A/N: So, when I first started writing this chapter, I wasn't sure if I'd have enough to make a long enough chapter or that it'd come out really short… boy, was I wrong.


"What are you doing?" Haley asked as Nathan fell into step next to her on the way to her car.

"Going to my car," Nathan replied, shrugging. "Is that ok with you?"

"Do whatever you want."

He smirked at her. "I will." He took his phone from his pocket and made a quick call. "Hey, man. Yeah, me and Haley are both parked over here behind the gym. So just swing by and pick us up when you're all ready. Ok? Bye." He put the phone back in his pocket and glanced at Haley. "Unless you have a problem with that, Princess?"

"It doesn't affect me, you know."

He sighed. "What doesn't affect you?"

"You. All this stuff you keep doing to hurt me. It doesn't work."

"Oh, really? Because you just looked thrilled when I was kissing Peyton."

"Your maturity amazes me. 'Look, I'm going to kiss my girlfriend to make another girl jealous,'" she mocked.

A laugh escaped Nathan's lips and she looked at him quickly. He shrugged. "Sorry."

"Are you apologizing for your actions or are you apologizing for laughing at me?" She parted from him as she reached her car and unlocked the door. As luck would have it, he was parked right next to her. She wondered if she would ever get a break.

"Whichever you want," he yelled over the top of his SUV. "But whichever you pick, I'm not sorry for the other one."

She rolled her eyes as she reached around in her car, pulling money out of her dashboard and checking her reflection in the mirror. Once she had locked the door, she went to sit on the front hood of her car.

In less than a moment, Nathan was there next to her. "They should be here in a minute."

Haley nodded, pulling her coat tighter around herself. Nathan glanced over at her.

"Are you cold?"

"Why? Hoping I'll die of hypothermia?"

"Come on, Haley, don't be so dramatic. I was just asking."

"If you offer me your coat, I'm going to deck you once and for all."

He smirked again. She just had this charm in the way she insulted him.

"Do you like him?" Nathan instantly berated himself. He had not meant to let this question slip out.

She could not help but turn and stare at him. "What are you talking about?"

He knew he had to finish his thought now. "Marcus. Do you like him?"

Haley rolled her eyes. "You're just asking that to annoy me."

His eyes shifted uncomfortably. "No, I'm not."

"Of course I don't like him. I'm in love with another man."

Nathan was glad she wasn't looking at him. Her little comment had tricked him into smiling and he hated that. He hated that it had been killing him that he hadn't seen her in almost a week. Everything about her was killing him and he couldn't think about what that might mean.

Despite his best intentions not to, he was starting to believe everything she said was true. But before there had always been the small voice in the back of his brain whispering that it couldn't be true because he could never fall for a girl like Haley. But the truth was she was starting to put that theory to the test. Haley James invaded his mind constantly and he barely knew her. Two weeks ago, she had been a short little girl making up a reason to talk to him, but now… now he didn't know what to think. She was by no means the little girl he had imagined; she was fiery and sharp and… gorgeous. And she was genuinely in love with someone who was supposed to be him, only not, which made the entire thing so much more confusing.

"So, what did your favorite Scott have to say about my little phone call?" Nathan asked, trying to bat away the thoughts running around in his head.

Haley crossed her arms in that stubborn way he was already used to and looked at him coldly. "Oh, did I forget to thank you for that? Well Nathan, thanks for ruining my relationship with the one friend I have here."

"Oh, come on…" He rolled his eyes. "Lucas loves you. He has since high school."

Her eyes narrowed. "How would you know that?"

"It's not like I never noticed you in high school. You were like his little lap dog or something."

"You didn't even recognize me when I saw you in the tutoring center."

His eyes unconsciously roved over her body. "I wasn't paying attention and I was expecting my tutor. Besides, you look different. I knew exactly who you were once you explained everything. Without the whole 'I'm from another world' voodoo."

"Ha ha," she replied sarcastically, turning away from him again.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything about it. I'll stop bringing it up." Nathan instantly berated himself for being nice. He obviously needed to steer clear of Haley.

Haley turned to look at him in surprise. He had offered to stop when she hadn't even told him to. They stared at each other silently for a few moments and Haley opened her mouth to speak. Before she could think of the words to say, an over sized Land Rover pulled up next to them, Marcus' head stuck out the passenger's window.

