A lot had happened since Nathan and Haley's sit down talk with Jamie. He'd asked a lot of questions too, about dating and relationships, more than a five year old should, Haley thought. She made a mental note to have a little talk with Skills, Junk, and Fergie about what they were doing or saying while Jamie was with them.
Now that Jamie knew about their relationship, Haley knew it was only a matter of time before he spilled the beans, so she and Nathan told the gang while they were having a game night at TRIC after hours. It felt good to be out in the open with their friends, but they were still keeping things quiet in the public's eye.
Now, it was the 4th of July.
Nathan had invited the whole gang over to his beach house for a barbeque and to watch the fireworks later that night.
"Jamie, honey, stay away from the grill okay?" Haley warned, as she stood on the porch, drink in hand, eying her young son.
"But mom, I'm hanging with the guys," Jamie whined, gesturing to Nathan, Skills, and Mouth, who were all manning the oversized grill mere feet from where Haley was standing.
"Yeah, well the guys won't get a timeout if they don't listen to their moms, now will they?" Haley raised her eyebrow at her son, whose eyes widened, before taking a few big steps backward.
"Good choice," Haley smiled, raising her drink to her lips, locking eyes with Nathan over the rim of her cup, his signature smirk present on his face.
Nathan quietly excused himself from the grill for a minute, walking towards the patio door, "Hey, Hales, do you wanna help me bring out the rest of the burgers?"
Haley followed Nathan into the kitchen, but before she could even react, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the large walk in pantry. Nathan pulled her body flush against his and ran his hands down the sides of her body, his lips finding hers in the fluster. Haley let out a small moan as his tongue teased hers.
Haley felt herself giving into the kiss with every passing second, becoming sure that the only thing keeping her from melting to the ground was Nathan's strong arms wrapped around her waist. She finally managed to pull away to catch her breath, laughing, nervous that someone could come in at any second.
"We can't do this here, right now," Haley smiled, a blush creeping onto her face, as she looked down at her feet.
"We just did," Nathan smiled, his finger lifting her chin to meet his gaze, "Fine then, I'll kiss you later."
He walked out of the pantry and grabbed the plate of burgers from the fridge, before heading back onto the deck.
Haley stood in the pantry, running her hands through her hair, still trying to catch her breath, when a voice made her jump.
"Couldn't wait for the burgers?" Peyton asked, as she looked in on Haley in the pantry, "Seriously Hales, what are you doing in there?"
"Oh I was just looking for um, the um…" Haley stammered, "The ketchup."
"Sure you were," Peyton smiled, "And I guess Nathan was looking for the ketchup too, huh?"
Haley was clearly embarrassed. Their behavior in the pantry was something hormonal teenagers would do.
"Haley James, stop worrying," Peyton shook her head, putting her hands on the brunette's shoulders, "You are allowed to be blissfully happy. It's been a long time. You deserve this."
"It's been a month P Sawyer," Haley sighed, "I can't breathe when I'm around him, and when I'm not around him I want to be. I'm just…"
Peyton cut her off, "In love."
"I think I am. Which is crazy," Haley started, "It's just this secret relationship and he's going back to Charlotte in a few months. This whole thing just feels like a giant mess."
"Haley Bob James," Peyton got serious, "You think too much."
"I can't let myself and Jamie get attached, if there's already an expiration date," Haley worried, "What if it doesn't work out?"
"What if it does?" said Peyton, leading Haley to where the French doors were open onto the deck, "Haley, he's changed since he's been here. And it's because of you. You two are good together, really good. He's great with Jamie. And it doesn't hurt that he's not terrible looking."
This made Haley laugh, calming down finally as she looked out the door, smiling when she saw Nathan helping Jamie carry plates to the picnic table.
After eating and playing around in the pool for a while, it was time for the fireworks, as everyone sat on the beach. Jamie especially eager with anticipation as he sat in between Nathan and Haley on a blanket on the sand.
