'The Limit' - Chapter Fifty
Wow, well, I suppose that this might be something of a surprise, but this is it. The final chapter.
I ought to go back and scroll through all the reviews and I don't know, name each and every person who has been kind enough to share their thoughts, beg for an update, or even vent their frustrations at this version of Nathan and Haley. Each and every one of you gave me something that helped this story reach a conclusion that I hope is as satisfactory and fulfilling to you as it is to me. So thank you. Really, truly...I thank you all. For reading, for reviewing, for planting seeds in my head with some of your speculation.
I just ask that one last time, one final time with this story, you hit the reply button and leave me a note. If you never before, it'd be pretty awesome if this was the time you did it.
There are a couple of people I want to thank specifically. First, Alix. I used to print out chapters and deliver them to her, which was not only an awesome excuse to go see a great friend, but it was a really good way to get myself motivated. I had to keep her in reading material, right?
Next, I want to thank Diane. Diane helped me with a huge chunk of not only this story, but several of my other stories, and I owe her a lot of gratitude for that. So, thank you, very, very much, Diane, for everything!
Last, but never, ever least, I have to thank Becky. I don't want to say that without her, this story never would have been finished, but without her, I can't say for sure that it would have. Thank you, Becky; you have been the perfect combination of cheerleader, coach, and friend, and it is more appreciated than I can ever really express.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Nine months later…
The evening is gorgeous with lots of puffy white clouds streaked with pink as the sun begins its descent below the horizon. There is a light breeze that swirls the hems of their graduation gowns around their ankles as they sit half-listening to the teacher-appointed student speaker preach about typical ‘end of this chapter, but not end of the book’ blather. The audience is quiet, but there is a slight hum of anticipation coming from the soon-to-be graduate section.
Growing bored with things, Nathan reaches out, letting his arm come to rest on the back of his girlfriend’s chair. She doesn’t acknowledge that, so he lets his fingers wander up her neck, massaging gently. All that gets him is a displeased huff as she straightens up in her seat, ostensibly to concentrate better on the ceremony.
He knows her better than that, though, and she is as bored out of her mind as he is. She had already given her valedictorian speech, which in his opinion was the only decent thing to come out of this so far, so now all she had to do was sit tight with the rest of them until they were called on stage to receive their diplomas.
“Haley,” he whispers in her ear. “Stop ignoring me.” She shoots him a withering glare, but instead of discouraging him as intended, it only serves to spur him on in his quest to earn a reaction. “I know you hear me,” he smirks, twirling her hair around his finger. “I know you feel me.”
“Nathan!” she snaps, pulling his arm off of her. “This is graduation, not your bedroom! Knock it off and pay attention for the next three minutes.”
He mock pouts at her, even giving an extra loud sniffle that draws attention from a few nearby classmates, including his brother and Peyton. He grins back, shrugging shamelessly as he shifts around in his chair, refusing to let his own girlfriend ignore him any longer. “I’m bored,” he whines quietly in her ear. “Entertain me.”
Leaning around Nathan, she shoots a glare at Luke, who seems to be finding humor in the whole thing. He just shrugs at her, not flinching when she scowls her disapproval of that. “You two need to grow up,” she whispers fiercely at them before sitting straight up in her chair.
Exchanging eerily similar smirks, Nathan and Luke just turn their best innocent faces on her, earning a snort of oppressed laughter from Peyton, who Haley figures is basically no help at all. She grumbles under her breath about their immaturity, but all the same, she is more than a little pleased at how well they are getting along right now. It’s been a long road, and there have definitely been peaks and valleys, but all in all, those two were as close as two brothers who’d had a lifetime to get to know each other.
It was so gratifying to her to see how far their relationship has progressed. She knew some of it had to do with their shared desire to please her, but she didn’t feel like it was her place to take credit for it even though most people were giving it to her like it was candy.
She just didn’t think it had that much to do with her, in the end. Maybe things blowing up between her and Nathan had been the impetus for Luke and Nathan to start speaking to one another, but it was all them after that. They’d forged the tentative beginnings of their relationship with her basically out of the picture, so unable to hear anything about Nathan at that time. This was their accomplishment; she just got to reap the fairly awesome benefits of it.
Today was a good day for her, even if her boyfriend was intent on acting like a five year old. She was valedictorian, her parents and all of her siblings actually turned up for the ceremony, and all in all, her life was wonderful. Maybe even a little better than that. She had her boyfriend, with whom she’d been through more already than most couples could ever go through at their age, maybe not at any age, and she had her friends. Her friends and Brooke Davis, who still saw fit to try and edge into the group despite the continually lukewarm reception she received. In spite of her ambivalence towards Brooke, Haley had to admit that her persistence was slightly endearing.
When the speaker finally winds things up and the principal begins calling people up to receive their diplomas, she actually rubs her hands together in anticipation, prompting shared smiles amongst her friends. “Oh, stop it,” she giggles quietly at them. “Someone has to take pride in their academic prowess.”
“I take pride in my prowess, even if it isn’t of the academia variety,” Nathan smirks, sharing a nod with Tim. Luke and Peyton roll their eyes at that, neither really interested in those kinds of jokes from him or Haley. Too weird, even with the newfound closeness of the group.
“Let’s not go there,” Luke whispers, looking faintly green. “I just don’t need to hear that. It’ll be like the time I caught you two on the roof of the café all over again!”
Haley’s face flames hotly, but Nathan is unabashed as ever. Peyton pats Luke on the arm consolingly. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t try to drag me up there to ‘erase the horror’, as you put it.”
Nathan’s jaw drops open and Haley and Tim have to clasp their hands to their mouths to keep from laughing out loud. “You’ve been holding out on me, bro!” Nathan chuckles, shaking his head. “Damn, remind me never to go up there again.”
“Now you know how I felt,” Luke smirks, despite his blush over being out-ed like that. “It’s just something you never want to know about, right? Besides, you didn’t have to see your best friend’s naked - “
“Luke!” It is both Haley and Peyton who are all over him on that one, and Nathan and Tim are shaking with silent laughter nearby. “Oh, God,” Haley moans. “You said you didn’t see anything!”
Luke just rolls his eyes in response. “Well, believe me, I wasn’t looking! That’s not something I ever planned on seeing, Hales!”
Shaking her head, Peyton wraps an arm around her boyfriend’s shoulders. “You know, for the longest time, I figured that you two had a thing, or at least that one of you wanted to have a thing. Or that you would some day.”
“I thought that, too!” Nathan notes with a wry laugh. “I kept asking Haley about it when we first started, uh, tutoring.”
Eyeing them with disbelief, Luke whispers loudly, “That’s like incest! I don’t know why a guy and a girl just can’t be best friends without people getting all weird on them.”
Tim shakes his head, interrupting to say, “One of y’all is going to miss your name getting called, if you keep yammering on like this.”
“No one will miss their name,” Peyton protests, patting him primly on the knee. “We’re still paying attention, we’re just….”
“Bantering,” Haley finishes for her. “It’s what we do. You know that by now, Tim.”
He rolls his eyes. “They just called Jake; did you notice that?” Four pairs of eyes swivel to the stage, abashed to see that he was right, Jake was indeed walking across the stage.
Luke groans, scratching his chin earnestly as he squints at the stage. “Well, great, now I feel bad. Can’t believe we missed it.”
“Told you two that you shouldn’t keep talking,” Haley sniffs, primly settling back in her chair. “So immature, I don’t know what we’ll do with you.”
“Oh, like you weren’t in on every second of it, Haley Maureen James,” Nathan throws right back at her, grinning when she sticks her tongue out at him later. “Not very mature, especially for our valedictorian. Unless that was an offer, then I am definitely on board.”
They all laugh quietly, but sit up a little straighter and start paying a little more attention to what is going on in front of them. As the students in the row behind them begins to get called up, Haley bounces a little in her seat, reaching out to hold Nathan’s hand. Her enthusiasm is endearing to him even if he doesn’t share it. Well, he shares it when it is jiggling up and down, anyway. But that’s another story.
It wasn’t that he was opposed to the high school portion of his life being over; far from it, actually. But high school ending meant going away to college. It meant separation from his brother and Pete and other friends. It meant that Haley wouldn’t be spending as much time in his bed as she does in her own. And all of that just sucked. It sucked balls, it sucked ass, it was sucking a lot of the joy out of his day.
Sighing, he shifts around in his chair, trying to get comfortable. As if sensing that his discomfort isn’t coming from the hard folding chairs they were perched in, Haley leans in closer to him. “Aren’t you at least a little excited? Come on, Nathan, you had an amazing year. State championship, about a bazillion dollars in scholarship offers, your grades were completely brilliant. You have so much to look forward to now.”
“I know,” he smiles back, although it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. She sighs, leaning in to rest her head on his shoulder, giggling unapologetically when the tip of her hat pokes into his chin. He lifts an eyebrow at her, relaxing when she wraps her hands around his upper arm, holding herself to him. Funny how she can calm him down better than anything else. “Everything is going to change, though,” he says in spite of himself.
“Not everything,” she counters lightly in a low voice, her attention divided as some of Tim’s paranoia has infected her. “I’ll still love you more than anything ever.”
That earns a genuine smile, and she sits back in her seat feeling rather self-satisfied as their row stands to be recognized. Tim is the first of their little group called, and he does what Tim does best: struts across the stage like the semi-deluded peacock that he is. Nathan and Haley share looks of amusement with Peyton and Luke, and all four of them break the ‘respectable quiet’ rule and cheer loudly for their friend as he poses in front of the principal before accepting his diploma.
