Chapter 13
"Haley James, where on Earth have you been?" Karen's voice reverberated through the house as soon as she had closed the front door behind her and Nathan.
"I think we're in trouble," she giggled and looked up at her boyfriend goofily. The couple had the good sense to look apologetic when they heard Karen's stomping footsteps approach the foyer.
"Well?" the angry thirty something demanded when she reached the two teens. "I've been trying to call you for over an hour but have gotten no response. And why are the both of you wet, is it raining?"
"Sorry, I forgot my phone in my locker and no it isn't raining, we went to the beach."
"So, you thought it was a good idea to ditch the last half of the school day to go spend some time at the beach?"
"Yeah," Haley bit her lip nervously and felt Nathan cower behind her slightly. She rolled her eyes at that and elbowed him in the ribs.
"I'm disappointed in you two. I thought I could trust you to not try to get Haley to do these types of things with you, Nathan."
"No, Aunt Karen, it wasn't Nathan's idea to go to the beach. I was the one that dragged him off campus in the first place."
Karen sighed. She really wasn't in the mood to ream out her niece for skipping her last two classes. It's not like this was regular behaviour for her so she decided to let it slide this time. "Alright, go upstairs and put some dry clothes on and then come back down for dinner. Nathan, you can borrow something of Lucas'. I don't want to hear about this happening again though, got it?" she asked sternly to which both teens nodded relieved.
"Got it," Haley replied and pulled Nathan quickly up the stairs.
"Wait," he practically growled when they were about to part ways. Haley glanced at him with a smile and stepped backwards so her body was pinned against the wall by his large frame. Nathan put his hands on the wall on either side of Haley's head and smirked. He leaned down swiftly and captured her lips. It was a steamy kiss that was full of passion, but ended far too quickly in both teen's minds. They knew they couldn't carry on that way though, with Haley's family just below them. They both had large smiles on their faces upon parting and slowly drew apart from each other.
"Go grab something of Lucas'; I'll meet you back downstairs."
Nathan obliged and walked into Lucas' bedroom while Haley turned and opened her own door. She jumped back when she saw that Jake was lying on her bed staring at her as soon as she walked in. "Wow, it's nice of you to finally show up. Did you forget that your best friend is in town to see you, or did you just not care?"
"Of course I remember, and I obviously care. I was spending time with my boyfriend and we lost track of time."
"You must really love him if you're willing to skip class for him. Last time I checked, school meant a hell of a lot to you and you wouldn't dare intentionally miss it."
"I do love him," Haley confirmed and Jake snarled. "I'm not in the mood to fight with you about this, Jake. Just let it go, it's not even a big deal."
"Whatever," Jake said and fell silent. He really didn't want to fight again with Haley over her prick of a boyfriend. "Is he here?"
"Yes, he's here and I expect you to be on your best behaviour, just like he will be."
Jake clenched his jaw but opted to not say anything in return. He raised his brow when he noticed Haley grab a change of clothes and begin to head out of the room. "Where are you going?"
She looked down at the clothes in her arms and back up at him as though the answer were obvious. "I'm going to change, in case you didn't notice I'm soaking wet."
"I know that, but why are you leaving the room to do that? For as long as I can remember we've just changed in the same room as each other, what's changed all of a sudden?"
"What's changed is that I have a boyfriend who I love. I doubt he'd be very pleased to find out that his girlfriend is getting almost completely naked in front of some other guy."
"Yeah, but you're forgetting that I'm not just some other guy," Jake smiled. "I happen to be your very best friend."
"That's beside the point. You are still a guy that isn't Nathan, which means it'd be a problem."
"But it'd be okay if it were Nathan that was the one that was seeing you almost or completely naked?" Jake fired back, clearly bothered by the thought of Haley having sex.
"Oh my God, I'm not having this conversation with you right now. All I'm going to tell you is I haven't slept with Nathan yet. The rest is absolutely none of your business."
"Why? As much as I hated it, you talked to me about sex when you were with Damien."
"And look how far that got us? Do you not recall freezing me out for the better half of a month when you found out I finally gave it up to him? Besides, my relationship with Nathan is not even close to the same as what my relationship with Damien was. I never had strong feelings for Damien like I do for Nathan and our sex life is private, even to best friends."
Jake threw up his hands in surrender. "Okay, I'll leave that subject, for now. Come on, let's get down stairs and have dinner, your Aunt wanted to wait to eat until you got home and I'm starving."
Haley laughed softly at her friend's appetite. It seemed to her that he was always hungry. The duo walked out of Haley's bedroom and down the stairs into the dining room together. Nathan was already seated at the table with Lucas and Brooke across from him. Haley smiled at her boyfriend and took a seat next him, with Jake sitting down on the other side of her.
