My plan was to update tomorrow night but I figured I won't have time because I'm going to be running around all day packing and getting things in place before I leave for vacation. Staying true to the procrastinator that I am means that I am completely unprepared to go away for over two weeks. So here it is, my last update until probably around late june. I really appreciate the kind words you guys have left me, I am really happy that you guys like the way that I've chosen to write Nathan and Haley. There is a lot more drama to come! Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill

Chapter 6

Haley woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating on the nightstand next to her bed. She picked it up and groggily read the text message that was sent to her from Lucas.

Hales, had to help my mom out at the café this morning so I can't pick you up. Sorry it's so last minute. See you at lunch.

Haley sighed hoping that Travis was home so he could bring her to school. She was actually kind of excited to go. Immediately she smiled at the thought of Nathan.

Last night had been new for her. She had been vulnerable with Nathan in the cemetery. She liked that she could be real with him. It was weird because she had really just met him less than a month ago but for the first time in a long time she had found someone who just got it. She didn't have to explain why she didn't like getting attached, mostly because he understood. Haley looked over at the clock realizing that she'd have to leave for school in less than an hour. Deciding to get up and start her day Haley pulled the covers off of her and opened the door to her bedroom, heading for the bathroom only to be met by a shirtless blonde guy clad in only a towel entering the room across from hers.

"This is certainly a new change of scenery." She smirked recognizing who it was.

The blonde turned towards her surprised and instantly a smile adorned his face. "Hales."

Haley moved to hug him not phased that only a towel separated her from his naked form. "Clay, I've missed you buddy."

"I've missed you too." He laughed pulled away. He held Haley by her shoulders and let out a whistle. "You're not that little girl that used to follow me and Travis around anymore."

Haley chuckled and shoved his shoulder good-naturedly. "Shut up."

"I'm serious." Clay laughed. "When did Haley James grow up?"

"About the same time you and Travis left for college…there was no one home to stop me."

Clay shook his head. "I was never as bad as your brother."

Haley raised a brow at him. "Right. Speaking of where is my lovely brother?"

"Sleeping." Clay nodded towards him room. "I got here earlier this morning and he was going to show me around town but he looked beat so I told him to rest up."

Haley nodded. "You drive here?"

Clay scoffed. "Haley, I'm not leaving my Comet unprotected in Manhattan."

Haley rolled her eyes. "You boys and your precious cars."

"What do you mean?" Travis laughed.

"I can barely get Travis away from that garage!" She exclaimed. "He probably looked so beat because he was there all night."

"He do that a lot?" Clay questioned.

"Yeah." Haley nodded slowly. "Look Clay, I'm really glad you're here…maybe you could talk to him, I think something is going on." She admitted.

Clay nodded assuringly at Haley. "No problem."

Haley smiled appreciatively at him. "Where you headed to anyway?" Clay questioned.

"I have to get ready for school."

"You need a ride? I'm kinda wired from the drive. I don't really want to sleep and get thrown off schedule." He offered.

"Yeah." Haley replied enthusiastically. "That'd be great, my usual ride bailed on me this morning."

"Well I'm gonna go get changed." He motioned toward his room with a laugh.

"Yeah, I have to go get ready." Haley nodded. "I'll meet you in the kitchen."

Clay nodded and moved to open the door to his guest bedroom. Haley spoke up before he disappeared. "Might wanna think about hitting the gym Evans, you're looking kind of soft."

Clay laughed loudly at her statement. "Quit being such a smartass."

"So you're just gonna make a right on Lee Road and then take that down for a couple of miles." Haley instructed leaning into the seat of Clay's car.

"How you've been Clay?" She questioned with a smile.

"Can't complain." He smiled staring out onto to road in front of him. "New York is great, my job is great…the women are great."

Haley let out a loud laugh. "Never gonna change Evans? Life of booze, women and money treating you too good."

Clay rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I do want to settle down just so you know."

"Oh do you?" Haley questioned sarcastically.

"I do!" He defended. "There's this one girl I'm interested in actually."

"Tell me about her!" Haley smiled enthusiastically.

"Well for one she is completely out of my league."

"What else is new?" Haley teased.

"Funny." He mocked. "Quinn's just different."

"I'm just kidding." Haley chuckled. "I'm happy for you Clay."

"Thanks." Clay nodded. "What about you? Any developments in the love department."

Haley threw her head against the seat rest. "Not you too." She groaned.

