In honour of OTH day today, I worked extra hard to finish this chapter and here we are! I actually really like this chapter and I'm pretty sure you're all going to hate me for the ending, but I'm going to try to get the next one up as fast as possible! Hope you guys like this one too and please review!
Chapter 15
"W-What's this?" Haley asked in shock when she watched her boyfriend walk into her kitchen with Jake trailing behind laughing at something Nathan had said upon entering.
"We went to the Rivercourt together to get to know each other a little," Nathan explained like it was no big deal.
Haley's eyes bugged out and her mouth dropped open in surprise. "Seriously? I don't see any new bruises on you though." Haley stood up and began closely examining her boyfriend's face for any newly forming bruises on top of his day old ones.
"Relax, Hales. Neither one of us ended up throwing any punches. We actually figured out we have a lot in common."
Haley still looked surprised and raised an eye brow questioningly. "Like what?"
"Well for starters, we both love you, hate Damien West, and have parents that aren't around much and don't care about us."
"Yeah," Haley agreed softly. "So does that mean you two are friends now?"
Nathan and Jake both chuckled and shook their heads. "We're not quite friends, but we don't want to beat the shit out of each other either."
"I guess that's the best I can ask for right now. I know eventually you two will be friends," she smiled happily.
Nathan returned her smile and leaned down to kiss her forehead lovingly. "I'm gonna go and let you guys talk. Call me later if you're not too tired, otherwise I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Okay," Haley said and hugged him. "Thank you for doing this. I know how hard it must have been to make the first move. I love you."
"It wasn't really that hard. I love you and I knew it'd be what makes you happy," Nathan replied easily with a shrug. He pulled out of Haley's embrace and kissed her one last time. "Bye, babe. See ya later, man."
When Nathan closed the back door behind him Haley sighed uneasily. There was definitely an awkward air to the room now that Haley and Jake's buffer was gone.
Jake swallowed nervously. He really wasn't sure how to start a conversation with Haley. Where was he supposed to start with his apologies? "So..."
"I don't really know what you want me to say to you, Jake."
"I'm not expecting you to say anything. I'm the one that should be giving you a long speech about how sorry I am about the way I acted, so here it is. I'm an asshole. I should never have lost my temper and hit Nathan. I was also wrong to dislike him so much from the get go when I didn't even know him. I was just scared that I was going to lose you again or that he would hurt you like all your other boyfriends have. It's my natural instinct to try to protect you from the world and this time it backfired on me and I was the one that hurt you. After spending some time with Nathan tonight though, I'm realizing he's not such a bad guy after all and I trust him with you. I guess all I'm trying to tell you is I'm sorry, I love you and you mean way too much to me to be fighting over something so stupid."
Haley remained silent as she tried to process her friend's speech. "I guess as far as apologies go, that one is pretty solid."
"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Jake asked while trying to hold back his forming grin.
She sighed and shook her head at how quickly she caved. "Yes, I forgive you Jake. I don't want to have to deal with a fight like this ever again though, you hear me?"
"Yes, yes, I promise I'm never going to behave like such a jerk ever again. All I want is for you to be in my life," he promised and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"Good, because I hate being mad at you."
"Trust me, I hate it way more," Jake vowed and smiled softly at her. "Let's not make the same mistakes again, Hales."
"We won't. I think with this being our third shot at remaining friends while I'm in a relationship, we'll be able to do it properly this time around."
"What do you want to do tonight now that we're friends again?"
"I don't know, you can choose."
"I think I'm feeling one of our traditional movie nights. Since the last one we had didn't end the way either of us would have liked," he suggested and paused when he mentioned the night of Lydia and Jimmy's accident. "We can try to make new, good memories to replace that one particular painful one."
"Yeah," Haley agreed quietly and smiled reassuringly at Jake when he looked at her with concern written all over his features. "Come on, let's go up to my room and get our movie night started!"
Jake laughed and let her lead him up the stairs. He was so happy that Haley forgave his sorry ass and was giving him another chance. Her friendship means the world to him and he wasn't sure what he would've done if she actually cut him out of her life for good.
"I can't believe you're actually coming to this dinner from hell with me."
"Well, you did something amazing for me and since I know how much you've been dreading this all week I figured having me sitting next to you might make it a little easier."
"Aren't there better things you could be doing on a Saturday than coming to my family Thanksgiving dinner, Hales?"
"No, I don't think there is. Besides, between school and spending time with Jake, we haven't been able to spend much time together these last three days, apart from lunch and classes."
"It's not like we'll be able to spend much more time alone together at my house. Between my mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa, there will always be at least one other person in the room that is either being an asshole or trying to make conversation with us."
"I don't care, Nathan! Now we're here and I'm not changing my mind, so you may as well just thank me for doing this with you and leave it at that."
"I'm more thankful than I could ever tell you, Haley. I've always dreaded these family occasions but knowing you'll be at my side the entire time makes it a lot more bearable. The thing is though; my family can get really overwhelming really quickly. Almost every time we do these holiday dinners we start fighting and someone walks out. I don't want to subject you to that kind of bullshit, especially when there's the possibility that my dad or grandpa could start in on you, too."
