Disclaimer: Wish I owned James Lafferty, but I unfortunately I don't. I also don't own any of the other OTH characters.
A/N: Thank you all for the feedback. Let me know if you have any suggestions about where you would like the story to go. If I'm feeling adventurous I might just be inclined to use your ideas.
Enjoy the next chapter, and wish me luck on my finals this week!
Inside of You
Chapter 5
The Art of Being an Adult
Part One
Nathan didn't have the front door open more than ten seconds when Haley looked up into his eyes fearfully and said, "Ok, I'm officially nervous."
"Why," he asked, escorting her into his house, their hands falling together as he guided her into the family room.
Haley anxiously fidgeted with the strap of her purse, wrapping it around her fingers meticulously letting it go and doing it again. "I don't know, I've just never done this before."
"What? Eat dinner," Nathan grinned at her.
"No, " she smacked him on the arm, "Have dinner with the parents."
"Well for one, it's not the "parents," you're having dinner with, it's my mom. And two, you already know her so relax, it'll be fine," he said, taking her coat into the other room.
She watched him leave and for the first time felt how very large his house really was. Everything around her was leather or gold or state of the art, and again Haley got the sinking feeling she was very out of place. Determined not to let her paranoid emotions get the better of her, she shrugged off her negative vibes, and scanned the room once more, setting her eyes on an old picture of Nathan and his Dad.
This picture seemed almost identical to the one she'd seen at the beach house. However this time Nathan looked about ten or twelve, crouching down by his father as they both posed for the camera. Nathan wore a black and silver jersey, a tight lipped smile adorning his face as he stood next to the trophy his father held.
The picture directly next to that one was of the entire family. It was a vacation photo from what appeared to be in the mountains. Both men stood on each of Deb's sides, everyone in the picture seeming genuinely happy. And not for the first time, did Haley wonder how much Lucas actually missed out on.
On the outside everything appeared to be perfect for Nathan, but the deeper inside you got, the more Haley discovered what a childhood must have been like, living under the legacy of Dan Scott and his plans for future.
So consumed by her thoughts she was, that she didn't see Nathan come up behind her, wrapping his arms around her body playfully. "Ya know, if we hurry I think we can get a little creative up in my room for a few minutes," he whispered softly into her ear.
She turned her head to slightly face him, leaning back into his embrace. "Nice try slick, but no. I don't think your mother would really appreciate finding us acting out your sexcapade fantasy's while she's trying to serve hors d'oeuvres downstairs."
"Who's talking about sex," Nathan put up an innocent visage, "There's plenty of other things we could do," he said, pulling back some of her hair to kiss her on the neck.
Fighting the overwhelming desire to let his kisses over take her emotions, Haley instead turned around, "Nathan, don't."
He stopped, looking up at her, "Oh come on, you know you think about it."
"Sometimes.... but I try not to when there are any kind of parents within a five feet radius," she moved slightly forward, easing away from her own tempting thoughts. "Now tell me where you guys are in this picture."
Nathan rolled his eyes, amused at how smoothly she managed to change subjects on him. He figured she was right though, and getting into it about their physical relationship when they were about to have dinner with his Mom wasn't the best idea.
"We went to Aspen a couple years ago for Christmas with my mom's family. It was awesome, there was so much to do. Snow-boarding, skiing, snowmobile riding, I didn't want to ever comeback. But we ended up leaving three days early because my Dad wanted me to get in some practice time before the game with Shelbyville," he paused, his eyes growing dark. "He was the only one of us that didn't have fun while we were there, kept bitching about the fact that the hotel didn't have decent ESPN reception."
Haley saw how the resentment and hurt of this and many memories, she was sure, had affected Nathan in his life. She was uncertain of how to respond to him, what to say that would make everything better, and knowing that it wasn't her that needed to amend his heart.
"You know it's weird with him not around," he finally uttered. "I got so use to him raggin' on me all the time that I just assumed it would always be that way."
"Has your Mom talked to him yet about what's she going to do?"
"I didn't ask," Nathan answered uneasily.
"Because you're afraid of what the answer's going to be," she questioned, looking at him affectionately.
Before he could say anything, Deb called aloud from the other room, "Ok kids, dinner's ready." Nathan went first and Haley trailed behind him into the dining room, figuring if he wanted to answer her, eventually he would.
