You're Not Alone
Title: You’re Not Alone
Author: Diane
Pairing: Nathan/Haley
Rating: Teen Rated
Disclaimer: I don’t own a thing!
Summary: A ‘What might have happened’ scenario which is set at the end of ‘Spirit In The Night’.
The drive back home was made in relative silence and Haley couldn’t help feeling worried. She had seen Nathan’s face in the parking lot when he had watched their fellow classmates being picked up by their respective parents and she knew it had hurt him not to have his own parents there regardless of the way they tended to treat him.
Shifting in her seat slightly, she turned so she was facing him and placed her hand on top of his which was resting on his thigh. “Are you okay?”
Taking his eyes off the road for a second, he quickly glanced at her and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile before looking out of the windshield again. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Turning his hand over, he laced their fingers together. “Have I told you how great you looked in that cheerleading uniform?”
Haley laughed. “Uh yeah, I think you may have mentioned it once or twice.” She knew he was changing the subject and she let him, knowing that it was better for him to open up to her of his own accord rather than to push him into talking.
“So will you be trying out for a spot on the squad anytime soon?” He teased, already knowing her answer.
“Right, I can just see that happening, Nathan. I’m a total klutz, always have been and probably always will be, and I’m just grateful that a) I didn’t fall on my ass and embarrass myself in front of all those people and b) I didn’t trip one or more of the other girls up. I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead.”
Chuckling, he gently squeezed her fingers. “Any chance of keeping the uniform anyway?”
“Nathan!”
“What? I’m only asking. You looked hot in it.”
She could feel her skin heating up with his words and she let her hair fall from where it was tucked behind her ear so it shielded her face from him.
“I can see you hiding when I look in the mirror,” he informed her.
“I-I’m not hiding.” Taking a deep breath, she released his hand and used her fingers to push her hair back before giving him a crooked smile, knowing that her face was probably still red.
“Okay, whatever you say.” Seeing that her hand was resting in her lap now, he reached over and took it back in his before saying, “I was thinking, do you maybe want to hang out later? You could come over to the apartment and we could order a pizza or something.”
“Oh, I’d really like to but my parents will be back from visiting my brother and his wife and they’ll no doubt want to tell me all about it so I’d better say no. Could we do it tomorrow?”
Nathan bit back the scowl he could feel already forming on his lips. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her to just forget it but he refused to vocalise the words. “Uh…sure,” he finally replied.
Haley wasn’t stupid though and could tell he wasn’t happy so, scooting as close to him as her seatbelt would allow, she rested her head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand which was still holding hers. “I’m sorry Nathan, you know I’d rather be hanging out with you.”
Tilting his head to the side, he rubbed his cheek along the top of her head. “Yeah, I know. Can I call you tonight?”
Lifting her head off his shoulder, she smiled at him. “I was going to call you if you didn’t call me,” she admitted before kissing his cheek.
As the road ahead was completely clear, he turned his head before she could move too far away and he caught her lips with his, giving her a soft kiss.
The rest of the ride back wasn’t as tense as it had initially been and any silences that occurred were of a much more comfortable nature.
*~*~*
Pulling up outside her house, Nathan put the handbrake on before turning off the ignition. “It doesn’t look like your parents are back yet,” he speculated when he saw their car missing from where it was usually parked.
“They’re probably running a bit late or something. Since Kara had the baby, they find they end up leaving their place later and later each time they visit,” she joked as she released her seatbelt.
“I could always come in and wait with you…you know, until they get back.”
“Hmm, you could and no doubt we’d get busted making out up in my room by them suddenly arriving home without us hearing.”
“I’m game if you are,” he teased, his trademark smirk fully in place.
“Uh-huh. It’s probably best that you don’t, not tonight.”
Leaning towards her, he kissed her mouth and when he sensed that she was about to pull back from him, he placed his hands either side of her face and held her to him. His tongue licked a path around her lips before easing between them and gliding against her own.
