It's been a month since the kissing Peyton fight and Nathan feels like things are close to normal with Haley. She never kicked him out of the bedroom because Haley was too nice to make someone sleep on the couch but she didn't talk to him for a week. Not a single word came out of her mouth when he was around. During the second week she budged because Nathan practically got on his knees for her to say something to him. And after that she seemed more accepting towards the situation. Without her noticing she found herself reading his text messages and telling him to call her whenever he got to certain destinations. It was a simple factor of not trusting him anymore. Nathan understood completely why she was like this but it hurt him knowing that she didn't have a single ounce of trust for him anymore.

"I'll be home right after the after party" Nathan explained to Haley.

"Why do you even have to go to an after party? Yeah you won a basketball game, woopdy-doo" she said upset with his plans.

"Because I'm Captain, if I don't go the guys won't respect me."

"Whatever, go have fun at your brothel" she said walking away from him.

He grabbed her arm and made her turn around.

"You've got to trust me now" he pleaded.

"I can't." she said simply.

"Please, just give me this chance to prove to you how loyal I am to you."

"Then don't go." She quickly replied.

"Hales…"

"I admit, I've changed after that fight we had, but… you're to blame"

"I know. And I'm sorry."

"It's whatever Nathan, I can't baby you and make you do things. I'm just exhausted with this relationship. Having to watch you like a hawk"

"Exhausted…?" he said as his heart broke.

"I want to break up"

"Haley."

"I'm serious Nate, I can't do this anymore. My heart hurts too much when I'm around you."

"We live together Hales, you're just sick of me, I'll give you space, just please don't end it like this." He said as he hugged her from behind.

"I'm sorry. It's over. It's been over since the night you kissed Peyton" she said as she forced his arms off of her and ran off.

"Natey?"

"Yeah Hales?"

"Do you think we'll always be friends?"

"Yes, always and forever" he answered.

"me too" she grinned with her smile missing some teeth.

"I promise I will never hurt you" he reassured her.

"Really?"

"Of course."

"You can't break promises. Okay Natey?" she said as she stuck out her pinky.

"Promise" then they intertwined pinkies.

This memory of when they were ten ran rampant through his thoughts. He promised to never hurt her and there he is, facing the fact that she wants to end things because of how sick she is of not finding it in her heart to trust him. What was he going to do? Get on his knees and beg her again? Just try and accept that fact she hates him and she doesn't want him? Or fight for this girl that he's loved since he was born and get her to trust him again? He knew which choice was the right one but seeing how angry she was at him made things much more difficult.

"So Haley broke up with you?" Lucas asked confused.

"Yeah man, she hates me now."

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you Nate." He said trying to comfort the depressed Nathan.

"Oh she does, she practically told me she stopped loving me the night I kissed Peyton"

"Nathan, you're overreacting. I know Haley did not say that!" Lucas accused.

"Ok, well those weren't her exact words but she's real sick of my shit Luke. I want her back."

"Just give her time she needs space."

"I've given her time, that was a month ago Luke!"

Lucas paused for a while and his thoughts seemed really deep.

"Do you remember when you wanted me and Haley to be together?"

"Yeah…?" He answered confused.

"I was crazy about Haley when we were younger. But I always knew that if she had to choose between me and you, she'd choose you hands down"

Nathan just continued to listen.

"Nate, you're one of the luckiest guys in the world. Haley chose you for a reason. She's a little disappointed with some of your decisions but she loves you Nate."

"But Luke we're older now. Things are different, we aren't little kids anymore."

"She hung out with me a couple days before that Marine ball you went to. She was worried that she wasn't pleasing you."

"What? Why would she think that?!" Nathan replied flabbergasted.

"Do you honestly want to know the answer to that question?" Lucas warned.

"Yes, now tell me Luke."

"Well… because she hasn't had sex with you. She was scared that you were going to get sick of her if she didn't let you have… well you know, sex" Lucas said awkwardly.

"She talked to you about this? Nathan said embarrassed.

"Kinda, yeah… she was really worried. I tried to reassure her that you weren't that kind of guy when it came to her but you kinda proved her wrong on that one Nate…"

"Not helping Luke… I feel terrible. The Peyton thing was so goddam stupid of me but it's not like I can take it back! So I have no idea what to do now!" he said practically yelling.

"She just needs to know that she can trust you again Nate, so just miss the after party and spend time with her."

"I can't, there's no point. She refuses to go."

"And why is that?"

"Because she doesn't want to."

"Haley loves stuff like this, what do you mean she doesn't want to?"

"That's how mad she is at me…

"Uh-oh… well I'll think of something Nate, you know how much I love you two together. But we gotta get to practice before Whitey kills us."

"Thanks Luke."

At the game Haley was sitting in her usual spot. Bleacher closest to the entrance second row, on the edge. That's why when Nathan looked for her it was so easy to spot her.

"She came to the game at least" Nathan said to Lucas as they were on the court warming up.

"She's a sucker for basketball games Nate" Lucas teased.

"Does she look mad to you?" Nathan asked as he made the free throw.

"Hm.. she looks calm." Lucas says as he stares at Haley watching over the other people inside the gym.

"Well that's good. Does it look like she cried?"

"No. she looks tear-free"

"Ok, good." Nathan said as he finally looked over her way. He wanted to run over to her so bad and get a good luck kiss from her like she usually did, but he knew that was not possible. To his surprise she gave him a faint smile and mouthed out a 'good luck' to him and he smiled at the gesture. Haley was too sweet for her own good.

"I heard Haley and Nathan broke up" Brooke said to Peyton as they were cheering.

"Really? Why?" Peyton asked curious.

"Lucas won't tell me but I think it's about Haley being a virgin" Brooke said nosily.

