Chapter 6

So Much For The Afterglow

Nathan wakes up and can feel the leg of a coffee table stubbornly poking him in the back. He's sweaty and still on the floor in Brooke's living room. His body feels like a wound up accordion and his throat is salty dry. Brooke's asleep a few feet from him, curled up in his shirt. Nathan thinks about taking it from her, but knows that would definitely wake her up. So he just gets up and leaves without it.

.........

In his car he tries to block out all the noise in his head by listening to Ludacris on full blast. It doesn't work.

It never does anymore.

...........

He goes straight to his bathroom when he gets home. Once inside he splashes cold water on his face. Rubs away the smell of Brooke's perfume on his neck and hands. He stares at the reflection looking back at him in the mirror above his sink and realizes he doesn't even recognize himself anymore. He tries to remember when there was a time when he was ok with being with whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without this knot in his stomach afterwards. He can't remember.

He feels like letting go.

...........

The last day before Christmas break had people practically jumping off the walls inside Tree Hill High. The air was filled with excitement and a happy giddiness that in a few precious hours they would be free from the confines of their daily prison for a solid two weeks. Nathan was sitting in the back of his Algebra class, making little paper basketballs with Vegas Parker and Terry Mason, while Tim, a few desks away held his arms out in a mock hoop. Each boy was taking turns trying to make their ball go into the hoop. Ten minutes left of class and Nathan was up by three with Terry close behind.

Their teacher, Mr. Rolands had given up trying to teach anymore of the current chapter on logarithms, and simply let the class enjoy the last twenty minutes of fourth period in bliss. Some students were finishing assignments, others were chatting with the people next to them quietly, but the four boys in the back of the class made no regard for the fact that they were enjoying this free time to the full extent of their abilities.

"Here–no to the left, to left–no my left you dumb-ass, my left----YEAH," Terry shouted with a hefty amount of testosterone induced glee, throwing his arms up in satisfaction when he made his last basket, with the help of Tim's moveable arms.

"That doesn't count dude, you cheated," Nathan threw in casually, picking up another paper basketball and crunching it in his hand some more.

"Hell yeah it counts. The ball went threw the hoop didn't," Terry countered.

"Because Tim moved his arms. You wouldn't have made it if he hadn't," Vegas added with a challenging smile.

"We never made any rules about not being able to move the hoop. So technically, no, I wasn't cheating," Terry gave them all a smug grin and threw another ball in Tim's drooping hoop.

"Hey my arms are getting tired, anyone else wanna do this for a while," Tim gave them all a pitiful look, which caused the other three boys to pause and look at each other before turning back.

"No," was their resounding answer, and they all laughed heavy and thick as Tim brought his hand up and flipped them off.

"So are you still going skiing with your parents for Christmas," Terry asked Nathan, shaking off the last laugh.

Nathan shrugged. As far as he knew that was the plan, not that it particularly interested him all that much. Sure all of his friends envied him for being able to take fantastic vacations and mini getaways whenever the mood suited him. Especially when they were completely paid for. But the thought of being cooped up with either, not to mention both of his parents for two whole weeks felt like more of a punishment than a prize. His friends didn't know his parents though, and that's not what was on their minds nonetheless.

"You know they'll be a lot of helpless snow bunnies bouncing around on that mountain," Terry waggled his eyebrows and elbowed Nathan in side. "You'll have make sure to show them how to put on their ski boots

"–And take them off," Tim added, missing the subtlety of Terry's statement and causing the other boys to erupt into laughter again.

"Yeah man, when was the last time you 'hit it' anyway," Vegas smacked Nathan on the arm.

Nathan stiffened.

Not that it was really any of their business who he'd been with or rather who he hadn't been with in the last couple of months, Nathan couldn't help but feel that he needed an excuse. He wasn't feeling well? He wanted to concentrate on his studies? No that one wouldn't work at all, they knew him to well for that.

"I'm scoping out some new prospects," Nathan gave a rakish smile and took one of his paper basketballs, rolling it in the palm of his hands before expertly throwing it into the open backpack of some nerd sitting in the front of the class.

"You've been "scoping" for a while dude, what's there to see," asked Terry, as he ran a hand through his hair and leaned back in his chair leisurely.

Nathan stilled again. He knew Terry was right. It wasn't like the beginning of the year, there wasn't any fresh meat in the halls, all the hot chicks had already been targeted and taken, or where ready for the taking. And Nathan knew that wasn't what his hesitation was about.

It was about a small petite brunette who had been swimming around in his head for the last six months. A girl by the name of Haley James.

It felt funny, thinking of her, Nathan thought, when there where so many other girls that he could be with. Girls that weren't infuriating or challenging or able to so throughly confuse him and heat him up at the same time. There were so many other girls he could be with that wouldn't complicate his life.

But simplicity was highly overrated as Nathan was slowly coming to understand, a little too late.

He'd made a promise to Haley on that early fall day, in the driver's seat of his car. He'd made a promise, and like most of those most promises, he'd broken it. He'd gone home that day from the Rivercourt with a bright smile. His father giving him a curious look, yet not asking any questions. Nathan had felt surprisingly peaceful all weekend.

That Monday however was a different story. Walking to his locker and into his groups of friends, Nathan realized just how difficult assimilating someone like Haley into his group of friends would be. He didn't want to deal with the odd stares, the prying questions, he didn't want her to have to deal with it.

Haley, she was sweet and naive and pure, and his friends would rip her apart. It wouldn't be fair to subject her to that. Most days he didn't want to deal with it. The popularity was great sure, but the superficiality of it was an extra benefit he could live without.

And so when he'd seen her pass him by, her trusty camera strapped around her neck, her hair up in that same messy ponytail, Nathan found he didn't have the courage to say hello, or even smile. So he looked away, ignored her presence and went about with life as per usual.