"You two ready to go?" Chad yelled across Marcus from the driver's seat.

Haley and Nathan broke eye contact and moved to get into the car. Peyton and Brooke were sitting in the front row of seats. Haley was horrified at the thought of sitting in the back with Nathan. Luckily Nathan gave her an easy out. "Peyton, sit in the back with me."

Brooke threw her arms around Peyton though. "Uh-uh, lover boy. P. Sawyer's mine. You can sit in the back with your archenemy."

Nathan sighed audibly as he went to sit in the back. Haley didn't look at Nathan as she plopped down next to him. "We aren't archenemies."

"That's not the way Marcus tells it," Brooke replied with a cheeky grin.

"Marcus doesn't know when to shut his mouth," Nathan said moodily.

"What's gotten into you?" Peyton asked, turning to look at Nathan as Chad took off down the road.

"I just don't see why you couldn't sit back here with me," Nathan complained, his voice revealing anger.

Brooke turned to him. "Because, contrary to popular belief, you don't own Peyton."

"Why don't you just shut up and turn around Brooke."

"Don't talk to her like that!" Haley found herself saying.

Nathan turned to look at her. "I know no one asked you. Just because you're Marcus' tutor doesn't put you automatically into our crowd or something."

"What the hell has gotten into you, Nathan?" Marcus asked from the front, looking angry.

"Don't you dare talk to Haley like that," Peyton warned.

"I don't see why we had to go in this crowded-ass car!" Nathan shouted, causing everyone in the car to stare at him. Haley could instantly see that he had just pulled that excuse out of thin air.

"Dude, chill out!" Chad yelled into the back seat. "I'm trying to drive."

No one said anything for the rest of the ride but Haley found her eyes on Nathan the entire time. She didn't understand why he had suddenly gotten so angry. It was so uncharacteristic of Nathan to lose his cool like that over nothing. It bothered her greatly because so far, it had been easy for her to read this Nathan; he had been so in line with her Nathan. Now, she didn't know what he was thinking, and that didn't sit right with her. It was Nathan Scott; she should know him. Period.

Haley had no idea where they were headed until she looked up and saw 'King Pin Bowling' flashing on a sign in front of her. She smiled to herself for a moment before looking back down and catching Nathan watching her. Not knowing why she was doing it, she kept smiling at him. And despite his angry body language, he smirked back just a little.

The six of them piled out of the Land Rover and began walking to the building. Nathan had rushed away to grab Peyton's hand and Haley watched from behind, feeling a little let down. She felt a person coming up behind her though and turned to see Chad.

"This was a good idea," she told him. She involuntarily shivered.

"Cold?" Chad asked, slipping his jacket off before she could say anything. He put it around her shoulders and she smiled gratefully.

"A little." He held open the door for her and she walked through, feeling a little embarrassed. Marcus was already at the front counter and seemed to be paying for everyone's shoe rental.

"Marcus, you don't have to do that!" Haley said, going for the wallet in her purse.

"I got this, Hales. The way I see it I gotta pay for Nate's cause he's a superstar and since Nate would be paying for his girlfriend, I gotta pay for her. Chad sure ain't got enough money to pay for himself, plus his mom's making me Christmas dinner. And you know I got to pay for you and Brooke. That's just not up for discussion. So I got it."

"Come on, Haley. I'm about to teach you how to bowl," Chad said, putting an arm around her. Haley shifted a little uncomfortably. Unlike when Lucas or Marcus put an arm around her, Haley felt Chad's arm was a little less than platonic. She decided to overlook that though and let him lead her over to a set of lanes. What she didn't see was Nathan completely tense up as Chad made it very obvious that he was trying to flirt with Haley.

Nathan, Peyton, and Brooke waited until Marcus had paid and told the man at the counter their shoe sizes. All three walked over to where Haley and Chad were sitting, while Marcus headed towards the water fountain.

"Me and Peyton are going to go to the bathroom," Brooke said, grabbing Peyton's arms and dragging her away before either had put on their shoes.

"I'll go get our shoes," Chad told Haley. "What size?" he asked, standing up.

"Six," she replied, watching him walk away, and leaving her sitting in an uncomfortable silence with Nathan.

"You didn't deck him."

Haley looked up from her lap to see Nathan staring at the jacket she was wearing. "What?"

