Crimson Fog

By Sam

Her eyes are an uncommon shade of tawny brown.

And if he believed in romantic notions - though he very well didn't - he would even go so far as to say he saw the world inside her eyes.

He brought one hand to the nape of her neck, his thumb playing idly at the throbbing of the pulse in her neck.

He had her up against a wall, coherence and any thread of sanity thrown out the minute he darted his tongue to taste the sensitive flesh inside of her mouth.

She pulled him closer, needing his warmth, shivering as his breath tickled her ear, losing whatever small control she had left of her. Senses were on overload, sounds were louder and feelings were stronger, and he didn't know exactly what he needed of her at that moment, only that it was need.

Her eyes fluttered uncontrollably, and a moan, husky and uncharacteristic, seeped out of her lips. She clutched at him as if her life depended on it and he fed on it. In that moment where he was about to thrust into her, she needed and wanted him more then she ever had anyone in her entire life.

He liked this. Drove him to gleeful satisfaction and mad obsession.

Need me, Haley.

She bit her lip, choking a scream of frustration, legs clutching at his waist desperately. A whimper of frustration managed to escape as she sought to rub her bare hip along his thigh. It was almost a shameless plea.

He liked this more.

She moved along with him, strangled breath burning, and she groaned when his lips took tender assault of her neck.

There was no question as to who was in the know.

He would teach her.

She writhed above him. "Nathan," she pleaded.

His lips frantically possessed hers, claiming her mouth so desperately he almost drew the very soul out of her.

Easing in to her, she finally stopped all movement, mouth opening in wonder as she felt him inside of her. Her head fell back in stunned fascination, angling perfectly as he kissed her throat.

Eyes locked, refusing to lose each other's gaze as they connected, skin overlapping skin, her cry losing itself in him. Smoldering, hungry hazel dancing with his sultry sapphire. Labored breathing mingled with flesh as waves crashed into her.

Stronger, faster, harder.

He liked this above all.

~*~

It got easier for her to lie.

She didn't want it to be easy. She wanted to feel horrible because she was keeping a secret from the world, keeping a secret from her best friend, and all for a boy that would never, could never be the one for her.

The world was his for the taking, and everything he could ever want would be handed to him needlessly. He was born into a different world, was born with hatred and anger that she never understood.

Her life was simple, methodic even. She basked in the role of the good girl, was fond of being the town sweetheart. Smart, studious, helpful. Perfect Haley.

Only not so perfect.

He delighted in misery, and used her for his own gain.

She let him. She could never say no to him.

But now she had to. Because he was back, asking for more, and she needed to be strong.

She shook her head. "No…"

"Yes."

His tone was cajoling, demanding, and almost angry. And that in itself angered her, and hardened her resolve to prove him wrong. "No."

He strode toward her, and his nearness unsettled Haley. Because she felt his hot breath prickling in her forehead, and she can almost touch the heat that he radiated, heat that burned itself into her own skin, and she was reminded of the nights she dreamt of him, the nights she craved him almost to the point of unbearable sanity.

She couldn't deny him.

Her mouth went dry and her tongue froze in its movement, all she can do is shake her head slightly. She was tired of having to grasp concepts that went outside the norm of her practical logic and objective reality. But for some reason…

There it was. And she couldn't hide it.

He was kissing her again, lips bruising hers with frantic desperation, and it was her undoing. She wanted to stop it, wanted to tell Luke the truth, but she didn't.

Tomorrow. Always tomorrow.

She will wait for this one more day.

Because it was easy to lie now.

~*~

The day of the reveal never came. Because that night turned to many others, and before they could help themselves, they found a steady routine.

Parts of their routine were messy. And their fighting was ugly.

She knew the way to incense him, however, and she threw Lucas in his face.

Ah, but Nathan knew the game too well, was far too masterful in the craft of verbal wounds.

"I won't tell Lucas," he hissed at her. "I made a promise. And my word means something."

"So does mine," she shot back, oblivious to seeing she had taken his bait.

Nathan smirked. "It would be priceless, though, seeing his face when I tell him I've been fucking his pure, virginal best friend."

Her jaw clenched, and his trained eye - he'd observed her well enough - noticed this, as his shoulders relaxed once more. He was now in familiar territory.

For today, he had won.