*****************************************
It was a quiet night at Keith's auto shop. Of the two occupants present, one was concentrating on his trig homework, while the other sat with his feet propped up, listening to the Patriots vs. the Steelers game on his 1987 F.M. radio.
Lucas heard Keith mumble some indiscreet curses against the Patriots coach, as he finally finished his last problem. Joyfully he slapped his book shut, shoving the rest of his school supplies into his backpack.
"What time is it," he asked Keith, coming over nearby him.
"Quarter till nine, you thinkin' about heading out," Keith asked his nephew, while he kept his attention on the game.
"If you want I can stay...it just looks pretty desolate."
"No, it's ok, I'll stay and close up, meet you back home in an hour."
Lucas nodded, grabbing his things and moving towards the side door. He was almost outside when he turned around, a sudden thought popping into his head from a few days ago.
"Hey Keith," Luke called to him.
"Yeah," the older man raised his head up to look at him.
"Can I ask you something," he came forward, a little tentative.
Keith turned down the radio's volume, concern written on his face, "Sure Luke, what's up?"
Lucas came to the edge of the counter, dropping his bag on the floor beside him, before he began. "Well there's this guy I know right. He's the laid back, easy going type, doesn't like to start trouble," Keith nodded in acknowledgment
" The thing is, there are these two girls that sort of like him. The first girl, well, she's beautiful and smart and has this great talent for art. She doesn't know it but he understands her, knows what she's feeling when she pours her heart into her drawings, and he wants to share that with her. But then there's this other girl, and she's fun and exciting and so different from what he thought she was that all he wants to do is figure out how special of a person she really is. Because even though she doesn't show it to the rest of the world, he knows it's inside of her," Lucas finished, his blue eyes intense with emotion.
Keith took in a breath of air and puffed it out slowly. He gathered his thoughts carefully before speaking. "It's a hard situation, no matter how you look at it someone is going to get hurt. And I suppose there are two things this boy has to ask him self. One: is he prepared to make that decision," Keith paused.
"And two?'
"Two: is he ready to admit that somewhere in his heart and mind he's probably already made that decision."
Lucas was still for a moment, now realizing what he needed to do. He nodded at his uncle, before turning to leave again.
"Love's a funny thing Luke. It always seems to bite you in the ass when you least expect it," Keith said, giving him a quick wink as he went back to listening to the game.
*****************************************
To Haley's surprise, dinner had been completely....well...normal. Not that she expected a circus to come parading in while they were eating salad, but she had anticipated there to be some kind of impending doom just lurking around the corner. Even her own family dinners weren't this relaxing. She looked over at Nathan, watching him laugh about a childhood story Deb was telling. And for a spilt second Haley hoped some of his happiness tonight was because of her.
"So he gets up to the very top level of the shelf, when I come in and see him jump off, arms wide open as he throws the basket ball in the air," Deb laughed, putting her hand to her heart. "I think I almost had a heart attack watching him fall like that."
Nathan laughed with his mother at her enthusiasm. "It wasn't my fault. I thought I could fly, that's what it looked like they were doing on t.v anyway."
Haley turned back and forth between them, amused. "So what happened?"
"I fell on the edge of the coffee table and ripped my elbow open, had to get ten stitches," he preened, lifting his shirt sleeve up to show her the scar.
She ran her fingers over it gently, and smiled at him. "So you thought Basketball players were flying, that's classic."
As the two women giggled at his expense, he shrugged his shoulders. "I was five, how was I supposed to know when they slam dunked the ball they were really just jumping?"
"I don't know, maybe because they were human," teased Haley.
"Right, and I bet you knew Elmo was just puppet," he countered.
"Actually I never watched Sesame Street," she reciprocated.
He laughed, shaking his head, "Whatever, you know what I mean."
Haley glanced over at Deb, noticing how she was enjoying watching them banter once again. She was about to make another comment when they all heard a figure come in from the other room.
"Well isn't this quaint."
"Dad," Nathan muttered, looking up into the odious eyes of his own father.
A/N: Like cliffhangers? Well there ya go. Remember reviews make the writer smile!!!! Until next my pretties…….
