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Kiss the Rain

Chapter One

Haley James walked the red carpet with her manager and best friend Peyton Sawyer, being greeted by the blinding flashes of cameras and cries of "Haley, Haley, over here Haley!" which were shouted at her over and over. It never ceased to amaze her how much commotion there was surrounding events like this, and more to the point, how much furore she created just by taking a few steps towards a building. However, tonight was all in aid of charity, in fact it was her favourite charity in the whole world and as much as she hated posing for photos, any publicity or photo opportunity the press wanted relating to this event was worth it for her, if it meant the charity was getting the recognition it deserved.

She posed and smiled when requested as she slowly made her way ever closer to the sanctity of the hotel the event was being held at, Peyton making sure she was doing her job of keeping Haley moving but also allowing her adequate press time.

She finally made it into the building and headed into the elevator which would take them down to the hall where the dinner dance was being held. "Oh my gosh the room looks beautiful this year!" She cried as she entered the room which was decorated in pink and white to represent the colour of the charity. "It's so much better than the black and gold disaster last year!"

"It sure does Haley." Peyton said as she took in the grandeur of the room.

"I wonder where we're sitting this year." Haley pondered as she made her way into the thick of the crowd, smiling politely at a few people who recognised her.

"I don't know but I sure as hell hope we are as far away as possible from the creeps we were sat next to last year, or the year before that for that matter!" Peyton said quietly in her ear.

Haley could only giggle and also agree wholeheartedly with that. It seemed that no matter how much these kind of events were enjoyed by the both of them, the worst part was definitely the dinner part, where you were inevitably seated next to some weirdo and had to endure an hour and a half of their incessant leering or talking, or in the worst case scenario, both at the same time. She was sure this wasn't exactly how the evening was supposed to play out, but nonetheless, it always seemed to happen that way for her and Peyton. And for that reason, it was most definitely the dance part of the event that she looked forward to the most, for you could run away from people you didn't want to talk to during the dance part, at dinner, you were stuck.

She made her way quickly over to the seating plan and scanned for her and Peyton's names, finding their table number and then motioning for Peyton to follow her as they both made their way over to the table just as the bell rang signalling the start of the dinner. Their table was towards the front of the hall and as they walked closer, they saw that just like last year, they were surrounded by what looked like middle aged, pompous business men who thought the sun shone out of their ass.

"Fabulous." Peyton said sarcastically as she took in the sight before the both of them.

"Oh shush Peyton, they might be nice, you haven't even said a word to them yet!" Haley admonished as she rolled her eyes. However, even she had to admit, it wasn't looking good and she was now slightly regretting wearing the low cut dress which showed ample cleavage for the men to leer at.

"And I just saw a pig fly out of the window!" Peyton deadpanned.

"Come on, it's only for an hour and a half tops, then the party will start and we can run away and hide from them like we do every year, it's practically tradition!"

They were now at the table, they said their hello's to the gentlemen already seated, giving the expected two air kisses, at least that's what Haley and Peyton were doing, the men however, seemed to have different ideas and proceeded to plant wet, sloppy kisses on each of their cheeks.

As the dinner progressed, things weren't getting any better. Peyton glanced quickly over to Haley, seeing that she was growing increasingly frustrated with the man she was talking to who seemed more interested in her boobs than what was coming out of her mouth. Peyton could only laugh at her. She had told Haley to go with the more conservative black dress, but she had insisted that the pink dress was the one she wanted to wear, even if it did show a hell of a lot of cleavage. Bet she's regretting that one! Peyton thought to herself.

Nathan Scott sighed deeply to himself. He loathed events like this; especially the events just like this one, where they made you sit in pre-arranged seats for dinner and then listen some old twit jabbering on for what felt like an eternity, going into excruciating detail, practically on a day by day basis about what the charity had been up to over the past year. And of course it was just his luck that he always had to be seated on a table with what felt like all the old ladies that existed on the planet, or at least all the old ladies who were invited to the event, who droned on and on about the same stories ten times throughout the meal. Sometimes he hated being himself. Old ladies seemed to love him for some absurd reason. Actually, it wasn't that absurd, they were ladies after all, and ladies threw themselves at him all the time, he just wished there would be an age limit to it! Being who he was though, he had to be polite, smile and nod at the correct times to the old ladies who were engaging him in conversation and clap and cheer at the appropriate times throughout the speech made by the old man, for he was Nathan Scott, NBA Superstar and heaven forbid, with all the photographers and journalists that attended these events, that a picture or article of him fighting off the old ladies or walking up to the old man making the speech and telling him to get a move on so the party could get started would appear in tomorrow's newspapers and magazines. Now that really would be career suicide, what with all the endorsements he had going on, his manager reminded him more than enough times. You need to clean up your image Nathan! He could hear his manger's voice in his head mocking him. As far as Nathan was concerned, his image was perfect, he just needed to calm his temper a little to appease his manager, for he sure as hell wasn't going to calm down on the women.

