At The End of The Day
Authors Thoughts: Perhaps you were expecting more out of this chapter but again I'm trying to build this up and not rush it. You have to remember Nathan is just a freshman in college meanwhile Haley is already a senior not to mention that both are a little oblivious at this point aren't they? But this is definitely a necessary chapter to get to where I want to go and stuff will happen soon. Enjoy!
Chapter 9"Similarities create friendship's while differences hold them together." -Unknown
After Nathan finally got Haley to calm down a bit they both drank the coffee and ate some cake in a comfortable silence. Nathan helped Haley clean the dishes even though she assured him he didn't have to. He did it happily though, she washed he dried, and he felt it was the least he could do seeing as how he was being a guest in her house. Settled on the couch in front of the TV Haley was flipping through the channels trying to find something they could watch.
"Well at least the power didn't go off yet," she voiced her thoughts.
"Not yet anyway," he laughed. "So Peyton drove home herself right? Did she leave before or after us?"
"Before I think."
"Oh all right, it'd suck if she had left after and was stuck out there," he looked through the window, the sky was completely dark now and the rain was pounding on the glass.
"I know but she left in the morning I think, her dad's actually going to make it to Thanksgiving this year so she's really excited. Sometimes he has to miss it because he works on this drudging boat and he can't always be there for her, and since her mom died years ago it sucks when she has to do it alone."
"I think I remember Lucas mentioning a couple of times that she spent Thanksgiving with them."
"Yeah they were friends since freshman year of high school so I think she spent almost all of her Thanksgivings over at his house," she informed him. Both Lucas and Peyton had spoken separately to her about their past relationship as it came up in conversation. They always spoke of their past fondly, sometimes even a little nostalgically, and a part of her wondered why they didn't make it. "It's weird now huh?" she began, "This year he's bringing home Brooke for Thanksgiving."
"Yeah I guess, but you know they've been dating almost a year right? So I guess they're pretty serious."
"Right it's good to see Lucas in a solid relationship, those first couple of years in college I was beginning to think he was going to be a playboy forever," she laughed.
"My cousin isn't the playboy type," he informed her with a bit of a haughty tone.
"Pfft, that's what you think," she mused. And they both had to laugh at that. "There really is nothing on TV is there?" She had already flipped through all the cable channels twice and she just couldn't find anything remotely interesting that both of them would want to watch.
"There has to be a basketball game on somewhere," he stated obviously, taking the remote, effortlessly from her hand.
"Hey!" She tried to regain it but he held it up high still seated on the couch. She crawled over to his side and tried to reach up for it but he only held it higher and inadvertently her body came up over his, as she was not going to quit trying to get the remote without at least giving it a good shot. Both ended up laughing as they squirmed around, her in an effort to retrieve the remote and he in an effort to keep it from her.
"Haley…" he breathed between laughs, "Stop! Just let me have the remote."
"I think it's my remote Nathan," she informed him, "Besides is basketball all you think about?" He paused distracted by her tone of voice, and wondering why she would question him about that. Sure he was a basketball fanatic but there was more to him than that and he thought she knew that, or rather he hoped she did. But as he looked up at her he wondered why it mattered to him so much? Suddenly a smile began to creep on her face and realization hit him. She'd distracted him as had his thoughts and the remote in his hand was totally reachable. Both seemed to realize this at the same time. But as she tried to lunge for it she learned the hard way that Nathan Scott was to quick for her because as soon as he sat up from his lying position underneath her on the couch she ended up rolling onto the floor.
"Ok, ow," she stated irritated.
"Oh wow Haley I'm so sorry are you ok?" He was on the floor next to her in a matter of seconds, reaching out his hands to help her up.
She laughed though, and the features of concern on his face relaxed a bit. "It's ok Nathan I'm fine really."
"I'm sorry I guess I forgot that you're really light and my moving too fast had you flying," he bit back a smile.
"Don't call me little mister!" she admonished complete with a finger pointing at his chest.
"I didn't," he replied with ease.
Just then the lights and TV switched off and the light background buzz of the refrigerator coming from the kitchen, came to a halt.
The power had indeed been knocked out.
"Ok Haley, you can have the remote," he held it out for her, the smirk planted firmly on his face.
"I'm busting a gut over here with laughter Nathan Scott!" she rolled her eyes in the dark, her amused tone betraying her sarcastic words.
"So what do we do now?" he laughed.
"Umm," Haley took a second to look around the room as if in search of an answer. She and Nathan were still standing facing each other, in the darkness of the house.
"Uh Hales," he began, "Don't we need some sort of flashlight or something?"
"Oh right!" moving past him quickly she headed for the kitchen, hitting her hip on the counter, "ouch!" She yelped and Nathan who had followed her could only laugh. "That's not funny," he could see her pout even through the dark haze of the kitchen and decided against saying anything else. Opening several drawers Haley finally pulled out something he assumed was a flashlight, and tried in frustration to turn it on; but it wasn't working. "Don't even tell me…" she mumbled to herself.
"What's wrong? Won't it turn on?"
"Nope and we definitely don't have extra D batteries in the house," she sighed, slamming the drawer shut as she did so.
"Ok then we'll just have to entertain ourselves…in the dark," he laughed.
