Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or Naley
Okay so i wrote this really quickly, hopefully it doesn't suck too much.
Chapter 4: The Aftertaste
"O my god. What happened?" Deb asked as she looked at the half missing window.
"Well we had a little accident" Karen said not knowing how to tell Deb her son throw a basketball at the window.
"Was anyone hurt?" Deb asked with a concerned face.
"No, thank-fully it was just me, Keith and the kids in here at the time and were all fine" Karen told her.
Haley was sweeping the glass off the floor. Her mind was spinning with images of Nathan. Seeing him again after all this years just confirmed the fact that she was still madly in love with him, even when he was throwing things at her. Even with the shocked look on his face and eyes full of confusion he was still the most handsome man she had ever seen.
"How did it happen?" Deb asked.
"Well... Nathan may have smashed a basketball through the window" Karen told her.
"What... Why?" Deb was really confused now. Nathan wasn't even meant to arrive in Tree Hill until 5.
"That would be me" Haley said sadly. Deb and Haley had not gotten along at all the first few years after Nathan left. But for Karen's sake Deb backed off Haley and was very civil to her.
"What did you say to him!" Deb snapped at her.
"She didn't say nothing. Nate just kind of saw her and cracked I think" Skills spoke up. He had stayed at the cafe after Lucas had ran after Nathan.
"Don't worry Karen the damage costs can come out of my share of the profits" Deb told her. She wanted to go find her son and make sure he was okay.
"Deb the window doesn't bother me I'm more worried about Nathan then anything else" Karen told her and Deb smiled at her, grateful for her kind words.
"Why are you worried this is great" Brooke said with a cheery tone.
"What!" Deb, Haley, Karen, Keith, Skills and Peyton all said at the same time.
Brooke smiled at the 6 people that were staring at her like she was crazy. "Not the window thing. But Nathan actually expressing emotion, trust me that is great. It doesn't happen often. He's like a zombie 99 percent of the time. It's about time we see some fire in him".
"Is he really that bad" Haley asked.
"What did you expect Haley" Deb spoke up, "That you could brake his heart... Twice might I add, and he would fine and dandy".
"Deb, how about we go have a chat" Karen said wanting to stop this before it went any further. Deb just nodded and followed Karen out to the back of the cafe.
"Cheer up Tutor girl" Brooke said as she walked over to Haley and gave her a small hug.
"I have no reason to".
"Yeah actually you do. Look at the bright side of this whole window smashing thingy. He must still care about you if he reacts like that to seeing you" Brooke smiled.
"That doesn't mean he cares about me Brooke. It means he hates me" Haley replied as a tear ran down her face.
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Nathan and Lucas were sitting in a bar. Lucas was drinking a beer while Nathan was sipping a whiskey. Once Lucas had caught up to Nathan he didn't know what to say, so he had waited for Nathan to speak first. Nathan had led Lucas here to the bar and the only words either of them had spoken were to order their drinks.
"I'm really sorry Lucas... Your getting married in a week and instead of being happy with Brooke your chasing my sorry ass around" Nathan finally spoke.
"Nathan, your my brother I would do anything for you. Honestly man I just want to see you happy again" Lucas told him.
"Well I'm happy for you and Brooke. Does that count" Nathan said with a small smile.
"Better then nothing" Lucas grinned.
"I can't believe I smashed the cafe's window" Nathan said shakeing his head in disbelief, "I didn't even realize what I was doing man. I hope you mom isn't to pissed".
"Don't worry about it man. But I have to say that was pretty intense. I mean I didn't expect it to be sunshine and lollipops, but I didn't expect that either".
"You and me both" Nathan said as he flagged down the waitress, "Another whiskey please".
"Your hitting it a little hard" Lucas tried to sound natural.
"Just trying to survive" Nathan replied.
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Six drinks later the boys headed to Karen's house for dinner. Karen and Keith had wanted to have a dinner with all of Lucas's family and friends once Nathan got into town. Nathan had apologized to Karen a number of times before the dinner started and told her he was paying for the damage and that was that. Both Lucas and Nathan had been rather disappointed to find out that Dan was coming. Keith had mentioned it and Dan decided to invite himself to the festivities.
