Note: I don't know if anyone is still reading this considering it's been a few months since I last updated. Sorry about that. Schoolwork and writers block teamed up for an epic battle against me. If you are still reading this, thank you. This chapter is dedicated to Sparkyleathers08 for our long conversations about everything and nothing.
I know it's been awhile, but I still respond to everyone's reviews for this story.
Ryoko05: I'm glad you like this joke. I'm also glad you agree with me about Spencer sleeping with Aiden. (insert smiley face here)
.HEART: I'm glad you liked the joke, too! I'm also glad you agree about the Aiden thing. There needs to be conflict. (insert smiley face here)
Movies7Too: I'll try to get some more good jokes in there, but I can't make any promises. Spencer does have the right to do what she wants! (insert smiley face here)
anNtidote: I love the squirrel, too, the brilliant little guy. I like to think I'm all about keeping things as close to real situations as I can get for this, so thank you. I really appreciate that. (insert smiley face here)
sparkyleathers08: Love you, dude. What else can I say? (insert smiley face here)
usagi-neko: Even though the "today" that you found it was months ago by now, I'm glad you did. This was not by any means a quick update, so sorry for that. (insert smiley face here)
lalalalee: That was my thoughts on her sleeping with him. It's all about trust and love. And I'm sure you do lots of things right! (insert smiley face here)
Aguslalinda: Brendon is just there for the conflict, don't you worry. I'm all about Spashley. (insert smiley face here)
I can't believe so many people agreed with me about Spencer sleeping with Aiden. I'm glad you understood. Now, on with the story….finally.
CHAPTER TWELVE: The Structure Falls
The following Sunday morning when Spencer got back home was probably the most anxious and scared the blonde had ever been to enter her own house. It wasn't necessarily the entering her house part that had her scared, but rather the facing her parents aspect of it. She felt like they would know, just by looking at her, that she had had sex.
She unconsciously wiped her hand across her forehead, hoping to rid her face of the imaginary ink that spelled 'sinner' above her brow.
"Spence, is that you?"
Spencer whipped her head around to the direction of her mother's voice.
"Y-yeah," she managed to croak out.
The Ohio native slowly made her way into the kitchen where her mother resided. She approached the woman who sat at the breakfast table, enjoying her day away from the hospital and reading the Dallas Morning News, her daily sudoku puzzle already having been attempted and left for Arthur to complete. The surgeon didn't understand why it was that she could perform complicated medical procedures, but nine boxes filled with numbers had her stumped.
Spencer took a deep breath and when she spoke, was able to not sound like she was a nervous wreck. "What's up, Mom?"
"How was your night?" Paula asked, barely glancing up from the article she was currently invested in.
"What?" Spencer's voice took on a panicking quality, but it went unnoticed.
"The party? How was it?" her mother clarified.
"Oh." The blonde girl relaxed. "It was great."
"Good. And the sleepover with Ashley?"
Spencer rolled her eyes. She hated it when her mother used the word 'sleepover.' It made her feel like she was ten. "It was fun. I had a good time."
Paula must have finished the article she had been reading because she finally looked up from the paper to her daughter for more than a passing moment. "I'm glad." She continued to look at her only daughter and youngest child, making said child nervous of what it was she was looking at.
Spencer wiped her forehead again.
Paula continued to speak. "I can't believe you're sixteen already."
For the second time that morning, Spencer rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, Mom. Yes, I'm growing up. It happens."
"I know, I know. I just didn't think it would happen so fast."
In true teenager fashion, Spencer sighed and muttered 'whatever' before going up to her room to take a nap. She hadn't gotten any sleep last night with Aiden. It wasn't that they had stayed up all night together, but she still wasn't familiar enough with his room to be able to fall asleep in it.
When Spencer woke up a few hours later, she had a text message waiting for her.
U r perfect. In case u didnt kno. It was Aiden.
The blonde girl couldn't help but smile at how sweet her boyfriend was and told him so in her response. Ur 2 sweet.
I wish we cud do something 2day but im swamped w/ hw.
Me 2. But ill c u 2morrow brite and early.
Ill bring u coffee and a muffin.
Perfect. :)
;)
And with that, Spencer finally put down her cell phone and got to work on her research paper.
XXX
"Coffee, three sugars, no cream and a blueberry muffin for m'lady."
Spencer smiled up at her boyfriend who presented her coffee (just the way she liked it) and baked-good (why mess with the classics?) proudly.