"Right," tapping her fingers on the counter they both remained quiet for a moment before an idea came into her head. "Oh I know!" Moving back into the living room she headed for her bags that she had dropped off on the floor when they came into the apartment running in from the rain earlier that day. "I brought my laptop with me so we can watch a DVD or something since there's no TV."
"Awesome, what movies do you have?"
"We'll see," she said retrieving the laptop and moving down the hall, "Come on the selection is in my room and it's more comfortable to watch it there anyways."
Following her down the hall they both came into her room and he wished he could see more of it to get a better sense of Haley's personality. They always said you can always tell a lot about a person from their room but he could only make out the furniture pieces and the bed in the middle, but not all the small details that make a room personal. "So I'll let you pick because since they're my movies I'll love any of them," she broke into his thoughts.
Moving over to her bookshelf he saw that one of the shelves had a small collection of DVDs. Pulling out his cell phone he used the backlight to scan the titles and shook his head, "You have to be kidding me. These are all chick flicks Haley!"
"They are not," she huffed indignantly; hands on her hips, like he now knew she often did.
He sent her a look that showed he vehemently disagreed. "Well maybe," she relented, "But it's all I have so take it or leave it, just pick one."
Moving over to sit on her bed and start up her laptop she left him by the shelf to search her fascinating array of choices. This was going to be pretty boring, but it was better than staring at the walls in the dark. Picking up a few of the DVDs he looked at the covers, "Hey Haley…" he called to her eyeing one of them.
"Hmm?"
"Is this that actress…Rachel something?"
"What's the movie?"
"The Notebook."
"Oh yeah that's Rachel McAdams."
"All right," he took that one in his hand and placed the rest of them back on the shelf moving over to sit next to her, "We'll watch this one."
Sending him an amused look, she took the case and began to open it meanwhile opening up the CD drive on the computer. "The Notebook? That's probably one of the most chick-flicky movies I have…"
"Chick-flicky? And I thought Duke was good for education…" he teased.
Smacking his arm she let out a laugh, which he reciprocated, "Rachel McAdams is hot, so even if I'm bored to death at least I can look at something nice. Besides Titanic is played out," he explained.
Haley rolled her eyes, "I would judge you for that but..." she closed the CD case, "Ryan is pretty hot too."
"Ryan I take it is her co-star?"
"That's right," leaning back on a propped up pillow and stretching her legs before her she motioned for him to do the same on his side of the bed. She took the laptop and put it on her lap facing the both of them.
A little while later, Nathan was trying to make an effort in paying attention when Haley suddenly placed the laptop on his lap and jumped up. He was about to question what she was doing when he saw her move towards the closet and open the door pulling out a blanket from one of the bottom shelves. Turning around she saw the question in his eyes, "I'm a little cold," she explained and he nodded his head.
Lying back down she began to stretch the blanket over the both of them, "I thought you said you were cold?"
"Yeah and you aren't?"
He just shrugged in response not wanting her to feel like she had to share, he really wasn't all that cold, not yet anyways.
"Oh just come here," she motioned for him to scoot closer so that the blanket could cover the both of them comfortably and then the laptop was placed half on one of her legs and the other half on his leg.
"Thanks," he smiled.
"No problem," she mumbled in return and concentrated on the screen.
Nathan a little bored let his mind wander and thought back to before…what Haley had said about how her parents split up because her dad cheated. That must have been tough on her he could tell from the way her face looked when she spoke of it. And yet this was the first he was hearing of any of this. On a regular day-to-day basis Haley was a happy person striving for what she wanted. You couldn't tell from her demeanor that she'd had this kind of domestic situation. She seemed like she came from any other normal family. And suddenly he remembered. That day when they had played, well not really played but poked around at the balls on the pool table, during the first week of school. They were in the back room at the Pizza Parlor and…
"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.
Now he knew how wrong he'd been. Haley was a big dreamer for sure. She believed in love, true love, with her whole heart. That made her seem like an even stronger person in his eyes. She had every reason to believe love didn't exist or to not want it if it did but she was still willing to put herself out there and risk her heart. He'd never given that kind of stuff too much thought, he figured it would just happen normally like it did for most people. He figured he was too young to start thinking about that kind of stuff. Haley though had clearly been forced to think about it because of life's circumstances. She'd thought about it a lot he could tell, and she was only a few years older than him. Did love really exist and if yes was it worth it? Or would you just end up hurt in the end like everyone seemed to these days?
His thoughts were broken as he felt her head fall slightly onto his shoulder and looking down he saw her eyes closed. From the gentle rise and fall of her body he could tell she had fallen asleep and he didn't blame her. It had been a long day and this kind of weather made it all the more tiring. Pausing the movie and shutting the laptop he reached over to place it on the nightstand. He began to raise himself off the bed ready to go into the living room to sleep on the couch but in her slumber Haley's arm came around his waist holding him down, as her face snuggled lower onto his chest. He smiled softly and stretched downward so that he could lie on the bed, and she snuggled into him further still. Not thinking twice about it he pulled the blanket further over them and closed his eyes, not failing to notice how cozy and comfortable this felt. Soon he too had fallen asleep.
The only sound in the room was of the rain hammering harshly against the windows, before each drop slid slowly, individually, down the glass.