A/N: You reviewers = amazing! You guys pushed me over 100 reviews already!

Ok well I'm going to be busy over the weekend, so I decided to give you this chapter to hold you over. Hope you like it.

And as far as Aiden being dense, he is, but it's because he's so into her that he can't help but read into each situation how we wants to. With Ashley, she's not too sure what's going on. She's not dense or stupid, she just hasn't allowed herself to think anything yet, she just vaguely recognizes that something is there, but because Aiden likes Spencer, she's trying not to let her thoughts dwell. Ashley's reasons for being kinda of extra mean to Aiden was that she didn't know she was doing it, but you can't help but act differently around some one new, whether it's intentional or not. Aiden was being extra sweet to impress Spencer, and Ashley (unknowingly) was being extra hard on Aiden because deep down she wants Spencer to think she's funny.

Thank you all for the wonderful responses. It really encourages me and makes me happy to read. I hope what I just said cleared thing up, because it seems some people are getting annoyed with how 'dense' Aiden and Ashley are. Feelings cloud judgements, and denial trumps all right now, but don't worry, one person knows what's going on - well, one person aside from me.

Chapter 10

Aiden is driving me insane!

Every single thing he talks about somehow involves Spencer, whether indirectly or not. While I don't hate hearing about her, I can only take so much.

She's already on my mind more than I want her to be, and now it's impossible to get away from her.

"Did you see how hot she looked Thursday night?" Aiden whistles appreciatively. "Man am I glad we went bowling. Definitely a good idea picking something with lots of bending." He leans back smugly.

I roll my eyes, but I can't help but agree with him. Silently, of course. "Yeah, you were quite the charmer," I say sarcastically.

"I wasn't?" he asks in surprise.

I level him with a pointed glance. "No."

"But she was laughing the whole time," he pouts as he remembers the night. He obviously didn't know she was laughing at his bowling. "Besides, it's hard to be smooth when your best friend keeps dumpin' on you." This time he gives me a significant look.

"Seriously?" I ask, incredulous. "Aiden, I acted how I normally do around you. You're the one who was all nervous and shit."

"Exactly. Look," he sighs, a sign of a boring explanation of something I don't care about, "Spencer is the type of girl that you have to lay the charm on thick, okay? She won't go for us picking on each other and you making me look like a dumbass."

I scoff. Like he needed any help from me. "If she can't cope with our friendship and your true self, then you shouldn't want to date her."

"Ash." Aiden shakes his head with a laugh. "Have you seen her? She's hot."

I scoff again. "So?"

Another pointed glance from Aiden. "Like you need any more foundation for your relationships."

Low blow, fucker. "This isn't about me," I remind him rather harshly.

He holds his hands up, signaling he's not trying to offend. "I'm just saying. Point is, I'm going to take my own advice on this one. You don't do relationships, so of course it doesn't make sense to you. But right now, I'm trying to date Spencer, and if that means holding back a little…well then that's what I'll do."

I shake my head. "If that's what being in a relationship means, then it's no wonder I avoid them."

"One day you'll find some one." He gives me a knowing smirk. "And she's going to crash your world so hard, you'll be falling head first before you know it. You're going to find that person who's not only everything to you, but makes you want to give your everything to them."

Could he sound any more gay?

"As much as I love talking about my personal life and hearing your homo take on it, I think I'll take a pass on it. But you," I poke him in the chest, "really should be careful."

"I am," he assures me gently. "Besides, we haven't even gone out again. She's so busy."

Most people would take that as a sign, but with things regarding Spencer Carlin, I try not to read too much into them. It drives you crazy.

"Thanks again for saving my ass on Thursday. You know, for paying for everything."

I dismissively wave his thanks off. "Yeah yeah."

He smiles brightly at me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. I pretend to throw up.

I hear a snort of disgust. "Aren't there other people you'd rather be kissing?" I roll my eyes.

"And good morning to you, too, Madison," I say sweetly, not needing to turn to know it's her. I'd know her annoying voice anywhere. Unfortunately.

"Shut up," she barks at me, and then takes me by surprise as she sits down next to me.

I stare at her. "Um, what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Shut up," she says again. "It's not like this is where I prefer to sit." Her eyes look across the table to where Aiden is smiling dumbly at Spencer's presence by his side.

