A/N: Hey everyone! Remember this story? I was hit with the worst writers block ever. I had everything planned out and written up a plot and everything! But they, I lost it and along with that, I lost my muse. But, it came back the other day, so I managed to get something out. It's not too eventful, but I promise (I hope!) that it gets better!

Chapter 6

It was a rainy Thursday night and Haley was attempting to finish up her English report. It wasn't due for another week, but she had a packed schedule of tutoring next week, not to mention it was the first night that week that Nathan wasn't hanging out at her house.

After the whole kissing episode, they were able to establish a plateau on where they both were comfortable. Nathan and Haley had fit into the pseudo-relationship very easily. Tree Hill being a small town, it was hard for Haley to avoid Lucas and Brooke, especially since she worked at Karen's Café and Nathan and Lucas played basketball together.

The strange thing was that Nathan almost had replaced Lucas in Haley's life in more ways than one. Ever since she was younger, it had always been Lucas and Haley against the rest of the world. They had been the best of friends and unfortunately, the dating part screwed up their friendship. But Haley still cared for Lucas, it wasn't something she could close her heart too. Yet, at the same time, Nathan had helped fill in the void of a missing best friend.

"So, I say we do something out of the norm tomorrow. No parties after the basketball game, how about going to the all ages club in Durham?" Nathan asked, breaking Haley away from her thoughts.

Haley gasped and swirled around in her computer chair. Nathan, freshly showered and in his sweats, was lounging on her bed. It looked really funny, seeing big macho Nathan in the midst of all the teddy bears.

"When did you get here?" Haley asked, saving her work. There was no way she would finish anything up with Nathan here.

It was a routine for the two of them. For the past couple days, Nathan would come over after basketball practice and dinner. Sometimes they would do homework, being in the same classes, and sometimes they would sit and just chat.

"Just a few minutes ago." Nathan said, tossing one of Haley's stuffed animals (Not Mr. Cuddles!) in the air and catching it. "You seemed busy with your English homework, well, more like just staring at the computer screen."

"Yeah," Haley said, "Just thinking of a few things." Before Nathan could ask what she was thinking of, she continued, "What are you talking about tomorrow?"

"Well, there is this all ages club in Durham, as I already mentioned," Nathan said smirking at Haley's annoyed face, "And my cousin is going to be performing and she asked if I wanted to come see her, so I decided to see if you wanted to come along. You like singing."

Haley chewed on her lip. She didn't mind these hanging out sessions, but going out on a Friday night with a guy pretending to be her boyfriend, hit a bit close to being a date.

"I was also going to ask Peyton and Jake to come along, because Peyton is relatively good friends with Zin." Nathan said, not noticing Haley release a sigh of relief.

"Wait…" Haley furrowed her forehead, "Zin"

"Zinnia Aurum Scott." Nathan said, barely containing his laughter.

"Are you serious?" Haley looked at Nathan with pure disbelief.

"Yeah, yeah" Nathan chuckled, "Her dad and my dad are like first or so cousins. But her parents are cool; they were into the whole hippie era and all. But she is totally different, into brand name clothes, etc."

Haley giggled, "Okay, that's not bad at all! I don't mind going along, when do you think we will get back?"

"Well, the game will be over by 9, but the time we leave it will be 9:30, it takes about 15 minutes to get to the club, she performs at 10, we should be back home around 11 to 12." Nathan said, thinking out the whole night.

"Thank you Mr. Organizer" Haley joked, "Looks like my wonderful organizing skills have rubbed off onto you!"

"Too bad my basketball skills haven't rubbed off onto you!"

Haley shrieked and attacked Nathan with her pillows. Eventually, the room was thick with flying pillows and stuffed animals.

ooooooo

"Zin, Zin." Peyton said, smiling. She was waiting for Haley to grab her stuff so that they could head home. "She is a great girl, but wow, is she ever astute. It's scary."

"What do you mean?" Haley asked, putting her books into her backpack. She was balancing the backpack on her leg and shoving books into it as fast as she could.