That was partly the reason he attended these events, to keep his manager happy. The other reason he attended these events was obvious to him, the women. Women loved the fact that he attended these charity galas, and of course, he was sure that if one caught his eye, which was more often than not, he would make a big show of giving a rather large sum of money to the charity in question. That way, he and his manager were happy. Nathan Scott ends up in the newspapers for the right reasons therefore appeasing his manager, and he has what he hopes will be a night of hot sex with the woman he had his eye on, keeping himself satisfied, and of course, no one turns down a night with Nathan Scott.

Nathan kept a look out throughout the whole dinner for potential targets, but so far, he had been there and done that with everyone that interested him so far, and Nathan Scott was not a two night kind of guy. Once a night was spent with the great Nathan Scott, then as far as he was concerned, you were worthless to him. He knew he was good in bed, so if you were lucky enough to spend the night with him, then you got a pretty good deal. There would be no exchanging of numbers and most of the time you weren't going to sleep next to him either, once he was done with you, you were out on your ear. If his mother really knew how he treated women, she would probably have a fit but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her and he'd had no complaints from the girls so far so he figured what was the point in changing something that worked so well?

It was no secret that he was what the press call a womanizer but Nathan was proud of it. In his line of work, being on the road half the time, girlfriends weren't worth the trouble, not that he had ever tried though, but one look at his teammates who were foolish enough to have a girlfriend and Nathan knew exactly why he didn't bother. The moaning and whinging he had to deal with from his teammates were enough for Nathan to know that he did not want something like that waiting for him when he returned home each night.

He zoned back in on what the old man was saying, the speech surely coming to and end now, he'd been going on for an age. Everyone suddenly stood up and started clapping as he finally finished so Nathan quickly jumped up out of his seat and joined in with everybody. Bout time! He thought to himself. He was more than ready to walk around and scope the room out a little more; especially given the only candidates for a night with himself that he had seen so far were people who had already been so lucky!

Haley jumped out of her seat and clapped and cheered the speech, she loved that part of the evening, where she got to hear all about what had been going on in the charity's world for the past twelve months. She turned to eye Peyton, who was also on her feet clapping and cheering. When she caught Peyton's eye, she moved her head as if to say let's get out of here and Peyton seemed to get the hint when she started moving away from the table.

"Now where is a beautiful lady like you running off to?" Mark, one of the business geeks she had been sitting next to all evening and had had the pleasure of watching him leer all over herself, much like he was doing now, said as he grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving any further.

"I'm not running off anywhere, just going to the bar." Haley said back nervously as she looked down to the hand he currently had on her arm, willing for it to be removed.

"You sure you're not running away from me?" He teased as he leaned in to jokingly nudge her with his shoulder.

"Of course not!" Haley said as jovially as she could, which required all of her non-existent acting skills, given that she just wanted to run away from this creep.

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you."

Haley gave him a quick smile before turning and searching out Peyton, who was standing over on the other side of the room rolling her eyes at Haley. Haley hastily made her way over to Peyton.

"I told you to wear the black." Peyton said knowingly as she laughed at Haley.

"Shut it!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry Haley, but didn't I tell you that this would happen!"

"Yes oh wise one you did." It was Haley's turn to roll her eyes at Peyton.

"Come on, let's get a drink." Peyton said as she led Haley and herself over to the bar which was getting ridiculously busy.

"I think I need one!" Haley said flatly, glancing back at her table and seeing Mark waving at her.

Peyton pushed her way to the front of the queue and got their order in while Haley stood back at a table saving it for herself and Peyton. Five minutes later, Peyton returned with their drinks, which Haley grabbed out of her hands and took a large gulp, drinking about half of her cocktail.

"Jeez Haley, calm down! The press are here you know." Peyton warned.