She had put up a good fight - was the only challenge he had ever faced, but in the end, no one knew more of this dance then he did. He knew all the sore spots, while she still had to figure out his deepest. He feared, however, she'd learn his game soon.

"I hate you," she hissed, miserable exhaustion noticeable in her voice.

The muscles in his back tightened invisibly, but he feigned disinterest. "I don't care."

~*~

Angry, passionate bickering turned to sex, and sex turned to a clandestine, no strings relationship, and before the school year was over, it had become more for both of them.

Haley always thought Nathan used this to hurt Luke.

But Nathan kept it under wraps just as much as she did. He didn't want to get caught.

If he did, their thing, whatever it was, would stop.

And he wanted her.

Every night he wanted her.

And until he was done wanting, he would play by the rules.

~*~

"You are not making me watch this," Nathan stressed grumpily that Friday night. Despite his decisive statement, he nonetheless let her tug his arm towards the quaint movie theater. His eyebrow raised positively when he noticed that it was almost completely empty.

Must have to do with all the black and white films, he thought to himself with disdain. Why did he let himself get talked into this? Agreeing while he was being manipulated by her feminine wiles was not a good enough reason.

He didn't use to be this easy, godammit!

"Nathan," she began, turning to him with a slight pout. His eyes narrowed, and he wondered just how truly innocent she was, knowing how to pout appropiately and such. "This is one of my favorite movies ever. And I hadn't seen it actually showcased for the longest time. Come on, live a little! Who knows? You might even like it."

"Is it sappy?" he asked her, hand finding hers, pulling her to him as they moved to the line.

She buried her face in his chest guiltily, and it was such a normal couple-y thing to do he almost smiled. Somehow, someway, Friday nights had become a staple for movie nights. Neither even had to say it, it had become an unspoken agreement. They had skirted along the lines, had fallen deeper into the relationship without either of them realizing it. It shifted into something...deeper.

Almost.

"Yeah."

"Stereotypical star-crossed lovers?"

"Yes," she grumbled.

"Well mighty golly, ma'am, I'm gonna love it."

She glared at him hotly. "Talk all you want. I promise you'll end up loving it."

He moved her in front of him, arms snared around her waist. "Is that something you want to make a bet on, Haley?" he asked, mouth dangerously close to her ear.

Surpressing a shiver, she twisted around to meet his eyes, and instead was surprised to see his face only inches away from hers. Giving him a soft smile, she raised herself on her toes to close the small gap that existed between them. Her lips finally brushed against his own, which were angled in anticipation.

Haley never wanted to become one of those girls that would melt into a puddle at the mere touch of a guy - least of all if the guy was Nathan Scott.

But with Nathan... control and brain process were the first things that flew out the window. She barely remembered what she was doing the moment she was doing it. The only thing she could see, think and feel is Nathan. Her body reacted to his every word and touch, and it drove her insane.

Her brainpower turned to mush the minute his hands rested on her body, the minute his mouth adored her skin. Common sense? Logic? What were those when he was ministering such skillful, devastatingly heated things to her?

"Hales?"

She tried breaking out of her daze, forcing her tongue to come up with some sort of intelligent mumbling.

And failed. "Hmm?"

She felt him smirk against her lips. "Our turn."

"What?" she stepped away briefly, until she came face to face with an annoyed young man about their age, waiting with two tickets in his hands. Haley grabbed them from the man with an apologetic smile, dragging a smug Nathan behind.

It wasn't just smugness. He was actually pretty damn happy with the way the whole thing was turning out. The only thing he hated was that he couldn't just go up to Haley and kiss her or talk to her whenever he freaking wanted to.

It was the first sign of alert that let Nathan know the whole 'keeping the thing a secret' was the wrong way to go.

That night, he could be open in his feelings. It was a normal date, something they should be able to do either way. He could be tactile, as he was prone to be around her. And the only people around to witness his uncharacteristic gentleness was a bunch of old people who probably wouldn't remember who he was anyway.

A small smile danced around Nathan's lips as he saw her arguing internally with herself on what snacks to buy. It was small things like those that he wanted to know about her - her favorite candies and movies, what made her smile even it if was caused by the simplest of things.

"That's a pretty big bagful of popcorn," he observed teasingly.

She turned to him haughtily. "Get your own, Scott," she advised. "It's all mine."

