Ahhh! I know, its been so long! I've been so busy, but I do plan on finishing this story someday before I start writing another story about probably a more popular character pairing...but I think we all need a little variety...
anyway, If anyone is still with me, thank you! ) )
"I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier."
"What's your deal tonight?" Haley asked Chris, but refusing to look up from the latest issue of Seventeen she was reading. Chris walked across the room after giving her a quick glare, and threw a bag of garbage by the door.
"Proof you can take every thing 'Seventeen' away from a teenager, but they'll always find their way back," Chris challenged as he stared at Haley until she looked up. "Maybe you should read this instead, to see all the 'great' publicity your receiving."" He threw a local New York entertainment paper down on top of the other magazine. Haley just looked up at him wide-eyed and confused.
All the sudden she started laughing. "I know what happened," she sneered. "Oh and by the way, I already read this, and there is no chance this 'Vanessa Carlton clone' would ever claim the 'future boyband-er' was the father of her baby, so you can dream on." She tossed the magazine back down the table in Chris' direction. "Julianna told you she's leaving. Believe me, I've been bracing for Hurricane Chris for almost two and a half weeks. So bring it on," she dared.
"Really?" He looked over at her, he had no fear of being beat at his own game. "Peyton slept with Nathan. How's that for hurricane hell?"
"What? You would have no way of knowing that, even if it was true."
"You should listen to the answering machine more often, or maybe stop just deleting your voicemail." He knew he'd beat her, but he was starting to regret what he'd said, but it didn't take long for his mind to revert back to the fact that Haley had know Jules was leaving before he did.
Tears filled Haley's eyes as she grabbed he sweatshirt from the back of her chair and headed towards the door. Before her hand reached for the doorknob, she turned around, tears visibly filling her eyes at this point. "You know, I thought this part of you left when I agreed to come to New York, but it turns out you're the same evil person you were in Tree Hill." She slammed the door behind her, leaving Chris to wallow in his own misery.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The warm summer air blew through her hair as Haley stepped outside, breathing in deeply. Her three seconds of silence were broken by the violent ringing of her cell phone.
She quickly flipped open the phone, trying to stop the noise as fast as possible. "Hello?"
"Hey Haley!" Laughter could be heard along with two cheery voices. Haley knew it could only be two people, Brooke and Peyton. Speak of the devil. Haley considered just hanging up, but she wanted to see what the truth was; she had a sneaking suspicion Chris was lying, or was that just hope?
"Hey!" Haley replied, trying to fake a happy tone, when really she was really about to breakdown crying.
"Alright, so Brooke was too chicken to call you, but she's going to be in New York next week, and she wanted to visit you." Haley could hear Brooke pretending to yell at Peyton for calling her chicken. "And oh yeah, you have to say yes, because Brooke already stole the address from Lucas' room."
"Peyton!" Brooke shouted at her in the background.
"Sure," Haley replied with extreme hesitation. How could Brooke not notice she'd gained a good 10 to 15 pounds? Brooke was probably the most vain person Haley had ever met.
"I can't wait to see you tutor girl!" Brooke called in the background.
Peyton laughed, "I'll make sure to have Brooke call you later when she isn't being such a dork.
Haley started to feel more confident that Chris had made up the story just to piss her off, she was fairly sure Peyton would never call her like this if she was keeping a lie as big as sleeping with Nathan. However, Chris had succeeded in pissing her off, and she didn't feel like fueling the fire by forgiving him anytime soon.
"You ok?" Haley was jolted from thought yet again by Peyton's question.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Yeah, like she was fine.
"Call me later, I can't wait to hear about all of your rock star adventures! We all miss you here, I hope you know that." Way to get sentimental…
"I miss you guys too." What a lie, again. Well, sort of.
They hung up and Haley took a few conscious deep breaths, like the dirty city air was going to somehow heal the internal pain. She looked down at her illuminated cell phone and considered calling Nathan. She looked around at the darkness and realized she would have to swallow her pride and return to the apartment, she wasn't going anywhere alone at 10 o'clock at night. She turned around to head back into the building when her cell phone started ringing, again.
