Hey DetectiveAndAgentDeeks and fanfictionhaleb, thanks so much for the reviews! So glad you guys are excited to read the story, hope you enjoy this chapter!

Also, DID YOU ALL LISTEN TO ASHLEY ON PRETTY LITTLE WINE MOMS?! WHY ARE TYLER AND ASHLEY NOT TOGETHER?! SHE LITERALLY CALLED HIM HER SOULMATE, AS WELL AS A SEX GOD, AND SAID SHE "LOVES HIM SO MUCH, IT MAKES HER WANT TO DIE." ALSO SAID SHE'S "OBSESSED WITH HIM" AND "WILL NEVER NOT BE OBSESSED WITH HIM." WHY AREN'T THEY TOGETHER? THEY'RE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER! THEY'RE SOULMATES (her words, not mine. Although, also mine.)

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

"Hey, Haley."

Hanna looked up to see the hot-but-annoying guy from the campaign party – Caleb – who appeared to be talking to her.

"It's Hanna, actually," she snapped at him, pushing her way past him into the main area of the office.

"Oh, yeah. Right. My bad," he said cockily, but his smug expression suggested he didn't actually feel bad about the mistake at all. Maybe it wasn't even really a mistake.

"Well, welcome to the office, Hanna," he said pointedly. It was the first time he had said her name, and despite the mocking tone he used, and for some reason she couldn't explain, she liked the way it rolled off his tongue. "It's your first day, right?"

"Well, have you seen me around before?" she snapped. "Yeah, it's my first day." Wow, he was seriously getting on her nerves already.

"Hey, don't get your panties all in a twist, I was just trying to be friendly," he argued.

"'Friendly'? Do you even know what that word means?" she shot back, rolling her eyes. "I didn't think so."

He watched her as she walked away, his eyes making their way down her back before landing on her ass, hugged perfectly by the fabric of the tight dress she was wearing.

After her rocky start with Caleb, the rest of Hanna's first day was going pretty well. Veronica had shown her around the office, told Hanna about her campaign and platform, as well as the strategy she wanted Hanna to take on, and she had met everyone else working on the campaign. There was one intern in the office, Mona, that Hanna could see herself getting along well with. She was a few years younger than Hanna, but she was well-dressed and sophisticated, similar to Hanna in a lot of ways.

But the more she worked with Caleb over the next several weeks, the more he infuriated her. It's like he had made it his personal mission to annoy her as much as possible. He took every possible opportunity to be an ass to her.

And she could already tell he was a total player. She would see him leaving the office every single day and meeting up with a different girl, no doubt taking her out to dinner before bringing her back to his apartment, where he would inevitably sleep with her before losing her number.

So why was it that she couldn't seem to stop thinking about the arrogant asshole? Why did her eyes keep wandering down to his full lips every time they were face-to-face? Why did her stomach lurch in anticipation every time she was near him?

"So what do you think?" she asked Caleb, who was sitting across from her in his office, on the other side of his desk. She had just finished going over, in great detail, her plan for the social media strategy. She felt confident in it, but she would need his help with the technology side of it, and the graphics and everything.

"Sounds good to me," he said simply.

She glared at him in response. "Seriously? I just spent, like, half an hour telling you all about this, and your only feedback is that it sounds 'good'?"

"Yeah, you did spend a lot of time on it, which is probably why I stopped listening about five minutes in," he informed her.

As soon as she opened her mouth, no doubt to argue with him, he cut her off.

"But isn't this your job anyway? You're the one in charge of all this social media and PR stuff; you just tell me what you need me to do, and I'll take care of it for you," he told her with a smirk.

"I thought we were supposed to be working together on this," she countered. "Yet you're not being any help at all. And you're the one who's actually getting paid for this, I'm just volunteering my time."

"You know what my favorite thing about you rich people is?" he asked with a grin. "Your savior complex. You all just love to throw around what great people you are, how much you help people, how much you volunteer, how much you donate. But none of you people actually care about any of this, do you?"

How rude, she thought to herself. How dare he talk to her like that?

"You're being an asshole," she told him bluntly. "And if you keep this up, I'm gonna walk out of here in about five minutes."

