bChapter 11: I wanted to hold you…/b

i"It's a surprise," Nathan said grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door to the car. Haley was not going to believe what he had in store for her. He couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty though as they entered his car, Lucas had looked pretty mad before and he hadn't even asked what was wrong. He wouldn't let that ruin this night though. He wanted to show Haley he cared, how he was changing, and how Haley helped him do that. Lucas could wait. They were about to have their first date and nothing was going to come in their way… or so he hoped./i

Upon entering the car, Haley saw Nathan reach backward and grab something. Curios she turned to him, questioning, "What do ya go there?"

"A bandana," he replied nonchalantly.

"Okay… what are we doing joining a gang tonight?" Haley kidded.

"No, it's to put over your eyes as a blindfold. I said where we're going is a surprise and I want to keep it that way. It's not a long ride, I promise, just let me tie the bandana around your head," Nathan stated, reached across the car as Haley placed the bandanna around her head. After he finished tying Haley turned to face the front of the car as Nathan began backing out of her driveway.

"Your not going to like, kill me and then throw me in a ditch or something are you?"

"No Haley, I normally do that after the first date if I decide I don't like someone." Seeing the shock on her face, he continued. "Just kidding. The blindfold's just to make sure you can't see so it'll be a surprise. I mean, where we're going is very familiar to you."

"Is it Karen's? Cause that would be a bad idea right about now. Lucas is mad at me."

"No, it's not Karen's, but about that. I saw him storming off…"

"It's nothing we need to worry about right now. Let's just stay off the topic of Lucas for a night."

"Fine by me. Oh, by the way we're here!" Nathan exclaimed, however he saw Haley about to take off her blindfold. "No not yet! I'll walk you inside. Keep the blindfold on."

With that, Nathan walked around the car and let Haley out, then gently took her hand in his and placed his other hand securely on her elbow to guide her. He brought her through the first set of doors and down the hallway. Haley was anxious to see where she was going. The hallway they were walking in seemed to go on forever, and the clacking of her Birkenstock clogs against the tile floor didn't help to ease her nervousness either. She heard another door open and Nathan urged her through another door.

"Okay. We're here, let me help you take that blindfold off, but close your eyes still," Nathan stated as he went behind Haley and untied the not. She kept her eyes tightly sealed until she felt Nathan's breath tickle the side of her neck near her ear. "You can open your eyes now," he whispered.

Haley could not believe the site in front of her, and how Nathan was about to pull this off. Here she was standing in the tutoring center, and right in front of her was the table— her and Nathan's tutoring table, covered with a red-checkered tablecloth. On top of that there were two plates, utensils, a picnic basket, and two lit candles. "Oh, Nathan…"

"See Haley, I told you that you didn't have to change. It's just me and you," he said as he guided her into a chair and then took a seat in the one across from her.

"Nathan, this is beautiful. I would have never expected this to be the spot I had my first… I mean our first date," Haley replied.

"Wait, Hales… is this your first date?"

"Well, uh yeah," she replied, getting embarrassed. "I know. It's embarrassing. I'm seventeen and haven't been on a date yet."

"Haley, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. I actually like that this is your first date. It's makes it more special. Besides, you can consider this my first date too. I'm the new and improved Nathan… starting this all on a clean slate."

"Thank you Nathan. But question, how in the world did you do all this?" she said, giggling from both nervousness and joy.

"Well, you see this girl told me I should mend some fences with this kid Mouth, and it turns out his dad is the head janitor here. So, I decided to ask him to help me out, and he got a hold of his dad's keys for me."

"Seems like that girl's pretty wise."

"Ehh, she's alright," Nathan kidded, looking at her from across the table with his famous "Scott" grin, causing her to look down and blush.

"Whatever. So tell me Mr. Scott, what's on the menu tonight."

"Good question let's see we have…" Nathan stated as he went into the picnic basket, grabbed a piece of people and started rambling off a bunch of words Haley did not recognize but sounded French.

"Uh Nathan, I don't know about you, but I take Spanish and I have never in my life heard any of those words before."

"Me either. I actually started to make some of the words up cause I couldn't read them. I have a feeling our order got mixed up cause there is only one word I understand on this list and I definitely did not order that."

"Oh and what is that?" Haley inquired.

"Escargot."

"Oh boy," Haley said giggling, "I definitely hope they mixed up the order."

"Hang on a sec let me call them," Nathan said as he got out his phone and called the restaurant. Prior to picking up Haley he had ordered food from a little French place in town his parents always raved about. He ended his call then turned back to Haley. "Yeah, it looks like we had our order mixed up with someone else's. They're sending someone over to the school now to switch the orders, I gave them my number and they're going to call when they get here."

"That's fine," Haley stated, butterflies developing in her stomach. She had hoped they'd be eating soon so she could push aside that feeling she'd gotten once Nathan took off her blindfold. That feeling like she just wanted to jump into his arms and kiss him senseless. Her and Nathan had yet to share their first kiss. I mean, they've kissed on the cheek, the forehead, but never the lips. In fact, Haley had never even been kissed on the lips before, but she knew she wanted Nathan to do that. When she opened her eyes and saw she was in the tutoring center, and the way he'd set up itheir/i table, her mind couldn't help flowing to that one day in the tutoring center when they'd almost kiss. They'd come so close, then Nathan called her "Hales" and that kiss went out the door. However, this time in the tutoring center was different. They were together, and Haley was determined to get her kiss, nothing would stop her. She needed to feel his lips, and she needed to feel them tonight.