"Hey Ashley," Spencer says brightly, giving me a warm smile. "Is your hand hurting as much as mine?"

She continues before I have the chance to answer. "Although you're probably more used to doing that than me. I'm sure you practice all the time when you have nothing else to do." She thinks for a second before adding, "Probably when you're by yourself."

My eyes widen in mortification.

I feel my face heat up as Madison whips around to stare at Spencer. I'm pretty sure Spencer is the only one at the table who didn't get the sexual innuendo, given the fact that she's still sitting there, smiling.

"N-no, my hand's fine," I squeak out nervously, ignoring Aiden's smirk. "From bowling!" I hastily add for everyone's benefit.

Spencer nods in understanding, waving her wrist around, completely oblivious. "Now I know why so many old people have arthritis. It's from bowling."

Gladly allowing the awkward moment to pass, I give a laugh. She does have a point. The few times I've gone bowling, there's always been a shit-load of old people. Must be nice being retired.

"You two went bowling?" Madison asks, jealously laced in her tone.

"Spencer and I went and Ashley came along," Aiden explains, a faint smile still curving his lips. I can't help when my eyes flick to him.

I came along? Like I just invited myself on their date?

What the fuck!

Spencer gives Aiden a strange look. "Aiden told me him and Ashley were doing something Thursday night and asked if I wanted to come along."

I must say I like her version better. Probably because it's not bullshit like Aiden's slightly skewed version.

"How cute," Madison says neutrally.

I can't help but feel pleased at her jealously. Serves the bitch right.

"Wait," she says suddenly, eyebrows raised, "so you three went on a date together?"

"No," Aiden jumps in, "Spencer and I were go-"

Spencer cuts him off. "It wasn't a date," she says firmly.

I don't feel bad when Aiden sags in disappointment.

Madison looks at me. "You guys are weird."

"You sat with us," I tell her pointedly. Dumbass.

"Obviously a stupid move on my part. I'm gone," she announces, making a big production of standing up. She keeps trying to catch Spencer's eye.

Finally deciding that subtly is not going to work, Madison huffs and calls Spencer's name. "You coming with me?"

Spencer looks conflicted as she looks between Aiden and me and Madison. "Oh, um…" Her eyes flicker back to us. "I think I'll stay."

"Fine." Madison gives a curt nod. "Ashley, walk with me."

What in the fuck? "What?" I stare at her like she's grown an extra head. I must have misheard her.

"Walk. With. Me," she says slowly, irritation lacing each word.

"Why?" I don't care that I'm being stubborn. Why in the hell would I ever want to walk with her?

She huffs exasperatedly and yanks me up. "Because I have to tell you something," she says through gritted teeth. "Now come on." I have little choice as Madison's death grip on my arm tightens.

"Bye Ash," Aiden says. He's too preoccupied with smiling at Spencer to come help me.

Some friend.

"Bye Ashley, Madison," Spencer says uncertainly. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is confused.

When we're out of earshot of the pair, I yank my arm from Madison's grasp and step close to her. "You better explain what the fuck that was about."

She disregards my threatening tone. "They wanted alone time," she says in an obvious tone.

"What?" I say in disbelief, scoffing at the mere suggestion. "No they don't." I look back at them.

She rolls her eyes. "You're so dense. Aiden and Spencer like each other. That's why I sat with you. Spencer wouldn't sit with Aiden unless I made her."

"Oh yeah, sounds like she likes him sooo much," I deadpan.

"Shut up," Madison snaps. "Spencer is just shy."

I inwardly laugh. Spencer shy? Please, she's the one who makes people feel like they've never interacted with humans before.

"You should be happy Aiden has some one. It's not like you like him." She eyes me challengingly, and I know that she still doesn't fully believe that I don't have some weird crush on Aiden.

I cross my arms. "I don't like him." She raises her eyebrows as if to say 'Sure you don't.' "I don't," I say with more conviction.

"So then you should help him get her. Look," she says, her voice different than I've ever heard it when talking to me, almost friendly, "we don't get along or agree on anything, and that's fine. But we both are good friends, so we need to do everything we can to help them out. Spencer's gorgeous but she's shy. And Aiden is hot-"

"But a complete sellout with dating," I supply helpfully.

