~Hey guys! So I am trying super hard to update this as ofter as I can now! I have so much inspiration for this story now that I have gotten back into the groove of things! I hope you all enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am going to ask you all to please review my chapters, I love constructive criticism or compliments or anything you have to say to me about my chapters! I will say right now that I am sorry for any writing or spelling errors, I am right now without a beta, so this is all just straight from me to you! I am writing this as I go, I find that I get too excited to write a few chapters and then always be ahead of them game, I write one, get excited and just post it. So I hope you all enjoy!~
*Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or the characters, just the AU story line.*
Chapter 5- Secrets and Speculation
It was now Saturday afternoon and their group was sitting in the café talking and hanging out, waiting to each lunch. It had been three days since Nathan and Haley had started their relationship and had also began to subtly act more forward to each other around their friends.
Lucas and Jake had seen it but you could tell were choosing to ignore it or were both just too stubborn to believe it. Brooke and Peyton on the hand were beginning to notice and it was confusing them both more than anything. No one had said anything to Nathan or Haley about it, at least not yet.
They haven't been doing too much to get their friends attention yet, but it was the little things like Nathan subtly putting his hand on Haley's lower back as he walked with her to her classes every morning, that they were starting off with. This usually wouldn't be too out of sorts because Nathan always walked Haley to her classes in the morning, and usually would jokingly put his arm around her but never for more than a few seconds before he put it back to his side. So when this happened both Thursday and Friday mornings out in the open for Brooke to see, she was completely taken aback by the action, even more so when she saw Haley didn't push him away for it.
They were only doing a few other things like sitting a lot closer together at their lunch table in the quad, Haley putting Nathans jersey number on her cheek at last night's basketball game instead of just an 'R' for ravens, and Nathan picking up and carrying Haley's bag before and after school for her, that were the subtle differences that they had started with. It wasn't until this morning when Brookes interest in it all hit a new high and she had been watching them both like a hawk ever since.
When Nathan had shown up at the house this morning to pick up Brooke and Haley to go to the café to meet up with Peyton, Jake, and Lucas who were at the river court early just shooting around, Nathan greeted Haley in a bit of a different way than he had anyone else, in almost forever.
Nathan pulled up the driveway in his black pick-up truck to pick up Brooke and Haley. He had a bit of a giddy feeling in his stomach, he had felt this way each morning since he and Haley had made their relationship official, all he could think about was her and every time he was about to see her he got even more excited.
He quickly straightened out his shorts which were wrinkled from his short drive and walked up the pathway to the front door of the James' huge house. He automatically went for the door knob and turning it to open the door, they had all been friends forever, it was normal to just walk in, it would have been weird if he had knocked.
As he walked in the house he wandered into the kitchen and reached into the fridge and pulled out a Gatorade that he knew Mrs. James kept in there just for Jake, Luke, and himself. He took a huge swig of it before putting the cap back on and he started to wander around the house. It was too quiet for what he was used to when he was in this house. He went through the entire first story of the house not finding anyone, even Mrs. James wasn't home this morning.
He got bored of looking downstairs and decided to go up to the second floor where all of the bedrooms were. He knew that it was pointless to check her parents room, they wouldn't be in there ever, and he avoided all of the empty bedrooms that used to belong to their older siblings, who were all long gone living their life in college or starting their own families. He finally got infront of the door to the room he knew all too well, Haley's room. He smiled to himself as his butterflies returned, he lifted his hand to knock 3 quick knocks before he just turned the knob and walked in.
Seeing Haley laying on her stomach on her bed reading a book with her head phones in made a wide smile spread across his face. He closed the door and took a few short steps towards her before kneeling down and kissing her cheek quickly, something that made her jump before she smiled at who was surprising her with a kiss. He then pulled back and pulled one of her head phones out of her ear before he smiled at her and said, "Hey beautiful."
She smiled brightly at him and just responded with a, "Hey, you!"
At that moment Brooke walked out the bathroom that was adjoined to Haley's bedroom, she had heard Nathan say hey beautiful to her cousin and she was in shock, she didn't know what to think. After Haley just responded with hey you, Brooke decided to let her presence be known.
"Hey you two!" Brooke said in her typical chipper manner.
Nathan stood up from his crouched position beside Haley and said in his most nonchalant way, "Hey, Brooke." Like what he had just said to Haley was normal and no big deal. He had hoped Brooke didn't see him kiss Haley first, he figured Brooke would have flipped on him at first glance if she has seen that.
Haley took out her other head phone and put them inside her book before closing it and sitting up on her bed. She looked up, glancing between Brooke and Nathan, who at the moment looked to be having a small stare down.
She decided it was probably best to speak, break apart whatever they were staring at each other about. "So are we all ready to go? Peyton texted me and said to meet there at 11:30."
Both Nathan and Brooke turned to Haley when she spoke and smiled politely at her.
"Yeah, let me just go get my purse from my room and we can go." Brooke said in her chipper tone again, leaving Haley's room to go to her own, but not before giving Nathan another untrustworthy glance.
