Authors Note : Hey guys! Super Sorry for the long wait. I've just been enjoying my break from school. But here's Chapter 6! Enjoy and let me know what you think. - Love EC

Chapter 6: New Doors Opened

Haley was sitting on her bed reading a magazine that she borrowed from Brooke. " Hales, It's beautiful out. What are you doing inside? Go to the beach or something. You could use a tan. You look a little pale." Brooke said, honestly. Haley looked up from her magazine. "Gee Brooke, tell me how you really feel." Haley said sarcastically, not at all surprised by Brooke's bluntness. " I went to the pool earlier and now I just want some quiet time. And I was getting it, until you came back." Haley said to Brooke.

They heard a knock on the door and Brooke walked over to answer it. "Hey Nate! How nice to see you. You wanna do me a huge favor and take Haley out somewhere? We're in Florida, and she chooses to sit in a hotel room and read." Brooke scoffed. Nathan laughed a little and Haley rolled her eyes. "Actually Haley, I need to talk to you and you need to leave." Nathan said pointing to Brooke. "You're kicking me out of my room?" Brooke asked, annoyed. "Yea, sound familiar?" Nathan asked and started pushing her out. Then realization washed over Brooke and she remembered kicking Nate out of his room. "Okay, okay. I'm leaving. Please make sure she has fun and don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Brooke directed towards Nathan.

When Brooke was finally, gone Nathan turned to Haley, who was still sitting on the bed. She looked up at him and he smiled. "What?" she questioned. "I win." he said, simply. "You win what?" she asked, still very confused. "I did what you wanted me to do. Now you get to do something for me." he said, still smiling. "How is that winning?" Haley asked, giggling. "Well, you have to do whatever I want you to. That's definitely winning." Nathan said. Haley gulped, suddenly feeling very nervous as to what he had in mind. "What exactly am I doing for you?" she asked, slowly. "I'll let you know. I'm gonna need some time to think of something good." Nathan answered. "Alright well, what did he say?" Haley asked and Nathan gave her a confused look. "Huh?" he asked. "Lucas. You said you did what I wanted, so you must've found out if he likes Brooke." Haley explained. "Ohhh! Yea, he totally likes her. But it's not like we didn't already know this." Nathan said, referring back to when he tried to convince Haley that he was sure they liked each other. "Okay, I admit it. You were right. But I just wanted to make sure. Cause if he didn't then this would've turned out very badly." Haley said.

"Now we need a plan to get them together." Haley said, deep in thought. Nathan couldn't help but notice how good she looked sitting there on the bed with her legs crossed. She had a short, brown skirt on and a cute white tank top. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was biting her lip, trying to think of a plan. All he could think about was walking over and kissing her. He seamed to be thinking this a lot lately. "This is gonna be harder than I thought." Haley said, looking up at Nathan. He snapped back to reality. "What is?" he asked, totally oblivious to what she was saying before. "Getting them together! Are you even listening to me?" Haley questioned. "Why don't we just tell each of them that the other one likes them and then see what happens from there?" Nathan said, obviously. Haley shook her head. "Nah, that's no fun." Haley said. "Well when you think of something, let me know. I gotta go down to the gym." Nathan stated. "You are going to work out during Spring Break?" Haley asked. "Yeah, just cause I'm not playing ball right now doesn't mean I can stop practicing." Nathan said. "Isn't Brooke making the whole cheer team practice over break?" he asked. "She hasn't said anything yet, but I really hope not." Haley said, not liking the idea of being sore for the rest of vacation. "Alright, If you need me I'll be down in the gym." Nathan said. Haley's mind suddenly went to picturing Nathan working out….. with no shirt on. "Haley!" she snapped back to reality and realized she had been staring right at his chest. He noticed and yelled her name. "Yeah? Sorry, I was just, um… thinking of a …plan." Haley stuttered. "Yeah, I bet." Nathan said, with a big smirk on his face, knowing full well why she was staring at him. Haley blushed a deep red. "See you later." he said and then left the room.

