A/N: Firstly I wanna say a HUGE Thank You to all those who
reviewed! It means so much to me that people are actually taking time
to tell me what they think! Its great! and Encourages me to UD more!
Ok Now this next chapter is especially long, as just when I was gonna post this last night a scene popped in my head so I had to get it down and include it! I warn you, that you may not like Haley to begin with, and think she's acting like a Bitch, but honestly she has good reason to, and its not her real character, reasons for her being stressed will be made clear in future chapters!
that being said!
I wanna say thank you again for all those who reviewed, please cotinue to do so!
Now enjoy
Chapter 2
"Thank you madam…we hope you enjoy your flight." The airhostess smiled, handing back her ticket. "Thanks" Haley muttered struggling under her luggage to walk down the tiny plane aisle.
She dragged her daughter behind her and made her way to her seat. Thank god they weren't sitting in the middle row, instead they had two of the side seats.
"Mummy! Can I sit by the window I want to see the planes!" Abby squealed in delight. Haley agreed reluctantly, taking the middle seat, glad to be sitting down, it had been such a long and stressful day.
Making sure her daughter was strapped in properly, Haley pulled out her book and flipped to the dog-eared page. Peace at last.
"John Steinbeck…'The Grapes of Wrath'…sounds interesting!" she heard someone above her, and from their voice she already knew who it was…
"Oh god this has got to be a nightmare!" she moaned closing her eyes in annoyance.
"Oh baby for me it's a fantasy!" Nathan spoke smoothly, a smirk playing at his lips. He chuckled softly to himself at the face Haley pulled, slinging his bag into the overhead carrier before throwing himself into the seat next to her.
"Isn't this cosy?" he whispered into her ear, his breathing heavy.
"Ugh!" Haley sighed, twisting her body so she was facing her daughter, who was already asleep. Any hope of switching seats now were thrown out the window…nope she was stuck with Nathan Scott for a good few hours…oh how this was torture.
"Someone up there must really hate me!" Haley muttered to herself as she began to read again.
Nathan overheard and looked over at her, " do you believe in fate?" he asked his face deadly serious.
"What type of question is that?" Haley furrowed her brow, at the pure randomness of it.
"Its simple really, do you or do you not believe in fate?" he asked her again, his blue eyes burning intensely into her own auburn ones.
She had to look away; "no" she sighed, placing her book down on her lap.
"Well don't you think it was fate that made us sit next to each other?" he persisted.
"No…" Haley was getting annoyed now…what was this guy talking about, they had only just met,
"I believe I must have been a serial killer in my past life as that is the only reason why God would want to punish me so much now by making me spend an entire flight with you!" she spoke harshly, running out of breath at the end.
"You really put a lot of thought into that didn't you!" He smiled at her, amused that she was getting so flustered about such a simple question.
Haley raised an eyebrow at him quizzically...this guy was unbelievable. Honestly how could one man be so annoying? She had only just met him yet she knew that right now she wanted to be as far away from him as possible.
"I feel sorry for your parents…" Haley drawled, "Having to admit they raised such an consequential member of society!" she rolled her eyes, chuckling slightly at her own joke.
"Why are you using such long words?" Nathan asked, his brow creased.
"I wasn't aware that I was!" Haley bit her lip, trying to remember what she had previously said.
"Well, why do you have to be so complicated about things? Why cant you put it in simple words?" he shrugged his shoulders, emphasising his point.
Why did this woman have to come off all high and mighty, like she was looking down on everyone else? Nathan despised that, how people could get him so wrong, just because he doesn't look like the sharpest tool in the box doesn't mean he's completely lacking intelligence. If he's honest most of it is for show anyway; he's learnt that playing dumb, can sometimes be a winner with the chicks, especially when they themselves are too stupid to know otherwise. However he had the feeling playing the inane card wasn't going to work with this one.
"To most people, what I'm using IS colloquial English!" Haley sighed,
Somewhat dumbfounded that this man sitting next to her has obviously never had an intellectual conversation in his life. It wasn't that she was a snob or anything, it was just that she knew how to use proper English. That is why she had loved it so much in High school, for hours she would write poems, which mostly turned into song lyrics, that she sang whilst strumming her guitar or playing the piano. A large part of her life was music, and for a while she believed that it could be part of her future too. Not that she ever thought she could make it big, she couldn't imagine standing up there on the big stage in front of thousands of people. It just wasn't her, plain old Haley James was never meant for the spotlight. Instead she was meant to be part time receptionist at her husbands firm, which wasn't exactly glamorous to say the least.
"See!" Nathan exclaimed, pointing a finger in Haley's face matter of factly, "There you go using long words again!" she wacked his hand away from her face disgustedly.
"Why can't you talk just plain old American, why do you have to talk English?" Nathan asked, shaking his head at her in dismay.
