Title: Who's To Say
Author: Hana (thedreamygirl)
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 2,550 (this chapter)
Characters: Primarily Nathan/Haley, but some of the other characters make an appearance.
Spoilers: Up to 1x06 "Every Night is Another Story"
Summary: Sort of AU. The night of their junior prom Nathan and Haley discover that having a private prom is much more…fun.

Author's Note: Season 1 veers off after 1x06; BLP have their triangle drama ending with Brooke and Lucas getting together but NH remain in their "just tutoring" stage. And now it's some months later, and the night of their junior prom.

Part Two

"So, um, where exactly are we going?"

Nathan crooked his head to the side and grinned before replying, "Where do you want to go?"

"You were the one who wanted to go somewhere!" Haley exclaimed, feeling slightly out of breath; partly because she was doing something new and exciting, but a lot because she had to take two steps to keep up with every one of Nathan's, which was made more difficult since she was in heels.

"Well, yeah, but it was a spur of the moment thing. I hadn't decided on anywhere in particular," he admitted just as they stepped out of the building where prom was being held. Most of the time it was the seniors who got to have their prom at a place of their choice while the juniors settled for the school gym, but this year thanks to an extra large donation of funds – most of which Nathan suspected had come out of Daddy Davis's pocket – the junior class got to choose where they held their prom as well. It wasn't any place fancy, it seemed to be some sort of empty lot, but it was two stories and a good deal bigger than their gym and with all of their decorating the prom committee had actually made it look kind of nice. However, as Nathan stepped outside with Haley he felt a sense of relief. Haley always seemed more relaxed when they were alone and now they were practically the only two people on the street.

"So we have no plan at all?" Haley wondered.

"We don't need a plan. We'll make it up as we go along."

Haley tried to raise one eyebrow at him, but could only raise both at the same time. "Maybe we should go back. I mean, you might be named Prom King or something."

"I really don't care about being Prom King. What about you? You might be named Prom Queen."

Haley actually snorted, but immediately clasped her hand to her nose, embarrassed she had done so in front of Nathan. "In what universe?"

"What makes you think it's so unlikely?"

"Because!" Haley exclaimed. "I'm not a cheerleader, I'm not popular –"

"You're friends with the popular kids. That makes you popular by association."

"Brooke and I are not really friends-"

"But you and Peyton are. You and Lucas are, and ever since he joined the basketball team and started dating the captain of the cheerleading squad, he's become pretty popular. And, you know, we're friends…" he finished somewhat more lacklustre than he had begun. They had never really talked about being friends, not that Nathan figured that was something most people did, but with the whole weird situation regarding Lucas, Nathan sometimes wondered if they were really as good friends as he thought they were. After all, she didn't need him to be her friend.

To Nathan's surprise however, that wasn't what Haley picked up on. "So you think you're popular, eh?" Haley nudged him with her elbow.

Nathan chuckled, relaxing once more. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure all the girls inside are simply mourning the loss of my good-looking presence."

Haley couldn't help, but laugh. A few moments later as they continued walking down the street she asked, "So can we please decide where we're going now?"

"Haley!" Nathan admonished. "Part of the fun is that we don't know where we're going!"

"Well, okay, but we can't just be walking aimlessly down the road."

Nathan smirked at her. "Why not?"

"Because!" When Nathan gave her a look that said that wasn't an acceptable answer, she added, "We'll get lost or something."

"Haley, Tree Hill is a pretty small place. It's kind of hard to get lost. Plus, we both have our cell phones so we can always call for help if we need to-"

"Call for help!" Haley practically yelled. "What exactly do you think is going to happen, Nathan Scott?"

He knew it wasn't good when she called him by his full name. Nathan stopped walking and placed his hands on her shoulders to get her to stop as well. "Haley, will you calm down?"

"I'll calm down when you tell me where we're going!"

"I don't know where we're going! I've already told you that. Look, I just thought it would be fun if we could hang out for a bit."

"Well, couldn't we have done that at prom?"

"Yeah, I guess. I just thought it would be nice if we could do something by ourselves…just-" Nathan was about to say "just the two of us", but caught himself in time. He was getting way too close to date territory. When Haley didn't reply he forced himself to say, "If you want to go back, we can."

