Chapter Twenty-Two: A Birthday and a Mysterious Phonecall

"Happy Birthday dear Nati… Happy birthday to yoooou!" sang Haley. Nati laughed, obviously having no idea whatsoever of what the occasion was.

A bang sounded on the door. Haley would have called it simply a knock, but it was quite obvious that whoever it was had either kicked the door or slammed on it with his entire arm. She gave her daughter one of the cupcakes she'd made and hurried to answer the door.

"Could you keep it down? I'm trying to practice," said the man at the door before she had a chance to greet him. Haley looked him up and down: he was tall, skinny, and dressed like someone who didn't care what they looked like, and who'd been up all night.

"Sorry. Didn't realize your loser rock was so important that my daughter's first birthday should take second place," she shot back. He raised his eyebrows-obviously he wasn't used to being trifled with.

"Ouch. Your daughter?" he asked. He pushed past Haley into her apartment.

"Excuse me..!" exclaimed Haley as he carefully lifted Natalya out of her highchair, chocolatey fingers and all.

Haley's mouth dropped open when Natalya settled into the stranger's arms and giggled. Natalya was never like that-it had taken months for her to warm up to even Peyton and Taylor, who'd been around since the day of her birth. Natalya had only ever warmed up so easily to one person.

Nathan.

"What's her name?" he asked. Haley raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms and leaned back against the couch.

"What's yours?" she challenged. He looked up and smiled a smile that was closer to a smirk. Haley tried desperately to hide her discomfort as his gaze fell to the cleavage hinted at with her white shirt.

"Tell me yours first," he commanded.

"You know you'd make more friends if you asked politely," she taunted.

"Possibly true. Now, your name?" he said again, softening his request. In spite of her self, Haley smiled.

"Haley Sara James. And yours?" she asked, zealously polite.

"If I tell you, will you tell me your daughter's?" he asked suspiciously. Haley allowed a laugh to escape her lips.

"Cross my heart. Come on," she said.

"Christopher Ian Keller, if we're in the mood to be formal. Call me Chris," he said.

"That's my daughter, Natalya Merryn Scott," she introduced.

"Good name. So you're the new kid on the block," he said slowly.

"I've lived here six months," she said, accompanied with a roll of her brown eyes. "Do you ever do out in daylight?"

"Bad for my eyes. Where are you from, Haley James?" he asked, carefully setting Natalya back down.

"I was born in North Carolina, I went to school in Manhattan, lived there a few years. What about you, Chris Keller?" she asked.

"Everywhere," he said simply.

Haley watched him as he looked around her apartment. He was an asshole, but one unlike any she'd ever met. He intrigued her, like a puzzle she hadn't yet solved.

When Natalya began to protest, Haley undid the buckles on her chair and let her down to the ground. On her unsturdy legs, she ran toward the living room.

Haley smiled after her, proud of how big she was getting. Natalya's blonde hair had begun to curl, and her rosebud mouth could smile a smile to bewitch anyone she met.

"She likes you," said Haley finally, looking toward her uninvited guest.

"Of course she does," said Chris, in a matter-of-fact way.

"You're pretty high on yourself," said Haley, allowing herself to laugh again as she made for the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee.

"Shouldn't I be?"

Haley refrained from rolling her eyes at his latest remark, afraid it could turn into a flirtatious gesture that would give him the idea that she wanted to sleep with him. Many men had flirted with her since her arrival on the East Coast, but she'd never flirted back. The memory of Nathan was still too strong.

"Uh, do you want some coffee?" she asked eventually. He nodded. In her small kitchen, he looked completely out of proportion.

Natalya quickly got lonely and ran into the kitchen to join them, throwing her small body to Chris. He smiled and lifted her up again.

"Do you have a job?" he asked suddenly. She jerked her head up in surprise.

"What?"

"A job. You work, they give you money…"

"I'm a waitress at the café down the street," she managed to say.

"I like it there. Good muffins," he said.

"Not so good when they're all over your apron," she muttered.

"Not your dream job?"

"I used to be a secretary to a hotshot business man, but that wasn't so much fun either. I haven't exactly found my passion yet," she explained.

"Huh."

"That's all you have to say? I just told you a month's worth of things about myself and you say 'huh'?" she asked.

"Are you…" he began to say.

"Okay? I'm fine, I'm just not in the best place in my life," she said.

"Why not? You have your daughter, you have this place with an ocean view, you have a job…"

"I don't have a job I want, my daughter has to spend all day with strangers and I miss everyone," she said, dropping onto a chair. She was amazed at how much she'd just told Chris Keller, the man she'd barely even met.

"Who's everyone?" he asked.

"My friends. Back in the City, I roomed with my best friend Peyton, who I met in college and my big sister, Taylor. I think you'd like Taylor. She's a little bit insane, and everyone was amazed when she stayed there for a whole year. She's like that. Like Kirsten's sister on the OC, you know? And my other best friend Lucas. But I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him lately because he slept with my lover's wife and impregnated her and then dated me briefly before I ran away, so…" said Haley.

"That's… a lot," he said at last. His ears perked slightly at 'lover' but he didn't say anything to her.

"Yeah, a regular soap opera. But it's cooling down now," she said, the happiness in her voice obviously staged.

"Good. If that's what you're in to, I mean," he said.

Haley began to depart for the bathroom, but the phone made her stop in her tracks. Looking back, she saw Chris hesitantly go toward the phone, giving her a questioning glance. She nodded, and was in the bathroom before she could hear him speak.

"Haley? Is that you?" demanded a voice immediately. A male voice.

"Who's this?" asked Chris coolly.

"Nathan Scott. Who's this?" he demanded.

"Chris Keller, and I live here. I think you've got the wrong number," he said. He could hear the other end of the phone pause for a moment.

"Sorry to waste your time," said Nathan before hanging up.

Author's note: Sorry this took so long, I was having computer problems on the computer I wrote this on so I couldn't upload it. But now I can. So if you haven't, go read 'Life and Cherry Tomatoes' which is the more definite end to my original trilogy. Major Callie and Sawyer.