The Search for Something More
Chapter 5 – You're Cheating Heart
Thank you all for the feedback, please keep them coming as they help keep me motivated. I tried my best to comment back on the feedback I got but I'm glad you are all enjoying. Now this chapter will reference something back to chapter 1 and you'll definitely get some explanations about certain things about Julian and Haley and I'm sure you guys will all have questions at the end. In this chapter and last, we got a little hint into Haley's past but I'm glad you guys were happy that Haley was seeing someone else. I didn't want Haley to be the one who was alone this whole time while Nathan basically dumped her. These first couple of chapters is really a focus on Nathan and Naley but in the upcoming chapters we'll get to see more of what was going on with Haley. The chapters in this story are a little bit longer than my usual chapters for my other stories, something some of you mentioned you liked. This chapter is no exemption, as well as some of the upcoming ones. There's definitely a lot more to this story.
On another note, please keep the campaign to bring OTH back for a season 8 alive. I sent out a couple of post cards and basketballs myself, feel free to do the same. Target or toy stores sell them for very cheap, like $2-3, and add another $5 for shipping.
I'm on vacation right now but was able to squeeze sometime in to at least publish this chapter. Thanks to Kelly for her help, we tried to fix all grammar/spelling issues so I apologize if there were some we missed. So please review and hope you enjoy!
. . . . .
"Haley James, will you marry me?" Julian asked on his knees.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?!" Nathan's voice boomed from the hallway
Haley whipped her head around and found a fuming Nathan with Lucas holding him back. Oh crap, Haley thought to herself.
"Nathan, calm down!" Lucas held him back.
Julian looked down the hall and saw Lucas holding some guy back but Lucas was blocking him and Julian couldn't get a good look. He looked back up at Haley but her eyes were on them not on him.
"Let me go!" Nathan exclaimed, trying to wrangle out of Lucas' grasp.
"Haley, deal with this." Lucas ordered as he grabbed Nathan and pulled him out of the house.
"Get your hands off me!" Nathan protested as Lucas dragged him outside and down the stairs.
"No, Nathan! You need to calm the hell down."
"Fuck this!" Nathan muttered as he tried to walk pass Lucas but Lucas followed his move and blocked his path. "Move, or prepared to get moved."
"No.. there's no way in hell, I'm letting you back in there like this. You need to calm the fuck down!" Lucas ordered.
"How am I supposed to be calm with this punk.."
"His name's Julian."
"I know all about Julia .. what the hell is he doing proposing to Haley? And why the hell does he think that my baby is his!"
"I don't know Nathan but you have to let Haley deal with this."
"No, I need some fucking answers!"
Lucas blocked his path again but Nathan decided to go anyway, which led Lucas to tackle him to the ground.
"Are you fucking crazy!?" Nathan wrestled Lucas off of him. "In case you haven't forgotten, I got thrown out a window 6 months ago." Nathan got up and dusted himself off.
"Look, I'm sorry about that but you need to calm down." Lucas got up. "You gotta get through me and if we both end up blue bloody, then so be it."
"Luke."
"Nathan!" Lucas warned. "You may think you know Haley but there's 5 years of her life that you missed out on .. you have no idea what's she's been through, you need to let her deal with this. I'm sure she has a good explanation for this."
"Lucas, I swear." Nathan gritted through his teeth.
"Nathan, don't do this. All this stress isn't good for Haley and the baby, let me figure out what's going on with Haley and Julian." Lucas tried to calm Nathan down. "You just spent this past morning trying to convince me that you're not as big of an ass as I think you are, so unless you want to prove me right, walk away Nathan."
Nathan balled his fists together and took a deep breath, Fucking Saint Lucas. Turning on his heal, he kept his mouth shut and started walking down the street. Lucas watched him walk away. He shook his head, it didn't surprise him one bit how Nathan reacted. Over the past five years, Lucas still followed his career on ESPN and caught the occasional article or two on him in the entertainment magazines while he would wait to pay for his groceries. He didn't care how hot his new girlfriend was or how People magazine was dubbing them the next Hollywood "it" couple, Nathan was still clearly in love with Haley.
Nathan walked a couple of yards away and started mumble curses to himself. The thought of having Haley carrying another man's baby was enough to drive him over the edge. His phone was ringing and saw Clay calling him but he ignored it as he tried to comprehend everything that happened five minutes ago.
. . . . .
"Haley?" Julian questioned, still on one knee.
"Oh Julian, I'm so sorry." Haley mumbled and then turned from him and put her hands on the counter for support.
"Who was that guy Lucas was with?" Julian asked, standing up.
