5. New Year's Kiss, Punch and Gaze

The Campbell household was well known for being social, lovely and welcoming for new elements. The wealthy family of three never missed a chance to celebrate and invite people to celebrate with them, if you're wealthy, famous or even arising and shining on your own, you're invited. So, this year –no doubt- there were some new additions in the New Year's Eve party, the brighter were the Scott brother and their crew.

Nathan and Lucas took advantage of the absence of rain, and decided to walk the distance from their house to the Campbell's.

"It's a nice night, eh?" Lucas started as Nathan looked at him and shrugged.

"I guess,"

"The moon is bright; stars are shining behind the clouds…"

Nathan creased his forehead and looked at him weirdly, "Are you okay?"

"Just making conversation." Lucas shrugged.

"You need to find yourself a woman." Nathan chuckled.

Lucas faked a taken aback face at him, "Excuse me, brother, it just has been hard to pick a topic to talk about without you breathing fire on me." He said theatrically but couldn't help the smirk forming after seeing Nathan's reaction.

It was a trap and Nathan walked right into it, Lucas was hinting at the last time he opened the Haley-thing with him about ten days ago and then Nathan was nowhere near welcoming, "Smart ass." Nathan commented but smiled.

"Is that a smile?" Lucas gasped.

"Quit it, I know I was kind of a jerk."

"Yeah, and later that same night, I found you dining with her in our kitchen." Lucas said feeling safe to re-visit the topic.

"Yeah, it was nice." Nathan smiled earning a shocked look from Lucas, he sighed, "Alright, man, I admit it, I like her." He said expecting to hear his brother teasing and never hearing the end of it, but surprisingly, Lucas only beamed and nodded, "What? No teasing?"

"No," he shook his head still smiling, "I think it's great. She's a nice girl, and I think she finds you attractive too."

"I don't know." Nathan sighed, "But, that night, Luke, I was so… so mad; I wasn't ready to admit it, and when you confronted me, I couldn't help but come face to face with the fact that I like her. I was thinking about it and debating wither I should allow my feelings to flow or just stop at this point."

"And then? What was your decision?

"I never decided." He smiled, "Until she showed up at the door."

"So she settled it for you."

"When she's standing there in front of you in the night with a pouring rain just to check on you and make you dinner… it's immediately settled."

Lucas chuckled, "Man, you're falling hard."

"Here it comes." Nathan rolled his eyes.

"You know what you should do?"

"What?"

"Kiss her." He said enthusiastically.

"What?!"

"Kiss her, Nate, tonight, after the countdown, midnight kiss. It's perfect."

"Are you crazy?"

"No, really, it's perfect, that way you start the New Year together from the very first second."

"Or she slaps me and I lose her forever."

"Yeah, probably that. But, no, she's not going to, I'm telling you, I have a strong feeling about it."

"Right," Nathan shook his head, "which brings us back to you needing a woman." He smirked.

"Huh?"

"Are you fulfilling your needs through me? Go, find yourself a woman, dude and stop asking me to kiss women because it's perfect."

"Jeez, I'm sorry for wanting to help you out." Lucas said before continuing again, "I just thought it'd be romantic."

"Which proves my point even more, thank you." Nathan Laughed. Lucas was mostly a practical man, at least that's what he makes sure to be, but although he doesn't admit it, he follows his heart and he believes in his feelings. So, Nathan knows it when his brother's emotions are the ones he's speaking from, and this moment was one of them; he knew Lucas was excited for him, and from his point of view, he thinks they're falling for each other, and he votes for them being together already, but he will never admit that.

Lucas rolled his eyes, "I'm already in love with my work."

"That's what you say." Nathan muttered in a disbelieving tone; Nathan also knew that Lucas secretly likes the idea of having a family and settle down.

Both brothers have goals to achieve, and they both are practical when it comes to their work and business, however when it comes to the emotional field, Lucas is more poetic than Nathan, he likes books, novels and certain kinds of music that Nathan argues to be boring, on the other hand, Nathan's expression of emotions is materialistic, he would bring flowers as a thank you or maybe make cocktails to show admiration.

