Hello again. I love you guys, you are all amazing. Thanks again for all of the reviews! Enjoy chapter 22! And don't forget that tomorrow is the last day that we can vote for SOS... we really need to win!

Disclaimer: yeah, yeah, yeah…I don't own One Tree Hill.

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 22

"Don't worry about it; I'm sure he won't freak out as much as we both think he will." Haley said nervously, more to calm her own nerves than Nathan's. Now that she thought about it, Nathan really didn't seem too worried about the fact that Lucas would probably know all about them in a matter of minutes. "If God has any compassion on me at all, Lucas won't even be home."

She inserted her key into the lock and slowly opened the door. Apparently God got some kind of kick out of torturing her, Lucas and Brooke were sitting at the kitchen table talking and sharing a plate of Bagel Bites.

Maybe if I don't look at them, they won't notice us… Haley thought hopefully as she pulled Nathan through the door.

"Hey Tutor Girl." Brooke yelled in greeting when she saw her friend come in. She quickly shut her mouth when she saw Haley shake her head and then noticed Nathan behind her as the two entered the kitchen. Oh, this was going to be interesting.

"Hey Hales." Lucas called with a full mouth and Brooke used that as an excuse to scold him to create a slight distraction.

Haley opened the freezer and grabbed a few pieces of ice at a time and dropped them into a Ziploc bag.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked as he heard the sound of ice dropping into something.

"Nothing, just, uh, getting some ice." She said truthfully. Ok, maybe it wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a lie either. Nathan just looked at her and had to fight to keep a small laugh from escaping. She really was dreading telling Lucas about them. Did she really think that he was going to freak out that much?

After filling the bag with ice and wrapping it in a paper towel, she breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they would make it out without a dramatic confrontation.

"Haley, do you need some help with-" Lucas entered the kitchen and stopped short when he saw Nathan Scott standing with her. "Oh, um, hi Nathan." Lucas was a little agitated that Nathan was in his condo, but was also confused as hell as to why he was in here with Haley. Sure, he knew they were kind-of like friends, but he had never gotten the impression that they were close enough for her to invite him over…

"Hey." Nathan responded casually as he looked around uncomfortably. It was obvious that Lucas had no idea that he and Haley were even friends and he apparently didn't know that they had been sleeping in the same bed since the whole Bobby thing either.

"So, what are you doing here?" Lucas asked bluntly.

"He needed some ice." Haley answered for him. "Chris hit him in the face with a baseball bat."

"That sucks." Lucas said out of fake sympathy. "Well, you have it now, so bye."

"Luke! Stop being so rude!" Haley scolded. She knew he would be like this…

"What do you want me to do, Haley? You bring him in here and expect me to be nice?" Lucas spat out. She knew that if there was one person in the world that he couldn't stand, it was Nathan, but she still brought him over here? And expected him to be nice? He thought she knew him better than that.

Nathan watched the exchange and kept his mouth shut, he figured it would do more harm than good to say something now. God, Lucas was so annoying!

"I expected you to be civil." She replied, a little hurt at his attitude.

"Why are you defending him?" Lucas asked suddenly.

"I-"

"What Brooke's been saying for weeks, is true, isn't it?" He responded angrily. The worst part about this whole thing was that Haley hadn't even told him that she even liked Nathan as a friend; he had just assumed that part. "You like him."

"Yes…" She trailed off.

The fact that she had just admitted that in front of Nathan made him think that she had already told him about those feelings…which meant…Oh God, Haley's 'date' this morning was with Nathan?

Before he could question her about it, the phone in the condo rang and Haley jumped to pick it up, grateful for the interruption. "Hey, mom," she said.

Nathan watched her closely, why would Lydia be calling?

"Oh, um, ok. Yeah, I'll be there." She hung up the phone and Nathan noticed that her face looked a little flushed.

"What did she say?" Nathan asked her.

"Hey, this isn't your condo. You don't have the right to ask her that." Lucas said bitterly as Nathan struggled to keep from rolling his eyes. "What did she say, Hales?" Lucas asked her, making sure to throw her nickname in there to illustrate that they were friends, unlike her and Nathan.

"Bobby's trial is next weekend and they want me to testify that he contacted me." She said weakly. Did she have to?

"That's cool, now let's get back to this whole Nathan problem." Lucas said indignantly. He didn't mean to ignore the fact that she was scared about having to testify against her abusive uncle, normally he would have picked up on it and would have comforted her about it, but right now he couldn't think clearly because his sworn enemy was standing in front of him.