Haley laughed at the look Brooke had shot Nathan and he just chuckled under his breath before shaking his head.
"What was that about?" She asked as she stood up and walked to him wrapping her arms around his torso hugging him close to her.
He smiled into her hair as he wrapped his arms around her as well and hugging her back. Whilst still holding her he said, "I think Brooke heard me call you beautiful. I think our plan is working." He smirked down at her as they pulled back from each other.
She grinned up at him and nodded, "I think it is too, Peyton asked me last night after the game why you were carrying my bag again. I think we are doing everything just right."
He continued to smirk down at her, "Well, Haley James, you have a bit of a sneaky evil side to you. It's pretty sexy, you know that?"
She smiled up at him in a slightly seductive way, "Oh baby, you haven't even seen all I have planned up here." She pointed to her head and suggestively raised her eye brows at him.
"Well if that is true, once this is over with, we may have to stay away from our friends, because I'm going to be all over your sexy ass for a while. And I know that is something Luke and Jake will not want to see." He said as he laughed.
She pulled back and slapped his shoulder as she blushed at his words. "Nathan, stop it."
He smiled at her blush, he loved how modest she was. He always had known that she never believed her own beauty, but he saw it, every day, and he was determined that he would spend the rest of his life making sure it was always said and she knew what he saw.
She heard Brookes door close from down the hall and quickly looked up to him, "Let's have some fun with this." She said quietly and winked at him before jumping on her tip toes and kissing his lips in a fast peck before backing up and grabbing her own purse just as Brooke walked back in.
Nathan had a mysterious grin on his face at Haley's words and then turned to Brooke as he just smiled a normal smile at her. "You finally ready, Davis?"
Brooke scoffed at him and then nodded, "Yup! Now we can go, I look perfect!" She said with a happy grin.
Haley just laughed at them and said, "Ok, let's go."
Brooke bounced out of Haley's room and made it down stairs before the other two, she grabbed two waters for herself and Haley. She met them at the front door and handed Haley one of the waters.
Nathan then opened the front door and looked directly at Haley and said, "After you, beautiful." He smiled at her as she laughed to herself and walked out toward his truck. He turned to Brooke then, "You too, Brooke." He said to her as she just gave him a look of surprise at his words, or well word, to Haley.
She walked out with Nathan following behind them both and getting into his truck, Brooke hoping in the back.
The entire ride to the café she had been watching them super closely and she was assured that something else was going on, but the whole ride had been normal, besides Nathan calling Haley beautiful a few more times.
Since arriving to the café Brooke had almost all her attention on watching Nathan and Haley, she knew there was something different, she had suspected so ever since they came back into the theater room Wednesday night. But after Nathans new nick name for her cousin, she was so in the zone of watching what they were doing, that she hadn't even been paying attention for the last 45 minutes they had been at the café. She was finally brought out of her 'Naley' induced haze by Peyton.
"Brooke… Brookie… BROOKE DAVIS!" Peyton snapped her finger in front of Brooke's face the last time which caused Brooke to jump and focus on her.
"What?" she said as she put her full attention on Peyton.
"What is going through that pretty head of yours B. Davis? You have been zoned out almost since you got here. What's up?" Peyton said looking at her friend with concern laced with confusion.
Brooke turned her head over to look at Nathan and Haley who were sitting in a booth talking with Lucas, and then turning back to Peyton.
"I'm not sure, but I think there is something going on with Nathan and Haley. They have been acting so, I don't know, closer than usual, the past few days." Brooke looked at Peyton, expecting a look of shock and then laughter. When that reaction didn't come, she continued, "Are you not going to tell me I'm crazy?" She said as she looked at her best friend expectantly.
Peyton took a deep breath and looked over to the 'couple' in question and then back to Brooke, "For once Brooke, I might actually agree with your crazy theory. Last night I noticed them acting differently to each other. When I asked Jake if he noticed he just laughed it off and told me I was reading into nothing."
"Peyton, he was calling her beautiful all morning. And not in the compliment way, in the nick name type of way. Which, yes is a compliment, but you know what I mean." Brooke said taking a breath.
"Weird…" Peyton said as she trailed off her words, thinking about it. "I guess we just keep an eye out for any more changed. I think they are hiding something from us."
"I am right there with you Blondie, with both of us watching them, we are bound to figure them out!" Brooke said enthusiastically.
"Slow down Brookie, we can't get all secret spy on them like you have been doing all morning, very poorly might I add. We need to just observe from a distance and not let them know we are paying attention."
Brooke thought about it and nodded, "Was I really being that creepy about it?" Brooke asked, changing the subject a little bit, but genuinely concerned because she did not want to look creepy, she looked too good today to be creepy.
Peyton just laughed at her and wrapped her arm around Brooke's shoulders, "Its ok Brookie, I got to you before it became too much of a creep factor."
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After they ate lunch, then went down to the river court and just hung out. The boys playing basketball and the girls gossiping and cheering the boys on.
