Kissing Through Wires: Part One
Rating: R
Characters: Nathan/Haley
Summary: It's been two years since Haley returned from the tour, she and Nathan are living the married college life and they are spectacularly happy. Oh, yes, they are.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Mark Schwahn & co.
Notes: This was written for Marissa as part of the Rivercourt Fic Exchance. She requested an angsty future fic, with a reference to Haley and Nathan being crowned King and Queen in TTITKB, and the quote "I want my pink shirt back!"
***
Part One
"You two absolutely sicken me, you know that?"
Haley turned to face Allison, her friend and workmate, unable to help the silly grin that was plastered to her face. She'd just gotten off the phone with Nathan, and he'd managed to come up with another incredibly corny line that left her in a daze for the rest of the day.
"Hmm, what was that?" Haley said.
Allison gestured to the phone, and then for good measure the various photos arranged on Haley's desk. "You and loverboy. You know, I only resorted to blind dates set up by my mother when you came to work here."
"I don't really see how that's my fault," Haley said with raised eyebrow. "And besides, a relationship isn't everything, Allie."
Allison snorted. "Says the girl who had true love just drop into her lap in high school."
Haley started to protest when their supervisor Victoria shot them a dark look, and she quickly turned back to the computer screen in front of her. Victoria had disliked her from the very start, and Haley didn't want to lose this job, especially since it allowed her to get some experience in a law firm. It also helped pay for the apartment she and Nathan called home the two years they'd been in college.
When the dragon lady finally walked back into her office, Allison leaned toward Haley again. "I bet it went something like this: you're practicing a cheer when one of your pompoms go flying, and it lands somewhere you can't reach... which could be anywhere, I suppose."
"Ha. Ha."
"You do a little jump, a scissor kick or whatever, but still can't reach it. Then, lo and behold! Prince basketballer comes and saves the pompom and the day! And you have a big wedding with fireworks and swans and live happily ever after. The end."
"Okay, it definitely didn't happen like that. Where did you get the idea that I was a cheerleader?"
"I hate to break it to you, but you look like one. There's so much pep in your step that it makes me dizzy to walk with you."
Haley rolled her eyes. "Thank God you've never met Brooke Davis. And I'm sorry to interrupt this fascinating tale, but Nathan and I weren't the most popular kids in school. Well, actually, Nathan was, but I was just the nerdy girl who dressed differently."
"Oh." Allison sighed, her enthusiasm gone, and gathered a large stack of papers from her desk. "I liked the story about the King and Queen of the prom better. Made it easier to hate you. Well, kid, I've got to get to the meeting before Victoria the Vicious decides to slaughter me..." Allison gave a jaunty wave goodbye, not noticing that Haley had barely cracked a smile.
Haley stared at a photo sitting on her desk. It was taken at the beach the summer before all her friends from Tree Hill scattered for college. She'd been reading a book when Nathan suddenly swooped her up and ran towards the shore, and all the while she was screaming like a little terror in his ear. Of course he'd dropped her, and then she'd unsuccessfully tried to dunk him in return. Afterwards, they'd stood there in waist-deep water, heads bent together with the waves crashing around them, and just before he'd kissed her someone had snapped this picture of them. It was a gorgeous photo of a gorgeous moment, but she'd hesitated for so long before placing the frame on her desk.
And the day she did, she figured out the reason why. There was another photo taken almost three years ago now, taken from the exact same angle, and in it they were holding each other the exact same way. Except she was wearing a yellow dress instead of a bikini, and it was taken at their junior formal instead of the beach.
She and Nathan were at a good place now, they were happy, and there was no point in dredging up the past they'd fought so hard to put behind them. But sometimes her thoughts just ran away from her, and when they did they often stopped at that ruined night. They were crowned King and Queen, and she was sure it must have looked as perfect as Allison imagined, but all she remembered was that it was the first time he had looked at her with such hurt in his eyes. The first time that she was the one to put the hurt there.
At the time she'd thought he was overreacting. She'd thought he was trying to control her, convinced that he was unreasonably jealous of Chris.
And then she'd left.
It wasn't until she returned months later, when things were tentative and still awkward between them, that she discovered the truth in the form of a few tattered papers buried at the bottom of his drawers. Bill to Nathan Scott, it'd said, for the hire of a horse and carriage. Part of a romantic night that they couldn't really afford but he'd sacrificed for, part of a husband and marriage she'd thought worth sacrificing.
