A/N: This is going to have several more chapters. I'm not sure how many yet.
It's going to be kind of a rewrite of the show episode by episode and I'll certainly make a few changes as I see fit.
Please let me know if you like it! :)
The title is taken from the incredible song 9 Crimes by Damien Rice;
Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be thinking of you
Hope you enjoy!
Spencer is one of the few people who are looking forward to school for reasons other than seeing their friends.
Summer is drawing to a close and things are starting to look up for her. She's had a lot of really, really good days lately, and finally she can start concentrating on school and field hockey again. She knows none of her friends would ever understand but she needs something to focus on, especially after the year she's had. After the year they've all had, she should say, but then again they don't talk about it (or at all).
Still, there's three days left before school starts again and now that her internship at the mayor's office is over, she's having trouble finding things to do. She spends an entire day putting the finishing touches on the living room in the barn, another one at the club playing tennis. On her last day of summer break, she finally decides to drive up to the mall. She could use a new outfit for the dinner her family is having tonight to welcome Melissa's new fiancé. Maybe some back to school clothes will help with her boredom.
Of course she runs into Hanna and, after some small talk about how they spent their summer and why they're at the mall, the topic of Alison's disappearance is unavoidable. It hangs over their heads like a heavy cloud waiting to rain, always there and ready to remind them that they're connected, no matter how much time and effort they invest into not talking to each other. But on a day like this, it's impossible to steer the conversation away from it. Hanna says what both of them are thinking.
"I can't believe it's been a year."
Neither can she. She can't believe it's only been a year since her group of friends drifted apart. She can't believe it's only been a year since she started looking the other way when one of them looked in her direction. A year ago, none of them would've guessed just how much Ali going missing would destroy their group dynamic. Aria is off somewhere in Iceland and after a few uncomfortable E-mails at the beginning of the school year, they stopped talking to each other. She can barely remember the last time she had an actual conversation with Emily and while she and Hanna might still smile at each other from across the room, they're not exactly friends anymore either. The only time she sees what they've been up to is when they change their Facebook status. That's how she found out about Hanna and Sean, about Emily becoming captain of the swim team and about how "Aria Montgomery is now using Facebook in Icelandic", meaning her friend who used to flunk Spanish class is now at least proficient in an entirely different language. She wonders if the other girls find this development in their friendship as sad as she does.
Thankful doesn't begin to describe what she's feeling when Hanna changes the topic to clothes. She helps her pick out a really pretty purple top and says outshining Melissa at the family dinner would be fun. For a moment Spencer desperately wants their friendship back. Hanna might've lost a few pounds and upgraded her wardrobe but she's still the nice girl who would always listen to you when you needed her to. But this is not the moment to dwell on the past so she just thanks the girl, makes an excuse about having to get home for the family dinner (which isn't a complete lie) and takes off for the nearest register to pay for the top.
Back home, she's forced to park two houses over because her sister's car is in the driveway, where Spencer usually parks. As she's dropping her bags off in her room, she sees Melissa and a tall guy with brown hair – the new fiancé presumably – disappear into the barn. She hasn't talked to her sister in a while and she's curious to see what Melissa has to say about what she's done with the barn. Meeting the new fiancé before dinner will probably take some of the awkwardness out of that, too, so she decides to go downstairs and check.
Melissa is coming out of the barn just as Spencer closes the door to the kitchen.
"Hey! What do you think?" Spencer asks, arms crossed in front of her chest. She tries her best to sound friendly, but she usually has trouble keeping the competitive edge out of her voice around Melissa. Spencer wants to laugh at her sister's outfit – a beige dress, a white cape (really?) and a big black headband. She wonders if her sister knows how overdressed she looks, even for dinner at the Hastings'.
Both of them walk a few more steps towards each other. "You have an eye for design. I absolutely love it!"
Caught off guard by the compliment, Spencer utters a shocked "thank you" before her sister continues.
"Honestly, when mom said you were converting the barn to a loft, I couldn't see it. But it's beautiful. Job well done."
"I'm glad you like it," Spencer answers, knowing her sister expects her to say something along those lines.
"And I totally appreciate you letting us move in," the smile fades from Spencer's face.
"What?" Of course, this would explain why her sister is showering her with compliments.
"Wren and I are staying in the barn while we re-do my place in the city," Melissa's voice practically oozes with a sense of entitlement and she gives Spencer a big, satisfied, fake smile.
"No, I'm moving in for junior year, Melissa. That's the deal that I made with mom and dad – I got the grades, I did the internship, I gave up my summer because I wanted this," she tries to stay calm, to not give her sister the satisfaction of seeing her upset, but the anger in her voice is obvious.
"Well, you'll just have to wait."
"Why can't you stay in my room?"
"We're a couple, Spencer. We need our own space and mom and dad agree," her sister says, looking smug. Of course her parents would side with Melissa. They always do. She hates her sister. She really, really does.
The brown haired guy she saw earlier is now rapidly approaching them. He's wearing a blue V-neck sweater and beige pants, the perfect outfit to compliment her sister's country club worthy dress and cape. Spencer decides to ignore him for now.
"But they promised me!"
Her sister makes an exasperated sound, almost like a laugh, as if Spencer is being outrageous. It takes her a second to calm herself down enough to not slap Melissa across the face. This is so typical.
That's the moment Mr. Perfect (her parents told her he's a med student) decides to make himself known.
"Is everything okay?" he asks, looking back and forth between them. His british accent and that smile are hard to miss, even in her current state of anger. Melissa touches his arm possessively.
"I'm Wren." Spencer doesn't know how to react. Her mouth slightly agape, she stares at both of them. Her sister, now holding onto Wren's arm, seems to think this is the time to end the conversation.
