A/N: Thanks so much for the positive reviews! I was a total lurker on this site for five years (ever since I was ten, haha) and I've always been too nervous to write and post my own stuff, but I'm really glad I talked myself into it now. You guys totally make the time spent writing this worthwhile, and it makes me super sad that this story's coming to an end soon. I haven't finished it yet but I have a feeling there will be less than ten chapters left after this one.

NismoFire - Never Been Hurt is on my Ipod too! I love when crazy stuff like that happens. I was playing bingo the other day at this restaurant with my dad, and was staring down at N34 on my card, and it got called, lol. Not nearly as cool as your story, but oh well =)


"Spencer, what exactly were you thinking last night? Not only are you and the rest of those girls you were out with underage, but I thought you had enough common sense to know drinking too much period has horrible consequences!"

Paula's in mother mode, Spencer's too hung over to even attempt to eat breakfast…and me?

Well, I'm actually enjoying this, strangely. It's the first time Paula and I have been even remotely close to on the same team, and she's warmed up to me quite nicely this morning after she caught me taking care of Spencer last night.

"Mom, I already told you that I didn't want to drink, but Kyla-"

"I don't care what Kyla said or did, you are responsible for your own actions and I won't have my daughter coming home after midnight so drunk that her…her girlfriend has to escort her up the stairs to keep her from falling!"

I'm nodding along with Paula like a complete hypocrite until about halfway through, when she calls me Spencer's girlfriend. At about the time I freeze, stunned, Spencer stops scowling at Paula and me and raises her eyebrows. "What did you just say?"

Paula's own eyebrows furrow. "What?"

"You, just then, you said-"

Paula clears her throat abruptly, and I swear that, no lie, for a second her cheeks darken a little. "Don't change the subject, Spencer. You're in big trouble."

Spencer lets out a snort. "I'm eighteen, Mom."

"You're still living under my roof. And from now on you have a curfew; I want you home by eleven every night-"

"What?!"

Paula shoots her a look that tells her to shut her mouth, and continues, "And that rule has no exceptions, unless you're staying over at Ashley's, and in that case I want a phone call in advance warning me you're spending the night, and I want to hear from you again by noon the next morning."

Spencer looks more surprised than chagrined at that, and suddenly, Paula turns her attention to me. "And thank you, Ashley, for bringing Spencer home safely last night."

I'm pretty sure my cheeks are red as I mumble, "Um, no problem…thanks for letting me stay the night." I'm kind of wondering if this non-bitchiness is temporary or if Paula has suddenly gotten way nicer overnight, but I'm guessing it's temporary. Might as well try to stay on her good side while I'm there, though. "Well, I'd better go," I say, directing this at Spencer, who frowns at me in response.

"Why?"

"It's Sunday," I remind her, forcing a smile. "You have church."

Glen enters the kitchen just in time to catch my last statement, looking surprised to see me here even as he's laughing in response to what I've said. "Uh, not anymore, we don't. We haven't been to church since Spencer blew the gay secret on Mother's Day." He turns to look at Spencer, and Paula crosses the room, presumably to add more pancake batter to the pan on the oven. "Killer hang over, huh Spence?"

"Shut up," she mumbles, and I take the opportunity while Paula has her back turned to plop down in a chair next to Spencer at the table and kiss her on the cheek.

"Don't talk so loudly, Glen, it'll hurt her ears," I warn him gently, purposefully failing to mention that Paula's lecture a minute ago probably felt a little worse than Glen speaking in his normal tone. He rolls his eyes and goes to grab a pancake from Paula.

"Where are Dad and Clay?" Spencer eventually asks when we're all sitting at the table together, eating breakfast.

"Arthur decided to go into work today," Paula explains. "Clay wanted to go with him; you know how he's studying to be a social worker just like your father." She clears her throat, looking back and forth between Spencer and Glen. "Speaking of which, have you two thought about what you're going to do with your lives?"

"Play basketball," Glen says through a mouthful of pancakes. "Maybe coach a little. Do I need college for that?"

I snicker at the expression on Paula's face, then watch as she turns to Spencer.

"Well, I've already said I want some kind of career involving shooting documentaries," Spencer informs her. Then she smirks. "And then I'll get married and…possibly have kids?" She shoots me a look at that, and I furrow my eyebrows, surprised.

"Huh?"

