A/N: Hey guys! I finished this chapter a little earlier, so I decided to post! Also, there is still a bit of time before Nathan and Haley actually do get together. I really want to build their relationship first.

Also for reference, I'm picturing Nathan and Haley as them from s3 in the show:)

Chapter 5

…

Nathan was in Lucas's bedroom attempting to put his tie on right. He was relieved that Dan had gone to Charlotte again for the weekend, or else he definitely would've found a way to ruin this night.

Once Nathan finally got the tie to look decent, he looked in the mirror to take a look at himself, hoping he looked good. However, he saw the shirt he was wearing underneath had a few wrinkles on it. Growing frustrated with his appearance, Nathan made his way over to Lucas's closet and pulled out the iron box and stand. There was absolutely no way he was going to the dance without looking his one hundred percent best.

"Uh, what are you doing Nate?" Lucas asked astonishedly as he walked into the room. Never in his life did he see Nathan ironing a shirt. Hell, he saw Nathan buy multiple new shirts instead of ironing the ones with wrinkles in them.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Nathan muttered while placing his unbuttoned shirt on the iron stand and ironing in. At first, he was worried he was going to burn the shirt since he never bothered ironing before, but he soon got the hang of it.

"It's just that...you never iron clothes. You even went to the dance in ninth grade with an old button-down shirt that was covered in wrinkles."

"Well I was tired that day," Nathan said in a lame attempt to defend himself. Truthfully though, he didn't give a shit about that dance. He went with Peyton and left her just an hour later. But he wasn't that person anymore. Tonight, he was going to make an effort. "Dan wasn't home today, so I'm not feeling tired. That's why I'm ironing my shirt today."

Lucas was amused by Nathan's behavior. Even if Nathan didn't admit it, he was only trying to look his best because Haley was going to be there tonight or else he wouldn't have given a fuck about it.

Before Lucas had the chance to respond, Jake walked into the bedroom and shared the same amusement Lucas had. "Woah, Nate. You're ironing?"

"Yes, I am if you must know," Nathan said slightly frustrated. He really didn't want everyone making this into a big deal. Deep down, he knew why Lucas and Jake were surprised. Nathan never put in the effort like he was going now, but still, he just wanted to look good tonight. Was it for a specific person? Yes. Was he going to admit that? No.

Seeing that Nathan didn't want to discuss this any further, Jake moved on from this topic. "So our dinner reservation is at 6:00 right?" Jake asked Lucas.

"Yup. I made sure to get it earlier because Peyton and Haley are such slow eaters."

Their conversation came to a halt when the three boys heard a soft knock.

"Can I come in?" Lily asked from the other side of the door.

"Yup. Come on in, Lils," Lucas replied.

Lily opened the door and took a seat on Lucas's bed while fiddling with Lucas's tie that was laying on the pillow next to her. "You guys look handsome."

"Thanks, Lily."

Lily looked at Nathan's attire. Even she knew that Nathan never put in an effort to get dressed up. That is, until today. "Nattey, are you dressing this nice because Haley is going to be there?"

Since the night Nathan, Haley, and Lily spent together in September, they've been getting together more frequently. Any time Karen and Keith were going out and Lucas was busy, they would drop Lily with Nathan. Lily insisted on having Haley with them ever since that night, so now the three of them would hang out.

Luke and Jake chuckled at Lily's deduction.

"What?...Of course not. I always wear tuxedos, Lils."

"Nuh-uh. This is the first time I've seen you actually dress up."

"Well, it's a dance. I have to look nice."

Lucas sat down next to Lily on the bed. "Nathan just has a hard time admitting stuff to himself, Lils"

Nathan shot Lucas a glare and went back to buttoning his now freshly ironed shirt. Great, now he had to redo his tie.

Haley was glad that she was getting ready for the dance in Brooke's house rather than her own. Every day, she felt a growing divide between her and her parents. It felt like forever since they've been a family.

