AN: I'm so so sorry for the LONG wait. Hopefully you are all STILL reading and STILL enjoying it ) Thank you so much to ALL the people who have left me feedback.

Always23Forever, aqualeo2425, BabbleBaby, Brooke 1622, chelle2911, Duckygirl, Eshumaa, formerflautist, goober396, Hales luvs Nate, harroc83, honey23, MissAlyson, mistydm, Mrs. Synyster, Gates, naley23lover101, naleyluv, NaleYLuV01, naleysocute23, NaleyyIsLove, OTH.daddy'sgurl.06, SluttyDeb, theSnuffaluffigus & vampiregurl (hopefully I got ALL the reviews)

Chapter Eight: I'm So In Love With You

As Haley was leaving his mind screamed at him to chase her, beg her to listen. Do something because he knew that if he let her walk away, he'd be losing one of the most important people in his life. His body, however, had other ideas. He stood there, staring dumbfounded at the path Haley walked long after she had gone, wanting to do something, but not having the courage to actually do it.

After standing in place for what seemed like months, something finally clicked. He asked himself what would be worse, ending it with Haley or telling her everything. The answer was simple. He would always choose Haley.

Nathan ran through the streets like a madman. He knew it was going to take a lot of groveling, but he was determined to get her to listen. He reached her house out of breath, and knocked frantically on the front door, forgetting that her parents were likely to be home.

"Are you my welcome wagon? Cuz if so, then I'm definitely going to like living here," the girl who answered the door greeted provocatively.

"Who are you?" Nathan asked, a little rudely, after he caught his breath.

"Listen buddy. You knocked on my door so don't go around acting like an ass!" The girl replied, her seductive tone replaced with an annoyed, angry one.

"Maybe I got the house wrong. I'm looking for the James' residence."

The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "This is the James' house. Who are you?"

Nathan sighed in relief. For a moment he'd thought he was losing his mind. There was still the question of who the girl was, but that wasn't important or what he was there for. He needed to talk to Haley and he needed to do it fast. "Oh good. Listen, I just need to talk to Haley really quick so if you'd just let me in that'd be great." Nathan tried pushing past the girl, but she wasn't budging.

The girl rolled her eyes at the guy in front of her. "Rude much?" she asked in annoyance. "You can't just knock, loudly might I add, on my door and demand to come in like a freaking caveman. You still haven't told me who you are!"

"I'm Haley's boyfriend," Nathan said hoping that would convince the girl to let him in. "Who are you?"

"Oh, so you're Nathan," she said in recognition.

"Yes, so if you could just let me -" Nathan was cut off by the door slamming in his face. He really didn't like that girl.

"Who was at the door Taylor?" Haley asked as she walked down the stairs. She heard voices and was hoping it was Nathan. She didn't know what she would have done if he had been at the door, but she still hoped it was him.

"Solicitor," Taylor lied. She had to admit that Nathan was a hottie and she definitely wasn't expecting that. Not to say that Haley wasn't beautiful, because she was, but she's always been so dorky that Taylor had thought that any of Haley's boyfriends would be dorky as well.

"Was it Nathan?" Haley asked.

"Who's Nathan again?" Taylor asked, knowing it would piss Haley off.

"You know who Nathan is Taylor, he's my boyfriend." Haley took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Ever since they were little Taylor had always found a way to annoy Haley and Haley wasn't surprised that things hadn't changed one bit.

Taylor would never admit it, but she really cared about Haley and didn't want to see her get hurt. She was protective of her and when she saw Nathan she had a gut feeling that he was going to end up hurting her.

"Well I'm sorry that I'm not interested enough in your life to actually process what you say to me," Taylor said snarkily. She cared about Haley alright, but she also found joy in pissing her off.

"Forget it!" Haley exclaimed exasperatedly. "We're leaving for school early tomorrow. If you want to come with me then you'd better be awake. If you're not ready at 7:30 I'm leaving without you."

