CHAPTER THREE

Emily and I flirt back and forth and just get to know each other better for the next three hours. We eventually both go outside of our respective houses and sit on the porch or stairs to watch the sunrise together and continue to chat happily while we admire the sight. The sky looks so beautiful with all the different shades of orange and pink as the sun rises over the horizon.

"That was amazing." I breathe out, breaking the comfortable silence between us.

"Yeah it was. I'm glad we got to sort of share that together." Emily's says in her cheerful voice.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm freezing, I'm going to head back inside and warm myself up." I say as I stand up, wrapping the blanket tighter around my body, "Oh quick question Em, do you know what time Mrs Marin would normally wake up on a Saturday? Seeing as you said you have stayed here so often, I thought you might know."

"Umm…about eight why? Are you planning on sneaking out?" I laugh at Emily's suggestion.

"No, I wanted to make pancakes to thank Mrs Marin and Hanna for letting me stay over. Oh, and little Stephen as well."

"That's so sweet of you to do Spencer. Now I really, really wish I was there, I absolutely love pancakes."

"Well maybe I will have to make them for you one day." The sentence dripping with seduction as it leaves my mouth. I smirk to myself when I hear another small moan escape Emily's lips. My stomach lurches while it becomes uncomfortably warm in between my legs for the millionth time tonight since first hearing Emily's beautiful voice. I think this girl is going to be the death of me.

"I'll take that as a yes then, will I Em?" I tease.

"Oh definitely. I love a girl who can cook my favourite breakfast food. Well that or pizza, which is my absolute favourite food."

"Well aren't you lucky, I love pizza, it's my favourite too. I love to make my own too."

"My goodness, a girl after my own heart." Emily lets out a laugh, I can feel those pesky butterflies again while I laugh too.

"Well, I guess I had better get inside and start finding my way around the Marin's kitchen if I am to get breakfast ready before they come downstairs."

I make my way over to the kitchen and quietly start opening cupboards looking for the ingredients and utensils I will need to make the pancakes. Emily helps me when I ask for it. She likes that she is my little helper. Unfortunately, we had to put an end to our call once again, so I could start whipping up my 'thank you' pancakes. Soon enough the batter is ready to be poured into the pan. I carefully make a tester, just to make sure I have the heat right. I wait until bubbles appear then I flip it over. I take it out and try it, perfect as always. I pour a few into the pan at once now, following the same steps as the tester.

When I only have two left in the pan, I hear someone come down the stairs. I look in the direction of the stairs to see it's Mrs Marin in a red silk dressing gown stretching and yawning, "Good morning Spencer." She shoots a smile my way, "What is that wonderful smell?"

"Breakfast" I shrug.

"Spencer, you certainly didn't have to make breakfast, especially after drinking last night."

"Mrs Marin, it's my pleasure. It's sort of a thank you to Hanna and yourself for letting me stay over. There is a fresh pot of coffee, pancakes, berries, whipped cream and orange juice. Help yourself." I say as I flop the last two pancakes onto a plate for Mrs Marin. The older woman just stands there, leaning against the counter looking at me like I had two heads. I start to feel flustered, like I have done something wrong by making breakfast. I swallow hard and shyly ask, "Mrs Marin? Is something wrong? Do you not like pancakes?" Instead of getting a verbal response, she grabs me and pulls me into a warm embrace and whispers in my ear, "Spencer you don't know how much this means to me or how much I needed this today. It's been a rough few weeks at work and this is wonderful." She then pulls away from me but still holds onto my arms. She then playfully slaps me on the arm, "I don't ever want you to think that you need to cook breakfast as payment for letting you stay over. You're Hanna's friend, so you're always welcome in my house."

I don't know exactly what to say so I just nod in response, "I think I'll go wake up Hanna and Stephen and bring them downstairs for breakfast." Mrs Marin just nods as she takes a sip of the coffee she had just poured herself.

I bound up the stairs two at a time and slowly open the door to the guest bedroom to find Hanna and Stephen snuggling into each other on the bed. I take the opportunity to snap another photo of them to show to Hanna, Emily and Aria later. I tiptoe over to the bed and gently shake Hanna's shoulder, whispering, "Han it's time to wake up, breakfast is ready." No response, so I shake her a little harder and repeat myself. Unfortunately, this isn't working, but I see Stephen stir, I lean down and gently shake his shoulder and say, "Time to wake up buddy, breakfast is ready." I see his eyes slowly open and I smile down at him, "Hey Stephen, you want to help me wake up cousin Hanna?"

