A/N: New Story! Please Enjoy and Comment! ;) ;) ;)
"Yeah, Em, I know right? I've always wondered what Ezra and Aria do with all that money they make from book writing, and now their getting married." Twenty-three year old Hanna Marin grips her steering wheel a bit tighter, phone pressed up to one ear as she drives through a particularly bad neighborhood, at night, of the New York City streets. "Well, eloping, but still. I'm so happy for those two...they deserve it." The blonde sighs sadly at her own lack of a love life.
On the other line— her best friend of many, many, years must have picked up on the tone and changes the subject. "So, how's the career going, Han?" The ex-swimmer and now coach, questions with actual interest.
At this, Hanna's spirits promptly spring up. "Oh!" She smiles brightly...which seemed completely out of place in this environment with its thrown over trash cans, dead animals in the road, and horrible decor. It could stand to use a little lightening up. "Em, it's so much better since I opened up the store. Business is going great!"
"That's great, Han."
"Mhm, mhm. And not only that, but I'm thinking about hiring some new employees— I mean, Samara and Charlotte are great, but I think a few more faces would do us some good for all of the customers coming in."
"True, that's a good call Hanna." The ex-swimmer grins, she was so proud of her friend. "But why you had to go and hire my ex and Alison's psycho of a step-sister, I have no idea."
"Oh, shush, you know you love Cece. And she loves you 'Americano'."
The brunette scoffs, rolling her eyes as she leans up against her kitchen sink, before sighing wistfully and closing her eyes.
Her friend had been living up her fashion dreams in New York City for the last couple of years— and though it was saddening at first, seeing as she had just up and left them behind in Rosewood...well, now she didn't think any of them could be any happier.
Not only was she finally pursuing her own dream of coaching swimming at the high school, but she had finally-
"Baby...are you coming to bed, yet?" A light and seductive...almost amused voice calls from the bedroom, and the swimmer's eyes instantly snap open.
"Be right there, babe!" She shouts, placing her hand over the receiver of the phone.
"I won't wait for long, Emily..." A bright red, lacy bra is thrown out of the bedroom— under the extremely watchful eye of the brunette, who immediately zeroes in on a tress of blonde hair walking back into the room slowly.
"O-okay, Hanna. I'm going to have to let you go, I-I have...a uh, thing." She stutters with urgency, not even bothering to make it seem believable...her mind was focused elsewhere.
Yep, that was right. Emily Fields had finally gotten the girl of her dreams.
Miles away, Hanna could easily hear everything on the other line and rolls her eyes. "God, you two are like energizer bunnies, this is not the first you've had a 'uh, thing'. Okay, fine, go." She groans, and doesn't have to do much more than that before there's a click, signaling her friend had hung up on her.
Rolling her eyes once more, she had to admit a bit bitterly, she just wish she had a love life of her own to be proud of...sure her career was going great, but what was anything if you didn't have anyone to share it with?
The blonde takes the phone away from her ear and places it onto her front seat before scowling and wondering just how far it was until she could be out of this horrible neighborhood-
*Sceeeeeez
She frowns. "What the h*ll was-"
*Sceeeeeeeeeeez *Pop
The 2016 Volvo XC90 she was driving in suddenly jerks her body to the side, and then upwards before stopping completely with a dull plop.
"..."
Glancing around at her surroundings, the blonde notes no one else around and quickly picks up her phone.
She'd be d*mmed if anyone thought she was getting out this car tonight, the young woman makes sure all her doors are locked before beginning to redial her best friend's cell number.
...but after a few rings, she's hit with the voicemail.
"Ugh! You've got to be kidding." She complains, dropping her head against the steering wheel to think.
Well, she could call Aria...but she was probably busy with wedding things and Ezra. And of course, she already knew what Alison was up to.
That meant that all of her friend's were too busy caught up in each other, while she wasn't caught up in...well, anyone.
"You know, what? Screw them." The blonde says to herself frustratedly. "I mean none of them live here anyway, the best they could do is call a towing company. Maybe I could do this myself."
And with a new jolt of confidence and stubbornness, she opens up the car door without thinking twice, and jumps out of the vehicle before she could second guess herself.
"Now lets see..." She walks to the front of the car which she had been expecting would be...yep, it was smoking.
And the blonde was far from a mechanic.
Confidence, along with stubbornness dropping, she whips out her cell phone once more— this time determined to get in touch with whatever engineering company was closest by.
...though, in doing this, the blonde had momentarily forgotten where she was.
On a New York City street.
In a bad neighborhood.
Alone.
At night.
Distracted, she hadn't noticed a pale hand steadily reaching out from behind her and placing it over the device-
"Ah!" Doing the first, and only thing she knew how, Hanna screams in terror while attempting to hit her purser with her purse that she had brought with her from the car.
The stranger jumps back, startled. "N-No! H-hey, hey!" They have their hands out in front of them as a surrendering method to the blonde's 'attack'.
