Wow you guys, thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, it really got my fingers moving! All your feedback was amazing and I hope you gusy enjoy this chapter as much as you seemed to the last one!

Chapter 7

"Hey, Haley, wake up," someone said and shook her shoulder gently.

Rousing from her sleep, Haley's eyes fluttered open and she was staring directly into the dark blue eyes of Nathan Scott. Flashbacks of what she had witnessed in the hallway the previous night immediately entered her mind. She visibly recoiled at the sight of him and she could see the hurt flash over her face.

"What do you want?" she asked icily.

Nathan winced at the harsh tone. "Listen, Haley. I'm so sorry for what you saw last night, but you need to know that that's as far as it got. Rachel wanted it to go farther but I felt like I couldn't do that to you.

"You couldn't do that to me? You could knowingly make out with her and carry her up to your bedroom right in front of me, but behind closed doors you couldn't do anything more?" she asked incredulously. Shaking her head she turned away from him. "Just go away, Nathan. I can't even look at you right now."

Nathan opened his mouth to protest but quickly shut it when the bedroom door opened and Lucas appeared. "Oh, you finally found what room she was in. We've been looking for you, Hales."

"Why?"

"Nathan's giving us a ride home now."

Haley sent a glare to the raven haired boy who was looking annoyed at Lucas. "Great. I can't wait to get out of here."

Lucas looked confused at her eagerness to leave the beautiful beach house but decided against questioning her. He watched as she leapt out of the bed and quickly followed him down the stairs and to Nathan's car. The ride was silent the entire time and he couldn't help but wonder if something had happened between Nathan and Haley on the beach yesterday night. Pulling up into his driveway, Lucas promptly exited the car and thanked Nathan. His suspicions grew of the other two when Haley made a move to get out of the car as well and Nathan halted her. She signalled for Lucas to go inside and sat back into her seat.

"I really am sorry about last night, Haley," Nathan apologized sincerely.

Haley scoffed disbelievingly. "Whatever, Nathan."

"I am! Let me make it up to, please? I'll take you out for a nice dinner tonight."

"You really are pathetic. You think you can take me out to dinner and buy my forgiveness?"

"No, that's not what I want to do! I just wanna show you how sorry I am for hurting you."

"You did more than hurt me. You betrayed me by hooking up with my sworn enemy."

"I told you; I didn't hook up with Rachel!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, well in my book, making out with someone and getting as close as you did to hooking up with her is the same thing as hooking up."

Nathan leaned his elbows in the steering wheel and put his head in his hands in frustration. "Please, just let me take you out dinner tonight. I promise I'll make it up to," he begged.

"Fine," Haley conceded after being quiet for a few moments.

Nathan smiled victoriously. "Okay, I'll pick you up at seven then."

"Sure," Haley said stubbornly and quickly hopped out of the car and slammed the door. As she walked into her house, she saw that Lucas appeared to be waiting patiently for her in the kitchen.

"What was that about?" he asked upon seeing her enter the room.

"Nathan was an ass last night and he wanted to apologize I guess."

Lucas looked surprised. "What did he do?"

"I saw him making out with Rachel."

Lucas' eyes widened even more than they had. "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope," Haley said, accentuating the 'p' noise. "He's taking me out to dinner tonight to make up for it."

"You're not going," Lucas said quickly.

"What? I'm gonna go if I want to go, Lucas"

"No, Haley. I can't believe my best friend would actually hook up with Rachel after what she said to you. He's like a brother to me and everything, but I can't let you go out with him. I won't let him hurt you any more than he has now."

Despite her best effort not to, Haley smiled at Lucas' over protectiveness. "Thanks for looking out for me, Luke, but I think I can handle Nathan. He was practically begging for my forgiveness and as pissed as I am at him, I have to give him a chance."

"You're too good of a person, you know that?"

"Yeah, I do. Let's just hope agreeing to this dinner doesn't come back to bite me in the ass."

