Hey guys! This is my newest story. I'm glad to be finally posting this first chapter and I hope you all let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Summary: She just got out of a bad relationship. He is an immature twenty something that's a guy's guy and afraid of commitment. Everything changes for Nathan and Haley when alcohol blurs the boundary lines at their work Christmas party. Can these two damaged friends make the most of their situation and have a little fun, or will hiding their secret from those around them come back to hurt them at the most inopportune time, and can they just remain friends or will their hearts eventually catch up with them?

Chapter 1

"Make it stop," a deep voice groaned, the sound muffled as he buried his face into his soft pillow to shut out the buzzing alarm clock.

The blonde woman next to him groaned as well and slapped her hand down on the object. Both of them sighed in relief but the blonde knew she had to get up, if not she'd most likely be late for work. When she made a move to roll out of queen size bed the man's arm wrapped tightly around her waist.

"Stay here with me for a few more minutes, Haley. You won't be late for work."

Haley shook her head and managed to free herself from his grasp. "I can't, Chris. You know how long it takes me to get ready."

Chris pouted slight causing Haley to chuckle. "Shouldn't you be getting up now, too? You said yesterday night that you had to be in the studio early today."

He turned his head and looked at the flashing red numbers on the clock. "I still have another two hours."

Knowing he was lying just so he could get some extra sleep, Haley rolled her eyes. "Alright, well since one of us needs to be making money I'm going to get ready and then head to work. I'll see you when I get home," she kissed his cheek quickly and rushed out of the room.

When she closed the bathroom door behind her she let out a breath of relief. As bad as it was to say, sometimes she just couldn't handle being around her boyfriend of two years. When she had first met Chris he had been such an inspiring person to be around, always full of life and having a good time. Since then though, things have changed. Chris started caring less and less about Haley and more about launching his music career, which might be okay if he actually was putting the time and effort into it. Instead, he chose to be one of those arrogant musicians and treat people as though they're beneath him somehow.

Despite all his shortcomings though, Haley knew she still loved him. They may not be as close as they were when they first started dating, but that's natural right? Couples drift apart all the time and they still manage to stay together. Rubbing an exhausted hand over her face, Haley stepped into the steaming shower and allowed the water to wash away all her problems and worries for a little bit.

Forty five minutes passed before Haley finished showering, getting dressed, and doing her hair and make-up. She grabbed her purse off the kitchen table in her small apartment's kitchen and rushed out the door to work.

Dan Scott Motors wasn't a very far commute and she arrived there within minutes of leaving. Like always, she walked through the glass doors with a dazzling smile on her face. "Good morning, boys," she called out and received multiple responses from various corners of the showroom.

Haley walked over to her organized desk near the front of the store and sat down. There were a couple notes from her higher-ups asking her to do various tasks for them and she immediately got started on them.

Haley's job title at Dan Scott Motor's was a little unclear to even her. She first got the job when she was twenty after getting a basic degree in commerce and accounting. She wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to do with her degree and decided to apply at places around town where it might be put to use. Dan Scott called her in for an interview and instantly took a liking to her. He gave her the receptionist job, but somewhere along the way her workload increased, as did her pay. She was never given an official promotion though, and when asked Haley usually told people she was the manager's assistant. That's basically what she was now anyway.

Six months ago, Dan Scott died of a heart attack and a business man named Andy Hargrove took the reins of the successful car dealership. When he arrived he seemed to take even more of a shining to her than Dan had and gave her another raise and started having her help him with his transition into the manager role.

Haley sat at her desk diligently doing her work for about half an hour before she heard heavy footsteps approaching from behind her. She had no clue who it was though, considering she was the only girl that worked at Dan Scott Motors. It didn't bother her much usually, all the guys were really nice and with the exception of two out of three of her best friends being girls, she preferred hanging out with boys more all through her childhood anyway so she fit right in.

"Morning, Haley," the man spoke with a slightly Australian twang.

Haley turned to the New Zealand native and smiled politely. "Good morning, Mr. Hargrove."