Lucas is good with words where Nathan expresses with actions.

Once outside the Campbell's, they stopped at seeing a taxi arriving and spotting familiar faces. Both brothers waited as the ladies got out of the car. Haley James and Peyton Sawyer were arriving together in the same car, and they hadn't spotted them yet as they were talking about something.

Nathan was the first to walk towards them followed by a slightly taken aback Lucas, on approaching them Haley noticed and stopped walking with a beaming expression whilst Peyton's face slightly fell and her eyes became slightly bigger as she looked down.

"Isn't it a nice chance?" Nathan offered a smile at Haley, "That way we can go in together."

Haley laughed, "Hello, boys." She said and gave Nathan a look pointing with her eyes towards Peyton.

Nathan quickly recovered, "Hello, Ms. Sawyer, nice to meet you."

Peyton quickly looked up meeting his nice smile and she returned it, "Thank you, nice to meet you too. And also nice to know that at least one Scott has the tendency to good manners."

Her words dropped on Lucas like an ice bucket; he has been feeling guilty as it is, and to stop the guilt, he has told himself that she must have gotten over it, that it wasn't that bad, but who was he kidding? Of course not!

Haley cleared her throat, "Shall we get in?" she said cutting the awkward silence as they all agreed enthusiastically moving forward, all but Lucas who walked behind the three of them seeing his brother attempting to make conversation regarding the party and the attendants.

When inside, and they were being greeted by the older Campbell couple, small conversations were made, Mr. Campbell told them how he likes the ambition of young youth like themselves and how they don't let anything stop their success, not even in the hard times they are all going through with the war and everything, while Mrs. Campbell and her daughter Bevin, discussed their gowns and the latest fashion with Haley and Peyton who seemed more at ease having done this several times unlike Haley who was experiencing high-class society for the first time.

Once unhooked from social required talks, Haley and Peyton found themselves a spot, the newborn friendship was still testing its waters, but for the two times they have both been together at Bernice's finishing up their gown in the past week, they have grown to know more about each other and so far, they found it nice to be acquainted with each other, after all what can bring girls together more than sharing their honest thoughts about each other's dresses?

Both girls actually needed such a friendship being only surrounded by men. For the longest of time Peyton has known no other company than that of Dan and Julian, and even those aren't there all the time, like tonight, Dan said he'd catch up with her later, same goes for Haley who hasn't even made friends in Tree Hill until recently, and when she did it was all boys. They both needed such a nice girl-time.

"What was that you said outside?" Haley gushed once they were alone.

"I know, it just came out. He deserves it though." Peyton said the last sentence kind of testing the waters; she knew Haley was friends with the Scott boys and she didn't how she'd react to that; so far they have both avoided this topic.

Haley sighed, "I'm not going to defend him, you're right he was rude."

Peyton waited for her to continue and when she seemed hesitant she spoke, "But?" there was definitely a but.

Haley smiled, "But, he is actually a nice guy." She said softly, "I know he doesn't look like it to you right now, but he's one of the nicest people I have ever met."

Peyton shrugged, "He wasn't to me. So, we're talking about two different sides, almost two different persons."

"I know, I know, I'm not telling you to change your opinion of him… it's just…" she sighed and looked over at Peyton's green eyes to see her analyzing look; she was waiting for a disappointment, she was rooting for Haley choosing Lucas over her; and Haley knew Lucas was at fault, but she also knows that he is genuinely a good person and this situation was a misjudge of him, but then again, Lucas never tried to apologize to Peyton, and she isn't going to fight a battle for him if he doesn't even care about it, "He shouldn't have said that." Haley finally decided; which was fair enough.

Peyton nodded in agreement seemingly at peace with Haley's answer; she didn't expect her to go on bashing Lucas or anything, she just wanted her to be fair, and she was, in fact, this answer gives Haley more credit if anything, at least she is not a suck up or a kiss ass to anyone, and Peyton had her fair share of those her whole life.

