Chapter 7- Just Say It
Haley stood outside the high school waiting for Nathan. She half expected him to change his mind and not come. It wasn't like she had talked to him and he had said he was coming, she had just paged him and she was now standing there hoping that he still wanted to go out with her.
Just as she started to really get nervous she saw the blue blazer pulling into the parking lot. A rush of excitement went through Haley as she realized that this was it, this was her first date with Nathan Scott. It seemed too good to be true, but she knew that it was. So she took a deep breath and headed towards the car.
"Hey Haley. How was your competition?" Nathan had a huge smile on his face.
"It was good thanks. I actually won first place for my solo. It was a pretty good day. What about you? How was your day?"
"Well, it was my mom's birthday so I pretty much just hung out at her house with her all day. Had some cake and stuff a few hours ago." Normally Nathan wouldn't talk about his mother, it kind of messed with his tough guy image. But with Haley, he didn't care about his image so much.
"Are your parents still together?" Haley sensed from the way he said 'her house' that the answer was no.
"How about we first decide where to go and eat and then I will talk about that?"
"Okay, how about Tornado's? I would just about die for one of their burgers right now." Haley's mouth started to water at the thought. She hadn't eaten since breakfast.
"Sounds good. But back to my parents. No, they aren't still together. They divorced when I was 8. I am obviously used to it by now, but they are still pretty mean to each other. That makes it tough, when there are things that I want both of them to be at." Nathan paused, he couldn't believe how easy this was, the talking. She just looked at him and listened. "What about you, are your parents still together?"
"Yeah, but sometimes I don't think they wan to be. They have a pretty rocky relationship. A lot of times I get the feeling that they are together just because of me and my sisters." Haley didn't like to talk about it, how her perfect looking family was anything but.
"How many sisters do you have?" Nathan actually cared, he wanted to know everything about her.
"Two, both younger. What about you, any brothers or sisters?"
"I have two sisters too, they are both older."
Haley had learned from her past boyfriends and friends that are guys that the ones with sisters were usually more sensitive. She never thought that she would use the word sensitive to describe Nathan Scott, but she had to face it, he was already impressing her.
Haley glanced out the window as they pulled into the parking lot. "It looks pretty busy here."
"Yeah, it usually is on Saturday nights." Nathan parked his car and then went around to meet Haley on her side. They walked into the restaurant and Haley winced at the loud music and all the noise from people trying to talk loudly over the music. Nathan could tell that she wasn't really up for it, "Would you rather go somewhere else?"
"If that is okay, I just had a really long day and I kind of want to go somewhere a little quieter. I'm sorry, I hope that that is not a big deal." Haley felt bad but she could already feel a head ache starting.
"Not it is fine, let's go." Nathan put his arm on the small of Haley's back and guided her towards the door. He waited until they were outside before he started to talk again. "Where do you want to go instead?"
"Well, my friends are at the place right across the street. They have good burgers too, maybe we could stop there? We don't have to eat with them or anything like that." Haley wanted to hit herself for saying that, she wanted this to be a date, just the two of them. It was just that she really wanted Brooke and Peyton to meet Nathan. They had been hearing about him for so long now.
"No, that is fine. Let's go and eat with your friends, I would love to meet them." Nathan looked Haley right in the eyes and smiled.
When they walked towards Haley's friend's table they broke out into huge smiles as soon as they saw her. "Brooke, Peyton, this is Nathan. Nathan, this is Brooke, and this is Petyon. These are my best friends."
"It is really nice to meet both of you, Haley has talked about you girls a lot." Nathan slid into the booth after Peyton got up from her side of the booth and went to sit next to Brooke. Haley slid in next to him.
"Well, I hope that Haley hasn't told you too much of the bad stuff." Brooke playfully teased Nathan.
"No, of course it was all good. Don't worry." Nathan winked playfully at Brooke.
Haley had to laugh to herself, Nathan sure knew how to handle Brooke. She could tell Brooke was already impressed. It wasn't Brooke that was hard to please though, it was Peyton. Haley was anxious to see if Nathan could win her over.
"Did you guys order yet?" Haley already knew what she wanted.
"Nope, we actually had to wait to get a table, we only just got our drinks, you guys timed it perfectly." Peyton raised an eyebrow as she said that.
