"Oh my gosh Nathan!" Haley gasped as she looked at the sight before her. Nathan was struggling to breathe, and was covered in blood; his face was bruised and barely recognisable. He was holding onto his ribs and trying to stay awake. Haley threw her bag on the floor and instantly ran to his side. "Nathan, Nathan, what happened?" She held his face in her hands, the light was flickering from the street lamp which he was propped up against, his eyes were closed and face was full of blood, he let out an occasional moan, but never said anything.
"Nathan! NATHAN!" Haley said a little louder slapping him lightly on his face, "Talk to me, stay awake...Nathan!" Haley had no idea what to do, she'd seen stuff like this in the movies but never actually thought it happened, well she never actually thought she'd be put in such a position.
Nathan was slowly sliding off the pole and his head fell into Haley's lap, "No, Nathan, I need you to stay awake, please." Haley pleaded, her hands were covered in his blood, "I need to get help, stay here, well obviously you're not going to go anywhere, but I should get help, yeah, help." Haley was about to stand up when Nathan's hand landed on her arm.
"Don't leave me," he whispered and fell unconscious.
"NO! Nathan, you're not dying on me, I have a lot to get you back for, come on stay with me," Haley stated on the verge of tears. She quickly took out her phone. "Hi, I need an ambulance straight away, please....erm I don't know what happened, my friend, no some guy I know, No I don't know what he is to me... he's been injured... I told you I don't know what happened he's not talking... ther...there's a lot of blood, I think his ribs are broken... I DON'T KNOW I'M NOT A DOCTOR..." Haley screamed panicking, "Just hurry please... we're behind the college stadium... the little alley behind... no... No-one else is here... what do I do... yes I feel a pulse I think... ok... please hurry." Haley sat holding Nathan as he lay in her lap. "Nathan stay awake, tell me what's your favourite colour or your favourite food," Haley was desperately trying to keep him awake, as much as she disliked the guy she would never want him dead, especially in her lap.
About five minutes later, Haley could hear sirens, "You're going to be o.k., I know It.!"
The paramedics rushed to Nathan with a stretcher, "How long has he been unconscious?" Asked one of the paramedics.
"I don't know about 5 minutes I think." Haley stood up as they placed him on the stretcher, her clothes and hands were covered in his blood.
"Are you coming with us?" Asked the other paramedic, Haley shook her head slowly, "Right don't worry Miss; we'll do everything we can to save your boyfriend." And with that they shut the doors and sped off.
Haley stood staring after as she whispered "He's not my boyfriend."
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Haley slowly walked back to her room; flashbacks of Nathan's face kept appearing in her mind. She got to her room and was grateful that Brooke was not home, she couldn't deal with all the questions right now. She headed straight for the shower and washed the blood off of her, she could still smell it even after she'd washed herself thoroughly.
She came out and saw Brooke enter with some guy stuck to her like glue, "Haley," Brooke said pulling away from the guy and catching her breath. "I didn't think you'd be home."
Haley looked at Brooke and burst into tears and headed straight for her room. Brooke stared after her "I think you should go." She told the guy who was with her.
"Bu..."
"I'll call you." She added pushing him out of the door. Brooke gained her composure and knocked on Haley's door. "Haley can I come in?"
There was no answer, she tried again but there was still no answer, she took a deep breath and knocked again. "Haley, you best be decent, coz I'm coming in..." Brooke opened the door and saw Haley sobbing hysterically into her pillow.
"Oh my gosh, hunnie what happened?" Brooke sat next to Haley on the bed and stroked her hair.
Haley sat up and tried to speak but burst out into tears again, "Shh, shhh it's ok," Brooke took her into her arms, "It's gonna be O.k., sweetie it's ok, I'm here."
Haley cried for a good 10 minutes and withdrew herself from Brooke, "I just need some time alone." She managed.
"You don't want to talk about it?" Brooke asked cocking her head to one side and sticking out her bottom lip. Haley shook her head and sniffed. "Well you know where I am if you do, o.k. I'll be right outside." Brooke kissed Haley on the forehead and headed out of the room
Haley couldn't sleep all night, the scene with Nathan was replaying in her mind all night. She decided to get out of bed at 6 and take another shower. She paced the room up and down contemplating whether to go visit him or not.
After an hour of arguing with herself she'd decided to go visit him, it was 8'oclock in the morning, she thought he might still be asleep so she wouldn't have to talk to him. She decided to take a box of chocolates and some oranges as she didn't really see Nathan as the flower kind of guy.
She grabbed the bus to the hospital and asked the receptionist for his room, the lady told her and Haley followed the instructions given to her.
Room 23a she thought to herself looking up at the door in front of her, she took a deep breath and plastered a smile across her face. She lightly knocked and stuck her head round the door, "Hey, wow they really did clean you up well." She pushed the door open and stood in the doorway unsure about entering. Nathan's face instantly broke out into a smile and he tried to sit up as he saw her.
"Hey, come on in." He managed softly as he winced with pain whilst sitting up.
"Hope you don't mind I'm a little early, I thought I'd beat the Nathan flan club hour, but looks like they already beat me to it." She laughed looking at the room covered in balloons, flowers and gifts.
Nathan chuckled a little, "Yeah, they must have come in when I was asleep; you're the first person I've since I've been here actually." He paused as they both looked away awkwardly, "These drugs keep you knocked out for hours, I can't remember the last time I slept so good." He said trying to break the awkwardness.
"Must find out what it is?" Haley joked.
"Hey why are you standing come take a seat." He beckoned towards the chair next to him.
