Hello again! This story was so fun to write and I owe it all to Kaya17tg, and The Look After You Sequel should be up next week. As for this it is over now, but I think I wrapped it all up and answered every question. And I hope you all like the last chapter and this chapter! Sorry about the last paragraph its kinda...lame, but I think you will like the rest of it :) The mysterious whiteboards are revealed in this chapter! What you have all been waiting for.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, the songs, the characters, and the quotes all belong to their rightful owner.
Thank you to:
SecretSummer15, halliwin, hebewe, can'tgetenoughof23, Ace5492, Frogsmom1, naley12, Lali23, X-Mrs-Scott-X, FrankiR, MeliNaleyfan, for alerting and favoriting this story, you all rock!
And a special thank you to:
X-Mrs-Scott-X, naley13, naley12, Ace5492, hebewe, SecretSummer15 to reviewing because that's what inspires me the most! So thank you for all your kind words and support.
And responses:
SecretSummer15: Yes, the Clay/Haley pairing is a little odd but I needed a flirty person, and when I was first given the idea Clay instantly popped into my mind, I don't know why. But it was mainly to show how he wasn't the one for her. Well you will get to see that all in this chapter!
Kaya17tg: Haha I know, and you got to fight for what you want in life and I want Naley, so get your butt in motion and write,….just joking! :)
X-Mrs-Scott-X: Thank so much, glad you like it, and I don't like him either :P I think she should too, you will see this chapter!
Hebewe: I am so happy that you enjoyed it, I know I know I don't like it either but it was required, I hope you like the ending and how I wrote their lives. And I hope this was soon enough!
When I opened my eyes I took in my surroundings, Nathan's dorm room, I was cuddled into his chest as he lay on his back; I felt his hands running back and forth gently on my arm. I was under a dark blue sheet and I looked over to see the sheet low on Nathan's waist showing off his chisel chest and his hips. I looked up to see him gazing at me.
"Morning" I whispered.
He captured my lips then gently said "Good morning."
I started drawing abstract shapes on his chest as I asked. "How long have you been up?"
"Like a half hour."
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Because you looked so peaceful and I couldn't bear to wake you. Plus I didn't want you to leave."
"I'm not going anywhere." I said as he smiled at me. He must have seen me slightly shiver as he reached to his left and found a discarded t-shirt.
"Thanks" I slipped it on then laid my head on his chest.
"So we should probably talk." He suggested.
"First off, why weren't we doing that the entire time we were dating," Nathan laughed as I referred to our previous nights 'activities' I had finally given all of myself to someone, the man I loved.
"We have the rest of our lives, I was glad we waited because it only made it more special." Wait a minute did Nathan Scott just say that.
"God I love you" I said laying a kiss on his chest. There was a comfortable silence before I spoke up. "I broke up with Clay last night, before I came over here. I told him that he was a great man and would make the perfect other half to some lucky woman one day, but I was not that person. There wasn't a spark between Clay and me like there is between me and you. I told him that you would always have my heart and when I decided to date him that I was just trying to get over you and it worked until I saw you. He understood and told me he just wanted me to be happy."
"Well why did you stay with him if there wasn't a spark?"
"I stayed with Clay not because I loved him or had anything but platonic feelings for him, but because I was afraid of getting my heart broken again. But then I realized that I was only hurting myself more from being apart from you."
"That makes sense but if we are going to talk about everything then we need to start from the beginning, the day you left. Want to know what I wrote on my board, what I was writing as you left?" I nodded. "'I love you' I didn't know if I had the courage to tell you so that's why it took me so long."
"That's what I wrote to, I wrote I love you on my board before I set it on my bed and walked out. It is still written on it, granted I threw it in a drawer, but I couldn't bring myself to erase it."
"Me either."
"So what happened after I left, you said you barely made it and then you mention things about sleeping pills."
He sighed and began "The first week was spring break, so no school, I sat in my room and drank all day, along with playing NBA Live all day. It was bad. About a week and a half into my depression, I guess you would call it, Lucas finally talked some sense into me about the fact that if you did come back you wouldn't want to see me like this and that I would never get you back that way so I sobered up and went to school. But I shut everyone out I wouldn't talk to anyone and I ignored teachers. My parents forced me to go to a shrink, I ignored her for a few sessions before she finally mentioned you, I guess my parents told her about you and since then I couldn't stop talking about you during my sessions." He looked to me with a small smile at that.
"She got me to open up to people, somewhat. So I was finally getting back on track, other than my heart still being in a bunch of pieces, and I then started having these nightmares, and in each one you left me, different cases, different scenarios, and in each one I woke up in these shouting fits about how angry and upset I was and then after I would wake up like that I couldn't get back to sleep so I was sleeping for like two hours every night. Until I went to the doctors and got some sleeping pills."
"Lucas never told me any of this, I am so sorry baby" I said kissing him.
"It's okay; I told him not too, it's not your fault."
"Yes it is, I left you, and I broke up with you. If it wasn't for me none of that would have happened."
