DuncneyLoveOfMyLife: Yes, Caleb is the sweetest, isn't he?! 13 Going on 30 is one of my favorites! So glad you're enjoying the fluff! This chapter includes a little bit of fluff, and a lot of drama!
I think it's time that someone finds out about Haleb, don't you? Keep reading to see who discovers our secret lovers first!
The next morning, Caleb woke up to a tugging sensation on his arm. He opened his eyes and rolled over to see Hanna pinching his arm lightly.
"What's the big idea?" he asked her groggily, smiling up at her as she supported herself on her elbow, looking down at him.
"Just making sure you're real," she replied.
He smiled wider, struck yet again by just how adorable she was.
He sat up slightly, running his hand through her hair, leaning in to kiss her deeply, slanting his mouth over hers, touching her tongue with his once, twice.
"That'll do," she said contently as they separated. "Sometimes, I just seriously have a hard time believing that you're real," she admitted softly. "Thanks for being so sweet last night. I know I can be a handful. Especially when I'm drunk." She shook her head, silently chastising herself. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid. She knew not to get drunk anymore. She knew how annoying she was when she was drunk, and she was surprised she hadn't scared him off.
"I like having my hands full," he argued. "Besides, you're really cute when you're drunk."
She rolled her eyes. She knew he was lying.
"Try obnoxious," she countered.
"Hey, stop," he said gently, cupping her cheek with one hand while the other ran down her side. "Don't do that."
"Do what?" she questioned.
He couldn't believe she didn't see how incredible she was, how perfect he thought she was.
"Don't...belittle yourself," he told her. "Don't...put yourself down."
"Whatever," she muttered. This is how she had always been. She always focused on her flaws, everything she wished she could change about herself.
"Han, I mean it," he insisted, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb, and she could tell he really did mean it.
Hanna pretended to be confident and perfect around almost everyone in her life, but, for some reason she didn't quite understand, she wasn't afraid for Caleb to know about her insecurities. And while Caleb constantly telling her how beautiful she was, how sexy she was, how great she was, was helping her to feel more confident, she still wasn't totally comfortable with just being herself, after so many years of pretending, and she still felt an urge to argue with him about it. But she knew he would just keep fighting her on it. So instead, she curled into him as she rested her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as they laid there in comfortable silence together.
Eventually, Hanna broke the silence.
"Do you remember the night we met?" she asked randomly.
"Of course I do," he said honestly, pressing his lips against her hair. How could he not remember? He had been captivated by Hanna since the first time he saw her. He just couldn't believe she had actually seen something in him, too.
"You were checking me out, right?" she asked him. She had to know. She was pretty confident he had been, but she needed to make sure. She wanted to know how far back his interest in her went.
"I most definitely was," he agreed. "I thought you were the prettiest girl I'd ever seen," he told her, running his hand up under the T-shirt of his that she was wearing, tracing invisible patterns on the smooth skin of her stomach. "Actually, I still think that," he amended.
"Good answer," she sighed contently. He always knew exactly what to say. "And just so you know," she began, flipping over so she was resting on her elbows on his stomach, her face just inches from his, "I thought you were really fucking hot, too."
"Oh, is that so?" he teased her, tickling her sides lightly and making her giggle. "Well, you didn't act like it. You acted like I had...cooties or something."
She threw her head back laughing as she heard the word "cooties" come out of his mouth. Once she had recovered, she leaned down and pressed a light kiss against his jaw.
"Well, you were just...different than what I was used to," she said honestly. "All bad biker boy with your stupid beanie. I just didn't want to admit to myself how attracted to you I was. How much you scared me."
"I scared you?" he echoed. "And my beanie is not stupid!" he said defensively.
"I guess scared isn't the right word," she said softy, tracing patterns on his skin as she avoided eye contact. "You didn't scare me. You...intimidated me. And my feelings for you scared me."
"Well, I don't scare you or intimidate you anymore, right?"
"No," she confirmed, finally meeting his eyes. "Well, my feelings for you still kind of scare me sometimes," she admitted. She knew this was dangerous territory, but a part of her wanted him to know how she felt about him.
That admission made him think of what she had said last night, while she was drunk, and, against his better judgment, he decided to bring it up. To see how she felt about things now that she was sober.
"Do you...uh..." he started nervously. "Do you remember what you said to me last night? After all the tequila shots?"
She racked her brain, trying to remember as much as she could, but most of the night was a blur.
"I can vaguely remember doing the Hoedown Throwdown for you," she said, burying her face in her hands in humiliation. She couldn't believe she had put him through that. And that he was still here after that.
"Anything else?" he prodded.
"Not really. Why?"
"Well, at one point you took out your phone and said you were going to call Jordan and tell him about me. About...us, I guess," he told her, nervous for her reaction.
"Oh my god!" she exclaimed immediately, panic evident in her voice. "Tell me I didn't, please tell me I didn't!" she begged him. She liked to think that she would remember that, but she had been really fucked up last night.
Her reaction told him everything he needed to know. She wasn't serious. They weren't serious. If he wanted to be with her at all, he would need to suck it up and just keep sneaking around with her behind everyone's backs.
"No, you didn't," he assured her. "I stopped you. Took away your phone so you couldn't." He tried to sound indifferent, but she could read him pretty well at this point, and could tell he was upset.
"Caleb, I'm so sorry," she told him, rubbing his chest soothingly. "I can't believe...God, I'm so stupid. I'm sorry. I never should have said any of that. Unfortunately, I have no filter when I'm drunk. But um, thanks for not letting me," she said awkwardly, feeling guilty.
"You did drink a lot last night," he said quickly, trying to change the subject before she realized just how hurt and disappointed he was over this. "How are you feeling?"
