A/N: Sorry for the delay, I was caught up with school work. But here's chapter 11. I hope you guys like it, it's quite big, Spoby wise. I enjoyed writing it, and would love to hear what you guys have to say about. Thanks for the love.

If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea
I'll sail the world to find you
If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see
I'll be the light to guide you

Chapter 11: Need You Now

Spencer took one last look in the mirror, checking to see if there wasn't anything she had to touch up on. Dressed in a well fitting, silver strapless dress, her hair was done up in a neat bun. Bright red lipstick adorned her lips, and a thin, silver necklace lay on her neck. She smoothened a crease on the dress, smiled in satisfaction, and walked down the stairs, her purse in hand.

"Mom, is Andrew here?" she called out, entering the living room.

"Not yet honey," her mother replied, making her way to her. She scanned her daughter up and down, and smiled. "You look beautiful."

Spencer smiled widely. There were very rare moments in which her mother and her behaved like a normal family, devoid of all the Hastings intensity. "Thank you. I told him to be here by six, I need to be at the school early."

Veronica frowned. "Is everything okay?"

Spencer nodded hastily. The last thing she wanted was for her parents to suspect that something was up with Andrew. Her mother was being decent to her, having a normal conversation with her, and she wasn't ready to let go of that so soon. "He must be caught up with something. I'll see him at the dance."

Veronica stared at curiously, and Spencer wasn't sure whether she believed her. "Okay, have fun. Be home by 12."

"As if you'd notice," Spencer muttered under her breath. "I'll see you later mom, goodnight."

Once she was outside, settled inside her car, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Andrew. It went straight to voicemail, and she let out a frustrated grunt. He hadn't answered her calls or spoken to her since she'd seen him at the cafeteria, and couldn't help but wonder what had happened. Knowing that there wasn't much she could do to reach him, she left a message.

"Hey Andrew, its me. I'm leaving for school, I'll see you there. Please call me back when you get this."

Throwing the phone aside in frustration, she drove to the school. Things had been going really well for the two of them, and Spencer couldn't understand what had suddenly changed. Andrew had really made an effort to be good to her, and she'd done the same. He had also been quite supportive of the dance, helping her out with the decorations the day before...all until she'd met Toby.

Toby. She really hoped that her boyfriend wasn't up to his old tricks, lashing out at her because she spoke to Toby that day. A part of her wondered whether the reason why things had been good with them for the past two weeks, was because she'd not really contacted Toby. It made her sad to consider that, because despite how good things had been with her boyfriend, she'd really missed her friend.

There had been so much she wanted to fill Toby in on. Never in her life had she felt such an urge to actually communicate and share details of her life with another person. Over the past few weeks, Spencer found herself wanting to tell him even the silliest of things, and she found that rather odd. She couldn't even quite place what it was about Toby, that made her feel so open and comfortable with him. She'd never met anyone like him.

As she rolled into the Rosewood High School parking lot, Spencer checked her phone again, and saw that she'd no response from Andrew yet. She even went onto her WhatsApp chat thread with him, and saw that he'd checked his phone just a few minutes ago. Hastily, she typed a message.

Can you please return my calls? What in the world is going on? Why are you behaving like this once again? Is it because I spoke to Toby? I thought we'd spoken about that. I'll remain friends with who I want, that was the deal, Andrew.

She hit sent, and stared at the screen as his status changed to online. She waited impatiently, hoping he'd type a response, and was bummed to see that his status shifted back to last seen in a few seconds. So he was avoiding her.

Angry, frustrated and pissed off beyond control, she stuffed her phone back into her purse, and walked into the school.

Xxx

Hours later, even when the students and their dates started filing into the party, there was still no sign from Andrew. She felt a pang in her chest as she saw various couples, laughing and giggling, having the time of their lives. Why couldn't she and Andrew have been that way? It deeply hurt her to realize that after all the effort she'd put into this event, he hadn't even turned up to show her the slightest bit of support. He hadn't been the most supportive of boyfriends, but she hadn't expected him to stoop this low.

