Note: How am I doing on the updates now, huh? Not bad, right? Well, just a warning, I go back to school next week (can't wait!) and as much as I love this story, that will be my main priority. Weird, I know, but that's just me. I'll try to keep updating as much as possible, but I can't make any promises. But do not worry. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF FORGETTING ABOUT THIS STORY. I never like it when stories are just left alone and never finished and I don't want to do that to y'all.

Oh, and by the way. On my last update, there was supposed to be the little smiley faces at the end of all my responses to your reviews, but they just came out as squares. Sorry about that.

awe: Yes, yes, Spencer knows already. I thought about prolonging it, but I really just go with what I feel at the moment and make it work later. Don't be mad at Spencer. She's having a tough time, too. (Insert smiley face here)

StarbucksOD22: I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you like Starbucks. I'm not really sure why I think that, but I'm going with it. Amazing? Really? Well now I'm giddy. (Insert smiley face here)

Ryoko05: Yes she did. It needed to be done. (Insert smiley face here)

me4son: I post the chapters as I complete them, so I don't have any written in advance. Sorry. Here's an update though and I'm glad you like it. (Insert smiley face here)

.HEART: The "lying smiles" is one of my favorite lines that I have ever written, so I'm glad you appreciate it. In time. In time. (Insert smiley face here)

LyricalHarmony53: As you wish. (Insert smiley face here)

lalalalee: You just get me, dude. You just get me. (Insert smiley face here)

sparkyleathers08: I fuckin' love you, man. That's all I can say. (insert smiley face here)

CHAPTER NINE: Something

Spencer sat at the desk in her room with all of her history notes splayed out before her. She was supposed to be studying for a test she had later in the week, but all the Riddlin in the world couldn't make her concentrate on her studies at this point. No, her mental energies were far too preoccupied reliving one moment over and over again in her head.

The other night at the club, a boy had approached Ashley. A very good-looking one at that. Like, model good. She had been dancing with Aiden at the time and she and Ashley had just shared a smile. A smile she felt she shouldn't have given for some reason.

Although Spencer had not been able to hear exactly what the boy had asked Ashley, it was obvious he simply wanted to buy her a drink.

Ashley had said no.

It really was a small thing. She smiled apologetically to the boy and he nodded, a little downtrodden, walking away with his ego bruised.

It was such a strange thing to be thinking about. If anything, one would assume if any actions of that night were being mulled over in her head, it would be Ashley kissing her, but while that did stick in her mind, it wasn't what she was contemplating.

She was contemplating the fact that Ashley had said no. More specifically, she was contemplating how she felt about Ashley saying no.

She had been….relieved.

It made no sense. It would be a good thing for Ashley to move on. Wouldn't it? It would certainly take any strain they might have from Ashley's crush out of their friendship.

Yes, Ashley moving on with other people would definitely be a good thing.

Then why did the thought leave a bad taste a Spencer's mouth?

If a friend had come to Spencer with this dilemma, Spencer would instantly conclude that he or she had feelings for Ashley. But that made no sense in this situation. Spencer loved Aiden. Despite these doubts in the back of her mind, she felt that they were meant to be. She felt that pull that she couldn't explain towards him.

Besides, surely if she felt something more than friendship towards Ashley, she would have known when they kissed. She would have felt it. Then again, the kiss had been very brief and she had been so shocked by it that she hadn't been able to think anything other than 'what the fuck?'

Looking back now, Spencer wasn't sure how she felt about the kiss.

Then the wild thought went through her head that the only way to figure out what it meant to her would be to kiss Ashley again.

And then all Spencer could think about, instead of her history notes, was kissing Ashley again.

XXX

Ashley was proud of herself. The other night she had gone to The B/W and handsome boys and beautiful girls had hit on her.

She had turned all of them down.

She knows that this confused everyone but Carmen and had especially confused Spencer considering the circumstances of the previous hours, but that didn't matter because she was proud.

When she had arrived at school at the beginning of the week she had walked to the nurse's office and told her everything. The being alone with Spencer. The fight with Spencer. The kiss with Spencer. The talk with Spencer. The club with Spencer. And the lack of sex with anyone which included Spencer.

