"Brooke" I call lazily while perusing an ELLE magazine as I lay comfortably on her bed. "Almost ready? The party started forty-five minutes ago."
"Almost Hales!" I hear through the closed bathroom door. I'd been ready for a half hour, but knowing Brooke she's always late. I'd decided to get ready at Brooke's house, and let Rachel deal with all the technical details of the party.
I'm in the middle of an article that's comparing polka dots and stripes when Brooke finally emerges from the bathroom, dressed to kill in a red top and a short denim skirt. She's got red high heels on which only brings her up to about 5'5". Oh well, she's taller than me at least.
We examine ourselves in the mirror. I'm wearing the same outfit that Brooke and Nathan had both 'chosen'. My hair is up in a sleek high ponytail with my bangs framing my face in a very high-fashion way. Brooke's raven-dark locks are relaxed and wavy tonight, glamorous.
She turns and looks at me. "Tutorgirl, are you ready?" And we both know she's referring to much more than this party.
Flashback:
Brooke and I were at the supermarket picking up some food for the party. Rachel had sent us on a few last minute errands after Bevin had shown up at the house with one case of beer. One case of beer to satisfy a multitude of teenagers; needless to say, a case would last less than five minutes at one of our parties.
I lift another case out of the freezer and put it in the cart. "Brooke, are you sure we'll be able to buy this?" I ask worriedly, an entire cart filled with beer.
"Of course. I used to date one of the cashiers. Date as in 'hook up with occasionally.' Nick's totally cool about this sort of thing." She says as she throws in a few bags of chips.
"Sweet. So all of this, and I think Nathan and Lucas are picking up a couple kegs. Think we'll have enough?" I ask, examining our carts.
"Yeah. But we'll stop at the liquor store anyway."
"Well that's a given." I wink.
"So speaking of the adorable Scott brothers, I think I'm finally gonna tell Lucas about my feelings for him tonight." Brooke says excitedly.
"Really?" I ask. This is a major step for her.
"Yeah. I'm tired of bullshitting all this stuff with him. I want to be with him. He's the one for me…I know it." She says dreamily.
"You go B. Davis." I say enthusiastically.
"So what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Are you ever gonna tell Nathan?"
I think for a moment. "Actually, I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and honestly, I think I'm ready." I say, with a sheepish grin on my face.
"Oh my god!!! Ay dios mio!" Brooke shrieks. I stifle a laugh. When Brooke is excited, she screams in Spanish. This is quite entertaining actually, considering she doesn't hold an ounce of Spanish blood to her name.
"Tutorgirl, this is huge news! Even bigger than mine! You and Nathan are like, written in the stars! What are you going to say? When are you going to tell him? Oh my goodness that outfit is perfect for tonight!" She exclaims in one very excited breath.
"Slow down!" I say.
"We can't! Your life is going to change forever in just a few short hours! Now answer the fucking questions!"
"Uh…well, I'm thinking I might just kiss him. Ya know, not really say anything. Just sorta, do it. Tonight."
"Oh my god! This is awesome!"
I smile. "Of course, I'm going to get super drunk first so if anything bad does happen, I can just blame it on the alcohol." I grin.
"Thatta girl."
End of Flashback
I can't go back on my word now. No matter what happens, by the end of the night, I'm going to kiss Nathan Scott.
A few hours later
The party is in full swing and I'm chatting it up with a few of my friends from school that I haven't seen in a few weeks. Suddenly I feel an arm wrap around my shoulder, and I glance up to see Nathan."
"Hey. Haven't seen you all night." He says.
I wonder why. Seeing him means I'm going to have to kiss him. And god knows there isn't enough alcohol in my system for that yet.
"Yeah, I've been talking to a lot of people."
"Enough talking. I think Rach is setting up a game of 'I never'. Come play." He says, lightly pulling me away from my previous company.
"Because these things always end well." I say sarcastically, but sit down at the table nonetheless.
"Okay everybody." Rachel says. "I Never. You all should know how to play, but this time, there's going to be a twist. Random truth or dares can now be added into play. The more random, the better." She smirks.
I quickly glance around the medium-sized table. It's the usual gang; Nathan, Lucas, Brooke, Mouth, Peyton, Rachel, Bevin, Theresa, Jake, Skillz, and Nathan's dimwitted best friend Tim.
"I'll go first." Peyton says. "I've never Brooked myself in a public place."
Rachel, Brooke, and Tim all drink, while Brooke rolls her eyes at the clever name we'd given the term after walking in on her doing it in freshman year.
"Tim, do you even know what that means?" Nathan asks, and Tim shakes his head.
"Nah, but I want to get hella crunked up dawg." He replies.
Skillz groans. "Yo man, you aint black. That's hella fucked up man." But he's laughing, undoubtedly at Tim, who doesn't get that the laughter's aimed at him.
