At The End of The Day

Authors Thoughts: Well this chapter starts off with a misunderstanding of sorts and I just want to give credit where credit is due that the basic idea of said misunderstanding is from an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond however the context and the stuff that goes along with it has nothing to do with it. The only thing that I took was the word play…you'll see. Also I want to say that the foreshadowing in these chapters is subtle, but its there. Every chapter so far has foreshadowing in it, even if its just one line. It's really subtle of course, because I think downplaying any obvious aspects works better here. That's part of the reason these first few chapters have more dialogue than they do long explanatory paragraphs. We'll get to that later. For now, the foundation is building. We have a long way to go but here, is where the plot begins to thicken.

Chapter 4

"We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is shattered and we are flying into the heavens. It may only last a moment, and hour, an afternoon. But that doesn't diminish its value. Because we are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives."- Unknown

Nathan and Peyton walked out of their Business Ethics class together. Nathan majoring in business was required to take the class and Peyton who was getting a Business minor chose it as one of her two required electives. Nathan had been surprised at first that a senior was in his class but he was happy for the company of someone he knew, or rather, was getting to know. He'd been able to talk to her a few times but not too much. The opportunity would probably present itself now though, as they'd been assigned a presentation and got paired up to work as a team.

"So I can just come over later and we can get started, I mean, if you want?" he began.

"Yeah, yeah sure. I live in Mull House. You know where that is or are you still learning your way around here?" she teased.

"I'm still learning but uh, Mull House, that's the same dorm as Haley right?"

"Yep."

"Ok so maybe I can come over say 8-ish?"

"Yeah that's good, my roommate hangs elsewhere in the night hours so we'll have some quiet to be able to actually get work done."

"How is it? Living with someone you didn't know before?" Nathan inquired. Getting to room with Lucas was easy because he already knew the guy and all the things that would annoy him. They'd had plenty of sleepovers as little boys. It was comforting to not have to deal with a stranger sharing the room but at the same time Nathan couldn't help but wonder if he was missing out on the college experience.

"It's not too bad as long as you set ground rules. I don't touch your stuff you don't touch my stuff. You just deal you know? Your roommate doesn't have to be your new best friend you just have to be able to deal and put up with them."

"Do you like yours?"

"She's kind of quiet, which is fine by me. Sometimes though I think she doesn't like me," she laughed, "but hey as long as she stays out of my hair then I won't complain."

He chuckled slightly, "well that's good, ok so what room are you in?"

"28"

"See you then." They each turned heading in the direction of their respective next class.

As Nathan walked into the Mull House building he was acutely aware that he hadn't been inside of this place yet. He'd walked Haley up to the door the other night but he had no idea where he was going inside, he just knew he had to find room 28. 'Shouldn't be too hard' he thought. As he walked along the first hallway he was glad to see that the doors all seemed to have numbers on them. Taking a quick glance at a door to his left he saw the 28 and knocked.

Haley zipped up her jeans as she heard a knock on the door. Picking up the shirt she was going to wear she held it backwards in front of her ready to pull it over her head as she answered "coming!"

Suddenly the door opened and Haley let out a scream when she saw the person, who was Nathan, had just waltzed into her room.

"Whoa, s-sorry, sorry!" Nathan quickly said lifting his head away from her and staring at the wall when he realized he'd just walked in on Haley half-way through putting a shirt on.

"Nathan what are you doing?" Haley asked him breathlessly.

"I didn't see anything I promise!" he told her quickly. He hadn't because as he walked in she already had her arms in the sleeves therefore the shirt was covering her chest, and she was wearing a bra, which he knew because he had seen the pink straps.

"I know you didn't but why didn't you wait for me to open the door?"

"You said come in!"

"I said come-ing!"

"Oh wow I'm sorry I swear I heard come in."

"Its ok," she pulled the shirt over her head, "you can look at me now." He turned his head slowly to look in her direction, removing his back from the door but keeping his hand on the knob. The look on his face showed how embarrassed he was and he could kick himself for being so stupid. It wasn't his fault of course, it really had sounded like "come in" through the door. But it was embarrassing nonetheless. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"I was just looking for Peyton because we have to work on a project together although I didn't think she roomed with you."

"She doesn't."

"Isn't this 28?" He turned back to the door pointing before making a fist with his hand and sighing "2B? I swear the B was an 8 a minute ago." This was just his luck, making a total fool of himself in the span of 1 minute. Great.

"No, no Mr. Deaf and Blind my room is 2B. Peyton is in 28 and she's up on the third floor."

