His mind was drawing a complete blank as he sat in the nearly empty classroom at Rosewood High, making up a test he had missed the week before. The circular, black and white clock just above the green chalkboard that was directly in front of him wasn't helping matters, either. The tick-tock of the clock just reminded him of how long he had been staring at the same math problem he couldn't seem to solve. He racked his brain in an attempt to remember the proper steps, beginning to tap the end of his pencil on the wooden desk when it finally donned on him.
He shook his head in amusement; thinking of the brunette that inadvertently helped him in his predicament as he furiously began to scribble away and started solving the last problem on his exam.
With a sense of accomplishment, he gathered his backpack and threw it over his shoulder as he walked towards the front of the classroom and handed in his test. His journey continued down the empty and eerily quiet hallway, towards his locker to retrieve his science textbook.
With his textbook in hand, he resumed his venture towards the front of the school when suddenly the cell phone in his back pocket vibrated once, informing him of a new text message.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket with his right hand, continuing to walk down the hallway.
It was a text from Emily.
Just got out of swim practice and was walking out to my car when I spotted our own modernized Einstein in the same exact spot she was in on my WAY to practice. You might want to save her before her brain goes into overdrive or before the librarian threatens to lock her in the library over the weekend – again.
For the second time in a span of ten minutes, Toby shook his head in amusement because of one Spencer Jill Hastings before turning in the opposite direction towards the school library.
He spotted her instantly – it wasn't much of a feat considering she was the only student in the library – with her head buried in an encyclopedia, a pink highlighter in her mouth, and an un-capped green highlighter in her left hand as the pencil in her right hand skimmed across the notebook paper she was writing on.
She was completely oblivious to him as she continued writing, however, the older woman who was the librarian noticed him immediately and rushed over to him.
"Mr. Cavanaugh," She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she had to lock the library doors soon and the only person who could persuade Spencer to leave the library without a fight was Toby. "Thank goodness you're here."
"You didn't threaten to lock her in here over the weekend yet, did you?" He wondered, making sure his tone was light so the librarian knew he was only kidding.
"Not yet," She said in a grave tone, making him laugh. "But –"
"I'll see what I can do," He replied, chuckling softly before he excused himself and walked over to his brunette, mocha-eyed girlfriend.
She was still writing in her notebook and the pink highlighter was still in between her teeth when she spotted him in her peripherals.
Pulling the highlighter out of her mouth, she smiled lovingly towards him as he put his science textbook on the table next to the open encyclopedia. He lowered his head and kissed her cheek softly, before pulling a chair from a nearby table and settling down into it.
"I thought I would be able to find you here," He said, lifting his hand to her knee and squeezing it softly.
"Were you looking for me?" She inquired, her eyes boring into his; completely forgetting about the data she was searching for just minutes ago.
"No, but I'm glad I found you," He replied.
"Why is –" She began to wonder, only to be interrupted by his soft lips on hers as he kissed her fiercely. The pencil in her hand dropped to the carpeted floor soundlessly before she leaned more into him, framing his face with her hands.
"What was that for?" She wondered breathlessly, her thumbs caressing his cheeks. "Not that, you know, I minded in the slightest."
He chuckled, lifting her left hand from his face and into his larger hand, kissing her knuckles softly.
"Our tutoring session last night and your incessant need to tap your pencil when you're trying to find your train of thought," He replied.
"You're, of course, referring to the part of our tutoring session when we weren't distracted," She paused, tracing his lower lip with the pad of her thumb. "by other things."
"Of course," He replied, smiling wide as she giggled.
"So your test –" She began, only for him to complete her question for her.
"It went good," He replied, pushing a stray curl that had fallen in front of Spencer's eyes behind her ear. "I feel really good about it."
Emily, Aria, and Hanna used to tease them mercifully about Toby completing Spencer's sentences and Spencer completing Toby's. At first they all thought it was adorable, but now they found it very frustrating, especially when the three of them would attempt to keep up with their conversations only to be utterly confused.
"That's great, Toby!" She said excitedly, folding her arms around his shoulders and hugging him tightly.
"We should go out and celebrate," She proposed, pulling back from their embrace as she looked into his ocean blue eyes.
"I would love to," He agreed, his lips curving upwards. "But –"
"But what?" She wondered, her eyebrows burrowing in confusion.
"Don't you," He began, tapping her nose playfully. He looked to his left at the open encyclopedia, her notebook with bullet points, her collection of highlighters, pencils, and pens, and her open laptop. "Don't you have a ten-page paper you have to write that's due in a week?"
"I love that you're so considerate, but I finished that paper already," She replied, a genuine smile on her face.
"Then what's all this research for?" He inquired.
"It's for another paper that I have to write," She answered, bringing her hands down to caress his toned arms. "It's not due until May, but I wanted to get a head start."
"May? But that's five months away," He said, shaking his head in amusement once again.
"I wanted to get a head start," She pouted. He found it so adorable that he couldn't resist, he just had to kiss her lips. "Do you still want to go out and celebrate?"
"Of course I do," He replied, standing up and offering his hand to her. She gladly placed her palm in his outstretched hand as he pulled her body into his.
"How does pizza and a movie sound?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"That sounds perfect," He told her and smirked, knowing full well that every time they attempted to watch a movie together they would always get distracted by each other; whether it was Spencer planting kisses on Toby's neck to entice him or Toby kissing Spencer's face until she turned her attention away from the movie and onto him.
"Get that smug look off your face," She chastised him playfully, knowing exactly what thoughts were running wild through his mind as she packed up her belongings. "We are actually going to watch a movie, from beginning to end."
They never did.
fin.