Hello everyone. Thank you so much for the reviews! I actually have a question for all of you... as of right now, this story is set to have about 36 or 37 chapters... what I need to know is if you guys want me to write an epilogue for this one and then start a completely new story, or if you would rather I did a sequel? I would really appreciate feedback on this because it will help me determine exactly how to conclude this story...thanks! Anyway, here's the next chapter...enjoy!
Disclaimer: I only wish that I could 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 29
Haley looked up at the clock while she sat curled up in a ball on the couch reading a book. When was Nathan going to be home? She knew what seeing his father did to him and she just wanted to make sure that he was ok.
Suddenly, there was a loud pounding at the door. It had to be Nathan. Haley quickly got up off the couch and opened the door to see Nathan standing in front of her with another black eye and a flustered expression.
"Oh my God! Nathan, what happened?" She exclaimed when she saw his eye and noticed his busted lip.
His only response was pulling her into a tight hug and burying his head down into her neck. "I'm sorry." He mumbled softly.
Haley had no idea what he was talking about, but instead of asking, she just pulled him inside and led him to the kitchen to get some ice. Déjà vu much?
"Thanks." He said in a low voice as she handed him a real icepack, unlike the makeshift one he used last time. After closing the freezer door, she leaned back against the counter and folded her arms over her chest. He was going to have to tell her eventually. "I'm guessing you want an explanation?"
"Yeah, one of those would be nice." Haley joked.
"Well…I hit Dan…" Nathan started carefully. How was he supposed to tell his girlfriend that his dad had paid someone to scare her into leaving? It's not like that happens every day. And how was he supposed to tell her that it was basically his fault that Dan felt the need to do it in the first place?
Haley was not really surprised to hear that Nathan had hit Dan, she had always known that it would happen sooner or later. However, she was blown away by the fact that Dan hit him back. Nathan was his son for God's sake!
"Hales, we need to talk." Nathan said softly as he led her towards the couch and motioned for her to sit down.
Uh Oh, this sounds serious, Haley thought as she took a seat where Nathan had pointed and he sat next to her. "Ok, um, what is it?"
"Dan's an ass." Nathan started as he played nervously with his hands. He knew that he had to tell her but he really didn't want to make her scared of his family, or him for that matter, in any way.
"Ok…" Haley looked at him quizzically. Was he going to explain the reasoning behind that logic?
Nathan looked up at her and saw the slightly confused expression on her face. "I, um, I hit Dan because he did some things."
"Nathan, just tell me already." Haley laughed as she put her hand on his shoulder. She was then surprised when he seriously took her hand into his and softly brought it to his lips.
He let out a deep breath and then began to explain. "You know how my mom and Dad came for a visit a few weeks ago?" Haley nodded her head slowly. Where was this going? "Well, my dad found out about the spray painting and how I have to spend the rest of the summer cleaning."
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand. What? Did he yell at you or something?" Haley was really confused now. What had Dan done that would make Nathan angry enough to punch him and what did that have to do with their cleaning job?
"Hales, he also found out that you were the one that caught me." Nathan said. "I swear I didn't tell him!"
"Nathan, you're starting to scare me a little bit. What do I have to do with any of this?" She looked at him through worried eyes. Whatever he was trying to tell her could not be good.
Nathan bit his lip for a moment and looked into her eyes before going on. "Dan decided that you should take the blame for 'ruining' my summer and pretty much made it his personal responsibility to get revenge for me." He saw her eyes grow wide with confusion, disbelief, and a tiny hint of fear.
She really didn't know what he was trying to say, but the first thing that popped into her head was that he was breaking up with her. Why was that the first thing she thought? Who knows. Oh my Gosh, Dan thought of an evil plan to get back at me where Nathan would make me fall for him and then crush my heart to pieces, and Nathan went along with it, didn't he?
No, that's not right. She quickly dismissed the absurd thought from her mind. She knew that her feelings or him were real and she was sure that he felt the same. Nevertheless, she had to ask the question. "Are you breaking up with me?"
"What?" A shocked and almost panicked face spread across his handsome features. Why would she think that? He was definitely not trying to break up with her; in fact, a break up was the last thing she wanted. "No, I'm not breaking up with you."
She felt relieved when she heard that. "Well, then tell me what's bothering you! God, don't scare me like that!"
Nathan felt his insides warm a little bit. She didn't want to break up either! However, he quickly remembered the task at hand that involved him telling his girlfriend all of his father's evil doing. "Sorry, what I meant to say is that apparently Dan did something to get back at you for me…and I didn't know." Haley gave him an encouraging look as if to say 'go on'. "Dan was the one who called your cell phone that day, not Bobby."
She stared at him skeptically, trying to decide whether or not to believe this. "But it didn't sound like Dan. The voice sounded familiar, but not like your dad."
"Well, he didn't actually do it; he paid that Tom guy who works at Dairy Queen to make the call." Nathan responded quietly before looking up to meet her gaze. He watched as the realization hit her.
As soon as Nathan said that it was that Tom guy from Dairy Queen, Haley knew that he was telling the truth. Something just clicked in her mind and she was immediately able to place the mysterious voice as Tom's. She remembered buying her ice cream from him almost every week last summer."How long have you known?"
"I just found out today, hence the black eye." Nathan smiled slightly and pointed to his eye.
"So let me get this straight, your dad prank called me out of some twisted act of love and then he just admitted it to your face?" Why would Dan openly admit to something like that?