"What the…" she muttered as she flipped open the phone to see who it was. A smirk came across her face as she read the screen. "Oh this is too fun," she muttered.
"Hello?" she answered, pretending she had no idea who it was.
"Haley," the voice replied knowing well that she knew who it was. "Where are you? You do know it's after ten, right?"
"Well Chris," she laughed, he was actually acting concerned. "I'm actually headed towards Central Park, I'll be back in an hour or so," she joked, but kept a steady convincing voice.
"Haley, I wouldn't even go there at night! Are you insane?" Haley was starting to feel like he was being just as sarcastic as she was.
"Well, you're scrawny and dress like you ran into the Salvation Army 5 minutes before it closed and chose your entire wardrobe. I think you'd get beat up before me."
"Hold on, I think there is a dying animal outside my window." Bring on the sarcasm. There was a pause as she looked up waiting for him to open the window. "Oh wait, your laugh is just that high pitched shrieking!" he mocked peaking his head outside the window. "So much for buying your weekly supply of pot in Central Park, huh?" he mocked.
"Oh shut up already!" She snapped her phone shut and opened the heavy door to the apartment building an made her way back up the 2 flights of stairs. By the time she got to the top she was practically wheezing, talk about out of shape. "I know you're lying and I'm ready for an apology," she stated between breaths.
"Haley, I wasn't lying about what I said before, and I don't take it back." He grabbed a bottle of water and headed back to his room, he had to return to trying to salvage his relationship into at least a few good songs.
Haley wandered back to her bedroom a few seconds after Chris left. She grabbed a bead from her jewelry box. Before she left her braceletwiht Nathanwhen she 'left' him, she untied the bracelet and took a single pink, heart-shaped bead from the bracelet. She held the bead tightly in her hand as she dialed Nathan's number, her number.
"Hello?" Nathan picked up. Haley silently congratulated herself on never getting Caller ID for the apartment.
"Nathan?" She waited to hear the click of the phone being hung up, but it never came.
"If you're worried about your precious pearls from your mom, I'm sending them with Brooke, so you don't have to get all rock star about it." 'Rock star' was turning into a more belittling phrase than 'tutor girl'.
"Nathan, I'm not calling about that," she cut off, she didn't know where to go from there.
"Oh wait, I know what your calling about," he replied bitterly. Haley was ready for the storm, yet again. "You know, you never changed your insurance address." He knew she knew what he was talking about.
"Shit," Haley muttered. She had totally forgotten about the mail from the insurance company for the numerous doctors she had visited in the previous months, because she just paid this bills she received directly from the doctors' offices. She hadn't even thought about the pieces of mail from the insurance company, informing her that basically nothing was covered by her insurance, that must have been flooding the apartment back in Tree Hill.
"I'm not stupid, Haley."
"I'm not either, I've heard about your little antics. Or how about infidelities?" she sneered.
Nathan laughed, he almost sounded evil enough to be Dan.
"Sleeping with your wife's best friend is all the sudden a form of revenge. You know what, you really are a Scott," she snapped.
"All the sudden you're my wife, and Peyton is your best friend. Maybe I missed something."
"So does Peyton only sleep with teenage fathers now?" Cheap shot, maybe, but Haley didn't seem to be above anything at that point.
"She was around before you, ya know. And look at that, she's still around, unlike certain people I know, or maybe accidentally married."
"Don't worry, it was an accident for me, a moment of clarity for you possibly." She didn't want him to steal her last threads of dignity.
"Just tell me when and where to send the check." Haley's stomach turned at such another "Dan" comment.
"I don't want your money."
"Don't give me your bullshit Haley. Your love-sick crap, because you should see the truth by now. We're through, you can go back to playing house with your rock-star boyfriend, but I refuse to believe any of the crap you tell me now. I gave up on loving you the minute you left, and before there's proof the kid is even mine, you can have that perfect little family you always dreamed about with Chris, and even keep your precious little 'music career'." Nathan slammed down the phone, but Haley stayed on the line in shock until the dial tone returned.