Haley raised an eyebrow at Peyton. "So what."

"Haley you know you have an image to maintain so don't get completely wasted tonight please."

"Fine." Haley said as she placed her drink down on the table. "That better."

"Much."

"You know what Peyton; maybe I'm sick of being the good girl all the time. I need to let my hair down every once in a while, you know."

"I know Haley, and you can do that at a private party, but not a public party which is covered with press. You chose this life; you have to live with the consequences."

Haley sighed. She had everything she ever wanted, a successful music career, countless endorsements and amazing fans but being the good girl was tiresome, it was hard to keep a pristine act up all the time. And at events like this, when she had been working so hard, all she wanted to do was relax and enjoy herself, but she constantly had to have her guard up to protect herself against any unwanted press which frustrated her no end.

"I need to go to the loo, you gonna be alright for a few minutes?" Peyton asked.

"Course, I'll be fine."

Haley watched as Peyton walked away towards the toilets and she couldn't help but feel empty, which was ridiculous given how happy she was with most things in her life. All she wanted to do tonight was enjoy herself without the intense glare of every gossip magazine on her, was that so much to ask?

Nathan walked around the party, scoping the room for someone who would catch his eye. He was beginning to give up on this event, when he spied her standing alone at a table. She was wearing an extremely tight fitting pink dress which showed off her curves and cleavage fabulously. He was instantly hooked on her; wondering what the hell she was doing standing alone, not that he was complaining as it made it easier for him to make his move, but nonetheless, someone as stunning as she was surely had someone with her. He recognised her immediately; she was one of the hottest music stars of the moment and would surely be a good lay. He walked over to her, glancing from left to right quickly trying to establish if she did have a date with her, but when he saw no one, he shrugged to himself, getting ready to work the Nathan Scott magic, feeling incredibly pleased with himself that he had found such a hottie.

Haley could feel him before he even walked up to her; she could sense the confidence beaming off him. She turned around before he had the chance to walk even closer to her and was greeted by the most piercing set of blue eyes she had ever seen. She gasped at the sight of him, he was definitely gorgeous, that much she couldn't deny. She eyed him up and down taking in his tight fitting tux and broad shoulders, before allowing her eyes to rest on his again.

"Well if it isn't Haley James." Nathan greeted her, "I must say you look stunning tonight, and that dress fits you perfectly." His eyes roamed up and down her as he licked his lips in appreciation.

Haley couldn't help but feel slightly exposed. She knew who he was, he was Nathan Scott, womanizer extraordinaire and usually she wouldn't give someone like him the time of day, she was more than ready to give him the put down he deserved from her, opening her mouth to start speaking but as she watched him lick his lips, the way his tongue crept out of his mouth, the way his eyes were literally devouring her, she felt her resolve weaken and she started to feel herself fall under his intoxicating spell. She closed her mouth, not trusting herself to speak, afraid of what sounds would come out of her mouth, instead choosing to stare into those beautiful eyes.

"So are you having a good time tonight?" He asked as he leant on the table opposite her.

Haley watched as his mouth moved but her brain wasn't registering what he was saying to her, for she was in a daze, blinded by his good looks. She soon snapped out of her daydream and realised that he had asked her a question. "I'm sorry what did you say?" She said as she flicked her hair.

Nathan smiled at her, she was stunningly beautiful up close, she had the biggest brown eyes and her full red lips were itching for him to kiss them. "I asked if you were having fun."

"I am having fun." Haley smiled as she picked up the rest of her drink and took a sip, eyeing him over her glass. "Are you?" She asked as she placed her drink back down on the table.

Nathan leaned into her, still staring intently into her eyes, "I am now." He said in such a low husky voice that was practically dripping with sex.

Haley couldn't help but blush at his words. She caught a whiff of his aftershave as he lent into her and she felt herself turn on immediately. There was something about the smell of a man that did it for her, and my word did he smell good! Her mind was spinning, here was one of the most eligible, good looking bachelor men and he was blatantly flirting with her, here. She was definitely interested in him, she lazily let her gaze wonder to his arms as he took a swig of his beer, noticing how tight his tux fit around what looked like some pretty impressive muscles.

"So you come to this thing every year?" He asked her.

"Yep sure do, this is actually one of my favourite charities."

"Hmm, I'm pretty sure I would have noticed such a beautiful looking girl the last couple of years." Nathan returns, giving her his all famous Scott smirk for good measure.