-but Hanna doesn't though, too caught up in the fact that she too was taken by surprise and continues.
...well, that was until the stranger in front swiftly seizes the bag from her hands and holds it out in front them.
Hanna shakes in fear.
"Hey! I-I said st-stop it." The stranger stutters, stepping closer a bit into the street light...and that's when the blonde truly opens her eyes.
"..."
Standing in front of her was a teenager for sure, a young girl, and not just any young girl— she was beautiful.
Well, sure she had a bit of dirt on her cheek and forehead. And yeah, her all darkened colored clothes weren't exactly the blonde's favorite, but...the brunette somehow made it work.
"Wh-what are you d-doing o-out here? Y-you're not from a-around here a-are you?" The girl finally asks, breaking their silence.
But something told Hanna, the stranger already knew the answer to that.
She slowly shakes her head, crossing her arms insecurely over her chest at the brunette's scrutinizing stare.
She had no idea why she was feeling all warm all of a sudden underneath the girl's gaze.
"L-listen. I-I wasn't t-trying to take your t-things or an-anything. I was try-trying to warn you." The brunette slowly looks down at the purse she was holding, and sticks her arm out to hand it back to the blonde beauty in front of her.
Hesitating for a second, Hanna slowly reaches out a hand to take it— and she does, but not without her fingers brushing against the other girl's first...she wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she heard the brunette's breath hitch.
...because, she knew her own heart had skipped a beat in that moment.
Was it even possible to meet your soul mate, and for them to be a complete stranger?
Bringing the bag back to her side, and scanning the brunette's features once more she realized that this girl was pretty petite— though she still had a couple of inches on her and looked as if she could hold her own.
The blonde suddenly thinks back to an old article she had read that very morning about a poor little girl's kidnapping in LA, and a shiver runs down her spine.
There was just no way she could trust this stranger.
But...
"Wait, you said you were warning me? Warning me about what?"
"W-Well M-Miss, this is a b-bad neighborhood, y-you see." The girl gestures around, wincing at her words.
...and Hanna finds herself feeling sorry for her, along with curiosity at why the brunette couldn't seem to shake her stutter.
"Are you cold?" She suddenly blurts out without thinking. Almost, causing the girl in front of her to jump back a step. "I-I mean...just how long have you been out here...?" The blonde purposely trails off, awaiting a name.
The stranger peers down at her strangely, as if she was deciding on whether or not to trust the blonde with even that.
Hanna clears her throat. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to..." She bites her lip, not used to awkward silences.
"T-too long."
The brunette softly breaks the silence, with equally as quiet words— the wind swishing through her ears now, it was getting even harder for Hanna to hear her.
"What?" The blonde questions, moving closer to this stranger without even thinking about it.
The girl gives her a long stare for some reason...then shifts her gaze down to the ground. "Y-you asked, h-how long...I-Its been t-too l-long." She stutters, fiddling with her fingers.
Hanna frowns. What did that mean?
"Wh-" The blonde's cut off, when her car starts steaming more, the hood jumping as if something was desperately trying to get out from the inside.
And she finds herself jumping at the sudden loud racket, even closer to the taller girl...as if she had been counting on the brunette to protect her.
From the corner of her eye, she sees the stranger give her a brief confused glance, but she skillfully avoids it.
"D*mmit." She complains instead, attempting to walk toward the Volvo— but a tentative hand on her shoulder stops her.
Looking curiously over her shoulder, she meets warm pools of brown with her eyebrows raised.
"D-Don't. I-Its not safe. L-let me." The stranger suggests. "M-My s-step brother w-was a mech-mechanic." She begins to walk over.
And Hanna's eyebrows raise even higher. "Why?" She couldn't help but ask. "What's in it for you?" She crosses her arms over her chest— and watches as the brunette hesitates at lifting her hood up, and glances over at her.
She almost looked as if she were thinking as she tilts her head to the side, that, or she was trying to understand what language she was speaking.
Either way, the blonde curses herself for thinking it was so darn cute.
"U-Um..." The brunette looks almost nervous to ask. "M-May I m-make a ph-phone call?" She gestures towards the woman's purse.
And manners too...
Hanna wonders where this girl came from, her backstory, and most importantly— what she doing out, alone, in this type of neighborhood anyways? She wasn't the only one that looked like she didn't belong.
She softens her gaze, giving this stranger the first of many smiles she hoped were yet to come...she was going to get to know this girl if it was the last thing she did.
"Sure...but you're totally going to fix my car, right?" Truthfully, she would have let the young girl use her phone either way, but still.
She receives a small confirmed nod in response, before the girl starts getting to work.
"Spencer." The brunette suddenly speaks without looking up, but successfully snapping Hanna out of whatever daze she was in at seeing the tall girl working on her car.
"What?" The blonde's eyebrows furrow in bewilderment at the sudden label.
Briefly pausing at her work, the stranger glances up at her and Hanna feels her heart speed up at the look in her eyes as she scans her over.
