The Madness of King Nathan

By Jean

Chapter One

March 5th

“LUCAS!”  Haley called out, running down the hallway to catch up to her best friend.

“Hey Hales,” he greeted her, placing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into him..   He took a double take.  “You look like hell.”

“Thanks a lot Lucas!   You would too if your husband kept you up all night long talking in his sleep; rattling off basketball scores, names of colleges, players… I had to go out on the couch!”

“Well Haley, I hope that I never have to worry about my husband waking me up because he talks in his sleep.” 

“Pfffttt!” She hissed through her teeth and proceeded to whack Lucas in the stomach.

“But it sounds like you are in for a hell of a March.” 

“What are you talking about Lucas?”

“Hales?”  Haley, come on?”  Lucas has stopped dead in his tracks looking incredulously at his best friend.  “March Madness,” he said disbelievingly.

Haley looked perplexed.  “Yeah aaaaand?”

“Haley, NCAA Tournament?” The best of the best in college hoops? Ends with the Final Four?   

“Ohhhh.  I think I have heard of that.” 

Lucas snorted in disgust.  “Haley, you have watched games with me!  Well maybe you were at my house and you read a book or talked to my Mom but you were in the room.”

“Wow Lucas.  I know you used to go nuts but you know I don’t pay attention to you when you ramble on about sports. Remember that off switch I have in the back of my neck?” 

“Uh Hales, I hate to warn you.  From what I hear, Nathan is the worst.  He is obsessed.  Eats, Drinks, Sleeps it.  He has self proclaimed himself the “King of Bracketology” because of his accuracy rate on picking the Final Four.  Maybe it was easy for you to ignore me but I am not so sure you will be able to do that living with the guy 24/7.”

“Bracketology? What is… Oh, never mind.”  Haley waved her hand at him.  “So what’s a couple of games?  I should be able to deal with that,” Haley said optimistically.

She looked at Lucas shocked as he burst out in laughter.  “Oh, man, I am so going to enjoy watching this ride!”

“Lucas!  What are you talking about?”

“Oh, nothing Hales,” he replied with a huge grin on his face.  “I gotta run, I am late for class.”  Lucas clapped her on the back.  ‘But uh Hales, here is a word of advice, you might want to think about taking up a hobby.”  He walked away snickering, shaking his head. 

Haley was exhausted.  Right after school she had two students to tutor and then had to work at Karen’s till closing.  She had barely spoken to Nathan all day.  He hadn’t even called her while she was at work, which he normally did just to say hi and tell her he loved her.  She sighed as she leaned her shoulder against the door of the apartment to push it open.  She could hear the sounds of a basketball game through the walls.  As she opened the door and surveyed the apartment, her jaw fell open. 

“Nathan?” 

“Hey, Hales,” Nathan greeted her without turning around as he fast forwarded through commercials. 

“Nathan, what are you doing?”  Haley turned her body in circles as Nathan absorbed himself in the task before him.  The walls were covered with college pennants; Huskies, Blue Devils, Saluki’s, Illinois, Gonzaga, Syracuse…  Posters of players and some woman named Bonnie were prominently displayed.  Their wedding montage board was completely covered by white papers that appeared to have some sort of schedules on them, however, they were marked with red pen, it almost reminded her of blood, due to the stark contrast of color against the whiteness of the paper.  It was like a tangled web, an intricate game of chutes and ladders.  As she looked closer, she could see the years printed in Nathan’s distinct handwriting on the top. 1999- NAILED IT; 2000- NOT SO GOOD, TOOK ADVICE FROM DAN.  NOTE TO SELF- DON’T DO THAT AGAIN; 2001- AGAIN, NAILED IT, 2002-F-CKED UP ROYALLY, 2003-2 OUT OF FOUR AIN’T BAD, 2004-NAILED AGAIN, I AM KING! 

“I’m re-watching last years Final Four games.”  His heart pounded all over again remembering the excitement of all the games.  Georgia Tech 67 against Oklahoma State 65, Connecticut 79 against Duke 78 and the finally the Championship game of Connecticut 82 against Georgia Tech 73.  “They were so close it was insane Haley!  Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon just completely outclassed the boys from Georgia Tech.”

“No, Nathan,” Haley said, still in shock by the redecorating of their apartment.  “Maybe I should have asked what have you done?”

“Oh,” Nathan paused the video tape and came over to her, a sheepish grin on his face.  ‘First,” he said, enveloping her in his arms and bringing her close to his body.  “Hello.” 

On autopilot, Haley’s arms circled his neck as she looked up into is piercing blue eyes. “Hi,”

He kissed her neck, causing a warm flush to course through Haley’s body.  Nathan then proceeded to grab her earlobe between his teeth and tugged while mumbling, “How was work?  I missed you.” 

“I missed you too,” Haley returned somewhat breathlessly as Nathan cut her off and placed his lips on hers.  “Mmmm, Nathan.”  She shook her head.  “Wait!  No distracting me!  What is all this?”  She nodded her head towards the college memorabilia and posters littering the room.

“Oh, you noticed that huh?” 

“Uh Yeah!  She replied.  “A little hard to miss.”

Nathan laughed as he ducked his head into his shoulders apologetically and bit his lip.  “I uh, March Madness is coming up Haley!  I have to get in the swing, feel the frenzy! It will only be up here for a few weeks and then I promise I will take it all down.” 

“A few weeks?  What?  Why a few weeks,” she asked, Lucas’ laughter coming back to haunt her. 

“That’s how long it lasts Hales.  Middle of March through the 1st week of April.” 

“WHAT?  I thought that it was like a weekend thing?”

“WHAT?  OOOOOh Noooo, Haley, this is the event of the season!  We are talking college ball throughout the day and night, 64 games played over the span of 21 days!”  Nathan’s voice rose in excitement.  “There are over 65 teams in the tournament and the champion won't be crowned until April 4.  It’s intense because the tournament is loser-out, so the top seeds and the Cinderella teams have to bring it on.”

“Loser out?”  Haley said uncomprehendingly. 

Nathan laughed.  “Haley, loser out, meaning once a team is beaten, its season is over.”

“Oh.  So what’s a seed?”  Haley’s inquisitive mind caused her to continue her line of questioning, which scared her because she was beginning to realize that Nathan could stay on this topic all night long if she encouraged him. 

Nathan looked at Haley pondering just how to explain it since it was now apparent to him that she was clueless about the importance of the NCAA tournament.  It saddened him a little bit but he had a glimmer of hope that he could convert her.  “You know Haley, I just read this article on the internet by this reporter for the Seattle times,  Stuart Eskenazi or something.  Anyway he used this analogy by this guy named Ciscoe that hosts some kind of gardening show out there who says "[i]Before you can pick the tomatoes, you have to plant the seeds."  So Eskenazi said that means before one of the 65 teams can reap their harvest, a committee of college basketball officials meets secretly to select and rank ("seed")  the tournament teams, and decide who and where they will play. The better teams are rewarded with the higher seeds, protecting them from having to play one another in the early rounds. The committee bases its seedings on factors such as win-loss records, strong end-of-season play and wins over other top teams."[/i] 

He looked at Haley to see if she was comprehending.  Her eyes were a bit glassy but he sensed that she was still hanging in there somewhat.  [i]“Then the tournament is split into four regions. Each region has 16 teams, seeded one to 16. (One region technically has 17 teams, with the 16th- and 17th-ranked teams playing off for the 16th seed.) The committee selected Washington as the No. 1 seed in the Albuquerque region, which Eskenazi says essentially means that a bunch of suits who supposedly know a lot about college basketball consider Washington one of the favorites to make this year's Final Four.[/i] (1)  That cracked me up.”

Haley looked at Nathan in wonder.  “Nathan, you just quoted an article to me that you read today?  I have NEVER seen you do that when we have been looking up current events for your term papers.”

Nathan looked at Haley laughing.  “Hales, it’s March Madness, it’s basketball,” he said in a tone that indicated it was a no brainer.  He pointed to his head.  “You know what that means?  Steel Trap.  I’ve got a virtual library up here.  Tap in any time.”  He grinned at her. 

“Ok,” she said cautiously, “what is all that?”  She pointed to the board on the wall.  “And why, did you cover up all our beautiful pictures,” she whined.

Nathan sucked in his breath between his teeth.  “I thought that one might throw you but I had no other place to put it all Haley!  Usually I cover my walls in my room but that seemed the most logical spot.  Plus, this way when Tim comes over, I can rub my expertise in his face.  Those are the past six years of my brackets.  We have to get ready for March 14th, that is when you have to have your brackets chosen.” 

“Yes, Lucas mentioned brackets but what…”

He looked at her face and immediately knew she was clueless.  “Those are the official forms for betting on the games.  I usually organize it for Tree Hill High and some others who are lucky enough to be asked.”

“Nathan!  Are we going to be broke!  Can you be arrested for being a bookie?

Nathan grabbed Haley’s hands in his, once again pulling her to him.  “NO!  I won’t even bet that much, I know I don’t have the bank roll anymore and trust me Haley, if they arrested everyone that formed a bracket pool, crime would run wild for the next 100 years; there are that many people that participate.  And I am not a bookie.  I am a sports fan.”  Nathan gave her his trademark grin.

Haley looked at him with a slight pout on her face.  Nathan smiled and leaned in and kissed it away, his lips lingering for a few seconds before he spoke softly.  “The pictures are still there Haley!  It’s only for a little while.  So continuing with our bracket lesson- Basically you fill out the brackets with what teams you think be in the tournament and who you think will ultimately make it to the Final Four.  So you have to use your heart, you know, like your favorites and your head, the teams with the best records, players etc. to predict how it will all play out.  So remember I was telling you about the seeds?  Well, for instance, SIUC came in on an at large bid and were seeded seven so they're in the cushy zone. They'll have to play St. Mary's, who won their conference and are seeded 10 and then face the winner of Utah St. v. Arizona (Pac 10). I always vote Pac 10 against a midmajor. A 7 seed knocking off a three is not unheard of. Oklahoma State won the Big 12 but it was a dogfight and they look tired. SIUC could get to the Sweet 16. ” 

Haley’s jaw fell open, a growing frustration building within her.  “This is what it is like, isn’t it Nathan?”

“What what’s like Haley?”  Nathan looked at her puzzled.

“What it is like to be tutored and not have it sink in right away.  Your ability to understand Quadratic equations is like my ability to understand what the heck you just said to me!”

“Well then, I’ll do for you what you did for me,” he said with a big smile.  He pulled her into him and kissed her forehead.  “You’ll get it.  One day it will just come to you.  So I don’t know if it was your words or when you kissed me but you were always right.”