Haley sat there agape; he did NOT just say that. She looked at him in disbelief, and couldn't restrain the laugh that escaped her lips as she saw sheer sincerity on his face. Oh this guy was a classic, he truly was.
"Oh my god!" Haley spluttered out, causing Nathan to look at her in confusion, " I thought people like you were a myth! But I was clearly mistaken!" she laughed again.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nathan chuckled good heartedly, he was hypnotised at her beauty when she laughed, he could tell she didn't do it often. "Is it a myth that someone can be so sexually attractive?" he smirked slightly his hand on his jaw as he gave her a cheesy pose.
This only caused Haley to laugh harder, "Yeah!" she scoffed, "Sure thing Gorgeous!" she rolled her eyes sarcastically, The guy wasn't bad to look at… Oh hell who was she kidding he was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. As her sister Taylor would put it, 100 fuck-able! He had sexy dark hair that looked like it had been masterfully combed into place, and the most amazing sparkling blue eyes Haley had ever seen. She admired over his physique, definitely well toned. If she looked closely she could see the muscles etched on his tight fitting black shirt. Against her own will Haley's mind drifted to his chest what would it be like if he was hot…sweaty… she jumped slightly, bad thoughts…very very bad thoughts. She bit her lip embarrassed, she knew she hadn't said the words out loud, but a part of her felt as though he knew what she was thinking.
As she turned to him, ready to see a smug smile on his face, she was shocked, relieved and to her surprise, somewhat pissed off, to find Nathan chatting up one of the airhostesses. She saw the pretty blonde lean down, perfectly aware that she was giving him full view of her cleavage, he saw his eyes drift to them instantly, staring at her very pert breasts. Haley scowled at the public obscenity, glancing down self consciously at her own C-cups. She looked back up in time to see the blonde give Nathan a wink, followed by a sloppy kiss on his cheek leaving her bright pink lipstick clearly on his face. He chuckled at her flirtatiously, squeezing her equally pert bum as she walked off, causing her to squeal and giggle like a schoolgirl. She couldn't have been more than 17years old.
Nathan twisted in his seat to watch, Jasmine, wiggle away to the closed off section behind him. She was cute, feisty an
d obviously very horny. She'd just offered to make him a member of the mile high club. He was more than willing to take her up on that offer, as soon as he had a bit more Dutch courage. It wasn't that he was nervous, or shy, he just knew alcohol could make a whole lot of difference. It made him more confident, if that was even possible, and more adventurous, which he was definitely going to need if he was about to do this on a fully packed plane.
"She's old enough to be your daughter" her voice, froze him mid chug of the beer he had in his hand. He stared at her oddly, before wrinkling his nose up in disgust.
"That's gross" he told her, finishing off his beer and wiping his hand across his mouth afterwards. Why the hell did she have to say that? It completely put him off his buzz.
"Exactly." Haley stated yawning slightly as she turned in her seat, facing her still sleeping daughter, "So think of that while you're screwing her!" and with that she shut her eyes, and blocked out anything else.
Nathan sat there in amazement; did she really just say that?
Haley didn't have to worry about blocking anything out, Nathan never said another word, as he pulled out his headphones and slipped them on, drifting off softly.
All Haley could hear was the blasting of rap music coming from Nathan's head phones, she passed him a couple of annoying glares, which he just ignored.
Sighing heavily Haley reached into her bag and pulled out her own set of headphones, slipping the volume up high, it completely covered Nathan's music and Haley smiled satisfied.
By the shadows of the night I go
I moved away from the crowded room
Lost in the soft lyrics Haley barely realised someone shaking her shoulder trying to wake her from her daydream.
Opening her eyes she came face to face with the guy she couldn't bare to be around for more than 2 seconds. "What?" she mumbled annoyed at being interrupted.
"Hey sleeping beauty!" Nathan smiled reaching to move a strand of hair out of her face but Haley's hand quickly blocked him from doing so.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked, sitting up properly and facing Nathan head on, she didn't understand what this guy was up to.
"Nothing I swear!" he held his hands up in front of him, a sign of a peace offering but Haley's determined face never changed.
"What was going on with the whole hair…fixing thing…" Haley ranted on oblivious to other passengers around her listening in attentively,
" I mean…don't you get the hint I'm not interested! Hello! Married! " She spoke sarcastically waving her left hand in front of his face. Nathan just sat there silently, taking in everything she had just said; for once he didn't have a witty reply…he didn't even try to flirt his way out of this.
It didn't matter to him if she was married; he'd done it before, no matter what circumstances Nathan Scott always got the girl. And it felt good. But this time, sitting here in a crowded aeroplane, thousands of feet above normality, he was lost.
That sea of shallow faces masked in warm regret
They don't know how to feel, they don't know what is lost
"You don't know me…" is all Nathan said, speaking softly, his head hung low; he was a defeated shell of his true self.
