A/N: Some one guessed that this would happen, so kudos to you ;)
Chapter 7
My weekend passes uneventfully and quickly, much like it usually does, and I find myself back at school, bright and early Monday morning. With a sigh, I carelessly throw my book bag over one shoulder, looking around for Aiden.
He smiles as he sees me and waves me over, and I start to make my way over to him when I notice who he's sitting with in the quad; Madison and Spencer.
Realizing that I can't turn back now without looking like a bitch or a psycho, I bite down curse words and trudge my way over to them.
"Hey Ash. Glad to see you grace us with your presence." Aiden rubs my arm as I sit next to him.
"Hey Ashley," Spencer says softly, and I feel nervous as I give her a small smile in greeting, unable to say anything back.
All I get from Madison is a nod, but that's more than fine. She watches Aiden's hand with interest, before rolling her eyes and whispering something to Spencer. I see Spencer look at me for a moment before shaking her head, and Madison's smile grows.
"So Aiden," she says with a cat-like grin, "did you have fun at the party?"
Her innuendo isn't lost on any of us, and I snort into the root beer I had been drinking. I catch Spencer's eye, and she mimics a gagging motion, making me chortle harder.
"What are you laughing at?" Madison demands, obviously not happy about having her "sexy" (I use that term lightly) conversation interrupted. "What did you end up doing at the party?" All eyes are on me, but all I feel is the blue eyed gaze coming from my right.
"Yeah, Ash, what did you do? I figured you'd be getting smashed with me or finding yourself some hot ch-" Aiden cuts himself off at the subtle head shake I give him and the not so subtle kick.
"Cheetos?" Spencer fills in for him, and Aiden just nods dumbly. "Yeah, Ashley was looking for them at the party. I told her I didn't think we'd find any."
His eyes meet mine, and I can see the silent question he's sending me. It's the question Madison asks next.
"You two hung out together?" she asks in complete shock, as if we just told her we adopted a komodo dragon. She keeps looking between Spencer and me.
"Just for a little bit," I throw out quickly, defensively. "Had two shots and that was it."
Madison's surprised face turns to Spencer. "You drank with her?"
Spencer shies away, and I feel the need to explain to Madison. "She had two shots. It's not like she drank a fifth." And why the hell does Madison care? She's hardly an advocate for under-aged drinking.
"Did she force you?" Madison whispers - not so softly - in concern, and I feel myself blush heavily as another meaning reaches my ears.
Aiden leans forward eagerly. He is, above all else, a typical teenage boy harvesting girl-on-girl fantasies.
"No," Spencer says in mortification, obviously thinking along the same lines as me. "No," she says in a more normal tone, "she didn't."
"So you hung out with Ashley?" Spencer nods. "And had fun?" she asks, voice incredulous. "No wonder you drank." I can't help but huff indignantly. "She probably slipped something in your drink." Madison eyes me critically.
I roll me eyes. "Unlike you, Madison, I don't have to drug people to be with me."
She takes a menacing step forward. "Just leave Spencer alone, okay? I don't know what your obsession is with her lately, but stop." An arm is thrown around Spencer's shoulders, as if protecting her should I decide to pounce.
I look over to Spencer who gives a sheepish shrug, remaining silent. That irks me more. I never forced her to do anything. She's the one that's been following me around everywhere, initiating all these conversations, creating all these strange feelings in me. "Whatever," I say indifferently. "I'll leave you alone."
I don't look at her. I can't.
"Thank God," Madison sighs heavily.
"I'll see you at lunch," I tell Aiden, leaving without waiting for a reply from him.
"Ashley," I hear Spencer say softly, and I curse myself for stopping.
I can hear her walking towards me, and I take a deep breath, preparing myself. For what, I'm not sure.
"Spencer?" Madison barks out, obviously annoyed at being confused. "What are you doing?"
"I need to talk to Ashley," she explains turning around to Madison, or what I assume she's doing, considering her voice got quieter, but my back is to her, so I can only guess.
I can't do this. Not now, not here, and definitely not with her. "There's no need. I'll leave you alone, just like you want."
I make myself leave, fighting down the feelings coursing through me that get stronger with every step I take away from Spencer. I don't know what I was thinking, going over and joining them. Three conversations with her don't mean anything. It doesn't make us anything more.
When I'm sure I'm out of eye sight, I turn around, taking one last glance at Spencer. She should have said something, should have told Madison that she was the one initiating conversation. Touches. Feelings.
I can't help but hate her.
It doesn't make me not want to turn around any less.
I don't like this.
No, I'm not talking about the basketball game I'm currently at, though I don't particularly like this either.