There have been multiple occasions where Haley almost told Nathan all about her life, especially in the past week. Every moment she spent with him, she felt her walls go down. She was ready to let him in. She wanted to, but for strange reasons, the words failed to come out.

Right now, Haley was sitting in Brooke's room while Brooke was doing her makeup. Brooke insisted that she get Haley ready for the prom and just finished curling her hair.

To say Haley was nervous was an understatement. She never actually attended a high school dance before. At most was when she went to an event in Oak Lake where she had to dance with someone she strongly disliked. She had no idea how school dances worked, or what to do. Brooke and Peyton assured her that she would be just fine though.

"Can you look up, so I can put your mascara on?" Brooke asked.

Haley glanced up to the ceiling.

"Perfect. Now, much time do we have until we have to go to Karen's house?"

The girls were meeting up with the boys at Lucas's house because Karen wanted everyone to come over to the house before the dance so she could take plenty of pictures.

"About thirty minutes," Peyton answered while looking at the time on her phone.

"Thirty minutes?! I still have to finish Haley's makeup."

"Relax, Brooke. It'll be fine…So is Julian meeting us at Karen's house too?"

"Yeah. I'm so excited. This will be our first real event together since we got together. I just really hope everything goes well. I am kind of nervous though."

"Nervous, why?"

"Well, Julian never really talked to Nathan, Lucas, or Jake before. I mean he's talked to the two of you, but never to them. What if it gets awkward when we go to Lucas's house."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Ok, maybe Nathan and he won't click, since we know that Nathan's an ass, but Jake and Lucas will definitely get along with Julian."

Hearing Peyton's words, Haley felt a need to defend Nathan. Haley, herself, even knew that Nathan wasn't the warmest to new people, but thought that was a facade. As she continuously spent more time with him since school started, she got to see nearly every side of Nathan - the good, the bad, the caring, the loving, the cocky, the vulnerable, the broken - and found herself liking each and every one of those sides. "You know, maybe Nathan will be nice to Julian?"

Peyton chuckled at those words, "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious. I mean maybe he'll put in an effort with Julian. He knows Julian is important to Brooke."

Peyton and Brooke noticed Haley's need to defend Nathan. They knew that she believed in the good in Nathan, so they left the conversation alone.

Twenty minutes later, Brooke was done with Haley's makeup, "Ok, Tutor-Girl. I'm done!"

Haley looked at herself in the mirror and was in awe. Normally, Haley was super self-conscious and hated to look at herself, but she admired Brooke's talent. She told Brooke beforehand, that she didn't want a full face of makeup, but Brooke had done a wonderful job highlighting each and every one of Haley's features in a natural way. "It looks amazing, Brooke. Thank you."

"Of course, now wear your dress, and let's go!"

The moment Haley walked into Karen's house, Nathan's eyes were fixated upon her. She looked heartbreakingly gorgeous as usual. The simple, yet elegant black dress she was wearing hugged her curves perfectly and her long, blonde hair was down in soft curls. As he got closer to her, he felt himself drowning in her vanilla scent to the point where it didn't feel like there was anyone else around them. He felt a rush of emotions swirl through him as his eyes locked with hers.

"You look nice, Haley." Nice? Great going you fucking idiot. She looks beautiful and you call her nice? Stupid, Nathan. Stupid.

With just those few words, Haley felt her heart slamming against her chest. She knew he was just saying it to be polite, but they still had a strong impact on her. "Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself."

Before Nathan got the chance to respond, Keith came inside the living room where Nathan, Haley, Lucas, Jake, Peyton, and Brooke were.

"Nathan, you actually dressed up? My eyes really must be broken," Keith joked.

"He ironed his shirt too," Lucas added. He planned on never letting this fact go.

Nathan glowered at Lucas upon hearing those words.

"I'm impressed, Nathan," Keith added, still amused at the fact Nathan dressed up. "You trying to impress anyone?"

Yes. "Of course, not."

Ouch. Haley secretly wished that Nathan did put all this extra effort into her. She felt crazy for thinking that though. While she was exposed to Nathan's goodness, she still knew that Nathan never genuinely had feelings for any girl. That's just not who he was.

