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Disclaimer: Since I don't own One Tree Hill, I guess that means I don't own James Lafferty either.
Nathan lay in his huge, king-sized bed that night, deep in thought.
Everything happening to him lately just seemed to be a complete blur. It was an odd mixture of good, bad and possibly everything in between.
First was his divorce with Haley. It was funny because he thought that their fight was just another of the many that they had before. He turned out to be wrong as she screamed that it was over. Sure, he received her more than a thousand phone calls but he refused to pick up the phone. Hearing her voice only made things worse for him.
Then there was that whole Haley-Holding-Chris-Keller's-Hand situation. Now that was possibly the most painful. How fast was it for Haley to move on anyway? Surely, what they had meant something to her, right?
To cap everything off, he hugged Haley just this morning. Not just a typical hug, mind you. It was a real, intimate hug and Nathan had to keep himself from getting down on his knees and begging her to come back to him.
Holding her in his arms was like something he hadn't done in a century – maybe even more. And when she looked at him with those amazing hazel eyes of hers, memories of everything about their marriage flooded into his mind and he knew that he had to get away from her before he did anything impulsive.
He had to meet up with her again tomorrow for tutoring. He had no idea how to talk to her – much less act around her. Things were already awkward enough and now, Nathan, the incredible genius that he was, made things worse.
Give the guy a standing ovation for stupidity.
"Dinner's ready!" Haley announced from the kitchen.
Nathan was in their bedroom, watching the game between the Lakers and the Supersonics on full volume.
After a few minutes, Haley appeared in the doorway of the bedroom, her arms folded on her chest and looking very angry. "Nathan, are you deaf or something? People living on the other side of the world can hear our television, for chrissakes!"
He simply glanced at her, and then returned to watching.
Haley stared at him, her jaw dropping. She stood in front of the television and said firmly, "I said, dinner is ready."
"Haley! I'm trying to watch the game!" He shouted.
"Well Mr. Scott, you're going to have to miss your precious game because I did not work for two damned hours trying to cook you a good and decent dinner for nothing." Haley snapped.
"That's why they invented microwaves." Nathan said, evidently annoyed. He craned his head to catch a glimpse of the game.
"I don't believe this! Are you trying to tell me that you actually care more about your stupid game?" Haley demanded.
Nathan didn't answer Instead, he impatiently motioned for her to move while trying to see which team had the ball.
"You have quite the nerve, Nathan Scott." Haley marched out of the bedroom, slamming the door loudly behind her. She threw herself on the couch, seething and furious.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hales,"
Haley shrugged it away, not even bothering to look up.
He joined her on the couch, taking her hand. "I'm sorry, Hales. I was being an asshole."
"You're right about that." She muttered.
Nathan pulled her against him. "I'm sorry if I could be unappreciative sometimes, but I want you to know that I don't mean it."
She didn't answer.
He sighed. "Hales, I love you. It's just that – I try not to be that ungrateful bastard I was before you but I am and you don't deserve to see that. I promised myself not to be that guy anymore, especially when I married you. I think Peyton can fully attest to that. I'm really sorry, Haley."
Haley looked up after a few painfully awkward seconds. "Hey, everyone has flaws, even a guy as perfect as you."
Nathan smiled. "Does that mean I'm forgiven?"
"Unfortunately, yes. And you have no idea how much I love you too," she laughed when he let out a sigh of relief. "Where did you learn to say speeches like that?"
"Basketball camp," he grinned.
Her eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yeah, I had to give this dumb speech when I won this MVP award in basketball camp years ago. I wasn't prepared at all so I just improvised. I think I was in the fifth grade or something." Nathan explained.
"Did they throw tomatoes and boo?" Haley teased.
"No," he said, pretending to be offended. "I actually made the head coach cry."
"Oh, was it that bad?" She asked, giggling.
"Very funny, Haley,"
She tilted her head back to scrutinize him.
"Why are you looking at me that way?" He asked curiously.
"I was just wondering how you looked when you were in the fifth grade," she answered.
He laughed, waving his hand airily. "Oh, it was something alright. I was the scrawniest kid there, and probably a foot shorter than everyone. But man, did they love my jump shot. No one could really see a short kid running across the court so I usually scored the winning points."
Haley laughed with him, stroking his cheek with her thumb. "I bet even then, I would've still fallen in love with you."
Nathan tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I love you, you know that?"
"I love you, too," she closed her eyes as he kissed her gently. "God, I don't know how we could get from fighting to this in less than fifteen minutes."
"It's because you can't resist me." Nathan said as he intertwined his fingers to hers. "So should we be getting to dinner now?"
Haley wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head closer to hers. "I have a better idea."
"But what about the dinner you slaved over for two hours?"
She shrugged her shoulders, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Like you said, that's why they invented microwave ovens."
He smiled, moving closer so that they were both lying on the couch. "I love you," he repeated softly before leaning down and kissing her passionately.
When Nathan awoke the next morning, a single tear ran down his cheek. His eyes fell on the framed photograph of him and Haley on the bedside table. "I miss you, Hales."
I hoped you enjoyed chapter nine . . . please review! If you do, I promise to make the next chapters even more surprising . . . wink, wink -----Sera