Peyton is next, followed by Luke. Both are more demure than Tim, of course, but Peyton does do a little happy dance as she waits on the other end of the stage for Luke. Nathan is next, turning back and ducking down to give Haley a swift kiss before walking up the few steps of the stage to accept his diploma. Instead of walking down and back to his seat as instructed, he turns to Whitey and bends to give the older man a big hug. With a gruffly whispered ‘thanks’ in the coach’s ear, Nathan shoots him a quick smile before making his way off the stage under the irritated but indulgent glare of the principal.
When Haley’s name is called, she gets a raucous chorus of cheers from the obscenely large section of the bleachers that hold her family, but Nathan keeps quiet, just watching with a proud smile on his face as she blushes her way across the stage to claim her own diploma. She gives a small wave in her family’s direction when their cheers continue before rushing to the seats where Nathan is waiting for her.
“Are you sure you want to meet all of them?” she asks doubtfully, rolling her eyes towards her family. “That’s a rowdy bunch, Nathan. Does Pete know what he’s getting into, letting all of them come over for the party?”
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Nathan assures her, his arms wrapping around her middle tightly. “Hey. You just graduated, officially. How does it feel to no longer be of the high school realm?”
She laughs, letting that sink in as she maneuvers around him to grin at Peyton and Luke, who pull her into a triple hug. Nathan rolls his eyes at the display, but acquiesces quickly when Luke reaches an arm out, jerking him into the fold, the circle turning into a little square. Never one to be left out, Tim joins in, making them a hexagon. Or blob, perhaps might be more appropriate.
Who’d have thought, even as recently as the beginning of this school year, that he’d be standing here at graduation, in a hug with the girl he knew he was going to love forever, his very tentative brother, and an ex-girlfriend and a friend that he’d made habits of being pretty nasty to? Definitely not him, that’s for sure. It was still the tiniest bit weird sometimes, or at least that’s what he likes to insist to Luke, but it was right, too.
The part that galled him the most was knowing that he could have had this his whole life. He was still angry with himself for his actions; so many of them were completely deplorable. The only other person he was angry with was Dan. He just felt so wronged by him, this man who was supposed to be his father, for keeping him from all this. Maybe that wasn’t entirely the case, but that’s how it felt a lot of the time. If he’d grown up with Luke, then he’d have had years to know Haley. He told her that once, and she’d laughed, insisting that there was nothing wrong with finding each other when they did. Of course, she’d also mentioned making their story into a movie - something about the teen crowd loving it.
“Finally, we’re done,” Peyton exhales, leaning into Luke’s side. “We are done with the cliques, the teachers who don’t really care about teaching, the mandatory study sessions - “
“Gym!” Haley breaks in gleefully.
“Yes, gym!” Peyton agrees with a laugh. “Exactly! We’re out of here, and we’re going to college - and life is just beginning!”
Luke snickers at his girlfriend’s enthusiasm. “You know, Peyt, maybe they should’ve asked you to give the speech,” he suggests blithely, earning a smack on the chest.
Nathan nods at Luke. “I probably would’ve paid more attention if it had been you, Peyton. I’m sure your clichés would’ve been just as good as ol’ Peter’s were.”
“Thanks so much, Nathan,” Peyton returns, shaking her head with a little smile. “Anyway, I don’t know why you guys aren’t more excited. Truth be told, Luke, I’m especially disappointed in you. Show some life; this is graduation!”
“This is the part of the ceremony where we get to throw our caps in the air,” Haley hisses, shushing them rather effectively.
They listen as the last student receives his diploma, walking quickly back to his seat. After another minute of the principal speaking, the music swells up and the class is presented to the audience. Amidst the cheers and applause and confetti and silly string, Haley throws her cap off a split second before she leaps into her boyfriend’s waiting arms, her own twining around his neck as she meets him in a kiss that leaves her melting.
When she pulls back, he slowly sets her down as he looks around them, batting at a balloon floating towards him. “Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all,” he notes wryly.
“Maybe not,” she agrees with a wide smile. “Maybe not at all.”
~*~
The party was in full swing by the time they got there early the next afternoon. The graduates had been dragged out to an all night party put on by parents to help reduce the risk of any celebration related incidents that tend to occur around those types of festivities. When they were released from the forced merriment in the morning, Peyton cajoled Luke, Haley, Nathan, Tim, Jake, and Jake’s girlfriend Devon into spending a few hours at her place sleeping before heading over to Nathan and Pete’s for the party.
And seeing all the people there - at least two thirds of which were James family members - all of them are relatively glad that they did just that. Pete is the one to open the door, his deep voice booming loudly as he welcomes them to their party. He hugs Nathan and Luke and stoops to kiss Haley on the cheek.
“’Bout time you lazy asses showed up!” he grins, keeping his arm around the diminutive Haley as he greets the rest of their crew. “Most everyone is out back on the sport court. You never told me your family was so big on tennis, Hales.”
She just shakes her head at that while Luke and Nathan laugh at her expense. Luke fills Pete in on what probably should be the obvious. “The last time Haley played tennis, there was an event involving the net and a racket to the back of Taylor’s head. It…wasn’t pretty.”
Poking him in the arm, Haley is quick to retort, “At least I didn’t fall off the dock because I was ogling Jeannie Chatman in her string bikini summer after freshman year!”
Peyton snorts, trying to hold back a laugh before giving it up as a bad try. Luke’s face is blazing red in his blush, but Nathan, Tim, and Jake stare at Haley, not getting the problem. Peyton, between giggle fits, explains, “You know Eric Chatman, the junior - well, now senior - who is big on the football team?” The three boys nod. “That’s his…mother.”
Jake and Nathan both blanch a little before laughing at Luke’s expense, but Tim just nods soberly, holding his hand out to Luke. When Luke takes it, he nods sagely, saying, “I’ve seen her, good call, man.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, that is my boyfriend,” Peyton quips, leaning into Haley. Just then, a blur of slightly outlandish red hair comes streaking through the doorway. “Oh, look, Pippi Longstocking is here to glom onto anyone willing to put up with her for the afternoon.”
“It’s good to see you, too, former BFF,” Brooke returns, latching onto Pete’s arm. “Hey there, my handsome, worldly, older man friend,” she purrs, batting her eyes at him.
Nathan rolls his eyes. “God, I could be sick at that,” he moans, shrugging at Haley when she pinches him on the side.
Haley glances through the hallway to the dining room. “Wow, there are a lot of people just in there,” she notes. “We should probably go start saying hi to people.”
“Just how many people are here exactly?” Nathan calls after her, following as she starts making her way through the house - almost like she lives there, which…well, fair enough - out the glass door leading to the backyard. “Oh, that’s a pretty big many,” he mutters.
That’s not even an understatement. Haley’s family alone is well into the double digits, and Tim’s family isn’t too far behind. Even Jake and Jeannie have quite a few people representing them, too. It’s sort of a stark contrast to him, Luke, and Peyton, each of whom have exactly one parent there to celebrate them. At least he and Luke have Keith, too. He actually feels pretty bad for Peyton when he thinks about it.
In a way, it isn’t too bad, though, and he doesn’t feel sorry for himself. Maybe he doesn’t have a big boisterous family of his own, but he has Haley’s big boisterous family, and most of them have gone out of their way to make him feel welcome. Plus, Luke, Keith, and even Karen had come to mean an awful lot to him, and he knew they’d taken in Peyton just as much as they’d taken him in, too.
“Come on, if we stick together, maybe we can get through this faster and start kicking people out sooner,” Haley whispers in his ear, a promising look in her eyes as she gazes up at him.
“I love the way you think, James.”
She steps back, curtsying to him before taking his hand and dragging him towards Deb. Deb was still not the biggest fan of Haley’s, recognizing that her son felt more for the small girl than he’d ever felt for her. She wasn’t stupid, however, and she know that the only way to ensure continued contact with her son was to put up with Haley. It wasn’t her first choice for her son, but she had to admit that Haley was a good influence on him.
When they approach her, she manages a genuine smile for both of them. “Oh, Nathan, congratulations, honey! I’m so proud of you.” After pulling him down for a hug, she turns to Haley, saying politely, “And you, too, Haley. Your speech was far and away the best of the evening.”
“Thank you,” Haley beams, swinging Nathan’s arm with her own. “It’s hard to get up there for something like that and not come off like a ridiculous sap, you know?”
“Quit fishing for compliments,” Nathan teases her, smiling awkwardly at his mother. “Ah, thanks for coming today, Mom.”
It is disappointing to her that he feels the need to thank her for coming, but she brushes that aside, smiling widely at him. “Well, it’s my only son’s graduation party; of course I would not miss it for the world.” She looks around the yard, glancing towards the house. “This is a nice place, Nathan. All things considered.”
He nods at that, but doesn’t say anything. Haley jumps in then. “Have you met everyone? Did Pete introduce himself to you? Don’t listen to a word he says, by the way. He tends to have a rather grandiose and active imagination. Oh, did you meet my family? Well, my parents at least. You don’t have to meet all of them. That would probably take half a day at least.”
Nathan has to force down a smile at his mother’s slightly overwhelmed expression. His girlfriend just has a way of doing that to people. Deb smiles politely, saying, “Well, I met Pete, I think. And I definitely met your mother, Haley.”
“Oh, that’s good, I know she wanted to make sure she did that,” Haley grins, waving at Jake and Devon as they get engulfed by their families. “Don’t worry about any of the rest of them; they’re all heathens.”
“Hey, that’s not true,” Nathan laughingly protests, grinning as her brother David walks by, reaching out to tousle her hair. “The James’s are great, Mom. They’ve been so cool to me, and after everything - well, anyway, they’re really fun. You’ll like them.”