Madison smiles, and it's a strange moment as we share a laugh. "Exactly. And while I hardly think you're a dating expert," I roll my eyes at the jab, "you are a girl, and can help Aiden."

Wow, Madison recognizes that I'm a girl? Guess she really didn't cheat in Anatomy.

I roll my eyes. "I am a girl," I confirm with a nod.

"Oh stop, you know what I mean."

And strangely, I do. I don't think I like agreeing with Madison. Good thing it rarely happens.

"Okay, well now that that's settled, we'll have to help the other out." She's very businesslike, and it's kind of scary how dedicated she is to this.

"Help each other out? How?"

I can see her barely refrain from rolling her eyes. "Well seeing as how I'm Spencer's best friend and you're Aiden's, we'll have to help the other by talking them up."

I squint my eyes at her. "…you want me to tell Spencer all about Aiden?"

"Duh." She rolls her eyes. "Estupida," she mutters under her breath.

I roll my eyes. "I've taken enough Spanish to know what that means, dumbass. And you'd have to be an idiot not to know what that means." I knew I shouldn't have let Madison talk to me.

"Anyway," she stresses, obviously wanting to bring the subject back to Spencer and Aiden. "I'm going to talk to Aiden about Spencer and you're going to talk to her about him."

"Isn't that what dating is for?" I ask pointedly.

"Spencer went on a date with Aiden with you there," she reminds me. "I hardly doubt they had much time getting to know each other."

She's got a point. Bitch.

She must sense my hesitancy. "Look, I know you don't like me, and it's totally mutual-" I laugh. "...but do it for Aiden. If you care about him like you say you do…do this for him. He obviously likes her, and Spencer doesn't mention it much, but she'd be great with him."

I let out a big sigh. "Fine," I agree, hating that I already can taste regret as soon as the word leaves my mouth.

Madison looks like she just might hug me in happiness, but she, thankfully, refrains. "Okay, well that was easier than I thought."

She turns the corner, obviously spying on Spencer and Aiden. "Alright they're getting up. Start talking to Spencer as soon as possible," she instructs. "Aiden won't be the problem."

"Okay!" I say enthusiastically as I thrust my fists in the air, rolling my eyes to let her know it's completely sarcastic. I turn and walk away without saying goodbye.

"And Ashley?" Madison calls out, stopping my tracks.

"What?"

I can hear the smile in her voice as she says, "I still hate you."

I smile back. "And I still hate your cheerleading outfit. See you in class, Maddie."

I told Spencer I couldn't give her a ride after school. Now's your chance to talk to her about Aiden.

The message is from an unknown number, but I know who it is.

How the fuck did you get my number creepo

Talk to her, is the reply I get. I find myself laughing as I read it because it's such a Madison response. I didn't expect her to answer my question anyway.

I swear out loud as I roam around school. I don't even know where I'm supposed to find Spencer. God, why is she such a pain in the ass to find? And why the fuck did I ever agree to this?

My phone rings and I widen my eyes as I see the caller ID. That's a little creepy.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Madison said you offered to give me a ride home?" Spencer's obviously surprised.

Oh I did, did I? Fucking Madison.

"Uh yeah…where are you?" I look around the parking lot.

"By your car. That's where Madison said you wanted to meet," she reminds me.

Well fuck, I wish Madison would have clued me in on some of this. Wait, my car? "You're by my car?" I ask.

"Yeah. Are you on your way?" Her tone sounds almost worried. "Mr. Eldridge keeps smiling at me and pointing to his keys. I think he's asking if I'm locked out."

I hear some rustling on her end and then, "No, no, I'm fine. Yeah, no, I'm waiting on some one. Thank you though. Um, no thank you, I don't want a mint. Or gum," she assures him firmly.

I can't help but laugh at her. Mr. Eldridge is the principal, and he's friendly. Really friendly. Creepy friendly. I don't know if he's actually creepy, but he does come on rather strong.

"Spencer," I shout to grab her attention. As amusing as it was hearing her talk to Eldridge, I need to find her. "You're not by my car. I'm right beside it and don't see you." I lean back against my car and shake my head at how annoying this is.

She says something in reply, but I don't hear it because all of a sudden my car alarm is freaking out. "What in the fuck?" I yell at my BMW.