Spencer's cheeks darken briefly, but she opens her mouth to press on…

Except Paula interrupts her first, scrutinizing me curiously from across the table. "Yes, I think we should clear this up. Do you intend to have kids, Ashley?"

You know what would be really nice right now? If this were one of those Twix commercials where everything freezes and I have like twenty seconds to think of the perfect thing to say. Need a moment? Chew it over with Twix.

Unfortunately, it's not, and I've now been sitting here with my mouth open for nearly half that amount of time. A nudge from Spencer reminds me where I am. "Uh…um…" I think Glen may have cracked one joke about donating sperm on one occasion, but that's the closest I've ever been to talking with anyone about having kids. And Spencer and I certainly haven't talked about this. We're only eighteen!

"Because I am expecting grandkids, you know."

Glen makes an offended noise, but we all ignore him, and I swallow thickly, still able to see Spencer staring at me out of the corner of my eye. I have a feeling she's glad Paula asked this question. "…You mean me and Spencer?" I clarify, a little apprehensive that we're acknowledging the fact that Spencer and I are dating all of a sudden.

Step one: Anger.

Step two: Acknowledgement.

Step three: Asking about grandkids.

I'm a little afraid of whatever step four's going to be.

"Naturally. If you two are dating, and you're intending on getting married, than the next logical step would be to start raising a family. Spencer's always wanted kids, ever since she had her first baby doll to take care of."

"Mom…" Spencer mumbles, sounding embarrassed, and I'm pretty sure it's not because of the doll comment. I think she's upset because Paula revealed something extremely important that Spencer failed to tell me: she wants kids.

Mini-Spencers and Ashleys running around everywhere? Well, when I think about it like that, I'm all for it. "If you want kids, Spence, we can have kids. But that's kind of a while away; we have plenty more time to discuss it. I think it's a little early to be talking about grandkids and kids and…I mean, we're practically kids ourselves."

"Well, Spencer's been set on having children for quite a while," Paula tells me. "So if you were to decide you didn't want any, there'd obviously be a problem."

"Then we'd talk it out," Spencer cuts in, not angrily, but firmly. Her hand finds mine and squeezes, and she shoots me a sweet smile before addressing Paula again. "Just like in any relationship."

Glen grins at me from next to Paula, clearly convinced we're about to witness another mother-daughter smackdown, but Paula just nods in…agreement? "Good. I'm glad to see you're at least taking this seriously; acting like an adult." She stands up, then, missing the look Spencer and I exchange, and lifts her now-empty plate, practically smirking at Spencer as she adds, "Now if you really want to prove to me that you're mature enough to make your own decisions…don't come home drunk again."

I actually laugh out loud.


It takes me another week of semi-kind behavior from Paula to figure out what she's doing. Obviously, she still wants that cheesy happy family ending for Spencer, with the white fence and the dog and the kids and all that. And, also obviously, if Spencer and I are a permanent thing like we say we are, she's going to have to work around a few things to get to that happy ending. That explains why she asked about us having kids.

Unfortunately, I think this is all more about her trying to find a way to work around the fact that I'm a girl, rather than actually being happy for Spencer and me. In other words, her mind is basically saying, "Okay, so my daughter's gone and fallen in love with a girl. Now how can I make this work?"

But, as I've probably said many times before…it's better than nothing. And it's a step up from glaring at me every time I'm in sight.

However, instead, I end up constantly getting questions like-

"So who's going to be the pregnant one?"

Spencer spits out her drink next to me, and I look over at her, completely bewildered as she struggles to keep from choking on what she did manage to swallow.

Glen's eyes are wide, but he's shooting me hopeful looks like maybe I'm still considering his idea to do things the "old-fashioned way", Clay is looking over at Paula incredulously, and Arthur…looks like he's trying not to look amused.

Gotta love the family dinners. I'm thinking maybe I should skip the next one, though.

"Ask in five years," I say boldly, and luckily, that ends the conversation.


I know this might sound crazy.

In fact, it does sound crazy. Maybe there's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm crazy.

But I'm in the process of turning down sex from Spencer.

And she's in the process of trying to seduce me because I'm turning her down.

"Spence, what's a good word that rhymes with luck?"

"Fuck."

I glance up from my notebook, raising an eyebrow at her and shifting slightly on my bed. Alright, I set myself up for that one. "C'mon, I'm serious. Give me another one." I press the tip of my pencil to the paper, waiting.

