At The End of The Day
Authors Thoughts: Well as you know it's been a slow buildup. I wish I could give the rest of this story as much time as I gave the first part but the remaining is probably going to be a bit rushed because I have to actually finish this for a class. Maybe not too rushed, but just progressing more quickly than what you've been used to. Not this chapter though. This chapter was planned from the beginning and I'm so happy to have finally written it. It's like a climax of sorts and I'm actually extremely happy with how it came out. I know you've been waiting for this so I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 11This time the quote is at the end because I didn't want to give it away so try to resist looking to the end of the chapter so you don't ruin the surprise. Although now you probably figured it out.
Realizations are like a double-edged sword. In a way it's great to finally be in the light and know where you are but in another way now you have this new reality to deal with. This tiny new piece of information suddenly changes your present world, or your view on it, and now you're faced with this new reality. Often realizations only end up confusing you more because often you have absolutely no idea what to do about it. And this was exactly Nathan Scott's state of mind.
So he liked Haley. Now what? Ask her out? It wasn't that simple. This wasn't some random girl in some random class that he thought was hot and could just ask out. There were other factors, other things to be thought of. There was the fact that he and Haley were actually friends and if he asked her out things could seriously get weird. Especially if she didn't see him in that light which he was pretty sure she didn't. He couldn't stop thinking of her and Kevin and how far apart their relationship had become simply because Kevin dared to ask her out and she didn't feel the same. For all intents and purposes Kevin was much more her type than he was that was for sure. And to top it all off, he'd be putting Lucas right in the middle of them. It wasn't fair to Lucas to get stuck between his cousin and his best friend. Not that he'd really be stuck or anything…
Ok now he was just confusing himself. It was hard though, hanging around Haley everyday the way he always had, except with the new knowledge he had now. It was like his senses were heightened. One smile from her and he was keenly aware that he was smiling back at her. He inadvertently would find himself paying more attention to things like what style her hair was in that day.
The worst part though was that he didn't want to like her. Haley was great, she was one of his best friends, but he hadn't necessarily wanted a girlfriend freshman year of college. He wanted to enjoy life, the college life, and all the things that came with it. And it was weird to him, how he ended up liking her instead of the groupies. Yep, Haley had been right about that, the groupies were starting to come around. He was the freshman with the most floor time and he'd played in almost every game. The reporters noticed, the coach obviously liked him, and the girls seemed to be noticing to. It was every guy's dream. Yet there he was crushing like a schoolgirl on his and his cousin's best friend.
This couldn't possibly be good.
Right now though he just wanted to get her out of his head so he could concentrate on passing finals. If he didn't there would be no more basketball so that was definitely the priority, both for he and Lucas. Thankfully a lot of people in his classes had established study groups to help each other out. Hopefully he'd get enough out of his Calculus one without having to ask Haley for help. He'd done it a lot over the past few months but he didn't think concentrating with her next to him would work too well. Besides she had her own finals to worry about and he had no place to distract her from her studying-worrying combo. She was doing a great job of it last time he ran into her which was for 5 minutes yesterday. She was on her way to the library, of course. She'd been cooping herself up there for the last few days. He almost began to worry but Lucas reassured him it was normal exam-time Haley behavior.
And that was where he was now, in his room studying with Lucas. Both of them had to pass to be able to play and that was the biggest motivation to focus. Looking up for a second across the room he saw Lucas beginning to doze off. Reaching over to the floor and picking up his sneaker from where it lay on the side of the bed he aimed for the backboard of Lucas' bed and threw the shoe. He couldn't hold back the laughter as Lucas awoke suddenly, practically jumping in his place and ran a hand over his eyes and face clearly dazed and confused.
"What…?"
"No time for sleep Luke you have your first final tomorrow remember?"
Lucas let out a groan and leaned back against the headboard again, "Don't remind me, I've been studying ALL day," he stressed the word.
