Chapter 4

I promise the chapters will get much longer. I just have to get out of this 'only writing late at night' pattern. Thank you for the reviews.

After eating in comfortable silence for a bit, Spencer decided that she'd take advantage of the time she had to spend with Ashley.

"Soooo. Tell me about yourself, Ashley." She attempted to state this like a talk show host and was certain she failed miserably.

"Well, I am Ashley Davies. California born and raised. Twenty four years of age. Musician." She finished her short biography with a slight smirk, "And you?"

"As you have been made aware, I am Spencer Carlin. Water Wars extraordinaire…no, not at all. I'm a photographer and I'm excessively close to my family, like closer than I'd choose to be. I am twenty three and oh, yeah… I grew up in Ohio and… yeah."

"You sure you're not a motivational speaker because you are truly exceptional at talking."

She could not be blamed for any of what she said when this girl was around.

They were just lucky there were no accidental statements regarding Ashley's "assets."

Spencer having had enough of being teased about something completely out of her control, playfully remarked, "I'm sorry, who exactly allows strangers into their home and feeds them Girl Scout cookies? For all I know, you're a psycho killer."

"Mhmm. That's the most likely of all possibilities. I wait for others to knock on my door and then I take that opportunity to feed them, give them shelter…and then kill 'em. Sounds about right."

"You forgot the abuse part."

"Right. Feed them, beat them, give them shelter, then kill 'em."

There was a pause.

"Wow... I can't believe you'd joke about something like that. You know, you're really sick in the head," Spencer accused insincerely.

Somehow during that exchange they had stood up and they found themselves standing close to one another, both beaming wildly.

Spencer momentarily thought of how reckless it was of Ashley to smile at her in that way.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Spencer Carlin."

"You are aware we've already introduced ourselves…like two times, right?"

Ashley impatiently waved her open hand around for Spencer to take. Needless to say, she took it.

"Nice to meet you, Ashley Davies."

Eventually the girls gravitated to Ashley's couch where they began to talk about an array of topics ranging from their views on the movie 'Bring It On' (Ashley hated it, though both knew every line in it), to whether or not Ashley was a "partying, drug using, sex having, badass rock-star" (in Spencer's words).

To Spencer's tirade about talking during movies, Ashley laughed out, "I know! My fiancée is always saying, 'What happens next?' or like, 'I bet that's the killer.'…so obnoxious."

Based on Ashley's impression, Spencer made the assumption that her fiancée was a guy…or an extremely masculine girl. Either way, Ashley wasn't exact available. This news physically hurt Spencer.

Her heart didn't just sink, it drowned.

Shaken by this disappointment and brought back to reality, she decided that since the sun was setting, Glen and Clay had probably left.

There fore, she could leave too.

"Uh. As much as I appreciate you letting me stay here, I should probably get going."

She was aware of how badly masked her loss of enthusiasm was, but she just needed to leave and forget about the girl who fed her, sheltered her, talked to her, and didn't kill her.

"Yeah…okay," Ashley agreed, sensing this change in mood, "I'll walk you out."

They awkwardly walked to the door and exited the apartment Spencer had grown quite fond of.

As they found their way to the sidewalk that had brought them together, Ashley who had her head turned to the road (Spencer's head was turned, obviously, toward Ashley), suddenly let out a loud sigh accompanied with a, "You have got to be kidding me."

Suddenly, she had spun Spencer around so that she stood in front of her, much like how they stood earlier in the night .Ashley, back turned to the road, let out another sigh.

Spencer confusedly rushed out, "Um. What are you do--"

She was cut off by the unmistakable sound of Glen's laughter echoing in the almost silent street.

Ashley's face contorted into a mixture of annoyance, but relief and it was then Spencer came to the realization that Ashley had just been drenched with water.

She was distracted by the way Ashley looked with her untamed, soaking wet curls, but slowly stuttered out, "You…saved me?"

"It was just water. I didn't actually, like, save you," Ashley said, suddenly bashful.

"That was the Water Wars equivalent of taking a bullet for me…Anddd you're blushing. I guess that answers my question about you being the badass type of musician."

Her words might have been a little more offensive if she wasn't still looking at Ashley in adoration.

"…You saved me," she repeated happily, "Thank you."