“I’m sure I will,” Deb agrees, pasting on another smile. “Well, I will let you two continue to make your rounds. You have an awful lot of guests here to greet today.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Nathan agrees, looking a little dazed as he again takes in all the people crowed into the backyard and house. “Thanks for coming, Mom. It’s nice of you.”
She nods. “When you have a few moments, Nathan, I’d like to talk to you again. I have your graduation present, and your father - “
His entire body tenses up at the mention, and he interrupts her in a low voice. “Don’t. Do not bring him up, especially on a day like this. He has no place in any of this, and I don’t even want to think about him.”
Sensing that she’s not needed for this, Haley squeezes Nathan’s hand and takes a step back, giving Deb an apologetic smile. “I’m going to go say hi to Karen and Keith, okay? And maybe rescue Pete from Brooke, if I’m feeling magnanimous.”
“Okay, I’ll find you in a few minutes,” he agrees, bending down to kiss her on the cheek. Unsurprisingly, that elicits a chorus of ‘aw’s’ from Haley’s sisters, Peyton, and Devon, all of whom happened to be watching. He rolls his eyes, but gives them a wave and a sarcastic smile. Turning back to Deb, he sighs. “Look, Mom, you know how I feel about him, and I’m just not interested - at all - in hearing about him or hearing from him or anything like. I wish you wouldn’t push that.”
“But Nathan, he is your father,” she tries to reason with him. There is a part of her that can’t seem to let go of the idea of repairing their family. “He just wants to be a part of your life again.”
Nathan frowns, but manages to stay calm. “I’m sorry, but that will never happen. He is not a part of my life, and you know why! He’s a cancer. If you want to stay with him, try and work things out or whatever, that’s your problem. I want no part of it, and I want no part of him.”
Resigned, Deb nods. “Okay, you’re right. This is your decision, and I can’t force you.” Reaching into her purse, she pulls out an envelope. “Now, this is from me. I know that you have the full ride scholarships and all, but you can probably use some spending money.”
“Thanks, Mom.” He means it, too. The check is for more than he ever imagined receiving, and she’s right, he’ll definitely be able to use it. He still wasn’t sure what he’d be able to do in terms of a job, since basketball was going to take up so much of his time, but he planned on figuring something out. “This is really nice, and it’ll definitely come in handy.”
“I’m glad,” she beams, stopping herself from reaching out to hug him. “I’d like to spend some time with you this summer. Haley is welcome to join us, of course, but I’d like to be able to sit down with you one on one on occasion, too. Please think about it.”
“Sure,” he agrees, surprising himself with how easy it is to do that. “We can do that, Mom. Both ways, even. I just - you know how much Haley means to me, right? This isn’t just a passing time thing or a high school thing for me.”
She nods. “That’s rather obvious, Nathan. I - perhaps I’m not as thrilled with it as you, mainly because you are so young, but if it makes you happy, then I’m happy, too.”
There’s no mistaking the honesty in her sentiment, so he nods and, before he can think better of it, leans down to give her a quick hug. “Thanks. For the money, for not pushing me about Dan. For understanding - if not liking - what Hay means to me.”
“You’re welcome. Well, I’m going to take off now. You enjoy your day, and call me when you can, okay? I’ll take you out to dinner one night when you don’t have to work.”
“Sure, Mom, thanks for everything,” he tells her again. She smiles, stretching on her toes to kiss his cheek, and then she turns and leaves. With a sigh, Nathan scans the party, ready to head back to Haley’s side. Before he spots her, Pete steps up to him, a can of soda in each hand.
He hands one out to his friend, and Nathan smiles in acknowledgement. “So this is a strange, weird gathering of people,” Pete notes dryly. “Your girlfriend’s family is a trip. Well, that blonde sister of hers is kind of scary, but other than that, they’re pretty funny. No wonder you like them all so much.”
Nathan grins at that. “Yeah, Haley comes by it honestly, doesn’t she?”
“If you say so,” Pete chuckles. “So, you’re done with that high school bullshit. You must be finally getting excited, huh?”
“What’s to get excited about?” Nathan mutters, his mood dimming with the topic switch. “Haley and I are going to different schools, and that pretty much messes up everything for me.”
Pete rolls his eyes. “Would you knock it off with that line? It’s getting tired. Nothing is messed up for you at all. That girl will still be head over heels in love with you if she’s two feet, two blocks, two miles, or two thousand miles away from you. Just get over yourself. I, for one, am getting a little tired of the latest and possibly greatest Nathan Scott pity party yet.”
Nathan bristles at the scathing comment from his friend. “What would you know? It’s not like you have any experience with this, being separated from your girlfriend like this!”
“You’ll be forty minutes away from her, Nathan!” Pete retorts in exasperation. “I’m sorry, dude, but I’m failing to see where the direness of this situation comes into play. Seriously, forty minutes. Twenty-five, when the traffic isn’t so bad.”
Glaring at him for a minute, Nathan shakes his head and sighs. “Now you sound like Haley.”
Pete grins baldly at him, shrugging. “Sue me. Besides, she’s right and you know it. She’s the smart one. Come on, pretty boy, you need to chill out about this. She’s just across that little lake or whatever from you. I think you can handle that.”
“It’s a bay,” Nathan returns in irritation. “You’re just missing the point, anyway. Almost every night, she comes over here and stays with me. We do our homework together, we watch TV, I’ve even got her jogging with me, and we - “
”Fuck like bunnies?” Taylor interrupts in a saccharine sweet voice. “That’s just so poetic, Nathan. You’re a real catch, you know that?”
“Oh, Taylor, have I had the chance to tell you yet how happy I am that you could make it here for this? Really, your presence is just such a boon of happiness for everyone involved,” Nathan is more than willing to snark back at her.
She actually laughs at that, latching onto Pete’s arm. “You know, you aren’t so bad, Scott. I’m not entirely sure what my sister sees in you, at least in terms of keeping you around for the long haul, but you really aren’t as bad as I’d figured.”
Nathan rolls his eyes. “Well, now that I’ve got the stamp of approval from you, I’m sure I can sleep a little easier at night.”
“Probably not, given how my sister looks at you all the time,” Taylor winks at him, drawing a surprised laugh from Pete. Nathan just shakes his head at them. “Honestly, Nathan, if I’d heard what you did to Haley sooner than Christmas, I would’ve come back and kicked your ass. Still wanted to, really, but you seem to have pulled it together nicely. Not too shabby.”
“Right,” Nathan drawls out, nodding slowly. “Whatever you say, Taylor. Look, Pete, I better go say hi to my Uncle Keith. I haven’t even had a minute to talk to him yet.”
“Sure,” Pete agrees, slanting a dirty look at him as his so-called friend abandons him to the clinging Taylor.
Nathan saunters off in the direction he’d briefly noticed Keith in earlier when Haley first dragged him out into the yard. On the way over to where his uncle now stands with Karen and Luke, he’s stopped by several of Haley’s siblings, their spouses, or children. He doesn’t mind a bit, though, and chats gladly with each of them.
Finally, he makes it over to Keith and Karen who have been joined by Luke, Peyton, and her father, Larry. Keith grins at the sight of him, pulling him into a tight hug when he joins the group. “Nathan! Well, I have to say, I’m awfully proud of you!”
Feeling himself flush, Nathan tries to shrug off the praise. “Ah, thanks, Keith. I, um, I appreciate that. Really, I do. You don’t have to say it, though.”
“I know you do, Nathan,” Keith grins, hugging him again and clapping him hard on the back. “And well, maybe I don’t, but I want to tell you those things. You deserve to hear them.”
“Learn how to take a compliment, bro,” Luke grins, shoving him all the while keeping one arm affixed around Peyton’s waist. “How’re things with your mom? She didn’t stay very long.”
He shrugs. “She was okay, I guess. Gave me a check, but I actually think she was trying to help, not to buy me.” Karen frowns lightly at this, but doesn’t say anything. “I still don’t think she appreciates Haley all that much, but she’s learned how that’ll end for her,” he says with a grin. “Really, it was okay. I told her we could have dinner soon.”
Keith nods his approval. “Well, I think that’s good, Nathan. Honestly, I wasn’t all that sure that she’d want to come; I figured she’d be a little out of her element here.”
Smirking a little, Nathan nods. “Maybe that’s good for her. She did mention Dan, but hopefully she’s starting to get how futile it is to bring him up, especially when trying to push me into something.”
“Well, it is so nice of you to have this party here, Nathan,” Karen jumps in smoothly. “You and Pete have really done a nice job with this place. Luke and Haley have both told me that the two of you are responsible for a lot of fixes and improvements around here.”
“Oh, yeah, we talked the landlords into paying for some improvements, provided we did most of the work on them. It worked out pretty well,” he agrees, smiling at her.
“He’s not still whining about being a half hour away from Haley is he?” Pete calls loudly as he walks past them, smirking deviously at Nathan who barely refrains from making a rude hand gesture at his friend.
Luke snickers at his brother’s expense. “Don’t look now, Nate, but trouble in the form of the James parents has its eye on you.”
Nathan shakes his head at Luke, reaching out to mess with his too long, too spiky hair. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll go head them off.”
“Would anyone be offended if I made the whipped noise now?” Peyton calls, loud enough for Nathan to hear. He just waves at her over his shoulder, shaking his head and chuckling.
Haley is with her parents, and when Nathan approaches, she lifts one arm out to him, smiling when he steps into her embrace. “Really, Nathan, you aren’t still complaining about the colleges thing, are you? We aren’t that far apart. Remember when we thought the closest offer you’d get was Los Angeles or one of those godforsaken Oregon schools?”
