AN: Thanks for the reviews to: Hera Agathon, mistydm, Nathanlvr, chelle2911, AngelLuva, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06!

Our Little Corner Of The Universe

Chapter 27

A week later, not much progress had been made. Haley, knowing that she had to talk to her parents soon, was much to afraid. The first few days in her house with her parents weren't bad. They actually acted like a real family. But much to soon, things started to get like they were before. Her father had to work all the time and her mother didn't talk much. At least not about things that were important. All in one week, they had already had four business dinners. Haley played along, wearing the nice clothes, and being the good little business-man's daughter, but she couldn't help asking herself 'Is it last year over again? I thought I had chosen to get out of this life?' But she had ended up right back in it.

But this time it was worse. Before she had met Nathan, things weren't so bad. She had no idea that there was someone out there that could turn her life into somewhere where she belonged. Where she was loved.

She had been avoiding Nathan. Her first idea was to maybe talk to him at school, but she found it too painful to even look at him. She had let him down, and she knew it. He was right all along and she was being naive. What was she supposed to do? Look him in the eye and say 'You were right, but I'm too afraid to talk to my parents about you. Sorry?' No, she just couldn't do it. And however much Brooke and Peyton were trying to convince her to talk to him, she was trying to tell herself that she was doing the right thing. Until she talked to her parents, she couldn't talk to Nathan. But the question was, when was she going to talk to her parents?

---

Haley got up on Monday morning to feel the wetness on her pillow from last nights tears. She barely noticed it though, she was used to it by now. Crying herself to sleep had become somewhat of a ritual for the past week. She got up slowly and got dressed. All she could think about was how she didn't want this week to be like last week. Anything but that. It was time to finally talk to her parents. She was seventeen, practically an adult, and she was a responsible girl, she should be able to talk to her parents about important things.

She went downstairs to find that he father had already left for work at six in the morning. Her first thought was to just let it go and ask another time, but she knew that if she followed through with that idea that she would never get around to telling them. She had been postponing this for too long. It was now or never.

"Uh, mom?" Haley said nervously, entering the kitchen. Her mother turned around.

"Yes," She answered casually. She had no idea what she was in for.

"I've been meaning to talk to you..." Haley started as she sat down at the kitchen table. "... about... Nathan..." Haley finished looking up at her mom, scared. She was ashamed that she would be afraid to talk to her mom about the man she loved, it wasn't right. Her mother kept an unreadable, almost blank expression on her face.

"Nathan." She stated. "Nathan Scott." She said, not scowling, but not smiling either. Not that Haley expected her to.

"Nathan and I-" Haley started.

"Honey, could we talk about this later," Haley's mother said all of a sudden in a rush to go somewhere.

"Well, actually-" Haley started to say. This was important, she didn't know if she could bring herself to bring it up whenever 'later' was.

"I've got some errands that I need to take care of for tonight, and you've got school. Don't forget to get your school work done before the dinner tonight, it's very important." Her mother said as she left the house not letting Haley get one word in. Haley sighed, great another important dinner. Something fun and new for her.

---

Nathan fell out of bed, put on some pants and a shirt he found on the floor and left for school. It's not like there was anyone he wanted to impress. His hair was un-gelled, his clothes were wrinkled, and his sentences consisted of grunts. So in a nutshell, he wasn't doing so well. But if you thought his appearance was a mess, you should take a look inside his head. His mind was so confused, sad, angry, lonely, and basically every feeling you didn't want to feel. He wasn't himself. And he didn't feel like being himself.

He still forced himself to go to school. He payed attention in classes, and did his homework. It's like, Haley left his life, but she left her mark. He was still the man that she shaped. He wanted more than anything, to think that she was the same girl that he was still in love with. And he knew she was.

He got to school and knew that something was going on right away because instead of being greeted by Lucas and Brooke making out, right next to Jake and Peyton doing the same thing, he saw all four of them in front of the school, just standing there, waiting for him. He looked at them weirdly before aproaching them.

"What's going on?" Nathan asked when he got to where they were.