I know yelling at it won't shut the alarm off, but it strangely made me feel better. I dig into my purse to find my keys, huffing in annoyance as I finally find them.

"Hey!" I hear some one shout.

I turn to the sound to see an angry girl walking over to me. I turn my head to look around to see who she's talking to.

"Yeah, you," she yells as I point to myself. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

I take a step back in surprise. What's her deal? And why the fuck haven't I turned my alarm off yet?

"You thought you could just steal my car?" she demands angrily, key held out like she's about to knife me with it.

"You're car?" I scoff. Ha, she wishes she had this beauty. My little Beamer is my baby, with its convertible top, leather interior, and bla-...ue paint?

Oh…

"Yeah, my car," she snaps. "Now get the fuck off of it." She shuts off the alarm.

"I'm so sorry," I say quickly, feeling extremely embarrassed. "My car looks exactly like this except it's black."

She stares at me, obviously not believing a word I said. "It's true!" I assure her. "If you just wait here, I'll go get it and show you…" I cut off as she just continues staring. "Okay, well it's obviously not mine, so yeah…"

I throw her an apologetic smile and quickly turn around, blush overwhelming my face.

I can't believe that happened! I mean seriously, how many people have the exact same car as me!

"So are you finally going to come to your car?" I can hear her smile.

Spencer. I forgot she was still on the phone.

"Shut up," I say, not sounding mean at all. "Where are you?"

"By the gym. It's the only car left in the parking lot. Can't miss it." She pauses. "Well most people can't miss it."

She's lucky I'm not in my car, because I wouldn't hesitate to…to honk at her!

"Hanging up now," I sing, ending the call seconds later.

I walk around the side of the building, seeing Spencer and Mr. Eldridge standing next to my car.

"That's her," I hear Spencer say as I get closer. "Thanks for waiting."

He gives her a big smile. "No problem Spencer. Oops," he grins sheepishly, "I mean, Ms. Carlin." Spencer and I share a look.

I unlock my car and open the trunk to throw my bag in, allowing Spencer to do the same. As I walk back to the front to open the driver's door, I notice Eldridge is still there.

I trade another look with Spencer before turning to him. "Alright, well thanks for staying with her. Sorry it took so long."

"I didn't mind at all," he assures me, sending Spencer a warm smile as he opens her door for her.

I bet you didn't. Perve.

He stands there, unmoving, and not looking like he's going to move anytime soon. "Alright," I say again, "well we're going to go now." No movement. "Bye," I say a little forcefully.

That seems to snap him out of it. "Oh, yes. Good afternoon ladies. See you Monday. Be careful." He leans down to Spencer's open window. "Stay out of trouble you two, and no drinking." He gives us a last wink and pats my car.

Fucker better hope he didn't get grease on her.

I don't look back at him as I zoom out of the parking lot, eager to be as far away as possible.

"Wow," Spencer breathes out finally.

I can't help but laugh. "Looks like I wasn't the only one who had fun."

She ducks her head. "Ugh," she groans, "I told him like fifty times that I was fine. He kept saying it was no big deal and then would offer me candy. I swear he was like freaking Willy Wonka. I wonder if I should be concerned that he walks around a school with candy…"

I let out a laugh that quickly turns to a shudder. "Bad mental image."

"Yeah, sorry," she says as she too cringes. "So anyway, what happened to your car?"

A blush creeps up my cheeks. "Some one took my keys in the middle of the day and moved my car by the gym. Then, their accomplice moved a car that looks exactly like mine and put it in the exact same spot."

"Oh they did?" Spencer asks in a tone full of disbelief. "No wonder you got so confused."

"Thank you," I purposely ignore her sarcasm. I know she rolls her eyes.

"So thanks for giving me a ride. Madison randomly bailed on me, so that was nice of you to offer." I don't have to look at her to see her appreciative smile.

I feel my smile from our banter fade as I'm reminded of why she's even here with me. "Yeah, it's no problem." I swallow. "I just wanted to talk to you more about Thursday."

She turns to me curiously. "What about it?"

"You had a lot of fun, right, going out with Ai-" I can't say it. "…us?"

She laughs at my question. "Of course I did. I told you that I did."

"Yeah I know." I fake a sheepish smile. "Aiden hasn't shut up about it," I throw out casually.