"Thank you," she said as she took the items from him before standing up on her toes to give him a kiss.
Aiden smiled, his lips tingly from contact with hers. "Anytime."
"Ech, you two are so sickeningly sweet," Glen said as he passed by his sister and friend on his way to the lockers. Spencer and Aiden didn't pay him any mind, though, and sat down at one of the tables in the Student Lounge so Spencer could enjoy her breakfast before class in the company of her boyfriend.
They talked easily about nothing too serious, but their eyes spoke volumes to each other. A huge step had been taken in their relationship over the weekend. They had talked about it afterwards and again, the next morning, so there was really nothing more that either needed to say on the matter, but still, they felt closer to each other in a way that couldn't be explained through words. Thus, the communicating with their eyes.
When Spencer finished her coffee and a good portion of the muffin, the rest of which Aiden received permission to scarf down, the two stood up and gathered their belongings.
"Thank you for breakfast," the blonde said sincerely.
"Anytime. I gotta get to class, but I'll see you later," Aiden told Spencer before he kissed her cheek goodbye.
Spencer waved after him.
"Hey, Spence."
The blonde turned around and spotted Kyla. "Hey."
"That party was awesome. Everyone's talking about it."
"You know, you and Ashley threw it, so you're really just complementing yourself," Spencer pointed out.
"I'm comfortable with that," Kyla said with a cheeky grin.
"Well, as long as you're comfortable."
The pair continued their talk of the previous weekend's activities on their way to their first class of the day, which they shared.
In the hallway, Spencer spotted Ashley talking to Brendon Goldman. They were flirting. Again. Spencer got that same weird, confusing feeling that she got the night of the party when she saw them talking. She once again, chose to ignore it and walked into class with Kyla.
XXX
Ashley enjoyed talking to Brendon. Who wouldn't? He was smart, funny, and charming. He was good company and he didn't make her feel nervous or give her butterflies.
There was other company that Ashley also enjoyed, probably more than she should, that did make her nervous and give her butterflies. The logical thing to do would be to stick with the company that didn't do those things. Typically, no one could claim that Ashley always did the logical thing. But this time, with the other, nervous and butterfly giving company out of reach, Ashley decided that the logical choice was the one for her.
Now she just had to make herself believe it.
Nurse Julie, here she comes.
"Hey, Ashley. How are you?"
"I'm okay," the California born girl said as she sat down in the extra chair.
"Are you really, or are you just saying that?" the nurse asked as she pushed aside the paper work that sat in front of her.
"Well, I'm better than I was last week, so yeah, I think I'm doing okay." It was the honest truth.
"That's good to hear. What makes this week better?"
"Do you know Brendon Goldman?"
"He's the varsity quarterback, right?"
"Correct." Ashley said this with a small and slightly smug smile on her face.
"Ashley Davies, are you going out with Brendon Goldman?"
"No, no, not going out… talking."
"Talking?"
"Talking."
"Would this talking be in the realm of flirting?" Nurse Julie looked positively giddy.
"It's not just in the realm of flirting, it's in the…. it's flirting." The brunette was a little disappointed in herself for not being able to come up with a good analogy, but that didn't matter. She had been flirting with Brendon Goldman.
"And does he…return this form of communication?"
"Return it? He initiates it."
"That's great!" The nurse was ecstatic. "So, you like him?"
"Well," Ashley said coyly. "He's nice and funny and super good-looking. Yeah, I like him."
"Good. I'm glad."
Nurse Julie briefly thought about bringing up Spencer, but she figured Ashley would if she wanted to and Brendon has certainly put her in a better mood than she's been in a while, so she decided against. Instead she decided to dampen Ashley's mood with a different subject.
"Finals are coming up."
Ashley sighed heavily, as if she could not think of a worse torture on Earth to be subjected to than final exams. "Yeah."
"Have you started studying?" The nurse already knew the answer.
"Totally."
Correction: the nurse knew the truthful answer.
XXX
Spencer's plan to ignore her reaction to whatever was going on between Ashley and Brendon was failing on an epic scale. The more she tried not the think about, the more she thought about it, which in terms of the mind and psychology and well, logic, made perfect sense. But Spencer was a confused teenager, and no matter how many A+ tests her parents may have stuck to the refrigerator in her life, the hormones of adolescence would always trump rational thought processes.
Finally, though, during a free period, a helpful thought crossed her mind.
