Chapter Seven

Haley wasn't sure what to say to Nathan, and since he had been the one who'd wanted to talk she decided to let him make the first move. As a result, they had ended up walking in silence all the way to the beach, while both collected their thoughts. She desperately wanted to know what he was thinking, but she didn't dare ask him. Still, the pain of just walking next to him and waiting silently was starting to get to her. Trying to do something, she did her best to observe the scenery; the low night tide, the sandy beach, the bright moon. As she looked around, she realized that they had ventured father from his beach house than she'd expected.

"Er, Nathan?"

He glanced at her. "Yeah?"

"We're kind of far away from the house, aren't we?"

Nathan looked around and nodded. "Yeah, sorry, I didn't notice."

Haley shrugged. "I didn't either."

"Well…do you want to sit down here?"

"Sit? Okay, sure." Haley immediately plopped down glad to have something to do, then mentally scolded herself for not being more graceful.

Nathan didn't seem to take any notice of her klutziness as he sat down, stretching out his legs and propping himself up on his hands. Yet, if Haley thought that their lack of movement would inspire him to say something with more than two syllables to her, she was sadly disappointed when Nathan reminded quiet.

Sighing, she took to staring at the ocean waves, which was pretty and all, but she would much rather just stare at Nathan; only she couldn't since it would be too obvious. Although he seemed to be in such a Zen state that she almost felt like someone at the party could start lighting fireworks and he wouldn't notice.

Observing that the way she had crossed her legs lazily and leant her elbows on her knees might be too masculine a pose, she tried to move slightly without distracting Nathan. However, she didn't know any 'come hither' poses – aha! This was why Lucas had told her she should try to be friends with Brooke; although Lucas probably didn't have this particular situation in mind – so she ended up just copying the way Nathan was sitting. Deciding that that wasn't a particularly great idea either, she tried to move again and sit with her legs underneath her, but Nathan chose that moment to finally speak.

"Haley?"

She looked over at him. "Mm-hmm?"

"You never talk to me," he stated matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"I was just trying to remember the last time you spoke to me and I can't…"

"Okay…"

"Because you don't," he finished.

"Yes, I do!" Haley said defensively.

Nathan raised his eyebrows as he looked at her. "Oh, yeah? So what do we talk about?"

"Uh…well…it's not like we have epic conversations or anything."

"What was the last thing you said to me before tonight?"

"'Bye'," Haley guessed.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "I mean before that." When Haley didn't respond, he prodded, "You know why you can't remember? Because other than 'bye' all you've ever said to me is 'hi'!"

"That's not true!"

"Yes, it is," Nathan said firmly, "and you know it."

Haley averted her eyes and looked at the sand.

"You know, I always thought that you didn't like me very much," he said softly.

"What? Why!"

"Because! You would always find some reason to be leaving just as I was coming to see Lucas, or you'd only come inside when I was going. And at school, if I come up to Lucas to talk to him for a bit and you're there you don't say anything."

"B-but…I smiled!"

"I thought you were just trying to be polite."

"Oh." Haley stared at her hands in her lap as she tried to comprehend the fact that all the things she did because she liked Nathan had made him think she didn't like him.

"So…did you ever tell Lucas?" Nathan asked hesitantly.

"Tell him what?" Haley asked, then pressed her lips together, realizing what he had meant.

"Erm…that you didn't not like me?" Nathan said finally.

Haley couldn't help but laugh at the way he said it, even though she was blushing at the same time. "No, I never told him. I didn't think he would…"

"Yeah, I don't think he would either," Nathan agreed. "Haley?" he said, after a slight pause.

"Yeah?"

"How did you intend to give me your present? I mean, if Tim hadn't come up with that game; what would you have done? Would you have given it to me?"

"Yeah, I was going to give it to you. That's why I brought it."

"So you were just going to walk up to me and give it to me?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of keeping it somewhere for you to find when we were leaving," Haley admitted.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't. I would have liked to have known it was from you."

Haley shrugged, and stared at her trainers. "It's just a present."

"It's also the only present anyone's given me today."

"What? B-but – Lucas said Keith got tickets to some game that they were going to ask you to come with them to!"

"Aside from that."

"But your parents must have got you something."

"My mum's not here. She works for this foundation and she's always traveling; she's coming back at end of the month. And my Dad got me new weights."

"Weights?" Haley asked curiously.

"Weights; so I can train even more than I already do."

"Well…it's still a present," Haley said cheerfully, but Nathan chuckled and shook his head.

"It's more of a present for him," he clarified. "I train harder so I play better and he can live out his basketball dreams through me."

"But, don't you like basketball?" Haley wondered.

Nathan sighed and thought for a moment. "I like it when I'm playing at the Rivercourt, with the guys," he confessed.

"But you don't like it in school?"

"Sort of. Whitey's great," Nathan started to explain, "but whenever we have a game coming up my Dad just gets more worked up about things."

"Oh." Haley nodded, not knowing how to reply. "Ooh – Tim got you a present too! Kind of," she amended.

Nathan chuckled. "Yeah, he did." He looked over at Haley and grinned. "Second best present of the night."

"Second best? That's a pretty high ranking," she said calmly, trying not to grin at the insinuation that hers was the best.

"Well…I have a feeling that we wouldn't be sitting here like this if not for Tim. And that would be a shame."

At his admission, Haley looked up to meet Nathan's gaze, but was surprised to find him leaning towards her. As he came closer, her eyes closed instinctively just before his lips touched hers. He wrapped one arm around her waist as he kissed her softly for a few seconds before he pulled away.

Haley took a deep breath as she looked into Nathan's blue eyes, her heart still pounding from the fact that he'd not only kissed her; but done so willingly, when he knew exactly who she was and anyone could just wander down the beach and find them there. She blinked, and glanced down at where his hand rested lightly on her arm. "Y-you said you weren't going to do that," she stuttered finally.

"But I wanted to."

"Yeah," Haley breathed, before she leant up and kissed him back.