A/N: I feel bad for taking longer than usual to update, but hopefully everyone is vacationing right now anyway and is having much fun as I am this week! Happy (late) Easter everyone!
I'm at Ego. Alone.
It's totally not what you're thinking.
In fact, it's been a week since Spencer and I's attempt to make Paula like me, and I'm at Ego because I've landed a gig there.
I'm alone because I want to try this without Spencer and Kyla cheering me on. They actually make me more nervous, I think, because right now, I'm completely calm. Ego's manager is introducing me to the crowd at this very moment, and I'm waiting patiently to go up there.
This is no Open Mic Night, or any kind of musical contest between a bunch of amateurs. This is me getting a phone call from them and being requested to play here on this specific night. I'm getting paid for doing this. They liked me that much, I guess.
I hope Spencer won't be too mad at me for not sharing this moment with her. I didn't even tell anyone about the phone call. I just kept it to myself for a few days, then told Kyla I felt like going for a drive tonight. And here I am.
"Alright guys, this one's a song I wrote for a person that I was too scared to invite here tonight." I get a few chuckles from the crowd, even though I'm not trying to be funny. I smile anyway, glad that everyone seems nice enough to not heckle me. "It's called Never Been Hurt." With that, I get started on my first song of the night.
"So, who's the lucky guy?"
"Huh?" I question, looking up from my spot at a booth, where I'm sipping a diet coke to try and cool off. I only finished playing a few minutes ago, and this guy's already flirting with me. Ew.
"That song, the person you dedicated it to." He grins at me, probably thinking he's going to end up going home with me tonight. I'm reminded of why I hate going to clubs now. "Who's the lucky guy?" he repeats.
He's probably not too much taller than me, from what I can tell, and he's got dark hair, and looks to be in his early twenties. He'd be my type if he was Spencer. "Girl," I correct shortly, sipping my drink again.
He quirks an eyebrow, then scoots into the booth across from me without an invitation. I resist the urge to scowl. "A friend?"
Yes, dumbass. With lyrics like "I'm gonna love you like I've never been hurt before", it's totally about a friend.
"Sure," I eventually reply, humoring him. He shoots me another stupid grin and offers me his hand.
"I'm Mark." I eye his outstretched his hand and don't move a muscle other than to blink. His grin fades, and awkwardly, he withdraws it, clearing his throat. "So…your name's Ashley, right?"
"That's what the manager said," I confirm. He quickly realizes I'm not in the mood for chit chat, and nods once, digging his hand into his pants pocket and pulling out a small card, suddenly all business.
"Well, I work for a record company, just a few blocks away from here. I like your sound and I think they might, too. You should check it out." He puts the card on the table and then slides it across. "If you want."
I'm regretting being so cold to him right about now. "Oh. Um…thanks."
"No problem. There's, uh…my number's on there…if you need to call and…talk about anything."
"Right," I reply, holding back a smile this time as I accept the card from him. "I'll do that."
I hope this is legit.
I examine the card for a few seconds.
It looks legit.
I might be on my way to turning this into an actual career. The idea makes me kind of giddy.
"Cool, so I'll see you, then?"
And if this guy's just messing with me, I'll kick his ass. He's scrawny enough that I could do it. "Yeah."
That's his cue to leave, and no sooner has he done just that when the manager of Ego sidles up to me and places two-hundred dollars in cash right in the palm of my hand. "Excellent job tonight, Ms. Davies."
"Thanks," I say, already grinning to myself, because I know exactly what I'm going to do with this money.
"Ashley?" Spencer furrows her eyebrows at me, then rubs her eyes and blinks a few times. She has bed-head and it's adorable. "What're you doing here?"
"Get dressed," I tell her excitedly, whipping out a bouquet of her favorite flowers from behind my back, then offering them to her a little roughly. I'm not quite trained in the art of flower-giving, considering this is my first time, and plus I'm too excited to not be bouncing off the walls anyway. Who cares if it's morning? Today, I'm a morning person.
Spencer looks fully awake almost instantly, and the smile that spreads across her face as she takes the flowers from me makes me blush. "Aw, did you really go out and buy me flowers this early in the morning?"
"Yes, I did," I tell her proudly. She grins and leans in to kiss me lightly on the lips, then pulls away and takes my hand in hers, squeezing gently.
"Whatever you did wrong, I promise I won't be mad."
I gape at her. "Spencer, that genuinely offends me." She just gives me an expectant look. "Seriously! I didn't do anything, promise. I just…" I smile sheepishly, fighting off another blush, "…wanted to go on a date with you."