The next morning, true to her word, Haley left the house without Taylor. She could have waited the extra five minutes that it was going to take for Taylor to get ready, but she decided not to. Haley really didn't want to deal with Taylor, but she was going to have to get used to it since Taylor was there to stay... until graduation.

"Listen Helly, I know that you're all 'school is cool', but some of us aren't. Some of us don't want to get to school until the bell actually rings, not before it. Some of us aren't nerds," Taylor said breathlessly after she sprinted the two blocks to catch up to Haley.

"One, don't call me 'Helly'. Two, you had to get to school early today because you're meeting the Principal today. And three, I'm going to school early... for you to show you around."

Taylor scoffed. "Please, like you don't actually get to school early everyday. I'm beginning to wonder what a hottie like Nathan is doing with you."

"I swear to God Taylor you'd better keep your paws off of Nathan!" Haley warned. "Wait... how do you know what Nathan's looks like?" Taylor shrugged her shoulders, but the Cheshire grin that she sported was all Haley needed. "Nathan came over yesterday? Damnit Taylor! I needed to talk to him. What the hell?!"

"What?" Taylor said acting innocently. "You seemed kind of pissed at him, so I took it upon myself to let you cool off. If you had talked to him yesterday you probably would have blown up at him."

"Taylor never again decide something for me," Haley explained after calming herself down. She knew Taylor got some sadistic pleasure in pushing her buttons. If Haley was going to have to live with Taylor for the next two and a half years, she was going to have to learn not to let Taylor get to her.

"A thank you would have been sufficient you know," Taylor said.

"Taylor... please just shut up."

"You're not really a morning person are you?" Taylor said, ignoring Haley's previous plea.

Haley didn't answer Taylor's question. She decided that she wasn't going to talk for the rest of the walk to school in hopes that Taylor would take the hint and just stop talking, which she eventually did.

"Well, this is Tree Hill High," Haley said, stretching her arms out towards the school. "Walk into those front doors, go straight and take a right into the door that says OFFICE."

"Thanks Hell-," Taylor began, but stopped herself when she saw Haley's glare. "Haley."

"I'm tutoring for about an hour after school. You can wait for me or you can leave." Haley began walking toward the entrance of the school, not bothering to wait for Taylor or to see if she was following.

"Hey, don't you want to exchange schedules or something to see if we have any classes together?" Taylor called purposely trying to push Haley's buttons.

"No," Haley said, not bothering to look back. This was going to be an interesting semester.

Taylor took a deep breath and examined the school in front of her. She noticed that students were starting to arrive.

"You lost?"

She turned to look at the guy who interrupted her thoughts. She noticed the letterman's jacket he was sporting and rolled her eyes in annoyance. She really hated jocks sometimes. "Not interested."

"I was just asking if you were lost."

"You were asking to get into my pants," she accused.

"What?!" He said offended. "I guess 'you lost' is 'I wanna screw you' in crazy talk."

"Who you calling crazy, midget?" Taylor said, her defensive nature getting the best of her.

"Midget? I'm two inches taller than you."

"Yeah, but for a guy, that's short."

The guy scoffed. "Whatever. I have better things to do than stand here and argue with you, like stabbing myself with a blunt knife." He turned to leave shaking his head at the crazy antics of the new girl.

Taylor waited until the guy was in the school before she followed his lead. She didn't want him to think she was stalking him… even though he was cute.

"Shit," Haley cursed under her breath when she saw Nathan waiting for her, leaning against her locker. She wasn't ready to deal with the fact that he preferred to talk to Rachel about his most personal problems and not her. It hurt, a lot, and she wasn't going to deny that.

"Hales," Nathan said when he saw her few feet away. "I need to talk to you."

Haley took a deep breath and coached herself to be strong. "I can't right now Nathan. We have class -"

"Not for another half an hour," Nathan interrupted. He was at school early, knowing Haley would be there early as well, hoping to talk to her about the Rachel issue. "Please Hales?"