"Okay. My turn. I've never been paid to sleep with somebody." Jake says.
Nathan, Me, Lucas, and Theresa all take a drink. Nathan sends me a questioning look; he obviously doesn't know that story. Theresa catches this and glares at me across the table.
Bevin speaks up. "Theresa, truth or dare?"
Without batting an eye, or switching her determined gaze from mine, she picks dare.
"Kiss Nathan."
Theresa smirks and sends a quick glance towards Rachel, who winks in response. So this is what the random truth or dare is for; so Theresa can hook up with Nathan without really making it seem like she'd pick it. Ingenious, I admit, but also quite pathetic.
This coming from the girl who is too afraid to even vocalize her feelings for him.
That was the old Haley; the new Haley is going to kiss him tonight, without being pathetically dared to do so. I'll keep my honor, even if I have to be drunk to do so.
Theresa moves up from her chair across the table, and for a second I see fear fleet across Nathan's handsome features.
Theresa sits down on his lap, her legs on either side of him, she wraps her hands around her neck and dives in for the kill. Her lips meet his hungrily, but Nathan remains pretty stoic. He kisses her back, but not with nearly as much as emotion in him as her.
Brooke sends me a caring glance across the table. I send her a look; hopefully she gets the point that I'm totally fine with this situation. Nathan is terrified of that whore. Luckily, she understands and smiles.
Finally they break apart and the game resumes. A few turns later, I feel a gaze on me. Glancing around the table, my eyes land on Bevin. She smiles maliciously.
"Haley, truth or dare?"
I look her in the eye. No way am I afraid of this bimbo-ed bitch.
"Dare."
"Give Tim a lap dance."
A few seats to the right of me I can hear Tim 'woohoo!' and I see Bevin and Therese give eachother high fives under the table.
Pushing my chair back, I look pointedly at Theresa. "Fine."
Turning towards Tim, I say, "Keep your hands to yourself or I will chop of your balls and make you eat them off a platter." Tim looks scared, but once I start giving him a lap dance, gyrating my hips side to side, he begins to grin like a five year old at Christmas.
After a few seconds I can hear catcalls from Skillz and Jake, which causes Time to grin even more. Lucas begins to fake-howl like a wolf at the moon, and everyone begins to laugh. Taking it as my time to stop, I climb off Tim, and resume my seat next to Nathan.
"Slut." I hear Theresa whisper in a pissed off tone, and roll my eyes. I have no idea why the fuck she's mad, she dared me to do it.
Many turns later I begin to feel more than a buzz. The game has just about ended, and Brooke scratches her eyebrow, which is code for Peyton, her, and me for whenever we need to talk in private.
We get up from the table and head into the den, locking the wooden doors behind us.
"Guys! I'm about to make my move on Lucas!" Brooke says. "Thank you so much for not daring me to kiss him like Theresa did. How pathetic was that?" She asks. Peyton and I nod in agreement.
"Hales, what was with that lap dance?" Peyton asks, sending a smirk my way.
"It was a dare! I couldn't let that whore beat me down. And it was just Tim!" I try to justify.
"Not what I was talking about." She says. "I meant Nathan, he didn't take his eyes off you once. I don't think he even blinked." She says.
"And Theresa definitely noticed. She was so peeved when you stopped. Her plan totally backfired! It was awesome!" Brooke adds happily.
"Guys, you've had too much to drink." I say, though I'm happy-dancing on the inside as a result of this piece of news.
"Maybe so, but you two are perfect!" Brooke says, opening the door. "Now go get your man Tutorgirl!"
I walk out the door and eventually into the living room. I can't really see too many people I recognize, pretty ironic considering this is my party. Suddenly Mouth appears beside me.
"Man I am soooooooo wasted." He croons.
"Hi mouth. What number are you on?" I ask.
"Ummm…this manyyyy." He says, holding up three fingers. "Or was it this many?" He asks, holding up four. He looks at me and shrugs, and then bursts out laughing. "I gotta go to the bathroom." He says, continuing to laugh, and walks away, opening the door to the front hall closet and going inside.
My eyes continue to scour the room until I feel a hand grab my ass and I jump. "What the fuck?" I ask, turning around to see Nathan. "Holy shit Nathan. I had no idea that was you!" I say.
"I'm sorry." He says drunkenly, "Forgive me?" He asks. Holding up a plastic cup he says, "I brought you a drink."
"In that case, how can I say no?" I ask, and move my hand to grab it from him. He pulls his hand back. I give him a confused look.
"Hug first."
I smile and move in to hug him, but somehow his free hand accidentally grabs my boob. Instinctively I shiver.
"Shit, I'm sorry Hales."
"It's okay, they're so big I'm not sure how you could miss them." I joke, as he hands me my drink. I look at it curiously.