"My name, its Spencer."
The girl, well Spencer, doesn't provide a last name— and Hanna suddenly decides she doesn't need one. Not yet, at least.
"Hanna." She responds, in the same tone, and without the last name.
At this, an automatic small smirk seems to make its way to the brunette's face— and for a moment she almost looks confused, as if she hadn't done it awhile, or wondering why she was doing it now. Still, she gives her another small nod before getting back to work.
Hanna feels her own smile begin to blossom about.
There was just something about this girl— like there was another side to her, a side that was lost.
And maybe the blonde could be the one to find it.
...
"So, who'd you call?" Hanna can't help but question as she watches Spencer hang up the phone and promptly hand it back to her.
True to her word, the brunette had fixed her car's issue, and the blonde had been sitting patiently on its front seat while the taller girl walked a couple of paces away in order for some privacy.
...and for some reason, Hanna had found herself not watching over her shoulder every five seconds and worrying if the young girl would attempt to run off with it.
"Um...n-no one im-important." The brunette was back to stuttering again, tucking her hands in the back pockets of her jeans as she stood between the blonde and the driver's side door.
Hanna frowns. A part of her wanting Spencer to at least trust her even a little bit...
But then again, she thinks to herself, maybe the girl had already done that when she made the decision to come up and talk to her.
"O-oh." She finds her own self stuttering.
Pause.
"W-Well, I guess y-you should g-go. I-Its g-getting l-l-lat-." The brunette frustratedly closes her eyes at not being able to complete her sentence.
And Hanna's actually surprised she had taken her eyes off of her, because the brunette hadn't since they met a couple of hours ago, not really. The blonde didn't know if that was towards the fact that she didn't think she could trust her or that she just didn't want to take her eyes off her.
Something told her the former was probably a more accurate insight though.
Snapping herself out of her thoughts, the blonde notes that the brunette still hadn't opened her eyes...and slowly, yet cautiously placed a gentle hand on her forearm.
Just to get her attention... is what she tells herself.
Spencer's eyes immediately snap open to meet hers.
"Hey, do you um...need me to take you home or something?" She questions, truly concerned for the girl to have to walk the streets at the time of night.
But at the inquiry— the tall girl abruptly backs away a few steps, causing the blonde's hand to drop away from her. Unbeknownst to either of them, both missed the touch instantly.
"Uh..." Spencer raises one hand to scratch the back of her neck. "I-I don't...I-I mean..." The brunette tries to give her look of understanding, one Hanna doesn't catch at all.
"Well?"
"U-um, I-I'm fine." The young girl settles with, hoping the pretty blonde in front of her would just get the hint and leave it.
She doesn't.
"Spencer, no way am I going to just let you wander New York City streets alone at night. It's not safe." Hanna justifies, in an attempt to get the brunette to listen to her. "Anyways, you're a complete stranger who fixed up my car that probably would have cost me half my life savings to fix in exchange for a phone call, it's the least I can do. Now come on and hop in." She gestures around the car to the passenger side, not really giving the girl in front of her a choice, before starting the car up and reaching over to close the driver's side door.
...but, before she could.
"Y-you don't u-understand." Spencer's hand suddenly shoots out, abruptly stopping the door in its process of closing.
The blonde looks up at her with both eyebrows raised.
"L-listen, I-I don't want to bother y-you...er...H-Hanna. I just-I-I think you sh-should go home. G-goodnight..." She offers the pretty woman, that she would probably never see again, a small genuine smile before turning away and beginning to take long-strides the opposite w-
"Wait!" Loud footsteps could be heard coming from close behind her, and she stops.
She could not believe that this woman was wearing heels and chasing after her. A stranger. A nobody...a home-
"Spencer. Wait." Hanna seemed to be already out of breath as she reached her, turning her around. "Where are you going? Kid, I seriously can't let you walk home at this time. If I have to ride behind or beside you with my headlights on while you walk, I will." The blonde crosses her arms over her chest, a stubborn look on her features.
And Spencer almost smiles at the action.
"Don't underestimate me, I know we don't really...know each other, but ask anyone who does know me. They'll tell you." She lifts her chin, though her eyes skip over the brunette's own as if she wasn't as sure as the words coming out of her mouth were.
Spencer suspected the blonde thought she would try and run away from her at any given moment.
And honestly, yeah...the taller girl had weighed her options.
"You-you r-really don't kn-know yet, do you?" She inquires curiously instead, how hadn't this magnificent being in front of her realized it by now.
...maybe the people who knew her would also tell her that the blonde was as equally oblivious as she was beautiful.
"Know what?" She watches the woman frown in her confusion.
So sighing, the brunette looks at the ground underneath her before glancing back up at the blonde steadily.
"I...I-I'm homeless, M-Miss..."
A/N: Duh, Duh, Duh...read what happens next in the next chapter, up soon. I have already written four and half more chapters of this so...Favorite. Follow. Review. ;) Thanks for reading!