"Brooke, I said a cup of water."
"I added a cup!" Brooke said innocently before she stepped back from the pot.
Haley raised an eyebrow and held up the mug Brooke had used, "This is not a cup. This," she shoved the measuring device in her face, "Is a cup." She sighed heavily, "I knew I shouldn't have let you talk me into this but no, no, I had to agree."
Brooke frowned, "Do you always talk to yourself?"
"Yes, you've driven me so close to insanity that I'm finding amusement in talking to myself."
Brooke grinned before giving Haley a small hug, "Thanks for doing this."
"I don't exactly have much of a choice. Lucas better like this."
"He will," Brooke clapped happily, "I can't wait until he sees all this. Oh, he's so mine after this."
Haley bit her lips before she coughed and asked, "Do you really like him?"
Brooke smiled and shrugged, "Yeah, I do. Man, this is so not like me, with the whole school girl crush type of thing."
"I feel your pain," Haley said, laughing lightly.
"So, have we finally come out of denial land and into reality?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're actually admitting you have a thing for Nathan, this is different."
Haley shot her a confused look.
"I mean, you've spent the past week all ignoring him and everything and while, yes, the dramatics were fun, I much prefer you smiling and being happy," Brooke added, "With Nathan."
"Things aren't that easy, Brooke."
"Oh, sure they are, you're just making it complicated."
"I'm not," Haley said seriously, "Things are complicated, you just," she stopped herself, "Never mind."
"You talking about Ally?"
Haley looked at her with wide eyes, "Is there anything that you don't know about."
"Oh, please, like anyone could hide anything from me. Gossip queen here."
"How did you-"
"Her little crush on Nathan, well, anyone with eyes could see that she has a thing for him."
"Not making me feel better, Brooke."
Brooke rolled her eyes, "Look, stop making excuses for yourself, okay? Just go after what you want, deal with the consequences later."
"I did," Haley said guiltily, "Didn't turn out that well."
"You slept with him?'
"No!" Haley said, slightly outraged, "I kissed him. Told Ally, and now, things aren't of the good."
"But, she'll get over it and so will you."
"I'm not so sure," Haley said sadly, "I want her to but I don't know." She slowly stirred the soup and added in a few vegetables.
"She will," Brooke said surely, "Look, you and Ally have been friends since like forever. She will not throw away that type of friendship over a guy. It's just not worth it."
Haley looked down at her feet, "I did."
Brooke cleared her throat uncomfortably at Haley's statement, "That's what's killing you, isn't it?"
"I shouldn't," Haley sighed and shook her head, "What I did was wrong and it felt right," she looked up at the ceiling as she laughed slightly, "It felt so right but it wasn't. If I ruined our friendship, god I don't know what I would do with myself."
"You won't." Brooke said with a small smile, "I don't talk to her that much but everyone knows Ally isn't like that."
"Yeah," Haley said quietly before she turned off the stove, "When is everyone getting here anyway?"
"7:00."
Haley's eyes got wide at this statement, "7:00! As in PM? As in 10 minutes?"
Brooke shrugged, "Well, yeah."
"Oh, my god, I don't even have the appetizers ready yet and the croissants aren't even fully baked yet. I've got the soup but the chicken's not quite done yet." Haley started rambling before Brooke grabbed hold of her shoulders.
"Okay, chill, chicka. We've got 10 minutes. Everything is going to be A- OK."
"I don't find that very reassuring coming from you."
"Gee, thanks," Brooke said sarcastically before she rolled her eyes, "Why don't you go upstairs and wash your face, reapply your makeup, do all that pretty stuff before our umm, guests, get here." Her eyes twinkled with mischief and Haley silently cursed her.
"I'm not getting all prettied up for Nathan."
"Who said it was for Nathan?" Brooke asked innocently.
Rolling her eyes, Haley trudged up the stairs and walked into Brooke's bathroom, slightly taken aback by the amount of makeup she had strewn around. Playing around with a few things, Haley was tempted to put on some eyeshadow when she shook her head and turned on the faucet and splashed her face with ice cold water, the droplets running down her skin and splashing down onto the sink counter. She could feel the cold slowly seep in and suddenly, she felt so much more refreshed.
Wiping her face clean, Haley bit her lip as her fingertips brushed over the tops of the eyeshadows and lipsticks. Giving in, she grabbed the first color that caught her eye, a brownish color with sparkle, it was neutral but that was what looked good on her. She quickly put some on before reapplying her mascara and eyeliner. Looking at herself in the mirror, she snorted at what a big deal she was making this out to be.
This wasn't a date.
There wasn't even a thing between Nathan and her. She couldn't even go for it, not until she was positive Ally would be okay with it and that would be never.
It didn't bother her though. Ally was her best friend, that was the most important thing.