Haley smiled sadly.  “But, will you still love me if I don’t, if it doesn’t?”

Nathan looked at her shocked.  Was she serious?  He wrapped her up in a strong embrace, her face warmly pressed against his chest.  He kissed the top of her head lovingly.  I’ll love you forever Haley and besides, whether you get what’s going on or not, you’ll look sexy as hell wearing my Blue Devils T-shirt.  In fact, he said sexily, let’s go find it so you can model it for me.”  Nathan started to walk them to the bedroom when he stopped abruptly.  “Shit!”

“What Nathan?” Haley asked alarmed.

“My March Madness wardrobe!  It’s at my parents.  I gotta go!”  He abruptly let go of Haley and raced to get his keys off the counter.

Haley missed the warmth of his arms.  “Nathan!  First of all, you have a March Madness wardrobe?”  She giggled as Nathan gave her a “Why would you even ask me that question” look. 

“Well then, more importantly, you are going to go to your parents?  What if they are there?  What if they say something that upsets you?” 

Nathan looked at her thoughtfully. “ I NEED that wardrobe Hales!  And as for them, well, I could say nothing and just go get it but you know what, March is the one month out of my entire life that my Father is never on my case.  We talk March Madness, the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight; we talk about who is doggin it and who is hoggin it and through it all, we pray to St.James Naismith the Canadian clergyman, educator and physician who formulated the game of basketball in 1891.  I was named after him you know.”  With that Nathan ran out the door advising her get ready to model when he returned.

Haley looked at the door in front of her, shocked.  It was official, Nathan was on the road to madness.

Chapter Two

Nathan drove up the driveway of his parents’ home, willing their cars not to be in the driveway. He had been pretty nonchalant when Haley had brought up seeing them before but he really was in no way interested in dealing with their crap right now. He had too much to do, starting with getting back home and getting in on with his wife. He chuckled to himself regarding the look on her face when he had started to give her the low down on seeds and choosing the teams for the brackets. She had seemed so confused and it amazed him because as far as he was concerned she was one of the smartest people he knew. He wondered how she would be over the next few weeks. Peyton had pretty much left him alone, content to hang with her friends and hook up every once in a while. She wanted no part of it and he was completely cool with that, he preferred it that way. Not to mention that they didn’t live together. It would be interesting to see how it worked out with Haley. This was his first tournie as a married man and from what he heard it could be a whole different ball game.

“Crap!” His hands slapped the steering wheel in frustration. They were both home. Well, he couldn’t turn back. The T-shirts and hats that lay beyond that brown mahogany door were necessary to the balance of NCAA viewing. It was tradition and no matter how crazy things were with his parents right now, he was going in. Nathan strode up to the front door and inserted the key into the lock and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

He called out to his parents as he headed for the stairs towards his room. What had he been thinking anyway when he packed? He forgot “the box”. Not sure how since he had everything he needed for “the shrine” that was now decorating the walls of his apartment. Haley had been a good sport, Thank God for that.

He sensed his father coming down the hall before he even heard his sarcastic drawl. “Well, looks like my emancipated son is not so emancipated after all. You still have a key? Isn’t that a privilege reserved for kids that need to come home for a home cooked meal or to get their laundry done by their mommies? I think you should probably be giving it back.”

Nathan looked at Dan disgustedly. “Whatever, I am just here to get my game shirts. In fact, here Dad.” Nathan had removed the key from the chain and threw it in an arc towards Dan. So much for his Dad cutting him slack in the month of March. At that moment Deb had come out of the kitchen.

“Oh, hi honey,” she said with a desperate look of hope on her face. “Are you going to stay for dinner?”

"Wwwhat?" Nathan stopped mid stride on his way up the stairs, laughter in his voice. “Mom, I am just here to get my NCAA shirts.”

“Oh, well, I washed everything. I was cleaning out your room to redecor…” Deb was stopped by Nathan’s voice.

“WHAT? What did you do with it them?”

“Nathan,” she laughed nervously, “I put them all back in the box except the Blue Devils one. I got you a new one, there was barely anything left of that one and I know how you love them.”

“Oh good one Deb,” Dan snorted in the background. “If you thought he wasn’t talking to you before, you have sealed your fate.”

Nathan came running down the stairs and grabbed his Mother by the shoulders. “Mom, TELL me you didn’t throw it out.”

"NATHAN!" She grinned at him. "I…I thought about putting it in the rag pile but…”

"MOM!" Nathan’s voice was full of dread. Was she clueless? This could upset the balance of the madness. Rituals were not something to be messed with!

“Nathan, please, I shrink wrapped it and put it in it’s own box. I remember you begging me for that shirt when you were younger. I would never throw it away." Before she knew what hit her, Nathan had given her a big kiss and bounded up the stairs. Deb was in shock, she couldn’t remember the last time Nathan had kissed her.

“3 Pointer at the top of the key with four seconds left on the clock for you Deb,” Dan said somewhat enviously.

“It has nothing to do with that Dan. I just remember that as the time that he truly loved the sport.”

Dan snickered as Nathan came back down the stairs. “Let’s see what the old ball and chain thinks of your obsession Nathan. It’s not going to be all about her anymore.”

Nathan opened the front door and slowly turned around to look at Dan with a look of disdain on his face. “Drop it Dad, it’s not all about her. In fact, she might even fill out a bracket. So if you want to talk March Madness Dad, let me know. Otherwise, butt out. Oh and for the record, Washington sucks." He closed the door with a slam.

Nathan sauntered to his car as Dan yelled out the door. “Doesn’t matter because Gonzaga’s gonna choke!”

He smiled as he heard his Mother chime in, "You both are insane, UNC is taking it all the way!"

Nathan opened the door to the apartment and heard the shower running. Hales! He called.

He heard her muffled voice behind the bathroom door. “Nathan, I was gross, I’m just taking a quick shower! I’ll be out in a minute."

“Or I’ll be in a minute,” he said mischievously, while taking off his shirt. As he opened the bathroom door, Haley had simultaneously turned off the shower.

“Ohhh Noooo,” he groaned.

“Ohhh, Yeeesss,” she countered as she peeked out from the curtain. “Nathan can you hand me my towel?”

“Maybe.”

“Come on Nathan.”

He grabbed the towel and held it out slightly but not far enough for Haley to reach it.

Nathan!

He extended it a fraction of an inch more.

“I’m freezing Nathan! You left the door open and there is a draft coming in. Come on,” she whined with a giggle in her voice.

Again, his hand extended a fraction of an inch. “Come and get it. Steal the ball Hales,” he challenged, knowing that Haley still sometimes felt shy about approaching him completely naked. Once she was naked and they were making love she was fine but that initial approach, it freaked her out. He was surprised she didn’t go up in flames.

Haley’s eyes opened wider as she bit her lip in contemplation. “You asked for it,” she said threateningly as she leapt out of the shower and lunged for the towel. Nathan held it over his head as he gazed down at her glistening body; her face, neck and chest flushed. All he had to do was light a match. He heard her let out a growl of frustration and then she grabbed him with her left arm as she pressed her wet body against his and proceeded to grab her hair with her right hand and wring out the water all over him.

He yelped as the water hit his naked chest while his arms came around her from behind and placed the towel on her shoulders. “Oh yeah I did.” The tone of his voice expressed his pure satisfaction with the situation. He brought the towel around her and she grabbed it. Nathan then proceeded to rub his hands on top of the towel, drying her back and arms further and warming her up in the process. His hands gently removed the towel from Haley’s embrace as she looked at him, her eyes dark and trusting. He knelt down and pressed the towel against her foot to dry it off, drawing it up slowly from the bottom of her leg until he reached the apex of her thighs. His eyes never left hers and he softly rubbed the towel against her removing the excess moisture. Haley’s breath came out slowly, sometimes unevenly. Nathan then drew the towel down her other leg, repeating the drying process. As he came up from his kneeling position, he kissed the softness of her belly and straightened himself to place a slow sensual kiss on her lips. “Stay right here,” he whispered as he wrapped the towel around her and tucked the corner underneath the wrap between the valley of her breasts making sure his fingers brushed against the crests.

Haley nodded mutely.

Nathan returned with a package in his hand.

“Nathan, please don’t tell me that you shrink wrap every T-shirt!” Haley’s hand stifled the laugh that threatened to escape her.

“What? No, that’s my Mom. She was trying to preserve it for me. Little did she know that I wanted to see the “Royal Robe” on my wife.”

“Royal Robe? Oh Nathan, you are way obsessed.”

“Very way Haley, NCAA Basketball and you, my two favorite obsessions.”

“Ohhh,” Haley’s hand caressed the side of Nathan’s face. “You are so sweet…OH!” She was cut off as her husband flicked his wrist, undoing the knot at the top of the towel, causing it to cascade to the floor. He gathered the T-shirt and pulled it over her head and helped her put her arms through it. He stepped back to appraise the view chanting:

Fight Blue Devils Fight

Fight Fight Blue Devils

Fight for Duke and the Blue & White

March on through

For the slamdunk's there for you

Go get 'em!

Duke is gonna win tonight

Carolina, goodnight!

So turn on the steam, team

Fight Blue Devils, Fight!

“It’s official Nathan, you are 100% certifiable.”

Nathan chuckled and grabbed the wide tooth comb and proceeded to comb through Haley’s tresses, his hands lingering in the thickness of his wife’s wet hair as he did so. He turned her to face the mirror and she laughed at the sight. “Nathan! You call this a shirt? It’s so worn you can see through it and there’s even holes in it! Oh my God, the devil is missing an eye and is that my…Oh!” Haley’s had flew up to cover her nipple that was peaking out in replacement of the poor devils eye.”

“Nice,” Nathan said smugly. He turned her towards him and pulled her body flush against his and leaned down to place soft whispering kisses on her neck as his hand caressed her ear.

“Uh, oh, you are pulling out the ear caress,” she whispered. “I know what that means. I thought you were going to teach me about March Madness?”

“Oh, I am and I am going to include the basics of basketball too so I never have to hear you refer to a Free Throw as a touchdown again. And, it begins now. This is what is called as a full court press,” he said as he gestured to the position of their bodies fully melded together. “Otherwise it means that defense starts when the other team is coming down to their basket rather than waiting til they get to half court. And RPI stands for the Ratings Power Index. That basically is the formula that the committee uses to rate the 319 schools that play Division One basketball. The formula includes evaluating a team’s winning percentage, winning percentage of their opponents and the opponents' opponents' winning percentage. All the percentages are weighted so you have to multiply their percengages by their weight factor and then add up the points to get the total. The total determines what schools qualify for the tournament and how they are seeded.

