The party was in full swing by the time Lucas and Nathan arrived. The two walked in the door to see two guys, wearing togas and screaming while smashing beer cans on the foreheads.

Lucas looked at Nathan and tried to stifle his laughter, "let's go get a beer."

The four of them headed to the keg to get a beer when they heard a loud scream from behind them.

"It's P. Sawyer!!!" a screaming Brooke Davis ran through the foyer to hug her friend.

Peyton laughed and returned the hug, "it's good to see you too, Brooke."

"…and she brought 'Broody' and the basketball star with her!" Brooke laughed, hugging Lucas and Nathan.

"Hi Brooke," Nathan laughed.

Lucas hugged Brooke and said Hello and they introduced Brooke to Stacy.

"Well, get yourselves a drink, don't be shy and help yourself! This party is on Victoria!" Brooke laughed, taking another drink. "We have liquor here too if you get tired of beer!"

The four of them got drinks and walked outside to a vacant table set up on the huge porch.

"Let's play some cards," Lucas said.

Nathan laughed, "why do I get the feeling I'm gonna get plastered tonight?"

It was a little known fact that Lucas Scott was a card hustler or at least he could be. Nathan had been amazed at how much money Lucas had managed to take away from the tables in Atlantic City.

Stacy's smile grew even wider as she looked at Nathan, "…I'm sure you're going to have a good night."

Lucas looked from Peyton Stacy to Nathan and could barely contain his laughter. "…got a deck of cards?"

Peyton left for a moment to get cards from Brooke and returned with two bottles of vodka and a bottle of whiskey.

"You rob a liquor store sweetheart?" Lucas eyed the bottles in her hands.

"Courtesy of Brooke," Peyton laughed. "She literally pushed me out of the kitchen with these bottles."

The four began playing #$hole, a card game that ended with Lucas having to take 0 shots, Stacy 4, Peyton 5 and Nathan 3.

"He is good," Stacy leaned in to Nathan, referring to Lucas' card playing.

Nathan nodded, "…yeah he is. He's a shark."

"I bet there are some interesting things you are good at….besides basketball ," Stacy said suggestively.

Nathan smiled and looked down at the ground. Despite fame, success and lots of female attention, Nathan had never quite gotten comfortable with blatant sexual advances or even innuendos from people he barely knew. For the high school version of Nathan Scott, it had been a way of life, but since Haley, everything had been different.

The card playing continued, taking the group through another series of vodka shots.

Halfway through the third round, Nathan began drinking from the whiskey bottle.

All of them (except Lucas) were starting to feel the effects of the liquor.

Peyton and Stacy had disappeared at the end of the card game – Peyton clearly didn't have the tolerance to keep up with the rest of them and she was already over her limit.

Stacy walked back to the table, "I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm helping Peyton – she's pretty messed up."

Lucas jumped up – "I'll help her."

"Nah, it's alright. I think she's a little embarrassed," Stacy replied. She looked at Nathan, " I'll be back though…don't go anywhere"

Nathan nodded, "hey okay….

Before he knew what was happening, Stacy had grabbed him and kissed him before walking away.

Nathan stood there in a drunken haze and continued to drink whiskey.

Lucas hadn't had nearly enough alcohol to even affect his senses.

"…so are you crashing here tonight?"

Nathan looked at him, "…and why would I do that?"

Lucas shrugged, "I thought maybe you and Stacy were going to hook up."

Nathan shrugged, "I don't know man."

"Hey, none of my business," Lucas held up his hands.

Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm going to go check on Peyton. Are you cool…come find me if you need a ride?" Lucas said.

"Yeah, man, I'm fine," Nathan said, knowing it didn't sound very convincing. He had had about 14 shots and half the whiskey bottle by now.

"Call me if you need anything…don't be stupid...have a good time...enjoy your night."

Nathan nodded as Lucas walked back into the house. A few moments later, Nathan decided to abandon the porch and go back in the house again as well. As soon as he had set foot in the house, Nathan stopped in his tracks. Even in his drunken state, he immediately noticed the girl standing by the couch in the common area talking to a girl and a guy.

