Nathan walked up to the Coach's door in the hotel and took a deep breath before knocking rapidly. The door swung open almost irritably and the irate coach faced his most distracted player. "What can I do for you, Scott?"
"I need to talk to you about something Coach. And could we go inside. It's kind of personal but I doubt it's going to stay that way for long." The coach stared suspiciously at the rolled up papers in Nathan's hand before opening the door wider for him to go through.
Coach once again took a seat at the table where he had a newspaper and a cup of coffee waiting. Nathan opened the tabloid and dropped the exposed page on the table. He grabbed it still shooting odd glances at Nathan and studied it carefully for a moment. "Scott, unless my memory has been blown to high hell, which I doubt it has been. This isn't the lovely girl I met yesterday. Nor is it even the right name."
"If it makes you feel any better, your memory's not going. Thanks to stupid Tim. The entire planet knows I'm engaged and everyone's damn eager to start guessing to whom," Nathan replied bitterly dropping down on the seat next to his coach.
"So when was this?" Coach asked referring to the picture and more obviously to the girl.
"Two weeks ago when we were in Atlanta. She was visiting a friend and we had a free night so we went out to dinner. Haley knows. Hell, she's Haley's best friend. The assumptions are ridiculous," Nathan sighed and the Coach stared at him strangely.
"Nathan, you've been pretty lucky not to have screwed up anything so far. I know about that run in with some performance enhancers but I also know you've been clean for a long while. Haley did a damn good job as your publicist to keep you out of the spotlight. I'm sorry that this is the topic that's been introduced to the ugly side of the media."
Nathan looked at his coach confused with how understanding he was being. "So what do you think I should do?" he asked, opting to take the high road and also ask for advice.
"Get Haley to reveal your engagement to a trustworthy source. Stop hiding your relationship," he added as an obvious one. "Isn't she leaving soon?" he questioned and Nathan nodded in response. "Then go see her off. Let someone catch you with her. So what if it makes the rounds in the tabloids at least the truth will be out. And whose dumb ass idea was it to hide this in the first place?"
"Mine," he admitted guiltily. Nathan got up and headed for the door managing a grateful 'thanks' to his coach who in return reminded him to be back in two hours. He caught a taxi at the front of the hotel and dialed Brooke's cell number along the way. "Hey Brooke, it's Nate. Do you know what flight Haley's on?"
"Why? I thought you guys didn't want to be seen in the public?" she questioned knowing the new answer she was about to receive.
"Haha, Brooke, you know that was my idea. Now will you just tell me the flight?" he demanded in an annoyed voice, hoping that she would stop her guessing games.
"Slow it down, Scott. Flight 139 but you better hurry plane leaves in half an hour."
He heard the dial tone and knew it was just like Brooke to hang up on him. "I'm sorry, sir. How long is it to the airport?"
"About twenty minutes. Do I know you from somewhere?" the driver asked staring at him in the rear view mirror.
Nathan scowled, berating himself for not grabbing a hat or something. "I doubt it."
True to his word, the driver pulled up to the airport twenty minutes later. Nathan didn't wait to hear the amount and just threw a hundred dollar bill in the guy's direction. He began to sprint through the terminals then forced himself to slow down as he couldn't read any of the signs he was whizzing by.
Suddenly he saw the number 139 and took a sharp right almost knocking down three people. It was then that someone recognized him and yelled after him. Normally he wouldn't ignore the person but this wasn't a normal situation and he kept running goading the person into following him.
Faintly over a loudspeaker Nathan heard the announcement, "Now boarding first class passengers for Flight 139." His eyes widened and he ran faster reaching the reception area and stopping short searching for her familiar figure. The kid chasing after him had drawn some attention and there was a small crowd that had begun to recognize him.
Nathan saw Haley in line to board and rushed over to her. He grabbed her and she smiled at him about to speak, "Hey, wha–"
He silenced her question with a long, deep, passionate kiss that the crowd behind them seemed pleased to photograph. When they finally did part for air, all she could say was, "Wow."
Nathan nodded in response and said, "Yeah...have a safe flight. Call me when you get back to the apartment...I love you."
A flight attendant attempted to interrupt politely from behind the counter. "Excuse me, miss. But do you need to get on this flight?" Haley nodded in response and grabbed her carry-on that she had dropped in all the confusion.
He gave her one last look as she walked onto the plane and nervously turned to face the people behind him. Nathan really hoped that no one here read the National Enquirer. "Hey aren't you supposed to be engaged to some artist chick?" asked a girl in the back.
Nathan rubbed the back of his neck knowing Haley was going to kill him for what he was about to do to her job. "Actually, that was all a misunderstanding. The um...artist chick is my friend. She's engaged to someone else. That was my fiance...Haley."
"Wait I thought you weren't engaged at all," spoke up someone else and Nathan returned to his uncomfortable situation.
"Yeah, well, it was supposed to be a secret. That is until Tim opened his mouth and..." Nathan trailed off there knowing not to say anything in anger. A little boy, completely oblivious to the situation wandered up and asked Nathan to sign something, which he was happy to do.
A few slight scrapes about the engagement and a lot of autographs later Nathan had managed to escape the airport and headed back to the hotel before someone else recognized him or the coach noticed his extended absence.