Really, it didn't bother her at all.
She was such a liar.
Haley put on some light lip gloss before she ran her fingers through her hair, borrowing some of Brooke's hairspray as well. She looked at herself in the mirror, not bad.
Giving herself a smile of confidence, she walked out of the bathroom and down the steps, focusing more on the sudden rush of coldness in her hands rather then where she was going. Why was she getting so nervous?
This wasn't even her big night. It was Lucas's.
Rolling her eyes at her own foolishness, her stomach did a small flip flop as she heard the doorbell ring.
"Haley, can you get that?" Brooke called from the kitchen, "These damn croissants don't wanna cooperate with me."
Not even noticing Brooke's troubles, Haley's hand went to the doorknob as she opened the door. And, with a perfect movie like quality, a rush of air blew in, not cold, not hot, just warm, just right. Her hair blew around her face, framing it but still giving her a mysterious quality. She tried her best to smile as she greeted the person standing on the other side of the door.
"Hey Ally."
Ally simply stared at her, slightly surprised that Haley would be the one answering the door. From their conversation about Brooke's dinner party earlier, she would've suspected that Haley was the one doing all the cooking while Brooke just played hostess.
She never expected Haley to be the one to answer the door.
She smiled softly, instantly making Haley feel more comfortable as she said, "Hey, birthday boy here yet?"
"Not yet," Haley returned, holding the door in her hand as she looked down at the ground, "So, umm, you wanna come in?"
"That'd be nice."
They were being... polite. And, it was awkward and sickening too. It was all so fake. She and Ally had never been fake before. They had been brutally honest but still caring but never fake. It just wasn't something that Haley would use to describe their relationship and yet, here they were, making nice with gentle words and awkward glances.
Haley hated it.
She closed the door and leaned on it before sighing, "So, umm, Brooke's in the kitchen and well, nobody else is here yet."
"Great, I'm early," Ally's tone held slight regret as she took a few steps toward the kitchen before she turned around, her tone deciding, "I don't like this."
Haley looked up surprised, "What?"
"This uncomfortable polite crap between us. We're not like that Haley. We've always hated those types of girls and here we are, being exactly like them. I'm not mad at you, okay? You're still my best friend. We promised never to let a guy get between us and hey, I'm keeping that promise."
Haley resisted the urge to cry as she felt her eyes misting up, "Ally, I'm so sorry."
Allly smiled genuinely, "I know you are but right now, I'm not ready to jump back into our usual thing. I don't know if I trust you as much as I did before," she said honestly, "But, I don't hate you, okay? I don't want things to be all awkward and icky between us. Just give me a little time. I'll learn to deal."
"I don't deserve you," Haley said quietly as she smiled at her, "I'm so sorry for what I did. I should've told you."
Ally's brow furrowed as she looked into Haley's eyes, "You really like him, don't you?"
Haley felt as if the whole world was watching even though it was just a private conversation between her and her best friend. She shook her head and shrugged, "I do." She laughed at herself, "God, I really like Nathan Scott. Who would've thought?"
"Not me." Ally grinned, "Look, my little thing with him, not a big deal and hey, it's never going to happen. I think I've finally got that through my thick headed skull but I'm happy for you, okay? If you wanna go for it, then do it. I'm not gonna spaz."
Haley stared at her, surprised, "But you, you were like head over heels infatuated with him."
"And, I also came face to face with reality." Ally rolled her eyes, "You know, I think it was more of the idea of liking someone then liking him."
"So, you're okay with it?" Haley asked, incredulously.
"I am. You're my best friend, Hales. I'll support you in anything," Ally leaned in and gave her a tight hug, whispering into her ear, "Just next time, talk to me. Okay?"
"I will," she replied, her voice cracking. "Thank you."
"No prob."
Ally sighed as she pulled back from the hug, "I think I need to take a little break from guys right now anyway. Do a little alone time."
Haley raised an eyebrow before she said, "Why the sudden 180?"
"Guys, god, too much drama," Ally answerd honestly, "I'm so tired of drama. I need some down time with me, myself, and I."
"You are so cheesy."
"Why, thank you, I love you too, Haley," Ally said sarcastically before grinning, "I don't know, we'll just see how things go." She looked towards the kitchen, "Hmm, isn't it a contradictory statement to say that whatever Brooke's cooking smells damn good. Because, I know the girl can't cook. She failed Home Ec, I didn't think that was humanly possible."
Haley laughed, "I cooked. She's just fighting with the croissants right now."
"Should I intervene?"
"I think you should."
"Right, on it," Ally said as she walked towards the kitchen, leaving Haley alone, in the hallway of the Davis mansion.
She had gotten Ally's approval, something she never thought she would get. The question was, what was she going to do now? She had been so worried about patching things up with Ally that she barely gave Nathan a second thought.
