Enjoy chapter 8 and please review!

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Chapter 8

"I wonder if he knows he's all I think about at night"

- 'Teardrops On My Guitar' Taylor Swift

3 years later

Haley James was standing peacefully at her locker when she felt something hit the back of her head. Aha, maybe God is giving me a sign that I shouldn't be reaching for my physics book, that I shouldn't even go to class…I hate that class. But who was she kidding, like she would ever skip a class; she was Haley James, goody two-shoes and totally straight-laced.

All this 'physic-hating' that was going on in her head didn't distract her from the fact that someone had just thrown something at her head. Just about ready to bite whoever it was that did it's head off, Haley took a second to look down by her feet to find the mysterious object that had just flown and hit her. It was a paper airplane and it seemed to have some writing on it.

She bent down and picked it up in order to inspect it more closely. The writing on it seemed to make her heart skip a beat:

N + H Always & Forever

Who the heck wrote that? was the only thing that came to Haley's mind. At this point, she was a little freaked out. Normally if something like this happened, she would run and tell Nathan about it but she couldn't today. He was on vacation with his family in Vermont and she didn't want to bother him even though he had told her to call him every chance she got. But Haley knew that to solve problems in his family, he needed to communicate with them and how the heck was he supposed to do that if she was talking his ear off on the phone.

But Haley James wasn't one to back down and go run and hide; she quickly whipped her head around and looked around the hallway of Tree Hill High. Looking at her suspects, she barely noticed the boy standing across the hall snickering at her. But when she finally locked her eyes on him, she couldn't believe it.

With a sudden squeal she ran across the hallway, with paper airplane in hand, and jumped into the boy's arms, her feet dangling.

She just couldn't stop shrieking; now everyone in the hallway was looking at the two of them.

"Chill Hales, you're causing a scene."

"So what! My bestest friend just came home unannounced. Do they expect me to stay quiet? Cause if they do, they really don't know me…but then again, why would they? Sure I'm nice to everyone and say 'Hi' but none of them really know me. Only a certain amount of people really know me and they should consider themselves special, understand?" Haley was in her own little world rambling but Nathan couldn't help but laugh.

"Oops. Sorry Nate. So why are you home so early? Missed me like crazy, huh?"

"That definitely was one of the reasons." Nathan said trying to shy away from the topic.

"So what were the other reasons?" Haley carefully pried.

"Let's just say that my dad has many problems."

"Well honey, I already knew that but if you're just find out now, I'm happy that you now know." Haley grinned.

Suddenly, a realization hit Haley. She was still in Nathan's arms….. and it felt so good. She never wanted to leave. They both brought warmth and smiles to each others faces, isn't that what a good marriage is all about? Wait, WHAT!? Did I just somehow imply that Nathan and I are married or should be or…something? Nah, nah. Her mind was full of what a good marriage was all about since her parents had given her the 'what you should look for in a good partner' talk recently. Yeah, yeah. That's it, that's why I just thought that. No other reason, nope, none at all!

"So…this is comfortable. I mean me having to carry a sumo wrestler who is cutting off my air supply is really a dream come true." Nathan chided.

Haley smacked him on his arm with a fake angry face.

"Shut up!"

"And Naley is back, everyone prepare to choke and die from all their mushiness." Brooke teased them.

Peyton, Brooke, Lucas, Jake, and Mouth had just walked up; they were also in surprise at seeing Nathan home a week early.

"Oh, pleaseee Tigger. You love our mushiness." Haley laughed.

"Well yeah, that I do. You guys are too cute."

Over the past three years, Brooke and Peyton had kind of formed a fantasy in their own minds about Nathan and Haley. And lately it seemed to have spread to Luke, Jake, and Mouth too since they were also making subtle comments about Nathan and Haley's relationship.

Brooke shared a quick wink with Peyton which didn't go unnoticed by Haley.

"So Nate, why you back early?" Mouth questioned.

"You know; same old, same old." Nathan answered dully.

The whole gang had flinched a bit when Nathan answered knowing exactly what he meant. Dan was probably riding him too hard; the whole group always felt bad for Nathan for having to deal with Dan.

"So who wants to celebrate Nathan's return to Tree Hill?" Jake said trying to lighten the mood.

Haley's hand suddenly shot up in the air and exclaimed, "I do! I do!"

The whole group cracked up at Haley's youthful enthusiasm and decided that they would go bowling after school. Even though bowling wasn't everyone's first choice, Lucas had a certain way with persuading people.

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"Ewwww, Broody. Do not tell me that I have to wear those." Brooke scrunched up her face while pointing to what Lucas was handing her.