Later, as they were oohing and ahhing over the beauty of the lights flying in the night sky, Haley noticed that Jamie was starting to doze off, his head leaning against her arm.
"I should get him home, it's getting late," Haley sighed, rubbing her hand through the young boy's hair.
"I'll get him," Nathan said, scooping up Jamie, carefully holding him in one arm as to not wake him.
Haley said her goodbyes to her friends before walking back to her car at Nathan's. He carried Jamie in one arm, holding hands with her with the other, as she leaned her head on his arm.
"It was a good day," Haley smiled, as Nathan got Jamie strapped into his booster seat.
"Yeah, it's nice to actually have real friends," Nathan replied, his arms wrapping around her waist, "Not just people who want to be around me because I'm famous."
"They're crazy, and weird, and a pain in the ass sometimes," Haley remarked, "But they're the best. They've all been a huge blessing in my life."
"And what about me?" Nathan questioned, his blue eyes gazing into her brown eyes.
"Well, you've definitely got the whole pain in the ass thing down," Haley laughed.
"Ouch," Nathan replied, his signature smirk present on his face, before fading fast away, the look in his eye changing as he unwrapped his arms from around her waist, leaning against her car.
"Hey, what's going on?" Haley asked, concern on her face, as she looked at him, "You were kind of quiet during the fireworks."
"I…I kind of overheard you talking to Peyton earlier," Nathan stammered, looking nervous.
"How?" Haley asked.
"I came back to grab some beers for the guys, and I heard you and Peyton talking. I know I shouldn't have listened, but I heard my name and.." Nathan trailed off.
Haley realized what he was saying, "Oh…how much of it did you hear?"
"Pretty much all of it," Nathan continued.
"And…what did you think?" Haley asked nervously.
"It just freaked me out a little bit, because obviously, this whole thing with us means a lot to you," Nathan began, "I just don't want to do anything to hurt you or drive you away. Even though sometimes, I can't help it."
At this point, he finally looked her in the eye again, taking one of her hands in his own, "Just like I can't help that I've fallen in love with you."
Haley looked at him, surprise present in her eyes and on her face, as she had thought he would be completely spooked hearing her say she loved him after a month.
"I love you, Haley," Nathan said, more confidently this time, "And it scares me a little bit, but, there it is."
Haley sighed, "Wow. There it is."
After a few moments of silence between the two, Haley stood on her tiptoes and kissed Nathan, soft and sweet. It was a warm and beautiful kiss, and Nathan felt himself relax into it.
Haley's heart raced as she pulled away from Nathan, "I love you too."
As the two embraced, Haley pulled back, "You know, you still owe me that secret."
"I guess I do," Nathan sighed, taking her hand and leading her to sit on the front of her car, "I'm sure you've heard the rumors about why I left Tree Hill."
"Yeah, gossip travels fast around here," Haley laughed, "I heard one where your dad was in the mafia, one where your mom was running a prostitution ring, and then there was one about how your parents were secret agents."
"Well, my mom hurt her back in a car accident when I was 8. And she got addicted to her prescription painkillers," Nathan explained, "My father gave her an ultimatum after a year: clean up, go to rehab and get sober, or get a divorce and stay out of our lives. She thought he was bluffing, but he wasn't. He filed for divorce and sole custody, and won. We moved to Charlotte, and the rest is history."
"And what about your mom?" Haley asked, "Where is she now?"
"I don't know, and I don't want to know," Nathan answered, "I had supervised visits until I was 12. Then, she convinced a judge that she was clean and sober, and I spent a couple weekends a month with her, and a few weeks in the summer. That lasted a few years, before she met a new guy, and got hooked again. From then on, she was in and out of jail and rehab, always convincing me that she had changed."
Nathan sighed before continuing, "My senior year, she was living in Charlotte, and I'd taken her pill bottle with me to school, to hide it from her. She interrupted my math class, barging in, going through withdrawals. She ordered me to give her pills back. I gave her a choice: it was either the pills or me. She took the pills and stormed out. I haven't seen her since that day."