I think I hear her sigh. "Yeah, he told me," she says evenly.

Oookay, that wasn't much to go on.

I try a different approach. "On the way to my house he kept asking if maybe he shouldn't have bowled so well. He thought maybe he ruined things." I give a too loud laugh, showing her the craziness of that statement.

Spencer gives a small laugh in return. "If anything he should have gone for a 300 so we would get a free drink."

"I'm glad you didn't tell him that. We would have been there all night till he did it." She laughs. "I'm serious. I remember one time we went to a carnival, and I wanted a stuffed teddy bear that was like twice my size, and you had to flip the frogs onto the lily pad."

"I hate that game," Spencer groans.

"Well I was absolutely terrible, so Aiden took it upon himself to win it for me."

"Did he do it?" she asks, completely entranced in the story, making me smile.

"He did it," I say with a nod. "And we left the night, me with the giant teddy bear and Aiden out like sixty dollars." I laugh in memory.

She smiles fondly. "That's sweet."

"Yeah it was." Aiden definitely had his moments. "I felt really bad when, that night, I dreamt that my teddy bear came alive and attacked me. I woke up, scared shitless. Without thinking about it and still half asleep, I grabbed the bear and threw him out my window and right into the stupid pond my mom had built. He was completely ruined."

I see Spencer biting back a smile, and it makes my smile widen. "Well, I felt horrible and didn't want Aiden to know, so I hid it in the trunk of my car, knowing that the thing would be really obvious if it was in the garbage."

I take a breath as I prepare to tell her what happened next. "Everything was good for about a week. He had no idea, and I made sure not to bring it up. So I'm driving us to go get a smoothie or something, and all of a sudden we smell this horrible stench. Like some one had spread mayonnaise in the car and turned the heater on."

I cringe as I remember how god awful it smelled. "Aiden suddenly gets out of the car and opens the trunk, and there he finds Mr. Snuggles, completely destroyed and now successfully mildewed from being wet and locked in my hot trunk -" I'm interrupted by Spencer's loud laughter.

Her head is thrown back and her eyes are locked on my face. I can't even focus on feeling good about making her laugh. All I can think is how truly beautiful she looks in this moment, face lit with mirth, her eyes the bluest I've seen them as they twinkle happily.

"I'm sorry," she manages out through her laughs. "It's just such a funny story. I can't believe you thought to hide your soaking wet, six foot teddy bear in an enclosed space."

"Well I was still half asleep," I justify sheepishly.

She just smiles. "So what did Aiden do when he found it?"

"Well at first he about passed out from the smell, but then he got back in the car and asked me what happened. I explained everything to him, expecting him to be pissed, you know, considering he dropped like $80 on that thing. But he was really cool about it. I think he was more amused then anything. Anyway, so a few days go by, and I go to get into my car to drive to pick up Aiden, and there, on my seat, is a little teddy bear. Brand new." I smile in memory.

"Aw," Spencer sighs girlishly, "he got you another one."

"He did," I nod with a bigger smile. "And he highlighted the tag where it said it was machine washable."

Spencer laughs and then sobers. "And this bear?" she asks cautiously.

"Still kicking," I declare proudly, biting back a smile at her teasing.

A frown flashes across my face as I remember the whole point of that story.

"So yeah, Aiden surprised me with another one. Didn't even complain about the $80 he wasted."

"Well you poor thing, you were probably traumatized from Mr. Snuggles' violent death." She does a dramatic frown.

I laugh. "Nah, Aiden made sure I didn't have to grieve too long. He's been a good friend. He was there when my dad left…" my voice falters for a second. "…when he died."

Spencer's expression softens, and I know she's going to ask about my dad. I also know I don't want to talk about him because I don't want to cry.

She surprises me by saying, "Aiden sounds like a great guy." Her voice is gentle and soothing, her eyes comforting and warm.

I send her a silent thank you, and she smiles in return. "He really is a good guy. He's the best friend I've ever had and the only true family I have." I can feel her looking at me. It's making me uncomfortable in the best way, and I know I can't enjoy it. "Anyone would be lucky to have him."

"They would," she agrees noncommittally.

Despite the soft moment we just had, I can't help but want to strangle her. She's so cryptic and secretive. I realize that I need to let the subject drop, at least for now.

