Hey everyone, thanks so much for the reviews! It's pretty cool that no matter how many I get, new ones still make me so happy and keep me motivated. Anyway, I'm still accepting 'votes' for a new story vs. a sequel. :-) I hope you like this chapter…
Disclaimer: Mark Schwahn owns One Tree Hill, not me.
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 31
"So then what happened?" Haley questioned as she brought a soapy rag up to the window that she was currently washing. This was officially their last week of cleaning duty and Whitey had piled on the chores.
"We were still down by two and there were 4 seconds on the clock." Nathan explained as he too wiped down a nearby window with soapy suds. "Tim threw it inbounds to me, I dribbled to the top of the arch, shot it, and won the game for us." He said proudly.
Haley smiled brightly over at him. She had no idea what half of what he had just said meant, but she was content with just seeing the smile that basketball brought to his face. "You seem to win a lot of games for the team." She laughed as she recalled the last 3 stories he had told and how all of them somehow had him making a game-winning shot.
"What can I say? I'm a talented guy." He joked as she slapped her wet rag onto him. "Hales! You got me all wet." He pouted.
"Hey Nathan, hey Haley." A familiar voice called from behind them. They both turned to see Peyton Sawyer heading towards them carrying…a baby?
"Peyton, is there something that you forgot to tell me?" Nathan joked as she came to a halt right in front of them.
"Um, no, I don't think so." She said, not catching onto his joke.
"I know you were mad about me not telling you about Haley right away, but I didn't expect you to keep something like this away from me." He said playfully as he motioned towards the baby that rested on her hip.
"Oh!" She laughed, finally understanding. "This is Jenny, Jake's daughter."
As if on cue, the little girl broke into a smile and started gurgling.
"Aw, she's precious." Haley said sweetly as she smoothed the baby's hair.
"I know, isn't she?" Peyton gushed as if the child were her own. "I'm babysitting while Jake is at work."
"How long is he working till today?" Nathan asked as he kept his eyes on the baby, studying it. He had never really had any experience with babies while he was growing up, and the closest he had ever gotten to one was when he was at a restaurant with his parents and the couple next to them had a little baby. It had wailed the whole time and Nathan decided then that he didn't like babies much.
"Um, about 4:30. Listen, I need to ask you for a big favor, Nate." Peyton looked at him and went on when she saw the encouraging look he gave her.
"So, I really need to go to the bathroom, like REALLY need to go, and I need you to watch her for a few minutes." Peyton said hopefully. She had been holding it in for at least 20 minutes and now she felt like she was going to burst. "I didn't want to leave her upstairs with Tim."
"Peyton, I don't know if-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Haley jumped in. "We'll watch her."
"Oh my gosh. Thank you so much! You guys are life savers!" Peyton exclaimed as she handed the little girl off to Haley and then turned around to head inside in search of a restroom.
Haley smiled as she watched her go. Was it possible that in the beginning of the summer she couldn't stand the girl? Now, 11 weeks later, they could be classified as friends. Sure, they had nowhere near the same bond as she and Brooke or she and Lucas had, but they had a friendship. Haley couldn't tell when the friendship first started to develop, probably when she was in the habit of sleeping at Nathan's every night and would get up and talk to Peyton in the morning before he woke up.
Thinking of this reminded Haley of how much she missed sleeping in Nathan's warm embrace. No wonder she hadn't slept amazingly well for what seemed like forever… She was brought out of her thoughts by the squirming child in her arms.
"Haley, it's moving." Nathan observed nervously as he watched Jenny wiggle around in Haley's arms.
Haley started laughing a little. "Nathan Scott, are you afraid of the baby?"
"No." Nathan said flatly. He wasn't scared of the baby… He would just rather Peyton put it back where she found it. "Why did you volunteer us to watch her?"
"Because Peyton had to go to the bathroom." Haley reminded him with a giggle as she turned the little girl around so that she was facing outwards at Nathan. "Hold her." She commanded.
"What? I don't think so." Nathan said seriously as he backed away slightly.
"Why not?" Haley pried, completely intrigued by his hidden phobia.
"It's all slobbery." He defended himself.
"First of all, she's a girl," Haley laughed. "And second of all, I don't buy for one second that you're afraid to hold the baby because she's slobbery."
"Fine, I don't want to hold her because my hands are slippery from cleaning the windows and I'll drop her." He smiled.
"Wrong again. You have to hold her." Haley demanded.
"No I don't."
"Yes you do." Haley pressed on as she reached out and the held the baby up to him.
"The things I do for you." He grunted as he accepted the little figure into his arms. Jenny instantly started to whimper as Nathan looked up at Haley with a panicked face.
"It's ok, just rock her back and forth." Haley commanded.
Nathan did as he was told and slowly rocked the little girl in his arms until she smiled up at him. "Aw, she loves me." Nathan said proudly as Haley giggled. The contrast between Nathan's large body and the tiny one in his arms was too adorable for words.
A few seconds after Nathan's proclamation of Jenny's love for him, she spit up all over the front of his shirt. "Damn it!" He said in a low voice.
"Nathan! Watch your language!" Haley chided as she took Jenny from him. She couldn't help but laugh when she saw the baby throw-up all over him.