Looking into his blue eyes Haley saw that he was telling the truth. If she wanted to go back, he'd probably walk her there himself. But if she was being honest with herself, there was a part of her that wanted to be out here with Nathan with no idea what they were doing and for once that part wasn't the minority in her head.

Taking a deep breath, Haley forced herself to calm down before Nathan came to his senses and realized he'd much rather be back at prom with all the cheerleaders. "No, I want to stay."

"It's okay if you want to go ba-"

"No. I want to stay," she repeated, with more conviction in her voice. "But we have to decide on where we're going," Haley told Nathan.

"Okay," he conceded with a grin. "So how are we going to choose?"

"Um…" Haley thought for a moment before instructing, "Oh! Close your eyes."

"Er…okay. You're not going to like run away while I'm standing here with my eyes closed are you?"

"No, of course not. Now, close them, quickly," she said excitedly so Nathan complied.

"Alright, they're closed."

"Okay, now clear your mind."

"This sounds like you're trying to do some sort of magic trick."

"Nathan!"

"Okay, okay, I'm clearing."

"No, you're not, you're frowning."

"Well, that's because I'm concentrating."

"But you're not supposed to be concentrating!" she stressed. "You're supposed to relax and clear your mind of all thoughts. You know, like those yoga people talk about. Inhale…Exhale." Nathan let out a short breath that sounded more frustrated than relaxed but Haley supposed it would have to do. "Okay, now tell me the first thing that comes into your mind."

"I'm hungry."

"What?"

"I feel hungry. That was the first thing that came into my mind." Opening his eyes, Nathan continued, "You know, now that I think about it, I am actually quite hungry. I haven't eaten anything since lunch."

"Well. I guess that settles it then."

"Settles what?"

"Where we're going to go," Haley said and started walking ahead of him.

Still standing on one place Nathan frowned. "But where are we going?"

Haley laughed and turned around although she continued walking backwards. "I thought you were the one who said the point is we don't know?" Nathan smiled in reply, but when he still didn't move Haley asked, "Are you coming or not, slowpoke?"

"Slowpoke?" Nathan echoed, his eyebrows raised. He strode ahead and caught up with Haley in no time. "Who're you calling slowpoke? I'm half inclined to say I'll race you there."

"Where?" Haley asked as she turned around so that they were both facing forwards. "You don't know where we're going."

"I'd just follow you."

"But then you'd have to be behind me the whole time so you admit that you're slower!" Haley concluded triumphantly.

Nathan shook his head as he laughed. "Well, then I guess you'll have to tell me where you're taking us."

"Nope, it's a surprise," Haley replied and nudged him playfully. "But I think you're going to like it," she added without a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

"This is a joke right?"

"No," Haley said honestly. "You said you were hungry so I have brought you to the land of food."

Nathan looked at the building a few feet in front of them before glancing back at Haley who was still standing on his left. "The 24-hour supermarket?"

Haley shrugged. "It's not like we can just walk into a restaurant without a reservation on a weekend. And how many of the smaller eating places are still open at this time?"

"Well, I guess not many, but surely-"

"You're hungry, so let's eat!"

"Yeah, but what can you get at the supermarket?" Nathan whined. When Haley merely stared at him, Nathan corrected, "I mean, I know what you can get at the supermarket, but…"

"But what?"

Nathan frowned, not sure how to word what he was trying to say. All the times he had pictured him and Haley going on a date – and he had more than just a few times – going to the supermarket had not been on his list of ideas. "Somehow out this wasn't what I imagined we'd be doing tonight," he said finally.

"You'd rather be back at prom, huh?"

Glancing down at Haley once more, he smiled. "Not really."

Her face colored at that, but it only took Haley a few seconds to recover and ask him, "What did you have in mind then?" After a moment's thought Nathan opened his mouth to reply, before she beat him to it saying, "Let my guess. You hadn't decided?"

Nathan chuckled. "Okay, so we'll go to the supermarket, but I choose where we eat?" he offered.

Haley nodded. "That's fair. Come on, slowpoke, I'll race you to the trolleys!" she said, before running off ahead of him.

Laughing Nathan ran after her, although not to his full speed, preferring instead to admire the way her brown hair billowed in waves around her face and how the ends of her knee-length dress flew up slightly, revealing a little more of her toned legs. For a girl who claimed to have no athletic experience whatsoever her body certainly didn't reflect it. She tried to hide it underneath baggy jeans and that hideous poncho she wore sometimes, but if you really looked – and Nathan definitely did – you could spot the shapely figure that lay underneath.