Nathan looked at Haley, she seemed to be thinking pretty contently about something. He couldn't help but smile. Here, in front of him, at this very moment, was Haley James. Sweet, innocent Haley James, sitting there in a Raven's basketball t-shirt, which Nathan thought was sexy as hell, was just staring into space, oblivious of the feelings she was creating inside of him. What Nathan wouldn't do at that very moment to just get up, pull Haley out of her chair, and wrap her into his arms. What he would give to kiss her; feel her lips on his, needing him and wanting him just as he did her. He was ripped from his thoughts however as he felt a vibration in his pants and pulled out his phone. He looked to see who it was and the screen read "Tim." Nathan debated on opening it, but didn't really feel like interrupting the silence between him and Haley. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was a comforting one; one that left them to their thoughts, which presumably were about one another. However, as soon as Nathan put his phone back in his pocket he heard Haley's stomach rumble.

"Hales, I'm sorry this is taking so long. You must be starving."

'It's okay Nathan, really," she stated. She was beginning to get uneasy. Not only was she hungry for food, but Nathan's lips. She wanted to be kissed. She wanted Nathan to kiss her. She looked over at Nathan and their eyes locked. She could see his eyes flicked with passion causing her to look down and blush as he continued to stare at her, smiling has he tried to hold back a smirk. He was about to say something when he heard the door open, causing both his and Haley's head to turn.

"What the hell is this?" the person voiced, looking at the set up in front of him.

"Tim, what are you doing here?" Nathan asked getting annoyed.

"I'm delivering what I'm guessing is your order. I phoned the number my boss gave me when I got here, but no one picked up, so I walked around the school until I found a room with light."

"Oh, well this is ours. Thanks, but you can go now," Nathan stated uneasily.

"Hang on a sec. What exactly is this?" Tim stated, eying Haley who was looking down at the ground, and then turning back to Nathan. "This isn't a date is it?"

"What if it is?" Nathan retorted.

"Well then I'd ask why you're slumming," Tim snickered.

"Tim, I would shut up and get out of here if you know what is best for you," Nathan said getting to his feet.

"So this is a date?"

"Yes Dim. This is a date. I'm on a date with Haley, imy girlfriend/i, and if you so much as say a word that is negative about her, then I'll beat your scrawny ass."

"Whatever man," Tim replied, obviously feeling threatened, as he shoved the box of food into Nathan as he approached, then turned to leave the room. "By the way, nice set up. Didn't know you were such a pansy."

"I swear Tim, if I didn't have food in my hands," Nathan yelled to a retreating Tim, then turned to Haley who was on her feet. He was about to walk over and put the food on the table but was stopped when he saw a smiling Haley run over to him and tackle him, sending him to the ground with Haley landing on top of him and causing the food to fly out of the box everywhere. Haley saw Nathan's instincts telling him to try and clean up the fallen food as his hands began to reach out, but instead of letting them finish their task Haley grabbed them, intertwining their fingers, and then placed their hands over his head. She sat up a little bit from her straddling position over Nathan and looked deep into his eyes. She could see the shock and passion forming within him.

As Nathan gazed at her, he couldn't help but be turned on by Haley's "take charge" attitude. The only time he had seen her like this was when she was really passionate about something, which was of course when she was tutoring, but he could see that she obviously had the same attitude toward love. Love? This couldn't be love. They'd only just began dating… or could it be… love.

Either way Nathan was snapped out of his thoughts as Haley leaned down and gave his lips the most innocent of kisses. It was barely a kiss even, more like the brushing of lips. Nathan could tell she was nervous and unsure of how he would react, but he needed to show her there was no need to be nervous, because right now was probably one of the most perfect moments ever. As she began to sit back up, Nathan unclasped their hands and reached up to her, looking her straight in the eyes, then lifted his head to kiss her in one of the most passionate kisses he'd ever experienced. There was so much want, need, lust, care, and even love, though neither would admit to that yet, inside their kiss that it was an explosive rush running through their bodies. When the kiss ended, Haley sat up and let out a little sigh and bit her bottom lip. Nathan gazed up at her, just admiring her beauty but noticing her uneasiness.

"Wow," he muttered.

"Oh, God. Was I that bad?" Haley squealed.

"Are you kidding me Hales? That was the best kiss I've ever had!"

"Nathan, you don't have to say that," she stated.

"I know, but it's the truth. A kiss has never made me feel like that before."

Haley blushed at his words, "Good, I'm glad. Cause that kiss took my breath away."

"Hales I love…" Nathan began to say, but then stopped himself. You've only been dating a couple days! You can't love her iyet/i he thought to himself. "I love… food."

"You love food?" She said confused, that was a tad out of the blue. "Good to know Nathan. Speaking of, we should probably clean this up."

"Yeah, looks like we're going to need to get a third dinner tonight too," he said laughing.

"I guess so. Sorry for tackling you. I wasn't thinking. It's just, I don't know what came over me. No one has stood up for me or defended me like you did to Tim."

"Tim's a jerk, he needed to be put in his place, and I was not about to let him make his feeble comments about imy Haley/i," as his gaze went to the Haley, who was now off of him and standing, as she bit her lip and became three shades more red. "Besides, I liked the "take charge" kind of attitude that came over you. It was very sexy," he said wiggling his eyebrows.

"Nathan… stop it! You're embarrassing me!" Haley said as she picked up the spilt food, Nathan still laying on the floor.

"Fine, but under one condition."

"Alright, what is it?" Haley inquired as Nathan got to his feet.

"Kiss me again," he said as he grabbed her elbows and pulled her close to him, giving her yet another earth-shattering kiss as the plates she has just picked up off the floor went crashing back down.

a/n: Hope you liked this chapter… major Naleyness in it lol! And they finally kissed! Now, expect to see some more of Tim, because Nathan is getting sick of his antics and is about to set him straight… on a number of things (think the summer), and he might need some help… (think brotherly bonding lol). I hope you're liking my story so far! Please leave reviews, they really mean a lot! Now, as always, leave the good, the bad the happy, the sad.