"You know you're going to share with me anyway," he said confidently. She didn't reply, but the minute they found their comfortable seats in the big red chairs, she grudgingly passed him the popcorn, where he forced himself to hide a smile.

Despite his protests, he ended up easing comfortably into the red chair and lost himself in the film. He was amused to find out she liked talking during movies, sometimes to herself and more often then not to him. She loved the movie's song, As Time Goes By, he found, and sighed every time Rick would say something romantic to Ilsa.

"Here's to looking at you, kid."

He was able to peek at her through the corner of his eye. He hadn't seen her coming, had never imagined he could feel this way about someone, in the shortest amount of time. Haley made him want to talk more, open up a bit more, she made him laugh. Yes, he hadn't seen her coming.

"Ooh! This is my favorite part," she told him, as if it were in utmost confidence, eyes glued to the screen in front of them, stopping mid-way as she was about to feed herself popcorn. She wasn't even blinking, for fear she would miss a word, a gesture.

"We'll always have Paris."

Haley turned to him, took a big gulp of her soda, sloshing the ice with her straw before turning to him with wide eyes. "Isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever heard?"

She gave him a lop-sided grin.

He grinned back, the warmth that surrounded her rubbing off on him.

He would never stop wanting her.

~*~

He woke up feeling vindictive.

It happened sometimes.

That morning, though, had more to do with the fact that Haley blew him off for Lucas of all people.

He didn't play well with others, especially when he was threatened.

He striked.

Walking up to her in front of everyone, he leaned on a locker and stared at her.

Eyes wide, she stared back. "What are you doing?"

"I'm tired of lying," he fired back easily.

No one was speaking, for their eyes were trained on the unlikeliness of Haley and Nathan sharing a conversation as if they had known each other for years.

Nathan knew how Lucas reacted. He was a time bomb, and Nathan was the only one who could set him off.

Nathan had fun doing so.

"What are you doing with her?" Lucas practically barked, and Nathan did nothing but smile glibly. Because how was he to answer that?

What am I doing with her? Well, dear brother, I'm fucking her on a daily basis, I take her out to the movies or dinner from time to time, laugh our asses off when we talk about you. Cheerio.

Something stopped him, and that something was her eyes.

Because he saw the world in them.

"I said - what are you doing with her?" Lucas repeated crossly.

"Last I checked, it was called talking," Nathan drawled lazily, crossing his arms in an are-you-finished-talking kind of way.

Lucas glared at him. "Since when do you need to talk to Haley about anything?"

Haley's eyes cast down to the floor, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Ask Haley," Nathan finished, giving her one more look before walking proudly out of the scene, a confident strut and a coy smile.

He was at his best when vicious.

And Nathan didn't play well with others.

~*~

Oh, God. He knows. He knows.

Lucas knows.

Haley took a step back from him, her palms grabbing at her wet cheeks. "I don't want to hurt you anymore. I - I don't know what to do," she answered broken-heartedly, so softly Lucas barely heard her.

Lucas, however, was fond of outbursts. "How could you lie to me? How could you sleep with my worst enemy, my own brother behind my back!?"

She took another step back, shakily, hands trembling, lip quivering. "I can't..." she tried gasping for a breath. "I can't explain it."

She turned on her heel, opened the door to the cafe and began to run.

"Haley..." Lucas's voice trailed as he began to walk quickly behind her, voice urgent. "No! You can't just tell me you've been sleeping with Nathan and not even give me a justified reason!"

"I did give you a reason," Haley reminded him quietly, the chill of the night hitting her cheek as she stood in the middle of the deserted street in front of the cafe, eyes broken and defeated.

"Which? You were trying to protect me?" he laughed bitterly. "Or that you love him?"

Haley swallowed loudly, eyes cast down.

"Please, tell me Hales," he cried brokenly.

Haley flinched. "I - no. No."

"You're falling for Nathan."

Haley nodded wordlessly. She didn't say anything, tried her best not to look so ashamed and crushed. "You are the perfect friend, Luke. You are my best friend, and I am so - "

"Don't," he whispered. "Just don't."

Haley sighed. It was too late to go back. "I hope one day we can be best friends again, Luke."

She began to walk away, trying her best to look dignified.

"Haley?"

She turned around reluctantly. She was no longer Hales to him. "Yeah?"

Lucas felt his heart sting. "Don't wait for that day."