"So, it didn't have anything to do with not wanting a jacket, you just didn't wantmy jacket, is that it?"

Haley was confused. Nathan had seemed to be getting over his bout of anger as they had arrived at the bowling alley. But now he was looking mad as ever. "He didn't even ask, he just gave it to me."

"So, when you said you didn't like Marcus because you were in love with another man, it didn't mean you couldn't like other guys, it just meant you weren't into Marcus?"

Haley rolled her eyes, shook her head, and turned away from him. "You're unbelievable. I don't have time for your little mind games. You're crazy."

"I'm crazy?"

"Yes, what do you think I'm like… oh, I don't know, somehow cheating on you or something-?"

Haley ended the conversation with that because Chad was walking back over to them. He stopped in front of Haley. "They didn't have a six, just six and a half. Is that ok?" Chad asked, offering out a pair of small bowling shoes to Haley.

"It's fine," she said, trying to compose herself. Nathan turned away from her and soon Peyton, Brooke, and Marcus had all returned. Brooke had interested herself with the computer and typing in everyone's name. While they were all busy trying to decide on what names to put in for themselves, Haley uneasily shifted Chad's coat off of her shoulders.

"Ok," Brooke announced, trying to back everyone away from the keyboard. "On the Bros side, we've got The Dark Wonder," she pointed at Marcus, "sexxi chad," she indicated the tall boy, "and Grumpy." She pointed over at Nathan who was sitting to the side by himself, not saying anything. "And for Hoes, we have Goldilocks and…" She trailed off, having not yet decided on a nickname for Haley. "What about Hot Tutor?" she asked, glancing over at Haley.

She shrugged. "It's better than Tutor Girl."

Brooke clapped her hands together. "Tutor Girl, that's great!" She erased where she had been typing in 'Hot Tutor' and changed the words to read 'Tutor Girl.' "So, for the Hoes side, we have Goldilocks, Tutor Girl, and The Most Wonderful Person in the Universe, me," she said, finishing typing with a flourish.

"Ok, can we bowl now?" Chad asked, already trying to go for a ball.

"Yes, we can bowl now," Brooke announced.

They all lounged around and took turns bowling. Nathan was very good but no one could have any fun with him because he was being so moody. Brooke had really had it right when she had put him in as 'Grumpy.' At the end of the first game, the Hoes score together did not even come close to matching the lowest score on the Bros team, which belonged to Chad, who wasted no time in proclaiming that it truly was 'bros over hoes.'

Haley had purposefully avoided Chad throughout the game, but around the eighth frame, Peyton had whispered to Haley not to read too much into the flirting because Chad was a huge flirt. Haley felt much more comfortable after that and realized that Chad was showing Brooke just as much attention as he was showing Haley.

"Do you guys want to bowl another one?" Marcus asked, looking around at his friends.

"Yeah, I'll get it," Brooke offered, standing up to get her purse.

"We should wait," Chad said. "Midnight bowling starts in twenty minutes and it's so much fun. The lights go out and we can bowl and dance." He looked pointedly over at Haley.

"You probably shouldn't dance, Chad," Nathan said, speaking for the first time in ten minutes. He had lied out across several chairs after the game had ended but he now lifted up to look over at the boy. "You'll just embarrass yourself."

Peyton turned to look at Nathan. "Shut up, Nathan. Everyone's sick of you."

He sighed and slumped back over into his earlier position.

"He's just pouting because he hasn't gotten any," Brooke leaned over and whispered to Haley. Haley tried to an offer a smile, but the truth was, that was the last thing she wanted to hear.

"So, once it hits twelve, does everyone know what the next day will be?" Marcus asked, his grin giving his excitement away.

"What?"

"Christmas Eve day!"

All the girls burst out laughing at Marcus' childlike enthusiasm. "What?" he asked, looking around at them all.

"What are you doing for Christmas, Marcus?" Brooke asked.

"I'm riding with Chad to his house in Raleigh. Having a good old family Christmas. You?"

"Peyton's dad is coming home and we're driving back to Tree Hill tomorrow morning."

Haley looked over at Peyton's eager face. "Are you excited?"

She couldn't hide her smile. "Unbelievably. What about you?"

Haley shrugged, trying not to let the others see how much this conversation was hurting her. "My parents are on a cross-country R.V. tour, so I'm just going to stay at the apartment."

