I LOVE this chapter for some reason. I haven't felt this great about a chapter from this story in awhile. Thank you for reading!

Chapter 49

"So... You two left it at what, engaged but not engaged?"

"No, Brooke. Not even a little engaged," Haley laughed, tossing the ball for Scout to chase.

"I'm so confused by you two," Brooke said, shaking her head and sighing. "You love each other, and this is your plan. He literally bought a ring and almost proposed and you told him you weren't ready?"

"I said that we aren't ready, and we aren't," Haley said simply, patting Scout's head and smiling slightly.

"But... Why?" Brooke asked her.

"You should understand better than anyone. He called you in a panic because he thought I wanted to get married," Haley reminded her, chuckling and rolling her eyes.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense..." Brooke trailed off, sighing. "I just think the world is deprived of your children, Haley. I mean, do you know what could happen if there were ten versions of you? Plenty of great things."

Haley let out a laugh at her friend's comment, followed by another eye roll. "We aren't ready. We haven't been together that long, and he clearly has some commitment issues he needs to work through. It's okay though."

"It definitely sounds like you're not ready either," Brooke commented, clearing her throat.

"I'm not," Haley said, letting out a deep breath. "I love him, Brooke. And I want to marry him. But someday. He's just so... Impulsive right now. Like he'd do anything to make me happy, which I love. But when I lost my job, he suggested we drop our life and travel. He's in school right now, finishing up his degree, and he didn't even hesitate at the idea of dropping all of that to get me away from a sad situation. He runs away from problems."

"I guess I see your point. He's going to be your husband one day, but right now... You both still have some growing," Brooke summarized what she said.

Haley smiled at the explanation her lovely friend gave, "I think that is a perfect way of putting it. I just wish he'd let me see the ring."

"Go find it. Right now!" Brooke encouraged, laughing quietly.

Haley pulled her phone from her ear, looking at the time. Nathan would be home soon...

"And keep me on the phone while you do it," Brooke hummed out, clearing her throat.

Haley bit her lip. Nathan hid it really well, according to his own standards. She just wanted to see if she could find it. She wasn't going to look in it.

"Scout, come on, let's go inside," She called out to the dog, pulling open the back door and heading inside, smiling slightly when he ran right over to his water bowl.

She began to do just as her boyfriend didn't want her to do, search. She searched high and low for the damn ring, following suggestions from Brooke, looking where she'd hide things from him, everywhere it seemed.

She was laying on the ground, looking under the couch, listening to Brooke as she listed more places, Scout sleeping right next to her.

Brooke was talking so loud that she didn't hear Nathan enter the room.

Nathan shook his head disapprovingly, tip toeing up behind her, bending down and tapping her on the shoulder.

Haley jumped in surprise, looking at him quickly. "Nathan! Brooke, Nathan is home!"

"Brooke is a bad influence on you," He said, offering her a hand and pulling her up to her feet.

"Nathan! She's a bad influence on me. Don't listen to a word she says, when we were in-"

"Bye, Brooke!" Haley hummed, hanging up the phone quickly, dropping her phone on the couch. "Hi honey," She said, resting her hand on his chest.

"Don't 'hi honey' me," He laughed, shaking his head and smiling at her. "I can't believe you're still trying to look for it, Hales. What is this, the tenth time you've promised me you'd stop looking?"

"I get really bored, okay?" She said, batting her eyelashes at him. "I don't have a job, remember?"

"Oh, so now you're using that to your advantage," He said, pushing her hand away from his chest. "I'm surprised you haven't found it yet."

"Where is it, Nathan? Just tell me, I can't handle not knowing," She laughed, pulling on his wrist when he started to walk away.

"Today?" He hummed out, patting the pocket of his shorts. "Right here."

"I am amazed by how deep men's pockets are," She grumbled, holding out her hand.

He laughed, sliding it out of his pocket and setting the box in her hand. "This feels like it shouldn't be allowed," He commented, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hush," She said, smiling up at him. "Why do you carry it with you?"

"In case I find the perfect moment. Whether it's you, or someone else," He joked, kissing her forehead. "Or if we're at a restaurant and we can get a free dessert if I propose."

"Ah, the millionaire who wants free stuff," She joked, tapping his nose and handing it back to him. "It won't be less special, Nathan. In fact, I like knowing that you're going through such great efforts not to show me. I like knowing that you have it."

He laughed, rolling his eyes and kissing her briefly. He walked over to his backpack, pulling out a pen and clearing his throat. He turned around, shifting on his feet and staring at her.