"I was hoping you'd be happy for me," she declares, a downright evil smile playing on her lips while Wren just looks a bit lost.
"Well, you know what they say about hope – it breeds eternal misery," quickly, she turns away from the couple and storms back inside. She's still fuming when she enters the kitchen.
A cup of coffee sounds good to her right now, so she makes herself one and decides that she'll spend the hour she has left before dinner finishing To Kill a Mockingbird, the first book of the year her English class is going to read.
It's moments like these when being an only child sounds very appealing to her.
...
Halfway through the chapter where Scouts class discusses democracy, her father knocks on her door.
"Dinner will be ready in 10, Spence," he says from within the doorframe, scrutinizing her attire of a simple plaid skirt and a sweater. "You might want to change." Without waiting for a response, he turns around and closes the door behind him.
Spencer sighs as she puts her book down on her nightstand. She looks over to her desk where she left the top she bought earlier in the bag it came in. Taking attention away from Melissa suddenly sounds like a great idea and she decides to wear it. She picks out some dark jeans and heels to go with it and looks herself over in the mirror. She has to admit, the purple top looks great on her. Noticing how messy her hair looks piled on top of her head, she takes out the clip that was holding it up and lets it fall down in loose waves around her face. Finally, after one last look in the mirror, she makes her way downstairs.
She stops in her tracks a few feet away from the table.
It looks like it's been set with great care and lots of family silverware. Spencer rolls her eyes without even meaning to. Her family never eats together unless they have a guest to impress.
When she looks up, she finds Wren smiling at her from across the room.
"Does your family always make such a big deal about dinner?" he asks, walking around the table to find the place card –place card! – with his name on it.
"No, usually not. They probably want to scare you off," she smiles at him. Spencer finds her seat easily and sits down. Wren sits down across from her.
"Well, if those were their intentions, they succeeded. I'm a little nervous. Is there anything I should know about your parents before I meet them?" he looks at her and laughs.
"You'll be fine. They'll love you – fancy British accent, posh clothes and all bright smiles!" She's relieved when he laughs.
"You forgot about med student – that's probably a good thing to mention as well," it's her turn to laugh now. Their conversation is interrupted when Melissa enters the room.
"Hey!" She says, the fakeness obvious in her voice and smile. "What were you two talking about?" she sits down next to Wren and shoots Spencer an angry look.
"We were just sharing some strategies with which I can impress your parents," Wren says, smiling at Melissa briefly before grinning at Spencer. "Your sister said they'd love me. Let's hope she's right."
Melissa looks back and forth between them like she's suspicious. Wren probably doesn't have many reasons to laugh around her.
Finally her parents walk down the stairs and sit down at the table. Both Spencer and Melissa look relieved to escape the tense conversation.
Just before Wren gets up to greet her parents, he winks at Spencer. She checks to see if Melissa is watching them (she's not) before smiling in return. As a second thought she quickly mouths "good luck" and winks back.
She spends the entire dinner thinking about why a guy that's so charming and funny would ever want to date, not to mention marry, her sister.
...
She's sitting outside on the porch reading after dinner when Wren walks out of the barn and towards her. He takes a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his back pocket and lights one. She pretends to be absorbed in her book for a few more second before she looks up at him over it.
"Shouldn't you know better? Since we've already established that you're a med student…"
"You're a bit of a smartass!" They both laugh. If he thinks she's a smartass, he clearly hasn't spent enough time with her sister.
"A bit?" She smiles at him and shrugs while raising a brow. They look at each other for a moment before she breaks eye contact and focuses her eyes on the book. "Does my sister know you smoke?" She asks absentmindedly while turning a page.
It's his turn to shrug. "Does she have to know everything?"
Surprised by his answer, Spencer looks up at him. For several seconds they just stare at each other before Spencer looks down, amused. He takes another step towards her.
"I'm sorry that we're moving into your loft," he looks sincerely sorry. She wonders again where the hell her sister found him. "If you want me to say something…"
"It wouldn't make a difference," she says, contemplating how to go on, "But thank you for being sorry." Once again they look at each other, smiling. Spencer sits up, bending the corner of the page she's on to mark how far she's read.
"You're not like Melissa's usual boyfriends," She says quietly, stroking the spine of the paperback she's holding to avoid looking at him.
He laughs again. "How am I unusual?" Spencer looks at him, uncertain how to respond. She gets up.
"It's late. I should go," she walks in his direction and stops right next to him. "I actually like you. That's what's unusual," smiling, she walks past him.
Just as she's about to open the door to the kitchen, she hears him call her name. Damn him and his accent because he makes it sound so. incrediby. hot. ("Spen-SUH") She turns around and looks at him expectantly.
"Goodnight," he says, grinning at her.
"Night, Wren." She shoots him a smile before turning back around and disappearing into the kitchen.
As she closes the door, she catches a glimpse of him standing on the porch, cigarette in hand, shaking his head as he grins.
...
She lies awake for an hour that night, trying to stop thinking about him.
She's in trouble. None of Melissa's boyfriends have ever been people you could get along with.
She doesn't know what, when or how but she has a feeling that being Wren's "friend" is not really what her mind or body wants.
His accent, charm, sense of humor and just the fact that he's ridiculously attractive will certainly make that impossible.
With a shudder she finally comes to a realization; she's attracted to him. To her sister's fiancé.
She wonders how she'll ever be awake enough to sit through 6 hours of school tomorrow. (She briefly wonders how she'll be able to face her sister or Wren tomorrow, too.)
It's 2 AM when she finally falls into a light, dreamless, sleep.