A/N: Finally, a shorter chapter. But only because things are about to get all mixed up. I think up until this chapter, I wasn't quite sure exactly where I wanted it to go but I got inspired this week and planned out the rest of the story completely. It's about halfway there (I think) and I'm really excited to finish it!
Like before, I want to thank June Sujare for pointing out my dumb mistakes. Enjoy!
Being with Wren was giving her an anxiety issue. Not that she was nervous, per se, about picking him up at the airport. It just felt like if she had to wait any longer her nerves were going to drive her insane. Or her hormones. She'd been having a hard time distinguishing between the two lately.
Her bottom lip was between her teeth as she craned her neck anxiously to try and see past the crowds of people flooding through the doors of the airport. Every time there was a slightly messy-headed brunette man, her mouth opened to call out, only to realize it wasn't him. After what felt like the fiftieth false alarm, she leaned back and looked down at her phone dejectedly. No new messages.
Calling him was out of the question. He had said he would meet her right at that specific spot so that was where she would wait. She wasn't one for looking desperate or overly excited about these things. Especially when it could give him the wrong idea. But that didn't stop her from checking her phone once again.
Maybe he had texted her and her phone had accidentally marked it as viewed. That happened sometimes right? She had been texting Aria just a couple moments before. Or maybe she just didn't have service where she was standing. The Philadelphia International Airport had to have enough concrete to block the signal for miles. Or so she thought until she checked the upper right-hand corner of her screen. Three bars, not bad.
She walked away from the entrance towards the road where cars were constantly pausing to drop people off and pick them up. She was glad she had decided to park and find him instead of circling around and around the airport waiting for him to appear through the glass doors. Still, her movement wasn't helpful in her attempt to receive some sort of communication from him.
What was taking him so long? His plane had been scheduled to land half an hour before. It didn't take that long to grab your luggage and get out. Just as she was about to cave in and call him, she felt a pair of arms encircle her waist.
"Waiting for someone, miss?"
Spencer jumped, more out of surprise than fear. The next thing she knew, Wren's arms were hugging her tightly as he kissed the side of her neck. A week was entirely too long to go without feeling his lips on her skin. Spinning around, she wrapped her arms around his neck and grinned.
"It felt like you were never going to get out here."
He laughed. "The feeling was mutual. My flight was endless. And then we got held up at the baggage claim." Knowing she would catch him off guard while he was still in the middle of his explanation, she pressed her lips against his, wasting no time in opening her mouth to him. Around them, she was positive people were staring at their shameless public displays of affection.
It was freeing to be together in plain sight. Maybe a little too freeing when she took into account how she was taking advantage of the moment. As much as she enjoyed practically living at Wren's house, there was a suffocating feeling to the entire situation. Not for the first time, she wondered if Aria had felt the same way for the entire time she had kept her relationship with Ezra a secret.
Despite her recent feelings of being stifled by their secrecy, there was no way she was going to do anything to change it. For a day while Wren had been gone, she had toyed with the idea of telling one of her friends. Most likely Aria since she did have the experience in that area. Thankfully, common sense had kicked in.
In the end, she had decided against it, at least for the time being. Giving herself an ultimatum, she had decided that if she received another message from whoever had texted her the first time, she would tell Hanna and Aria absolutely everything or tell Wren about this new A. She refused to let herself get isolated.
For the time being though, she could relish in the fact that she was outside while the sun was shining, kissing Wren without having to care about anyone she knew seeing them. That is, of course, until someone bumped into her, sending them both stumbling backwards. Since things had been getting fairly heated between the two of them, she decided it was safe to assume that whoever it was had done it on purpose.
They pulled back from each other, grinning stupidly. "I am so happy you're back."
"And I am as well," Wren answered.
"Do you want to go now?" Spencer answered even though the answer was obvious. There were ideas already popping up in her mind about what they would do when they arrived at his house.
Wren placed his hand on her hip and pulled her closer so that he could rest his forehead against hers. "I would like nothing more than to get back and...take a shower."
While she would have preferred him saying he wanted to take her to bed when they got back, she still said, "That sounds great to me." Smiling gently, she noticed the tired look on Wren's face. "Didn't you sleep on the plane?"