Instead of answering, she just crawls over to me on her hands and knees and leans in really close to my face. I lean back a little to counter the movement, but she's too quick for me, and before I can move away any further she's captured my bottom lip between hers and is doing things to it that make me feel funny.

I really don't have time for this.

"How about…suck?" she whispers in my ear when she's finally allowed my brain to process coherent thoughts again.

I really wish I did have time for this.

"That won't work either," I sigh out, scooting back to put some distance between us. Spencer looks slightly hurt, and turns away from me with a soft sigh, sitting on the edge of the bed with her legs dangling off of the side.

"Well, clearly, you're busy, so I guess I better go," she says stiffly, but I recognize the tone she's using and hastily lean forward to grasp her hand.

"Spencer, we're not that kind of couple, so park it and watch me write this song."

She shoots me a confused look, her curiosity overriding her frustration. "What kind of couple?"

"You know, that couple that just spends all their time alone having sex." I pat the bed next to me, reiterating my command. "Sit down with me. We can snuggle while I write." I punctuate my statement with a cute smile I know she can't resist, and after a moment, she smiles and shakes her head, plopping down next to me and settling down with her head on my shoulder.

She stares down at my notebook as she asks, "Why are you so determined to write a song all of a sudden?"

"It's not all of a sudden," I reply defensively, only half-lying. "I just figured I needed some new material." To show to that guy when I finally call him back.

"You have notebooks of stuff," she retorts quietly, nuzzling her face into my neck now. "Plenty of songs."

"And we've had plenty of sex," I point out, kissing the top of her head. "But that doesn't make either of us want it any less, right?"

"Well, apparently, it does," she huffs, pulling away to look at me. "This is the first time you've said no."

"Only because this is important," I tell her gently, not wanting to hurt her feelings again.

"More important?" she mumbles dejectedly.

"Spence." I tilt her face up with one finger under her chin until her eyes are looking into mine. "Never more important." I kiss the tip of her nose, then gesture towards my notebook. "How about you help me out with this, and I'll help you out with a few other things later, okay?" I squeeze her thigh to make sure she gets the picture, and she grins at me, then shifts even closer and moves so her head is resting on my shoulder again while one of her arms is slung around my midsection. Her breath tickles my neck.

"Yuck…duck…buck…stuck…puck…muck…tuck…truck…"


"So…"

I look up from my bed to see Kyla standing in the doorway of my bedroom. I'm in the process of falling asleep while reading a magazine I borrowed (stole) from Kyla herself, and that probably explains why she's in here: to get it back. Whatever. I kind of feel stupid reading a fashion magazine, anyway. It's not like I need the advice. "What?"

"Spencer was here earlier."

I raise an eyebrow at her, then mentally roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the magazine. "Yup." It was, uh…overall a highly pleasant experience. If you catch my drift.

"Did you talk to her?"

Okay, Kyla's vagueness is already getting annoying. I set the magazine down and shoot her an impatient look. "About what?"

Kyla crosses her arms and leans against the doorframe, looking slightly…nervous? "You know…what we talked about before. Like, late April, early May."

"There are a lot of things we talked about in late April and early May; it's not like I can remember them all."

She huffs in annoyance. "You said you were going to ask Spencer about moving in together when she goes to college, remember? Have you two talked about it?"

I snort, pretending that question doesn't make me feel severely depressed, while simultaneously avoiding answering it. "Why do you care?"

"Because if you move out of here, Aiden can move in. Duh."

I shoot her a disbelieving look. "I thought you were kidding about that. Isn't it a little too early for you two to be moving in together?"

"You and Spencer have only been together like six weeks longer than Aiden and I, and you're like engaged to be engaged or something," she retorts. "And stop avoiding the question. Did you talk to her?"

"No, and I'm not going to," I reply shortly, in a tone that she knows by now is code for her to go away. I pick up the magazine again and start reading about ten exercises to get great abs. Then I remember I already have great abs. Go me.

"Why the hell not?"

"Geez, Kye, take a chill pill," I say without looking up. "Spencer doesn't want to live with me, alright?" Okay, what's wrong with me? My voice should not have sounded like that just then: like I'm choking on something. Or, you know, trying not to cry.

"Ash…" Kyla says sympathetically, sitting down next to me on my bed, although I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be doing that if she knew what happened on it a couple of hours ago. She wraps her arms around me and I huff, throwing the stupid magazine across the room dejectedly.

