Thanks sooooo much to everyone for their fabulous reviews! Life is so hectic lately and if I had the time to reply to each and every one of you I would! But alas, time does not permit! Just know that your little notes are greatly appreciated!
Get excited everybody because this is the longest chapter so far. I could have split it into two but I decided not to leave you hanging... sort of.
Anyways, read the chapter and see what happens!
Blue-Eyed Boy Meets Brown-Eyed Girl
Chapter 4
Walking home from the café that evening was a very calming, yet confusing experience. The cool breeze felt great on my neck, but it did nothing to cool the overdrive that was going on in my insides. I mean first, Lucas has never really been an ass. And then just now well, he was an ass. An ass who now has me thinking myself over for like the tenth time this walk, something I've never had to do before. I'm a geek, a bookworm, a tutor, a knitter, a "I'd-rather-eat-fluff-and-pretzels-while-watching-a-Disney-channel-movie-on-a-Friday-night-instead-of-party" type of person, but I've always been proud of that. I've never been afraid to be myself.But when Lucas said that; implied that I was some prudish nun… that was a low blow. I mean, I don't have a lot of experience but that's only because I don't get as many opportunities as Peyton, Lucas and especially Brooke. What's weird though is that normally this kind of thing just rolls of my back, yet tonight I was actually quite offended. No, more than offended. More like, "Brooke hold me back or I'm going to scratch at Lucas' pretty face." And I think the reason for that had to do with one blue-eyed boy who was sitting one person over from me.
Nathan freakin' Scott. There's something about him that makes me melt. He looks like your typical Abercrombie-meets-Jock type of guy, but there's something different about him. I can tell. I mean, he liked my smiley 'O,' he didn't get pissed off when I accidentally sent a cold stream of water directly into his perfectly sculpted six pack abs, and he even for the slightest second, had the intention of kissing me. But most of all, I can see something in his eyes. Something I can't read but at the same time, something that's telling me he's much more than what he looks like. Like he's living a façade and he wants me to break him out of it.
The sad part though is that I can't do that. Not that I even know he wants me to, but I mean, if he did… I couldn't. For one, what's little ol' me, Haley James, the girl who is scared of clowns and can't go down an escalator until three steps pass by first, going to do to help Nathan, the human version of Michaelangelo's David. Not very much. The second reason I can't help him has to do with the perky, pretty, popular, basically any positive 'p' word, Brooke Davis, my best friend. She called dibs and I'm not willing to jump onto her bitch list. She's my best friend I'm not going to mess that up.
So all this thinking leads me to here, my front door. And once I open it up, I walk up the stairs and lie on my bed, perfectly content with the conclusions I had just made: Lucas' statement only hurt because he said it in front of Nathan; Nathan is hot yet misunderstood and I've got nothing to help him; and lastly, Brooke has dibs on Nathan and I'm not about to mess that up. But then I remembered something… Nathan Scott played footsie with me!
Me, me, me, Haley James! Nathan Scott's most likely mid-teen sized Nike's were tapping and shaking, and essentially foot flirting, with my size seven Keds Eleanor flats. Now before I get excited and let a squeal appear from my smile-wearing face, or maybe even do a little happy dance there's one little thing that I have to take into consideration… were Nathan's happy feet intended for Brooke or me? I ponder this for a second but then decide that since he's not here I'm going to go with me because a) my hope can be rekindled that maybe Nathan could like me (even though he doesn't) and b) Brooke was slowly cuddling into his side and is most definitely going to weasel her way into some lip-lock with him so the least I can do for this silly dream I have is allow myself to have some foot action.
I continued to lay there blissfully day dreaming about Nathan and I, you know, typical things like sitting on a bed with him playing with a bunch of puppies, having him stand under my windowsill singing me sweet nothings, and frolicking down the beach with him (who is shirtless of course), until eventually my thoughts were interrupted when Brooke called, the familiar sound of "Material Girl" ringing in my ears.
"Haley!"
"Brookie, to what do I owe this pleasure?" I say, rolling my eyes a little bit. I'm in a bit of an "emo-nobody-understands-me-so-let-me-just-sit-here-and-dream" kind of mood.
"I was just calling to check up on you once you didn't come back to the café before."
"Oh yeah, I was just," insert yawn here, "really tired."
"Haley it was six o'clock."
"Well um, I was woken up early today to do a favor for someone wasn't I?" I say. I mean it's true, no one should mess with Haley James' sleeping pattern. Unless it's something really important like you need me to save your grandmother from a burning building or something of that nature.
"Look I'm sorry about that Hales. But are you okay? I've never really seen you get so upset like that."
"Oh yeah, that was nothing. I promise. Just took it the wrong way or something. So what are you doing now?"
"We're walking down the Riverwalk, Lucas and Peyton are being disgustingly cute and I'm hanging behind them a couple feet with Nathan. He just went to go get us some ice cream though."