I smirk when I see a giant grin cross his face at my suggestion, "Yeah!"

"Okay, well, let's get you out of bed first." I help Stephen untangle himself from Hanna, before whispering in his ear, "Let's tickle her until she wakes up." We both eagerly start tickling Hanna.

First, we hear groans, then Hanna starts to wriggle before fully waking up and shoots me daggers, if looks could kill, I would have died right there and then, "Get out of bed Hanna, breakfast is ready downstairs." I turn to Stephen and tell him, "Aunty Ashley is downstairs waiting for you. Go on my little helper." I give him a high five before he runs out the door.

"What the absolute hell Hastings?!" Hanna practically sprays me, venom dripping from every word.
"I needed to wake you up, so you could come down and have breakfast with us. I made it especially for you guys." I smile and sit on the edge of the bed next to Hanna.
"Come on Han…I promise it will be worth your while. Your mum hugged me for god's sake, so, let's go." I reach out my hand, which Hanna begrudgingly takes while giving me a funny look. I assume for saying that her mother hugged me, "Also, I might have made plans for us for the rest of the day." I look at Hanna to gauge her reaction, but she doesn't really react, I think she is still pissed about being woken up.

I drag my grumpy friend down the stairs and into the kitchen where I see Mrs Marin drinking her coffee, with a plate of pancakes, berries and whipped cream in front of her, half eaten. Stephen is sitting next to her, enjoying his pancakes and syrup with a glass of orange juice to wash it all down. When they see us enter, they both smile, Mrs Marin says good morning to her daughter and thanks me again for breakfast, I wave her off. Stephen just grinned at me with a mouthful of pancake, syrup dribbling down his chin. I walk over to the counter, grab two plates and start piling a bit of everything onto each plate. I then sit down at the bench and place both plates down before signalling for Hanna to sit next to me. Thankfully she does and starts to eat, almost immediately I am slapped on the arm by Hanna who tries to speak through a mouthful of food, "Oh my god Spence, this is delicious!" I just smirk at her and then at Mrs Marin before saying, "What is it with you Marin women and slapping me this morning?!" Hanna just looks confused and then stares at her mum who is just left blushing. I mouth 'I'm sorry' to Mrs Marin who just smiles back at me.

We all just sit and finish eating our breakfast in a peaceful silence, which is only broken when Hanna, who seems in a better mood now, turns to me and asks, "So Spence, what are our plans for today?"

I blush slightly and quickly say, "We will talk about it in a minute after we do the dishes." Which is answered with a groan from Hanna.

I receive a stern, "Don't you dare Spencer! You have already done quite enough already." From Mrs Marin, I just put my hands up in defeat to her which is met by a laugh from the older woman.

"Come on then Spence, let's go discuss todays plans so I can dress accordingly." I wasn't even given a chance to reply before I was being dragged out of the room. I just wave at Mrs Marin and Stephen before complying to Hanna's order.

Once we reach Hanna's room, she quickly turns and shuts the door behind me, "Now spill Hastings! Why are you in such a chipper mood today? How many cups of coffee did you have before you so rudely woke me up? A dozen?!"

I just smirk and reply, "A total of zero Han."

Hanna stands there, absolutely gob smacked, she eventually regains her voice and points her finger at me and shrieks, "You basically have caffeine coursing through your veins at all times! Who are you and what have you done with Spencer Hastings?!"

"It's me Han. I'm just really excited about our plans for today."

"Well tell me what the plans are then, don't keep me in the dark."

"Okay, so last night after you took Stephen to bed and didn't come back down, Emily and I talked…"

I can't help but feel Hanna's eyes on me, "Go on."

"Well, we really hit it off. We talked for hours, watched the sunrise and we only ended our call so I could make breakfast for you guys and so we could both get ready for later." I excitedly blurt out. "We planned for Em to come over today and hang out, she was also going to see if Aria wanted to come along as well. We thought maybe we could all go to the park or something." I feel so embarrassed telling Hanna all this, not really knowing how she would react, "Han? Are you alright?" I'm unsure of what emotions are strewn across the blonde's features, it looks like a mixture of joy and confusion with something else, but I'm not too sure what, "Hanna?" I wait a beat, "Oh no I've broken her." I giggle.