"Do you need something to drink?" Haley asked after a while of silence.

"No, I'm good for now."

"Alright, I'll go catch a drink and be right back."

"Okay."

It wasn't twenty seconds later that Peyton felt Haley's presence next her once again, confused she turned around to ask why she was back so quickly, only, it wasn't Haley.

She stared with a frown for a while at Lucas Scott who just stood there staring back at her with his blue eyes opening and closing his mouth trying to find his voice. Rage started rising up inside her; how dare he just come up like that? She got ready to leave but once she turned around she felt a soft grip on her wrist stopping her.

"Hey," he said once she was beginning to leave; he has welled up the courage to come up to her to apologize and he wasn't just about to ruin it; who knows when he will gather it up once again? Even though, he's not even doing a good job at it, but he's sorry and he wants to let her know. "Can we talk?"

She raised her eyebrow and eyed his grip on her wrist and he immediately withdrew it not wanting to make the situation any worse, "No, we indeed can't."

"Can I talk then?"

"It's a free country." She shrugged and was about to leave again but he blocked her way with his body this time.

"To you. I want to talk to you." He specified. "Please, just a minute."

She said nothing but crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him challengingly with a raised eyebrow.

He couldn't help but notice how she tends to drop the lady-act as fast as the lightening when it comes to her temper, he noticed it in the two times they encountered before over the past month, and here she is again for the third time looking like she's ready to attack anytime her peace is being disturbed.

He took her not leaving nor speaking as his cue to speak and suddenly he panicked again and for a moment nothing came out until he saw her eyes roll indicating his chance is running away once again, "I'm sorry." He blurted out hurriedly and she raised her eyebrow again at him.

"Okay, is that it?"

"No, no, what I mean is, I was a jerk, and I was rude and I shouldn't have acted this way."

"Funny we agree on something." She said sarcastically. She was making it hard, he didn't expect it to be easy, but also didn't know how to deal with hard.

"You don't forgive me, do you?"

"I'm not sure forgiveness is what you need; I would argue it's manners and the ability to get to know someone before you go making assumptions and accusations."

She was taking it to a whole new level of hardness and he knew he deserved it, "Listen, I don't know why I did that, it's unlike me, I think it's the fact that I'm expecting a trick from Dan, but I swear by my mother I'm not like that especially not to girls."

"So, you're apologizing just because you were rude to a girl."

"What? No-"

"I think your minute is over, Mr. Scott."

"Peyton, please let me explain." He said stopping her from walking past him for the third time.

She stopped right next to him and turned her head towards his, tiptoed a little to get closer to his ear and spoke, "I think we should keep the formalities between us, or even better, keep nothing between us at all." She said as if scolding a child and then leaned back again offering him a small fake smile before attempting to leave again.

But for the fourth time he stopped her by taking a step backward, she looked up at him ready to unleash her anger but the smirk drawn on his face took her by surprise.

"Don't you think you're doing the same mistake as I did, Ms. Sawyer?" he asked with the smirk dancing on his lips earning a frown from her and when she didn't reply he continued, "You're judging me by one situation and refusing to get to know what's behind it."

"First of all, I never intended to get to know you, Mr. Scott, second of all, unlike you, this one situation was directed towards me, and I'm not by any means entitled to go through your reasons." She said with a fierce look challenging him and once again she had the upper hand, she was right, she doesn't have to listen to his reasoning.

But as he stood there close as he is to her, Lucas saw it in her eyes, the look that he has always found in Peyton Sawyer's eyes, for as long as he can remember, he has seen this look flicker through Peyton's eyes whenever he saw her from across the street or at his mother's café. He was never able to name it, but at this moment, he saw it clearly, it was the look of someone who's holding on to dear life, it wasn't hurt, sadness, or even desperation, but rather struggling.

"I'm so sorry, Peyton. I really am," he slightly nodded locking eyes with her intensely, "I'm sorry I judged and I'm sorry I hurt you, it was never my intention. And I don't want to cause you any more pain nor bother you."

