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Chapter 8

Present Day, Haley's POV

December 28

If anyone were to ask me what came over me to make such a deal with Nathan, I wouldn't know what to answer them. One too many chick flicks to the head, I guess. I told myself it would be romantic, and that we'd already managed run into each other a number of times in that one day... How hard could it be to find ourselves once in seven months?

Turns out, it's pretty hard. Summer came and went without so much as a glimpse of my dream guy, and after a while I stopped trying- figured he had stopped a long time ago. He had probably moved on by now. The sad thing is that it's almost that time when the hunt is over. I have his number and I can call him, but how desperate would that sound? Him with his new girl, getting a call from another girl he doesn't even remember? No way was I about to humiliate myself like that... Not a chance.

I fumbled with the piece of paper in my hands... I had done this many times before, drawing little hearts around the seven digits, folding the tiny piece of paper time and time again so that now it was so wrinkled it was barely legible. Which made me even more careful of it. But I never used it to pick up the damn phone and call. Never.

"I'm so sick of this," I said out loud to myself, fed up, tossing the piece of paper to the side.

"Sick of what?" A voice said from my doorway, startling me. I hadn't even noticed Peyton standing there. She came over and sat on the bed next to me.

"Nothing... I'm over it."

"Ah, Nathan," She said, and I knew it wasn't a wild guess. I swear, if I were her I would have broken our friendship a long time ago. All my incessant Nathan-talk, she must get so aggravated. But for some strange reason, she stays. She comforts me, talks to me, helps me through this.

"One of these days, I will shut up about him, I swear!" I lied, and she knew it.

"Hales, it's okay to still like the guy. I mean, you crushed pretty hard. It's understandable," She said, probably thinking that I would never get over him. I'll show her. I can do this, I'm not some love-struck puppy, I can move on...

"No..." I said picking of the discarded piece of paper that held on it perhaps my only way of ever speaking to Nathan again; his phone number. "It's really not. I mean- six months? That's... insane... I'm over it." I said concentrating on the piece of paper, and a choice formed in my mind. I could: A/call him, and humiliate myself, or B/rip it up and pretend to have moved on.

Peyton gave me this look; this 'yeah right, as if you could ever destroy this prized possession of yours' look. I didn't think about it anymore. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tore the paper in two without thinking about it again, threw the pieces into the trash, and let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"Ok, we really need to get your mind off of this," Peyton said getting up and extending her hand to me, which I willingly took and got up too, "Jake and I might go to a party at Bevin's on New Year's Eve. It'll be fun, we should go."

Excellent; way to get me back down again. That lasted- what?- sixteen seconds? Great. I can't help it that just about any word reminds me of him. But especially the word 'party.' I haven't been to very many parties in my life, but that one party will stay in my memory forever...

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May 1st, Nathan's POV

"So, how's this whole deal thing supposed to work? I mean, am I allowed to-" I stared to say wanting to know more. She couldn't possibly believe that we weren't going to be seeing each other in the next seven months, could she? Not a chance.

"Let's not talk about the deal right now. The whole point of this is that we live in the moment, you know?" She said, and I wasn't completely sure how to interpret that. Does that mean she wants me to kiss her? Ah, that sounds so good right now...

"You're right," I answered, trying to snap out of it. Don't blow it, Nate I told myself over and over again. "Nothing else matters." I said; and I meant it. Right then, with her right in front of me, only about a foot away, I was completely oblivious of my surroundings.

"Really?" She said, and my stomach turned. Was I responsible for that gleam in her eyes? I sure hope so, because she never looked so beautiful as right in that moment. So I leaned in closer.

"Yeah," I whispered, and she could hear me because by then our lips were mere inches apart, almost driving me insane. But I didn't want to rush things, I wanted to be able to recollect every single aspect of every single moment of this.

"BODY SHOTS!" Jumping back, I could have probably had a heart attack, as I was suddenly very aware of our surroundings, and getting quite frustrated. Tim's screaming drunken voice could have been heard miles away, as he ran around the house. I looked over at Haley to see that her reaction didn't exactly mimic mine. She looked more embarrassed, than shocked. More shy than frustrated.

Aching for some privacy, I suddenly grabbed Haley's hand and led her outside with me, to the back deck. We stood there awkwardly, waiting for one of us to begin talking...

"Sorry," We both said at the same time, followed by a nervous laugh.

"Why are you sorry?" I asked. "They're my idiot friends..."

"Well, I don't know if you can tell, but I really have no idea what I'm doing here," She said, getting me a little scared. No, scratch that- very scared. So she had come to my party, almost kissed me, and now she was acting like she... regretted it?

"I thought you said you came because you liked me?" I said, not really feeling weird about it, it was after all the truth.

"I did- I mean, I do... But-" I was desperate to stop her, to kiss her, to hold her. So, I reached out to her, laying my hands on her hips.

"Please don't finish that sentence," I pleaded, and just like that she complied, and I leaned forward, determined that nothing would stop us this time. My lips met hers, and the relief I felt when she started kissing me back like none I had ever felt before. I had meant it to be a sweet, soft kiss, not wanting to scare her away. However, when she wrapped her arms around my neck and deepened the kiss herself, I lost myself in the moment.

When we finally broke apart, we were practically gasping for air. But I refused to let her go, and likewise she kept her arms around my neck and we stood for a few minutes like that, just staring into each others eyes, and just like that all the awkwardness, or embarrassment was gone. All of a sudden a look of panic came across her face, and I began to worry.

"Oh no, what time is it?" She said letting go of me, as I did of her, seeing as this was definitely not the time. I looked at my phone: 11:56 pm. I told her this and she only seemed to become more frantic.

"What? What's wrong? Let me guess: at midnight your clothes turn into rags and your carriage into a pumpkin?" I teased. She seemed to ignore the fact that this was a joke and didn't laugh.

"I wish. But, nope, midnight is my curfew. And if you thought Cinderella's step-mother was mean, well then you really haven't met mine." She said running back into the house, me following right behind her, which was getting a little tiring. Was there such thing as an olympic walk-a-thon? Because Haley would be great at that.

"Haley, it's not a big deal, I can come with you and explain-"

"No!" She said, and then calmed down a little, "I'm sorry, it's just, I never do anything wrong. Anything. So breaking curfew is enough to make my parents super mad at me but bringing home a boy who just two hours ago was completely drunk will make them kill me." I was a little surprised, I mean, Tree Hill was a small town. Anywhere she lived, she would get to in ten minutes, would her parents really care that much?

But Haley was right; although I was pretty sober right now, I did not want to make my first impressions on Haley's parents at midnight after one of my parties. But then I realized that this meant I had to say goodbye to Haley, possibly for seven months. There was no way I could live with that idea, so I shoved that little detail into the back of my mind as I kissed her a few more times; at first to try and calm her down (which worked), and then just because I didn't want to let her go. And although I didn't want to think about it, I couldn't help but wonder, how on Earth I could go on for who knows how long without kissing those perfect lips?

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AN: OK guys, I know I changed Haley's mom a little, saying she was so strict because in the show she totally isn't at all, but I guess this worked better for this particular story, so yeah. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR READING!! Please review!