At some point between the summer nights where I stayed up way too late and the days where I was bored to death at work, some crazy AU South of Nowhere-fic blossomed. Set in a topsy-turvey world where Aiden and Ashley dated longer than in the series, and Spencer doesn't meet our favorite party girl until later.
(Also, Ash feeling badly for Madison?) I'm not sure what I was on when I wrote this, but I like it, whatever it is.
They had nothing to say to each other. Her voice had long since left her from yelling, and he was at a loss for words. The music from downstairs shook the floor of the tiny bedroom, and as someone yelled, the noise behind her escalated. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, a gesture that made her want to rip his arm off for every time he'd done it that night.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked. She knew he'd only say what she wanted to hear, so she thought about the perfect response. She came up blank; the only words popping into her mind involved very creative use of the words "pregnancy test" and the suggestion of trying to do other anatomically impossible things.
She sat down on the bed and glared at him when he made a move to sit with her. If looks could kill, he would have been dead at least ten times over that night. She thought about the past four months and resisted the urge to throw up at the now-realized fake happiness.
"There's nothing you can do. Not for me anyway. Go over there and help her."
"I'm not going to leave you here." His pathetic attempt at chivalry fell short of anything that could impress her.
"It's better you leave me here than leave her alone with… that."
She wasn't entirely sure what that was. Was it the thought of what he'd done to the girl, was it the fact that she had to face her extremely Catholic parents like that, or was it the life itself growing inside of the girl's body when she was probably all alone inside her bathroom, crying her eyes out. It was then that she made a decision that would ruin everything.
"I slept with Spencer," she lied.
Immediately her boyfriend's eyes changed and a shadow fell over his face. He was no longer sorry or embarrassed that he had cheated on the girl he claimed to love, but his emotions swung in a different direction: unchained rage. She steeled herself for his reaction, but he kept himself in check, barely able to keep the growl out of his voice.
"You swore on your father that you didn't!" He was shaking from the effort of containing his anger.
She leaned back on the bed and smirked, trying to keep the tears from forming in her eyes as she made sure the hem of her shirt rode up above her navel piercing. "I lied," she said simply.
"You're disgusting," he spat. His works marked her, but she didn't let it show and she cocked an eyebrow.
"I only did as much as you did. Oh, wait, no," she slapped on a look of mock surprise. "Nobody got pregnant when I did it."
"At least I'm not some freak!"
"Oh honey, I beg to differ. I mean, don't you even remember last week?" She grinned.
"That's not what I mean and you know it. I mean, I'm normal, I'm sleeping with girls."
"Oh would you look at that? So am I." Her throat closed up as she said the last three words, and she struggled to maintain her composure; otherwise he'd see right through her haphazard façade.
"I'd rather be a father at seventeen that a fag."
She swallowed, reminding herself that it was better this way, that she was the one who put herself in this position and that it was the right thing to do. None of these things brought her any comfort whatsoever.
"You should go see her. Be with her, since that's obviously what you wanted from the beginning," she spat, all her anger at herself now redirected towards him.
"Fine, just don't think that you can ever talk to me again. You're a freak, Ashley, and you're going to pay for it in one way or another." He threw the last words over his shoulder as he left the room and headed downstairs to rejoin the party. The minute the door closed, Ashley rushed to the bathroom and threw up everything she'd eaten in the past few hours, not even slightly thankful that the alcohol was finding its way out of her system. She sat on the floor, trying to calm her shaking body, when she realized that she was in the same position she'd envisioned Madison in just minutes earlier. She tried to stand up, but only managed to get herself sitting on the toilet, clutching the sink for support.
After a few more minutes, she hauled herself up and rinsed her mouth of the foul taste of bile, beer and chips. S he knew that the entire party would now know what had happened, or at least Aiden's version of it, and that meant that she couldn't go back downstairs. She splashed some cold water on her face and wrists in an effort to wake herself up, and moved back into the bedroom, looking around for an escape route. She found that one of the windows had a conveniently placed tree next to it and pulled up the screen, climbing out backwards.
As she got her legs onto a branch, a trio consisting of one guy and two very drunk girls slammed the door open, laughing. They didn't notice her as she lost her footing in surprise, and they fell onto the bed. Fighting to urge to vomit again, she slowly lowered herself to the ground and sat at the base of the tree. She rolled her eyes as she heard a groan and a body sit up next to her.
"Jesus Christ, go pass out somewhere-" she stopped as she recognized who was sitting next to her: Spencer Carlin.
The blonde grinned good-naturedly and looked at Ashley.
"I didn't actually make plans to pass out anywhere tonight, but as it is, I guess my sleeping annoyed you?"
Ashley was thankful for the darkness as her cheeks flushed. "I, uh, I just assumed that you were drunk."
She quickly remembered that she had a reputation to uphold and smirked. "What, are you going for sainthood or something?"
"Not intentionally, but 'Saint Spencer' does sound pretty good to me," the girl yawned. "Of course, that would just ruin the dreams of so many people."
Ashley remembered the lie she'd told Aiden and felt her stomach clench in an unrecognizable emotion. Spencer wasn't gay, but if Aiden was pissed enough, that wouldn't matter.
"I uh, I gotta go," she said, a little louder than she'd meant to.
Spencer tilted her head to the side and Ashley caught herself wondering if she could turn her lie to the truth, given enough time.
"Fuck," she muttered. "Look," she said to the girl, "I'm kinda hungry, do you think maybe you'd want to get something to eat?"
Spencer smiled in a way that made Ashley wonder if the girl might be into her; on the other hand, it was probably wishful thinking.
"Sure, do you have a place in mind?"
Ashley grinned; this was perfect. If people saw them together, maybe Spencer wouldn't wonder about the rumors sure to spread on Monday.
"Yeah, I bet I can think of something."
She fixed everything, right? So why did she have a feeling that this was going to get even more complicated?
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