Karen then started walking into the room with a camera in her hand and took a picture. "Oh, you guys look amazing!"

After the flash from the camera wore off, Lucas spoke up, "Please, Mom. Don't tell me you're going to take pictures for two hours now. Our dinner reservation is soon."

"Lucas Eugene Scott, I need to be able to capture these moments. "

"Eugene?" Nathan quipped upon hearing Lucas's middle name. The rest of the group joined in on making fun of Lucas's middle name.

"Shut up." Lucas glared and then turned towards Brooke. "Also isn't Julian coming?"

"Yeah, he just texted me and said he would be here in a few minutes. For some reason, the filmmaking club decided to have a meeting today, even though it's Saturday and homecoming. I mean who does that?"

"I thought you were in it, Brooke?" Haley asked.

"I left early, so I could get ready. Plus, the information was boring anyway."

"Woah, Brooke Davis in the filmmaking club. What's next, you gonna join a budget savings class?" Jake teased.

"I just did it because I needed extracurriculars. Now, I'm staying because Julian's in it." Brooke defended herself.

"Ok, in the meantime, I'll take pictures of you guys, and then we'll take more when Julian gets here!" Karen exclaimed, clearly excited for this.

Despite Lucas's protest, Karen continued taking pictures. Julian arrived right before they left the house, but Karen still managed to take a few pictures of him. After all the pictures were taken, the group headed down to Olive Garden for dinner before the dance started.

"Let me guess. You're gonna order mac & cheese like a five-year-old?" Nathan joked while remembering Haley's favorite food. Through their banter, Nathan would find himself unable to take his eyes away from Haley. He decided to just stare at the table in front of him instead because he knew once he looked at her, he wouldn't be able to look away.

"Of course, I am. I take it you're ordering prime-rib?" Haley teased back while she took a bite of one of the breadsticks.

"Nah, they don't have it here. I'm gonna look at something else on the menu."

"You should try the mushroom pasta," Lucas suggested.

"Or the cheese ravioli," Jake added.

"Or you can eat mac & cheese and stop making fun of me once you realized how much you've been missing out," Haley said.

"Fine, I'll get the mac & cheese," Nathan conceded.

Haley was surprised Nathan agreed. She wasn't really expecting Nathan to take her suggestion seriously.

He's so fucking whipped, Lucas thought to himself as he observed Nathan and Haley. Nathan was usually a stubborn ass and never gave into other people's wishes.

A few minutes later, the waiter came by and took everyone's orders. Right after the waiter left, there was a silence that swept through the table briefly.

Julian decided he would speak up. He'd gotten a chance to talk to everyone in the group, except for Nathan. "So Nathan, Brooke tells me you're on the basketball team."

Nathan normally didn't put effort into talking to people, especially people he didn't know. Sometimes he would just respond coldly, and other times he would just provide one-word answers or not respond at all. However, he didn't want to do that. He wanted to be a better person. A better person for himself and a better person for Haley. "Yeah, Man. It's going well so far. Hopefully, this season goes well. Anyway, I heard you're in the filmmaking club. Are you leaning towards doing anything along that path in the future?"

Besides Julian, everyone else at the table was shocked that Nathan not only was nice to Julian but also actively engaged in the conversation. Not only that, but the old Nathan would definitely have made fun of the filmmaking club. Now, he seemed genuinely interested.

Haley, in particular, was happy to see Nathan like this. Deep down, she knew Nathan had it in him to be nice. She was glad he was taking the time to get to know Julian now.

"Yeah, I want to become a director when I'm older. It's always been a fascination of mine," Julian responded.

For the next twenty minutes, the group chatted amongst themselves and got to know Julian a little better.

The waiter then came over to their table and placed each food item in front of each person.

"It tastes amazing, doesn't it?" Haley asked as Nathan took a bite of the mac & cheese.

"It tastes ok," Nathan said nonchalantly. It was actually amazing, but Nathan hated admitting stuff.

"No, it tastes better than ok."

