Hey Guys this is the next chapter! I hope you enjoy! please let me know what you think, whether it be negative or positive I would love to hear it! Thanks for reading.
"Ashwly…" I heard someone say, "Ashwly…" I thought it was a dream at first until I felt a large human sized figure jump on my leg.
"Ashley wake up," I heard my mother's voice from the end of my bed. I groaned and uncovered my head with the pillow. Sid was spawled out on my legs, while my mother was standing at the foot of my bed with her hands on her hips.
"What?" I asked grumpy as I sat up and pulled the covers off.
"I need you to take Sid back to school shopping," she said still with her hands on her hips.
"Why can't you?" I asked.
"Because I have to be at work in twenty minutes," she said before turning and walking out the door. Sid was still lying across my legs.
"It's okay Ashwly, take you're time, I'm in no wush," he said before hopping off the bed and heading downstairs.
I forced myself to get out of bed. The shower helped calm my angered mood from this morning. I didn't mind at all taking Sid to get school stuff; I just didn't like to be woken up after getting back at two in the morning. I quickly put on a clean change of clothes before heading downstairs. Sid was sitting on the couch watching the Sunday cartoons. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and joined him. He was watching some show that I had never seen before. It was about some kid with this green watch thing that allowed him to turn into all different 'monsters'.
After I finished my breakfast, I bustled Sid into the car. I let him choose where he wanted to get his stuff, and of course he chose Staples. We walked into the store to find that it was relatively empty. Most people by now had probably gotten their school supplies. Sid grabbed one of the kid's carts and began to pursue the aisles. My mother had given me her credit card to pay for both our school supplies. I grabbed a few notebooks, pens, and pencils. Sid managed to fill his cart up after he had gone through one aisle. I glanced down at his school list and I was surprised to see that everything that was in his cart was on the list. What a responsible little child, I would have grabbed anything that caught my eye. I let Sid wander off to grab the rest of his things.
"Ashley?" I heard someone say my name. I turned around to a familiar face.
"Emily, hi," I said. About a few seconds later Sid appeared with Noah at his side. I guess Emily had to take Noah back to school shopping too.
"How are you? How was your summer?"
"It's was good, I spent most of it in California with my dad and then All-Stars. What about you?"
"Oh same old same old, family beach trip for a week," she said shrugging her shoulders.
"Ashwly can Noah come to lwnch with us?" Sid asked tugging at my shirt to get my attention. I glance at Emily and then back at Noah.
"If you're not busy, would you like to join us?" I offered. A smile appeared on Emily's face as she nodded. We watched as Sid and Noah jumped up and down, then run off in some unknown direction. We both managed to corral to kids into Emily's car, because Sid refused to ride with me if Noah didn't come. I followed Emily's car as the children decided with restaurant they wanted to eat at. They eventually decided on Five Guys.
We quickly ordered and found an empty table near the windows. Sid and Noah immediately each took a window seat, leaving Emily and I stuck on the outside. They went off into their own little world of conversations of some action figures, I think. Emily and I kept our ears alert waiting to hear our number being called.
"So you're lacrosse co-captains with Spencer this year right?" Emily asked taking a bite of a fry.
"So I'm told. You still planning on playing this fall?" I asked.
"Nah, I only play in the spring. I swim in the fall," she replied.
"Swimming, I bet your amazing."
"Actually, I'm planning on committing to UNC this fall for swimming," she said happily.
"That's awesome. I'm actually committing to somewhere too, but I haven't figured out where," I said. Her eyes lit up a bit. We continued our conversation about college commitments and swimming. It was actually nice to catch up with her. Turns out she's been swimming most of her life, and she's the reigning state champion since freshman year. Of course people would want her.
We decided that it was time to leave when Sid and Noah started to fall asleep where they sat. We said our goodbyes before carrying our sleeping brothers to the cars. Sid eventually woke up as we pulled into the driveway. Both of us managed to carry all the bags in without having to make a second trip. When I went back outside I noticed Spencer was sitting on her back porch reading a book. I quickly closed the back door and crept over to her. I wrapped my arms around her and she jumped.
