Thank you to deli41321 and lilmonkeygirl31 for you reviews, I really appreciated them! Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Wake-up

Chapter 5

What if you never where short for time

All meetings cancelled clocks stopped at nine

Without alarms the silence beams

Invited to be

It had been nearly three weeks since the wedding, and Haley and Nathan had successfully kept up the façade of the happy couple in front of the public eye. Behind closed doors, however, things were a different story. For the past week Haley had begun her classes at Duke while Nathan began working at Detour. Haley had been spending most of her time alone in the house doing schoolwork while Nathan spent late hours at the office followed by late nights at the bar or club with friends. Haley fell into the pattern of studying or reading in bed into the late hours of the night waiting for Nathan to come home. She made a promise to herself that once it hit midnight, she would not stay up for the sake of him. But even when surrounded in the pitch-black darkness, she didn't fall asleep until he was lying on the opposite side of the bed. When he did, he reeked of stale cigarettes, cheap perfume, and alcohol. And every night when she heard his breathing even out, one single tear rolled down her face knowing that this is was what the rest of her life would hold.

Haley never really knew what he did while he was away from the house, and she wasn't really sure if she ever wanted to. She had already told him that he was free to screw whoever he wanted, but he would do so off of their property. Some part of her always believed that if she wasn't witnessing it, then he wasn't doing it.

Brooke continued to invite Haley to several Duke parties, despite the fact that Haley was constantly turning down the offers. After the wedding Haley began to drift away from everyone and find her own comfort in the library of her new home. She didn't have to pretend in front of her books. Instead they took her away from her problems and gave her that small ounce of hope she so desperately craved. When Brooke suggested just a girls night in at her apartment Haley finally caved. She needed to get out of the house and this was the perfect chance. Friday after her last class she would head over to Brooke's and stay there Friday and Saturday night. They had already rented all of their favorite movies and bought a shopping cart full of junk food. Everything was planned, if only plans never went awry. Halfway through Princess Bride, Brooke's DVD player broke.

"What! That's crap. I want to see the rest of it. I need to see the rest of it! Come on Hales, we're going to the store."

"Brooke it's midnight. There is no store open right now that you can buy a DVD from…Come on, we'll go grab one from my house so we can finish the movie."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. I love the wedding ceremony between Buttercup and Prince Humperdinck. That part I so funny. 'Marwage. Marwage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that blessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam…and wuv, tu wuv, will fowow you foweva…so tweasure your wuv.'"

"You are such a dork. Come on, let's go." Haley drove Brooke over to the house so they could grab one of the DVD players and head back to her apartment. When she pulled into the garage she noticed Nathan's truck was parked in the garage. "Wow, I think this is like a record for him. He is never home before midnight." Brooke followed into the house and into the living room. She went to unhook the DVD player, but stopped part way through. "Let me run upstairs real quick. The one in our room is smaller. I'll be right back."

"Okay, I'll just go wait for you in the car then." Haley climbed the stairs to their room. Hearing the TV on she opened the door to their bedroom. But what she thought was the TV was something else entirely. Nathan was on top of some red headed bitch, screwing her like there was no tomorrow. They hadn't even noticed her presence, or if they did they didn't see a need to stop.

Haley couldn't breath; it was as if she had just been punched in the chest. She quietly shut the door, just wanting to get out of there as fast as she could. Just as she was about to open the door to the garage she realized that she still didn't have a DVD player. She ran back into the living room and finished unhooking the one in there. She picked up the cords she needed and hurried back to the car, wearing her usual mask of happiness.

"Hey, I though you were getting a different one."

"Yeah…um, I didn't know how to unhook that one so I just went back and grabbed this one."

"Oh, okay. You ready?"

"Yup. Let's go."

"Do you feel okay? You look a little pale or something."

"I'm fine. Just tired."

"Oh, I'm sorry. If I had known I would have just waited until tomorrow and gone and bought one."

"No, it's fine. I think I just finally came off my sugar rush from earlier. Come one, let's go finish that movie."

After setting the other DVD player up they popped The Princess Bride in again and finished watching the rest of the movie. Brooke turned off the TV and turned towards Haley to find tears streaming down her face.

"Hales, what's wrong?"

"Why don't I get my Westley? Hell, I don't even get my Prince Humperdinck. All I get it the freaking' evil spawn who screws that bitch Rachel in our bed, in my bed, after I told him not on our property."

"What! When!"