Peyton frowned for a moment at the sincerity she found in both his voice and intense gaze; for a moment she was taken aback, she didn't understand the sudden shift from jerk Lucas to a sincere one and she wasn't prepared for it, she just set it in her mind that she's dealing with senseless jerk, and he has never shown otherwise until now.

"Then you should have said this in the first place." She muttered before finally leaving him alone and confused not knowing what she meant by what she said, and honestly, neither did she.

When Haley left Peyton to go get a drink, what she didn't know was that the two Scott brothers were both separately and secretly watching them, so unaware of his brother's destination, Nathan was glad when Lucas left him alone by the bar where Haley was heading, "You're craving my tasty cocktails, aren't you?"

Haley smiled and took a seat next to him, "Your drinks are unmistakably good yes, but I'm craving to know the story behind them more." She smirked.

"Well played," he saluted, "But, the solution is in your hands, just tell me the story behind you."

"Ah, I guess it has to stay this way then."

"Your call." He shrugged.

He has been really enjoying their game, they were mastering the art of bringing it up in any conversation somehow playing with the words to link it to their dare, and if he is honest, he finds that a clever trait that Haley acquires, she's smart and she knows how to get what she wants, but who says he is anything less? This dare has been keeping the excitement rate raising and they both knew that it will sooner or later reach a point where one of them would crack, Haley can't remember a time where she was having such fun, and seeing the dare is about her opening up about her background –something she would have never even joked about- it showed her just how she thinks of Nathan. For some reason, she finds him easy to talk to, quick to understand, he was funny and charismatic and for sure he owned some handsome features, and suits… they definitely suit him, thankfully he wears a lot of them. But sometimes Haley feels confused as to why his laugh warms her heart or why she thinks of his cocktails as her reward at the end of the day, nor why she specifically enjoys talking to him.

"I probably should get back to P- whoa, what's going on?" she started but then on turning around she was met by the sight of Lucas and Peyton standing face to face and seemingly having a heated conversation.

"Shit!" Nathan cursed following her gaze.

"What's he doing?" Haley exclaimed with a frown.

"He's apologizing."

"This is him apologizing? God, I wonder what he was like getting her pissed off in the first place!" she said seeing the smirk on Lucas' face that seemed to set Peyton off once again.

Nathan chuckled, "Do you think we should do something?"

"No," Haley shook her head, "Whatever he's doing he has to do it on his own."

"You're right."

"So, Haley James, when are we singing together?" Chris Keller made his presence announced with his confident voice and him blobbing don next Haley wrapping an arm around her shoulder with a smile.

"Ugh, back off, Chris." She said freeing herself from his grip.

He rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me you haven't taken the decision yet."

"I don't know…"

"Come on, why are you scared? I won't steal your thunder I promise."

"I'm not scared; I'm just not feeling it."

"Come on, Haley, you know it will be good; with your voice, my guitar, our hotness, boom greatness!"

To be honest, Haley was so close to actually agreeing to this, she knew Chris was talented and nobody said they will have to perform together, they will just work and see if something worthy comes out of it… it's just Chris' ego and attitude that was keeping her from saying yes.

"Don't you agree, Nate?" he asked Nathan who has been awfully quiet since his arrival.

"I told you I know nothing about music."

He rolled his eyes once again, "Come on, Haley, you're holding back greatness."

She sighed, "Tell you what, let's talk about this tomorrow at the club and see where it goes."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a 'we'll see', Chris."

"Hear that, Nate? She said yes!" Chris punched his shoulder, "I already have a bunch of ideas."

"We'll discuss this tomorrow."

"Awesome. Right decision, Hales. Right decision." He said and turned around and grabbed a drink for himself and for her to celebrate and toast their collaboration much to Nathan's dismay.

XxXx

Peyton was basically hiding at the far corner of the room with a drink in her hand; she knew Haley was looking for her a while ago, but she just wanted to stay hidden for the time being, she knew she probably saw her with Lucas and was going to ask how she was and what happened, well Peyton didn't want to answer those questions until she knows the answer.

