Chapter 14: Why do we venture into the cold?
Have you ever woken up in your cozy warm bed in the middle of a cold winter morning, just thinking how comfortable you are? That you couldn't possibly be any more comfortable than this? Well that's exactly what I feel right now. Being in bed with someone who wants you is the ultimate comfort. Actually, being in bed with Spencer is the ultimate comfort.
But we all know eventually, on that cold winter day, you have to leave the comforts of your warm bed, and venture down the freezing cold air of the hallway and get on with life.
We woke up the next morning relatively in the same position. My arm was still around her back and her body was leaning onto mine for cushioning. It worked out well. I can't help but think that the more time I spend with Spencer the more I realize that Mac and I never really had anything. When ever she would stay the night, which was rare by the way, we would fall asleep together but somewhere in the middle of the night drift apart. Don't get me wrong, I do love Mac, but we just weren't meant to be together.
"hey stop thinking so hard, you look like you're about to burst a blood vessel" Spencer says groggily as she manages to squint her eyes open at me.
"just like all the ones in my nose that you broke, causing this lovely bruise to form" I say pointing to my black and blue nose, I'm sure.
"uh, if I remember correctly you were the one who repeatedly pushed me to the ground, and somehow gave me this very attractive cut on my lip." She argues.
"I personally think it's hot. I like knowing that my girl isn't afraid to get into a fight… given it was with me, but you know" I tell her and I see a small smile spread across her face.
"so… I'm your girl now, huh?"
"well uh… you know… with everything-"
"-good, I want to be your girl" she says and rests her head back in the crook of my neck. "what time is it?"
"8:34am"
"mm, you know, I kind of like being suspended" Spencer states.
"what did your parents say?"
"oh you know… the typical. We're disappointed. Don't do it again, blah blah blah"
"blah blah blah, huh? Are you sure you're not confusing your mom with Charlie Brown's teacher?"
"she might as well be. I kind of tuned her out after the first 10 minutes of yelling"
"so what's she going to say when she finds out you snuck out in the middle of the night to stay over here?"
"surprisingly, she'll probably take it better than the suspension. She's all hung up on getting me a girlfriend and stuff"
"I think you've got the most supportive mother I've ever seen" I state.
"yeah, I'm pretty lucky like that I guess" she says as she lazily drags her finger on my t-shirt over my stomach. "what did your mom say when she found out about your suspension?"
"she doesn't know. She'll find out at the end of the month when she gets back"
"from where?"
"beats me. She often takes vacations, and comes back once a month to impose torture upon me and who ever else is home"
"hm, sounds like my period" she says jokingly.
"ew, god, I totally didn't need you comparing my mother to your monthly PMS visit"
"well if you ever need a mom to yell at you, mines there" Spencer says with a smile.
"appreciate it. Thanks" I say sarcastically. "so what are we going to do today?"
"I don't know. I'm pretty comfortable here" Spencer says only digging her body further into mine. I grab her hand and link her fingers with mine as I push her body onto her back so that I'm half on top of her and make my face even with hers.
"we have 3 days to kill. I plan on making use out of all of them" I whisper and lean down to press my lips to hers, which she gladly accepts. "you know how you said you didn't want a night of eroticism?" I ask.
"mhm" she says quickly, all while still kissing me, she's so talented.
"that whole no night of eroticism doesn't happen to pertain to today, does it?" I ask and I let my hand slide down her t-shirt, feeling every bump along the way.
"hm, I'm not sure yet. But I do promise you that you will enjoy these next 3 days" she says cheekily.
"promise?" I ask.
"I promise" she assures me and lays a few solid kisses on my neck.
"alright, then I trust you" I say and push the sheets off of me.
"whoa, where are you going?" she asks at the sudden loss of my body in the bed.
"to take a shower. We got some work to do today. Watch some TV or grab some food downstairs if you want" I offer and pick up a towel from inside of my closet.
"okay…" she says and grabs the remote off my shelf to turn the TV on. While her back is turned I turn on the shower and let it warm up for a second. On second thought, I think I have something else in mind…
I creep back out to my room to see Spencer standing in front of the TV flipping through the channels, well actually she's trying to figure out how to flip through the channels, but the point is, is she's distracted. I use my stealth James Bond skills and sneak up behind her. Without so much as a sound I quickly wrap my arms around her waist and lift her up from behind. I hear Spencer let out a girly scream, just as I predicted, and pull her backwards towards my bathroom.
