Summary: They promised each other they'd be friends forever, overcoming every obstacle they had to face. But when trust is gone and tears fall, promises break.

Rating: T

Italics are flashbacks.

I didn't even think when I was doing it. I was on top of him, and I knew it was going to be awkward. I didn't mean 'the next day at school' awkward, I meant '5 seconds later'. I stopped the kiss and sat upright, unknowingly avoiding his eyes.

"Hales?" Oh, there was that nickname again. I used to love it when people called me that. 'Hales'. It sounded so cute – so belonging, like people knew me long enough to have a nickname. But when I met Chris…it changed every time someone called me that.

"Haley?" He repeated. I looked at him and he began to speak. "Are you okay?" He barely said, taking my hand in his. Oh God, oh God, oh God…I didn't know what to say. I loved it when he held my hand, when he touched me in general, but…I didn't know what to think anymore. I loved him, but I didn't know if it was more than friendship.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm good, I mean, I'm more than good, I'm practically great –" I stopped when I saw him smirk.

"This…this doesn't mean we're dating or anything, right?" He asked. Why do people even ask questions in that way? Questions that end in 'right' are always going to have an answer that they want to hear. I guess I couldn't stop it then either.

"Yeah, it was one time." I said, in agreement. He nodded his head, looking in the direction of the textbooks. I knew immediately what he was thinking.

"I'll still tutor you." I said, a lump forming in my throat. Why was I getting so wound up over a kiss? Okay, not just a kiss. Two kisses. Two pretty damn meaningful kisses.

"I lied." He said, looking at me again. I was confused.

"What?" I replied.

"I know it meant something." I exhaled silently, running my hand through my hair.

"I know it did."

Brooke approached me the next day, bouncing at my locker.

"Sooooo…" She said, waiting for me to say something. I looked at her strangely.

"Hi?" I replied, confused.

"Cut the small talk, tutor girl. How good of a kisser was he?" I rolled my eyes. News got out fast in Tree Hill, from someone getting a job to best friends kissing on a bed.

"I don't kiss and tell on my best friend." I said, turning back to my locker.

"Oh, come ON!" She said. She finally got the hint when I didn't reply. "Okay, fine. Hey, guess what?" She said, excitedly. She bounces back fast.

"What, Miss Davis, could possibly bring more excitement to Tree Hill High?" I said, turning to her again.

"I like someone!" She shrieked. I rolled my eyes.

"And that's news? Brooke, you always like someone."

"No, this is not an 'I want to bang you' crush," She said. She was quite blunt. "This is an actual one I'll wait for…even though I'm pretty sure a hottie like him isn't a virgin." I was actually sort of interested.

"Okay, so who is this lucky man?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Lucas." She said, smiling. I laughed.

"Did dancing with him charm you?" I asked, smiling. It was cute though – Brooke and Lucas. Their names even went together.

"Sort of…I guess, yeah." She said, a little confused. "Whatever, all I know is, I'm going to ask him out."

"Nice." I said, a bit surprised. Usually guys would ask Brooke out, not the other way around.

"No, maybe I should play it hard to get." She said, thinking out loud.

"That works too." I said, finally opening my locker.

"Yeah, I don't know," She said, shaking her head, "but I DO know that you and Scott would be one hot couple." She winked and walked away. I rolled my eyes.

What seemed like a millisecond later, Nathan came to his locker.

"Hi," I said, nervously. Now I know what it's like to be nervous around your best friend. He looked up from his iPod.

"Hey." He said, looking at me momentarily before opening his locker.

"I tried calling last night." I said, leaning against the locker beside his.

"Yeah, sorry, I got busy." He said, taking his headphones out of his ears. I sighed.

"Nathan, c'mon, I don't want to be all awkward around you." I tried.

"I think the kiss did that for us." He said, half laughing, half scoffing. I tried to say something, but no words could reply to that. He looked at me, pausing. "Haley, did you like it?" I didn't know what he meant.

"Did I like what?" I think I subconsciously knew what he meant, but I was hoping it wasn't what I thought. He leaned over to me and kissed me for about two seconds, which left me wanting more.

