One Month Later
A waiter came over to our table and gave us our drinks. He took our order and then left again.
"Cheers, to this finally being over." Caleb toasted.
"Well said Caleb." Toby agreed.
All four of us, me, Hanna, Toby, and Caleb raised our glasses to clink them together.
It had been about a month and a half since Ian's funeral. Today, he had been charged with Alison's murder and Aria and Hanna cleared were since there was no real evidence that they were a part of it. But the police still didn't know who killed Ian and I had a feeling it would be a while before they solved that case. At least Toby and the girls wouldn't have to worry about being framed anymore.
"It's a shame the others couldn't make it." Hanna sighed.
"What we're not enough fun to be around?" I teased her.
"No, I love being on a double date with you!" She insisted. "But tonight is meant for celebrating and it just feels like Emily, Mona, and Aria should be here too."
"Well, you can do something together when they get back." Caleb suggested.
"I know Emily and her Mom left a few hours ago to visit her dad. But where did Aria and Mona go?" Toby asked.
"Mona went with the Montgomery's to a theatre in Philly." I told him.
I was happy and relieved that Mona was with the Montgomery's tonight. I was happy because she really liked Mike and it was good for her to get to know his family. And I was relieved because I needed a break from searching for answers. I hoped that Jenna and Garrett would leave things alone now that everyone thought Ian did it. I was worried for Toby all the time since Jenna was involved and just wanted things to be over. But hope breeds eternal misery so we had to find a way to connect them to things before it came back to bite us.
"Hey, that's what we should do. The five of us can go to Philly this weekend. What's a better way to celebrate than a girl's day in the city?" Hanna suggested.
"Will Emily and her mom be back by then?" I asked as the waiter came back with the food.
"Emily will but her mom won't. She's staying in Texas with Mr. Fields and Emily is staying with me." Hanna told me.
"I thought Emily wasn't going to be moving in for a couple more weeks?" Caleb asked.
"Don't worry, Caleb, Emily will give us privacy when we need it." Hanna assured him.
"Um, that's a little more than we needed to know, Hanna." I laughed. "But I'm all in for going to Philly this weekend. I heard about this great coffee shop from Melissa that I want to check out."
"Why am I not surprised?" Hanna mumbled. "You know, when most girls talk about a weekend in Philly they think about shopping and restaurants. But the first thing that comes to your mind is coffee."
"Hanna, this is Spencer we're talking about and you've known her your whole life. Is there anything she likes better than coffee?" Caleb pointed out.
"I like Toby better than coffee." I admitted.
Toby wrapped his arm around my shoulders and gave me a kiss. It only lasted two seconds but Hanna still made a comment about it.
"Ugh, I'm going to lose my appetite if you two keep that up." Hanna stated trying to sound annoyed but I knew she wasn't.
"Yeah, I have to agree with Hanna." Caleb teased us.
"Now why do I have a hard time believing that?" I asked sarcastically. "You don't seem like someone that turns down food, especially when it's right in front of you."
"Oh he never turns down food. Our food bill went way up when he was crashing at my place." Hanna laughed in agreement.
"Okay, so maybe I won't lose my appetite. But I will lose my chance to eat if we keep talking so much." Caleb stated.
"Yeah, I have to agree with Caleb." Toby told us.
That caused all four of us to burst out laughing. To say that things were never dull with Hanna and Caleb around was a complete understatement. We had had a lot of double dates together and each one was more fun than the last. And I was pretty sure that there would be way more to come.
"Are you okay, Spence?" Jason asked me as he wrapped his hoodie around my shoulders.
"Yeah, we're fine." I nodded. "Thanks for coming, Jason."
"No problem, I'm glad you called me instead of being too stubborn to ask for help." He told me and I playfully smacked his arm. "Come on; let's get you in the car so you don't freeze to death while I help Toby."
Toby and I were leaving The Grille and we drove a couple blocks away before discovering that the brakes didn't work. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of traffic and Toby was able to get the truck into the shoulder. And we were lucky we weren't on a major highway or something.
"Hey, were you able to fix the brakes?" I asked when I heard the door open.
"No, Jason is calling a tow truck and then he'll drive us back to his place to spend the night." Toby answered sliding in next to me in the backseat.
"We're going to spend the night at Jason's?" I asked skeptically. "That's practically begging for embarrassing comments and teasing."
"It was actually Jason's idea and under the circumstances I don't think he'll be too bad."
