Haley's P.O.V.

I could see Nathan was already at the Rivercourt when I got there a little after 6pm.

"Hey," he said, shooting the basketball through the hoop.

"Hey," I reply, walking over to the picnic table and sitting down as he follows me.

"Thanks for coming, I thought we should talk," Nathan said, after a moment.

"I just don't know what to say or even to think at this point, Nathan," I say and I can feel Nathan's eyes on me as I look at the ground.

"--About earlier—" Nathan starts to say, "I'm really sorry."

"About which part? Leaving me at my apartment or bringing your girlfriend to the café?" I ask and he cringes.

"Both, I guess," he says after a minute. "I panicked this morning and I bailed– I needed some time to clear my head…everything happened so fast…and when I tried to get away to see you at the café, Rachel showed up and insisted on coming with me…"

"Are you going to stay with her?" I ask finally.

"I don't know," he sighs and I can feel the tears stinging my eyes.

"Why don't you know? I mean, either you want to be with her or you don't, right?" I ask him.

"It's not that simple, Haley," Nathan said with a tone of impatience.

"Okay, then explain it to me," I say getting impatient myself.

"Rachel cares about me, she's been there for me, alright? It's hard to just turn your back on someone when they've helped you through a rough time…" Nathan says in a huff.

I sigh and close my eyes, very frustrated now. "--then just go be with her. I don't know what else to say anymore, Nathan. I really don't. I know that I left you – I went on tour, I broke your trust…but if you can't forgive me and if you don't see a future for us, then I need to move on…but either way, I can't be strung along. I don't deserve it and frankly, neither does Rachel."

"I know," Nathan said.

Nathan's P.O.V.

I clasped my hands together leaning my head down, trying to gather my thoughts. I am so overwhelmed with emotions – part of me wanted to scream at her, show my anger and resentment for being left behind…and the other part of me wanted to take her in my arms and never let her go…but I did neither. I just sat there.

"Well, this resolved nothing," Haley speaks up, making a move to stand up.

"Please – just sit here with me for a moment," I say, never taking my head from my hands. Just her presence is a comfort – even to a pain she caused.

Haley takes a deep breath and sits back down beside me.

"I'm so confused, Haley," I say, sighing and looking up to meet her gaze. "This is so hard for me…part of me looks for ways to be around you and another part of me just wants to find the right words to hurt you, the way you hurt me."

Haley closes her eyes, trying not to start crying.

"…for me to still feel that way just tells me that I'm not over what happened," I admit aloud.

"Last night confused a lot of things for both of us…I'm attracted to you and I let that get in the way and pretty much take over so I apologize…because it did lead you into thinking I'm ready for 'us' again…and I'm just – not."

Haley just watches me silently, willing me to finish saying what I need to say.

"I know we will have to see each other more this year because of basketball and cheerleading – but maybe it's good that we'll have other things to focus on. I'll focus on playing and you can focus on cheering or your music…just something other than me."

"So, where does that leave us, Nathan?" Haley asks me, tears glistening on her cheeks.

"For now, that leaves us as classmates and maybe even someday, friends," I say, cringing inwardly as I even use the word.

Friend is not the word I could really use to describe my relationship with Haley—it's certainly not the limit of my feelings…but I have to work things out on my own without being unfair to her…

"I don't want to hurt you but I don't want to give you false hope either."

Haley's eyebrows lift at that, "false hope? Wow…so, you really don't see a future for us…do you?"

"Haley, I can't answer that right now…" I say frustrated. "…I know that I love you…but love shouldn't hurt this much…"

"Maybe you're right. It really shouldn't," Haley says jumping up from the picnic bench and running away. I don't even try to stop her. I just sit there and put my head in my hands, wishing there was a way to make all of this go away

…but I can't.