I'm so sorry!! It took me so long to write this chapter, I had a little writer's block. Plus, I'm writing my other story right now which everyone should totally check out!! It's called Look After You and it's a Boondock Saints fic. Basically Boondock Saints is amazing and if you haven't seen the movie you need to and then go read my fic. Again, sorry.
Haley slipped into her Pointe shoes and looked in the mirror at her dance studio. Rehearsal had ended nearly an hour ago and she had been left to lock up. But she didn't want to leave just yet. She wore her traditional black V-cut leotard, pink tights and black leg warmers. Her hair had been let lose from the tight bun at the back of her head and hung loosely over her shoulders. Stretching out her ankles and back she rose en Pointe and extended a leg into a perfect arabesque. She turned in her arabesque so she was facing the mirror and pulled her leg to passé and spun into a balanced pirouette. Satisfied, she dropped back to the floor and stretched out the rest of her trained muscles.
Dance was her outlet. It was her comfort zone, home, punching bag, and kick in the ass. Her life didn't start with pink tights and ballet slippers. The first ten years of her life were spent in a chalky gym with ten other girls and a few coaches. She started as a gymnast. And she was good at it. That is, until her back and wrists couldn't endure the impact any longer. After gymnastics, she spent a year diving for the local high school. At first it was thrilling, but it soon became too easy and every molecule of the challenge was lost in the water. She took up dance half way through her second year of high school, easily slipped into a training company and spent her last years of high school and college on stage or in a studio. Dance had clicked with her. Almost in the same way that Nathan had.
It had been a week since Nathan had shone up at her door. A week of flirtatious phone calls and short visits for coffee. Her free time after the end of a performance was over and Nathan was busy with basketball and filming. Yes, life was difficult for the rich and famous, not that Haley was either. She was famous among the dance world, but outside of that bubble people just saw her as a pretty, bright, fashionable woman with incredible posture.
Haley walked over to the stereo and plugged her iPod in and went straight to her 'dance' play list. She clicked past all the classical, lyrical, and jazz songs and went straight to the songs she played the least. They were hip-hop and rap songs with a classical string background.
Haley's eyes were closed as she moved around the room. This was the time when she danced the best. There was no one to correct her or tell her she was off beat. She just let the base and the beat move her.
Nathan caught the ball from one of his teammates and shot a three-pointer. He smirked when it went in without hitting the backboard or the rim.
"Okay boys, practice is over. See you tomorrow." The coach called from the opposite side of the gym. Nathan was always the last to leave. He shot a few extra shots before running to the locker room to shower. He drove himself home after practice and let his driver take the night off. He didn't even know why he had a driver. He sure as hell didn't need one. Nathan slowed as he drove past the studio where he knew Haley danced. He expected to see it dark, seeing as her rehearsal had ended much earlier, but there was one light on in one of the larger studios.
Nathan parked and went in through the back door that would only be locked once the last person left. He navigated through the studios until he reached the one with music sounding from inside. It wasn't ballet music. The sight that reached his eyes made his heart ache with pride and happiness. There was his Haley, dancing in Pointe shoes in a leotard to Jedi Mind Tricks. Only her. Nathan watched her for a while before he realized that he couldn't keep his hands off of her anymore.
"This isn't what I had expected ballet music to be like. I think I might actually have this CD." A laughing Nathan said stepping out of the shadows of the door. Haley nearly jumped three feet at the sound of a voice other than music but felt the familiar pang in her stomach every time she saw him. She still couldn't believe he was hers.
"Jesus, Nathan, you scared me so much." Haley held her hand to her heart as if willing it to slow down to normal speed again. She couldn't tell if her heart was like that because of the scare or because he was there.
"Sorry. I didn't want to interrupt. I just couldn't stand there and watch you and not do this." Nathan bent down and laid a soft slow kiss on her lips. Haley wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.
"This is nice, isn't it." Haley's eyes were still closed when they pulled away. Nathan mumbled a response. They stood there just holding each other until the song ended.
"Haley," Nathan's voice was barely above a whisper. Haley opened her eyes and looked at him with interest. "I know it hasn't been very long, and I know we didn't exactly get off to the best start, but I think…I think I love you.
Haley's heart felt like it would beat right out of her chest. Nathan Scott: actor, basketball star, and number one heartthrob of ninety percent of the female population in the world, was in love with her.
"That's good, because I think I love you to."
"Why is it that every time you get a boyfriend, I never see you?" Lillian asked when she surprised Haley at work with her morning coffee and newspaper that Haley had forgotten to pick up.
"I see you. I am seeing you right now!" Haley said. Lillian was right. Whenever a man took Haley's heart, they didn't talk much. Her life was all work, all dance, and all boy.
"Yeah, we see each other so much that you forgot these this morning." Lillian said sarcastically as she set the coffee and paper down in front of Haley who immediately stopped what she was working on and picked up the paper.
"Thank you, I was running a little late this morning. But in my defense, this is the first morning I've missed in about a year. Aren't I allowed to run a little late every once and a while?" Haley laughed as she took a sip of her coffee.
"You are, just don't make this a usual occurrence. I know better than anyone how you get when you don't have your morning coffee."
"You do. And I promise that from now on we will see much more of each other. I am no long work/dance/Nathan oriented." Haley promised and returned to her column. Lillian hung around for a while talking and reading Haley's latest articles before returning to her own line of work. Just as Lillian left, Haley finally thought she would be able to get some work done, but there was another knock at her door.
"Haley?" It was her boss. Great.
"Yes, Tina?" Haley turned in her chair towards the door where her boss was peeking her head through a crack.
"Well, I read your Scott article." Tina, finally being herself, waltzed into Haley's office and took a seat right on the end of her desk, article in hand.
"Really." Haley said blankly. That was supposed to be her promotion article, but from the look on Tina's face, it was anything but that.
"It's different. I don't think any other journalist has gotten so deep into Nathan's mind." Tina explained looking over her notes.
"I thought that was a good thing."
"It is, truly, I just don't know if that's what our readers are looking for. They want to get inside Nathan's head as a man and what he wants in a woman. Not what his view are politically. That's a little bland, if you ask me." Tina finally looked up and met Haley's eyes.
"You think it's bland." Haley couldn't believe it. When did views on the government, politics and the real world become "bland"?
"Well, to an extent. But, Haley, since you are one of our most aspiring writers and because of the complete man-hunk that you were writing about, I will send it to the printers."
"Thank you, I think." Haley mumbled. Man-hunk? That man-hunk is also taken.
"And I have another tip for you. I don't think any other reporter knows about this yet and I want you to be the first to write about it." Tina announced.
"What's that?" Haley, very uninterested, asked.
"Oh, there's this absolutely smashing convention that Dan Scott puts on every year and word has it that Nathan has a new love interest and I want you to go and get any information that you can on it. I hear she's quite the little tramp but if she's on Nathan's arm, the public will want every detail. The magazine will of course cover all of your dress expenses."