He rolls his eyes. “Well, it’s still pretty far, you have to admit. I just - you know that I’m going to miss you, a lot. You’ll be close, yeah, but not close enough, and that’s hard for me.”
“You do realize that we’re going to see each other all the time, right?” she laughs, wrapping her other around him and squeezing him tight. He leans down, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I mean it, you are worrying about nothing.”
“I’ll just miss seeing you freely. I’ll miss being in the same classes, talking to you before practice. Those things - I don’t know, I don’t really take anything for granted anymore, Hay.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet, honey,” Lydia beams, reaching out to pinch Nathan’s cheek. “Such a sweet boy you’ve found for yourself, Bub.”
She rolls her eyes at her mother, shrugging out of her embrace. “Don’t be like that, Mom.”
Lydia raises an eyebrow at Haley. “And you would be well served to not be like that, Haley Maureen James. You are still my daughter, and you can still respect me.”
“Like you respected me when you up and left?” Haley retorts, cringing as the words come out of her mouth. “I - I didn’t mean - well, not like that. I’m sorry.”
“N-no, don’t be sorry,” Lydia whispers, her eyes round at the venom in her daughter’s voice. “We should go inside and talk, somewhere quieter.”
Nathan, only concerned with Haley right now, steps in. “Look, you guys can talk in my room, Hay. Go ahead, take them up there.”
She reaches out, gripping his hand in hers. “You come, too, please,” she requests softly, still staring at her mother, occasionally glancing her father’s way. “Please?”
“Of course,” he agrees immediately, leading them into the house and up the stairs. Once they’re all in his bedroom, he follows Jimmy’s gaze to a pair of what are obviously Haley’s panties lying on the bed. Groaning, he steps over and grabs the panties, shoving them in his pocket. Jimmy frowns, but wisely - in Nathan’s opinion - doesn’t say anything.
“Haley, what is going on with you?” Lydia asks tiredly, putting her hands on her youngest daughter’s shoulders. “Is something going on that we should be aware of here?”
Haley shakes her head, pulling away to sit on the bed. “You can’t just come back and act like parents right away,” she sighs, brushing her hair out of her face. “You left, and that was your decision, and things are different now.”
Jimmy, dragging his attention away from Nathan, kneels down in front of her. “Honey, we thought you were okay with us leaving.”
“Who would be okay with that?” Haley asks, shaking her head. “Honestly, who do you know that would just be okay with their parents taking off in the middle of their junior year of high school? There probably aren’t a lot of kids that would get a warm fuzzy from that, okay? I don’t know what you want from me.”
“Well, I guess this is a good start,” Lydia says quietly. “We want you to be honest with us, and we want to know how you feel about things.”
“I told you how I felt before,” Haley shrugs, “But you didn’t want to hear it because it didn’t really mesh with what you wanted. And okay fine, you guys do what you have to, but don’t ask me to love it. That wasn’t fair. It still isn’t fair.”
Nathan sits down beside her, trying to ignore the way Jimmy looks around the room, obviously cataloguing all the things in here that blatantly belong to Haley. Lydia smiles, taking Haley’s hand. “Even if we don’t want to hear it, you can always tell us the truth. I’m so sorry that we hurt you when we left. It - that wasn’t our intent, baby. It was selfish how we left, but it took us a long time - “
”Too long,” Jimmy interrupts.
“ - to realize just how selfish we were being.”
“We never meant to hurt you, Haley,” Jimmy adds, his attention now focused on her. “We love you very much, and even though we can’t take back leaving, we are sorry. And we’re so proud of you. You’ve - you have accomplished so much.”
Lydia nods her agreement. “We’re going to come visit you, you know. You too Nathan. And we’re going to embarrass the hell right out of you two when we roll through campus in the motor home with the new horn that plays ‘La Cucaracha’.”
Nathan raises an eyebrow at that, looking back and forth between the three of them. “Ah, that’s a joke, right? No one gets horns that play ‘La Cucaracha’ anymore, right?”
Haley smirks at him. “They’re talking about showing up at our doorsteps, most likely unexpectedly, and you’re worried about what the horn plays? Honestly, Nathan!”
He shrugs, completely unfazed. “That’s an annoying song, that’s all.”
“See, Jimmy! I told you no one liked that song! I don’t know what you were thinking. And here I wanted to get one that made the chiming noise that grandfather clocks make at midnight. That would’ve been so much better.”
Unable to help herself, Haley laughs. “I missed you guys! This is why I didn’t want you to leave, because I missed you!”
Lydia wraps her arms around her youngest daughter, her baby. “We missed you, Bub. We missed you so damn much, all the time.”
“It’s true,” Jimmy agrees, hugging them both before winking up at Nathan. “Say, if we’d stayed, do you think you would’ve moved in with Nathan quite like this? There’s an awful lot of your things in here, Bub.”
Haley’s face turns bright red as she looks to Nathan, who is slightly pink himself, for help. He just shrugs helplessly at her, leaving her on her own. “Well, the truth, Daddy? Probably. We have lots of really fabulous - “ She’s cut off by three hands simultaneously trying to slap over her mouth. “What?” she asks when she pries them off. “I was just going to say study time! Jeez, I don’t know where your minds are….”
Nathan sighs, shaking his head as his girlfriend walks out the door arm in arm with her mother. “I think she’ll kill me one day, doing things like that.”
Jimmy drapes a friendly arm around Nathan’s shoulders. “But what a way to go, huh, kid?”
“Yeah,” Nathan agrees, smiles. “Sir, are they really okay, just like that? Haley’s been….hurt since you guys left. And I know that a lot of that had to do with me, and the way I messed up, but it just seems weird that she’d just give in so quickly.”
“Well, I think you are the reason it was so easy to give in, Nathan. She said what she had to say, heard what she needed to hear, and it’s easier to let go. Let’s face it,” he sighs, “Her mother and I are not the most important people in her life. Haven’t been since you conned her into tutoring you, in fact. That’s why it was easier to forgive us than it was to forgive you - she has you now and is completely confident in that, and she’s already forgiven something that was harder to forgive. I suppose we owe you thanks, in a rather twisted way, for that.”
That doesn’t entirely make sense to Nathan, but he’ll take it for what it is. Maybe this is one of those things that he’s not meant to understand; he can live with that. “We should probably head back downstairs. I heard there was a party going on.” Laughing, they walk down the stairs together, Jimmy quizzing Nathan on the just completed NHL hockey season.
A while later, Nathan stands in the kitchen watching out the window as Jimmy and Keith argue over the best barbecue techniques. Lydia is rocking one of her grandchildren, telling him a story that has him giggling. Karen and Larry are talking with a couple of Haley’s siblings and their spouses. Jake and Jeannie are sitting in a chair together, their bare feet dangling in the kiddie pool he and Pete had bought as a joke, Jenny sitting in it and splashing happily.
Taylor and Brooke, a pair that leaves him a little cold, are laughing together - more likely cackling, though, he figures - as they watch Pete and Tim, who are engaged in a game of badminton. Peyton and Luke are cheering them on, along with Haley’s sister Quinn and whatever flavor of the month she brought with her.
Just as he starts to wonder where Haley is, she is stepping into place beside him, her head leaning on his arm. “Quite the scene out there, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty typical though, right? I mean, typical of all of them? And you know, I think Taylor and Brooke are bonding or planning something, and I am totally man enough to admit that that scares the hell out of me. Truly, I’m worried.”
She giggles at that. “That could definitely be trouble,” she agrees, turning her face to kiss his bare arm. “Thanks for having this party here. It’s been fun, Nathan.”
He turns suddenly, bending down to lift her up and set her on the counter so that they are at eye level. “Thank you for bringing all these people into my life so that there could be a party, Hay.” She opens her mouth to protest, and he leans in to kiss her, cutting her off. “No, I mean it. These were your friends, not mine. And I know that now I’m lucky enough to count them as mine, too, but they were yours first. So thank you for sharing them with me.”
“That is a silly thing to thank me for,” she smiles, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. “What’s mine is yours, Nathan. I am yours.”
“I love you,” he says for what feels like the ten billionth time. “I love you, and I - I love you.”
“Well, I love you, too,” she smiles against his lips, her legs tightening around him. “Are you really worried that we’ll be too far apart for college?”
He presses a kiss to her cheek before leaning back. “Yes, I do. Realistically, I know it isn’t an issue, but at the same time, I just know that I’ll miss you. It’ll be really hard to go from having you next to me in bed every night to only seeing you on weekends and a few evenings a week. That’s a big adjustment.”
She gives him a sly, I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile. “Well, I might have arranged for my classes to start around ten everyday.” He looks at her blankly. “I figured that might make it easier for me to spend more time with you. More nights with you.”
His eyes widen slowly, but it only takes a minute before he lets out a quiet whoop. “You…you are amazing. Brilliant! Genius! Gorgeous!”
“Oh, I know,” she laughs, shifting slightly to glance out the window. “We should probably rejoin the party, you know?”
“Yeah, we probably should.” He helps her off the counter, and hand in hand, they walk to the door. He stops her before they can go out it. “Thank you,” he says sincerely, “For all this.”
“I love you,” she says again. “This is all just part of the package.”
“And what a pretty package it is,” Pete calls, motioning them out here. “Get your butts over here! This is your party, you can’t be ducking out like this, not even to go makeout!”
Everyone laughs, but for once in his life, Nathan Scott does not care. He’s got the girl, he’s got basketball, and he’s got one motley crew of a family, all gathered together here in his backyard.
