Always (Nathan Scott Fan Fiction) [2]

Lifetime Piling Up

"Hey, sweetie!" Deb said as Nathan walked into 'Deb's Den.' Dan chose Lucas and Karen over Deb and Nathan, but Nathan did not care because he had his mom, his rivercourt friends and Claudia. 

"What's up, mom. I got the mail; some, uh, bills, a letter from uncle Cooper and, uh,... " Nathan said before he dropped an application to college, on the counter, "this." He finished as he sat at the counter. Deb took the leaflet and looked at it. "Thinking about taking some classes?" Nathan asked his mom. 

"If they offer a course in making ends meet." Deb joked and Nathan looked at the leaflet. 

"You ever regret it? Your folks cutting you off." Nathan asked feeling bad. Deb looked at him seriously.

"Not for one second, Nate. Otherwise, I wouldn't have you." Deb smiled placing her hand in Nathan's. Nathan smiled up at him. "Besides, money buys you nothing but misery. I mean,... look at Dan and Karen and Lucas." Deb extended as she took a letter out. Nathan smirked knowingly. 

"Well, you know, you could up the traffic in here by hiring some... hot girls to dance in the bar." Nathan joked and Deb smiled.

"Speaking of hot girls," Claudia said as she walked in with blonde hair, a 'I hate people' top and black bellbottom jeans, "sorry I'm late." She added smiling. "School bus driver ran out of gas." Claudia continued in her english accent.

"Where were you today?" Nathan asked looking at his best friend.

"I told you, Mr. Hirshfield took us to the planetarium. If you ever listen to me, maybe you'd know that." Claudia laughed. 

"OK, alright. I just can't believe you went out in public with that top." Nathan joked and Deb turned to face Claudia who was kindly glaring at Nathan. 

"Remind me why I'm friends with you again." Claudia joked as Deb opened the High Flyers letter. 

"Nathan, this is from that basketball camp." Deb exclaimed happily and Claudia looked at Nathan beaming. 

"Yeah, I'm a finalist. It's no big deal." Nathan replied modestly..

"Well, it's a huge deal, honey, I'm really really proud of you!" Deb exclaimed and Nathan smirked. 

"It's not big deal." Claudia mocked as she ran round to her best friend. "Nathan that is amazing!" Claudia smirked as they hugged. She quickly ran back round to take one last look at the letter. "Congratulations. Well, we'll have to celebrate later. Right now," She said as she flung the dishtowel over one shoulder, "dirty dishes are beckoning." She continued dramatically. "You rock, don't let it go to your head." She said sternly before she left. Nathan smiled heartened. 

"You know, you two are gonna end up married some day." Deb smiled proudly at her son.

"Stop it! We've known each other forever; we're just friends." Nathan replied unconvincingly.

"Good place to start." Deb smirked.

"Keep dreaming." Nathan replied smiling. 

+++

Claudia and Nathan were sitting at a bench on the market street dock, they were discussing Nathan's incident with Brooke.

"She was naked!" Claudia exclaimed laughing.

"As the day she was born." Nathan replied smirking and Claudia groaned. "Only a lot more... curvy." Nathan extended and Claudia looked intrigued.

"Well what happened then?" Claudia asked. Nathan shrugged piteously.

"I got the hell outta there!" He exclaimed and Claudia laughed.