"She is the only person I know who can catch Nathan's bluff's. She is amazingly perceptive. Betcha anything that she can tell that you and Nathan aren't dating just by looking at you guys." Peyton said, slamming Haley's locker door for her as Haley hoisted her backpack onto her bag.

"Oh boy." Haley sighed, "Oh well, we don't have to keep up the pretenses in Durham, no one knows - Oof!"

Peyton grabbed Haley's arm to prevent her from falling over. They both turned around to face the feminine gasp that followed.

"Oh Haley! I am so sorry!" Brooke said, her eyes flashing, but her voice sugary. "Are you okay?" Lucas was standing next to her, looking like he was ready to just bolt.

Haley looked at the two of them. She had been trying to avoid the couple. Except for lunch, she rarely saw them.

"I'm fine." Haley said curtly. Peyton was staring at Brooke, trying to decipher what her next move would be.

"Hi…Haley." Lucas said quietly, "You look nice." He trailed off, scuffling his shoe on the tile floor.

"Hi Luke," Haley said, instantly regretting it because Lucas' face lit up at the mention of his nickname, "Thank you."

Brooke glared at Lucas, and turned around and glared at Haley. "Where is Nathan? Are you guys going to be coming to the party tonight?"

"He has an appointment." Haley said, dying to get out of there. Peyton sensed her agitation, and promptly tugged Haley's arm.

"Lucas, Brooke, we will see you soon, we gotta run." Peyton said, practically dragging Haley out the door.

The two girls collapsed against the door. Haley was trying to keep her laughter in, while Peyton made no attempts to stop her giggles.

"That was worse than Bonnie and Clyde being ambushed by bullets!"

ooooooo

"So, what did you think of your Scott Stud?" Nathan asked, looking down at Haley. The game had just ended, with the Ravens winning by a landslide.

"Funny." Haley chortled, "I didn't realize that I had one of those."

Nathan leaned down to give her a sloppy kiss, his sweaty hair grazing her face. Haley squealed and pulled back. "Are you going to be waiting here?"

"Yeah," Haley said, wiping her face, "Peyton will be out in a few minutes, so we will wait for you and Jake. Now go! You need to be ready in a half hour, remember Mr. PP?"

"PP?" Nathan repeated, with a bemused expression.

"Palm Pilot, now go!" Haley said, smacking his butt and pushing him towards the locker room doors.

Nathan blew her a kiss as he disappeared into the locker room. Haley sighed and followed the crowd out into the lobby. It was so easy to fall into a close banter with Nathan. It just came natural at being with Nathan that she didn't even think about it. She knew that she had to keep up a façade in front of everyone, but it was strange that she didn't even think of it anymore.

She agreed that it was working. Lucas had tried to start getting Haley to talk to him again and she would make small talk but nothing more. At the same time, she didn't want to mess up what she had with Nathan by making it more complicated.

"I know what you are up to."

Haley exhaled noisily. Two Brooke encounters in 1 day was too much for her. She knew that it was just her luck. When she finally thought she got rid of Brooke, destiny just slapped her in the face.

"What re you talking about?" Haley asked Brooke, facing her.

"Nathan. You don't love him, you are stringing him along, so that you can make Lucas jealous." Brooke said, quietly, but enunciating each word.

"Well, maybe you are jealous because Lucas still cares about me." Haley said, her anger starting to boil. "You know, spreading your legs open will only work for a little bit, eventually you are going to have to talk and then he will figure out the real you."

"You little bitch." Brooke seethed; she took a step closer to Haley. "Let me tell you something, it's not my fault. If you had been even a decent girlfriend, then Lucas wouldn't be looking around at other girls now would he?"

Haley paled slightly. Brooke had a point, was it really her fault? No, that didn't justify what Lucas did, but still, it planted a seed of doubt in her mind.

"You really have to stop this habit of dangling boys, Haley dear." Brooke said, her voice turning back to a sugary sweet tone. "You dangled Lucas and now you are doing the same thing with Nathan. It's not a good habit to get into. Just think about it."