Haley sighed. He was looked about as miserable as she did. 'Good,' she thought. "I really don't want to talk about this at school Nathan, with the whole school listening."

"Lunch? After school? Please Haley," he begged again.

"I have tutoring after school," Haley said.

"What about at lunch?" Nathan suggested.

"I'd rather not get into it here. Tutoring usually lasts about an hour, but sometimes it goes longer."

"I'll wait," Nathan said sincerely. He stared at her, pleading with his eyes to give him a chance to explain.

Haley agreed hesitantly. "Meet me here then?"

"I'll be here," Nathan said still leaning against her locker.

"Ok," Haley repeated awkwardly. "I should start getting to class," she said, hoping he'd get the hint that she needed to get into her locker. He obviously didn't because he nodded his head in understanding, but was still leaning against her locker. "Um, I kind of need to get something from my locker."

"Oh, right!" Nathan flushed with embarrassment. "I should get to my locker too. I'll see you later then?"

"Later then."

Haley avoided her usual lunch table, which consisted of herself, Tim and Nathan and opted to spend her lunch hour in the library. Her original intention was to study for the hour, but her mind kept drifting to Nathan and their much needed talk after school. She was nervous and scared. Nervous because she really didn't know how to approach the subject or what to say and was scared because of the question as to why he confided in Rachel. It really hurt her that he was willing to share that stuff with Rachel and not her, and she couldn't help but wonder whether he actually preferred Rachel over her.

"Hales?" Tim said when he saw Haley staring off in space. "What are you doing here?"

Haley broke out of her thoughts and tried to think of an excuse. "Um, studying?" she offered.

"Where are your books?" Tim asked.

"I'm avoiding someone," Haley admitted sheepishly.

"Who?" Tim pressed on. It was funny because he was in the library because he was avoiding certain people as well and one of them included Haley. Since she wasn't biting his head off he assumed she hadn't heard about his blowup with Nathan the day before.

"Nathan. What are you doing here?" Haley asked.

"Same thing you are." Tim took a seat next to Haley and took out his lunch.

"You can't eat in here!" Haley scolded.

Tim snorted and dug into his sandwich. "It's not like anyone cares about the stupid rules… well, except you of course. So why are you avoiding Nathan?"

"It's… complicated," she said awkwardly. "What about you?"

"I blew up at him when he was just trying to help me," Tim said miserably. "I'm a horrible friend."

"It's probably not as bad as you think," Haley suggested.

"I brought up his parents Hales." Tim suddenly lost his appetite and got up to throw the rest of his sandwich.

"So that's why he went to Rachel," Haley said to herself. It was starting to make sense, but it still didn't make up for the fact that he, in a sense, chose Rachel.

"Went to Rachel for what?" Tim asked.

"He went to Rachel with his parent problems," Haley said trying to downplay how much it bothered her.

"Is that why you're avoiding him?"

"No…" she denied. "Maybe. It's just… why Rachel?"

"And not you?" Tim offered.

"Yes ok! I'm jealous that he didn't come to me with his problems," Haley paused and thought about her words. She smiled and shook her head. "Is that ridiculous? Because he's going through something really bad and I'm pissed off because he didn't come to me with it? Is that stupid?"

"Yes… and no. At least he's talking to someone Hales and not keeping it to himself, right?"

"I guess. But I just can't help but feel upset… jealous that it's not me. I'm not the one he wants to go to… that it's not me."

"Why do you want it to be you so badly?" Tim already knew the answer, but he wasn't sure Haley knew… or wanted to admit it.

"Because I'm his girlfriend?" Haley said questioningly.

"And?"

"Because I'm his friend?"

Tim sighed. She was a stubborn one. "Because you L-," he purposely left out the rest for her to figure you.

"Because I like him?" She didn't like where this conversation was going at all. "So how's the home situation going for you Tim?"

"Don't try and change the subject Haley James. You LOVE Nathan!" Tim stated boldly.