Under normal circumstances, his first notion would be to turn and avoid, as he had done at the ice cream shop a couple of days prior. This time, maybe it was the mixture of alcohol, anger and a need for closure that made him go to her.

~~~~

"So, is this who you left me for?" Nathan slurred his words.

Haley looked at him in surprise, "Nathan! What are you doing here?"

"Well, this really cute girl invited me to this party and so I thought, 'hey, I should go out and meet some girls...after all, I am a single guy! What are you doing here?" Nathan half yelled, stumbling.

"Well, Brooke invited me and I hadn't seen her for a while…" Haley replied.

"Wow…I saw Brooke a while ago, but she conveniently forgot to tell me that you were going to be here –may have changed my mind about coming here!" Nathan raised his voice again, clearly showing how drunk he was.

"Nathan, stop, please," Haley said looking around to see that he'd caught the attention of just about everyone in the room.

"Why? Ya know, I started playing ball right outta high school - never had the college experience...so I'm doing it now!" Nathan grinned and took a swig from the whiskey bottle he had been holding.

Haley sighed, looking very sad, "I think you've had enough."

"Well, I don't really give a sh*& what you think! What happens to me, what I do with my life, its none of your business! Not anymore!" Nathan yelled, catching the attention of the last two people who hadn't yet noticed the situation.

"Let's step outside," Haley said grabbing him by the sleeve and leading him outside.

Nathan walked with her outside but shoved her arm off his sleeve as soon as they had walked to the yard, "get off me! Don't touch me!"

Haley stepped back in shock. She had never seen him like this before.

"You need to go home and sober up," Haley said.

"Nah, that's very overrated," Nathan said, looking her square in the eye. "That one girl in there, Stacy- Peyton's friend…. she's pretty hot. It's been awhile since I've been with a blonde...." he continued to speak, watching for her reaction. "She'd probably like that, don't ya think? She could tell her friends she had sex with an NBA All Star."

Haley shook her head and narrowed her eyes, "why are you saying this shit? This isn't who you are."

"Well, maybe I've changed...or maybe I never really did change…maybe I just did a good job of fooling you...how do you know I didn't cheat on you when we were together?"

Nathan knew he was being a jerk, but at the moment, he was too angry and too drunk to care.

Haley's jaw dropped, "Why are you trying so hard to hurt me?"

"...because you hurt me," Nathan said, taking a step back. "..you hurt me more than I thought I could ever be hurt by anyone....and you should know how it feels!"

Tears were flowing freely from her eyes. "I never meant for any of this to happen....but you need to know something....I never cheated on you."

"What the hell difference does that make now?" Nathan yelled, but even as he denied it, his heart was overwhelmed with a sense of relief to hear her admission.

"It makes a lot of difference to me!" Haley said. "...but ya know what? maybe you're right! Maybe I don't know the real you, after all, you are a big basketball player now, right?! Maybe you had an elaborate plan to pretend to be this nice guy when all along you're just this shallow, devious shell of a person!"

At that moment, Nathan could feel the blood rush from his face. He was going to be sick.

He ran behind some bushes and began to hurl.

Haley stood in place, shutting her eyes.

After a moment, Nathan stopped gagging and stumbled back over to the yard near Haley.

"Come on," Haley said quietly.

"What? Where are we going?"

"We're leaving," Haley grabbed his sleeve and began to pull him away from the party.

~~~~

Nathan and Haley walked the four blocks to an apartment in silence. Haley opened the front door and turned on the light. "Brooke is letting me stay here with her. I doubt she'll make it home from the beach party. Go and lay down on the couch," she directed.

Nathan laid down on the couch, trying to keep the ceiling from swirling above him. Haley returned a few minutes later with a glass of water, a wet washcloth, a blanket and pillow. "Just lay down and rest. Take these," she said handing him two aspirin.

"Why are you doing this?" Nathan asked.

"...doing what?" Haley asked.

"...being so nice to me?" Nathan replied.

"...because I care about you," Haley answered.

"...why, Hales? Why did this happen to us?" Nathan said grabbing her wrist.

"We shouldn't talk about this now," Haley said trying to get up from the couch but Nathan stopped her.

"No. I want to talk about this now...while I still have the nerve to talk about it...I loved you. I wanted to marry you...why did you have to leave me?"

Haley's eyes welled up with tears for the second time. "I did what I felt was right. I needed to. I couldn't handle everything. I needed someone who was going to be here for me. I met Chris when we working on music together. Things just happened...and I developed feelings for him. Like I said, I never cheated on you...I wanted to end things before anything actually happened with him."

Nathan shut his eyes, "where is he?"

"He's in California –he was here a couple of days ago, but he's gone now," Haley responded.

"Listen, I'm sorry about the things I said to you," Nathan said. "I was trying to hurt you..."

Haley nodded, "people say and do a lot of things drunk that they wouldn't normally do sober."

"...but you're right, I'm not a one night stand kind of guy…at least not anymore…not since before you and I got together…and I never cheated on you, you can always know that."

The two looked at each for several moments until Haley broke the connection.

"Well, I'm going to bed. Goodnight Nathan," Haley said as she got up from the couch.

"Good night," he replied, putting the cold washcloth on his forehead.

Haley shut off the light and went into the guest bedroom. He could hear her moving around and then silence fell over the apartment.

Haley was drifting off to sleep when she felt a hand caress her shoulder.

She turned over to see Nathan sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Nathan, what are you doing?"

"Shhh," Nathan pulled her to him and kissed her.

With a force that even surprised her, she returned the kiss.