The Mourning After
Chapter 9
Chapter Summary: Haley goes on a girl's night out.
Story Summary: Just in case you forgot. After Haley returned from tour, Nathan still didn't forgive her. Haley has been trying for months to get him back but decides to give up after the school shooting, where she herself got shot. Both Nathan and Haley are facing their own inner demons and Haley was about to move to her sister's. Nathan intervened and convinced her to move in with him. That's it in a nutshell. Enjoy! And Thank you for all the reviews, please leave some more :). Flashbacks in italics.
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Haley woke up feeling extremely tired and then she panicked as she quickly realized that she was not alone in bed. Her head was resting on someone's chest. She immediately got up and was relieved to find that it was only Nathan. "Nathan!? What the hell?" She asked herself. Nathan woke up as soon as he didn't feel Haley near him. "Morning." He said fluttering his blue eyes.
She got up from the bed, "What the hell is this? Why are you here?" She asked in an angry tone.
Nathan smirked and his head landed on the pillow. "You begged me to stay here, remember?"
Haley looked at herself, she was still wearing the same clothes from last night. Suddenly, it all started coming back to her.
--
24 Hours Ago . . .
"You're like super tutor girl." Brooke commented.
"What're you talking about?" Haley asked confused.
"You're back in school for a few days and already you're more caught up than me. What the hell?"
"Well Stanford is my ticket out of this place and believe me I am getting out as soon as I can."
"Aww Haley, don't talk about that.. you know I'm not yet ready to leave this place."
"Sorry Brooke.. you'll be fine, you'll see."
"Easy for you to say, you know what you want."
"Believe me I'm as confused as everyone else." Haley alluded. Brooke caught on and wondered if it had anything to do with the shooting and what Rachel said to her. But from all accounts Haley seemed fine. Though she did wonder what on earth convinced her to move in with Nathan. She was a bit vague on the details when her and Lucas caught her packing. With everything she went through, she didn't want to pry too much, at least not yet.
"Speaking of confusion, how is it living back with boytoy?"
"Fine." She said nonchalantly.
"You're back under same roof as Nathan, sleeping in his bed no less and all you can give me is fine. Spill."
"There's not much to say. Nathan has kept to his word, he doesn't really bug me. I've spent the past few days catching up on work. It's actually been a lot less stressful than I thought it would be."
"I'll buy that.. for now."
Haley laughed to herself and stood up from the table. "It's time for me to head out .. I'll see you later." Haley gathered her things and started walking through the halls. Lost in her thoughts she almost bumped into someone.
"Haley." Rachel said.
"Oh hey." Haley said back, the last time she had spoken to Rachel was during the shooting.
"It's good to have you back.. how are you?"
"Ok I guess." Haley was a little hesitant, her and Rachel didn't really get along, especially when she tried to take Lucas away from Brooke. She was a little curious as to why Rachel was suddenly acting all nice to her.
"That's good, you look nervous, that's okay, I know I haven't been the most friendly person."
Haley fake coughed.
"Point taken, but I owe you, everyone in that tutor center owes you their lives, who knew what Jimmy what've done if you weren't there, I just wanted to say Thank you."
"You're welcome." This was weird, Haley actually believed she was sincere.
"I also hear you finally moved back in with Nathan, good for you."
"It's not what you think, we're not back together."
"Oh… but you're not sleeping with him?"
"I'm living with him, as in separate bed and separate room." Why did everyone always have to associate living with Nathan with sex.
"Oh so you're not back together with him." Rachel replied coyly. Great, did I just feed my husband to the wolves, Haley thought to herself and she suddenly got a little jealous.
"Rachel.." Haley said a serious tone.
"Relax Haley, I'm not after Nathan.. well not yet." Rachel joked but Haley only glared. "Geez, Haley relax, I was only kidding (maybe? Rachel thought to herself).. and actually that's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.."
"What Nathan?"
"No, relaxing .. having some fun.. I was thinking if you wanted to go out.. girl's night out, what do you say, it'll be fun."
"Thanks for the offer Rachel but I think I'll pass."
"No, I'm serious.. you can even bring Brooke and Peyton.. it'll be my treat.. it's the least I can do.. what do you say?"
"I don't know Rachel."
"Fine, suit yourself.. spend another night with Nathan."
Haley started thinking. Sure, Nathan gave her space but she needed to show him that she was moving on with her life. Rachel isn't exactly her best friend but she knew she could expect a good time.
"Rachel, wait." Haley said.
--
"Hey there sleepy head." Lucas said taking a seat next to Brooke and Peyton who looked like crap. They had their heads on the table and both wearing sun glasses.
"Could you not talk so loud?" Peyton warned.
"Yeah, seriously Luke." Brooke added.
"I guess 'lady's night' was a success?"
They both nodded. The bell rang and both girls got up. Peyton started walking to her class while Brooke sat back down.
"I don't want to go." She pouted.
"Come on, let's go." Lucas ushered her up and they started walking.