She couldn't understand what she'd done for him to behave like that. It was almost like she was being punished for something, and the whole concept of that was messed up. Relationships weren't supposed to be that, love wasn't supposed to be that way – though she was sure with all the certainity in her heart that what she and Andrew had wasn't love.

She felt a surge of anger and hatred for Andrew, for the way he'd behaved with her all along, his disinterest, his lack of support, both which had been present from the beginning and then the later need to control her life, and treat her as his property. She felt angry at her parents for making her feel so worthless that she continued being with someone she didn't love, just so that they'd be nice to her. It wasn't supposed to be that way. Parents were supposed to love you simply because they were your parents.

But most of all, she felt angry at herself, for doing things that made her so unhappy, for giving Andrew another chance, for being so stupid to believe that it would actually work, and for even considering to stay in such a loveless relationship. These were things she advised others against doing, and here she was, stuck in a rut she always scorned. What had happened to her? Who had she become?

All her life she didn't want to turn into her parents, and by being the cynic that she was, and sticking it out in this relationship with Andrew, that's exactly where she was heading. When had she become the exact same thing she'd dreaded all along, and tried not to be?

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Snapped out of her dark, self loathing thoughts, she looked up and saw that she was standing face to face with her best friend. Aria was dressed in a beautiful black dress, that did her small frame justice.

"Just...thinking."

"Hey, are you okay?" Aria asked, touching her shoulder gently. "You look really stressed out. Where is Andrew?"

"I don't think he's making it," Spencer said with a shrug. Despite everything, fiegning nochalance was something she was an expert at. "Stuff at home," she said dismissively. "Anyway, I'm fine. Just stressed out about this party."

"Are you sure? You don't look fine." Aria observed worriedly.

Spencer blinked her eyes, and put on her best smile. "I am. It's just...half of the committee is down with the flu, so I'll have to be running around doing stuff all night."

Aria nodded, before a strange smile played on her lips. "Listen...I heard that Ezra is working here at one of the stalls, so I was wondering whether you could give me permission to go and work there with him?"

Spencer felt another pang in her chest, and hated it, because the last thing she wanted was to feel upset about her friend being so happy. Despite how complicated her relationship was, Aria seemed to be getting a lot of happiness out of it. "Sure. Why not?"

"Thank you, you're the best!" Aria exclaimed happily, giving her a quick hug. "And Spencer, don't worry. This party is amazing. Everyone's having a good time. People love it."

Spencer just smiled politely, as her tiny friend bounced off excitedly to the stall her boyfriend was working in.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around and walked towards the far end of the room, hoping that a cold drink would help her with her nerves. For a split second, she looked towards the left, and saw a sight that totally knocked her off the ground. Toby had just walked into the dance, hand in hand with none other than Emily. For a minute, Spencer couldn't help but stare, noticing just how good Toby looked in a suit. Good? He looked handsome. Her lips parted a little, as she studied him.

The light grey suit that covered his white shirt complimented him really well, and she was truly taken aback by his appearance. Spencer felt a gush of sudden warmth in her cheeks and looked at Emily instead. She looked beautiful, her luscious black hair laying loose in layers, while she wore a lovely blue dress.

Xxx

The pair approached Spencer. Toby gave her a small, shy smile, and looked at her for more than a few seconds. Even though he was holding Emily's hands, he couldn't help but drink in Spencer's features. She looked absolutely ravishing in the silver dress and he had to physically restrain himself from thinking of thoughts that were slowly creeping into his mind.

"You look amazing," he breathed.

"As do you," Spencer said, with a chuckle. There was a bit of emptiness in her words, and he realized that the smile didn't reach her eyes. She was looking at him stunned, and bit strangely, somewhat similar to the way she looked at him when he'd gone to get the tickets. "You clean up good."

"Thanks," Toby said shyly. "This party seems great."

"You think so?" she asked, smiling weakly. Then she took a deep breath, and pointed to the two of them. "So she is your mystery date!"

Her voice was squeaky, and sort of unnatural, and Toby raised his eyebrows. There was a strange tense vibe, so he decided to do something about. "I'll go get us some drinks." He turned to Spencer. "What would you like?"