Lucas laughed softly and Haley began leaving the kitchen to go up to her room. Turning back before fully leaving, Haley looked Lucas in the eye. "Do me a favour and don't tell anyone else about this dinner or what Nathan did, please."

"Why?" Lucas asked confused.

"I just don't want anyone to know until I get a chance to actually talk to Nathan and yell at him first," she winked.

Lucas nodded in understanding. "Gotcha. I won't tell anyone then, don't worry."

"Thanks, Luke," Haley said and left the room, heading up to her bedroom.

Lucas nodded and watched her walk away. He was seething at Nathan knowing that he had the audacity to hook up with Rachel after the way she behaved. He was going to keep his word to Haley and not tell anyone else in the group about anything that happened, but Lucas was already plotting his confrontation with his friend. There was no chance in hell anyone was going to hurt his cousin like that and get away with it.

Hours later, Haley flopped on her bed with a huff. She was now coming to realize how few dressy clothes she owned. Granted, Nathan hadn't told her exactly where he was going to be taking her but she could only assume it would be the fanciest, most expensive restaurant he could possibly take her to. Haley knew from experience how guys like Nathan operated, when they screwed up all they could think to do was try to buy you back into their favour. Just as she was about to go back to her closet to look for an outfit her bedroom door creaked open and Lucas peaked his head in.

"Just who I need!" she proclaimed sweetly.

Looking suspicious Lucas walked further into the room. "What is it?"

"I need help picking out an outfit."

"Wait, you want my help picking out an outfit for a dinner with Nathan?" Lucas asked confused.

"Is that not what I just said, Luke? You're a guy, plus you've known Nathan for a long time, what do you think I should wear?"

Lucas scratched the back of his head unsurely. "I don't know? A dress, I guess."

Haley nodded and pulled three different dresses off their hangers and laid them out flat on her bed. "Which one do you like best?"

"That one," Lucas said as he pointed to a black dress with an empire waist that ended just above Haley's knees.

"What about shoes? Heels or flats?"

"Does it really matter, Haley?"

"Yes! It matters a lot."

"Fine, heels then."

Haley smiled at her cousin. "Thanks for your help."

"No problem. I was just coming up to tell you that my mom and dad are going to see a movie and then going to dinner at a friend's house so we'll be on our own for the night. Since you're going to dinner with Nathan, I was gonna go to Brooke's house later on if you're cool with that."

"Fine with me," Haley confirmed and turned to her bed to examine her outfit choice, laying out possible jewellery to wear beside her dress. Lucas took that as his queue to leave before she started asking him more about stuff he knew nothing about.

The doorbell rang and Lucas looked at the stairs to see if Haley would come down to answer it herself. After he hadn't heard her bedroom door open for a few moments Lucas assumed she hadn't heard the bell and stood up from his spot on the couch and walked to the door. He pulled it open and Nathan stood on the other side in a pair of nice jeans and a button up shirt. He was holding a bouquet of purple wildflowers and had a look of sincerity on his face. Lucas grunted at the sight of him and pulled the door open wider and walked quickly back to the den. He heard Nathan following right behind him and gestured for his friend to sit on the sofa opposite him.

"Uh, is Haley around?" Nathan asked after Lucas had been staring him down for a minute.

"She's upstairs getting ready for your guys' dinner."

"Oh. She told you about it?"

"Yeah. She also told me about how much of an asshole you were last night," Lucas said testily.

"Look man, I really am sorry. I'm trying to make it up to her."

"That still doesn't make it okay, Nathan! Not in my mind, at least. You should know that if you do anything to hurt Haley like that again, I'll kick your ass. Best friend or not, Haley is my family and I won't stand for her to be treated like shit."

"You don't have to worry, Luke. If I do something as stupid as that again, I'll kick my own ass."

Lucas chuckled. "You're such an idiot, man."

Nathan shook his head in disbelief of himself. "I know. I don't understand what was going through my mind."

