Once again, thanks for the reviews! Oh, and I know absolutely nothing about basketball, which will be mentioned later in the chapter, so just bear with me if I make a total fool of myself. You've been warned. hehe.

Chapter 6:

So after another thirty minutes of arguing with Brooke over what to wear, we were finally out the door, on our way to the mall.

Flashback

"Brooke, this outfit is slutty enough!" I exclaim, pointing to the black halter.

"Tutorgirl, I admit, you look hot. But you don't look like 'BAM! Hotness!' just quite yet." She says, thinking hard as her finger taps against her chin.

Peyton and I exchange a look before we each start laughing our asses off.

"Bam hotness?" I ask Brooke, as Peyton begins to snort while laughing, which just makes the situation that much funnier.

"Well it makes perfect sense." Brooke tried to justify. "Like you can look at someone and say, "Yeah, she's hot." Or you can look at someone, and their hotness just hits you, and your just like 'BAM- she's hotttt!'

I try to nod my head in a serious manner, but end up laughing again. Brooke playfully swats at my arm. I swear, that girl is pretty smart, but sometimes she has intense blonde moments. Or should I say, 'BAM! Blondeness!'?

"Here, try this on." She says, throwing towards me a blue halter with a hole looped in the middle of the chest. Along with this, she throws an even shorter skirt towards me.

"Dear god Brooke. Why don't you just give me the street names of the corner I'm going to be standing on?" I ask.

"Not funny. Besides, you'll look great. I promise."

So I strip down and throw the clothes she gave me on. If I felt like a slut before, it's nothing compared to how I feel now.

"Perfect." Brooke nods approvingly.

"I agree. Tutorgirl you are smokin'" Peyton adds while checking her watch. "Okay, we better leave before the stores actually close on us."

Brooke and I nod our heads, and on the way out the door we hear Brooke say, "Now that's 'BAM! Hotness!'

End of Flashback

Which leads to where I am now; a changing room in the mall with a pile of shorts, jeans, tanks, skirts, and pretty much any other form of clothing you'd normally find in a store. Every few seconds Brooke would throw over another skirt or top with a "Here, try this on!" or "Hey! This would look great on you!" It's enough to make a girl want to shoot herself. At least, it's how I'm feeling right about now.

A few hours later

Well finally, after a couple thousand stores, with a quick Starbucks break in between, we're finally ready to leave the mall. Peyton and I are both struggling with our bags, while Brooke can barely lift hers up. Eyeing a few teenage boys that walk by, she gets an idea.

"Oh boys!" She calls.

Oh no.

"Our bags are too heavy for us to lift, would you help us please?" She asks sweetly, batting her eyelashes at a tall blonde.

Most of the boys walk away, while two of them stop for a minute to help us out.

"Thank you so much!" Brooke says, laying it on pretty thick.

One of the boys looks up and gives her a smile; she winks in response. Peyton and I exchange looks. Leave it to Brooke to pick up a boy in the middle of the mall parking lot.

By now the slaves have finished with their chore, so Peyton and I climb into the car, while Brooke continues to chat it up with the tall blonde. I roll my eyes and put the key into the ignition. Turning on the cd player, Gym Class Heroes quickly fills the car.

We have to take our clothes off
We have to party all night
And we have to take our clothes off
To have a good time

Five songs later, Brooke is still talking to the blonde. The sky is beginning to get dark as I feel my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. Taking it out, I see that Nathan has texted me.

"hey. Where u at?"

Quickly I text him back. "Mall still. B met a boy." This process between us continues for a few minutes.

"c u in a few hours then? lol"

"I hope. Where ru?"

"Ur house."

"already?"

"yah. Rach let me in."

"cant believe she got home b4 me"

"dude, ur w. Brooke."

"tru."

"hurry back. Bevin and Theresa r comin over."

"Great." I text sarcastically. O b's coming, cu soon."

Brooke enters the car with a huge smile on her face.

"Someone looks happy." Peyton notes from the backseat.

"Someone just got a date for Haley's party." She smiles.

"Brooke, why do you insist on bringing a date to every party? Lord knows you're just gonna end up with someone completely different than the person you brought." I say in a half-kidding tone.

"Hales, my dear, you've got a lot to learn. Guys love it when you're not available. It makes it a bigger challenge. Besides, if there aren't any cute guys, I always have a backup to take home."

"Brooke honey." Peyton laughs. "It's never a challenge for you."

Brooke sticks her tongue out at her in the rearview mirror. Peyton reciprocates.

"My, my, my. How mature we are." I kid, only to have the both of them stick their tongues out at me.

Later on…

I walk into my house after Brooke drops me off. Immediately I hear the laughter of three highly annoying girls coming from the den. I walk in to see Rachel, Bevin, and Theresa, all sprawled out across the floor, laughing their asses off.