"It's a mix. Trust me it's fucking amazing." He says, and I accept the drink eagerly. I down it in seconds, only to receive a look from Nathan. "Are you worried about something?" He asks.
"No…why?"
"You never drink that much that fast."
"Oh…I've never noticed." I say awkwardly, and we're silent for a few moments. His arm is wrapped around my waist, and I can feel Theresa's jealous glare on me.
Giving into petty drama, I grab Nathan's hand and lead him across the living room floor, much to Theresa's displeasure.
"What are you doing?" He asks while laughing.
"We're dancing." I slur with a smile on my face.
"Okay." He smiles, and slowly moves his hands to my waist as I grind into him. Timbaland's 'Give It To Me' radiates off the speakers as we move together.
if you see us in the club we'll be acting real nice
if you see us on the floor you'll be watchin all night
we ain't here to hurt nobody
so give it to me give it to me give it to me
wanna see you work your body
so give it to me give it to me give it to me
For a few moments it feels like no one else is in the room. Just the two of us. I move my hands on top of his and sway against him to the music.
"You look hot tonight Hales." He whispers quietly in my ear, and I turn around to face him, still dancing.
"Thanks Nathan. Though I did have some advice." I smirk.
H nods his head, and then dips it lower so he's whispering into my ear. "And that lap dance you gave Tim, damn." His words reverberated in my head. So he really did pay that much attention? I pull myself closer to him, inhaling the scent of his cologne. I wrap my arms around his neck and dance up against him even more, which he reciprocates to immediately.
"You look hot tonight Nate." I smile. And he does. He's wearing a black polo with a light blue t-shirt underneath, and dark blue jeans. His hair is a little spiked, one of my favorite ways he wears it.
His head lowers and softly kisses my cheek.
Am I imagining things or did it linger there?
We continue to dance for a few more songs, completely losing track of the time, and I sigh contently. "Are you okay?" He asks.
"Mmhmm." I reply. "Just tired."
"We should get you up to bed." He says.
"Nah. I'm fine. Besides, the party is still going on." It's then we both realize that a lot of the people have already left, although a few people are still hanging around.
"Maybe I will go to bed." I say, and Nathan kisses me on the cheek. Well partly on the cheek. He missed a little and hit part of my lips.
Seriously, how drunk are we?
"I should be up soon." I nod my head, then turn around and stumble up the stairs. On one particularly brutal step, I almost fall to the floor, only to feel his strong arms holding onto me.
"Geez Hales, how much did you drink?" Nathan asks, although it's sort of hypocritical considering he's as drunk as I am. I shrug in response and he leads me up the stairs into my room. I immediately collapse on my bed.
Damn this alcohol hit me hard. I was fine twenty minutes ago.
Without too much concern I can feel Nathan undressing me. I slide the shirt over my head, and totally forget that I'm just in a bra and skirt. I pull myself under the covers, already half-asleep.
"I'll be right back." He slurs, "My cell is downstairs." And he walks out of my room only wearing a pair of basketball shorts he'd changed into. I see his shirts lying on the floor, next to his crumbled jeans.
I fall asleep within minutes, before Nathan returns to my room.
The next morning
My first thought waking up this morning:
I didn't kiss Nathan.
Second thought:
Holy mother of a killer hangover.
Third thought:
What time is it?
And the fourth one, just for kicks:
Damn, I really need to pee.
I stumble out of bed, immediately shielding my eyes from the bright light emitted through the window. Nathan's clothes are still in a pile on the floor. I smile to myself, he probably fell asleep on the stairs…it wouldn't be the first time he was to drunk to come to my room.
I open the door and head down to the living room. No one else seems to be up. All around me are various teenagers passed out in all parts of the room. Still not fully awake, I walk into the kitchen and see a note tacked to the refrigerator from Rachel.
Hales,
Went for a morning run…left you some Mt. Dew and Tylenol. Don't worry about the stragglers or the mess…I owe you one!
Love, Rach
I grab a mountain dew and some aspirin, fully prepared to tackle the world's worst hangover. After one sip of the soda, I remember that I still have to pee, and aimlessly wander back upstairs to the bathroom.
When I'm actually in the bathroom I realize I've been wandering around in a bra and skirt.
Thank god no one else is awake.
I open the door to the bathroom, and head back in the direction of my bedroom so I can get a few more hours of shut-eye, until I hear movement coming from around the corner. Figuring it's just some random stranger lost in this huge house, I turn the corner to greet them. Bad idea. If this moment were a scene in a movie, everybody would be screaming at the screen saying things like, "Don't do it!" or "Foolish girl! Don't leave the safe area!" But unfortunately this isn't a movie, and had my hangover not been my first priority, I would've had thought better of the warning signs.
"Nathan?"
Standing outside Rachel's doorway, I see a very tired and confused Nathan Scott…wearing only boxers.