Chapter Three
Nathan was anxiously awaiting Haley’s arrival the next evening. Ever since she had made her request, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Feeling a little stressed, he had worked out in the family gym for a while before going outside and shooting some hoops. As he threw the ball, he said a silent prayer that nobody would find out about any of this, especially Lucas.
While he had always considered Haley to be the sister he’d never had, he could admit to occasionally having thought about her in a non-sisterly way. He had seen her at her most tomboyish but even when she was dressed in tatty old jeans and a worn sweater, she still looked gorgeous.
Maybe consenting to her request in the first place was the wrong thing to do but just the thought of somebody else touching her made his temper flare and he knew he had to be the one to help her.
His parents had left about half an hour ago for the charity dinner they were attending and so now, he was sitting in his den watching a basketball game on TV. He was all showered and he had dressed casually in a pair of black jeans and a dark blue polo shirt. Hearing the sudden knock at the door had him feeling even more nervous than he did already, something he rarely felt.
On other side of the door, Haley stood there shifting from foot to foot as she patiently waited for the door to be opened. She could feel her palms sweating and so she wiped them discreetly on the sides of the black skirt she was wearing. It had taken her forever to get ready and she wished she could have had Peyton or Brooke’s help but that was a strict no no if she wanted to keep this a secret. In the end she had decided on her black knee length skirt, her pink crossover top and her black sneakers. Her hair was pulled up into a loose ponytail and she had applied some light make up, opting for a natural look.
When the door opened, she smiled at Nathan and couldn’t help noticing how the dark blue of his shirt made his blue eyes even more striking. Giving herself a mental shake, she simply said hi as she walked into the house. She stood there nervously as she waited for him to close the door.
“Did you have any trouble coming over here?” he asked her as he started walking towards the den, but he stopped when he realised she wasn’t following him. “What’s the matter?”
“Oh, I... er... I just figured we’d be doing this up in your room.”
“Why? I told you before, my parents are out and won’t be back until really late. We’ve got the place to ourselves so we might as well stay down here.”
“Right,” she said following him when he started down the hall again. Taking a seat on the couch, her hands fidgeted in her lap and after Nathan had taken a seat beside her, he placed one of his hands over hers and stilled them.
“Listen, it’s okay if you’ve changed your mind. Maybe that would be for the best and...”
“No. I haven’t changed my mind. I’m nervous but I still want to do this. I trust you and you’re the only person I could imagine feeling comfortable enough to do this with.”
Squeezing her hands, he smiled at her. “Okay. Do you want something to drink before we get started?”
“No, I’m fine thanks.”
Removing his hand from where it rested on hers, he rubbed it back and forth on his knee. “So, I guess we should get started now, huh?”
“Yeah...” her voice trailed off.
“Okay then. What would you like to know about first?”
“Hmm, maybe kissing would be the best place to start?”
“Uh sure,” he replied while internally groaning. How the hell do you explain to someone how to kiss, he thought to himself. Couldn’t she just go by what she’d seen on TV and in the movies?
“Nathan?” Haley asked a moment later when he hadn’t said anything.
“Sorry. Yeah, kissing’s probably the thing to go with first.”
She couldn’t help her lips curling up in a smile at hearing him say that. For as long as she could remember, she had had the biggest crush on Nathan but he’d always treated her as a friend or worse, a little sister. Sure, when she had been over at his house in the past and she, Nathan and Lucas had gone swimming in the large pool, they had played tag and he’d chased after her but it was only ever a game. The feel of his arms hooking around her waist whenever he had caught up with her had made her wish for things she knew would never come true but now...
This whole idea of getting some kind of hands on sex education before she went to college was a genuine one but the only person she could even consider coming to with this was him and she had been more than a little ecstatic when he had agreed. She couldn’t believe that Nathan was going to be giving her her first kiss. At least she would always have that memory to carry with her.
Taking a deep breath, Nathan turned on the couch so he was sitting facing her more fully. “So, what do you need to know about kissing?”
“Well obviously I’ve seen people do that on TV and in movies but I guess I just want to know what it feels like and...”
“Woah! What do you mean feels like?”
“What do you think I mean? I-I want you to... um... kiss me so I know how it feels.”
He stared at her incredulously. “B-but I thought we’d just be talking about stuff. You know, you tell me what it is you want to know about sex and I try and explain it to you. That’s what you meant when you asked me to help you, right?”
The confused and bewildered expression on his face made her giggle. “Not exactly. Yes, I want you to explain this stuff to me but I also want you to physically show me how to do the stuff I’m asking about.”
