Wow, you're really making the rounds huh?" Lucas asked, holding up the magazine.
"Shut up Luke," the voice on the phone replied.
"I'm sorry...I know - but you've gotta learn to let this roll off your back. It comes with the territory."
"Yeah, the territory that you more or less forced me into," Nathan replied. "If I hadn't done that damn commercial none of this would be happening – if I were you, I'd watch my back."
"Aw, c'mon Nate. You can't blame all of this on the commercial – no one made you let your guard down with Lisa, but you did, just for a second and now you can thank the 'Hurricane' for once again spinning your life into a mess. I knew she was trouble but even I didn't see this one coming," Lucas said.
"Thanks Luke, for reminding me of what a mess my life has become, I appreciate it and really didn't know until you were here to enlighten me," Nathan said wryly.
"Alright smart ass," Lucas said. "…have you talked to Haley about it yet?"
"No...I figured you all were just coming in to work," Nathan replied. "I'm coming home tomorrow but I don't want to wait. She needs to know as soon as possible. This isn't the sort of thing I wanted to tell her over the phone...but I guess I really have no choice."
"Hey, why don't I go get her and have her come in and talk to you," Lucas said.
Nathan sighed. Now was as good a time as any - and chances were better that she hadn't heard about it yet. He wanted to be the one to tell her this time.
"Alright..." Lucas put him on hold and stepped out into the office. Melissa and Haley were sleepily beginning the morning's activities.
"Hey, Haley?" Lucas called, walking toward her desk.
Haley looked up, "Good morning Lucas, what's up?"
"Um...can I talk to you in my office for a second?" Lucas asked as quietly as possible.
Haley nodded, and hesitantly followed him back to her office.
This is strange, Haley thought to herself. Lucas shut the door behind her.
"My brother is on the phone and needs to talk to you about something..." Luacs said after a second, sending Haley into a wave of panic.
"Why?? Lucas, what's going on?" she asked.
Lucas nodded, "It's okay, Haley. Nathan just wants to talk to you."
Haley nodded, a knot forming in her throat. "I'm just going down to the conference room to give you some privacy," Lucas said, shutting the door behind him.
Haley took a breath and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Hey sweetheart...how are you doing?" Nathan asked in a bright voice.
"I'm okay...are you alright??" Haley asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine...there's just something I wanted to talk to you about -- and I wanted you to hear it from me first this time."
Oh no, not again, Haley thought.
"Oh, Nathan...what, are there photos again?" Haley asked.
Nathan was taken aback and surprised that she could even immediately guess that. "...well, yes."
Haley fumed in silence, "...ya know, its really hard for me to believe that this time was an accident too!"
"What? No! Not pictures of me and Lisa!" Nathan said. "There are pictures of me and you...from that day shopping with your parents."
Haley wasn't sure whether to be relieved, confused or further alarmed.
Sure, she was glad the pictures were not of him with another woman (namely Lisa), but she certainly didn't want her face splashed across magazines for the countless masses either.
"I just wanted to warn you about it first, that's all," Nathan said. "There are photos of me and you, holding hands and kissing. I'm sorry about all of this..."
"I just don't get why people would sell photos of us to a magazine or who would care? Why would they care?" Haley asked.
"Those are the same questions I had too," Nathan replied. "Unfortunately, it's because of my involvement or I should say, 'my past involvement' with Lisa. The media is having a field day with playing her up to be this well known ingénue who's being deceived by her boyfriend."
"...but you're not her boyfriend," Haley replied.
"Of course not, we know that…but people took those photos of me and her in Italy and jumped to their own conclusions. I'm just sorry that it may cause issues for you...I don't want it to, but it could."
"Well, I hope not...I mean, no one knows who I am," Haley replied.
"Maybe not at the moment...but believe me - they will try to find out - its in their line of work to find out that sort of thing. They are going to work to find out who the 'mystery girl' from their headline is."
"That's what they called me? A 'mystery girl?" Haley asked.
"Yeah, you are the mysterious girl who appears to be stealing Lisa Stone's boyfriend away," Nathan said with dread.
Haley closed her eyes feeling very frustrated and vulnerable. She sighed, "...well the identity of the 'mystery girl' won't be much of a mystery at the firm, huh? We were worried what people would say if they found out about us..."
"Don't even worry about that," Nathan said. "Things at work will be fine, I can promise you that...if anything, Lucas knows all about it and he's just sorry that you're in this position at all."
Haley breathed a sigh of relief.
"We'll get through this, ok?" Nathan said, trying to sound reassuring.
"I know...we will," Haley said.
The two hung up shortly thereafter.
Haley noticed a magazine on Lucas' desk. It must have been the one in question -- Lucas had picked it up en route to work after receiving an angry message from Nathan regarding the photos.
Haley knew she shouldn't but she couldn't resist. She picked up the magazine and flipped through the pages. She had to know what was said about her.
She read the blurb that accompanied the photos of her and Nathan.
–-'Last week, we reported that model Lisa Stone had reconciled with ex-lover Nathan Scott, a prominent San Francisco PR executive. Photos of their rendezvous in Italy further confirmed the reconciliation. That's why we were shocked when we spotted Scott in San Francisco appearing quite cozy with a mystery brunette. They were with another unidentified couple. The question on all of our minds is where was Lisa and what would she think of her man canoodling with another woman?' --
Haley fumed silently. 'Her man canoodling with another woman?!' How ridiculous! They were so completely off base -- it couldn't be further from the truth! The article actually made Haley appear as a part of some 'twisted love triangle' in which she was the conniving mistress!
Haley became so frustrated. She wanted to think that no one could possibly believe such lies...but deep down, she knew that there would be a lot of people questioning every thing she did from now on -- her thoughts, her feelings and more importantly, her motives.