"Well, then why don't you just save yourself the five minutes and walk away now?" he suggested with an infuriating smirk.

"You know what, screw you," she snapped at him. "I'm here to work, not to be harassed by you. I don't have to put up with this."

He rolled his eyes as he laughed at her.

"Can you just give me the book? And then I'll get out of here, so you can find someone else to be an asshole to." 'The book' was really a binder, containing all of the information about Veronica's platform, strategy, supporters, essentially everything Hanna needed to post content on social media. 'The book' was currently on the shelf behind Caleb's desk, in easy reach for him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is there something wrong with your limbs that makes you unable to get it yourself?" he asked rhetorically. He just wanted to give her a hard time; she got really hot when she had that pissed-off expression on her face. Like she did right now.

"Caleb, it's right there, just give me the book."

"Oh, I know what the problem is!" he exclaimed, tapping his head as though a light-bulb just went off. "It must be that giant rock of yours weighing down your hand and making it hard for you to lift stuff, right?"

She was getting seriously frustrated with him now.

"Caleb, just give me the fucking book!"

"I thought fancy Rosewood women like you knew how to say 'please' and 'thank you,'" he retorted, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Please get me the fucking book. Thank you," she said through gritted teeth.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," he said, grinning and grabbing the book from the shelf. "Here you go, Hanna."

"Fuck you, Caleb," she replied as she walked out of his office, binder in tow.

"So how did you get into technology?" Hanna asked Caleb conversationally as they were sitting in his office one day a few weeks later, developing graphics for the campaign's social media.

Despite the fact that Caleb was still being a dick to her most of the time, she caught glimpses of a different side of him every once in a while, when he let his guard down and wasn't working so hard to seem like a dick. So she was trying to be as friendly to him as possible, hoping he would return the favor and stop being such an asshole to her.

"Well, I always liked computers, and I was good with them, too, so it just made sense," he replied. "I think I kind of always knew it's what I was going to do, so when I got offered a cyber security job right out of high school, I couldn't turn it down. I stayed there for a couple of years, but the corporate world wasn't for me, so I've just been freelancing ever since."

"'Right out of high school'?" she echoed. "So you never went to college?" she asked, her eyes wide open in surprise.

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Sometimes he thought her privilege was obnoxious, but other times, like right now, it was just shocking.

"No. I didn't," he confirmed. "A lot of people don't go to college, Hanna."

She still looked shocked, and he supposed it made sense. In her world, her town, her circle of friends and family, he was sure everyone went to college.

"You know, not all of us outside your little bubble are Ivy League legacies, with a rich mommy and daddy who can buy them a diploma," he informed her. "I know that in your world, it's probably a crime not to go to college, but it's different for us regular folk." He put an emphasis on "regular folk" and she knew he was mocking her.

"Well, I know plenty of people don't go to college," she said defensively. "But..." she trailed off.

"But you just assumed that everyone without a college degree went on to flip burgers for minimum wage," he concluded for her.

"No!" she argued, angry with him for making assumptions about her. Although, he was kind of right on target.

"So you just went straight to work instead?" she questioned. "What did your family think?" She knew that if she had even suggested the possibility of not going to college to her parents, they would have disowned her.

He scoffed, and didn't reply. He didn't know why she thought she was entitled to learn everything about his life, when they barely even knew each other.

"What?" she asked, bothered by his silence. She didn't want him to get all pissy and standoffish with her again. "I was just making conversation."

"Well, if you think I'm going to 'converse' with you about my family, then you are sorely mistaken," he told her with a wry smile. "It's going to take a lot more than 'conversation' to hear about them."

She snapped her mouth shut, surprised, and, also, a little offended. She didn't realize this was such a sensitive topic; she thought it was a safe enough subject for her to broach.

But apparently not. So now he was probably going to go back to being an asshole.

"Hey, can you help me with these boxes?"

Caleb had been growing increasingly less intolerable, albeit, still incredibly annoying, but Hanna finally felt comfortable enough asking him for help.

"What are all these?" he questioned, taking in the several large boxes that had just been delivered and were now blocking the entrance to the office.