We spend the rest of the way to her house in light conversation. Our usual banter makes the drive pass quickly, keeping constant smiles on our faces. As we come close to her neighborhood, I can't help but slow down to the unreasonable speed of 30 mph.

"Ashley," Spencer says with a laugh, "I don't think we'll have enough speed to make it over the speed bump."

"I'm being careful. I don't want to hit the children at play that the sign warned me about," I tell her seriously.

She rolls her eyes. "You aren't going fast enough to do damage to anything you hit. A fly hit the windshield and brushed himself off before taking flight again." She sees me smile and roll my eyes. "Yes, you are going that slow." She might be exaggerating a little.

I don't comment. Not because I don't have a response, but because her house is in my line of sight, and I'm wondering if I could subtly make a detour.

Surrendering to the fact that there is no subtle way to 'make a detour,' I pull up in her drive way and put the car in park. I want to turn it off but I'm afraid of what that action will say to her.

Spencer takes her time undoing her seatbelt. "Thanks for taking me home, Ashley."

I force myself to stop being so negative with my thoughts and smile at her. "It's no problem at all. Besides, I got to get my guilt about Mr. Snuggles off my chest."

She touches a hand to her heart. "I'm honored I'm a trusted member of that population."

"You should be," I tell her seriously, "it's quite an honor. First I talk to you, then I drink with you, and now I hang out with you? This should be recorded in your diary."

"Page five," she declares happily, making me shake my head in fake disappointment.

It makes me happy that she goes along with my craziness. Not even Aiden indulges me this much. He probably just doesn't understand my wit.

Spencer looks to her house before turning back to me. "I'd invite you in, but I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to find your car when you had to leave."

"Ha ha," I deadpan, hoping my fake laughter covers the sound of my rapidly beating heart. I don't know how else to respond. It wasn't exactly an offer, but it kind of was…

Before I can decide on what her strange words mean, Spencer is out the door, bookbag in hand. "Well thanks again for the ride. I'll see you later?"

How much later is later? Like this weekend later? Monday later? When?

"You will," I promise with a smile, watching her walk to the front door.

I laugh as she fiddles with her keys, trying about three different keys. She's obviously frustrated, and I can't help but snort as she angrily kicks the door. She pulls her phone out, and I can tell by her expression that she's annoyed. I'm not sure what's going on.

Spencer hangs up the phone and walks over to me, sheepish grin on her face. "So Glen took my house key without telling me, and no one's home. They won't be back till about six." She looks nervous as she finishes.

I can't just leave her here. Okay, I technically could, but I'm not that mean. "Well you can come to my house. My mom might be home, but it won't matter."

Her face lights up, and I'm glad something as simple as my offer to take her to my house makes her happy. "Thanks."

She pulls out her phone again. "Dr. Carlin, please." She looks at me and rolls her eyes, obviously on hold. "Mom? Of course it's Spencer. What other female would call you mom?" She shakes her head. "Never mind...Mom!" she says firmly. "I'm going to a friend's house. No, I don't have my key. Yes, I'll do my homework." A big sigh here. "Yep, first thing. Okay, love you too. Bye." She turns to me. "Ugh, sorry, my mom is a pain." I open my mouth. "But you already know." She smiles.

"Well be warned, you might have to meet Christine. Don't be afraid to pretend to be deaf." She laughs but she looks a little worried. "Don't worry, we won't stay and chat."

I punch the gate code in, sighing in frustration at how long it takes. I don't see how this helps with security. A person with no legs would have plenty of time to crawl through with how long it takes the gate to fully open and close.

Spencer is unusually quiet, and as she looks at me, her mouth is wide. "Wow," she finally says.

I'm so used to the big, empty house that it doesn't even faze me anymore. "Eh, you get used to it."

"Or lost in it," she quips, voice still in awe.

I laugh and pull her inside. "Come on, drool face."

I tug her through the living room and we make our way up the stairs.

"Ashley, is that you?"

No, it's a burglar. "Yeah, mom," I yell down the stairs, "it's me."

Fuck. We were so close.

"You've got a card from grandma," she tells me. "She gave you one hundred. She obviously isn't very happy with you."

I'm not surprised she opened it. That's just what my mom does. I look over and see Spencer's eyes widen at the amount of money.