"You think this is funny?" He tried to maintain a straight face to give off the annoyed effect, but a smile showed through anyway.
"Yeah, actually I do." Haley laughed. "Good job Jenny." She giggled as she cuddled the cooing baby into her arms.
Nathan watched her as she talked in a funny voice to the little girl. He had never seen her look so radiant. It must have been the maternal side that Jenny brought out in her. Come to think of it, Peyton even looked less emo when holding her too.
"Hey, guys, thanks so much." Peyton said graciously as she returned from the bathroom and approached them. "Oh my God! Nathan, did Jenny do that." She started laughing when she saw the mess on his shirt.
"Yeah." Nathan said simply. "She's trouble."
"Oh, no you're not. Are you Jenny? No, you're a good little girl. Yes you are…" Haley said sweetly to the baby as Nathan chuckled. Who was the baby? Jenny or Haley?
"Anyway, thanks again. Sorry we can't stay down here and hang out, but Jenny probably about ready for a bottle." Peyton said when she saw Jenny start to squirm a little in Haley's arms.
"Ok, bye Jenny. I'll see you later, Ok? Bye bye." Haley snuggled the baby close. She loved babies.
"Ok, Hales, give her back." Nathan laughed as Haley sadly handed Jenny back to Peyton and watched as they entered back into the condos.
"What are you smiling about?" She questioned when she saw him staring at her with a big smile on his face.
"Nothing."
"Yes you are. Nathan, tell me right now!" Haley demanded as she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, careful not to get too close because of the baby barf on his shirt.
"I was just smiling because you never told me that you were good with babies." He laughed.
"You didn't ask." She pointed out coyly as he kissed her on the nose.
"Nathan!" A voice called from above, causing them to look up and see Tim yelling down from the balcony. "I need to tell you something!"
"Ok." Nathan yelled back, slightly annoyed that Tim had ruined the moment.
Tim didn't say anything for about 20 seconds. He finally started talking when Nathan gave him the 'speed it up' sign. "Oh, I can't go to the marina tomorrow with you."
"What? Why?" There was no way that Nathan was going to go talk to Felix about the boat by himself. He didn't even want to go in the first place.
"I've got a hot date!" Tim called back as Nathan let out a long sigh.
"Ok." Tim went back inside with that and Nathan looked back down at Haley who's eyed were shining with excitement. "What?"
"Can I go with you tomorrow? Please? I want to see all the big expensive boats!" She giggled.
"Yeah, you can come. Are you sure you want to though? I just have to go work out some of the last details about the party. And the Felix guy is kind-of annoying"
"Yes, I want to go. I don't care if there's some weirdo named Felix there." She assured him.
"I was hoping you'd say that." He whispered before capturing her lips with his own. Maybe his visit to the marina wouldn't be that bad…
"Haley, can I talk to you for a minute?" Lucas said as soon as she walked into the condo from work.
"Yeah, sure. Um, what's up?" She asked as she set her key onto the kitchen counter and then made her way to the table that he was sitting at. Taking a seat right across from him, she took a chip out of the open bag on the table and put it in her mouth.
"It's about Nathan." Lucas said flatly.
"Lucas, if you're going to give me a long speech about how you don't like him, you can save it. I've heard it all before." Haley said a little bitterly. Lucas kept saying that her would try to give Nathan a chance, but it seemed like every chance he got, he made an insulting comment about his brother.
"No, Hales, Nathan my piranha." Lucas explained with a chuckle.
"Oh." Haley said sheepishly. She felt a little guilty for jumping to conclusions and freaking out on her best friend.
"Nathan died today." Lucas said sadly, referring to his piranha of course.
"Oh, Luke, I'm so sorry. I know how much you loved that fish." Haley soothed.
"Yeah, I flushed him this morning." Lucas turned to wipe a small tear from his eye. He had grown to love that piranha, even if it did try to eat him from time to time. "I'm fine, really. Brooke offered to go get me a new one, she's been really nice to me ever since I got her that new scrunchy for her ¾ birthday, but I told her that no piranha would ever be able to take Nathan's place."
"It'll be ok, Lucas. Brooke and I are both here to help you through this." Haley reassured him.
"Thanks. But I also wanted to say something about Nathan." He responded quietly.
"What, like a eulogy? If that will help, then-"
"No, I mean Nathan, my brother, Nathan." Lucas clarified.
"Oh. I told you that naming the fish Nathan was a bad idea!" She said playfully in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Brooke told me about the party next week, and I just wanted to tell you that we will both be there."
"Really? Thanks Luke, this means a lot to me." Haley said as she got up and hugged her friend.
"I'm not saying that I like the guy or anything." Lucas admitted as he hugged her back.
"I know, it just means a lot to me that you're willing to overlook your differences, even if it is only for one night."
"You're welcome." Lucas smiled.
"That reminds me, I'm going down the marina with Nathan after work tomorrow, so, don't wait for me to have dinner." Haley said as she pulled away and ate another chip.
"Ok, me and Brooke already have plans anyway." He shrugged.
"Brooke and I." Haley corrected him with a laugh.