All she knows is that she's uncomfortable, she's mad and she wanted to scream at Lucas Scott. She was fine with the idea of Lucas being a jerk, she was more than fine actually; it's what she's used to, yes nobody came as rude as Lucas did, but at least she knows they all think the same, and she's fine with it, Lucas Scott was just the first to voice it in her face, which gave her more reason to think of him as just another judgmental jerk like everyone else, and so far, he has been serving that rule very well, until he came on and ruined.

Peyton Sawyer has always been a person to communicate with her emotions, how she feels about something is what determines her decision, it has always worked for her, that's why she's so confident blocking people's opinions away and trusting what she knows to be true about Dan. And that's why she didn't hesitate to give Haley a chance to enter her life. Yes, she's still a closed door and being cautious, but still, she has never let anyone inside her circle other than Dan and occasionally Julian as much as she dislikes admitting it but Julian could be a friend. However, Haley had always given her the vibes of a lost soul; much like her. She knew they have similarities, and when she got a closer look she knew it's true.

On the other hand, the sincerity she heard in Lucas' voice earlier, disturbed her balance. He's not supposed to act that way, he's supposed to stay the way she's known of him and got comfortable about. He's not supposed to be nice, nor was he supposed to look at her the way he did; it made her violated, as if he's taking a look of something that's utterly and truly hers and that was private, he wasn't supposed to do that.

Lucas Scott wasn't supposed to give her the tiniest bit of hope that people aren't classified into pure jerks and pure nice.

"You know the glass could shatter any second under the pressure of your grip." She heard a comment snapping her out of her thoughts. "Brooke Davis." She introduced herself to her.

"I know. Peyton Sawyer."

"I know." Brooke smirked taking a sip of her own glass. "You've been hiding out here for a while."

Peyton looked at her with a blank face; she just didn't have the energy for someone else analyzing her. "I take it you're hiding too."

Brooke laughed, "See? We're so much alike. We're miserable, and misery loves company."

"What's it with people wanting to spend time with me today?"

"Maybe because you're rarely seen without Dan and trust me nobody wants to spend time with Dan."

At least she made sense.

"I saw you earlier with Lucas Scott."

"Yeah?" Peyton asked carelessly and took a gulp of her drink.

"Aha, you know I think he likes you."

Peyton almost spat the contents of her mouth out as Brooke laughed, "What did you say?"

"You heard me correctly; I said I think Lucas Scott likes you. I have seen him looking at you before, and trust me when I tell you I know Lucas Scott and how he looks."

"Okay, I get it, you think something is going on, trust me nothing is, in fact the exact opposite, he is –thankfully- all yours." Peyton knew that there was history between Lucas and Brooke, both of them are around her age and when they were teenagers, a romance that was undeniable flickered between the two of them, no matter how much they tried to hide it back then, but their secret meetings weren't so secretive after all.

Brooke however let out a loud laugh, "No, dear, this ship has sailed a long time ago. We're nothing more than friends. If you don't believe me fine, but sooner or later you'll find out I'm right."

Peyton shook her head with a sarcastic smile but didn't reply and instead changed the subject, "So, what made you miserable then?"

"Dan Shaw." She shrugged.

Normally Peyton would have rolled her eyes and snapped at the person trying to make accusations about Dan but there were two reasons she didn't this time, the first being the situation she had witnessed a part of earlier this month at Karen's and the way Brooke looked broken back then, and the second being she doesn't at all have the energy to defend or argue otherwise, sometimes she just let people think whatever they'd like to think.

"Aren't you going to defend him or ask why?"

Peyton shook her head, "I prefer to stay out of his business."

Brooke let out a laugh, "Honey, believe me wither you like it or not, you're right in the middle of his business."

"You seem to know a lot of stuff about me."

"I happen to." She side-smiled.

She shook her head once again, "Whatever,"

"I don't mean to upset you."

"You're not the first and certainly not the last."

"Am I the first to tell you how much I admire your gown then?" she said offering a smile. Somehow the conversation never took a sharp turn even though it's full of differences and ups and downs and agreements, all of it was said normally with no hard feelings.