Nathan looked back in Haley's direction, her hands placed on her hips in the way he could tell she did a lot, "sorry" he sent her weakly.

She laughed, "don't worry about it." He began to turn around closing the door behind him before he heard her call out to him, "Hey Nathan!"

"Yeah?" he turned his head.

"After you and Peyton finish working if you guys want to come hang out at the Campus Café, I'm supposed to meet up with Lucas and Brooke later," she offered.

He nodded his head, "ok well I don't know how long we'll be working so…"

"No yeah only if you guys have the time and whatnot," she smiled.

"Ok," he smiled back, "third floor huh?" he smirked sheepishly, which elicited a laugh from her. She could tell from the look on his face that he was probably more embarrassed than she was and that idea just amused her.

"Yep," she couldn't help but blush and with a final nod he closed the door.

'Idiot' he thought to himself.

"Who is it?" Nathan heard Peyton's voice call from the inside of room 28. He looked at the numbers on the door in front of him, yes that was definitely a 2 and an 8.

"It's Nathan."

"Come in!"

Ok that time she'd definitely said come in, right? He wasn't sure though. These wooden doors made it hard to tell. He decided to be safe and wait outside the door. Soon enough Peyton opened the door and looked at him quizzically.

"Why didn't you come in, I said come in," she opened the door wider so he could enter her room.

"Just making sure that you said that and not 'coming'," he told her still annoyed at his earlier idiocy.

"O…k," she drawled closing the door.

"By the way," he began changing the subject, "Haley said that she, Brooke and Lucas would be at the café later if we wanted to head over after we finish up here, or if we finish up I mean."

"Yeah Brooke told me," she nodded, "so shall we get started?"

"Yeah."

Nathan and Peyton sat across from each other on the floor, him leaning on one of the bed's as she leaned on the desk across from it. Peyton was flipping through some pages in some books as Nathan worked on his laptop.

"So Nathan," Peyton began, curious to know more about him. She hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to him that much yet and figured she'd ought to take this opportunity. "You're the cousin that moved away right before high school right?"

"That'd be me."

"You and Lucas are pretty close huh? I remember he'd mentioned you a couple times."

"Yeah we spent a lot of time growing up together," he answered her before adding, "he talked about you too."

Peyton looked at him, question in her eyes, "when did he do that?"

"In his emails, you know when you guys were dating senior year. He told me about you," he paused, "and how much he liked you."

Peyton averted her eyes a small smile playing on her lips, "yeah we had some good times together," she said softly.

Nathan watched Peyton's reaction and suddenly he was a little bit curious. It was probably inappropriate to ask but he figured he might as well give it a try. "You still into him?"

Peyton's head shot up at the question a surprised look on her face, "Why would you say that?"

"Well I don't know, you just sounded a little nostalgic there."

"Well yeah," she smiled, "I have nice memories of Luke."

"You say it like its past tense."

"Well I mean from when we were dating, we're just friends now," she stated truthfully.

"All right."

"Besides," she began, flipping a page of the current book on her lap, "you never forget your first love."

"He was your first love?"

She nodded before voicing her answer, "yes."

Nathan smiled at her, "well I think you were his too, if his emails were any indication. I was actually sort of surprised when he told me you guys had broken up. I didn't see that coming."

Peyton shrugged, "we were just different I suppose. Better friends than lovers, type of thing."

"How were you guys different?" he asked intrigued by her statement.

"Well I don't know," she moved her arms as she thought, "he's into basketball and books and I'm into art and music and I just always had some kind of drama going on in my life and it wasn't fair for him to have to put up with it."

"Wait so you broke up with him?"

"Not really. We didn't actually break-up, break-up you know? We just sort of realized that we weren't going on dates so much as we were hanging out. It felt like we were friends who kissed rather than being a couple so we kind of just phased out the kissing part."

"And yet you loved him?" Nathan was surprised by her words, which was why he kept asking her questions. He had never really been clear on the terms of Lucas and Peyton's breakup and for some reason he wanted to know.

Peyton smiled, "yeah because Lucas was always there for me when I needed him and I'd like to think I did the same for him."

"Well he definitely liked you a lot so no worries about that," he laughed and she did too in response.

"Like I said, you never forget your first love you know? Whether it ends on good terms or not or whether it ends at all, you just always remember the first person that woke your heart to feeling something it'd never felt before. That person just becomes…special," she slowed her words, "like more than a friend, so much more than just a friend, even if that's all you are to each other afterwards. Even if you end up being…just friends, that person is still just as special. You just know you're never going to forget them."

Nathan nodded facing his laptop once again. "You ever been in love Nate?" she questioned him this time.

