Shooting on the commercial was underway. This production was on a massive scale compared to the simplicity of most commercials. The Bentley's were sparing no expense in this campaign.

To Nathan's great surprise, Lisa remained completely professional throughout the process. The erratic behavior that Nathan had remembered was replaced with a calm demeanor. She was very respectful to everyone on set and didn't waste any time the way she had before. She had even refrained from making any more comments or lewd suggestions to Nathan.

The two had been working well together, the environment even bordering on pleasant. Nathan was relieved - but still tried to keep his distance from her.

He called Haley every night to see how things were going while he'd been gone - the two would talk about what they had done each day. He felt that they were stronger than ever. She was truly what he'd been missing in his life.

"Yeah, we're holding down the fort at the office," Haley said with a smile.

"I'm sure you are," Nathan replied with a grin of his own. "...I miss you."

"I miss you too," Haley replied. After a minute - "So how is Lisa?" Haley found herself asking.

"Surprisingly enough, she's actually been a decent human being lately," Nathan replied. "No temper tantrums, screaming or crying. She's been very professional and it really hasn't been so bad."

Haley was quiet for a minute, "...that's good."

Nathan knew that he didn't want to talk about Lisa. He didn't want to create any feelings of doubt in Haley's mind. "

I kind of have some good news and some bad news," he said.

"What is it?" Haley asked.

"Well, the bad news is, I can't come home right on the 23rd like I had planned. My mom called and asked me to come to Tree Hill on my way back."

"Oh, okay. It will be good for you to see your mom..." Haley replied.

"...but the good news is, I have a plane ticket with your name on it...that is, if you would want to fly out here and spend a few days with me in Tree Hill?" Nathan asked.

He could sense the disappointment in Haley's voice. "I can't, Nathan. My parents are flying here to visit on the 24th, remember?"

"Oh damn! I forgot about that," Nathan said, sitting down on the bed. "Yeah, we've talked about it --they've been planning this trip for weeks...I had wanted them to meet you when you got back."

"Haley...I'm sorry..." Nathan said. Family obligations had to prevail for both of them.

"No I understand," Haley said after a moment.

"I am very sorry Hales...I completely forgot it was right when I got back."

"It's okay...there will be other times," Haley said.

"Absolutely," Nathan replied. Haley seemed understanding enough but Nathan couldn't shake the feeling that he was disappointing her far more than she was letting on.

~~~

The following day shooting began with a bright and early call time of 5:00AM. Today's schedule included shooting exterior and interior scenes of a café in Italy. Shooting went through the morning hours and soon they were breaking for lunch.

Nathan was sitting at a table behind the building, looking over some paperwork after lunch. Lucas had flown back to San Francisco that morning so Nathan was trying to go over the plans to make sure everything was covered for the week.

"Mind if I join you and get away from the photographers for a bit?" Lisa asked. Nathan shrugged.

Several photographers had been camped out nearby on the street, trying to get glimpses of the much heralded image campaign. Lisa, being a pretty well known model in the States and in Europe, had also drawn the attention of several of the photographers. Lisa had smiled and posed for a few moments before heading around to the back of the building to escape the chaos.

Nathan had gotten to the point in which things at least weren't as strained as they had once been between him and Lisa. They had been forced to remain in one another's presence for the commercial and things had finally gotten a little more comfortable.

"You know, I'm sad that this will be ending so soon," Lisa spoke up after a moment and sat down beside Nathan.

"It's actually been very nice, working and keeping myself busy..." Nathan nodded, still looking over his papers.

"Yeah, it's been a good shoot and the Bentley's seem pretty happy," he finally replied.

"I think I just feel complacent...like I'm lost but I don't even really care," Lisa said, taking a drink from her water bottle. Nathan looked up at her but remained silent.

"The truth is, things in my life are just such a mess...I really screwed things up and work is all I really have now," Lisa continued. "Luckily, the Bentley's are so supportive and have really gone to bat for me."

"They really seem to be taken with you," Nathan commented.

Lisa smiled, "George is an old fraternity buddy of my father's. He had heard about some of the issues I had been having and wanted to help me. There was a period that I wasn't getting any work and they just wanted to help me get my career back on track."

Nathan raised his eyebrows – he had known there would be a catch somewhere to explain the loyalty the Bentley's seemed to have to Lisa."I went back to Thomas...and for what? So he could cheat on me yet again...after telling me how much he loved me and how much he'd changed, what a load of bollocks."

Nathan looked at the ground. Several months ago, it would have killed him to hear Lisa talking about Thomas - now he just felt sorry for her. The girl was very confused and in pain and she just needed someone to listen.

"It's hard for people to change, I suppose," Nathan said.

"That's true...but it is possible...I'd like to think that I've changed...I'm not the crazy out of control girl you used to know," Lisa said, leaning her elbows on her legs.

"Now that's very true," Nathan said with a smile. "You have changed these past couple of months. Good for you."

Lisa gave a small smile, "...yes, but the truth is, if its in someone's nature to act a certain way...chances are, they will revert back to it from time to time...so I suppose it was always in Thomas' nature to be a bloody cheating bastard," Lisa said.

She turned to look at him, "...but not you...you've never been a bastard."

Nathan smirked, "oh trust me, I've had my days of being a bastard and they're more than I care to remember."

"I can't see you that way," Lisa said. "I can't see you being the type to hurt someone on purpose over and over- I don't think its in you. You've always been honest – even when people didn't want to hear the truth."

"Well, I'm not out to intentionally hurt people," Nathan replied. "...but that doesn't mean that I never hurt people....and I certainly disappoint people...it seems like I've been doing it quite a bit here lately."

"The girlfriend?" Lisa asked. Nathan looked at her, nodding but remained silent. Friendly terms or not, he was not discussing his relationship issues with Lisa of all people.

"I know, you probably don't want to tell me," Lisa said, reading his mind. "...but remember when we used to talk about everything? We could come to each other with any problems that we had...I used to be a good friend."

Nathan nodded. He had been able to share things with her, things that he hadn't felt he could tell anyone. They had had a friendship before it turned into a romantic debacle.

At that second, Lisa started to cry softly. Nathan didn't know what to do or how to act. He hated when people cried - his first reaction was to give her some time alone.

Lisa reached over and hugged Nathan. The girl was in tears now and Nathan just simply patted her back. She pulled away at that moment, looked into his eyes and before he could even think about what was happening, she kissed him. Nathan kissed her for a split second - feeling himself falling back into old habits. It was then that Haley flashed across his mind.

He jerked away from Lisa, "Stop! I can't do this...why? Why would you do that?"

"I'm sorry...its just something that I've been wanting to do since I saw you again...I know you feel it too."

Nathan looked at her with cold eyes. "What is this? You were out here pretending to be all depressed about Thomas...and what? Since things didn't go as planned with him, you were hoping that we could just pick up right where we left off, is that it?"

Lisa just looked at him, the tears still fresh on her cheeks.

"Well, its not gonna happen," Nathan said, standing up. "It's never going to happen again...I was just sitting here, trying to be a decent person and listen to you...you're so fu&^%$# manipulative!"

He stormed up the steps and into the office, leaving Lisa alone.

