Here's chapter six. Thank you to those who replied.

Z


Chapter Six

Weakness

It's difficult not to fall for Reed again. He's such a sweet guy and even I know that his abrupt break up with me was not something I could really blame him for. Our break up at the time was inevitable. He was far away and it's just common sense that long distance relationships don't usually work out.

Especially when you're barely seventeen.

And I like talking to him. And it's hard to hate him even though I know that it would all be easier if I did. He's smart, he's funny and he's genuine with every word. He's not mysterious like Nathan nor does he hold that power over me that I seem to love and hate at the same time. He's predictable.

But he's also safe.

"I know we ended on a weird note at the beginning of the summer and I want to apologize," he said softly when the teacher assigned us into groups to discuss the summer reading that none of us did. "I know it was probably a shock to see me again and I should've called or something. You have every right to be mad at me…"

I laughed lightly. "You don't need to apologize. I was the one being a bitch. It was all a long time ago, Reed. The past is the past, right?"

He smiled. "Right. Then, we could maybe hang out sometime…or something. If you want to, that is." He pauses and looks around nervously. "I mean, that guy wasn't your boyfriend right?" His curiosity and helplessness made me want to smile sweetly. He did really care about me, I guess.

"You mean, Nathan?" I asked.

He nodded.

I laughed. "No. We're just…" I turned to the left to watch Nathan interact with his group for a second "…complicated." It came as no surprise to me that he was chatting it up with some girl I had never seen before. It took me a while to look back over to Reed.

"Have you guys…?" He didn't finish his question but I knew immediately that he wanted to ask if we had had sex.

I raised my eyebrow.

"Sorry. Right. None of my business."

I looked back over to Nathan and he suddenly looked up from the girl to meet my gaze. I looked away immediately.

"It's okay," I assured him.

"So we can be friends, right?" He asked suddenly.

I flashed a tight smile. "I'd like that."

I slipped the books I needed for that night's homework in my shoulder bag and held my cell phone to my ear to try to reach Riley. She was, however, not answering her phone. "The Perishers…" a voice from behind me said favorably.

I turned around just in time to see Nathan lean against the locker beside me. "Excuse me?" I asked, turning my attention to his innocent expression. Yea, I saw right through that…

"The Perishers…" he said again "…the poster on your locker…they're good."

I rolled my eyes and slammed the locker door shut, walking over to the parking lot with him in step beside me. "What? Am I supposed to give out brownie points because you have good taste in music?" I scoffed, refusing to look at him.

He laughed. "Hey…you better be nice if you want a ride home."

"I don't want a ride home." I said, still staring straight ahead and forcing him to walk at a fast pace to keep up with me. "I'll just get Lucas to take me home or something…believe me I'd rather walk than get in that car with you again."

The thing that was so weird about my…crush, if you will…on Nathan was that whenever I wasn't with him, he was all I could think about but then when I was with him, I wanted to rip his head off because he was such a jacka ss. I guess it wasn't Nathan that I liked…but more the idea of someone like him having some kind of interest in me. It didn't make all that much sense…but then again; all teenage drama doesn't make a whole lot of sense anyway.

"So you are dating Lucas." He accused subtly, as if it didn't bother him. But if it didn't bother him…then why did he bring it up?

"Am not." I rolled my eyes, turning the corner of the hallway. "We're just friends…"

"With benefits." He smirked.

I stopped and pivoted around to face him abruptly, glaring into his eyes with a fake grin on my face. "You're right Nathan…I won't deny it anymore." I was totally talking out of my ass but I thought that maybe he would get the picture if I just threw this in his face "…Lucas and I are madly in love and we have rough animal sex every night…which by the way…" I leaned into his ear to whisper "…is much better than the sex I had with you."

"And Reed?" He asked. "You do him when you're not doing Lucas?"

"What can I say? I get bored," I fake winked.

Before he could respond with those comments that he finds to be so damn witty, my cell phone went off in my pocket and I pulled it to my ear, walking away from Nathan. "Hello?"

It was Riley.

"Hey babe. So sorry but I have to stay after class to talk to Ms. Wright about this stupid English assignment due Friday…find Nathan and tell him that he can go ahead without me…I'll find a ride home."

I let out a sigh of despair. "You cannot…I repeat, cannot leave me alone in the car with him."