She seemed taken aback for a minute, before she regained her composure. "A punch would be nice."

"What about you?" he asked Emily, who looked from Spencer to him.

"I'll have a punch too," she said finally.

"I'll be right back," he said, walking towards the drinks table.

Xxx

Spencer watched his retreating figure for a moment, before she turned to Emily. "So...when did this happen?"

"We just sort of reconnected over the past two weeks," Emily explained with a smile. "Hearing you talk about him that day in the gym made me realize that I actually did miss him, and wanted a do-over, and so far so good."

"That's...that's great," Spencer said, and realized that her voice was severely lacking conviction. She couldn't possibly explain why she wasn't convinced that the idea of Emily and Toby together was a great one. Both of them were really good people, and good people deserved each other.

"It is," Emily said.

"Be good to him," Spencer blurted out before she could help herself. "He's been through a lot, and he really deserves someone who'd be good to him. He's one of the...nicest people I've met."

Emily nodded, and looked a little uncomfortable. The smile on her lips didn't seem as genuine, and Spencer suspected that something was up. Didn't Emily feel the same way about Toby as he did her? Before she could say anything, Toby approached them, with drinks in his hands. He handed both of them their drinks, before turning to face Spencer.

"This is a great party. I'm not really a party person, but you've done a great job."

Spencer smiled at his sincere compliment, and realized that it was the first real smile that she'd given all day. "I'm glad the hard work paid off."

"Of course it would," Toby said. "It's you doing all the work."

"Thank you," she said, smiling once again. She couldn't exactly understand what it was about him, that made her feel better even in the worst situations. He seemed to have the uncanny ability to lift some of the weight off her shoulders. "Really...thank you."

She looked at Emily, and suddenly felt awkward. Heat flushed her cheeks again and she straightened up. "You two should go dance. I think they're going to move onto the slower songs now. Don't want to miss out on the good ones."

"That sounds good," Toby said, but the reluctance in his voice didn't go unnoticed by her.

"Go," Spencer said. "I'll be fine. I need to check out how some of the stalls are doing anyway."

xxx

She spent the remainder of the dance by herself, checking to make sure everything was fine. Distracting herself from the turmoil in her mind was her way of coping, so that she wouldn't burst out in front of everyone else. She always prided her ability to mask complete indifference and nonchalance, but hated moments like this, when her emotions would slip through forcefully.

Andrew never returned any of her calls. She didn't really bother trying him again, knowing that at this point, all it would be doing was lowering her self respect, and that was one thing she wasn't willing to do.

After checking that everything was running smoothly, as she was crossing the dance floor to get herself another drink, she noticed Toby and Emily, slow dancing. She stopped in her tracks and stared at them wistfully, her heart sinking. She felt like she was losing something, something she'd never had, and it was hands down, the worst feeling in the world. Once again, she couldn't understand why she felt as sad as she did, but she almost felt her resolve crack.

Toby looked up and met her eyes. Knowing that it wouldn't take him long to sense that something was wrong with her, she quickly fiegned a smile, gave him a thumbs up, and walked across to the drinks bar.

Xxx

Watching Spencer as she walked away, while he swayed to the music with Emily, Toby felt a horrible sense of emptiness. He'd thought that coming here with Emily, being around her, would help him move on, but all it did was make him feel worse. He'd hoped that he'd feel something for her, maybe a few sparks, but there was absolutely nothing. He felt as though he was dancing with his sister. He stared longingly in the direction Spencer had disappeared, and realized the situation was getting really messy, even without him really doing anything.

Emily slowly pulled away from him and looked down nervously. "I should...I should go home."

Toby suddenly felt worried, hoping that he hadn't made his feelings for Spencer obvious. The last thing he wanted was to make Emily feel used or wanted.

"Are you okay? Did I - "

"No, no, it's just, this was a mistake."

"What do you mean?" Toby asked, looking at her worriedly. Concern for her surged through him, and he touched her shoulder gently. "Is everything okay?"

"No, I don't know. I'm such an idiot."