In the form of a handful of words, Haley finally knew what she'd had then, and what she'd thrown away. And not knowing what to do, she put the receipts back and tried to pretend that she'd never seen them.
But some things, once brought into the open, can't be hidden again.
No matter how hard you try.
She didn't know why that photo still sat on her desk.
"Are you okay? You look a little pale."
Haley looked up to see Allison standing by her desk, a worried look on her face.
"Yeah, just a little tired, I guess. Meeting finished already? That was quick."
Allison rolled her eyes. "Victoria the Vicious postponed it. It's in half an hour. So, in the meantime, I'm going to sit here and dream about how I'm going to meet my very own Prince Charming." She paused. "Does Nathan have a brother, by any chance? A very hot brother?"
"Yeah, Lucas. But he's sort of in this on-off relationship with my friend Peyton... even though they haven't been 'on' in years." Haley gave a long-suffering sigh. "It's complicated."
"Peyton, the music chick, right?"
Haley made sure the easy smile stayed on her face.
Once upon a time, she'd been the music chick.
"Yes. She co-ordinates the music at that club called Gaslight. Are you interested in going tonight? There should be something good playing."
Allison shook her head regretfully. "I've got a date tonight. His name is Kyle and he's a dentist. My mother says he's charming and looks like George Clooney. We'll see."
Haley laughed. "Good luck, but you know where I'll be if you change your mind."
***
Nathan glanced into the rear view mirror, and frowned at the sight of the bags piled in his backseat of his car. "Man, did you pack everything you had? I thought you were only staying for a few weeks."
"It's only three small bags!" Lucas protested from the passenger seat.
"Well, your crap is blocking my view and I can't see what's behind us."
"You're the one who had to get the fancy-ass sports car with no trunk space."
"You're lucky I even bothered to pick you up! I should have left you at the airport."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for that," Lucas rolled his eyes. He unbuckled his seatbelt when the car came to a stop in front of Nathan and Haley's apartment building. "You're such a good Samaritan."
Nathan left his brother to struggle with the "three small bags" and headed inside. "Haley said finishes at around 5:30, so she should be back soon."
"Okay," Lucas said, dropping his things by the front door before kicking it shut. "Do you mind if I take a shower? The guy sitting next to me on the plane had the worst B.O.-"
"Yeah," Nathan laughed, "that's why you stink."
Lucas flipped him the finger before disappearing into the bathroom.
Nathan kicked off his shoes and lay back on the couch, a small smile on his face. Three years ago, if somebody had told him that he'd be happily married in college and ignoring all the cheerleaders and basketball groupies throwing themselves at him, he would have laughed in their face. And kept on laughing. Yet here he was, lying on the couch, listening to the familiar sound of the shower in the next room. Granted it wasn't his wife naked in there - his face scrunched up in disgust at the thought of who was - but never in his life had he thought he'd want this feeling, this stability.
He felt himself doze off, but quickly woke up the second a small body settled on top of him.
"Wake up, sleepyhead," he felt, more than heard, Haley whisper into his ear, and a jolt of pleasure rushed through him.
Nathan opened his eyes to see Haley smiling down at him. Her hair was tousled and falling around her face. She looked unpolished, like when he first met her. She looked beautiful.
"Hey, you," he murmured. He tugged her down by the jacket collar, smiling against her lips when she misjudged the distance between them and their noses bumped clumsily. Her long, silky hair fell like a curtain around them.
He liked it most like this, when they were in a private universe where no one else could intrude, and he had all the time in the world to kiss her, to lazily nip at her bottom lip and then soothe it with a lap of his tongue. He slid his hands up the sides of her legs, bunching her skirt around her hips, then pulled her closer so she lay flush against him.
Then suddenly Haley jumped off him, and his arms that a second ago were so full, were now empty.
"Luke!" He heard Haley squeal.
Nathan groaned, and let his head fall back against the armrest. He hadn't planned on showering before going to Peyton's thing, but he'd have to now.
He looked up just in time to see Haley jump into Lucas's arms, Lucas who had one arm around her and the other hand holding onto the towel around his waist.