"He's not that bad. Don't be so dramatic…" she laughed "…look, there's nothing I can do Hales. Ms. Wright's a bitch."

"He is that bad, Ry. I can't…I won't." I whined into the phone and I could tell she was distracted by something because she wasn't really paying attention and there were loud voices in the background.

"I'm sorry Haley. I am. But I really have to go…call me tonight." She hung up before I could protest anymore and that's when I slumped back over to Nathan.

"I knew you'd come back." He winked cockily.

"I'm just here to tell you that Riley doesn't need a ride home…so you're on your own." With that, I began to walk away but he stopped me.

"Aren't you coming?" He asked, spinning me around with his gentle grip on my shoulder.

"No." I said flatly. "I'll get a ride from Lucas." But of course, with my luck, after I called Lucas, I discovered he had left early because he had a free period…leaving me with absolutely no other options.

So there I was, sitting shotgun in Nathan's car as he drove me home, taking the long way.

Of course.

He started to talk but I turned on the radio as he begun, drowning out his voice. It was slightly amusing to see his whole routine meet it's end before my very eyes…I was beating him at his own game and I could tell that he didn't like it all too much. I couldn't blame him.

"So you're not really dating Lucas or Reed . Are you?" He asked a couple minutes later, turning down the music and then gripping the steering wheel loosely once again.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't see why that's any of your business…"

"Well, I kinda would like to know if I slept with a girl who wasn't all that available at the time…"

"Why does it matter? I mean…I bet that I was sleeping with a guy who wasn't all that available at the time." I mocked him. "I mean…what was that phone call at the end all about? A girlfriend you needed to tend to? Oh wait, of course it wasn't a girlfriend…because let me guess…you don't like labels." I was surprising even myself with the confident tone I had in my voice, I was totally calling him out and having no problem voicing my opinion. "I mean, considering all the girls you had over to Riley's house all summer I'm guessing you don't like to be tied down. Am I right?" My words came out cold and harsh…but exactly how I meant them.

He laughed. "How did you know that I had tons of girls over all summer? Were you like checking up on me or something?" He didn't seem bothered about it, but more triumphed from my jealousy.

"No…I wasn't checking up on you…" I spat out "…Riley just…" I cleared my throat "…happened to mention it." I said, folding my arms across my chest and leaning my head against the window in attempt to have the subject dropped.

He laughed. "Riley doesn't know about us, does she?" He asked, somewhat amused. "You never told her you lost your virginity to me."

"First of all, Nathan," I said, my nostrils flaring. "There is no us…I think you made that very clear after you f ucked me and then left…and second of all, why do you assume that I lost my virginity to you? Maybe I lost it to Reed or Lucas, huh? You ever think about that pretty boy?" I was starting to sound foolish but I guess I had been sounding foolish since the second I met him so why stop now?

And of course…he just laughed again. "Maybe…but I don't think so. I mean…you were good, don't get me wrong…but you were nervous, I could tell…and the way you got so anxious when I dropped my clothes in the bathroom…you'd never seen a guy naked before. It was so obvious." He was amused with his own wit about the situation and it was starting to send me off the edge.

I let my face fall into my hands as I screamed into them. "You know what…I can walk from here." We were stopped at a red light, so I opened the door and stepped out, beginning to walk on the sidewalk.

And instead of trying to get me to get back in the car like a gentleman would, he just sped off the moment the light turned green, leaving me alone. Okay, so I had told him that I would walk…but he was supposed to stop me. God, did this guy never watch any movies?

Reed would have come after me.

Thankfully, I only got a couple of blocks before I heard a familiar voice yell out to me…it was Lucas, my knight in shining armor. "Hey buddy. Why are you walking?"

"Nathan." I muttered through clenched teeth, climbing into Luke's truck and allowing him to drive me home. "Stupid jackass kicked me out of the car…"

"He kicked you out of the car?" Lucas asked in disbelief, tensing up in full protective mode.

I shrugged. "Well technically no…but he drove me out of the car with his cockiness. I kind of got out trying to make a dramatic exit but he didn't come after me…" I sighed in disappointment.

Lucas just laughed. "Haley…you've been watching too many predictable movies. You obviously didn't realize who you were dealing with." When he realized that I didn't really fully understand, he turned to look at me, watching the road out of the corner of his eye and putting his comforting hand on my leg. "He hates rejection…and I bet that you getting out of the car was not something that he took very well."

