Hey! Thanks for the review harroc83. I'm glad you like the story. I hope you like this chapter too.

Second Time Around

Chapter 11

Haley stared out the window trying to figure out what she was going to do.

Follow your heart.

Chris's word echoes in her head, but she still was just as confused as earlier.

Follow my heart, how am I suppose to follow my heart? I haven't followed my heart in years, I always follow my head. Your head is rational, sane, it knows what will happen, not what might happen. The last time I followed my heart was nearly six years ago when I said yes to going out with Nathan the first time, and look where that got me. Follow my heart? I need help.

Haley grabbed her phone again ad dialed another familiar number. After two rings they finally answered.

"Hey Hal!" They both said together as put the phone onto speakerphone.

"Hey Mel and Jess. I miss you two!"

"Oh, we miss you too, but you've only been gone for like three days girl." Jessica told her.

"And don't worry, the magazine is fine. We told you we would be fine here for a couple of days alone. So, how's Tree Hill? As bad as you were expecting?"

"Just different. So, I called cause I miss you two, but also cause I really need your advice. And please help me cause everyone else I have talked to has just made me confused. Okay, …so I ran into Nathan down here and we did a whole ignore each other, then yell at each other, then talk to each other kinda thing. But he told me he still loves me, and I still love him. But what do I do!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Nathan, as in the Nathan, as in Nathan who cheated on you and left you miserable for like two years before we even got you to come out and actually have a good time Nathan?"

"Yeah, that would be him."

"And you want to just to go back to him after all of that!"

"I don't know. That's why I called you. I mean there is no way that I will just go running back to him like nothing is wrong, I can't. But I can't ignore the way I feel around him. It's the exact same way he used to make me feel, and no one has made me feel that way, or even close to it, since then."

"Well remember that hottie from the photo shoot we did for our feature story last week. I know for a fact he's single and I've got his number. I'm sure he'd make you feel all kinds of good Hal."

"Jessica, she needs help with what to do about Nathan, she doesn't need to be set up with some mindless man whore."

"Hey, he was a hot mindless man whore, and those are the best kind to help forget about a broken heart. Like remember last year after Justin broke up with me and I hooked up with that guy from the bar, Mike, not wait maybe it was Matt. No, it was Mike, and he had that hot tattoo on his right shoulder blade. No that was Dillion who has the tattoo on his shoulder blade, Mike had it around his right bicep. No wait, maybe it was Brandon who I hooked up with after--"

"Hey guys, forget about me, the one with the problem. I mean, maybe it's not even a problem, maybe it's just like unfinished business and we need closure. Or maybe there is a problem and I do still love him and he still loves me, but he cheated on me so now I don't trust him. But if I love him but don't trust him what's that mean. Do we love each other enough to try it again and for him to earn my trust again. Or for that matter, do we love each other enough for one of us to drop the life we have built up so that we can be together. Because what if--"

"Hey there my little rambler, take a breath. Okay, so here's my advice, and I'm pretty sure Jess will agree with me on this one Hal, but you need to talk to Nathan. I know you might not like that advice, but the truth is that this is entirely between you two, which means you two need to figure it out."

"I agree with Mel on this one. We can't help you on this one, only you and Nathan."

"Yeah, okay. I guess so. Well I have to get ready for the bachelorette party so I guess I'll talk to you two later. Bye girls!"

"Bye Hal!" Haley flipped her phone shut and set it down on the bed next to her purse while she started to fix her hair and make-up for the bachelorette party, if you could even call it that. It was really a night at a spa. Taylor had claimed that she had had enough partying in high school and college, but Haley knew that it was her mother who had pressured her into having a spa night bachelorette party. With one last look in the mirror, Haley put her cropped jacket back on and grabbed her purse while walking out the door. She got into the Cobra and headed down to the spa where she met her mother and sister. They all went in and changed into the fluffy robe and slippers the spa provided and then sat down in either the pedicure chair or at a manicure station. Vivian, Quinn, and Madison sat down in the pedicure chairs which left Haley to sit with Taylor and her mother at the manicure stations. They all discussed things quietly among themselves, mostly talking about the wedding. Then Haley's mother went around and asked girl about how their lived has been going. She began with the oldest, Vivian, and worked her way to the youngest, which was Haley. Each has talked about the latest with their kids, the new, bigger house they were moving into, the promotion their husband was getting. Lydia James raised her daughters in somewhat of an old-fashioned way. A college degree and career wasn't as important as a husband and family, and Haley didn't agree with that. Bye the time they got to Haley they were switching from the manicure stations over to the pedicure chairs.

"So Haley, what have you been up to?"

"Well, mostly the magazine. Chic is now one of the top selling magazine in not only New York, but the whole country. We're even working on getting it published in a couple different languages now too so it will be sold internationally. So we've been really excited with it's success."

"Well, are you seeing anyone at the moment. You're not getting any younger Haley. Pretty soon your going to be old to have children and well let's face it, most men prefer younger women."

"Not everything in this word revolves around husbands and children mother. Some of us actually have dreams of having a degree and career that we are happy with. We enjoy the fact that we can take care of ourselves, quite luxuriously in fact. So I'm sorry if my dreams are not the same as the dreams you have for me, but it is my life. I have worked hard to get where I am, and I did it without your help. So I don't need you trying to dictate my life, because I have been doing a damn fine job on my own. I am very sorry to ruin the night Taylor, but I have to go. I will see all of you tomorrow night at the dress rehearsal."

Haley walked into the locker room and changed back into the clothes she was wearing earlier. She grabbed her keys and purse and left and got into her Cobra. She drove to the one place that held everything for her. It held her memories of heartache, her feelings of loneliness, but most of all it held hope. It held that little shred of hope that somehow the universe has a way of working out. She walked down a few steps from the surf and collapsed down into the sand letting the tears that were burning her eyes slide one by one down her cheeks.

This wasn't the way her life was suppose to be. She was extremely successful and rich, all on her own doing, and her own mother could not be happy for her. The whole thing with Nathan showing back up in her life has thrown everything out of whack. She just wanted some order, some sense, some sort of sanity back into her life. As she hugged her knees tighter and dropped her head down onto her arms she let out a sob as more tears came pouring out. She felt someone sit down next to her and place their arm around her. She didn't need to look up to know who it was. She knew that smell, that arm, that body. She let go of her body and shifted so that she was leaning into him. He placed his arms around her waist and pulled her into him. She continued sobbing into his chest as he rubbed her back.

-Leigh