"Just a question Baby James. No need to get your panties in a bunch."

Haley rolled my eyes. "My love life, my business."

Clay let out a long whistle. "I'm sensing some hostility."

She chuckled at his bluntness. "So if you have this out of your league girl you're chasing back in New York what brings you to little old Tree Hill."

"Travis." He stated simply. "He was just sounding a lot different in phone calls and texts…figured I'd use needing a vacation as an excuse to check up on my best friend."

Haley smiled appreciatively at him. "Thanks for looking out for him Clay."

Clay nodded. "Of course." Haley had then realized that he had pulled into the high school parking lot parking the car in front of the quad.

"Man, do I miss high school." He commented looking out onto the hoards of teenagers gathering together.

"Why?" Haley asked incredulously.

"Things were a lot simpler back then." He answered.

"Oh, God. It gets worse?" She questioned dramatically. Clay had to let out a chuckle at her demeanor.

"Can't lie to you Hales." He looked back out the front of his car at the mass of kids before chucking and turning back to Haley.

"You sure you don't have a boyfriend?"

"No." Haley replied exasperated. "Why?"

"Because that kid looks like he's trying to kill me with a glare."

Haley looked to where Clay was gesturing to and sure enough there was Nathan being what she was sure he thought of as discreet. To be honest he looked down right pissed. He was in a conversation with Jake but he was obviously looking over at Clay's car every couple of minutes.

Haley raised her brow. She definitely did not peg Nathan as the jealous type. Especially after they had just established that they were just gonna have fun and not define anything last night. Haley shook her head and was about to respond but Clay beat her to it.

"Let me guess. Your love life, your business."

Haley laughed at his statement before nodding. "You're okay finding your way back to the house?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I'm gonna go hang out with Travis, he should be up soon anyway."

"Okay." She smiled and leaned over to give him a tight hug a voice at the back of her mind screaming that Nathan was probably still looking and jumping to conclusions at this very moment. "Thanks for the ride." She opened the door to his car and got out.

"Hales." Clay called out.

She leaned down to the window that was rolled down. "Yeah?"

"If you need me to beat up any teenage boys I'm sure my soft bod could do the job."

She laughed loudly at his joke. "See you later, Clay."

Haley was walking down the mostly deserted hallway to her next period class when she felt a hand pull her into a room.

"What-"

She was cut off however by a pair of lips on hers. She kept her eyes open and was surprised to see Nathan in front of her. Her eyes involuntarily shut and she let out a low moan when his tongue suddenly darted into her mouth. He pulled away slowly and rested his forehead on hers. "Hey." He whispered.

She looked at him confused before putting some space in-between them. "What was that?"

"You didn't like it?" He replied cockily.

"Not the point." She replied unphased. "I thought we established were gonna see how the kissing thing goes." She reminded.

"Why can't it go in this direction?" He questioned. The sound of the bell rang signaling the start of third period.

"Great." Haley groaned.

"Relax." Nathan waved off. "I swiped us late slips from the front office."

"Why?" Haley questioned.

"So we could do this." He whispered moving closer to her. His lips touched hers again but this time the kiss was soft and slow. Haley responded immediately racking her fingernails down his clothed stomach. Her mind won the battle with her body and she had to force herself to pull away.

"Remember what we talked about last night?"

"Yeah." Nathan nodded with a smirk. "We said we were gonna have fun…and this is fun."

She laughed at his cockiness. "Really? Because I think this is you marking your territory."

"What?"

"Oh hop off it Nathan." She replied incredulously. "I know you saw me this morning. What, you were jealous so you decided you needed to show me what I'd be missing with you?"

"I wasn't jealous." He defended.

"Okay." She replied disbelievingly. "This is why I just wanted to have fun." She said gesturing between the two of them.

"And we were having fun a couple of minutes ago." He pointed out.

She sighed and closed her eyes. "He's my brother's best friend…he's in town for a couple of days; Clay's practically my big brother."

"I was not jealous." He replied adamantly.

"Last night was really nice for us." She commented.

"It was." He agreed with a sad smile. They had connected over a common tragedy. He felt connected with Haley; there was no way around that.

She looked around at the abandoned classroom before chuckling to herself at the idiocy of her situation. "We should probably get to class."

Nathan nodded before handing her one of the late slips he had. She took and hesitated before moving and placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you at lunch."

"Where were you?" Travis asked groggily as Clay walked into the kitchen.

