Chapter Seven
At just after twelve-thirty the next day, Nathan entered the café and realised he had made a mistake in choosing that time of day. The place was pretty busy with the lunchtime trade and, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Haley carrying plates of food over to one of the tables. As always seemed to be the case when he saw her, he found himself smiling.
“Nathan?”
Hearing his mother’s voice, he turned to where she was standing and faced her. “Uh, hey Mom.”
Deb Scott moved closer and embraced her son, feeling his body immediately stiffen at the contact and she inwardly sighed. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she released him sooner than she would have liked.
“I, uh, had some things to take care of in town and plus I thought Lucas might need some moral support when Brooke has the kid and he’s outnumbered two to one.”
She chuckled. “Yep, he’s going to have his hands full when he’s faced with a mini version of Brooke, especially when the little one starts talking.”
“I’ll make sure I’m in Chicago when that happens,” he teased.
Smiling at him, she asked, “Can I get you something to eat, honey?”
Following her over to the counter, he sat down on one of the stools. “I’ll have a cup of coffee and a piece of Aunt Karen’s mud pie, thanks.”
“Coming right up.”
While he waited for his coffee and dessert, he again let his eyes wander around the room and when he found Haley, he let his eyes linger on her while she chatted with one of the customers. He couldn’t help admiring the way her jeans clung to her curves and he definitely liked what he saw. The way that short T-shirt of hers rode up slightly when she leaned forward was really…”
“Here you go, Nate.” Getting no response from him, Deb followed his line of sight and quickly realised what…or rather who he was looking at and her lips curled up in a half smile. Some things never changed. “Nathan?”
“Huh? Oh, thanks Mom,” he said when he saw his food in front of him and picking up his cup, he took a sip of the hot liquid.
“I see you’ve noticed our Haley.”
“Haley?” He asked, feigning ignorance.
“Uh huh. You know, the waitress you were staring at.”
“I wasn’t staring.”
“Whatever you say,” she replied teasingly. “So, how long are you in town for?”
“I’m not sure yet. I mean, Brooke’s due any day, right, and I just figured I’d spend some time down here with everyone. That’s okay isn’t it?”
“Of course it is. You know I love having you back home. If you haven’t already made plans, how about you come over for dinner tonight?”
Nathan wasn’t sure how to respond. He remembered he was taking Haley to the bar after her shift so she could hand in her resignation and he had been hoping to hang out with her afterwards, but now it looked like that was a bust. If he wanted his Mom to be on side when he broke the news of their marriage, he needed to keep her as sweet as possible.
“Sure, that sounds good,” he finally said. “Is seven o’clock okay?”
“That’s fine.” Deb was just about to turn away and head into the kitchen when she saw Haley approaching the counter.
“Would you mind if I took my break now, Deb? Everyone’s got their food so I should be okay for five minutes.”
“Yes, that’s fine. Actually, while you’re here Haley, I’d like to introduce you to my son Nathan.”
Smiling at her employer, she then turned to face him and she couldn’t help blushing at the intense way he seemed to be looking at her. In that moment, she realised that it would be all too easy to forget that this was purely for show. Time stood still as their eyes locked and held and when Nathan held out his hand to her, she took it and quietly gasped at the way her skin tingled at his touch.
As the two continued to stare at each other, Deb watched them and a frown creased her forehead. There was something in her son’s eyes that she couldn’t remember ever having seen before and while, granted, she had never really met any of the women he dated, there was something here that seemed different and she wasn’t sure she liked it. Sensing that neither of them were about to break their staring contest anytime soon, she coughed to clear her throat and it managed to bring them back to the present.
“It’s, um, nice to meet you, Haley.” Nathan finally managed to say.
“Uh, you too. I’ve heard a lot about you from your mom and your aunt.”
“All good I hope?”
Looking over at Deb, Haley winked at her before saying, “Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?”
The older woman forced herself to smile back at her and a moment later she saw Haley walking away from them and her son’s eyes fixed on her retreating form.
“Nathan?”
“Huh?”
“I was just wondering if there was anything special you wanted for dinner tonight?”
“No, anything you want to serve is fine with me. So, uh, how long has Haley worked here for?”
“A few months now. Why?”
“No reason, I was just curious. I don’t remember ever seeing her around here before.”
Pouring herself a cup of coffee, the older woman smiled at him. “That’s because she’s only just moved to Tree Hill. She’s a very sweet girl though and she’s a real hard worker.”
“Yeah, she seems nice.”
“She is,” she replied before taking a sip of her coffee. “Why the interest, Nate? She doesn’t strike me as being your usual type.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked sharply.
“Nothing. I just meant that…well Brooke’s often mentioned the women you tend to date and from what she’s said they’re pretty different to someone like Haley.”
“Well maybe I’m sick and tired of those vapid airheads,” he said with a touch of bitterness in his voice. It annoyed him that his lifestyle seemed to the topic of conversation between his family and friends when he wasn’t around. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his wallet and removed some money from it.
He felt like slamming it down on the counter but refrained from doing so, merely just placing it beside his plate. “I’ve gotta go. And I don’t think I’m going to be able to make dinner tonight after all. I’ve just remembered I’ve already got plans.”