I ought to go back and scroll through all the reviews and I don't know, name each and every person who has been kind enough to share their thoughts, beg for an update, or even vent their frustrations at this version of Nathan and Haley. Each and every one of you gave me something that helped this story reach a conclusion that I hope is as satisfactory and fulfilling to you as it is to me. So thank you. Really, truly...I thank you all. For reading, for reviewing, for planting seeds in my head with some of your speculation.
I just ask that one last time, one final time with this story, you hit the reply button and leave me a note. If you never before, it'd be pretty awesome if this was the time you did it.
There are a couple of people I want to thank specifically. First, Alix. I used to print out chapters and deliver them to her, which was not only an awesome excuse to go see a great friend, but it was a really good way to get myself motivated. I had to keep her in reading material, right?
Next, I want to thank Diane. Diane helped me with a huge chunk of not only this story, but several of my other stories, and I owe her a lot of gratitude for that. So, thank you, very, very much, Diane, for everything!
Last, but never, ever least, I have to thank Becky. I don't want to say that without her, this story never would have been finished, but without her, I can't say for sure that it would have. Thank you, Becky; you have been the perfect combination of cheerleader, coach, and friend, and it is more appreciated than I can ever really express.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Nine months later…
The evening is gorgeous with lots of puffy white clouds streaked with pink as the sun begins its descent below the horizon. There is a light breeze that swirls the hems of their graduation gowns around their ankles as they sit half-listening to the teacher-appointed student speaker preach about typical ‘end of this chapter, but not end of the book’ blather. The audience is quiet, but there is a slight hum of anticipation coming from the soon-to-be graduate section.
Growing bored with things, Nathan reaches out, letting his arm come to rest on the back of his girlfriend’s chair. She doesn’t acknowledge that, so he lets his fingers wander up her neck, massaging gently. All that gets him is a displeased huff as she straightens up in her seat, ostensibly to concentrate better on the ceremony.
He knows her better than that, though, and she is as bored out of her mind as he is. She had already given her valedictorian speech, which in his opinion was the only decent thing to come out of this so far, so now all she had to do was sit tight with the rest of them until they were called on stage to receive their diplomas.
“Haley,” he whispers in her ear. “Stop ignoring me.” She shoots him a withering glare, but instead of discouraging him as intended, it only serves to spur him on in his quest to earn a reaction. “I know you hear me,” he smirks, twirling her hair around his finger. “I know you feel me.”
“Nathan!” she snaps, pulling his arm off of her. “This is graduation, not your bedroom! Knock it off and pay attention for the next three minutes.”
He mock pouts at her, even giving an extra loud sniffle that draws attention from a few nearby classmates, including his brother and Peyton. He grins back, shrugging shamelessly as he shifts around in his chair, refusing to let his own girlfriend ignore him any longer. “I’m bored,” he whines quietly in her ear. “Entertain me.”
Leaning around Nathan, she shoots a glare at Luke, who seems to be finding humor in the whole thing. He just shrugs at her, not flinching when she scowls her disapproval of that. “You two need to grow up,” she whispers fiercely at them before sitting straight up in her chair.
Exchanging eerily similar smirks, Nathan and Luke just turn their best innocent faces on her, earning a snort of oppressed laughter from Peyton, who Haley figures is basically no help at all. She grumbles under her breath about their immaturity, but all the same, she is more than a little pleased at how well they are getting along right now. It’s been a long road, and there have definitely been peaks and valleys, but all in all, those two were as close as two brothers who’d had a lifetime to get to know each other.
It was so gratifying to her to see how far their relationship has progressed. She knew some of it had to do with their shared desire to please her, but she didn’t feel like it was her place to take credit for it even though most people were giving it to her like it was candy.
She just didn’t think it had that much to do with her, in the end. Maybe things blowing up between her and Nathan had been the impetus for Luke and Nathan to start speaking to one another, but it was all them after that. They’d forged the tentative beginnings of their relationship with her basically out of the picture, so unable to hear anything about Nathan at that time. This was their accomplishment; she just got to reap the fairly awesome benefits of it.
Today was a good day for her, even if her boyfriend was intent on acting like a five year old. She was valedictorian, her parents and all of her siblings actually turned up for the ceremony, and all in all, her life was wonderful. Maybe even a little better than that. She had her boyfriend, with whom she’d been through more already than most couples could ever go through at their age, maybe not at any age, and she had her friends. Her friends and Brooke Davis, who still saw fit to try and edge into the group despite the continually lukewarm reception she received. In spite of her ambivalence towards Brooke, Haley had to admit that her persistence was slightly endearing.
When the speaker finally winds things up and the principal begins calling people up to receive their diplomas, she actually rubs her hands together in anticipation, prompting shared smiles amongst her friends. “Oh, stop it,” she giggles quietly at them. “Someone has to take pride in their academic prowess.”
“I take pride in my prowess, even if it isn’t of the academia variety,” Nathan smirks, sharing a nod with Tim. Luke and Peyton roll their eyes at that, neither really interested in those kinds of jokes from him or Haley. Too weird, even with the newfound closeness of the group.
“Let’s not go there,” Luke whispers, looking faintly green. “I just don’t need to hear that. It’ll be like the time I caught you two on the roof of the café all over again!”
Haley’s face flames hotly, but Nathan is unabashed as ever. Peyton pats Luke on the arm consolingly. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t try to drag me up there to ‘erase the horror’, as you put it.”
Nathan’s jaw drops open and Haley and Tim have to clasp their hands to their mouths to keep from laughing out loud. “You’ve been holding out on me, bro!” Nathan chuckles, shaking his head. “Damn, remind me never to go up there again.”
“Now you know how I felt,” Luke smirks, despite his blush over being out-ed like that. “It’s just something you never want to know about, right? Besides, you didn’t have to see your best friend’s naked - “
“Luke!” It is both Haley and Peyton who are all over him on that one, and Nathan and Tim are shaking with silent laughter nearby. “Oh, God,” Haley moans. “You said you didn’t see anything!”
Luke just rolls his eyes in response. “Well, believe me, I wasn’t looking! That’s not something I ever planned on seeing, Hales!”
Shaking her head, Peyton wraps an arm around her boyfriend’s shoulders. “You know, for the longest time, I figured that you two had a thing, or at least that one of you wanted to have a thing. Or that you would some day.”
“I thought that, too!” Nathan notes with a wry laugh. “I kept asking Haley about it when we first started, uh, tutoring.”
Eyeing them with disbelief, Luke whispers loudly, “That’s like incest! I don’t know why a guy and a girl just can’t be best friends without people getting all weird on them.”
Tim shakes his head, interrupting to say, “One of y’all is going to miss your name getting called, if you keep yammering on like this.”
“No one will miss their name,” Peyton protests, patting him primly on the knee. “We’re still paying attention, we’re just….”
“Bantering,” Haley finishes for her. “It’s what we do. You know that by now, Tim.”
He rolls his eyes. “They just called Jake; did you notice that?” Four pairs of eyes swivel to the stage, abashed to see that he was right, Jake was indeed walking across the stage.
Luke groans, scratching his chin earnestly as he squints at the stage. “Well, great, now I feel bad. Can’t believe we missed it.”
“Told you two that you shouldn’t keep talking,” Haley sniffs, primly settling back in her chair. “So immature, I don’t know what we’ll do with you.”
“Oh, like you weren’t in on every second of it, Haley Maureen James,” Nathan throws right back at her, grinning when she sticks her tongue out at him later. “Not very mature, especially for our valedictorian. Unless that was an offer, then I am definitely on board.”
They all laugh quietly, but sit up a little straighter and start paying a little more attention to what is going on in front of them. As the students in the row behind them begins to get called up, Haley bounces a little in her seat, reaching out to hold Nathan’s hand. Her enthusiasm is endearing to him even if he doesn’t share it. Well, he shares it when it is jiggling up and down, anyway. But that’s another story.
It wasn’t that he was opposed to the high school portion of his life being over; far from it, actually. But high school ending meant going away to college. It meant separation from his brother and Pete and other friends. It meant that Haley wouldn’t be spending as much time in his bed as she does in her own. And all of that just sucked. It sucked balls, it sucked ass, it was sucking a lot of the joy out of his day.
Sighing, he shifts around in his chair, trying to get comfortable. As if sensing that his discomfort isn’t coming from the hard folding chairs they were perched in, Haley leans in closer to him. “Aren’t you at least a little excited? Come on, Nathan, you had an amazing year. State championship, about a bazillion dollars in scholarship offers, your grades were completely brilliant. You have so much to look forward to now.”
“I know,” he smiles back, although it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. She sighs, leaning in to rest her head on his shoulder, giggling unapologetically when the tip of her hat pokes into his chin. He lifts an eyebrow at her, relaxing when she wraps her hands around his upper arm, holding herself to him. Funny how she can calm him down better than anything else. “Everything is going to change, though,” he says in spite of himself.
“Not everything,” she counters lightly in a low voice, her attention divided as some of Tim’s paranoia has infected her. “I’ll still love you more than anything ever.”
That earns a genuine smile, and she sits back in her seat feeling rather self-satisfied as their row stands to be recognized. Tim is the first of their little group called, and he does what Tim does best: struts across the stage like the semi-deluded peacock that he is. Nathan and Haley share looks of amusement with Peyton and Luke, and all four of them break the ‘respectable quiet’ rule and cheer loudly for their friend as he poses in front of the principal before accepting his diploma.