"What?" Brooke asked, looking as if she was hearing of blasphemy. "You can't do that. You should come back with us or something!"

Haley shook her head. "Actually, you know, I'll probably be going to Luke's," she lied.

"Oh, well then I'm totally jealous. When are you driving back to Tree Hill, Nate?" Brooke asked, shaking his foot that was just in her reach.

"I'm not," he said from his lying position.

Haley had been feeling sorry for herself about Christmas again but Nathan's words shocked her out of it. She looked over at him. "What do you mean you're not?"

He glanced up at her, sighed and swung his feet back under him, sitting up. "I'm going to an athletes' banquet on Christmas Eve. It's a big deal to be invited to it and my dad said he'd rather me be there than at home because it would be better for my career."

All five of them were shocked into silence. Having heard many stories like this about Dan, Peyton was not surprised. Marcus and Chad had also had several run-ins with Nathan's infamous father and knew this was typical behavior for him. Haley, on the other hand, wanted so badly to put an arm around him and comfort him the way she normally would. That's what she was supposed to do. He was Nathan Scott and she was Nathan Scott's wife. That was how it should work.

But he wasn't Nathan Scott.

Why does this have to be so confusing? she thought to herself.

Through the silence, there was suddenly a low grumbling noise. Everyone turned to stare at Chad and he instantly looked guilty. "Sorry. Guess I'm hungry."

"You? I'm starving," Marcus added.

"I'll third that," Brooke said, throwing a hand in the air for good measure.

"I'll go buy everyone some food." Haley jumped at the chance because not only did she feel guilty about letting her friends spend so much money on her, she wanted to get away from all the heavy feelings weighing on her by being in this circle. She stood up and reached down for her purse.

"Wait, Haley, you won't be able to carry all that by yourself," Chad said. "I can-"

"I'll help her."

Everyone looked over at Nathan who had just jumped up from his seat and was now towering over Chad a little too threateningly. "What?"

"I said, I'll help her." Nathan looked over at Haley, who refused to completely meet his gaze. She looked around at the others, who looked more shocked at this than at Nathan not going home for Christmas.

"What does everyone want?" Haley asked meekly.

Everyone started shouting out orders so Haley had to reach in her purse and pull out her notepad to write down what everybody wanted. As she scribbled down everyone's orders, Nathan come to stand next to her, right at her shoulder. Haley felt so natural in this position. If he would've put his arm around her, she might have hugged him and started believing her Nathan had come to rescue her. As it was though, knowing it wasn't her Nathan was making her feel incredibly uncomfortable and despite herself, her heartbeat sped up to hummingbird pace.

Once Haley had everyone's orders, she turned and headed to the concession stand on the other side of the bowling alley, Nathan following after her, only momentarily noticing the odd looks all four of the others in their group were exchanging.

Once they were out of earshot, Haley found her voice again. "Why did you do that?"

"So Chad wouldn't," Nathan stated indignantly.

Haley sighed as she reached the counter. "Please stop this."

"Stop what?"

A boy who didn't look much older than sixteen was cleaning out the kernels in the bottom of the empty popcorn popper in the back. He looked up at where Haley and Nathan had just arrived and very obviously rolled his eyes. He took his head out of the popper and walked over to where they were standing.

"Can I help you with something?"

Haley pulled out her notepad. "I need two orders of French fries, three orders of chicken fingers, a hotdog, and for me, just a bag of M&M's. Nathan, what do you want?"

"One hotdog and a Snickers."

Without thinking, Haley blurted out, "He wants that hot dog burnt and no bun." She realized what she had said immediately and put her hand to her mouth. She turned to see Nathan staring at her. "Right?"

"Right," he told the boy, his eyes not leaving Haley's.

"Oh, and we'll need six drinks," Haley said, averting her eyes, and pulling out her wallet.

"Don't be stupid," Nathan said, recovering somewhat, pushing her hand aside. "I'll pay for it."

The boy on the other side of the counter was looking at them incredulously. "You can't be serious."

"What do you mean?" Haley asked, already annoyed at her slip and Nathan's attempt at chivalry.

"I just cleaned everything up! I'm going to have to pull everything back out to make all that. You can't actually be asking me to do that."

"That sign says you're open until 12:30," Haley pointed out.

"But I just cleaned up," the boy repeated, as if Haley was slightly dense.

