Title: Growing Up (Falling Down) 2/23

Author: xperimental

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own South Of Nowhere. But I wish I did.

Pairing: Spencer/Ashley

Summary: The end of high school is only the beginning of the rest of their lives…(OMG, I'm so lame. cringe)


Chapter 2 - Domestic Bliss.

Spencer was stunned. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"If you think I'm saying that I want to move to Boston to you, then yes."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Ashley confirmed, laughing when Spencer threw herself into her arms.

"But how, why?" Spencer stuttered, unable to comprehend the news. Ashley was an LA girl, through and through.

"Well, I've been thinking about it and I think that you have the right idea about getting out of LA. I mean, Kyla is on the verge of driving me to sistercide and I already know how much it would suck without you here, so…"

"But what about your job?"

"You mean songwriting? I can do that anywhere. Look, this is perfect. I was thinking that we can get our own place in Boston, that way you won't get stuck in some tiny ass dorm with annoying roommates and you wouldn't have to worry about how you're going to pay for stuff like the other poor college kids."

"Okay, okay," Spencer stopped her mid-ramble. "I'm sold, you don't need to convince me." Ashley let herself relax now that the pressure was off. "You have to convince my parents."

Oh crap.

-

As it happened, Paula and Arthur didn't take much convincing. They'd long since made their peace with the idea of Spencer going to college out of state, she'd made her preference for it clear back when she was applying to Emerson, and they were actually relieved to learn that their little girl wouldn't be alone in the big unfamiliar city.

And so, once the intense pressure of finals had eased and the celebrations of graduation had passed, the four caught a flight (generously paid for by a certain teenage millionaire, of course) to Boston to visit the college of Spencer's choice and go apartment hunting.

"I really think that you're going to like this one," the real estate agent, a thirtysomething bottle redhead that insisted she be called Annie, said as she unlocked the door. Ashley took that with a grain of salt, she already heard it at every other apartment they'd seen that day.

"It's cozy," Annie continued, leading the foursome in. "This is the living room, kitchen's on the other side of the counter." She pointed to a set of glass French doors. "There's a small balcony through those doors, perfect to have brunch on."

Do we really look like the kind of people that have brunch? Ashley asked herself. She turned to the blonde at her side and noticed that the girl seemed rather enamored by the place.

"And up this hallway is the bathroom, a spare room that could easily be converted into a study and the bedroom. Would you like to take a look?"

"Sure," Ashley put a guiding arm around Spencer's waist and led her away from where she was admiring the view from the glass doors to the balcony. "So what do you think?" she asked quietly, after checking that Arthur and Paula had Annie occupied.

"I really like it," Spencer admitted, not wanting to give too much away and influence Ashley's decision. "How about you?"

"I'm reserving my judgment until I see the bedroom." To Ashley, it was the most important room in any home.

So after Annie showed them the bathroom, emphasizing the fact that it had a shower and a tub, and the spare room, they moved on to the bedroom. "This is actually the largest room in the apartment," she informed the group. Just the way Ashley liked it. Despite the fact that she could fit the whole apartment inside the kitchen of her loft, Ashley had to admit that she liked it. It was…cozy and the thought of her and Spencer living there together made her feel all warm inside.

While the adults talked about trivial things like rent and utilities, Ashley tuned them out as she often did when it came to conversations about money. It didn't matter, whatever it cost, she could afford it.

"So?" Spencer asked, looking at her with hopeful eyes.

"I love it."

"Me too. It's perfect."

Ashley hugged Spencer to her and leaned her forehead against the blonde's. "We're going to live together."

Spencer smiled adoringly at her. "I know. Are you sure that you want to do this?"

Ashley smirked and loudly announced, "We'll take it."

"Are you two really sure this is the one you want?" Paula asked cautiously, a little put off by the fact that the apartment came unfurnished.

"It is. It's big enough for the both of us and only a few blocks from the building where I'll be taking most of my film classes, it's perfect, Mom."

"Well, alright," Annie said with a satisfied smile. She opened up her briefcase and withdrew a file. "Now, we're going to need the first and last months rent in advance and the mandatory safety deposit." She turned to Spencer's parents. "I assume you two will be taking care of that-"

"Why?" Ashley interrupted. She didn't like the idea that this woman didn't think that she could take care of Spencer.

"Well, sweetheart, it's quite a lot of money and you're already taking on a large financial responsibility with the rent-"

"Okay, I don't mean to be rude but I own my own place in LA, I have a car that cost more than you make in a year and I have a job where I make a ridiculous amount of money for doing something I'd do for free. And even if I didn't have that job, the millions of dollars sitting in my bank account would still allow me to more than afford the rent on this place. So, trust me when I say, I've got it."