"The campaign posters are finally in!" Hanna exclaimed excitedly. The posters had been the source of many issues in the office. No one could agree on what photo to use, they had taken longer to be printed than expected, and they were definitely behind schedule. They should have started putting up posters at least a week ago. But they were finally here, and they could finally begin to put them up.

Hanna grabbed one box, while Caleb grabbed three, and they carried them into his office. Hanna set one box on the desk while Caleb made another trip.

She tore open the box excitedly to see the result of her hard work.

She was inspecting the glossy poster, making sure it looked perfect, when she noticed.

"Oh, shit!" she exclaimed, picking up the top poster to look more closely at it. "Fuck!"

"What's your problem?" Caleb asked as he walked back in. "I thought you were 'so excited' for the posters to come in."

"Look at this!" she demanded, shoving the poster at him, and burying her head in her hands.

He was silent for a moment as he looked at it, before saying, "Veronica Hatings?" with an amused smile.

"It's not funny!" she admonished, hitting him lightly on the arm.

"How'd you manage that one? That's, like, the easiest part," he commented, chuckling.

"I have no fucking idea!" she exclaimed, frustrated. "I guess I got so caught up in making it look perfect that I didn't double check the name!

"Oh my gosh, Veronica's going to fire me! And I don't even work here! God, I guess everyone was right about me: I can't do anything right, and I'm not cut out for a real job because I just screw everything up!"

Caleb felt bad about laughing at her mistake when he saw just how upset she was about this.

"Hey, don't say that," he said gently. "It was an honest mistake; anyone could have done it. Don't beat yourself up about it. It doesn't mean you screw everything up. Just one minor thing that can be fixed pretty easily."

"We don't have time to fix it, Caleb!" she informed him. "We're already so behind schedule!"

"Hanna!" Hanna winced as she heard Veronica's familiar voice; she didn't sound pleased.

"What the hell is this?" Veronica asked as soon as she came into view, holding up one of the posters. She must have broken into one of the boxes they hadn't moved yet.

Hanna opened her mouth to speak, but Veronica spoke first.

"This was the easiest job of the entire campaign!" she exclaimed. "How could you let this happen?"

Ever since elementary school, Hanna hadn't handled being yelled at very well, and this was bringing back all those terrible feelings of inadequacy.

"I'm so sorry!" Hanna rushed out. "Obviously, I'll pay to have them all replaced; I'll pay whatever amount to get them done as quickly as possible!"

"It's not about the money, Hanna! Have you seen all the posters around for my opponents? And how many do we have up so far? None!" She shook her head. "I just don't see how you could let this happen. I trusted you with this, Hanna."

Caleb could see the crestfallen look on Hanna's face, and he knew he had to do something.

"Don't blame Hanna - it was my fault," he cut in to the conversation.

Veronica and Hanna turned to face him, confused looks on both of their faces.

"Hanna passed along the design to me to take care of," he continued. "She had it all planned out, but I was the one in charge of actually designing it and sending it to the printers. She thought it would be easier for me since I have more experience with the technology side of things. So I'm the one who messed up the name," he lied.

"Hanna?" Veronica questioned, turning to look at Hanna.

"Uh, yeah," Hanna hesitantly agreed, feeling guilty, but knowing it would now look even worse for both of them if she didn't back up his story. "My Illustrator skills definitely aren't up to his level," she said, forcing a laugh.

"Well, then, Caleb, how could you let this happen?" Veronica accepted Hanna's explanation, turning her attention back to Caleb.

"It was...just an oversight, I guess," he said, shrugging casually. "I'll call the company and explain; I'll get it all sorted out," he assured her.

"Fine," she said simply. "But if anything like this happens again, you're out."

"I understand!" he called out to her retreating figure as she had already stormed out of the room.

Once it was just the two of them again, Hanna turned back to Caleb, confused.

"Why did you do that?" Hanna knew what Caleb thought of her - he thought she was just a rich, stuck-up brat, and he had made that perfectly clear. Why had he taken the fall for her? It didn't make any sense.

"You seemed a lot more bothered by it than I would be," he explained. "Everyone already knows I'm a screw-up," he said with a smirk. "But they don't have to think that about you, too. Because you're not," he emphasized.