He lifted his head and shook it slightly. "Can't say that I have, no."

She smiled at him. "Well careful, you never know when it's going to hit you," she teased playfully. He chuckled slowly and faced his laptop once again as their conversation turned back in the direction of the task at hand.

"You know I like working with you, I can't believe we finished in one night. You should see some of the people I've been stuck with before," Peyton told him as they opened the doors to the Café.

Nathan laughed, "Yeah I've been there. That's why I usually hate group projects and prefer just groups of two. You're a good partner to have too though," he smiled at her.

"Aww Nate!" Peyton dragged him towards the table where she'd spotted her friends, as she pinched his cheek, "such a sweetie!" she mocked him with a baby voice.

"Ok you're not a good partner anymore," he stated as she laughed releasing his cheek from the hold of her fingers.

"Hey guys," Peyton said as they reached Brooke, Lucas, Haley and a guy Nathan hadn't met yet.

"Hey girl!" Haley pulled Peyton to sit on the edge of her side of the booth that she was already sharing with said guy. Nathan took a seat next to Brooke who was sitting next to Lucas.

"What have you two been up to?" Brooke asked looking between the pair that had just joined them.

"Schoolwork," Nathan stated simply smiling as Brooke's face scrunched up in disgust.

"Lame!" she rolled her eyes, "oh have you met Kev?"

Nathan looked at the guy sitting next to Haley and stretched his arm to shake his hand, "Hi, I'm Nathan, Lucas' cousin."

"Oh right," Kevin shook Nathan's hand, "you're the freshman right?" Nathan nodded slowly, a tight-lipped smile on his face. "Nice to meet you finally, I've heard a lot about you."

"All good things I hope."

He laughed, "well I'll judge for myself. Lucas tells me you're going to play for the Blue Devils?"

"That's the plan."

"Good Luck. Coach K expects nothing short of the best."

"That's how I play," Nathan replied easily, "so you play any sports?"

"Nope, but I am a fan. Although if I'm being honest I enjoy football more."

"He's great at it," Haley piped up, that's when Nathan noticed Kevin's arm around her shoulder, "I keep telling him he should have gone somewhere where football was the sports focus and possibly played college."

Kevin shook his head. "No college football is for guys who want to make it to the NFL. I'm not going to be playing any professional sports for a living. I'll be watching games from my comfy couch on Sundays thank you very much," the group laughed already having heard him explain this before. "Besides Hales," he turned to her, "if I'd gone anywhere else I wouldn't have met you!" He smiled sweetly at her as she playfully smacked his shoulder.

"Right," she took a sip from the coffee mug in front of her and Nathan noticed the slight blush on her cheeks.

"Whatever," Brooke said suddenly, "so did you guys hear about this weekend?"

"What about it?" Lucas asked.

"Lucas come on! Everyone's talking about it. Sanderson Hall is throwing a welcome back party. It's supposed to be juniors and seniors only," Brooke clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh but don't worry Nate," she patted his arm, "you can come with us."

"Brooke not this again!" Haley rolled her eyes.

"Hales don't start! It's the first party of the year. You're coming, end of story. Drink if you want, don't if you don't want to, whatever you're coming!" Brooke ordered and Haley leaned back in her seat knowing it was useless to fight her on this. Lucas wouldn't object because he went wherever Brooke went so she had no one really to back her up. She sighed dramatically.

"Fine," she stated non-enthusiastically.

"And Nathan don't worry they don't check IDs or anything and by the way I went ahead and took care of getting you one. It's in my room I'll give it to you some other time." Nathan just nodded at her. He felt a little out of place at this table. The people around him had been friends for four years, some of them longer than that, and he totally felt like the 6th wheel. To top it all off his eyes kept wandering in the direction of Kevin's arm around Haley's shoulder and he had no idea why.

"Anyways," Peyton interjected, "Kevin," she leaned over the table and glared at him. "You still haven't told me anything about your summer and we've barely talked at all since school started. Why is that?" she stated over-dramatically feigning hurt.

"We'll get around to it, don't worry," he sent her a charming smile.

"Oh right that's what you always say, but you always have plenty of time for Haley here." The group laughed as if it were some inside joke that Nathan didn't understand.

"Don't be jealous," he smirked at her teasing her back.

She squinted her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him, "fine then I don't want to know."

"Oh all right," he sighed exaggeratedly scooting Haley over so that she and Peyton could stand and he could get out from his corner of the booth. "Let's go catch up now then." Peyton grinned widely as Brooke and Lucas stood up too showing that they were ready to leave as well. "You guys leaving?" Kevin turned to the couple. As they nodded he turned back to the table filled just moments ago and that now held only Nathan and Haley sitting across from each other.

