Title: Study Sessions
Author: Anni
Email: asleeper@email.arizona.edu
Summary: Nathan and Haley "study" for a math quiz together
Notes: I started this before WOA aired, but I'm a really slow writer so I just barely finished it. The idea was inspired by the people on the spoiler thread over at Forums4Fans as they were talking about how N/H would be able to get through their tutoring sessions after the recent shift in the relationship.
Another Note: I wanted to get this posted before I left for the holiday, so I didn't get the chance to proofread it as closely as I would have liked. Please excuse any mistakes.
Haley sat alone at her table in the tutoring center. Her foot tapped impatiently against the leg of her chair as she waited for third period to begin.
It had only been three days since Nathan first kissed her, and since she had kissed him back. Everything in her life since then had felt uncontrollably surreal.
Tongues had started wagging on Monday when Nathan ditched his friends and chased her down the hall. He had ended up walking her to class, holding her hand. Since then, people she had never bothered to pay attention to were greeting her and girls that had never bothered to pay attention to her were shooting looks of pure jealousy her way. And all because of the as of yet unofficial romance between her and the star basketball player.
"Morons," she muttered, trying to ignore the growing number of butterflies in her stomach and focus on the high school population's serious need to get lives of their own. Despite her best efforts, though, she could feel a blush creep up her neck and around her cheeks at the memory of the way he had brushed her hair behind her ear.
God, when had she become such a girlie girl about these types of things? Not even a month ago, she would have rolled her eyes if a guy other than Luke tried that with her. Now, she couldn't stop smiling.
And that's what brought her to where she was, waiting impatiently for Nathan to show up for their tutoring session. Because of a meeting with his counselor and the winter sports assembly, this was the first session they were able to have since whatever they were now started.
Sifting again through the pile of books in front of her, Haley told herself that this session would be focused on the small Math quiz Nathan had scheduled for the next day. He was still having difficulty with multiplying polynomials, so they needed to buckle down. She didn't want the fact that they had missed two days to hurt him when he had to take that quiz the next morning.
But, if she were completely honest with herself, Haley had to admit that she was also looking forward to just seeing him. He was nice to see.
"Ugh." She pushed back from the table in disgust, and tried to find something in the room that she could occupy herself with until he got there. The fidgeting and whatnot was starting to get on her nerves.
After a few minutes of shuffling aimlessly through the filing cabinet, Haley heard the door swing open. She looked up and couldn't stop a wide smile from forming. There he was.
"Hey," she said, trying to appear casual as the butterflies in her belly took flight. She shut the drawer with a quiet click before turning back to the table.
He looked good that morning. Well, Nathan always looked good, but Haley couldn't help but think that he looked extra good that morning. He was smiling; not that smirk that he was so famous for, but rather a full fledge smile. And the little schoolgirl crush in her thought that that boosted him straight past good looking and right on to gorgeous.
"Hey yourself." He dropped his bag on the table with a loud thump,
"So, that's a pretty big smile you've got there." Haley eyed him as he stepped close to her, her heart picking up speed beneath her ribcage. "I don't think I've ever seen you this excited about tutoring before."
He laughed in that light-hearted way that only she got to hear. "What can I say? I like the hands on type learning." And just like that, he was leaning over to kiss her.
Her breath caught in her throat and she watched with wide eyes as his lips lightly brushed hers. Nathan pulled back so that Haley could see that wide smile once more, but then, his hand settled on her waist and he lowered his face toward hers again.
Haley was expecting him this time, and even though she knew that it wasn't the proper time or place, her eyes fluttered shut and her lips parted in a silent invitation.
The first touch was light and almost playful, but it didn't take Nathan long to increase the pressure. His mouth opened over hers, and Haley could feel his teeth scrap against her bottom lip as he urged her mouth open as well.
His hand tightened on her waist as he stepped forward, guiding her back until she could feel the edge of the table pressing into the back of her thighs. Her hands, seemingly of their own accord, slipped up the length of his torso. Her fingertips danced over the firm muscles of his stomach and then his chest, covered by the two layers of soft cotton t-shirts, until they reached his shoulders. Her arms curled around his neck, her fingers brushing through the short hairs at the nape.
Nathan's hands loosened their grip on her waist to slide around to her back. He took one more small step forward so that the length of his body lined up with hers. His right hand smoothed up the line of her spine to support her weight as the slight change in their position had Haley arching her back to compensate for their height difference. His other hand settled low on the small of her back, and she could feel the rasp of his calloused fingertips against the warm skin peaking out between the waistband of her jeans and the hem of her shirt.
Haley pressed back against him, letting him guide her mouth open. She moaned quietly when he suckled her bottom lip between his own and his teeth nibbled the soft skin. Her head canted to the side for a better angle as she responded by pulling back at his top lip. If at all possible, his grip on her tightened at her response, and the first hint of tongue appeared as his swiped out to trace the edge of her mouth.
Haley found it near impossible to get a grasp of her surroundings as she let herself get lost momentarily in the feel of the boy next to her. She could feel his breath, warm as it flowed over the curves of her face. His body heat seeped through the layers of their clothing, giving her an unfamiliar but delicious chill as his hands and arms held her firmly to his form. She could smell his aftershave and the sweet tang of his cologne, and she could taste the mint of his toothpaste mixed with the soft flavor of his tongue.
This is what it meant to be kissing Nathan Scott, and for a few short minutes in the completely inappropriate location of the tutoring center, Haley let herself get lost in that.