"Right now?" she questions, still with that small smirk on her face, but I know she totally thinks I'm charming. I nod firmly. "…Ash, this whole spontaneous thing would be incredibly suave of you if it wasn't eight-thirty in the morning." I pout at her and she grins, adding, "But you earn extra cuteness points for forgetting to put on real shoes." She points at my feet and I follow her gaze…then practically feel my face turning red.
I'm wearing bunny slippers.
So that's why people were looking at me like that in the store this morning…
"Alright," I huff out, glancing over my shoulder briefly to look at my car, before turning back to Spencer. "How about I go back home, grab some real shoes, and then come back, and in the meantime, you get ready to go out."
Spencer raises an eyebrow. "Do I get to know the occasion?"
"Only if you agree to go out with me," I retort, lacing our fingers together fondly. Spencer swings our arms back and forth for a moment, pretending to think, then smiles at me when I sigh impatiently.
"I can think I can last a few hours with you without getting bored."
I just stare at her thoughtfully for a moment. "You know, I really think I'm rubbing off on you."
"Is that a bad thing?"
I tilt my head to the side. "Depends on whether or not I still get to be the man in this relationship."
"Psh. You are so not the man."
"And you are?" I question, raising an eyebrow.
"I wear the strap-on," she reminds me smugly. My cheeks go dark red again. I only let her wear it because Spencer feels uncomfortable doing things with me wearing it, but no, she has to go and make it sound like it's some kind of weakness of mine.
"Ewwwwww! I so did not need to hear that!" comes a shout from somewhere in the direction of the kitchen, behind Spencer, and Spencer pulls a face, then shrugs her shoulders at me. I try not to smirk.
Clearly, Glen's awake.
"Alright, Spencer; you're clearly incredibly tough and butch. May I go get changed out of my bunny slippers now? I'll try to go slow so you have some time to pump iron before and after your shower."
She giggles and pulls me in for a hug, further evidence of her toughness, then squeezes my hand and breathes out in my ear, "I said I was the man, not The Aiden."
"You're not the man," I assure her, giving her a sympathetic pat on the arm while trying to suppress a laugh at the Aiden joke.
She furrows her eyebrows suddenly. "Wait, who the hell wants to be the man, anyway? Guys are gross. You can totally be the man. I'll be the girl."
My eyebrows furrow, too. She has a point. "But then wouldn't you be the one dating the man?"
"Hmm. You're right…" She sighs. "Well, you like them more than I do, so I guess you'd be the girl."
I take a moment to think that over, before proposing what I feel is a suitable solution. "Can we both just be girls?"
She grins at me. "Deal."
I'm glad we solved this.
"Ready to go, girls?" I hear Kyla call from the other room. Her question is accompanied by a couple affirmatives from voices I recognize, and I unglue my lips from Spencer's as both my eyes and Spencer's shoot open and then widen.
We spent nearly the whole day together, going everywhere from the bowling alley to Gray (which is super tame during the daytime), and I told her about Ego and getting paid for performing there. She understood why I wanted to do it by myself, of course, because she's Spencer and she's amazingly understanding, but I purposely left out the part about Mark, not wanting to get her hopes up over possibly nothing. I'm just keeping that business card somewhere safe for the time being.
And now, we were hoping to come home to an empty place after our day-long date, but apparently that isn't the case.
In fact, Aiden, Glen, and Clay are all sitting on the couch, staring at the two of us. It's kind of awkward, considering I pretty much pushed Spencer in through the front door and then pressed her into the nearest wall the second we were inside.
Spencer clears her throat awkwardly, bringing my attention back to the current situation, and I hastily retract my hand from underneath her shirt, letting her smooth her clothes out while I ask, "Um…what the hell are you guys doing here?"
"Kyla invited us," Glen says carefully, giving me a look that tells me he hasn't forgotten about what he overheard this morning and didn't enjoy watching me kiss his sister just now, either.
"She wants to go out to Ego," Aiden adds nonchalantly. "Decided to turn it into some kind of girls' night. She's been trying to reach the two of you but we eventually figured we'd just leave you alone since you were obviously busy." He smirks a little before looking way, and I shoot him a glare he doesn't see.
Then, Kyla walks out of her bedroom with none other than Chelsea and Madison right behind her. I nearly gag. "Ohmygod, Kyla, what is she doing in here?"
Madison rolls her eyes. "Back from Lesbos already, I see. Did you have fun on your vacation?"
"Yeah, thanks for asking. Let me know how your trip to the clinic goes," I retort.
"Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking to," Glen says with hardly any venom.
Meanwhile, Kyla's eyes have lit up and she's already moved across the room and grabbed Spencer's hand, tugging her around towards the front door again. "This is perfect! Spencer can go with us now!"