I gulp… Nathan. "Oh, and uh… how's that going?"
"Not so good. He's being surprisingly quiet. I thought for sure we'd be on a bench somewhere getting to know each other… if you know what I mean."
"Well Brooke I hate to break it to ya, but not everyone thinks playing doctor and checking someone's tonsils is a good ice breaker for getting to meet someone." Oof, I feel a little bad. That was harsh.
"Retract the claws Haley J, I know that. I just expected Nathan to be playing the same game as me. It's okay though. It's always fun to have a little chase. Oh wait, hold on a second he's coming back with our ice cream."
I sigh, waiting for her to come back to the phone. Having to watch her chase after Nathan like he's some caribou on an African safari is not going to be fun. Not one bit. Something interesting happens however, as I wait for Brooke to put her cell phone back up to her ear.
"But I like vanilla!" She whined, I can imagine a pout etched across her face.
"Brooke I'm so sorry. I just got chocolate because well, everyone loves chocolate. Can't you just try it." His smooth, sexy voice rings through me ear.
"God you're just like Haley. What's with this freaking chocolate obsession? It's fine Nathan I'm actually not even that hungry. We'll just throw my cone at Pucas over there who are having a little snog-fest."
"Um, okay?" Nathan replies a bit confused, and all of a sudden there's a bit more muffle and Brooke is back on the phone.
"Sorry about that Hales, we just had a little bit of a ice cream disagreement. I've got to go though, but we'll talk soon. If I don't see you until Friday, you'll be at Nathan's welcoming bonfire party right?"
"Oh, I don't know…"
"Come on Hales? Please." She begs. Her little Brooke Davis rasp haunting my brain.
"Fine, I'll be there."
"Good. See you then! Love ya!" She says, hanging up the phone. And there's only one thing I can think of when she finally gets off.
Nathan loves chocolate. We're a match made in heaven!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Three days. Three freakin' days. That's how long I've hauled myself up in my house… away from friends, away from family (Mom and Dad are still visiting various members of the James clan) and away from the man of my dreams, Nathan Scott. Okay maybe not the man of my dreams, but for the past three nights he has been! Gosh he's so dreamy. Which brings me to tonight.
I've managed to avoid Nathan since that awkward day I like to call 'Picking Up Nathan from the Airport.' And Brooke. She's called me quite a few times but I've let her go straight to voicemail. I haven't even listened to the 10 + messages she's left me for fear of hearing about whatever scandalous things she had planned to go down between her and Nathan.
But tonight I was going to have to face it all. I'm going to attempt to hold my head high, keep my cool, not trip and fall flat over my face into sand (which has happened many times on occasion) and I'm going to be the best friend to Brooke I always have been despite my jealousy of her hold on Nathan. And the fact that she has a chance with him and I well, don't.
As I get ready for the bonfire I put on my favorite bath suit, a polka-dotted halter once piece, before pulling on a pair of jean shorts and a flowy pink tank top. I grab a towel, slip on my flip-flops then jump in my car for a drive to the beach. The beach is probably the best thing about tonight since while at the beach, there are so many places a person can wander off to! Like hypothetically, say a girl if I saw her best friend making out with Lucas' cousin. But that's all you know, hypothetical.
After I park my car and briskly walk towards the sand, I immediately take off my sandals. My favorite part about the beach is the way the sand squishes between your toes. That's pretty much why I make it a point to go early in the day or in the evening. I've tried to enjoy the sand during mid-day sun and let's just say I couldn't really walk on my feet for about a week. Damn blisters.
Once I get past the dunes I can finally see the bonfire and the good amount of people crowded around it. Looks like I got here after the first wave of partying began. I scan the crowd for a friendly or familiar face. There's no Brooke… no Lucas… but there is a Peyton. I cross the sand towards the make-shift DJ station that had been set up.
"Well if Haley the Hobbit didn't come out of hiding," Peyton kids.
"Yeah, yeah. Just be glad I made it out to this little shindig you have going," I laugh giving her a hug. "So where's your other hip?"
"Very funny. Lucas went to get some more logs or something. He's a bit of a pyro and said this fire didn't have enough wood."
"I'm not so sure about that but I'm not about to crush Lucas's dreams of making Tree Hill's biggest fire," I say, my eyes searching the crowd for Nathan.
"If your looking for Brooke," Peyton interjects, noticing my wandering eyes, "I saw her shimmying up next to Nathan a little while ago."
"Oh yeah… should have thought of that," I say as calmly as possible. "So about them, what exactly are they?"
"Brooke wants them to be friends with benefits. We talked last night and she's not looking for commitment-"
"That's our Brookie," I laugh.
"- but according to her Nathan kind of gives her the cold shoulder. Which is weird considering he laughs and is very warm towards me and Lucas."
"And because Lucas made it very clear that he was a ladies' man the other night."