“Oooo, Math,” Haley said excitedly.

“I knew I’d suck you in somehow. So my RPI is pretty high when it comes to getting it on with you,” he said sexily. “My percentage of wins against you is VERY high,” he said teasingly, “AND you have no other opponents and better never have any so I am pretty much a shoe in AND a top seed.” Nathan guided her out of the bathroom into the bedroom as Haley giggled. They stood at the foot of the bed in each other’s embrace, running their hands over each other’s bodies. Nathan pushed Haley back to let his gaze wander over her body in the t-shirt. This is what you call “a good look” which is basically having a clear view of the basket before taking a shot. And this, he raised his hand to place it over her breast but was shocked when Haley blocked it. Hey!, now that is called “goal tending” Haley, illegal blocking of a shot as it’s descending into the basket!

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was just jumpy!”

“Ok, Good D but here’s a warning, I am coming into your zone Haley.” Nathan reached out his hand and placed it over the “devil’s eye” causing Haley to draw in her breath quickly at the sensation of the warmth of his hand. “This is called palming the ball,” he said huskily. He raised his other hand to her other breast. “And this is called double dribbling which is what the guys do when they see a hot cheerleader on the side of the court. And if I hold onto the ball too long, then that is called a 3 second violation, which I won’t get called on since their or no refs here.”

“No,” Haley said softly. You definitely won’t get called on a 3 second violation." She reached up and placed her hands around Nathan’s neck pulling his lips closer so she could feverishly place kisses along his jaw line and nip at his lips. As their lips made contact, Haley brought her body in full contact with Nathan’s, the blue devil shirt inching up as Nathan’s hands moved to caress her bottom. She pushed him forcefully down on top of the bed and straddled him, rubbing her hands sensuously up and down his chest.

“That’s called a turnover,” Nathan croaked as Haley’s hands made their way further south, “when you lose the ball to your opponent.” Haley smiled down at Nathan lost in the haze of his innuendos and the feel of his touch. Mmmmm,” she murmured as she leaned down and covered Nathan’s lips with her own, drawing her tongue across his lips and slowly pushing it into his mouth, stroking it against his as their hands stroked each other.

Nathan pulled his lips away for a brief second. “Now I am going to show you a maneuver that causes the crowds to go crazy. It’s called an Alley Oop. It involves a high pass to a point just over the rim from which point a second player "stuffs" the ball into the net. Consider me the second player.” Nathan grinned as he joined their bodies together.

As Haley felt the waves of emotion build in her, she envisioned the announcer screaming TIE SCORE at half time ladies and gentlelmen!

Chapter Three

Haley awoke repeating the Devil’s fight song in her head. Oh my God, she thought to herself. Is it catching? Instinctively she knew that Nathan was no longer in the bed so she retrieved the Blue Devils T-shirt from the floor and tossed it over her head, intent on finding him for more tutoring. Nathan was right, it was lucky. She grabbed her robe and padded out to the kitchen but stopped dead in her tracks upon witnessing her husband’s actions.

“Nathan! Did you just say good morning to that poster and kiss it?” Nathan jumped at the sound of her voice and turned to look at her. If Haley hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she wouldn’t have believed it. Her husband, Nathan Scott was blushing.

He looked down at his feet. “So, you saw that huh?”

“Yeesss, and I think, I think I am jealous!” She rushed over to look at the poster she had only glanced at the night before and inspected it. “She’s old Nathan!”

She’s not old Haley! Just think rituals, Hales, rituals. She means nothing to me.”

Haley looked at Nathan comically. “Nathan please, I get that, but you kissed it! That’s like something pre teen girls do with pictures of Jesse McCartney or Brad Pitt!”

“Haley! It’s Bonnie Bernstein. She is the lead reporter for NCAA Division One Basketball! She hosts the At the Half Studio show. A beautiful woman that could talk basketball better than some men… Come on! I’ve been doing that on Bracket Prep Day for the past five years of my life! She brings me luck on my picks!”

“Actually, I know who she is Nathan. I have seen her reporting for the NFL.”

“Wait what, you watch football?”

“No not really but, I would sit with my Dad sometimes while he did.”

“I thought you said Jimmy didn’t watch sports?”

“I said he doesn’t’ watch basketball Nathan.”

“He, He doesn’t watch basketball but he watches football? That’s it, I want a trade in!”

Haley reached up and kissed Nathan on the cheek. “Too late,” she said sweetly. “Now move away from the old lady and tutor me some more.”

“Glad to oblige,” Nathan said smarmily, grabbing her into his arms.

“That’s nice honey”, she murmured as Nathan latched on to her neck, “but, I mean really teach me.”

“Oh,” Nathan took a step back shocked. “Well in that case, I am all ready for you.” Nathan turned to the kitchen counter and started handing things to Haley. “Here is the latest version of the March Madness Magazine, you need to look through that, in fact there is an article about Bonnie in there and I have picked out a few articles that I thought might help you understand people’s strategy on making their picks.”

“Oh, that is a lot of reading. What are you going to be doing while I read these? Don’t you have cliff notes?”

“Haley, you did not just say that. Who are you me?” He looked up at her pouting face. “Oh, you want hands on tutoring. You are me.”

“It’s only fair Nathan but really I feel like I get it so much more when you explain it to me.”

“Ok, I have just the thing to get us started. I had to do this multi- media presentation earlier this year for my Computer class so I made a CD of some of the more classic plays made by the NCAA teams during March Madness. Let’s watch that. It will get you familiar with the more popular teams and players.”

Nathan sat on the couch and pulled Haley’s hand so that she sat on his lap. “Might as well be comfortable.”

“Might as well,” she agreed.

“Just remember that it all comes down to who you pick for the final four. So the 64 teams start off in Round 1 and are narrowed down to 32 and then the winners of round two brings you to your Sweet 16. Then Round three brings you to the Elite Eight and ulitmately the winners of that….

“Advance to the Final Four,” Haley interjected.

“Right! You are catching on.”

“Yeah, I am quick like that,” Haley said sarcastically.

“So, a couple things you need to know before we start, since we are not equipped with the SAS software that these two college professors Jay Coleman and Allen Lynch used to analyze the statistics that helped them predict the NCAA Dance Card with a 94 % accuracy. Some people make their picks by analyzing every last detail of the teams, the history of previous tournaments, the average wins by seed, the patterns of wins within each round, the records of the players, upset records, the experience of the teams and the alignment of the stars with the moon.

Haley’s jaw fell open. “Um, Nathan, I think Karen mentioned something about me having to work today. She squirmed to get off of Nathan’s lap.

Nathan squeezed her to him, not letting her go. “Oh no you don’t, you are mine!” Truth be told, Nathan didn’t really expect Haley to get into it but he was enjoying her interest, not to mention her company, especially when she was sitting on his lap in a robe and a "don’t really have to use your imagination” T-shirt.

“That’s a little extreme Haley. Other people just go with their heart, they pick the teams that draw them in due to their chemistry or because they went there or their Mom or Dad went there or something. And do you know what is wild? Most of the office polls are won by someone that doesn’t really have a clue about basketball or has never even really watched a game! That is just whacked but good for you, the odds are in your favor.”

“You are too much Nathan.” She leaned in to give him a gentle kiss. “You are always rooting for me. And you know what else, it is really impressive what you know about this. But, what makes you think I am even going to fill out a bracket,” she teased.”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the terminology lesson you will get later,” he whispered as he nuzzled her ear.

Haley giggled, “Mmmmm, maybe I’ll stay a little bit longer.”

“I knew you would see it my way- again my RPI is up there.” He winked at her as he continued. So let me simplify it like you always did for me.

1. Don’t pick a 16 seed over a 1- really unlikely.

2. All number 1 seeds rarely make it to the final four- sometimes the underdogs come through.

3. As of 2004, the last 9 out of 12 winners were number 1 seeds so you should really think about picking at least one of them for your bracket.

and

4. Sometimes it is easier if you fill in the brackets from the back by picking the winner and the final four and then working backwards. OH and I just read this really funny article by this dude Eric Smith. It was called Brackets for Dummies- Pick More Than Your Nose This March and…”

“EWWWW, Nathan!”

“Yeah, Yeah gross I know ,” Nathan replied as he pretended to reach for his nose until Haley grabbed his hand and brought it between hers to deter him. “Anyway, he said don’t get too upset happy and that the key is to picking the right upsets. And, Nathan started to laugh.

“Nathan! Are you giggling? Oh my God, my husband is giggling? Or no, is that twittering? What is that laugh Nathan?” Haley sat back and watched him in great amusement.

Nathan caught his breath and wiped the tears of laughter that had formed in his eyes. “He, oh man, he said it’s kind of like when your wife or girlfriend is ticked at you, and you’re trying to guess why, and you come up with six or seven legitimate reasons for her to be upset, and she was only aware of one? You want to avoid that.” He started laughing all over again at the thought of his last fight with Haley when he had fessed up to so many things that she hadn’t even been aware of and all she was mad at was the underwear on the bathroom floor.

“Oooo, you are thinking about the underwear on the floor aren’t you,” she said as she grabbed his sides and tickled him. “And you thought I was mad that you had been out drinking with Tim until 3 in the morning when you told me Keith needed you to work on a car that had been expedited or that you had finished the last of the carrot cake from Karen’s when you originally blamed in on Lucas or that you had put your crap 99 cent shampoo in my Paul Mitchell bottle because you really liked the smell and had used it all up….

Haley got caught up in his infectious laughter and they giggled together, each setting the other one off just when they had gotten their giggles under control. They laughed till their stomachs hurt.

“Ok, ok, stop, stop,” Nathan breathed in a large breath, willing himself to get control. “Let’s go to the video tape or in this case, the DVD, thanks to modern technology and my expertise at multi - media presentations… “ he added smugly. Nathan proceeded to hit play and Haley heard his distinctive voice come through the TV.

“It’s called Madness, some call it Mayhem but either way it sucks you in. The best of the best, Region against region, the top of the heep versus the boys wearing the glass slippers, the battle of battles between coaches, players and fans. You experience the joy of the upset and the agony of defeat but through it all you see the beauty in the pass, the arc in the Alley Oop, the dunk, the block and the carrying of the ball. It’s basketball, college ball. The only game in town…”

Haley looked over at Nathan who was completely engrossed in the TV before him, a serene joy overtaking him. She stroked her hand through his hair marveling at the beauty of his pure exhilaration in watching the sport.