"Wow, Brooke. You're here for dinner two nights in a row. I'm starting to get a little sick of you," Haley joked to try to ease the tension rolling off the boys on either side of her.
"You're gonna have to get used to me, Hales. We're going to be the best of friends with me spending a lot of time here now," she returned, catching on to what Haley was attempting. "But from what I here, Natey over here is present for almost all dinners, too."
"Yeah, but I was doing that long before Haley and I had ever even met," Nathan joined in. Haley, Lucas, and Brooke offered him a sympathetic smile, each of them well aware that the reason for Nathan being a staple in the Roe's home had a lot to do with his mother never being around and his father always drilling him about basketball and not caring about anything else. "Although it's even more appealing to be here all the time when I know I'll get to see my beautiful girl," he commented smoothly.
Haley blushed softly and sent her boyfriend a dazzling smile. She kissed his cheek softly before turning her attention to her aunt and uncle walking into the room with dinner. She was grateful for the addition of two more buffers in the room, hoping in vain that Nathan and Jake would both be true to their words and behave themselves.
Things in the room were tense to say the least though. Everyone was aware of the disdain between the two boys on either side of Haley. They were both making it very clear that they held no respect for the other. Between sly jokes cracked at the other's expense being made under their breath and chuckling mockingly or snorting every time the other piped in during conversation, Haley was becoming increasingly fed up with their lack of maturity.
By the time dinner was finally finished Haley was so angry that she silently rose from her chair and began helping Karen bring all the dirty dishes into the kitchen despite the older woman's protests. "Alright, Haley you've done enough now. Thank you for all your help, but now I want you to go back out there and have fun with the other kids."
Haley scoffed. "I wouldn't call have to constantly be the referee between my boyfriend and best friend fun."
Karen looked at her sympathetically. "I know Jake and Nathan don't seem to be getting a long right now, but they've just met each other. I'm sure after spending more time together that they'll get know each other better and grow to appreciate the unique relationships you have with them."
"I sincerely hope you're right. It's only been like a day and I already don't know how much more of the snide remarks from both of them I can take," she confessed and walked back into the dining room to catch the tail end of Lucas asking Nathan if he wanted to shoot around a little in their driveway.
Nathan noticed her re-entering the room and looked to her to make sure she was okay with him hanging out with her cousin for a little while. She smiled at him and nodded her head. "Do you play ball, Jake?" Lucas asked him after Nathan took him up on his offer.
"Yeah, I've been on my high school's team since freshman year."
"Oh, cool. Did you wanna play with us too? You versus me and then Nathan can play the winner," he suggested.
"Sure, that sounds fun," Jake said happy that Lucas seemed to like him and wanted to include him.
Nathan was on the verge of protesting but bit his tongue when he saw the look of contentment on Haley's face. He knew she was annoyed with him over dinner for being a smart ass sometimes, but he couldn't help himself. Seeing the happiness dancing in her eyes at the prospect of him possibly 'bonding' or some shit with Jake was enough to make him not say anything. If playing a game of ball with the dude was going to make her happy, then he sure as hell was going to do it. "Are you coming, Hales?" he asked and kicked his head in the direction of the front door.
It seemed it was only when he spoke that she realized Lucas, Brooke, and Jake had all already headed out to the driveway where the basketball hoop was set up. She blushed softly because she'd been caught zoning out and took his proffered hand. She allowed him to lead them out to the front porch of the quaint home and sat down on his lap when he took a seat on the front steps a few feet away from the side of the driveway. They watched in silence as Jake and Lucas started their one on one game against each other and Brooke stood nearby cheering her boyfriend on.
"You know, just because I'm sitting on your lap doesn't mean I'm not still pissed off at you," Haley spoke up a few minutes later.
"Awe, c'mon Hales. You know I tried my best to be civil around the guy, but it's hard. He just irks me."
"That still isn't an excuse to be an asshole every time he's around. I don't care how much you dislike him, I expect you to be mature about it and let it go for my sake. Remember me, the girlfriend that you love? That's what love is, Nathan; making sacrifices."
Nathan blew out a deep breath and wrapped his arms tighter around her stomach. He dropped a soft kiss in the crook of her neck and buried his face in her hair. After a few seconds he started moving one hand up her stomach and softly groped her left breast. Haley smacked his hand away and instantly slid out his slap and put a space between them. "You can't seriously expect trying to seduce me or something will get you off the hook here? That is not going to fly, mister. In fact, you'll be lucky if you get any sort of affection from me for the rest of the night."
Nathan's mouth dropped open in shock. "You wouldn't do that! You like kissing me way too much."