"Well, we went over to Tornado's and it was crazy, loud music and everything, I am way too tired for that kind of thing. So, we decided to come over here."
Their waitress came up and they all placed their order. While they waited for their food there was some small talk, Nathan started asking the girls questions about dance. They answered every one of them, the three friends loved to talk about dancing, it was their life. As he asked the questions Haley watched Peyton closely. Haley could tell that Nathan was succeeding in winning Peyton over. She was starting to warm up to him, when Peyton didn't like someone she didn't warm up at all. She stayed cold and replied with simple yes and no's or really short answers. But, after a little while, it was obvious that she started to like him and that she felt more comfortable.
At one point Haley looked over to Peyton, Brooke was explaining something to Nathan and Peyton looked at Haley and mouthed 'He is great.' Haley mouthed back, 'I know.'
After finishing their meals Nathan started to fidget a little bit. Haley caught on to this and excused them, "We are going to head out now. I am so glad that we met up with you guys. I'll talk to you both tomorrow."
"Bye girls, it was great to meet you. Hopefully I will see you again soon." Nathan said as he started to stand up.
"Yeah, see you later Nathan. It was great to meet you too." Brooke waved a little bit as she said it.
"Go and have some fun you guys. Nathan, it really was nice to meet you. I really do hope we see you again soon." As soon as the words left Peyton's mouth Haley knew that Nathan had done it, Peyton was impressed.
They walked out of the restaurant in a comfortable silence, once they were outside Nathan started to talk again, "Do you want me to talk you home now?" Nathan hoped that her answer would be no.
"No, not yet. I still have 2 more hours before curfew. Let's do something. Not anything crazy though, I am pretty tired." Haley hoped Nathan didn't think she was a loser because she didn't want to go and party or anything.
"I know just the things." Nathan pulled out of the parking lot and headed in a direction that Haley wasn't too familiar with.
"Where are we going?" Haley started to get a little nervous.
"To my house, I live with my dad and my sister. We just got a brand new tv and I figured we could pop in a short movie. It is only like 5 minutes away so I will be able to get you back in time. Does that sound okay?"
"Yeah, that sounds fine." Haley was secretly a littler nervous, she didn't know what Nathan would expect from her. What if he put a move on her? Sure, Haley had had boyfriends and fooled around with them a little, but nothing serious. She was really nervous about what he would want from her.
They pulled into the driveway of a huge house. "Well, this is it." Nathan said, as though he needed to explain.
"Wow, this is huge." Haley's jaw had just about his the floor, the house was gorgeous.
Nathan led Haley inside. She was amazed, his house was so nice. She hadn't expected that. The house was pretty new too, nothing like Haley's old house.
"Here, let me give you the tour." Nathan guided her through the family room, kitchen, dining room and den. "Oh, here is the best part." Nathan led her back through the kitchen and opened the back door to the deck. He led her outside around the deck. "This is my favorite part."
Haley looked down at the steam billowing from the hot tub into the cool night air. "This is so nice. I have always wanted a hot tub."
"Yeah, it is really nice. I have no complaints. Well, why don't we go and watch a movie? I will have to show you the upstairs next time, my dad and sister are asleep so I don't want to wake them." Next time, Nathan thought, he really hoped that there would be one.
Haley walked over and took a seat on the couch. Nathan sat down a little ways away from her. Right then Haley knew that her fears had been unfounded, Nathan wasn't going to try anything. She settled back as he flipped on a movie channel and they lost themselves in the movie.
ooooOoooo
On the way home Nathan was oddly quiet. As they turned into Haley's driveway Nathan shut off the car. "Can I ask you something Haley? It will probably sound really stupid."
"Sure, ask away." Haley wondered what he was going to ask.
"Well, these last few weeks have been really great Haley. I have really enjoyed getting to know you. And tonight, well I had a great time. So I guess, what I am asking you, do you want to be my girlfriend?"
Haley swore that she could see Nathan blushing. She was amazed, Nathan was blushing over her. "Of course I will be your girlfriend."
Hearing that, Nathan leaned over and kissed Haley softly on the lips. "Sleep tight, I'll see you at work tomorrow."
Haley climbed out of the door and resisted the urge to skip up the driveway. She was Nathan Scott's girlfriend and she could be happier about it.