Lucas shrugged and got up from the couch again. "I'm gonna go tell Haley you're here," he said and started up the stairs. He knocked on Haley's door before opening it. "Hey, Nathan's here, he's waiting downstairs for you."

Haley smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks, Luke," she said and went to follow him back down the stairs.

Lucas put his arm out when she made a move to pass him. "You look beautiful, Hales."

She smiled at him again and merely nodded in thanks. Lucas smiled back and wrapped an arm loosely around her shoulders and guided her to the den. Nathan promptly stood up from the couch when she entered and gawked at her. "Wow. You look amazing."

Haley shrugged. "I try."

Both boys laughed softly and Nathan cocked his head in the direction of the door. "Wanna get going?"

"Yeah, sure," Haley said and let Nathan guide her out the door. He walked beside her to the passenger side door and opened it for him. "And people say chivalry is dead," she teased him lightly as she got into the car.

Nathan chuckled and walked quickly to the driver side door and sat down. He started the car and began driving to their destination. "So are you going to tell me where we're going before we get there?"

"Nope. It's a surprise."

Haley pouted slightly. "I hate surprises though!"

"That's too bad then. You're gonna have to just suck it up, I guess."

Haley stuck her tongue out him rebelliously. "That really makes me want to tell you now," Nathan joked.

"Whatever," Haley said and leaned back into her seat. She watched the scenery pass them by outside in silence.

The pair arrived at Nathan's restaurant of choice a few minutes later. Haley made a move to get out of the car but Nathan quickly stopped her and hopped out of the car. He ran around to her side and opened the door for her, giving her a gentlemanly smile when she took his proffered hand.

"The Market Street Docks Restaurant? Very nice, Mr. Scott," Haley complimented his choice.

"I figured I couldn't go wrong here. In case you haven't realized, docks are our thing," he winked.

"Docks are our thing because I tutor you on one every morning?" she asked confused.

"Exactly," Nathan said. "We spend pretty much all our time together on the docks. Why not keep that going?"

Haley nodded. "I see your point."

Nathan smiled victoriously. So far, so good. Haley seemed to be in a lot better of a mood towards him than she was this morning. Hopefully she stayed this way through dinner and his plans afterwards. He linked his arm with Haley's and led her into the restaurant. It was elegantly decorated, but too fancy. He didn't want to just take her to some fancy pants restaurant where the cheapest thing was fifty dollars and expect her to be so impressed that she forgave him. That wasn't how Haley operated and he knew that.

Nathan and Haley were immediately seated by the hostess at a small table close to the water. They started perusing their menus quietly. Shortly thereafter a waitress approached and took their food and drink orders. She walked away and Nathan started laughing to himself.

"What's so funny?"

"You. Are you seriously getting mac n' cheese?"

"Uh, duh. It's the food of the gods!" Haley proclaimed.

Nathan scoffed. "Yeah, if the gods were five year olds."

"Oh, whatever, mister, I'll have the prime rib with a lobster tail on the side," Haley said imitating Nathan's deep voice.

"Hey! Don't hate on prime rib!" Nathan defended good naturedly and licked his lips at the thought of his favourite food.

Haley giggled and the two fell into a comfortable silence. Minutes later, their waitress approached their table again with their plates of food in hand. She set them down in front of Nathan and Haley and walked away.

As they ate their meals they bantered back and forth playfully. Neither had brought up the actual reason for the dinner, much to Nathan's satisfaction. Thankfully, Haley seemed to be having a good time and in a really good mood, he hoped she was starting to forget about how angry she was at him. Out of nowhere they heard a familiar loud voice coming from down the boardwalk just outside the restaurant. Nathan and Haley looked at each other in confusion and began looking around for their friend who they knew was around somewhere.

"Yo, Nate, Haley!" Tim exclaimed and came sauntering over to their table with a few other guys that Haley didn't recognize.

"Hey, Tim," they both greeted and Nathan nodded his head at the other guys as well.

"Are you guys like on a date or something?" Tim as goofily.