"No, you're not." Peyton smiled, "But thank you."

"Where did you get it?"

"Bernice made it. It's my first time to deal with her though."

"I never did. But, apparently she knows what she is doing."

"Yeah, she is."

"Ah, I remember loving to go to a tailor." Brooke said gulping down her drink, "Now, I only sell my clothes." She said bitterly for the first time ever dropping her façade she's holding outside the walls of her house and letting someone know she has money problems.

Peyton was shocked to hear her say that, but she felt bad for her, really bad, it was no secret that Brooke Davis is broke, but she has kept her social appearance the same and tried to hold on to what's left of her dignity, so for her to drop it just like that and it's the first time they every speak to each other, it must be going really bad with her.

"You know the only thing that could have made this gown better is a white touch at the top." Brooke muttered and as soon as she said it Peyton imagined what she is saying and it instantly clicked; she was right, she has been wondering all along what's the missing piece, how couldn't she think of that? It was so obvious!

"You're absolutely right." Peyton gushed, "I don't know how I didn't think of it." She said and Brooke just looked at her as if she has grown another head; she didn't understand her outburst, "Maybe you can come with me the next time."

"What? Do you want a personal assistant? Honey, I'm not that desperate."

"No, no, that's not what I meant." Peyton rushed to deny, "I mean as a friend, and maybe you'd like to do something for yourself too… you know Bernice is surprisingly economical."

"We'll see about that." Brooke smiled appreciating the fact that Peyton didn't use the word cheap.

After that, none of the exchanged other words and they kept sipping next each other and looking at the people encountering in front of them, it was nearing midnight and people were getting even more excited for the approaching of countdown and partners looked forward to kiss each other.

Dan was still not there and Peyton was getting worried, but when she was told there's a call for her, she knew he wasn't coming. She excused herself from Brooke and went to answer the call and indeed her assumptions were correct. Peyton took another minute or so with herself in the dark room settling her inner debate that people are just the same and that nothing has changed just because one man came and apologized.

Satisfied with what she has decided, she went out to find people even more excited, it was a few minutes before the countdown and they had raised the radio loudly so they would listen when it starts, for the time being everybody was looking for people they wanted to be with when the new year starts.

Chaos was the only word she could describe it with and the main reason for it was a drunken Chris Keller who was overly excited jumping up and down and gathering people around him and together, Peyton found it stupidly funny but she just wanted to get out of the crowd and towards the balcony.

"Shh, everyone it's starting." Mr. Campbell announced with his loud voice and instantly everyone was alarmed including Chris Keller whose hyper state only got worse.

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And then everything happened so fast; Chris was jumping up and down with every count and Peyton was trying to find her way out of the crowd when Chris collided with her hardly causing her body to be threw to the right and fall only to be caught mid-air, her hands extended to hold onto the neck of whoever caught her with her head inches away from the ground. She opened her eyes to meet the intense blue ones of Lucas Scott who was kneeling down holding her body with his arms one gripping her waist and the other supporting her back. Neither of them moved shocked from what happened in the matter of two seconds as they just stayed gazing at each other's eyes.

3

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1

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Chris Keller yelled along with everyone and again jumped towards Haley instantly grabbing her face and kissing her on the lips.

"What the hell are you doing?" Haley exclaimed as she pulled away.

"Chill Hales, it's the New Year's vibes." He said trying to pull her in again, and that was the last thing a drunken Chris Keller said before developing a black eye due to Nathan's fist contacting his face in a strong punch.

Hello there, thank you so much for everyone who reads and especially reads and leaves a review it means so much to me, I hope you guys like the story as much as I do.

I just sat down and wrote the chapter all at once, I loved every minute of it, and I don't know about you guys but I kinda love Chris Keller haha, at least this version of him here.

Anyway, this chapter was basically all leyton and naley, we will get to see more of Brooke in the upcoming chapters, also other characters will start playing bigger rules :)

So, let me know what you think please, have a nice day :)