Chapter 24- Butter Pecan

Nathan just stood there, outside of Haley's classroom, in shock. He couldn't believe what Haley had just said. They would break up either way? Did he get any say in this decision? When had she decided this?

Nathan's mind was reeling, there was no way he could deal with this now. He just stood there, wondering what do. He thought about skipping out on the rest of the day but stopped himself. Nathan had vowed to do better, at everything. Skipping school would be a step backwards.

Nathan sucked it up and turned to head to class. As he started walking he spotted Brooke across the hall. He ducked his head, hoping to avoid her, but Brooke caught him anyways.

"Nathan, have you seen Haley? I've been trying to catch up with her forever!" Brooke exclaimed.

"Now's not a good time Brooke."

Nathan started to walk away but Brooke grabbed his arm.

"What's going on Nathan? Is Haley okay?"

Brooke was suddenly concerned for her best friend, maybe something was wrong and that was why Brooke hadn't been able to find her.

"God, does this everything in this world revolve around Haley? Haley is just fine, I mean isn't she always? Haley always knows what's best right? Haley always does what's best? It's all up to Haley!"

Brooke's eyes were as wide as saucers, she had never seen Nathan like this. He was rambling like a mad man. With each question he broached his face got redder and redder.

"Seriously you need to like take a deep breath or something. I don't really know what your problem is but yelling at me like that will do nothing but cause you more problems." Brooke's hands flew unto her hips, and she began to raise her voice at the end of that sentence. She wasn't sure what had landed her in Nathan's crossfire but she certainly wasn't going to just stand there and take it.

Nathan just stared at Brooke. He didn't know what to say to her. All he could think about were Haley's words, 'we'll break up.' Over and over he heard those words in his head.

Brooke just stood there staring at Nathan. She wasn't going to let him leave until he apologized.

Seeing that Nathan was in a daze Brooke coughed a little to try and pull him back to the real world. Nathan heard it and focused on Brooke again.

"Brooke, I'm sorry. I lost it for a second." Nathan's cheeks reddened more, but now with embarrassment. "Haley's fine, she's in her history class."

Hearing the bell ring, Brooke decided that that apology was good enough, "Okay, thanks. Bye Nathan."

Brooke walked away shaking her head. She wasn't sure what that was all about, but she knew who would know. Haley. That girl had some serious talking to do.

ooooOoooo

Haley was relieved to see Brooke waiting outside of her history class. Haley hadn't seen Brooke all day and was worried that she wouldn't be able to catch her in time to get a ride home.

"Brooke, hey, I'm glad you're here. Can I get a ride home from you? Nathan has a meeting after school and can't drop me off."

"You want to know a little something about Nathan? I'll tell ya. He's crazy Haley, he totally blew up at me in the hall a little while ago."

Haley just stood there looking shocked while Brooke waited impatiently. Brooke wanted an explanation and wasn't going to rest until she got one that satisfied her.

"What do you mean he blew up? What did he say? When did this happen?" Haley was surprised, Nathan wasn't one to 'blow up' as Brooke put it.

"I saw him before last period. He went off about you Haley, how the world revolves around you or something like that. How you make all the decisions. Honestly, it didn't make any sense to me. Did something happen?"

"Kind of. Listen Brooke, it's a long story. Can I tell you later?" Haley looked towards Brooke pleadingly. She didn't want to get into all of this now, in the middle of the hallway.

Brooke could tell that whatever had happened was going to upset Haley. "Fine, yeah, later. I'll take you home. But first, we are going to get some ice cream and talk about this. After all, I've never had a problem that ice cream couldn't solve." Brooke smiled, hoping to ease the mood.

"Thanks Brooke. I'll meet you at your locker after last period. I have to run though, I want to find Nathan."

With that Haley ran off leaving Brooke just standing there alone yet again. Brooke threw up her arms once again in frustration, what a day this had been.

ooooOoooo

Haley rushed towards Nathan's locker after last period. She had been trying to catch him in between the last few classes of the day but hadn't had any luck. She knew they had to talk about what she said.

Haley really hadn't thought that telling Nathan she thought they should break up when he went to school would upset him that much. After all, she was doing that for him. Why would he want a girlfriend who was still in high school when he would be at all these parties with pretty college girls? Haley thought he would want his freedom. Clearly, she was wrong. She couldn't believe he blew up at Brooke like that.

Walking past the guidance center on her way to Nathan's locker she peered in. She looked in just in time to see Nathan walking into his guidance counselor's office. Haley had just missed him. Talking about this was going to have to wait until tonight.

Haley pulled out her cell phone as she headed towards Brooke's locker. She sent Nathan a quick text message, Call me after work…we have to talk.

Now all Haley had to do was wait until Nathan got out of work at 9:30 tonight. She knew it was going to be a long 7 hours until then.

As Haley walked up to Brooke's locker she saw her dark haired friend standing there holding one of her shoes in her hand.

