Thanks for the reviews guys! I could just read them over and over again. Oh and btw, I think you might just enjoy this chapter . . . hahaha! evil laugh Don't forget to leave me a nice, happy review and there'll be more of "that" to come. Read to find out. -------Sera
Disclaimer: I own the plot and nothing else
"Good morning, roomie." Brooke said, linking her arm with Haley's.
"Roomie?" Haley repeated, shutting her locker door. "You didn't even come home yesterday."
Brooke smiled, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Yeah, I spent the night with Eric."
Haley shook her head in exasperation. "You barely know the guy, Brooke."
"Oh, you mean like you when you married Nathan?" Brooke asked.
"Hey, I knew him way more than just a week." Haley retorted.
"Whatever. It's the same thing," Brooke tossed her hair. "So, how did the tutoring go?"
"It could have been better. We're just friends now."
Brooke stopped walking, making Haley trip over Brooke's shoes. "Wait, which one of you said that you should just be friends?"
"He did." Haley answered as she stood straight.
"Ouch. You okay?"
"Where, when you tripped me or when Nathan said that we should just be friends?" Haley asked sarcastically.
"The just friends part, Genius." Brooke said, rolling her eyes.
"I'm getting by."
"Well, Eric has this totally hot friend and –" Brooke paused when she saw the pained look on Haley's face. "What, too soon?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Haley laughed as they walked into Math class.
"Haley, can I have a word?" Miss Spencer asked in an undertone.
She glanced at Brooke, who was already making her way to the back of the class. "Sure, what's up?"
"It's Nathan's test result. He got another F," Miss Spencer said, handing Haley a piece of paper. "I know that both of you are having a tough time trying to make things work, but if Nathan continues to fail in my class, he may not be able to graduate."
Haley was silent.
"I did not choose you to be his tutor just so I could torture you and laugh maniacally while I watch. You're remarkably intelligent Haley, and if anyone could help him pull up his grades, that person would be you. I've seen you make the most hopeless students get amazing test results." Miss Spencer continued.
"What should I do, then?" Haley asked.
"Most probably, exert more effort. And don't limit you tutoring sessions to just an hour in the tutoring center." Miss Spencer answered.
"You mean, tutor him longer – elsewhere?"
"If that's what it takes to pull up his grades, I don't see why not."
Knock, knock
Nathan's head poked out of the steamy shower, highly irritated. "What the hell –"
He quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and still dripping with water, went to open the door. He nearly dropped the towel when he saw Haley standing on his doorstep.
At first, all Haley could do was stare at him then after what seemed to be a minute, she quickly covered her eyes and stammered, "Oh, crap – I'm so sorry – this is obviously a bad time – I'll just show myself out –"
Even with her hand covering half of her face, Nathan could see that she was blushing furiously. He grinned in spite of himself. "Can I – ah, help you?"
"Yes, I need to talk to you about something – inside, if possible." With her eyes firmly fixated on the ground, she followed him into the house.
"Have a seat," Nathan said briskly, motioning to the couch. "I'll go get dressed."
His footsteps faded into the bedroom, giving Haley the cue that it was finally safe to look up. This was definitely a bad idea to begin with. It was bad enough that she had to spend every day with him but to see him dripping wet and practically naked, except for that towel – well, that was just wrong and completely unfair.
God, why did her ex-husband have to be so damned hot and sexy anyway? Haley had to force herself to look away and not throw herself at him. She wanted to slap herself for acting like a total lovesick and possibly turned-on idiot.
Haley looked around, amazed that nothing changed. Even the pile of magazines that were on the edge of the coffee table were still there – untouched and just the same as she left weeks ago.
She glanced at the side of the room and saw the huge portraits of her and Nathan from the party that Lucas threw them when they first got married. Again, they were untouched. Haley went to the kitchen and was even more surprised to see the note taped on the refrigerator that she left for Nathan a long time before their divorce;
Babe,
Went to school early for cheer practice. I left you coffee and breakfast on the table. See you later. Love you!