Nathan growled. "Hey! Put some clothes on before you try to grope my wife."
Haley rolled her eyes. "He's like my brother, Nathan."
"I don't know," Lucas teased, "you look pretty hot in a suit. It's kind of wrinkled though."
Nathan chuckled when Haley blushed, turning bright red. Despite the years they'd been together, she still was a little shy when it came to discussing their sex life. One thing that had changed, though, was that he no longer had to wonder how far the redness creeped down her body. He'd spent a lot of time on that discovery. In the months before they were married, he'd watched carefully when she was embarrassed, sometimes deliberately saying things to provoke her, just to see the flush that first warmed her cheeks and then slowly slid beneath the collar of her modest T-shirts. Then later, he'd watch her in bed, lying beneath him, her head thrown back against the pillow and the little gasps escaping from her mouth...
"Nathan!"
He snapped back to the present to find Haley staring at him quizzically, and Lucas shooting him a knowing smirk.
"What was that?" He asked.
"I said, Peyton asked if we can be there earlier. Something about a crisis." Haley repeated.
"Fine," Nathan agreed. "Right after my shower."
***
The first thing Nathan noticed when they walked into Gaslight was the screeching that echoed around them. There was a man in a ripped pinstripe suit on the stage, doing something that must have at one point passed for singing.
"Peyton!" He yelled when the blonde tried to whiz past them, looking more than a little frazzled. "Can you turn the music down? Or take the mic away from that guy?"
"It's already off," she replied. "What you're hearing is all him. Unfortunately." Peyton turned to Haley and Lucas, who were standing a little behind Nathan. "Hey, guys," she said, and then with a soft smile, "Luke. It's really good to see you again." They embraced for a moment, and then a moment longer.
Nathan shook his head when Haley wiggled her eyebrows and glanced meaningfully at their friends. She'd been a meddler all her life, even though she adamantly denied it. "No," he mouthed, pulling her closer into his side. "Let them sort out their own problems," he said, his lips grazing the hair near her ears.
"Fine," she said with a tiny pout. "Besides, two weeks living in Peyton's cramped little apartment? And her bathroom that doesn't have a lock? One will walk in on the other naked, and they'll be ripping each other's clothes off like that." Haley snapped her fingers.
"I'm kind of disturbed that you're fantasizing about them having sex."
"I'm keeping it PG, promise. But the ones about you are all very X-rated," she said with a giggle, shooting him a sideways look.
Nathan was about to reply when Peyton tugged on Haley's hand and pulled her out of his grasp. Why was everyone convinced that when they wanted to talk to his wife, they had to first get her away from him?
"Haley," Peyton started, "I need a really big favor. Like, really big, and you have to hear me out before you say no, or better yet, say yes."
"Whoa, calm down," Haley laughed. "Just tell me what it is."
"See Andre there? The one who's singing? Well, he was supposed to sing only one song, and only because I felt sorry for him, then this other band was supposed to be on until 8:30 only they never showed up! So I asked Andre to keep on singing until they got here-"
"You shouldn't have," Nathan interrupted, wincing as Andre hit a particularly otherworldly note. Haley shot him a quelling look.
"-but I just got a phone call from them, and they had this story about their car and someone's great-aunt and maybe a chicken, but point is, they're not going to be here. And I can't have Andre there keep singing because everyone is going to leave soon unless something great replaces him. Which is where you come in," Peyton said, giving Haley a hopeful look.
"Peyton..."
"Look, I know you haven't done the singing in a while, and maybe you think you're a little rusty or whatever, but anything you come up with on a bad day will still be a million times better than what I've got up there now. Plus, there's not many people here yet anyway, and you'll only be singing for half an hour."
Haley bit her lip. "I don't know if I can do this again."
And neither did he.
"Please, Haley. You'd really be saving my ass here."
Nathan watched silently as Haley considered the favor. Her forehead wrinkled a little, the way it always did when she deeply conflicted. She turned to look at him, and he could see that she wanted to know how he felt about the situation. Haley always made the extra effort to include him in all her decisions, and he didn't know when that started, but he had a good idea. He knew that he should say something, be the supportive husband and say all the right things. He wanted to tell her that he believed in her no matter what she chose to do, but instead his mouth felt stiff and dry, and his face smoothed out until it was impassive and blank.
