CHAPTER 1
Spencer Hastings found that she was an entirely different person when it came to college. She was still focused on her studies—or at least she tried to be—but she started trying a lot of new things. One, she started drinking. There was still one more year until it was legal, but that didn't stop it from almost becoming habitual. She had tried alcohol at least once while she was in high school, but it never stuck. She only took a few sips at one of Noel Kahn's big parties, which she never wanted to go to in the first place. And that was caused by the second thing, actually.
Two, she had become a frequent partygoer. Again, in high school, she had went to a few parties. Her friends were always a lot more social than she was, which resulted in her being dragged to ragers that she had no intention of going to. And although she'd never tell her high school friends the truth, she actually secretly took screenshots of her school notes so she could study while she was there...
Regardless, three was that she had become a lot more social. She was much more like how her friends wanted her to be in high school. She was the one who would talk to people first at parties. She had a wide variety of new friends.
And that led to four: she had an increased success-rate in her love life. Almost too much success, actually... It turned out, a lot of people were attracted to her when she was a social butterfly. She would be lying if she said that she didn't have a good range of guys who had confessed they had feelings for her, and many of those were guys who she didn't return the feelings for. She would also be lying if she said that there weren't a few girls who had confessed their feelings for her thrown in the mix. She tried that one time... it wasn't her cup of tea. But that didn't stop any of them from falling for her.
Ultimately, that led to five: she made some pretty bad decisions during her time in college. It varied from not studying for that big exam the next day (which she usually aced regardless) to drinking too much, or to sleeping with the wrong person...
Unfortunately, several of her changes took a toll on her on one eventful Sunday night. She went to a huge party, had a lot more drinks than she intended to, got more-than-social with the wrong person, and wound up in bed with him. Him being one of her closest friends. Him being Toby freaking Cavanaugh, a guy that she swore that she would never cross the line with. It would be untruthful to say that she hadn't thought about being more than just friends with him. Nonetheless, she always reminded herself that they would never go there. They were practically best friends. It didn't help that he was an avid gym-attender with a six-pack, a charming smile, and an equally charming personality.
So, there it was. She woke up in his apartment, naked with a headache, barely able to remember the previous night. She had to fight the urge to groan in pain loudly, since her extremely naked best friend was still asleep next to her. She could barely wrap her brain around the whole thing, but she was beyond sure that they didn't just fall asleep having a naked conversation the prior night. And further evidence to support her theory came when she pushed herself to get out of bed, and saw a used condom on the floor. She groaned internally. So, it was clear it had happened, but at least they were safe about it...
Quickly, she gathered her clothes from the floor and started re-dressing herself. The walk of shame that she'd have to take back to her apartment was an extremely frightening thought, but she knew she'd have to act fast, or he'd wake up and realize what had happened. She grabbed her phone from his nightstand and checked the time. 8 AM. She was surprised that she managed to wake up so early, considering that she could barely recall what happened the previous night. Luckily for her, not many college students woke up so early. And also, her apartment wasn't so far from his. She brushed her fingers through her hair, trying to make herself look less... indecent, to say the least... for the walk of shame home. As long as she didn't encounter anyone she knew while out, the only obstacle she had left was her roommate. And of course, she'd have to deal with the repercussions of sleeping with her best friend, but that was for another time.
She slipped her shoes on, and headed towards his apartment door, which she so-carefully opened, trying her hardest not to let it make any sound louder than a slight creak. She slid herself through the skinniest crack of the door that she could fit in. Once outside, she peered back in and let a small smile form on her face at the sight of him in such a deep sleep in the other room. She shook it off, and quietly shut the door closed again.
She tried to keep her head down the entire way back, hopefully reducing the chances of somebody on the street recognizing her. And her greatest fear of somebody shouting, "Hey, Spencer! Is that you!?" was avoided, as she made it back to her own apartment without dealing with anybody's confrontations. She sighed in relief, rummaging through her purse for the key to her apartment. She unlocked the door, letting herself in quietly. God, all she was hoping for was that her roommate was in just as much of a deep sleep as Toby was in...
