After leaving Lucas' house, all I could think about was Nathan and how much he wanted to speak with me. The guilt was quickly setting in, I regretted driving away from him because my curiosity was getting the best of me. As I turned the corner towards my house I saw someone sitting on my front porch.

"Nathan?" I said as I quickly went towards him.

"What are you doing here?" I said as I instinctively put my hand on his shoulder.

"I really wanted to talk with you." He said as I opened my door.

"Ok, come in, it's freezing outside."

When we both walked into my warm house the coolness of the night dissipated and our tension grew.

"Are you cold? Do you want coffee or anything?" Even though it was close to summer vacation the nights in Tree Hill were freezing.

"I'm fine." He said as he rubbed his palms together.

"I'll make you something anyways." I said as I stepped into the kitchen.

After a few minutes I came back with a mug of hot cocoa with marshmallows.

"Here, nice and warm." I smiled as I handed him the mug.

"You're a completely different person than I assumed." He said as he smirked at me.

"About that…" I said as I scratched my head in search for an explanation.

"I know you want to talk about the kiss at church. Right?" he exclaimed as he sipped on his cocoa.

"Yeah. I was just caught off guard." I admitted.

"To be completely honest, I was just being polite, nothing weird. I just wanted to make sure you didn't think I was leading you on or putting advances on you." He confessed to me.

"Oh." Was the only word that came out of my mouth. To say I was disappointed was an understatement.

"I'm sorry if I made you think something else, I'm assuming you know I'm with Peyton." He added.

"No, no I understand, I'm glad you went out of your way to explain to me." I was embarrassed I could feel my cheeks turning red. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. I didn't imagine sitting in my kitchen with Nathan, drinking hot cocoa.

"And about the school thing. You understand if I don't talk to you in public, right?" he put out slowly.

"Well, I don't necessarily agree, but I understand." I said looking away from him. As if I wasn't embarrassed enough.

"Haley, I know you probably think I'm a complete jerk, but you have to understand that there are just more disadvantages a friendship between us would cause, rather than advantages." He started.

"Look, you don't have to break it down for me, I get it. We live in completely different universes. My best friend is your worst nightmare." I was getting angry. I was upset with everything that was coming out of his mouth.

"I don't want to leave here with you angry, that would defeat the purpose of me coming here." He consoled.

"Why do you even care? It's not like you're ever going to talk to me again. It would be better if you just left my house Nathan." Even though it was hard to say, I had to, if he stayed any longer I would've said more embarrassing things.

"Come on Haley." He said as he touched my arm.

There was a definite spark. My heart fluttered and my cheeks turned 10 times redder.

"You know your way out." I said as I climbed up the stairs.

Nathan's POV

Haley was so angry with me. I hated leaving her house knowing she was still upset with me. I don't know why it bothered me so much, but it irked me knowing she was so mad. But it was good that Haley kicked me out because I was about to be late to dinner with Peyton. We agreed on me picking her up at 8 and eating a light dinner.

"It took you long enough…" Peyton rolled her eyes as she got into my car.

"Well sorry you had to wait two whole minutes." I said sarcastically.

"Hey, don't have attitude with me because you're the one who was late." She said angrily.

"I do not want to deal with your shit right now Peyton, can't you go one day without complaining to me?" I said as I continued driving.

"What is your deal right now? You're getting unreasonably mad at me…Don't try to make it seem like I'm the one in the wrong." She defended.

"Whatever, can we just have a nice dinner without fighting?"

"Fine." She said as she crossed her arms and stopped talking.

When we finally got to the restaurant she tried her best to not make eye contact.

"Come on Peyton, not you too." I said as I grabbed her hand.

"What do you mean?" she said looking at me like a confused puppy.

"Nothing."

"Can we just call a truce? I've missed you all day." She smirked at me shyly.

Hearing words like that always warmed my heart. Peyton and I were dating for only about 1 year. It's actually crazy that I've been in a relationship that long. While there have been a few breaks here and there, we managed to stick together. There have been moments where I feel stuck in the relationship though. Don't get me wrong, Peyton's a great girl, but I just don't feel that compatible to her anymore. In the beginning it was fantastic. We jived so well, but just a few months in and we were getting so annoyed with each other. It got so bad that we had to take a break for one month before we got back together. I guess the hardest part for me is leaving her after taking her virginity. She was totally willing, but it makes me feel tied down to her. Knowing that I was the one and only person she's slept with makes me feel responsible for taking care of her, and I don't exactly know if I'm capable of providing her with that.

