Chapter Nine
Haley jumped back out of Nathan's embrace and stared, horrified, at the person who had just joined them. "Brooke?"
Brooke looked just as surprised as they did. "Tutorgirl! You and Nathan…oh my God! I can't believe you guys are having an affair!"
"We're not having an affair, Brooke-"
"I'm not blind! How long has this been going on for?"
Nathan decided it was time to cut in. "Brooke, I don't think –"
"I can't believe I didn't know about this. Does Lucas know? No, of course he doesn't know," Brooke answered her own question. "This is just so unbelievable!"
"Brooke…" Haley began, but then trailed off because she didn't know what to say. She folded her arms uneasily, and glanced up at Nathan for help.
Noticing Haley's discomfort, Nathan draped an arm across her shoulder. "Uh, Brooke? Now that you've gotten over the shock, do you think you could…" Nathan gestured with his free hand, and Brooke immediately got the message.
"Oh, of course. You two go make out. I'll get going," Brooke turned around and trotted back up the steps to return to the house. Before going through the sliding glass doors, she shouted over her shoulder, "But I want details later, Tutorgirl!"
"Oh my god," Haley moaned.
Nathan chuckled. "We were going to tell people about it."
"Yeah, but for it to be Brooke, of all people; and for her to find us the way she did. And you practically told her to leave us so we could…"
Nathan raised an eyebrow. "We could what?"
"You know!"
Grinning, Nathan asked, "What, you can't say 'make out'?"
Haley pouted. "I can say make out." Although she had never thought she would be included in a sentence involving those words.
"Just relax."
"Easy for you to say. This kind of thing probably happens to you all the time."
"No, actually, it doesn't; but what's there to be so worried about?"
"Brooke will tell Lucas!" Haley stressed.
"Well, weren't we going to tell him?"
"Well, yes, but he was going to be sat down and the situation explained to him in full. It was going to be planned and there would be tea."
"Tea?"
"It helps him relax. He isn't going to be relaxed when he finds out that his girlfriend caught me on the verge of sticking my tongue down your throat. What are you smiling at?" she asked, when she caught the look on his face.
"I didn't know you were going to do that."
Haley flushed and cursed her big mouth, but all she said to Nathan was, "This isn't funny."
Nathan just smiled, and despite all her worries it never failed to set her heart a flutter. Then he wrapped his arms around her, so that her body was resting against his. "You have to stop worrying, Haley."
"But Lucas might get mad."
"Let me handle Lucas, okay? Don't you worry your pretty little head about it."
Haley had always thought that line was rather clichéd, even condescending. But when Nathan said it to her, she grinned like a Cheshire Cat. "Okay," she said softly.
"Good."
Nathan bent down and gave her a light peck on the lips. When he started to move away, Haley brought her hands up to keep his head in place. She started to reciprocate, when she was interrupted, again, by the sound of another voice.
"What the hell is going on?"
Haley cringed even before she looked in that direction. She already knew it was Lucas.
Nathan was braver than her; he gave Lucas a small wave and said, "Hey."
It seemed to rile Lucas up even further. "Don't just say, 'hey'! What the hell did you think you were doing to Haley?"
"Lucas, I can explain," Haley said quickly, but she had no idea she how she was going to. Nathan finding out she had gone into the closet to kiss him had been embarrassing, but at least he hadn't been mad. He even decided he wanted to date her! But, Lucas finding out…that would be a whole different thing.
She was saved from having to when Nathan cut in, "Let me. This hasn't been going on for ages or anything. We just got together tonight," Nathan told Lucas.
"B-but…how did this happen?"
"Um, well…" Haley stuttered.
"Well, Lucas, the truth is," Nathan began, causing Haley to look in his direction, afraid of what he was going to reveal, "I've always had a…sort of…thing for Haley here."
Lucas raised an eyebrow. "A thing?"
"Well, I kind of liked her."
Lucas folded his arms in front of his chest and looked suspicious. "You never told me this."
"I was afraid you wouldn't approve. Plus, I didn't know how Haley felt so I didn't say anything."
"So…now what's going on?" Lucas wondered.
"Well, I asked Haley out and she said yes."
"You did?"
Haley nodded meekly. "We were going to tell you before we told anyone else, but it just happened, like, now, and then Brooke appeared out of nowhere."
"I was worried about you so I asked Brooke to help me find you."
"I was with Nathan."
"So I see."
"Are you mad?"
Lucas sighed and shook his head. "No."
Haley smiled. "Good." She moved forward and hugged him.
"So, are you coming back inside?"
Haley looked over her shoulder at Nathan. "Actually, we were going to stay out here for a little while."
"Oh, okay." Lucas nodded, and started walking back to the house.
Haley turned to go back to Nathan and once her back was turned, Lucas glared at Nathan and mouthed a few choice words to him.
"Uh, oh," Nathan said quietly once Lucas left.
"What do you mean?" Haley asked. "I thought that went well. Much better than I thought he'd take it."
"I think he and I are going to have a talk later."
"What makes you think that?"
"He said so when you weren't looking."
Haley laughed. "I'll talk to him." She stood on her tip-toes and lightly kissed him on the mouth. "So, uh, thanks for covering for me."
"No problem."
"So, that's all it was, right? You were just covering for me? I mean…" Haley twisted her hands, "you didn't mean what you said to Lucas…right?"
Nathan sighed and raked a hand through his messy hair. "Boy, you've got a lot questions tonight."
"Well, a lot's happened tonight."
"I, uh…I'm not sure."
"You're not sure?"
"I guess, I always thought you were…different."
Haley raised a brow. "Different? Different good…or different weird?"
"Good. You know, you're smart and you're, like…different from all the other girls I knew. You didn't start coming on to me the minute I appeared. In fact, you were kind of the other way around…"
"Right," Haley smiled ruefully, remembering his earlier confession. "You thought I didn't like you. Wait. You liked me because you thought I didn't like you?"
Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "You definitely captured my attention." Haley couldn't help but giggle, while Nathan just smiled. "Hey," he said softly, as he wrapped his arms around her waist once more, bringing her body to his, "let's not dwell on the how's and why's. We're here now."
"Yeah," Haley breathed. "We are."
Nathan leaned down to kiss Haley, but no sooner had his lips brushed against hers did they hear footsteps. They broke apart to see Peyton running down the steps.
"Haley! Brooke told me, but I didn't believe her so I had to come see for myself. I can't believe you didn't tell me!"
"Sorry, Peyton," Haley mumbled.
"So you just went to the beach for a stroll by yourself, huh? You could have told me about you and Nathan; I wouldn't have told Lucas if that's what you were worried about."
Nathan was able to laugh at the situation, while Haley just nodded dimly, her cheeks colouring for the zillionth time that night. They darkened even more when another figure appeared from the house. He, however, was there to save them from further embarrassment.
Jake jogged down the steps and came up behind Peyton with an apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry about this. Brooke told her something about you two and she kind of ran out here before I could stop her."
Nathan chuckled. "It's okay."
"Exactly. It's okay, I'm not bothering them," Peyton told him.
"Actually, honey, I think Haley and Nathan would rather be alone right now." Before Peyton could protest Jake led her away from the couple, mouthing a, 'Sorry,' when he glanced over his shoulder.
"Okay," Peyton agreed grudgingly, "but you have to give me details later, Hales!" she called out just before they went through the glass doors.
