"What are you doing here?"

Her voice sounded like a whispered gust of air, and Nathan was certain he was dreaming. It didn't surprise him in the least, that she would appear after the night he'd had - a night where a lid he'd kept so tightly closed had opened, its contents been thrown about in front of his face.

Still, the tiny working sliver of his brain pointed out, something wasn't quite right. If he were dreaming, wouldn't she appear as the 18 year old girl he had left behind in high school? Not this... this... Nathan's mind short circuited as he took in the woman that stood in front of him.

There was no doubt that she was the one who had caused his body to heat up and react so viscerally when he was talking to Devon Fox on the stairs. In high school, Haley had dressed not to hide her figure exactly, but as if she was totally oblivious to what a tight little body she had under the plain, unfashionable clothes. At the time, Nathan didn't care - safe in the knowledge that he was the only one allowed to slip his hand into her back pocket when they walked down the halls or hold her hips tightly to his when they kissed. On the occasions when she pulled out something that showed the student body exactly how great her rack really was or how her ass could seriously fit a pair of jeans, she had no idea how many death stares Nathan had sent out, sending several male classmates skittering away in fear.

Ten years on, Nathan could see, Haley's confidence had grown with her body. Her hair was a soft curl of blonde and light brown, and there was a subtle yet definite trace of makeup on her face. He had already had the best view of how snugly the denim of her jeans fit her curves, and a creamy expanse of her skin showed above the deep V of her silky top, cut low enough to flatter the heavy teardrop shape of her breasts while still looking classy. Haley had been pretty in high school, but the woman in front of him was not just beautiful, but unbelievably sexy. Nathan felt all the moisture in his mouth dry up, his tongue feeling three sizes too big as he took in the woman before him.

Still, there was enough that remained unchanged to cause an pang deep in his chest. Haley's eyes, wide and unblinking in shock, were still the rich cocoa color he remembered, with the same ability to pull him in and drown him. Beneath the glossy pink lips was the little freckle that he used to love to tease with his tongue and draw into his mouth during hot kisses, and the one just below her ear that he knew made her melt and moan in the most tantalizing ways when his lips were on it.

"Haley? Haley!"

"Haley!"

Nathan dragged his eyes away from the vision to see Brooke fill the doorway between the balcony and the house.

"Tutor Girl, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for..." she trailed off as her eyes met his.

"Bob? I need to..." Quinn's voice stopped abruptly, too, at the sight of Nathan. "Talk to you..." she finished, softly.

"Is everything okay here?" Now Clay stood behind the two women in the doorway, and Nathan knew he wasn't dreaming. Regardless of how heavenly the figure in front of him looked, it made no sense that Brooke, Quinn and Clay would be invading his subconscious. If he had any subliminal control over what was happening here, he would be running his nose along the shell of Haley's ear, inhaling the soft scent of her, feeling the silky softness of her skin beneath his fingertips, finding out if hips lips on her neck still made her knees weak...

No, Nathan realized. He definitely wasn't dreaming.

"Um... we'll just give you guys some privacy," Brooke blurted out, turning quickly and ushering a protesting Quinn out of the doorway. Clay lingered behind for a moment, his curious blue eyes flicking between the couple on the balcony.

"You okay, man?"

Nathan nodded, mutely, and finally, Clay turned and followed the others down the stairs.

"Brooke."

Haley had blurted her friend's name out suddenly, and Nathan turned to look at her again for the first time since realizing that he was, in fact, awake.

"And Lucas," Haley blurted out again. "The wedding. I knew you would be in town for it eventually but I didn't know when. It's still three weeks away. And why are you in my sister's house?"

"Uh..." Nathan swallowed, the action uncomfortable due to the dryness in his mouth. It seemed that Haley hadn't lost the ability to ramble and her fast words swirled around his jumbled head. "I live here."

"You live with my sister?"

"No, no... um, I..." Nathan cleared his throat, willing his brain and his mouth to work together. "I mean, I live in Tree Hill now. I'm not just in town for the wedding, I live here. Not here, not in this house," he clarified, acutely aware of what a bumbling idiot he sounded. "Clay is my best friend, he met Quinn through a dating app and they moved here, too. To Tree Hill... and this house."