After several minutes of watching the fast pace of several different teams depicted in Nathan’s montage, Haley interrupted. “Oooo Nathan, those are pretty uniforms, I love the color. Can I pick a team because I like the color of their uniform?”

“What? Haley, NO! Besides, that is Duke, you better like that uniform, you are wearing it.” Upon saying it, he reached his hand underneath her robe and tweaked “the Devil’s Eye”

“Nathan!” She smacked his hand away playfully and fixated her eyes on the screen once again.

“Oh My God, that mascot is so cute. What is that? How can it gyrate like that?”

“Hales, that is “Lil Red” from Nebraska, the Huskers. If you pick a team by their mascot, I will have your bags at the bottom of the stairs. Besides, this was just the mascot section of my presentation and trust me, Nebraska won’t be invited to the dance.”

“Ooo, Nathan, who is he? He is cuuuute! “

Nathan looked over quickly at Haley and back at the TV. “Hales, that is J.J. Redick, again from Duke, good choice but if you are picking because he is cute, he sucks!”

“Nathan,” she giggled, “he kind of reminds me of you. He’s tall, dark black hair, has a grace on the court, he even sinks his touch… I mean free throw like you do.” She looked at Nathan out of the corner of her eye, trying to determine if the tweak of jealousy she saw was her imagination.

“Oh yeah, well I suppose you can pick a team because of a player. BECAUSE HE IS A GOOD PLAYER! Not because he has a nice…. Oh whatever.”

Haley grabbed Nathan’s face and kissed it up and down from his temple to his jaw. “NO player is as fine as you baby.”

“Damn straight.” He looked up at her perched on his lap and kissed her fiercely on her lips. “Did I mention that I love you?”

“Um, no, not since you sucked face with Bonnie earlier.”

“Funny Hales,” he said dryly.

Nathan’s montage had come to the coaches section where Nathan had intertwined several interviews with the coaches of the teams.

“Oh Nathan, that man’s voice is horrible! It’s annoying, there is no way I would pick that team.”

Nathan pushed Haley off his lap and looked at her thunderstruck. “You would not pick a team because you hated the guys voice?”

“Well, maybe,” she said tentatively.

“You are right Hales, maybe it is time for you to go to Karen’s,” he said exasperatedly. “His name is Bruce Weber by the way , the coach of Illinois, the Fighting Illni. What if I told you that his mother loves to go his games and watch him coach? He is a damn good coach.”

“Oh, she does? That is so sweet.”

“Oh God,” Nathan’s head fell into his hands, what was he doing here? Maybe he should call Tim. “Ok, Hales, here comes Bobby Knight, he used to coach Indiana and was abused for his zero tolerance policy. He coaches Texas Tech now. He is one of the six previous championship coaches still in the field with Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, Lute Olson,Tubby Smith and Tom Izzo. He is one serious hot head and people LOVE to loathe him, but guess what, he worships his wife. He recently said that she knows more about basketball than most anyone he knows and that she has been influential in his decisions.”

"Ohhh, I am so going to pick Texas Tech then. I am a sucker for a good love story."

“Haleeey!”

“Nathan, I do believe you are whining. First you start with giggling and now whining. This March Madness is quite intriguing!”

Nathan looked at Haley and shook his head, his grin wide. His wife was busting his chops. Haley and Nathan watched several more plays before Haley looked at Nathan thoughtfully. “So Nathan…”

“Oh man,” Nathan groaned, afraid to hear what she would say next.

“So I would think that you should pick a team that has a really great shooting record or something?”

WHAT? Nathan looked at Haley incredulously. He and Tim had just been talking about this the other day.”

“Well, I don’t know , you said that with these games the top seeds and the Cinderella’s need to bring it on and that would mean that all the teams would focus on doing what they do best so even if a team has great um, what’s that called when they try to make sure the other team doesn’t get a basket?”

“Defense Hales!”

“Oh Yeah, so even if the other teams have great defense, the really good shooting teams should be able to make more Ally Ooops,” she said blushingly while she winked at Nathan, “three pointers…etc because that is their strength, being able to find the shot at all costs.”

Nathan looked at Haley. “That’s it.”

“That’s what Nathan? Where are you taking me? Did I say something stupid again,” she exclaimed as he picked her up from the couch and carried her towards the bedroom.”

No, Haley, that was pretty insightful so now we are having sex, you just made up for every uniform, mascot, horrible voice comment you made throughout the day. It is reward time. Not to mention I told you how hot women are that know how to talk B- ball.”

“OOOO, I think I am going to like this March Madness,” Haley shouted as she wrapped her legs around her husband and proceeded to chant the Blue Devils cheer.”

Chapter Four

Nathan sat at the kitchen counter, pouring over his bracket choices for the 50th time, several crumbled up pieces of paper lay strewn around at his feet. Haley sat at the kitchen table and folded up her very first attempt at “bracketmania” and placed it in the folder before her. She had dutifully reviewed all the notes she had taken throughout the day while watching clips with Nathan and perusing the several articles that he had picked out for her. The clip marathon had lasted much longer than she anticipated since she had no idea that commenting on a player’s skill or the fluidity of a play would cause Nathan to become so horny. She thought that was what talking dirty and wearing lingerie was for. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that talking basketball would make her husband any more randy than he already was.

“Nathan, I am done, I was thinking…”

“Shhh, Haley, I’m almost done.”

“I know Nathan, I just wanted to…”

“Hales!” Nathan turned to her exasperated. “Give me a few more minutes.” He attempted to look contrite as he noticed the look of irritability cross her face. He thought she understood the meaning of quiet after he had told her to turn off the stereo and to stop humming while he was listening to the voices in his head. He needed to concentrate and she had made that increasingly difficult all day.

“Fine then,” she said sweetly with a slight edge in her voice. I’ll just take a shower.” She picked up her folder and walked to the bedroom briskly, realizing that Nathan had not even responded but had resumed staring at the paper before him.

Haley finished blow drying her hair as Nathan walked into the room mumbling. He came up behind her and leaned in to sniff the clean scent of her hair. Mmmm hmmm, I’m starved, do you want to go to Karen’s and get something to eat?

“Sure.”

“Cool and then maybe we can take a walk down to the docks and the Rivercourt so I can poll the people?”

“Sure” Haley replied coolly.

Nathan turned to her as he rummaged through his box of shirts. “Hales, don’t be mad. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just always need complete quiet when I make my picks so I don’t get sidetracked and make a mistake.” He had come up behind her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, his hands rubbing softly across her belly, his thumbs grazing the underside of her breasts.

Haley stopped his hands from wandering. “It’s just like you didn’t even want me here Nathan and we had such a nice day together.” Haley cringed at her own voice, she sounded like a petulant child.

“What, no, no, I am sorry Haley. I am sorry.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek as his embrace got tighter. “I want you here but with you humming and asking questions it was hard for me to focus on the picks since I would rather be focusing on hearing you moan.”

Haley snorted. “Pffft, Nathan, you are such the charmer and just because you taught me so much today, I am going to let you get away with that one.”

Nathan smirked down at her as he turned her to face him. “Good.” He placed a smacking kiss upon her lips. “Let’s go, I am starved.” He grabbed his thread bare Blue Devils T-shirt and slipped it on and then threw his Gonzaga State T-shirt over it. He turned to look at Haley who was staring at him, shaking her head.

“What? First, it smells like you and second, how do you think it got like this?”

“Polishing furniture? She ducked as he threw his nerf basketball at her. Come on, lover boy, let’s go “poll the people” she said teasingly, making quotation marks with her hands in the air.

“Yeah, then maybe when we get home, I can “pole you”,” he countered, mimicking her actions by making quotation marks in the air with his hands.

Nathan chuckled at his own pun as opened the apartment door to head out. He felt Haley jump on his back and grinned as she whispered in his ear, “Rowr baby.” He locked the door with his one hand as he hitched her up with the other and turned on his heel to dash towards the car; Haley screaming and holding on for dear life.

Haley and Nathan entered the café laughing. “Nathan, they are going to put out an APB on you for disturbing the peace!

“What Hales? I only asked a few people what their final four choices were.”

“A few people Nathan? Every stop light you made people roll down the windows! We sat through an entire green light with people beeping their horns at us so you could talk to Jake about the politics regarding the geographical location of where the games are held!”

Nathan sat down at the counter snickering. “Hey Mrs. Roe. March Madness? He raised his eyebrows questioning her interest, hope evident in his eyes. “Final Four?”

Haley sat down beside him, rolling her eyes. “Karen, do you have a room for me to stay in for the next few weeks or perhaps you have a padded cell for Nathan?”

Karen chuckled. “Oh Nathan, you are so your Father.” Her eyes flew open wide at the look on both Nathan and Haley’s faces. She stammered, “No, no, no, I meant when it comes to March Madness. He was obsessive when we were in High School, um, oh, so what can I get you two?” Her face red from embarrassment. Can I take my foot out of mouth if I tell you my picks are UNC, Arizona, Gonzaga and the Louisville, Cardinals?

Nathan’s eyes lit up. “Don’t worry about it Mrs. Roe, I knew that is what you meant, at least, I hoped that was what you meant.” Without taking a breath, Gonzaga, huh, how great are they?

They are awesome, Karen replied.

Haley looked from Karen to Nathan in disbelief and let her head fall onto her arms laying on the counter. “Is there no escape,” she groaned.

Haley sat playing with her food, amazed at what she had witnessed over the past hour at the café. Her husband, Nathan Scott, who basically kept to himself or his band of cronies, had talked to almost every single person at the café. It was apparent that March Madness brought out the extrovert in him because even though he was “the man”, Nathan was a pretty private and shy person when it came down to it. He was not known for his gregariousness and she giggled as she watched him talk animatedly to Mr. Phillips, their oldest café regular about the atrocities of picking a team like Milwaukee for the final four. He was crazy if he thought he was going to talk him out of picking Milwaukee. All four of his sons had gone there and he was on the board of trustees.

She immediately made her way over when she heard Nathan spouting off about how that school was such a poor choice and that they didn’t have a chance of winning. He was red faced as he advised Mr. P that they hadn’t even made it to the Tourney in 2004 which made it apparent that they were clueless when it came to basketball. Her pace quickened even faster as she saw Mr. Phillips stand up to face Nathan’s towering figure as Nathan talked about how ridiculous it was that they wouldn’t let the Fighting Illni, Coach Weber make the team when he attended Milwaukee and how it was further proof at the school's poor choice in character and quality.