"Watch me," Haley said with a taunting smirk. She was dead serious, but had to admit she was also finding some amusement in the devastated and lost look Nathan was sporting.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Nathan knew the only way to get Haley to change her mind was to turn her on. He laced their fingers together and pulled her in front of the porch so her back was resting on the wood and he was boxing her in. He ran is finger lightly up the length of her arm and gazed into her deep chocolate eyes. "I know you can't resist me, Hales," he stated matter-of-factly and leaned down to capture her lips in what he anticipated to be a passionate kiss. Before their lips locked however, Haley turned her face to the side so that he ended up placing an open mouth kiss on the side of her cheek. She tried to gently push his body away from her own, wanting to stick to her word and play the part of a stern girlfriend for once.
Nathan chuckled at her weak attempt to get him away from her and playfully shimmied closer to her so their bodies were pressed fully up against each other. Haley's eyes darkened when she felt his hard body against her own, but when he once again tried to kiss her she pushed him away again. "No, Nathan. You're on a time out right now."
Jake heard his friend's weak request and when he didn't see the larger boy back away from Haley he immediately walked over to the couple angrily. "Hey man, if she doesn't want you near her, back the fuck off. She clearly said to stop so be a man and leave her alone."
Nathan glared at the boy who clearly had no idea what he was talking about. "I think you're the one that needs to back off. Don't interfere in our business because I'm going to do whatever the hell I want," he said and made a show of squeezing Haley's ass with both his hands. She shook her head at him and pushed him away from her, only to have Jake lunge at him and connect his fist with Nathan's face repeatedly.
Haley screamed at the unexpected turn of events. Her boyfriend was now on the ground and clutching his face after Jake punched him more times than she could even count. She looked at her supposed best friend who was being held back by her cousin and looked at him with a mixture of fear and shock. Never in her life had she seen him become so violent. Knowing Jake wasn't who she needed to be concerned about at the moment, Haley fixed her gaze back on Nathan. She knelt down beside him and put his head in her lap. His nose was slowly beginning to bleed and she could already make out several dark bruises forming on his cheek and around one of his eyes. She started running her fingers through his dark locks and let a traitorous tear run down her cheek. "Are you okay?"
Nathan grunted and got to his feet. The guy was a good fighter; he'd give him that much for sure. Even if he played dirty by not giving him a chance to even see the attack coming, almost all Jake's punches managed to unfortunately connect with his face. "You're fucking lucky Haley's here right now or I'd be beating your ass into the ground right now," he growled.
Jake's taunting chuckle only served to make him want to retaliate even more, but Nathan was more aware than ever that if he laid a hand on Jake that Haley would be livid and more than likely would break up with him. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Jake asked. "Please. One punch and you were already on the floor, pussy."
Nathan tensed but kept his distance from the boy. He was about to respond but Haley beat him to it. She walked the few feet to her friend and slapped him hard across the face. "I can't believe you right now. This isn't you, Jake! I don't know who you are anymore, but if this is the new you I don't want any part of it. I can't even look at you right now, just leave. Go anywhere, I could really care less."
"I'm not going anywhere. No way am I going to leave you here with this jackass," Jake replied and glared at Nathan.
"Fine, go upstairs to your room then and pack your bags. I want you on a flight back to Wasatch first thing tomorrow. It was obviously a mistake having you come here," Haley said brokenly and walked quickly around the house to the backyard.
Jake made a move to follow her but Lucas still had a tight hold around him. "I don't think so," he said angrily and led Jake inside the house and up to his room like Haley had told him to do on his own. This left a still bleeding and battered Nathan alone in the driveway with a stunned and silent Brooke.
"Well, I think this is the first time I've ever seen you lose a fight," Brooke joked but Nathan didn't respond.
"Haley..." Nathan muttered and realized she was probably sitting somewhere crying. "I have to go talk to her," he told Brooke and she smiled and nodded.
"Go make everything better for her, Nate," she encouraged and walked inside the house to find Lucas.
Nathan sighed and rubbed his face. He winced when he remembered all the forming bruises there. Forgetting the momentary pain, Nathan set out to the Roe's backyard and immediately spotted his girlfriend sitting in the corner of the yard against the wooden fence. Her knees were against her chest and her face was buried in them. He took note of how her form was shaking and quickened his pace to her. Nathan sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms tightly. "I'm sorry," he whispered softly into her hair.
Haley looked up at him in surprise. "You have nothing to apologize for, Nathan. You may have been being a little stubborn and egging him on a bit but that didn't make you deserve to be attacked. God, I can't believe he punched you," she cried a little harder.
"Shh, it's okay," Nathan tried to sooth her and rubbed her back gently. "Just let it all out. I'm right here."
And that's what she did. Haley buried her face in her boyfriend's chest and cried until she ran out of tears. She let out every single emotion she was feeling at the moment and Nathan being the good boyfriend that he is, let her. He held her in his protective embrace until she finally fell silent, exhausted from the swirl of emotions she had experienced.