"I never meant for you to find out like this." Haley said softly, shaking her head.
"Haley, please tell me what's going on?"
"Julian, yes.. I am pregnant but.. but you're not the father." Haley turned to him with tears in her eyes.
"That's impossible.. you .. you haven't been seeing anyone since me." Julian reasoned. "I mean last month.. you and I .."
"Last month, you were drunk and I was .. I was lonely." Haley looked away. A month ago, they all hung out at Tric and Julian was going through a difficult time. One of his scripts didn't fall through and Haley knew how hard he'd been working to get his career in entertainment started but so far, the only thing he's been able to produce are a couple of short skits and commercials. It didn't help that Julian has a big wig studio exec as a father, a father who sees more of his son's faults than his successes. She knew that broken record well.
That evening ended up with her taking care of a drunk Julian and her wallowing in her own self pity and problems. On top of that, the ghost of Nathan's sudden reappearance and disappearance still haunted her. In her moment of weakness, she faltered and for one night, she shared a bed with Julian, letting him believe that there was still something there.
The next morning she felt sick, literally. She did her walk of shame out of Julian's apartment. She headed straight back to her house, where as soon as she closed the door, she raced to the bathroom and threw up. She thought it was the previous night's activities that made her feel ill but she felt something was off for a while now. And so it was later on that day after going to the hospital where she found out. Haley James was 8 weeks pregnant.
"But that night meant something Haley, don't try to cheapen it!" Julian interrupted her thoughts
Haley shook her head. He wasn't getting the picture and she knew what she was going to say was going to rip him in two.
"Julian, I'm three months along. The size of the fetus in the pictures, it's impossible that the baby was conceived a month ago." Haley tried to stay as calm possible but she could already see the pain and anger in his eyes. It only made her feel worse.
Julian felt like he was punched in the gut. He couldn't breath. "What? You.. you're three months? That's.. that's impossible!" Julian mumbled.
"But.. you.. you and I .. we … we were together!?" Julian tried to make sense of it.
Haley put her head down. "I'm sorry but I was already pregnant at the time. I .. I just didn't know it until the next day when I went to the hospital."
"Wait!" Julian spit out. "That guy Lucas was with!"
"He's not some guy Julian. He's .. he's Lucas' brother."
"Brother?" Julian muttered and Haley flinched. Nathan was a huge part of her and Lucas' life, was being the operative word but Julian didn't know that. Julian knew Lucas had some half brother but Lucas only mentioned him in passing. None of their other friends mentioned him, including Haley. He figured it was a sore subject and that the two didn't even know each other. He was clearly wrong.
"Is he.. don't tell me.." Julian shook his head, he couldn't even form the words. The idea of Haley carrying some other guys baby was making him sick. "Haley, what the hell is going on?!" Julian's voice boomed and Haley flinched from her spot.
"Julian!" Lucas called out.
"Luke, what the hell is going on man?" Julian turned to the person he once shared a dorm room with at UNC, some one he considered a dear and close friend, something Julian was starting to reconsider. "And what the hell is Haley saying, that guy is your brother?"
"His name is Nathan.. Nathan Scott." Haley finally spoke up.
The name sounded familiar to Julian.
"And I'm sorry Julian but.. he's.. he's the father." Lucas added.
"WHAT?!" Julian couldn't believe any of this. He couldn't even look at Haley. He turned to Lucas. "So we break up and you pimp Haley out to some estranged brother you barely said two words about this whole time I've known you!"
Lucas felt terrible but for Julian's sake as well as Haley's, Lucas knew he had to tell the truth. He glanced back at Haley but she looked like she was barely holding it in together. He'd overheard the tale end of their conversation and didn't know if he was relieved to know that Haley wasn't lying to Nathan about being the father.
"Nathan's the father, yes and he is my brother.. half-brother." Lucas tried to talk calmly. "He's from Tree Hill too, he left after high school.. he and Haley.. they.. they had a relationship. It was umm.. pretty serious."
Julian gritted his teeth and then looked back and forth between Haley and Lucas and then finally landing back on Haley, the gears in his mind turning.
"You're not Hilary." Julian finally mumbled after a tension filled minute. Haley and Lucas looked at each other curiously.
"You're not Hilary." Julian repeated and then turned to Lucas. "You're Chad.. and you're not Hilary." Julian went back to Haley as he recounted the character names from Lucas' first novel. Lucas had always said that the book was inspired by real life events.
"I know it's been a while since I read your novel Luke but oh God, I'm such a fool." Julian didn't know to laugh or cry.
