Summary: Spencer/Ashley New Year's Eve fic. This is a one-shot, so this post is the whole story.
Author's Note: This story is 5 years old. I do not write Spashley anymore; I just re-posted to fix formatting.
9:47 P.M.
Pulling up to their destination, the girls were greeted with flashing blue lights.
"Cops already!" Ashley groaned.
Spencer's heart dropped-this was going to be the first New Year's Eve that she was actually celebrating, as opposed to sitting around with her parents watching people on television celebrate.
"Great," she mumbled. 'Now what the hell are we going to do?' she lamented to herself. It was a moderately mild evening out, but the wind that was sure to be present at the beach most certainly ruled out roaming the shore looking for a bonfire or fireworks.
"This sucks," Ashley noted, turning the car around with no particular alternative destination in mind.
"Thanks Captain Obvious," Spencer quipped, attempting to make both herself and her companion feel better with old reliable sarcasm.
Ashley shot her a look out of the corner of her eye but remained focused on the road, keeping a lookout for any crazy drunk-asses that had decided they thought it would be fun to drive somewhere.
In the silence, Spencer drifted off into her own private reverie, brainstorming what she was going to do with the rest of her night now that her plans had fallen through. If the way you spend New Year's Eve is supposed to be the way you spend the next year, things were not looking good for 2006.
Was Ashley just going to take her home now? She hoped not. The idea of sitting on the couch with her parents was now more unattractive than ever, and they would definitely ask questions about why she was home so early. Somehow, "The cops broke it up before we even got there!" did not sound like something she should look forward to sharing with her parental units.
"Spencer!" Ashley exclaimed, sounding mildly flustered.
"What?" she asked, confused, as she snapped out of her daydream.
"I said, what do you want to do now?" she repeated, in a much gentler tone.
"Oh, umm…"
"I had a feeling that was what you were going to say."
"Sorry," she offered, not knowing what else to say. She wasn't the greatest at spontaneous planning-that was Ashley's job!
"It's okay. Why don't you just spend the night at my house?"
Spencer weighed her options. Sit at home and watch TV with her parents, or sit at Ashley's house and watch TV with her? As if. "Okay. But…we're going to have to go to my house so I can get some stuff, where we're going to face the Spanish Inquisition about why our plans changed."
"Oh, come on! Easy. 'Mom, there was lots of drinking and debauchery going on, I didn't want to be in that environment!'" Ashley smirked, proud of her simple plan.
How did she come up with this stuff? "Okay."
10:21 P.M.
"What now, oh mighty planner?" Spencer inquired, shutting the door behind her as she entered Ashley's foyer.
"What, now that we've deceived your parents into thinking we're innocent little girls retreating from the debauchery to watch TV?" Ashley joked, earning a laugh from her friend. "Duh, we get drunk, just like we were gonna do at the party!" she said as though it were obvious. And with that, she was heading toward the kitchen. "Go put your crap down in my room and get back down here!" she instructed.
Spencer did as she was told, changing into sweatpants and a t-shirt while she was up there. As she re-entered the kitchen to find Ashley rummaging through a cabinet, the other girl looked up at her, taking note of her outfit. "Oh, good plan!" she said, emerging from the cabinet with her hands full. "Here, hold these," she said, handing Spencer two wine glasses and rushing out of the room.
Not keen to just stand in the middle of the kitchen like a lost puppy, Spencer meandered to the living room and sat down, hoping Ashley's mother wasn't going to just stroll in and see her with wine glasses any minute. 'Who am I kidding? Like she would be here in the biggest party night of the year,' Spencer convinced herself.
Minutes later, Ashley appeared with several bottles of wine squeezed between her small hands. "I didn't know what was good, 'cause I actually think wine is totally disgusting, but whatever. Anyway," she set the bottles down on the table. "Take your pick."
Not much of a sommelier herself, Spencer picked up a random bottle and filled the glasses. "Does it really matter?" she reasoned.
Ashley laughed. "That's the spirit!" Joining the blonde on the couch, they settled in for an evening of, once again, watching other people celebrate on television.
10:51 P.M.
A glass and a half of wine had now been consumed by each of the girls.
"This sucks," Ashley commented dryly.
"Hey!" Spencer exclaimed, offended. "I resent that. My company should be enough for you!"
"Oh, right, of course," Ashley feigned agreement. "But, you know, they say that the way you spend New Year's is the way you'll spend the next year, so it's only appropriate that we continue our 2005 tradition of spending every waking moment together."
Finding it interesting that Ashley viewed New Year's the same way she did, Spencer nodded her head in agreement. "But, since I'm not entertaining you enough, I do actually have a plan for once to amuse you."
