AN: Thank you for your reviews. This chapter's a little shorter than the others. Chapter 4 is in the works, so read and review. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

'Thank You.' Haley took her drink from the Coffee Cart vendor and put the change in her pocket. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Nathan. He was helping a girl pick up some files that she'd dropped. ' "dropped"? I'll bet. Damsel in distress. Whatever!' Haley thought. Surprisingly, she couldn't detect any typical Nathan-flirting signs. He didn't have that stance. He didn't seem to be spinning any of those lines. And for once, he didn't have that smirk. Instead, he was smiling at the girl, almost laughing with her. Something shot through Haley's body like a bolt of lightening. She noticed the girl had red hair. She was pretty. Now they were both laughing. Again, that strange feeling coursed through Haley's body. 'I'm jealous?' she thought. Haley didn't get jealous when she saw Nathan flirting. It would be ridiculous if she did; he did it all the time. Plus, they were just friends. A fact that she had to constantly remind herself of these days. She was jealous because Nathan was smiling that smile of his that few people ever got to see. Outside of their closest friends, Haley doubted anyone would ever see that smile. That side of Nathan. Rolling her eyes at her sappy behaviour, she wandered off.

'Peyton?' Haley whispered. 'Peyton?'

'Wha-at?!'

'Do you… I mean like, do you…'

'Haley. It's 3:00 in the morning. Do you think you could hurry up?' Peyton was not one to be disturbed in her sleep.

'Sorry. It's just this whole Nathan thing.'

'Did something happen?'

'Um, last night, we kissed. Like really, really kissed.'

Peyton sat up and turned her lamp on.

'You kissed him?' Haley nodded. 'You kissed him after you told him you wanted to stop the physical stuff?' Again, Haley nodded. 'Talk about mixed messages.'

'And today I saw him helping this girl pick her stuff off the floor and I got jealous. Like I was insulting her in my head, and he wasn't even flirting with her.' Haley whimpered.

'Hales. I… I don't know what to say.' Peyton said.

'Peyton! You should know what to say! There's something wrong with me. For the past three weeks, every time I've seen Nathan we kissed, or had a fight, or ended up in bed together. It's not meant to be like this.'

'Poor Haley! We need to call in reinforcements.'

'Ok Haley. I'm going to get Brooke.' Peyton spoke objectively. 'You make hot chocolate. Use my marshmallows too.' She commanded before trudging across the hall to summon the third of their trio.

Fifteen minutes later, Peyton, Haley, Brooke and Lucas were camped out in Peyton and Haley's dorm, each clutching a mug of hot chocolate.

'Haley, do you want to be with Nathan?' Lucas asked bluntly.

All eyes turned towards her, wide in anticipation.

After a moment of self-realization, she nodded. Brooke squealed. 'Oh my god! Haley! You want to be Nathan's girlfriend!'

'I didn't say I-' she stuttered. 'I mean, I like him but I never said I… I don't…'

'Brooke!' Lucas scolded his girlfriend.

'Sorry,' she mumbled to Haley apologetically. 'Got a bit over-excited.'

'Look, it's all very well me saying I want to be with Nathan, but that's not enough. What about whether or not he wants to be with me? If he does then great, we all live happily ever after. But if he doesn't, then I don't think I could still be friends with him after that. It would hurt too much to be friends with someone you want to be with if they don't want you back. I mean, it would be hard to get past it. There'd always be that block there. ' Haley didn't realise what she'd just admitted.

Peyton, Lucas, and even Brooke stared at Haley, grinning.

'What?' She asked defensively. 'Stop staring. What?'

'You just said you want to be with him with him.' Peyton said. 'No, wait. You said you didn't want to, and then you said you did.'

Haley looked at the three confused faces around her.

'Haley, you like Nathan as more than a friend, and you want to be with him?' Peyton confirmed. Lucas held his breath, both knowing and dreading her answer.

'Yes.'

Brooke squealed again, and although Peyton wasn't the squealing type, she started laughing and hugging Haley. Lucas remained sitting quietly. To them, it was simple. Haley and Nathan were friends. Now they'd be dating. Everything would fall into place. He didn't think as much. Sure, Haley wanted to date Nathan. Admitting that was the easy part. Doing something about it? That was more difficult. Although Haley was all giddy now, Lucas doubted that she would just go up to Nathan, tell him how she felt, and then sit back and wait for his reaction. His reaction. That would be the hardest part. Lucas knew how much Nathan cared for Haley and how much he valued their friendship. He also knew Nathan's disinterest in having a girlfriend. He had a lot of problems to deal with regarding their tyrant father. He wouldn't want to drag anyone down into that, least of all Haley.

Nathan sat at his desk, pretending to be writing a paper for his economics class. His attention was on a framed photo. He found himself looking at it more and more these days. The photo was of the six of them on a trip to the beach last year. Jake, Peyton and Brooke were stretched out on beach towels while Lucas sat up, facing the sea. His favourite part of the photo was the foreground; Haley was sitting sideways on Nathan's lap, brushing sand out of his hair. His arms were fastened around her waist, holding her to him. Both had big smiles on their faces as they looked at each other. Both had no idea that they were being photographed.

Sighing, he tore his gaze away from the photo, trying to clear his mind of Haley. Every time his mind was empty, thoughts of her would flood in: when he was working out, or in the shower, or carrying out menial chores.