Peyton is next, followed by Luke. Both are more demure than Tim, of course, but Peyton does do a little happy dance as she waits on the other end of the stage for Luke. Nathan is next, turning back and ducking down to give Haley a swift kiss before walking up the few steps of the stage to accept his diploma. Instead of walking down and back to his seat as instructed, he turns to Whitey and bends to give the older man a big hug. With a gruffly whispered ‘thanks’ in the coach’s ear, Nathan shoots him a quick smile before making his way off the stage under the irritated but indulgent glare of the principal.
When Haley’s name is called, she gets a raucous chorus of cheers from the obscenely large section of the bleachers that hold her family, but Nathan keeps quiet, just watching with a proud smile on his face as she blushes her way across the stage to claim her own diploma. She gives a small wave in her family’s direction when their cheers continue before rushing to the seats where Nathan is waiting for her.
“Are you sure you want to meet all of them?” she asks doubtfully, rolling her eyes towards her family. “That’s a rowdy bunch, Nathan. Does Pete know what he’s getting into, letting all of them come over for the party?”
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Nathan assures her, his arms wrapping around her middle tightly. “Hey. You just graduated, officially. How does it feel to no longer be of the high school realm?”
She laughs, letting that sink in as she maneuvers around him to grin at Peyton and Luke, who pull her into a triple hug. Nathan rolls his eyes at the display, but acquiesces quickly when Luke reaches an arm out, jerking him into the fold, the circle turning into a little square. Never one to be left out, Tim joins in, making them a hexagon. Or blob, perhaps might be more appropriate.
Who’d have thought, even as recently as the beginning of this school year, that he’d be standing here at graduation, in a hug with the girl he knew he was going to love forever, his very tentative brother, and an ex-girlfriend and a friend that he’d made habits of being pretty nasty to? Definitely not him, that’s for sure. It was still the tiniest bit weird sometimes, or at least that’s what he likes to insist to Luke, but it was right, too.
The part that galled him the most was knowing that he could have had this his whole life. He was still angry with himself for his actions; so many of them were completely deplorable. The only other person he was angry with was Dan. He just felt so wronged by him, this man who was supposed to be his father, for keeping him from all this. Maybe that wasn’t entirely the case, but that’s how it felt a lot of the time. If he’d grown up with Luke, then he’d have had years to know Haley. He told her that once, and she’d laughed, insisting that there was nothing wrong with finding each other when they did. Of course, she’d also mentioned making their story into a movie - something about the teen crowd loving it.
“Finally, we’re done,” Peyton exhales, leaning into Luke’s side. “We are done with the cliques, the teachers who don’t really care about teaching, the mandatory study sessions - “
“Gym!” Haley breaks in gleefully.
“Yes, gym!” Peyton agrees with a laugh. “Exactly! We’re out of here, and we’re going to college - and life is just beginning!”
Luke snickers at his girlfriend’s enthusiasm. “You know, Peyt, maybe they should’ve asked you to give the speech,” he suggests blithely, earning a smack on the chest.
Nathan nods at Luke. “I probably would’ve paid more attention if it had been you, Peyton. I’m sure your clichés would’ve been just as good as ol’ Peter’s were.”
“Thanks so much, Nathan,” Peyton returns, shaking her head with a little smile. “Anyway, I don’t know why you guys aren’t more excited. Truth be told, Luke, I’m especially disappointed in you. Show some life; this is graduation!”
“This is the part of the ceremony where we get to throw our caps in the air,” Haley hisses, shushing them rather effectively.
They listen as the last student receives his diploma, walking quickly back to his seat. After another minute of the principal speaking, the music swells up and the class is presented to the audience. Amidst the cheers and applause and confetti and silly string, Haley throws her cap off a split second before she leaps into her boyfriend’s waiting arms, her own twining around his neck as she meets him in a kiss that leaves her melting.
When she pulls back, he slowly sets her down as he looks around them, batting at a balloon floating towards him. “Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all,” he notes wryly.
“Maybe not,” she agrees with a wide smile. “Maybe not at all.”
~*~
The party was in full swing by the time they got there early the next afternoon. The graduates had been dragged out to an all night party put on by parents to help reduce the risk of any celebration related incidents that tend to occur around those types of festivities. When they were released from the forced merriment in the morning, Peyton cajoled Luke, Haley, Nathan, Tim, Jake, and Jake’s girlfriend Devon into spending a few hours at her place sleeping before heading over to Nathan and Pete’s for the party.
And seeing all the people there - at least two thirds of which were James family members - all of them are relatively glad that they did just that. Pete is the one to open the door, his deep voice booming loudly as he welcomes them to their party. He hugs Nathan and Luke and stoops to kiss Haley on the cheek.
“’Bout time you lazy asses showed up!” he grins, keeping his arm around the diminutive Haley as he greets the rest of their crew. “Most everyone is out back on the sport court. You never told me your family was so big on tennis, Hales.”
She just shakes her head at that while Luke and Nathan laugh at her expense. Luke fills Pete in on what probably should be the obvious. “The last time Haley played tennis, there was an event involving the net and a racket to the back of Taylor’s head. It…wasn’t pretty.”
Poking him in the arm, Haley is quick to retort, “At least I didn’t fall off the dock because I was ogling Jeannie Chatman in her string bikini summer after freshman year!”
Peyton snorts, trying to hold back a laugh before giving it up as a bad try. Luke’s face is blazing red in his blush, but Nathan, Tim, and Jake stare at Haley, not getting the problem. Peyton, between giggle fits, explains, “You know Eric Chatman, the junior - well, now senior - who is big on the football team?” The three boys nod. “That’s his…mother.”
Jake and Nathan both blanch a little before laughing at Luke’s expense, but Tim just nods soberly, holding his hand out to Luke. When Luke takes it, he nods sagely, saying, “I’ve seen her, good call, man.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, that is my boyfriend,” Peyton quips, leaning into Haley. Just then, a blur of slightly outlandish red hair comes streaking through the doorway. “Oh, look, Pippi Longstocking is here to glom onto anyone willing to put up with her for the afternoon.”
“It’s good to see you, too, former BFF,” Brooke returns, latching onto Pete’s arm. “Hey there, my handsome, worldly, older man friend,” she purrs, batting her eyes at him.
Nathan rolls his eyes. “God, I could be sick at that,” he moans, shrugging at Haley when she pinches him on the side.
Haley glances through the hallway to the dining room. “Wow, there are a lot of people just in there,” she notes. “We should probably go start saying hi to people.”
“Just how many people are here exactly?” Nathan calls after her, following as she starts making her way through the house - almost like she lives there, which…well, fair enough - out the glass door leading to the backyard. “Oh, that’s a pretty big many,” he mutters.
That’s not even an understatement. Haley’s family alone is well into the double digits, and Tim’s family isn’t too far behind. Even Jake and Jeannie have quite a few people representing them, too. It’s sort of a stark contrast to him, Luke, and Peyton, each of whom have exactly one parent there to celebrate them. At least he and Luke have Keith, too. He actually feels pretty bad for Peyton when he thinks about it.
In a way, it isn’t too bad, though, and he doesn’t feel sorry for himself. Maybe he doesn’t have a big boisterous family of his own, but he has Haley’s big boisterous family, and most of them have gone out of their way to make him feel welcome. Plus, Luke, Keith, and even Karen had come to mean an awful lot to him, and he knew they’d taken in Peyton just as much as they’d taken him in, too.
“Come on, if we stick together, maybe we can get through this faster and start kicking people out sooner,” Haley whispers in his ear, a promising look in her eyes as she gazes up at him.
“I love the way you think, James.”
She steps back, curtsying to him before taking his hand and dragging him towards Deb. Deb was still not the biggest fan of Haley’s, recognizing that her son felt more for the small girl than he’d ever felt for her. She wasn’t stupid, however, and she know that the only way to ensure continued contact with her son was to put up with Haley. It wasn’t her first choice for her son, but she had to admit that Haley was a good influence on him.
When they approach her, she manages a genuine smile for both of them. “Oh, Nathan, congratulations, honey! I’m so proud of you.” After pulling him down for a hug, she turns to Haley, saying politely, “And you, too, Haley. Your speech was far and away the best of the evening.”
“Thank you,” Haley beams, swinging Nathan’s arm with her own. “It’s hard to get up there for something like that and not come off like a ridiculous sap, you know?”
“Quit fishing for compliments,” Nathan teases her, smiling awkwardly at his mother. “Ah, thanks for coming today, Mom.”
It is disappointing to her that he feels the need to thank her for coming, but she brushes that aside, smiling widely at him. “Well, it’s my only son’s graduation party; of course I would not miss it for the world.” She looks around the yard, glancing towards the house. “This is a nice place, Nathan. All things considered.”
He nods at that, but doesn’t say anything. Haley jumps in then. “Have you met everyone? Did Pete introduce himself to you? Don’t listen to a word he says, by the way. He tends to have a rather grandiose and active imagination. Oh, did you meet my family? Well, my parents at least. You don’t have to meet all of them. That would probably take half a day at least.”
Nathan has to force down a smile at his mother’s slightly overwhelmed expression. His girlfriend just has a way of doing that to people. Deb smiles politely, saying, “Well, I met Pete, I think. And I definitely met your mother, Haley.”
“Oh, that’s good, I know she wanted to make sure she did that,” Haley grins, waving at Jake and Devon as they get engulfed by their families. “Don’t worry about any of the rest of them; they’re all heathens.”
“Hey, that’s not true,” Nathan laughingly protests, grinning as her brother David walks by, reaching out to tousle her hair. “The James’s are great, Mom. They’ve been so cool to me, and after everything - well, anyway, they’re really fun. You’ll like them.”