"you didn't think I was going to shower alone did I?" I ask with a smirk though she can't see it.
"no, don't you dare!" she yells, though I can hear the fun in her voice. I pull her into the bathroom and put us both in the shower, still fully clothed. We let the water wash over us and I can't help but laugh at Spencer's supposed angry face. But with my laughing, she can't help but join in.
Anybody else probably would have been pissed, but Spencer just couldn't help but give in. And I like that about her. I see her smile and it must be contagious because I smart smiling too. Before either of us can say anything she wraps her arms around my neck, and I wrap mine around her waist.
"I'll get you back for this" she says, merely inches from my face.
"…and I can't wait" I reply as we both lean in for a soaking wet kiss.
………
"so where are we going?" Spencer asks. We're driving in my Porsche on the way to a certain ex-girlfriend's house.
"to Mac's, I think I've got a plan" I tell her.
"do you think it's such a good idea that I go to Mac's? I mean last time I talked to her it was a lot of yelling on her part"
"um I think she's okay with it, you know just don't flaunt anything, no flirting, try not to jump me and have rough wild sex right in front of her" I list casually.
"oh I'll try my best to refrain from that last one" she says sarcastically, making me laugh. She's good at that… making me laugh.
"I'm just kidding. But I honestly don't know how she feels about us, just I think she's more worried about her friends and stuff. So don't be starting any fights or anything."
"me? Start fights?" she asks as if she's completely offended. I know she isn't afraid to fight.
"if I recall, you've been involved in 2 fights in the passed week" I state smartly.
"uh yeah, but if you recall correctly, you'll notice I started neither of those fights"
"I also noticed you didn't end them either"
"well that's not the point, the point is…" she completely lost sight of the conversation. "help me out" she begs.
"the point is, we're going over to Mac's and everything will be all right" I assure her.
"yes, that's what I meant" Spencer says and gives me a little smirk.
……
As soon as we pull up to Mac's house we both get out and walk up to the door, hands linked together. There's no cars in the driveway, which means Mac's parents are at work. Good, I don't really want to have to deal with them right now. I knock on the door and wait a second to hear footsteps travelling down her set of stairs. The door opens and Mac seems mildly happy that I'm here, but her happiness is soon filled with surprise as she sees who's with me.
"Ashley… and girlfriend" Mac greets us.
"we're not-" Spencer starts.
"-together?" Mac finishes. "seems like it" she says looking down at our clasped hands and all of a sudden Spencer and I both let go at the same time.
"We're together, just not… quite there yet" I answer. Fuck this is awkward, someone change the topic.
"did you two shower together?" she asks, noticing how we both have wet hair.
"no" we both answer quickly. Well that wasn't suspicious at all!
"what ever, what do you want?"
"hey, hey now, don't get all bitchy mode on me" I say sweetly as I force our way into her house. "I'm here to help, actually we're here to help" I say referring to Spencer and myself.
"yeah and how is that?"
"do you have any extra sets of your school uniform?" I ask with a smirk.
………
"I haven't worn a catholic school girl uniform since my last school" Spencer whines as she looks at herself in the mirror. Since Mac wasn't going to school Spencer and I decided to. Well I decided to, Spencer was forced. So we're just getting ready to head over to her school and we needed to blend in, so Spencer and I borrowed a couple of Mac's skirts, and blouses in order to camouflage.
"don't forget the knee socks." Mac says a little too cheerfully, as she hands over a couple pairs of knee socks to us. Surprisingly Mac was civil with Spencer. Of course they weren't BFF's or anything, but they were… civil. That seems to be the only word to describe them right now.
"what happened?" I ask Spencer.
"what?" she asks confusedly as she repeatedly tries to fix the collar on her shirt so that she looks presentable.
"how come you didn't go to a catholic school when you moved here?" I clarify.
"my mom didn't think it was right that I go to a catholic school when she found out my secret"
"gee, I wonder why…" Mac mutters underneath her breath. I send a glare Mac's way and she catches the hint. First she rolls her eyes, but she catches the hint. "so what exactly are you going to do once you get to my school?" Mac asks.