"That." He said, waiting for an honest answer.

"Nathan, I don't really see how that's going to…"

"Just answer." He said. I could tell he was getting a little sick of me stalling.

"Yeah," I said, half whispering. "But…I mean, we're best friends. You said yourself it didn't mean anything."

"Yeah, and then I said I lied; Haley, if you don't want it to mean anything, it doesn't have to," He said. I didn't think words of wisdom were going to help. "But you and I both know it did, so it's up to you." Wait, I was confused. What was up to me?

Oh, crap. He didn't mean…dating? As in…wow. He began to walk away as the bell rang, and a crowd of people came between us.

"I – Nathan!" I called out. He either didn't hear me or didn't respond, because by the time the crowd cleared, there was nothing but the silence of the hallways.

I walked to my locker with a hall pass, thinking about how I forgot to bring my science textbook to class. As I opened it, I heard footsteps behind me. I figured it was a teacher and didn't look back, until the footsteps came closer to me. I finally saw it was Nathan, ignoring me and opening his locker.

I didn't really feel like arguing with him, so I simply got my textbook and closed the locker, beginning to walk away.

"Haley," He said. I turned around. "Are you feeling adventurous?" I raised my eyebrow.

"What?" I asked. He gestured to the school entrance, and I shook my head. "No, no, no, no, I will not get caught…" I paused to lower my voice, "skipping!"

He walked over to the doors and opened them, gesturing for me to come along. I looked around, wondering how he could be so damn calm.

I groaned and finally gave in. "Fine, fine." I mumbled, cautiously looking each direction before leaving with him. We walked to his car and I still felt a little scared of getting caught. By the time I set my science textbook down, I calmed down already. "Ah, so where are we going anyway?"

"You'll see." He said, smirking of course. I groaned.

"NATHAN! I hate surprises." I pouted.

"Not this one, you won't." He said, keeping his eyes on the road.

---

We came to the dock, and I had absolutely no idea what was going on. All that was there was a wooden table that Nathan and I came to when we had serious talks. Oh…crap.

"Nathan?" I asked, getting out of the car.

"Hm?" He said, behind me.

"Okay, what's up?" I said, turning around. I didn't want a serious talk right now. He had quite the mischievous smile. I looked at him, practically commanding him to explain. He pulled out a basket from his back, one that looked exactly like…

"A picnic basket? Nathan, I don't get it." I said, shrugging.

"You know, for a tutor, you're pretty slow." He said, smiling. It suddenly hit me.

"No, seriously, a picnic? Nathan, you just entered the zone of cheesiness." I said, as he grabbed my arm to sit at the table. "Nathan!" I whined.

"Oh, shut up. At least I did something nice." He said, taking out two plastic containers and forks.

"Mac and cheese!" I said, my mood suddenly changing for the better. I grabbed a container and fork and dug in.

"Uh…you're welcome." He said, on the verge of laughing.

"Oh, oh! Thanks." I said, still eating. I was starving – my lunch consisted of an iced tea and a bag of Lays. I didn't feel hungry up 'til then. He laughed. "Shut up, I barely had lunch."

"No, it's not you being a pig," He said, "It's just us, being here, in this moment. I mean, this morning, we were so distant, and about five hours later, we're being best friends again. It's nice." I nodded my head, wondering when the hell he got so deep.

"Um, so what's our next stop?" I said, wiping my mouth. He raised his eyebrow.
"What makes you think there's another stop?" I didn't really have an answer to that.

"Oh, no, I just thought that…I assumed that, um…"

"Okay, don't kill yourself. I did have something in mind." I looked at him expectantly. "You up for a little more adventure?"

Tell me how you like it. Hopefully I can get the next chapter up by Thursday, because I'm leaving for a while this weekend. I'll give a small spoiler for next chapter, in case I don't get it up by Thursday:

-- Naley are taking a trip down memory lane.

By the way, if you've seen The Reaping, can you tell me how it is? My friend and I are planning to see it this Friday, but I've heard different thoughts about it, so just let me know.