She tapped him on the shoulder and whispered in his ear. “Admit defeat. You can’t change us all.” She turned to Mr. Phillips and gently placed her hand on his shoulder guiding him back to his sitting position. “How are you Mr. Phillips! Don’t let my husband rile you or your wife would kill me if your pace maker went on the fritz again. Do you want me to tell him that you don’t give a hoot what he thinks of Milwaukee since you have been faithful to your Alma Mater since your wife sewed on your jersey number back in 1953 or that your two sons are Professors there?”

Mr. Phillips waved his hand at Haley. “You sure you made the right choice there Haley? Your boy obviously doesn’t know a quality school when he sees one. And I am not sure he even knows that much about basketball! Milwaukee has had two players drafted to play in the NBA , not to mention several players that play professionally in Europe and the CBA! Though I suppose I have to give him some credit when it comes to women since he picked you. I am still sad that my sons aren’t younger.”

Haley beamed at the older man as she placed her hand on Nathan’s wrist, holding him back, exerting further pressure as she saw him attempt to say something. She wasn’t sure if it was in response to the insinuation about his lack of basketball knowledge or the fact that Mr.Phillips wanted her to date his 40 year old son.

Haley excused herself and dragged Nathan over to the counter as she cut a tiny sliver of Boston Cream Pie and brought it back to Mr. Phillips. “Shhhh, she said. Don’t tell Mrs. Phillips.” The older man winked at her and turned his gaze to Nathan. “You fill out your brackets Nathan and then you and I will have our own personal little wager.”

“Bring it on,” Nathan replied and felt himself being jerked towards the door of the café. “Come on Nathan, Karen just told me that Lucas is down at the Rivercourt with the guys.”

“But Hales, wait,” Nathan sputtered. “He played for Milwaukee?” Nathan jerked his head back towards Mr. Phillips.

Haley giggled. “No, silly, he was the mascot and his wife was a cheerleader. A very integral part of any team, wouldn’t you say?”

Nathan looked at her thoughtfully and replied surprisingly, “Yeah, they are.”

Nathan and Haley walked in silence to the Rivercourt, their hands tightly woven together, swaying between them. Nathan still could not get over the contentment he felt just by being with Haley. Her hand in his brought a smile to his face that he found impossible to wipe off. It doesn’t get any better than this. March Madness approaching and spending time with the person that can cause you to smile just by a touch. Tim still ripped into him about what a sap he had become but screw him, he was happy.

They walked up to the Rivercourt as Lucas and the guys were embroiled in a heated game while Mouth both heckled them and cheered them on from his consistent perch on the picnic table. Haley immediately dropped Nathan’s hand, knowing full well he would insert himself into the game as soon as his foot hit the blacktop. She made her way over to Mouth, her smile wide knowing that she could have a conversation with him about anything. Haley walked up to Mouth singing “Baby Got Back” which had become her signature greeting for him since the night of Truth or Dare.

Hey Haley! Mouth greeted her with his wide open smile and Haley smiled back just as warmly.

“How’s it going,” she asked as she slid down the picnic table to sit near him, her arm leaning into his as she peered at the computer sitting on his lap. Mouth, I know you are in the National Honor Society with me but bringing your computer to the Rivercourt?”

Mouth began to reply, “Well actually…”

He was interrupted by Nathan sliding into the seat beside him. “Dude! Did you bring it?” He peered over Mouth’s shoulder as Mouth turned the PC away from Haley to show him the display. “SWEET!” Nathan said, his voice laden with respect.

Haley looked on perplexed. Nathan was sitting next to Mouth looking at a computer while a raging game of basketball was taking place before him? The world tilted just a little further on it’s axis. “Nathan? Aren’t you going to play?”

Yeah, yeah, in a little bit. Dude, I cannot believe you made that much progress since I talked to you earlier.

Mouth laughed. “Are you kidding me? This is my future man!”

Haley looked at Nathan. “You talked to Mouth? When? You and I were together all day.”

“Uh, when you were in the shower.”

She looked at both of them in shock. “You talked to Mouth? She followed it up with amazement in her voice. “On the phone?”

They replied in unison. “Yeah!” They looked at her confused, wondering why she would be shocked by that.

“Haley, what’s with you? Mouth is the King of basketball trivia. The guy is a walking vault of data.”

“Hey Thanks Man,” Mouth interjected proudly, looking at Haley and sitting up just a little straighter.

“I am the King of March Madness. We take Communications together remember? So we are coming up with a Website that loads everybody’s picks, Mine and Mouth’s commentary on the games, links to the latest ESPN clips. It’s going to be stellar. Our own Blog!” Nathan looked at Haley his face mimicking that of a child when he realizes just how many big presents are under the Christmas tree. He rambled on, “We are going to have pictures of everybody that is part of our bracket pool and when their team loses we are going to show them getting shot down in a shooting range or a basketball being slam dunked on a backboard that shows their face. We have all kinds of ideas that we have been coming up with. That Talk Trash section is going to be hoppin,” Nathan said clapping his hands loudly.

“Talk Trash,” Hayley questioned, her hands extended out to her sides begging for a clue.

Mouth looked at Haley laughing. “Haley, you can’t have March Madness without talking trash against your buds picks, forget that, even against total strangers!”

Haley looked at Mouth, amazed by the aggressiveness she saw displayed in his face. “Oh,” she said slowly her mouth maintaining the O formation as he head bobbed up and down in mock understanding.

“Mouth, we have to hit up this old guy for our pool that hangs at the café; Mr. Phillips. I think he might talk some great trash.”

“I am on it. So do you want to swing by after and I will show you all the links when I am connected to the internet?”

“Hell Yeah,” Nathan replied without even glancing at Haley.

“Oh wait and look at this. This is the picture we talked about right? Downright beautiful.”

“Yes, that is awesome, that has to be on the front page definitely.” Haley peered over Mouth’s shoulder and was greeted by a smiling picture of none other than Bonnie Bernstein.

She groaned and then snorted with laughter. “You too? Mouth nodded silently, his grin wider than she had ever seen it. She was in the Twilight Zone.

She looked on silently as Nathan and Mouth continued to pour over the various ideas Mouth had laid out on the computer and was distracted by the diminished sound of a basketball pounding on the pavement or swishing through the chain link net. Lucas and the rest of the guys had finished playing and were making their way over to the table.

“Heeey Hales!” Haley turned towards Lucas and leaned into his hug, sneering at him as he rubbed his sweaty face playfully against hers. She looked up to greet Fergie, Skills and Junk and smiled as she heard Fergie exclaim, “HEY Girl, looking good” and giggled as Skills responded, “That’s right. You are looking fine Haley!” She held her hand up for hi-5’s like the old days and was shocked as each boy, grasped her hand and kissed the back of it.

She quickly looked up to gage Nathan’s reaction. He had taken his eyes off the computer and looked up at the guys laughing. “Drool on boys, just make sure you notice the taken sign tattooed on her back. You missed that boat.” Fergie and Skills howled. “HOOOOO!” He winked at her and immediately returned his attention back to the computer. “Now come over here and look at the creation by the masterminds,” he said cockily.

“That’s right,” Mouth replied, bouncing his fist off Nathan’s outstretched fist. “Come on over here Fergie and let me put in your lame ass picks… oh sorry Hales. You still thinking of sucking wind with BC, GW, UNC and Stanford?

“Oh, Mouth is talking some trash,” Skills laughed, his hand covering his mouth as his body doubled over in laughter.

WHAT! Lucas shouted. Fergie, have you lost your mind? UNC, UCONN, Georgia Tech and Duke Man, all the way.”

DUUUUUKE! Nathan roared looking at Lucas appreciatively.

“Duke,” Skills said scornfully, “you guys are so freaking predictable. Louisville Baby, Illinois, Syracuse and Oklahoma State!”

“Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain,” Hayley sang. She stopped as she realized that the guys had become silent.

Lucas slapped his hand on her back shaking his head. “Hales. March Madness, not Broadway Tryouts.”

“Shut up Lucas,” she whined.

“Hey Haley,” Mouth called out, “I think the Oklahoma song goes something like;

Proud and immortal, Bright shines your name;

Oklahoma State, We herald your fame.

Ever you'll find us-loyal and true.

To our Alma Mater, O...S...U. “

“Always the perennial cheerleader Mouth,” Haley replied dryly, giving him the Hi-5.

Nathan laughed. “Lay off my wife man. She filled out the official bracket form today.””

She covered her ears teasingly as the guys broke out into a chorus of “Go Haley, Go Haley, Go Haley!”

Give it up Hales, who did you pick?” Junk asked.

“Yeah,” Nathan replied questioningly, realizing that she had not shown him her picks. “Who did you pick after all that stellar tutoring?”

“I’m not telling,” she said, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

“What! Come on Hales,” they repeated in chorus.

“No! I don’t want you guys picking on me. Mum is the word for now. Maybe I will share with you later.”

“Oh, you’ll share with me later,” Nathan said confidently. “Leave her alone guys, she won’t fess up. You can beg till you are blue in the balls, I mean face. I know her.”

“Yeah, that is for damn sure,” Lucas added. “So Mouth, spill, who are your picks?”

Wake Forest, Illinois, Michigan, Arizona.

“Nicccce,” Nathan remarked. “Slap in Gonzaga, Duke, UNC and Illinois for me but remember I still have a few days to change my mind.”

The conversation continued in more detail regarding the players, coaches, regular season games and Haley sat quietly on the bench until she heard Nathan throw out an invitation. Hey Round 1 at my place! It will be awesome, flat screen TV, Sound Surround and Internet access- we will be set. Come on over March 16, bring beer.

Haley looked over at Nathan in shock. He had just invited 5 guys over their apartment without even consulting her. She went to get his attention but he was riveted back to the computer with Mouth and discussing point averages with Lucas without even looking at him. Somehow she believed that it would be hard to get him to focus. She slid around the table and ran her hand up his back to slowly get his attention. He looked over at her slowly, “Hey,” he said softly. “Whatsup?”

“Um, I am going to go.”

Oh, hey, alright, I’ll go with you.” He motioned to get up but Haley stopped him. She was a ticked that he had just assumed she would be fine with everyone coming over, which she was, but sometimes it was a matter of the principle and she didn’t want it to erupt before thinking about it some more.

No, no, you stay Nathan. She smoothed her hand up and down his arm reassuringly.