"We've been working together for six months, Haley. How many times do I have to tell you to call me Andy?"

"Sorry, Andy. What's up?"

"I was wondering if I could speak to you in my office for a moment."

"Yeah, sure," the blonde obliged and followed the man into his office. When he closed the door behind him Haley turned around and smiled politely.

"Take a seat," he said and gestured towards the two chairs on one side of his desk. Andy walked around it and sat down on the other side and propped his elbows up on the dark wood. "I bet you're wondering what I want to talk to you about."

"Just a little bit," Haley responded with a laugh.

"It's nothing bad, I promise. Actually, it's something good," the man started with a smile. "As you probably know, Rob resigned from his position of Controller and he'll be leaving us in a couple weeks."

"What does that have to do with me?" Haley interrupted confused.

"I want you to take over the Controller position. You have a degree in accounting, and that's really all that's necessary to be able to do the job. You'll get your own office and be transferred from an hourly wage to salary, along with benefits. What do you say?"

"You're joking," the girl's mouth dropped open.

"I'm more than serious, Haley. You've been working here for a few years now and I have no doubt that you're perfect for the job."

"Are you sure? I mean I'm only turning twenty three, aren't people in this position usually a bit older and more experienced in the automotive industry?"

Andy laughed and shook his head in amusement. "Haley, I'm positive that I want you for this job. Now, do you want the promotion or not?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I want it! Thank you so much, Andy. You have no idea how much this opportunity means to me."

"You're more than welcome, Haley. I know you won't let us down. You should take the rest of the day off, it's Friday so you can go out and celebrate over your weekend. You'll start in your new position on Monday."

Haley smiled giddily and nodded. "I guess I'll see you on Monday then!"

Andy chuckled as well. "Get out of here, Haley and have a good weekend."

"I will!" she said and leapt up from the leather chair she had been sitting in. After walking out of the manager's office the blonde walked straight across the showroom of the dealership and into another office.

She smiled widely at the blonde man seated behind his desk. "Why do you look so happy this early in the morning?" Lucas Lee questioned suspiciously.

"Guess who just got a big promotion."

"Junk?" Lucas asked surprised. "I never thought he'd move up from being our mechanic!"

"Ha ha, very funny," Haley stuck out her tongue. "I did! You're looking at Dan Scott Motor's new Controller."

"That's awesome, Hales!" he exclaimed and gave her a tight hug. "I never would have thought when we were kids we'd both be in our twenties, working together and moving on up in the ranks at a car dealership."

Haley laughed and shook her head. "Neither did I. I'm still trying to wrap my head around finally getting an official promotion after working here for two and half years."

A raven haired man passing Lucas' office when he heard the petite woman speak. "Did I just hear you say that you finally got a promotion?" he asked with a smile as he entered the small room.

"As a matter of fact, you heard correctly," Haley beamed.

"Congratulations, Haley. You know though, if my dad had of left me in charge of this place, you would have gotten that promotion six months ago."

"Thanks, Nathan," she said quietly.

Nathan was Dan's only son. He's twenty three; the same age as Lucas and Haley. The childhood best friends had only met Nathan when they started working at the dealership though because Nathan went to private schools all his life. Lucas and Nathan had immediately connected and become fast friends, so much so that they moved in together when Lucas was having money problems. Haley and Nathan had likewise become friends and hung out with each other in groups every so often.

When Dan died, everyone was sure that Nathan would assume the general manager role and take over all the responsibilities his father had. It came as a shock to most then when Dan's will was read and he explicitly stated that Nathan stay in his position of Sales Manager at the dealership and that his wife and Nathan's mother, Karen would hire a new manager. It also said that Karen Scott would be able to pass or veto all decisions made by the new manager.

Nathan had been pissed off to say the least and it was obvious that he still hadn't let his father's last dig at him go. He also resented Andy since he came in and took what was supposed to be his job. Things had been icy for the past six months to say the least, but Nathan still managed to act like his usual self with his other co-workers.

"We should all go out and celebrate tonight. Andy's finally made a good decision," he suggested.