"Haley?" Peyton said. "Will you do it?"
"Okay," Haley nodded slowly. She was still looking at him, her eyes pleading him for... something. He just didn't know what, and even if he did, he didn't know if he could give it to her. "Just this one time."
And then Peyton pulled her towards the back of the club, where she could get ready. Nathan pretended that he didn't see when she looked back at him, trying to catch his eye.
"Wow," Lucas said. "Does this feel like déjà vu or what? I can't even remember the last time I heard Haley sing."
Nathan could. They were watching TV, and when she started to sing along to some jingle, he'd left the room.
That was almost two years ago.
And Lucas was right: what had started off as a simple night out was now too eerily similar to that night Haley went up to sing at Tric for Nathan's comfort.
The guy onstage was finally pushed off, and Peyton appeared on the side. "And now," she said, "ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the amazingly talented, the long-awaited, Haley James Scott!"
And then there she was, throwing a smile at the light smattering of applause, mostly from Lucas, before taking a seat at the keyboard. Her fingers hovered over the keys for a second, and Nathan wondered whether she was nervous or scared or excited. Was she remembering that first night she sang to a crowd? Was she remembering the pure joy that came from singing, from having people hear her, or was she thinking of the chain of events that happened after?
Haley closed her eyes as she played the first notes. It was soft and hesitant, almost drowned out by the crowd, but Nathan recognized the song instantly. He recognized the expression on her face, the little crease between her eyebrows as she let the music fill her, the way her lips quivered slightly before she started to sing.
"I love the time and in between, the calm inside me..."
The first time she sang this for him, he'd been surprised. Her voice was not sweet and smooth as he had expected, but raw and honest and strong.
Just like her.
And like that first time, he watched as she got lost in the song, as she shared with everyone what at one time was kept only for him.
"I believe this is heaven to no one else but me..."
There was loud applause as she finished, and Haley smiled shyly in appreciation.
From the edge of the room he could see the flush of excitement, spreading over her collarbones down to the tops of her breasts, exposed by the scoop neckline of her tank top.
And Nathan knew that he was going to lose her all over again.
***
to be continued...
Characters: Nathan/Haley
Summary: It's been two years since Haley returned from the tour, she and Nathan are living the married college life and they are spectacularly happy. Oh, yes, they are.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Mark Schwahn & co.
Notes: This was written for Marissa as part of the Rivercourt Fic Exchance. She requested an angsty future fic, with a reference to Haley and Nathan being crowned King and Queen in TTITKB, and the quote "I want my pink shirt back!"
***
Part One
"You two absolutely sicken me, you know that?"
Haley turned to face Allison, her friend and workmate, unable to help the silly grin that was plastered to her face. She'd just gotten off the phone with Nathan, and he'd managed to come up with another incredibly corny line that left her in a daze for the rest of the day.
"Hmm, what was that?" Haley said.
Allison gestured to the phone, and then for good measure the various photos arranged on Haley's desk. "You and loverboy. You know, I only resorted to blind dates set up by my mother when you came to work here."
"I don't really see how that's my fault," Haley said with raised eyebrow. "And besides, a relationship isn't everything, Allie."
Allison snorted. "Says the girl who had true love just drop into her lap in high school."
Haley started to protest when their supervisor Victoria shot them a dark look, and she quickly turned back to the computer screen in front of her. Victoria had disliked her from the very start, and Haley didn't want to lose this job, especially since it allowed her to get some experience in a law firm. It also helped pay for the apartment she and Nathan called home the two years they'd been in college.
When the dragon lady finally walked back into her office, Allison leaned toward Haley again. "I bet it went something like this: you're practicing a cheer when one of your pompoms go flying, and it lands somewhere you can't reach... which could be anywhere, I suppose."
"Ha. Ha."
"You do a little jump, a scissor kick or whatever, but still can't reach it. Then, lo and behold! Prince basketballer comes and saves the pompom and the day! And you have a big wedding with fireworks and swans and live happily ever after. The end."
"Okay, it definitely didn't happen like that. Where did you get the idea that I was a cheerleader?"
"I hate to break it to you, but you look like one. There's so much pep in your step that it makes me dizzy to walk with you."