"You could have lost your job," she countered.

"I've lost a lot of jobs, Hanna," he informed her with a small smile. "You seemed like you had a lot more to lose. And anyway, I didn't. So you're still stuck with me for now."

As she watched his retreating figure leave his office to go pick up the remaining boxes, she smiled softly to herself. Maybe Caleb was different than she had initially thought. Maybe there was more to him than meets the eye.

Hanna made her way into Caleb's office one afternoon a couple of weeks later, immediately regretting the tight, square-neck peplum dress she had worn, as she watched Caleb blatantly check her out.

"Hey, buddy, my eyes are up here," Hanna snapped at him, gesturing to her blue orbs.

Caleb stifled a laugh, as his eyes ran unabashedly back up her body that was on full display in the navy blue dress she was wearing, before grinning at her as their gazes locked.

"Thanks for the lesson in anatomy, Princess, but I already know all about the human body," he said smugly. "Especially, the female body."

Hanna rolled her eyes, but felt her pulse quicken simultaneously. Was he flirting with her?

"Well, you don't know anything about my body," she retorted.

"Yeah, that's a shame, isn't it?" he said with a smirk.

Okay, so he was definitely flirting. Was this his plan all along? Be a complete dick to her until he could swoop in and be the hero, and then expect her to just fall all over him? Well that certainly was not going to happen. But still, if he could flirt, then so could she.

"I'm glad you're here, actually," he told her as she walked around to his side of the desk. "I have some new graphics I wanted you to check out. I was thinking they would be good for Twitter."

"Fine," she said simply. "Let me just…grab…this…" she murmured, as she leaned across him to the other side of the desk, giving him a great view down the front of her dress, showing off her perfect cleavage.

Caleb cleared his throat as he felt his body react to the stunning blonde that was in such close proximity to him, as she picked up the folder that Veronica had just dropped off containing all of the campaign updates.

She took a seat next to him and started flipping through the folder as he pulled up the graphics he had been working on. She deliberately pushed her bare knee up against his jean-clad one, to see how he would react, but he either didn't even notice, or just wasn't affected by it. But, he didn't move his, either.

"So what do you think of this?" he asked her.

She leaned in closer to the computer screen, their knees still pressed together, and she was just inches away from him now. He could smell the floral notes of her perfume, and the fruity scent of her shampoo.

"Oh, I like that," she said. "Yeah, that's really good."

She pulled back a little bit, turning to look at him, realizing for the first time just how close they were. She could smell his cologne, and could see clearly the faint scar above his right eyebrow.

They looked away at the same time, both staring down at the desk, where his left hand and her right were both resting. She inched hers closer to his so that they made contact, their pinkies just barely grazing each other. As soon as she made contact with his skin, though, electricity shot through her body, pulsing in her veins, so she pulled her hand away quickly.

"Whoa, you okay there?" Caleb asked with a little laugh.

She felt her heart rate speed up as she looked back up at him, their eyes locking again. Her eyes flickered to his smooth, full pout, and she had an overwhelming urge to close the distance of the last couple of inches between them and connect her lips with his. She began to lean into him, as Caleb stayed perfectly still, waiting, and just as their lips were about to meet, she came to her senses, turning her head at the last second before pulling back.

She coughed awkwardly to break the silence.

"Um, no, actually, I'm not okay," she rushed out, her words tumbling over one another. "I have to go."

She stood up quickly before nearly running out of the room, her heart still racing.

She couldn't believe she had almost just done that.

So I know this chapter's kind of all over the place, but it's just supposed to be setting the scene of their relationship. It's kind of like how their relationship was in Season 1, Episodes 14-18, where he's the bad boy and he annoys her, but she's also super attracted to him, ya know? But apparently I'm not very good at writing flirty banter, because he kind of just ends up seeming like a jackass. But don't worry, he's into her, too, he's just pushing her away because he's into her. Also, this is obviously just a few of their interactions, some of the best/worst ones, AKA where Caleb is the biggest dick/the sweetest. So just imagine that they have a bunch of other interactions, too, some neutral, some flirty, some tense (sexually, of course...)

See you next chapter! And trust me, you won't want to miss Chapter 3. ;)