"It tastes ok."

"Just admit it, Nathan. You love it." She wasn't going to stop until Nathan's stubborn ass concurred with her.

"Fine. It tastes good. Happy now?"

"Very," Haley smirked as she saw Nathan devouring the mac & cheese. "So who's the five-year-old now?"

"You're not gonna let this go are you?"

"Never."

This is why I didn't want to come to the dance, Haley thought to herself as she saw Rachel and Nathan talking. Sure, they weren't being all touchy or anything, but seeing them together unnerved her.

After leaving the restaurant, Haley had a good feeling about tonight. She and Nathan have been getting along pretty well. They chatted for a few moments when they first arrived here, but then Brooke and Peyton dragged her to dance with them.

It's now been an hour since they'd come here, and Haley just wanted to have some alone time with Nathan, but instead, she had to watch that skank talk to Nathan.

"Hey, Haley," Lucas greeted as he made his way over to her.

"Hey, you ok?" Haley asked, noticing the worn-out expression on his face.

"Yeah. My feet are just swollen."

"Peyton tiring you out?"

Lucas chuckled, "Yeah we've been dancing for the past thirty minutes. She's dancing with Jake now. Anyway, I'm gonna go sit down. My feet are killing me. I'll catch up with you later, Hales."

As Haley heard the word "Hales," spill from Lucas's mouth, she couldn't help but notice the lack of warmth she felt. It didn't give her that same fluttering sensation like it did when Nathan said it.

Just as Haley was overanalyzing her feelings, she felt a pair of familiar arms suddenly wrap around her waist. As she looked up, she gaped at the figure who was in such close proximity to her. "Damien?"

"Miss me?" Damien smirked.

"No."

"C'mon. I know you did."

Haley scoffed, "Don't flatter yourself. In fact, this is the first time I've thought about you since I moved here."

Haley proceeded to move Damien's hands off her body.

"Please Haley. Just one dance? You love this song."

Haley knew better than anyone that Damien was a stubborn ass, so she gave in. "Fine, just one dance. Then leave me alone."

Damien's smirk reappeared. "As you wish." Damien then placed one of his arms on Haley's waist again and then placed his other hand in hers. "This feels like old times, huh? Like that time we danced at the charity event for your mom's work."

"I hated every minute of that night." Not only did she have to dance with Damien for hours that night, but her parents were having a bad fight that night. It almost got to the point where everyone at the event heard about it. Thankfully, Jimmy just left the event before things escalated further. "Anyway, what are you doing here? I doubt you drove an hour from Oak Lake just to go to a dance."

"Maybe I missed you."

"Funny," Haley laughed dryly.

"I actually am dating someone who goes here. We met at a party a few weeks ago. Her name's Theresa."

Haley laughed. Damien and Theresa? It was like a match made in heaven. "Have fun with that."

"So how's Tree Hill treating you anyway?"

"Good. At least I don't have to see you all the time anymore."

"I'm hurt, Haley." Damien pretended to do a fake pout.

For the rest of the song, Damien kept trying to talk to Haley, while Haley was annoyed with him. That's the way it always was with them.

From the other side of the huge room, Nathan tried his best to change his line of sight to anything that wasn't the sight of Damien and Haley together. Watching them dance together irked him.

Before the whole Damien and Haley scenario, the past few minutes were going somewhat well for Nathan. After finally escaping Rachel's torture, he was able to sit down with Jake and Lucas and talk. Well, Jake and Lucas were talking, while Nathan was gazing at Haley. The whole time, he felt himself being drawn to her. Jake and Lucas would occasionally tease him during the time, but Nathan would shrug it off. Everything was going great until he started dancing with her.

Nathan had known Damien West for quite some time now. They met two summers ago when Nathan went to basketball camp. Damien was Nathan's roommate then. Being in such a competitive environment for three months together turned them into enemies. While they don't see each other often, they both shared a mutual hatred for one another.