"What do you think?" Peyton said hitting him over the head. It didn't really hurt but Nathan groaned anyway.

"Ow. I don't know." Nathan answered honestly. What had gotten over them?

"Nathan, you have to talk to Haley," Lucas said with a serious expression on his face.

"No," Nathan said simply as he entered the school, the rest of the gang following behind him.

"Nathan, man, have you seen her around school?" Jake asked.

"No," Nathan repeated as he got to his locker.

"Exactly. She's been avoiding you. And by avoiding you, she's avoiding us too. The only times we've seen her around school, she's been alone and depressed. You know how she is, she's not going to have the nerve to go up and talk to you, no matter how much she wants to. You've got to be the bigger man." Jake said.

Nathan sighed as he did his combination on the lock on his locker. He looked over to his left and saw Haley there alone, getting books from her locker. Her hair was up. Her hair hadn't been up since he first met her. He had told her to wear it down, it fit her better. But now it was up again.

Haley looked up and for a second her eyes locked with Nathan's. It was like they were looking in a mirror. They saw the sadness and regret in each others eyes that they recognized from their own. Nathan realized that what his friends were saying was true. Even though Nathan and Haley weren't talking anymore, Nathan had stuck with his friends while Haley had isolated herself from everyone.

"Just think about it," Brooke said, patting him on the back. The gang all went off to their own lockers and Nathan just stood there for a while still looking at Haley, who had averted her eyes somewhere else by now. He wanted so badly to go up to her. To talk. To make up. But it wasn't really his choice. It was up to her to decide if she wanted to have him as her boyfriend even though her parents disagreed. It was up to her to figure it out.

---

Haley stood in the same spot in the doorway to the cafeteria for a long time. Her and Nathan, they had had a moment that morning, right? When their eyes met across the hall, that was really something, right? It sure was for her. She thought her heart couldn't break any more, well she was wrong. She couldn't talk to her parents about her and Nathan, fine. But she should be able to talk to him about it, right?

She took a deep breath and walked over to the table she had been staring at. She bit her lip as she neared it, wondering if her friends would be mad at her for ignoring them the last week.

"Well, well, well, haven't seen you in a while," Brooke said as Haley reached the table. But she didn't say it in a mean, mad way or anything. In fact, she was smiling, she knew how much courage it had taken her to actually get her feet to move in that direction.

"Yeah, sorry," Haley said, hugging her. Nathan stood still in his seat, staring up at what once was his. "Nathan, um..." Haley started, trying to ask him if they could talk, but she opened her mouth and nothing came out. Thankfully, Nathan was good at reading her.

"Sure," He said quietly and uneasily. He got up and followed her out into a quiet empty hall. Haley opened and closed her mouth a couple times. What was she supposed to say? She knew she wanted to talk to him, but how was she supposed to start?

"I'm sorry," Haley got out in a whisper before a couple tears started forming in her eyes. The last thing Nathan wanted was for Haley to cry. He didn't think he could stand to see her this way. And what's worse, was that there was nothing he could do to make it better.

"You were right," Haley said, looking ashamed at her shoes. And try as she might she couldn't told back the tears as they fell down her cheeks. Nathan had to stop himself from reaching out and wiping them off her beautiful face. He couldn't do that anymore.

"I don't want to lose you, Hales," Nathan said trying to be strong. He looked her in the eyes even though she wasn't looking at him. He couldn't not look at her. "Not to your parents, not to anyone." He said.

The tears fell even faster down Haley's face now, not able to stop. Did he lose her? Was she lost? Not that she had thought of anything to say, but the bell rang before she had a chance to speak. She bit her lip and looked up at Nathan who was staring so intensely at her that she got scared. Her feelings were so strong for him and his for her.

"I... I have to go..." Haley said quickly, averting her eyes from his and left, running away.

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AN: i know, that was sad AGAIN! But I promise it won't be for much longer, just bear with me! I hope you guys liked it! Please review! It means a lot to me to hear what you guys have to say! Thanks so much!