"What?" She asked him, raising her eyebrows at the odd look he gave her.

"Haley James," He began, taking a step forward, grabbing onto her left hand, kneeling down on one knee. "Will you..." He trailed off, sucking in a deep breath.

Haley rolled her eyes, shaking her head at his theatrics.

"Will you help me with my homework?" He asked, setting the pen in her hand.

"I thought you'd never ask," She gasped, leaning down and kissing him softly.

He laughed quietly as she pulled away, smiling at her and standing up to his feet. This was like the fifth time he'd done something like this since their discussion a week ago.

The first time she seemed really surprised, the second time she was confused, and the other times she found it to be pretty funny.

"But seriously though," He said, gesturing to his backpack. "I need your help on my homework. Please."

"It's going to cost you," She joked, tapping his cheek.

"I will wash your hair," He said, nodding at her. "Since I know how much you hate to do it."

"Last time you left shampoo in my hair and I just had to wash it all out myself," She said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I will let you put makeup on me," He said simply, shrugging her shoulders.

"That escalated quickly," She laughed, reaching her hand up to brush over his eyelashes, studying them. "Okay."

"Deal," He said, grabbing his bag and pulling her into the kitchen so they could sit at the table.

It took them several hours to do all of his homework. Nathan had a bad habit of procrastinating it until it was almost due. He had to write a six page paper and he barely had an outline for it.

The English teacher inside her died a little when she told him that.

But they finally finished it, and then they moved on until all of his homework for the rest of the week was finished, and it was just about dinner time.

"Ran into Quentin today," Nathan informed her, clearing his throat, pushing the vegetables around that were cooking in a pan on the stove.

"Oh?" Haley said softly, glancing over at him and raising her eyebrows.

He could see the pain in her eyes as he brought up her former student. Quentin would not have had her as a teacher this year, but it was still hurting her to hear.

"Yeah," He said softly, sending her a smile. "He says school is shit without you. Principal Rimkus sucks."

"Where did you run into him?" She asked him, frowning.

"He was cutting class at the same gas station I was getting gas," He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ditching class? He promised he wouldn't do that anymore," Haley said quickly, a scowl on her face.

"I told him, don't worry," He said, smiling slightly.

Her hard expression softened at that comment.

"He said that there's really no one there that advocates for them. The other teachers are too chicken—his words, not mine," He said, nodding.

"That's too bad," She said softly, biting her lip. "I shouldn't have quit."

"You did the right thing," Nathan said, nodding at her. "He also said that Rimkus is teaching your class since they haven't found a new teacher yet, and according to his friends that would've had you, she's struggling. Big time," He said, moving pan off the hot plate and turning off the stove top.

"I always tried to make sure people felt like they were in a safe space," She said softly, shaking her head. "I had students that weren't even mine coming in and asking me for help on homework, or for advice."

He looked over at her again, nodding his head. "I know," He said, sending her a smile. "Sorry to bring it up. I just think they miss you. You're a hard teacher, but you care a lot."

She smiled slightly, letting out a deep breath. "I hope he's doing alright. I hope they all are."

"I'm sure Rimkus is full of regret," He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know about that. I think she wanted to be top dog, and knew that I'd challenge her if I didn't agree with her choices," She said, crossing her arms.

"She didn't mean it, Scout," Nathan said, glancing over at the dog that lifted his head from the toy he was squeaking. "Dog is always a positive word in this house," He reminded Haley, gesturing for her to say something.

She laughed, rolling her eyes. "I'm sorry, Scout," She apologized to the dog like Nathan wanted her to, smiling brightly.

Nathan smiled when he saw her grin, grabbing plates and beginning to put the dinner he'd prepared for them onto them.

"So domestic," She commented, winking at him.

"I want to be a stay at home dad, so..." He joked, shrugging his shoulders.

She laughed, poking him in the side. "I'll remember that," She said, pressing a kiss to his shoulder, before sitting down to eat.

xxxx

Haley laughed, grabbing Nathan's chin and grinning at him. "Nathan, you need to hold still!"

"I'm sorry! It's just weird. Do you need to be so aggressive?" He asked her, laughing quietly.

Haley rolled her eyes and she continued to sponge foundation onto his face, shaking her head. "This is not your color. I am way more tan than you are. How are you this pale after summer?"

"Pale? No way!" He gasped, shaking his head. "I have a tan line."

"Barely," She mumbled, shrugging her shoulders.

"Do you really go this hard?" He mumbled, raising his eyebrows.

"Stop moving your face. And not exactly, I don't wear a ton of makeup, but I wanted to do a full face on you," She hummed, using the beauty blender in her hand to attempt to blend the foundation.