What was that son of a bitch doing with her? Why were they dancing? He put it together that they must've known each other since Damien was from Oak Lake too, but he couldn't get over the fact that they were that close to each other. Damien was an absolute ass, much more than Nathan. Why would Haley be around with someone like that?

Looking around, Nathan also saw Vegas occasionally glancing at Haley like she's a piece of meat that served to piss him off even more. All he wanted to do this night was spend time with Haley, but of course, that wouldn't happen. Last week it was Vegas and now Damien? He couldn't handle the insane amount of jealousy that was slicing through his body. Jealousy was a foreign emotion to him, one that he didn't enjoy the feeling.

Right when he witnessed Damien's grip on Haley's waist further tighten, Nathan felt his hand clenching his drink harder to the point where his knuckles were turning white.

Lucas noticed Nathan's hardened facial expression and pale knuckles. "Hey, Nate you-"

"I like her man." Without conscious realization, those words flew out of his mouth, but he couldn't deny it anymore. He didn't want to deny it anymore. Oddly enough, admitting his true feelings allowed him to feel liberated. It felt as though he's been at war with himself for a while now, going back and forth between hiding his feelings. Now, he could feel his whole body relax with the admission, but still, saying the words out loud scared him. Those words were out there now.

Lucas and Jake looked at Nathan, unsure if they heard those words correctly. There was no way Nathan just admitted his feelings without anyone even asking him about them.

"Huh?"

"I like Haley," Nathan sighed, "So much that it scares me."

Lucas patted Nathan on the back. "It's about time you admit that to yourself, little brother."

"I never felt this way. I don't...I just...this is so new to me." And the worst part is that someone like her couldn't possibly like someone like me.

After finishing her dance with Damien, Haley felt relieved. Damien always seemed to annoy the shit out of her. For the next thirty minutes, she slow danced with Lucas and Jake because the one person she wanted to slow dance with didn't ask her. Not that she expected him to anyway. Nathan didn't seem like the type of person who would enjoy dancing.

As she felt someone harshly bump into her, she looked up to see who it was. Seeing Damien made this night annoying enough, but seeing her now? Ugh.

"What do you want, Rachel?"

"Huh?" Rachel asked innocently.

"You purposely bumped into me."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You're wasting your time, you know?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Just get to the point, Rachel."

"With Nathan."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't."

Haley scoffed, "Don't you have anything better to do than be around Nathan all the time like a leach. He doesn't like you, Rachel."

"Yeah, and you think he likes someone like you? Anyway, don't say I didn't warn you. You should've been here in ninth grade. Man, he was living life then. I swear, he slept with nearly every girl."

"Yet, even then, he couldn't sleep with you? There must be something really wrong with you for that to happen," Haley snapped back.

Rachel's temper flared upon those words, but walked away, knowing Haley wasn't worth it. She knew Nathan Scott would never go for Haley.

Even though Rachel walked away, Haley stood there kind of proud of herself. She wasn't the type of person to snap back at people but was glad that she did. That happiness was short-lived as she felt the stinging pain of Rachel's previous comments. There definitely was no way Nathan could like Haley. Nathan didn't believe in feelings.

"Well, well. Nathan Scott. It's been a while."

Great, now I have to deal with this bastard. "Not long enough," Nathan muttered. He felt the anger build within him as Damien approached him. "What are you doing here, West?"

"I'm here with my girlfriend. She said she was coming with a group of friends."

Fuck. Please don't be Haley. Please don't be Haley. "Who?"

"Theresa."

Thank God. Even though he was mostly relieved, he still needed to know more about Haley and Damien. "So, you must know Haley then, since she's from Oak Lake too?"

During his dance with Haley, Damien remembered that Haley mentioned Nathan, but not anyone else from here. Now, Nathan was mentioning Haley. Damien figured something was up between the two. Because Damien hated Nathan and still had lingering feelings for Haley, he wanted to take this opportunity to rub his history with Haley in Nathan's face.

"Oh yeah we go way back," Damien said smugly.