"No, he asked me to help him bring you down because the phone call didn't work." He responded sullenly.
A small smile spread across Haley's lips. "Did you agree to help him?" She teased. This whole thing was actually sort-of funny. She couldn't believe that Dan had acted so 'Godfather-like'.
"Hales, this isn't funny." Nathan said sternly. "Did you not hear what I just said? My dad basically harassed you!"
She giggled a little at how flustered he looked and at how much he was exaggerating the situation. "Honestly, I'm kind-of relieved to know that it was Dan, or Tom, or whoever, who called because now I know that it wasn't some creepy stalker guy. Besides, it's your dad, why would I be scared of him?"
Nathan watched her laugh a little as she got up off the couch. She didn't understand. Because it was his dad was the exact reason that she should be scared. Dan Scott always finished what he started.
"So, wait, it was Dan? The whole time?" Brooke questioned as she and Haley laid out by the pool the next afternoon. Nathan had insisted that she take the afternoon off since he got to yesterday.
"Yeah," Haley pulled her sunglasses to the top of her head and sat up a little to look at Brooke. "Is it weird that I'm kind-of relieved?"
"No, I would totally be relieved if I thought that my crazy uncle called and threatened me but then it turned out to be my boyfriend's father." Brooke paused for a second and her face scrunched up a bit. "Actually, on second thought, that is a little weird."
Haley laughed a little. "I guess I'm just a little relieved to know that it was Dan and that there is no real threat." She rationalized.
"Tutor Girl, are you sure that there is no real threat? I mean, yeah, he's Lucas and Nathan's father so you would assume that he's not dangerous or anything, but he did go through the trouble of calling you and everything, didn't he?"
"True…" Haley thought about this for a minute but quickly dismissed the notion. She didn't want to live in fear the way she had been for the last couple of weeks. "So, Nathan and Tim are having a yacht party in like 4 weeks and Nathan said that I could invite you guys." She said, changing the subject.
"A yacht party? Nice. We are so there!" Brooke squealed, she lived for parties.
"Speaking of, where is Lucas?"
"Oh, I'm so glad you finally asked!" Brooke clapped her hands together excitedly. "He went to get me a present."
"Why?" Haley questioned slowly. It wasn't Brooke's birthday or anything…
"Because it's my ¾ birthday." Brooke said matter-of-factly.
"Brooke, I love you, but there is no such thing as a ¾ birthday." Haley stated with a laugh.
"Yes there is!" Brooke said defensively. "You know, today is the day that is exactly halfway between my half birthday and my real birthday."
"And Lucas is actually buying you a present for this?" Haley couldn't help but laugh out loud at the thought of Lucas shopping for a present for this 'special' day.
"You bet your ass he is!" Brooke giggled. "He's the best boyfriend ever." She said as she stared off into space dreamily. "Speaking of boyfriends, we have an incredibly hot one headed our way."
Haley looked up to see what Brooke was talking about and saw Nathan open the large gate and enter the pool area. "Hey, you have your own Scott brother." She reminded her friend as she got up from her lounge chair.
Brooke watched Haley walk over to Nathan and pull him into a tight hug. Although Haley had not admitted it yet, Brooke could tell that she was already head over heals for this guy. At this point, she decided that it would be a good idea if she gave them some space so she gathered her belongings and headed back to her condo.
"Wow, I'm going to have to give you the afternoon off more often if it will get you into a bikini like this." He joked as she playfully swatted at his shoulder and then grabbed the hat off his head that he had previously been wearing backwards. "Hey now, that's my hat."
"But I need it." She whined playfully as she put it onto her head. "It's so hot out here."
"Fine, you can wear it." He smiled. "But only because you look so damn cute in it."
"I guess I'll take that as a compliment." She laughed. "You're done with work already?"
"Yeah, I told you I work faster without you as a distraction." He teased.
"Oh, shut up. You know you missed me." She smiled.
He leaned down to kiss her, but as soon as his lips got within a few inches of hers, he swiftly gathered her into his arms and pulled them both down into the pool. "Oh my gosh! You did not just do that!" Haley laughed as she surfaced from under the water.
"I slipped." He joked and ducked under water as she lunged at him.
"Hey, what's going on?" Chris gasped for air as he spoke.
"What the heck are you doing?" Haley shrieked. Chris had just popped up from underwater out of nowhere.
"I was trying to see how long I could hold my breath." Chris explained as Nathan gave him an extremely annoyed look. "I made it to 100 seconds."
"Keller, you are by far the weirdest person I have ever met in my life." Nathan mumbled as Chris prepared for his next attempt to break his previous record.
"See you guys later." Chris quickly dunked back under the water as Haley stared at the place that he had stood in a split second ago.
"Ok, how did we not see him there?" Haley laughed.
"We were busy." Nathan joked.
"Oh my God!" Haley jumped up when she felt Chris swim right past her leg.
Nathan saw her jump up and then noticed Chris swimming away. It didn't take much for him to figure out what happened. "Chris, what the hell is your problem?" Nathan yelled as he tried to move past Haley to chase Chris who was now laughing and hurrying out of the pool. Once he got out and tried to run, he promptly slipped and fell back on his butt.
"Just let him go." She soothed as she put her hand on his chest to stop him and Chris got up and ran out of the pool area.
"asshole." Nathan muttered. Yes, Chris was definately more annoying than Felix.