Coming Home

Chapter 10, The Pain of Yesterday

I fell asleep on the floor because I cried so much. I see that's it's 2 am. I go to use the restroom and brush my teeth. Then I go back to bed and lay down for a little. I get a text from Haley.
Hey, heard you were a little upset. I'm always here if you need me . xx -Haley
Awe, she's so sweet. I decide to text her back.
Actually, if you don't mind. I'm in need of a friend who's NOT a guy )):
*buzz buzz*
Meet me at the river court in 10? - Haley
Sounds like a plan to me ;P

I get up and put on a jogging outfit. I have 10 minutes to get there and I'm not trying to impress anybody.

..

I sit on the bench and take a drink of water. Then I see Haley so I sit up and run over to her.  She just engulfs me into this weird but at the same time comforting bear hug. I smile and hug her back. This was needed. Haley and I have gotten pretty close over the last week or so. Even though I've been bonding with Brooke and definitely Peyton, we have gotten close during school after Lucas introduced us. We have a lot of the same classes.

I tell her everything that happened but not that it was with Nathan. She's his tutor but by the way she looks at him, it's more than that. I never really thought about it until I wasn't focused on trying to get him to like me. And although he doesn't want to admit it, he likes her too.

"Wow. He kind of seems like a jerk."
I slightly laugh. "Yep. Well you listening really helped. So did running here but now I'm kind of tired."
Haley chuckles and looks at me. "Me too, lets go to my house it's a shorter distance."
"Alright...." I begin to walk faster, "BEAT YOU THERE" I yell while running.

I guess running to the court made me tired because Haley ended up beating back to her house. We just go upstairs and watch some Netflix before falling asleep.

Sunday

I wake up when Haley jumps on the bed to wake me up. I start laughing and grab a pillow to hit her with. We have a pillow fight for a little bit. That is until I accidentally hit her so hard she falls off the bed. "HALEY! OH MY GOSH IM SO SORRY, ARE YOU OKAY?"
She begins to shake from crying and I feel so bad. Then she looks at me with a smile on her face and I feel relieved. I burst out laughing with her. She laughs as she puts her hand on her head where she hit the ground. "Owww," she says laughing. "Awh I'm sorry hales" I say hugging her.
"It's fine. I'm just glad that you are feeling better today."
"Oh yeah, I'm over it." I say, even though it's a white lie. I still like Nathan. I'm going to continue to miss him. However, we have to keep a strictly friend relationship.
"So can I get a little advice from you?"
"Sure girlfriend, what's up?"
"Okay so. Swear you'll keep it a secret? Under ANY situation, you can't tell Lucas!" When I hear that my heart drops to my stomach. I know what she's about to smile. It's time to see if those acting classes have paid off. I mean yes, some of it is genuine but I really had a hardcore crush on him. But I just want hales to be happy. I put on a smile and act intrigued. "Tell me more," I say moving my hands to signal a continuing motion.
"Alright. So I like Nathan and I think I am falling for him. I think that there is this AMAZING chemistry between us when we are together. It's super fun and I have such a  great time with him, when we are alone at least. In front of his friends though, it's like I'm back to being the nobody at school. How do I deal with that?"
"Wow. Um it actually means a lot that I'm the one you are coming to with this. And personally I think guys just take longer to come around. Don't let your guard down completely though. I would play it off and be mad at him for whatever reason your mad at him. Let him come to his senses and if within a few days he's apologizing realizing he was in the wrong, then you guys should be with each other."
"Oh wow. That's actually really good advice Kierston. Thank you, it helped a lot."
We hug and then I go home. There is a quiz tomorrow and I want to study for it. Also, I'm putting my anger into running home.

A week later

After getting home from cheer practice I do my homework. I'm going through my stuff when I find my quiz I took last week, we must've gotten them back with the homework. 'What did I get?  Yaayy, I passed!' I think to myself. I finish my homework and then I decide I'll go over to Haleys house.

I get to Haleys street but as I am walking up to her house I see Nathan throwing stones at.. Her parents window? Oh shit there's Haley! I hind behind a big bush but I can still see and hear them.
"Trying to wake up my parents? That's their room," Haley says and quite sassily I might add. She sure took my advice, I wonder what happened between them. She goes to walk inside but he stops her.
"Wait, Haley" he scoffs but not in a rude way as he jumps in front of her. "Look I need to apologize okay?"
She looks up at him. "You should buy them in bulk if you're going to hand out apologizes that often."
He sighs while looking away and then looks back at her. "I don't know how to do this alright? I'm not like you."
"What does that mean?"
"Look, I screw up a lot alright? And being around you I just- I don't want to be that guy anymore."
"Well who do you want to be Nathan?"
"I want to be somebody who is good enough to be seen with you."
"Well you should've thought of that last night. You know I keep- I keep putting myself out there and you keep blowing it. And it's probably a good thing because at this point there's nothing that you can say or do that would surprise me."
What does he do after she says that? He kisses her!
"Except that," she says quietly. I think the same thing she says afterwards. 'You shouldn't have done that Nathan.' I think and she says it out loud.
He looks down at her with kindness in his eyes, "I wanted to."
"Yeah," she replies and leaps into his arms. They share a long passionate kiss and I decide to not go to Haleys but the river court instead. I've eavesdropped enough for a lifetime. Of course that won't stop me from ever doing it again but not for awhile.

I jog down there and see Lucas. "Hey stranger," he says looking up at me. "Hi luc."
"I've missed you lately, where you been?"
"Just going through some stuff. But I think I'm past it now."
He pulls me into a hug. "Well good. I don't like you being upset." I hug him back.
"So how about a game of one on one?"I ask him.
"Yeah, no."
"Why? You afraid to lose?"
"Fine. However it's definitely not," he says laughing.
"Prepare to get whooped," I say a few minutes before dunking on him.
"Damn Kierston."
I start to laugh. I think I'll be okay with Haley and Nathan together.

A/N: THE PART WITH NATHAN AND HALEYS FIRST KISS IS ACTUALLY FROM THE SHOW. IM NOT CLAIMING THAT. ITS LITERALLY THE SAME IF YOU WATCH ONE TREE HILL 1x08 MINUS KIERSTON LISTENING IN. THANKS FOR READING <3