No. This, is the feeling I have right now. It's not happy, it's not sad. I'm honestly not too sure what it is, and that pisses me off. I hate not knowing what I'm feeling. It's never happened before, and I don't want to think about why it's happening now. Or, more accurately, who's making it happen now.
I came here to support Aiden, to cheer him on as he leads the – Trojans? Cougars? Bulldogs? – basketball team (Cobras, the announcer informs me) to victory.
Okay, so that's part of the reason. Mostly I came to check out girls. Excluding Madison, the cheerleaders are so damn hot. I want to thank Mr. Cheerleading-outfit-inventor for his wonderful contribution to my many fantasies. Who wants to watch guys get sweaty chasing a ball when they can watch girls in short, revealing outfits get sweaty by doing flips and other moves that shows their panties? I mean you can't really see the good bits, but that just makes it hotter for some strange reason.
The guy beside me stands up angrily, shouting, "Traveling!" I have no idea why he felt the need to shout, or what in the hell that means. I would hope they are traveling somewhere, I mean don't they have to put the ball in a hoop?
I mentally shake my head. I don't care about sweaty Dave, – or about his real name - I'm focused on the space behind the court, watching the cheerleaders stretch in preparation for their halftime dance. Good, good. Stretching is definitely good. Warms them up and all that shit. Warms me up good, that's for damn sure.
I shudder as I pass over Madison stretching her groin. I almost wish the skirts were less revealing. Okay, her skirt. Everyone else? An inch or two more could come off, just saying.
Ah, Kasey Donavan is definitely hot. She's got dark brown hair and the sexiest blue eyes I've ever seen.
Correction: One of the sexiest pairs of blue eyes. I'm sure I've seen better before, I just can't think of any now.
Anyway, back to Kasey. As if her dark hair and light eyes weren't hot enough, she's wears dark eyeliner to highlight her blue eyes even more. I don't know what it is, but something about eyeliner sets me off. Even boring eyes can look good with it, and Kasey's gorgeous eyes just seem to seem even more seductive with the black line rimming them, like every time she looks at me she's giving me fuck me eyes.
I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who thinks that.
I roam over Taylor, Peyton, and Carrie, making sure to give them appreciative body sweeps. It's only fair, after all.
As I make it to the last one on the line, I can't help but groan in disappointment. Her back is to me, dirty blonde hair sweeping past elegant looking shoulders. Even though I can't see her face, I can see her long, slender legs, flexing beautifully as she stretches, impressing me in her flexibility and in her gracefulness.
Her back pulls forward as she bends between her parted legs, her uniform pulling up a bit, revealing more flawless skin. She holds that painful looking position for a few seconds before rising up and turning back to laugh at something her companions said. And I lose my breath.
Spencer Carlin's perfect mouth turns up in a smile as she rolls her eyes and laughs. Her eyes narrow in mock disappointment, and I know for sure that Kasey doesn't have the best pair of blue eyes, because that honor has already been taken.
I feel myself ache as I watch her, and it startles me, this intense reaction. I force myself to turn away, no longer wanting to indulge in my game. It's been successfully ruined anyway. Really, I just can't believe I forgot that Spencer was one of the Satanists.
I turn my gaze to the game, glad that Aiden is on the court so that I know which team is ours (and which direction we're going). He steals the ball and does some complicated move around the other team. He stops suddenly, face full of concentration. His body tenses, and I see his powerful arms arc up as his right hand beautifully releases the ball, sending it into the net with a swish. So that's why they call it that.
"Dennison…for THREE!" the annoying announcer shots happily, obviously not feeling the need to be unbiased.
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate sports' scoring? Why the hell can't everything be one point?
Why do we have sports with goals worth 6 points, or 3, or 15? People can barely count as it is, so why complicate their simple minds?
"Annnd that's the buzzer for halftime. And the Cobra's enter the half, 42-36." I don't understand why announcers have to stress out sounds in words. Is it like some unspoken agreement when they're hired?
I really don't care, it's just another one of life's mysteries, at least to me. Like yield signs. And having a fish for a pet.
I lean forward in my seat, my mood improved now that there is a break from the game and the awaited dance. I quickly locate Spencer so I know which section of girls I need to avoid looking at. It's not very easy to do, considering they never stay still very long, dancing and flipping across the floor.
I eventually give up pretending to not look at her (I last 30 seconds) before my eyes find her. I can't help but smile as I watch her kick and shake her pom poms, head nodding quickly in beat with the music. I don't recognize the song, and after hearing 'Nodding my head like yeah, moving my hips like yeah!' about ten times in a row, I know that I don't ever want to hear it again, and also that it's going to be engraved in my mind the rest of the night.