Seeing him storm away, Deb called out to him. “Nathan!”
He was just about to open the door but he paused. Fixing a smile on his face, he forced himself to turn around and face her. “I’ll call you later.” With that said, he opened the door and left.
Deb released a heavy sigh as she picked up his plate and coffee cup and carried them out to the kitchen. Haley was seated at the table there and was eating an apple while flicking through a magazine.
“So, what did you think of Nate?” she couldn’t help asking the younger girl, curious to know what she thought of her only son.
"Hmm, he seems nice," she said with a shrug. "Easy on the eyes too," she mumbled quietly as an afterthought.
The older woman laughed. “Yep, and doesn’t he just know it. He seemed to take a shine to you I couldn’t help noticing.”
Haley blushed at having the last part of her sentence overheard and looking up from her magazine, Haley nervously met Deb’s eyes but she made sure to keep her features schooled. “I seriously doubt that. I mean, since I’ve been working here I’ve heard all the gossip about him from you, Karen and Brooke and based on that information, I am so not his type. But more importantly, he’s not mine either.”
“Oh, and why’s that?”
Haley could sense that the conversation was veering into dangerous territory. While she wanted to give the impression that Nathan wasn’t her type, she certainly didn’t want to piss his mother off by insinuating there was anything wrong with her son.
“Uh, he just…he’s not like the other guys I’ve dated. Not that there have been many. I guess those guys were a little on the geeky side compared to someone like Nathan who, from what I gather from people around here, pretty much ruled the school.” After a moment, she added, “I hope I haven’t offended you.”
Deb shook her head. “No, don’t worry, you haven’t. It’s just that things were going well out there and then I had to say the wrong thing and… Never mind.” She smiled at the young woman before walking back out into the café area.
After she had gone, Haley couldn’t help wondering about what had happened between Deb and Nathan in such a short space of time. While she knew bits and pieces concerning the relationship he had had with his father, she realised that she didn’t know much about the one he had with his mother. Getting up from the table, she threw her apple core in the trash and after washing her hands, headed back to work. As she did so, she decided that she’d try and find out a little bit more from Nathan when she saw him after her shift.
* * * * *
“So, you think she bought it?” Nathan asked Haley as they walked on the beach not far from his house. They had just been to the club where she had handed in her resignation and afterwards he had suggested they come back here and take a walk.
“I think so but I can’t be sure. She seemed a little off this afternoon and I’m not sure what to make of it.”
“I probably had something to do with that,” he admitted. “I was supposed to be having dinner with her and she said something that kinda got to me so I cancelled.”
“Oh. Do you, uh, want to talk about it?”
He turned his face to look at her and he smiled. “I’d probably bore you to tears. You’ve already had to hear me rant about my father so…”
“I don’t mind,” she interrupted. Placing a hand on his arm, she returned his smile. “It’ll probably help if we know as much about each other as possible, the good stuff and the bad. You don’t have to tell me anything you’re not comfortable with but some background would be helpful.”
Nodding at her, he began to talk as they continued to walk down the beach. “Things weren’t so bad when I was little. I can actually remember a time when the three of us were really happy but then something just seemed to change all that and I’m still not sure what it was. My Mom got a promotion at work which meant she spent weeks at a time travelling and so that left just me and my Dad to fend for ourselves.”
“How did that go?”
“It was pretty good at first. He used to joke and say it was just us guys together, that we could do what we liked without being nagged at by her. I was already playing basketball for my middle school at that time and we used to play together after dinner and it was fun. But then one day he just seemed so angry when I didn’t make a shot and he threw the ball at me and starting yelling.”
Without thinking about what she was doing, Haley laced her fingers with his and held his hand. “Did he apologise for what he did?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “After that, things just seemed to go from bad to worse. It wasn’t until I was in my junior year of high school that I found out my Mom had been having an affair and that that was the night he’d found out about it. Apparently, she’d told him she was leaving him.”
Haley’s fingers tightened around his. “I’m sorry. I’m a little confused though, I thought they didn’t split up until you were in college?”
“They didn’t. The guy she had been having the affair with didn’t like kids and basically told her to choose between me and him. I remember her coming home a few days later and my Dad treating her like crap and her just taking it. I never knew why but when I did find out, well I guess that was one of the things that put me off ever getting married. I couldn’t imagine ever hating someone enough to treat them so cruelly and a part of me has always been scared that I’ve inherited that from Dan.”
Tugging on his hand, she got him to stop walking and stepping in front of him, she looked up into his face. “Nathan, I know we don’t know each other all that well yet but I can see that that’s not something you’re ever going to have to worry about.”
“You don’t know th--”
“You’re right, I don’t…not for sure but I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character and I can see you’re a good guy. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t be helping you.”
Nathan gave her a crooked smile and squeezed her hand. “You’re the only person I’ve ever told about this stuff, you know. I mean, Luke and his parents are the only other people who really know what my childhood was like but that was more from just witnessing it than me talking about it.”