Haley cupped Nathan's cheek. "I love you for wanting to protect me from your family, but I think you also know me well enough to know that I can handle myself. If your dad or grandpa does say anything rude or what not to me, I can defend myself and you can have at it and protect me then. Right now though, we don't even know for sure that'll happen so let's just go inside and try to have as much fun as we can, okay?"
"Yeah, okay," Nathan said reluctantly and led her to the front door. "You absolutely sure about this?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Now let's go inside," Haley chuckled and gave Nathan a light shove into the now open doorway.
Upon entering, Deb and Nathan's grandmother Mae came to greet them. Nathan was tense as his grandma fussed over his appearance and attitude and Haley blushed when the older women turned to her and introduced herself, offering her endless compliments in the process. From this first meeting, Haley had no idea why Nathan was so adamant about not wanting her to accompany him. She already knew Deb and despite her tendency to be an absentee parent, she was a really nice woman and Nathan's grandma Mae was quite possibly the sweetest old lady she had ever met. Granted, it wasn't his mom and grandma he was worried about, it was Dan and Royal Scott that he had warned her about being complete assholes.
"Come on, Haley. Join Mae and I in the kitchen. Nathan, the boys are in the den watching some old basketball game," Deb said and rolled her eyes at her husband and father-in-law's obsession with a game.
"Actually-" Nathan started to object but Mae interjected.
"Oh Haley here can handle being apart from you for a little while, Nathan! Now go spend some time with your father and grandfather, Royal's been waiting for you to get here."
Nathan grumbled out an inaudible response and Haley smiled sympathetically at him. "You'll be fine," she mouthed to him softly and followed Mae and Deb into the kitchen where the smell of a cooked turkey was beginning to spread its tasty aroma through the house.
"All we have to do is put everything on the table and then we can eat," Deb said and carried a bowl of carrots out to the dining room and placed it on the table. Haley followed the older woman's lead and grabbed a bowl of potatoes to carry out to the table.
"Shouldn't the boys be helping us with all this heavy lifting?" Haley joked.
Deb chuckled in return. "I've tried before, nothing except the words 'dinner's ready' gets them away from the TV."
"Sounds like the typical man. Although I don't usually have a problem in getting Nathan to help me do chores."
"That only makes one of us then. I so much as ask him to even take his feet of the coffee table and I get a comment back. I would probably be a lot more successful with getting him to do what I want if I could bribe him with make outs though," Deb smirked at the teen and winked.
Haley blushed furiously and walked quickly back into the kitchen. She heard Deb laughing behind her as she tried to get the colour of her cheeks under control. Mae looked at her questioningly but Haley smiled at her and brushed the silent question off. The two women heard Deb telling the boys that dinner was finally ready and the older of the two exited the room to take her seat at the large wooden table.
Haley leaned against the counter for a moment and smiled when Nathan came to stand next to her in the same position. "Ready to face the madness?"
"Ready when you are," she said and linked her fingers with his.
Nathan sighed and swung their hands back and forth. "Let's just get this over with."
"Alright," Haley said and dragged his reluctant form into the next room where the four adults had already taken their places. Dan and Royal looked up when the couple entered and both instantly eyed Haley sceptically. Haley felt herself shrink under their gaze. She had only met and spoken to Dan Scott once in passing and had only ever heard stories about how cruel Royal Scott was to his grandson sometimes.
"Well, well, and who is this young lady?" Royal questioned roughly.
Haley smiled softly in greeting. "I'm Haley James, Nathan's girlfriend."
Royal raised his brows and turned his gaze to Nathan. "You never told me you had a girl, Nate."
"You never asked. You were too busy talking basketball stats to care about anything else going on in my life."
"Nathan, don't start," Deb warned from her seat icily.
Nathan rolled his eyes at his mother's reprimand. He pulled out a chair for Haley and tucked it back when she had sat down and he took his place next to her.
"My Nathan, you're quite the gentleman," Mae commented pleased.
Nathan shrugged and took a sip of water while everyone started fixing their plates. "Have a glass of scotch with your dinner, son. That's what real men drink at meals," Royal said and passed him the bottle that was set next to his plate on the table.
Nathan sighed and poured a little bit of amber liquid into his glass. He placed the bottle back down but picked it right back up when he saw his grandfather looking at him expectantly. He poured the liquid until his glass was three quarters full and set the bottle down for the second time. He then joined everyone else in fixing his plate and eating the delicious food.
"So boy, we never did get to finish talking about how your season's going."
"It's fine. If we win the next few games then we're guaranteed to make the playoffs."
"That's what I want to hear," the old man said gruffly. "Now what about this crap I heard from Danny about you collapsing in a game from dehydration?"
"It was nothing," Nathan tried to shrug it off and returned the glare his father was sending him.
"No, it was my grandson being unconditioned. You need to push yourself harder boy and toughen up."
"That is the last thing my son has to do," Deb said strongly. "The last time he felt the need to push himself he almost died."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Nathan didn't collapse because of dehydration. Your son pushed him so hard that he drove Nathan to take performance enhancers to live up to all the expectations and pressure."
