Hey Everyone! Sorry for the long wait! I've been really busy lately with school work and with some problems I've been having, but I promised myself that I had to get a chapter up before the end of this week, and well, here it is!
I also wanted to say that I know the ending of the chapter isn't exactly optimistic, but this is a Naley story, so I promise that they will be seeing each other again very soon, and by that I mean in around 2 chapters.
So enjoy, and please review!

After a few seconds she managed to whisper out a name she hadn't called out in years...

"Nathan..."

"Haley..?" he whispered just a softly as she had.

To say he was shocked would be an understatement. After all this time, in the least likely of places, he had walked straight into the one person he would have least expected to run into. He felt his heart race, as it pounded against his ribcage and an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he looked into her eyes. The girl who had once been his best friend, his companion, his love, was now standing right in front of him.

She looked beautiful- perhaps even more than before. He realised that she had grown slightly taller, and that long blonde wavy hair of hers was now long gone, and instead had been replaced with brown chunky layered hair which fell right below her shoulders. Her facial features remained the same except for the fact that she had matured, and looked gorgeous in the dress she was wearing.

And of course, those big brown eyes; oh how he had missed looking into them. Whenever he had felt afraid, or threatened, especially during the times his father pressured him with basketball, he knew that all he had to do was to look into that pair of chocolate colored eyes and he would immediately feel a sense of relief, as he saw the care and the warmth those eyes held.

However as he looked into them right now, he could no longer see warmth in them, but instead, they were filled with a mixture of shock and sadness.

He felt as she stiffened up under his grip; clearly she was not comfortable, and after a few moments of shock and silence, she suddenly pulled her arms away from his grip.

"I can't do this..." was all she had managed to choke out before she rushed away, diving deep into the crowd, away from him.

But this time he wouldn't let her get away. He had allowed that once before, and it had cost him dearly, and he sure wasn't about to make the same mistake. 'I have to go after her' he thought to himself as he followed in the direction which she had just ran off, and walked straight into the crowd as he desperately looked for her. He had to find her. He was going to get her back.

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She felt as the tears welled up in her eyes, while she desperately tried to seek for a place where she could calm down. The bathroom was not an option anymore since she knew her parents were somewhere near there, and she honestly did not want to bump into her parents or Ashley right now. She needed somewhere to hide out for a while.

As she walked straight ahead, she spotted a red door in the corner. She decided to see if it led anywhere, and as she opened he door, she realised that indeed it lead into a small empty courtyard. Not thinking about it twice, she discretely slipped through the door and closed it behind her, as she sat on the ground of the courtyard, resting her back against the wall.

'Why now?' she thought to herself as she stared up to the night sky. She always did have a feeling that she would see him again, but she never thought it would be this soon. She had always pictured it to be the day she went back to Tree Hill, however fate didn't seem to want to wait that long, and instead decided to put them both in New York at the same time, and at the same event. Despite her shock, something she hadn't failed to notice was how handsome he was. He had always been very attractive; however the years had definitely done him good. He was even more good looking than he had once been, judging by his body it was obvious that he had spent more time at the gym, and he had definitely grown taller, last time she saw him he must have been around 5"7, but now he was probably around 6"2.

She rested her head backwards as she closed her eyes, and in her head she could see the look he had given her just a few minutes ago. She could obviously tell that he was just as shocked as she was, however if she wasn't mistaken, she had managed to spot a mixture of passion and sadness in his gaze. She wondered if maybe, perhaps he felt the same way she had always felt about him.

'No, No, No. Stop doing this to yourself Haley! There was no nothing in his gaze, he was just as confused and shocked as you were, that's all! There's nothing there, and if he really had ever felt anything for you, he wouldn't have behaved the way he had before you left!' she thought to herself as she silently tried to convince herself that there was nothing there.

She inwardly groaned to herself, as she realised how her summer had gone from regular and light, to now complicated and confusing, and as usual it had to do with none other than Nathan Scott.

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He had looked frantically everywhere for her, he even asked the people at the entrance if they had seen her leave, however they all said that she was still inside the party, but the question was, where?