Shaking his head, Wren hitched his bag up to a comfortable position on his shoulder and turned to walk towards the parking garage. She grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers through his and gently pulling him in the direction of the car as he answered her.
"Not much. I may have drifted off from time to time but for most of the flight I couldn't sleep. I guess I was just too excited." She would have answered him, but before she could open her mouth he was changing to topic. "So how has your day been?"
She shrugged. "Not bad. I stayed in the barn with Melissa and the baby last night."
"So things have been good between you two still?"
"Yeah." She nodded slowly. "I mean, I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop and for her to suddenly turn on me, but I'm starting to think it might not happen. Last night, we watched two movies together after she put Taylor down. We didn't even fight over which ones. And then we both fell asleep on her couch."
Wren's hand squeezed her gently. "That's terrific. Maybe having Taylor really did change her for the better."
"We can only hope," Spencer mumbled before he touched her. They had just reached the car when Wren took the opportunity to push her against it and kiss her again. In the shadow of the parking structure, there was less of a chance of them being seen. His hands wandered down her legs, pulling up the hem of her dress as their lips met and parted over and over again.
More aggressive than usual, his teeth nipped at the sensitive skin on her lips. Not that she cared. She gave as good as she got, something she had been proving since the beginning. Then, she felt his touch on the back of her thighs, pulling her into him as she felt his fingers begin to wander further upwards.
Her own hands grabbed his, preventing him from actually pulling her dress up as she turned her head away. Or tried to at least. His body was flush against hers, and in the heat of the afternoon, she was beginning to sweat. "Stop." When he continued to kiss her, she turned her head again. "Stop. Not like this." She felt his hands still on her hips. "We can't do this here."
There was a pause in his movements. "I know." His head fell to the crook of her neck. "I'm sorry. I just, I feel like I can't keep my hands off of you."
That described her feelings exactly. "I can tell by the way you were just trying to maul me. And trust me, the feeling is mutual. But we're not having sex in a parking garage. It's too creepy and it feels like hell out here right now."
"I know." Regardless of his words, she could detect a hint of frustration in his voice. The thought that he was that worked up over it already made her smirk.
"Come on. The sooner we go home, the soon we can get to that."
Wren nodded, laughing a little bit. "You're right. As usual." With that, he took the keys dangling from her fingers and unlocked the doors. He threw his bags into the backseat and opened the passenger side door, gesturing for her to get in.
"So I take it you're driving my car home?"
"I've been driving on the wrong side of the road for a week. Let me make sure I remember how to do this the American way."
Spencer rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you haven't forgotten in a week. But I'm glad to see your risking the well being of my car just to make sure." Before he could say anything, she held her hand up. "It's fine. You can drive." She settled into her seat as he shut the door with a playful smile on his face. Her eyes followed him walking in front of the car and then getting in.
The first half of the drive home was uneventful. They didn't talk about anything of importance. Spencer found herself laughing at the stories Wren told her of his family, especially his sister. She may have had a hard time with him being gone, but she couldn't be upset that he had the opportunity to go.
After about twenty minutes, Spencer shifted in her seat and something inside of her shifted as well. Suddenly, her mind was stuck on the ways she had managed to get by in his absence. Those methods had worked flawlessly, much more achievable once she'd had something to fuel her, that something being memories of him. The modest blush that she felt flare up on her face made her head turn towards the window.
How long would it be before he brought up all of the emails they had exchanged that week? Prior to that summer, she never would have been able to say the things she had written to him. But something had overcome her when she was sitting in front of her computer that compelled her to describe everything she wished he was doing to her at that moment. Explicitly.
They were about halfway home and no matter what she tried, she couldn't get her mind off finally being with him again. The quiet in the car only added to the desire she felt. There was no way she was going to be able to wait.
The silence was broken by a command from Spencer. "Pull over."
"What?"
"Pull over," she repeated.
Without another questions, he did as she asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him try to find somewhere to stop. He had to know why she had been so demanding about it. Finally, he turned down a street that looked almost completely deserted except for one house way down the road with a car parked in front of it.
As soon as he had put them in park, she was on him, climbing over the gear shift and landing solidly on his lap. He let out a tiny grunt upon impact, but didn't have any time to make a comment before she was attacking him.
