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Hey guys, thanks so much for the reviews! They make me really happy. This weekend is Easter and we are going out of town...so hopefully I'll be able to update on Sunday evening, but if not, then Monday for sure. Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: The story belongs to me, but One Tree Hill and its characters do not.
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 23
"Yo, Nate, I talked to that marina guy and he said that if we want a yacht we need to-"
"Shhhh!" Nathan warned before Tim could finish and then motioned to the girl sleeping on his lap.
"Oh, my bad," Tim said as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why is the hot neighbor girl sleeping on you?"
"She fell asleep." Nathan said simply as he flipped through the channels if the TV with the remote.
"Ok, that still doesn't answer why she's on your lap." Tim said confused. Had he missed something?
"Why? Is there something wrong with a guy's girlfriend sleeping on his lap?" Nathan grinned.
"What? You are going out with her? Since when?" Tim said in a loud voice causing Haley to stir a little. "Does this mean that I can't have fantasies about her anymore?" He asked honestly before Nathan could answer the first question.
"Tim!" Nathan said in a disgusted voice. "She's my girlfriend, and I'd really appreciate it if you kept your perverted daydreams to yourself."
"Ok." Tim shrugged. "Anyway, the guy who owns the marina, Felix, he said that if we want a yacht we need to reserve it soon."
"I thought I put you in charge of that." Nathan said as he settled on a baseball game to watch.
"Yeah, I know, but I just wanted to run it by you." Tim answered as he set his drink down on the coffee table.
"Sounds fine to me," Nathan really didn't know what he had agreed to; the steady breathing of the beautiful girl on top of him had provided a simple distraction. He heard something about a yacht…and someone named Felix…
"Sweet. I'll call Felix later and get the most expensive one."
"Wait, Tim, how are you planning on paying for that?" Nathan looked at him, Please tell me he didn't do anything stupid…
"I found some random person's wallet on the street and it had, like, 5,000 dollars in it!" Tim said excitedly. Obviously it had been killing him to hold in that little secret in.
"What? Tim! You can't keep that money. Did the wallet have some kind of identification in it?" Nathan said incredulously as Haley stirred again.
"Yeah, it did. But I put it back." Tim said as if that should have been obvious from the beginning.
Nathan was very confused at this point; didn't Tim just say that he was going to use that money to pay for the yacht?
"I took the money out, then I put the wallet back." Tim clarified.
Nathan just shook his head. Wow.
"Where's Peyton?" Tim asked casually as he looked around. Haley stirred for the third time and Nathan shot Tim a warning glance as if to tell him to be quiet.
"Uh, I think she's with Jake." Nathan responded as he stroked Haley's hair to sooth her back to sleep.
"Again? Jeez, why doesn't she just move in with the guy? It's not like she's ever here anyway." Tim mumbled. "Whoa! What happened to your face?" He whisper-yelled when he finally saw Nathan's eye that was quickly turning black and blue.
"Chris Keller hit me in the head with a baseball bat." Nathan grumbled.
"Oh, that sucks."
"Lucas?" Haley called as she reentered her own condo a few hours later. Apparently, she had fallen asleep at Nathan's and had woken up only about an hour ago. At that time, it had only been about 3:00 and she thought that Lucas would probably need more time to cool down before she tried to talk to him, so she, Nathan, and Tim had played NBA Live. Nathan won, even when it was him vs. both her and Tim.
"In here." He responded flatly from his bedroom.
"Hey, um, what's up?" She said, trying to make light conversation.
Lucas just ignored her and stared at the pages of the book he was pretending to read.
"Where's Brooke?" She was really hoping to talk to Brooke about what to say to Lucas to make him understand, to make him realize that Nathan is not a bad guy.
"Gone," He said simply without even looking up at her.
"Lucas, can you please stop pretending to read that book now and talk to me?" She pleaded. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with her best friend.
"What makes you think I'm faking it?" He asked, looking up at her for the first time.