"About that Haley…"
"It's okay Peyton," I say, the pity in her eyes. "Really it's um, fine. I was really tired that's all. Ask Brooke we talked about it. But I'm just going to go find her okay?"
"Yeah that's fine. I'll let her know you're here if I see her," she says giving me one final nod before I walk away.
Scanning the crowd and not seeing a Nathan or a Brooke suddenly made me realize I didn't want to be here all that much. Sure it was a welcoming party for Nathan but I didn't really want to see either of them. I mean, I'm awkward enough in regular situations but slap on a weird-not-really-acknowledged-love-triangle and my awkward meter goes off the charts.
Therefore the most intelligent thing in my mind is to grab a strawberry wine cooler (I'm not about to get myself drunk!) and find a nice quiet place to sit. I walk down the beach quite a ways. So far that the bonfire can fit between my thumb and pointer finger if I hold them in front of my eyes. Thinking this is sufficiently far away, I plop down on the sand and take a nice gulp of my wine cooler. Yum, fruity! Leaning back on my elbows, I just stare out onto the water. It's so calming. And so much better to look at from afar than to actually be in. I mean, there's jellyfish, lobsters that could snap at your ouch-places, those crazy crabs and well, seaweed. It's much more calming to just gaze out at it like I am right now then to have an anxiety attack in it.
Speaking of anxiety attack… I'd thought I found a place to be alone, but apparently not. And apparently I did something for God to spite me because right now as we speak, the blue-eyed boy who could turn my brown-eyed self into a puddle that would seemingly soak into the sand is coming my way. But not from the direction from the bonfire… From the opposite direction… Like he walked to far… was the boy lost?
"Haley, is that you?" He whispers into the darkness, his figure quickly approaching.
I swallow the gasp in my throat. He was not supposed to find me! This was supposed to be a hiding spot not a Nathan's-going-to-find-me-in-2.5-seconds kind of spot! Either way, he's approaching and I've got so say something.
"No," okay that's not what I meant. "I mean yes. It's um, me."
"Oh good!" Good? Good for me, of course, but why him?
"So um, what are you doing here? Well not here as in the beach because I mean this is your party but I mean like um, why are you here walking from some direction that isn't the bonfire instead of hanging out with all those people?" Could I trip over my words any more? Just call me Chandler Bing.
"Not really into it that's all," he shrugged. "Do you mind if I sit down next to you?"
"Yes… I mean yes you can sit here. No I don't mind," and yes the waves can come carry me out to see.
We sit next to each other in silence for a bit, before he reaches down between us and takes a swig of my strawberry wine cooler. I turn my head, giving him a weird quizzical look.
"I would never drink this kind of stuff in front of my guy friends for fear of being called a wuss, among much worse things, but honestly it so much better than beer. Strawberry too… nice choice," he says before putting the bottle back down and licking his lips a bit.
Those lips that I couldn't help but let myself linger on. The oh-so-kissable lips that almost did just that three days ago. The lips I wish would kiss me right now. The lips that I know just can't.
"Haley?"
"Mmm?" I reply, awakened from my daydream to find his eyes searching me face.
"Have you been ignoring me?"
"What? Um no," I say quickly turning my face towards the ocean hoping the crimson I know it's turning right now will soon leave. "I barely even know you Nathan so why would I want to ignore you."
"That's the thing I don't know."
"Well I haven't been," I say turning to look towards him as he now lays perched back on his elbows.
"It's just… I had fun the other day. When you picked me up from the airport you were quirky and funny. And although I was unfairly pelted with water, it was nice. Fun even. I don't know…" He said sighing.
"Don't know what?"
"No, it's um, nothing."
"Tell me Nathan," I say, looking him straight in the eye.
"It's just you didn't throw yourself at me. And I appreciate that. It gets old after a while. Lucas and all my guy friends back in California think it's a blast but most of the time it's just annoying. You're not like that."
"Yeah…" I say a bit uneasy. Could this be a good or bad thing? So he doesn't think I'm a slut (which I'm not) but does that mean he thinks I'm a nun?
"And about what Lucas said the other day…" and it looks like I'm about to get my answer, "don't worry about it. What he said was dumb, he wasn't thinking. And um, for what it's worth I'm glad you picked me up from airport."
"You are?" I say confused.
"Yep." He says, a sudden glint in his eyes.
"But um, why?" I swallow.
"Because eventually it brought us here…"
"To a deserted part of the beach?" I question confused as he nods his had in agreement.
"So I can do this…" He states lifting up one of his hands to lean toward me.
My first instinct, especially since I'm in a desolate area, is that he's going to kill me or pull me into the ocean or something like that. So I pull back. My face much like that of a deer caught in headlights.
"Haley?" He whispers to me, a confused look on his face, which by the way, is extremely close to me.
"Mmm?" I mumble, looking at him.
"Can I please just kiss you?"
Okay, I just totally screwed this moment up. I'm pretty sure I'd rather he tried to kill me.