Hello everyone, your reviews are awesome! I'm so glad that you like to read this story as much as I like to write it. :-) Enjoy chapter 25...
Disclaimer: My idea belongs to me, but not 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 25
"Nathan! Come here!" Tim yelled frantically from the bottom of the 'stairs' that led to the upstairs patio. His eyes were transfixed on the horrendous sight above him.
Groaning a little inwardly, Nathan pulled Haley along with him until they reached Tim. He knew that she probably didn't want to go anywhere with him right now after the way he'd treated her just moments before, but everyone on the boat was acting like the ship was sinking or something, and he didn't want to leave her alone. "What?"
Tim's only response was to point to the top of the stairs where large orange and yellow flames were billowing over the side.
"Oh my God!" Haley screamed when she saw the fire that was overwhelming the entire upstairs.
"How the hell did that happen?!" Nathan yelled in disbelief. "Is anyone up there?"
Tim shrugged his shoulders in response, never taking his eyes off of the smoldering flames above him.
"Lucas! Brooke!" Haley shrieked as she turned around searching the crowd for them. "Lucas!" Tears were now streaming down her face, the last time she had seen them was upstairs on the balcony.
Nathan quickly took her into his arms and held her close. "Hales, are they up there?" He questioned frantically as he ran a hand through her long dirty-blond hair.
"I don't know!" She cried. "The last time I saw them they were…Oh God!" She tore away from his embrace and looked around again in search of her friends. All she saw were scared teenagers like herself, many crying, many screaming, and many cussing. "I have to find them!"
"Tim, go find Felix." Nathan ordered. Felix had been driving the boat and was probably still in the front by the wheel. "And while you're at it, find Peyton and make sure she's ok." He ordered right before taking off after Haley into the sitting room.
"Brooke! Lucas!" She shouted frantically above the loud drone of the music that was still playing. "Please answer me!" Her face was stained with tears as she beat on the bathroom door. If either of them was not ok, she didn't know how she'd live.
"Hales, come on, we can't stay in here for long." Nathan stated. It already felt at least 10 degrees warmer in there from the heat of the fire that was right above them. "We've got to get out of here."
"No, I have to find Lucas and Brooke." She cried, beating on the door some more. "Whoever is in here better open up the door right now!"
At her command, the door opened, revealing none other than Chris Keller. "Hey, I guess you just couldn't resist anymore, huh?" He joked, obviously not knowing that the roof over their heads was on fire.
"Chris, get out of here, the boat's on fire." Nathan warned as he ran to catch up to Haley who had already made her way to the next closed door, the one that led out to a deck on the front.
Chris's eyes went wide. He was too young to die!
"Haley!" Nathan called as she opened the door and screamed. When she screamed, he felt his heart drop. What just happened? was she hurt? Please God, don't let her be hurt.
Nathan ran to the door and finally let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding when he saw her crying as she hugged both Brooke and Lucas. "God, Haley, please don't do that again." He pleaded in a low voice as he walked over towards them.
"Sorry." She said through tears as she hugged him. She felt really bad about screaming when she saw how pale his face was.
"Nathan, is the boat really on fire?" Lucas asked skeptically.
"Yeah." Nathan responded, not understanding how Lucas could not know…then he saw the hickey on Lucas's neck… So that's why they didn't know.
"Oh my God!" Brooke shrieked. "The boat's on fire!"
"We've got to get off of here." Lucas said matter-of-factly as he walked past Nathan and Haley, leading Brooke back into the bar area. "Come on Haley! You too Nathan!"
Haley followed, with Nathan close behind her, until the all reached the outdoors once again and looked up at the massive fire that surprisingly hadn't seemed to grow at all in the past few minutes.
"Nathan!" Tim called as he approached the group. "I found Peyton and Jake, they're fine, and Felix is on the phone with the police right now."
"Is someone talking about me?" Felix asked cockily as he came up behind Nathan.
"Yeah, do you want to tell us why you're making jokes when the damn boat's on fire?" Nathan accused harshly. He really didn't find anything funny about this situation.
"Relax, man. This baby's flame retardant." Felix smiled.
"Um, you might want to take a second look, because the entire top half of the boat is on fire!" Lucas spat back angrily. How could this guy, whatever his name was, say that the boat was fire resistant when it was clearly on fire?!
"Oh, it's just burning the alcohol that was spilled up there." Felix responded simply as he opened up a beer for himself. The rest of the group looked at him in disbelief.
"Well how much alcohol could possibly have spilled up there?" Haley questioned aloud.
"Actually, that would be a whole keg." Chris said as he popped his head into their little circle.
"What do you know about this, Keller?" Nathan asked, narrowing his eyes at the annoying being across from him.
"Well, I was up there when some idiot spilled the keg." Chris shrugged.