The persistence of his tongue parted her lips further as Nathan delved into the contours of her mouth. He traced the top row of her teeth, tickling the sensitive skin on her inner lip before slipping past to rasp his tongue against hers. She countered, pushing back until they met in his mouth.
Nathan stepped forward again, driving her further back against the table. The change in their position caused the table to shift slightly beneath her, and the scratchy sound of the table legs over linoleum snapped her back into the present.
Haley's eyes shot open as she fully grasped the fact that Nathan had her practically bent of a table in the middle of the tutoring center where anyone, including a teacher, could walk in and see them. Her hands braced against his chest so that she could push him back just far enough to duck under his arms and out of his grip.
She separated herself from him by a few feet before turning back to see him gazing at her with a confused expression, as if he couldn't quite understand why they weren't still kissing. "Nathan," she started, her voice shaking slightly. She stopped to give herself a few seconds to catch her breath. She wanted to be kissing him again. "We need to get started."
He turned to face her, one arm reaching out so that he could thread his fingers through her belt loop and pull her back closer to him. "We were just getting started."
Haley laughed and let him press one more kiss to her lips before breaking from his grip and pulling out one of the chairs at the table. She dropped down onto the seat and looked up at him with one expectant eyebrow raised high. "Nathan, you have a math quiz tomorrow."
The smile dropped from his face and his brow crinkled in confusion as he dropped down beside her. "You mean we're really going to study?"
She laughed again as she pulled the practice exam she had made up for him from her bag. "That's kind of what these tutoring sessions are for. You know, tutoring."
Nathan stared down at the paper and pencil she had placed in front of him before looking back up at her, his lips pursed out in a small pout. He seemed to be considering saying something more, but he finally just shrugged. "Fine."
Haley smiled fondly at him as he glared down at his paper. Leaning over, she kissed him once, and then again, on corner of his mopey lips. Plopping back down onto her chair, she opened up her history book to review for her class next period.
"Tease," he grumbled at her, but the pout was gone as the corners of his mouth curved up in that flirty smile of his.
The next couple of minutes passed with relative ease, though Haley couldn't stop herself from taking a couple of quick glances at Nathan out of the corner of her eye. She told herself that it was just to see how he was progressing on the quiz, but more than once, her eyes stopped to trace along the strong curve of his jaw and the softer curve of his lips. But just before she could lost in that sweet memory, Nathan would look up at her with a knowing smirk.
He could really be a cocky bastard sometimes.
Haley had just turned back to her book when she felt something brush against her outstretched legs. Peaking curiously under the table, she nearly laughed out loud when she realized that Nathan's big booted foot had made its way over to hers. His toe traced as lightly as it could around her ankle, trailing slightly along the shin.
She looked up to see him nonchalantly working away at a math problem and let a soft giggle out at his air of innocence. Like anyone would ever believe Nathan Scott to be innocent.
Uncrossing her ankles, she kicked him back, the rubber sole of her Doc Martins thumping against his boot. He was quick to strike back as he maneuvered his feet around so that he had her legs trapped between his strong calves. Haley struggled to free herself, slipping down until she almost fell out her seat. It took her a few minutes, but she was finally able to twist one leg out of his grasp so that she could land a solid kick against his calf.
She looked up at him and raised her eyebrows as if to give him a giant "Ha!"
"Haley," he deadpanned, gesturing toward his quiz. "Do you mind? I'm trying to work here."
Her mouth dropped open at his audacity, but she quickly recovered. Giving him one last well-aimed kick, she folded her legs under her chair and went back to the pretense of reading.
It wasn't long after that that Nathan tossed his pencil down and pronounced himself finished. Haley shut her book and scooted her chair toward his so that they could go over the answers together.
"Alrighty," she started, picking up his pencil and glancing over the first problem. She tried to focus, but the new closer proximity brought the stronger scent of his cologne and the memory of how his aftershave tickled her nose. "Number on-"
She broke off as a large hand landed on her knee and squeezed softly. Haley looked down to see Nathan's long fingers wrapped around her leg as his traced a small circle over the thigh of her jeans.
Looking up, she grinned when she saw that he wasn't even feigning innocence this time. "What're you doing?"
Nathan smirked, and his hand trailed up just a little bit higher. "Studying." He leaned toward her with his eyes trained firmly on her lips.
Haley leaned over to meet him in the middle, but jumped back just before their lips met as the sharp sound of the school bell echoed through the room. She looked over at the clock with wide eyes, not realizing that they had been that far into the period. Glancing back down at his ungraded quiz, she couldn't stop herself from feeling a little guilty that she hadn't gotten to help him with it.
"I'm sorry, Nathan," she apologized, pushing back from the table and standing to gather her books into her bag. "I wish we could have gotten a little further."
"Me too."
She rolled her eyes at him, but managed a small smile.
"Hey, it's not a big deal." He reached over to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "We can just study some more tonight, at my house."
She crinkled her nose. "I have to work tonight."
"So come over afterward." His hand slipped around her waist and he leaned close. "It's never too late for… studying." He kissed her then, his lips teasing a smile onto her face. "My tutor-girl."
"Nathan." Her palms settled against his stomach and she glanced at him from beneath her eyelashes.
He leered at her. "Yes."
Haley pushed him back a few steps. "Go to class."
He laughed his deep laugh as he backed toward the door. "Tease," he grumbled again.
She giggled and turned back to collect her things. Looking back up one more time, she stopped him before he left the room. "Oh, and Nathan?"
He looked back at her expectantly.
"I'll see you tonight."
.