-dedicated to Emma, my fabulous spobette sistah and the sweetest person i know. your support of my writing and love of spoby is incredible, and i cannot thank you enough for your friendship. i'm so, so lucky to have met you. love you to the moon and back xoxo-

so. i don't know what this is. at all. it popped into my head a while ago, and i couldn't shake it, so ta-da! here it is. however. it's random and short and just...ew. so don't hate me when you're done reading, please. and try to keep the reviews kind, maybe? thanks ;)

disclaimer: i do not own the line "Would you, could you, in the rain?" (that's from dr. suess's brilliant book that i know for a fact i fangirled over as a kid ;)), nor do i own Pretty Little Liars. or spoby.

hope you guys enjoy, especially you, my Emmababy! heart you all :)

xoxo,

-Ana

p.s. reviews are like sunshine on a rainy day :)

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-would you, could you-

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...in the rain? drabble. spencer/toby.

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Sometimes, when it's dark, and the skies are grey, and the wind howls through the trees, and the rain falls like neverending tears, and she's alone, she goes back.

She goes back to a time when the sun shone, when the skies were brilliant sapphire blue-just like his eyes-and the breeze blew softly, and there was nothing but bliss and his hand in hers.

"I love you so much."

"I wanted to say that first."

There's nothing like the calm before the storm.

-:-

It's been six months, ten days, thirteen hours, and forty-two-make that forty-three-minutes since the storm set in. Since her rainbow was ripped apart by a hurricane.

A hurricane of emotions.

A hurricane that, once it passed, left behind the shattered remnants of what she had thought was true love. Left behind a prince charming turned into a poisonous toad. Left behind a mountain of lies that was perilous to even attempt to scale.

Left behind a broken girl who trusts no one. Who loves nothing.

But who remembers everything.

"He loves me, he loves me...not."

There's nothing like the chaos after the storm.

-:-

That night, something inside of her finally snaps.

She can't do it anymore. She can't stay in a town where she will always be known as the dead girl's best friend. As that girl who was stalked by Mona Vanderwaal. She can't stay in a town where someone is constantly watching, preying, lurking. She can't stay in a town where her friends' concerned questions, their frightened looks at every ping of a cell phone, their tears at every new tragedy, tears them farther apart. She can't stay in a town full of ghosts. She can't stay in the town that constantly reminds her of Toby. Of what they once had.

"It's like...one of those collective-mind creatures, from the movies. One with a really long memory."

"It's not a monster."

"It's got monsters in it. You know that, and so do I."

Imagine the irony.

As she packs her bags, her clothes, her life, into the old duffle, she wonders where she's going.

But does that really even matter anymore?

As she zips up the bag, hoisting it over her shoulder, she takes a final cursory glance around her bedroom, her eyes falling on the bed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

And suddenly, a flood of tears washes down her cheeks.

She pulls the tearstained photo from the pocket of her duffle, tracing their smiles through vision blurred by sobs, and wonders where it all went wrong.

There's nothing like a storm catching you without an umbrella.

-:-

She's halfway out the door, halfway out of hell, when she remembers.

Remembers her promise.

"Do me a favor."

"What?"

"If you ever get the urge to run away again, call me first. Okay?"

"Okay."

Granted, he hasn't exactly kept his promises. In fact, he hasn't just broken his promises; he's trampled on them, blown them up, put them through a blazing inferno, and then buried them.

But.

Somehow, without even knowing what she's doing, she's dialing his number.

He answers on the first ring.

"Hello?"

Her heart is pounding, but there's no going back.

"Toby."

He exhales a sigh of something like relief. And longing.

"Spencer. What's wrong?"

Tears are falling, but she ignores them. They don't matter. Nothing matters but him.

"You told me to call you before running away. You got your wish."

He's silent for a moment. "You're leaving Rosewood?"

"You already did." But Rosewood is code for something else.

She can almost hear the tears in his voice when he answers.

"But I never meant to leave you."

There's nothing like the rain finally letting up.

-:-

They meet up five miles outside of town in the pouring rain.

When she sees him for the first time in six months, all she can focus on are his eyes.

Deep. Haunting. Full of love and warmth and pain and fear.

Eyes that led to a soul she had fallen in love with.

A soul she'd thought had loved her.

And then he says her name, and she forgets everything but that feeling of love. That feeling of possibility. Of hope.

Of the sun finally coming out.

"Spencer."

There's nothing like a sudden burst of sunshine.

-:-

"I'm so, so sorry."

And then it begins anew.

-:-

Their lips touch in the pouring rain, the droplets falling onto their shoulders and soaking them to the bone.

But all they're thinking of is this moment. Right here, right now.

"I love you so much."

"I love you too."

There's nothing like the rainbow after the hurricane.

-:-

i know. it sucks. but...review, maybe? thank you :) xo.