Her fingers worked quickly to unbutton his shirt and pull it open, leaving his skin bare. "I don't know why it's so hard for my to keep my hands off of you," she whispers against his chest.
"Likewise," he replied, finding the hem of her dress and slipping his hands underneath to continue his actions from earlier. After a second, she smiled when he froze against her. "You're not wearing any underwear."
Pulling back from him, she smirked. "Nope." Her head tilted to the side at his amazed expression. "You always seem so surprised." He'd given her the same look in the janitor's closet at the hospital.
"I guess you just don't seem like the type."
Her grin grew larger and she leaned closer to him and murmured in his ear, "And do I seem like the type to have sex in a car? Because that's about to happen too." As she was talking, she leaned back, maybe a little too far. All of the sudden, the car horn blared, causing her to jump and move away from the wheel.
The noise cut off, leaving the silence to ring in their ears until they both began laughing. In that moment, Spencer was struck by exactly how much she had missed Wren. Not just sleeping with him, although there hadn't been one night that she didn't wish he was next to her, but she missed just being with him. Talking to him. Laughing with him.
"I missed you." Spencer leaned back again carefully, surprised to hear the words coming out of Wren's mouth. Talk about reading someone's mind.
"I was just thinking the same thing," she finally answered, which made him grin. A thought occurred to her. "And I forgot that I have good news for you."
Wren looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to go on. "I just found out that my parents both have business trips in the same place next week and Melissa asked if she could go with them. She's calling it Taylor's first vacation. That means I have the whole house to myself… And I want you to come keep me company."
From her position above him, Spencer couldn't help but notice that instead of looking overjoyed like she had been when she found out, he actually looked a little sad. "I mean, unless you don't want to," she added.
"No. I want to! It's just…why aren't they taking you with them?"
Spencer shrugged, not understanding why he cared. "I have my summer classes. I told them I can't miss the material. I don't even remember the last time the four of us went on vacation together anyway. I'm sure they'll take me somewhere else after the summer session is over." Even though she was trying to make him understand the situation, he still didn't look happy.
"And you don't care that they're going somewhere without you?"
She shrugged again. "Not particularly. This isn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. It's not like they'll actually spend time together anyway. My parents will be busy with work and Melissa will be busy with the baby. I'd be surprised if they even managed to get together for one meal the entire time."
Maybe at one point, Spencer would have cared. But that was before the Ian situation and the Jason situation and the fact that her family was more torn up then it had ever been before despite her growing attachment to Melissa. She could barely stand to be near her dad anymore since finding out that Jason was her brother, a fact which he had figured out not too long after the father-daughter dance. And their mother had immersed herself back in work so she had barely any free time to see Spencer.
Wren still hadn't answered her as she snapped back to the conversation they were having. Or he was having. She would have waited to tell him if she'd known he wouldn't just get excited and pull her into the backseat. Instead, she ran her fingers over his shoulder and leaned closer to him so their foreheads were touching.
"Don't read into this. You've been around my family and you know what they're like. We might not be normal but it doesn't bother me like you think it does. Maybe once it did, but not anymore. So we don't have good relationships with one another. But do you want to know what we do have?"
Thankfully, Wren's face had lost the look of sadness mixed with undertones of pity after recognizing the warning tones in her voice. She was extremely grateful that he knew when not to push a subject with her. Instead, he had moved on to just looking curious. So she leaned into him again, making sure her mouth was next to his ear and her hips were pressing down on his as she whispered, "A pool." She grinned when his hands gripped the back of her thighs a little tighter. "And do you know what that means?"
Apparently he didn't since he didn't say anything but continued to move his hands upwards. "Skinny-dipping."
With that, she pushed herself off of him and tumbled into the back seat. It took a second, but then he was following her through the gap between the seats with a bit more struggle than she had faced before landing on top of her.
Instead of risking the chance that he would start talking to her about her family again, she kissed him hungrily, her hands shooting down to undo his pants. There was a moment of hesitation on his face where she could see that he wanted to press the issue, but then her hand made its way into his boxers and she had won. Or at least it felt like she had when he began to kiss her back with the same intensity.
Spencer's dressed was pushed up, scrunched tight at the top of her stomach, but neither of them made any move to fix it or remove it. Instead, Wren's hand traveled under the material, pawing at the exposed skin underneath.