"But the thing is, I don't blame you for breaking up with me, I was selfish and didn't consider your feelings in this at all. I was an immature prick. If I had just stepped up and been a man you would have stayed, but I didn't and I don't blame you for any of it. I never did, I may have said it just to get you to feel bad, but I blamed myself."
"It was my fault though if I would have just stayed we could have worked it out."
"But you didn't, and I didn't break up with Brooke, so we are both at fault but why go through this when none of it matters because here we are together a year and a half later. What happened in the past doesn't matter because we are together now, and stronger than ever."
"How did I get so lucky?" I said in awe of the man in front of me.
"It helps that you're hot." He joked as I fake gasped "What's wrong, I stole your line? But it also helps that you're beautiful, selfless, giving, kind, sensitive, intelligent, and incredible."
"Nathan" I said before I kissed him, pulled off my shirt, tore off the sheet that was covering him, and had my way with him.
I was the first to wake up this time as I threw on Nathan's shirt again and walked over to his mini fridge to find something to eat. Settling on sandwiches I made two and poured us a glass of water before setting it down on his nightstand. Luckily, Nathan didn't have a roommate. I kissed him to wake him up as I sat on his stomach.
"I made us lunch" I said as he woke up, he looked to the left to see that it was almost one.
"Good thing neither of us had classes today." He sat up as I sat across from him as we began to eat. "So more questions, how did you and Brooke become so close?"
"The summer after I left Brooke called me and said that she was spending her summer in Charlotte so we set a date and decided to hang out. We talked about everything that went on between us and her and Lucas. By the time we left I wanted to hang out with her again because I had a lot of fun. So we just started hanging out all the time and she was kinda like a piece of home. We became really close, and then this summer we hung out every weekend."
"Sounds like me and Luke except for the girly stuff, for the past year and a half every Saturday we would head over to the river court and play a game to 21."
"Never thought I would see the day." I joked as he wiped mustard off my face. "Thanks babe."
"Now how have you and Clay been dating two months and school has only been in session two weeks?"
"Clay and I were both taking summer courses here." I picked up his phone. "Look at what I did while you were asleep." I gave him his phone.
"What did you take a photo of me drooling in my sleep and send it to everyone in my contact list."
"No silly, I need to call you to see it." I dialed him and his phone started to ring. 'I'll never be the same, if we ever meet again. Won't let you get away, said, if we ever meet again. This free fall's got me so kiss me all night, don't ever let me go. I'll never be the same if we ever meet again.'
"What does it say when I call?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"The woman I love, along with a lovely picture of you."
"You have a tone of photos of me on there, borderline stalker." I joked.
"I love it babe" he said kissing me quickly "What am I on yours?"
"The man I love, and it plays Smile by Avril Lavigne." I then played it 'That's why I smile, it's been a while since every day and everything has felt this right, and now you turn it all around and suddenly your all I need. The reason why I smile."
"You're the reason why I smile." He said briefly before I kissed him "I have another question for you, why didn't you ever date anyone else?"
"For the same reason as you didn't with the exception of Clay, you were the one I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with, I didn't need anyone but you so why go looking for someone who wasn't you."
"You are such a romantic."
"Apparently you are too, what happened at music school that you wrote a lot of sappy love songs about."
"I wrote every day, I have to have at least, at least fifty songs, all of them about you. Some of them about missing you some of them about how much I love you, and some of them about how much I regretted leaving."
"Let me hear one." I grabbed my phone and opened up my music and played one aloud.
I follow the signs so clearly
And still I fall and
The quicksand's pulling me down
I follow the signs so clearly
And still they catch me
The quicksand's pulling me down
I'm not the same
I can't sleep nights
And now I'm calling when I do
And yet without you
They say I get better better better
When they all tell me it's over
I damn the gods until the stars are aligned
And I
I follow the signs so clearly And still I fall and
The quicksand's pulling me down
I follow the signs so clearly
And still they catch me
The quicksand's pulling me down
Look at my life, look at my face
Can't you see my heart bleeding down my sleeve
So you're holding my hand and holding my heart
But I just want to feel your breath inside me
So I can breathe
Somewhere in the distance I catch a sparkle
Grace or hope something that makes me feel like
I'm alive
It's never too soon it's never late so I start
Screaming out, I see your face
I see your hand reaching out
So I yell to you and I say
I follow the signs so clearly
And still I fall and
The quicksand's pulling me down
I follow the signs so clearly
And still they caught me
The quicksand's pulling me down
I follow the signs so clearly
And still I fall and
The quicksand's pulling me down
"That was amazing, Hales"
"That wasn't even all of it. That was just the demo to send out. I am trying to get picked up by a label."
"You will, just give it time."
"You know what I find funny, we both counted the days since we last saw each other."
"You did too?" Nathan questioned.
"Of course, I also used hours too; it has been one year six months twelve days and five hours to be exact. And I spent every one of those days missing you and wishing I was with you."
"I love you, you know that."
"I love you too"
"Always and forever" He said laying a loving kiss on my forehead.