"Don't you look cute reading a book," I said giving her a kiss on the cheek. I could hear her heart racing from the scare.
"Ashley…you suck," she said laughing as she reached down and picked up her book. She moved over on the bench allowing me enough room to sleep. I took a seat next to her and she swung her legs across mine.
"Sleep well?" she asked. Obviously by the bags under my eyes, she could tell that I didn't sleep well. I could tell that she got more sleep than me because she generally seemed more awake, but that could be that I still hadn't had my morning coffee, and it was afternoon.
"Like a baby, I only had a mother and a little brother come barging into my room at six o'clock this morning. What about you?"
"Probably not much better. Clay got me up earlier this morning so that I could practice working on my shot."
"Sounds like fun," I said drawing shapes on Spencer's calf with my fingers.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Nothing that I know of, why?"
"Well there's this pride parade tomorrow in the city and I was wondering if maybe you would want to go with me?"
"Will there be food involved in this?" I asked.
"As much as you want," she said with a smile.
"Then I'm totally in," I said. Spencer leaned in and gave me a quick peck on the lips.
We sat and talked for about an hour, until Sid came out looking for me. When Sid came around the Carlin's house he happened to catch up midway through a make out session. He, of course, started giggling and saying 'yes I knew it'. We were at first a little confused, until Sid explained that he knew all along that we were going to 'hook up' or something. He then went on to tell Spencer all about his summer without me. She was such an amazing person; she listened so intently to Sid's stories like she was actually interested and commented when right.
"Ashley, I'm hungry," he said.
"Bud, we just had lunch like an hour ago," I said lifting Sid onto my lap.
"I know, but I hungry again," he said patting his stomach.
"Okay hungry bunny, let's go home and get you something to eat," I said getting up.
"Can Spencer come?" he asked looking at me with puppy dog eyes.
"I don't know, you'll have to ask her," I said turning to Spencer. Sid turned to face Spencer, who was gave him her full attention again.
"Spencer, will you come over and eat?" he asked her. She smiled and pretended to think about it for a minute before responding.
"Of course I would," she said getting up. Sid jumped off the porch with glee and ran back to the house. I laughed before grabbing Spencer's hand and following Sid back to the house.
I made Sid a PB&J sandwich, and sat him and Spencer down in front of the TV, where Sid showed Spencer his favorite TV shows. I went back into the kitchen and sliced up some fruits and vegetables for the both of us. I took a seat next to Spencer on the couch. We watched Sid's show for about the first fifteen minutes before we got bored and both make up some random excuse to leave.
A few minutes later, after excusing myself, I heard Spencer open the door to my bedroom.
"Ashley?" she asked looking around.
"Out here," I said poking my head through the window. She walked out onto the deck, and looked over the wooden railing.
"Come here," I said motioning to join me on the hammock. She carefully lay down next to me. We swung there for a while; just enjoy the view and each other's company.
"So this pride parade, should I wear anything in particular?" I asked running my fingers through Spencer's hair.
"Anything prideful," she said. Well that's a lot to go on. Spencer and I lay there for what felt like an eternity. It felt so good to hold her in my arms; it made me feel wanted, needed.
"Ashley?" I heard a knocking at my door. It startled both of us and we quickly jumped off the hammock and composed ourselves. I hopped through the window and answered the door. I opened the door to find my mother standing on the stairs.
"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked letting her into my room. Spencer tried to occupy herself by pulling out some card and spreading them on the floor,
"I got off work early, and Sid said that you and friend had gone upstairs." She said looking over at Spencer, who was now sitting on the floor shuffling some cards.
"Yeah, this is Spencer, remember?" I said introducing her to my mother again.
"Oh yes, I remember. It's good to see you again," she said.
"It's nice to see you Mrs. Davies," Spencer said getting up and walking over to my mother, "I should get going," I was sad to see Spencer go, but I get it. If Spencer's parents happened to barge in on us I would find the quickest excuse to leave.
