What the hell was that Chris?"

Chris Keller didn't even try to fight the smirk that flashed across his features when he heard the enraged female voice coming from behind him. He didn't even bother to look over at her as he heard the click of her heels against the hard floor backstage, instead he busied himself with placing his guitar gingerly back into it's case. He waited a full thirty seconds while she stood directly behind him before he straightened and turned to meet her eyes. Brown eyes that were on fire with annoyance and rage locked on his blue ones . "What the hell was what Haley?" He questioned with an innocent widening of his eyes. He knew exactly what she was upset about, he'd arranged it so she would be and in his opinion she deserved everything she'd gotten a moment before.

"You know exactly what I mean Chris!" Haley exclaimed , her voice rising slightly as she worked to make herself heard over the noise of those rushing around them and the sounds of the concert and crowd going on in the background.

He had expected her to be mad. He hadn't actually expected her to go to yelling so quickly though and Chris held up his hands in surrender as her voice raised to a higher pitch. "Careful there Haley you wouldn't want to strain those vocal chords, you're on in about ten minutes, you know" His own voice was calm, condescending even as he picked up his guitar case in one hand and began to stroll towards his dressing room . His back was straight and a there was a slight strut to his walk that spoke of an arrogance that most associated with Chris Keller within moments of meeting him.

"You are not going to ignore me !" Haley demanded as she began to follow him to his dressing room. If she'd stopped to think about it she would have realized that this was exactly Chris's intention, for her to get annoyed enough to follow him. To willingly make it so she was alone with him. But Haley rarely ever gave Chris the credit he deserved in that respect, few ever did. The truth of it was Chris's mind was always working on how to work people, and usually they were so annoyed with him they went along with his plans exactly only later realizing that they had played directly into his hands. This was of course the case now. "Damn it Chris! You do not get to do that. You do NOT get to announce you're introducing a new song into your set, and then sit there and play a song that is about ME!"

"Aww it's sort of sweet how full of yourself you really are Hales. A song about you? Maybe it was a song about another girl who hooked up with me and kicked me out bed the next morning. Sure, I'm usually the one who kicks them out of bed before coffee but hell it's happened the other way a time or two. " The ever present smirk never left his face as he closed the door behind them and then leaned against it. Arms folded over his chest as he surveyed her with a cool glance.

"It's not about me? " Haley rolled her eyes as she regarded him with a look of barley surprised fury. That was a night she'd longed to forget but now, now it was immortalized in song. "I believe you used the term The shy tutor grrl after saying something about No one sees what you can truly be, except maybe the husband you left behind . Come on Chris, own up to it. You were pissed and decided to HUMILIATE ME ."


"Pissed? Nah" The slight southern drawl of his words softened them slightly as they always did. "Mad as hell? Sure you were a bitch to me Hales. iYou/i came to ime /ithat night and then you want to pretend nothing happened? Well news flash, life doesn't work like that"

She wasn't going to get through to him. There was no way she was going to make him see her side, Chris Keller only saw, or at least admitted to seeing ,the things that he wanted to. He'd wanted to see what had happened that night when she'd shown up in tears at his hotel room door,

Tears because Nathan had left, had shown up and had just left without an explanation. Tears that were caused by the fact that for a few moments Haley was so sure that it was over between her and Nathan that she'd sought comfort anywhere she could find it, and that night she'd found it in Chris Keller's words. She'd found it in the gently played song he'd strummed on his guitar, in the creative energy that had always flowed between them but that had coursed so strongly through the air as they had worked on a song together that it was practically visible. The air had vibrated with an electricity as the words and the music had flowed together to form a song that they were both sure would be a hit. A song that they had premiered to a large crowd the night before .

Haley had gotten therapy out of that night, she'd been able to pour all of her emotions into a constructive outlet. Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing she'd done that night. In a moment of utter jubilation, in that moment when they'd played and sung that final song through and they had known that it was spectacular, that it was something they could be proud of, Chris had caught her up in a congratulatory kiss that hadn't stopped at that. Instead of pushing him away Haley had given in and had kissed him back (like she'd done times before but had insisted had meant nothing) She'd not only kissed him back but when he'd led her to his bed she'd allowed. She in fact had had moments where she'd reveled in his touch, in his kiss.

Being with Chris had been so drastically different than being with Nathan that Haley had been able to forget Nathan for a few moments she'd been able to forget the hurt she'd felt when she'd saw that he had left. To forget the pain she felt every night when he wasn't there to share such an accomplishment with her. Those few moments with Chris were something she never should have done. No matter the reasons or how she'd felt at the time, but there were something that she'd done regardless. Calm, dependable smart Haley had given into Impulse and after the few euphoric moments she'd been forced to face what that impulse had meant.

She'd done what could be irreparable damage to her marriage, which was already hanging by a very thin thread. Not knowing how to admit the mistake or how to face it she'd opted to ignore it. She'd fled from Chris not long after and the next evening when he'd approached her, half expecting her to spend the night with him again she'd told him in no uncertain terms that what had happened between them had been the biggest mistake that she'd ever made. She'd told him that it never would happened again, had told him exactly what she thought of the arrogant jerk that he was.



This was his way of getting back at her for that. This was his way of making that mistake something that would never go away now. Not that Haley could really blame him. Chris Keller had been pursuing her since they'd first met and for awhile she'd been so intrigued by attention she wasn't used to getting that she'd flirted right back with him. There was going to be no more of that though. She could only hope that she could talk Chris into never playing the song again, into forgetting what had happened had happened. As Haley looked into his blue eyes though, for a moment she felt a strange pull in her stomach and she found herself doubting her ability to talk him into anything. In fact she began to fear that if anyone talked anyone into anything it would be Chris talking her into it. And if that happened the damage truly would be irreparable.