"So everything went well?" Lucas asked and Brooke nodded. "And Haley?"
"She seemed like she enjoyed it." Brooke muttered.
--
Last night
Brooke excused herself from the bar to go to the bathroom. Rachel managed to pay off the bouncer and she was treating her, Haley and Peyton out. She ran into Rachel, just as she was getting out of the bathroom.
"Whatever you're up to, just so you know I'm on to you." Brooke warned.
"Relax, I'm not doing anything, I'm just trying to help Haley out."
"By feeding her drinks?!"
"No, by showing her a good time… you remember what I told you.. if Nathan can't show her how to live, then we might as well show her that there's more to life than Nathan Scott." Brooke only glared at her harder. "And besides," Rachel added, "look at her, she seems like she's having fun."
Brooke looked over to Peyton and Haley and they were both talking and laughing. It was actually the first time in a while that Brooke actually saw a real smile from Haley and with that she couldn't get too mad at Rachel.
"So don't worry about it, drinks are on me and none of us is driving tonight.. so just have fun." Rachel said as she joined Peyton and Haley.
--
Haley could only laugh at herself. She just passed Peyton and Brooke and all three of them looked like ass and were wearing sunglasses. She opened her locker and prepared herself for another long day at school. She took her pills from her purse and took two in her mouth. She placed the bottle on her locker as she continued to pack her books.
"Who knew sunglasses were so in this season?" Rachel asked as she stood by Haley's locker.
"After all the drinks you had, I'm surprised you didn't get the memo."
"Well, unlike you girls I can hold my own liquor .. but I really hope that you had fun."
"Despite the massive headache right now, I actually agree with you.. it was more fun than I thought it would be."
Rachel smiled and noticed the prescription pills in her locker. She looked back at Haley, "I'm glad and I'm sure Nathan loved it when we dragged you home and he had to get you in bed." Rachel smirked as she walked away.
Haley rolled her eyes. "We should do it again?" Rachel said as she made her way down the hall. "Maybe." Haley replied back.
Haley could still feel Nathan's arms wrapped around her, her arms wrapped around his torso. The memory brought a smile to her face. The bell rang and Haley grabbed her pills, closed her lockers and made her way to class.
--
Nathan got home early and knew that Haley was still in school tutoring. He went inside the kitchen to get started on dinner. Three days after Haley's night on the town, he still couldn't get the dumb smirk off his face. He thought about that night he shared with Haley. Lucas ribbed him about it:
"Was that you're plan to get Haley back? Drink her into sleeping with you?" He remembered Lucas telling him.
He remembered lying in bed, worried that Haley wasn't home yet and then he heard the front door open.
--
3 nights ago
"What the hell?" Nathan said as he made his way down the stairs, dressed only in his pj bottoms.
Rachel and Brooke were there supporting Haley. He could smell the alcohol on them and looked outside and saw Peyton passed out in the cab.
"We might've drank a little too much." Brooke said, slurring her words.
"Much, being the operative word." Rachel said, who seemed to be the most sober of them all. "Here you go, Nathan, take care of her would you.. I gotta make sure these bitches get home alright."
Haley draped her arm over Nathan's shoulder and he helped Haley get upstairs to his bedroom. Haley was awake but wasn't saying anything that really made sense. He managed to take off her coat and undo her boots.
"There you go Hales, just get some rest and I'll see you in the morning." He said trying to tuck her in. He tried to move away but she grabbed his arm.
"No, Nathan don't leave."
"Haley, it's okay.. I'm only down the hall."
"Stay here." She said getting up and almost stumbling back down.
"Haley, you're drunk and you need to rest."
"I can't go to sleep like this.. please stay with me, please." Haley pouted and rested her head against Nathan's bare chest. He tried to pull away but she stubbornly refused. He got up and Haley started to protest.
"I'm just turning off the lights." He said as he turned them off and jumped into bed with Haley. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his bare chest. "Don't leave me."
"I'm not leaving."
"I can't go to sleep like this."
"Shh.. it's okay, I'll be here.. just sleep okay." She nodded but he saw her try to fight the tiredness that set over her. She eventually drifted to sleep and he held her tight. It was such a long time since he held her like this, he cursed at himself again for what he did, pushing Haley away for all these months. He watched her sleep and held her tight. He was definitely not going to let go this time.
--
Nathan smiled thinking about that night. He had dinner cooking and decided to clean the place up a little bit for Haley. He started going to the bathrooms and the rooms to take out the trash. He reached his room and noticed two empty prescription bottles. He picked them up and noticed the dates were fairly recent. He swallowed a lump in his throat, suddenly not feeling so well.
To Be Continued . . .
Note: Thank you so much for the responses, they were really great. Last chapter had the most reviews since the first chapter so I am really thrilled about that. I had to slow it down a little bit in this chapter, but as you can see the drama continues. So please review, remember they help make writers write faster. I have the next chapter half finished so depending on the feedback, I might be able to update as soon as tomorrow or Tues night.