Nurse Julie was proud, too.

"That's great, Ashley!" the older woman told the brunette.

Ashley smiled at her. "And you know, even though I wasn't there to get with anyone, I still had a good time."

"You know that's not the only reason I'm proud of you."

The girl looked at the nurse curiously.

"You told Spencer how you feel," Nurse Julie reminded her. "That took courage."

"I only did it because she was gonna leave," she argued.

"It doesn't matter why you did it. You did it," the nurse said wisely.

"Yeah, but it didn't change anything," Ashley said sadly.

"Did you honestly think it would?"

Ashley sighed heavily. "Logically, I knew that it wouldn't, but I still always had this fantasy in my mind where I would tell her and she would confess that she liked me, too and that she was dumping Aiden and then we'd kiss and live happily ever after."

"Sounds like a nice fairy tale."

"I'll call Disney."

The two sat in quiet for a moment before the nurse spoke. "At least she still wants to be friends. I mean, you have to admit, she's in a bit of an awkward situation, but she still likes you enough to want you to be in her life."

"I know that," Ashley said with a sigh. "And I'm happy to be in her life. It's just, if I had things my way, I would be in her life the way Aiden is."

"Not everything's always gonna go your way, Ashley."

The brunette pouted childishly. "Why not?"

"Because the world doesn't revolve around you."

"Why not?"

Nurse Julie rolled her eyes and Ashley smirked, knowing she was being annoying.

"Get to class, sweetie," the woman said.

Ashley huffed. "Fine."

XXX

"She likes me! That's what it was! You knew the whole time that Ashley likes me!"

"Well hello to you, too, Spencer," Nurse Julie said to the blonde who just barged into her office. Luckily, no one else was in there.

"Sorry," Spencer said, having enough sense to look sheepish about her outburst. "But you knew. Is this what you and Ashley talk about? Me?"

"Don't ask questions you're not gonna get an answer for," the nurse told her.

"That's a yes."

"That's a non-response. It's not 'yes' and it's not 'no.' It's neither. Now why are you all worked up about this?"

"Why wouldn't I be worked up about this?"

"Well I just thought…" Nurse Julie quickly stopped talking and the blonde girl looked at her curiously before her eyes widened.

"Ashley already told you everything that happened, didn't she."

This time, the nurse's non-response was silence, which most definitely meant 'yes.'

"Am I all you two talk about?"

"If you hadn't noticed, honey, Ashley is all we talk about. All of twice now." The nurse sighed. "Students are getting way too comfortable with me way too fast," She mumbled.

Spencer sat down. "This is so confusing."

"Why? You're going to be friends and that's that. I can see why it's difficult for Ashley, but it's really just awkward for you. Not necessarily hard of confusing. Unless…"

The nurse looked intently at Spencer and the girl could read the nurses mind in that moment.

"No, no, no. I don't like Ashley like that. It's just…"

"It's just what, Honey?"

The blonde girl sighed and sat down in an empty chair. "You know that I'm with Aiden Dennison, right?"

"Yes." The nurse was looking at Spencer curiously, wondering where she was going with this.

"Well, when I first met him, I felt this connection to him. He felt it, too. It was like we were meant to be together. Like the universe brought the two of us together on purpose."

"You mean like soul mates?"

"Yes! Exactly!"

The older woman looked at the girl, mulling the idea of soul mates over in her head before deciding that it didn't matter if she believed in it or not. It wasn't her relationship. "Okay, then. Go on."

"Okay, so I feel like Aiden and I are meant to be. In fact, I know that we are, but… I can't help but feel like everything is suddenly out of my control."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Aiden and I are supposed to be together and I have no say in that. I didn't fall in love with him. I just am. And I don't know if that's what I want."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the only person in the world who doesn't wanna be in love, Spencer Carlin," the nurse said dramatically to a crowd that didn't exist.

"I don't necessarily not wanna be in love; I just want a say in it."

"That sounds like a pretty reasonable request."

Spencer laughed bitterly. "You'd think so."

"Okay, so what does this have to do with Ashley?" the nurse questioned.

