Chapter Nine

"You're going to have to strip." Ashley raised a brow. "The wood, Ash. You'll have to strip the wood."

"Oh yeah, because that sounds so much better."

"The bark! Strip the bark off. Jeez!"

On Spencer's suggestion, Ashley had taken the axe and hacked a branch off one of the occasional birch trees lining the lake. The blonde's explanation was that pine splintered too much. Two pieces roughly the width of a pencil were further separated, one that was two inches in length and the other half an inch shorter.

"Ah. Gotcha." Ashley faltered. "Um, how do I do that?"

"I don't know…" The younger girl shrugged her good shoulder. "Like a potato?"

"Are you somehow under the impression that helps me?"

With a grin, Spencer showed Ashley how to hold the knife at a shallow angle to the bark, pushing down the length of the stick. A thin strip of whitish bark was sliced away.

"You're a really good teacher, Spencer," Ashley cooed in a blatant impression of Cho from the fifth Harry Potter movie. The innocent schoolgirl persona was spot-on. "Maybe you could give me some private lessons?" She topped it off with an obnoxiously flirtatious smile and wink.

"Um…I'm pretty sure that was a private lesson," Spencer reminded while fighting off a chuckle. "Anyways, I always had a thing for Hermione."

"Who doesn't?"

The two traded grins, and Ashley continued peeling the bark from the stick she held. When the task was done on the second piece of wood as well, the brunette whittled a forty-five degree angle on one end of both pieces. The other end of the shorter stick was shaped to a point, and the wood was allowed to dry out next to the fire while the two ate lunch. Later on, the two angles were fitted together and fastened by a couple thin strips of duct tape. A notch was carved around the top off the longer stick, and a length of fishing line was tied and taped in place.

Spencer examined their work while Ashley looked on. "Beautiful."

"Yeah, you—it is," the brunette quickly corrected. It was hard to tell if the slip was intentional or not. Then again, Ashley clearing her throat with a certain degree of awkwardness hinted it was not. "So, are you a big expert on fishing?"

"I wouldn't say expert. Dad used to take us every summer when we were younger."

Ashley saw the saddened look cross Spencer's face and knew she was thinking about Clay. "Must've been fun."

"Yeah…it was…So, I take it you've never fished?"

"With my family? Yeah right."

"Well, you're going to now."

The blonde missed the forced and uneasy smile accompanying Ashley's response. "Great."

"First, we need bait."

"Joy."

Spencer walked off into the trees, and Ashley less enthusiastically followed, watching her friend kick at the mossy undergrowth until she found what she was looking for. The blonde pointed down at a large rock that was half buried in the ground.

"Could you lift that up, please?"

Ashley knelt down and complied without much thought. As soon as she pried the stone up enough to see what was in the earth beneath it, the brunette abruptly dropped it with a bit of a yelp and stumbled back, falling on her rear.

"Oh, ew. Hell no, I do not do creepy crawlies."

Spencer gave her a patient look. "You want fish for dinner, don't you? Ash, just hold the thing up, and I'll grab a couple."

With a shudder, a groan, and an expression clearly displaying her revulsion, Ashley once again did as she was asked. "God, I am so never letting you touch me again."

"Somehow, I strongly doubt that."

Ashley's disgust was momentarily forgotten when the remark registered. It was laced with naughty insinuation. Little Miss Sweet and Innocent was good at that. Caught up in her daydream, she didn't notice that Spencer had already finished and was starting back to camp.

"Ash, you coming?"

She quickly squashed the images invoked by that little question and stood up. "Yeah."

Returning to the lake's edge, Spencer skewered one of the worms onto their fishhook. Ashley's nose scrunched up as she watched the creature continue to writhe.

"What now?"

"Throw it as far as you can," Spencer told her, handing the hook and line to her. "And don't let go of the line."

The hook was thrown, and it landed with a tiny shloop a good twenty feet out into the water. Spencer wrapped Ashley's end of the line around a thick branch several times to give her friend something to hold on to.

"Now we wait."

Five minutes passed before Ashley shifted.

"This is boring."

"This is dinner."

"It's taking too long."

"You have something better to do?"

"…maybe someone…" Ashley muttered to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Suddenly, there was a violent tug, and Ashley pulled the line in on Spencer's instruction. The blonde gave her friend a one-armed hug as a medium sized fish was dragged from the water. With a curious—and somewhat wary—expression, the brunette held the line up and studied her catch. The creature suddenly jerked and started thrashing in the air, enough so that it brushed against its captor's arm. Dropping the fish to the ground, Ashley let out the most girly shriek Spencer ever heard, save for the time she put a rubber centipede on a sleeping Glen's pillow when they were younger. Casually, the blonde picked up the fish by the line before it flopped back into the water and sent Ashley a questioning look.

The brunette was turning red as she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Fish creep me out."

"You don't like fish?"

"Oh, eating them is fine. It's just when they're all alive and wriggling…" The brunette shuddered.

Spencer quirked a brow, trying hard to contain a grin. "Wow. I guess you learn something new every day."

Ashley glanced at the squirming fish with a still-guarded gaze. "So…what do we…do with it?"