"I don't know. Chris will probably want to just stay in and have dinner to celebrate or something," she shrugged.

"Oh come on, Hales. Ditch your boyfriend for a night and come have fun with some of the guys."

"Fine! I'll come out and have a couple drinks with you boys. That way you all won't look like a pathetic group of guys that can't get any girls to save your lives," she teased and both men mock glared at her. "Anyway, I'm going to head out. Andy gave me the rest of the day off, so I'll see you later."

"Bye, Hales," they both said with a wave and watched the gorgeous blonde walk out of the dealership with a large smile on her face.

"Mom! Daddy?" she called out as she entered her small childhood home.

"They went away for the weekend," someone responded and Haley walked further into the house to the kitchen.

"They went away for the weekend and left you here by yourself without telling me?"

"As a matter of fact, they did," a slender brunette said with a satisfied smile.

"I guess that's not really a surprise," Haley muttered with a shrug. She dropped her purse onto the kitchen table and narrowed her eyes at the teen. "It's Friday. Shouldn't you be in school?"

"I won't tell Mom and Dad if you don't?" the girl said with an innocent smile.

"Lily, you can't just skip school as soon as Mom and Dad leave town! It's important to get an education and you need to actually attend to do that."

"Come on, Haley. Be a cool older sister and let it go this time. I promise I won't skip again, I just didn't feel like going today."

"Why? Is something going on that you aren't telling me about?" the older sister asked concerned.

"No. Jason and I just got into a fight is all."

"About what?" she asked with a furrowed brow. Haley hated when her sister was hurting in anyway.

At almost twenty three years old, Haley and her sixteen year old sister had a unique bond. They were close enough in age that they talked about everything with each other, but Haley was also old enough to offer a sense of comfort to Lily that no one else ever could. They had been extremely close for pretty much their entire lives and still managed to spend a lot of time together since Haley moved out for college and then to live with Chris.

"It was stupid. He wanted me to go to a dumb basketball party with him yesterday night and I told him I wasn't up to going out and getting drunk when we had school the next day. He freaked out on me and I didn't feel like dealing with any of his crap today."

"Well are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. He's just a jackass. And speaking of jackass boyfriends, how is Chris doing?" Lily asked sarcastically.

Haley rolled her eyes in annoyance. It wasn't really a secret in her family that Lily wasn't fond of her boyfriend. They had had this fight too many times for her to count. "He's great, thanks. We're really happy right now, so can't you just be happy for me?"

"I won't be happy for you so long as you're with him. Half the time he treats you like shit and the other half he doesn't even pay attention to you! You need to open your eyes and see how much better you can do!"

Haley sighed. "Can we not do this again, Lil? I didn't come over here to fight with you."

"Fine," she blew out a stubborn breath. "What did you come over for, anyhow? Don't you have a job to be doing?"

"My boss gave me the rest of the day off after he gave me a promotion!"

"Awe, that's great Haley!"

"Yeah, it comes with a pretty big raise too. I'm just a bit excited about it."

Lily smiled proudly at her sister and got up to give her a warm hug. "I'm proud of you, Hales."

"Thanks, Lil. I'm gonna get going now, I'll see you later this weekend probably," the older sister said and grabbed her purse. She smiled at the younger brunette and closed the door behind her.

"Hey, you've reached Chris. Leave a message at the beep if you're hot,"Haley rolled her eyes when he heard her boyfriend's idiotic voice mail for the third time. She had asked him to change it countless times over the past two years and he never did. She had finally just given up on the issue. What was bothering her now was that her boyfriend wasn't answering his phone.

It was almost six o' clock and he should have been home from the studio half an hour ago. All she wanted was to get a hold of him and tell him she got promoted and to invite him out with her for once. With a sigh Haley dropped her cell phone on her bed and walked over to her closet. It looked like she was going to the bar celebration solo.

It took Haley a little under half an hour to pick out a suitable outfit and do her hair and makeup. When she finished she tried calling Chris one last time, only to receive his voice mail again. She left their apartment without another moment's hesitation and made her way to Tric.