It was now late in the evening and they had gone their separate ways, Jake and Peyton gone to Peyton's house to just be together. Brooke and Lucas doing the same but to Lucas and Nathans house, those two claiming they needed to talk and figure out what they were doing, which was true, but it was also Brooke and Lucas, meaning they would talk and then have sex, or have sex, talk, and then have sex again, those two were unstoppable. Nathan had claimed he was going to stick around the river court while Haley went home, in reality, about 5 minutes after everyone dispersed, Nathan hoped in his truck and drove to where Haley had walked to and picked her up and they both headed to her house.
The group had decided that since it was a Saturday night, they were going to go Tric and have a fun night out, but that wasn't until 9PM and it was only 6PM now.
As Haley walked around her room trying to find something sexy but not too sexy for Tric tonight, Nathan just sat perched on her bed watching her, as amused as he could be. She seemed to be thinking about this outfit for tonight way too hard and he had had enough.
He stood up from the bed, without her even hearing him, she was too distracted by the top in her hand, he made his way behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her into him and resting his chin against her shoulder.
"Baby, stop fussing with your clothes. No matter what you wear you are going to look sexy." He said in a reassuring voice as he moved his chin so he could kiss her shoulder a few times before putting his chin back in that spot.
"HA! Yeah right Nathan. Your saying that if I went in this," Motioning to her short black cotton shorts, and spaghetti strap tank she was currently wearing, "That I would still look acceptable and sexy?" She voiced in a disgusted tone.
Nathan reached in front of her and took the shirt that was in her grasp, and threw it behind him. He then pulled back from her and turned her around so they were face to face. He had a very serious and stern look upon his face and any retaliation she had for him throwing her shirt disappeared from her lips.
"Haley James, you are the sexiest girl I have ever seen. What you have on is just as sexy as if you were wearing some skin tight black dress. No matter what you wear, or don't wear," he said raising his eye brows a few times as he joked, "You are the sexiest girl in the world. Don't doubt that, Hales."
She smiled up into his eyes, a small blush creeping onto her cheeks as her eyes filled with happy tears at his words. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her as she brought his lips down onto hers.
She kissed him with so much passion and, what was that feeling she had deep inside of her, it couldn't be love, it was too soon. But her mind and heart were both screaming at her that this is what love felt like. She wouldn't tell him that, it was WAY too soon, but it didn't stop her from feeling and thinking it.
He kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her lower back and pulling her flush up against his body as he began to deepen their kiss. He ran his tongue along her lower lip, begging for entrance, something to which she granted easily.
As they continued to kiss he backed them up towards her bed and turned them so he could lay her down, never once breaking their intense make-out. As she laid down, he pushed them up onto the bed a bit better and hovered over her kissing her like it was all he knew. His hand traveled down to her hip and just stayed there, slightly gripping it every time he would hear her moan from their kisses. She gripped tightly onto his shoulders and held him in place.
After what felt like a life time of making out, which was only about 10 or 15 minutes, they broke apart needing to catch their own breaths as remained in their position, just holding onto each other, not wanting to separate.
She opened her eyes and smiled at him. In that moment she realized that she could feel how hard he had gotten from their little make-out session and she turned bright red. She looked down in between them as best she could and then back up to meet his eyes, which were intently looking back into hers.
"I'm so sorry Nathan! I am such a tease. We just spent all that time doing that and you end up with that." She says motioning with her eyes down to where his bulge was through his jeans.
He laughed and pulled back so he was sitting up on the bed but still facing her and as close to her as he could be with their different positions.
"Haley, this," making a hand wave between the two of them, "us, isn't about sex with me. It is about you, and me, and being together."
"You say that, but Nathan, THAT happened." She said as she pointed to where is hard on was.
He laughed again, "Hales, that is normal, I'm a guy. I'm a guy with a gorgeous girlfriend, who I like to make-out with, and look at. This is bound to happen a lot more often. You are not a tease, Hales. Trust me."
She sat up after he said what he did and she tucked her legs under her body and just looked into his eyes. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. So she leaned in and kissed his lips lightly, lingering on them, and enjoying the little electrical shocks she felt from their contact.
"Thank you." She said as she pulled back from their kiss and just smiled at him.
"You have nothing to thank me for, beautiful. It's only the truth." He replied with a genuine smile right back to her. "Now what do you say to a little Mac and Cheese and Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream while we chill till we have to get ready for tonight?" He suggested, knowing she could never turn down Mac and Cheese and Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.
She shot up from the bed and was on her feel in the blink of an eye, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of her room and down to the kitchen. "What are we waiting for?" She ask in a rhetorical way as they both laughed and made their way to enjoy their time together before their group got together to go to Tric.
They may have to be keeping this a secret for right now, but neither minded for the time being. They got to spend time with each other, make-out, be in a relationship, and still mess with their respective friends and family. It was fun and good hearted, they just enjoyed being this way. At least for now they did.
~Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I had so much fun writing it! Please let me know what you all think! Love you all! -Dee~