He noticed that she was looking past him longingly, and he turned around to see a girl, staring back at Emily with an equally longing look in her eyes. He glanced between them for a few times, when suddenly, it clicked. Jesus. How could he have been so blind to it? He was supposed to be a perceptive person.

"Emily, did you come here with the wrong person?" His voice was gentle, and he gave her a warm smile.

"Toby..." she trailed off.

"Do you want to go somewhere else to talk?"

Emily nodded, and he led her out of there.

Xxx

The two found themselves in their old chemistry lab, where they'd become friends in the first place.

"I'm really sorry," Emily said timidly, as they settled down on two opposing chairs.

"No, you don't have to be," Toby said sincerely.

"How did you even figure it out? I've been around the swim team, and my family for months and they haven't a clue."

"I saw the way you look at her. You love her." And an agonised part of him realized that it was probably the exact way he looked at Spencer.

"I thought if I gave you chance...a proper chance, if I went out with a nice boy then I wouldn't be...then I wouldn't be that. But nothing seems to change. No matter how much I try to talk myself into liking boys, I can't. Not beyond the friendship level."

"That's okay," Toby said, walking up to her and squeezing her hand in support. "That is perfectly okay. There is nothing wrong with you."

"I am so different from anybody. I just feel like I am not like everyone else."

"I like different. Different is good. This town has too much of the same."

Emily finally cracked a smile. "If I admit it out loud, that I like girls, everything is going to change."

"It will," Toby agreed. "But it will be a good change, right? You will not battle with yourself anymore. You can be who you are. And that makes a lot of difference."

"I guess so," Emily said. "Toby, you're being so wonderful about this. I really am sorry for doing this to you. I was just being selfish-"

"No you weren't," Toby said quickly. "I completely get where you come from."

"What do you mean by that?" Emily asked, confused.

"Nothing," Toby quickly dismissed. "Does she know how you feel?"

"I think so," Emily said. "We kissed. But I kept denying how I felt, and she hates that I'm lying to myself."

"Then you should tell her how you feel," Toby said encouragingly. "It's not everyday that you meet someone who feels the same way about you."

Emily, who looked like she felt a lot better, pulled out her phone and typed a text. In a few seconds, she received a reply, that caused her to droop her shoulders dejectedly.

"What is it?" Toby asked immediately.

"Maya left."

"I'll drop you off at her place."

"You would really do that for me?" Emily asked, brightening up.

"Of course. Of course. What are friends for?"

xxx

When all but the teachers had left the school, Spencer decided to make a move for home as well. The homecoming committee had been congratulated for their brilliant job and had just been dismissed, but she'd decided to stick around until all of them were gone. Realizing that she had barely any time to make it home before curfew, Spencer hastened her steps to the parking lot. Even though she didn't think her parents would really notice if she came home or not, she didn't want to risk getting into trouble with them. She was exhausted enough already.

As she made her way to her car, she noticed someone leaning against a car parked in the middle of the lot. On taking a closer look, she realized that it was Toby, standing up against the car he had rented for the dance, his hands in his pant pockets. On seeing her, he took a few tentative steps towards her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, walking quickly over to him. "Where is Emily?"

"She had to be elsewhere, I dropped her off. I came back to see if you were okay."

"You came back to check in on me?" she asked, stunned. Her voice cracked, and she felt an intense rush of emotions.

He nodded. "You didn't look like you were doing really well, and I got worried. Are you okay?"

"Oh my god," she said, throwing her hands up in the air.

And suddenly, it became all too much.

"Unbelievable!" she exclaimed. "I don't understand any of this. The logic behind all of this, or rather the lack of logic behind it. I hate not understanding things, it drives me mad."

"Spencer?" Toby said uncertainly, reaching out for her hand.

She pulled away, and Toby winced.

"I don't understand," she repeated, but more so to herself. The anger, the hurt and the pain that had been building inside her all day, broke through, as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was so upset, and that she didn't even bother to wipe them off, or try to regain her composure. "My boyfriend doesn't even turn up at the event I did so much to organize, and doesn't even have the decency to tell me that he's not coming, but you, you who I've known for just a few weeks, drives back all the way to school after dropping of your date, to see how I'm doing. Unbelievable."