"Sorry Cheery but yes you do. That is if you want to have fun bowling!"

"Ohh, well..I'll take that risk. Boohoo me, but I'll deal." Brooke said with a dimpled smile.

"Haha, Brooke. But no, now come on. Just put on the rental shoes so we can get started. Everybody else is ready." Luke gestured to everybody else who was sitting around on the chairs in front of the computer where they were supposed to enter their names.

"Yeah Tigger..just think about it. The faster you put those on, the sooner this will be over." Haley interjected and everyone else nodded their heads except Lucas.

"Glad you guys are excited for this." Lucas said sarcastically.

"Aww…Luke. Cheer up, I was just joking. You know I can't wait to beat all your butts." Haley sympathized.

Suddenly, Nathan coughed which looked more like laughing. Haley's face turned into a sneer and just stared at Nathan.

"Hmph, sorry. Something got stuck in my throat." Nathan lied.

"Which makes complete sense since you haven't ate anything since lunch and it's 5 now." Peyton laughed.

"Shut up, Sawyer." Nathan said with a smile.

"Alright I'm ready." Brooke stood up from where she was sitting and went to the computer to type in all their names.

"Alright Hot Shot, you're up first followed by Tutor Girl then me then Goldilocks then Mouth then Jake and then finally…Broody." Brooke addressed everyone else.

"I feel the love, Brooke. Putting me last and all…real mature." Lucas chided.

"Well you shouldn't be feeling the love since there was none of that when I was doing that. Actually, it was quite the opposite."

"I think he got that. He was just being sarcastic." Mouth said.

"Can we get started now?" Jake said smiling at everyone's banter. Brooke and Mouth were bickering over Mouth's recent remark. Peyton was throwing bowling balls at Luke while searching for the right weight. And Nathan and Haley were in a different world. After Nathan has told Peyton to keep quiet, Haley had walked over to him with a death glare. But for some reason now, Haley was laughing hysterically at something Nathan had said and Nathan was just smiling like a madman and staring at Haley…lovingly?

Wow, those two sure have problems. How long is it going to take? Jake thought.

"Yeah, we were thinking the same thing." Peyton and Lucas said.

"What?" Jake said.

"We realized that you were looking at Nathan and Haley and I know what you're thinking about so…just wanted to say, I don't know how long it's going to take for them to realize it." Peyton agreed.

"Crazy kids.." Lucas laughed.

"Who you calling kidddd!?" Haley had just heard the last remark of their conversation.

"Oh no, don't start that thing again. Yes you're the youngest but you claim that you're the most mature, etc., blah, blah, blah." Nathan stated.

"You know me too well. Okay, I'll forgive you guys." Haley said talking to Nathan and Lucas. "So Tigger, why did you use our nicknames for the computer?"

"I already put on these icky shoes so don't argue with me alright…tutorgirl!?"

Haley just laughed which soon made Brooke break out in laughter also.

"Okie…crazy girls. Let's get started. Nate, go first." Peyton smiled.

Nathan went forward and grabbed a ten pound bowling ball and went up to the lane and like a professional, rolled the ball down for a perfect strike.

"A strike…anyone surprised? It is just not fair that you can rock at any sport when I can't even rock in ONE." Haley deadpanned.

"Awww Hales…don't be jealous." Nathan laughed.

"Shut up." Haley deadpanned once again.

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"So that wasn't too horrible." Peyton sympathized about Haley's terrible bowling skills.

"Can we not talk about it?" Haley stated.

"Yeah sure, definitely." Peyton let the subject go.

Besides her unsurprising loss in bowling something else was bothering Haley. And no, it wasn't the fact that she slipped three times while trying to roll her bowling ball down the lane and how this made her look like more of a clumsy girl in front of everybody! But no, that wasn't it. Those kinds of things were a daily thing for her so she just let them go as they came.

This was something different. And it kind of scared her. It was Nathan. Not that he did anything wrong or said anything wrong. Actually, nothing was really unusual. Nothing different happened in their relationship…well nothing, literally.

Haley had been having these feelings…that she couldn't quite explain. Feelings like romantic feelings and what scared her most was that it was about Nathan, her best friend since diapers.

She knew over the last few years that something was changing between them but she always blamed it on hormones and stuff but she was slowly realizing it wasn't just that. Brooke and Peyton obviously had to have a reason to think that Nathan and Haley had some chemistry; they couldn't just be basing it off nothing. And what was more proof was that Haley was feeling it…she was feeling more than friendly feelings to her best friend.

All Haley could think was:

'Crap. Not good, Haley. What is happening to you?'

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Not one of my favorite chapters….but I'd love to know what you think so please leave a few words. Thank you!