Disclaimer: I do not own South of Nowhere nor this story. Story belongs to Kim Pritekel, all credit goes to her.
A/N: Here is the much wanted sequel to Dance With Me, enjoy!
Chapter One
Two weeks ago:
"Goddammitburnitalltohellpieceof-"
"Yo! Ashley, chill out, girl! Beating up the machine isn't going to make it work."
I glared up at my roommate, chest heaving as I bared my teeth. Aiden chuckled, patting me on the back.
"Let the mouse go," he cooed, raising perfectly trimmed brows. "Let it go,"
I glanced over at my hand, which rested on the god forsaken thing, lifting one finger.
"Good girl. Only four more to go."
"Ah, to hell with it." With a childish grunt, I threw the blasted thing, grinning in satisfied electonicide as it crashed against the wall.
If I weren't so ticked I would have laughed at Aiden, standing there, hand frozen in mid-air, mouth gaping open. Finally shaken out of his shock, he looked at me, eyes huge.
"What the hell did you do that for?" His fists found his neatly belted waist, hazel eyes narrowing as they took in my flushed face. I brought my hand up, sweeping a long strand of hair from my face.
"It didn't work," I muttered, pushing back in my chair.
"Well no shit! Honey, it didn't work because you were beating on it. That little laser mouse cost me-"
"Yes, yes, Aid, I know. You couldn't go to 'God of Butts' new years' concert," I grumbled stomping past him.
"No, but I couldn't get his greatest hits!" he called after me.
Finding myself in the living room, I fell to my knees, tugging open the door of the cabinet in the entertainment centre, where we kept odd equipment.
"Aiden! Where's my old mouse?"
"Ash, honey, why don't you just break down and get rid of that fifty seven Chevy, and join the twenty-first century."
I glared up at my roommate, throwing one of the six old controllers for Aiden's dust-covered PlayStation. He ducked the flying object.
"No really," he jumped as three of his games went whizzing across the floor. Following their progress as they crashed into the couch, he continued. "you've been saving money for a car, when you know damn well that you hate the traffic, will piss and moan about parking and will sell it within six months like you did the last one."
"I sold the last one because it had a leak we could never find," I growled, getting to my feet.
"And why did it have a leak?" Aiden asked, crossing his arms over a very well defined chest, brows raised dramatically. "Maybe because you tore open the undercarriage when you trounced over the sidewalk to get out of the traffic!"
I wanted to keep my glare, but it was fading fast. Aiden knew me well. Grinning, he stepped over to me. Sometimes I'd look at him and was surprised all over again at just how gorgeous he turned out, with his natural tan, dark hair styled just so, and twinkling hazel eyes. His dimples winked at me as he began to chip away at what he saw as an opening.
"Let's go out and get you updated."
Hands on hips, I gave him my best glare. Satisfied as Aiden took a step back as I stepped toward him.
"I am not buying a laptop, Aiden," a poke punctuating each word. "Those things are way overpriced for what they do for you."
"Honey," Aiden tried to reason with me, placing his hands on my shoulders. With my growl, his hands flopped back to his sides. "You work from home half the time, and think of it this way- now that the TV went out in the den, you could take your computer with you to the living room," he indicated the room around his with a dramatic flourish. "That way you won't have to blare the neighbours out by turning the TV in here up and burst the speakers."
"What? I do not-"
"Ash, I know you have to have your Unsolved Mysteries on Lifetime." Aiden shifted his weight to his other hip, eyeing me.
How'd he know about that? I said nothing, turning from him to start cleaning up my mess, shoving game controllers, printer cartridges and drum sticks back under the cabinet.
"Drum sticks?" I picked them up, looking back at my roommate. He rubbed the back of his neck.
"When I was dating that musician," he muttered.
Looking down at the two brown sticks in my hand, I dropped them to the floor with a shiver. "I don't want to know." Heading back to the den, I heard Aiden following.
"Ashley, you have been nickel and diming that damn computer for the past year and a half." He stood against the doorframe, watching as I gathered all my research material for my article, shoving it all into my briefcase. I'd have to go to the library to finish it up. Again.
"Drop it, Aiden." I glared at him, tired of his cheap attempts. He refused to put the money out to buy his own computer, so had been after me to buy a new one. I heaved the straps over my shoulder, and walked past him. "I'll be back later."