~~~

Five Days Later
Brooke and Haley had gone to lunch together near the firm and were perusing the newsstand.

"I need some reading material while I wait for my investors so I won't be climbing the walls until they get here," Brooke explained.

They were looking through the various magazines. Brooke grabbed one of the celebrity magazines - her guilty pleasure- and flipped the pages while Haley was looking at a fitness magazine. Haley looked over at her, shook her head and laughed. She continued to look at her own magazine.

Brooke casually flipped through the pages when one glossy photo caught her eye. She looked at the entire page and her eyes widened. "Oh my god," she said to herself, quickly and quietly putting the magazine back.

11pm – Italy time

"Go away!" Nathan yelled, punching his pillow and trying to fall asleep again. His alarm hadn't even sounded and already someone was banging on his door. They were planning a night shoot 1am to 7am and Nathan was trying to catch a nap beforehand but it didn't seem to be working out too well. He'd been trying to call Haley all day since he hadn't been able to talk with her the past day – the time difference and their work schedules were causing definite issues with their communication.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Nathan jumped out of bed to walk over to the hotel door.

"Lisa, I'm sick of your sh&*!" he yelled throwing open the door.

Lucas was standing there.

"Lucas – what are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming back until next week. What's going on?" Nathan asked, still a perturbed, but glad to see Lucas standing there as opposed to Lisa.

"Man, we've got problems," Lucas said. "...let me rephrase that, YOU have problems."

"What? What is it?" Nathan asked, rubbing his eyes and sitting back down on the bed.

Lucas threw a magazine at him. "Look at that, just came out on news stands."

"Oh Lucas, calm the hell down...its a tabloid...who cares? Why is this my problem? Nobody reads that crap anyway," Nathan said.

"Turn to page 23," Lucas said. "You won't have to read anything."

Nathan looked at him, confused and turned to that page.

There it was, in full color, plastered on almost half the page: a photo of Lisa and Nathan, kissing behind the building in Italy from a few days prior. The headline read: 'Lisa and PR Exec heat up – romantic shoot in Italy turns into more'

"What the f**k is this?!" Nathan yelled.

"Yeah, you tell me!" Lucas yelled. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Listen, its not how it looks...not by a long shot!" Nathan said, fully awake and alert now.

"Well, Nathan, pictures don't lie, do they?" Lucas asked, holding up the photo. Nathan couldn't even look at the picture- it made him sick.

"She kissed me...in that second, she kissed me outside yesterday and I pulled away from her, that's it."

Lucas rolled his eyes, "Okay Nathan, that's fine...but that's not going to explain it all away...especially to the gossip hounds of the world who will pick up on the fact that the two of you were together before."

"Lucas, who cares? I am not famous. Why should this matter?" Nathan asked.

"You may not be famous but a lot of people know Lisa. That's why it made the magazine in the first place! Someone out there at least has an idea who you are from the headline – PR Exec - This just doesn't look very good for us – our company is based on promoting a certain image! We will be held to the same standard to project a professional image, not be off 'hooking up' with our clients…and something tells me your girlfriend may not be as understanding about this either."

"Oh my god," Nathan said, putting his head in his hands. He jumped over to the phone.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked.

"I'm going to call Haley, I have to catch her before she sees that magazine," Nathan said.

"What are you going to do? Demand that she not look at US Weekly? That's just perfect, go on, act like a psycho."

Nathan gave Lucas a cold glare, "No....I was going to explain what happened...so if she's seen it, she'll know the truth."

"Do you actually think she'll believe that?" Lucas asked.

"I hope so...because its the truth," Nathan said.

"Don't be so naive," Lucas said.

"What the hell does that mean?" Nathan asked.

"The truth is, Lisa couldn't have gotten that close unless you let her...and that's what Haley is going to see...."

"Lucas, that's not fair...I was just sitting out there, listening to her talk about Thomas and then before I know it, she kissed me. That's it...that picture doesn't show anything before or after."

"Exactly...that's why it may be a little difficult for some people to handle," Lucas said.

"So what do I do?" Nathan asked.

Lucas sighed, "I don't know if there's really anything you can do, bro."