Chapter Three

Haley wasn't exactly sure what had come over her; she just saw the scar and on impulse she had stood on her tip-toes and lightly grazed her lips over it. She pressed her mouth softly on his scar and then she moved back, standing once more on the soles of her feet.

Nathan did his best to even out his breathing before he said anything. For ages this girl didn't do anything except talk and then out of the blue she kissed him – and not even on the mouth, she had kissed his neck! It was hardly much of a kiss too, lasting for all of 2 seconds, but for some reason it was affecting him a lot more than any of the previous kisses he'd just had in this closet. His head told him it was because she had taken him by surprise, plus the fact that his neck had always been somewhat sensitive, but other parts of his anatomy were still warming up. For whatever reason, he didn't want to freak her out by sounding all husky so he took a few seconds to compose himself. However, all he could say after that was, "Huh."

Haley looked at the ground embarrassed. "Sorry," she squeaked. What had she been thinking? Was she even thinking? She couldn't have been! This whole night her brain had just turned itself off and now she was humiliated.

"Why are you sorry?"

He was going to make her say it? Unbelievable! "Because… I shouldn't have done that."

"What makes you think that?"

"All you said was 'huh'."

Nathan smiled sheepishly, but countered, "So the fact that I couldn't think of anything to say is automatically a bad thing?"

"Well, yeah. I mean that wasn't even a real kiss and it obviously sucked so I should definitely stay away from the real thing," Haley blurted out before realizing what she had just admitted.

"You've never kissed anyone before?"

Haley blushed, her cheeks a deep shade of red that contrasted nicely with her orange tank top. "Uh… not exactly."

"Not exactly or not at all?"

"Well, I had a half kiss once," Haley said quickly, then shook her head profusely.

"A half kiss?" Nathan repeated.

"Never mind," she mumbled. "I'm really going to go now."

"You know," Nathan said, holding her by the arm again so she couldn't leave, "you're right; you shouldn't have done that."

"Okay," Haley said rather meekly.

"That shouldn't have been your first kiss," Nathan continued. "This should have." And with that Nathan reached out and cupped her cheeks in his hands. He moved his head down slowly, brushing his lips across her forehead, then against the tip of her nose before going lower to kiss her lips.

Haley's whole body stiffened the moment his mouth touched hers. Her hands came up to rest on his shoulders, but when she didn't make any other move Nathan kissed her more firmly. Haley started to get used to the sensations and began to kiss him back gently as she felt one of his hands tangle in her hair while the other continued to caress her cheek.

Doing her best not to analyze the situation, Haley tried to just follow Nathan's lead. Wanting to get closer to him, she stood on her tip toes and was about to kiss him harder when the bridge of her nose bumped against his. Haley immediately jumped back, dropping her hands to her sides. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry."

Nathan grinned. "That's okay."

"No." Haley shook her head as she started blushing again. "I shouldn't have come here."

"I'm glad you did," Nathan said honestly, keeping his hand in her hair. His left hand traveled down her body to rest on the side of her hip and he used it to pull her closer to him.

"Really?" Haley's breath hitched as she placed her hands flat on his chest. She smiled when she could feel his heart was beating faster; at least she hadn't been the only one affected by the kiss.

"Really," Nathan confirmed and lightly kissed her hair. "What's your name?" he whispered.

"I-uh," Haley stuttered uncomfortably, "my name? I thought we weren't supposed to say. It's a rule."

Nathan shrugged. "This is a made-up game, by Tim no less," he reminded her. "Besides, didn't you ever hear that rules were made to be broken?"

"So…" Haley whispered back, trying to stall him, "other girls told you their names?"

"Some." The real answer was most of them, plus their phone numbers; not that he remembered them. However, this was the first time he had asked a girl for her name. Nathan decided not to tell her any of that though, since she seemed to get freaked out by the tiniest thing. And, the truth was, he was glad she came. She was…cute. Okay, so, he hadn't seen her so he didn't know what she looked like, but the way she acted was really…cute. He couldn't think of another word for it. And when they had kissed, what she lacked in experience she had definitely made up for in enthusiasm. He didn't want her to leave just –

Both Nathan and Haley's thoughts were interrupted by the knock on the door. They both knew what it meant; seven minutes were almost up and she had to leave so someone else could come in.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Haley pulled back from Nathan's embrace slightly. "I guess that's my cue to leave."

Nathan paused for a moment. "You're really not going to tell me your name, aren't you?"

Haley shook her head. "No," she whispered. "Goodbye, Nathan. Happy birthday. I really hope you had a great day."

"I think this was the highlight."

Haley laughed softly. "I bet you said that to all the girls," she countered, trying to sound like she was joking.

"No. None of them remembered it was my birthday."

Haley gulped before reaching into her back pocket. She pulled out a small box and placed it in Nathan's palm.

"What's this?" Nathan asked, as his hand closed over the box.

"It's your birthday present," Haley said quickly. "Hope you like it!" She spun around without looking at him, and unlocked the door as fast as she could before she ran out of there.