Nathan felt a crushing pain as he heard those words, but moreover because of the tone in which Damien said those words. Was there really a history between him and Haley? Then again, Damien liked causing trouble for others, so this could just be his way of messing with Nathan. Either way, Nathan couldn't shake those unwanted thoughts out of his head.

"Anyway, I gotta go. Theresa's been wanting us to leave for the past thirty minutes, so we could go back to her place. I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Huh?" I have to see that jerk again?

"In case you forgot, Tree Hill is playing against Oak Lake right before Thanksgiving Break. See ya then, Scott...Oh, and tell Haley that I'm looking forward to seeing her again."

Fucking Damien West always got on Nathan's nerves. It was bad enough that he had to deal with Damien in basketball camp, but now he had to deal with this weird tension between him and Haley? Fuck.

As Nathan got away from Damien, he saw Haley sitting by herself at the table, slightly upset at something. He witnessed her and Rachel having a heated conversation earlier and figured she must've been upset due to that. Rachel always had the ability to ruin other people's moods instantly. She was like Dan in that way.

He felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of her. She wasn't even doing anything besides sitting in a chair, but she looked so perfect. As he got closer to Haley, his feelings possessed him into doing something he never ever thought of doing. "Do you want to dance with me, Hales?"

"Huh?" Haley had to make sure she heard those words correctly.

"Well, I remember this song came on when we were eating dinner in the cafe and you said it was your favorite...so do you want to dance? It's fine if you don't. You were dancing a lot earlier, so you're probably tired." Nathan inwardly cursed himself for asking her to dance. What if she said no? He didn't think he would be able to handle the fact that she willingly danced with Damien, but not him.

He asked me to dance?! He remembered that I liked that song from the cafe? Stop it, Haley. You're reading too much into it. Lucas and Jake asked you to dance too. It's not just Nathan. "No, I would love to dance."

Nathan tried to control the grin forming on his face. Unable to suppress it completely, a soft smile appeared instead as he took one arm and wrapped it securely around Haley's waist. With his other arm, he linked both their hands together. Besides that brief moment where Nathan wrapped his arms around Haley during their cookie dough fight, this is the closest their bodies have ever been. The jolt of electricity that passed through him when their bodies connected made him feel so...alive. At this moment, he didn't care about Dan, his mom leaving him or Damien being close with Haley. All he could focus on was how good it felt to have Haley in his arms. He didn't want anything or anyone ruining that.

As the song continued, Haley felt the warmth radiating off Nathan's body compelling her to close the gap between them, and she did just that. At this moment, she wasn't nervous being around Nathan. Yes, the butterflies were there, but not the nervousness. She felt so peaceful and content being in his arms. Being here in the middle of the dance floor with her body pressed up against Nathan's, she knew her feelings for Nathan were real. They slowly starting to consume her in a way she never thought possible.

The next song started playing as the previous one ended, but neither of the two had it in them to break away from each other just yet. The two of them continued dancing, both unmindful to the fact that being in each other's arms is where they belonged.

"I'm surprised I'm doing this right," Nathan whispered, still processing the fact that he and Haley were dancing together.

"What?"

"Dancing. I suck at dancing."

Haley chuckled, "Well you're doing pretty good."

"I'm just moving my feet around."

"Still, it's pretty good," Haley mumbled.

"Yeah. I guess I'm a natural then," Nathan smirked.

Haley playfully rolled her eyes at Nathan's cockiness and yawned.

"You tired?"

"Nah. Well, a little. It's just been a long day."

Nathan remembered how Haley worked in the cafe quite a few times during the week, and how she tutored multiple people. That was on top of all the studying she did. He also remembered the thing Haley kept trapped within her and didn't tell anyone about. Despite not knowing what it was, he knew it affected her greatly and figured that took a toll on her too."You work too hard, Hales."

Haley didn't know what to say to that. Instead, she let her tiredness take over as she gently rested her head on Nathan's chest as they continued dancing. Through the dim lighting in the room, not that many people would see them anyway. As her head fell on his body, Haley felt her body completely relax. She wasn't worried about making enough money anymore. She wasn't worried about her parents fighting or her dad drinking. Her guard wasn't up like it normally was. Instead, she just let herself drown in Nathan's arms and let his scorching heat consume her.