Haley twined her arms around his neck, her fingers lightly scratching the back of it as his mouth worked its magic on her. When he eventually broke the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers and although his eyes looked into hers, she watched as they occasionally flickered down to seemingly stare at her lips.
“I-I’d better go inside and, uh…” Her words trailed off as his mouth met hers once more and they shared another sizzling kiss.
“What were you saying?” Nathan asked when he’d drawn back from her again. He’d released one of his hands from her face and his fingers were now gently sifting through her auburn locks.
“You’re evil, you know that.”
“You only just worked that out, huh?”
Placing her own hands on his cheeks, she pulled him in for another kiss but this time she took control; tracing a line around his lips with her tongue before suckling on first his top lip and then his bottom one. Planting a final kiss onto the tip of his nose, she managed to move away from him and open her door.
“Hey! You can’t just kiss and run,” he told her.
“It looks like I am, doesn’t it?” she said, her soft laugh ringing out in the confines of the car. She was just about to climb out of the car when she felt his large hand wrap around her wrist, effectively stopping her movements. Shifting in her seat to look at him, she waited for him to say what he was clearly wanting to.
“So I’ll, uh, call you later?”
Haley nodded. “Uh-huh. You could, um, call me when you’re in bed and…”
“Why, are you going to talk dirty to me?” He could see that he’d said the wrong thing by the way she was staring at him open-mouthed while a red blush coloured her face. “Sorry, I didn’t…”
“No,” she interrupted. “It’s okay. I just thought that… You know what, nevermind. It sounds really stupid,” she said quietly.
Leaning in, he kissed her cheek. “I doubt that. Tell me, I want to know what you were going to say.”
“It’s just that I thought, um, it might be nice if your voice was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep.”
He couldn’t help grinning at her words. What she proposed sounded really nice and he knew it would be easy for him to be lulled to sleep by her gentle, soothing voice. “That sounds great, Hales.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. What time should I call you?”
“Is ten-thirty too early for you?”
Nathan shook his head. “No, it’s fine. After the drive home I’m feeling kinda tired so I might try and have an early night.”
“Okay,” she said leaning in for another kiss. “I’d better get in and get some chores done before my parents get back.”
“Sure, I’ll talk to you later then.”
After a few more kisses, Haley finally got out of the car, remembering to get her bag out of the trunk. She couldn’t help smiling at the knowledge that he was actually waiting for her to go inside before he drove off. Opening the door and crossing the threshold, she turned and gave him a wave and watched him wave back before he drove away.
Closing the door, she couldn’t stop smiling as she dropped her bag by the stairs ready to take up to her room before going into the living room. As she did so, the red flashing light from the answering machine caught her attention and she saw that there was one message on it. Pressing the necessary buttons to rewind and then play the message, she groaned when she heard her mother’s voice come through:
“Haley honey, just to let you know your dad and I are staying for a couple more days with Mike, Kara and the baby. There should be enough food in the house but if you need anything, there’s some money in the pot that you can use. You know where we are if you need us. Take care and we’ll see you soon. Love you.”
Great, she thought to herself. She was used to spending days at a time on her own but there was something about coming home to an empty house that still got to her at times and it seemed today was one of them. Erasing the message, she walked out of the room and after grabbing her bag, walked upstairs to her bedroom. A part of her realised that she could now go and hang out with Nathan or she could invite him over but for some reason she decided not to. While she loved spending time with him, maybe she needed some time on her own plus she’d be speaking to him later, she reminded herself, a smile playing on her lips.
*~*~*
Nathan lay on his bed in his new apartment and tossed a mini basketball up and down while occasionally glancing over at the clock on his nightstand. Damn. It was still only eight-thirty. He’d already almost called Haley twice but had managed to talk himself out of it. It was easy to imagine the teasing he’d have to endure from her if he called her two hours earlier than they’d planned.
Closing his eyes, he easily conjured up a picture of his girlfriend and his lips curled up into a genuine smile. Before he’d gotten to know her and then started dating her, he couldn’t remember ever having smiled so much. She always seemed to know the right thing to say to get him out of one of his moods and he really liked that about her. Hell, he knew what he was feeling about her was a lot more than like but right now, he wasn’t ready to give voice to those words. Maybe soon but not just yet.