Haley rolled her eyes. "Thank God you've never met Brooke Davis. And I'm sorry to interrupt this fascinating tale, but Nathan and I weren't the most popular kids in school. Well, actually, Nathan was, but I was just the nerdy girl who dressed differently."
"Oh." Allison sighed, her enthusiasm gone, and gathered a large stack of papers from her desk. "I liked the story about the King and Queen of the prom better. Made it easier to hate you. Well, kid, I've got to get to the meeting before Victoria the Vicious decides to slaughter me..." Allison gave a jaunty wave goodbye, not noticing that Haley had barely cracked a smile.
Haley stared at a photo sitting on her desk. It was taken at the beach the summer before all her friends from Tree Hill scattered for college. She'd been reading a book when Nathan suddenly swooped her up and ran towards the shore, and all the while she was screaming like a little terror in his ear. Of course he'd dropped her, and then she'd unsuccessfully tried to dunk him in return. Afterwards, they'd stood there in waist-deep water, heads bent together with the waves crashing around them, and just before he'd kissed her someone had snapped this picture of them. It was a gorgeous photo of a gorgeous moment, but she'd hesitated for so long before placing the frame on her desk.
And the day she did, she figured out the reason why. There was another photo taken almost three years ago now, taken from the exact same angle, and in it they were holding each other the exact same way. Except she was wearing a yellow dress instead of a bikini, and it was taken at their junior formal instead of the beach.
She and Nathan were at a good place now, they were happy, and there was no point in dredging up the past they'd fought so hard to put behind them. But sometimes her thoughts just ran away from her, and when they did they often stopped at that ruined night. They were crowned King and Queen, and she was sure it must have looked as perfect as Allison imagined, but all she remembered was that it was the first time he had looked at her with such hurt in his eyes. The first time that she was the one to put the hurt there.
At the time she'd thought he was overreacting. She'd thought he was trying to control her, convinced that he was unreasonably jealous of Chris.
And then she'd left.
It wasn't until she returned months later, when things were tentative and still awkward between them, that she discovered the truth in the form of a few tattered papers buried at the bottom of his drawers. Bill to Nathan Scott, it'd said, for the hire of a horse and carriage. Part of a romantic night that they couldn't really afford but he'd sacrificed for, part of a husband and marriage she'd thought worth sacrificing.
In the form of a handful of words, Haley finally knew what she'd had then, and what she'd thrown away. And not knowing what to do, she put the receipts back and tried to pretend that she'd never seen them.
But some things, once brought into the open, can't be hidden again.
No matter how hard you try.
She didn't know why that photo still sat on her desk.
"Are you okay? You look a little pale."
Haley looked up to see Allison standing by her desk, a worried look on her face.
"Yeah, just a little tired, I guess. Meeting finished already? That was quick."
Allison rolled her eyes. "Victoria the Vicious postponed it. It's in half an hour. So, in the meantime, I'm going to sit here and dream about how I'm going to meet my very own Prince Charming." She paused. "Does Nathan have a brother, by any chance? A very hot brother?"
"Yeah, Lucas. But he's sort of in this on-off relationship with my friend Peyton... even though they haven't been 'on' in years." Haley gave a long-suffering sigh. "It's complicated."
"Peyton, the music chick, right?"
Haley made sure the easy smile stayed on her face.
Once upon a time, she'd been the music chick.
"Yes. She co-ordinates the music at that club called Gaslight. Are you interested in going tonight? There should be something good playing."
Allison shook her head regretfully. "I've got a date tonight. His name is Kyle and he's a dentist. My mother says he's charming and looks like George Clooney. We'll see."
Haley laughed. "Good luck, but you know where I'll be if you change your mind."
***
Nathan glanced into the rear view mirror, and frowned at the sight of the bags piled in his backseat of his car. "Man, did you pack everything you had? I thought you were only staying for a few weeks."
"It's only three small bags!" Lucas protested from the passenger seat.
"Well, your crap is blocking my view and I can't see what's behind us."
"You're the one who had to get the fancy-ass sports car with no trunk space."
"You're lucky I even bothered to pick you up! I should have left you at the airport."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for that," Lucas rolled his eyes. He unbuckled his seatbelt when the car came to a stop in front of Nathan and Haley's apartment building. "You're such a good Samaritan."