"What?" Haley said in a mix of shock and denial.

"Deny all you want James, but I know you love him," Tim said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Tim, I don't know where you got this ridiculous notion that I l-," she paused because she couldn't even say the damn word.

"Love him?" Tim said mockingly.

"Yeah, that. But I don't… I mean, maybe later… but not now… I can't… Can I?"

"Yes, you can."

"But we've only been dating for a couple of months. It's not logical." It wasn't logical. She couldn't possibly be in love with Nathan after only a couple months of dating could she?

"How do you feel when you think about Nathan?" Tim asked.

Haley started fidgeting with her hands. "Well, I feel like numb inside. Not numb, but it just feels cold for a split second. And then my stomach gets all crazy. And it kinda feels like my heart's beating really fast, but it's not. And sometimes, I have to remember to breathe, which I mean, should come naturally right? Even if we're not thinking about breathing, we're breathing..." Haley shut her eyes at her own realization. "I'm in love with him aren't I?" she groaned.

Tim smiled at her. "Yup. What did you think all those weird feelings were?"

"Damnit!" she cursed. "I thought it was just… you know, gas or something. This is the worst thing to happen right now." She dramatically dropped her head on the tabled and groaned.

Tim was taken aback at her reaction. "Don't get too excited there Hales. Word of advice, don't let Nathan know that being in love with him is the worst thing to happen."

Haley glared at him. "Oh shut up Tim! I didn't mean it like that. I meant that it's the worst time to realize that I'm in love with him. Ok, we need to stop talking about this right now because it's going to distract me all day. What's new with you Tim?"

"Well," Tim began. "My biological Mom just waltzed into town and decided that she wanted to get to know me, which is upsetting my Mom, but she won't admit it. All she'll say is 'if you want to get to know her sweetheart, you should'," Tim finished, imitating his mom in a falsetto voice.

"You wanna talk about it?" Haley asked sympathetically.

"She wants to have dinner tomorrow. We're going," he said and gestured between himself and Haley.

"Uh… we?" Haley asked, mimicking the gesture Tim had just done. "I don't recall agreeing to this."

"You owe me," Tim said.

"For what?!"

"I helped you realize that you love Nathan!" Tim knew it was petty to use that, but he needed to do whatever it took to get Haley to go to this dinner with him. "And if you and Nathan make up by tomorrow night tell him he's coming too." He needed all the help he could get to get through dinner with his 'Mom'.

"I can't believe you would use our friendship to get what you want. Remind me to never go to you for anything ever again!"

"Eh, I'm a jerk, sue me," he said jokingly. He knew Haley would have gone to dinner if he asked. "Speaking of jerks, I met this crazy chick this morning."

"Did you call her a 'chick'? Because girls don't usually like being called 'chicks'." Haley looked at her watch and noticed that the bell was going to ring in a couple of minutes. She got up and gestured to her watch to Tim. He got up too and picked his bag up.

"No, I didn't call her a chick. But she was crazy and I did call her crazy! All I did was ask her if she needed help, which apparently meant 'I want to rip all your clothes off and screw you in front of the school'."

Haley giggled. "Did you get her name?"

"No, but hopefully I won't see her again."

Haley walked to her locker after school. Her tutoring session was cancelled, which was good because it gave her a chance to think about what to say to Nathan. Should she just not say anything and let him talk, sort of give him the chance to explain, or should she tell him exactly how she felt? As she rounded the corner to get to her locker, she was surprised to find Nathan leaning against her locker much like the morning. "Hey," she called out to him, breaking his concentration. He was concentrating on spinning his basketball on his index finger and when he heard her call out he stopped the ball from spinning and smiled at her. "You're early," Haley said.

"Didn't want to miss you," Nathan said, staring straight into her eyes, making her a bit uncomfortable.

"You were going to wait here for an hour… or longer?" Her eyes shifted from his to the ground, effectively breaking their eyed.