"Tonight. I caught them when I went to grab the DVD player. God, they didn't even notice me. They just kept going at it like rabbits."

"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks, but it's not your fault. I don't even know why I'm crying, it's not like I loved him. Hell, I even told him he could go screw whoever he wants as long as it's not on our property. That way I wouldn't catch him—guess I was wrong. I mean, what is wrong with me? I hate him but here I am acting like an blubbering idiot."

"You're not an idiot Hales. It hurts like hell when you catch someone cheating, whether you're in love with him or it's just an arranged marriage. Either way, it brings up every insecurity you have and intensifies them. Nothing is wrong with you, you're just human."

"Thanks Brookie."

"No problem. And you know what helps you get over that crappy feeling you're feeling right now, a good party. Hey, what do ya know, I know of one next Friday. Phi Beta Kappa is having a Get Lei'd party. You gotta come Hales, you deserve a little fun."

"You know what, you're right, I do. Count me in. I could use a night of getting so wasted I won't remember what I did the morning after."

"Good to hear. So what's next, Dumb and Dumber sound good?"

"Sounds perfect. I need a little funny right now."

Haley didn't leave Brooke's until late Sunday night. She made one stop on the way home, to buy a new set of sheets for the bed. She wrestled the whole weekend with the idea of just going and sleeping in one of the guest rooms, but if se did she risked the chance of having to tell Nathan why. So afraid of looking like a psycho, over-protective girlfriend who was cheated on, she would just put on new sheets, burn the old ones, and later in the week buy a new mattress. Problem solved.

By Friday, not only was there a new mattress and sheets, both of which he didn't notice, but a new Haley as well. Dressed in her bikini, she put on a coconut bra and a short grass skirt on to completed her Hawaiian-styled outfit. She was in need of a good time, and hopefully tonight she would get it.

Brooke picked Haley up and they drove over to the Frat house, but were forced to park almost a block away. The house was packed, the walls were pounding, and the alcohol was flowing. Brooke took Haley upstairs to where they had one of the bars set up. After a couple of rounds of Tequila shots they were ready to dance. On the way back down the stairs Haley accidentally smacked right into someone. When she stepped back to apologize she looked up and saw a very familiar pair of eyes.

"Jake Jagelski. How are you I haven't seen you since graduation. How was Europe?"

"It was amazing. So from what I hear I missed a lot while I was gone, you know, like my best friend getting married."

"Yeah, I know. I would have invited you but I never knew where you were since you were backpacking though amazing countries. I've missed you Jake."

"Yeah, well I'm not in Europe anymore, so what do you say we say we go grab lunch or coffee this weekend to catch up. I tried calling your cell phone a couple of times since I got back but it never went through."

"Oh, I lost that phone so I had to get a new one, so I switched companies, so they made me switch my number. But yeah, we definitely have to get together again."

"Good. I gotta head up to the bar to meet some guys, but I'll see you around." Jake leaned down and gave Haley a hug before they went their separate ways. Haley joined Brooke on the crowded dance floor and began dancing to the music the DJ was playing. After more dances, and many more drinks, Haley was completely wasted when they found Jake again.

"Jakey!"

"Hales, you having fun."

"I'm having a blast."

"I bet you are, how much did you drink Hales."

Haley tried to put her finger to her chin as she was thinking but she totally missed and stumbled forward. "Whoa, the room just totally moved backwards. That was so freaky, but totally fun. Make it do it again Jakey."

"Yeah, I think it's time you stopped drinking Hales."

"But Jakey, this is my fun. I deserve a little fun, Lord knows Nathan has his."

"Come on, let's go find Brooke so that we can get you home."

"Can't. Brooke's in one of the rooms, and I can't leave without her cause she is the one that drove us here."

"That's okay, I drove here too and I haven't had anything to drink so I'll take you home. Where exactly is your home now?"

"Next to where the Johnson's used to live. The white house on the right of them." Jake led Haley out to his car and helped her get in.

"Wow. You're living good Hales."

"Yeah, real good. You're a good guy Jake, why'd we never end up together?"

"Cause we decided we were better as friends. Don't you remember that party junior year when we both had way too much to drink and slept together. Things got really awkward so we decided that we work as friends, and nothing more."

"Yeah, I didn't forget that night. But you would be a whole lot better than Nathan. I mean, I think a pig would be better than Nathan."

"Are you and Nathan having problems?"