He immediately sat back down and leaned in for a kiss oblivious to the guys around him. His hand snaked around the back of her neck as he pulled her in closer to him to get better contact and smiled against her lips at the catcalls from the guys. Haley withdrew herself slightly embarrassed and slightly shaky from a simple kiss. She waved to the guys and started to walk off as Nathan obviously became embroiled in a conversation about the probability of Roy Williams being able to take UNC all the way to the Final Four and the championship. She wondered what she had gotten herself into.

Chapter Five

The next two weeks flew by quickly for Nathan and Haley.  She had decided to let Nathan off the hook for the “my place” comment and for inviting the guys over without consulting her.  Haley had come from a home that the “stop over” was a common event and Lydia and Jimmy always went with the flow whenever any of the kids had their friends over unannounced.  What really amazed her was the amount of time Nathan had been spending with Mouth.  The week had been a flurry of finalizing brackets, calling and emailing people to participate in the pool and putting the final touches on the Website.  She had seen Mouth more in the last few weeks than she had the last several months. He had better watch out or Tim might get jealous.  Not that that seemed like it would be a problem because Tim appeared to be a constant fixture in their apartment, as well as, Lucas.  They were constantly over watching Nathan’s collection of previous Tournament Games and eating them out of house and home.  Nathan had a posse and she was getting downright pissy.  She had had little to no alone time with Nathan and she missed him.  He apparently didn’t appear to miss her at all.  She had had great hopes for being able to spend time with him while he watched the games but it was becoming more and more apparent that that was not going to be the case if his pre-game prep was any indication.

It was the morning of St. Patrick’s Day and Nathan was wound tight with excitement and it was in no way related to the wearing o’ the green.  If Haley did not know better she would have sworn that Nathan was on speed.  His leg jiggled at record speed as he sat eating his breakfast and he had been racing around the apartment like a maniac, checking and rechecking the game times and ensuring he had set up his TIVO correctly so that he did not miss a thing.  He had just finished telling her for the 100th time to not upset his universe by touching the TV or the TIVO box.  She had laughed in his face reminding him that she had not even touched the controller in the last few weeks; she had forgotten what it looked like. 

Nathan stopped short at something he noticed in her tone and pulled her to him, wrapping her up warmly in his arms and kissing the top of her head.  “I miss you too Hales.  It will only be a few more weeks and then it will be you and me.” 

Haley pulled away slightly and looked up at him in shock.  “Wha…, how did you know?”

“I have my ways,” he smirked.  “Besides, you have that look.”

“What look?  What is it with you and “the Looks” Nathan?” 

“That look when you watch me constantly and you think I don’t know it and your lips pout a little bit like this.”  He reached out his hand and drew the corners of her mouth down slightly.  “It’s similar to the look you give me when you think I am mad at you.”  Nathan’s hands were still on Haley’s mouth and he was alternating between pulling her mouth to a smile and returning it to a frown.  Haley made a move to bite him, snapping her teeth exaggeratedly at his fingers and then grabbed his face and drew it down to hers, kissing him fiercely on the mouth.  She pulled back quickly just as Nathan had opened his mouth intent on submerging his tongue into the depth’s of her mouth and smirked as he fell slightly forward, a look of exasperation on his face.  “I miss you my husband!  Karen warned me that I might be a basketball widow for a few weeks but I thought it would start today, not two weeks before the tournament began!”

“You are not going to be a widow Hales, you are going to watch it with me remember and uh, a couple of the guys, but still together!  In fact, we can come home today and watch the Wisc-Milwaukee/Alabama game together since it is one of the ones I have to tape and the guys aren’t coming over till later.  That way we will both have the goods to trash Mr. Phillips when they choke. You can root for the teams you picked.”  Nathan stopped suddenly as something dawned on him.  “Whiiiiich by the way, you still have not divulged to me!  How did you do that since I checked all the entries in our pool?”  Haley’s face was expressionless.  “Time to tell the Master Haley, it’s pop quiz time.”  He grasped her hips between his hands and held her firmly in front of him.  “Spill.”

Haley placed her finger in the cleft of Nathan’s chin and slowly drew it down across his adams apple, down across his chest and slowly and tantalizingly across his abs, never taking her eyes from Nathan’s face as he unconsciously licked his lips in anticipation of where she was going.  She reached the waistband of his pants and slowly pulled them out from his body with the crook of her finger.  Nathan’s grip tightened on her hips.  Haley grasped the waistband of his boxers with her other hand and pulled them out and slowly lowered her eyes to peek inside.  “Hmmmph,” she said quickly, a glint in her eye as she looked back up at Nathan.  “Still blue!”  She let the waistband go with a snap and ran towards the door as Nathan groaned, shaking his head, “that was pure evil.”  He reached her and draped his arm around her shoulders pulling her with him out the door.  “You had better be careful later on, payback is a bitch.”

Haley bounced over to Nathan’s locker as he was putting away his books and talking to Tim.  “Hellooo, guess what I found out,” she said cheerily.  “I was just in the computer lab and I looked up the tournament and Wisc-Milwaukee is…Haley’s mouth fell open as she felt her husband kiss her tersely on the cheek and run down the hallway before she could finish.  She looked at Tim who was standing beside her laughing and shaking his head.  “Haley! I guess you don’t know that Nathan doesn’t like to hear anything about the games that are played until he can watch them?” 

Haley looked at Tim with her mouth hanging open.  “WHAT?  How does he do that with the TVs all around the school, the radio, the Internet, all the other people talking about it?” 

“He avoids them pretty much.  In fact, this is the time of year that Nathan spends most of his time in a secluded corner of the library.”

“What!  Tim!  He is insane!”

Of course he is insane Haley, he is certifiable, the guy got married in High Scho… Tim looked up at Haley, his eyes wide.  Uh, I think I am uh, late for class.”

Haley took a threatening step towards him, “You are darn straight you are, Timothy!  You better watch your food tonight, it might be tainted.  In fact, I know several voodoo websites so you better watch your step.  I TAKE MY MARRIAGE TO NATHAN VERY SERIOUSLY,” she yelled down the hallway after Tim, giggling as he turned around fearfully to see if she was following him and tripped.  His eyes opened even wider, his suspicion of her voodoo skills written all over his face.

Haley and Nathan flopped down on the couch, readying themselves to watch the Milwaukee/Alabama game.  They had just finished preparing a couple trays of sandwiches and munchies for when everyone came over.  Haley had been shocked earlier when Nathan had thrown a couple of twenty’s at her from the guys as they were shopping.  “Here,” he had said sheepishly.  “I took up a collection so I could try and keep myself out of the doghouse.”  Haley had linked her arm into his and pulled him closer to her body as they pushed the cart together.  She pointed over to a box of milkbones.  “Then I guess I don’t need to get a box of those, but then again, Tim is coming.”  Nathan laughed loudly.  “He is scared of you now!”  “Good,” she said smugly.  “I need him like that.” 

Haley slid her body across the couch and snuggled into Nathan.  She quickly looked at the table in front of them that Nathan had dragged over with his bracket form laid out before him, his trusty red pen uncapped for action.  “You want to go get yours,” Nathan asked.

“No,” Haley replied nonchalantly.  There’s only room for one fanatic in this apartment!

Nathan turned to her and kissed her sweetly on the lips as he pressed play.  “Come on Hales, let me see.” 

“Nathan, why do you want to see it so much?  I filled it out, I understand the reason for the madness, I am sitting next to you on the couch, all is well with the world.  Oh, look, here’s the tip off.”

Nathan hit pause, a light spreading across his face.  “Oh! I get it, you are afraid of failure!  Oh man, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before!  You won’t be able to handle it if you didn’t pick it right!”  He looked over at Haley and she stuck her tongue out at him.  “Haley, it’s a crap shoot you know.  You can get close but even the most knowledgeable Sportscasters and reporters in the world don’t make the right picks.” 

“I know Nathan, I just want to see how I do before I show you.  Can’t you just wait?”  She grabbed the remote out of his hand and pushed play, knowing that once the game truly got under way he would stop questioning her. 

“Alright, fine, now c’mere.”  Nathan pulled her back towards his body and wrapped his arm around her as she snuggled in close once again. 

Haley was feeling seasick.  Nathan could not keep still and the closeness of their bodies caused her body to jiggle up and down as he moved his leg rapidly, nervously watching the plays.  She had already slapped her hand on his muscular thigh to stop the jiggling, which he was able to do for a few seconds.  Once the ball got turned over to the other team however, it pumped furiously again.  She admitted defeat and slid to the other side of the couch.  Nathan shifted just a bit but his eyes remained glued to the TV.  Haley watched as Nathan mumbled about the game.  “McCants is going to be the leading scorer today man.  Geez, look at that Alabama’s defense is just not there and they are usually pretty tight on the D.”

She nodded her head, trying to follow along.  She enjoyed the excitement of the game but still had a hard time keeping up.  She jumped as Nathan’s hands slapped the vinyl of the couch on either side of him.  It had literally lifted her off the seat.  “Did you see that shot!  Damn!”  Slap!  Nathan’s hand hit the couch again as Milwaukee sunk another basket widening the gap of their lead.  The sound of it reverberated off the walls.  Haley’s hand flew to her heart.  Watching games with Nathan could be dangerous.  “You know Hales, the Panthers could take this. It is not uncommon for a 12th seed to beat a 5th seed in this round.  It could be anybody’s game. He jumped from his seat as Milwaukee sunk their 3rd straight basket in a row.  Hooooo!  He yelled. 

Nathan!  You are cheering for Mr.Phillips team!  You picked Alabama.” 

“I know, I know but it’s still exciting to watch a 12th seed kick some booty.  I can still win it when it really counts.”  He whooped as the buzzer sounded and clapped his hands louder than he slapped the surface of the couch, if that was possible.  She looked at him and laughed.  He had walked towards the TV and was eying the recaps intently.  Haley clapped her hands silently behind him realizing that she had actually picked Milwaukee to win.  She jumped as Nathan whirled around.  “AH HA!”

“What?”  She asked, scrunching herself back into the couch as he approached her and lifted her off the seat.  “You picked Milwaukee!  You sided with that old coot!  I saw you clapping in the reflection of the screen.”  Haley stood up on the couch as Nathan shook her teasingly.  “Man, my own wife is siding with my new nemesis!”

“Stop Nathan, he is nice and he explained some things to me and…”

“Ho!” Haley felt herself being thrown over Nathan’s shoulder as he spun her around.  “I’ll teach you…”  They both jumped as a loud knock bounced off the door.  Nathan ran over to it and yanked it open, yelling, “You’re early!”  He stopped mid sentence as he looked into the face of his Dan Scott.

