At The End of The Day

Authors Thoughts: This chapter helps you get a little bit more inside Nathan and Haley's heads. I'll be honest that I have the second half of this story more thought out then I do the first half so these first few chapters may seem a little lacking. I hope though that its still believable and enjoyable to read and I promise once we get to the nitty gritty of the story things will get more…nitty gritty-ish. For now, things may be starting slow, but I hope that adds to the believability and realistic nature of the story. I want it to sound believable and that takes buildup.

Chapter 3 "It all begins when the soul would have its way with you." -Emerson

Nathan followed Haley in the direction she was heading. At first he thought she was going outside heading for another building but instead she turned towards the back of the pizza place and walked towards two swinging doors. She pushed them both open and as Nathan stepped behind her his eyes went wide.

"Whoa I didn't know there was more stuff back here. I always thought this was the doors to the kitchen or something."

Haley laughed, "Nope back here is where people hang out after eating."

Nathan looked around. There were pinball machines, foosball tables and two pool tables on opposite sides of the room. Signs with the words "no smoking" literally covered the walls. 'They must really want to enforce that rule,' he thought.

"I like coming back here from time to time and have a little fun. I really like that no one can smoke in here because I really can't stand the smell."

Nathan laughed, "yeah me either. I mean I tried it once, a cigarette, but I didn't really like it," he admitted. "Besides again with the whole basketball thing that wouldn't help much."

"No it wouldn't." she agreed, "Come on."

He followed her to one of the pool tables, the one on the left side of the room. "So since you're stuck here at Duke and everything, I was thinking maybe I could point out some of the stuff you're bound to like about the school. Highlight the positives, I guess."

He raised his eyebrows picking up one of the cues, "and you're going to do that by playing pool?"

She laughed uneasily, "not exactly," she picked up one of the cues as well, "see I have a confession to make, I don't actually know how to play pool."

He laughed out loud at her, "Well that makes two of us." She laughed back at him. The room lights were dimmed but she was standing directly under one of the soft lights. He noticed how the light reflected off her hair and how her whole face seemed to shine when she laughed. She was definitely a really pretty girl. He shook his head quickly ridding himself of that thought. Yes, she was pretty, but there were plenty of pretty girls on campus as he'd seen so far in his first week.

He cleared his throat, "so if neither of us know how to play pool what exactly are we doing here?"

"Well," she drawled out the word, "I guess we can just shoot the balls around, or whatever its called, and we can just talk." She smiled simply at him.

"Sounds good. So tell me, why am I going to love this place so much?" he raised his eyebrows at her in a challenge.

"Well for starters you'll be on the basketball team. Basketball rules all at Duke, if you play, you're recognized everywhere, and if you win, you're treated like a king."

"If we win," he emphasized.

She laughed, "yeah, its kind of a downer when the team loses, the whole campus is like depressed. But as you know Duke doesn't lose much," she poked one of the balls with her cue and smiled as it went into one of the pockets.

"You sure you don't know how to play?"

"No I mean that was pure luck. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. But I really don't know what the rules are."

She stepped away from the table as he tried for one and it nearly went in one of the pockets before stopping just short. He straightened up and sighed looking at her and the amused expression on her face.

"Ok, basketball's a given, what else am I going to like?"

"Umm," Haley looked around and noticed a couple of girls enjoying a pool game of their own on the other table, surrounded by a couple of guys she recognized from the basketball team. She turned back to him with a grin, "groupies," she stated.

"What?" he looked at her confusion in his eyes.

"Groupies. You'll play basketball so that automatically gets you a fan club, like I said, but especially a female one. The girls will come running."

Nathan looked down at the table averting her gaze, shrugging his shoulders.

"What you don't believe me? Just wait Mr. Scott you'll see."

"Whatever," he shook it off. He'd had girlfriends in high school, nothing overly serious, but also not flings. He was used to being with someone, but he wasn't really used to a lot of female attention. He understood the 'fan club' thing, he'd had that in high school, but still he shy'd away from attention. He didn't like it; he was much more comfortable with people not knowing everything about him, or wanting to know. He just preferred to keep to himself, he was a 'speak if you're spoken to' kind of guy. So he was definitely surprised at how easily he seemed to open up with Haley. He felt comfortable around her already.

"Oh come on you're not going to tell me that would be a bad thing?"

He looked at her and then smiled, almost shyly, "it can't be all that bad I suppose." She bent down again over the table to poke at one of the balls. She was wearing a tank top however and her position revealed a little bit more from that angle. Quickly he cleared his throat trying hard not to look.

"So uh," he started trying to get her attention so that she'd straighten back up, "what about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"

She stood up after missing, the ball not going into the pocket, and didn't look at him, as a small smile graced her face, "no," she stated simply.

He noticed her unease at that question, "bad experience or something?"

She shrugged her shoulders, still not looking at him, "not really, just sort of…well a lot of college guys aren't exactly my type…and its just kind of hard sometimes."

"How so?"

"Well its like, I don't need to have someone to feel good about myself you know? I'm getting my degree and that's more important and everything but I just…I don't need a guy, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't mind having one."

"And out of all the guys on campus none are your type?"

She shrugged, "I've gone on some dates…but none ever amounted to anything, and I guess sometimes I just worry." She didn't know what had come over her, why she was facing her fears in this moment, with someone who was practically a stranger, or why she was voicing these things out loud. But something about Nathan told her she could trust him.

"Worry? About what?"

"I just sort of always had this plan you know like…I know its going to sound really stupid but, I'd go to college, get my degree, meet prince charming, get married after college, be married for some years, start a life together, and then have kids around the time I was thirty." She laughed uneasily, still not looking at him. "And well its senior year and prince charming is nowhere to be found."