"Ok then Nathan I trust you to walk Haley here safely back to her dorm," he pointed between the two of them.

"Oh stop it," she rolled her eyes, "I'm not a baby."

"Don't bother Hales you know he loves watching over you," Lucas told her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, go away!" she pushed playfully at Kevin's body that was leaning over the table.

He laughed, "Well it was nice meeting you Nathan," he sent a smile Nathan's way.

"Yeah you too," he answered. He watched the four exit the café before turning to face Haley again. "So do you want to leave also, or?"

"Yeah actually I am kind of beat and I have an early class tomorrow so if you don't mind…"

"It's ok," he said standing up with her.

"Oh you don't have to walk me to my dorm he was only kidding," she laughed.

"No its ok, I don't mind, besides its on the way to my dorm anyways so…"

"Ok then."

They walked in silence for a bit, side by side, before Haley faced him. "So did you and Peyton finish your project?"

"Yeah actually it was good we got the whole thing done. I was kind of surprised."

Haley nodded, "well that's good now you don't have to worry about it."

"Yeah, yeah I guess that's good." Nathan strolled slowly with his hands shoved in his pockets. His mind kept going back to earlier that night when he'd just barged into Haley's room and nearly seen her half-naked. He didn't know if it was just his overactive mind but he sensed a bit of awkwardness between them. "Listen Haley," he began, "I'm really sorry about before…" he spoke looking at his feet and looked up when Haley laughed.

"Nathan its o-kay! It was an honest mistake, don't worry about it. Besides it's not like you saw anything."

"Ok just wanted you to know that I honestly heard 'come in' I don't usually just barge into people's rooms."

She laughed, "Its ok," she assured him once more. They continued walking and after a moment Haley spoke again. "So what did you think about Kevin?" She looked up at him expectantly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well did you like him?"

"I just met him."

"Yeah but so far did you like him?"

"I guess…he seems nice enough," he turned to her, "when I meet people I don't tell myself 'I like him' or 'I don't like him'" he looked at her confused by her questioning.

"I know, I know I was just wondering what your first impressions of him were…"

"Well you two definitely seem close," he looked down at her watching her face.

"Yeah he's a great friend," she smiled. "He's kind of overprotective in case you didn't notice," he laughed. "But I like feeling protected."

When Nathan looked up he saw that they had reached her dorm, "well I guess I got you home safely," he smirked.

She laughed, "right, well thanks for walking me home, you didn't have to," she pulled out her keycard as they reached the door.

"Like I said, I don't mind."

"Goodnight Nathan," she once again initiated a hug by holding her arms out slightly and he quickly took the hint and hugged her.

"Goodnight," he turned and headed towards his own dorm hoping that Lucas had gone to Brooke's room so that he'd be able to get into his room and get some sleep. As he walked he replayed the last couple hours in his mind. He shook his head at what had happened with Haley not wanting to remember that anymore. He thought about Peyton, she was definitely different from Brooke and Haley, but in a lot of ways just as…girly. Her speech about love was sort of…typical. He'd never felt what she was talking about so he knew he hadn't been in love yet. He kind of wondered at it though. The way Peyton talked about Lucas and the way Lucas used to talk about Peyton. It was similar and yet different from the way Luke seemed around Brooke. Brooke and Peyton were so different though, it kind of surprised him that Lucas had been so into Peyton and now was so into Brooke. His cousin was happy though, Nathan could see that, so he was happy for him. Then he thought about Kevin. He'd been a little thrown at how much he clicked with the group; he was clearly a part of them. He shouldn't be surprised at that but he kind of was. He was mostly surprised at how close he seemed with Haley, and even Peyton. He thought since Kevin had roomed with Lucas freshman year they'd be the closest, but he seemed closest to Haley, and quite protective of her as well. That was nice, he supposed. He wondered why Haley had wanted to know what he'd thought of Kevin, but he didn't think much of it. She was probably just trying to make conversation. Kevin seemed nice enough, as he'd told her, he didn't really know him yet though, so he couldn't really judge. For starters they didn't have the professional sports thing in common. Nathan didn't know if he'd make it to the NBA, but he was certainly going to try, whereas Kevin was opposed to the whole idea, almost against it. He kind of wondered about that, but again he shrugged it off not thinking much of it. He didn't really want to think anymore right now, he was tired, and as he walked in his room he said a quick "thank you" prayer because indeed he had the room all to himself and he could get some sleep.