"This whole time, I thought Haley was Hilary." He chuckled, his eyes getting a little watery. Hilary, the blond artistic girl who Chad secretly crushed on, Julian just assumed it was Haley. He figured how could a guy be best friends with such an amazing girl like Haley and not catch feelings. Plus their names were similar. But the truth was staring at him the whole time.
"You're Joy." He looked over to Haley, his laughter dying down. "I'm such an idiot."
"You're not an idiot." Haley tried to speak up.
"Oh but aren't I?" Julian asked. "I mean this whole time I've known you.. you were there but you really weren't, were you? There was always this part of you that you always closed off. I mean according to the book James and Joy got married at the end of their junior year of high school and had a baby by graduation while Joy followed James to college where he fulfilled his dream of playing college ball.." Julian recounted events from Lucas' novel. He shook his head and turned to Lucas. "You forgot to leave out the part where he ends up playing for the Sonics and the baby happened much later!" Julian had finally put the pieces together. He wasn't a big sports fan but he'd heard of Nathan Scott, the NBA star who managed to bounce back after a paralyzing accident. He just never thought that in a million years that Nathan Scott and Lucas Scott were actually related.
"Yes I based the book off my life and the character of Joy and James were based off Haley and Nathan but it was a fiction.. I made the ending up." Lucas tried to clarify.
Julian threw his hands in the air. "I can't.. I can't even look at you two. You guys have been lying to me this whole time!"
"We didn't lie Julian." Haley clarified.
"No you just omitted the truth." Julian countered back. "Same shit!"
"Nathan has always been a sore topic that's why we never discussed him. He cut us out of his life, why would we want to talk about him?"
"Yet now he's back in town and Haley's pregnant?" Julian shook his head, the thought of another man fathering Haley's baby was making him lose it. "In the book, Joy and James were so in love." He mocked. "Did you make that up too?" He asked Lucas but Luke couldn't reply back. "Almost 5 years Luke, ever since we met in freshmen orientation and you never once mentioned that your brother was Nathan Scott! I knew you had a brother but you made it seem like you didn't even know him!" Julian exclaimed and turned from Lucas to Haley. "The whole time we were going out you told me about him but now it's all making sense." Julian took a deep breath and clenched his fist. "Six months ago Nathan Scott was thrown out of a window, six months ago you broke up with me and now you're the mother of his child." Julian stared Haley down, his once blue and warm eyes were suddenly cold and icy. "Tell me, how long have you been fucking him behind my back!"
"Julian, I wasn't.." Haley choked out.
"Don't bother!" Julian took a step back and threw his hands up. He had enough of this. He couldn't deal with it anymore. "I don't .. I don't even know you.. either of you!" Julian stormed out of the house, slamming the door hard as he left.
Haley winced from her spot and Lucas did the only thing he could do, he hugged.
"Oh God Luke, what have I done?"
"Shh.. it's okay Haley.. just give Julian some time."
"Everything is such a mess and Nathan.. why.. why is he even here?" Haley knew that Nathan would eventually show up, she just didn't think it would be this soon.
"I'm not his biggest fan Hales." Lucas sighed. "But he says he wants to be part of this baby's life."
Haley suddenly pulled back. "Oh God, I need to see him. I need to explain to him."
"That is my nephew or niece in there, right?" Lucas needed to double check.
"Yes Luke, as much as sometimes I wish it wasn't. You're this baby's biological uncle."
Lucas sighed a breath of relief. If Julian was freaking out, he could only imagine how Nathan was handling things.
"But Hales, is what Julian said true?"
"Luke, I told you, the last time I saw Nathan before yesterday was that night."
"No, not that." Lucas shook his head. "I didn't think of it before but Julian had a point, 6 months ago Nathan had his accident and I know you visited him in the hospital. Nathan told me."
Haley's eyes went wide and then nodded, no point in hiding the truth. "I.. I just wanted to see if he was okay and he was and so I left. I was only there for 2-3 minutes tops." Haley tried to downplay it.
"And 6 months ago, you broke up with Julian."
"So?" Haley took a step back, shifting uncomfortably.
"Haley, I hate to ask but did you break up with Julian because of Nathan?" Lucas narrowed his eyes at her.
. . . . .
6 months ago (The night of Nathan's accident)
Nathan and Clay walked through the streets of New York. Nathan kept glancing up to look at the names of the bar. Finally, he found it and motioned Clay to join him inside. Nathan had been nervous, he wasn't sure why he was here. Nathan knew that he probably didn't want to see him but still. He was his brother and he was proud of him. Only a few years after publishing his first novel, Lucas had already gone out and wrote his second. The place was a little packed and Nathan looked around to see if his brother was here.
"I'm going to grab us some drinks." Clay said as he made his way to the crowded bar.