"You're not wearing a bra either."
Spencer panted, already out of breath, but still able to say, "I know. I usually don't find them necessary to begin with. Plus I know how you react when there's nothing underneath my clothes."
Her statement made Wren shake his head and grin. He kissed her softly and studied her face intently. "We need to be quick. A car could drive by."
"Isn't that what makes it fun?" Despite her flippant attitude, she shifted underneath of him, resting her feet on the door so that her knees were bent and he was laying between her legs. The backseat of her car looked a lot bigger than it actually was, and there was a large chance she was too tall to have sex there. And if she was, he most certainly was, as well.
At the same time, she leaned up as much as she could to try and rid Wren of his pants. They fumbled as they both attempted to do it, banging heads in the process and causing them both to laugh. It almost felt like they were a couple of kids in high schools trying to hook up before they needed to be home for curfew. That may have been slightly true for her, but what she thought she was getting at what that this encounter lacked all fluidity they had shared every other time.
Their movements were slightly frantic, and for a second she panicked. Because what if someone did see them? But then the thought made her heart race and the throbbing between her legs intensify and she knew that even if someone were to see them, it was highly likely that she wouldn't even care. Or stop. Okay, so she would probably stop.
Without even knowing what was happening, Wren was pushing inside of her and it was everything she had been missing since he had been gone. At least she knew he hadn't lost his ability to catch her by surprise. She hadn't even realized he had been able to get his pants down. Lifting her head to check quickly, she saw them pooled around his ankles. Her dress was still bunched up around her ribcage. They were the epitome of class.
Somehow, as they moved together, it crossed her mind that this was better than she remembered it. Maybe it was because she hadn't wanted to get her hopes up for his return or they were both just so desperate, but it was definitely something worth waiting for. And it was also something that wasn't going to take very long at all.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, her nails digging into his back as she struggled to make sense of everything. It felt slightly surreal that she was actually there with him and not just emailing him a detailed description of a sex in the back of the car fantasy in order to get him off while they were thousands of miles away from one another.
The car was filled with heavy breathing and the occasional high pitch moan on her part that she couldn't stop from escaping her mouth. Her head hit the seat as his finger found their way to her chest, knowing exactly how to make her gasp just from his touch.
It was hot with the engine off and the late afternoon sun heating up the inside. All of the windows were up too. Neither of them had thought to put them down after the air wasn't on anymore. She could feel the perspiration on her, between their bodies, making it that much easier for them to move together.
This wasn't what she had imagined when she's envisioned welcome home sex. She'd pictured something a little more romantic, maybe some candles or the shower. Not a car turned into a heat box because she couldn't even wait the twenty more minutes until they got back to Rosewood.
As his teeth scraped over her collarbone, she groaned. The noise brought his attention back to her mouth, where he kissed her fiercely, biting down on her top lip and tugging gently. For a moment, they just kissed, desperate to be close to one another until Spencer felt the tell tale signs of the end.
He came right before she did, dropping his head to the crook of her neck as she squirmed underneath of him. As soon as it hit her, she was arching off the leathery material of the seat, feeling her slick skin slide against it as she drug her nails into Wren's skin again and pushed up against him.
Afterwards, both of them panted against one another. Spencer finally felt satiated. For the time being anyway. "Oh, my god," she muttered. "It's so hot. And I think we just beat a record for fastest quickie." He nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything else for a couple of minutes.
"That felt distinctly dirty," Wren commented in her ear, still having a hard time controlling his breathing after they had both collapsed onto the seat. The only response she gave him was nodding her head as it rested against the seat and her eyes remained shut. She was having a hard time breathing as well, probably from the combination of the oppressive heat and what they had just done.
"I feel a bit used," he added, making her smile.
"You feel used? You're not the one who just got ravaged in the backseat of a car. You've been planning this, haven't you?"
Feeling him shake his head, she smiled. "You really enjoy that word don't you? And you're the one who told me to pull over."
"Well…whatever." She didn't have the energy to think of another excuse to continue their banter. It was ungodly in that car and the only thing she could think about was air conditioning. Kissing him softly, she placed her hands on his chest to push him away. As soon as they had managed to untangle themselves, they worked on fixing their clothes, all the while laughing as they glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes.