"Whatever." I muttered under my breath, realizing suddenly that I was sounding exactly like Nathan.

That's when the car stopped abruptly.

"Lucas…what the hell happened?" I asked, shifting in my seat and trying to figure out why we weren't going anywhere. "Please tell me you didn't forget to put gas in the damn car."

He shrugged and looked at me innocently. "Oops?"

"Damn it!" I yelled, hitting the glove compartment with my fist and leaning back in the chair, rolling my eyes. "You're laughing up there? Aren't you?" I yelled to the Gods.

"Haley…it's fine." Lucas tried to sooth me. "We'll call the tow service and get it to the nearest gas station."

"I don't want to wait that long." I whined childishly. "I have places to go…"

"Like where?" He asked.

"Like home…to watch bad TV…and to drown in a pool of self pity." I whimpered. I really needed to stop feeling sorry for myself but this day was just getting more horrible by the minute.

"Oh please." Lucas laughed. "It won't take that long." We both got out of the car and made our way over to the sidewalk, watching people honk obnoxiously and then make their way around Lucas' truck. Lucas walked off a little ways to use his cell phone and I just sat there on the sidewalk, waiting.

I was joined my Lucas a couple minutes later and the two of us sat for what seemed like forever, when suddenly I saw Nathan's car pull up beside us. "Car trouble?" He smirked at Lucas, ignoring me completely. I kept waiting for him to look at me, but the moment never came.

"Yea." Lucas sighed. "I'm just waiting for a tow truck to get here. Can you take Haley home?"

I turned to Lucas, wide eyed and pulled him out of Nathan's earshot, "excuse us for a moment." I said through clenched teeth. I hit Lucas hard in stomach with my purse and he winced in pain.

"What?"

"You know what." I whispered rudely into his ear. "I'm not driving with that whore."

"Whore?" He laughed and it was really starting to irritate me how much he was amused by this situation. "Haley…he's just going to take you home. You're the one who was complaining about how much this sucks…now you can go home and be miserable there."

"But Luke…" I whined.

He shrugged. "If you want to wait here for another hour, be my guest. Either take the ride with the whore or sit here in the sun for a long a ss time. Take your pick."

I dragged him back over to Nathan and sighed loudly when he opened the door for me to get in, that cocky grin on his face.

He knew he'd win in the end.

I didn't speak to him the whole ride and he didn't speak to me. It wasn't until I got out of the car that he spoke. "You're not gonna ask me to come in?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes. "And let you seduce me into bed again? I don't think so."

He got out of the car anyway. "I think you want me to come in."

"Do not." I said simply, opening the lock with my key, pretending to pay no attention to him whatsoever. I thought that he would get the message when I didn't say anything else but apparently he didn't because he followed me into the house anyway. "Are you lost?" I asked rudely as he made himself comfortable on the couch.

He shrugged. "Nice place."

"You've been here before…" I pointed out "…though you probably didn't get a good look at the place because it was more like a hit and run kind of thing. You're games are getting kind of old Nathan, don't ya think?" Where all this sass was coming from, I had no idea. I, Haley James, was not sassy. I never had been, Riley had always been the one who could hold her own…I never could. But now, there was some sort of anger inside me about the way he had treated me. It wasn't so much at him, but more at myself for letting him.

"Wanna play again?" He whispered loud enough for me to hear as he made his way towards where I was, once again, backing me up against the wall. I bit my lip as he situated his arms on either side of me, his palms falling against the wall and making their way to my waist. I gulped, breathing heavily and trying my best to avert my eyes from his.

I repeated some sort of mantra in my head. Say no. Say no. Say no. But no matter how many times my brain screamed out that I was being reckless, I couldn't tell him no. I wanted this, even if it went against everything I believed in.

I liked being in control, and with Nathan I was never in control…but nonetheless, here I was again, backed up against a wall with him staring into my eyes with complete and utter lust.

"Hi." I whispered as the gap between our lips grew smaller.

He smirked, his right hand slipping lower and lower and his other hand moving up towards my neck. My heart was racing but I couldn't seem to move. I just stood there, allowing him to caress me as I licked my lips subconsciously. I opened my mouth to speak…to say something…but he immediately moved his finger to touch my lips. "Shh…I won't hurt you," he whispered and his lips crashed onto mine.

I beg to differ.