Chapter Twenty-One: Like Normal People

Since he'd done a good deed for her, and since he maybe wasn't an asshole anymore, Haley didn't protest when Nathan joined her at the Country Club and sat down in the lawn chair next to hers on the pool deck.

"Hey," she said, greeting him amicably.

"Hey," he said. She smiled in self-assurance when his eyes swept her bikini clad figure.

"What's up?" asked Haley, rearranging her sunglasses so they sat on her hairline and Nathan could see her brown eyes.

"I've been looking for you. I was thinking…" he said.

"About what?"

"Stop interrupting. Anyway, we had something of an unconventional start," he said.

"Are you referring to the weekend getaway to trick the press into believing that we're a couple, or the time you kicked my boyfriend's ass on my request?" asked Haley.

"Both. So I was thinking we could do something more conventional. Want to go out some time?" he asked. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Somehow she'd expected him to chase her until she broke and started something herself.

"Sure," she said, the single word escaping her lips before she could stop it.

"Okay then. We'll go out on a date. You're sure you don't have like intimacy issues or something?" he asked.

"Uh, I don't know. I guess we'll find out," she said suggestively. Nathan smirked and ran his eyes over her again.

"Damn straight we will, Haley James," he said.

XxxxxxX

Since Peyton had exiled herself from the group and was basically AWOL, Haley was forced to go the slightly less desirable route in preparation for her date.

"Tell me again," begged Brooke, a half hour later.

"He just asked me out. It's not a big deal," she said again.

"It's a huge deal!" protested Brooke.

"It's not. How about we talk about an actual huge deal?" asked Haley.

"Like about how I might be pregnant by my ex-boyfriend? I'd really rather not," she said.

"Are you sure it isn't Lucas'?"

"I'm not even sure it's an it, but it would have to be Mouth's. I'm pretty sure whoever it was switched my birth control the day of the night I slept with Mouth, and Lucas and I hadn't done it since the night before," explained Brooke.

"Meaning the pill you took the day before should have protected you for twenty-four hours, until the time you took the fake pill?" asked Haley in slight confusion.

"Yeah," said Brooke, looking slightly condescending for a minute. Poor virginal Haley.

"But do you really have any doubt of who did it?" asked Haley, desiring desperately for a moment to tell Brooke what Nathan had seen in the hotel room between Davis and Lucas.

"I guess not. It fits. But why? Everything she's done, every manipulative bitchy thing, has been for a purpose. I'm her cousin. We're friends, sort of. Why would she bother?" asked Brooke. Haley shrugged.

"I'm kind of biased, seeing as I hate her," said Haley bitterly. Brooke held back a laugh.

"Yeah. Now, any opinions on your hair or can I just follow my instincts?" asked Brooke, as both of them turned to face the mirror.

"Follow your instincts," said Haley, taking a shaky breath as she caught sight of her pale self in the mirror, the bruise on her cheek as distinct as the hickey on her neck.

Brooke had gone home by the time Nathan showed up, two hours later. Haley had asked her to stay until they left, for moral support, but Brooke had denied the request that she be a third wheel. As much as Haley privately suspected that it was actually because Brooke didn't want to be in the room with her ex-boyfriend's brother (Were they exes? It wasn't official), Haley couldn't complain.

"Hey Haley," said Nathan when she answered the door. She smiled at him.

"Hey. You look nice," she said honestly.

"You look amazing. As always. Want to go?" he asked.

"Sure," she said softly. As she grabbed her purse and joined him on the porch, he put an arm around her and let his hand rest on her hip. Haley had the vague idea that she shouldn't allow this, but she wasn't one to protest.

Nathan opened her car door for her and handed her in. Haley smiled at how hard it was trying. Chris had never had to try hard. So he had never bothered.

"So, where do you want to go? I've made some reservations. I can get in anywhere," he said. Haley smiled at the tension in his face.

"Honestly, I don't want to go anywhere crowded. People look at me all sympathetically and I can't stand it any more. My tan's fading because I haven't been able to spend time at the Club without feeling like screaming," she said.

"What a tragedy. Uh, I have an idea," he said, signaling and abruptly making a U turn.

Haley paused in the doorway as Nathan led them into his hotel room.