"There would have to be a me and Nathan for us to even have problems." Haley saw the confused look on Jake's face so she explained it to him. "Nathan's dad has some heart condition, so for the sake of keeping the company secure for the Scotts as well as the James, our parents' basically forced us to get married. I figured it would suck, I just didn't think it would suck quite so badly."

"I'm sorry Hales. You deserve better. Is there anything I can do…Hales…Haley?" Jake looked over to find a sleeping Haley. "Guess it's a good thing that I asked you where you lived before we left. Way to go Jake, now you're talking to yourself. And you're still talking to yourself. Okay, stopping now." Jake pulled into Haley's driveway and picked Haley up out of the car. He carried her to the front door and rang the doorbell hoping someone would be home. When no one answered he rang the doorbell again. Finally Nathan answered the door in a pair of plaid pajama pants with his boxers peeking out of the top.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. She passed out in the car and I didn't want to snoop around in her purse to find her keys, she got so pissed the last time I did that." Nathan just glared at Jake as he stood on the porch. "Um, do you want to take her or tell me where to put her down, or something?"

"I'll take her." Only as Nathan reached out to grab his wife did he notice what she was wearing. "What the hell is she wearing?"

"It was a themed Frat party, Get Lei'd." Nathan continued to scowl at Jake; he never was one for pleasantries. "Right, anyways I'm gonna leave. She'll need some aspirin and water in the morning, she hit it pretty hard tonight." Nathan stepped back and shut the door in Jake's face before carrying Haley upstairs to her bedroom. He laid her on the bed before taking off her coconut bra and grass skirt and putting on a pair of her pajama pants and tank tops. He was about to take off her bikini too but was afraid she would smack the crap out him the next morning. She was definitely feisty. He pulled the covers up over her before turning off the lights and climbing into bed next to her.

It felt like a whole heard of elephants ran over her head when Haley woke up, but was happy to see a glass of water and a couple of aspirin on the bedside table. She fell asleep after taking them but was awoken by her cell phone going off. She searched through her purse that was next to the bed trying to find it.

"Please don't hang up, don't hang up, don't hang up. I'm coming. Aha. Hello?"

"Hey. How you feeling?"

"Like crap. Thanks for taking me home last night even though I don't really remember it."

"Well, we talked about getting lunch, so I thought I would see what you were doing today?"

"I'm having lunch with you. Just give me like an hour to take a shower and get ready."

"No problem. Do you want to just meet met me? How does Chinese sound? P.F. Chang's?"

"Sounds like heaven. I'll meet you there an hour." Haley took a shower and got ready for her lunch with Jake. She walked down the stairs to find Nathan sitting on the couch in the living room with his laptop and papers all over the coffee table. "Bye."

"Bye? Where are you going?"

"Lunch."

"With who? That guy that brought you home last night? Are you going to go sleep with him again?"

"What Jake and I do is none of your business."

"Yes it is, you're my wife, and I'd like to know who you're going around and screwing. So, how is he, any good? Bet I'm better, care to find out?"

"It's none of your business, so don't ask me about Jake. And do you think that I would willingly touch you after you've been with Rachel and who knows how many other whores."

"How do you know about her? Please don't tell me you're so pathetic that you stalk me just to see the women you'll never live up to." Haley's hand smacked Nathan's face leaving a red handprint.

"You self-centered ass. I caught you two, in our bed. All I asked Nathan, not in public, not on our property. Are you really that stupid that that simple request didn't get through your thick skull and into your pee-sized brain? That's all I've ever asked you for, and you still couldn't do that. I always thought you were a jerk, but I never thought you were this big of an ass. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be late for lunch."

"Pot calling the kettle black, Haley. Don't try to make me the bad guy when you're about to go off and screw some random guy."

"Not random, I've known Jake for a long time. And I'm not mad at you for screwing Rachel—I don't care about that. What I do care about is you doing the one thing, the one thing, I asked you not to do. How hard is it to go to her place, or a hotel, or a car, hell, do it in the bathroom at the club for all I care, just not here." Haley walked towards the garage, and just before she walked in she yelled back at him, "And just a little FYI, I didn't sleep with Jake last night and we are just going to lunch. Sorry not everyone is a man whore like you, you self-centered, egotistical, ass-fu--". Her slamming the door that lead to the garage shut muffled the rest of the names Haley enjoyed yelling at Nathan.

Thank you so much for reading and I would love to know what you thought of it!

Leigh