"Haha, I bet it is. Nathan loves sex" Peyton stated.

Then suddenly the two girls get interrupted by one of the players, Jake.

"Maybe you two should stop talking about Haley and Nathan and cheer like you're supposed to do" he said snottily.

"Well excuseeeeee me" Brooke retorted.

"Don't try and act all innocent blonde-y you were the one who was talking more smack" he said bluntly.

"No one needs to hear your criticism Jake." Peyton said as she crossed her arms.

"If you smiled once in a while a guy might actually fall in love with you" he said smirking as he ran back over to the court.

"UGH. He has nerve to say that to me" Peyton said annoyed and flattered at the same time.

As soon as the game ended Haley tried to dash out of the school as quick as possible, but what she didn't know was that Nathan had his eyes on her almost the whole game. So when she tried to make her run for the exit he knew to follow.

"Hales! Wait up!" he said as he paced behind her.

She quickly turned to face him, and her beauty seemed…different.

"Don't you have a party to attend to?" she said meanly.

"Come on…" he said absolutely defeated.

"Don't let me hold you back, go." She quickly replied to his defeated tone.

"Can you come with me at least?"

"I really can't Nate… I'll just see you at home."

He stood in the quiet hallway watching his everything walking away from him.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted out to her.

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry for being so stupid. I'm sorry for not realizing that if I lose you, I have nothing."

"You need to know that I'm never giving up on you. That I'll love and cherish you until the day we die."

"Stop it Nathan, please just stop!" she cried practically breaking from his words.

"Don't you understand?!" she yelled.

"What, what don't I understand?!" he said as he grabbed her by her wrists.

"You broke me…" she said in a murmur.

"Things will never change because I'm so broken inside after what you did to me Nathan. When was the last time I kissed you? Hugged you? Told you that I missed you? Tell me…"

"It doesn't matter, if you don't hug or kiss or tell me those things because I know deep down you still love me Haley! And you can't say it because you're mad but I know you love me like I love you." He said as his heart pounded faster and faster for her.

"You're expecting too much from me Nathan" she cried.

"Haley, please j-just gi—" then he fainted.

"NATHAN!" Haley screamed as she saw his big figure hit the ground.

His head rested on her lap and Haley had no idea what to do.

"Someone help me!" she shouted as loud as possible.

Fortunately, Lucas runs through the double doors and sees his best friends in distress.

"What happened?!" he said shocked.

"W-we w-were fighting and then he just passed out Luke, you've gotta help him!" she said panicking from the sight of the unconscious Nathan.

Lucas felt for a pulse and his heart dropped when he couldn't feel one.

"Haley, please stay calm and call 911"

"What?!"

"Hales… you've got to call 911. Nathan's heart stopped." He said as calm as possible.

"Oh my god," she said as she cried harder losing her normal mentality.

Lucas searched desperately through his pockets and finally came across the needed cell phone and dialed as quickly as possible.

"He's gonna live, right Luke?" Haley cried as they were waiting in the waiting room.

"I can't answer that for you Hales…"

"No, don't say stuff like that! Nathan's going to live!" she sobbed.

"Oh Hales…" he said as he rubbed her back.

"N-Nathan's heart stopped because of me" she cried.

"If he dies it's all my fault" she cried even harder into his chest.

Suddenly Lydia and Jimmy come out of the elevator to see their baby girl crying.

"Haley…" Jimmy said as he replaced Lucas' spot in the waiting room.

"Go get some sleep sweetie" Lydia told Lucas. He simply nodded and walked towards the elevator.

"Daddy, Nathan needs to live. I-I c-can't live without him" she admitted to her father.

"I know Hales, I know" he said as he watched her cry.

"You need to take it easy Hales." Lydia added.

"How can I take it easy when I know that my best friend is inside of the OR, awaiting his death?!"

Lydia could tell how emotional Haley was from the way she answered.

"Haley Bob, he'll be fine. He's Nate the Great, he can get through anything" she said to make her daughter feel better.

"You mean that?" she said as she sucked in her tears.

"With all my heart."

The next morning

"He's still in an unconscious state and we can't decipher how things will go from here, so all we can do is wait" the doctor broke the news to the James family.

Haley's eyes teared from the heart-wrenching words and she could barely keep ahold of herself.

"I'll wait in here for when he wakes" Haley told her parents.

"Hales, he may not wake up for hours"

"I don't care, I'm not leaving his side"

"You need sleep and food honey." Jimmy tried to convince her.

"No, I need Nathan" she said in a brat-like tone.

"Just leave the room if you're getting sick of watching over him!" Haley shouted at her parents.

They looked at each other knowing that Haley was in a difficult spot and didn't want to say anything more that would tick her off.

"Fine. We're going to get some things from home, stay with Nate we'll be back"

She just nodded and went closer to his bed as her parents exited the room.

"Nathan, it's Haley" she said as she grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers.

"I'm sorry for being so stupid and not telling you I love you" she said as tears starting falling.

"And baby, I need you to wake up so you can hear the words yourself" she said as she tightened her grip on his hand.

"I love you" she said as she kissed his hand.

"j-just wiggle one of your fingers if you can hear me" she said desperately.

No response from Nathan.

"That's ok, take your time. As long as you come back to me I won't be upset with you not listening to me today." She said trying to cheer herself up.

"God Nathan I need you" she cried as the tears dropped onto his hand.

"Please wake up…"

A/N: Please excuse the spelling and grammar errors I couldn't re-read this 4814785 times like I usually do because I wanted to get the chapter out as soon as possible! I hope you liked it! I know it wasn't as long as most chapters. Please review and tell me what you think~ Hope you have a lovely week; Camille.