Except she was still haunting him, and life, his life to be more exact hadn't gone back to normal

Here he was, months later, having not talked to her, and rarely ever seeing her, and she was with him all the same. Luminous brown eyes and beautiful smile, everywhere he went, in every girl he saw there was her. Following him. Which was how he'd come to his present predicament. No girls in three and a half months and three eager friends very much wanting to know why.

"There's plenty to see, if you know where to look," Nathan said, answering Terry's question with a sly grin.

The other boys looked at each other amused and somewhat confused at Nathan's elusive attitude.

"Well, whatever man, all I know is that if I were you, I'd definitely be getting my hook up with that little hottie right up there," Vegas uttered, and nodded his head to the front of the class where Brooke Davis had come in with a note for Mr. Rolands. She was currently resting one arm on his desk so that her body weight was shifted all to the right, causing the rather short plaid skirt she was wearing to flair out, showing off a healthy expanse of skin for all to see.

Brooke Davis-cheerleader-extraordinaire, was one of those popular, gorgeous, innately exotic girls that all the boys wanted and all the girls wanted to be. She was also known for being rather loose in the circle of people Nathan ran with. They'd come into contact a few times before through mutual friends and basketball. The thought of him and her together however, had never really crossed his mind. Well not until that moment at least.

As it was now, every boy in that class's eyes were no doubt centered on that one spot that lead up her skirt. All except for Nathan's. Who somewhere in between Vegas's words and their new focus, had been caught by Brooke who had then given him a flirtatious smile.

Nathan couldn't help but smile back for his own amusement, and watch as she pointedly leaned a little farther to the right, so that her skirt would move up just a bit more for his pleasure.

Terry took immediate notice of this interaction and pulled Nathan up out of his seat.

"What are you doing," Nathan pulled his eyes away from Brooke's, as his friend began to drag him to the front of the class with him.

"I'm going to distract Mr. Rolands. You are going to go get yourself some of that," Terry finished, gesturing to Brooke as she took Mr. Rolands note and left the classroom.

Nathan didn't even have time to react before Terry and him were already at the front of the class. Terry rushed over distracting Mr. Rolands while, Nathan stood stupefied in the front of the class. A few students stared at him with quizzical looks as Tim and Vegas wildly signaled for him to go after her.

Nathan gave his friends an evil smile and pushed his way out the door. When it clicked closed behind him he blew out a long sigh and shook his head before resting it back against the cold wood. His friends could so exhausting.

"You look worn out. Long night," Brooke purred as she stood across the hall from him, leaning against a patch of lockers, and staring at him with lusty eyes. Nathan paused, startled that she had been there the whole time.

"You could say that," he answered back cockily, switching gears so quickly she couldn't even tell. If Brooke wanted to play the game with him, he would play the game. He knew how to play the game.

Brooke eased up off the lockers and stepped forward. Her eyes zoned in on his body and the way his chest muscles rippled through his shirt. "I hear you're throwing some kind of Christmas kegger tonight."

Nathan grinned and moved closer to her in the empty hall. "True," he nodded and ran his eyes up and down her body appreciatively. Give the girl credit, she did have a very nice body. And Nathan was pretty sure she knew all the well how to use it.

"So whose all coming," she came up in front of him, her hand on her hip and her tongue running up and over her top lip teasingly.

Nathan swallowed, and cocked his head to the side, "Well there's going to me, and my friends, and beautiful girls like yourself of course."

Brooke laughed and stuck her tongue out just enough to run it across the bottom of her teeth. "Is that supposed to be my invitation?"

"Only if you want it to be."

They were standing mere inches from each other now and Nathan could feel the sexual tension in the air. This girl wanted him. Badly. And she was definitely hot enough. She could be fun. Maybe even help him get rid of his little problem.

The others girls he'd been with since meeting Haley hadn't helped to shake her image, but Brooke seemed different. More spirited. She would take all of his attention he was sure, and he figured that maybe that wasn't such a horrible thing right now. He could definitely use some distraction before his torturous vacation began.

Brooke smiled and ran her hand down his arm. Nathan leaned forward, and saw Brooke's smile widened.

The bell rang around them breaking the moment and students began to spill out of classroom's a second later. Behind him Nathan felt somebody smack him on the back and he turned around to see his buddies coming out of class, each one making a rather amusing facial expression as they passed by, letting Nathan know all to well that they expected to hear what had happened, or more importantly what was going to happen, later on.

Nathan rolled his eyes and turned back to Brooke who was still giving him a naughty smile.

"So you gonna drop by tonight or what," he asked as people began to push through and around them.

"Guess you'll just have to in anticipation," Brooke teased and gave him a little wink before she fluttered down the hallway.

Nathan puffed out a laugh at her entire bad girl act and turned back to the classroom to get his back pack. He went to his desk and scooped up the bag, saw that students for the next class were already starting to come in, and so he weaved his way through them saying 'hi' to a few people here and there. As he was about to exit the door, the figure of all his troubles came up right in front of him.

Haley stood, trying to get in the classroom as Nathan stood trying to get out. For a second neither one moved.

Haley stared up at him, her eyes dark and distressed She tried to look annoyed, but it came off much more hurtful than she would've liked.

For moment Nathan expected her to say something or at least give him an angry expression, but instead she averted her eyes and squeezed her body through the small opening between him and the door, careful not to touch him. Nathan wanted to look back at her as he walked back into the hall. He wanted to say 'hey' and have it be ok between them. But he couldn't. He knew that now.

It didn't make the thought of spending the next two weeks away from school any easier. Didn't make his ski trip seem anymore bearable. And it certainly didn't make the prospect of spending the night with Brooke anymore helpful.

It's too late to go back now, Nathan knows.

Things have changed.