The door opened and Lucas came in. 'Hey man,'

Nathan mumbled a reply.

'So, um, Dan called,' Lucas began, looking at his brother sympathetically.

'Yeah, he's been trying to call me all week.' Nathan said, finally giving up all pretences of working and moving over to his bed to stretch out.

'Nate just ignore him. He won't change.'

'I know. I've been ignoring him but it doesn't make him any less my father, does it? It doesn't make him any less your father.'

A look of understanding passed between the brothers.

'What did he have to say?' Nathan enquired.

'Same old same old. Says you're slacking off, not training hard enough. Wants to call coach and tell him how to "up his regime".'

'I bet he had something to say about our last game. I just can't believe it's taken three weeks for him to call me about it.' Nathan said bitterly.

'Yeah, I know.'

'Actually, the last three weeks of my life have contained zero hassle from him only cause he went to Seattle. Figures he has to go to the furthest state from here for him to not bother me. Christmas should be fun.'

Lucas sat on his own bed, facing Nathan. Their family was complicated to say the least, and holidays were always tense. Dan, Deb and Nathan in a room together was testing enough, but add Karen, Keith, Lucas, Royal and Mae to the mix, and you had yourself a recipe for disaster.

Over the years each had created their own method to surviving whole-family holidays. Keith kept himself, and for the most part, Lucas and Nathan, amused with wisecracks under his breath. Deb drunk herself into a stupor. Mae and Karen busied themselves with preparing a huge feast for everyone. Dan and Royal, of course, continued being their unbearable selves. Lucas and Nathan usually retreated to the den or Nathan's room after spending a decent amount of time with their family, shutting themselves away. Last Thanksgiving and Christmas, Brooke and Haley come. It had been good having two new additions to the usual guest list, especially two who would fight their corner to no end.

'At least we missed Thanksgiving,' Lucas pointed out.

'True. Is Brooke coming?'

'Yeah. Her parents are going on this Mediterranean Cruise thing.'

'They don't care about her at all.' Nathan said crossly. 'It's all vacations and trips for them.'

Lucas shrugged. 'Well at least this way, she gets a better Christmas than if they weren't going away.'

'A better Christmas? With the Adams Family?' Nathan asked sceptically.

'Not them. She gets to spend it with people that love and care about her. You, me and Haley.' Lucas explained.

'Not so sure about that.'

'What?'

'About Haley coming. I haven't talked to her about it. I haven't talked to her period.'

'You still not made up?'

'It's not that. It's not like we're fighting or anything, it's just that every time I see her, something random happens. Ever since she stopped us sleeping together.' Nathan paused and frowned. 'Actually, it's been weird ever since we started sleeping together.'

'What?'

'Well ever since it all started, we've been fighting a lot more. Then we fought when she wanted to stop, then-'

'Then you acted ignored her for a week and acted like a jerk.' Lucas interrupted to which Nathan rolled his eyes, but nodded.

'Yeah, then that. Then we kissed.' Nathan finished.

'Then she admitted she wanted to date you,' Lucas added in his head.

'And now it's been a few days and we haven't spoken at all.'

'Dude, this is crazy. Why don't you just suck it up and talk to her. Sort it out.'

'Yeah.' Nathan agreed. Just then, his cell started ringing. A little part of him hoped that it was Haley. In his mind, he knew that it wasn't, and even if it was, he didn't know what he'd say to her. But still he hoped. That illusion was shattered the minute he saw 'Dad' written on the caller ID.

Throwing a look at Lucas, letting him know who it was, he grudgingly picked it up.

'Dad.' He greeted tightly.

'Nathan! Where the hell have you been? At the gym? You should be. That game was pitiful. I'm surprised Coach doesn't have you benched. Although that man doesn't know his ass from his elbow. It's been three weeks since that game Nathan. That's how long it's taken for me to get hold of you. I had to ring your brother. But I doubt he passed on the message accurately. If I wasn't at the other end of the country I would have driven up straight away. You need to watch out son. Carry on like this and…' Dan continued his vicious rant.

Lucas could hear every venomous word spouting from his father's mouth. He knew why Nathan couldn't just hang up. If he did that, then Dan would just keep on calling and calling, coming back with words ten times heavier with denigration.

Nathan lay back on his bed. Phone to his ear. His expression was passive. His body was tense; every muscle clenched. Lucas couldn't stand and watch it. Nobody truly saw Dan. Truly saw the effect on Nathan. Not Peyton, Brooke or Haley. Jake knew. He'd grown up with them. He knew, he'd seen. To everyone else, Dan was a father that pushed too hard and it strained Nathan. Nathan was slightly mess up because of it. But none of them knew.

Lucas was a guy's guy. But every time he was witness to Dan's emotional battering of Nathan, he felt like he wanted to cry. Cry. Scream. Break something. And he was only an observer. To be the victim, to be Nathan was anguish. If that's how Lucas felt, being a bystander, how did Nathan feel?

He was strong, so strong. He was cocky and arrogant. A shameless womaniser and his behaviour was often erratic. But to still have his sanity with Dan Scott as his father was something.

As Dan continued to hurl words at Nathan, Lucas turned and left the room. Nathan barely noticed. He just kept holding the phone to his ear, staring at the ceiling. His father's reprimand washing over him. Seeping into every pore of his body. Poisoning him.