"Well do you feel like you know it?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I'm just ready to take it and get it over with. I'm ready to get all my finals over with and just go home and have some of my mom's Christmas dinner. I'm sick of this college food thing."
"Come on its not that bad…"
"Not when it's your first year baby cousin, wait till four years from now and see if you're sick of it."
"Stop it with the baby thing!" Nathan sighed. Was he always going to be referred to as the baby cousin?
Lucas just laughed, "Oh by the way my mom called me today and she said our dad's are holding one of their famous gala events on New Years Eve, you know for the dealership, with all of their associates and stuff."
"Really?" Nathan perked up, "Oh man dad hasn't had one of those since we moved up north."
"I know, my dad said that it's all of your dad's old associates when he ran the dealership and all the new associates my dad has made running it for him."
"So a big New Year's Eve party again huh?"
"Yep, unfortunately since Brooke spent Thanksgiving with us she has to go home for the holiday break and can't come, but I asked Peyton and she's coming. I didn't get a chance to invite Haley though, if you see her can you tell her about it?"
"Oh," Nathan cleared his throat, "Um yeah sure." Great so now he got to ask her out without actually asking her out. "Well either study or sleep Luke but if you sleep try not to snore because I still have some studying to do," Nathan teased.
"Shut up man," he picked up the sneaker and threw it back in his direction.
Both boys laughed a little before settling back into the silence.
A couple of days later Nathan breathed easy as he knew he'd just taken his last hard final. Tomorrow was his Writing one, which couldn't really be studied for in his opinion, and there were no facts or formulas to memorize for it. He was almost free and almost done and he couldn't be happier about it. His brain was fried and he was definitely looking forward to that Christmas vacation. Just as he took a relaxing breath a voice was hurriedly running towards him calling his name and he turned around just in time to catch Haley mid-air throwing her arms around him in a jump-hug.
"Whoa Hales way to almost knock me over…"
Laughing she let go slightly, "Sorry, sorry I'm just so happy, I did it Nathan I'm done! I just took my last final and I'm pretty sure I aced it!" Her smile was wide and she clapped her hands together excitedly with glee.
He couldn't help returning her laugh, "Well then I have the perfect way for you to celebrate."
Clearly he'd caught her attention as he watched her eyebrows raise in question, the smile not wavering.
"I don't know if Lucas ever told you but my dad used to throw these lavish New Years Eve parties for all his business associates but when we moved north we sort of stopped but since we're spending the holidays down here with Lucas and the family both of our dad's are throwing another one."
"Oh that sounds fun but what does that have to do with me?"
"Well Brooke is going home to her parents so Lucas invited Peyton and he told me to invite you too," he answered her in that discreet way, making sure to mention it was Lucas' idea.
"New Years Eve huh?"
"Yeah and your mom can come too of course."
"Ok well I'll run it by her and I'll let you guys know."
Nodding his head he realized he had gotten his hopes up about her coming to this and he prayed that she ultimately would show up.
"But actually now that you mention the holidays…" she smiled wide and he already knew what she was thinking.
"Yes I'll drive you home," he drawled knowingly and she laughed. "I'm becoming your personal chauffer these days aren't I?"
"Oh please you LOVE driving me home and listening to all my "crummy music"," she made air quotes, "as you like to call it."
He rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say Haley James." Truth was he did like driving her home. A couple of hours in the car with a pretty girl wasn't a bad deal at all.
She had to be crazy. Why did she ever agree to this? Dressing up to go to a party full of businessmen when she could be home curled up in pajamas in front of the TV watching the ball drop? That would have been a better, much safer approach. But then again how lame was that? Haley James was used to not doing anything fancy on special days. Often it was just she and her mom at home and she didn't mind that. But her mom had pushed her to go to this saying it was rude to turn down an invite like this. Her mom had caught the flu though and didn't feel like socializing and even though Haley wanted to stay home and take care of her mom, she wouldn't have it. That was her mom, stubborn almost as much as she was. Haley James could be very stubborn.