“So this is how you watch basketball now?”  He jerked his head towards Haley’s bottom that was directly in front of him.  “Nice view,” he said sarcastically. “So, you going to invite the old man in Nate?  We’ve been watching the games together for your entire life, you think I am going to let a little fling change that?”

Nathan slid Haley off his shoulder and looked at his Dan warningly.  “Dad.” 

“Joke son, truce, truce, that is until April 5th.  He nodded at Haley.  “I am sorry. How are you Haley,” he drawled. 

Haley straightened her hair willing her face to return to it’s original color. “Fine.”  She followed behind them as Dan took a seat on the couch and Nathan looked back at her beseechingly.  Another knock sounded at the door and the boys came streaming in, laden with beers, brackets and more beers.  Lucas led the pack and stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing Dan, causing a shuffle of feet to avoid a pile up. 

“Lucas.”  Dan said with a large smile on his face.  “This is a first for us.”

“And hopefully a last,” Haley murmured behind him, causing Lucas to snicker and Nathan to look nervous. 

“Nathan and I have called a truce to really make this a mad March.  What do you say Lucas?” 

Lucas looked to Nathan, who nodded his head in agreement and asked, “You in?”

“Sure.  I’m cool” he said begrudgingly, glancing over at Haley.  He plopped down on the couch next to Dan to prove it and Nathan sat next to him. 

Haley’s eyes widened at the picture before her until she felt jostled as the rest of the guys moved past her to scramble for a good seat.  When all was settled, all the seats were taken and Haley remained standing.  What was that old song she thought?  The cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone…”

She blew out her breath and looked around for a spot to perch herself until she saw Nathan motioning to her and patting his lap.  She walked over to him tentatively, nervous to be sitting on his lap with Dan around.  She didn’t want to hear any of his crap.  She stood in front of him tentatively until he pulled her down gently and shifted till they were both comfortable.  Haley thanked God that it was Lucas next to her and not Dan.  She would never have been able to pay attention.

“Let’s go ILLNI,” Lucas shouted as the game began. 

“Yeah Baby!”

“What is up? Illinois is looking sort of lame.  Their defense is looking pretty sub standard,” Mouth complained. 

“Damn straight,” Dan added.  “FDU is totally out rebounding them. You need to make sure you take note of that Nathan and Luc…”  He stopped himself, yelling loudly,   “RETRACT!”  Haley couldn’t help giggle as the rest of the boys roared at the look of apology on Dan’s face.  It was obvious that a truce took a lot of effort.

“Holy shit!  FDU is actually in the lead!  They are a 16th seed!” Tim said excitedly.  Haley’s head bobbed from guy to guy as they each took turns making commentary on the game.  She was feeling like a rag doll as Nathan constantly rearranged her on his lap so he could talk to one of the guys or catch a play on the screen.  She felt like he was getting slightly aggravated but each time she stole a glance at him, he would smile.    

“Tim,” Nathan said calmly, “so not going to happen.”

“Yeah, Yeah, I know Nathan” 

“Hey there’s Mensah Peterson.  He was named one of the top 25 players in New Jersey when he was a Senior in HS.  Haley,” Mouth added.  “See that guy, he is in the general theoretical Psychology program at FDU. 

“Oh really?  Wow, that’s cool.” Haley peered at the TV as Mensah got the ball with little time left on the clock.  He took the shot and made a three pointer as the buzzer went off, bringing the score to 32-31, Illinois barely in the lead.  Nathan stood up quickly with a yell and sent Haley flying since she wasn’t paying attention.  She landed on her behind with a thump and banged her elbow on the arm of the couch. 

“Owww, Nathan,” she whined from the floor, rubbing the offended part of her anatomy.

“Oh, sorry Hales,” he said smiling slightly as the other guys heckled him for wife abuse.  He reached out his hand and pulled her up absent-mindedly, while turning to Lucas.  “Dude, could you imagine what an upset this would be if they actually won?”

“Totally!”  They moved over to the kitchen to grab something to eat during the half, leaving Haley nursing her wounds.  She sat down on the couch and listened to the banter between them, Dan in the thick of it as if he hadn’t taunted them so mercilessly over the last several months.  Haley smiled to herself as she realized how she felt out of place at the moment and how even though she was used to that feeling for most of her life, tonight it seemed harder.  Harder because she had never felt out of place when she was around Nathan.  She stood up and silently and walked quietly to the bedroom without saying a word.  She wasn’t trying to be spiteful, she just didn’t want to cause a scene or make Nathan feel bad.  She changed into her pajamas and lay on the bed and turned on the TV.  Several minutes later she heard the doorknob turn and quickly closed her eyes, feigning sleep.   She stiffened as she heard the voice that whispered to her.  It was Lucas.  Nathan hadn’t even come to check on her.  She knew she was being childish but a silent tear slid down her face. 

Nathan was keyed up.  It was an awesome night of basketball and even Dan hadn’t ruined it.  Everyone had left, including Tim, who had begged to sleep on the couch so he didn’t have to drive.  He wasn’t drunk because Dan had showed up and changed the dynamic, he was just lazy and loved Haley’s coffee.  Nathan had thought about it but remembered the sad look on Haley’s face as she walked to the bedroom so he knew letting Tim stay was not a good move.  He laughed thinking of how quickly Tim had taken off when he told him that he could stay but he warned him that he had seen Haley looking up new voodoo websites earlier.  Poor Hales, he could tell she felt like a fish out of water but she had rallied for a while.  He was surprised she had lasted as long as she did.  She had pulled a classic fade away and he had to remember to compliment it in the morning.  He sat down to catch the next game and realized that he wanted to check on her. He had gone to check on her earlier but Lucas said he would do it.  When he had found out she was sleeping, he figured he would check in later. 

Nathan eased open the door and was shocked to see the TV on CBS.  The sound was turned down really low but he was impressed that she had attempted to watch.  He leaned over the bed to see if she was sleeping and he could tell by the little gurgle sound that she was out.  He placed a kiss on her forehead and raised his fingertips to brush the hair that was hiding the curve of her cheek from his view.  He smiled as he felt Haley shift and slowly open her eyes to gaze into his.  She was such a light sleeper.  She raised her arm to get the rest of the hair out of her face and the light from the TV illuminated a purplish bruise on her elbow.  He grabbed her arm in alarm.  “Haley!  What happened?”

“I think I lost in the potato sack toss.” 

Nathan laughed until it struck him.  “Haaales, I did this?  Why didn’t you tell me?  Oh My God!” 

“Nathan,” she pleaded, “stop, you didn’t do it on purpose.” 

He sat on the bed and Haley’s body rolled into him as the bed shifted under his weight. 

“I’m sorry Hales,” he said softly, taking her arm gently in his hand and raising it so he could gently kiss her elbow.  Sorry for hurting you and making you feel out of place.”

“Nathan?  You didn’t.  It just was a bit overwhelming and…” 

“And you felt out of place Haley.  I saw the look.”  She caught her lip between her teeth.  “I am silly I know.”

“You are not silly Haley.”  He placed another kiss on her elbow.

“I think it feels better now.” 

“Really, I think it might need some more TLC.  Nathan placed another kiss on the bruise, lingering longer than before, his lips purposely softer.  He turned her arm softly to kiss the other side.  “Is it feeling better now?” 

Haley shook her head.  “Now that you mention it, I feel a pain shooting up my arm.” 

Nathan smiled and drew his lips sensuously to her bicep and kissed it, continuing to kiss up her arm to her shoulder where he placed a light bite. 

He nuzzled her ear as he crawled over her and lay next to her, his arm wrapped around her.  “I seem to recall something else that hit the ground.” 

“Yes, thanks for that.  Your father probably loved that.  I think my bottom fared better due to the cushioning involved.”

“You think?  Perhaps I should check it out too.”  Nathan rolled her onto her side so that she was facing him and slowly slid his hand into the back of her flannel pajama bottoms.  His breath hitched as he realized he didn’t encounter any underwear.  He lazily traced his fingers over the curves quietly asking her where it hurt. 

“All over,” Haley breathed out.  She felt the room getting hotter as Nathan traced swirls right below her tattoo but above the swell of her bottom.  It caused a slow sensual build within her body.  “Nathan, I think you have discovered an erogenous zone.”  Her hand grazed up his chest and curved around the back of his neck, entangling in his hair, drawing his face closer to hers. 

“You mean there is another,” he smirked.

“It seems my body is full of them where you are concerned,” she flirted.

“Just the way I like it.  I seem to remember one right here.”  He placed a kiss at the pulse point in the middle of her throat and along the curve of her collar bone.  He tipped his head closer and placed a whisper of a kiss on her lips as his hands roamed her backside a little more forcefully, kneading it, drawing her lower body closer to his.  His hand pushed farther down her bottom and wrapped itself around her thigh, critically close to the juncture of her thighs, the heat emanating from his hand even though he was not completely touching her. 

Haley drew her tongue over her bottom lip and cried out in pleasure as Nathan captured it with his mouth, drawing it in farther to gently suck on it.  She found herself gyrating against him and pulling away briefly to whisper, “I miss you Nathan.  I don’t want to have you all to myself, I can share you with the madness, I just…

Nathan placed his finger over her lips.  “Hales, I miss you too.  I can’t help that I am this obsessed but I think you need to realize that I am in here with you now because I missed saying good night to you and there is a game on TV.  Gonzaga even!  ”

“That conveniently happens to be on behind us,” she teased. 

Nathan leaned over and grabbed the remote and clicked it off.  “Not anymore.”

Haley looked at him sexily and grabbed his finger that was tracing the curve of her cheekbone and nipped it gently between her teeth before drawing it into her mouth and sucking on it slowly, never taking her eyes from his.  She let it go with a pop and reached for the snap on his jeans.  “I seem to remember you having a few erogenous zones of your own.”

“I was hoping,” Nathan replied with a catch in his voice as Haley peeled his jeans to the side and placed a kiss on his hip, continuing to nip at his waist, followed by a long lingering kiss right below his belly button.  Nathan groaned and pulled her up and over so she lay on top of his body. 

Haley allowed one of her hands to be trapped between them and wriggled it down till it met Nathan’s primary erogenous zone.  He shifted as he felt the warmth of her hand.  “I love you Nathan.”

“I love you too Hales,” he whispered huskily. 

She smiled knowingly.  “And your TIVO.”

He chuckled softly.  “Damn straight and I checked it 50 times before coming in here if you were wondering.”  He attacked her lips and let his hands wander as Haley removed his shirt. 

“Not wondering.  Just plain knew it.  Now let’s let the madness continue.”

