Chapter 3

Haley thought about it all night. She dreamt about it. She held the phone in her hand. She knew she wanted to call Nathan. But she just couldn't bring heself to dial his number. It's been a few days since they'd talked. And she knew if she wanted to continue to be with him she'd have to make the first step. "Just do it Haley. Just call him. She summoned up all of her courage and all her guts and called him.

Nathan saw Haley's name come up on his phone. He picked it up with apprehension. "Haley? You didn't dial my number by mistake did you?"

"No. I was just calling to ask you something." She said slowly and with caution. "Are you at home?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I need to come over. We need to talk."

"Yeah, sure, come on over." When he hung up the phone, he let oyt a deep sigh. He was not looking forward to this conversation.

"Come on in." Nathan opened the door for Haley when she arrived. He'd been waiting impatiently for her, kept looking out the window for her.

Haley chose to sit at the island in the kitchen. They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes before Haley spoke up.

"Okay, first of all, I love you. I want you to know that."

"I love you too." Nathan interrupted her.

"I got that." She smiled. "But that's it. We just professed our love for each other. And then, you do soemthing crazy."

"I know."

"So, can we just put that back in storage and focus on us. I mean we're in love. That's all that we need for now."

Nathan smiled. "Okay. Deal."

Brooke and Peyton arrived at Nathan's apartment at the same time. They looked at each other with confused looks.

"Hey Brooke. Nathan text you to come?"

"Haley actually." She said. She turned around when she and Peyton heard a car horn honking. "And apparently Lucas too."

"Hay, I guess Haley and Nathan have some news." Lucas said to them as he got out of his car.

"Hopefully good news." Brooke muttered.

The three of them made their way up the stairs to Nathan's apartment. Brooke knocked on the front door.

Haley looked at Nathan when they heard the knock. "They're here." She jumped up off her chair and rushed to answer the door. "Coming." She opened the door with a big smile. "Hey guys. Come on in."

Lucas let the girls go in first and hung back to ask Haley a qustion in private. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is just fine." She smiled over at Nathan who was smiling back at her.

Peyton, Brooke and Lucas sat on the couch and looked up at Nathan and Haley.

"Okay, please don't tell us you're breaking up." Brooke said in a big breath. "Cause I can't handle it."

The couple looked at each other with knowing smiled. "No. we are definitely not breaking up." Haley told her. "But we are most definitely not engaged either."

"We talked and we're just gonna focus on being in love for right now." Nathan finished while giving Haley a loving glance. "That's all that matters."

"Well, good for you." Peyton smiled getting up to give them a hug. "I'm glad you guys could get through this little hiccup."

Lucas leaned over to Brooke. "See, I told you. They don't always need our help."

"I guess not." Brooke shrugged. She looked at them and could just tell they would make it.