Chapter Twelve
"Oomph!" Haley groaned as her foot collided with a particularly sturdy branch on the tree she was currently trying to climb up to get to Nathan's first-floor bedroom. Aside from going upstairs there hadn't been anywhere else in the beach house for them to be alone; especially after the beach became occupied by what Haley termed a group of drunken hooligans, also known as Nathan's teammates.
Nathan's ingenious idea had been to climb up to his room on the tree conveniently right outside his window. Apparently he had escaped from his parents awful vacations by shimmying down this beloved tree and climbing back up it a few hours later – Haley had been afraid to ask where he went in the meantime. However, he had made it sound like a piece of cake. As she reached upwards she realized that it was a piece of cake – but only if you were a trained athlete.
"I can't do this!" she whined.
"Yes, you can, Hales," Nathan called from below her. "You only have two more branches to pass and then you can just jump into my window."
"You should have gone up first," she grumbled. "Then you could have just pulled me up."
"I told you I would, but you wanted me to go after you in case you fell," Nathan reminded her. "Besides, now I think I like your idea better."
"Why's that?"
"I have a great view."
"Huh?" Haley's brow furrowed until she realized there was only one thing of interest to him in his 'view'. "Nathan! Don't stare at my ass!"
"But you have a very nice a-"
"Stop! Just don't finish that sentence, okay?" Haley pleaded as she finally became level with his bedroom window and swung a leg onto the window sill. "I need full concentration if I'm going to manage this without breaking my neck – or yours."
"Gotcha."
With a deep breath Haley let go of the tree and clutched the side of the window before propelling her other leg onto the sill. "Oh my God! I did it!"
"Don't get too excited, Hales. You still have to get inside my room and not fall the other way onto the ground."
"Right." Haley tried to lower one leg through the open window, but lost balance and tumbled headfirst onto the bedroom floor.
"Haley, are you okay?"
"I'm perfect," she mumbled as she tried to stand.
In two quick, graceful steps Nathan was inside the room and immediately pulled her up. "Did you hurt yourself?"
"No, I'm fine. I think I have tree in my hair though." Haley put a hand through her hair and pulled out a leaf attached to a twig, accidentally dropping it as she did so. She turned sideways, bent down to pick it up and once she faced Nathan again she noticed he was smirking. "What?"
Nathan's smirk grew wider. "Nothing."
"Nathan, wha – Oh my God! Nathan can you not do that, please?"
"Do what?" he asked innocently.
"You know what."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You were…you know! You were staring at my ass!"
Nathan held up a hand. "I plead the fifth."
"Nathan, come on, it's embarrassing."
Nathan laughed as he took a step towards her. "You know, most girls would like it if they were being checked out."
"Well, I'm not most girls."
"I know."
Nathan hooked his thumbs through the loops in Haley's jeans, bringing her closer to him. She smiled and let the leaf float back to the ground as she wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her tip-toes to kiss him. Nathan continued the kiss, walking backwards the whole time, but keeping his hands locked on her waist so she didn't fall. When he felt the back of his knees touch the bed he sat down, and brought Haley down to sit on his lap.
"So…" she whispered, before sighing as he started kissing her neck.
"So," he mumbled against skin, "what time do I have to get you home by?"
"Midnight," she breathed.
Nathan's eyebrows shot up and he stopped what he was doing. "Midnight?"
"Yeah. What? Is that not okay?" Haley wondered, surprised, as she thought he would have been pleased.
"No, its okay…I mean, I can get you home then."
"Then what's the matter?"
"Nothing…I guess I just figured you were a ten o'clock curfew kind of girl," Nathan admitted sheepishly.
Haley couldn't help but giggle. "To be honest most nights I am in bed by ten o'clock so I can't say I blame you."
"Your parents let you stay out until twelve?"
"In the summer it's one, but yeah. They're pretty cool about stuff like that. They think that I don't go out enough."
Nathan laughed. "They sound really cool. I'd offer to switch parents, but I wouldn't wish Dan on you."
Haley softened. "He's really rough on you, huh?"
Nathan shrugged. "I'm used to it."
"You know…if you ever want to talk about stuff…you can always talk to me."
"Thanks. I might take you up on that – but not right now. I mean, we're finally alone and I really don't want to spend this time talking about my father."
"But however else will we spend our time, Nathan?"
He chuckled. "I have a few ideas…" His right hand started inching underneath her top, and at the movement of his fingertips Haley wriggled, only slightly, but enough for Nathan to notice. "Are you ticklish?"
"Er…no," Haley tried to lie convincingly; well aware of what always happened to her when she happened to mention to someone that she was ticklish.
Nathan decided to put her words to a little test. He started tickling Haley and she squealed instantly, getting off him and rolling onto the other side of the bed, but he kept up and moved so that his body was over hers, pinning her in place so he could continue his assault.
"Nathan! Nathan, stop!" she screamed between giggles.
"I thought you said you weren't ticklish."
"Okay, okay, I am. Now, please stop!" she tried to push him off her, but, not surprisingly, he was stronger than she was and didn't budge. However, he finally let up and stopped tickling her. "Oh, thank God!"
Nathan chuckled and adjusted himself so that he lay on his side, next to her. "I hope that's taught you a lesson, Haley," Nathan said mock seriously. "You should know that it's bad to lie."
"Oh, I'll never lie again!" She giggled before asking, "So…what do you want to do?" When he raised his hand and flexed his fingers, she added, "Aside from tickle me, of course."
"Um…can we talk?"
Haley raised a brow. "Talk?"
"Yeah…"
"Not about your Dad, right?"
"No! I mean, about you."
"About me?"
"Yeah."
"What, like, you want to play twenty questions? 'Cause that would be a little too Cinderella Story-esque for my taste."
"Not twenty questions, we can just talk. Tell me stuff about you."
"What kind of stuff?" Haley wondered feeling embarrassed now that the topic of conversation focused solely on her.
"All kinds of stuff. Whatever you want to tell me."
"Erm…I like mac and cheese. Stuff like that?"
"Exactly like that." When Haley looked at him strangely, Nathan explained, "I guess I feel kind of strange because I know that I'm attracted to you but I don't really know that much about you. And I want to."
Haley practically glowed. "That's okay," she whispered as she reached up to caress his cheek. "I know you."