Nathan shrugged his shoulders, trying to downplay the gesture. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the girl from the day before.

"Haley this little town is disgusting," Taylor complained. She was having the worst day - from the teachers expecting so much from her because she was related to the "number one student", to the guys practically molesting her. Well they weren't actually touching her, but they were making some obscene suggestions. "Why oh why did I have to come live here?"

"I don't know Taylor. My Dad just sprung you on us. When he said surprise, I was expecting a puppy, not you." The situation surrounding Taylor coming to live with Haley and her family was a little sketchy considering no one had filled her in as to why Taylor was sent to Tree Hill and since Taylor started to squirm and started to fidget with her hands Haley realized that Taylor knew exactly why she was there and wasn't too keen on letting the reason out.

"Anyways, back to why this town is disgusting. One, the teachers think I'm like Haley 2.0 or something, and they're in for a shock when they realize that I'm like Haley… 0.25. Two, stupid jocks think that I'm going to have sex with them because I'm new. Three, some stupid asshole this morning wanted in my pants and when I said no, called me a crazy bitch!"

Nathan cleared his voice soundly to get the attention of the girl. She turned around, looking ready to scream at him for interrupting her, but when she saw his face her menacing scowl turned into a big smile.

"Hi, I'm Taylor. Have we met?"

Haley rolled her eyes at Taylor's antics and wondered what game Taylor was trying to play.

"I'm Nathan, Haley's boyfriend. And yeah, we have met. You slammed the door in my face yesterday." Haley's heart did a little cheer that Nathan wasn't falling for Taylor's little game.

Taylor's smile instantly vanished. "Right, my mistake," she said unapologetically. "Did you need something? Because we," - she gestured between herself and Haley - "were in the middle of something."

"Actually," he said, imitating the gesture Taylor made, between himself and Haley, "we were in the middle of something. Did you need something?"

Taylor turned her back on Nathan and addressed Haley. "Did you want to walk home together?"

Haley stared at Taylor for a second. She had never been able to get an accurate read on Taylor. Growing up, they were usually at each other's throats, but there were times - like now for instance - where Taylor would become protective of Haley.

"I - need - you," Tim said, taking a deep breath between each word. He had just run down the hall, like a bat out of hell, hoping to catch Haley before she left. He blinked his eyes, trying to get them in focus, while trying to catch his breath.

"You okay man?" Nathan asked.

Tim nodded his head and mouthed 'fine'. He turned to Haley, but instead came face to face with the girl from the morning. "You," he said when he saw Taylor.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "I don't appreciate being stalked by midgets you know."

"And I don't appreciate being called a midget, Crazy."

"Well if the shoe fits," Taylor retorted, looking down at his shoes. "And I can see it's a rather small shoe."

"Small," Tim laughed. "There is nothing small about me." Time gestured down to his crotch.

"Ok ok," Haley said getting in between Tim and Taylor. "Taylor, this is my best friend Tim. Tim this is my cousin Taylor," she said introducing the two.

"Ugh, Haley, please tell me you're not friends with this… troll," Taylor said glaring at Tim.

"Hales, please tell me that crazy doesn't run in your family!"

"Ok, I've had enough of you midget boy!"

"Yeah? What are you going to do about it? Something.. crazy?"

"STOP!" Haley shouted. "Taylor, I'm not going home yet… I have… erm… things to do, so you can go home without me. Tim, what did you want?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to baby-sit with me tonight. My parents are going out."

"I'll call you," Haley replied. She grabbed Nathan by the arm who was watching amusedly at the banter between Tim and Taylor. "So, if that's all we have to get going."

"Going where Haley?" Taylor asked while smiling knowingly and wiggling her eyebrows.

"Yeah Hales? Where are you and Nathan going?" Tim asked.

Haley glared at the two. She knew they were just trying to provoke her. It was funny because less than a second ago they were ready to kill each other and it seemed now as though they had joined forces to intentionally piss her off. "Tutoring." She pulled at Nathan's arm and turned to walk away.