Haley got out of the elevator and walked to her room. She had just gotten back from a nice, relaxing, trip to the beach. It was almost 90 degrees outside and the sun was almost blinding. She rented a beach chair and worked on her tan. Haley was a very pale girl and it was hard for her to get color without burning.

She grabbed her cell phone out of her beach bag and flipped it open. It was almost 4 'o clock. Haley remembered that her and Brooke had made dinner plans for later. They were going to walk around the town and look for a restaurant. Neither of them had ever been to that part of Florida and had no idea where anything was. She was excited to get out and explore a little. They hadn't really gotten to leave the hotel much since they got there a couple days ago. Much to Haley's disappointed, Brooke had told her that the cheerleading team was going to get together a couple times and practice so they didn't forget any of the new stuff. They were expected to get up at 7 tomorrow morning and meet downstairs so they could have a "quick" two hour practice and it wouldn't interfere with anyone's plans for the day. 'Cheer captain Brooke' was a lot more strict and aggressive than 'Regular Brooke'. Haley had been finding this out slowly but surely.

When Haley walked into her hotel room, she was met by a very frantic looking, Brooke Davis. "Where the hell were you?" Brooke asked very loudly. "Uh, I was at the beach. Remember, you told me to go there?" Haley said smiling. "This is not funny Haley. I have been calling your cell phone for the past hour. Why weren't you picking up?" she asked. "It must have been on silent. What is the big deal? You do realize that I'm 19 years old, right?" Haley said, getting a little annoyed with mommy Brooke. "The big deal is that I had no idea where you were. You could have been like kidnapped or something. How should I know, when you weren't answering your phone?" Brooke huffed. "Okay Brooke, first of all, you are not my mother. Second, I really love you for caring so much, but I can take care of myself. Okay?" Haley asked. "Okay, I'm sorry. I just get wayyy over protective and then it just gets ugly. I'm sorry." Brooke said, calming down.

"S'okay. Now, is there a reason you needed me so desperately?" Haley asked, throwing her bag on the bed. "Yes !" Brooke practically screamed. Haley gave her a "then tell me" look. "Okay, so you know how we are going to dinner later?" Brooke asked and Haley nodded. "I might have let it slip to Lucas and then … um… invited him and Nathan." Brooke finally got out. Haley looked at her confused. "So, what's the problem?" she asked. "The problem is that he said yes! And now I have to go to dinner with him!" Brooke said with an obvious face. "Okay, well didn't you say Nathan was going too? So, it'll be the four of us. What's wrong with that?" Haley asked. "I don't know. I'm just really nervous. I mean, me and Luke used to hang out all the time, but now that I like him, it changes everything." Brooke said. At that moment, Haley wanted nothing more than to tell Brooke that Lucas liked her to. But she knew she couldn't. Not yet. "It'll be fine. I'll make sure it doesn't get weird or awkward." Haley assured Brooke. "WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR!" Brooke blurted out. Haley just rolled her eyes as Brooke ran over to her suitcase.

She was definitely excited about going to dinner with Nathan. Even if it wasn't just the two of them, it was a start. A start? Of what? She didn't know, but there

was a big piece of her that wanted to.

"Broooke! Come on!" Haley whined. She had finished getting ready 15 minutes ago and was ready to go. To dinner. With Nathan. To say she was scared was an understatement. She had hung out with him before and it was fine. But the idea of throwing a nice Italian restaurant into the mix, made it a little nerve racking. She kept telling herself that Brooke and Lucas were going to be there to and that calmed her down. A little.

"Alright, I'm ready." Brooke said as she stepped out of the bathroom looking flawless. Haley never understood why it took Brooke so long to get ready all the time. She had so much natural beauty. That was one thing the two girls had in common.

"It's about time!" Haley grumbled. They heard a knock on the door and Haley walked over to answer it. She was met by two very good looking Scott boys. "Perfect timing." Haley said.