"blend in, ask around about you, see who heard what from who and hopefully pinpoint a source" I answer as I gather my stuff up and take one last look in the mirror.
"alright just don't get caught. Neither of you have student I.D. cards, so stay clear from teachers" Mac helps.
"what if we're approached by a teacher during class time?" Spencer asks as she flattens her collar, and shifts it around.
"tell them you have free period. If not just wait until noon for the cafeteria to fill, then you can ask people"
"check" I say. "nobody's going to notice me are they?" I ask just to be sure.
"oh don't worry, I didn't introduce you to any of my friends, remember?" she says with attitude. Just because I've helped her try to get through all this, still doesn't erase the fact that I fell in love with someone else while dating her.
"right, how could I forget" I answer quickly. "anyways, we best be off, we'll return the uniforms in a couple of hours, and share the gory secrets we have yet to discover." I inform Mac as I unfold Spencer's collar so that it's flared out. She checks herself in the mirror again and decides she's happy with it. "later" I say and pull Spencer out the door.
……
"so we're actually going to go through with this?" Spencer asks as she and I enter the halls of St. Joseph Catholic School.
"it's too late to turn around now"
"I don't know. My feet would say otherwise" I'm not really sure why Spencer's so nervous. Hm, maybe it's because it's two gay girls in a catholic school. I don't think god will smite us or anything. Well you never know…
"come on, I think the cafeteria's this way, lunch starts in like 10 minutes" I say as we travel the halls, going unnoticed by other students. We make it to the cafeteria and see there's already a few groups of students sitting and relaxing. "okay, let's split up, that way we cover more people at once"
"okay… so what do I say?" Spencer whispers.
"just casually slip in asking if they heard about that Mac and her secret and see if you can find out who told them and just keep going. Okay?"
"okay. Be careful" Spencer warns and I can't help but roll my eyes at her.
"of course. I'll be sure to watch out for the other school girl impostors trying to dig up secrets on their ex-girlfriends. Good luck cat woman" I whisper harshly, receiving an annoyed stare back from Spencer. Okay, let's do this. We break a part while Spencer goes to one group I go to another.
"hey guys" I say approaching a group of girls sitting randomly at a table, playing with a deck of cards.
"um, hey" one girl says awkwardly, yeah they probably think I'm a total creeper.
"listen, I know this is kind of random, but did you guys hear about that Mackenzie King girl? Is it true what they say? Is she really a… lesbian?" I whisper 'lesbian' for effect. I try my best to hold back a chuckle at the same time.
"oh totally" one girl says.
"I knew it all along" the girl beside her says. What posers.
"well I heard from Sarah that it was actually a lie" I say coming up with the most generic name possible. Every school has a Sarah, it's like a rule or something. Just then the bell rings and I see students slowly flood into the cafeteria and things get louder and louder.
"Sarah B or Sarah R? cause Sarah R totally has a big mouth. I mean when Jennifer puked during that biology dissection Sarah R went around to the whole school telling everyone. Yeah, Jennifer had to go home early just because of the humiliation" one chick says. Well more like tells me a story but what ever.
"well of course it was Sarah R, Sarah B's way too nice to do anything like that." I play along.
"you're so right, but anyways, it's weird that Sarah R would say that, cause I heard from Jackie that it's totally true" Jackie, huh? One step closer.
"do you guys happen to know where Jackie is?" I ask, glancing around the café for effect.
"oh yeah… there she is" one of the girls points out to the far side of the café.
"thanks guys" I say back in a preppy way. Wow, I kind of feel like Spencer.
About 45 minutes later I managed to meet up with Spencer and we found a nice little corner to sit in and chat about what we discovered.
"so did you find anything?" Spencer asks initially.
"well I found out that Jackie heard from Becky, who heard from Shirley, who heard from Mya, who heard from Katie that Mac was gay, but I haven't gotten as far as Katie. And apparently it's Katie L, not Katie O, or Katie A, apparently Katie O and A are like totally untrustworthy and never tell the truth." I say just like how everyone talks around here. It's terrible. At least Spencer was able to crack a smile.
"well I think I might have found something. So I was talking to a bunch of girls and the name Lucy came up more than once. Actually it came up 4 times, so I'm starting to think that it's this girl who's spreading the secret." Spencer tells me. Jackpot.