Keeping her hand in his, Haley pulled on his hand gently to get him walking again and they resumed walking along the shore. “I’m glad you feel you can talk to me and I’m happy to listen whenever you want to get something off your chest.”
“What are you my shrink now?” he teased and she playfully shoved her elbow into his side.
“Whatever you need,” she replied with a smile gracing her features.
“So, I was thinking that…”
“Oh, so that’s why I could suddenly see steam pouring out of your ears.”
“Hey!” he exclaimed in mock outrage. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I was thinking that maybe we should have our first date soon. It needs to be somewhere public so people see us together. What do you think?”
“Uh…yeah. I guess we need to get the ball rolling so to speak. Do you have anything in mind?”
“Not really, I was going to ask if there was anything you particularly felt like doing. I mean, we could go to a club or…”
“Could we maybe just go to dinner and a movie? I’m not really one for clubbing…I guess you could say I’m pretty boring.”
It was Nathan’s turn to squeeze her hand in reassurance. “I don’t think you’re boring at all. To be honest, I did the whole clubbing thing in college and it gets old after a while so I’m not going to argue with you if you don’t want to do that. Dinner and a movie sounds good and it could work out really well.”
“How do you mean?” she asked looking up at him.
“Well, if we go to the local theater instead of the main multiplex the woman on the ticket desk is the biggest gossip in town and she’ll have broadcast the fact we’re on a date in a matter of minutes.”
“I’m guessing you mean Dolores? I went to the movies one afternoon with Brooke and she must have asked me a thousand questions in the time it took for us to buy our tickets.”
“Yep, that’s her.” He chuckled. “Nothing happens in Tree Hill without her knowing about it.”
“So when do you want us to have our date?”
“How about tomorrow night? I could pick you up at, say, six-thirty and we could go have dinner before watching the movie.”
“Okay. My shift finishes at four again tomorrow so I’ll have time to go home and get changed. I could meet you at…”
“Nope, I’m picking you up. I already know where you live now so what’s your apartment number?”
Haley shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just meet you outside the building at six-thirty.”
“Haley…”
“Nathan, it’s fine. What’s the point of you walking up seven flights of stairs only to have to walk back down them a few minutes later?”
“There’s no elevator?”
She laughed. “Oh, there’s an elevator but it’s forever getting stuck and the phone doesn’t always work in there so I prefer taking the stairs. Besides, it’s good exercise.”
“Not that you need it,” he muttered under his breath and by the blush that crept onto her face he knew that she’d heard him.
Taking a deep breath, she asked, “I was just wondering, are there, uh, going to be any PDA’s tomorrow night because that’s not really who I am…I mean, I don’t…um…”
Nathan stopped walking and placing his hands on her shoulders, he waited for her to look into his face which she did a moment later. “I’m not going to make you do anything you feel uncomfortable with, Haley. I think us just holding hands will get the gossip going but I was thinking a brief kiss could add to it…give the news more power if that makes sense.”
Haley smiled shyly. “Yeah, it does. I’m sorry for being such a…”
“Hey, you don’t have to apologise for anything. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you doing this for me.”
“I know you do and you’re welcome but just so you know, you don’t have to keep thanking me.”
“Okay.” Smiling at her, he leaned forward and, without thinking, he softly kissed her lips before drawing away again. He saw the startled look on her face and he mentally kicked himself. “I-I’m sorry…I shouldn’t ha--”
“No, no it’s fine,” she quickly reassured him. While the kiss did surprise her, she couldn’t help being relieved that they’d finally crossed that first hurdle. The anticipation had been twisting her stomach into knots and the fact that it had been a sudden, impulsive kiss actually helped. So did the fact that it felt really good.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. You did take me a bit by surprise but in a way I think it really helped. I don’t know about you but, um, I was kinda nervous about us actually kissing. I mean, a lot’s riding on us being convincing and I was worried I’d somehow let you down,” she admitted.
Bringing a hand up to her face, Nathan rubbed his thumb back and forth over her cheekbone. “You won’t. I know what you mean about being nervous…I was too.” He laughed at the incredulous look on her face. “I can see my reputation has definitely preceded me. Believe it or not, but I do still get nervous about stuff.”
“I, uh, didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You haven’t, it takes a lot to offend me. A lot of the gossip about me isn’t true though.”
“Oh don’t say that, you’ll leave me feeling disappointed,” she teased.
“Very funny.” Taking her hand back in his, they started walking again. “So, you feel like having dinner with me tonight?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I should really go home and do some laundry and other stuff.”
“Can’t you do that another night? C’mon, we can hang out here and I’ll even cook for you.”
“You can cook?”
“Uh huh, I’m pretty good even if I do say so myself.”
“Well then Mr Scott, I’ll let you dazzle me with your culinary skills.”
Giving her a grin, his cerulean eyes dazzled with mischief and quickly releasing her hand, he began jogging backwards away from her. Once he was a good distance from her, he called out, “Last one to the house has to wash the dishes,” before turning and sprinting away from her.
Haley stood there open-mouthed for a split-second before chasing after him and shouting out, “You’re gonna pay for that Nathan Scott!”