Her eyes find me exactly once. I know because it causes my breath to hitch and her cheery smile to falter a bit. We both quickly avert our gaze, and I wonder if the sense of loss is mutual.
I need to stop this. I don't even know what's wrong with me, why I'm feeling this way. The only thing I can think of is that Spencer and I have had some semblance of normalcy, almost a friendship of sorts, and now we don't, which is why I feel so lost without it, so empty. I didn't feel this way before, because I never experienced this with her, and now that I have, well of course I'd notice the absence.
I want to go. Like really bad. But stupid loyal me had to go and promise Aiden that I'd stay for the whole game and wait for him after. I hate me sometimes.
I grumble to myself and motivate myself to stay by going to the concession stand and getting an overpriced burger. Seriously, any one else think that that's price gouging? I'm thinking about petitioning this…right after I eat my burger.
As I make my way back to my seat, I frown when I see some kid in my seat. "That's my seat."
He looks up at me and then looks around at all the empty seats around. "So?"
"So," I echo meanly, "there are plenty of other seats."
"Exactly."
Ugh, sarcasm is so annoying coming from other people. "Listen fucker, get out of my seat. I just want to eat my $4 hamburger and don't feel like punching your face in."
He stands up and looks at me warily. "Alright, sheesh. Not like there aren't fifty other seats available," he grumbles.
"Feel free to find one of those fifty that's not near me." I give him a big, sarcastic smile. See? Much better coming from me.
I think he might have given me the finger, but I don't care, it's hamburger time! I eagerly tear the wrapping off, balling it up and throwing it over my shoulder.
"Hey!" I hear a gruff voice say. "Who-"
Sweaty Dave chooses this moment to stand up. I guess something happened in the game I'm supposed to be watching. He turns to me and thrusts his fist triumphantly. "Got him good!"
The bleachers shake and I turn to see a big, hairy guy stomping down to stand next to me, holding my burger wrapper. Uh oh, not good. I look around frantically, wondering if I can escape before Hairy gets to me. He's got a good two hundred pounds on me.
Hairy stops next to me and looks at sweaty Dave. "Got him good, huh?" he echoes gruffly.
Sweaty Dave nods happily. "Yeah, man that was so awesome." He nudges me in the arm. "Wouldn't you like to see that again?"
Having not seen the play and feeling deathly afraid of Hairy, I slowly shake my head, choosing silence.
Hairy takes a big step towards Dave and gets in his face. "If you'd like to continue to be able to see, I suggest you keep your trash to yourself," he breaths out threateningly.
"Huh?" Sweaty Dave asks, stupid smile still in place.
In an answer, Hairy takes Dave's drink and pours it over his head, drenching him in the sticky soda. He then takes my burger wrapper and crushes it on his head, leaving it to un-crinkle a little on his messy hair. "Keep your damn trash to yourself!" he barks before stomping back to his seat.
Sweaty Dave looks at me in confusion, his poor clothes soaked in Coke. I can't help but feel a little bad.
And glad that I didn't have a Coke. I offer him a shrug and turn back to the game.
The obnoxious buzzer sounds, and the even more obnoxious voice of the announcer fills the gym. "Annnnd King High defeats the Dragons, 72-58. Connnngratulations Cobras!"
Oh thank God it's over! I push my way past Sweaty Dave, being mindful to give Hairy space to pass by me, just in case he gets within arm's reach of another drink. Soda would definitely not look good on me.
I practically sprint to the boy's locker room, intent on quickly finding Aiden and leaving. I push open the door and immediately grimace.
Half naked, sweaty guys. Everywhere. Some only have towels on.
Oh God, I have to leave before I bring my burger back up. Ignoring the many wolf-whistles, I throw a hand over my scarred eyes and the other over my mouth and run out of the door.
"What are you doing?" an annoyed voice asks me.
I remove my hand and see Madison. Just another reason to bring my hand back up over my eyes.
"Oh you know, just seeing how well I can see with a hand over my eyes," I deadpan, throwing a nice eye roll her way.
"Whatever." Her mouth quirks into a smile. "Get a good look?" she asks knowingly.
Define good. "More than I could ever hope for." Or ever want. God I'm really going to need to gouge these babies out. It's a shame, I rather liked seeing.
"What was the hand for then?" Madison eyes me critically. "What, are you some kind of prude?"
I level her with glare, letting her know I think she's completely stupid. "Yeah, that's it, Madison."
She takes a step closer, regarding me again. "Or are you something else?" she asks in a knowing tone, one that makes my heart speed up.
I cross my arms, trying not to appear too defensive. "Meaning?"