A few more seconds go by before Hanna attempts to speak, "Huh? What? When? How?" I start to answer her bombardment of questions, but before I can, she cuts me off by yelling, "I KNEW IT!" and jumping on her bed, "I always knew you two would get together. You guys would make such adorable babies." A look of horror replaces the joy previously on her face, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, I know you can't actually make babies with both your DNA…" She trails off.

I stand up and grab Hanna to calm her down, "Han you're rambling, and we have only talked on the phone, we haven't even seen each other yet and you're talking about us having kids together." This seems absurd, even by Hanna's standards, "And before you even say it, no I don't want to check out Em's facebook profile, or her instagram. We promised we wouldn't look each other up in any way. So, don't even think it."

I can feel Hanna tense up, "How did you know what I was going to say?" She asks pure shock on her face.

"I know you Han, it wasn't hard to guess what you would be thinking." I grab Hanna's hand and squeeze it gently, "So, you sort out an outfit while I quickly grab a shower, okay?" I see Hanna nodding as I grab my things and head for the bathroom across the hall.

Once I have showered, I brush my teeth and run my comb through my hair, I start to feel extremely nervous. It won't be long now, and I'll be able to put a face to the angelic voice that belongs to Emily. I apply some basic makeup, wanting to look natural and get fully dressed before returning to Hanna's room.

I see Hanna has laid out a black and white dress on the bed. Hearing me entering she turns from looking for the perfect pair of heels to match her dress and smiles, "You look great Spence."

I can feel a blush creeping into my cheeks, I'm only wearing my usual casual preppy attire. Today I'm wearing a white and navy button up shirt underneath a maroon sweater and a pair of black slacks, "Thanks Han."

She just shrugs, "I'm sure you would like to know that I messaged Emily while you were in the shower, she has already invited Aria, and they will both be arriving in about an hour. So, I had better get a wriggle on if I want to be ready when they get here." Hanna grabs her dressing gown and rushes across the hall.

I pick up my phone and send a text to Emily, 'Han is so excited, she nearly had a meltdown when I told her what we got up to last night. I can't wait until you and Aria are here, so we can officially meet :-) S'

It takes a while for Emily to respond but I don't mind, knowing she is probably busy getting ready too, 'Hey, yeah I know, she practically grilled me through text. Aria is excited to meet you, especially after I rang her and told her all about you and our plans for today. I'm bouncing off the walls waiting until it's time to pick Aria up. -Em'

We text back and forth a few more times before Hanna returned to her room dressed in her robe, "You don't mind me getting changed in here do you Spence?" I hear my friend ask.

I don't even think before responding, "No of course not, it's your room after all. I'll just go downstairs and wait for you."

Hanna practically sprints across the room to push me back onto the bed. "And where do you think you're going? I meant I was going to get changed in here with you still in the room. I'm not ashamed of my hot bod, I don't even care if you watch." A sly grin appears on her face and she winks before returning to her dress, she starts to undo her dressing gown, I'm left speechless. Hanna decides to poke more fun at me, "Even though I know it's Em who you wish was getting dressed in front of you isn't it?" My heart rate increases dramatically, and I can feel myself blushing from head to toe, "I knew it!" Hanna says with a massive grin plastered on her face.

"I…I…I'm just going to wait for you downstairs Han. Don't be long, Em just text me to say she just arrived at Aria's so they will be here in 5-10 minutes." I can't help but feel embarrassed by the fact that I just stumbled with my speech. I'm normally so good with words, but not right now I'm not.

I ran out of the room before Hanna could tease me anymore or God forbid, open her gown. I sit down on the couch in the living room, where I can hear Mrs Marin telling Stephen about their plans for today, which consisted of going to see a movie and ice cream afterwards, before going to play at the playground. I can't seem to sit still, I'm a bundle of nerves. I'm relieved when I hear Hanna coming down the stairs. Mrs Marin must have heard too because she walks into the living room and asks us what our plans are for today.

Hanna cheerfully answers, "Emily, Aria, Spencer and I are going to hang out at the park, grab a coffee and lunch and probably end up back here to watch some movies. Is that okay with you?" Hanna smiles at her mother, eyes pleading.