"Oh, yeah of course, I bought you chocolates and oranges, I was going to bring flowers but then I didn't think you'd appreciate them, seeing as though your all sporty an all, you know like a Ray Zahab, the manly man."
"Who?"
"You know Ray Zahab the Canadian ultra marathon runner, personal trainer and motivational speaker. He lives in Chelsea, Quebec and agreed to work with the H2O Africa project and be part of the first team of runners to cross the Sahara from coast to coast..." Haley paused and noticed the stunned, blank look on Nathan's face, "I read a lot." She added innocently averting her gaze and wanting to quickly change the subject.
"And talk a lot." He added.
"So does it hurt?" She asked ignoring his comment and sucking in her bottom lip as she pulled her chair closer to Nathan's bed.
"Well yeah, broken ribs, fractured leg and bruises all over, isn't exactly going to be a walk in the park now is it?"
Haley looked around the room uncomfortably, "Stupid question huh?"
"No, I'm sorry, I should be thanking you," His voice softened "You saved my life Haley."
"Yeah, I guess that makes me a lifesaver, ha-ha, funny you know in movies..." She looked at Nathan, "Sorry I'm doing it again aren't I?"
Nathan nodded and smiled at her whilst she blushed and looked down at her feet, sucking in her bottom lip again.
"So... do I get to know what happened?"
"I was waiting for that question." Nathan readjusted his position trying to find a more comfortable way to sit, but was hopeless.
"You don't have to you know."
Nathan looked at his hands and thought hard, "I just... just got mixed up with the wrong people."
"Drugs?"
"No, no nothing like that, it was a girl."
Haley's mouth fell open "Whoa, she kicked your ass to the curb dude, she must have been one strong girly..."
Nathan waited for her to finish "Done?"
"Sorry, carry on."
"Well, let's just say her 5 brothers took care of me, I turned her down and she couldn't take it, I told her from the start that I wasn't in it for the long term, then she told her brothers I got her pregnant, which was a lie, then they got mad and beat the shit out of me."
Haley looked down at her hands not knowing what to say, "I know what you're thinking," he said breaking the silence "I deserved it..."
Haley opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, Nathan forced out a laugh "Yeah, the jackass finally got what he deserved huh?"
Haley wished she'd never asked the question and tried to change the subject
"So some-one must love you loads because, the amount of red roses and heart shape chocolate boxes you have in that corner, Whoa, you could open shop, " she laughed, "Was it mommy?"
Nathan glared at her and chuckled, which made him wince in pain as his ribs started to hurt.
"I'm sorry." Haley saw him screw up his face in pain, "I'll try not to make you laugh."
Nathan smiled at her sweetness, "No actually, it wasn't my mom, it was my erm girlfriend."
"Oh. Wow," Haley tried to think of something to say as the moment was becoming more and more awkward. "But..."
"Yeah, she's not from here," Nathan looked down ashamed.
"Oh!"
"Yeah, I know."
This just keeps on getting worse and worse Haley thought. She looked up and noticed Nathan was trying to sort his pillows out but couldn't move much as the pain was too much for him to take.
"Hey let me get that for you." Haley stood up and put her arms either side of Nathan, not realising how close she was to him as she tried to lift his pillows. Nathan watched her the whole time, but she was too busy to notice, he stared at her pretty pink lips and felt the urge to kiss them. Shit he thought, he could smell her sweet scent, his heart was racing now, he didn't know what was happening to him, he started feeling hotter but shook his head hoping he could shake the thoughts off as well.
Haley realised that she could fell his breath on her cheek, his lips were parted and he was staring right into her eyes, she looked up into his beautiful sparkling blue eyes and was locked in his gaze.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Nathan whispered.
Haley didn't move back, she felt as if she couldn't, she didn't want to, her heart was beating a thousand beats per minute, Nathan moved closer to Haley, she found herself being drawn to him.
"WHAT ON EATH?" Said an annoyingly high pitched voice from the door, Haley jumped back.
"It's not what it looks like." Haley added in her defense.
"It looked like you were trying to kiss my boyfriend."
Haley's eyes widened, she looked at Nathan, who sat there staring back at her not knowing what to say.
"I was just..."
"She was sorting my pillow."
"Yeah pillow, erm he was in pain and erm I moved forward..."
"Coz I couldn't turn backwards...."
"Yeah pillow."
"Yeah pillow." Nathan repeated.
"Right." Added the redhead, "So who are you?" She asked looking Haley up and down.
"Ha...Haley." She smiled.
"She's the girl that saved my life." Nathan added.
"Yeah, super girl that's me, well I should go I've outstayed my welcome by a mile and should go erm and try not to get killed whilst I'm gone I can't save your life everyday," Haley joked, realising she had started to ramble "Right I was going." She was walked towards the door as Rachel watched her every move.
"I guess I have you to thank then." Rachel said stepping aside from the door and folding her arms.
"It was nothing."
"Hmm." Rachel raised her eyebrow at Haley and rolled her eyes.
Haley got to the door and realised she was still holding the bag she bought for Nathan "Oh I totally forgot, your oranges and chocolates." She quickly walked back and placed them on his bedside table. Rachel was silently watching her every move. "Thanks." Nathan smiled.
"Bye," Haley said and headed straight for the door leaving Rachel glaring at Nathan.
"What?" He asked innocently as Haley had left and Rachel was still staring at him.
Rachel came and sat next to Nathan, she took his hand in hers, "I have some great news."
"What?" Nathan said this time not so happily.
"I'm transferring to Duke."
Nathan's face fell instantly. "That's great." He lied.
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