But of course, she wasn't! She was wide-awake, pouring herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen, in fact. Spencer tried to look away, hoping not to alarm her. She should've guessed it—her roommate had known she was back since the moment she started unlocking the door. The blonde pressed the coffee mug to her lips, smirking slightly as she turned towards Spencer, who was still convinced she had a chance to be slick enough to get to her bedroom and pretend like she never left in the first place.
"Had a fun night, huh?"
Spencer stopped ducking her head and trying to make it back to her bedroom. She accepted defeat, sadly, and sighed as she turned back around to face Hanna Marin, her roommate.
"I should've known, since you didn't come back to the apartment last night. Actually, it was my first guess on what you were doing... when you don't show up, it's usually because you're 'hanging' with somebody all night."
"Good morning to you, too..." Spencer muttered.
"Hey, I'm not judging!" Hanna laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, you don't do this regularly, but you've had your fair share of similar entrances. I'm used to it by now. And it's not like I'm some angel who's going to heaven. I've had my fair share of sexual sins." Hanna set her coffee mug down on the kitchen counter. She tilted her head to the side, still smirking as she asked, "So, who was the lucky guy this time?"
And since Spencer wasn't exactly ready to admit the fact that she slept with her best friend to herself, she was planning on keeping that knowledge from Hanna as well... at least until she was forced to discuss it with Toby himself.
"Just this random guy from one of my classes... I was at Brian's party, and I hit it off with this guy... you know how the story ends up," she shrugged her shoulders.
"And I thought I was good at picking guys up," Hanna laughed, shaking her head. "How the hell do you do it, Hastings? You're like a magnet. Every guy ends up falling for you once they talk to you. Even ones that you're not flirting with!"
"Well, I think I was actually flirting back with this guy, but I don't know... I don't necessarily think I'm a magnet, but if that's what you want to call me, go ahead. Just maybe get me some water while you're at it, because this hangover is killing me," she sighed.
"Poor girl," Hanna said as she opened the fridge and took out a plastic water bottle. She tossed it to Spencer.
"I'm telling you, it's not that fun to have to tell guys you don't like that you're not into them. So, charm is a curse, I guess?"
Hanna rolled her eyes playfully.
"Are we going to act like having guys throw themselves at you left and right is a bad thing? 'Cause I'm sure it's not fun to break their hearts all day, but at least every guy you've ever liked... likes you back!" Hanna cried.
"I haven't really done the 'like' thing much though, have I?" Spencer joked, sitting down on the couch and taking a sip of refreshingly-cold water. "I mean, I've done the 'attraction' thing, but I leave them hanging when it comes to anything more."
"Another perk for you! You make guys want to do more than just bang you, which is pretty hard to find in the pool of sex-addict college guys," Hanna groaned. "Most girls are struggling to find a guy who wants to do more than do them, and here you are... struggling to find a guy who wants to do less!"
Spencer shrugged her shoulders, taking another sip of water.
"I think I'm going to cut it back with this overflux of drinking and disasters... maybe just focus on studying for my exams."
Hanna raised her eyebrows, slightly in disbelief that her roommate was going to quit her bad habits just like that, and also slightly in shock that she was even attempting to quit.
"Really? What did this guy do to you? Did he screw you that badly that you want to quit sleeping with guys for good? Or did he screw you that well that you want more?" Hanna questioned, trying her hardest not to laugh through it all.
Spencer sat there in silence, trying to look away. She took a rapid sip of water to keep the silence going, but clearly, Hanna had no intention of quitting the interrogation session. In fact, she was going all-out on playing detective, coming up with her own theories...
"Oh my God!" Hanna exclaimed, setting her coffee mug down and clapping her hands together. "You really like this guy, don't you? You slept with him, but you actually like him and want more!"