"She gives you a hundred dollars and it means she isn't happy with you?" she asks, incredulous.

I shake my head at my mom's words. "Mom's just upset grandma doesn't send her anything other than updated future funeral costs."

"Is some one with you? Ashley, did you bring a friend?"

I choose to ignore the surprise in her question. "Yeah, mom."

We step into the immaculate kitchen and see my mom scribbling away on some notepad. "Mom," I get her attention, "this is Spencer, my friend from school."

My mom briefly looks up, looking Spencer up and down. "That's an interesting name."

I feel my face heat up at my mom's blatant staring.

Spencer shrugs and gives a polite smile. "I think that's what I like about it. Not that common."

"It's a boy's name," she points out. My mom really isn't being rude, she just has no people skills.

Does it sound like I've used this excuse before?

"Well we can't all be named Christine, can we mom?"

She must realize she was a little harsh. "It's a nice name, dear."

Spencer seems a little shell shocked. "Um, thanks."

I roll my eyes at my mom. "She wanted to name me Stephanie Taylor." Spencer tries to hold back a laugh. "Stephanie was my grandma's name and Taylor was mom's maiden name. Yep," I say, "my initials would have been STD. Dad didn't want me getting beat up on the playground, so thankfully he convinced my mom to name me Ashley Danielle."

I know, my initials are ADD, but given what it could have been, I'm very grateful and appreciative.

"Ashley Danielle…" she tries it out. "It's a pretty name."

I didn't think it sounded that good until I heard her say it.

I shrug, turning to hide my blush. "Yeah well…"

Christine looks up from her papers. "Stephanie Taylor is a beautiful name. Your grandma would have been so proud."

I roll my eyes at her. "I would have gotten beaten up in the nursery, rattles and bottles flying at me left and right."

I can tell Spencer is trying to stifle a laugh. She already feels like my mom doesn't like her. "I was named for my great grandfather. My mom didn't want to know the sex of the baby, so she hadn't really decided on a name, but she said she just knew I was going to be a boy, so she named me after great grandpa Spencer."

"See Ashley?" my mom jumps in as if this proves some point she's been trying to make.

"Sure mom." I grab a drink for Spencer and me. "We're going to go upstairs."

Spencer stops at the doorway. "It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Davies."

"It's Ms. Davies," she corrects. "And it was nice meeting you too."

"I'm sorry," Spencer apologizes, looking stricken with guilt.

I don't wait for my mom to respond, if she's even going to. I hand Spencer her drink and then drag her up to my room.

Spencer closes the door and looks at me shamefully. "I'm really sorry about what I said to your mom. I completely forgot."

I shake my head and wave her apology off. "Don't. She's a bitch. Don't let her words affect you."

Spencer looks less tense, and she smiles at me gratefully. "Thanks, Ashley."

I feel my face heat up. "What?" I say. "She is one." Spencer smiles, knowing her thanks has flustered me.

Feeling exposed, I cough and opt for a subject change. "So is your middle name from great grandma?" I'm teasing her when I ask this, but I am curious about her middle name.

"Okay, confession." I raise my eyebrows with interest. "I'm not named for my great grandpa."

"What?" I laugh out in disbelief. "You lied?"

She bites her lip and nods sheepishly. "I didn't want to piss your mom off, and she was so adamant about family names, so I figured I'd throw that out there."

I can't help but give her an impressed look. "Well then, little ms. liar, what's the story behind your name?"

She shrugs. "The part about not wanting to know my sex was true, but my mom just really liked the name Spencer. So when they found out I was a girl, she just couldn't bring herself to change her mind."

"Middle name? Wait, let me guess. Matthew?" She punches me in the arm, causing me to laugh as I attempt to appear chastised.

"No, jerk, it's not. It's Grace. Spencer Grace Carlin."

I smile. It's a very pretty name. "That's cute."

She blushes and looks away. "It's nothing special like STD or ADD…" she lets her voice drift.

This time I hit her. "You can't choose your name. Or your parents." I sigh longingly. "Ah, if only."

"So your house is really…" she pauses for the right word.

"Empty?" I supply.

"Well I was going to say huge, but yeah, that too," she says with a laugh.

"Like I said, you get used to it."

Spencer sits down on the couch by my bed, looking at me sadly. "You shouldn't have to."