"Are you planning to seduce me, Nathan Scott?" she said provocatively. He stole another glance at her. She was wearing a deep red, scooped next sweater and low, tight jeans. One her feet were high heeled boots, making her considerably closer to his height.

"Always," he said, walking back to the door. Haley smiled as he gently took her hand and tugged her into the room. "The way I see it we've got movies on demand, we've got room service. What more could we want?"

"Can you show me the rest?" she asked curiously. He nodded and led her out of the small hallway they were standing to, into the small living room, which contained a love seat, and a chair with a foot stool, both positioned in front of a flat screen TV. Sliding glass doors led to the bedroom, with the King sized bed and Jacuzzi.

"Nice. We're watching in here. Not there," she said firmly, indicating the living room. He smiled as he slid closed the doors to the bedroom.

"Fine. And since I'm such a gentleman, I'll take the chair," he said, sitting down in it. Haley reflected that it was a rather large chair.

"You may be a gentleman," she said, walking over to him. He raised his eyebrows as she sat down in between his legs and leaned against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. "But I'm no lady."

An hour later, after pizza and half the movie, Haley had grown bored. Still nestled in Nathan's arms, she reached over to the coffee table and picked up a framed photograph. It had been taken about a year previously, she realized. Nathan and Lucas stood on either side of two tall slim blonde girls, who looked almost like twins. Haley noted that they were both ridiculously thin, and on the verge of being beautiful. And that one had Nathan's eyes.

"Who are they?" asked Haley curiously.

"That one's my kid sister. Ryan. She's about your age, I think you'd like her," said Nathan, pointing to the elder of the blondes, the one with his blue eyes.

"She's pretty," said Haley, feeling a smile grow on her face at the infectious smile on the girl's face.

"She's trouble. She lives in New York with my parents," said Nathan. Through his smooth words, Haley could detect tenderness.

"What kind of trouble?"

"She's boy crazy. And she has lots of energy. When Luke and I used to babysit she'd always sweet talk us into letting her stay up late," said Nathan fondly.

"Like Brooke?" asked Haley.

"She makes Brooke look like a ninety year old woman," said Nathan.

"Ryan? That's Davis' last name."

"Fake last name," said Nathan.

"What's her real one? Brooke told me," said Haley.

"Davis is her actual last name. Her name's Shannon Davis," he said.

"She took your sister's name?"

"It was Ry's idea. She thought it was hilarious."

"I'd like to meet her," said Haley thoughtfully. "And who's the other?"

"That's my other sister, Leigh. She's fifteen. And you will. I'll have Mom ship her down here, and she can hang with us," he said.

"You're so whipped," teased Haley, leaping up as his fingers began to tickle her sides.

Sliding open the doors, she ran into the bedroom. He caught her quickly by the bed, and they fell onto it. She landed on top of him.

"Hey," she said softly, looking down into his deep blue eyes as he stopped tickling her. In a flash he'd flipped them so she was trapped underneath.

"This is better," he said, holding himself up, his hands by her shoulders. He leaned on one hand and used the other to brush hair off her face. In the last moment, just before he could have sealed their fate, Haley's fist closed around a foil package and she inhaled the scent of designer perfume.

"Nathan?" she whispered, as his lips hovered inches from hers.

"Hmm?"

"You're having sex with Davis, you fucking bastard." As she began to struggle beneath him, he rolled off of her.

"I can explain…"

"But you can't deny. God Nathan, every time I let you in, every time I think you've changed…" Haley ran her hands through her long blonde hair, trying to hide her disheveled appearance.

"It's going to happen. Isn't it? Haley?" he said. He frowned as Haley ran out of the room.

He wasn't subtle about his obsession. He didn't skulk in his car, park across the seat. Nathan lit up a cigarette, leaned against his car on the sidewalk in front of her house, and stared into her lit window. He scowled as his view was blocked by a considerably taller man in front of him.

"You're losing her. You're never going to keep her," said Chris menacingly.

"So sure about that?"

"Yeah, I am. She needs more than what you can offer her. She's slipping away and there isn't anything you can do about it," he said.

"Wouldn't you like to believe," muttered Nathan under his breath.

"Haley's never been chased. She's used to chasing. It's the game she plays, whether she knows it or not," said Chris. He almost smiled as Nathan's fist came forward and punched his face squarely.

"Yeah, because that will solve your problems," said Chris, still smiling as he walked away.