"I won!" Haley exclaimed once she reached the trolleys that were parked outside the entrance. Panting slightly, she leaned on one for support before turning around to see where Nathan was. "What are you doing all the way over there still? Too busy daydreaming?" she teased.

Nathan jogged the remainder of the distance, wondering what she'd do if he told her he had been daydreaming, about her legs, in fact. He smirked as he decided she'd probably blush. Or possibly slap him. You could never tell with Haley.

"So do you admit defeat?" Haley asked when he had finally reached her.

"I suppose I must."

"Well, sir, you were a worthy opponent," Haley informed him with an over the top bow that Nathan would have laughed at if he hadn't been preoccupied noticing how the top of her square necked dress dipped slightly and he caught the tiniest glimpse of her cleavage. But then she stood up straight and the lace trimmed neckline returned to its place a few inches below her collarbone. Oblivious to Nathan's inattention she continued, excited, "And, now, let's shop!"

Haley walked in through the automatic doors and picked up a basket before placing her purse in it, leaving Nathan to follow her. As they walked down the first aisle, Nathan mentioned, "You know, I didn't figure you as one of those girls who liked to shop."

Frowning, Haley immediately looked up at his face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, just…" Nathan faltered, surprised that she looked so annoyed by the offhand comment.

"Well?"

"Well, you know, girls like Brooke they like to shop a lot and I just didn't think you did," he muttered.

"That's kind of stereotyping, isn't it?"

"Um-"

Before Nathan had a chance to reply Haley spoke up, "But, no, I know what you mean. I don't really like to shop much – at least, not Brooke style shopping anyway. Once Peyton dragged me along with them and it was – well, horrific, almost. But, some shopping is okay."

"Like shopping at the supermarket?"

Haley laughed. "It's nothing exciting, but its okay. I'm kind of used to it since I have to do grocery shopping when my parents aren't around."

Nathan nodded as Haley surveyed the shelves to the left of them which had a selection of drinks. He felt like he should say something in case she was still annoyed, but wasn't sure what, before he finally settled on, "Er, I didn't mean to…offend you or anything."

"No, it's fine."

"I just said it because of what you said when we were coming insi-"

"I didn't mean-"

"It was the way you said it, I-"

"It doesn't matter," Haley said firmly. She had just been making a casual comment as, she realized, had Nathan and she felt like slapping herself for going off on him about it. Shopping of whatever kind was pretty much all the same for her. She had just been a little more enthusiastic about it this time due to her present company. But if she had to embarrass herself in front of him – and it was becoming clear that she wasn't much good at anything else – she preferred to embarrass herself by being ridiculous rather than saying things like that.

She wished she could have said it to him, but it was too late now and even if it had come to mind earlier little Haley Tutorgirl James was just too shy to say something that forward to a boy, let alone to Nathan Basketball Star Scott. And even with all her academic prowess she couldn't figure out what Nathan was doing in a 24-hour supermarket with his tutor when he could be at prom with the kind of girl who wasn't too shy to say things like that.

"So, uh, you sure you want to do this supermarket thing?" Haley asked nervously.

"What? Yeah, of course! I'm still hungry," Nathan added with a smirk causing Haley to smile.

"Okay so how should we do this?"

"You're asking me? I haven't been to the supermarket in…I can't remember actually."

"Aw. Poor little rich boy," Haley teased, "Doesn't know his way around a supermarket."

"No, I really have no idea," Nathan said with mock-seriousness. "I'm going to have to stick real close to you so I don't get lost," he continued and to his delight Haley blushed.

Too flustered to tease him back she got down to the shopping. "Okay, so what drink do you want?"

Nathan chose a bottle of soda and Haley, after deciding on a different flavor, placed a small bottle of each into the basket.

"I'll carry that for you," Nathan said as they continued down the aisle, deftly taking the basket from her hands.

"Thank you, but I could have managed," Haley informed him.

"I'm sure you could have. I just wanted to do something nice."

"Oh. Okay. Just as long as it wasn't a gender biased action," she stated.

"Oh, no. I certainly wouldn't want to bias your gender," Nathan replied, causing Haley to erupt into a fit of giggles.