Nurse Julie.
When Spencer walked into the nurse's office, she immediately started talking. This was unfortunate considering that there was someone else in the room besides Nurse Julie. It took a moment for the blonde to realize this, and while she thankfully hadn't said anything completely embarrassing, she still blushed and apologized while the boy getting his fingers wrapped looked at her like she was crazy. She sat down in a chair in the far corner and waited for them to finish, Nurse Julie having trouble holding back the laughter.
When the boy finally left, Spencer was about to open her mouth when another voice, not the one belonging to the nurse, spoke first.
"Maybe you should wait until I leave, too."
Spencer looked in the direction the voice came from and saw Ashley, sitting on the opposite side of the room on a cot. Ashley had still been talking with Nurse Julie when the boy with the injured fingers came in and they put their conversation on pause, the California girl keeping quiet on the cot.
"Oh." That was the only response that Spencer managed to vocalize as she thoroughly went over everything she had said when she first walked in before being filled with relief when she was positive that she had not said Ashley's name, or anyone's name for that matter.
Spencer and Ashley had a mini stare down with the nurse in the middle who was very seriously considering leaving the two alone to talk. Her lunch break was coming up soon anyway. She sighed, realizing that would be far too cruel. She instead decided to interrupt the moment with a witty comment.
"If you two are just going to stare at each other, then there are far more suitable places than my office."
That seemed to snap the two girls out of it and they both began talking at the same time, offering to leave so the other could stay and talk with the nurse.
Ashley won in the end, citing that she had already been there for some time and it was Spencer's turn. Nurse Julie didn't know whether to feel offended or honored that people where having to wait 'turns' for her.
The brunette slipped out of the room, brushing past Spencer and closing the door behind her.
The blonde girl stood in silence for a moment longer before speaking. "Sometimes I forget that you're not my own personal therapist and that other people might be in this room."
The nurse simply laughed, remembering the few times last year when Ashley had done the same thing, forgetting that she was the school nurse and had other responsibilities besides helping the brunette sort through her confusing thoughts.
"Don't worry about it. Now what's up?" Nurse Julie sat back in her chair and waited for the girl to speak.
Spencer was about to head for the cot to sit down, but remembering that Ashley had been sitting there moments ago, decided against it for reasons she didn't understand and instead chose to lean against the counter next to the sink.
"Ashley's been flirting with Brendon Goldman," she began with, even though she figured the nurse already knew this. Before when she had barged in she just started talking without thinking about some of her very vague feelings. This time, she had composed herself and thought before she spoke.
"Yes."
"I don't like it. I don't like him."
"Why not?"
Spencer didn't have an answer.
"Because Ashley likes him?" Nurse Julie had the answer, though.
"I don't know why this is happening to me," Spencer said, her voice full of defeat.
"What's happening to you?"
"I'm liking someone while loving someone else." That was the first time Spencer had admitted to liking Ashley in a manner that implied more than friendship to herself. It was as if she just couldn't fight it anymore.
Nurse Julie recognized this, and while it was nice to hear the blonde admit it and it pained her to see Ashley in such distress over wanting this girl, even though it seemed like she was finally moving on, she would never use this opportunity to mess with a relationship for the brunette, or for anyone. She decided to tell the girl what she thought was right.
"Spencer," the woman said delicately. "I know this may be difficult to think about and go through, but I'm sure you're not the first person who has liked more than one person at the same time. And if you do really love Aiden, then there's nothing to think about. I know you feel like you're losing control of your own life by being with him. Like fate has taken a hold, but if you love him and you want to be with him, then that's what you need to do. Having a crush on Ashley will pass, but love is something that likes to stick around."
And then Spencer's blue eyes widened and she simply understood everything.
Well, not everything. The feelings she had for all of these problems and people were still a little blurry and how she was going to deal with them left her with an even bigger question mark.
But she did understand what was wrong with her and Aiden.
It was exactly like Nurse Julie had just said: "If you love him and want to be with him, then that's what you need to do."
Spencer loved Aiden, without a doubt. Fate had taken care of that. What she felt for the boy was etched into her heart and mind forever.
But did she want to be with him? That was the million dollar question.
Note: This chapter was a big turning point, not just for the story, but also for me writing it. I now have a much clearer idea of how I am going to pull this off than I did before.
Please review. Pretty, pretty please with sugar and spice and attractive woman on top.