A Weird Valentine's Day

Spencer spots Toby in an empty alleyway and decides to follow him in there, giving in to her curiosity and ready to ask questions. However the conversation they have is not what she expects.

A/N: So this is a Spoby one-shot that I wrote since Valentine's Day is coming up. It's not something big but I do hope you enjoy it anyway.
In this, Toby's mother is deceased since I have no idea what happened to his parents in PLL. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day. Just another excuse for girls to get pampered with gifts and flowers. Spencer didn't quite grasp the whole concept. What was so special about one day where boys had to waste their money on their girlfriends?

The brunette shook her head and continued on down the quiet streets of Rosewood. She spotted two children walking on the path across her, enjoying chocolate flavoured ice cream on the hot and humid afternoon. One child dropped their ice cream onto the grey pavement and began to sob quietly. The other child – still holding his ice cream – patted his friend on the shoulder and pushed his ice cream towards her.

"We can share!" Spencer heard him say.

She couldn't help but smile warmly at the interaction. Toby Cavanaugh had just emerged from the florist, a bunch of roses held lightly in his right hand. He, too, smiled at the two children and began walking away from the flower shop, his roses still in hand. As the children's parents came out from the bakery a few shops down, they spotted Toby heading towards their very direction and ushered their kids to cross the road quickly. You could hear their harsh whispers and disappointing stares.

"He's coming this way."
"C'mon , hurry across the road."
"Why are we running away from that guy, Mum?"
"Is he the bad one you told us about?"

Spencer watched as the Cavanaugh boy's smile disappeared and his mood turned into one of sadness and frustration.

Toby picked up his pace and disappeared into an alleyway within seconds, Spencer trailing right behind him. She hid behind the bakery building and peered into the abandoned area that Toby had run into. Hidden behind a rubbish dumpster was Toby, leaning against the wall crying quietly. Only one would be able to hear the small cries that escaped his lips if they were listening hard enough. A small tear trailed down his cheek as he stared up into the sky subconsciously, trying his best to keep another cry from escaping.

He was thinking. That's all Spencer knew for sure. She could tell by the look on his face; where the eyes didn't quite meet the expression on the rest of his face. Hell she practically invented that look. She thought about walking away – she really did, but what possessed her to walk forward and make her presence known was unclear.

"Hi," she said weakly, a tight smile on her face.

Toby looked up, but no words left his lips. There was a brief silence before Spencer spoke again.

"Mind if I join you?"

She knew it was weird, asking to join the person that probably killed her best friend. Still, she wasn't afraid. And she had a gut feeling a murderer wouldn't have cried in an empty corner because of what people thought of him.

Toby nodded, still unable to speak. She nodded back slowly and sat down, making sure he didn't change his mind. It began to grow quiet again and Spencer didn't know what to say. She was mute, still wondering why she wanted to sit with him in the first place.

"Why are you here?" Words finally formed into his mouth as he spoke them with uncertainty.

"Wel – I was going for a walk and I saw you walk in here after the parents ca–"

"I mean, why are you here? Sitting next to me."

Spencer went mute. It was a question she didn't have the answer to. In other words, she didn't know. And Spencer Hastings always knew.

"Did you kill Ali?" She grimaced as the question slipped out. That certainly wasn't the question she was planning to ask.

Toby didn't look at her and stared straight ahead at the grey brick walls that made up one side of the Rosewood bakery. "Would you believe me if I said no?"

She bit her lip. Would she? Toby nodded slowly at her silence and prepared to leave.

"Wait."

Toby stopped as she called out and waited for her to say something else.

"I… wouldn't know if I'd believe you or not." She said hesitantly. "It's just kind of hard to trust people these days."

He sat back down and sighed heavily. "No kidding."

She noticed the roses lying on the ground next to him. "Nice flowers."

He glanced beside him and picked them up. "They're for my mum. I was planning to visit her today at the cemetery. Talk to her, you know, about things that people accuse me for. She wouldn't have judged me whether I did it or not."

"People think I'm a monster," he started to say. "Toby Cavanaugh, the monster that killed Alison Di Laurentis. Everyone in this town hates me and never fails to mention it when they get the chance. I'm the guy that can't be trusted with anything and should disappear for everyone's sake."

"I'm sure not everyone thinks of you that way."

Toby scoffed. "Oh yeah? Children take off whenever they see me. Other people cross over to the other side of the road just so they don't have to face me. Parents and school students bad mouth me whenever they have the chance. Don't think of me as stupid Spencer, I see things."

Spencer didn't argue. What he said was true. It was hard to ignore the whole town's hatred for him. Even she said a few bad things about him. Although it seemed like she hated him in her friends' perspectives, she pitied him. It's hard for a teenage boy to tackle on the whole world by himself.

Toby could see gears whirling in the girl's head as he watched her intently.

"You don't have to throw a pity party for me, Spencer. And I know you don't fully trust me but I am sorry for whatever I did that made you and your friends hate me. I know it may seem like I have intentions of hurting you and your friends but trust me, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. You can choose not to believe me but you're one of the few people that could understand me, which is why I'm telling you these things."

He concluded his big speech and stood up, stating a silent leave. Before he left, he pulled out a rose from the bunch and handed it to her.

"Here."

Spencer extended her hand slowly with a questioning look, her fingers slightly grazing over his as she took the delicate piece of flora from him.

"What's this for?"

He turned around and gave her a smile. "It's Valentine's Day, isn't it?"

With that, he left as quietly as he came, leaving Spencer to mould over her thoughts and the slight flutter in her stomach. She twisted the rose in her left hand and smiled.

So this is why people celebrate Valentine's Day.

A/N: So… that's it! Please leave a review; I'd love to know what you think about always, thanks for reading! X

Shameless promoting: I wrote a Haleb one-shot as well called Letters. Please check it out if you haven't already :) Thank you!