Is This Goodbye?
Getting Caught Up (Chapter One)Nathan Scott walked into his New York apartment after a long weekend away on the road. He had been playing a game and he had missed home so much. "Nathan?" A familiar voice called from down the hall. He smiled at the sound of her voice. He walked down the hall and was surprised when he couldn't see her. Then, Haley came out of the closet and was dressed in blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He smiled. He was definitely home now. She smiled brightly and came over to him. She hugged him and he tightened his arms around her and breathed in her scent.
"I've missed you," he said into her hair. He could feel her chuckling.
"Good," she said, pulling away.
"You didn't miss me?" he asked.
"Of course I missed you. I need your opinion on wedding invitations," she said.
"That's why you missed me?" Nathan asked in disappointment. Haley smiled and cocked her head to the side.
"Well, since it is your wedding too, I thought you might want some input," she said in amusement.
"Well, I do, but I trust my fiancée to make the right choices. You're not the kind of girl to go all out," he said. She smirked as she nodded.
"That's true, but I still want a wedding," she said.
"It doesn't matter what the invitations look like to me, Haley. They could be made of cardboard and they'd be perfect," he said. Haley laughed.
"Well, I'm still a girl, Nathan, so that's unacceptable," she said, laughing. "Now I picked the church in Tree Hill where my parents were married as the location," she said.
"I still say that New York University Hospital's chapel is the perfect place," he said. Haley looked at him in disgust.
"Are you kidding me? It's been three years since I said goodbye to that hospital for good. I'm not going to get married in the place that I had leukemia treatments in," she said.
"It's also the place where our lives collided again and we reconnected," he reminded her.
"It's also the place where Peyton almost died when she and Jake were in that car accident," she reminded him. He shrugged.
"Well, if that didn't happened, we wouldn't be getting married," he pointed out. She laughed. "Now, seriously, did you miss me?" he asked, pulling her away from the invitations and into his arms again. She put arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers. She kissed him deeply.
"Does that answer your question?" she asked, looking up at him. He nodded. "You go get unpacked and then you can tell me about the game," she said. He nodded.
TEN MINUTES LATER
Nathan walked into living room of his and Haley's apartment and saw that Haley was sitting on the couch, looking over table placements now. "Haley, you already chose that," he said.
"I know that. I'm just arranging the flowers," she said.
"Isn't that someone else's job?" he asked.
"Like who?" she asked. "I don't know. Brooke's or Peyton's," he said.
"You think I'd let Brooke design my wedding?" she repeated in shock. He laughed at her.
"No, I don't. But Peyton has good style," he said.
"Yeah, if we were planning my funeral," she said. He sat down and looked at her.
"Don't joke about things like that, Haley," he said. Haley looked at him.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because it almost happened, remember? And I don't want to even think about losing you," he said. She smiled.
"Don't worry about that, Nathan. The transplant saved my life. It gave me a clean bill of health. I'm cancer free now," she assured him.
"And you're going to stay that way," he said. She nodded.
"That goes without saying," Haley said. He started reading a sports magazine and Haley got up and went to the kitchen. The phone rang and she answered it. "Oh, hi, Deb! Yeah, Nathan and I are getting married next Sunday! It is kind of fast, I know. We just got engaged last week, but we figured, 'why wait so long?'" Haley said. He could only hear bits of the conversation. "Uh, well, I don't know. I'd have to check with him first. Oh, he's here. Hold on a minute," she said. She came into the room and folded her arms at him.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Your mother wants to throw us an engagement party," she said. He looked at her.
"Is my dad going to be there?" he asked.
"Probably. It's going to be at his house," Haley replied.
"Do you want to go?" he asked.
"To see your dad? No. But your mom is the one who's throwing the party and I haven't seen her in twelve years," she said.
"That's because I didn't want my dad to interfere with our relationship," he said.
"Yeah, I know and I'm not complaining, Nathan. I want to go to," she said. He sighed.
"Who else will be there?" he asked.
"Peyton, Jake, Brooke, Lucas, Keith, Karen, Deb and Dan. I don't know who else will be there. Oh, Lisa will be there, of course, whether they invite her or not," Haley said. Nathan nodded. Lisa had become Haley's friend while they were apart for those nine years of misery. And Nathan had become friends with her brother Anthony. Nathan nodded.
"So, when is it?" he asked. Haley smiled.
"Tomorrow," she replied.
"That's awful short notice," he said.
"Apparently, they've been planning it for a long time. So, we're going, right? I left your mom on hold," Haley said. Nathan nodded. Haley smiled and went back to the kitchen.