I stopped at the curb, waiting for a small force of cars to pass before I trotted across the street, heading the three blocks to the subway.
Sighing heavily, I pushed my hair out of my face. I knew I'd have to apologize to my best friend later, no reason for me to lose my temper like that. Yes, he was a self-serving wench, but has always been that way, and there was far more good in him than bad.
It was time for me to make some decisions in my life. My relationship with Dawn was beginning to get to me. So much uncertainty, the woman never knowing from day to day what she wanted from me. We'd been together for just under a year now, and just when I think we're starting to really get somewhere, and deciding which direction we want our relationship to go in, she backs off.
It had been bothering me for a couple months now, and unfortunately, Aiden being the closest person to me, he took the brunt. Luckily the gay boy handled it with grace and aplomb.
Sometimes I didn't think I deserved Aiden as a best friend. He'd put up with so much for more than twenty years.
My eyes were hooded in boredom as I sat on the seat, body rocking slightly with the motion of the train. Glancing around me, I met the gazes of a few travellers, but like them, quickly turned back to my own world. I noticed someone had left a scattered Times on the seat across from me. Snatching it, I tried to put it into some sort of readable order.
Flipping through the pages, I tried to find something of interest to read. Stumbling along the entertainment section, my eyes nearly bulged from my skull.
SPENCER CARLIN STARRING IN MIDNIGHT RACE, A CAMERON MACKINTOSH PRODUCTION
"Son of a …" The newspaper fell to the floor of the car as I pushed up, getting off at the next stop.
"Wait, wait, what? Calm down and take a breath." Aiden looked at me with concerned eyes, a calming hand on my arm. Words defying me, I shoved the page into his chest. He took it, straightening out the wrinkled advertisement. He read it, then looked up at me, shaking his head, not understanding the significance.
"Look!" I exclaimed, pointing excitedly at the ad. Aiden, no more illuminated than when I first handed him the page. "Spencer! Spencer Carlin, Aiden. The Spencer. My Spencer."
It took a moment of blank stares, but finally Aiden's eyes widened. He snatched the page out of my hands, reading it again. He whistled between his teeth, then glanced up at me. "She did it."
"Yeah, she did, didn't she," I murmured, looking down at her name again. I had been so lost in my thoughts of the last time I'd seen her that I hadn't even given thought to what this meant. Some things never changed; guess where Spencer was concerned, I was meant to be a cad forever.
I turned away from my friend and roommate, taking a seat on the couch. He must have noticed the change in my mood, as he quickly hurried over to sit beside me.
"Ashley?" he said, his voice quiet yet filled with question, just an edge of his previous excitement. I stared down at my hands, which were loosely laced together. "What is it?"
My mind raced through the years, twenty-five, twenty-two, nineteen, eighteen …. "Sometimes I just wish that I could find someone who saw me as more than just a body."
I held the mug of coffee Aiden had brought me when I began my story. Now the cup sat cold between my palms. We both sat there in silence, me deep in memories and Aiden, well, I just wasn't sure.
"Whoa," he finally breathed, running a hand through his hair. He looked over at me. "Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" I could detect the slightest bit of hurt in his voice. Glancing at him, I smiled.
"Because it was too special to tell anyone." I couldn't keep the soft smile off my lips as a fleeting memory caressed my skin.
"How did it happen?" he leaned back against the couch, running his arm along the back, fingers playing with a strand of my hair. That had been a habit of his since we were kids.
"Oh, boy," I blew out, leaning further into his touch. "She," I stared ahead, again my mind flying through time. "she came to my apartment. Knocked on my door, and there you have it."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
"But was there any indication? I mean, flirting, backstage kissing…" his voice trailed off as he studied me. I shook my head. "Nothing?" Again I shook my head.
"I've never forgotten her," I said, my voice soft in reverence for the young girl I had been, filled with confusion and ignorance of the mysteries of love in all its forms. "Well," I said, slapping my hands to my knees as I pushed myself to my feet. "I'm glad to know she finally got the recognition she deserves. She's a wonderful dancer."
With that declaration, I snatched the ad from Aiden's fingers and headed off to my bedroom, closing the door behind me.
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