"Hey Madison, we need the key so we can…hey." And now Spencer's here. Just great.
She's changed out of uniform, her body now clothed in faded jeans and a grey hoodie, hair tied in a loose ponytail. She still looks just as nice.
Nice? What, am I fucking seven? God I need to get out of here. These sweat fumes are making me more insane.
Spencer's looking at me still, and I realized I haven't said anything to her. "Oh. Hey," I offer simply, yet it still makes her smile, however small.
"Never thought I'd see you at one of these. Did you get lost?" she teases lightly.
"Isn't this the Glee Club meeting?" I ask in confusion, pursing my lip in thought, causing Spencer to laugh. "I'm actually here for Aiden." I gesture over to the locker room, afraid to even glance at the door in danger of reminding my poor eyes of that horror.
"She actually just came from there," Madison throws in, a pleased smile on her face.
Spencer looks at me strangely. "You went in the boys' locker room?" I nod, a blush making its way across my face. "Oh." Her tone is off somehow, and I try to read her face.
"Oh?" I question, and I can see Madison giving Spencer the same confused look I am.
She shakes her head. "I mean how was it?" Her voice still sounds off, but it's lighter than before, higher.
Horrible. I will be perfectly happy if I never see another guy. Ever. "Um…it was…memorable?" I offer weakly.
Spencer laughs like she understands, and I panic for a second. Does she really understand?
"So you needed the key?" Madison jumps in, obviously tired of being ignored. She's looking between me and Spencer, a weird look on her face. I'm personally tired of everyone's strange looks.
"Oh, yeah," Spencer remembers, smiling at Madison apologetically. "The girls need to put the mats and signs away so we can go."
Good, now they'll leave me alone!
Madison sighs loudly, dramatically. "I swear they are so incompetent." Sounds familiar, doesn't it? "I'll go put them up. It will never get done right if I let them do it." She pulls out the keys. "Text me later," she tells Spencer, walking away without so much as an insult my way. Not that I mind.
And now I'm stuck with Spencer. Again. That I mind.
I look longingly at the locker room door, earlier trauma pushed aside for now, wishing now more than ever that it would open.
"So," Spencer says softly, jeans bunching slight as she shifts her weight, obviously nervous.
"Sooo…" I drag out, feeling no need to try to spark a conversation.
"So I'm sorry about earlier." Her head lifts up so her eyes meet mine. I wish she wouldn't have done that. Or wish that she had some other eye color, instead of the soul searching blue eyes currently meeting my own.
I avert my gaze to my hands. "It's fine."
I see her take a step closer to me, and it takes everything in me not to look up. "No it's not. I shouldn't have let Madison say that stuff to you."
When I remain silent, I hear her sigh slightly before saying, "You didn't make me do anything."
"I made you take shots," I remind her, trying to keep things light.
She laughs lightly. "Oh yes, I remember," she assures me. "I spent Sunday morning remembering." Her smile drops. "But you didn't make me drink. I wanted to."
"You said you don't drink. Why'd you do it?" A better question is, why'd you ask that, dumbass?
She shrugs. "I don't know." I think she does know. "I just wanted to try it, I guess."
"And you figured who better to drink with than me?" I question doubtfully. She wasn't high on my drinking buddy list. I find it hard to believe I was her top choice.
Again she shrugs. I'm starting to hate that response. "I trust you."
My head snaps up at that confession. "Why would you trust me? You don't even know me." I don't say it meanly, just honestly.
Spencer shrugs a third time, and I absently wonder if her shoulders hurt. "I know enough to know that you wouldn't push me."
I don't know why those words fill me with warmth, but they do. "Or maybe I just didn't have anymore secrets."
She laughs again. "I highly doubt that." Her blue eyes look over me, analyzing me. "There's definitely a lot more to you to figure out."
I wonder if that's a statement or a promise. It doesn't matter, my quickened pulse has decided its own answer. "As I remember, I'm still missing one secret." I throw her a significant look.
"Damn," she says as she looks away for a moment. "I was hoping you were too drunk to remember that." It's the first time I've heard her swear. It makes me smile. "What?" she asks at my quirked lips.
"I didn't know you cursed."
She stretches back and brushes her shoulder off. "Oh, you know, I'm quite the sailor."
"You drink and curse?" I give her an impressed look. "Why Spencer Carlin, you're something else."
Her eyes soften and her smile widens, revealing her white teeth. "Yeah?" she asks, her voice the softest it's been during our whole conversation.
I can only echo her, too entranced to do anything else. "Yeah…" I swallow thickly, wishing my hands would stop clamming up.