"Well, you know how I feel about hope, so let's be cautiously optimistic that you're right." I said which got a laugh from Toby. "So how long do you think it will take a mechanic to fix the truck?"
"Jason and I think it's a broken brake line which shouldn't take long to fix. I could have the truck back by tomorrow afternoon."
"How would something like that happen? You treat that truck like it's your baby."
"I probably just drove over something." He shrugged like it was no big deal but I had a bad feeling about it. "If we had a real baby, what would it look like?"
"Um, I'm picturing a newborn with…a six-pack." I said smiling at the thought of Toby and I having a baby one day.
Both of us laughed at my description of our baby. We were still laughing when I sensed Toby lean in to kiss me. But then Jason got in the car and we both knew the moment was lost.
"What's so funny?" Jason asked as he started up the car.
"Oh I was just telling Toby that I feel bad for Hanna. She got her car washed this morning before school and now it's pouring rain." lied, sort of.
Hanna did get her car washed this morning. But that's not what Toby and I were laughing about. And no way was I about to tell Jason what we were really laughing about.
"I hate it when that happens. But I'd rather have rain than snow." Jason commented and that caused Toby and I to start laughing all over again.
"I can't believe you talked me into coming up here." I mumbled as Toby and I hiked up to the top of the hill.
School was canceled today because of snow. And while most people loved that, I couldn't stand it. School was my escape from home and it was where I felt like I was good at something. But at least a day off gave me the opportunity to study more and get ahead. Or at least that's what I planned to do before Toby called.
"Spencer, snow days are meant to give you a break from school. And most people spend the day playing in the snow, not studying and working on a project that isn't due until the end of the year." He sighed and shook his head.
"So instead of studying in a warm house, we're hiking up a hill to get a great view of Rosewood covered in snow." I summarized sarcastically.
"Wow, hold back on the enthusiasm, Spencer." He rolled his eyes. "Come on, this is going to be fun, you need to relax. And we're not just here to see the view."
We finally made it to the top and Toby was right, the view was better than normal. It looked like something out of a Christmas movie or book. Who would have thought that the monstrous town of Rosewood could actually look beautiful when covered in snow.
"Okay, maybe the view was worth the hike." I admitted. "But what do we do now? You told me this was going to be fun."
"First we can warm up a bit with coffee, the way you like it, then we can build a fort to have a snowball fight." He said as he brushed the snow off the rock.
"Are you seriously challenging me to a snowball fight?"
"Why not, unless you're too scared of getting snow in your hair."
"Oh, just you wait, Toby Cavanaugh." I said in a threatening low voice, but seconds later we were cracking up.
xxxxx
"That's not fair!" I shouted at Toby about an hour later.
We had finished drinking our coffee, leaving some for later, and started preparing for our snowball fight. Actually it would be more accurate to call it a snowball war.
"You do not hustle a Hastings!" I continued to shout as I threw another snowball that hit Toby right in the shoulder.
"It's called a bluff, Spencer, and a really good one." Toby laughed which caused him to be completely off with his aim.
Usually I enjoyed the sound of Toby's laugh but right now it was just getting on my nerves. Some might say I'm a bit of a sore loser.
"What was that? You know maybe you didn't hustle me and you just had beginners luck." I taunted as I made the biggest snowball yet.
We continued to fire snowballs at each other and I waited until he bent down to make more. When he did I ran behind him and surprised him with the big one. The shock on his snow covered face filled me with satisfaction. But it didn't last long. Next thing I knew my legs came out from under me and I fell face first into Toby's pile of snowballs.
"Toby!" I whined as I rolled over and brushed the snow off my face.
"Spencer!" He mimicked. "What? Never heard of the expression, revenge is a dish best served cold?"
"Fine, truce?" I offered realizing my defeat, plus I really just wanted to drink my coffee and get warm again.
I tried to sit up so I didn't freeze by lying in the snow too long. But as I tried to do so I must have leaned against Toby's fort and the whole thing collapsed on top of us. Once again the two of us were covered in snow.
"Well, I guess I have to agree to a truce now." He laughed.
At first I failed to see how he could find this so funny. But then his laughter became contagious and I joined him. We stayed lying in the snow and made snow angels before going back and getting coffee. Yes, Toby won the snowball war, and yes, I was freezing from head to toe. But I was glad I listened to Toby instead of studying in my room all day.
A lot happened in this chapter. I wrote the flashback back in late February when there was a ton of snow. What did you think of the double date? I know it was shorter than the other one but there will be more to come. Next chapter Spencer finds out some big news and gets a warning from someone.