Nathan left his brother to struggle with the "three small bags" and headed inside. "Haley said finishes at around 5:30, so she should be back soon."
"Okay," Lucas said, dropping his things by the front door before kicking it shut. "Do you mind if I take a shower? The guy sitting next to me on the plane had the worst B.O.-"
"Yeah," Nathan laughed, "that's why you stink."
Lucas flipped him the finger before disappearing into the bathroom.
Nathan kicked off his shoes and lay back on the couch, a small smile on his face. Three years ago, if somebody had told him that he'd be happily married in college and ignoring all the cheerleaders and basketball groupies throwing themselves at him, he would have laughed in their face. And kept on laughing. Yet here he was, lying on the couch, listening to the familiar sound of the shower in the next room. Granted it wasn't his wife naked in there - his face scrunched up in disgust at the thought of who was - but never in his life had he thought he'd want this feeling, this stability.
He felt himself doze off, but quickly woke up the second a small body settled on top of him.
"Wake up, sleepyhead," he felt, more than heard, Haley whisper into his ear, and a jolt of pleasure rushed through him.
Nathan opened his eyes to see Haley smiling down at him. Her hair was tousled and falling around her face. She looked unpolished, like when he first met her. She looked beautiful.
"Hey, you," he murmured. He tugged her down by the jacket collar, smiling against her lips when she misjudged the distance between them and their noses bumped clumsily. Her long, silky hair fell like a curtain around them.
He liked it most like this, when they were in a private universe where no one else could intrude, and he had all the time in the world to kiss her, to lazily nip at her bottom lip and then soothe it with a lap of his tongue. He slid his hands up the sides of her legs, bunching her skirt around her hips, then pulled her closer so she lay flush against him.
Then suddenly Haley jumped off him, and his arms that a second ago were so full, were now empty.
"Luke!" He heard Haley squeal.
Nathan groaned, and let his head fall back against the armrest. He hadn't planned on showering before going to Peyton's thing, but he'd have to now.
He looked up just in time to see Haley jump into Lucas's arms, Lucas who had one arm around her and the other hand holding onto the towel around his waist.
Nathan growled. "Hey! Put some clothes on before you try to grope my wife."
Haley rolled her eyes. "He's like my brother, Nathan."
"I don't know," Lucas teased, "you look pretty hot in a suit. It's kind of wrinkled though."
Nathan chuckled when Haley blushed, turning bright red. Despite the years they'd been together, she still was a little shy when it came to discussing their sex life. One thing that had changed, though, was that he no longer had to wonder how far the redness creeped down her body. He'd spent a lot of time on that discovery. In the months before they were married, he'd watched carefully when she was embarrassed, sometimes deliberately saying things to provoke her, just to see the flush that first warmed her cheeks and then slowly slid beneath the collar of her modest T-shirts. Then later, he'd watch her in bed, lying beneath him, her head thrown back against the pillow and the little gasps escaping from her mouth...
"Nathan!"
He snapped back to the present to find Haley staring at him quizzically, and Lucas shooting him a knowing smirk.
"What was that?" He asked.
"I said, Peyton asked if we can be there earlier. Something about a crisis." Haley repeated.
"Fine," Nathan agreed. "Right after my shower."
***
The first thing Nathan noticed when they walked into Gaslight was the screeching that echoed around them. There was a man in a ripped pinstripe suit on the stage, doing something that must have at one point passed for singing.
"Peyton!" He yelled when the blonde tried to whiz past them, looking more than a little frazzled. "Can you turn the music down? Or take the mic away from that guy?"
"It's already off," she replied. "What you're hearing is all him. Unfortunately." Peyton turned to Haley and Lucas, who were standing a little behind Nathan. "Hey, guys," she said, and then with a soft smile, "Luke. It's really good to see you again." They embraced for a moment, and then a moment longer.
Nathan shook his head when Haley wiggled her eyebrows and glanced meaningfully at their friends. She'd been a meddler all her life, even though she adamantly denied it. "No," he mouthed, pulling her closer into his side. "Let them sort out their own problems," he said, his lips grazing the hair near her ears.
"Fine," she said with a tiny pout. "Besides, two weeks living in Peyton's cramped little apartment? And her bathroom that doesn't have a lock? One will walk in on the other naked, and they'll be ripping each other's clothes off like that." Haley snapped her fingers.