"Whoa there... slow down on your police report, Detective Marin," Spencer rolled her eyes. "I don't know where you got that conclusion from, but I can barely even remember last night! What makes you think I like the guy if he's only worth a drunken hook-up? Have you ever thought that maybe I'm just sick of the way I'm handling my life? And that I want to take a step forward in the right direction to secure myself a better future?"
"Absolutely not. The thought never even occurred to me, so I really don't believe it whatsoever."
Spencer laughed through her nose, letting out a puff of air, then rolled her eyes and shook her head simultaneously. She didn't want to make too much out of what happened. Usually, it was easier to blow a guy off after she was done with him, but this time, it was Toby. She couldn't just turn her shoulder to him and walk away. She felt choked up just thinking about how she couldn't go to him to talk about what was happening in her life, all because they made the impulsively-drunken decision to sleep together. And after all that, she couldn't even remember if it felt good!
She set her bottle of water down on the table in front of her when her phone started to ring loudly. She tried to prevent her eyes from widening when she saw the caller ID of Toby Cavanaugh. And before she could even do anything about it, Hanna rushed over and snatched it from her hand.
"Hanna!" Spencer cried, but she was so exhausted that she didn't want to get up from her seat to try and get it back.
"Toby's the one calling you?" she questioned. "Mmm, is this an answer to who your mystery hook-up is? Because that makes so much sense!"
"No way! First of all, I'm the only person who has the ability to wake up this early after getting that wasted. He'd still be sleeping. And second of all, he's one of my closest friends. We've had this discussion, and I've already told you that we'd never cross that line with each other. Trust me, he's probably just calling because he wants help with his homework or something," Spencer straight-up lied, and she did it flawlessly.
She knew that it was probably a bad idea to lie that much, but she couldn't think of anything else to push Hanna away from figuring it out. But if Hanna ever did find out who it really was, she definitely wouldn't be so happy that Spencer lied to her.
"Fine, I'll cross him off of the list. But I'll figure it out, Spence," Hanna told her, and then tossed the still-ringing cell phone back to Spencer.
"Yeah, whatever you say..." she rolled her eyes, and pressed the accept button. "Hey, Toby..."
"Hey, Spencer..."
He sounded pretty groggy. She figured he just woke up, since he was so knocked out when she left his apartment.
"What's up?" she asked, trying to sound as awake and alert as possible.
"I did something weird last night, and I... can't remember anything. Can we please talk? I'm really confused, and I—I just want some answers."
"Oh, um... okay. Can I meet you at the library?" she asked, just because she knew Hanna was listening.
"Okay. Sure. I'll meet you outside the library in like thirty minutes. I need some time to get dressed. Apparently, I had too much to drink last night, and that's kinda what this whole thing is about."
"Well, you can tell me all about it when we meet up. Bye, Tobes."
"Yeah... see you soon, Spence."
She ended the call. When she looked up, she was still facing a very nosy and intrigued Hanna Marin, who apparently was not going to let this hook-up go. Spencer regretted ever saying that she was going to stop her current lifestyle, because that somehow triggered something in Hanna, and made her extremely interested in what happened. Normally, Hanna laughed about her hook-ups with her, but now, she was playing detective. And of course, it was the one time where Spencer really didn't want the hook-up to blow out of proportion.
"What did he want?" Hanna wiggled her eyebrows.
"You must have a thick skull, or you seriously lack listening skills, because I literally just told him to meet me at the library," Spencer forced herself to roll her eyes, even though Hanna was actually figuring this out pretty quickly. "He's having trouble understanding a math concept, so we made plans to study at the library together. Are you done invading my life now?"
"Hmm, fine..." Hanna sighed. "But remember what I said: I'm not dropping this, Spence!"
Spencer rolled her eyes and picked up the water bottle. She had thirty minutes to make herself look as presentable as possible, and then get down to the campus library to make it look like she did not just have sex with her best friend.