Haley felt tears filling her eyes and tightly closed her eyes in the hope that they wouldn't fall.
"There you are. I thought you were in the living room." Nathan said from behind her.
She spun around to see him, thankfully fully dressed but his hair still damp and tousled. "Sorry, I just wanted to take a look around."
"Can I get you anything to drink?" He offered.
Haley shook her head. "We really need to talk, Nate."
"Talk about what, exactly?" Nathan asked as he followed her out of the kitchen and back into the living room. They both sat down on the couch.
"Your recent test results on Math." She handed him the piece of paper with the big red F scrawled on the upper right corner.
Nathan's good-looking face fell as he took it from her.
"What happened, Nathan? I thought you pretty much grasped the concept when we covered it. You even got all the exercise questions I gave you and now, this." Haley asked, her tone serious.
"I'm sorry, Haley – I wasn't thinking straight when I took the test." He apologized.
"Damn right that's obvious. Nate, Miss Spencer told me that if you continue failing in her class, you won't be able to graduate. Do you know how bad that could be? You better get your head straight because all the tutoring in the world is not going to help you if you keep this up, do you hear me?" Haley scolded.
Nathan couldn't help but smile. God, she was so adorable telling him off. He wanted to kiss her right then and there.
His smile faded when she gave him the evil-eye. "You sound like my dad, Hales."
"I don't like seeing you fail, Nathan. I know you could do far more than this."
"I'm doing the best I could, Haley!"
"Well, your best obviously isn't enough!" Haley said angrily.
He crossed his arms over his chest, frowning at her. "Gee, thanks for the encouragement. So what do I have to do now?"
"I think you should concentrate more – get your mind off other things," She said.
Oh, you mean like you? "What are you going to do?"
"Help you pass. Miss Spencer said we should spend more than just an hour in the tutoring center – and maybe out of it." Haley replied.
"I'm really sorry, Hales."
She sighed. "Just promise me you'll do well, okay?"
He nodded, and then after a moment, a sly smile spread across his face. "You liked it, didn't you?"
"Liked what?"
"When I was practically wearing just a towel," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Haley blushed deeply. "No, I didn't!"
"Yes, you did. You were staring." Nathan said smugly.
"I couldn't avoid staring! How should I know you just came out of the shower? And what kind of person answers the door wearing only a towel, anyway?" Haley demanded angrily.
"You could've covered your eyes right away the moment you saw me, like a normal person. But you stared – for a good couple minutes." Nathan pointed out.
"I didn't stare for a couple minutes! It was only one minute, for your information!" Haley said hotly.
"That's still a pretty long time." He said, his dark blue eyes glinting.
"I'm so out of here. See you in school." Haley said impatiently, standing to leave when he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her down so she was seated on his lap. She could smell his freshly showered scent and thought she would go insane.
"You're not leaving yet, are you?" Nathan said huskily, his lips dangerously close to hers but instead, he let it trail down the side of her neck.
Haley tightly closed her eyes, trying to suppress the emotions coursing through her. She could feel him kissing her lower as she tilted her head to give him room. Half of her wanted to get out of there before things got out of hand and the other half wanted him to continue. So far, the second half was winning. "I have to go." She said weakly.
What the hell are you doing? This has to stop, moron! You said it yourself – you're just friends. A voice in Nathan's head shouted.
I only said that because she feels the same way. Another voice in his head argued.
How do you know? She never said anything.
Well, she ended the marriage.
You don't know that for sure. Let go of her, idiot.
He finally did and helped her stand properly, noticing that she was shaking slightly. "I'm sorry, Hales – I shouldn't have –"
Haley shook her head. "Let's just forget that ever happened."
Nathan nodded in agreement as he walked her to the door. Before she stepped out of the door, he said with a small smile on his face, "It's going to be hard to forget, Haley."
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