Haley can't help but laugh at him, wondering how someone so good looking needs to use such cheesy lines like that?!

Nathan glances up at her and sees that she is laughing, "What's so funny?" He asks.

Haley tries to stop laughing but now she has started she finds it hard to stop, which must be the alcohol taking its effect, drinking usually turned Haley into a bit of a hyena. "Nothing!" She says, trying desperately to breathe and calm down.

"Must be something if it has got you laughing that hard!" Nathan returns, laughing himself just for the fact that she is laughing. He keeps an eye on her though, noticing the way she covers her mouth with her tiny hands, presumably to try and stop some of the sound seeping through, not that it was doing any good mind, he thinks it's sweet though, usually girls don't laugh at him, they are usually too busy trying to be sexy or whatever around him, he likes the change of pace.

Haley eventually regains her composure, "I'm sorry about that, must be the alcohol or something." She excuses herself.

"No problem, can't say I've ever had anyone laugh that hard at me without me saying a joke or something before!"

Haley can only smile. She mentally kicks herself, sure that he has to think she is some kind of freak or something that can only smile or laugh herself stupid. She looks into those blue eyes of his again, which she instantly regrets doing, feeling herself getting lost in them. She doesn't think she has ever seen such a beautiful colour in her life.

Nathan watches her watching him. "Would you like another drink?" He asks as he places a hand over hers which is still clutching her glass, noting how soft her skin feels. His gaze wonders from her hand that he is now holding, up her body, to those fantastic breasts which are rising and falling with each breath she takes. He feels hypnotised by them, but knows he needs to move his gaze further up her body; he doesn't want her to think he is a perv or something.

Haley is jolted out of her daydream by the feel of a shoot of electricity running through her entire body. She looks down to her hand, which she thinks was the cause of the bolt and sees his hand is placed over hers. With her other free hand, she nervously plays with a strand of her hair which has escaped from her clip. "N, No, I, I'm fine thanks, still got plenty left in that glass." Haley grimaces over the words, or lack of coherent words, in fact letters that just escaped out of her mouth, God he must think I am a total bimbo or something!

He nods his head at her but doesn't let go of her hand. "So you in town long?"

Haley looks down at his large hand which is still clasped firmly around hers. "Erm, I fly out to LA I think in a week's time, how about you?"

"Yeah we have a game in two days; you should come if you're free." Nathan found himself saying before he even thought about it. What the hell was that?! He thought to himself. He wondered what the hell was going on with him, here he was happily flirting with a girl who from what he could see was falling for his charms, and then he had to go and ask her to his stupid game. That was not the way Nathan Scott operated by any means.

"Erm, well I'll need to check what's going on." Haley replies shyly. Truth be told, she hates basketball. She really does not understand what the big fascination is about a sport where you throw a ball through a hoop. Okay, so it probably required a lot more skill than that but still, the aim of the game was to put a ball through a hoop. What was so interesting about that?

"Okay sure." Nathan responds, sending a smile her way.

"So who are you playing?"

"The Celtics. Of course we are going to beat the crap out of them this year." He replies cockily.

Haley giggles at his sudden outburst. "I have no doubt about that."

He looks at her again, loving the sound of her giggle; it's so… girly and cute. And what the hell is he thinking again? Nathan Scott does not think girls are cute. Sexy, yes, hot, yes, fuckable, yes, but never cute. He finds himself drawn to this girl for some reason, "seriously, we are gonna kick ass so you should come if you can, I promise you it will be a good game, I can get you some tickets." That is the second time in about a minute that he has asked her, God desperate much, he thinks to himself, feeling like he should knock himself on the head, maybe that way he can stop being such a crushed out loser.

"Okay, I'd like that." Haley doesn't want tonight to be the last time she sees Nathan, he looks genuinely interested in her and she needs to have some fun for a change, she was so tired of her routine at the moment, it would do her good to mix it up a bit, and if going to the game meant she got to stare at him for a hour or so, well then what could be so bad about that.

Peyton returned from the ridiculous queue which she had waited in for the past half an hour. That was what pissed her off about these events; she hated all the queuing you had to do. Queue for the bar, queue for the toilet, queue to get your coat when you wanted to leave the place, it was ludicrous. She walked back to where she had left Haley, hoping that she hadn't moved from where she had last seen her. Sure enough, she was still there, but she wasn't alone. Oh fuck. Peyton thought to herself as she saw who she was talking, yeah right, more like flirting, with.

