I've been writing this story in response to a challenge by gabrieller82 of another board for a while and I just decided to put it up here. As always, I don't own the characters, I'm simply borrowing them. I hope you guys enjoy it.
The words on the computer screen in front of her were beginning to blur, becoming little more than a continuous mass of black against white. Haley Scott blinked twice before tiredly rubbing her eyes, allowing her fingers to move away from the keyboard for the first time in hours. Her dark gaze moved to the clock on her desk and she sighed when she saw that it was a little after nine in the morning.
It had been a stupid decision to start writing when she woke up at three that morning, unable to sleep. Somehow she had fooled herself into believing that she could write until exhaustion took over her and then fall into a deep slumber. In reality, she had pushed aside her fatigue and ridden the wave of creativity until she was utterly spent.
Haley saved her work and shut her laptop, then dragged her tired body from the dinky desk chair and out of the room. As soon as she was in her bedroom, she collapsed onto her bed and nearly moaned with contentment. What had felt uncomfortable and stifling earlier now felt like a piece of heaven, like a cloud descended from the sky to grace her for a few hours. One finger absently trailed the flowers on her yellow bedspread as she slowly drifted from consciousness.
The shrill ringing of the telephone broke the tranquil silence of the house only minutes later, and Haley growled as she reluctantly reached for the offending device. She was tempted to let the machine pick up but the incessant ringing would drive her mad before then. What had possessed her to program the phone to ring seven times before the machine picked up, anyway?
Her laziness and habit of losing everything not attached to her body, that was what.
"Hello?" she mumbled sleepily into the phone after clicking it on.
"Tell me you're still sleeping and not still awake," a familiar voice demanded.
Haley sat straight up in bed, her eyes wide open, suddenly as awake as she'd be if she'd had a pot of coffee. She hadn't heard that voice in over a week—eleven days, to be exact—and the way it still went directly to the core of her soul surprised her. Nathan, her confident, handsome, successful husband and also one of the most inattentive bastards she'd met in her lifetime. Why hadn't his effect on her started to diminish by now? And why was he even calling her?
When they had been in high school, Nathan Scott had swept her off her feet. He'd been Tree Hill High's star basketball player, a cocky kid with an attitude who knew exactly how good he was and didn't feel bad about flaunting it. She'd been a quiet girl, almost a wallflower, who had been convinced to tutor him despite her multiple doubts on the issue. Neither of them had expected to like the other. Since she was best friends with one of Nathan's biggest adversaries—as well as his half-brother—they'd thought an explosion was inevitable.
In a way, their relationship had been an explosion. For Haley it had been new and exciting and scary all at the same time, like a wonderful roller coaster that was so intimidating she just had to jump on, and once she was on she could only sit back and enjoy the ride. He'd captured her heart quite skillfully, surprising her by pushing aside his bad-boy image and just being human.
Each had been just what the doctor ordered for the other. Haley helped Nathan deal with his family issues, which were both stressful and horribly screwed up, and made him see that being a good guy wasn't so bad. Nathan showed her that living impulsively and reaching out for things that sometimes didn't seem possible—or reliable and safe—was sometimes necessary to reach happiness.
And they had been happy together, for years. They officially became a couple during their junior year, beating out numerous odds against them, and were married when they were twenty-two, after they both graduated from college. For about two years, they were perfectly content to live the married life together and things seemed like they would work out wonderfully. A fairy-tale happy ending didn't seem so far-fetched to Haley.
Then everything seemed to start going wrong. Nathan's work in advertising became more demanding as he began to move up the industry scale. Sometimes his behavior when he was home made her wonder if he was working more just to escape her or if he was truly just too lazy after work to pay attention to her presence. To keep herself busy, she started putting more energy into her job at the local newspaper and her freelance writing. They'd started fighting, escalating to a blowout that had sent her from their house and to the small apartment she now called home.
Separated. That was the technical term for what they were, but she knew what it meant. She'd seen it before. First came separation and then divorce, something she'd told herself she would never do. Something she'd never thought she'd have to do, when she and Nathan had been so enthralled with each other when they were married.
And now he was calling her, sounding almost concerned. He surprised her. He worried her. More than anything else, he drove her absolutely nuts.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I was actually just drifting off," she answered, unable to keep her voice even. She regretted the words the instant they were out of her mouth; she didn't want to fight with him, but she couldn't repress the bitterness that had welled up inside her. "Is something wrong, Nathan?"
"Because someone needs to have died for me to call my wife?" he snapped, sounding irritable.
Haley sighed and rubbed her eyes. If he was in one of his moods, she just wanted to get off the phone. How had she spent almost seven years of her life with him and managed not to strangle him? She deserved a medal of some kind. "Just answer the question, Nathan."
"I got a call from my mom yesterday."
There were a myriad of options stemming from that statement that could have driven him to call her. His parents' relationship had always been touchy. His father Dan was the biggest jerk she'd ever met and had made Nathan's teenage life a living hell. Debra, his mother, was a nice enough woman but she and Dan tended to fight as much as they got along. Haley had always been there for Nathan when his parents drove him to the brink of his sanity.
She hoped even now she could uphold that stability for him.
Haley waited for him to say something more, but the line was silent. "Okay… what is it, Nathan? Is she all right? Is it your dad?"
"They're fine."
"I don't feel like playing a guessing game with you right now. Is something wrong or not?"
"I think there is. They're coming to visit."
Haley's fingers absently tightened around the comforter on her bed. They hadn't told their parents about the separation yet. As far as she knew, only Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer, her closest friends, were privy to that information. It would put Nathan in an awkward situation, sure, but it wasn't world-ending. "So…"
Nathan sighed on the other end of the connection. "Haley, you're not getting it. My parents are going to be here in two days to visit us. You don't remember, do you?"
"Remember what?"
"The bet."
Haley's face slowly lost it's color and she almost dropped the phone she held against her face. "Oh, shit."