"Hey guys. Where's Nathan?" I ask, trying to ignore the fact that Theresa has just sent me an extremely dirty look, as if to say I'm not welcome in here, my own house, go figure. I roll my eyes. It's no surprise that Theresa likes Nathan. She's been obsessing over him ever since like the ninth grade. She, along with virtually every other clueless blonde in our high school, is jealous over how close Nathan and I are. Turning my head, I look at Rachel. "You didn't scare him off, did you?"

"Nah. He's upstairs. I think he got a little freaked out when we started talking about how Bev's on her rag." She says, which starts a whole new fit of laughter.

"Thanks." I send her a smile, ignoring the other two girls. Turning around, I go to leave the room when Theresa speaks. "No problem, Scaley." She says so that it rhymes with my name. I roll my eyes yet again, and actually leave the room. Petty much?

I walk up the stairs laughing at the fact that Rach thinks Nathan would be scared of Bevin's period. God knows how many times I've talked to him about mine. Nathan's like the perfect guy when it comes to being on your rag. One time he brought me chocolate ice cream and A Walk To Remember. Like I said, perfect. Besides, he was probably just afraid of Theresa. That girl can be wicked scary sometimes.

I open the door to my bedroom, to see Nathan lying on the bed, watching a basketball game on TV. Walking in, I see him glance over quickly and breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank God." He says exasperated.

"It couldn't have been that bad." I joke, collapsing on the bed next to him.

"She kept looking at me. Then she started to like, lick her lips. I think she tried to wink at me, but it just looked like she had an awful twitch or something." He says, causing me to laugh.

"God Hales. I never thought you'd show up, Theresa is fucking scary."

What'd I tell ya? 'Period scares' my ass.

"All better now?" I joke, settling in closer to him.

"Much."

"Good."

He nods. "So what'd you buy with Brooke and Peyt?"

I groan and bury my head into his shoulder. "The easier question would be what didn't I buy? I swear Brooke had me try on half the clothes in the mall." I lean over him to grasp the bags on the other side of the bed, my hand accidentally brushing against the muscles underneath his shirt, but I don't think Nathan notices.

Pulling the bags up, I begin to pull out the merchandise. From camis to skirts to belts, I've got it all. Nathan quickly glances at the piles on the bed. Reaching into one pile, he pulls out a gray halter with a black ribbon that wraps around under the chest. Reaching into the other pile, he pulls out a short denim skirt. "Wear this outfit for the party."

"That's weird. This is what Brooke picked too."

"She's got good taste." He says smirking.

"Yeah; in sluts. No wonder you like that outfit." I tease.

He smirks. "That too, plus you've got really awesome legs." He says as one of his hands teasingly grasps the back of my thigh, causing me to jump.

"Nathan! Stop! You know I'm insanely ticklish!" I shriek, pulling his hand away from my thigh, which is noticeably colder now that his hand is gone.

"That I do." He agrees, his infamous smirk once again placed on his handsome features.

With that being said, he rolls me over so that he's kneeling on top of me again. He's just about to tickle me when his eyes focus on something next to the bed.

Oh shit.

"Wait. I think you forgot a bag Hales."

"Uhh, no I didn't. That's old." I say, but not very convincingly on my part. Nathan doesn't believe me, and in seconds he's smirking as his eyes glimmer in a mischievous fashion. "What's in the bag Haley?"

"Um. It's just trash, ya know, from Brooke's car." I lie.

He's clearly not buying it. Not that I would either, Brooke never cleans out her car.

His eyes gaze heavier into mine, his stare unwavering. "Fine." I say defeated. "It's your birthday present." I say.

"My birthday isn't for another five months Hales. I know you like to be prepared and all, but that's extreme, even for you." Nathan says and his smirk grows even bigger.

Fuck. I was hoping he'd believe that one.

"It's really nothing Nate." I say, my breathing getting slightly deeper, due to the fact that his body is still on top of mine, this close proximity making my stomach get butterflies and my head get a little punch-drunk dizzy.

"Oh really? So what's with the heavy breathing? Is it because you've got something to hide?" He asks, clearly enjoying watching me squirm.

Damn this boy doesn't miss a thing.

"Maybe it's because you're fat ass is still on top of me." I kid.

"Touché James. Granted, you know I have to get you back for that now, right?" He asks, placing his hands around my waist.

I nod my head, biting my lower lip, nut my eyes watch him animatedly, waiting for his next move, which definitely surprises me. Instead of tickling me, he removes one hand and reaches over the bed to grab the bag. Reaching inside of it, he pulls out a couple lacy thongs and bras that I'd bought today. He slowly picks up a black thong, his fingers playing with it in his hands.