I shrug. "But I do."

She takes the cue to drop the subject. "So you going to Brad's party?"

Ugh, I'd forgotten all about that. "I don't know. I honestly forgot about it."

"Madison wants me to go with her." Spencer sounds uninterested.

I think of my agreement with Madison, and I inwardly sigh.

"Aiden will probably make me go." I sit down beside her. "You should come."

"You'll be there?"

I nod. "And Aiden, yeah."

She considers for a moment. "Well yeah, I guess I can go then." Her lips quirk up. "Are you going to make me drink again?"

I snort. "And hear you complain about it the rest of the week? No thank you."

She shoves me lightly. "Whatever. You were begging me to drink with you. You were all, 'Spencerrr, come drink with me.' 'Spencer, tell me a sssecret.'" She imitates a drunken slur perfectly.

"You still owe me one," I remind her with a poke of the tv remote into her side.

Her head turns to me, and my breath catches as our eyes lock. We sit in the quiet, my eyes involuntarily wandering around her face, taking in her features.

She finally looks away, and I can breathe again. "You couldn't handle my secret," she tells me softly.

I continue looking at her, hoping to understand what she means. Her eyes meet mine again for a quick second before they settle on some random object in my room. "I think you just can't handle telling me," I challenge her.

She shrugs in response, playing with the frayed end of a pant leg, her slight movement wafting her sweet scent my way. "Are you going to keep looking for your hot cheetos?"

I swallow thickly. Does she know what that really means? "Maybe." I shrug. "I think I've given up on finding any."

She nods like she understands and falls back into silence. I don't like silences with Spencer, I've decided. It gives my brain time to think, which, around Spencer, is a bad thing.

With her attention on the hand that's playing with her jeans, I unabashedly let my eyes roam her flawless face, taking in her defined jaw and smooth lips. As I realize what I'm doing, I shake my head and bring my knees up to my chest, staring ahead at the blank tv screen. I feel my face flush with embarrassment and I pray she doesn't look over at me.

Once my face has cooled, I look back at her. "So what did you and Aiden talk about?"

She lazily turns her head to me. "Earlier today?"

I refrain from rolling my eyes. "Yeah."

She looks to the ceiling as she remembers. "He told me I looked really pretty today and then asked if I had fun Thursday."

He's right, she did look really pretty. Beautiful.

"And?" I prod impatiently when she doesn't go on.

She sighs. "And he asked me to go to the party with him this weekend. I told him I'd think about it."

Oh. I didn't know he had asked her. She told me Madison wanted her to go. Why didn't she mention Aiden earlier?

I try to think of Aiden. "You should go."

"I already told you I'd go with you," she reminds me.

Go with me? I rack my brain, trying to remember asking her.

"Well, yeah, that's cool. We can all three go together."

I see more than hear her sigh. "What?" I ask in confusion. Did I do something?

She shakes her head and sighs again. "Nothing."

I'm really confused about what's bugging her, but I'm not one to push people, especially when I'm not close to them. Because despite what Madison may think, I'm not going to be best friends with Spencer after one day.

Sensing she is bothered, I say, "You don't have to go. I'm not Madison. I'm not going to make you to go."

She seems to shake off some of her mood. "No, I know I don't. I'm sorry, I'm just thinking about something. You're going for sure?" she asks.

"Yeah, most likely." Aiden will cry until I agree anyway, so I might as well go and save myself the trouble of listening to him bitch.

"Okay, well then I'll go."

"Yeah?" I say happily. Aiden is going to be ecstatic.

"Yeah," she echoes, giving me a smile of her own.

With the conversation over and Spencer in seemingly better mood, I turn on the tv, not caring about my smile.

"Hey Ash…ley?"

My heart thumps heavily. "You can call me Ash."

She gives an unsure smile. "You sure? It's not…too friendly?"

"No, it's," perfect, "fine," I assure her softly.

I need to stop meeting her eyes and start remembering how to breathe properly. I need to remember Aiden!

I cut through any possibilities of a moment forming. "What were you going to say?"

"I was just going to say, no jäger."

I bite back my smile at her disgusted face. "Okay."

Spencer in a hot outfit, in the same area with me. Spencer in a hot outfit hanging with Aiden.

I have a feeling I'm going to want something stronger than jäger anyways.