In that moment, she was suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to be with him. Not just in a physical way like they already had, but in a completely committed manner. Suddenly, she was yearning for the chance to hold hands with him in public and go on dates and do everything that couples did.
The feeling lasted for a brief moment and then she was shaking her head and trying to forget that she had ever thought it. Too many things ensured that those things would never happen. Melissa was finally acting like a sister and there were still nights that she desperately missed Toby. Between the two of them, Spencer was positive that she and Wren would never be anything more than they already were.
"You alright?"
She nodded, smiling tightly and climbing back through the seats. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Wren didn't answer. After he had settled back into the seat next to her and started the car, he grinned. "It's refreshing to be home," he commented. Then he reached over and grabbed her hand, not dropping letting go once the entire way back to his house. Not that she would have wanted him to. She was in a lot deeper than she had anticipated.
"So tell me what else you did while you were gone." They were back at the house, sitting on the couch together while his bags were in a pile by the door. When they had finally gotten there, they had both decided to postpone taking a shower for a little bit. Now that her initial needs had been met in the car, her curiosity was beginning to flare up. While they had emailed for the entire week, there hadn't been much detail in his messages. He had only given her a brief overview of what he had been up to.
"I told you what I did. Stayed home. Caught up with my friends. Did things around the house that my mum couldn't. Nothing too intriguing."
Spencer stared at him. "So you just had a good time with your family?"
"A very good time." There was a pause as she watched Wren debate with himself about something. "Actually, my sister was very curious when it came to you."
Because that wasn't an extremely nondescript yet nerve-wracking thing to say to a girl. "What did she want to know?"
"What you were like, how long we've…known one another, what we talk about."
"What we talk about?" Spencer questioned. That didn't sound like something a girl asked her brother about his girlfriend.
"It would appear that she figured out what was going on between us, unlike my mother."
Before he had finished his sentence, Spencer felt her heart drop. As comfortable as she was with their situation, it wasn't something she wanted anyone else to know. Especially Wren's family. In fact, she had been kind of relieved when Mrs. Kingston had assumed that they were actually dating. If they ever made the connection between her and Wren's broken engagement and then their current friends with benefits status, she could only imagine the things they would think of her.
Hesitantly she said, "So…did your mom say anything about me?" It seemed like the question caught her more off guard than it did him.
"Not really. She liked you better than Melissa." Victory. At least someone liked her better than Melissa. Besides Wren of course. "And she said you were welcome to visit anytime. Although I couldn't exactly explain to complexity of the situation to tell her how unlikely that is."
For a fraction of a second, Spencer had been excited at the prospect. Until reality crashed down on her anyway. "Did your sister say anything else about us?"
The way Wren refused to meet her eyes convinced her that he was about to lie to her. "Not really. Except that she wants to meet you." Spencer filed that piece of information away for the time being.
"She didn't say anything else?"
Wren shook his head, his eyes glancing down to the screen of his phone. Probably pretending that someone was texting him if she could guess correctly. She wanted to push the topic and make him tell her the truth. She wanted to badly. But then she remembered that they were not, in fact, in a relationship. And she didn't want their first fight to be about his sister. She didn't want a first fight with him period.
"Why are you so curious about it anyway? I told you it wasn't that exciting. It was just a relaxing vacation spent with my family. Nothing out of the ordinary."
Spencer nodded. "Okay," she said simply.
"And, I have something for you."
Oh no. Not a souvenir. She hated getting gifts from people, no matter who. Especially when it was from a trip they had taken. Because chances were that she was going to have to fake liking it. It was probably something that he had spent an obnoxious amount of time deciding on and that had been overpriced and easily breakable.
Wren got up, making his way to his belongings. She listened to him rifle through his bags, obviously searching for something. "Close your eyes. And keep in mind, it's nothing that great."
She forced herself to laugh as she felt him settle back on the couch next to her. "Okay, you can look now."
In front of her face was a white plastic bag. Tentatively taking it out of his hands, she peaked inside. Laughing for real this time, she pulled out the first item.
"A box of tea?"
