworks exploding over someone's head didn't scare them, nothing would. Tom had suggested just aiming the fireworks at the boat, but no, Dan always had to have his way. Dan's idea was dumb anyway."I still don't understand how scaring this chick for like a millisecond is going to help you get your revenge." He said in a confused tone.
"Ugh." Dan sighed. He definitely should have hired the guy from Chuck-e-Cheese instead of Tom. "I called her earlier to give her a warning, but she didn't answer so I left it on her voicemail. This will scare her to death because what do fireworks sound like, Tom?"
"Gunshots? Explosions?" Tom guessed.
"Exactly, and after that anonymous threat, an explosion is exactly what she is going to think it is." Dan smiled at his own genius.
"I still don't get it. Why don't we just actually blow the boat up?"
"Because, imbecile, we don't want to go to jail for murder. Now call me once the plan has been carried out." Dan said gruffly before hanging up.
"The stars are beautiful tonight." Haley said as she leaned against the railing of the boat and peered out into the dark night sky. Timbuland's Give it to Me was playing loudly in the background as Nathan slipped his arms around her waist and set his chin on her shoulder.
"Yeah, we can't see all these back in Tree Hill." He whispered as he too stared out at the thousands of shining stars. He was just starting to realize that tonight was his last night here, his last night away from his parents. "At least we made it the rest of the summer without my Dad being a jackass."
"About your Dad, he called the condo today." Haley said simply.
"What? What did he say?" Nathan questioned as he pulled away and turned her around gently to face him.
"I don't know, I didn't answer it." Haley shrugged, wondering why he was taking this insignificant information so seriously.
"Why?" Nathan asked.
"Because you told me to get here as fast as possible, and when I saw that it was your house on the caller ID, I figured it could wait." She laughed. "I don't get it, are you mad at me?" She asked incredulously.
"No…I just, why didn't you tell me?" Nathan said coolly. Didn't she realize that if Dan was taking the time to call her, that it had to foreshadow something bad?
"I didn't think it was important." She said in an equally cool tone.
"Who told you that it wouldn't be important? Lucas?" Nathan demanded. He didn't mean to bring Lucas into the conversation and he instantly regretted it when he saw the hurt in her eyes.
"Lucas has nothing to do with this." Haley said, trying hard to conceal her anger but not doing a great job at it.
"Are you sure, because ever since we got together he's done nothing but try and get in the way!" Nathan honestly didn't mean to say that, he knew that that wasn't true at all. Things just kept slipping out of his mouth, even when he didn't mean them, due to his anger. He was angry at Dan. Dan couldn't just leave him alone and he was unknowingly letting his anger out on Haley…and Lucas.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Haley yelled back.
Before Nathan could answer her question, a loud bang was heard overhead, followed by another, and another, and another. People started screaming and running around in all different directions covering their heads, not knowing what the sound was. Nathan instinctively pulled Haley down to the floor next to him and covered her head.
A few moments later, bright lights were seen falling all over the deck of the boat. It was just fireworks, Nathan thought to himself and sighed in relief. He looked down at Haley whose eyes were also filled with relief in the place of fear. Then they looked around and noticed that everyone seemed to be more frantic now than right after hearing the noises in the first place.
"What the hell?" Nathan questioned aloud, grabbing onto Haley's hand. Shouldn't these people be continuing with the party? It was just dumb fireworks that Tim probably shot off…
"Nathan! Come here!" Tim yelled frantically from the bottom of the 'stairs' that led to the upstairs patio. His eyes were transfixed on the horrendous sight above him.
"Did it work?" Dan asked eagerly after picking up his phone and hearing Tom's annoying voice on the other end.
"Well, yes, but something happened…something unexpected." Tom stuttered.
"Out with it Tom! What happened?" Dan yelled. He was sitting safely inside of Dan Scott Motors right now so he didn't have to worry about anyone hearing him.
"Well…um…"
"Tom, if you don't tell me right now, I will not pay you a single cent for your services." Dan warned loudly.
"The boat caught on fire." Tom replied nervously as he looked out at the large yacht. The entire upstairs was engulfed in flames…