Nathan walked further into the place and noticed that it extended out even further in the back. He made his way through the crowd and stopped at the foot of the entrance to a private party room. There, he saw Lucas in a suit talking to a couple of people he didn't recognize. He smiled, genuinely happy for his brother. He debated if he should go in but that was when he saw her. Off to Lucas' side, in one of the booths, he saw Haley.
She had on a black dress and her hair was drawn up. She looked absolutely stunning and he felt his heart leap out of his chest. He had no idea she would be here. He knew Lucas would be here and of course his mind drifted back to Haley but he still didn't think she would actually be here. She looked even more beautiful than he remembered. His feet started carrying him forward, he was so drawn to her. But then a big dark man stepped out in front of him.
"I'm sorry sir, private party." The man stated.
"Excuse me?" Nathan tore his eyes from Haley to him.
"This is a private party for Straus publishing, are you on the guest list?" The man reached over to a nearby podium and pulled out a guest list.
It was then that Nathan's eyes went back to Haley and saw him. He had this stupid goofy grin on his face and a stupid French barrette on his head that made Nathan want to grab the hat and beat him silly with it. "Julian", he muttered to himself. He remembered him well, he was there in Lucas' book signing a few years ago and it seemed he stuck around. He placed his arm around Haley and pulled her close to him and pressed his lips on her temples. Lucas joined them a second later and the three started joking and laughing, all the while Haley was locked in his arms, in his embrace. Nathan clenched his fist, anger and jealousy couldn't even begin to describe how he felt at the moment. It seemed that this Julian punk had truly replaced him in their lives.
The bouncer looked up from the guest list and saw that Nathan had gone. Nathan raced back to the front and spotted Clay.
"Let's go." Nathan stated as he brushed past Clay and headed straight for the door. Clay looked at him perplexed and a little annoyed. He just ordered his drink.
"Dude, we just got here." Clay complained.
Nathan glanced at a sign nearby the indicating a private party at the back room of the bar, reserved for Straus Publishing. "Fine, then you stay." Nathan kept walking.
Clay sighed and took a big gulp of his drink before placing it back on the bar and running after Nathan.
"Wait, Nate.. where you going?"
"Anywhere but there." Nathan stated and kept walking.
"Fine, so where to?" Clay asked as he caught up with him.
Nathan walked quickly for another two blocks before stopping in front of another bar.
"This'll do." Nathan smirked as he entered the place.
. . . . . .
Nathan made it back to his hotel room. He was so confused and angry. Where the hell was this Julian punk get off asking Haley to marry him? And why the hell did he think this baby was his. The thought of it was making him lose it. There was no way, why else would Haley go through the trouble of telling him herself. This had to be a misunderstanding, a big sick misunderstanding.
He needed to cool down and he also knew he needed to stretch after playing ball this morning. So he stripped off his clothes and stepped in the shower, still feeling sticky from playing this morning. He needed to calm down because lord knows the last time he saw Haley and him together, he got thrown out of a window. Nathan was really losing it and he had no one else to blame but himself. He was the one that got lazy and careless and lost his chances at playing Duke. It was his fault he broke up with Haley and cut her and his friends off. It was his fault that he let his anger and jealousy get the best of him and it nearly cost him his career and ability to walk. It was his fault that he couldn't stay away from Haley and ended up sleeping with her. After that he realized what a huge mess of his life he's made and tried to refocus everything back on basketball. But there was still something off and then he found out Haley is pregnant with his child, or so he thought. He wasn't so sure but one thing was for sure, this was all his fault. Nathan felt overwhelmed once again, like he was drowning in it all.
He got out of the steamy shower but it did little to calm him down. He started to dry himself when he heard a knock on the door. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he headed to the door.
"Haley?" Nathan looked at her curiously.
Haley felt her heart beat a mile a minute. She was able to get to Nathan's hotel from Lucas, not surprised since there was only one five star hotel in town. But what she didn't expect was to find him half naked, a towel hung lower around his trim waist, his chest and abs glistening.
For a second, Nathan let himself enjoy the fact that Haley was checking him out but only for a second. There were still more pressing matters to deal with. Haley was able to tear her eyes away from his torso to look at his face, his angry, jealous face that made him look even hotter. She really did hate how handsome and built he was and how her pregnancy was doing a number on her hormones.
"It's your's." She mumbled. "What you saw earlier was a misunderstanding on Julian's part." She added.
Nathan felt relieved but didn't show it. He still wasn't sure if she was telling the truth but figured it would be better to discuss it inside than in the hallway. He stepped aside and Haley walked in. She stepped into the hotel room, the bathroom to her immediate right which led to a spacious room. Nathan walked in front of her and motioned for her to sit down, which she did on the edge of the bed.