Chapter Six

Haley and Nathan lay in bed, the morning sunlight streaming through the blinds. Haley lay on her belly, her head nestled on top of her folded arms with Nathan on his side, his head propped up on his hand facing her. His other arm was outstretched to gently massage her back, enjoying the smooth feel of her soft skin beneath his fingers. Haley looked over at Nathan dreamily, lost in the hypnosis of the pattern of the swirls until she felt him switch the pattern. It almost felt like he had written out letters on her back. “Nathan, what are you doing?”

He looked at her and grinned, “Just taking a few guesses since my wife is keeping her picks locked up in a vault tighter than her virginity.”

“NATHAN!” Haley unfolded her arm and pulled at his hair teasingly but hard enough to mean business.

“Ow, joke, joke Hales.” He disengaged her hand from his hair and laced his fingers through hers. “You know that was the best combination code I ever learned. I unlocked that and my heart at the same time.”

“Tsk. Naaathan.” She leaned in and kissed him softly on lips. “You just make sure it stays unlocked.”

“You too, he replied sexily.

Haley giggled and leaned in again to give his mouth several more swift kisses. She pulled away quickly. “Ok, now do it again and this time I will try and figure out what you are spelling. You get one out of ten chances and if you get one right, well, who knows, the vault door may just swing open automatically before I have to go to work.”

Nathan’s eyes widened in anticipation and the thrill of the challenge. “Ok, here goes.”

U-N-C

Uhhhh, nope.

NO? Haley?

Nathan, you said you wouldn’t judge my picks so don’t look at me like that.

“You’re right, you’re right. I did say that. OK, here’s another one.”

T-E-X-A-S T-E-C-H

Nope ! Why would I pick them?

“Well, you said you were a sucker for a love story so I thought you would go with Bobby Knight’s team.”

“Noo, I decided against that. Keep going.”

G-O-N-Z-A-G-A

“No,” she said simply.

“NO? Hmmm”

“Ooo Nathan, you thought I would pick the teams you picked didn’t you?”

“Well, I thought maybe some! I am the King!”

Haley snorted and shook her head. “Keep going your majesty and keep your hands on my back, stop trying to break my concentration with those wandering hands.”

Nathan imitated Haley’s snort and wrote really quickly.

WILDCATS

W? Wi, Wild? Wild what?

“All right never mind that one. If you don’t know the name, I am sure you didn’t pick them.” Nathan made a move to scrawl another name.

“Oh, Kentucky right? Coach Tubby Smith’s team? No, I didn’t pick them. What, Nathan, why are you looking at me like that? Oh, you are excited that I knew that aren’t you. You think I am smmaart, You want to maaarrry me,” she sing-songed.

“Ok, Hales, save the Ms. Congeniality rewrite for when March Madness is over and I have to watch it for the 100th time just to get out of doing the dishes.”

Nathan leaned over and spelled D-U-K-E in really small letters.

“STOP, do that again, though I think I just heard a click in the combo.”

YESSS! Nathan spelled D-U-K-E again.

Haley looked at him, a large promising smile on her face and giggled as Nathan blew on his fingers like a professional safe cracker. “See, I picked one of your teams!” She shrieked as his nimble fingers landed on his destination and twisted gently as if he was opening a lock. Her nipple instantly reacted. He blew on his fingers again and she felt his second destination immediately heat up as she pushed herself forward wantonly and grabbed his face between her hands. “CLICK,” she breathed softly against his mouth and covered his lips hotly with her own. They lost themselves in the moment.

Nathan dropped Haley off at work apologizing that she couldn’t watch the games with him.

“Nathan, nice try. You know you are excited that you get to watch the second round with the guys uninterrupted. You were ready to kill me yesterday because I kept asking you questions about things not related to basketball. Let’s see if I can recap, it went something like this… Haley, valance fine, No, Mr. Leonard, the new gym teacher does not remind me of Mel Gibson, ignore her, Brooke is whacked and Haley, why don’t you go call your Mom, I think she called earlier and I forgot to tell you. And that was it! That was the last you spoke to me soooo, I am sure, you will be hootin and hollerin with just the guys.”

Nathan grinned at her sheepishly. Hootin and Hollerin? I don’t think Nathan Scott hoots and hollers,” he said defensively.

“You don’t do you, well when you get home we’ll go to the video tape.”

“Is that a promise?” Nathan looked at her leeringly.

“Ugh, you are too much.” She reached for the door handle and turned her body back to kiss him quickly. “Bye, I love you, be good and don’t forget to come pick me up since I have to close.”

Nathan nodded his head, “I’ll be there.” He pulled her arm so that she fell back in the car and kissed her again. “I love you too.”

Haley looked fretfully at the TV in the backroom of the café. This couldn’t be good. Gonzaga had lost to Texas Tech 71-69. Some guy named Morrison had missed a three pointer with 19.5 seconds to go. She wondered how Nathan would take that. It wasn’t his ultimate pick to win the Final Four, she knew that, but he really was partial to the team for some reason. She knew that deep down Nathan was a fan of the underdog. She continued to clean the café as time passed on the clock until it was time to close.

Haley looked at her last patron who was waiting around expectantly. “Mr. Phillips, I don’t know where he is, he is never usually this late to pick me up so please feel free to go home now.”

“WHAT? And miss an opportunity to give Nathan some ribbin that Milwaukee is still in the runnin? No, that’s fine Haley. Not to mention, it wouldn’t be right to leave you here all alone.”

“Mr.Phillips, I do it ALL the time.”

“Well, not tonight.”

Haley looked up as Nathan stormed through the door, his face set in a deep scowl. He threw his keys on the counter, while glancing over at Mr. Phillips and looking back at Haley without even acknowledging him. Mr. Phillips opened his mouth to say something and closed it again, realizing that Nathan was very keyed up.

“Hi baby,” Haley said tentatively, approaching Nathan to give him a hug and a kiss. “Sorry about Gonzaga.”

“Do you have any money? I owe Tim some cash.” Nathan’s jaw was set and his voice came out clipped and Haley stopped in her tracks.

“Um, yeah, it is back in my purse, I will go get it.” She gave him a small smile.

“Nah, don’t, I will get it.” Nathan breezed past her and went to the break room to find Haley’s purse. He stayed back there a few minutes while Haley looked at Mr. Phillips questioningly.

“It’s not always easy to be an avid fan Haley,” he said knowingly.

Nathan came out with a piece of paper in his hands, laughing derisively. “You have to be kidding me Haley. These are your picks? Were you even listening to me?”

Haley giggled, realizing that Nathan had found her bracket but her facial expression became shocked, both by his tone and the fact that he was mocking her picks.

“Nathan, don’t. Let me have it.” She went to grab the paper from his hand but he swiftly moved it out of her way.

“No, no, this is great,” he said sarcastically. “Duke, I get. Milwaukee, you picked Milwaukee? Come on?”

Haley looked over at Mr. Phillips nervously, her face blushing with embarrassment. He looked somewhat annoyed but smiled at her.

“Yes, Nathan. Why not? It’s a bracket, a silly bracket that it supposed to be fun. What do I have to lose? I decided to go with my heart on this one.”

Nathan’s cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket agitatedly. “What Dad?” Nathan made an imperceptible face as Dan made choking sounds on the other side of the phone. “Funny,” he said quickly, his scowl becoming deeper as he hung up on Dan abruptly.

“Ok, Nathan, why don’t we just go home now,” Haley said pleadingly.

“No Haley, this is interesting. Why did you pick UCONN?”

“Because Lucas likes them and he is my best friend,” she said defensively. She felt traitorous tears welling in her eyes at Nathan’s behavior. She had never expected him to lash out at her and she found her anger growing.

“Let me have it Nathan.”

“Oklahoma? What heart connection do you have to Oklahoma?”

“Nothing Nathan, drop it.” She gave Nathan a dirty look and proceeded to perform her closing duties.

“No come on Hales, I want to know.”

Haley heard the jingle of the door and realized that Mr. Phillips had slipped out. Smart man.

She proceeded to ignore Nathan and turn off the lights of the café, picking up his keys from the counter and walking towards the front door and locking it. She walked to the back room and grabbed her purse all while Nathan followed her badgering her about her choice of Oklahoma. Haley and Nathan exited the café via the back door. As Haley turned to lock the door, she whirled around on Nathan.

“Congratulations Nathan, you have acted like a Class A jerk tonight. You embarrassed me and you embarrassed yourself!” Haley turned around to look at him, her eyes blazing. Nathan looked at her mutely. He knew he was pushing the envelope but for some reason couldn’t stop himself. “If you really want to know, I picked Oklahoma in honor of my first kiss! OK?”

“You picked a team because of your first kiss? Come on, that is ridiculous.”

“No Nathan, you are ridiculous,” she whispered vehemently. “A basketball team lost that you like and you come here and rip me to shreds!”

Nathan ignored her reference to his surliness over the loss being associated to his current rant. “Haley, why does Oklahoma remind you of your first kiss? The only person I know that picked Oklahoma was Skills and… HOLY SH..” The realization of what Haley was implying threw him. Haley and Skills? He never would have seen that coming but then again, Skills was totally checking her out at the court.

Nathan stopped abruptly as Haley pushed him out of her way. His eyes followed the arc of her arm as she threw the keys towards the garbage dump and he yelled as he saw them actually go in. He turned around towards her in shock. “HALEY!” He looked around furtively. She was gone.

Nathan looked in the dumpster groaning. That was his only set of keys and now Haley was walking around Tree Hill late at night by herself. He mentally cursed himself as he thought about his actions earlier. He had lost it. He always let off a lot of steam when his teams lost but normally he would abuse Tim or go play ball to get his aggressions out. He had surprised himself that he had gone after Haley like that. He was in deep shit.

He saw a glint of silver in the top corner of the dumpster and hopped up to retrieve it, his abdomen hanging over the side. He caught his breath at the stench of the dumpster and reached his hand out slowly to grab them. His fingertips touched them and the keys sunk lower in the garbage. Shit! He resolutely swung his leg over and stepped in. This is what I get. He held his breath and sunk his hand down and retrieved the keys. He grabbed them and jumped out immediately all in one motion. As his feet hit the ground, he opened his hand to remove something slimy that clung to it and laughed. His wife had pulled a switcheroo as stellar as his switch when the The Things had kidnapped him and Lucas in the woods after the Pinkerton game. Haley had thrown the café keys in the dumpster and was obviously safely nestled in their apartment after driving herself home.

Chapters 7 - End

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 - end