"Well…" Spencer hesitated. She was very comfortable with this women, but she didn't know her all that well and wasn't sure how she felt about divulging all of this very personal information to her. Still, she needed to talk to someone and the nurse seemed to be a neutral party, so if there was a better person to talk to about her situation, Spencer certainly didn't know about it. "The other night, when we went out, Ashley had turned down this guy who had wanted to buy her a drink-."

The nurse momentarily interrupted Spencer. "I'm going to pretend that the drink he wanted to buy her was Dr. Pepper and you're going to play along."

Spencer nodded. "Right, yeah. He wanted to buy her a Dr. Pepper and she turned him down. I had been watching and when I saw her shake her head at him I felt…"

"You felt…?"

The blonde girl took a deep breath and exhaled as she spoke. "Relieved."

"Relieved?" Nurse Julie asked half for clarification and half out of shock and curiosity.

"Relieved."

"Well, that's interesting," the nurse speculated. "Why do you think you were relieved?"

"I'm not sure."

"Spencer, we don't just have feelings for no reason. Think about it."

The girl sat back in her chair and thoroughly analyzed everything that happened that night and how she felt about it.

"Do you like Ashley?" the nurse asked. "I mean, in more than a friend kind of way?"

"No!" Spencer said immediately. "I love Aiden. How could I possibly like Ashley?"

"Honey, if this is about being gay, then…"

"It's not about that. I would have no problem being gay."

"You can say that, but do you mean it?"

"Of course I mean it. Besides, I'm not gay, anyway. I mean, I did once have a crush on a girl, but that doesn't really mean much. Sexuality isn't that simple and you can't always put a label on everything," Spencer said, recalling the night they went to the club where she said something similar to Ashley.

"That's very true," the nurse agreed. "The same goes for love and feelings."

"What?"

"You said you love Aiden, so that means you couldn't possibly like Ashley, but here you are, liking Ashley."

"I do not like Ashley!"

"Okay, okay. So maybe you don't like Ashley. But you certainly don't feel nothing for her, I'll tell you that much."

Spencer rested her elbows on her knees and put her face in her hands.

Nurse Julie certainly wasn't wrong.

XXX

"Hey, babe."

Spencer looked up from her screen as she sat in the nearly empty computer room and smiled at her boyfriend.

The smile didn't reach her eyes.

Aiden noticed.

"What's wrong?" The tall boy asked as he sat down at a computer next to Spencer and quickly leaned over and kissed her cheek.

Spencer looked at Aiden amazed. He noticed such little things about her that no one else ever seemed to.

As she looked at him, she realized she noticed little things about him, too.

His movements were slower than normal, so he was tired. When he kissed her cheek, he lingered for a little bit, so he needed some comfort in the form of affection. He wasn't wearing the shark tooth necklace he always has on, so he was in a rush this morning.

Their relationship was so perfect. Why these doubts?

Maybe 'perfect' is not all it's cracked up to be.

Spencer just shook her head in response to her boyfriend's inquiry and he knew to back off. She wasn't in the mood to talk about her problems. Not that she could talk to him about it anyway.

"Are you okay?" Spencer questioned.

Aiden sighed and rubbed his eyes with the index finger and thumb of his right hand.

"My parents were fighting like crazy last night and it went on forever. I didn't get much sleep in between their yelling." That's why he's tired. "It just worries me. They've been fighting so much lately and I'm afraid their gonna spilt up and I won't know what to do." That's why he needs comfort and affection. "This morning the tension was so bad between them, I just couldn't get out of there fast enough." That's why he was in a rush and forgot his necklace.

Spencer scooted her chair closer to his and placed her hand on his cheek, making him rest his head on her shoulder. She kissed the top of his head. "It'll be okay."

See? Perfect.

XXX

Ashley was walking through the Elliot Center, blowing off a class, when she looked through the glass walls into the computer room and spotted Spencer and Aiden.

Her heart ached.

A simple crush shouldn't hurt this much.

Kyla was in the Elliot Center doing her homework during a free period when she noticed her stepsister. She then followed Ashley's line of vision and saw Aiden and Spencer. Looking back at Ashley, her sister's expression was heartbreaking.