Brooke, Lucas, Nathan, Skills and Mouth all sat on one side of the long table, while Karen, Keith, Deb, Peyton and Jake all sat on the other side.
"The roast looks great Mrs Scott" Mouth said breaking the uncomfortable silence that had been building up mainly due to Dan being there.
"Thank-you" Karen smiled at him. Even though she had been married to Keith for four years she still got a little thrill when ever somebody called her Mrs Scott, "You can call me Karen though".
"So are you excited about Lucas's book?" Brooke asked Karen and Keith.
"Book" Dan said a little confused.
"Lucas is being published. We get the advanced copy when we get back to LA" Brooke said ignoring the death glares her soon to be husband was shooting her. Lucas didn't want Dan knowing anything about his life.
"Speaking of LA. When are you going to invite me to come and see one of your games Nathan?" Dan asked. Brooke rolled her eyes at the fact that he didn't even acknowledge what she had just said to him.
"I wouldn't hold your breath" Nathan simply replied as he sipped his water and looked back down at his food.
"So... Jake, how's Jenny?" Keith asked wanting to save his nephew from his ass of a father.
"She's good" Jake replied.
Silence filled the room once more. After a few minutes Deb made an attempt at light conversation, "Have you decided on a name for the book now Lucas?"
"I'm thinking Ravens. It is kind of based on our high school life so I thought that would be a fitting name".
"I like it" Mouth smiled.
"So Nathan. Now that your in town again are you finally going to get a divorce from your whore of a wife?" Dan asked in a pleasant tone.
"Dan, why do you always have to be like this?" Deb asked in an exhausted tone.
"Well, someone has to ask these questions" Dan replied and then turned to Nathan, "So are you?"
"Thanks for dinner Karen" Nathan said as he got up and walked out.
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Lucas had once again followed Nathan. Nathan had then told him as politely as possible that he needed to be alone and was just going for a walk. Nathan laughed to him self as he walked. The last time Lucas had followed him around this much was when he crashed a race car into a wall. Nathan had felt the same way then as he did now. He appreciated it, but it was also driving him crazy.
Nathan looked up and was surprised to see where he had sub-consciously walked. He was standing in front of the table where he and Haley had their first tutoring session. He walked over and sat down. He smiled sadly as he thought about that day.
"Nathan" Haley said a little surprised. She hadn't expected to see him in one of 'there' spots.
"Hey" He said lightly. He only looked at her for an instant before looking back at the ocean.
"...I Don't know what to say" Haley said as she walked over and sat across from him, "How are you I guess?"
"None of your business" Nathan said in a very cold voice. Haley didn't know what to do. There was so many things she wanted to say to him but she didn't know how.
"I should go" Haley said as she got up and started to walk away. She knew she had no right to talk to him.
"Wait!" Nathan called.
"Yes" Haley turned around quickly, hope shining brightly from her eyes.
"... Brooke really wants you to go to the wedding, her and Lucas were having a hushed conversation about it before dinner tonight, they didn't think i could hear them. You should go if they want you too. It's their day, they should have whoever they want there" Nathan told her quickly with a very netural voice. He couldn't even look at her. Part of him was so happy just to hear her voice again after all these years. But a much larger part of him was angry and hurt still.
"Nathan..." Haley was about to say something to him but he cut her off.
"But if you do go, stay away from me. Because I want nothing to do with you. As far as I'm concerned you don't exist to me. Your dead in my eyes" Nathan said with such hate in his voice Haley actually got a sick feeling in her stomach. Nathan got up and started to walk away leaving Haley standing alone, tears running down her face.
"Im sorry" she whispered to her self.
TBC
Sorry about the lack of quality. Please review :) Next chapter the fireworks are really going to start Evil laugh Lets just say Nathan isn't going to be so pleasent towards Haley anymore. Drama, Drama, Drama oh how I love it
Big thanks to all those that have read and reviewed so far