"I thought you tutored him in the mornings," Tim called out.

"Shut up Tim," Haley called back with her back to them.

"So that's you're cousin?" Nathan asked as he was being dragged around the corner, out of Tim and Taylor's sight.

"Yeah, it's kind of… confusing why she's here. I mean, I don't even know… yeah…" Haley let go of Nathan when they were safely away from the two. "So, um… what… did, um, you want to talk about?"

"I want to show you something," Nathan said. He held his hand out for her, hoping she would take it. She took his hand and he led her in silence to his "secret place".

"This is the River Court," Haley said, looking to the basketball court where Tim and Nathan would often play basketball. "I've been here a bunch of times."

"I know," Nathan said sending her a smile. "I just wanted to show you… through my eyes." He dropped his bag at the edge of the cement court, took his basketball and dribbled to the free throw line. "I know it's nothing special… I mean, it's just a basketball court by the river. And it's not really hidden." He chuckled as he made a basket from the free throw line. "Nothing can be hidden in such a small town you know?" He ran to get the ball and dribbled around the court. "It's my place where I can just be me, you know? Where I can play the game that I love." He faked to the left. "I'm not playing for Tree Hill High, or for Whitey, or for my teammates." Nathan paused. "Or my dad. I'm playing for me." He drove to the basket and executed a perfect lay-up.

"I'm not… I don't," Haley stumbled on her words. He looked so… in his element that she didn't want to ruin it for him. But she really didn't get why he brought her here.

Nathan offered with a smile. "I found this place when I was ten." By this time, Nathan had stopped "horsing" around with the basketball and sat on the table top of one of the picnic tables, facing the river. "I was having a pretty crappy day. My parents were arguing and decided to take their anger out on me. Not physically of course. So I ran and ended up here. I didn't have a basketball with me, but I was still drawn to the court. It was sort of calling to me, as stupid as it sounds. Then it became this place I came to whenever things got crappy - whenever my Mom reminded me that my parents would have been happy if I wasn't born, but you know, she makes up for saying that by saying she loves me anyways, whenever my Dad tells me I'm not good enough, that I can never live up to his great name, that he didn't want me." Nathan bowed his head as the tears fell down his cheeks and he was desperate to stop them.

Haley felt angry tears slide down her cheeks. She was thoroughly disgusted that he had parents like Dan and Deb and with herself for being angry for such a reason that at that moment felt insignificant. She didn't know what to do to comfort him, hugging him didn't feel right, but neither did standing two feet away from him. She took a seat beside him and held his hand in her own. He looked up at her, through his tear stained eyes and gave her a thankful smile.

"I've been coming here since I found the place. I'd come here whenever… I'd come here to play basketball for me. To do the thing I love." He squeezed her hand and turned to her. "I haven't come here since before I left for basketball camp."

Haley nodded her head sadly. She tried to be supportive, tried not to let the Rachel factor bother her, but it still did. "Yeah…"

"It's not because of Rachel. You know all those times when I'd show up at your house because I thought that we had a tutoring session?" Haley nodded her head. "I just needed to be around you Hales."

Haley recalled the many times he had shown up claiming to think that was their tutoring session. She was usually doing her own homework or studying so she couldn't tutor him. Although she couldn't tutor him he would always just stay in her room and do his own homework. A couple of times she had caught him staring.

"I didn't need the basketball court anymore Haley. I just needed you. I… I went to Rachel because I don't care about her Hales. I don't love her. She means nothing to me."

"She can't mean nothing to you Nathan," Haley replied a little bitterly. "She obviously means something to you."

"She doesn't Hales. I don't care about her," he said honestly.

"Don't say that Nathan!" Haley let go of Nathan's hand and started to pace in front of him. "You went to her okay? You went to her about something important and you couldn't come to me. God Nathan! I feel like an idiot for being angry about this, but I am okay? I'm angry and jealous that you chose to go to Rachel. You didn't choose me." She literally felt like the scum of the earth. Here was Nathan, practically spilling his heart and soul out to her and her insecurities about Rachel came flooding out. She hadn't meant for it, but she couldn't hold it inside anymore, especially when he claimed it was meaningless.