It wasn't that she didn't care about him, she did. She liked him, a lot. So much that it scared her. It shouldn't have been possible for her feelings to escalate that much, within such a short time. But, then again, she never could control her emotions.
What she had with Nathan, she didn't know. It felt real, Haley supposed that was the most important thing.
She laughed at herself for a moment and stopped her train of thought. Here she was again, overanalyzing everything. That was how she got herself into this whole situation in the first place, she overanalyzed and tried to solve things which only ended up making everything even more complicated.
Pushing her thoughts away, she walked to the door, hearing the doorbell ring. This time when she pulled it open, she already knew who was on the other side.
The tingle in her stomach told her.
"Hey," Haley pulled a strand of hair behind her ear as smiled softly.
"Hey," Nathan said back, silently admiring her natural beauty. Right now, he wanted nothing more then to just kiss her. But, he couldn't. Could he?
He was so tired of being unsure all the damn time. It seemed like that, everytime he was around her, he was no longer the confident and jerky Nathan Scott, star basketball player. He became someone else, someone that he liked. Someone that was worthy.
Looking at her with smiling eyes, he stepped in and stood in the hallway, waiting for her to say something else.
"Umm, Brooke and Ally are in the kitchen."
"Lucas isn't here yet?"
"No, not yet."
"Oh."
Haley looked up into his eyes and stared at him intently, Ally's earlier words ringing through her head. She should just go for it. She wanted it, why didn't she just take it?
Because she was afraid. Because she didn't know what would happen. Because she was slowly losing control...
And for once, she didn't care.
Closing the gap in between them, Haley lifted her hand to his face as she carressed his cheek gently before she pulled down his head, their lips meeting for a soft and intense kiss.
It was different, facing her demons and not running away. It was scary or world shattering like she thought it would be. It was comfortable and though it was new territory, she still felt safe.
Pulling back, Haley looked into Nathan's eyes as she smiled gently. Maybe, it was just because she was with him.
"Hey!"
Haley snapped out of her daze as she turned to a pouting Brooke.
"No making out when you're supposed to be helping with preparing dinner!" Brooke's wide grin ruined her supposed serious tone as she walked up to them. "Now, get off in there and help Ally with those damn croissants."
--
"Thank you guys," Lucas said as he took a sip of the champagne Brooke had stolen from her parent's wine cellar. "Thank you, Brooke."
"Aww," Brooke grinned and bent over the table, giving Lucas a kiss on the cheek, "Feel free to show me how thankful you are later, in my bed."
Haley laughed out loud and shook her head, "You don't need to show me, just so you know."
"Thank you too, Haley," Lucas raised his wine glass and toasted her.
"No way are you putting me in the spotlight buddy, this is all on you, birthday boy."
"Great," Lucas said, grinning.
"Oh, we should do a toast," Peyton chimed in as she took a gulp of her champagne, "Man, this is heady stuff, Brooke."
"Only the best for Lucas," Brooke said with a wink before she raised her glass, "To Lucas Scott for being the hottest brooding, basketball playing, classic novel reading, car fixer upper ever!"
"To Lucas!" They all said together while Lucas simply sat there, a large smile on his face.
--
"One More Sad Song is a song that captures the conflicting emotions of a teen relationship," Nathan started, his voice strong and a confident smile on his face. "It tells the story about a girl and a boy in a relationship but they both keep secrets from each other, never realizing how much damage it could do. The song goes further to reveal how the girl's world seems to be falling apart, her relationship with her best friend, just everything. And, her heart is broken, she's lost, she's confused, she doesn't know what to do. And, so, she runs away but she later regrets it."
Nathan paused, following Haley's careful instruction and moved around the room as he continued his presentation, "When she finally realizes what she has to do, she becomes nervous and unsure of what she could possibly do to fix everything because even 'all the perfect words seem so wrong'. She's alone," Nathan enunciated each and ever word, "Uttery and completely alone."
"He tries to make things better and begs her not to leave. He tells her how much he needs her and he reveals his whole being to her." Nathan looked straight into Haley's eyes, who was silently cheering him on with a proud smile, "He needs her."
Nathan paused before he delivered his ending, "The song ends on a 'opinion' based ending. For the optimists, they'll believe that things worked out and the couple fixed their problems." He looked around the room, "For the pessimists, they'll believe that the relationship ended there, on a depressing note." He stopped and took a deep breath, "And, for all the people in between, well, we just have to listen to the rest of the CD, trying to figure out what happened next."
A few laughs echoed throughout the classroom as Nathan finished up, "One More Sad Song is a song that tells us," he looked at his classmates, "our generation that love is hard, it's enduring, it's complicated and it hurts." He smiled softly at Haley as he finished up his speech.
"But, it's worth it."