For your reading enjoyment... Chapter 23! (HEHEHE) Hope you like it!

Nathan POV

"Come in!" She yelled out.

I opened the door and walked inside. I was startled by the change she had made from her room in LA to the one here in Tree Hill.

"Do you like it?" Mercedes asked getting up from her desk.

"It's... different from you're room in LA." I said looking around.

I thought it was actually really cool. The name on the wall was amazing. And the pictures were too.

"In LA I always had my mom in my room, which is why the colors were so light. But now... she's not. So I decided to pick a color that expressed the way I was feeling."

"Are you still feeling that way?"

"Sometimes. Some days are easier than others but... sometimes I can't help but feel like I'm betraying her by having fun, you know?"

"Don't fell like that. She would be happy that you were enjoying yourself. She wouldn't want you to be unhappy."

She smiled at me and took a seat on the bed.

"Come talk to me." She said patting a spot on the bed next to her.

I smiled at her and closed the door. I walked over to the bed and took a seat next to her. I don't know why but... I was starting to tense up. I think she could tell.

"Relax Nathan." She said placing her hand on my shoulder and squeezing it gently.

"What do you wanna talk about?" I asked relaxing a little.

"Look... Nathan you know a lot about me. My relationships, my family, my friends, almost everything there is to know you do. But... I wanna know more about you."

"Alright. What do you wanna know?"

"Why did you and Haley break up?"

"She...she didn't wanna be with me anymore."

"Just like that?"

"There were a lot of other reasons but..."

"Reasons like what?"

"She started singing with this guy Chris. She knew I didn't like him but... I supported her through it all. I knew that music was important to her and I wanted her to be happy. But when her career started taking off we became really distant. We rarely spoke... it sucked but that's how it was. About three months ago she came over and told me that it was over. That she wanted to concentrate on her music and that she wanted to see what else was out there. I asked her if this had something to do with Chris and she said yes. She left me to be with him. She left for about two months and when she came back she told me that things hadn't worked out for her and Chris and that she wanted to be with me again. But I couldn't take her back. Things weren't the same anymore."

"Nathan... I'm sorry I didn't know."

"It's cool. I'm better off without her."

"What about Lucas? I kinda talked to Brooke about it and she told me that you two were tight when she left. What happened?"

"He knew about Haley. He knew that she was gonna break up with me for Chris and he lied to me when I asked him if he knew what was going on."

"That's messed up."

"It is but... I'm done with the both of them. I don't need Haley or Lucas."

She looked at me and noticed the anger in my voice. I hate talking about what happened with Haley and Lucas but it was only fair that I told her about it. But I did wanna talk to her about what happened with Brooke. I watched her as she lay her head on a pillow and pulled her sweatshirt down. It amazed me that she could still look so beautiful in a plain black jump suit.

"What?" She asked looking at me.

She caught me staring.

"Mercedes... do you remember the night in the Jacuzzi when Lucas asked you if you had ever gotten hurt?"

"Yeah."

"How... did you get the scar on your stomach?" She sat up and looked me in the eyes. Her eyes began to water and she looked away. "Brooke told me what happened."

"No one was ever supposed to find out about that!" She said getting up, and placing her hand on her stomach.

"Mercedes... it's ok." I said getting up and walking over to her.

"No it's not Nathan. What if Brooke was the one who got hurt and not me? I would have never forgiven myself if something would have happened to her."

"But nothing did. If anything you made her a stronger person. She's a better person now, and she said that it was because of what you did that night." I said taking her into my arms. You're an amazing person and I'm glad you rubbed off on Brooke."

She lifted her head to look at me and leaned in to kiss me. I gladly kissed her back and I pulled away.

"What was that for?" I asked

"For always knowing what to say to make my world better." She said resting her head on my chest.

I pulled her closer to me and led her over to the bed. We sat down and she kept me close to her.

"Mercedes... I wanna talk to you about something"

"Ok, what is it?"

"It's about you... it's about the way I feel about you."

Her phone rang and she reached over to grab it.

"I'm sorry, just... hold that thought." She said before answering.

I couldn't hear the person she was talking to but by the look on her face she wasn't very excited about who had called.

"What do you want Eric? No I told you that I don't wanna do it. You know I don't care about the money. They can find someone else. What do you mean there's a problem? You told them I'd do it! Why would you tell them that without talking to me about it first! Well.. Looks like I have no choice now, do I? Fine, Saturday. And next time you tell someone I'll do something make sure I know about it first!" She said hanging up. "God, I swear that guy get's on my nerves."

"Who was it?"

"My agent. Seems he booked me for a photo shoot in LA on Saturday and he was just calling to let me know."

"A photo shoot hu?"

"Yeah, but anyways you wanted to talk about something."

"Right, Umm.. Mercedes do you believe in love at first sight?" I said looking her in the eyes.

The ending is kinda retardedI know... but it makes sense with the next chapter. Oh! The next chapter is my favoirte one so far! I love it! Just letting you know so you read it and find out what all the fuss is about. LOL. Anyways... leave me a review for this chapter please! Thanks! Thanks to... Newyorkchicka for your last reviews! Your the best!