Nathan rolled over and rubbed his eyes. He was completely disoriented and had a massive headache. He looked over to see Haley's sleeping form beside him and the memory of last night came rushing back to him.

Haley stirred and looked at him. The expression on her face was completely unreadable.

"Good morning," Nathan said awkwardly.

"Good morning," Haley said quietly.

Nathan sat up on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands. He knew that they had complicated their situation tenfold last night.

"Are you okay?" Haley asked quietly.

"Uh...yeah, I guess. Are you?" Nathan asked, peering over his shoulder.

"I think so," was all she could think to say.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I kind of took advantage of you last night...," Nathan said.

Haley sat up, taken aback, "you didn't take advantage of me, I wasn't even the one who was drunk....

"I'm sure this sort of thing happens with people a lot...ya know, relapses," Nathan said awkwardly.

The two sat there for several moments in an uncomfortable silence.

Nathan reached down to pull his shirt over his head, "I better be going. I am supposed to meet Lucas."

Haley nodded weakly.

Nathan jumped up to walk away and turned to look at her.

"We'll talk about this later, alright?"

Again, Haley nodded weakly. Nathan turned around to say something else but the look on Haley's face stopped him -- he could see a look of guilt and regret and it broke his heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You did what?!" Lucas chastised him.

"Would you keep your voice down? I don't think everyone needs to know about this," Nathan replied looking around the diner.

The two had met for lunch and were discussing the previous night's activities.

"Dude...you have gone to a whole new level of sad," Lucas said.

Nathan rolled his eyes, "what the hell does that mean?"

"I mean...you've managed to let yourself get sucked back in again!" Lucas exclaimed.

Nathan just looked at him, silent.

"Haley ends things with you to be with another guy and one night when you get drunk, you have to make yourself totally available to her!" Lucas continued.

"I never said it wasn't a mistake," Nathan said firmly, now really aggravated that Lucas was making such a big deal about this…and before you go judging me, you do realize the girl in question is your best friend, right?" Lucas remained silent while Nathan continued, "…and what makes you think this makes me look so weak? Other guys hook up with exes just for the hell of it...I used to do it all the time."

"Oh eww, please spare me the details, I like to forget you and Peyton ever exchanged glances much less anything else," Lucas winced. "so…yeah, 'other guys' hook up with exes... but not you, at least not anymore," Lucas said. "Haley knows you're not like that now. She knows she still has you."

"Wow, way to make your best friend sound like a barracuda," Nathan commented.

Lucas sighed, "...Haley is my best friend. She'll always be my best friend. Do I agree with how either of you have handled this whole thing? No, not really – but I know, you're just doing the best you can…I can't say that I wouldn't have the same issues if put in a similar situation."

"So what should I do now?" Nathan asked after a few moments of silence.

"...I'd just let things play out - after all, where was Keller when all of this was going on?" Lucas said.

"Who?" Nathan asked.

"The boyfriend A.K.A. jackass," Lucas replied to which Nathan laughed.

"Out of town," Nathan replied.

Lucas shook his head, "but whatever you do, don't cave again…just talk to her and see if you guys can talk things out and see where you stand."

"Yeah, talking hasn't always my strongest suit – and what does she see in that guy anyway?" Nathan asked.

Lucas got up and hit Nathan's shoulder, "Keller is a jackass but then again, back in the day, so were you."

Nathan shook his head and laughed to himself. Whatever happened, he knew it would be difficult to go back to the way things were when he didn't have Haley James in his life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three Days Later

Nathan was pulling into the lot by the Rivercourt when his cell phone rang.

He could see that it was Haley calling him.

He clicked it off so the call would go to his voicemail.

He walked over to the court where Lucas was shooting around with Junk, Fergie and Skills.

"Well if it ain't the big time Sonic superstar in the house!" Skills called out and slapped a high five to Nathan.

"What's up Skills? It's good to see ya, hey guys," Nathan called to the others who returned their hellos.

"Yeah, we didn't get to see you at B. Davis' little beach shindig but I heard you were otherwise detained," Skills said knowingly.

Nathan cut his eyes at Lucas.

"Hey! I didn't say a word. Apparently, Haley made the mistake of saying something to Brooke when she got back to the apartment," Lucas replied in his own defense.

"Well forget whatever you heard," Nathan said, shooting the basketball and watching it sink through the hoop.

"All net – nice to have you back," Skills grinned, throwing the basketball back to Nathan.

~~

The guys played a game of two – on – two until they decided it was time to quit for the evening.

Lucas and Nathan began walking to the benches by the court to pick up their water as they said goodbye to the other guys.

Once they were alone, Lucas spoke up.

"I spent some time with Hales last night," he said.

Nathan tried to act non-chalant about this fact, "Oh yeah? Is she doing alright?"

"She's kind of messed up man, she actually broke down and told me what happened, not realizing I already knew…she said you haven't spoken to her since," Lucas said in a grim tone.

"I can't believe this," Nathan said aloud. "...you practically puke the second I've ever said anything about Haley in a non-friendly way and then she comes and talks to you about our sex life?! You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Listen, its not exactly something I wanted to hear about...she needed a friend...but what is this about you not talking to her since? Way to make her feel used, Nate," Lucas said.

Nathan closed his eyes -- "I really don't need this from you, Lucas. You were all on my case about not losing any ground and 'not caving' and all of that macho bull&^%. Now, you're ticked that I haven't run to fall at her feet. What do you want from me?"

"Why are you being such a jerk?" Lucas asked. "You know that I was telling you not to run back there and jump back in bed with her…but I never said to pretend that she doesn't exist! You slept with the girl and now you won't speak to her...why would you do that?"

"...because I didn't think she would want to speak to me!"

"She said she's been trying to call you."

Nathan leaned back against the bench and looked up at the sky, "I really really don't want to have to deal with this right now."

"Well tough shit, Nathan," Lucas snapped. "You got yourself into this...you hooked up with her and now you need to face it…and as her best friend, I can't let you treat her this way."

Nathan shook his head - what a complicated mess, he was a complicated mess.

"Talk to her, and do it soon," Lucas said and got up to walk over to his car.

Nathan remained there for a few moments. He knew he couldn't let the discomfort of this get in the way...he needed to handle the situation.

He grabbed his cell phone from the counter and hit the speed dial.

Within seconds, there was an answer.

"Haley? Can we meet up? I think we need to talk...."