"I drove Haley to school." He explained.

"Thanks." Travis nodded.

"You have got quite the handful with Hales, Trav." Clay joked.

"Tell me about it." Travis shook his head. "What do you want to do today?"

"How about you show me that garage of yours?" Clay suggested.

"It's kind of a mess." Travis mumbled.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" Clay laughed. "Do you even remember the landfill formally known as our freshman year dorm?"

Travis laughed. "We had some good times back then."

"Yeah." Clay agreed.

"Life was a lot simpler."

"That's what I was telling Haley." He laughed. "You okay Travis…with everything?" Clay's voice turned from one of a teasing nature to a more serious one with his new question.

Travis sighed deeply running his hand over his face. "Truth?"

Clay nodded softly.

"Not so much."

Clay looked at him understandingly before cocking his head toward the front door. "Come on, we got a lot to talk about."

"Where were you at the beginning of third period?" Peyton immediately questioned Haley once she sat down at what had become her regular lunch table.

"What?" She replied thrown off-guard. She looked across the table to Nathan and she wanted to smack the smirk he was sporting right off his face.

"You came into Mrs. Kelly's class late…usually you're the first one there taking notes."

"Ahh, you've been exposed to tutor-girl." Lucas laughed. "She used to make me take practice SAT's with her online when we were in middle school."

Haley smacked him on the shoulder. "Shut up Eugene." She smirked when Lucas turned a deep shade of red.

"Seriously?" He questioned incredulously.

"You two know way to much about each other." Rachel commented.

"Anyway." Haley replied changing the subject. "I was just caught up in a situation."

"What kind of situation? Are you okay?" Lucas asked concerned.

"Oh, no yeah I'm fine. Something just…came up."

Haley had to stifle a laugh at Nathan who was now coughing up a storm from his spot at the table across from her. She knew her choice of words would catch his attention. She was being bold and she was loving the effect it had on him. Served him right for pulling what he did this morning. She wasn't complaining because kissing him was actually pretty amazing…but she wasn't going to admit that out loud.

"You okay dawg?" Skills questioned.

"No, yeah." Nathan coughed. "Swallowed the wrong way."

The group accepted his excuse and broke off into separate conversations. "Hales, sorry about bailing on you this morning." Lucas apologized.

"No worries." She waved off. "Remember Clay?"

"Travis' best friend?" Lucas recalled. "I met him when I was in California right?"

"Yeah." Haley nodded. "He's in town for a little so he drove me."

"The three of you are welcome to come over for dinner tonight."

"I actually might take you up on that." Haley laughed. "I don't even want to think about the amount of Taco Bell I'd be consuming tonight if I left dinner up to those two."

Lucas laughed. "Scary."

Nathan tried to stay engaged in his conversation with Skills but he couldn't help but overhear Haley and Lucas' conversation. He wished that he hadn't though because now he was sitting there thinking of every possible excuse to get out of the house so he could sneak over to the café to see Haley tonight.

Clay let out a long whistle.

"Just say it." Travis called out.

"Say what?" Clay asked turning to face him.

"That I wasted that business degree I got at Stanford."

Clay laughed. "Why would I say a thing like that?"

"Because as you can see." Travis began gesturing around his near empty garage. "I have no business."

Clay laughed. "I can't really talk…I don't use that Stanford degree so much in my career. I basically wine and dine people and then call out sporting organizations on their shit."

Travis nodded. "But you're happy you came here to Tree Hill right?" Clay questioned.

"Yeah." He answered. "It's good for Haley and I did want to come back here and do this place right by my dad."

"But what about you?" Clay questioned.

"I miss them a lot Clay." Travis shook his head. "This move was for me too…I feel at peace here."

"Really?" Clay laughed. "Because according to Hales you're about the opposite of peaceful."

"I just feel so much pressure." Travis admitted taking a seat on top of the car that sat in the middle of the garage.

"About Haley?" He questioned taking a seat next to him.

"About Haley, about making sure I don't fuck up her life, about wanting to make this garage live up to the memory of my father…"

"That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself." Clay commented.

"On myself?" Travis questioned incredulously. "You think I want to feel like a failure?"

"A failure…Travis I don't -"

"My whole life I've always been Travis the fuck up." He interrupted his friend. "I don't want to be that guy anymore Clay."

Clay nodded softly. "Haley's a got a good head on her shoulders, I know you told me about the partying and pot back in California which was the reason for the move but she seems to be in the better place now. Besides it's not like we didn't do that shit in high school."

