Chapter Two
When nothing but silence greeted her words, Haley opened her eyes and once again was met with Nathan’s intense gaze. He wasn’t blinking and his body seemed rooted to the spot, his hands still holding her shoulders. Bringing one of her hands up to his cheek, she stroked it softly. “Nathan? Are you okay?”
He blinked a couple of times and slowly Haley’s face came back into full focus. Suddenly, he burst out laughing. “You almost had me there, Hales. Was this Brooke’s or Peyton’s idea? I can just imagine the three of you sitting together plotting up ways of getting one over on me.”
Her large brown eyes filled with tears at hearing his words coupled with his laughter and she moved her hand away from his face almost as if it was burning her skin. Pushing him away from her, she turned and left the den and quickly walked down the long hallway. “I knew I should never have asked you. I thought you’d be different and would at least listen to me.”
Nathan ran after her and was at the front door before she got to it. He stood in front of her refusing to let her open it. “You... you’re serious about this? I-I don’t understand, why do you want me to teach you about sex?”
Haley sighed. “You don’t know what it’s like for me, Nathan. Between my brothers and you and Lucas, no guy dares to come near me. I’m eighteen years old for god’s sake and I haven’t been on a single date. Now I’m about to go off to college where all the girls I’ll be meeting will be talking about their boyfriends and how far they’ve gone and I’m just going to look like some kind of idiot.”
“No you won’t. Not everyone your age is off having sex. You’ve got plenty of time to meet someone so there’s no need to rush into anything.”
“I’m not talking about rushing into anything, but it would be nice to have some idea of how to kiss and how far I’m expected to go on a date.”
“So you just want to know the basics? You had me thinking you were planning on rushing into sex with the guys you meet at college.”
“Like I said, I’m not planning on rushing into anything but if I meet someone at college and I like him a lot, then it’s only natural that I’ll want to, uh, do stuff with him. I’d just like an idea of what I can expect before it happens, that’s all.”
Taking her hand in one of his, he led her back down the hallway and into the den where he gestured for her sit down. Kneeling in front of her, he wore a confused expression on his face. “Why are you asking me?”
Glancing down, she saw her hand encased in his larger one and she couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her lips. “Because you make me feel safe and I trust you. You’ve always been there for me and I know Lucas has too but there’s no way I could ask him to do this, it just wouldn’t feel right. It’s hard to explain but...”
“It’s okay, I think I get it. You two were like Siamese twins at times so I think I know what you’re trying to say. But if he finds out about this, I’m dead. He wouldn’t understand.”
“He’s not going to find out, we’ll make sure of that. It was a risk coming over here tonight but I figured he would be getting caught up with the guys at the Rivercourt like he usually does when he first gets home.”
“Looks like you had this all planned out, Hales,” he teased.
Haley smiled back at him before her expression sobered again. “The last thing I want is to cause trouble between the two of you. You guys mean the world to me but this is something I really need to do and I need your help, but I’ll understand if you want to pretend I never asked.”
“If I say no to you, will that be it or will you find someone else?” Nathan asked seriously.
“I’ll try to find someone else,” she replied honestly. “I don’t know who though, maybe a friend of one of my brothers.”
Nathan couldn’t hold back the anger he felt at hearing her say that. “I don’t think so, Haley. There’s no way in hell you’re asking anyone else to help you with this. If you’re seriously going to do this, then it’s going to be with me.”
“A-are you sure?” She felt like jumping up and down at the strong, determined tone in his voice.
“Once we start this it’s going to change things between us so are you completely sure you want to do this?”
Nodding, she answered, “Yes, Nathan, I’m absolutely sure. Nothing has to change between us, not if we don’t let it. I wouldn’t ask you this if I thought it would affect our friendship.”
“Okay then,” he said a few moments later.
There was an awkward moment of silence and they looked at anything but each other. To give himself something to do, Nathan got up off his knees and picked up their drinks off the table, handing hers over.
“I’m gonna go and get something to eat, can I get you anything?”
Haley shook her head as she too got up from her seat. “No, I’m fine. Actually, I’d better get going. I need to stop by Peyton’s and drop off some CDs I borrowed.”
“Do any of your friends know what you’re up to? I mean, I don’t want to say the wrong thing in front of them.”
“Nobody knows. The only people that can know about this are the two of us and that’s the way it’s got to stay.”
“Good to know. Come on, I’ll walk you out. Did you drive over?”
“Yeah, I borrowed my Mom’s car. So, uh, when should we... um... get started?” she asked nervously.
“Well, it would probably be a good idea to take advantage of Luke’s absence so the sooner the better. He’s due back on Sunday evening so how about you come over tomorrow night about seven?”
“That’ll be fine. My shift at the cafe finishes at six so I’ll have time to go home and get changed first. Wait, what about your parents?”
“What, you want them to sit in?” he joked.
“Eww, no!” she replied, scrunching up her face. “I don’t know if I feel comfortable doing this with them around, that’s all.”
“Don’t worry,” he said laughing at her scrunched up face. “They’ve got another dinner tomorrow evening and probably won’t be home until really late.”
“Oh, okay.” She felt better after hearing that. “So, will I be crashing here tomorrow night?” Her eyes lowered to the floor as she waited for his response.
“No, uh, why would you think that?”
Hearing the surprise in his voice, she glanced up and saw his shocked expression. “I-I just... um... I don’t know.”
“Hales, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to teach you all you need to know in just a couple of hours,” he stated, smirking at her.
“A couple of hours? Oh, I... er... I figured it would take longer than that.”
“You’ve always been a great student and if you’re as good at this as you are with your schoolwork, you’ll have probably picked it all up in an hour. Plus, I’m an excellent teacher when it comes to this stuff.”
The wink he gave her set off all the butterflies in her stomach and she sucked in a gulp of air. Her face burned with a mixture of embarrassment and jealousy at his casual remarks. Nathan had always had a steady stream of girls following him around; she guessed it was one of the perks of being their high school’s basketball star. She couldn’t help feeling inferior to all of those girls now, especially the ones he now dated at college, and she hoped that when he saw her naked it wouldn’t send him running for the hills.
Gripping the drink still in her hand, Haley downed it in one go before handing him the empty can. “I’ve gotta go, Nathan. But I’ll see you tomorrow night,” she said quickly before once again turning and leaving the room.
Following her, he got to the door just as she was getting into her car and he gave her a wave. He leaned against the doorjamb as he watched her drive away, the only thought in his head being how was he supposed to talk about sex with his brother’s best friend?