She marched up to the table, grabbing Haley's hand, well the one that wasn't wrapped up in his, and pulled her away from the table, fake smiling at Nathan, "If you don't mind, I need a word with Haley, in private."

"No problem." Nathan fake smiled her back. He knew instantaneously that the curly blonde girl had to be Haley's manager, and to say she didn't look pleased was probably the understatement of the century.

"I'll be right back." Haley says as she is pulled away by Peyton.

Peyton smiled back again before dragging Haley to the lobby outside the hall and placing her on one of the chairs, as she paced back and forth with one hand on her hip, the other over her mouth, as she mutters incoherently to herself.

"You're gonna have to speak up Peyton cos I can't hear a word you're saying." Haley said as she folds her arms and crosses her legs, waiting for Peyton to speak.

Peyton stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Haley, pointing a finger at her. "Do you know who he is?"

"Of course I know who he is, what do you think I've had my head under a duvet or something the past couple of years?"

"So you know what he's about then?"

"He plays basketball?" Haley returned, not really knowing why his profession was reason for Peyton to drag her out of the hall like some five year old caught with her hand in the cookie jar or something.

Peyton sighs. "Haley, he is Nathan Scott, only the biggest womanizer on the face of the Earth, so what the hell were you doing in there flirting like nobody's business with him?" She shouts the last part.

"He's cute!" Haley shrugs.

"Haley James please do not make my job, my life any harder than it already is."

"What does that mean?"

"Haley, if you get involved with that man, it will last all of five minutes, he'll sleep with you then forget about you, it will be all over the press cos he does that to women, and then you will join the "I've slept with Nathan Scott" fan club and be another loser who fell for his charms. Not to mention the damage this would do to your career, the endorsements, you're supposed to be the good girl Haley, the one who falls in love and lives happily ever after, and not some slut who jumps into bed with some guy just cos you think he's cute!"

"I am not a slut!" Haley says as she jumps up from her chair, glaring at Peyton. "And have you ever stopped to consider that maybe I just want a night of fun? Huh? Well, did you? Cos I do Peyton, I'm tired of being the damn princess living the fairy tell, cos you know what, they are a fantasy, they don't come true."

"Haley, you are supposed to give all the little girls out there hope you know?"

"Hope for what? Life is crap, Peyton; sooner or later they are going to know that. Sooner or later they are going to learn that for themselves, they don't need me pretending that the world is amazing to everybody all the time, cos it doesn't work that way."

Peyton sighed to herself. "I know it's not, believe me, but you have an image to uphold Haley, a career that you wanted so badly and now you have it, so I'm not going to sit here and watch as you make mistakes Haley. It's my job as your manager to stop you from making them. Okay?"

Haley just continues to glare at her. All the pressure that is put on her all the time is sometimes too much for her to handle.

"Haley I'm sorry to be a bitch in all this but I promise you it's for your own good."

It was Haley's turn to sigh. "I know Peyton; it just gets to me sometimes."

"And I would expect it too." Peyton says relieved that Haley has decided to let this go as she pulls Haley into a hug. "Let's get out of here huh? I'd say between the leering men at dinner, the ridiculous queues and the flirting, we've had enough of the tradition this year."

"Yeah okay, let me just go and say goodbye to Nathan, I said I'd be back once you were done talking to me."

"Haley no, come on, just leave him."

"But I was only going to say goodbye."

"No Haley, come on." Peyton grabbed her arm and marched her over to the elevator, pressing the button for it to arrive, keeping a firm grasp on Haley.

"Peyton!" Haley raises her voice as she tries but fails to get her arm free.

"Come on Haley, the elevator is here now, you don't need to say goodbye to him okay. Enough." She shouts as Haley tries to get her arm free. She pushes her into the elevator and only once the doors have closed does she relinquish her grip.

"You're a right bitch sometimes you know that?" Haley snaps.

"Oh I know." Peyton says as she smiles over at Haley. She was going to have to keep a close eye on this. She knew Nathan Scott's type, he wouldn't stop harassing Haley until he had got what he wanted from her and she made a bet with herself that first thing in the morning, she would get a call from his manager asking for Haley. To hell with that! She thought to herself. There was no way Nathan Scott was getting anywhere near Haley James.