"okay, so where's this Lucy chick then?" I ask and Spencer shrugs. "you know, you're not being a very helpful partner in crime"
"hey, I got you her name! Plus, in the bond movies James needs the help of Natalya and some point" she argues.
"well James also always gets the girl in the end" I say with a wink.
"let's find Lucy first then we can talk about what you get in the end" she says with a smirk.
"fine, how do we find her?" I ask.
"easy, use your tough girl shit on one of the freshman. Usually the chick who spreads the rumours is totally known." Spencer points out. Fine with me. I grab a short freshman who's walking by me and pull her back for a second.
"hey, who's Lucy?" I ask intimidatingly and I see the fear struck in her eyes. She's frozen for words. Perfect, I picked a mute freshmen.
"hey! She asked you a question!" Spencer yells. I didn't even know she could be intimidating like that. I'm so turned on.
"uh, sh-she's right over there" she points to a girl sitting at the head of her table on the other side of the room.
"thank you" Spencer and I both say at the same time and I let her go. "nice work Natalya" I compliment her.
"you as well, Bond"
We walk over to the girl pointed out by the frightened freshmen and we take a seat on either side of her. This girl looks kind of familiar, maybe I slept with her once or something. Don't tell Spencer.
"uh, can I help you?" she asks and I just nod to Spencer letting her know to follow my lead.
"oh my god! Is it true that Mackenzie King is really… gay?!" I ask in the valley girl kind of way and I see Spencer smirk at my performance from across the table.
"uh, yeah" she says as if I'm a freak.
"no way!" Spencer joins in, acting just like me. "how do you know… did you like see them totally making out or something?"
"please? And force my eyes to witness something that disgusting? Yeah right" Lucy says in front of all of her friends.
"then how did you know?" I ask.
"my cousin goes to school with her girlfriend" she says and my jaw immediately drops. "hey don't I know you from somewhere?" Lucy asks me and it hits me. She does know me. And I know her. And I know how, too.
"nope, we've got to go, come on Spence" I say pulling Spencer out of her chair and towards the doors of the cafeteria.
"terrible isn't it? How they just let girls like her in…" Lucy says to us before we can leave and Spencer and I both stop moving.
"what?" I ask.
"gay people. They don't belong here" she says. God I hate homophobes. I take Spencer's hand in mine and pull her back to the table. Of course she comes willingly because she's just as pissed as I am.
"is that so?" I ask as I bring Spencer to stand in front of me, wedged between me and the table, with Lucy still sitting at the head of it.
"yeah, it is" Lucy says, so sure of herself.
"oh, okay…" I say carelessly as I let my hands rest of Spencer's waist. I look into her eyes with a smirk and I think she knows what's ahead for us. I push Spencer back onto the table, right in front of Lucy, pressing my lips down onto hers, just to show all these girls what they're missing. Spencer lets her hands tangle in my hair as I continue to kiss her in front of all of these girls. In one swift motion I pull Spencer back up and pull back, hands still all over each other.
"and FYI, your cousin's gay too" I tell her and Spencer and I start walking towards the exit. Out of nowhere I see a couple of teachers start calling after us.
"run" I mutter and I pick up my feet to move my ass faster.
"Ashley, wait!" Spencer says as I continue to drag her along.
"hurry up!" I yell. We make it through the doors and head straight for my car. "I… can't believe it. I just… well I guess I can, but still."
"what's going on? Do you know her?"
"yeah, it's complicated though"
"well explain it to me" she says, I open the car with my car keys and we both get inside. I get my phone out and start dialling Mac's number, putting it on speaker phone at the same time.
"well?" Spencer asks.
"shh!" I say loudly and wait for Mac to pick up.
"yeah?" Mac answers.
"we know who it is" I say immediately and Spencer glares at me. "well I know who it is"
"well, who is it?" Mackenzie asks impatiently.
"I should have figured it out before. Do you know a Lucy at school?" I ask.
"yeah, sure why?"
"well she told us she got the news about you from her cousin."
"am I missing something here?" Mac asks.
"she said her cousin goes to school with me. And I knew I knew her from somewhere and I was right. Lucy is Megan's little cousin"
…And just like that, the warm comfort was gone. It was almost as if this realization of this information was that cold air in the winter day, reminding me life has to go on, and it's not always going to be as warm and comforting as my cozy bed.