Haley didn't notice this, instead she went full blow on to her next dig at him, "oh I think I know your type fairly well. High school's ladies man, top guy, basketball hot shot, probably from a rich family aren't I right?" she asked,
But without waiting for a reply, she continued on. " You're used to girls falling at your feet, begging you to be with them… well that may be the life you're used to, but it certainly ain't the real world."
Haley spat out the last part and for the first time since she spoke, she looked at him, truly looked at him and guilt washed over her immediately.
There he sat his face stern staring straight ahead at the seat in front of him, pain etched clearly on his face.
Haley's defence broke completely as she realised all the hurtful things she had said. She hadn't meant them, to her he was a complete stranger, she was just dealing with her own problems and she was taking it out on him.
" I'm so sorry, I didn't mean…" she was cut off by Nathan speaking low, his voice barely above a whisper, "save it alright…" with that he got up from his seat and headed towards the communal toilets.
Lost in the darkness of a land
Where all the hope that's offered is
Memories of being taken by the hand
Haley was left sitting shamefully, as the sign before her changed to occupied, she wondered how long he would stay in there…how long he could hide away from her.
All she felt was remorse; she was so ashamed of herself shouting at a complete stranger…who was she to judge?
Look at her life…she rather wouldn't.
She was cut out of her reverie by Abby shuffling beside her.
"Mummy…" the little girl asked, her big brown eyes gazing at her mother, "why were you so mean to that man?"
Haley immediately cringed that her daughter had heard her little outburst, she smiled softly back at her daughter, so naïve to the world…she wished that she could get back to that… to that peace of mind. "Ah…honey… we were just…" she wasn't too sure how she could put it.
"Talking" he supplied, Nathan looked refreshed, back to his old self, a smirk replaced where his frown once was, he leant on the top of his seat casually, still standing.
Haley's eyes widened in surprise he was acting like the last ten minutes hadn't happened. Nathan took pleasure in seeing Haley's confusion he could still see the contrition in her eyes.
She was silently pleading with him for forgiveness… and he wasn't ready to give it to her.
"Mummy and daddy talk like that" Abby sighed, stifling a yawn as she fidgeted to sit up properly. Haley ran her hand through her hair; sometimes children were just too honest.
Nathan let out a chuckle; "really?" he teased raising an eyebrow at Haley, who just hung her head.
"A lot really" Abby continued on, she was a rather talkative girl, " we sometimes hear things smashing when they talk… and sometimes daddy sleeps downstairs so he can clean up" she finished, oblivious to the embarrassment she had caused her mother.
Nathan slid into his seat, twisting his body so he was facing Abby, which inadvertently meant his body was merely inches away from Haley, his leg brushing against hers constantly, no matter how hard she tried to keep her distance.
"Doesn't sound like your mums very happy." He stated, talking directly to Abby as though Haley wasn't even there.
"Excuse me!" she declared, turning towards him as well, so her body was practically pressed up against his, "what right do you have to judge my happiness?" any guilt she had felt towards him soon vanished.
"About as much right as you do to judge my life." He threw back at her, Haley's face dropped instantly, whereas Nathan simply smiled, a smug smile, which he had learnt to master from his father.
It was in the Scott genes, the face to use when you know you've just succeeded in making someone feel beneath you.
Haley's eyes cast downwards, she bit her bottom lip nervously, her voice came out in a hushed whisper, barely audible, "I'm sorry…about that earlier…I…I had no right to say…" she stumbled over her words, her gaze found his and both just stared at the other.
Nathan sighed, as he rubbed his lips together thoughtfully, he could take the easy way out, be his usual cocky self, discard anyone else's feelings and refuse her apology.
Or he could take the other way out, the harder way, which actually meant him accepting her apology and allowing his feelings and kindness to show through.
But if he chose the second way, Nathan Scott allowed himself to become vulnerable, he could be hurt, he could be beaten but mostly he could be destroyed.
He didn't want anybody to feel like they had power over him, even if it was a petite brunette in a broken marriage with four kids. No one was worth the pain.
"Like you care" he scoffed, dragging his eyes away from her dejected face to focus on the air stewardesses running around, in particular Jasmine, who gave him a flirty wink and wave, before continuing her duties.
"Ladies and
Gentlemen we will shortly be landing in Tree Hill can all passengers
please make sure they have their seatbelts securely fastened, descent
will commence shortly."
The pilots message buzzed out of the speakers, Haley remained staring at Nathan, although his gaze was fixed on anything but her.
"I do" she sighed, turning to her daughter to make sure she had everything with her.
Nathan stole a glance, out of the corner of his eye he watched her, "I know" he whispered, so softly that only he could hear his words.
The touchdown was a bumpy ride, a truly symbolic end to a turbulent journey.
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