"Hales, damn. I didn't think you were serious when you said you got me a birthday present." He smirks.

"I didn't know your size." I joke, but my comment unfazes him as he continues to rummage through my underwear.

"Nice taste." He says, holding up a pair of light blue v-string panties. "So how come you never model these types of clothes for me?" He asks, his gaze momentarily eyeing a red bra before shifting back towards my eyes.

"Don't you think people talk about us enough at school without me modeling underwear for you?" I ask, biting my lip again, my eyes looking at him in a serious manner.

"Point taken. But you could at least sleep in stuff like this," He says while toying with a lacy orange pair of boyshorts, his eyebrow raised suggestively.

"Yeah right. I'd be freezing." I say, completely serious. It's true, my house is really frigid, especially with the air conditioners in the summer, and well that and the fact I'm chronically freezing to begin with.

"But that's why I'm here to warm you up." He smirks playfully, as one of his hands continues to hold onto the side of my stomach.

This boy is driving me wild.

"Well besides, I don't want to be a distraction to your sleep." I tease.

"What if you already are? Then it makes no difference, right?" He asks, his blue eyes darkening slightly, but he continues to smirk.

"Hmm. Now that's a problem. I guess you'll just have to deal with the slight distraction of me like you do now Nathan. I'd really hate to add to it" Now it's my turn to smirk.

"I don't think I'd mind." He whispers seductively, his eyes still teasing me slightly.

My eyes stare into his, his smirk matching my own. Then suddenly, he rolls off of me, and walks to the bathroom. "Yeah, it's probably a good thing you don't sleep in clothes like that." He says. "Your water bill would increase drastically." He winks and shuts the door to the bathroom, where I lean my head back against the pillow. What the hell was that?

Were Nathan and I flirting with eachother? I mean, we'd always tease eachother about stuff like this, but it's never gotten this intense, or whatever the hell you want to call it, before.

This is driving me nuts. I know I like Nathan, hell, I know I love Nathan, and not in the brother-sister sense that I've always talked about. And god knows how damn hot that boy is, he's impossible not to lust after. Rubbing my eyes, I don't know why I'm so tired all of the sudden. Glancing over at the clock, it reads 11:40. When the hell did it get so late? I got home at 10:30. Nathan and I couldn't have been doing, whatever the hell it was that we were doing, for almost an hour.

I push the clothes off my bed and begin to change into a t-shirt and shorts. It feels so nice to just chill and now feel like a whore anymore. I pull my shirt over my head as Nathan walks out of the bathroom. "Damn. I missed it." He smirks, eyeing the fact that I had already changed into other clothes, and I walk over to the bed.

Climbing under the covers, I realize the TV is still on. I'd been so caught up in Nathan and whatever that I hadn't realized the basketball game was still playing. Nathan pulled off his shirt and jeans and climbed into the bed next to me.

"Who's playing?" I ask.

"Duke and UNC. It's the playoffs, fourth quarter, and they're neck-in-neck." He adds.

"Sweet." I say as I turn on my side to sleep.

"Want me to turn this off?"

"No, it's fine. Watch the game." I answer honestly. Nathan settles in more comfortably, then quietly whispers, "You know, you could've just said that was Brooke's bag. No further questions asked." I can feel him smirk, almost as much as i can myself blush.

Silence for a few more moments as he watches the game. "This isn;t fair." He says. "If I have to sleep in my underwear all the time, you should have to too." Even with my eyes closed, I can tell he's still got that cocky smirk on his face.

"You don't have to, you do it by choice."

"Yours could be by choice too." He counters.

I roll over to face him. "Someday." I grin.

"Promise?" He smirks.

"On my life." I smile.

"Better be soon."

"It could be." I smirk.

The announcer on the TV says, "With forty-seconds left in the game, Duke is down by two points! J. J. Redick has the ball, he shoots, and he scores!" Just as Nathan turns off the TV, I look up at him. "There's still time left in the game."

"I know."

"And?"

"It doesn't matter." He says, as he wraps his arm around me. I lean in comfortably, my ankle somehow intertwining with his. I'm almost asleep when I thought comes to my mind, and I sit up.

"You know this is the third night in a row you've stayed here."

"And?" He says as he joins me in sitting up.

"Aren't your parents worried if you aren't home?"

He looks down at me. "Nah. They're too busy arguing. Besides, I am home." He smiles as I move my arms to hug him.

After a few more moments of silence, he says, "You don't mind, do you?"

I pull my head back. "Mind what?"

"The fact that I've stayed at your house the past three nights."

"Nah. It feels like home to me too." I smile, and he leans down to kiss me on the cheek.

"I love you Nathan."

"I love you Haley." He says, and I lay down to relax again when I hear him say,

"And your size 36 B boobs too."