"I'm kind of disturbed that you're fantasizing about them having sex."
"I'm keeping it PG, promise. But the ones about you are all very X-rated," she said with a giggle, shooting him a sideways look.
Nathan was about to reply when Peyton tugged on Haley's hand and pulled her out of his grasp. Why was everyone convinced that when they wanted to talk to his wife, they had to first get her away from him?
"Haley," Peyton started, "I need a really big favor. Like, really big, and you have to hear me out before you say no, or better yet, say yes."
"Whoa, calm down," Haley laughed. "Just tell me what it is."
"See Andre there? The one who's singing? Well, he was supposed to sing only one song, and only because I felt sorry for him, then this other band was supposed to be on until 8:30 only they never showed up! So I asked Andre to keep on singing until they got here-"
"You shouldn't have," Nathan interrupted, wincing as Andre hit a particularly otherworldly note. Haley shot him a quelling look.
"-but I just got a phone call from them, and they had this story about their car and someone's great-aunt and maybe a chicken, but point is, they're not going to be here. And I can't have Andre there keep singing because everyone is going to leave soon unless something great replaces him. Which is where you come in," Peyton said, giving Haley a hopeful look.
"Peyton..."
"Look, I know you haven't done the singing in a while, and maybe you think you're a little rusty or whatever, but anything you come up with on a bad day will still be a million times better than what I've got up there now. Plus, there's not many people here yet anyway, and you'll only be singing for half an hour."
Haley bit her lip. "I don't know if I can do this again."
And neither did he.
"Please, Haley. You'd really be saving my ass here."
Nathan watched silently as Haley considered the favor. Her forehead wrinkled a little, the way it always did when she deeply conflicted. She turned to look at him, and he could see that she wanted to know how he felt about the situation. Haley always made the extra effort to include him in all her decisions, and he didn't know when that started, but he had a good idea. He knew that he should say something, be the supportive husband and say all the right things. He wanted to tell her that he believed in her no matter what she chose to do, but instead his mouth felt stiff and dry, and his face smoothed out until it was impassive and blank.
"Haley?" Peyton said. "Will you do it?"
"Okay," Haley nodded slowly. She was still looking at him, her eyes pleading him for... something. He just didn't know what, and even if he did, he didn't know if he could give it to her. "Just this one time."
And then Peyton pulled her towards the back of the club, where she could get ready. Nathan pretended that he didn't see when she looked back at him, trying to catch his eye.
"Wow," Lucas said. "Does this feel like déjà vu or what? I can't even remember the last time I heard Haley sing."
Nathan could. They were watching TV, and when she started to sing along to some jingle, he'd left the room.
That was almost two years ago.
And Lucas was right: what had started off as a simple night out was now too eerily similar to that night Haley went up to sing at Tric for Nathan's comfort.
The guy onstage was finally pushed off, and Peyton appeared on the side. "And now," she said, "ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the amazingly talented, the long-awaited, Haley James Scott!"
And then there she was, throwing a smile at the light smattering of applause, mostly from Lucas, before taking a seat at the keyboard. Her fingers hovered over the keys for a second, and Nathan wondered whether she was nervous or scared or excited. Was she remembering that first night she sang to a crowd? Was she remembering the pure joy that came from singing, from having people hear her, or was she thinking of the chain of events that happened after?
Haley closed her eyes as she played the first notes. It was soft and hesitant, almost drowned out by the crowd, but Nathan recognized the song instantly. He recognized the expression on her face, the little crease between her eyebrows as she let the music fill her, the way her lips quivered slightly before she started to sing.
"I love the time and in between, the calm inside me..."
The first time she sang this for him, he'd been surprised. Her voice was not sweet and smooth as he had expected, but raw and honest and strong.
Just like her.
And like that first time, he watched as she got lost in the song, as she shared with everyone what at one time was kept only for him.
"I believe this is heaven to no one else but me..."
There was loud applause as she finished, and Haley smiled shyly in appreciation.
From the edge of the room he could see the flush of excitement, spreading over her collarbones down to the tops of her breasts, exposed by the scoop neckline of her tank top.
And Nathan knew that he was going to lose her all over again.
***
to be continued...