Kyla Woods was by no means stupid and had never come to a conclusion in her life without carefully considering every detail of the situation, and this was no exception. After the well-practiced process was complete, she had determined the two most likely conclusions.

Ashley liked Aiden or Ashley liked Spencer.

Now she just had to figure out which one it was.

Kyla looked back down at her biology homework. She closed her textbook with a sigh and began packing up her stuff. She certainly wasn't going to be able to concentrate on her schoolwork with this new information floating around in her head, so she might as well talk to Ashley and see what she has to say about her observations.

Kyla rushed to catch up with Ashley as the girl had moved on from watching Spencer and Aiden and went into the Student Center and up to the snack bar that had finally decided to open for the first time all day.

She purchased a packet of Reese's cups, a bag of Cheetos, and a can of Pepsi.

A mini pig-out.

Kyla knew her stepsister had it bad.

"Hey, Ash." Kyla intercepted the downtrodden girl as she began to make her way out of the Student Center.

Ashley didn't even try to hide her bad mood. She never did.

"What do you want?' She said as she continued out of the Student Center, walking through the quad and around the front of the fine arts building where a large spiral of molded clay intended for seating was.

Kyla nearly had to run to keep up with Ashley and she finally spoke when she sat down next to her on the clay. "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something is wrong?" Ashley asked as she struggled to open the bag of chips. She knew if Spencer was here she could open it for her. The thought just made her even more upset.

Carefully, Kyla reached out and took the bag from her stepsister and after a little bit of difficulty, managed to open it. "You mean besides the fact that you came out here to eat junk food alone and are being really bitchy right now?"

Ashley snatched the bag back and immediately began stuffing the Cheetos into her mouth, wondering if Spencer was the only person alive who could open those stupid bags on the first try.

It wouldn't surprise her if she were.

"What? A girl can't eat anymore without being judged?" Ashley popped open her can of soda and took a drink.

Kyla waited for a moment for Ashley to stop drinking before she said what she planned on saying next.

"I saw you looking at Aiden and Spencer."

Ashley was in mid-bite of a Cheeto when her head snapped to the side and she glared at her stepsister, her eyes narrowing, before moving her concentration back to her food. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"I really don't."

Ashley had finished her Cheetos in record time and moved on to the Reese's cups.

"Which one do you like?" Kyla asked, just deciding to go for it.

Ashley kept her face on her food but let her eyes wander over to the girl next to her. "I don't like anyone," she said forcefully, through gritted teeth.

"Well, we both know that's a lie, so why don't you just tell me."

When Ashley didn't respond, but instead stuffed an entire Reese's cup into her mouth, Kyla knew she was close to cracking.

"Ashley," she began. "I'm your sister. Blood or not, I love you. You can tell me anything. I just wanna help you."

Ashley forced the chocolate and peanut butter down her throat before speaking. "Yeah, well, you can't help me. It doesn't matter who I like. Nothing will ever happen."

Kyla internally smiled. Case cracked.

"Nothing will ever happen with who?" She prodded carefully.

"Spencer."

Mission accomplished.

"How long have you like her?"

Ashley went on to confess far more to Kyla than either of them expected. This included her talks with Nurse Julie, her current status as celibate, and confessing to Spencer how she felt. The only thing she left out was her kiss with the blonde. While the two had only specifically stated that Aiden was not to be told, Ashley figured not telling anyone at all would be best.

"So that's why you turned down all of those people at the club," Kyla said after Ashley had finished talking.

"Really? That's what you have to say? After everything I just said to you, that's what you're gonna say?"

"I'm sorry, I had just been really curious about it."

"Yeah, well, my voluntary lack of sex is not my biggest concern right now." Ashley downed the last of her Pepsi, the Reese's long since finished.

"You really, really like her, don't you?" Kyla asked, even though it was more a statement.

Ashley shook her head. "More than I ever thought possible."

Note: I am aware that my chapters of late are getting a little shorter than they were at the beginning of this story. This is not intentional. I end the chapters where I think it would be best to end it. Please review.

Get it. Got it. Good.