"I'll call you about tomorrow," she said before leaving. We heard Sid from downstairs giving Spencer and big goodbye.
"So just a friend, huh?" she asked looking at me more intently.
"Mom, stop," I said trying to avoid the question, but my mother already knew the answer to her own question.
"Ashley, just be careful, okay?" she said before pulling me into a hug.
"I will mom," I said before pulling away. I watched my mother retreat back down the stairs. I went back out onto the deck. Spencer was sitting at her desk writing in her notebook like she always did every evening. I picked up my phone and sent her a text.
Me: you look even more adorable when you're writing 3
I watch Spencer from my deck as she picked up the phone. She read the text message and smiled before looking up. I waved at her. She got up and opened her window and leaned out.
"You know we've only be apart for like ten minutes and you already miss me," she said cutely.
"What can I say, I'm a sucker for love," I replied. Spencer tried to hide her giggle of laughter.
"So, I'll come get you tomorrow at eight?"
"I'll be waiting," I said leaning over the railing. I faintly heard someone call her name in the background. She turned around and called back saying that she would be down in a minute.
"I guess, I'll see you tomorrow," she said. I nodded. Lame I know I was too absorbed in Spencer.
"I still want to know what you writing about every evening," I said before she left.
"If your lucky," she said before disappearing back into her room.
I fell back onto the hammock and reminisced about the week that Spencer and I spent together. It was one of the best weekends that I have ever had. Before I left, my dad had told me that Spencer had gone to visit Madison's grave, which made what to love her more. It's the thought that counts. I also noticed that my dad gave her an extremely large gift bag. There was a shirt and a stuff bear inside, but I couldn't see what the last thing was, and at the moment it's killing me. Not that I don't care what my dad got her, I just fear that he gave her something extremely embarrassing that is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. For example my dad for Mother's Day gave a picture to his mother of me running down the aisles of his office not wearing any clothing, granted I was little and cute and all, but I wasn't wearing anything. Every time I used to visit her she would tell me the story of it, and every time I want to say 'grandma I know that story because that's me in the picture'. She's lucky that I'm a good grandchild.
My mother called me down for dinner. It was a quick family dinner, because both Sid and I had something to eat before dinner. By nine o'clock I had retired to my room. I began to search through my drawers for something to wear tomorrow. I found my khaki shorts and Sperry's. The bottom was covered. I rummaged through a few more drawers until I found the shirt I was looking for. It was a pink and white tank top that Madison had gotten me when we went to a pride rally. On the front it said, 'love is love' and then on the back there was a list of hash tags that Madison had personally added. Some of them get creative after a while.
I laid out the rest of my clothes before brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. When I returned to my room, Sid was sitting in the middle of the bed with a smile on his face.
"Hey Sid," I said taking a sit next to him.
"Ashley," he said happily, "so how was home? Did you have a good time?"
"I did. For the first time since the accident I talked to Madison's parents. It felt amazing, like this huge burden was lifted off my shoulders. Aiden was back from college. We caught some pretty sick waves that you wouldn't believe. Next time your coming out too."
"What about Spencer?" he asked. I raised an eyebrow.
"What about Spencer?"
"Come on Ashwly, I'm almost seven, I think I know what's going on," he said staring at me.
"What do you think is happening?" I asked, who knows maybe he knows even more that I do.
"I think that you've fallen for Spencer, and that Spencer has fallen for you. Not to mention when you two left for the summer you were still friends. Then I caught you kissing and well that clears up the story. She's helped you learn to love again," he said. The last thing that he said really struck me. For a six-year-old that was pretty deep.
"You're absolutely right," I said giving him a warm smile. I let hi crawl up into my lap.
"You look happy Ash," he whispered, "even happier than when you were with Madison."
"I'm happy because Spencer went to Madison's grave, and Madison approves of Spencer. I'm happy Sid. For the first time in my life I feel like there is nothing holding me back; I'm free."