"I didn't travel across the continent to tell you a lie Nathan. When Julian and I were together last month, I was already pregnant but didn't know it at the time. And I hadn't been with anyone else except you and the last time before that was way before that." She saw Nathan relax a little bit, obviously pleased with her response.
The thought of her sleeping with another guy had his stomach in knots but he let that go for now. For now, he would concentrate on his baby, their baby.
"Ok." Nathan nodded. "There are things we need to talk about Haley."
"I know." Haley agreed. "I know you want to be part of my baby's life and I .. I won't stop you."
"Our baby." He clarified with a slight grin on his face. "And you're right, I do want to be a part of our baby's life but even though you're carrying him, WE are pregnant. I want to be part of the pregnancy too. I know our past complicates things but I want to make things work."
Haley nodded in agreement, Nathan had a point and they needed to stop focusing on them and onto their baby. At the end of the day, that's what mattered.
"So now you just assume it's a boy?" She added a second later, feeling less tension in the room. If she had to deal with Nathan, she needed to learn how to act comfortably around him. She hated how he kept her on edge.
"Of course." Nathan said confidently, as he went to his suit case and pulled out a pair of boxers. His back was towards Haley and she was shocked when he pulled his boxers up and quickly tossing the towel aside.
"Nathan!" Haley looked away and tried to cover her eyes but that didn't mean she didn't get a good look at his firm ass.
Nathan chuckled to himself. "What? It's nothing you haven't seen before."
"Doesn't mean I want to see it again?!" She replied back.
"Yeah, that's why you were practically drooling when I opened the door." He teased as he turned back around and found her shooting daggers at him.
"Relax, Haley. I was just kidding." He tried to keep things light. He felt like they were actually getting somewhere a minute ago.
"Stop being an ass." She replied.
"Fine." He put his hands up in mock surrender. Then he sat down on the floor and started to stretch.
"What.. what're you doing?" Haley felt herself growing hot as Nathan was basically flexing for her.
"A combination of yoga and stretching, it's something my physical therapist wants me to do regularly, cuz of my back."
"Oh of course." Haley replied, the room feeling warmer.
Nathan tried to hide his smirk, he could just wait for Haley to leave before he did his stretches but watching her squirm was too much fun, not to mention hot. Ever since she came back to his life, he felt like he was walking on egg shells. He needed to regain some sort of control when it came to Haley James. Still, he needed to take the opportunity of her not yelling at him to get down to business. He needed to focus on his child, their child.
"I know my basketball schedule keeps me busy but I can let you know my schedule and I'll try to be back here as often as I can. I don't expect you to come to Seattle and frankly, I wouldn't want you and the baby traveling anyways."
"Umm.. thanks. Yeah I guess that can work. We can work out the schedules for the doctor's appointment, so you can be there. I hear that as early as next month, we can find out the sex."
Nathan was about to speak when he heard his phone vibrating so he got up and reached for his cell phone. He saw that Clay left him a couple of text messages and voicemails.
"It's a boy, trust me on that. Wait hold on for a second, I can get my agent to get me my upcoming schedule." Nathan clicked answer on his phone. "Hello Clay.. I was busy.. wait.. what? How did she find out?... Why the hell did you tell you're secretary where we are?.. What?! Are you serious?...Now?!.. Fuck!"
Haley watched Nathan curiously. Something was going on but she wasn't sure what.
Nathan put his phone down and looked at Haley. "You have to go now."
"What?" She was confused.
"Haley, I'm sorry but we'll talk later but you need to go now. He grabbed her arm and motioned her up.
"Nathan, what the hell is going on?"
"I'm sorry but I don't have time to explain."
"Nathan wait!" Haley pulled herself out of Nathan's grasp and turned to face him. Suddenly they heard the door knob jiggle and then heard the door swing open.
"Honey, I'm home!" A brunette sing-songed as she entered the room. The young woman looked at Haley curiously then her eyes landed back to Nathan, soaking in the fact that he was half naked.
"Who's this?" She asked curiously.
"The masseuse was just leaving." Nathan stated.
Haley's mouth dropped as she turned to face Nathan.
"Oh that's great, can you come back? I could use a massage, flying coach can do that to you. And oh, do you guys also do manicures?"
Haley stared back at the young woman, her mouth still hanging.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so rude, I guess you don't recognize me, that's okay." She smiled and tried to be polite. She stuck out her hand, "I'm Alex by the way.. Alex Dupre… Nathan's girlfriend."
To Be Continued . . . .