They all left the hotel and started there walk down the very well lit sidewalk. They had considered taking a cab, but decided against it. They were excited to walk around and explore. They had a found a nearby Italian restaurant online a few hours before and made reservations. Ironically, Nathan and Haley were standing next to each other and so were Brooke and Lucas. Huh? How weird.

When they finally reached their destination, they walked into the nice big Italian restaurant. The walk there had been nice and normal. There was light conversation and it didn't get weird. The only thing Haley could not stop thinking about though, was Nathan's jacket that was wrapped around her shoulders. He had generously offered it to her when he looked over and noticed she was cold. Haley graciously accepted it. It was chilly that night.

They gave the waiter their name and he led them to their table. Can you guess who sat next to each other? Good job ! Nathan and Haley were on one side and Brooke and Lucas on the other.

"So guys how's the basketball team doing this year?" Haley asked, trying to start conversation and not really having another topic. "Haley, you do realize you're a cheerleader right? You like watch all the games?" Brooke asked, laughing. "Yea well, that doesn't mean I pay attention to the scores." Haley said. "We've only lost like one game." Nathan said, informing Haley. "Really? Wow that's awesome." Brooke directed towards Lucas, obviously trying to flirt. Haley and Nathan both noticed this and looked at each other. Haley secretly pulled her phone out from her purse and slipped it under her table. Brooke and Lucas were having a conversation and neither of them noticed. However, Nathan, who was sitting right next to her, did. Haley quickly typed in a few words and sent a text. All of a sudden Nathan's phone started to vibrate. Haley gave him a "pick it up" look. While noticing Brooke and Lucas still talking he took his phone from his pocket and flipped it open. He laughed a little when he noticed it was from Haley. He quickly read it. ' Follow my lead. I have a plan. - HJ' He couldn't figure out if this was going to be a good thing or a bad thing. He closed his phone and looked over at her. She just gave him a little, evil looking smile, and picked up her drink.

After the four of them had ordered and their food finally arrived, Haley spoke up again. "So Brooke, who's that boy you keep talking about. What was his name?" Haley asked normally and Brooke's eyes went wider than you could have ever imagined and she stared right at Haley. "Wh- What are you talking about?" Brooke stuttered. Nathan was trying everything he could not to burst out laughing. This was Haley's plan? Lucas just looked annoyed and a little pissed off. "Oh my gosh, I remember! You've been talking about Lucas for like the past week. You're who she likes now !" Haley said, pretending to remember. Brooke's cheeks were redder than the tomatoes in her salad. She sat there shocked that Haley had just said that. She didn't know what to say. Lucas couldn't help the smile that slowly crept onto his face. "Huh? That's funny. Lucas likes Brooke too! He just will not stop going on about it!" Nathan said. Haley looked at him and mouthed a "thank you". He just nodded as to say "I got your back". Brooke changed her shocked expression to a smile and looked at Lucas. "Oh my goodness. Look at the time ! I gotta go. But this dinner was so nice. Uh, Nathan, do you mind walking me home?" Haley asked and threw the money for her meal on the table. "No, not at all!" Nathan said, and quickly jumped up from the table, putting his money down as well. "Okay, well Brooke, I'll see you later back at the hotel! Have fun, byee!" Haley said and practically dragged Nathan out of the restaurant before either Brooke or Lucas could say anything.

When they were safely outside Haley turned to Nathan and they high fived. "I cannot believe that was your plan!" Nathan said. "Ehh, not my best work but it'll do ." Haley said. They turned toward the direction of the hotel and walked home side by side.

Authors Note: So I feel like this chapter was a little rushed because I really wanted to get it posted. It has been a while since I updated. But, I hope you like it anyway. I know there was a lot of Brucas, but I want to say that this is not going to be a Brucas story. It's a Naley. But, let me know what you thought. Sorry it's so short. - Love EC