A/N: Somehow the whole story didn't upload the last time, so
here it is, the complete version. Sorry to anyone who previously
reviewed... this is simply a one-parter.
Lady Leprechaun
Her eyelids drooped heavily, her body slumping further into the pillows as she felt herself slowly relaxing into slumber. Straightening herself she fought to stay awake. Glancing down at the discarded book she had been trying to read, she flipped through the pages, finding the paragraph she had read over and over in her attempt to stay awake. Sitting up straighter on the bed, she tried to shake herself of the sleep that had begun to edge itself into her mind. Her eyes glazed over the sentence again and she felt her head nod. She quickly moved off the bed, coming to stand beside it. Movement was best if she was going to stay awake.
Walking into the bathroom she kicked aside Nathan's towel from his morning shower. Normally she would have picked it up and put it in the hamper, which apparently was in such a secret location, only she could find it, but tonight she had no energy to clean up.
Tonight had been fun, it was nice to go out and do something daring. While she had missed hanging out with Nathan, and she was sure they could've done some interesting dares, she had enjoyed her evening with Peyton. The more she hung out with Peyton, the more she loved her. And she knew Nathan had enjoyed hanging out with Tim; that was evident by the muffled laughter coming from the living room.
She was trying to stay awake so they could hang out some before they went to sleep. Luckily tomorrow was a Saturday, and for once, neither of them had to work. That fact was the only think keeping Haley awake as she saw it was now 12:42 am. She was surprised she had lasted this long. Looking longingly at her bed, she crawled on her side of the bed, plumping up the pillows, burrowing within the covers to find the right position for perfect slumber. Grabbing for her book, she flipped open to that same paragraph, intent to actually comprehend the words. As much as she wanted to stay awake for Nathan, he was making it harder by the second. She felt her eyes drift closed one more time, but she had no energy left to fight it, instead letting her body relax into the warmth around her.
The light was still on under the door, which was always a good sign, as Nathan made his way down the hall. He and Tim had gotten into a heated game of NBA Live, and before he knew it, it was almost one in the morning. He had really wanted to talk to Haley about all her dares, so he was glad that she seemed to still be awake.
Opening the door, his eyes flew to the bed, his mouth turning up in a wide smile. There she laid, her hair fanned across the pillow, her body curled towards his side of the bed, her hand still holding her place in her book. Turning, he softly closed the door, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Pulling his shirt off as he crossed the room, he dropped it on to the dresser along with his shorts, before reaching down to pull the book out from under her hand. Placing the bookmark in its spot, he silently laid it on the nightstand, and tried to ease himself carefully on to the bed.
The bed shifted under his weight and Haley's eyes fluttered open. He sighed, part of him upset he had woken her, the other part of him happy to have her awake. Her eyes focused on him and she smiled sleepily.
"Hey." Her voice was gravelly with sleep.
"Hey. Sorry I woke you." He adjusted his body next to hers, settling into the pillows.
"No, I'm glad you did. I was trying to wait up for you. Looks like I didn't do a very good job." She grinned at him, pulling herself up to lie in the crook of his arm.
"That's okay. The game went longer than I had planned. I couldn't let Tim beat me at basketball, even if it was a video game."
She chuckled against him, yawning briefly. "So did you have fun tonight, really?" She turned her head to look at him.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead quickly. "Yeah, I actually did. I mean it started off crappy, but it ended okay."
"Yeah, it ended especially well for us. We did win after all."
She giggled as he tickled her sides playfully. "I think you guys had the easier dares, Felix obviously rigged the cards. So, what did you have to do?"
"I, uh, kind of made Peyton do them." She looked down guiltily.
His mouth hung open. "You didn't even do any of the dares! Were they that bad?"
"Well the first one was eating 5 pickled eggs. There was no way I was doing that one, and besides Peyton offered. She couldn't even choke one down, the smell was awful. I, however, enjoyed my Slim Jim." She turned to sit facing him, her face lit up happily in remembering the night's events. "I told her we should just take a picture of her eating one, and then throw the others away."
"Cheater!" He laughed at her.
"Yep. And she didn't agree with me until she took that first bite."
He shook his head slightly. "You're coming along nicely."
"Thank you!" She leaned over to kiss him happily, her lips meeting his in a brief kiss.
"So what else did you have to do?"
"Oh then we had to go to the batting cages and take one in the head."
"Didn't Mouth have to do that too? Felix wasn't that creative with the cards. How'd you convince Peyton to do that one?"
"I didn't, she volunteered. I guess she just wanted to get it over with. But, oh you should have seen it, it was hilarious, the ball hit her straight in the head, and she flew backward." She started laughing and he joined in at the imagery of Peyton being beaned in the head at the batting cages. "But of course, I went to check to make sure she was okay, and the machine wasn't off, so I got hit in the back. Then it became less funny."
His face sobered quickly. "You got hit? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just caught me by surprise, that's all."
"Haley, let me see."
She turned her back and lifted up her tank top. A large red mark sat across her lower back and he reached out his hand to trail his fingers along the bruise. Leaning down, he placed a soft kiss in the center of the mark. His fingers touched gingerly along the edges, before he pulled her shirt back down.
"You sure it doesn't hurt?" His eyes were soft, concerned.