"Brooke, what's wrong with your shoe?"

"Don't even get me started on that Haley. The stupid thing broke, this morning, before first period! I've been walking around all day with a busted shoe. Seriously Haley, life really sucks."

"That does suck Brooke."

Brooke slammed her locker shut and the two girls made their way to the parking lot.

"Is that all that's bothering you Brooke? I mean, besides the whole Nathan freak out thing?"

"Tutorgirl, that's why I love you, you always know just what I need. Everything is wrong. I have stupid detention this Saturday. Can you believe it? All over some stupid paper that I forgot."

Haley laughed to herself, but gave Brooke a look of sympathy at the same time. Brooke could be such a martyr sometimes. Haley was sure that this paper wasn't just a day late or something, but she wasn't going to let Brooke know that.

"That's crazy." Haley draped her arm over her best friend's shoulders. "You poor thing, it does sound like you had a bad day."

"I did, it was terrible, and your crazy boyfriend didn't help matters. Speaking of which, what's going on there?"

"It's definitely a conversation to have over ice cream." Haley reached out her window and banged on the side of Brooke's car, "Now let's go"

After ordering their ice cream the girls sat down on a bench outside the ice cream shop to talk.

"Seriously, Haley, now that you have your butter pecan, what happened to upset Nathan so much?"

"Well, he was walking me to class telling me about how he has to meet with his guidance counselor to talk about the two schools he got accepted to for next year, Greensboro and Syracuse, by the way. And I don't know, I heard Syracuse, thought about Nathan being in New York, and I guess I lost it. I told him to leave me out of the decision because no matter what we were going to break up."

"What?" Brooke was floored. She never in a million years thought that Haley would ever say that she and Nathan would break up. Nathan was Haley's world, nothing made her happier than he did. "Why would you say that?"

"I don't know. I guess I just wanted to make sure that he decided where he wanted to go to school. I want him to decide for himself, because of himself, I don't want him to stay nearby just because of me."

"That's all well and good Haley, wanting that for him, but how do you know he wants that for himself? How do you know that he doesn't want you to be a factor? He might, and guessing by his reaction does, think that you are important enough to be a factor. It isn't fair for you to take that choice away from him. Does that make sense?"

Haley nodded. "It does. I didn't mean to take the choice away from him by saying that. I guess I just wanted him to know that he should make the best choice for himself." Haley laughed a little bit, "I guess I could have put that some other way besides telling him we'll break up."

"I'll say. You need to talk to him Haley, explain yourself. The poor guy, he's probably all depressed thinking you're going to dump him when he goes to school, whether he likes it or not. You sure got yourself into a mess this time Haley. Better you than me though. It'll all work out fine, just talk to him." Brooke scooped the rest of her ice cream into her mouth, "Now, shoe shopping awaits us!"

ooooOoooo

"Hello?" Haley asked, hoping it was Nathan.

"Hey Hales."

"Nathan, hi. How was work?" Haley could already tell from the tone in his voice that Nathan still was not over what had happened earlier, he clearly sounded upset.

"It was fine. Same old." Nathan wasn't about to throw Haley any bones. He was still pretty shaken up about their conversation earlier and he wasn't about to bring it all up again, it was up to Haley.

"I want to talk about what happened earlier, when we were talking about school."

"Okay."

"Jeez Nathan, you're not making this very easy for me. I feel terrible for what I said, how I just burst out with all of that. I didn't mean it the way it sounded."

"Just how many ways are there to interpret 'we'll break up' Haley? Last I checked that only had one meaning." Nathan couldn't believe it, she didn't mean it the way it sounded, whatever.

"You're right, there isn't any other meaning. It wasn't really what I meant to say. I just wanted you to know that I want you to choose a school because it's right for you, I don't want to be part of that decision." Haley paused for a second, hoping Nathan would say something, she had no such luck. "I shouldn't have said what I did Nathan, I'm sorry."

Nathan was silent for another minute or so, then he exhaled loudly into the phone. "I know you're sorry Hales. It just scared me, a lot, thinking that we wouldn't be together anymore. But hearing you say how you want me to make the best decision for me, well I need to keep that in mind for myself. I do need to make sure that I make the decision that is best for me."

"It's just that, well, I don't want you to choose Greensboro so you can stay close to me and then hate it. I worry that you would then resent me in some way, because, at the root of it all, you went there for me."

"I hear you Hales. But what are we going to do, when I leave I mean?"

"Why don't we just deal with that when it happens? Honestly, I don't even want to think about it now. I just want you to make the right decision for you, that's all I care about now."

"I will Hales, don't worry. And yeah, we can deal with it all when it actually happens." Nathan paused. "Did you happen to talk to Brooke?"

"Yeah, I did. She's over it. Once I explained what happened she pretty much understood why you were upset like that."

"Good, I kind of did freak out at her. It's just that I love you Haley, and losing you, well, I don't even want to think about it."

"I know Nathan, I don't want to lose you either."