Starting from this chapter on, I'm going to slowly reveal what exactly happened in New York and why it was such a big deal for Nathan and Haley's relationship. I'm going to put these flashbacks in italics just to make it easier to pick out!

Chapter Five – Except That Everything Was Different

Nathan and Lucas were in New York for the weekend for a game against the Knicks. After their much needed win, they decided to hit the town for an even more needed celebration. The ended up in one of the city's swankiest hot-spots, a place frequented by celebrities wanting to stay out of the spotlight for a few hours.

Lucas ducked into the restroom immediately and he wasn't surprised to see multiple empty shot glasses in front of Nathan upon his return. When Nathan partied, he partied hard. Lucas knew it was an attempt to numb the pain, but he also knew that it never truly worked. "Hey, did you leave anything back there for me?" Lucas joked.

"Not tonight, Luke." Nathan said sternly, turning away from Lucas and looking out towards the dance floor.

"Not tonight, not any night." Lucas mumbled to himself before ordering a beer.

The club hadn't been too busy at the time and that was how Nathan was clearly able to see her, dancing in the middle of the floor. He had already had way too many shots and was pretty much buzzed so the only thing he could do was turn to Lucas and laugh. "Look who's here, man. I totally forgot her gig was in New York City this weekend."

Lucas looked up past Nathan to where Haley and Brooke were on the dance floor, dancing with a few other people. "Well, are you at least going to say hi to her?"

"Yeah," Nathan scoffed. "That's exactly what I want to do. Put an end to this excellent night that I'm having."

"Nate, I would barely call drinking yourself into a stupor an excellent night." Lucas shook his head, knowing that he wouldn't be able to say anything to get Nathan to go over there. Nathan would have to do it himself. "Whatever, I'm going to go say hi. If you change your mind, I'm sure they would love it if you came over to say hello."

Nathan turned back towards the bar and ordered two more shots as Lucas walked away. It had been over six months since he had talked to Haley on the phone, which was around the point in time that they both decided it was just too difficult. He knew it would end bitterly if he talked to her tonight, so why even try? Without even so much as a look backwards, he downed the shots quickly, and walked off in the opposite direction of the dance floor. After all, didn't his mom used to tell him that if he didn't have anything nice to say, he shouldn't say anything at all?

Nathan couldn't just stand there and watch her walk away, ignore the whole situation like he had so long ago. He couldn't just stay quiet and pretend that nothing had happened, not this time, not after how painful that night had been. But as he made a move to follow Haley, Peyton stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Probably not a good idea. We'll go get her." She grabbed Brooke and pulled her away from Lucas. "It'll be okay, Nate, I promise," she assured him as she walked away.

Nathan wasn't so sure that it would be okay, he didn't see how it could ever be okay. Maybe he really had screwed everything up for good. Haley wasn't even able to stay in his arms for longer than a minute.

"Nate, come on man, let's just go get a drink," Lucas said, trying to steer him in the direction of the bar.

"No, Luke, I don't want a drink. I don't know, maybe I should just leave. It would make this evening a whole lot easier on Haley."

"Trust me, Nate, she doesn't want you to leave." Jake cut in. "Just let Peyt and Brooke calm her down, it won't take them that long."

Nathan nodded and followed them to the bar where he refused to order anything, just watched the door that Haley had ran so fast out of only moments before.

Haley splashed the cold water on her face gently and reached next to her to graciously accept the towel Peyton was holding out for her.

"Hales, are you going to be okay?" Brooke asked, the concern clearly evident on her face.

Haley stood up and took a deep breath, taking a look at her disheveled appearance in the mirror. "I think so, I just freaked out a little bit. Thanks for following me guys, I don't know what I would do without you two."

"You'd never look good." Brooke quickly answered.

"You'd never have any shows to play at." Peyton added. The three women laughed as Haley turned to face them. "Seriously though, what was that about?" Peyton asked.

"I don't know. Just being in Nathan's arms again and all of these feelings were just flooding back."

"Well, it's only natural, sweetie. I feel the same way every time I see Lucas." Brooke said, offering her support.

"Yeah, but you and Lucas have that whole 'friends with benefit' casual relationship thing going on. I could never see Nathan that way. Coming here tonight really showed me that I've been missing a part of myself, and that part has been with him the whole time. I felt complete in his arms, and it just scared me because I know that he's still angry at me for leaving. And I know that he wasn't feeling the same thing, there was no way he could have."

"How do you know, Hales?" Peyton asked. "Maybe he feels the exact same way. He's had a lot of time to think everything over. Maybe you guys could be able to start over again, especially now that the tour's over."

"Thanks for being an optimist, Peyt, but if it didn't work then- how do I know it'll work now?"

"Because you are both different people now." She stated simply.

"Exactly, we have changed over the years. We're not the same and who's to say that we still have the same things in common. Who's to say that we want the same things in life? Listen, I really just don't want to talk about it anymore. Brooke, could you just go grab me a glass of wine? I need a drink and then I'll be able to go back out there."

Brooke nodded and gave Haley a quick hug. "It'll be okay, Hales."

Haley watched as Brooke left the bathroom and turned back to the mirror, carefully wiping the mascara away from under her eyes as to not mess up the rest of her makeup.

Peyton took a deep breath. "Haley, maybe you should just tell him."

Haley shook her head. "Peyton, I couldn't do it, I wouldn't be able to find the right words. And it wouldn't be fair, he's leaving tomorrow and we're going to go back to not seeing or talking to each other again, which is how it should be. It's easier that way."

"Hales, he would want to know."

"Peyton, we've talked about this. You're the only one who knows and it's staying that way. Just support me on this, okay?"

Peyton nodded and shut up as Brooke came back into the bathroom, carrying three glasses of wine. The three of them clinked their glasses together in a silent cheers and Haley let the liquid slide down her throat and warm her chest. She didn't often drink, truly only at special occasions, but right now she had just really needed some sort of mental support. Even though it was only an artificial one, it helped for the time being.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, I think I can go back out there now. I just don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to stay here, I think this reunion is starting to drive me crazy."

"Well, we both know Brooke's going to be leaving with Lucas soon, but you let me and Jake know when you want to go. We'll leave whenever, okay?" Peyton let her know.

"Hey! Okay even though that's probably the truth, I hate those kinds of assumptions!" Brooke couldn't help but saying.

"Mentally noted," Haley joked and laughed as her best friends pulled her into their arms. "Thanks guys, you really are such good friends."

"We know." Brooke said with a smile.

Haley followed her friends out of the bathroom, silently cursing herself for being afraid to go back to the ballroom. Afraid because for the few moments when she had been in Nathan's arms, she had felt invincible, like nothing could touch her. Which she knew, better than anyone else, wasn't possible to believe such a thing. But he had that power over her, even after all these years.

She wanted to tell him the truth, about so many things, but as she had told Peyton it just wouldn't be the right thing to do. He was living his dream, and even though he had once told her he would always protect her she knew that she didn't want to make him chose. And besides, no one could protect her now, not even him. Especially him.

Haley held her chin high as she walked back into the ballroom, willing herself to just be strong tonight until he walked out of her life again tomorrow. And then she could go back to living her lie.

Sorry to end it there and get you guys all confused, but I just have to stay in my dramtic realm! I hope you guys enjoyed and as always- I would love to know what you thought!

Kylie