"Of course sweetie, Stephen and I will stop in at the grocery store on our way home and grab some snacks for you girls." Hanna hugs her, "Thanks Mum." Their little mother, daughter moment is cut short when there is a knock at the door.

"Spence, can you grab that, I just need to talk to little Stevie here for a minute." Hanna says dragging Stephen back out into the kitchen, winking at me as she does. Damn Hanna, trying to get one over me again, Mrs Marin follows behind Hanna.

I move towards the door and take a few deep breaths before opening the door. I gasp slightly when I see the two girls standing on the porch and I instantly find myself wondering which girl Emily is. I don't have to wait long before I'm snapped out of my stupor by the shorter, petite brunette who sticks out her hand, "Hey I'm Aria, and you must be Spencer. I don't know if you remember, but we talked briefly last night." She then flashes me a warm smile as I shake her hand, "This one…" Aria nudges the taller tan, raven haired girl "Hasn't shut up about you all morning, I feel like I already know a bit about you." I look over at Emily to see her looking away blushing. I feel the blood rush to my cheeks, I try to catch Emily's gaze, but I can't. Aria just grins when she sees both of our reactions and announces that she is going inside to find Hanna and leave us two to talk. I just nod my head in response as I move out the doorway, allowing Aria to walk inside.

I can feel myself checking out this beauty standing in front of me, starting from the ground up, Emily is wearing a pair of black hi-top converse, black ripped skinny jeans, which seem to show off her curves and a plaid shirt with a white singlet underneath, that showed off a bit of cleavage. Oh boy, if I thought I had a massive crush on Emily just from hearing her voice and talking to her all night, it escalated into the biggest crush anyone has ever had since man first walked the earth. I really am standing in front of an angel right now, I can feel my heart beating out of my chest, and I hear my own voice, "Hey, nice to finally meet you." I extend out my hand out, but I am pulled into a warm embrace by Emily. I breath in her scent, god she smells so good and I can feel her warm breath on my neck, I get instant goosebumps.

"Yeah it's nice to officially meet you too Spence." Emily says in her oh so sweet voice before pulling away, running her hands down my arms and taking my hands in hers. I gulp, finally looking into Emily's dark brown eyes, I feel myself smiling the biggest smile I have ever had, I hear a little gasp escape my lips, I blush and so does Emily.

"I kept pinching myself and checking my phone all morning after we ended our call. I couldn't and still can't believe that you're real Spence." I squeeze Emily's hands when she said that.

"Me neither Em…so do you want to sit down…" I gesture to the steps "Or we can go inside?"

"What? And have Han or Ar take up all your time? No way!" She cries.

"Well outside it is then." I lead Emily to the steps and hold her hand while she bends down to sit, before I sit down myself.

"Well aren't you just perfectly chivalrous." Emily nudges me, and I playfully nudge her back. Emily then leans into me and rests her head on my shoulder, I can feel myself tense up at the sudden movement, Emily must have taken this as a bad sign and instantly pulls away and apologises.

I quickly put my hand on her thigh and smile, "It's okay, I just wasn't expecting that. I'm sorry Em…"

"And I certainly wasn't expecting this either." Emily said while placing her hand over mine, which is still located on her thigh.

"Oh crap, I'm sorry Emily, I just didn't want you to feel bad about placing your head on my shoulder." I try to reassure her while removing my hand from her thigh, but Emily won't let my hand move an inch. I glance at Emily with a look of confusion on my face.

"Don't, I like it where it is Spence." Emily squeezes my hand and sends me a flirtatious look, which we both blush at before she rests her head on my shoulder again. This time I fully welcomed the gesture.

We sit together in a peaceful silence for a few minutes before we're interrupted by Hanna and Aria walking out the front door. Hanna makes a snide remark about us being sickeningly cute lovebirds or something along those lines, I don't even care right now, I was just enjoying the moment with Emily, but we slowly part.

I clear my throat and glare at Hanna, "So I guess you guys are ready to go then?" I ask.

"Yeah, we were thinking since its Em's car she would drive, Spence you can ride shotgun and Ar and I will sit in the back. Sound good?" Asks Hanna, not even waiting for a response, she starts walking towards Emily's car. Aria follows Hanna while Emily and I just look at one another and shrug before turning to walk to Emily's car, Emily unlocking the car as we go.

TO BE CONTINUED...