Consequences of a Recent Past
"Haley" He gasped, but no one heard. Was it really her? Haley James. Nathan tried to reason with himself "of course it's not her. How could it be?" he debated further "Then again I lied, why wouldn't she?" Nathan was quickly snapped out of his questioning by the voice of a slightly skinny boy from the back of the class room.
"Haley! Over here!" Mouth called from the back of the classroom "I saved you a seat" He smiled.
"That's confirmed then" Nathan thought to himself.
Haley fought through her shock and made her way towards her friend, planting a fake smile on her face. She sat down and placed her bag on the floor followed by her books on the desk. Although not looking at him she could feel his gaze burn a hole through her.
"All I have to do is get through this class" she reasoned with herself. Then again who was she kidding, she was going to have to get through the next year. "Shit!" Haley suddenly realised as the newest member of the Ravens cheerleader she was likely to see the Assistant head coach a hell of a lot more.
"So tutor girl? How was your summer" she heard the boys next to her ask
"Erm, well...." The blonde stuttered.
"Let's Start. My name is Mr. Scott."
Thankfully she was cut off, unthankfully by the man standing at the front of the class. She reluctantly looked up to listen to what he was saying. Unfortunately she was beginning to get distracted, she was slowly becoming just like Brooke, Peyton and most of the female population and it was his entire fault. Or so she'd have liked to have thought. Truth was he wasn't the only one who'd lied.
Nathan....Mr Scott continued to talk to the class for a further 15 minutes before he got to the task in hand. "Okay, so I'd like you to get out the books you should have pre-ordered. Hopefully you've begun the read at least the first few chapters and...." he heard groans from the population of students in front of him.
Nathan decided to revise his strategy. "Okay, I'd like everyone to start reading the first few chapters now in preparation for an essay, I expect in next lesson." He paused for any commotion that may have followed that statement but was pleasantly surprised when many students began to open their books up. "Let's begin."
Nathan began to look down at some coaching strategies he had in front of him. But all he could think of was her. Haley James.
Flashback
"Nathan Scott" he stated.
Haley slowly reached out her hand and shook his "Haley, Haley James" she smiled.
"Well Haley, Haley James. Nice to meet you"
He saw her blush slightly and he found it rather endearing. Nathan wasn't exactly a stranger to women blushing in his company, but he found her blush to represent innocence and found himself to be fascinated by her. She was nothing special, she'd not particularly gone to any effort with her clothing, hair or make-up, but if anything that made her even more striking as she was beautiful even without any attempt to be.
He continued "So what brings you out here all alone?"
She laughed to herself; usually she would have thought it was some type of cheesy pick up line, but his tone seemed sincere if not a little concerned. "Well I did come with people" she gestured towards Bevin and Skills grinding against each other on the dance floor and cringed. She was amused to find him cringing as well and giggled. "What about you? Third-wheel also?"
"I'd see myself as a unicycle."
"I...Err?" Haley tried to think of something to say. Truth is she was slightly puzzled and Nathan had sensed this and chuckled slightly
"A Unicycle. One wheel...." He watched as Haley nodded her head up and down trying to grasp what he was trying to say "I'm here on my own" They both laughed in unison.
"Yeah of course" Haley laughed slightly embarrassed. As tutor girl this had to be her most dense moment to date. "How come?" she quickly added hoping to move the conversation along.
He went on to talk about how he was visiting his parents in Tree hill, but was living in his own apartment he recently rented out. He was currently attending Duke university playing basketball until his knee gave in to injury and he had to stop to playing, but continued to study English there.
"So what about your parents, what did they think about the injury" Haley inquired sensing basketball must have been a big part of his life to become a Duke blue devil.
"My dad's a jackass" he quickly responded, laughing slightly in bitterness. He looked at Haley's facem surprise to see she was generally interested and concerned all at once. Nathan continued "My dad wanted to play professional; the truth is he wasn't good enough and that killed him. He would always ride me so hard. I think he took it harder than me when I had to quit. But he's getting over it. I guess I could look towards teaching?"
Although this was all true, Nathan made out to Haley as if this was happening now after revealing his age at 21. The truth was this had already happened a few years previous. He was currently looking for a teaching position closer to home now he was 23. Wanting to move off topic he focused on Haley who spoke about her job in a cafe in Tree Hill and in the heat of the moment revealed she had a passion for singing, not that she would ever tell let alone sing in front of anyone. All this was true minus the mention of high school.
The continued to talk like this through the night, both feeling like they had known each other for years.
"Seriously dude that totally happened, I'm a completely klutz. I fell straight on my ass." She laughed as he looked at her and shook his head
"Are you serious?" Nathan responded laughing so hard. "You seem like hard work Haley, Haley James" His laugher died off as he smirked at her in a cocky but sexy way.
"So...." he continued before being cut off.
"Hey. H. James. What's up baby girl? We're heading off. You coming?" Skills said as he approached her, arm around Bevin
"Yeah, I guess...." she turned to look at Nathan and smiled. "Nice to meet you she said as she jumped off from her stool"
"I can take her home? I mean if that's okay." He would have blushed if that was in his nature. He had no idea where that had come from. He never went all bashful around girls. Nathan was usually 'the love them and leave them type of guy' in school but had grown after leaving college. He was completely fascinated by Haley to wanted to get to know her more.
"Yeah sure!" Haley tried not to sound as eager as she was. "I mean if that's okay with you guys?"
Skills looked at Nathan cautiously. "Only if you're sure?" He saw Haley nodding and approached her for a quick hug before leaving "He tries anything, you call me." He whispered in her ear.
She laughed and gave them a slightly wave off as she turned back to Nathan and resumed her place on the bar stool. "Overprotective friends." She stated slightly embarrassed
"Don't be, I'd be the same with you" he smirked. "Wanna get out of here?" he got down from the bar stool and held out his hand.
All Haley could do was nod and take his hand. This was so unlike her. She was usually Miss responsible but someone about him attracted her and for once she wasn't tutor girl, or little miss organised. She was Haley James, aspiring singer, living her life.
Both Nathan and Haley headed out the bar into the night.
A/N: Next Chapter is likely to be a complete flashback of their 'first date' so to speak. I plan for this story to focus more on the past than the present. For now anyway. Hope you enjoy =] Update soon.