Brooke gave Haley a last look and turned on her heels and left. Haley barely noticed, as the words of Brooke swirled in her head. What if Brooke was right? Was there something defective about her? It wasn't all Lucas' fault; she had a tiny bit to do with it. She wasn't attentive enough, she knew that but she also thought that they saw each other enough. In school and usually at least a half hour each night, and she thought that was enough. Apparently not.

Nathan. Haley's heart hurt. Brooke was right, she was using Nathan, and Nathan was just being a good friend to her. What kind of person was she? Was it worse because she actually liked pretending to be with Nathan? Suddenly, Haley felt like those drama girls on MTV's Real World. Life wasn't supposed to get this complicated.

The locker room door opened and Peyton breezed out. She noticed Haley, staring out into the middle of nowhere. "Hey Haley, have you been waiting for long?"

Haley turned around to face Peyton. She blinked quickly so erase the tears from her eyes. She gave Peyton a wan smile, "Not really, I have to run to the bathroom really quickly, be back!" With that, she quickly walked towards the bathroom door.

Peyton frowned, staring at Haley's retreating back. Something was up with her; she looked so confused and lost. Peyton looked down at her watch, 20 after. Tapping her foot, she stared at all the trophy's that were encased in the glass cases. If Tree Hill was proud of one thing, it was their basketball team.

Peyton turned around, as the locker room door opened. Nathan and Jake emerged with their duffel bags, looking freshly scrubbed and energetic. Jake smiled at Peyton, who's stomach immediately filled with butterflies.

"Hey," He said, stopping in front of her, "Been waiting long?"

"Nah, just a few minutes." Peyton said, smiling at him.

"Where's Hales?" Nathan asked, looking around, as if expecting her to pop out any moment.

"She is in the bathroom." Peyton frowned, "She looked kinda upset, do you now why?"

Jake and Nathan both frowned, "No clue…" Nathan trailed off, as the locker room door opened again. Haley walked out, looking totally normal.

"Hey." Nathan said, giving her a hug. "You okay?"

Haley smiled, even though she could feel her heart breaking. He was such a sweet guy. What was she doing? "Yeah, ready to go guys?"

"Sure." Nathan smiled, looping a hand around her waist. "We are going to take my car, Peyton, did you drive? Cause I can bring you back after."

"Nah," Peyton said, following Nathan and Haley, "Haley's mommy dropped us off."

"Cool." Nathan said, popping open the trunk so that Peyton, Jake and himself could put their bags in.

"So guys, here comes the most important decision that we will have all night long… what are we going to be listening to on the way down? Sorry Nate, but I can't deal with you rap. Pey, your angry music is too angry for me. Jake, I like your pick of songs because they are the same as mine!" Haley bounced, putting on her cheerful face. She just wanted to have some fun tonight.

"Actually Haley, why don't you sing a bit? You have a beautiful voice." Jake suggested, as Nathan pulled out of the parking lot.

"Where did you hear her sing?" Nathan asked, as he pulled out onto the main road.

"Karen's Café, open night, right Jake?" Haley said, knowing that it was that night. She had only sung in public once.

"Yup!" Jake said, "And you have an amazing voice. Sing a bit please?"

"Nah," Haley said, trying to worm herself out of this one. She never liked singing in public, too judgmental. She liked having music to herself, uncriticized. It made it more special.

"Come on Haley!" Peyton said, "I didn't know you sang."

"Yeah baby, please?" Nathan said, giving her puppy eyes while driving to keep his eyes on the road.

"Nathan!" Haley giggled, pushing his cheek away so that his eyes were back on the road.

"Guy's, no really. Not tonight, I promise you though, I will someday."

Nathan let out a dramatic sigh, "Fine. I suppose it's Kanye West then." And he hit his CD button.

The groans of protest were drowned out by the loud rap music.

ooooooo

A/N: Well, I have started chapter 7. Originally, there was more to this chapter, but then I would end up with an epic chapter and I think this is a good place to have an end. I have a few reports due in the next couple of days, so I should be done with chapter 7 by the end of this week. Once again, I hope you guys enjoyed it!