Walking into the fancy hotel party room Haley took in her surroundings. She sucked in her breath; she had to admit, the lavish decorations were really stunning. The lights were so extremely dimmed they were practically off but candles and shimmering light fixtures hung from the ceiling to give the room a glow. She hadn't gone to many fancy parties in her life, and the most dressing up she'd done was for weddings, which she hadn't been to many of, and her high school Prom. Yep, that was about it. And the atmosphere here tonight just seemed different, above all of that. She felt like a young adult, at a grown-up party, and it was intimidating and exciting all at the same time. Thankfully it wasn't a dinner party because if it were she would be freaking out over the etiquette of it all. Which fork for which food and what was a water glass and what was a wine glass. She could master high forms of Calculus and write a really good paper but put her at the table of a fancy high-society dinner and she had no idea what to do. She'd never learned. She'd never had to.
But that wasn't tonight, and for that she could breathe a little easier, but only a little. The room looked gorgeous and as she stood there taking in all the dressed-up men and their wives she had to admit it was all a little overwhelming. What should she do first? Get a drink? Try to find someone she knew? Or just keep standing there and wait for someone to come to her?
The answer came to her.
"Lavish isn't it?" Lucas' voice spoke into her ear from behind her. Turning around she quickly enveloped one of her best friend's in a hug.
"Hey, you look great!" Lucas was dressed in a black suit with a black tie and a maroon dress shirt.
"Why thank you," he replied teasingly, "So do you Hales you look great!"
She blushed, "Oh thanks I uh…wasn't sure how fancy I was supposed to go so…" she spoke a little unsure of herself.
Lucas shook his head, "It's fine Haley, but as I was saying, the room beats everybody," he looked around the room towards the ceiling.
"Yeah I was just admiring it, it looks really amazing."
"Uncle Dan loves to go big and flashy, and considering he hasn't done this in a couple of years he had to go really big this year," he laughed a little.
"That's so weird because Nathan doesn't show off like this- I mean not that I consider this showing off there's nothing wrong with this-I mean…I mean it's great…" she spoke nervously trying to amend her words and hoping she hadn't just offended Lucas with her words giving off the wrong impression.
Lucas laughed, "Hales it's fine I know what you mean. Nathan takes from his mother more in that sense, the quiet and reserved type. Uncle Dan is anything but shy. He's probably socializing right now."
Haley laughed and shifted her weight on her feet. Heels. A girl's best friend and worst enemy.
"Despite what it may seem like though, most of these people aren't that bad. Sure there's your rich-pompous types, but for the most part dad and Uncle Dan do business with upstanding guys. I can actually tolerate some of them."
"Yeah well I doubt I have anything in common with them." A waiter carrying drinks on a serving platter stopped by them and both Lucas and Haley took a glass of what Haley tasted and recognized as champagne. "This is pretty good," she commented after taking her sip.
"You sound surprised," Lucas smiled down at her.
"I think it's a night full of surprises," she mused with a smile of her own.
"Well it is New Years Eve, anything can happen," he agreed taking another sip and downing the rest of the glass, which had only been half-filled originally anyways.
"Lucas!" Lucas' dad's voice approached the pair, "Oh hi Haley how are you sweetheart?" He shook Haley's hand and smiled at the girl who Lucas had spent so much time with the past couple of years, often at his house.
"I'm fine Mr. Scott how are you?"
"I'll be better if you finally start calling me Keith!" he winked and she laughed softly, a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry to interrupt but some of the associates want to see my son the college-ball player," Keith beamed proudly but not haughtily.
"Ok dad let's go," Lucas rolled his eyes good-naturedly, a smile on his face nonetheless.
Haley watched them leave and turned around. Looking up she saw Nathan across the room, a little bit away from her, talking to an older man, both holding that same kind of champagne glass she had in her hand. Nathan had his free hand in his pants pocket and he was laughing at something the man had said. Even within the shimmering darkness of the room she could make out that he too was wearing a black suit like Lucas, a blue dress shirt underneath the jacket, and not a tie in sight. She smiled, Nathan wasn't into ties. She knew that.