Nathan grabbed her hand and forced her to stop pacing and stand in front of him. He tilted her up so she was looking at him instead of the ground. "I love you," he said, carefully pronouncing each word. "I may have said it when I was drunk, but I meant it. I love you Hales. I used to think that if I didn't play hard enough, everyone would see me as a screw-up, just like my Dad does. And then you came along and I didn't care about what anyone else thought. I only cared about what you thought of me."

"Nate -"

"Let me finish. I told her some things at camp because I didn't have you, or the river court and she was just there. We were sorted into four teams and we play each other. I'd done really badly and was feeling like shit. She came to me asked me what was wrong and I started talking about how I messed up and how I should have done better. She'd given me the 'We can't win them all' speech. And I blew up at her! I told her that I had to win them all and then we got to talking about my parents. That was the only time I talked to her about them since yesterday.

"You want to know why I talked to Rachel? It's because I don't care about her, I don't think about her, I don't notice her and I don't love her. She's practically nothing to me."

"I still don't get it Nathan," Haley said.

"The only thing that I'm good at, that I know how to do is play basketball. I'm an average student on a good day and the only thing special about me is that I can shoot a ball through a hoop pretty well. And you… you are this amazingly beautiful, smart, confident, talented girl. I look at you and I can't help but wonder when you're going to realize that you deserve someone who's better than me. I'm scared that you're going to believe that I'm everything that my Dad says I am, that I'm not good enough." He couldn't stand looking at her anymore, fearing the worst so he bowed his head and looked at the ground.

At Nathan's confession Haley felt a gut wrenching pain. Silent tears that she hadn't noticed were sliding down her face. She stared at this boy, so broken, and wanted so badly to fix him. But she didn't know how. She felt selfish for forcing him to open up, when she should have let him be until he was ready. She grabbed his face in her hand stared into his eyes for a moment as she pondered on the words to say.

"I -" her voice hitched so she cleared her throat and started over. "You are one of the most incredible people I have ever met. You're a great friend, a great boyfriend and you have so much going for you. You're a talented basketball player. I don't know anything about basketball, but when I watch you play - even when you're playing for fun, it's amazing. There's something so magnificent about the way you handle yourself on the court. When you play, you just command everyone's attention. I'm sorry that you have to… that they…" Her voice became laden with emotions and tears were rapidly coming down her face. "You are nothing that he says. He is a sorry excuse for a father and she is just as bad."

Nathan nodded his head. "You wanna know what the really sick thing is Hales? No matter how badly they treat me or how much they hate me, I still love them and want them to love me. I could hate them right? They're pretty awful and it wouldn't be bad if I hated them right? I hate them Hales, I do… but I love them."

Haley took him in her arms and held on. Nathan broke down and sobs overtook his body. Haley held him, wondering how they could be so evil to him. She didn't really hate anyone, but she hated Dan and Deb with every fiber of her being.

After Nathan's tears subsided, Haley took his face in her hands. She kissed him on both cheeks under his eyes and then stared into his eyes. Tears were glistening in her eyes, threatening to come out. She gave him a little smile and her eyebrows were furrowed together. She mouthed the words 'I love you', closed her eyes and kissed him on the forehead.

Nathan exhaled loudly and his eyes closed when he felt her lips on his forehead. It was the most intimate kiss he had felt and it felt like his heart was in his throat. It was a perfect kiss and one that he would never forget.

"I'm so in love with you," she whispered into his forehead.

Nathan placed his hands around her waist and held her close. "You don't know how amazing it is to hear you say that."

"I love you," she said smiling. She kissed him again but this time on the lips.

"God I love you Haley," Nathan said.

"Always and forever?"

"Always and forever."