The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Let's hear it."
"Every time someone says 2005, we drink. If they say 2006, drink twice. I can't just sit here and chug this wine but I think this show is going to be really boring if I'm not buzzing."
Ashley liked Spencer's plan. "Let's do it."
11:28 P.M.
"Hilarie Burton's voice is so…" Spencer slurred, trailing off, desperately searching for a word that felt so far away.
"Hot?" Ashley chimed in immediately, seemingly having been on the same wavelength at some point during the evening.
"Yeah," she sighed, almost…dreamily? "I so thought she was gonna be gay on that show she's on, but noooo…all those hints for nothing," she drawled.
'Okay…' Ashley thought to herself, not sure she was quite as tipsy as her counterpart. To be fair, she finished off her glass.
"Oh, did someone say it?" Spencer was already lifting her glass.
"No, no. Just felt…inspired," Ashley slurred. Slurred? Maybe that was a bad plan.
By this point, it was uncertain how much wine had been consumed.
"I'm boooored," Spencer whined.
"Well what do you want me to do? It's not my fault TV sucks this year." Ashley had already poured herself another glass and was sipping on it.
"2006," Spencer said. "Drink up."
Ashley nearly choked as she laughed mid-swallow. "Okay, lush!" she joked.
"Just trying to make it interesting," a definitely tipsy Spencer reasoned.
'I think it already is,' Ashley mused.
11:40 P.M.
"Ashley." The two had been sitting in companionable silence for several minutes, flipping back and forth between various stations' celebrations.
"Hmm," she mumbled into her glass, which for some reason was held to her lips despite the fact that she wasn't even drinking at the moment.
"This is the Catholic channel," she pointed out, dramatically slurring the word "Catholic." "That's cool and all, but I feel sort of FUNNY watching their New Year's celebration drunk!" Spencer was laughing at herself. 'I bet PAULA is watching this right now, too!' she mused to herself, drumming up an imaginative mental picture of her mom watching that station while cursing the drunkards on the other channels. "I just called my mom Paula," Spencer blurted.
Ashley had already changed the channel and finally lowered her glass. "Huh?" Had she heard that right?
'Did I say that out loud?' "Uh, nothing. 2005!"
With that, Ashley finished her glass. Picking up the bottle, she noticed that it was now empty, joining another empty bottle she had already set aside. "Ugh," she groaned.
"Wha?"
"No more drinky!" Ashley cooed, childlike. "Already shitty. Two bottles gone. But finish that," she said, poking Spencer's glass.
Spencer did not hesitate in doing so.
11:56 P.M.
Both girls were now focused on the timer at the bottom right corner of the screen.
"Fooour minutes!" Spencer exclaimed, giddy.
Ashley didn't respond verbally, but let out a small laugh.
"Nooo, no passing out!" the giddy one commanded.
"I'm not!" she defended, jumping bolt upright off the couch. "See, look!" she jumped around for effect.
"O-kay."
11:59:50 P.M.
The people on MTV and Spencer were counting down from ten. Ashley, on the other hand, was just sitting there in complete amusement. Did Spencer always get this into New Year's? She doubted it.
Midnight. Confetti was dropping. People were cheering, hugging, kissing, singing that song she only knew the beat to, and being far too excited for Ashley's liking.
"Happy New Year!" Spencer squealed, throwing her arms around Ashley.
"Happy New-" Ashley started, but was cut off.
Suddenly, Spencer's lips were covering her own. Her head was spinning-was it the alcohol or the kiss? She was unsure. Rather than wasting mental energy mulling it over, she just kissed back.
11:02 A.M.
Spencer's head was pounding and she suppressed a groan. Tentatively opening her eyes, she rapidly blinked a few times to block out the intense sun filtering through the window she was directly facing. She shifted, noticing that her arm was thrown over Ashley's torso, with Ashley's face only inches from her own.
Spencer's slight movement was enough to wake the other girl, who groaned aloud as she pried her eyes open. "Morning," she mumbled.
"Morning," Spencer greeted, moving her body against Ashley's side. Did Ashley remember last night at all?
'Does Spencer remember last night?' Ashley pondered, trying to control her panic. She was just praying that this situation didn't end up like their near-kiss fiasco from a few weeks prior.
Deciding not to dwell on matters, Spencer's laid a kiss on Ashley's lips. "Just wanted to let you know that although I was obliterated last night, it was not a drunken fluke, and I plan on doing this," she kissed her again quickly, "a lot more often now."
"Sounds good to me," she smiled. "You know what also sounds good?"
"Hmm?"
"Tylenol and water." Both girls laughed.
Happy New Year indeed.