Spencer rolled her eyes and removed the hunting knife from its sheath on Ashley's belt. The fish was placed on the ground, and a quick chop took off its head. The brunette watched, thoroughly horrified and unable to look away.

"Oh, gross!"

"What would you prefer me to do? Bang it against a rock? Let it flop around while it suffocates?"

"This from the girl who screamed when she saw a gopher?"

Spencer turned bright red as she remembered that whole incident. Ashley moaned squeamishly and turned her head away, but not before her friend noticed the greenish tint overcoming her features.

"You okay, Ash?"

"…yeah, fine…" She stood up. "I think I'm gonna go sit over there."

Ashley walked over to sit in front of the fire, leaving Spencer to finish the task of catching dinner.

Another fish was eventually reeled in, and Spencer cleaned and gutted the two catches. It was a rather difficult chore considering the state of her shoulder, but for the first time since the crash, Ashley had neglected to offer a hand. The brunette instead kept her distance, gaze constantly focused elsewhere. The sound and smell of frying fish, however, inevitably won her attention. When she made her way over to the camp fire, Spencer handed her one of the forks and offered the pan to Ashley for her to take the first bite.

"Oh sure, make me be the one to see if it tastes like crap," she grumbled jokingly.

Cutting a small corner off one of the fillets, the brunette blew on the fish meat to cool it a bit before putting it in her mouth.

"Well?"

Ashley nodded. "Light and crispy. Needs salt, though."

"Yes, well, if we had any…" Spencer took her own fork and cut off a bite for herself. "Hmph. Not bad."

"So, can I kiss the chef?"

Spencer seemed to consider it, giving a dramatic pause before a teasing, "No."

"Can I grope the chef?"

"Ash!"

"What? Innocent question."

"Innocent, my butt."

"Hey, I'll take groping your butt."

"Ash! You're the devil."

"Your mom would know. It would certainly explain how easily I corrupted her 'perfect little angel.'"

"Who said you corrupted me?"

"True, because you know what they say: it's always the shy quiet ones."

"Are you calling me a slut?"

The older girl gave her most infuriating smirk. "Takes one to date one."

Spencer growled and pushed Ashley with her non-injured arm. The brunette playfully swatted back, and soon, the two girls were engaged in a light wrestling match. Ashley caught Spencer's good hand and held it fast.

"Hey, no fair! I only have one good arm!"

"I know," Ashley smirked gleefully. "I like winning."

With that, Ashley tackled Spencer to the ground—and 'tackle,' of course, meant the brunette gently pushed the blonde back, restraining her good hand while her other arm carefully ease her down without jarring the injured shoulder. Ashley gave an evil laugh and grinned victoriously until she noticed Spencer wasn't laughing with her. It was then she realized the compromising position they were in—faces inches apart, bodies pressed together in all the wrong (but sinfully right) places, heavy breathing, and darkened eyes.

Spencer nervously cleared her throat. "Yeah…"

"Yeah…" Ashley repeated in the same awkward tone. Still, she didn't move from on top of her former lover. The tips of their noses just barely touched.

"…Ash…" It was no more than a whisper.

The smaller girl on top dipped her head so that her nose brushed softly along the smooth skin of Spencer's cheek. She drew lazy patterns, breathing in the other's natural scent. Her bottom lip grazed the blonde's jawline.

"You know I trust you, right?" Spencer said suddenly, quietly.

Ashley lifted her head up enough to meet the blonde's gaze. Chocolate burned into sapphire with their intensity, the lust in their brown depths unquestionable. As the meaning of what Spencer had asked sunk in, Ashley dropped her gaze from the blonde's and closed her eyes.

"…yeah." Carefully, she rolled off her friend to lay on her back because that's exactly what Spencer trusted her to be: her friend. After a couple minutes of silently staring up at the sky, she turned her head to look at the girl next to her. "Spencer, I still…want to be more."

The blonde didn't take her eyes of the sky. "I know…"

Ashley knew she should have left it at that, but her emotions won out over reason. "Tell me you want me?"

"It has nothing to do with wanting you…"

Her voice cracked. "…Tell me you need me?"

The seconds crawled by. "…You know, that cloud kind of looks like a platypus."

Ashley felt a tear roll down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, disguising the motion as scratching an itch on her face. She looked back at the sky and found the cloud Spencer was referring to.

"Yeah, it does…Hey, that one kinda looks like Madison. See the big head and gigantic ass?"

Spencer laughed. "Ash, you're terrible!"

"Yeah, so is she."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ashley saw that Spencer was smiling.

'Every night I pray I'll forget your smile, but every time I dream, I see you face haunting me.'

If she had looked harder, she would have seen the force behind the happy smile and the tears behind blue eyes.

Author's note: (Ducks away from angry Spashley fans throwing things) Alright, it was depressing there, I know. But it is Spashley, after all. It's not going to be that easy. I live for angst. It's my favorite genre.

The gopher comment was a reference to the season two webisode "Roadside Attraction," which can be found on YouTube. It's one of the funniest, in my opinion. Ashley's line about wanting to be more is also from the webisode "Almost Hotness," which happens late in season three's first half. Check 'em out if you haven't seen them.