Nathan could feel his cheeks getting hot and he knew he must be blushing. Christ, he never blushed. “I, uh, I didn’t realise that. I’m guessing that’s why you asked if you’d be staying over?”
“Yeah,” she replied quietly, her fingers playing with the hem of her top.
“This changes things, Haley. If Lucas ever found out I’d laid a finger on you in a more than friendly way, he’d more than kill me.”
Haley hesitated for a moment before forcing herself to be bold. Placing her hand on top of his which rested on his knee, she said, “Well I was hoping you’d be laying more than your finger on me.”
Nathan’s heart was racing at hearing those words and he quickly raised his eyes to hers. He couldn’t believe she’d said that.
Seeing the shocked look on his face had her lowering her eyes to her lap and she could feel tears prickling behind her eyelids. She realised she had made the biggest mistake in asking him to help her. “You know what, let’s just forget this whole thing. It was a stupid idea and I should have known better than to approach you with it. I’ll see you later,” she said giving his hand a final squeeze before moving to get up from her seat. Before she had a chance to actually stand up, Nathan’s hand grabbed her wrist preventing her from going anywhere.
“Wait!”
“Why? You were right before, this could seriously mess up our friendship as well as your relationship with Lucas and that’s the last thing I want to happen. You’re one of my best friends and I couldn’t bear it if you ended up hating me and...”
Releasing his hand from her wrist, Nathan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and brought her in close to his body. “Shh, it’s okay. I could never hate you, Hales, you mean too much to me. I guess I’m just worried that I could end up hurting you somehow. If you still want to do this, then I’ll help you.”
Haley looked up at him and seeing the caring look on his face, she couldn’t help but smile. “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “I’m positive.”
“Thank you,” she said kissing him on the cheek.
Nathan smiled back at her. “Okay, let’s get started then.” He shifted on the couch again and she did the same. Taking her hands in his, he stroked his thumbs over her knuckles in a bid to make her feel a little more relaxed. The tension in her fingers gave away her nervousness.
“When you’re about to kiss someone, you should tilt your head slightly to the side in the opposite direction of your partner. You’ll find it sort of happens instinctively.”
Haley nodded as she mentally noted what he was saying. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do when you were staring into the eyes of your crush and your stomach was doing flip flops at being this close to him. Giving herself a mental shake, she tilted her head to one side and asked, “Like this?”
“Uh huh. Slowly, you both start to lean in so you’re faces are closer together...” his voice trailed off as they began inching closer and his head automatically tilted to the opposite direction that she had taken. “...then you close your eyes and part your lips and then...”
Just as Haley closed her eyes, she felt Nathan’s warm breath on her face and a split-second later she sighed when she felt his soft lips covering hers. He paused there for a moment before moving to suck her top lip between his lips and then repeated the motion with her bottom lip. He repeated this a couple of times before using his tongue to part her lips a little more and then gently, he let his tongue wander inside her mouth to stroke against hers.
She gasped at the sensation of his tongue gliding against hers and she found that she loved the soft silky feel of it. Copying his earlier actions, she sucked on his lips in turn and reveled in their soft plumpness. After what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, they broke the kiss, each panting heavily.
“That was, uh... I mean... I’m...” she rambled, scrambling for words to describe how she was feeling. In the end she just said, “Wow.”
Nathan couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his mouth. “Yep, wow pretty much says it all.” He looked into her big beautiful eyes and saw the way they were shimmering. If he was being truthful, he hadn’t expected the kiss to be that great what with it being her first but he couldn’t believe how good it had felt. Actually, good didn’t even go halfway to describing it.
Haley could feel her cheeks heating up and she averted her eyes to look just past him. She didn’t want to ask the question that was going around and around in her head but she needed to know. “Did I, uh… did I do it right?”
Placing his hand on the side of her face, he encouraged her to look at him and she did. Looking into her eyes, he replied, “You did it beautifully, Haley. Are you sure you’ve never kissed anyone before?”
She couldn’t stop herself from leaning into his touch and she savoured the feel of his warm skin touching hers. “I’m absolutely sure,” she said followed by a giggle. “That was my first ever kiss.”
“Trust you to be good at something as soon as you start doing it,” he teased. Without thinking about it, his thumb was gently rubbing back and forth along her cheekbone.
“Uh, Nathan, do you think we... um... could...”
“Do it again?” he finished for her.
“Yeah,” she replied shyly before saying, “but we don’t have to if you don’t want t—”
Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, Nathan’s lips were upon hers and he was practically sucking the breath out of her.