Fifty shades of red- at least, that's what Haley was sure her skin resembled when her eyes collided with Nathan's across the bar. With just that one look, a mirage of dreams stacks before her like a collection of bricks. Unable to pass through, she stands with her heels rooted to the sticky floor, simply staring at him with sudden shyness. How can she possibly face him and expect to act normally when just last night she'd dreamt he was sliding beneath her bedsheets?
"You look like you could use a drink," she's vaguely aware of Brooke's voice and hand pulling hers towards the bar, but she sure as hell wasn't about to disagree. A shot or two might help Haley shake the strange feeling gnawing the loose threads of her brain.
Chase Adams, their friend- and the club's bartender- greets them with his sleepy smirk, "what'll it be tonight, ladies?"
"Tequila," Brooke beams, "definitely tequila."
Haley's eyes scan the bar before breathing a sigh of relief. Nathan's no longer standing where she last saw him. Maybe, just maybe, he had left early and she wouldn't have to come face to face with him tonight. Of course, she'd eventually see him at work on Monday and would have to think of another excuse to avoid him, but for now, she just wanted to get through the night without making a fool of herself.
After watching Haley drain her tequila within seconds of receiving it, Chase fills her shot glass a second time. Tomorrow, she'll wish she had paced herself better, but now it's the last worry on her mind.
Brooke's happily chatting with Chase when Haley hears the scratchy timbre of his voice from behind her. Her fingers wrap around the shot glass in a vice-like grip- it's a miracle it doesn't shatter.
"Hey, Hales."
She jumps slightly, nearly tumbling from her perched position on the metal stool, and Nathan reaches out to steady her.
"Whoa," he chuckles, his hands on her shoulders, "how much have you had to drink?"
Haley's brown eyes cut into a playful glare, "only one, thank you very much."
Nathan's eyebrows raise like crescents above his stormy blue eyes, "I never pegged you for a lightweight."
"I am not a lightweight, Nathan Scott," Haley challenges him with a hard stare, but the corner of her lips tug upwards in a betrayal of flirtation. She quickly attempts to cover it by swallowing her second shot, but the tequila burns on its way down and begins sputtering into a brief coughing fit. Nathan stares at her with those damn liquid blue eyes and she is flooded with the memory of how intently he looked at her in her dream last night. But that was a dream and this is reality… although, the line between the two is blurry with tequila and a slow-burning ember.
"Right," his quiet chuckle churns hot coals low in her belly; the red in her cheeks fuels deeper.
"Oh, hey, Nate," Brooke swiveled on her stool and smirked upon noticing Haley and Nathan's blatant eye sex. She'd be willing to bet Haley's dreams wouldn't just be dreams for much longer…
"Hey, Brooke," Nathan greeted the dimpled brunette with a polite nod, "seems like you two are in for a wild night, huh?"
Brooke pursed her lips and flit her green eyes towards a blushing Haley, "I don't know if Haley can handle another wild night tonight."
Nathan's interest piqued, "I knew you had a wild side, James."
Haley's teeth sink into her lower lip and shoots a subtle glare towards Brooke, "I don't."
"No, no," Nathan's grin flips, "tell me more. I'm intrigued."
"Yeah, go ahead, Hales. Tell Nathan all about the hot and wild night you had…"
Haley's face burns and she wishes Chase was still around to pour her another shot, "Brooke," she warns lowly, "I don't think you know what you're talking about."
Nathan rests his elbows on the bar top, cradling his chin in his palms. He's feigning amusement, but Brooke doesn't fail to notice the ticking in his jaw.
"I didn't know you were seeing anyone, Haley," he says. Brooke detects a hint of tartness amongst his sweet, curious smile.
"Oh, don't worry," Brooke intervenes, "she's not."
Haley kicked Brooke from beneath the counter, causing Brooke to let out a quiet shriek.
Nathan looked between the two women and furrowed his dark brows in confusion, "am I missing something here?"
"No," Haley says, "not at all. Don't listen to a word she says. Brooke's been having delusions lately."
"Delusions? See, I like to refer to them as dreams…" Brooke smirks at Haley, who continues to glare at her with fire in her eyes. Meanwhile, Nathan looks as dumbfounded as ever.
"Shut. Up," Haley grits out between clenched teeth. The alcohol in her veins is making it harder to keep her own mouth shut.
"Okay, you've officially lost me," Nathan mutters, "I have no idea what you're talking about anymore."
"We're talking about Haley's wild side, remember?"
Haley squirms on the edge of the stool. There's nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Nathan's boxed her in, and she's fading fast. Damn Brooke Davis.
"If I saw it, I sure as hell wouldn't ever forget it," Nathan's grin is a match of Brooke's. Haley slumps over in a depth of embarrassment. Chase is far too busy to notice her glass is empty and in desperate need of a refill.
"I'd be willing to bet that things got fairly kinky last night," Brooke goads, much to her friend's chagrin.
"Brooke!" Haley admonishes, "he gets it!"
Nathan scratches his chin, which is outlined in a shadow of unshaven hairs. "I'm confused. Did you hook up with someone last night?"
"No. I didn't. Far from it. Brooke's just being an idiot. Isn't that right, Brooke?" Haley snaps.
Brooke's giddy smile tells Haley she feels anything but sorry, "I guess Nathan will see for himself sooner than later." She's cryptic on purpose, "But I'll leave you two alone for now. Sweet dreams, Hales!"