Opening his eyes, he once again started throwing the ball up and down. He was feeling so bored right now and he couldn’t wait to get his stuff from the house and bring it over. The first thing was his video games console and his TV. Oh, and his DVD player…and his stereo and his…”
He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock at his door and pushing himself up, he got up from his bed and walked out of his bedroom. Opening the front door, he was surprised to see Haley standing there carrying a pizza box and her shoulder bag.
“Uh, is it still okay if we hang out here?” she asked before adding, “I brought pizza.”
“So I see. Of course it’s still okay, come on in.” Opening the door wider, he stepped aside to let her enter before closing the door behind her. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. My parents aren’t coming back for a couple more days,” she told him as she placed the pizza box on the counter in the kitchen and then dropped her bag onto the floor.
“Oh, okay. Did they just call to let you know?”
“No, there was a message on the machine when I got back earlier.”
“You could have called me and I’d have come over earlier or you could have co--”
“I know but I figured I should maybe spend some time by myself and do stuff at home.”
“So what did you do?” he asked, pretty sure he already knew the answer.
“I tidied my room a bit and did the laundry I know my Mom would have been doing today if she’d have come back as originally planned…”
“And?”
“And what?”
“You know what, what else did you do?”
“Fine,” she pouted. “You know me too well. I did some studying…I’ve got that history test in a few days.”
Walking over to where she was standing, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in close to his body. “I don’t think I know you well enough,” he whispered before lowering his head and kissing her hotly.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Haley pulled herself up on tiptoes so that her chest was pressed flush against Nathan’s. She was just beginning to think about how glad she was that she’d decided to come over when she suddenly seemed to lose all coherent thought as his tongue explored every crevice of her mouth.
Breaking the kiss, he began trailing his lips down the column of her neck, gently sucking a patch of skin into his mouth before letting his teeth graze against it. He moaned when he felt her fingers running through his hair and her nails raking across his scalp.
Before he realised what was happening, she’d managed to get out of the tight hold he had her in and she was standing a few steps away.
“Pizza’s getting cold, Nathan, and I’m starving.”
“Actually so am I. Since I haven’t gotten any furniture yet, where do you want to eat?”
“How about if we sit here on the floor?”
He nodded. “Okay. I’ve got some sodas in the fridge or water.”
“I’ll have water, please.”
Nathan watched her carry the pizza box and set it down on the floor in the center of the room before sitting down. Going over to the fridge, he grabbed a couple of bottles of water and went to join her.
“This is really good,” he told her after he’d eaten a whole slice.
“I know. I wasn’t sure if you’d have eaten or not but I figured you could always keep the leftovers for tomorrow or something.”
“Yeah, nothing like cold pizza,” he said before taking a swig of his water. “So, uh, what’s with the bag?”
Haley blushed and lowered her eyes. “Oh…er…I was wondering, would you mind if, um, I stayed over tonight? I just don’t…um…”
“You don’t want to be at home on your own tonight?” He finished for her.
“Yeah,” she mumbled quietly.
“Of course you can stay. It’s only fair, right?” She gave him a confused look so he added, “I mean, you let me stay the night in your room that time so now I’m returning the favour.”
Giving him a shy smile, she sighed with relief. She didn’t know what it was but she just didn’t want to be alone in her house tonight and she was glad he hadn’t asked her why. She didn’t know exactly why that was and she felt enough of a baby as it was.
“You do realise tomorrow’s a school day, right?”
“Who do you think you’re talking to, buddy?” she teased and he nodded his head.
“What was I thinking. I’m guessing this means we have to be up early tomorrow then?”
“Yep. You’ll need to drop me at home so I can shower and change and grab my book bag.”
“You should have brought everything with you and just got ready here.”
“That would have made more sense,” she agreed. “Nevermind, I’ll just have to remember that for next time.”