~*~

Nathan laughed bitterly, his face contorted into an unattractive sneer. "Yes, by all means, blame this all on big bad Nathan. He's the one with the problem, he's the one who's always at fault. Being mean to precious little Haley, selling her out and showing her for the lousy friend that she is," he bit out venomously.

She blinked, the rancor momentarily stunning her to silence, before hardening her own heart as she always had before. She had prepared herself for combat with Nathan. She'd freeze every pore inside of her, would block away the hateful poison she could see swimming in his blue depths, would try her best to stay deaf to the detached coldness his voice would possess. It was the only way it wouldn't end up killing her. If only he knew the power that he had, the magnitude with which he always seemed to hurt her. "Turning it around on me isn't going to solve anything, making it go away. I told you we had to end it, long before anyone found out and you wouldn't listen," Haley retorted, just as viciously.

She learned this from him. And she had learned well.

Once again, their stances stiffened. A battle of wits, a headblock of anger.

Burning amber met challenging sapphires.

Always strike. Strike back. Strip the opponent of every verbal weapon they possess. Bit by bit tear inside their naked wounds until you know you have won. This was their dark game, one they were beginning to know how to play well.

He stared her down, unaware of how his height looming over her intimidated her - but just a little.

And she stared back, oblivious to how surprisingly it unsettled him - but just a little.

"I left everything behind me, Haley, EVERYTHING! My pettiness, the anger, I left it all behind for you and I didn't look back!" he shouted, and her eyes tore themselves over his pained face. "Do you even know? Do you have any idea what was at stake? I risked it Haley, I risked it ALL!"

Tears find their way scaldingly past her cheek, resting in the corner of her lips. "We... we just can't do this anymore, Nathan."

More tears. They won't stop.

They taste like pain.

She hadn't given up anything! her mind argued with her desperately.

Her heart knew better.

Tears clashed with her cheek, salt turning sour, fire turning bitter.

Didn't give up anything...

Agonizingly, Haley reminded herself,

It was only love.

~*~

They no longer acknowledge what they were to each other.

They passed each other in the halls and it took all of their strength to keep looking forward. Nathan established himself once again as the king at their school, and Lucas and Haley mended their friendship the way it was inevitably supposed to be.

Nathan saw them together, talking, laughing once more.

But out of the corner of her eye she would always look at him.

And he looked back, just to see the world again.

Something clogged in his throat. Heavy air filled around him and he wanted it to be easier.

He erased every memory of Haley out of his eyes, shut it out of his mind. He wanted them gone, wanted them stripped from his soul. They had to leave.

Hot tears blurred his eyes and agony clenched his chest.

He was fucking in love with her.

~*~

Memories plagued them both.

A pale leg entwined in a narrow waist.

Warm palms against her flesh, lips traveling across an unexplored world of beauty.

Her damp, red hair, the color of dark, crimson blood, spilling over his bronze shoulder.

Her lips as broken prayer crushing his with tortured promise and wild sweetness.

A soft cry mingled with a devastating rhythm.

He wanted them gone.

~*~

Haley bought Luke at an auction. Not Nathan, the boy toy. No, he was left with his clamor of fans.

He caught them kissing. Erratic jealousy stopped him from seeing it was chaste, and done purely because of the rules.

But he didn't see, it didn't work that way, he wasn't built with reason.

He was tired of it. Wanted it to be over, the infatuation he had with her.

Their eyes met, but he left her staring at his back.

Because he was tired.

"It's not what it looked like," Haley explained as she hastened her pace to catch up with him.

"I don't even care anymore," Nathan spit out, the words enveloped with venom.

"Nate..."

Hot-blooded. Led by his impulses.

Haley always thought too much. Always worried too much. She envied his recklessness at times.

"Don't you see Haley? You are always going to be in the middle of this. Lucas and I will never be brothers," he answered, about to get in his car when Haley stopped him.

Grabbing him from the waist, she urgently grazed her lips with his. "Why can't you see how much I love you?" she asked softly, pained.

"Because you love him too, Hales," he answered angrily, only half-swayed with her words. His resistance, however, was crumbling. "I can't do this with you. Not when it involves him," Nathan said between clenched teeth.

Haley cupped his face, gently directing it towards hers. The anger faded, a feeling of rare tenderness swept over him as her brown eyes, always golden-flecked, looked at him.

He saw the fucking world in her eyes.

He really did.