Nathan slammed his fist down on the counter. "Listen, here, you little punk. You heard the order. The sign says you're still open. Now, get us the order or I'll have you fired."

The boy looked slightly intimidated, but obviously did not want to let it show. "Well, I'll have to turn everything back on for those chicken fingers. You'll have to wait."

"Go ahead then," Nathan said, through gritted teeth. "We don't have all day."

The boy turned away, still grumbling, but immediately got to work. Haley and Nathan both turned to lean on the counter and face the bowling alley. Haley saw Peyton watching the two of them and signaled to her that it would take some time. She nodded that she understood and continued whatever conversation the four of them were having.

"Thanks for helping me out," Haley told him.

Nathan shrugged. "I was hungry too. I wanted my burnt hot dog with no bun, right?"

Haley blushed slightly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He shook his head. "You know how I eat my hot dogs. It just doesn't seem possible."

"Probable, no. Possible? Apparently."

Nathan gave Haley a rare genuine smile and as if contagious, she felt one form on her face.

"You never told me what I'm supposed to stop," he said a few moments later, leaning further into the counter.

"Nathan, you know."

"No, I don't. Remember, I don't know you as well as you know me."

"Just stop this whole hot and cold thing you've got going on. You're acting like you're all happy-go-lucky one minute and the next you're breathing down everybody's throat."

"It's just…" Nathan sighed, not being able to voice exactly what it just was. He hardly understood himself. "It's just Chad."

"What? You don't like Chad?"

Nathan shook his head. Chad was his teammate and he had always liked him a lot. But for some reason, the thought of him being there was driving him nuts. The truth was, Chad wasn't what it just was. It was Haley. He didn't know how to voice that though. He didn't know how to express how he felt. And that was why he had lost all control of his emotions.

"Nathan?"

"Chad's fine. I'm just tired. I played my ass off in the game tonight and now everyone's expecting me to be ready to hang out all night. I just don't really feel like talking. Speaking of, why are you talking to me?"

"What?"

"You're talking to me like a civilized person. What's the deal?"

Haley rolled her eyes. "I should've known you couldn't be nice for that long."

"Usually, you're the one who's not being nice."

"That's not true."

"Whatever."

"Such a typical Nathan Scott answer."

"You don't know me."

"What is your problem?" Haley hissed, so fed up with his attitude.

"That is the problem! You think you know me, but you don't. You can't. You haven't been here and I'm sick of the way you think you understand me. You may know what I like, and some random things that have happened to me, but you don't know me. You don't understand how I feel, you don't know how my life has been and you sure as hell can't understand the way I am. So quit trying!"

Haley was taken aback by his sudden outburst. She immediately realized she shouldn't be. This night, Nathan Scott had been the most random person she had ever met in her life. For the first time, she realized that she truly had lost touch with him. She had been putting her own Nathan on him and they were nothing alike.

"You're right. Every moment I have spent talking to you has been a huge waste of time I should be trying to find a way back. You're not worth the time." They sat silently glaring at each other. Haley wondered how it was possible she had actually been starting to think he might not be so bad for a few minutes.

"Here's your food."

They both turned around to see the pouty boy pushing their food at them. Nathan paid as Haley gathered the things in her arms. He took up the remaining items so they could carry them back to their friends. Haley felt the tray of drinks slipping out of her hands and Nathan with his go-to reflexes, grabbed it before they all fell. "Thanks."

He shrugged as they walked back to their friends. They passed the food out and then went to sit down in chairs on opposite sides of their groups of seats, Chad turning his attention away from Brooke and back to Haley.

Nathan didn't say another word the rest of the night.


A/N: OK, so I'm a bit unsure about this chapter. I think it's kind of random, but in the end, I'm actually pretty happy with it. I just hope it doesn't jump around too much and I hope Nathan came off the way I intended him to. Here's a warning, another rant coming your way:

So, I'm sorry for having so much OCs in this chapter, but the truth is, I would rather have characters from the show, it just doesn't seem plausible. I'm trying to keep this as realistic as possible but it was hard enough keeping the core five all in the same area, so to keep our secondary characters just isn't feasible, hence why we have Marcus and Chad. Also, many people wouldn't have been as close because of the storyline. But when we get back to Tree Hill (and we will), hopefully, we will see all of our favorite secondary characters (Skills, Mouth, Rachel, Bevin, etc.) end rant