"Yeah, but it was different with Haley and you know that." Travis answered back. "We did it for shits and giggles…Haley did it for an escape, you go down that road long enough and it gets dangerous."

"Travis."

"And she was only doing that because of me." He muttered.

"That's not true." Clay shook his head.

"It is true! She started with the parties and the pot because she almost got raped. She almost got raped because of me Clay! Because I was supposed to be watching her that weekend and because I was off being some stupid fucking teenager smoking up with my friends my baby sister almost got raped." He finished emotionally.

"But she didn't." Clay replied unwaveringly.

"But she almost did." Travis whispered.

Clay shook his head before turning to face his best friend. "She got help. Your mom and dad made her go see that therapist and she stopped with the pot, the only reason she started it back up again was because your parents died…you did the right thing by bringing her here Travis. She seems happy, she really does. And you know your parents never blamed you for that so I don't see why you keep trying to place the blame on yourself."

"I'm just scared about everything."

Clay nodded his head feeling bad for his friend. "I'm always here for you, whatever you need."

Travis nodded appreciative of Clay's words.

"At least you have one car in here so you don't need to worry about the garage so much." He patted on the hood that the both of them were seated on top of trying to ease the tension in the room.

Travis let out a chuckle. "This is my car." He shook his head. "My Dad got it when we were still living here, we were gonna fix it up together…it's a vintage car. I'm actually thinking about fixing it up for Haley and giving it to her."

Clay smiled at Travis and clapped a hand over his shoulder. "You're a good brother."

"Nathan!" Karen called out surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Nathan stood awkwardly in the door of his aunt's café while three pairs of eyes stared at him. "My dad had a business meeting tonight." Luckily for Nathan he didn't need to come up with an excuse to escape his father because his father wasn't exactly present most of the time. At least it worked in his favor tonight.

"Oh, Dan didn't say anything to Keith…well come on in." She beckoned him in sending him a warm smile.

Nathan moved into the café. "Hey." Lucas greeted. "I'm actually meeting up with Tim, Skills and Jake on the rivercourt after dinner, you up for a game?"

"But then it would be uneven." Nathan replied confused.

"Yeah, but I don't want Tim on my team so we'll make him sit out."

Nathan laughed with his cousin. "Yeah I'm in." Nathan was glad that whatever was going on with Haley and him wasn't going to affect his relationship with Lucas. He had been pissed at first but he had seemingly gotten over it so that was enough for Nathan. He followed Lucas to where Haley and the two other guys she was with were seated. All of the sudden he got really nervous. All he wanted to do was kiss Haley but the death glares the two guys were giving him were making it pretty hard for him to imagine even talking to her at this point.

"Hey Hales." He greeted.

"Nate." She smiled. "I don't think you've ever met my brother formally. Nathan this is Travis." She gestured toward her brother. "And Travis this is-"

"Skinny dipping boy." He finished with distain in his voice.

Clay burst out laughing at that. "What?" He questioned disbelievingly. "I didn't know you had it in you Baby James."

Haley let out a loud groan. "For the last time we were not skinny dipping."

"And I'd actually prefer Nathan." He cut in. "Not my finest moment, sorry."

Travis seemed unforgiving as he continued staring Nathan down. "Ignore the child." Haley waved off.

"This is Clay." She gestured.

Nathan was relieved when he seemed to take the kinder approach and extended his hand as a greeting. "Death glare boy."

It was Nathan's turn to let out a groan. He thought he was being stealth this morning but apparently not. Despite what he had told Haley he was extremely jealous when he saw her in another guys car this morning. He was still trying to figure out this jealousy on his own but that was the least of his worries. Jealously just meant deeper feelings, something Haley was pretty clear on not wanting a part of.

"Sorry." Nathan replied sheepishly.

"Not getting off to a good start here Nate." Lucas teased from beside him.

"Shut up." Nathan mumbled.

"Dinner's ready guys." Keith called over the group to the set table in the corner of the café.

Clay, Travis and Lucas moved to go to the table leaving Haley and Nathan behind.

"That was rough." He joked.

"Just breathe." She smiled. "His bark is worse than his bite."

"Good to know." He laughed.

"Of course, I've never tested that theory but you're more than welcome to." She sent him a cheeky grin.

"Thanks." He replied sarcastically.

"Anytime. Let's go Scott, dinner awaits."