“Next time?” Nathan asked with a smirk.
“Uh, you know what I mean.”
“Not sure I do, Miss James. I think you need to explain further.”
“Later,” she said quickly picking up a piece of pizza and taking a big bite so she was unable to talk.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said chuckling before taking a bite of his own slice.
Finishing up their meal, Nathan carried the pizza box over to the counter and Haley followed him.
“I can’t believe we ate the whole thing,” she said giggling.
“What do you mean ‘we’? You had one slice more than me but I’m not complaining. I like a healthy appetite in a girl,” he told her and gave her a wink. He couldn’t help laughing when he saw her face flush again.
Seeing her bend down and pick up her bag, he moved quickly and grabbed her hand. “Hales, I’m sorry. I was only kidding. Don’t go.”
Looking up at him, she gave a half-smile. “I’m not leaving. I was just going to take my bag into the bathroom and get changed into my pyjamas. That’s okay, right?”
“Yeah, yeah it is. Go ahead.”
Standing up on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek before taking a step back. “I won’t be long.”
When he heard the bathroom door click shut, Nathan released the breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. Quickly heading for the bedroom, he looked around and made sure it wasn’t too messy and he was relieved to see that it was okay. One of the perks of having just moved in, he thought smirking to himself. Despite having shared a bed with Haley once before, for some unknown reason he felt nervous. He knew they wouldn’t really be doing anything and that was fine with him. Okay, maybe fine wasn’t the right word, but the last thing he wanted to do was push her into doing something she wasn’t ready for and which would only result in her becoming distant from him. He cared about her too much to let that happen.
His night-time attire mainly consisted of him wearing just a pair of boxers to bed but he had a feeling that might be pushing things a bit too far so going over to his dresser, he pulled out a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a plain white T-shirt and quickly got changed into them. As he was placing his clothes on the chair in the corner of the room, he heard the bathroom door open and a few moments later he sensed her presence behind him.
“Hey,” she said as she placed her bag down on the floor beside the chair.
“Hey back,” he said turning to face her and he couldn’t help smiling at her. She was wearing a pair of purple plaid pyjama pants and a plain, light purple T-shirt style top. Her face had been scrubbed clean of the little bit of make-up he’d noticed her wearing and her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail.
“What?” she asked when she noticed the way he was watching her.
“Nothing. So, are you ready to get into bed?”
“Yeah, I really am. I think the last couple of days have really caught up with me.”
“You had fun though, right?”
“I did. It was pretty nice hanging out with the girls,” she admitted.
“And?”
“And what?” she teased.
“You know what,” he told her as he moved towards her and placed his hands on her hips.
She released a heavy fake sigh. “Fine, I suppose I had fun hanging out with you too.” A second later she yelped when she felt his fingers tickling her sides and she wriggled as she fought to escape his clutches. “Nathan! No…stop it…please!”
“You know what I want to hear,” he said as he continued with the tickle torture.
“Okay, okay, I had lots of fun with you.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“NO!” She couldn’t help yelling as he hit a particularly ticklish spot on her tummy. A moment later she felt his fingers stop their frantic motions and rub over the areas he had been tickling and she felt the tension leave her body as his touch relaxed her.
Nathan lowered his head to hers and kissed her softly as his hands continued to smooth over her hips and tummy, occasionally slipping under the hem of her T-shirt to touch her warm skin. Breaking the kiss, he smiled at her before taking her hand in his and leading her over to the bed. Pulling the covers back, he gestured for her to get in.
“Aww, are you going to tuck me in?” Haley teased.
“Very funny,” he replied. As he watched her climb into his bed, something tugged at him but he didn’t know what it was. All he knew was that it seemed to feel right. Going around to his side, he picked up his alarm clock and asked, “What time shall I set this for?”
“Six.”
“Six? Are you kidding?”
She laughed at the look on his face. “Nope. I need time to get back home and get showered and dressed plus I need to get my bag ready so…”
“You mean you didn’t do that before you came over?”
“Believe it or not, no I didn’t. C’mon Nathan, you know I hate being late to school.”