"Haley." He couldn't believe how vulnerable she sounded, or why she was so worried. "Just because you don't find 'prince charming' in college doesn't mean you won't find him at all."

"I know but its like if I don't find him here then where? At home sitting in my bachelorette apartment? No. At a bar? No, thank you, I don't want to date those kinds of guys."

"Come on Haley I don't think you need to worry about finding a husband. You're young."

She didn't answer him…just kept looking at her cue, as if she were examining it for scratches or something. "You'll find someone. I mean I haven't known you that long but you seem like a great girl, and I mean it was really nice of you to help me out before, with the Math. Any guy would be lucky to have you."

She finally looked up at him with a small smile, "that's sweet Nathan. Thank you," she told him honestly.

"Besides you shouldn't get caught up in the idea or notion of prince charming. Life isn't always a fairytale you know."

"Oh believe me I know," she smiled, again. She always had that smile on her face but it wasn't always real, he wondered what was behind it, wondered about the things he didn't know about her. "But I believe in love. In finding that one perfect person that's right for you and that you can fall so deeply in love with somebody that you just know you're going to spend the rest of your life with them," she looked up and spoke dreamily. Nathan watched her almost in a trance as she spoke, listening to every word. "You know and it just feels right. That one person loves and respects you and accepts you and all the bad things in your life don't matter because you have that person. And you get married and you have kids and its not always easy, its not always lovey-dovey. But if you love each other enough you can make it work. You can surpass the bad times and enjoy the good times and just…be happy. Forever."

"Wow, you must have grown up in the happiest home to be such a big dreamer and believe so strongly in that."

"Not exactly," she looked at him. Before he could say anything else she turned away from him and hung the cue back up. "Anyways I think this game is over," she stated with her hands on her hips. Nathan found himself chuckling at her actions, although he wasn't sure why.

"Alright lets go," he hung his own cue up and followed her out the door.

"Nice night huh?" Nathan asked looking up at the sky as he and Haley strolled slowly through the pathways of campus.

"Yeah," Haley breathed in the fresh night air, a welcome breeze to relieve them from the North Carolina humidity. "That's another thing you might like, the weather here never gets too cold."

"Yeah I remember from when we used to live down here. You don't know cold until you live in the northeast I'm telling you," he laughed.

"Yeah I know I went with Brooke to New York once to go see the big tree," she laughed "it was so cold though I thought I was going to die."

"I think I'm going to die getting used to this humidity again," he wiped his forehead feeling a slight sweat at the dense night air; he could barely feel the breeze.

Haley laughed stopping in front of the building they were passing, "well I dorm here, so…"

"I'll walk you to the door."

"Ok," Haley quipped, admiring Nathan's gentleman like qualities, he was shyer and quieter than Lucas, but he seemed to be just as sweet as his cousin.

"Thanks again for helping me with that stuff."

"Nathan its ok stop thanking me, I'm glad to do it, any time, ok?"

"Alright," he laughed, his hands in his pockets.

"Thank you for the pizza. I had fun tonight."

"Oh no problem, yeah me too…" Nathan shifted his weight from one foot to another. He always hated these awkward moments when you meet someone new. When you meet them you can just shake their hand, but after all the talking they'd done should he just walk away or should he shake her hand again? Maybe give her a hug?

"Well, goodnight Nathan," she leaned in a little opening her arms a bit. She gave him the answer. He took his hands out of his pockets quickly and lightly wrapped his arms around her.

"Goodnight," she smiled up at him turning to her door as he walked back down the path onto the main walkway.

A smile graced his face as well. He had had a good time. Haley was different then what he'd expected her to be. She wasn't like other girls he knew. For starters she didn't care much for drinking or partying or anything like that yet that was all girls at his high school seemed to care about. He wondered if it was because she was more mature and older, or if it was because she was in college or what the reason was. Lucas wasn't much of a party guy either, so that certainly explained how Lucas had become best friends with a girl. He still remembered being little and Lucas teaching him all about how girls had cooties. Of course by the time they were in middle school Lucas had already outgrown that telling him about how such and such girl was so "pretty" not that he ever did anything about it. Lucas hadn't really dated anyone until high school, and it seemed as though Peyton had been the first girl he really, truly cared about. He always talked about her in his emails to him, and how she was such a great girl. He had been surprised when Lucas told him they'd decided to just be friends, but Lucas did seem happy with Brooke too. When the three of them had hung out the other night he could tell that Lucas and Brooke really liked each other, especially with all the smooching they'd done. He rolled his eyes at the memory; he sure had felt like a third wheel there.

He remembered what Haley had told him about playing basketball and attracting groupies, as she'd called them. He wondered if it'd really be like that, he was just a freshman, would girls really hit on a freshman, if they weren't freshman themselves? He wasn't going to pretend like he wasn't intrigued by the idea of having girls like him, he was just a little doubtful that they'd even notice. He was a good ball player back home, but in high school he was the best one on the team. Here he'd be playing with a bunch of stars, he wouldn't exactly stand out. Not as much as he would had he'd gone to UConn like he wanted to. He had to admit though it was nice having Lucas in his life again, and so far things weren't all that bad. He was apprehensive about basketball starting up but excited at the same time. He loved the game and no matter where he played it he just loved to play it. He'd make the best of his situation, but just in case he was going to apply to UConn again. That way in case he did end up hating this place he'd have somewhere to transfer too. Luke would be out of here by the end of the year so his dad wouldn't be able to use that excuse anymore to make him stay. Hopefully next year he could go back and be with all his friends again. For now though, he just had to suck it up and live with it. He'd be here at Duke for the next couple of months and he had to accept that. He had to just go to practice and play hard, go to class and keep his grades up, and hopefully make some friends.

With friends like Haley James around, maybe things wouldn't be so bad.