The next day at school.
"Hey Spence." Aria said, with Hanna following as they approached Spencer who was pulling some books from her locker.
"Hey. What's up?"
"Not too much. You've been kinda MIA lately."
"Yeah." Hanna agreed. "I see you at school then you pretty much disappear. Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine. I've just been really busy with student council and hockey and stuff. You guys wanna hang out on Friday night?"
"I can't…I sort of have a date." Aria said.
"Really? Did Noel Kahn finally ask you out?" Hanna said.
"Yeah, this morning. We're going to a movie."
"I told you Mona said he was gonna ask you out. Don't underestimate her ability to find stuff out."
Spencer just rolled her eyes.
"What about you Han, you wanna hang out on Friday night?"
"Sorry, Spence, but I have a date too."
"With that new kid?" Aria asked.
"Yeah, his name's Caleb. He's not my usual type, but we've been out a few times and I think there might be some chemistry between us."
"Alison's going away this weekend, so I guess I'll just be flying solo then." Spencer said as she shut her locker door.
"We can do something on Saturday night, but in the meantime, we need to find you a man, Spence." Hanna said, as she and her friends began walking down the hall. "Anyone you've got your eye on?"
"Not really. Guys are way too much trouble…I gotta get to class, I'll see you guys later."
"Okay. Bye Spence." Aria said as she watched Spencer walk off down the hall.
Friday evening.
Spencer wandered through the house, stopping at her father's office. She knocked on the door, which was already slightly cracked open.
"Hey dad."
"Hey Spence. Do you need something?"
"I just wanted to see if maybe you wanted to go to the country club and play some tennis with me?"
"I can't, I've got tons of emails and phone calls to return. Ask your mother." Peter said as he went back to tapping on his phone.
"Are you coming to my hockey game next week?"
"I don't think I'm going to be able to make it this time. Your mother and I are going to be backed up with late meetings all week. Sorry, sport."
"It's fine." Spencer said, turning around as moving toward the door. "You never come to my games anyway." She sighed under her breath as she walked out of the room.
Spencer then walked into the living room where she found her mother sitting on the couch, looking over some paperwork.
"Hi mom."
"Hi honey." Veronica said, barely looking up from the papers in her hands.
"What are you looking at?" Spencer asked.
"Just some court orders and trial transcripts, nothing too exciting."
"Would you be able to take a break? I was hoping maybe you'd feel like going to club to play some tennis or something with me."
"I'd love to, but I really can't right now. I've got a lot of paperwork to go through. Maybe this weekend. Why don't you call your friends?" Veronica asked, looking back down at the papers in her hand.
"They're all busy with other stuff tonight. I guess I'll just go for a walk or something then."
"Okay honey."
"Then maybe I'll get drunk, buy some drugs and get shanked in an alley." Spencer said, suspecting her mother had stopped listening.
"Just don't stay out too late, okay sweetheart?"
Spencer just shook her head and walked out the door without saying another word. Spencer slowly walked to the end of the sidewalk and looked across the street at the DiLaurentis' house. It was completely dark, as they had gone away for the weekend. Although Alison usually got on Spencer's nerves, many times to the point where Spencer questioned their friendship, at least Alison paid attention, which was more than Spencer could say for her family most days. Spencer crossed the street and continued walking. For the next fifteen or so minutes, Spencer wandered aimlessly through Rosewood, only stopping when she reached the Applerose Grille, after deciding that she could really use a cup of coffee. Spencer walked up to the front of the restaurant, opened the door and stepped inside. She walked up to the counter, ordered a cup of the restaurant's strongest coffee and waited for the clerk to return. As Spencer waited for her coffee, she turned around and leaned against the counter, she stared off into the distance across the restaurant, where she spotted Emily sitting alone at a table in the corner of the room.
"Here's your coffee." The clerk said.
"Thanks." Spencer said, turning around and taking the cup off of the counter.
Spencer then walked across the crowded room to the table where Emily was sitting. Emily didn't even notice Spencer approaching her, as she sat absentmindedly fingering the
napkin in front of her.
"Hi, Emily."
Emily looked up to see Spencer standing in front of her.
"Hey, Spencer. It's nice to see you."
"You too. Are you alone?"