“Fine, you win.” After setting the alarm for six am, he placed it on his nightstand and then climbed into bed and pulled the covers over them. Once he’d gotten comfortable, he lifted his arm and watched as his girlfriend snuggled into his side, resting her head on his chest. Bringing his arm down, he wrapped it around her and held her close to him.
“This is nice,” Haley murmured as she felt the events of the last couple of days begin to overtake her tired body.
“Yeah, it is.” A thought suddenly popped into his head and his eyes which had already started to close, flew open. “Uh Hales, what happens if your parents call home and get no answer?”
Lifting her head off his chest, she looked up at him and grinned. “You scared?”
“What? No, I’m not scared. I-I’m just wondering what they’ll think and--”
“It’s okay. I actually called them before I left home to come over here and I told them I’d be staying with a friend tonight.”
“Did they ask for your friend’s name because they could check up on you and catch you out?”
“They trust me but to answer your question, yes, my Mom did ask for a name.”
“And? What name did you give them? It wasn’t Lucas’ was it?”
“What? No, of course it wasn’t.” Leaning her head back on his chest, she continued. “While my parents do trust me, I’m not about to tell them I’m staying over at Luke’s place just in case for some reason they feel the need to call me there. No, I…uh…gave them another name.”
Sensing he was going to have to push for the info, he moved his hand to her hip and let his fingers trace idle circles on a patch of exposed skin. “Don’t make me start tickling you again,” he joked and he chuckled when she quickly moved her hand and stopped his motions.
“Don’t you dare, Nathan. Fine, I told them I was staying at, um, Natalie’s house.”
“Who?”
“Exactly.” Shifting her position, she bent her elbow and rested her head on her hand so she could look at him while she spoke. “I’ve given them the name of someone who doesn’t exist so that way they can’t call me there. I told them I had my cell phone with me and if they needed me they should call me on that.”
His lips curled up in a half-smile as he listened to her explanation. He’d never have guessed her to be so devious. “So why Natalie?”
“Oh, er, no reason.”
“Right. I’m supposed to believe you just pulled that name out of thin air.”
“Uh-huh.”
“C’mon Hales, you can do better than that,” he teased. Inching his head closer to hers, he traced a path around her lips with his tongue and pulled away as she moved towards him. “Nuh-huh. You tell me the reason you chose that name and then I’ll kiss you.”
Haley smirked at him. “Maybe I don’t want you to kiss me,” she countered.
“Is that right? Okay then, I’ll see you in the morning,” he told her as he made to turn over and go to sleep.
She watched him incredulously, not believing what she was seeing. Releasing a sigh of frustration, she grabbed his arm before he could fully turn over. “Okay fine, you win.” Waiting until he’d turned back to face her, she quietly admitted, “I chose Natalie because it’s, um…it’s the female equivalent of your name. There, you happy now?”
Nathan stared at her open-mouthed for a few moments before he said, “I can’t believe you turned me into a girl, Hales.”
His words made her burst out laughing and she was relieved when a couple of seconds later he joined in with her laughter.
“I’m sorry honey, but I didn’t think telling them I was staying over at my hot boyfriend’s apartment would go over too well.”
“Nah, I guess not. Wait, you think I’m hot?”
“Oh, I should have guessed you’d pick up on that part of the sentence,” she teased before once again getting herself comfortable in bed. Her head once again rested on his chest and looking up at him, she couldn’t resist leaning up and kissing his lips. “C’mon, let’s get some sleep. We’ve got an early start in the morning.”
“Tell me about it,” he muttered as he too got comfortable and wrapped his arms around Haley’s waist.
“I heard that,” she mumbled sleepily and she then felt him drop a kiss onto the top of her head.
“Sweet dreams, Hales.” She heard him say just before she felt the pull of sleep overtake her.
Nathan watched her for a little while as he thought about how happy he was that she had felt comfortable enough to go to him when she hadn’t wanted to be alone that night. He definitely took it as a good sign of things to come.
Fin