"Haley! It's about time you showed up for your own celebration! We've been waiting here for ages," a clearly drunk Junk slurred when she approached the table.

She laughed softly and surveyed the other men seated around the booth. Julian Baker, Lucas, Nathan, and of course Junk. Julian worked in sales alongside Lucas and Nathan; those three were in essence responsible for generating more than half of Dan Scott Motor's revenue.

"Having fun without me, boys?" she greeted with a smile. "Not too much I hope."

"We all waited for you," Lucas said and gestured to himself, Nathan, and Julian. "Junk on the other hand got a little tired of waiting and decided to do a couple rounds of shots."

"Well, why don't we catch up with him?" the blonde girl suggested and took a seat next to Julian. The three boys voiced their agreement and waved over a waitress to place their drink order. "You know I love spending time with my boys, but why don't you ever bring your girlfriend a.k.a one of my best friends when we all hang out?" Haley asked Julian curiously.

"Why? Do we bore you that much, Hales?" he teased. "Isn't it the same reason you never invite that boy of yours to come out with us?"

"And what would that reason be?" she asked genuinely confused, grabbing one of the shot glasses that the waitress placed down on the table.

Julian grabbed one of the glasses as well. "Because sometimes we just want to let loose and it's much easier to do without a girlfriend or boyfriend here to tie you down," he explained and downed his shot quickly.

Haley did the same and cut her eyes at him after she recovered from the burning sensation in her throat. "Watch what you say, mister. I'm always reporting what you say back to Peyton."

Julian chuckled and nodded his head. "Noted. For the record though, I'm crazy about Peyton."

"I know that, J. I'm just playing with you."

"Will you girls stop talking and take another shot?" Nathan asked and pushed a small glass into each of their hands.

When the group had put down their second empty shot glass, Nathan smirked. He was beginning to feel a slight buzz and he spotted something he liked across the bar.

"You know, it's really disturbing to see how you look at women like they are a piece of meat," Haley pointed out in a grossed out tone.

"Jealous of my ways with the ladies, Hales?"

Haley faked a gag and shuddered. "God no."

Nathan winked at her teasingly before sliding out of the booth. "Excuse me boys, that girl has been eyeing me since we got here and I need to make my move."

The guys laughed as Haley rolled her eyes at Nathan's player ways. For as long as she had known him he'd been a ladies' man through and through and she had yet to stop calling him out when he was being a pig, but some things just never changed. Nathan's love of women and the single man lifestyle was apparently one of the things that would always be the same.

"It's been fun tonight boys, but I have to head out," Haley declared a few hours later. She figured that after about an hour and a half of drinking water so as to not have a hangover in the morning, she'd be fine to drive the short trip back home and grabbed her keys as she stood up.

"Bye, Hales," was all she managed to get in response from her colleagues and she laughed while exiting the warehouse like club. The drive back to her and Chris' apartment went by quickly and she found herself walking into the pitch black front room in what felt like seconds. Dropping her purse beside the door as she locked it behind her, Haley walked further into the apartment and saw that Chris was sitting in his favourite armchair.

"About time you came home. Where have you been all night?" he questioned angrily.

"Well, if you'd answer your phone for once then you would know that I went to Tric with some of the guys from work," she responded irritably.

"Why didn't you tell me this morning? I've been worrying about you."

"The plans weren't made until after I got a promotion today. I tried calling four times but you never answered."

"I was busy."

"Whatever," Haley rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room into her bedroom. "I really don't feel like fighting tonight, Chris so I'm going to go to bed."

"Fine with me," he grumbled and pulled back the covers so he could climb into his side of the bed. Haley changed clothes silently and slipped in next to him, turning so her back was facing him.

The dark room was enveloped by silence and Haley tried with everything she had in her to fall asleep and slip away from the tense atmosphere. Over and over she repeated in her head that this was like every other argument they ever had, they would both wake up in the morning in a different state of mind and all would be forgiven. So then why couldn't she get over the fact that it felt like this was different? Like everything in her life was about to change?