"Get off," I mumble weakly.

Not surprisingly, she doesn't budge. "How do you know what Spencer's thinking if you haven't even talked to her yet?"

"She already moved out once," I point out with a sigh. "If that's not a 'no', then I don't know what is."

"But she only moved out because she had stuff to work out at home. Maybe when that's all finished, there won't be anything to stop her from wanting to live with you."

"Yeah," I retort sarcastically. "You know, other than all the work she'll be doing for college and the fact that she deserves a social life on campus. I'll just hold her back and distract her from studying."

"Okay, first of all, you distract her whether you mean to or not, so that's not even relevant. Secondly, you're not exactly a hermit. Spencer can party with you and still be totally independent; she'll just have someone to come home to after class instead. And thirdly, if you don't move in with her, you guys will just have to visit each other every weekend, which would suck even more and probably stress you both out. Plus, there's no way you two can pull off long distance; you're practically attached at the hip. Clearly, you're better off living together."

I glare at her, mentally acknowledging that she does have some good points. "You just want to be able to live here with Aiden."

She rolls her eyes at me, but we both know I'm right. "That doesn't mean what I'm saying doesn't make sense. Talk to her."

"I'll consider it," I concede, mostly just saying it so she'll go away. I hope she doesn't take my agreement seriously. There's no way in hell I'm bringing up this topic with Spencer. I'd never admit this directly out loud…but I'm too afraid of rejection.

"Good." With that, Kyla stands up and exits my bedroom, grabbing her magazine on the way out.


Flip phone open.

Bright light.

Flip phone closed.

Darkness.

Repeat.

Now multiply that by about a hundred, and that's what I've been doing for the past half hour.

I'm lying awake in bed, wondering what Spencer's doing and if ten o'clock at night is too late to call her. I keep thinking about what Kyla said, and it's pissing me off and making me nervous at the same time.

Could it really be that simple? Could I really just…ask?

But what do I say?

"Hey, Spence. I was just wondering if…maybe we could move in together when you go off to college?"

I've seriously resorted to practicing this aloud.

"Hey, we should move in together."

Um…too casual.

"Spencer, remember how you ran away to my house after your mom pretty much kicked you out? We should try that again."

Uh…no.

"Hey baby, how'd you like to wake up next to this every morning?"

Okay, now I'm just humoring myself.

Flip phone open.

Bright light.

I pause for a moment, then hit the down button, bringing up my contact list. Spencer changed her contact name to "Lover" sometime recently, I see. I wonder what I am on her phone.

My thumb's hovering over the call button, and my eyebrows are furrowed. I hesitate for a moment, then press the down button once instead and call an entirely different number, completely on impulse. It rings a few times before being answered.

"Hey, um, Mark...Yeah, this is Ashley…I just wanted to talk to you about your offer."


"I've never been in a recording studio before," I voice, unable to hide my excitement as Mark leads me down a narrow hallway.

He laughs in response. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, there. Today you're just going to sing for my boss and a couple of assistants, to see what they all think. There won't be any contract signing or any serious talk yet. We're a relatively new business though, so you'll be one of the first artists we sign, assuming you sing well today."

"Contract signing?" I repeat, wondering if I'm going to need to hire someone to worry about this stuff for me if I end up needing to sign something.

"Yeah, but don't worry about that yet. If my boss likes you and decides to sign you, then you can hire a manager to take care of all that for you. He or she will handle the legal stuff and other details, and all you'll have to do is sing when we want you to sing."

"Awesome. Sounds good to me."

"Alright, ready to meet her?" We've reached a door and his hand is on the knob, ready to push it open.

I raise an eyebrow. "Her?"

"My boss," he clarifies. "She not only owns the record company, but manages it as well. She makes all the decisions, so she'll have to like you if you want to be successful around here."

"What have you told her about me already?" I question suspiciously.

"Absolutely nothing," he replies. "That way you can introduce yourself; start off with a completely blank slate. It's not like I have much to tell her about you anyway, you know. I don't even know your last name."

"It's Davies," I say dismissively, gesturing for him to go ahead and open the door.

He smiles and obeys, saying, "Well, that's funny, considering my…" He trails off when he sees the way I'm looking at the woman waiting on the other side of the door. I can practically feel my blood running cold.

"…Mom?"