He wasn't going to give up that easily, and just as he thought that, he noticed the narrow red door in of the corner of the salon. Something about it strangely caught his attention, as he decided to see what was behind it. As he opened it, he realised it lead to a small courtyard, and at first he couldn't see anything, but as he squinted his eyes, he managed to spot a little figure at the other side, with her arms wrapped around her legs as her head rested against her knees. It was Haley.'Finally!' he thought to himself as he quietly approached her and slid into the hard ground next to her.

He slowly placed his hand on her shoulder, however before he could even react; she violently jerked her shoulder away as she looked up.

"What do you want?" she asked angrily.

Despite the lack of light, he managed to notice that the mascara she was wearing had smudged around her swollen eyes on her tear stained face, which only meant that she had been crying.

"You're crying..." was all he managed to say. 'Whoa Nathan, what a great way to break the ice with a girl who obviously hates you' he thought as he mentally scolded himself.

"No shit Sherlock, even an idiot could have figured that one out."

Nathan could help but flinch at the tone she had replied in. It was so bitter, dripping with poison and hurt. He had never heard Haley sound so bitter before now, and what saddened him the most is that the reason of this anger and hurt in her was because of him. However for some strange reason her reply had also angered him. She wasn't the only one who had gone through a hard time. In fact, she was the one who had just left him behind without any warning, and he had gone through quite a lot as well after she left.

"Do you always reply that bitterly to those who care about you? Or do you just leave them for good one day without any notice" he replied just as coldly as she previously had.

"Don't you dare blame me for anything you little shit…" she whispered menacingly

"You know better than anyone that you were the one who decided it would be better to ditch their lifelong best friend for a bunch of brainless morons who worshipped you only because you could put a fucking ball through a hoop!!" she now screamed back. Not only was she now enraged, but astonished too. She couldn't believe the nerve he had to now turn this against her.

"First of all, it's called basketball, and second there's a reason why I'm now captain of the ravens, it's called talent Haley! What did you expect me to do? And yes, I did gain popularity, but it's not like you fought much to save our friendship, and one thing I never meant to do was to make you feel like I had left you behind for others" replied an annoyed and defensive Nathan.

"No, you didn't just make me feel left behind, you DID leave me behind. Oh, and now you're telling me that I didn't fight for our friendship?- don't you remember when I'd try to talk to you in the hallway, you'd either avoid eye contact with me or walk away before I could say anything?"

"But I didn't--"

"OR the time two of your brand new cheerslut friends decided it would be fun to pick on me for a while, and every time they saw me, they'd scream "loser" and laugh while all YOU ever did was just stand there and pretend you didn't hear them since you didn't want your new friends to see you defending someone like me?"

"Haley I--"

"And of course! The lies you'd make up every time I'd ask if we could hang out. If I remember clearly, on my last day, I was going to tell you everything, I asked you if we could hang, and you said you had some family dinner thing with your dad, when in reality you lied straight to my face so you'd have the night free to go to some party with Brooke Davis and get hammered. Do you remember that Nathan?" said Haley, no longer screaming, but instead of anger, the sadness in her voice was now audible.

"How...how did you know about that party? Why didn't you tell me before that it was your last day, I would have never done what I did if I had known" answered a guilt-ridden Nathan.

"Oh and that makes a difference. What's done is done Nathan, and we clearly both have moved on with our lives, or at least I have." Haley said in a calm yet cold tone.

Nathan was pretty confused at how she had gone from bitter, to furious, to sad and then suddenly to calm in a matter of minutes. The warm and kind Haley was gone, and instead was replaced with a colder version of her. However he knew that deep down, the Old Haley James was still there, but what he wasn't sure was if he would ever be able to feel that kindness towards him ever again.

They were silent for a few more minutes, until he heard as Haley slowly stood up and walked towards the door. Just as she was about to exit the courtyard, he couldn't help but ask…

"What happened to you? You've become so cold."

"This is what happens when someone gets their heart shattered. You happened to me Nathan."

And with that, she swiftly slid through the door and closed it behind her, as she moved on leaving Nathan behind in that courtyard, once again.