“I’m sure I will,” Deb agrees, pasting on another smile. “Well, I will let you two continue to make your rounds. You have an awful lot of guests here to greet today.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Nathan agrees, looking a little dazed as he again takes in all the people crowed into the backyard and house. “Thanks for coming, Mom. It’s nice of you.”
She nods. “When you have a few moments, Nathan, I’d like to talk to you again. I have your graduation present, and your father - “
His entire body tenses up at the mention, and he interrupts her in a low voice. “Don’t. Do not bring him up, especially on a day like this. He has no place in any of this, and I don’t even want to think about him.”
Sensing that she’s not needed for this, Haley squeezes Nathan’s hand and takes a step back, giving Deb an apologetic smile. “I’m going to go say hi to Karen and Keith, okay? And maybe rescue Pete from Brooke, if I’m feeling magnanimous.”
“Okay, I’ll find you in a few minutes,” he agrees, bending down to kiss her on the cheek. Unsurprisingly, that elicits a chorus of ‘aw’s’ from Haley’s sisters, Peyton, and Devon, all of whom happened to be watching. He rolls his eyes, but gives them a wave and a sarcastic smile. Turning back to Deb, he sighs. “Look, Mom, you know how I feel about him, and I’m just not interested - at all - in hearing about him or hearing from him or anything like. I wish you wouldn’t push that.”
“But Nathan, he is your father,” she tries to reason with him. There is a part of her that can’t seem to let go of the idea of repairing their family. “He just wants to be a part of your life again.”
Nathan frowns, but manages to stay calm. “I’m sorry, but that will never happen. He is not a part of my life, and you know why! He’s a cancer. If you want to stay with him, try and work things out or whatever, that’s your problem. I want no part of it, and I want no part of him.”
Resigned, Deb nods. “Okay, you’re right. This is your decision, and I can’t force you.” Reaching into her purse, she pulls out an envelope. “Now, this is from me. I know that you have the full ride scholarships and all, but you can probably use some spending money.”
“Thanks, Mom.” He means it, too. The check is for more than he ever imagined receiving, and she’s right, he’ll definitely be able to use it. He still wasn’t sure what he’d be able to do in terms of a job, since basketball was going to take up so much of his time, but he planned on figuring something out. “This is really nice, and it’ll definitely come in handy.”
“I’m glad,” she beams, stopping herself from reaching out to hug him. “I’d like to spend some time with you this summer. Haley is welcome to join us, of course, but I’d like to be able to sit down with you one on one on occasion, too. Please think about it.”
“Sure,” he agrees, surprising himself with how easy it is to do that. “We can do that, Mom. Both ways, even. I just - you know how much Haley means to me, right? This isn’t just a passing time thing or a high school thing for me.”
She nods. “That’s rather obvious, Nathan. I - perhaps I’m not as thrilled with it as you, mainly because you are so young, but if it makes you happy, then I’m happy, too.”
There’s no mistaking the honesty in her sentiment, so he nods and, before he can think better of it, leans down to give her a quick hug. “Thanks. For the money, for not pushing me about Dan. For understanding - if not liking - what Hay means to me.”
“You’re welcome. Well, I’m going to take off now. You enjoy your day, and call me when you can, okay? I’ll take you out to dinner one night when you don’t have to work.”
“Sure, Mom, thanks for everything,” he tells her again. She smiles, stretching on her toes to kiss his cheek, and then she turns and leaves. With a sigh, Nathan scans the party, ready to head back to Haley’s side. Before he spots her, Pete steps up to him, a can of soda in each hand.
He hands one out to his friend, and Nathan smiles in acknowledgement. “So this is a strange, weird gathering of people,” Pete notes dryly. “Your girlfriend’s family is a trip. Well, that blonde sister of hers is kind of scary, but other than that, they’re pretty funny. No wonder you like them all so much.”
Nathan grins at that. “Yeah, Haley comes by it honestly, doesn’t she?”
“If you say so,” Pete chuckles. “So, you’re done with that high school bullshit. You must be finally getting excited, huh?”
“What’s to get excited about?” Nathan mutters, his mood dimming with the topic switch. “Haley and I are going to different schools, and that pretty much messes up everything for me.”
Pete rolls his eyes. “Would you knock it off with that line? It’s getting tired. Nothing is messed up for you at all. That girl will still be head over heels in love with you if she’s two feet, two blocks, two miles, or two thousand miles away from you. Just get over yourself. I, for one, am getting a little tired of the latest and possibly greatest Nathan Scott pity party yet.”
Nathan bristles at the scathing comment from his friend. “What would you know? It’s not like you have any experience with this, being separated from your girlfriend like this!”
“You’ll be forty minutes away from her, Nathan!” Pete retorts in exasperation. “I’m sorry, dude, but I’m failing to see where the direness of this situation comes into play. Seriously, forty minutes. Twenty-five, when the traffic isn’t so bad.”
Glaring at him for a minute, Nathan shakes his head and sighs. “Now you sound like Haley.”
Pete grins baldly at him, shrugging. “Sue me. Besides, she’s right and you know it. She’s the smart one. Come on, pretty boy, you need to chill out about this. She’s just across that little lake or whatever from you. I think you can handle that.”
“It’s a bay,” Nathan returns in irritation. “You’re just missing the point, anyway. Almost every night, she comes over here and stays with me. We do our homework together, we watch TV, I’ve even got her jogging with me, and we - “
”Fuck like bunnies?” Taylor interrupts in a saccharine sweet voice. “That’s just so poetic, Nathan. You’re a real catch, you know that?”
“Oh, Taylor, have I had the chance to tell you yet how happy I am that you could make it here for this? Really, your presence is just such a boon of happiness for everyone involved,” Nathan is more than willing to snark back at her.
She actually laughs at that, latching onto Pete’s arm. “You know, you aren’t so bad, Scott. I’m not entirely sure what my sister sees in you, at least in terms of keeping you around for the long haul, but you really aren’t as bad as I’d figured.”
Nathan rolls his eyes. “Well, now that I’ve got the stamp of approval from you, I’m sure I can sleep a little easier at night.”
“Probably not, given how my sister looks at you all the time,” Taylor winks at him, drawing a surprised laugh from Pete. Nathan just shakes his head at them. “Honestly, Nathan, if I’d heard what you did to Haley sooner than Christmas, I would’ve come back and kicked your ass. Still wanted to, really, but you seem to have pulled it together nicely. Not too shabby.”
“Right,” Nathan drawls out, nodding slowly. “Whatever you say, Taylor. Look, Pete, I better go say hi to my Uncle Keith. I haven’t even had a minute to talk to him yet.”
“Sure,” Pete agrees, slanting a dirty look at him as his so-called friend abandons him to the clinging Taylor.
Nathan saunters off in the direction he’d briefly noticed Keith in earlier when Haley first dragged him out into the yard. On the way over to where his uncle now stands with Karen and Luke, he’s stopped by several of Haley’s siblings, their spouses, or children. He doesn’t mind a bit, though, and chats gladly with each of them.
Finally, he makes it over to Keith and Karen who have been joined by Luke, Peyton, and her father, Larry. Keith grins at the sight of him, pulling him into a tight hug when he joins the group. “Nathan! Well, I have to say, I’m awfully proud of you!”
Feeling himself flush, Nathan tries to shrug off the praise. “Ah, thanks, Keith. I, um, I appreciate that. Really, I do. You don’t have to say it, though.”
“I know you do, Nathan,” Keith grins, hugging him again and clapping him hard on the back. “And well, maybe I don’t, but I want to tell you those things. You deserve to hear them.”
“Learn how to take a compliment, bro,” Luke grins, shoving him all the while keeping one arm affixed around Peyton’s waist. “How’re things with your mom? She didn’t stay very long.”
He shrugs. “She was okay, I guess. Gave me a check, but I actually think she was trying to help, not to buy me.” Karen frowns lightly at this, but doesn’t say anything. “I still don’t think she appreciates Haley all that much, but she’s learned how that’ll end for her,” he says with a grin. “Really, it was okay. I told her we could have dinner soon.”
Keith nods his approval. “Well, I think that’s good, Nathan. Honestly, I wasn’t all that sure that she’d want to come; I figured she’d be a little out of her element here.”
Smirking a little, Nathan nods. “Maybe that’s good for her. She did mention Dan, but hopefully she’s starting to get how futile it is to bring him up, especially when trying to push me into something.”
“Well, it is so nice of you to have this party here, Nathan,” Karen jumps in smoothly. “You and Pete have really done a nice job with this place. Luke and Haley have both told me that the two of you are responsible for a lot of fixes and improvements around here.”
“Oh, yeah, we talked the landlords into paying for some improvements, provided we did most of the work on them. It worked out pretty well,” he agrees, smiling at her.
“He’s not still whining about being a half hour away from Haley is he?” Pete calls loudly as he walks past them, smirking deviously at Nathan who barely refrains from making a rude hand gesture at his friend.
Luke snickers at his brother’s expense. “Don’t look now, Nate, but trouble in the form of the James parents has its eye on you.”
Nathan shakes his head at Luke, reaching out to mess with his too long, too spiky hair. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll go head them off.”
“Would anyone be offended if I made the whipped noise now?” Peyton calls, loud enough for Nathan to hear. He just waves at her over his shoulder, shaking his head and chuckling.
Haley is with her parents, and when Nathan approaches, she lifts one arm out to him, smiling when he steps into her embrace. “Really, Nathan, you aren’t still complaining about the colleges thing, are you? We aren’t that far apart. Remember when we thought the closest offer you’d get was Los Angeles or one of those godforsaken Oregon schools?”