"It's beginning to look that way." Emily said looking at her watch, it was nearly nine o'clock. "I was supposed to meet my date here at eight, but she hasn't shown up yet. I think I've been stood up."
"How could someone just not show up?"
"I don't know, but I knew a blind date was a bad idea from the beginning. Remind me to never let my friends set me up again…I guess I should still order something to eat though. I'm starving, but I didn't want to be rude by ordering something before my date showed up…"
"You're worried about being rude, yet your date is an hour late and never called to cancel?"
"Yeah well, My mother always taught me to be polite, there is no other option…listen Spencer, if you're not too busy, you're more than welcome to join me for dinner."
"I'd love to have dinner with you."
"Great. Why don't you sit down? I'm sure the waitress will be back in a minute."
Spencer set her coffee cup on the table and pulled out her chair, before taking a seat across from Emily.
"So, what are you up to tonight?"
"Not too much, I just stopped by for some coffee and I saw you, so I thought I'd come say hello."
"I'm glad you did."
After a few minutes, a waitress approached the table and took Emily and Spencer's orders. As the waitress began walking away, Emily pulled her phone from her jacket pocket when she heard it chime.
"Excuse me for just one minute." Emily said as she began typing on her phone.
After a moment Emily slipped her phone back into her jacket.
"Was it important?" Spencer asked.
"Not really. My mom wants to come visit me. She just wanted to know when is good for me, though I guess it really doesn't matter when she comes, she'll just end up spending the whole time scouring Rosewood to find me a girlfriend."
"Does your mother know you prefer to hit it and quit it?" Spencer smirked.
"God no. And I'm sure that as far as my mother is concerned, I'm still a virgin, even though she knows it's not true. She thinks I can't do any wrong."
"At least she's supportive. You and your mom are close..." Spencer said, her words coming as more of a question than a statement.
"Yeah, we are. My dad's in the Army. He was away a lot when I was growing up, so it was just my mom and I most of the time."
"Can I ask you kind of a personal question?"
"Sure. Go ahead."
"Was it hard for you to come out to your mom?"
"I come from a pretty hardcore Catholic, military family. Coming out was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my entire life. I was sure my mom would hate me, but I couldn't keep lying to myself or to her."
"Obviously she doesn't hate you though."
"No, but things were pretty tense between us for a while. There were a lot of tears, but eventually she got over it. I think my dad really helped change her mind. He was on my side the whole time."
"Is your dad overseas now?"
"No, right now he's stationed at the Fort hood military base in Texas. He does mostly training and supervising new recruits."
"So...you said you went to college in Texas. That's not exactly close to Rosewood. How'd you end up here?" Spencer asked.
"After I graduated from Texas Tech, I had a lot going on in my life. I felt like I needed a fresh start somewhere new. I made a lot of good professional connections when I was an apprentice architect and I ended up being referred to a few clients in the Philadelphia area who were willing to pay me top dollar to work for them. I don't like to brag, but I was considered somewhat of a prodigy in college."
"I believe it. My dad is really impressed with your work and he's unbelievably particular about everything. Do you like living in Pennsylvania?"
"I do. I was actually born in Philadelphia, but my family didn't live there for long before my dad got transferred to another Army base."
"Do you think you'll stay in Rosewood for a while?"
"I'd like to. It's nice here. Besides, I feel like I need a more permanent home. The four years I was in college at Texas Tech was the longest I'd ever lived in one place. My dad was given a permanent training position at the Army base in Fort Hood, unless of course, his unit is needed overseas."
"Moving so much must have been really tough on you as a kid."
"It was. I'd just start to get used to one school and new friends, then my parents would tell me to pack up because we were moving again. Eventually, I learned to just distance myself from people. I mean what's the point of letting yourself get close to people if you're just going to be shipped off to another city in six months? Part of the reason I love architecture so much is that buildings are stationary, once they're built, they're pretty much there to stay.
A moment later, the waitress returned with their orders.
"This one's yours." The waitress said, setting a plate down in front of Spencer. "And here's yours." She turned and set the second plate in front of Emily. "Is there anything else I can get for you two?"
Emily glanced across the table at Spencer, who shook her head.
"No, I think we're good. Thanks." Emily said.
"All right. I'll be back to check on you in a few minutes then." The waitress said, before walking off.