Annie looked stunned, why had nobody told her that her client was a teenage millionaire? If she had know she would've been showing them the more upscale and expensive property on her list. "Of course, I'm sorry for the assumption," she groveled, not wanting to lose the deal. She handed the papers to Ashley for her to look over.

Ashley felt a familiar pair of blue eyes watching her and when she looked up over the top of the papers, she saw Spencer staring at her with an indecipherable look in her eyes. "What?" she asked, hoping that Spencer wasn't mad about her arrogant outburst.

"I am so turned on right now."

Guess not.

-

"Ashley, do you have any idea how much money you spent today?" Spencer asked, closing the door on the last of the delivery men.

"Nope." Ashley flopped down on their brand new couch and waved her platinum American Express card around. "That's the beauty of having ones of these."

With only a week before school started, the girls had made the trip back to Boston to furnish their new apartment and transfer some of their belongings that wouldn't fit into the trunk of Ashley's Porsche.

So they'd spent the morning at Best Buy picking out various appliances. It was certainly a new experience for Spencer to be able to just point to something and say "I want that." without even looking at the price tag. They'd come out with a new refrigerator, microwave, huge plasma screen tv with surround sound, dvd player and a powerful new laptop for Spencer to use for school. In fact, they spent so much in that one store, Spencer knew that they easily exceeded 10 000, the delighted salesman even threw in a free Xbox 360 and two games.

After lunch and all the electrical equipment had been delivered and set up, the pair headed, much to Ashley's disgust, to the nearest IKEA for furniture. And so a desk, couch, arm chairs, king sized bed and a couple of bookshelves were added to the bill.

Now Ashley, despite all her initial protests, seemed to be quite enjoying the new sofa. So much so that she appeared to be falling asleep. And while Spencer could understand that they'd had a long day, if they wanted to get everything done then there was no time for resting. "Are you going to lay there all day?"

"Yes," Ashley replied, burying her face in a newly purchased throw cushion.

Spencer shook her head and tugged on her girlfriend's foot. "No." She grabbed the pillow off the older girl's face.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Well, that bed isn't going to put itself together." Spencer smirked at Ashley's stricken expression.

"You want me to do it?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing, did Spencer actually want her to perform manual labor? Did she not get the memo? I did not sign up for this.

The blonde dropped down to sit in her confused girlfriend's lap. "I'm no good at that kind of thing," she confessed.

"And you think I am?"

"You can't be worse than me! The last time I tried to put something from Ikea together, I put the shelves in wrong and everything kept sliding off them. Glen made fun of me for weeks." Wrapping her arms around the older girl's neck, Spencer leaned in to speak softly into Ashley's ear, her voice taking on a considerably more seductive tone. "And you don't want a bed that'll fall apart under stress, do you? Besides." Her tongue flicked out against the shell of the brunette's ear. "The sooner you put it together, the sooner we get to christen it."

Watching the understanding dawning on Ashley's face was quite a sight. "Oh. You mean...ohhhh!" She jumped up, gently depositing the Spencer on the couch. "I'm on it!" she announced, hightailing it to the bedroom.

Spencer relaxed back on the couch and turned on the new tv. She gave Ashley five minutes before she came begging for help.

-

As it turned out, Ashley didn't need her help at all. After ten minutes of cursing and trying to figure out where the fuck Slot B was, she threw (ripped into tiny pieces) the instructions away and figured it out for herself. Ashley was probably more surprised than anyone to find that she was quite the savant when it came to assembling Swedish designed furniture. The only thing left for Spencer to do was put the sheets on and that's when she realized that they forgot to get any.

"Well," Ashley huffed, jumping up and down on the newly constructed bed like a five year old on a sugar high. "Let's christen this bitch!"

"Not yet." Ashley halted mid jump and fell on her ass, pouting. "We'll stain the mattress!" Spencer explained. "Besides we still need to go grocery shopping."

"Grocery shopping?" Now Ashley was just confused.

"Ash, please tell me that you've been shopping for groceries before." Again, Spencer was struck by just how different her girlfriend's upbringing was from her own.

"Never had too." Ashley shrugged, looking bewildered. "I just wrote what I wanted down on a list and then the next day when I opened the fridge it would be there."

Spencer titled her head, looking at the older girl as though she was from another planet. "But how did the food get there?"

"The food elves," Ashley said seriously, before bursting into laughter at the look on the blonde's face. "Just kidding. I think that we paid someone to do it. I mean, can you imagine my mother pushing a shopping cart?" The mental image sent her into a fresh round of giggles.

Spencer took a seat on the edge of the bed and caught Ashley's chin, making sure that she had the brunette's full attention. "Ashley, we are not going to pay someone to buy food for us."

"You mean we actually have to do it ourselves?" But it looks so boring on tv!

"Yes, we are adults now and we have to go to the store ourselves, like every other normal person on the planet." She was going to get Ashley to grow up if it killed her.

"Normal is so overrated."

TBC