Manhattan

Prologue

by: Mistress of the Strange


Hey guys… this is my first Pretty Little Liars FanFiction. It's an AU, so there no A. Here Toby is one year older than the Liars, so while they are in their last year of high school, Toby already graduated. I think the rest of the changes will get clearer as the story advances.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes…


I think that possibly
maybe I'm falling for you
Yes there's a chance that
I've fallen quite hard over you


There are a lot of ways to begin a story.

It could be said this one begun the day Spencer Hastings found a small bookstore and coffee shop called Manhattan just a few streets away from house. The place was small but cozy and the owner was a Spanish writer who decided to share his enormous collection of books with people.

Spencer found almost by accident, on a day her best friend Aria had not gone to school, therefore, leaving her without a ride home. After that, she had started going there more and more often, until she practically was on a first-name basis with the homeless guy that sleeps in that streets corner.

There was a guy who was there as much as her, if not more; he was tall, with deep mesmerizing blue eyes, a stocky built, messy brown hair, a slightly tanned skin and a beautiful smile. Even though Spencer wasn't one to fawn over guys, she couldn't deny that this one was extremely good looking.

The guy -whose name she didn't know yet- and her sat close to each other almost always. First by coincidence, because there weren't many seats left, and then, just because they liked each other presence, as if they were unspoken book reading, coffee drinking partners.

And slowly she started noticing things about the guy. Like how he always ordered an iced coffee, if he came in the mornings, and a chocolate milkshake in the afternoon, and stayed there reading until late in the night, and how he seemed to enjoy reading The Hunger Games Trilogy a lot cause in the time she had... known him? No... More like... noticing him, she had seen him with it over 8 times.

On a Saturday morning Spencer woke up early and went to 'Manhattan', grabbed the copy of Catching Fire, and settled in her favorite spot, a loveseat right next the windows.

Two hours and three cups of black, almost sugarless coffee later, when she was starting to get ready to leave, the blue eyed boy entered the Manhattan and, after making his order, started looking for something in the shelves.

Spencer stopped what she was doing and stared at the guys back, until suddenly, he turned around with a confused expression, and spotted the book in her hands.

"Oh, there it is."

Spencer looked down and frowned. "D-Do you want it?" She stuttered. Stuttered. Spencer Hasting never stuttered. What did this guy have that he made her so… un-Spencer like?

"No! I- I have read that book like a hundred times, it's cool." He said turning around and grabbing a random book before sitting in the seat next to Spencer. "I'm Toby, by the way. I've seen you around a lot lately." He added.

"I'm Spencer," She answered. "And well yeah, I sort of found this place like… two weeks ago, I just fell in love with it instantly. I mean coffee and books? My two favorite things in the world."

"So, are you liking it?" Toby asked.

"Huh?"

"The book" He explained pointing at it. "Do you like it so far?"

"Oh, I… I have already read it too, actually. I do, I like it a lot. It's one of my favorites" Spencer smiled.

"Mine too. I… well I just love those books."

After a pregnant pause, Toby's drink arrived and the waiter asked Spencer if she wanted something else. On one side, Spencer was already getting ready to leave, but in the other side, she had just met Toby and well, there was something in him that made her want to stay.

So she asked for another cup of coffee.

"Do you go to Rosewood High? I don't think I've seen you there." Spencer asked, trying to defuse the tension.

"Oh, no… I graduated last year; I used to live in Philadelphia and moved here in the summer…"

Spencer nodded, and opened her mouth to ask another stupid useless questing, but her cell phone started blasting Barbie Girl and Spencer cursed the day she had allowed Hanna to pick her own ringtone.

"I've got to take this…"She excused herself and Toby just smiled and nodded.

Spencer walked to the bathroom and answered the phone "Hello?"

"Hi, Spence!" Hanna chirped. "Are you up for lunch with me and Em at The Grillie?"

Spencer weighted her options. The girls had lunch together almost every Saturday. If she said no, she would be in for a long Q&A session with Hanna about why she couldn't make it, and she didn't feel like telling the girls about Toby yet.

If she said yes, she would have to leave and stop talking to Toby, but it wasn't like she was never going to see him again. She would probably see him the next day.

She sighed "Sure… I'll meet you there in twenty."

Spencer hung up and went back to where Toby was and with an apologetic glance she started picking up her things. "Sorry, I have to go; I'm going to meet up some friends."

"Don't worry," Toby said "I guess I'll… see you later?"

"Yes... you will" Spencer nodded and smiled as she started walking to the courter to pay for her coffee.

Toby stared at her until she disappeared through the door and sighed.

There was something in this girl he couldn't stop thinking about. She was beautiful for starters, No… gorgeous. With her big brown eyes and mahogany curls. She didn't have a normal kind of beauty… she had this classical beauty that just took his breath away.

He had noticed her from day one. He saw how it seemed that she loved reading because he had almost never seen her with the same book twice. That she could drink more coffee in one hour that most people could in a day, and it had no effect on her. How she got two cute dimples on each side of her face when she smiled. She had something that drew him towards her.

She was special. Different.

And Toby loved different.