Madison brushes by me, following Kyla, and Spencer shoots me a desperate look as they reach the door. Chelsea joins them after shooting me a smile. "Hey, I'm going too!" I demand, figuring that the least I can do is be there to keep Spencer company, but Kyla scoffs and holds out a palm, forcing me back in the direction of the boys.
"No, you can't go. It's a girl's night, Ash."
I blink at her for a moment, then point downwards. "Yeah; I have a vag, you know."
"But you're like, the man in the relationship, so you have to stay here," Kyla says dismissively, brushing me off with a wave of her hand. My jaw drops, and Spencer's attitude immediately changes.
She's still laughing when Chelsea closes the front door behind their group of four. The four that doesn't include me.
And then everything's silent, minus the sound of the television. When I turn around, Aiden's eyes are glued to some sport being played on the TV, and Clay's twiddling his thumbs. Glen farts all of a sudden, then laughs and starts using his hands to waft it in Clay's direction, who nearly gags in response and hops off of the couch while pinching his nose shut.
"Damn!" Aiden cries when the smell reaches him. "Dude, what the hell did you eat today?" he asks through laughter.
"Let's just say this place'll smell like cabbage and onion rings by the time I'm done with it," Glen says proudly. His statement is received by even more laughter.
Shoot. Me. Now.
"No, dude, seriously…there's no way Kyla's better. Madison's a wildcat in bed."
Yeah, I'm cringing too. I can't believe they're actually discussing this.
"Dude…I've slept with both of them. Kyla's better. End of story."
"Well, of course you're going to say that," Glen taunts. "You're in lurrrrrve."
Aiden flushes, but quickly quips, "How's it feel to be stuck with my sloppy seconds?"
Glen turns red at that, and I decide now would be best to intervene, before they kill each other. "Hey, can we, like, talk about something else now?"
That has absolutely no effect on them, except it draws their attention to me. Aiden smirks like he's just gotten an idea. "Hey, I bet Spencer's amazing in bed, right Ash?"
I have a feeling he's trying to get on Glen's nerves, and it works, because both of Spencer's older brothers immediately wince, and Clay covers his ears.
"Shut up," I retort angrily. "Unlike you two, I'm not going to disrespect my girlfriend by talking about our sex life." I don't miss the look Glen shoots me. "And we didn't know you were there; that doesn't count."
"What doesn't count?" Aiden asks.
Glen just flushes again and doesn't say anything, then abruptly turns to his brother. "So, Clay…any action in college yet? It's been a whole year." Clay rolls his eyes and then shakes his head calmly, and Glen explains to Aiden and I, "He's still a virgin."
"Why?" Aiden asks curiously, and I glare at them, then turn and push past Glen to go sit down on the couch. I grab the remote and change the channel to some music award show that's on.
"Not all of us are whores, you know," I turn to say to Aiden once I've set the remote down. "You do realize you've made out with every girl that was in here half an hour ago, except for Chelsea?"
Aiden furrows his eyebrows, thinking for a moment. "No I haven't."
"You have," I argue. "Whore," I add on for emphasis. Glen snickers.
"No…" he says slowly, like he has something he knows he should tell me but is reluctant to say. "I, uh…" He rubs the back of his head. "I never got that far with Spencer. She kind of dumped me after we'd only kissed a few times, and they were just pecks."
I don't know why that makes my heart flutter. Well, yeah I do.
Then I furrow my eyebrows, confused. I didn't know one could just give Spencer a peck. I'm pretty tempted to make out with her every time our lips touch. "Huh. I didn't know that."
"She never told you?"
"Nope."
Now I'm stuck thinking about kissing Spencer. And I really want her to come back soon. Instead, I'm stuck here, with three boys. And none of them are even that cute. Plus, hello, they're boys.
"Hey, who's up for a game of strip poker?" Glen asks suddenly, wiggling his eyebrows at me while Aiden immediately begins to look around for cards.
I fold my arms over my chest, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.
"Hey, I'm just going to apologize in advance, for, uh…"
Kyla's slurring her words a little bit, which is already making me nervous enough, and my eyes slowly narrow while she squirms under my scrutiny. Madison's already been "reunited" with Glen, but Chelsea and Spencer are nowhere to be found. I have a feeling I'm about to know why that is.
"Well, I guess I should just show you. Chelsea!"
In comes Chelsea, completely sober, with a giggly, completely non-sober, but somehow still adorable Spencer leaning against one of her shoulders while Chelsea struggles under the weight.