"It's from Fortnum's." At her blank look he continued, "A big store in London that sells great tea. I've noticed you have a bit of a coffee addiction and hoped this might wean you a bit. Also, I still owed you tea." Spencer smiled as she remembered the afternoon in her kitchen that she had rejected his invitation to coffee and tea because she was seeing Toby.
"You drink coffee," she said defensively, taking in the label on the box.
"I do. But not in such mass amounts as you. And I supplement it with a nice cup of tea every now and then." The teasing tone in his voice made her smile grow. Emily would approve of him trying to break her of her caffeine problems. "Go ahead. There's something else."
In her hand, the bag was still weighed down by something. Reaching inside, she pulled out a small glass object.
"You got me a shot glass? With Big Ben on it?" Her fingers traced the almost cartoonish version of the landmark etched on to the glass.
"In case you ever feel the need to get drunk here again. This time, I'll even let you seduce me." Again, Spencer felt herself smiling at the memory of their night after the bar. The morning after, she had been embarrassed about what she had done and said, but looking back on it, she couldn't help but see the humor in it.
The two objects in her hands made her realize how easily he had avoided awkward meaningful souvenirs. Of course, they both did mean something to her, but they weren't overly sentimental or thought out. To tell the truth, they were probably two of the biggest things tourists bought when they visited London.
"I love them," she volunteered before he could ask. "Thank you." She leaned over and brushed her lips against his quickly, loving the fact that he looked so pleased with himself.
"I'm glad." A comfortable silence fell over the room for a time. That is, until she saw the clock. She had class the next day and she wanted to read ahead for an upcoming test. Getting up, she grabbed her backpack and brought it back to the couch.
"Homework?"
She nodded, opening a textbook as he reached forward to grab a book of the coffee table. At least he didn't seem too upset about the fact that they had only had sex once since he had gotten back. Placing her feet on his lap, she began to read.
Not long after, Spencer looked up from her studying at Wren. There was a intent concentration on the book held in front of his face. At the same time, she could see the way his eyes weren't as alert as normal, a definite sense of fatigue around him.
"Can we go to bed now?"
His head turned in her direction, his eyes following a second later after he finished whatever he was in the middle of.
"What about all that?" He nodded towards the various textbooks and notebooks scattered around her.
Spencer shrugged. "I just went over everything and I don't have as much to do as I thought I did. I guess I got more done while you were gone than I thought." That was only a partial truth. Since it was an accelerated course, she had a test in her earlier class the following Tuesday. And then one in her second class that Thursday. Usually, she would have begun studying the day before, but with her excitement for his return, she hadn't been able to focus.
For a moment, Spencer could see Wren debating whether he should question her or just give in. Finally, he sighed, letting the book fall shut as he rubbed his eyes. "I guess I wouldn't mind heading up."
Grinning, she planted her highlighter in her textbook to mark her page and placed it on the table. "Come on." Standing over him, she held out her hand and watched as he took it and pulled himself up.
Upon arriving into his room, they undressed quietly and soon Wren was left in just his boxers as he flopped back onto the bed. As Spencer grabbed a t-shirt out of his drawer, she looked at him. One arm was thrown over his face while the other propped his head up.
"I'm knackered," he mumbled.
She walked over to the bed, laying herself down on top of him so that their bodies were pressed together from head to foot. "I am too." Thank god for air-conditioning.
Spencer thought back to Taylor's loud wake up call that morning at 5. Even Melissa had seemed a little resentful about that one. Yawning, she placed the side of her face to his chest, smiling contently when she felt his arms wrap around her waist.
"Just give me a couple of minutes, then I'll welcome you home again." In her mind, she had thought the sentence would sound a lot more alluring than it actually did. In reality, her voice just sounded drowsy and uninterested. Not that it mattered. From the way his breathing had evened out, she could tell that Wren hadn't heard a word that she had said.
Halfway through the night, Spencer awoke with the hair on the back of her neck standing straight up and an uneasy feeling. From the bedside table, she saw her phone blinking, indicating a new message. With her heart sinking, she picked it up, even though she already knew what it meant.
I hope you enjoyed your honeymoon.
Now it's time to face reality.
-A
That's it for now, kids! I hope to update very soon seeing as I've been on a role lately. (I think I was writing the next three chapters all at the same time at one point this week.) In the meantime, review review review!