"No," Nathan replied quickly. "Me and Haley on a date? That's ridiculous, Tim. We're just having dinner."

"Alright, whatever you say dawg. It sure looks like a date though."

"It's not, Tim," Nathan assured again.

Tim shrugged and accepted his answer. He seemed rather uninterested in the conversation now and said his good -byes to his two friends and walked away with the other guys with him. When they were out of sight Nathan turned his gaze back on Haley. "Sorry about that. Tim has a tendency to butt in where he isn't wanted."

"Actually, I don't mind."

"Okay, then why does it seem like you're pissed off about something?" he asked uneasily.

Haley stared hardly at Nathan. "Is the idea of being on a date with me really as terrible as you made it seem?" she asked, hurt evident in her voice.

"What? No, Haley, I just didn't want Tim to get the wrong idea is all."

"Well the way you said it made it seem like you were ashamed to be associated with me."

"Haley, it's not like that!"

"Whatever, Nathan. I'm done," she said angrily and tossed her napkin onto her plate. She quickly stood from her chair and walked out of the building.

Nathan looked around himself uncomfortably. Hopefully none of the other diners had heard their little spat. He frantically waived the waitress over and asked for the cheque. Once he got it, he dropped a wad of cash on the table and ran out of the restaurant in hopes of catching Haley. Unfortunately, she was nowhere in sight so he quickly got in his car and started to look for her.

It didn't take long for Nathan to notice a lone figure walking slowly in heels on the sidewalk in the direction of his best friend's house. He slowed his car down when he was next her and rolled down the passenger side window. "Come on, Hales. Get in."

"No."

"Please, Haley. You're never going to be able to walk all the way home in those shoes," he pleaded.

"Watch me," Haley said, even though she knew he was right. After not even walking for five minutes she felt her feet aching and telling her to either sit down or take the dreaded heels off all together. She was stubborn though and refused to concede to Nathan's wishes.

"Please, Haley," he tried one last time after a watching her take a few obviously painful steps. Haley let out a sigh of annoyance before forcefully pulling open the passenger side door and getting in the car.

"Glad to see you came to your senses," Nathan said happily.

Haley glared at him. "Don't talk to me."

"Alright, fine. I am sorry for offending you, Hales. I didn't mean to say what I did like that, I just didn't want Tim to go around telling everyone we're on a date and then have to explain why we were having dinner together. It would all just turn into one big, never ending topic with our friends."

Haley didn't say or do anything to let Nathan know she acknowledged his short speech. When they finally pulled into her driveway, Nathan made a move to say something else but Haley was too quick getting out of the car and slamming the door. She raced to the front door and shut it before Nathan had the chance to get out of the car to talk to her. He sighed and put his head in his hands. It seems he couldn't stop screwing things up with Haley. Obviously, he was gonna have to do better than some flowers and a nice dinner to make it up to her now.

Haley hurriedly walked up the stairs and into her bedroom. Keith and Karen still weren't back and it didn't look like Lucas was home yet either. She didn't bother to close her door and immediately lay down on her soft bed. She knew she may have over reacted at dinner and blown things way out of proportion. Nathan did actually have a valid reason for not wanting Tim thinking they were on a date. Not to mention, it wasn't a date, so she had no reason to really freak out. Although she still hadn't forgiven Nathan for the whole Rachel fiasco, Haley knew she had to call Nathan tomorrow and apologize for being such a bitch. She really didn't know what was going on with her, Nathan was making her feel all sorts of things she had never felt before and her emotions were all out of whack around him.

Through her open window Haley heard Nathan's car finally back out of the driveway. She walked over to it and watched the sleek car cruise away down the quiet Tree Hill street. She felt something strange pulling at her watching him leave, almost like sadness. Impossible, she though, there was no way she was sad just because Nathan didn't try harder with her. With a shake of her head Haley changed into the first pair of pyjamas she spotted and began her long night of laying wide awake in confusion.