"Haley..." he paused, sighing, her fingers falling to his hair as he bowed his head low. "I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"Nate..."

"You refuse to see who I really am. That person you think you saw inside of me? That person doesn't exist."

"Yes, it does." And she smiled. A sweet smile that broke his heart. He wasn't obsessed with hate, he wasn't cruel. She saw him open his mouth, but pressed her finger above his lips. "And I know the part of you that you don't like. It's the good and the bad, Nate, and I accept all of it."

He wanted to believe her. But there was something tugging at him, telling him if she really knew, really knew how vindictive, how cruel, how despotic he could be, she wouldn't be holding him this way.

"Do you love him?" Nathan finally asked, his voice so miserable, so exhausted, she knew he was shattered.

"Yes," she confessed, the words tightening around her like a taut coil, inevitably making him pull away from her. "But it's so different, Nathan!"

"Why did it have to be you?" he wondered desperately, grabbing at his hair and turning around, shutting his eyes forcibly.

"I don't know," she whispered.

"I love you," he repeated his earlier words. "You know that. But what you ask of me... I can't. Luke and I, we have to finish this. We were born with this."

"Nathan..."

He started walking away.

"You're breaking my heart!" she shouted with raw emotion.

He stopped his strides abruptly, moved back to her quickly. "You think mine isn't broken, either? I didn't expect you, I didn't expect to feel this way! You think I like this? Knowing that you've lived all your life knowing him, knowing he has lived his whole life loving you? I saw, Haley, I saw inside of you, and I know how you feel. You would die for him. The best fucking friend you've ever had, right? You think it isn't fucking tearing me inside?"

He grabbed at her wrists and clutched them to his chest with a desperation she had never seen, and she sobbed helplessly. "Tell me you love him more," he shouted brokenly, an angry tear rolling down his cheek. "Tell me I'm second best, tell me you choose him! Please tell me it was all a lie, that it wasn't real so I can tear you the fuck out of me! Betray me first so I can walk away from you!"

He paused, breathing heavily. "Please do it, Haley."

"I can't," she cried, yanking him towards her, lips crushing his own with an animalistic force he had never seen of her. She sighed into him, running the tip of her tongue roughly over his lips, easing her mouth over his fully. He lost himself in the sweetness of her. Her hands curled into his hair almost painfully, his back resting on the car behind him.

~*~

They were in a trance, moving towards each other breathlessly, their gazes muting the surroundings around them, concentrating on the magnitude of the moment, a slight chance for revival of a ribbon-laced love that had been tied too loosely. He raised his hands in front of them, catching her own trembling hands with his as he stared at them with a precocious frown.

This was falling.

His fingers pull the tied knot at the back of her blouse loose, lips brushing her forehead as he did so. He brushed the hair out of her face, she shivered at his touch, eyes resting on his carefully, tenderly, with no hesitation and never regret. She was awakened, finally and fully, had left the dark corner she had hiden in, places she would still never understand and memories that were too poisoned to drink fully.

He finally (finally!) leaned towards her, mouth catching the perfect curve of her lips and casting every thought aside, parting her lips with the tip of his tongue, cupping the pathway of her breast with his naked fingers, gently urging her towards him, drawing her to him in a breath

Her body shook with desire, her bones melted at his touch and his own hands trembled as they once again made contact with her naked flesh. His blood fused hotly into every pore of his body, needing release, needing her.

It had felt so long ago. Too long ago.

He fell into her eyes, the world crashing in a crystal haze behind them. His shirt was crumpled painfully tight in her hands, as she pressed him closer to her, closer, closer... He led her to the bed, pinning his body to hers, hands clutching at her thigh, five fingerprints marking her skin like raging butterflies.

This was falling.

She wrapped herself around him, eyes shooting open when he slid into her. Each slow, devastating stroke had unbearable need filling inside of her, breasts crushed against his chest as she pulled his mouth to hers desperately. In a shadowed room, just the two of them. His mouth once again took possession of hers thirstily, consumed with the intensity of her, she almost claimed the very blood out of his body. Every other kiss they had ever shared seemed to meld together into this very one; an aching, perfect, delicate whisper they fed on hungrily.

They melded together, a heap of sweat and rough edges and dark moans and crimson, foggy rapture.

This was falling.

~*~

"I am always going to choose you, Nathan."

And she does.

The End