Hey guys. This chapter is a little bit longer…because, well, because I just love you all so much! So here it is…Chapter 21.
Disclaimer: Do I own One Tree Hill or any of its characters? No. Do I wish I did? Yes.
Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?
A Summer to Remember
Chapter 21
"So, the choices are Waffle House or IHOP." Nathan laughed. They had been driving around for close to 20 minutes and those two were the only restaurants they could find, besides McDonalds, that served breakfast.
"IHOP." They both said at the same time and laughed. Nathan pulled in to the parking lot and a few minutes later they were sitting across from each other looking at the menu.
"Can I take your order?" A skinny and slightly nerdy guy asked as he approached the table.
"Um. Yeah, I'll have the pancakes with bacon, please. Oh, and a side of fruit," Haley added politely.
"I'll have the same thing." Nathan smirked. "But no fruit."
"Ok, I'll be back with your orders shortly." The waiter said and then walked away.
"Fruit?" Nathan questioned with a laugh. "You actually eat fruit at breakfast?"
"Yeah, I like to make healthy choices." Haley defended herself with a smile. "Darn it, I forgot to ask for extra syrup."
Nathan laughed. "Yeah, because syrup is really healthy." He joked.
"At least I'm making an effort, unlike somebody." She said good-naturedly as she grabbed a pen from her purse and started writing on a napkin.
"Hey, I like my junk food." He smiled. "What are you doing?"
"It's called a true love test; my sister Taylor taught me how to do it." She said as she counted a few letters and wrote some tally marks. "Hmm, this is interesting."
"What?" He asked with a grin, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Well, it seems that you, Nathan Scott, love me 134 percent." She laughed.
"134 percent, huh? Out of what?"
"I don't know. I just give you the test. I don't know how to interpret the results." She laughed as he grabbed the napkin and pen and started writing something on the back.
"Let's play tic-tac-toe." He said as he handed the napkin back to her. "You can go first."
"What a gentleman." She took the pen and napkin from him and marked an 'O' in the top right-hand corner. "But I have to warn you, I always win at this game."
"Bring it on." He laughed as he marked a sloppy 'X' in the center box.
After they each took a few more turns, it was Haley's turn and there was only one spot left. It was apparent that no one was going to win. She put her 'O' in the grid. "Ha, I win." She smiled.
"What? How is that?" Nathan looked down at the napkin again to make sure he hadn't missed something.
"I have 5 'Os', you only have 4 'Xs'." She pointed out.
"So?" He laughed. "That doesn't mean you won."
"Yes it does. In the event of a tie, the winner is determined by whoever has more of their marks, or whatever, in the tic-tac-toe thingy." She smiled at him sweetly as she unrolled her silverware from its napkin.
"I've never heard that before." He smiled.
"Well it's true." Just then, the waiter came back with their food. "That was quick." She said as she watched the plate of pancakes be set down in front of her.
Nathan gave her a mischievous smirk and then turned to the waiter who had just set his plate down and was turning around to leave. "Excuse me…um…Marvin." Nathan read off of his name tag. Haley looked at him with wide eyes, fighting the laugh that threatened to escape. What was he doing?
"You can call me Mouth." The waiter smiled brightly, obviously happy that someone was talking to him for a change instead of ordering him around.
"Ok…um…Mouth, I have a question for you." Nathan said, the smirk never leaving his face as he looked over at Haley again who was staring at him intently. "If there is a tie in the game of tic-tac-toe, how can you tell who wins?"
Haley looked up at Mouth, hopeful that he would back up her claim. "Well, I think that the way the game works is that whoever has more 'Xs' or 'Os' wins." Mouth replied honestly.
"Yes! I knew it." Haley cheered from her seat.
"Are you kidding me? That is so cheap." Nathan mumbled, the smile never leaving his face. "Thanks Mouth." Mouth walked away and Nathan looked back over at Haley who was giving him a very smug smile.
"Say it." She laughed.
"I will not." He joked.
"You have to Nathan, come on, tell me that I was right and how great I am." She prodded.
"Fine. You were right, you won the game, and you are the best tic-tac-toe player ever." He said sarcastically. "Does that make you happy?"
"Yes it does." She smiled in her triumph before stuffing a bite of pancakes into her mouth. "So why do you think that the waiter's name is Mouth?" She giggled.
"Who knows." Nathan said as he took a drink. "But I'm guessing it's not because he kisses a lot of girls, if you know what I mean."
"Nathan! Stop being mean!" She laughed. It was true, this Mouth guy really didn't strike her as the type to get the nickname from making out with lots of people.
"What? Hales it's the truth." He said playfully.
"Yeah, well… shoot. I forgot to ask for extra syrup again." She laughed.
"I'll get you some." Nathan said, that mischievous grin showing through again.