As soon as Deb finished speaking all eyes were on Nathan. Haley discretely rubbed his back when he locked eyes with an angry and disappointed stare from Royal. The old man pushed back his chair and shook his head. "No grandson of mine would ever disgrace the game like you did," he spat and walked out of the room.
Clutching his glass of scotch tightly in his hand, Nathan rose from his own seat and stalked off in the opposite direction. Haley watched him worriedly and politely excused herself from her remaining company.
"Are you okay?" she asked timidly when she found him pacing a hole in the floor of his room.
Nathan downed the remaining liquid in his glass but kept it in his firm grasp. "That son of bitch has no right to say I disgraced the game. He drilled my dad the exact same way and that's why my dad does it to me. He's the one that's a disgrace for bullying and belittling like he's better than everyone else."
"Hey," Haley said and coaxed him to look at her with her hand cupping his cheek. "You're right and you've done nothing wrong. You made a mistake because of the pressure you felt you were under and that's all. Your grandpa doesn't get it, so who cares? When have you ever given a damn about what other people's opinions are?"
Nathan breathed out slowly. "I just hate how he treats me the same way my dad always does. I love my grandma and he's the reason I never go visit her because I know he'll always be in my ear and giving me a hard time about basketball."
"I know babe and you don't deserve to be treated like that. But what do you say about going back down there and being the better man and finishing the rest of this dinner. It'll be over before you know it and then we can go back to my house and spend some time together, maybe we'll even make out a bit," Haley said and laughed when Nathan instantly perked up at the prospect of making out with her.
"I guess," he conceded and allowed Haley to lead him back to the dining room. Royal was still noticeably absent but the other three adults all seemed to be continuing on with their conversation like he was never there. "Sorry about storming out," Nathan apologized and looked directly at his grandmother.
"It's okay, dear. My husband can be stubborn sometimes and he's choosing to spend the rest of dinner waiting in the car. Enough about that though, I've been wanting to hear about you and Haley. How long have you two been together?"
Nathan smiled. "About a month and a half."
"Really? The way you two are with each other it seems like it's been a lot longer than that."
He shrugged and poured himself another glass of scotch. He knew he was already pretty buzzed from only finishing the first glass, but this night was already a train wreck, he didn't find a problem in getting a little drunk.
"How did the two of you meet?"
"I used to live in California with my parents but I moved here and I'm living with my aunt, uncle, and cousin now. My cousin Lucas is also Nathan's best friend so he introduced us."
Previously tuning out the boring conversation, Dan's interest peaked at the mention of Haley's parents. He didn't know much about the girl that had seemingly captured his son's heart but he had been wondering for a while why she all of a sudden moved across the county on her own and moved in with her aunt and uncle. "Don't you miss your parents?" he asked slyly.
"Uh, yeah. I miss them a lot actually," Haley responded surprised that Dan had decided to participate in dinner conversation all of a sudden.
"What made you move here then?"
"Dad, it's really none of your business," Nathan said protectively.
"It's fine, Nathan," Haley told him and turned back to Dan. "I moved here because I'm still a minor and Karen and Keith are my closest living relatives according to social services."
"What? Mom and dad don't pay enough attention to you? Or were they slapping you around?" he asked and chuckled softly as he spoke.
"Dan!" Deb admonished sharply. "That's enough."
"What? It was just a question!"
Haley shook her head. "No, my parents weren't slapping me around. They were killed in a car accident."
Dan's chuckles only seemed to increase as he saw how upset the girl that was single handedly going to ruin his son's was becoming. "Awe, that's too bad," he said with mock sincerity. "Was Daddy a little wasted? Lost control of the wheel and wrapped his drunken ass around a tree while your mom screamed from the passenger seat?"
The room fell silent as Mae gasped at what her son had just said to this nice, innocent teenage girl and Deb slammed her hand down on the table to get him to stop talking. Nathan clenched his fist to restrain himself from wiping the vicious look off Dan's face. He looked to his side and saw Haley looking down at her plate, obviously trying to conceal her upset. He grabbed her hand underneath the table and pulled her surprised form up forcefully. "Come on, Hales. We're leaving."
Haley nodded and walked quickly and quietly behind Nathan to his car. He silently drove down the streets to get back to her home when he punched his steering wheel angry. "Why is my family so fucked up? I can't believe my dad said all that."
"Nathan, it's fine, I'm alright. After all the stories I've heard about Dan Scott, does it really surprise you that much?"
"It's not okay, Haley! No one has the right to say things like that about your parents, no one and especially not my fucking father. I should have knocked him out," he said through gritted teeth.
"Seriously Nathan, I'm okay," Haley tried to calm him down again.
"Stop saying that it's okay! It's not okay and when I go back there I'm going to make him wish he never opened his god damn mouth."
Haley looked worriedly at her boyfriend and shook her head. Thinking better of saying anything to try to smooth things over in his agitated state, she peered out the window and hoped to pass the rest of the ride in silence. Her hopes immediately vanished when two blinding lights barrelling towards Nathan's small car caused her to squint. In a fraction of a second, Haley realized exactly what they were in for. "NATHAN, LOOK OUT," she screamed right before the pick-up truck speeding through the red light smashed into the passenger side door.