He rolls his eyes. “Well, it’s still pretty far, you have to admit. I just - you know that I’m going to miss you, a lot. You’ll be close, yeah, but not close enough, and that’s hard for me.”
“You do realize that we’re going to see each other all the time, right?” she laughs, wrapping her other around him and squeezing him tight. He leans down, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I mean it, you are worrying about nothing.”
“I’ll just miss seeing you freely. I’ll miss being in the same classes, talking to you before practice. Those things - I don’t know, I don’t really take anything for granted anymore, Hay.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet, honey,” Lydia beams, reaching out to pinch Nathan’s cheek. “Such a sweet boy you’ve found for yourself, Bub.”
She rolls her eyes at her mother, shrugging out of her embrace. “Don’t be like that, Mom.”
Lydia raises an eyebrow at Haley. “And you would be well served to not be like that, Haley Maureen James. You are still my daughter, and you can still respect me.”
“Like you respected me when you up and left?” Haley retorts, cringing as the words come out of her mouth. “I - I didn’t mean - well, not like that. I’m sorry.”
“N-no, don’t be sorry,” Lydia whispers, her eyes round at the venom in her daughter’s voice. “We should go inside and talk, somewhere quieter.”
Nathan, only concerned with Haley right now, steps in. “Look, you guys can talk in my room, Hay. Go ahead, take them up there.”
She reaches out, gripping his hand in hers. “You come, too, please,” she requests softly, still staring at her mother, occasionally glancing her father’s way. “Please?”
“Of course,” he agrees immediately, leading them into the house and up the stairs. Once they’re all in his bedroom, he follows Jimmy’s gaze to a pair of what are obviously Haley’s panties lying on the bed. Groaning, he steps over and grabs the panties, shoving them in his pocket. Jimmy frowns, but wisely - in Nathan’s opinion - doesn’t say anything.
“Haley, what is going on with you?” Lydia asks tiredly, putting her hands on her youngest daughter’s shoulders. “Is something going on that we should be aware of here?”
Haley shakes her head, pulling away to sit on the bed. “You can’t just come back and act like parents right away,” she sighs, brushing her hair out of her face. “You left, and that was your decision, and things are different now.”
Jimmy, dragging his attention away from Nathan, kneels down in front of her. “Honey, we thought you were okay with us leaving.”
“Who would be okay with that?” Haley asks, shaking her head. “Honestly, who do you know that would just be okay with their parents taking off in the middle of their junior year of high school? There probably aren’t a lot of kids that would get a warm fuzzy from that, okay? I don’t know what you want from me.”
“Well, I guess this is a good start,” Lydia says quietly. “We want you to be honest with us, and we want to know how you feel about things.”
“I told you how I felt before,” Haley shrugs, “But you didn’t want to hear it because it didn’t really mesh with what you wanted. And okay fine, you guys do what you have to, but don’t ask me to love it. That wasn’t fair. It still isn’t fair.”
Nathan sits down beside her, trying to ignore the way Jimmy looks around the room, obviously cataloguing all the things in here that blatantly belong to Haley. Lydia smiles, taking Haley’s hand. “Even if we don’t want to hear it, you can always tell us the truth. I’m so sorry that we hurt you when we left. It - that wasn’t our intent, baby. It was selfish how we left, but it took us a long time - “
”Too long,” Jimmy interrupts.
“ - to realize just how selfish we were being.”
“We never meant to hurt you, Haley,” Jimmy adds, his attention now focused on her. “We love you very much, and even though we can’t take back leaving, we are sorry. And we’re so proud of you. You’ve - you have accomplished so much.”
Lydia nods her agreement. “We’re going to come visit you, you know. You too Nathan. And we’re going to embarrass the hell right out of you two when we roll through campus in the motor home with the new horn that plays ‘La Cucaracha’.”
Nathan raises an eyebrow at that, looking back and forth between the three of them. “Ah, that’s a joke, right? No one gets horns that play ‘La Cucaracha’ anymore, right?”
Haley smirks at him. “They’re talking about showing up at our doorsteps, most likely unexpectedly, and you’re worried about what the horn plays? Honestly, Nathan!”
He shrugs, completely unfazed. “That’s an annoying song, that’s all.”
“See, Jimmy! I told you no one liked that song! I don’t know what you were thinking. And here I wanted to get one that made the chiming noise that grandfather clocks make at midnight. That would’ve been so much better.”
Unable to help herself, Haley laughs. “I missed you guys! This is why I didn’t want you to leave, because I missed you!”
Lydia wraps her arms around her youngest daughter, her baby. “We missed you, Bub. We missed you so damn much, all the time.”
“It’s true,” Jimmy agrees, hugging them both before winking up at Nathan. “Say, if we’d stayed, do you think you would’ve moved in with Nathan quite like this? There’s an awful lot of your things in here, Bub.”
Haley’s face turns bright red as she looks to Nathan, who is slightly pink himself, for help. He just shrugs helplessly at her, leaving her on her own. “Well, the truth, Daddy? Probably. We have lots of really fabulous - “ She’s cut off by three hands simultaneously trying to slap over her mouth. “What?” she asks when she pries them off. “I was just going to say study time! Jeez, I don’t know where your minds are….”
Nathan sighs, shaking his head as his girlfriend walks out the door arm in arm with her mother. “I think she’ll kill me one day, doing things like that.”
Jimmy drapes a friendly arm around Nathan’s shoulders. “But what a way to go, huh, kid?”
“Yeah,” Nathan agrees, smiles. “Sir, are they really okay, just like that? Haley’s been….hurt since you guys left. And I know that a lot of that had to do with me, and the way I messed up, but it just seems weird that she’d just give in so quickly.”
“Well, I think you are the reason it was so easy to give in, Nathan. She said what she had to say, heard what she needed to hear, and it’s easier to let go. Let’s face it,” he sighs, “Her mother and I are not the most important people in her life. Haven’t been since you conned her into tutoring you, in fact. That’s why it was easier to forgive us than it was to forgive you - she has you now and is completely confident in that, and she’s already forgiven something that was harder to forgive. I suppose we owe you thanks, in a rather twisted way, for that.”
That doesn’t entirely make sense to Nathan, but he’ll take it for what it is. Maybe this is one of those things that he’s not meant to understand; he can live with that. “We should probably head back downstairs. I heard there was a party going on.” Laughing, they walk down the stairs together, Jimmy quizzing Nathan on the just completed NHL hockey season.
A while later, Nathan stands in the kitchen watching out the window as Jimmy and Keith argue over the best barbecue techniques. Lydia is rocking one of her grandchildren, telling him a story that has him giggling. Karen and Larry are talking with a couple of Haley’s siblings and their spouses. Jake and Jeannie are sitting in a chair together, their bare feet dangling in the kiddie pool he and Pete had bought as a joke, Jenny sitting in it and splashing happily.
Taylor and Brooke, a pair that leaves him a little cold, are laughing together - more likely cackling, though, he figures - as they watch Pete and Tim, who are engaged in a game of badminton. Peyton and Luke are cheering them on, along with Haley’s sister Quinn and whatever flavor of the month she brought with her.
Just as he starts to wonder where Haley is, she is stepping into place beside him, her head leaning on his arm. “Quite the scene out there, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty typical though, right? I mean, typical of all of them? And you know, I think Taylor and Brooke are bonding or planning something, and I am totally man enough to admit that that scares the hell out of me. Truly, I’m worried.”
She giggles at that. “That could definitely be trouble,” she agrees, turning her face to kiss his bare arm. “Thanks for having this party here. It’s been fun, Nathan.”
He turns suddenly, bending down to lift her up and set her on the counter so that they are at eye level. “Thank you for bringing all these people into my life so that there could be a party, Hay.” She opens her mouth to protest, and he leans in to kiss her, cutting her off. “No, I mean it. These were your friends, not mine. And I know that now I’m lucky enough to count them as mine, too, but they were yours first. So thank you for sharing them with me.”
“That is a silly thing to thank me for,” she smiles, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. “What’s mine is yours, Nathan. I am yours.”
“I love you,” he says for what feels like the ten billionth time. “I love you, and I - I love you.”
“Well, I love you, too,” she smiles against his lips, her legs tightening around him. “Are you really worried that we’ll be too far apart for college?”
He presses a kiss to her cheek before leaning back. “Yes, I do. Realistically, I know it isn’t an issue, but at the same time, I just know that I’ll miss you. It’ll be really hard to go from having you next to me in bed every night to only seeing you on weekends and a few evenings a week. That’s a big adjustment.”
She gives him a sly, I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile. “Well, I might have arranged for my classes to start around ten everyday.” He looks at her blankly. “I figured that might make it easier for me to spend more time with you. More nights with you.”
His eyes widen slowly, but it only takes a minute before he lets out a quiet whoop. “You…you are amazing. Brilliant! Genius! Gorgeous!”
“Oh, I know,” she laughs, shifting slightly to glance out the window. “We should probably rejoin the party, you know?”
“Yeah, we probably should.” He helps her off the counter, and hand in hand, they walk to the door. He stops her before they can go out it. “Thank you,” he says sincerely, “For all this.”
“I love you,” she says again. “This is all just part of the package.”
“And what a pretty package it is,” Pete calls, motioning them out here. “Get your butts over here! This is your party, you can’t be ducking out like this, not even to go makeout!”
Everyone laughs, but for once in his life, Nathan Scott does not care. He’s got the girl, he’s got basketball, and he’s got one motley crew of a family, all gathered together here in his backyard.