"Earth to Nathan?" she said as she smiled at me as she shook me out of my thoughts about her.

"Oh, of course we can call a truce." I said as I kissed her from across the table.

After getting to Peyton's house she insisted that I sleepover. I knew what this entailed, sleeping together. I wasn't necessarily in the mood but I didn't want her to get angry with me again.

"Sure Peyt." was all I answered with when she pitched the idea in the car.

When I got to her bedroom she immediately went to her vinyl collection.

"Let me set the mood." She smiled at me.

I just nodded as I began to take my clothes off.

Her arms wrapped around my body sensually, feeling on my abs.

"I had a long day, all I did was think about doing this with you." She said as she kissed a trail along my back.

"Not me." Was all I could think as she touched me like this. Peyton's a great girl and all but frankly, I was sick of being in this relationship with her.

"Say something." She whispered in my ear as she reached into my pants.

"I love you." I spoke facetiously.

"I love you too," she said as if she was getting weaker by my words.

"Take them off." I directed as I pointed at her panties.

Peyton listened to me immediately and threw off her panties who knows where. I know I sound like a complaining bitch, but, the thrill was just completely lost. I mean, yeah, it was awesome getting to sleep with someone so willing to do anything, any position, any role, you name it, and Peyton would do it for me. But it was starting to make me feel like this was a chore. I've slept with many girls before Peyton, even while I was with Peyton, but I still just could not let go. There was a part of me that felt like we needed to stay as this "power couple."

"mmm Nathan." she moaned as I kissed her neck.

"Peyton.." her name coming out of my mouth, but my thoughts completely elsewhere.

Haley's POV

I was trying to zone out the thoughts of Nathan. I wanted to make his name, his face, his smell completely irrelevant to me. All I could think about was how embarrassed I got. The anger, the shame, the embarrassment all got to me so quickly and in such a rush. My face still felt hot from my interaction with Nathan. Suddenly I got shaken out of my thoughts when I heard a knock on my door.

"Haley?" Lucas said as he knocked.

"What happened Luke?" I asked concerned.

"I was just about to ask you the same question." he said as he sat on the bed next to me.

"Nothing." I said as I looked his way.

"Why are you here?" I added.

"Just checking up on you, you didn't return any of my calls or texts." he said to me worriedly.

"I've just been having a bad day." I confessed.

"And why is that?" he said as he put his arm around me.

"Well Nathan came by to apologize."

"For what?"

"The kiss," I said with a sad tone.

"Well that's the least he could do..." Lucas said despite his hatred for Nathan.

"I don't know what to say to you." I felt so awkward admitting this to Lucas.

"Don't tell me you actually have feelings for him Haley." Lucas asked annoyed.

"Look, after talking to him, he seems like a genuinely nice person." I defended.

"And I'm sure he'll be willing to break up with his girlfriend, and want to even be seen in public with you." Lucas exclaimed.

"What is that suppose to mean?!" I asked angrily, Lucas really had a way of pissing me off.

"It means, he could give two shits about people like me and you! He doesn't care, and whatever mumbo jumbo he might be pitching to you is how he wraps his whole world around his finger."

"You act like you know everything about him Lucas."

"Like you do! You're basing all of these emotions off of one platonic kiss! He told you himself, don't you get it?"

"Stop talking to me like I am child." I said unwilling to accept what he was spewing at me.

"God Haley, are you insane? What do I have to do or say to make you understand?"

"I understand that you're upset with me, but I'm just being honest. We don't even know if this will ever become a thing, so why are we fighting?"

"Because, you're being ridiculous. He has a girlfriend. He has a whole life completely different to us. Plus, even if he was single, I wouldn't let you date him." Lucas preached adamantly.

I had to absorb everything that Lucas was saying. Everything he was telling me was true but I didn't want to think that way. I don't know why I'm defending Nathan after he told me he wouldn't talk to me in public. Maybe I was going insane...

A/N: This chapter was kind of redundant but it was all for good reason. I promise the next one will be better! Comment your predictions on what will occur for the next chapter. Hope all of you review and stick with this story.