A sigh escaped her lips as she took in his appearance. He looked extremely handsome tonight. She knew Nathan was an attractive guy, any girl with eyes could see that. He was young, and still a teenager, technically, but he was easy on the eyes. A dashing suit on his athletic build only added to that and she knew that blue shirt would match his eyes nicely. Shaking her head she wondered why was she noticing so much? Yes Nathan was good-looking, but normally those weren't her first thoughts seeing him, yet now suddenly she was…was she…oh my God was she checking him out? She could feel the heat rise on her cheeks. This was crazy, he was a teenager! What was she doing checking out a teenager? It was just because he was all dressed up and she'd never seen him like this. Yes that was all.
She was about to turn in a different direction seeing as how he seemed engrossed in his conversation and she wasn't going to interrupt to just say hi. But just then he happened to turn his head to the side while laughing at something and she caught his eye. Doing a double take his laugh stopped short as his lips curved slowly into a smile and he focused his gaze to make sure it was her he was seeing. Noticing his gaze she waved her hand to let him know that he wasn't seeing things in the darkness of the room, that it was in fact her. She watched as he excused himself from the conversation and made his way slowly over to her, the smile on his face growing into a grin with every step he took.
He looked her up and down with his eyes not even able to try to be discreet about it so weather or not she could tell he didn't know. All he saw was gorgeous long honey-blonde hair coming down in waves across her shoulders. She wore a floor-length silvery colored dress that reflected in the lights of the room to reveal different shades of the shiny color, matching many of the decorations throughout the room. Her makeup was soft, but her eyes had that smoky look to it and he could tell she was wearing heels because as he got closer to her she seemed a little taller. He'd never seen Haley this dressed up, and to put it frankly he was in awe.
"Hey," she giggled, "I wasn't staring at you I promise I just didn't want to interrupt."
"No it's ok, I uh…I mean, wow Haley you look amazing," he grinned at her. He couldn't help it. She looked so gorgeous.
Her head bowed a little as she couldn't help the smile on her face and the pink on her cheeks, "Thank You Nathan, you look pretty good yourself," she tugged lightly and playfully on his suit jacket.
"I think I'm the only one not wearing a tie, but in about an hour when half these people are drunk they'll end up taking them off anyways.
She laughed before taking another sip of her drink. "So uhm, what exactly do we do as we wait for midnight?" she asked curiously.
"Well you can eat from the cocktail, try to find a place to sit, or for the people who know the people in this room they walk around and talk to each other. Right now it's only this soft restaurant slash elevator type music but around 11 they'll put in some dancing music and around 11:30 my dad does the whole 'thank-you-for-coming' speech and then we wait for midnight," he finished nonchalantly, clearly having been to these parties all his life.
Nodding and pursing her lips together she looked around. "Well everything looks great, this room is like…"
"Magical?" he raised his eyebrows.
"I guess yeah," she laughed, "That works."
"Because that's what my dad told the hotel people. He wanted the room to look magical," he emphasized the last word with air quotes.
She laughed, "Sounds like you're a little jaded Nathan," she looked at him.
"No I'm just used to it that's all," he shrugged his shoulders. "The New Years Eve parties aren't boring they've always been fun. Most of the people aren't that bad."
"So says Lucas." He nodded in agreement. "Well I guess I'm just kind of amazed I guess. I haven't really been to something like this before."
He looked at the expression on her face and saw she really wasn't used to this whole thing, although she seemed to be enjoying it, despite the fact that he could tell she felt out of place.
"Well there's nothing to be afraid of, it's just shiny lights and dressed up people, come on, I'll introduce you to some of them if you want," he offered.
"Oh no that's ok…" she began to waive him off but he placed his hand on the small of her back and pushed her forward.
"Come on."
"Are you still on that same glass?" Nathan asked Haley as they found a table to sit at after finishing up a conversation with one of his dad's associates.
