Chapter 38

He was quite a chef Nathan Scott. Maybe if coaching stopped working for him he thought perhaps he could get a job in a restaurant. During high school he had never really been one for the culinary arts, but it had grown on him as time went by. Tonight though, he made sure to cook with that extra preciseness and care. Neither of the kids was home, but in the spur of the moment that afternoon, he had invited Haley for dinner.

From Ollie, he sort of got the feeling that maybe Haley was a bit lonely there alone in her house most nights. Also, he had been pretty ecstatic that Ollie, thanks to Haley, was starting to do what she loved again. Mostly though, he just wanted to spend as much time with Haley as possible.

The front door opened and he smiled. He had told Haley to just come right in when she arrived, but he hadn't been sure if she would.

"Hello?" he heard her call uncertainly.

"Hey. In the kitchen." He called back.

She popped around the corner, grinning. Nathan grinned even harder.

He pulled her to him, and kissed her full on the lips, enjoying the taste of her lips, and the feel of her tongue. Simultaneously, the leaned apart, breathing lightly.

"Hi," he whispered.

She giggled, "Hi."

Releasing her, he turned back to stir his bubbling pot. He heard her giggling. "What?" he asked humouredly.

She smirked, "Nice apron." She told him jokingly.

He glanced down at his lime green plastic apron, which Brooke had given him as a joke for Christmas once. "What's wrong with my apron?" he asked faking hurt.

Haley shrugged, still smirking as he stepped toward her.

Placing his arm around her waist, he swung her up into his arms, taking her hostage. Her eyes flashed with excitement as she shrieked and clung to his neck.

"Put me down Nathan!" she squealed.

"Nope," he smirked. Haley was pretty light, so she wasn't exactly hard to hold. He could tell she was enjoying it too, even if she wasn't admitting it. He twirled her round and she shrieked, burying her head hard into his apron covered chest. "You seem to like my apron now," he chuckled slowing down the twirling.

She nodded into his chest, her cheeks flushed with the joy of being so close to him, firmly settled in his strong arms. "I do like it now," she grinned mischievously and moved her mouth toward his chin. At first, lightly pecking it, she felt his arms tighten and then reached her own arm up to run her fingers through his dark hair. Lowering his head, her mouth began to tug on his lower lip. Mouth on mouth, Nathan hurriedly switched off the stove, while keeping Haley steady in his arms and took her to the sitting room.

It was odd, how automatically, they just fell back into knowing exactly what the other liked and responded to. The last 15 years had been the longest period of Nathans life in which he had not been this close to someone this way, even longer than birth to his first time. Of course he had gone on a few dates while Haley was gone, like the one he had been on with Rachel, but not once had he progressed past dancing or a kiss on the cheek. Even if had thought he wanted to at the time, every time he tried, he felt dirty.

They were on the sofa. He had set her down gently and she had pulled him down with her. It was starting to get burningly heated. Fingers from one of her hands were caressing his head, and the fingers of the other had found their way under the apron and up though the bottom of his shirt to where she now stroked his abdomen. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted, exactly what she was doing. That scared Nathan a bit, because for the first time in his life, he felt incredibly inexperienced.

Grunting, he rolled off her so that he was sitting on the opposite end of the sofa.

Haley too sat up, a look of hurt, mixed with confusion in her eyes. "What's the matter?"

Nathan looked at her. She was so beautiful. "I just haven't done this in such a long time."

She frowned momentarily, "Neither have I Nathan."

He shook his head, "No, I mean a really long time."

"Wait." She narrowed her eyes, "You think I…

"Haley," He grabbed her hand, "I do read the tabloids but I don't care. It's just; I'm not an actor or a rock star. What we had in high school might feel to you different now. That's all"

She pulled her hand from his and flattened her hair, keeping her gaze away from him, "You can't believe everything you read." she sighed. She had known this might come up; it hurt though, to be blatantly accused. Even though technically he wasn't accusing her, just forgiving her for acts the media had actually accused her of.

Nathan felt like kicking himself. All he had been trying to do was show her that none of it mattered, that everything was in the past. Instead, he had inadvertently called her a bit of a slut. "No. Haley. Haley?" he begged her to look at him. "I don't care about anything except that you're here now. Please understand. I'm not trying to upset you, just give you what you want."

Now, she fully turned to him. It seemed all they were able to do was fight. "Nathan. I get that you're curious. I am too. But what I want? You've already given me what I want. You let me back in Nate. You." She sighed. She knew that deep down, Nathan had always struggled with inadequacy when it came to how he saw him self. That's why he slept around in high school, and bullied people like Lucas, to try and feel less inadequate. She also knew exactly who had implanted in him the reasons to feel that way. "I know that you compared me to him for the last 15 years, but I am not like your dad."

Nathan looked at her shocked, "I…"

She gritted her teeth "No I'm not done. Time changed nothing. Neither did all the celebrity dates I turned down, nor seeing you all over Rachel." Across the cheek, she slapped him. "Don't you dare pretend like you are not good enough for me Nathan Scott."

Abruptly, she stood, and stalked into the kitchen. She wasn't angry that he thought she had been with other men, which she hadn't, she was angry that he saw it as himself failing. Seeing him like that did make her feel like Dan.

Fiddling for a second with the stove, she managed to turn it back on and get the pot bubbling again. After her little moment of physical abuse, she wasn't even sure if she was still welcome, but stubbornly decided to stay. She chopped up random vegetables, not even sure what Nathan had been aiming to make when he started cooking. It felt good to attack the bright colored pieces of nature with her knife. Not long later, she heard quiet shuffling behind her. Without even a glance over her shoulder, she continued to chop, but heard and felt him stop behind her.

He stood behind her for a few moments feeling like he should say something, but had no idea what. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head gently on her shoulder. Stiffening against him, she lay down the knife, wondering what he was playing at. They just stood like that for a while until Haley finally relaxed into him, realizing he was trying to show her he was sorry.

"Are you ok?" He asked into her neck.

She nodded, and picked up the knife again when he let go. Beside her, he began to continue to cook dinner as well.

After they had finished their rather oddly assorted meal, due to Haley not having known what he was making, they both sat down to eat.

Sitting across from him, his cheek, she noticed, was slightly pink and shiny. Softly, she reached across and ran a finger over it, "I'm sorry I slapped you Nate."

He shrugged and gave her a little smile to show it didn't matter.

They finished their dinner slowly, both getting over the effects of their fight. It had been quite silly really, a bit of a misunderstanding. Fighting had sort of just become what they were used to, so now even though they were essentially pretty happy, tension still bubbled up quite a lot.

Haley stayed and helped him clean up, both back to being lighthearted again. Still, the whole time Nathan was dreading the awkward moment that was sure to come after, the moment in which one of them ended the date. Either Haley making up some excuse to leave after an awkward silence, or the other way round, in which he gave her an excuse.

Sure enough, just after the last clean plate was stacked, there it was, the awkward silence. He could practically see her formulating an excuse in her mind.

Out of nowhere, completely unconsciously, Nathan blurted, "Stay."

She stared at him wide eyed, "What?"

He swallowed, "Please stay."

Unexpectedly, a beam broke out onto her face and she flung at him, catching his mouth on hers.

He responded to her and when she pulled away, felt a bit breathless. He smirked, "I guess that's a yes to staying then."