She doesn't say anything else, just keeps her smiling eyes on mine. I know I'm smiling big, I can feel it stretching my face.
We stay like this, I don't know how long for, and I wish I could understand all that's being communicated between our locked gaze. I think I'm partly glad that I can't decipher it.
My text tone goes off, startling us both and effectively breaking our trance. As glad as I am to have my phone back, I can't help but wish for it to be six feet under water right now.
I take it out of my purse and see it's a text from Aiden. He better have been kidnapped or bleeding to death. As my eyes scan over the text, I find that he is, in fact, still in the gym, about to take a shower. I roll my eyes. That's totally important information. Dick.
Spencer interrupts my internal Aiden bashing. "Can I see your phone?" I look at her curiously but hand her my phone anyway. "It's just that Madison is - well was - my ride home and now I don't have one, so I need to call home." I wonder if she's rambling because she's nervous or if she just felt the need to explain her life story. It doesn't matter, I find it cute.
"Spencer," I say with a laugh, "use it."
She smiles sheepishly and takes the phone. "Thanks."
She types away on my phone, mumbling in annoyance as she struggles to figure it out. "Hey Glen? Glen, I know it's you. Glen!" she says with obvious frustration, "Stop acting like you're a British woman." I can't help but laugh as I picture it. I immediately straighten up as she sends me a look. "Fine," she huffs. "Come get me after your tea and crumpets." She quickly hangs up and hands me the phone.
"Gotta love family," I offer, making her smile. "You all good with the ride?" She nods. "Alright, well Aiden should be finished putting his make-up on soon."
Spencer laughs and nudges me with her arm. "So the locker room, huh?"
My face reddens in mortification. "Plead the fifth."
"Come on," she urges, "that's, like, every girl's fantasy." She says it in a high pitched valley girl voice, and I can't help but laugh at it.
"There was so much skin," I moan, giving a dramatic sniff.
Spencer nods understandingly. "You poor thing," she coos, patting my back softly.
She does this jokingly, but it makes my back tingle, her touch burning through my thin shirt. Her hand leaves as suddenly as it came, and I wish for its presence again.
"Hey Ash, Spencer." Aiden comes out of the locker, looking fresh and clean, which is good as he scoops me up in a big hug. "We won," he says proudly.
"Ah," I say in comprehension, "so that's why your score was higher than the other team's." Aiden rolls his eyes while Spencer just laughs.
"We taking you home Spencer?"
"No, Glen's coming to get me." She glances at her watch. "I think," she adds unsurely.
We wait around for twenty minutes before Glen gets here.
"What took you so long?" Spencer asks angrily.
"I had to come get you," he tells her obviously.
She glares at him. "We live five minutes from home, dumbass."
"Which is perfectly good walking distance."
"Ugh, whatever, let's just go." She grabs her bag and slings it over her shoulder. "Thanks for waiting guys." She gives us grateful smile.
"No problem," Aiden assures her, giving her a hug. He and Glen go outside, talking about the game.
Spencer's eyes shift to me, and I know she's wondering the same thing as me. It's an awkward moment, and I'm glad the boys are gone.
"We should go before they lose more brain cells conversing." I cringe at my lame attempt to break the tension, but she laughs and it eases some.
Thankfully she joins in. "If there are any left to lose."
We walk through the hall, our footsteps the only sound. As we approach the door, I suddenly stop. I know once we open the door we'll have to leave.
Spencer stops, too, and turns to me, giving me a smile. "Thanks again for staying. Keeping me company."
"Eh, gave me something to do," I reply with a smile, tone indicating I enjoyed it.
She looks down at the floor, entranced with her foot that's shifting. She looks back at me with a small smile.
"What?" I laugh, a little unsure.
She shakes her head, smile still evident as she takes her bottom lip between her teeth.
"What?" I say again, urging her on.
She releases her lip and flashes her teeth at me again. She suddenly closes the distance between us and brings her arms around me.
It's so brief, maybe lasting five seconds, but it's enough. Enough to form a smile on my face as I take in her warmth and smell.
"Bye Ashley," she says softly, and then she's out the door, leaving behind a ghost embrace and a vanilla scent.
My smile is removed from my face by my phone ringing.
"Get out here," Aiden says quickly before hanging up, not even bother to say hello or goodbye.
I open the door and get in, ignoring his questions about my whereabouts. I shuffle through my contacts. I get to his name, laughing to myself as I change his name to 'Queerbag' in my phone.
I save it and wait for it to bring me back to my contact list. Once it does, I smile again, this time for a different reason.
Two people down the list, after Queerbag and Rachel Danford, is Spencer Carlin.
She must have put it in when she borrowed my phone.
That little sneak.