Nathan was surprised that Haley rested her head on him. He figured it was because she was tired, but he was glad nonetheless. He wanted so badly to make things easier for her. He knew somewhere in this room were Lucas and Jake probably making fun of Nathan right now, but he didn't care. He never felt more content in his life. It pained him that this moment had to end at some point.

Nathan and Haley danced for thirty more minutes before reluctantly pulling away from each other. Although both were unaware, the loss of warmth when their bodies separated created an ache that embedded deep within them.

As the night was coming to an end, Haley went over to get her jacket from the rack. She was surprised Brooke hadn't said anything about her and Nathan dancing so closely together. Other people may have not been paying attention, but she knew Brooke was. For the first time, she wanted Brooke to ask about Nathan. She wanted to give Brooke an answer to her questions. Why wasn't Brooke asking her?

"Tutor-Girl...I got a question for you," Brooke said while grabbing her jacket too.

Here it comes… "Yeah?"

"Does my hair look ok? The humidity in that room was horrible."

Why can't Brooke just ask me about Nathan!? "Yeah, it looks fine, Brooke."

"You, ok? You seem a little out of it."

"Yup."

"You, sure?"

Haley couldn't take this anymore. "Why aren't you asking me the real question?"

"What real question?"

"About the dance?"

"Oh yeah, you looked good dancing out there with Lucas and Jake." Brooke was getting amused at the fact that Haley was getting so frustrated. Brooke had actually been watching Nathan and Haley the entire dance and was internally fangirling over the both of them. However, she wanted to act like it was nothing to see if she could finally get a reaction out of Haley, which she clearly was.

"Brooke! I know you saw me and Nathan. You normally freak out if I just look at him. Why aren't you freaking out about this?"

"You know the real question is why are you freaking about this? I mean you said don't like Nathan, Haley. Every time I ask you about him, you shut me down. So why do you want me to ask you about him so badly tonight?"

This was the point where Haley would normally go denying her feelings for Nathan, but right now, there wasn't denial - only a silence brewing between her and Brooke.

"I don't hear your normal denial Tutor-Girl."

Haley sighed, "That's because I can't deny it anymore..."

This time, Brooke actually squealed, "I knew it!" Brooke forgot about her jacket and gave Haley a big hug.

"This is all so scary, Brooke. I never felt like this before, and it scares me. There are moments where I feel like Nathan may feel a fraction of what I'm feeling, but then I remember the fact that Nathan doesn't do feelings."

"You know I didn't have feelings until I met Julian. It could be that way with Nathan too."

"I don't know Brooke...I just want to go home and don't want any of my thoughts to mess up tonight. The dance with Nathan was just too perfect to mess up."

"You don't know how hard it was for me to contain my joy when I saw you two dancing like that! Now you definitely have to tell me all about it!" Brooke tugged on Haley's arm and spent the next half an hour getting as many details as she could.

As Nathan walked through his empty house, he started thinking about how being in this house never gave him the warmth that he experienced with Haley. Even when his mom was living here, he never truly got to experience that feeling.

Every time Nathan shut his eyes, he felt himself being transported back in that room, with Haley's head against his chest and his arms around her waist, drawing her closer.

It was crazy that just nearly two months ago, his idea of a perfect night was to get wasted. Sure, he still had the urge to drink when he remembered painful instances from the past, but it wasn't overwhelming like it was before - before he had met her.

He felt himself changing a lot these past two months. He'd never thought his idea of a perfect night would be to dance with a girl. A girl who had the ability to slowly make him feel complete again, but was completely oblivious to the fact.

As he was taking his tuxedo off, he realized this night was coming to an end. No, this night was too good to be ending. He didn't want this night to end.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialed his favorite number, so he could hold onto this night for a little while longer. "Hey, Hales…"

Thank you guys so much for reading! I hope you guys like it so far:)