"No I'm on my second, mingling takes a lot out of you," she joked which caused him to laugh. "You're right though, most of these people are nice enough, although some of them have some questionable ideas."
He smiled, "Well you're never going to agree entirely with the people you do business with. But as long as they're making you money…that's what my dad says," he winked at her, taking another drink.
She nodded her head, "I guess that's how you have to think if you're trying to turn a profit. I don't think those kinds of politics are required for teaching little kids," she smiled knowingly, meeting his eyes.
"Guess not. It applies somewhat in sports though. You might not like everyone on the team but those guys are still your teammates so you have to get a long with them for the sake of the common goal to win. If that means sucking it up and being nice to people you can't stand, then so be it."
"Doesn't that seem kind of fake though?" she rested her head on her hand, her elbow leaning on the small circular table as she faced him.
"Well it's life Haley. You're not always going to have everything in common with someone, it doesn't mean you can't work together."
Their eyes locked on each other and she nodded in understanding, "That makes sense. You know you're very mature and contemplative for your age," she admired teasingly.
He shook his head slightly, "I think I just know a lot about sports and in many ways sports are a lot like life. You win some you lose some, it's all about using your head and your gut feeling and not being afraid to take risks…take chances."
Quite frankly, there had to be something in the aura of this large room, because it seemed like something out of this world. She and Nathan talked about a lot of stuff, but sitting there in their finest clothes, in close proximity, and holding such a philosophical conversation seemed different. Something about tonight was different.
"Taking risks can be well…risky. And sometimes because of it you lose."
"But sometimes you win."
She nodded once again, "I know. I'm a very positive person you know."
"Yeah you are," he smiled, "But you worry a lot too," he grinned as her mouth dropped open.
"Nathan Scott!" she spoke in a mock-shock tone, "You know better than to bring up my neurotic tendencies," she finished half defensively.
He laughed ruefully, "I'm just teasing Hales. But guess what, the semester is over, you passed all your finals, by some miracle so did I, and so for tonight you and I can be free and celebrate. It's gonna be the start of a new year after all."
"So what's your new years resolution?" she challenged.
"Make it through freshman year, do well enough in school to stay on the team, and be a good player for the team."
"That's it?" she laughed.
"That's all that really matters right now," he half-lied. Those were definitely the most important things in his life, and while he was sort of yearning for a girl in his life, preferably the girl sitting prettily in front of him, he still had to concentrate…as much as possible anyways.
"Well then good luck!" she smiled encouragingly in that way that she was so good at. Being supportive, it was her role in practically every relationship she had.
"And what about yours Hales?"
"Oh pretty much the same thing," she replied dryly, "If I make it to undergrad graduation I'll swear it's not true," she rolled her eyes playfully.
He laughed, "You're going to make it Hales, no worries," he assured her.
Their conversation was interrupted as Lucas and a more than tipsy Peyton came up to their table. Whatever Lucas had just said must have been really funny because Peyton was laughing hysterically.
"What's so funny Pey?" Haley asked amused at her friends behavior at the moment.
"Wendy Carlyle just roped Lucas into kissing her at midnight! Which is in 10 minutes! WOOT!" she yelled and half-jumped almost tripping over her own feet so much so that Lucas had to steady her.
Nathan howled with laughter "Isn't she like that really annoying girl who…"
"Yes, yes," Lucas cut him off rolling his eyes, "What was I going to do? She totally suckered me into it and her dad is one of my dad's biggest clients. She's a royal pain so if I said no she'd whine and whine to daddy dearest and then I'd be hearing it and I don't need that. A 5 second tap on the lips won't kill me," he sighed resigned.
"What about you two?" Peyton spoke while trying to balance her glass of champagne, looking between Nathan and Haley "Who are you kissing when the clock strikes twelve?"
"Umm," Haley flustered a bit, "No one I guess."
"Me neither," Nathan replied.