The dimpled brunette saunters away from the bar, knowing she'd just slipped the greatest secret like a hidden note between her pocket. Nathan, clueless to the secret and jealous at the thought of Haley having a wild night with a random man, curls his fingers around his glass of scotch and suppresses a scowl.
"Does she always speak in riddles?"
Haley's giggle is soft and velvet, "No, she just likes to embarrass me."
"What's there to be embarrassed about?"
Her teeth scrape the corner of her lip, "Nevermind."
"You're certainly a mystery, Haley James," His eyes sparkle like an unknown universe waiting to be discovered, "just when I thought I had you figured out."
Overcome by a sudden and strange bashfulness, Haley's blush infused with red wine. It was possible, she realized, that she may have been drunker than she'd thought. Words and thoughts blurred backward; language now a puzzle with pieces never made to fit together.
All at once, her dreams flooded before her- the bar fades to liquid, and they are in bed together, her wet and warm body writhing below his. His nimble fingers rub a melody that has her screaming a chorus loud enough to reach the heavens. Slowly, like snow, his lips punctuate soft kisses along the silk of her skin. A moan blows like the wind, interrupted by a shrill ringing.
And just like that, her eyes open, and she's back in the present: perched along a creaky barstool staring right into Nathan's eyes as his phone rings jarringly between them.
"Sorry," he grimaces, looks down at the screen, and cancels the call.
Haley, who is mortified by her trance of their dream sex, coughs and busies herself by thinking of what to say.
"You can take that, I mean if it's important."
"It's not," he sighs, then takes a long sip of scotch. "It's Andrea."
Haley's eyebrows curve like the round top of a question mark- "Isn't she your…?"
"Not anymore," another sigh falls between them, the air now heavy with alcohol and breaths of confessions. "She broke up with me."
"Oh, Nathan…" Haley instinctually reaches out to take hold of his forearm. The veins in his wrists flowing beneath her fingers like a swollen river.
"It's ok," his smile is reassuring, a liferaft in a drowning sea, "I'm glad she did."
"Can I ask what happened?"
Nathan stretches his arm over his shoulder and palms his short raven black hair, peppered with streaks of grey beneath the lowly lit bar lights, "it's uh, kind of embarrassing actually."
Haley's smile is the gentle flutter of a butterfly wing. She props her elbow on the edge of the bar, willing him to continue.
"I, uh," he chuckles nervously and avoids her wide-eyed gaze, "apparently I kept mumbling another woman's name while I was sleeping."
Haley's eyes spread, "Oh, wow…"
"It's not what you think," Nathan shakes his head frantically, hating the thought of Haley ever thinking badly of him, "I wasn't cheating- I would never…"
"I didn't think you did," she says softly, warmly.
He exhales deeply again, like shaking off a heavy winter coat dampened by snow, "I didn't even know I was doing it until she woke me up, completely freaking out… I felt so bad. It's not like I did it on purpose, you know?"
Haley shakes her head sympathetically as Nathan continues.
"Anyway, she was convinced I was cheating on her - even though I wasn't- and broke up with me."
"I'm sorry," she says again, but is cut off with Nathan's short laugh.
"Don't be. It was a blessing, really. When we broke up, I realized she wasn't who I really wanted afterall."
"But she keeps calling you?"
Nathan nods as he cradles the buzzing phone between his hands, "she wants to get back together. Guess she realized I was telling the truth."
"You don't want that?"
"No," Nathan says, "I think my dream was subconsciously telling me something."
Haley licks her all too dry lips, "whose name were you saying?"
His sweet and shy chuckle rumbles the air like thunder, "you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Let me guess," Haley teases, "Kim Kardashian? Carrie Underwood?"
He doesn't laugh like she expects him to. Instead, he utters a single word with a scratchy voice, "You."
Haley nearly chokes for the second time. She nearly pinches herself, just to make sure she's not dreaming again.
"What?"
"I know," the tips of his ears bleed pink, "it's probably weird for you to hear, and I hope it doesn't make you uncomfortable but-"
Breathless, Haley shakes her head still in disbelief; "You have them too?"
Nathan looks around the bar, confused by the swirling daze painted across her face, "Have what?"
"Dreams. About me. About us?" She trips over her words, like she's sprinting out of a dream and into a better reality- as if such a thing could ever exist.
Nathan swallows, "yes."
Haley giggles manically- a foam of laughter pouring over the glass. Nathan stares, smiling with bewilderment.
"So do I," she reveals after the laughter ceases.
"You do?"
She nods, "yes."
It dawns on him suddenly; his eyes crack like yolks, spilling with epiphany. "That's what Brooke was talking about earlier, wasn't it?"
Haley shields her twisting lips behind her hands, "yes."
Nathan's smirk says it all, "must've been some dream."
"I suppose," she says coyly. "Perhaps we should compare notes."
His tongue swipes across his lips in a seductive challenge; "or maybe we should make these dreams a reality."
A sweep of confidence swivels up Haley's spine, "maybe you should buy me dinner first."
Nathan stands hastily; the stool nearly toppled over. Haley takes his hand, leaving a trail of laughter between the smoky bar. She's vaguely aware of Brooke winking across the darkened room. Maybe her friend was right all along.