"Yes. I'm fine, I promise. If I hadn't been telling you the story I probably wouldn't have remembered it at all. But thank you for worrying." She kissed him again, this time pressing her body into his, her tongue slipping in between his lips. His hand went around her waist to tighten her to him and she moaned slightly.
Pulling herself away from him, she positioned herself once again in front of him. He smiled at her, "So what was your last dare, or should I say, Peyton's last dare?"
She chuckled. "We had to go to confession and Peyton confessed to something ridiculous I'm sure."
"That's it? You guys got the easy cards. No wonder you won."
She smacked him in the chest indignantly. "We won, because we were better. What were yours if you think ours were so easy?"
"Oh trust me, yours were easier. And I actually participated in ours. First, Felix sent us to some spa and we had to order the special. Tim was convinced it was some type of 'special massage' but it ended up being a full body wax."
Haley broke out in laughter. "Oh god, that's priceless." She reached down to rub his legs. "Let me guess, you bailed. You're not hairless at all. Look at your legs, hairy!" She feigned disgust and scooted away from him.
He grabbed her wrist, laughing at her display, pulling her closer to him. "You're damn right I didn't. I bailed the minute she pulled that strip off of Tim's ass." Their laughter increased, as he remembered the pleading face Tim had made as he had escaped out the door.
"Okay, I give you that one. That is definitely worse than eating five pickled eggs."
"You mean one pickled egg."
"More like a half. Okay, so first one sucked; what about the rest?"
"Oh don't remind me of the second one, I'm glad no one was there to see it." He rubbed his eyes with his hand.
"Ooooh tell me!" She bounced in anticipation.
"Well you know those 'Lady Leprechaun' cookies you love so much." She nodded happily. "Let's just say Tim and I were briefly in the cookie business."
Her eyes crinkled in confusion before realization dawned on her. Her mouth opened as she hunched over laughing heartily. Her laughter bounced off the walls, as she struggled for breath, her sides aching.
"Okay, seriously. It wasn't that funny." He looked at her crossly.
"Oh, yes it is. Please tell me you had to wear the outfit." He didn't have to respond, the answer was written clearly across his face.
"I told you our dares were worse. So moving on, the next one was at the Miniature Golf…" She interrupted him.
"Oh no, I don't think so. We're not done with this whole Lady Leprechaun thing. So did you have to say anything?"
"Yeah there was a whole little speech I had to give. This old lady slammed the door in our faces. It was humiliating."
"What did you say?"
"Like I remember."
"I think you do. C'mon say it to me. Please?" She stuck out her bottom lip, looking at him pleadingly.
"No that face isn't going to work. Sorry."
"Oh, I have an even better idea. Try and sell me cookies."
He looked at her incredulously. "Are you crazy? No way." He folded his arms across his chest.
Smiling at him grandly, she scooted from her spot on the bed to rest herself across his lap. He looked at her wearily, studying her closely, while he moved his hands to rest on either side of her waist.
"C'mon. Please?" He still shook his head. She leaned over to whisper seductively in his ear. "Think of it as foreplay."
He grinned then, his eyes staring deeply into hers. His hands flexed instinctively on her waist, and she knew she had him. "You're evil."
She giggled happily and leapt off his lap, pulling him up beside her. He laughed at her enthusiasm, and let her pull him towards their bedroom door. Opening it, she pushed him through, her smile wide on her face. "Okay, now remember. You are trying to sell me cookies." With that she shut the door, leaving him standing in the hall.
Raising his hand to knock on the door, he paused to study the ridiculousness of this scene. He was about to recite a speech normally given by eight year old girls in order to have sex with his wife. Shrugging, he knocked quickly, hoping he still remembered his little speech.
She opened the door, her face plain of emotion, looking at him expectantly.
He put on his best smirk and crossed his fingers. "Good evening Miss. I'm selling these delicious cookies," he waved his hand to show the invisible box, "to raise money for Lady Leprechauns, an organization that empowers us girls to be strong, beautiful, independent women of tomorrow." He winked at her.
"No thanks." She shut the door in his face.
His mouth dropped open and he could hear her laughing on the other side of the door. "That's not funny. I was only doing this for you." He leaned his head against the closed door.
She opened the door quickly, almost causing Nathan to fall into her. "I'm sorry sir, you're right, I was rude. Tell me more about these cookies." She smirked at him, and he laughed.
"Well like I was saying Miss, it's for a very good cause. Besides helping young women, you'd also be helping me immensely." He leaned down closer to her, his breath on her lips.
"Oh, really? Well I do consider myself a bit of a humanitarian." She raised herself on her tip toes, pressing her lips firmly to his, her arms latching around her waist. His fingers fisted in her hair, as he pushed himself further into the room, his foot slamming shut the door. Their lips battled as he backed her over to the bed, their bodies falling roughly onto the mattress.
She pulled away breathless. "That was quite some speech. I never knew I liked Lady Leprechauns so much." His nuzzled her neck, as his hands inched under the cotton of her tank top. His tongue traced the line of her jaw, his hands pushing up her tank top, moving his mouth to follow the path of his hands up her stomach. She inhaled sharply, her skin quivering beneath his lips, before she grabbed his face, pulling him into a mind-blowing kiss.
"You never could resist dessert."
The End