"So what are we? What do you want us to be?" I asked with uncertainty.
"Well I want you to be my girlfriend. That's if you'll have me?"
"Of course, I love you Nate, and I want to be with you forever." He kissed me gently and passionately.
"I want a big family. I think because growing up I really didn't have anyone, and then I would look over at your house and no one was ever bored."
"I like growing up in a big family, and definitely want one but I mean from the outside it looked great, but trust me it had its faults when you did want to be alone."
"I get it." He was quiet for a minute before looking into my eyes "Marry me?"
"Nathan" I said, as he caught me off guard.
"No not now, I realize we just got back together after being apart for a while but promise me one day you will marry me. After we graduate and just date and be a normal couple for a few years."
"Of course Nathan, I will marry you. One day after college we will get married. Nothing would make me happier than committing to be with you for the rest of my life."
"No matter what happens, Haley, I will always love you and no one can ever replace you in my heart. You are my always, my forever. No matter what happened in the past, or what will happen in the future nothing will tear us apart because we can survive anything, together."
"All because you said if we ever meet again." I said with a smile as a happy tear rolled down my face from his words.
Seven years later
I was sitting at the kitchen island, writing a song, when two arms then wrapped around me as I jumped and turned around to see my husband. "You scared me, you wonderful man!" I said hugging him then he kissed me. Nathan goes to Charlotte for practice Monday through Thursday and then he would be home Friday through Monday morning. He was a Charlotte Bobcat, and this wouldn't have surprised me as much except it was a Thursday. "What are you doing here?"
"Coach gave us the day off. So I came home"
"I missed you" I whispered, then placed his hand on my still flat stomach, "We've missed you"
"I missed you too" He said rubbing my stomach then he got on his knees and lifted my shirt. "And I missed you baby Scott."
"Baby James Scott, it's got James' genes too." I protested.
"That's it Hales, that's his name James Scott" Nathan said as if a light bulb went off in his head. I liked it.
"It's a good name, but what if it's a girl?"
"It will be a boy, think, Lucas, me, Dan, Keith."
"It could still be a girl, and what about Olivia, or Lily?"
"There is a slim chance it will be a girl, and I will be happy either way."
We had dated for two years before we moved into an apartment together then graduated from Duke two years later, Nathan proposed three years ago and then we were married last year. Nathan got picked up and trained to the Charlotte Bobcats as soon as we graduated. I have released three records in the past seven years and was currently working on my fourth. During the off season I toured, Nathan came with me. Thankfully, that occurred in the summer since I was a literature teacher at Tree Hill High.
Lucas and Brooke got married three months after the day we all met in the café then a year later they discovered they were pregnant, a little girl whom Nathans and I are the godparents of, Olivia, or as she has been nicknamed Livy.
We had hung the 'I love you' boards in our bedroom. Mine with a nice neat girly writing, Nathan's sloppy and messy, but that didn't matter. It was just the point. Nathan had wanted to show that he was romantic so he got a white board and hung it by the front door, every Monday he changes what it says before he leaves. That way later in the day I get a surprise, last week it said 'I'm the guy for you Haley James' which made my heart melt. Two weeks ago it was our anniversary, so he wrote his vows,
'Someday, this beach might wash away…the oceans may dry…the sun could dim but on that day, I'll still be loving you, Always and Forever.'
We got married on a warm spring day at the beach, but it wasn't the typical beach, it was our spot. Other days, it would simply say I love you… or Always and Forever. But later in the day I would find that he wrote when he walked in 'If We Ever Meet Again…' And that was our story, all because we ran into each other that day. It was fate, we were truly meant to be. The struggle to get here was all worth it because in doing this I renewed my love for Nathan. Something that would never die or fade. We were soul mates, destiny to be together and we met that day for a reason, some would just chalk it up to a coincidence, but I never would. For some reason we both were at that place on that day, and I would never wonder why, because Nathan and I were drawn together through chemistry.
Someone once said 'you know that romantic notion that all the garbage and the pain is really healing and beautiful and sort of poetic? It's not. It's just garbage and its pain. You know what's better? Love. The day that you start thinking that love is overrated is the day that you're wrong. The only thing wrong with love and faith and belief is not having it.'
And that person was right, I had been through that pain and garbage and it was not beautiful or healing, it was horrible and I felt so alone and desperate for Nathan. But what was beautiful was when Nathan and I reunited, because on that day, in that moment, I felt whole again, with Nathan, the love of my life, my husband, the father of my child one day children, and the man who was meant for me.
Brooke and Lucas had two more children, Davis and Skye. Clay ended up marrying Sara, a fellow sports agent, they merged companies now have two children Ella and Ethan. Nathan and Haley both followed their dreams and accomplished them. They moved on to living beachfront in Tree Hill along with having their personal dock, they had four other children, other than James Lucas Scott which as Nathan predicted, he was a boy. Then there was Bentley, Gabriella, and Charlotte. Everything was fine in the Scott household because they had each other, sure they had their ups and downs but they were in it for the long haul. They loved each other and that's all that mattered.