"What are you doing now?" He asked, looking at her.

"Concealer," She hummed, smiling at him.

"Why are you putting it on my neck too?" He asked her, raising his eyebrows.

"Just let me do what I'm doing, Nathan. If I had known you were going to ask so many questions-"

"Sorry," He chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

A few minutes later, Haley let out a deep breath.

"Okay.." She trailed off, looking at him.

"All done?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No," Haley laughed, patting his shoulder. "That was just the base coat."

"You do not wear this much makeup!" He groaned, shaking his head.

"I know," She hummed out, smiling at him. "But I wanted to go all out on you."

"How nice," He chuckled, nodding at her. "Okay, James, lay it on me."

She grinned at him, "Okay, handsome. What color eye shadow do you want?"

He laughed, "You know, I've never been asked that question before. I like when you wear the naturalish colors, so why don't we go with that?"

She smiled slightly, nodding her head. "I have to tell you, I am having a really great time doing this."

"Well it's the least I could do for keeping your cool when you found out how far along I was in my essay," He chuckled, smirking slightly.

"Yeah, maybe it's better if we don't talk," She joked, tapping his nose lightly.

After a little while, she finally set the last brush down. "Okay, Nathan. We are done."

"Cool," He said, high-fiving her. "Can I see it now?"

"Absolutely," She hummed, holding up a mirror for him, smiling brightly.

"Damn. I look good," He said, winking at her. "I feel different."

She laughed, smoothing her hand over his chest. "You look... Incredible."

Both of their heads turned at the sound of a knock at the front door.

"You go get it," He chuckled, gesturing to the door.

Haley laughed, ruffling his hair and heading out of the bathroom, through their bedroom and down the stairs.

She pulled open the front door, the smile from her face immediately falling.

"Principal Rimkus," She said in surprise, clearing her throat.

"Hello, Miss James. Please, call me Charlene, we aren't in school," The woman at her front door said, sending her a curt nod.

"Come in," Haley said, stepping aside and gesturing for her to enter.

"I actually can't. I'm in a bit of a rush. I want to apologize for dropping in unexpectedly," Charlene said, clearing her throat.

Even outside of school, she was still so... Uptight. Haley could tell just from her posture.

"It's no problem at all," Haley said, offering her a polite smile. "What can I do for you?"

Principal Rimkus shifted again, sucking in a deep breath. "This is uncomfortable for me to do, Miss James, please understand that."

"Haley. You can go ahead and call me Haley," Haley said, resting her hand on the door handle.

"Haley, I am here to ask you—no, beg you—take your job back," Charlene said, letting out a sigh.

Haley raised her eyebrows in surprise at the comment, standing up a bit straighter. "Go on."

"I am no English teacher, and I have found that I do not work well as a teacher," Principal Rimkus said, nodding at her. "I have discussed it with the school board, and we all feel as though hiring you back would be the correct move. Students respond well to you, and look forward to your class, which is difficult to do."

"I see," Haley responded, biting her lip and nodding.

"It was wrong of me to let you walk out the door after your resignation without fighting for you. I promise to be more flexible to the way that you run a classroom, and respect your decisions," Charlene said, clearing her throat.

"This is a lot," Haley said, pausing for a moment and letting out a deep breath. "I care a lot about my students, Charlene. Some of them have really difficult lives, and I want to be someone for them to talk to when things are tough. But I never let it go too far. I would never bend the rules for a student, or let circumstances allow them to be disrespectful," She said, nodding her head.

"Like I said, it is your classroom. Run it how you'd like," Charlene said, letting out a sigh.

"May I have some time to think about it?" Haley asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course. You can let me know by the end of the week," Charlene said, offering her a curt nod. "I look forward to hearing from you."

And with that, she turned and left without another word, all that was left behind was the cold chill of where she once stood.

"Holy shit," Nathan said, stepping into the front room, raising his eyebrows.

"You heard all that?" Haley asked, turning to her boyfriend, who still had a face full of make up.

"Yes. Wow," He said, raising his eyebrows. "That's awesome."

"Right?" She said, hurrying over to him, jumping up and kissing him deeply.

Nathan smiled, wrapping his arms around her and holding her up.

She pulled back, raising her eyebrows at his smudged lipstick, smirking slightly.

"You know," She began, shrugging. "I think this is the first time I've ever gotten someone else's smudged lipstick on my face," She hummed, wiping at her lips.

"Well, this would be a first for me as well," He chuckled, leaning down to kiss her again.