"No Nathan, whatever you're about to do, don't." She said sternly, but he didn't listen. Before she knew it, he had beckoned Mouth to their table again.
"Is there something you need?" Mouth said, slightly agitated.
"Yeah, she needs more syrup." Nathan said as he motioned towards Haley who was shaking her head slightly and chuckling.
"I'm sorry, we don't give out syrup refills." Mouth replied shortly before turning to leave again.
"Um, Mouth." Nathan called again.
"Nathan please just let it go; I don't need syrup that bad." She said quickly and with a giggle as Mouth walked back up to the table.
"Yes?" Mouth said impatiently.
"I'm very disappointed that you couldn't find it in your heart to give this poor girl a little more syrup." Nathan said seriously.
"Look sir, it's IHOP policy-"
"I'm sure it is, but my girlfriend has diabetes," He responded with a small smile hidden behind his serious face. Did he just say girlfriend? Haley thought as she felt small butterflies flying around in her stomach. "She needs the syrup for her…um…her-" It was obvious that Nathan knew close to nothing about Diabetes or why Haley would need syrup if she had it, he just knew that a girl at school had it and she always got to drink orange juice during class...
"Blood sugar level." Haley finished for him, deciding to take part in his charade, just for kicks.
"Exactly." Nathan said evenly. "If it's IHOP policy that she be deprived of it, then fine. But I'm warning you, I'm going to be one very pissed boyfriend if she passes out."
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know." Mouth apologized. "I'll be right back with your syrup."
"He obviously knows just about as much about diabetes as you do." Haley joked after Mouth had left.
"Why? Because he actually believed it?" Nathan asked, joining in on her laughter.
"Well yeah." She smiled at him before bursting out into laughter again. "I can't believe that you just did that."
"You're welcome." He said playfully.
"Here's your syrup." Mouth said, setting the dispenser of syrup on the table with a loud thud.
"Thanks." Haley said sweetly.
The two of them had finished eating, Nathan had paid the bill and tipped Mouth generously for putting up with them, and now it was early afternoon as they arrived back at the condos.
"Wait here." He said coyly after they got out of the car.
"Why?" She asked cautiously.
"Just wait here." He smirked and disappeared around the corner of the building into the courtyard. A few seconds later, he returned while hiding something behind his back.
"What is that?" She asked playfully as she tried to look behind his back.
"Here, they're for you." He pulled his arms out from behind his back and presented her with a small bouquet of about 5 little purple flowers. She immediately recognized them as she ones she had planted a few weeks ago.
"Oh, they're beautiful!" She exclaimed as she took them into her hands and smelled them. "Thank you." She smiled at him as he leant down to kiss her softly on the lips. "You are just too sweet." She sighed as he pulled away.
"So I've been told." He smiled jokingly.
She took his hand and led him into the courtyard; she wanted to see where exactly he had picked these from so she would know where to plant new ones before Whitey saw. Unfortunately, they were not the only ones in the courtyard.
Chris Keller was also there, apparently playing baseball…with himself. Nathan and Haley both just watched him in amusement as he threw the ball into the air and tried, unsuccessfully, to hit it with a bat.
"What are you doing?" Nathan asked, finally deciding that he had seen enough of this pathetic scene.
"Oh, just practicing my ball skills. I got asked to join the Asheville Tourists minor league team." He bragged. Haley rolled her eyes. Yeah, and she was Oprah's new personal assistant.
"Whatever you say, Chris." Nathan said as he led Haley past him and Chris threw the ball in the air. Just as Nathan passed in front of Chris, he was stopped by a baseball bat hitting him right in the face.
"Oh my God!" Haley yelled when Nathan fell to the ground holding his eye. "Are you ok?" She bent down next to him and removed his hand so she could look at his quickly bruising face.
"What the hell. Chris what's your problem?" Nathan said angrily as he tried to keep Haley from touching his eye that was sure to be black tomorrow.
"My bad, man. The sun blocked my sight. I thought your head was the ball." He justified.
"How can you think someone's head is a baseball?" Haley asked incredulously. "Nathan, stop, let me see it." She said when he kept covering his eye with his hand.
"See you guys later." Chris called good-naturedly and then picked up the baseball and went inside.
"God, I hate that guy." Nathan muttered.
"I can't believe he just hit you in the face with a bat!" Haley said astonished as she stood up and reached out her hand to him.
"I told you he's an ass." Nathan said as he took Haley's hand and stood up as well.
"We need to get some ice on that." She said calmly as she got a good look at his eye for the first time.
"We don't have any. Tim used it all last night. He said he was going to dump it in some guy's pool or something." Nathan said. "Ow, don't touch it!" He whined when she reached her hand up to his face again.
"Ok, fine, we can get some from mine." The only problem was that Lucas was home and would definitely have some questions about this…