Way to go, buddy, Nathan's brain mentally slow clapped its sarcasm as he stood awkwardly in front of his ex-girlfriend, waiting for her response. His ex-girlfriend, whom he dumped without any decent explanation ten years ago, who was looking more beautiful than ever standing in front of him with one hand on the curve of her hip and a puzzled frown across her face while his body was doing all sorts of crazy things to his uncooperative brain.

"You live in Tree Hill ... and your best friend is my sister's new boyfriend?"

As Nathan nodded his reply, Haley turned her head to gaze out into the darkness, deep in thought. He didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that she had hadn't known about their connection through the new couple, either. The electricity that crackled in the air, like the night of a storm, made Nathan feel uncomfortable and desperate to fill the silence. "Uh... what about you? You're just in town for the wedding?"

Haley turned back to face him, a quizzical expression on her face as if she was surprised he didn't know. "No. I moved back here three years ago."

"Oh..." Even Nathan's sluggish brain could understand the complications - for the first time in a decade, they were living in the same town. The same small town. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined ending up in a situation like this; even as Lucas talked about his upcoming wedding, Nathan never thought about who would inevitably be there. He had put Haley in his overflowing box of mistakes and locked the lid.

But now, as his head finally convinced him that what was happening was real, Nathan felt the urge to talk. He had grown in the last ten years - okay, he knew that was a stretch but he certainly had matured in the last two at least. Age, the novelty of being an NBA superstar fading, his injury, losing his father, losing the game... it had all shifted the complicated puzzle inside of him. He had a better grasp of what was right or wrong now, and he knew Haley deserved an explanation for what happened all those years ago.

"Look, Haley, we should talk... I mean, there things I want to say..."

"No," Haley shook her head so forcefully that Nathan felt the need to take a step backwards. "No... We have no history Nathan, we're nothing to each other. Yes we'll be seeing each other for the wedding - I know you're Luke's best man - and maybe we'll run into each other through Clay and Quinn, or around town or something, but that's all it has to be."

Nathan's mouth dropped open as she carried on. "We can simply be acquaintances with mutual friends, but there's no need to go past that. We don't need to talk about what happened ten years ago, that was ancient history. We're different people now and it doesn't matter."

Haley looked so sure of herself as she stood, and the more primitive - and stupid, Nathan knew - part of his brain couldn't help but swallow harshly as she crossed her arms under her generous chest, plumping the delicate amount of cleavage that showed above her top. The rest of him couldn't believe how she could affect him so much, yet she apparently didn't feel a thing.

"But it does matter," he replied quietly, hating how feeble he sounded. "Hales, I..."

She held up her hand to stop him. "It doesn't matter, Nathan. What happened back then, happened. We broke up. It was ten years ago. We've moved on."

"I'm not looking for a second chance here, Haley!" Nathan exclaimed, frustrated. He knew that door was closed; Haley wasn't a fool and he knew she had been completely stunned and blindsided by their breakup. Besides, despite Quinn not confirming nor denying anything, he was certain Haley would be married by now, if not engaged or in a very serious relationship. That was what she had wanted, what she deserved. "I get you have a life and I'm not in it, but acquaintances? Really? I'd just like to clear the air..." he struggled for words to explain what he wanted. "There are just some things I'd like to explain."

Nathan felt his stomach drop. Even through the darkness he could see Haley closing off around him, and he watched as her chocolate brown eyes went flat.

"I don't care, Nathan. I don't want to hear them."

Without another word, she turned and headed back into the house, leaving Nathan alone with the sound of the sea.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I realize this story is going incredibly slowly because the chapters are ridiculously short. Chapter 7 is actually just about done but I decided it needed to be split from this one. It's frustrating the hell out of me, but I'll get it moving eventually! Next chapter... we find out how Haley dealt with the breakup and a certain someone convinces her to hear Nathan out ;-) Many, many thanks for all the incredible support!