"We gave her a few drinks and told her to loosen up, but I think she must've had a few shots of something strong while we weren't looking," Kyla admits sheepishly. Meanwhile, Spencer's grinning at the side of Chelsea's face and lightly poking her cheek every few seconds, clearly hammered. I'm only mildly horrified.
"Dude, that's our sister!"Glen exclaims, moving forward to take Spencer from Chelsea, but I beat him to it, wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her to the couch while everyone else is still standing in a mob by the door.
Spencer sways in place a little, then her head turns sharply and her eyes focus in on me rather poorly. Then her grin is back, and her hand comes up to brush across my cheek before she leans down and nuzzles her face into my neck. "You're preeeeeetty…"
My face goes red, and I hear several people snickering behind us.
"This should be entertaining," someone mutters, too quietly for me to identify the voice. Meanwhile, Spencer's started kissing my neck. I blush darker and gently guide her away from me by her shoulders, then rest a finger under her chin to look directly into those unfocused eyes of hers.
"Spencer, you're drunk."
"Welllll…" She giggles, running one finger down my cheek and scooting closer to me on the couch to whisper into my ear, "Maybe I am."
"You are," I confirm, unable to keep from smiling. "I bet you don't even know who I am."
"I dooo." She grins. "That's what I'm gonna say at our wedding, 'cause you're Ashleeeey…" She furrows her eyebrows. "Davies. Yeah. And I'll be Spencer Davies." Then she places a sloppy kiss on my cheek and passes out.
I raise an eyebrow at her, not sure what to do, then glance over my shoulder to see everyone else watching us. Even Madison looks amused. "Um…I'm going to take her home," I finally say, turning back around to attempt to get Spencer into my arms.
"Clay and I can get her," Glen suggests, but I shake my head hastily, actually liking the idea of taking care of Drunk Spencer. The last time I saw Spencer this out of it, what she said to me was pretty far over on the unpleasant side, and the next morning she woke up and fled from my bedroom, which wasn't too great either.
New Drunk Spencer memories, here I come.
"Ugh…"
Spencer's groaning kind of loudly and it's worrying me in more ways than one.
"Don't worry, Spence, we're almost to the top," I inform her quietly, a little worried that we might've already woken up Spencer's parents. We had a pretty loud entrance.
We reach her room and I help Spencer sit down on the edge of the bed, but the second I let her go, she falls backwards and ends up lying there on her back.
"Shit," I mutter quietly, crawling over to her on my hands and knees and helping her sit up again.
"My head hurts," she manages to mumble, a little more soberly now, but she sounds kind of relieved. I don't think she has enough experience with drinking to know that the worst part has only just begun.
"I know," I murmur, kissing the top of it for emphasis, then reaching over and squeezing her hand. "It'll be okay, though. I'll take care of you; I'm always gonna take care of you." I kiss her on the cheek once, before making sure she's steady and then getting up to go get the trashcan from Spencer's bathroom on the other side of her room. I grab the box of tissues I spot, too.
When I get back to Spencer, I set the trashcan down in front of her on the floor and put the tissues on the bed next to us, then slide a hair tie off of my wrist and use it to tie Spencer's hair back into a messy ponytail. "Do you feel okay?" I ask after a few moments.
She hesitates for a moment, nodding, but then grabs the bucket abruptly just two seconds later, leans over, and wretches. I wince a little, reaching over to rub her back gently, and Spencer breathes heavily for a few seconds, before puking again. She sets the bucket down after a few more moments, and I take one of the tissues and gently wipe her mouth off with it, then leave it next to the bucket and grab Spencer's hand, helping her to the head of the bed and tucking her in as best as I can.
"I have vomit breath," she whispers, sounding slightly hoarse, and I chuckle lightly, brushing some of the shorter hairs I couldn't get into the ponytail out of her eyes.
"That's okay, I still love you," I joke, sliding my hand up and down her arm gently while her eyes flutter shut. After a moment, I sigh, realizing I have to leave to go raid the Carlins' kitchen cabinets for aspirin. Spencer's eyes shoot open the second she feels me move.
"Stay with me," she tries to demand, but it comes out pretty weak.
"I will," I promise, leaning down to kiss her forehead lightly, then standing up and turning towards her bedroom door. "I'm just going to get you some aspirin and water, and then I'm going to lie down with you and lecture you on why you are never allowed to go to a club with Kyla ever again. And then-"
I pause, blinking in disbelief as both Spencer and I seem to simultaneously notice that Paula Carlin is standing in the doorway, watching us.
I think she's been there the whole time, and while normally it'd be creepy, she's got this look on her face. I can't really describe it…
But it almost looks like she's smiling. Not widely or anything…but it's there.