"The book's upside down." She pointed out with a smile.
"Oh." He hadn't even realized that the book was upside down until now.
"Lucas, can you at least let me explain about Nathan?"
"I think you already made yourself clear." He stated coldly.
"I really don't understand why you are so upset." Haley felt like screaming at him, but she held her tongue. Why couldn't he bury his issues with his relationship with Dan and focus on her relationship with Nathan?
"Why? I don't know Haley, why would I be upset that my best friend is going out with a jackass?"
"That's really not fair. You don't even know him." Haley pointed out.
"No, I guess I don't. But I know of him, and I know Dan. You know what they say, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree." He muttered.
"You do realize that you just accused yourself of being like Dan just as much as Nathan is, don't you?"
"No I didn't." Lucas defended himself.
"Yes, you did." She laughed.
"Well, that's not what I meant." He huffed. "I just want to know what you actually like about the guy."
"Ok…" This was going to be awkward, telling Lucas everything that she liked about his brother. "I like that he makes me feel safe, and that he makes me feel important, I like that he makes me laugh-"
"Ok, I get it." Lucas interrupted. As she listed those things, he realized that that's what he loved about Brooke as well, he felt calm and peaceful with her, he felt like someone needed him, and she definitely had ways to make him laugh.
Haley looked at him hopefully; maybe he would come around in time.
"I don't like him. At all. But, I'm willing to give him a chance if it means so much to you." Lucas couldn't believe that he had just said that. Did he really just agree to give Nathan Scott a 'chance'?
"Really? Oh my gosh, thank you so much Luke! You are the best friend ever!" She squealed as she jumped onto the bed and gave him a big hug. Maybe, in time, they'll even be friends.
"Yeah, he was totally calm when I went back over there." Haley said as she and Nathan walked through the courtyard together that evening.
"That's good." Nathan smiled. "For a minute there I thought he was going to shoot me or something."
"Nah, maybe he would have stabbed you a couple times, but I don't think he would have brought a gun into it." She joked. "Which reminds me, maybe it would be a good idea if we slept in our own beds tonight."
"Easy for you to say, you had a nice long nap." He said playfully as she hit him on the shoulder. "You're probably right, we wouldn't want Lucas to have a heart attack or anything."
"I'll miss you though." She assured him.
"You'll be lucky if I can keep my eyes open tomorrow because I already know I'm not going to get much sleep." He teased.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll be ably to stay awake." She stood on her tip-toes and gave him a sensuous kiss.
"Yeah, I probably will." He laughed as he kissed her back.
"Brian, come look at this!" A short grey-haired woman called as she looked out of a big window in the office where she was working.
"What is it Camilla?" Whitey asked sweetly as he came into her office from his.
"Look." She pointed out the window to where Nathan and Haley were standing in the courtyard.
"Camilla, I really don't like to watch teenagers make out like you do." He joked as he started walking back to his own office.
"Brian, aren't those your janitor kids?" She asked sweetly, already knowing she was right.
Whitey did a double take and moved over next to Camilla to peer out the window. After squinting his eyes multiple times, he came to the conclusion that it was Nathan and Haley who were outside.
"Aw, look how sweet they are." Camilla gushed when they pulled away from each other and put their foreheads together, laughing. "I knew that they would be an adorable couple."
"How is that?" Whitey asked as he looked back at his wife whose eyes were glowing in a mischievous way.
"When you sent Haley in here to help me bake that cake, I couldn't help but ask if she was seeing Nathan." She giggled as Whitey gave her a 'what's the point?' look. "Anyway, she said no, but I could tell that somewhere deep down she wished she could say yes. Now apparently she can." Camilla broke into a big smile, there was nothing more romantic than young love.
"Touching." Whitey said sarcastically. "This little fling better not interfere with their work." He added as he walked out of the room, a small smile creeping across his face. He remembered when he met and fell in love with Camilla, they had been staying in the same apartment building all summer. Yes, there was nothing more romantic than young love.