"You know, I thought things would be better with him, but then he goes again, and does something like this, treating me in a way that I can't accept. You know who I'm angry at most? Myself. I should have called this before. Called this when he wanted to try again, called it when I even got together with him. Called it when I got into a relationship simply to please my family. This is all my fault."

"No," Toby said sharply, without hesitation. "It's not. Spencer, you did what you thought was right, don't blame yourself. Andrew is pathetic and terrible for not seeing and valuing you the way he should."

"I'm the smart one," Spencer said. "I'm supposed to be the one making smart choices. I thought that by being indifferent and not as involved in a relationship, I was making an intelligent choice, but now I'm a mess. I don't even love him, Toby, and look at me. I'm a mess!"

Toby reached for again, much more carefully, and she let him take her hand in his. "It's okay, it's okay."

As the tears fell, she leaned into him, burying her head in his chest. His hands went around her and he held her close to him, rubbing circles on her back soothingly.

After a while she pulled away, he brushed hair out of her face, and wiped off her tears.

"And I didn't even get to dance in the dance I did so much to organize," she said grumpily.

"How about we change that?" Toby asked.

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I don't really know to dance," Toby warned. "But, what have I got to lose?" He pulled out his cell phone, and scrolled through it. "I don't think I have that many songs on here. In fact, I just have this audio Caleb sent me a while ago, and I don't even know what it is."

He pressed the button tentatively, and a very upbeat, fun music started playing. Both of them waited for a few seconds, before a grin broke across Spencer's face. "The Gangnam Style? Seriously? That would be a first!"

Toby laughed. "I don't store music on my phone. Caleb had asked me to listen to it, but I never got around to doing it."

"Come on then, lets dance!" Spencer exclaimed, chuckling.

"Are you sure? I mean a homecoming dance to this song?"

"It'll be fun," Spencer urged. She placed her purse on top of Toby's car, balled her fists together and held them in a cross position, and began moving them up and down, while she tapped her feet on the ground alternatively. On seeing Toby look at her awkwardly, she put his hands together the way hers were and grinned. "Come on! Join in."

He looked at her for a few more seconds, before he broke into the dance as well. As the song played on, the two of them danced, laughing hysterically, almost falling over each other. When the song came to an end, Spencer leaned into his chest, laughing, tears of joy falling from her eyes.

"That was the best homecoming ever," she said between a fit of giggles. "Honestly."

"Mine too," Toby said sincerely, one hand on her shoulder, while he covered his mouth with the other, still laughing.

When both of them had calmed down, Spencer looked into his eyes and smiled widely. "I might have an asshole of a boyfriend, but this homecoming, I realized I have one of the best friends that I could ask for. And that, singularly makes it the best one ever. This makes it the best one ever."

Toby just smiled, glad that he was able to make things better for her. He hated seeing her upset, it made him feel powerless in a way like nothing before.

"Thank you," Spencer said.

"For what?" Toby asked.

"For being you. For existing. For being there. For it all," Spencer said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

She was quite shocked at the tingling sensation she felt at the contact, but brushed it off as mixed up emotions.

Toby, on the other hand had a pleasant-yet-not-so-pleasant pull in his stomach and tried his best to ignore it. How was he going to be able to keep his feelings for her in check? It seemed more and more impossible as time went by. But still, he needed to do it, because he couldn't imagine not having Spencer in his life, or cutting her out of it, no matter what he felt.

"I'll always be there for you," he said sincerely.

Spencer's eyes moistened, and she couldn't help how overwhelmed and touched she felt. What was it about this boy, that had the ability to basically knock her off her feet, just by saying a few words?

"Goodnight, Toby," she said, hoping that for now, that would be enough.

"Goodnight, Spencer," he said, as she squeezed his hand gently as she walked towards the car.

He watched her retreating figure, and knew that even though his emotions would probably kill him, in the end, it would be worth it, all for the smile lit up her whole face.

I'm sure I didn't get the gangnam thing right, but I hope you guys understood it. Next chapter is something ya'll will like. But it's probably not what you want it to be. ;)

N