Piglet; how do you spell love?
Pooh; you don't spell love Piglet. You feel it.

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Summary; Nathan's life is filled with nothing and he realises the only person who truly ever liked him for him. Loved him. He left behind. Like she was nothing. And all because he was scared. Scared of the way she made him feel. On the other hand she got her life together, has a high flying career and is engaged to be married. Nathan makes it his mission to get her back, but can he win her heart back and prove he's changed?

"... Goodbye, my almost lover
goodbye, my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
can't you just let me be?

so long, my luckless romance
my back is turned on you
I should've known you'd bring me heartache
almost lovers always do…"

She let the last note fade out and then sent the crowd a huge smile. "We love you, New York! Thanks for having us." She was met with a roar of cheers as she ran off stage.

"Great set, Haley." Someone said, handing her a bottle of water.

"Thanks, Grant." She returned, quickly manoeuvring her way through the hundreds of people back-stage, sighing in relief when she got inside her dressing room.

Just as the door closed with a click her phone beeped, just like it did every other night. She felt a giddy feeling in her stomach as she answered it.

"How awesome was my girl."

"Depends, how many more girls you got?"

He chuckled, a deep throaty sound that sent a shiver down her spine. "You're the only one I need."

She pursed her lips, sitting down at her vanity desk and she turned away from her reflection. "Good answer."

"So I was thinking, tomorrow night. You, me and that Italian restaurant you love."

She smiled, pressing the phone closer to the side of her face, wishing it was his stubbled cheek instead. "Well, that sounds perfect. Except for the teeny tiny fact that I am in New York, while you, my annoyingly successful boyfriend, are in New Zealand."

"Well it's a good thing I'm at the airport right now, then, huh?"

She let out a happy laugh and grinned into the speaker. "I'm staying at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, I'll send you directions."

She could feel his boyish grin through the phone. "Okay. Be ready tomorrow night for eight, and I shall sweep you off your feet Miss James."

She laughed. "I can't wait." Before hanging up. Despite the grand gestures she knew he would have waiting for her tomorrow night Haley couldn't help but think she would be just as happy staying in her ridiculously posh hotel room that she was paying through the nose for and watch a movie and order take-in.

"Miss James?" A voice chirped along with a sharp rap at the door. "There's someone here to see you."

Her thoughts instantly forgotten she wondered for a split second if he had lied to her and instead of having to watch her concert on TV he had been in the crowd.

"Send them in." She called back, feeling excitement bubble in her stomach. It had been eight long weeks since she had last seen her gorgeous boyfriend.

There was the sound of shuffling as her assistant scuttled off and the door swung open.

She wondered for a second how she was still standing as her heart had just stopped in her chest.

He stood tall and his eyes immediately caught her attention, just as they had years ago. The sapphire blue didn't hold the same mischievous sparkle it used to.

She found her voice, hoping it sounded stronger than she felt. "What are you doing here?"

His gaze was so intense it almost melted through the icy exterior she sported. "I made a mistake, Haley."

She let out a disbelieving scoff, feeling the anger she had repressed since she was seventeen running through her veins. "You're a little late, Nathan. Six years too late."

Six years previous.-

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"Hey."

The girl didn't lift her head from the worn paperback she had pressed against her face and he cleared his throat.

"Excuse me."

She lifted her head and with a quick glance around the tutor centre realised she was the only one left. "Are you talking to me?"

She guessed he was by the 'are you retarded?' expression on his face.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Haley James?"

She nodded, her paperback forgotten on the tabletop.

"Well then, yes." He returned, the same bored tone in his voice. "You're my new tutor." He handed her the blue slip he'd gotten from the office.

She nodded slowly, pursing her lips. "Okay."

He raised his eyebrows, half expecting her to have some sort of reaction.

"Do you want to start now?" She asked, motioning towards the seat across from her.

"Em." He scratched the back of his neck. "Sure." He shrugged off his backpack and it dropped with a thud onto the dull grey carpet.

"I'm Haley." She introduced, even though he already knew. "And you are?"

He looked slightly taken back until an amused smirk creased the side of his face. "You don't know who I am?"

"Should I?" She questioned back, getting a pad of paper and a pen from her bag.

He pointed to the jersey he wore, the number '23' displayed clearly in blue on the front.

"You're on the basketball team?" She guessed, wondering if it was too late to tell him she couldn't tutor him.

He watched her face for a second, looking for any hint of joking and when all he saw was confusion he let out a booming laugh.

"I'm Nathan Scott." He grinned a grin she was sure got him a lot of things over the years.