"Oh, I wanted to tell you…" Spencer said. "Thanks a lot for helping me with my hockey stance the other day, I've totally killed all of my shots in practice the last few days."
"I'm glad to hear it and I'm happy to help. How's school going for you?"
Spencer smiled to herself, she couldn't remember the last time her parents asked how things were at school.
"It's great. I really like school, I always have. I've been really busy though, I have all AP classes. In between homework, projects and hockey sometimes I feel like I barely have time to breathe."
"You must be keeping up pretty well if you took classes at U Penn over the summer."
"I work really hard to keep straight A's. My family has ridiculously high expectations…my parents are obsessed with me becoming a lawyer."
"I thought you said you wanted to study interior design." Emily said, recalling their previous conversation in the barn.
"I'd love to study interior design…but my dad doesn't think it's a practical career for me."
"Well…what do you think?"
"I don't know…I mean, it'd probably be a lot easier for me to get a job as an attorney, but I'm not sure that becoming a lawyer is what I want. Then again, I really don't want my parents to be disappointed in me…"
"Spencer…if you do everything in your life based on what other people want, the only person you'll end up disappointing is yourself."
"Maybe you're right."
"I know I am. Trust me, I've spent way too much time trying to please everyone but myself. You should do what ever you want to, don't worry about what your parents or anyone else thinks."
"Thanks, Emily."
"I should be thanking you."
"For what?"
"For keeping me company tonight, I'm sure you had a million other places you'd rather have been than here talking to me on a Friday night."
"Actually, I like talking to you."
"Really? Why's that?"
"You pay attention to me. You actually listen. No one else does. My family barely even knows I exist. My parents never come to my hockey games, or ask me how my day was, they don't even know where I am half of the time."
"Well, it's their loss for missing out. They've got an amazing daughter. They're lucky."
"Here's your check." The waitress said, placing the slip of paper down in the middle of the table.
"Thank you." Emily said.
Once the waitress had walked away, Emily picked up the check and looked at it. Spencer then pulled some money out of her pocket and handed it to Emily.
"Oh no, Spencer. Please, it's on me." Emily said, handing the bills back to the brunette.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, I insist."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. I'm gonna go pay for this." Emily said as she stood up. "I'll be right back."
After a few minutes, Emily returned to the table.
"You ready to go?" Emily asked.
"Yep." Spencer said, standing up.
Spencer and Emily both made their way to the front of the restaurant and out the door.
"Where did you park? I'll walk you to your car." Emily said.
"I actually walked here tonight."
"Then I'll drive you home."
"You don't have to do that. I don't want you to have to go out of your way for me. I can walk."
"What kind of person would I be if I let a young, pretty girl walk home by herself in the dark? Come on."
Spencer followed Emily across the parking lot to a small white car on the other side of the lot.
"You drive a Prius?" Spencer asked as she walked around to the passenger side of Emily's car and got in.
"Yeah. I feel really guilty about driving a diesel truck for work, so I felt like the least I could do for the environment was buy a hybrid."
"Are you going to be working at my house tomorrow?"
"Yeah, but I'm only working half a day tomorrow. I have plans tomorrow night."
"I hope it's not another blind date."
"It isn't." Emily laughed. "My church's youth group leader is sick, so I'm filling in for the evening."
"You really are something else, you know that?"
"I try."
All too soon, Spencer found herself back in her own driveway, desperately not wanting to move from Emily's car.
"I had a really nice time with you tonight." Spencer said, looking over at Emily. "We should hang out again sometime soon."
"We should. I'm actually glad my date didn't show up."
As Spencer stared over at Emily, she wanted nothing more than for Emily to just lean over and kiss her. Emily would have been lying if she said the thought of kissing Spencer at that moment never crossed her mind. But nevertheless, Emily fought the urge as she and Spencer sat in silence for a few long moments.
"I…guess I should let you go." Spencer said as she swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Okay."
"Thanks again for dinner and the ride home."
"Don't mention it. Goodnight, Spencer."
"Goodnight." Spencer said as she opened the door and stepped out of the car.
Emily sat in her car, waiting to make sure Spencer got into the house safely. Once Spencer had disappeared into the house, Emily quietly drove off into the darkness.