Sure, Nathan had done some nice things in the past, like bringing Haley home after the party and keeping her company while he and Brooke were gone that one night, but the bad things he had done far outweighed the good things. Was Haley forgetting about the time that Nathan made fun of her poncho?

"Lucas, there is no 'Nathan problem'." Haley said with a sigh.

"Apparently there is, were you out with him this morning?"

"Yes." She answered shortly.

"Haley! You do know who he is, right? What he's done?" Lucas was fuming, he felt betrayed by his best friend.

"I'm actually standing right here, so…" Nathan said, slightly irked that Lucas was saying this, in front of him no less.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? Because I do." Lucas almost yelled.

"Ok, well, do you want to tell me what that is? Because I sure as hell don't know what you're talking about." Haley could see Nathan's anger rising and it was obvious that Lucas was already exploding. They really weren't fighting over her or who she did or did not spend her time with; the origin of this fight went back years before this, to Dan.

"You're an ass." Lucas accused.

"Stop!" Haley yelled, finally deciding to intervene. "Both of you!" She stepped in between them and turned to Lucas. "If all you're going to do is insult him, and me, then maybe we should go."

"Haley! He's the horrible! How can you set yourself up to get hurt like this?"

Haley just shook her head, she had expected him to be mad, but she had also expected him to at least listen to her. She never would have guessed that his hatred of his brother was so immense. "Lucas, we'll talk later, once you've calmed down a little."

With that, she grabbed the bag of ice which she had set on the counter when she answered the phone, and left the condo with Nathan. Lucas watched her go, shaking his head and wondering what she could possible see in that guy.

"I'm sorry about that." Haley apologized sincerely once they were safely inside of Nathan's condo. "He just gets a little protective."

"Yeah, I could tell." Nathan held in his smirk because every time he moved his face it sent a shooting pain to his eye. Stupid Chris. He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

"Hold still." She commanded as she sat down on his lap and looked at his face.

"Gladly," he joked as he hooked his arms around the back of her waist.

"Nathan, be serious!" She laughed. "I have to look at it."

"Fine," He grumbled as he turned the TV to a basketball game. "Ouch," he flinched a little at her touch, but quickly relaxed.

"Nathan, I said hold still!" Haley scolded him as he put his hands on her hips and gently scooted her over a little bit so he could see the TV.

"Hales, it's the last 30 seconds and it's tied." Nathan justified. "Can't you inflict pain on me in 30 seconds?" He joked.

"I guess," She responded coyly. "Or, I could do this…" She slowly leaned down and left a soft kiss on his lips.

He responded immediately by pulling her closer and kissing her again, ignoring the pain in his face. They stayed like this for a few minutes until the buzzer sounded on the TV and Haley giggled as she pulled herself away from him. "The game's over, now you can be still."

"You, Haley James, are nothing but a big tease." He joked as he closed his bad eye so she could look at it.

"Yeah, you're definitely going to have a black eye tomorrow." She said sympathetically as she grabbed the icepack and brought it up to his face.

"Wait." He said, grabbing her hand just before the bag of ice made contact with his eye. "It's going to hurt."

"Aw, you poor baby," Haley laughed. "Do you want me to kiss it? Will that make it better?"

"Yeah, actually I think that would make it a little better." He smirked.

At his request, she bent over and gently touched her lips to his closed eye. "Now keep this on there." She commanded as she put the ice right over the same place that she had kissed, causing Nathan's skin to go from hot to cold in a matter of seconds. He couldn't help but think of how much more he light the 'hot'.

"So, what was it that your mom said about Bobby's trial and you having to be there?" Nathan asked softly. He had wanted to ask that question since she had hung up the phone.

She laid her head on his chest just below his chin before speaking. Having to testify against Bobby and having to just see him again scared her. The only time she ever felt really safe was when she was close to Nathan, and she wanted to feel safe right now. "Bobby's hearing is next weekend. They want me to testify against him that he made contact with me."

"Do you want to?" He placed his free hand on her back and slowly started drawing circles on it with his index finger.

"I don't know…I mean, no…not really." She was having trouble thinking with Nathan's hand on her back… "I'm just a little scared to see him again, that's all."

Nathan understood why she was afraid to see him, the last time she saw him he beat her. "Where's the trial at?"

"Um, it's in Charlotte." She replied as her eyes started to close a little. Nathan's hand slowly moving up and down her back was putting her to sleep.

"Well, if it will make you feel better, I'll go with you." He suggested.

Her eyes opened and a smile spread across her face. "Really? You will?"

"Of course I will." He gave her a soft peck on the forehead, "if you want me to."

"Yeah, I would like that." She said as she laid her head back down on his chest, letting the calm feelings wash over her.