They were brought out of their conversation when a large gust of wind sent the heat from the fire directly at them. "Ok, I don't care if this boat is flame resistant or whatever, we need to get off." Nathan said.
"Ok, well, there's an emergency boat on here that will probably hold almost all of us." Felix said as he turned around and opened a small compartment on the side of the boat, pulling out a very condensed looking bag.
"That boat is going to hold almost all of us?" Brooke laughed.
"Yep." Felix walked over to the gate that the ramp was supposed to be connected to, opened it, and watched as the bag inflated itself into a raft of a fairly decent size. "See?"
At once, people started making a mad dash for the boat, no one wanted to be left on the flaming yacht.
"Brooke, get on the boat." Lucas commanded as he drug her to the front of the line. She looked at him through large sad eyes.
"No, I'm not going without you."
"Brooke, if you don't get on that boat so help me you will drive home tomorrow by yourself and wake up very alone." He threatened, mimicking her warning from earlier.
"I love you." She kissed him before being pushed onto the boat by the ongoing stampede of people trying to get on.
"I have to be on it since I'm the only one who can drive it." Felix rationalized as he pushed to the front and plopped onto the raft.
"Haley, you need to get on that boat." Nathan said softly as he led her towards the gate.
"What? No, I don't want to." She protested, a fresh batch of tears rushing to her eyes.
"Haley, please get on the boat." Nathan pleaded.
"Why do you think you can just boss me around like this? First it's 'you have to tell me every time you get a phone call from my dad' and now it's 'get on the boat'. Why do you do that?!" She demanded, momentarily forgetting that they were standing on a burning boat.
"Why? God, Haley! Because I love you!" He shouted out, no anger was evident in his voice, just desperation.
"What?" She asked softly as she looked up into his eyes, a smile slowly starting to take over her face.
"I...I love you, more than you could ever know. I can't lose you, which is why you're getting on that damn boat." He concluded as he made a move to grab her hand to guide her to the raft, but she swiftly pulled it away, still staring at him with a large smile. "What?" He almost yelled. Didn't she remember that the boat was on fire?
"You love me?" She asked with a soft voice and a graceful grin on her face. She felt like her insides were melting with happiness. The man she loved, loved her back!
"Yes." He assured her as he rested his forehead against hers.
"Well, I love you more." She said before bringing his face down to hers in a powerful and passionate kiss. Nathan felt a wave of joy crash over him upon hearing those words. He couldn't remember a time where he had felt so amazing.
"I don't think so." He said playfully as he pulled her in for another kiss.
They were pulled out of their blissful moment by Felix's harsh voice. "We only have room for one or two more!" He shouted.
"You're getting on that boat." Nathan said sternly, purposely ignoring the tears that were starting to cloud her eyes. He couldn't bare to see her cry.
"But I want to stay here with you." She whispered as she clung to him, her arms around his waist.
"You can't." He responded huskily, taking her hands in his.
"Chris Keller can't swim, so I need to be on the boat." Chris yelled dramatically as he made a mad dash for the last 1 and a ½ spots on the boat.
"The hell you do." Nathan grabbed onto the back of Chris's shirt, keeping him from getting onto the raft. Haley was getting on that boat, even if it meant that Chris was going to drown.
"Don't worry, Nate, I think we can fit two more." Felix winked as Nathan begrudgingly set Chris back down on the ground.
"Scoot over fatso!" Chris exclaimed as he took a seat next to a large girl.
Nathan turned back to Haley and watched as a single tear fell from her eye. "Hey, don't cry." He comforted her as he pulled her in close for one last hug. "I'll see you soon." He assured her as he kissed her on the top of the head and ushered her into the boat.
Haley was full on crying when she found a seat next to Brooke who was also crying. She looked back at the boat, which looked similar to a log in a fire at this point, and saw both Nathan and Lucas standing on the deck with about 10 other guys, all waiting for the police boat to arrive to take them safely to shore.
As Felix started the emergency engine of the little blow up boat, one that had to be attached separately and Haley would hardly call effective, she felt like her whole world was being left behind on the yacht. Her best friend, the love of her life…
What the hell had started that fire anyway? It had to have had something to do with the fireworks… Her thoughts were interrupted by Brooke leaning onto her shoulder. Haley looked up to see both Peyton and Jake on the boat also.
"They're going to be ok, right Tutor Girl?" Brooke asked through puffy eyes and a pained expression. She was just hoping that Haley could give her some type of reassurance to calm the nauseating feeling that she had inside telling her that Lucas was never coming back.
"Yeah, of course they are." Haley choked out, more for her own good than Brooke's. She silently sent up a prayer to the starry night sky that was now littered with smoke… God, please don't let anything happen to them…