"Good for you." Sarcasm dripped from her words. "Now, what are you struggling with?"

As he handed her his History notes he couldn't help but look her over. He'd never seen her before.

"You honestly don't know who I am."

Haley sighed, her eyes scanning over his notes - what she could make out, anyway. "Well I'm starting to think I should." She quipped.

"Have you never seen a Ravens basketball game?"

"Don't like basketball." She replied, lifting her eyes from the crumpled paper she held in her hand before placing it onto the cracked tabletop.

He watched as she pulled her hair into a messy bun. "You live in Tree Hill, a town that lives and breathes basketball, and you don't like it."

She shook her head, giving him a 'could you please, shut up' smile. "Take out your books."

"I'm the point guard." He explained, doing as she said.

"I guess that means you're on the team?" She furrowed her brow, not knowing a thing about the game.

Yet another booming laugh echoed around the small room.

"Can we please just get started?" She asked and flipped his book to the correct page before turning it to face him. "Page 81..."

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#&&#

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"... and he just acted as if it was a crime that I didn't know who he was." Haley re-told the story of what happened a mere hour before.

"Well, you kind of should." Brooke Davis replied, earning herself a smack on the arm.

"You would think he was God or something."

"At Tree Hill High, he is. Jeez Hales, you'd think you lived in a hole or something." The brunette let out an exasperated sigh at the blank look she received. "He's Captain of the Ravens, extremely popular and hot as holy hell."

"He's also a complete ass-wipe."

Brooke shrugged, pressing the 'stop' button as they reached their destination. "The things people will look over when you look like that."

Haley rolled her eyes with a laugh before pushing the hazel-eyed girl forward and they both stumbled off the bus.

"Just be careful, Tutor Girl." She teased, walking up the path to her house while Haley continued to mosey along the sidewalk. "Don't let him charm his way into your pantaloons."

Haley flipped the taller girl off as she laughed her way onto her porch. "Like that would ever happen."

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#&&#

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He was late.

She looked at her watch again for the tenth time in the last fifty seconds. One more minute, she swore and then she was leaving.

Just as she had stuffed her notepad into her already full bag she heard heavy footsteps thumping quickly towards her.

"Sorry." He panted, gripping at the burning stitch in his side.

"You're late." Haley pointed out, crossing her hands over her chest. "Fifteen minutes late."

His blue eyes met her pissed off brown ones and he shrugged. "I said I was sorry."

Haley rolled her eyes, a scoff escaping from her throat. "Unbelievable. I am taking time out of my life to help you. The least you can do is show up on time." She bitched, re-taking her seat at the old bench.

Nathan watched as with jerky movements she took out all the stuff she had put into her bag mere seconds before. "What crawled up your ass and died."

Haley's eyes snapped up to meet his and he was taken back by the anger he found staring back at him and then she was holding up a book. "Do you see this book? Because this book is me. I am math."

His brow creased as he stood in front of her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you can work your whole 'I'm Nathan Scott. Mr. Big Shot. Scoring my touchdowns' on someone else because I-'"

"-I don't even play football." He interrupted, confusion clear in his tone.

"Whatever. The point is at the end of the day, all your bluster and BS don't mean anything to math because math don't care. And neither do I." She finished, slamming the book back onto the table. "You're status or whatever in school might make people look past the stuff you do but I'm not about to let you off the hook just because you're Nathan Scott." He was sure she was mocking him. "Especially when I'm beginning to think that you're full of shi-" She stopped herself, sighing. "Let's just get started."

He smirked as her rant ended, he had never had someone bitch him out the way she just had. He was - as she said, Nathan Scott, no one talked to him like that.

"Are you just going to stand there all day or actually let me try to teach you something?"

Obviously Haley James didn't care.

He sat down opposite the feisty brunette and listened as she started to speak about ancient History. Half way through the tutoring session Nathan found himself looking up from the worksheet she had told him to work on and watching her. Her chin was resting on her hand, the water that she was looking out into reflecting back into her deep brown eyes and she was such a contrast to the girl who a mere thirty minutes earlier was calling him out on his shit. As he stared he tried to figure her out, this girl completely different to anything else he had ever known.

But years later he would realise it was easier said than done.

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Okay, I know it's probably a little confusing but everything will be explained, quite a lot of it in the next chapter LOL. I wrote this for kaya17tj and I really hope you liked it!

Oh and I do not own the lyrics used at the start of the chapter they belong to A Fine Frenzy and I also stole a few lines from OTH, hope you don't mind Mark(:

and the next few chapters are going to be a lot longer.