"Oh Nathan, I'm so sorry," Haley sighed, rubbing his hand with her thumb.
"Not like I did too much better in the dad department though, but that's a story for another night," Nathan smiled, kissing her forehead, "You should get that tired boy home. I'll call you to make sure you got home okay."
In Charlotte, NC…
A nervous assistant held a manila envelope in her hand, walking towards her boss' office. Cautiously knocking on the door, a gruff voice told her to come in. She took a deep breath before opening the door.
"Sorry to interrupt sir, but the information you requested was just delivered," she said.
"Well then give it to me," the man angrily retorted, "I don't have all day."
She held out the envelope, and he all but ripped it out of her hand, before she quickly made her way out of his office.
The man opened the envelope, removing the stack of photos from inside.
He looked through them, pausing to carefully examine a few of them.
"Well, well, well," he sneered, "What do we have here?"
He laid out all the photos onto his desk. They showed Nathan and Haley standing on the deck of the beach house, Nathan and Haley in the pool, a night vision photo of Nathan and Haley kissing by her car, as well as several shots of the two at Karen's, and even a shot of the two in Hayden at the ice cream shop and the park.
He was glad he had paid the private investigator to tail Nathan. Once he saw the news report that Nathan was "helping out" at that small town diner, he knew he had to keep eyes on him. And once the investigator told him that there was a girl, he was furious. All this work to fix his reputation, and Nathan decides to shack up with some gold-digger single mom.
He picked up his phone and dialed an all-too-familiar number.
"I want you to find out everything you can about this Haley James," he said, "Dig deep. I want all the dirt. And I mean EVERYTHING."
One week later…
Nathan and Haley were at TRIC after hours with Brooke, Lucas, Jake, and Peyton. Mouth and Millie had agreed to watch Jamie for the night, allowing Haley and Nathan some alone time. Or, it would have been alone time, had Brooke and Peyton not begged her to join them at TRIC.
The gang was drinking (sans Brooke) and laughing and having a good time, when Nathan's cell phone, which had been buzzing all night with calls from Clay, who he'd been ignoring, went off yet again.
"Maybe you should answer it," Haley offered, "If he keeps calling, it must be important."
Nathan answered the phone, walking away from the group as he talked to Clay.
"Nathan, where the hell have you been?" Clay yelled, "I've been trying to call you for hours."
"Clay, woah, man, I'm sorry," Nathan apologized, "I was out with some friends. What's going on?"
"Look, dude, I don't know who, or how, but someone released photos of you and Haley to the press," Clay explained, "They know, and it's all over the news and it'll for sure be front page news. I'll try to do as much damage control as I can, but you have got to lay low man, alright?"
Nathan felt like his heart had stopped beating for a split second.
"I knew that this was always a possibility, but I was hoping it wouldn't happen like this," Nathan sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I wanted us to be the ones to break the news with an Instagram photo or something."
"Well, it's too late now Nate," Clay replied, "I'll do what I can, but there's something about these pictures. They look like surveillance photos, and when I spoke to the press, they said an anonymous outside source sent them the photos."
Nathan walked back to the group, and immediately noticed that they were all looking at their phones.
Haley looked up from hers, tears brimming in her eyes, "They know. And they're calling me….they're calling me a gold digger."
Nathan wrapped his arms around Haley in a hug, "Clay just told me. He's going to try to do some damage control, and some digging to see who released the photos. I'm so sorry Hales. I didn't want you to have to deal with any of this."
"Hales, it'll be alright," Lucas spoke up, "We're all here for you, both of you."
"Thanks Luke," Haley said, still clinging to Nathan, "But who would do this?"
So, who do you think is the mystery man with the photos of Nathan and Haley?
Sorry if this chapter moved rather quickly, but I had a lot of plot points that needed to be addressed in order to move this story along!
Hope you all enjoyed the seventh chapter of Show Me How to Live!
Leave a review with any suggestions, comments, or ideas you want to see in future chapters!