"Awwww but it's New Year's Eeeeve!" Peyton drawled, "You have to its trapdition…tradition…" she corrected herself. "I mean even I found a dashing young bachelor…Jake something or other, but come on everyone's kissing someone! You have 5 minutes," she said looking at her wrist…that had no watch. "OH!" she began to crack up, "Oops I forgot I don't have a watch but," she grabbed Lucas' wrist and examined, "4 minutes. You can find somebody in 4 minutes!"
"It's really fine Peyton," Haley assured her calmly.
Peyton suddenly gasped as if she'd just seen Nathan sitting there too, "I KNOW! You guys can kiss each other, it'll be great!" She clapped her hands together as both Nathan and Haley's eyes shot wide-open, eyebrows raised really high up on their foreheads.
"Dude Lucas," she turned to him, "I'm so smart right!" she laughed hysterically.
"I don't know Peyton," he trailed off noting the looks on their faces.
"Oh what's the big deal you guys are friends! Better than kissing a stranger like me! Besides you don't have any history and you don't like each other like that so come on! Live a little!" she finished her little motivational speech and pulled Lucas away leaving Nathan and Haley with her suggestion between them. Nathan didn't know whether to love or hate Peyton right now.
Haley laughed uneasily, "Well she's drunk."
"Yeah," he shook his head showing he whole-heartedly agreed. The tension was weird now and he didn't want to bring in the New Year this way. "Come on let's go stand by everyone else where everyone counts down together. Hopping off the seat she followed him the both of them trying to forget the little exchange that had just happened and trying to act as normal as possible.
Joining the large gathering crowd standing on the dance floor creating a makeshift Times Square it wasn't long before the band began to lead the countdown.
10….
9….
8…..
Nathan stood next to Haley as everyone crowded around; looking around it seemed as though everyone had someone next to him or her ready to celebrate together…
7…
6…
Haley looked around a bit uneasy, this celebration was so much fun but it would have been more fun without Peyton's little suggestion that now had left this awkward air between she and Nathan. He wasn't even looking at her now.
5…
4…
But then he did. He looked down at her, heels or no heels he was still much taller, and he smiled at her. And the flashing lights overhead glittered around, and the blue of his eyes reflected the blue of his shirt. And that magic she'd felt walking into the room about 2 hours ago seemed to be as poignant as ever. The lights flashed, and the crowd was all huddled together, and it felt like only she and Nathan weren't counting out loud, seemingly the only ones counting only in their heads. A couple of people scooted by bumping into them and Haley inadvertently was pushed up against Nathan, his arm coming around her waist to steady her from tripping. She giggled a little murmuring a 'thanks' and looked up to see Nathan's face a mere few inches away from hers.
Time stood still, as it kept moving forward.
3…
2…
1…
And it was like an agreement the entire room had made. Everyone, every single person, seemed to be kissing someone else. And silently agreeing that it was weirder for them to be the only ones in the room not doing so as well (weirder than the concept of actually doing it), both leaned in instinctively. Slowly their lips pressed against each other's as the sound of that familiar New Years song waved through the air, and loud cheers filled the room. It was moments like these where there wasn't a care in the world, nothing that mattered, besides that actual moment, that made life worth it. And as they pulled away slowly, they smiled at each other. The kiss being better than either of them had expected. The lights seemed to shimmer a little bit brighter as elated happiness filled the entire room. And there was something unique about a room full of people all celebrating the same thing, all joyful, and all filled with wondrous expectations for the future, for the forthcoming unknown. There was something about a room full of people all enjoying the moment and not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow, just the now. There was just something about a room full of people who were all happy, all at the same time.
"Happy New Year Nathan," she whispered softly still pressed against him because of all the people around them, her face still lingering near his.
"Yeah, it is," was his equally soft response.
"When he kisses you he isn't doing anything else. You're his whole universe...and the moment is eternal because he doesn't have any plans and isn't going anywhere. Just kissing you...it's overwhelming." -Unknown