She groaned. "Better than I should, I guess. But definitely not good."
He smiled as he leaned in to kiss her again.
As he pulled back, he heard her gasp.
"What?" he asked, worried.
"Brody!" she exclaimed. "Don't you have to go check on him?"
"No, I already texted my neighbor," he reassured her.
Hanna gave him a questioning look.
"She goes and feeds him, takes him out, when I'm not home," he explained.
"She?" Hanna asked. "There's a strange woman out there with a key to your house?" She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. She knew she didn't have the right to be jealous, but she couldn't help it. "Is she pretty?" she asked as casually as possible.
He laughed. He really enjoyed seeing Hanna jealous.
"Sure, she's pretty, I guess," he told her. "But she's, like, seventy. Says she doesn't have the energy for a dog of her own, but misses having one, so the arrangement works well for us. She gets to hang out with Brody while I get to hang out with you."
"You should just bring him with you," she encouraged. She adored Brody, and she loved hanging out with him.
"Maybe next time," he replied. "Oh, and speaking of strange women having keys to my house," he began, getting up from the bed and picking up his jeans off of the floor, finding his wallet in the pocket. "I've been meaning to give you this," he said, handing her a small silver key.
"Caleb," she murmured. "This is, like, kind of a big deal." She was touched that he wanted her to have a key to his home.
"It doesn't have to be," he tried to brush it off. "But I'm pretty sure you've been spending more time at my house lately than your own, so I figured it just makes sense for you to have one."
"Well, thank you," she said softly. "I can't wait to use it."
Hanna moved to sit up fully in the bed, and as soon as she was, she could feel a pounding in her head and she felt her stomach turn over. She got up and ran to the bathroom, burying her head in the toilet bowl as Caleb joined her.
He rubbed circles on her back, not saying anything, just trying to be sympathetic and supportive.
Once she had successfully emptied her stomach of all the tequila she had consumed, she looked over at Caleb, a wry smile on her face.
"I'm not twenty-two anymore, am I?" she asked, burying her head in her hands in shame. She used to be able to hold her alcohol. Now, apparently, a few too many tequila shots and she was puking up her guts in front of her secret boyfriend.
"No, you are not," he agreed, chuckling, still rubbing her back, even though it seemed like she was done being sick.
He helped her up off the floor, and she went to the sink to brush her teeth.
"Hey, do you wanna take a shower?" he asked her, aware that she probably felt gross now.
She shook her head.
"I think I'm gonna go lay on the bed and stay as still as possible, actually." She didn't trust herself in the shower with the way the room was spinning right now. But she supposed she deserved this killer hangover after how much she had drank last night.
He laughed at her response, helping her over to the bed.
"Do you mind if I go grab a shower then?" he asked her.
"Go ahead," she agreed. "I'll be right here. Not moving at all."
While Caleb was in the shower, Hanna heard Dorota arrive and start moving around downstairs, probably making breakfast for them and starting her daily cleaning.
Just as Hanna had closed her eyes and started to drift off back to sleep, attempting to cure her hangover, she heard a knock on the door before she saw Dorota peeking her head in.
"Miss Hanna," Dorota said urgently. "Mr. Jordan is home," she informed her, giving her a pointed look as her eyes flicked to the closed bathroom door.
"What?!" Hanna exclaimed. "Like, here, 'home'? Like, in this house?"
Dorota nodded emphatically, eyes wide.
"I watch his car pull into the driveway, and I run up here to tell you!"
"Oh my god," Hanna groaned. "Can you go distract him for as long as possible?" she begged her housekeeper. But it was too late.
"Hanna?" she heard him calling her name, his voice loud and clear, likely at the top of the stairs already.
"Shit!" Hanna said, panicking, shoving their clothes under the bed, and running into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her quickly, her adrenaline masking the pounding headache she still had.
Caleb peeked his head out from around the shower curtain, having heard the door open and close.
"Hey," he said, a confused look on his face. "Are you feeling better?"
"Jordan's here," she whispered, aware by the sound of voices through the door that he was in the room already.
"You mean, here?" Caleb asked, his eyes growing wide.
"Like, in the bedroom outside this door, here!" she whispered again.
"Hanna?" she heard her name again.
"I'm in the shower!" she called out, hoping the fear in her voice wasn't obvious.
She heard footsteps approaching, and then saw the handle of the door start to turn. Shit, she really should have locked that.
Thinking fast, she pulled back the shower curtain and joined Caleb in the shower.
He shot her a nervous look as they both heard Jordan enter the bathroom.
"I came back early to surprise you, darling," she heard Jordan say. "I know that you have that campaign event tonight and I wanted to be here to go with you."
"I really can't talk right now, Jordan," she said as convincingly as possible. "I'm getting shampoo in my mouth." She closed her eyes and clapped a hand to her forehead. What a stupid excuse. Caleb's eyes flicked up to her perfectly dry hair, as he smirked. "Why don't you just wait for me outside? I'm almost done; I'll be right out."
Hanna could feel her heart racing as she fully comprehended the fact that there was just a thin piece of fabric separating her husband from her and a very wet, very naked man who she had no business being in the shower with. She also couldn't help but be grateful that they hadn't done the planned updates on this bathroom yet, which would have included a clear glass shower door.
"Well, hurry up, I can't wait to see you!" he exclaimed. Hanna could see Caleb's smirk disappear as his face fell, but he turned around quickly to face the opposite wall to hide it.
Hanna breathed out a sigh of relief as she heard the bathroom door close with a click behind Jordan.
She couldn't help but let her gaze wander down Caleb's backside; he had a really nice butt that she actually didn't get to see very often - she was usually distracted by other parts of his body.
He turned back around to face her, and she bit her lip as she realized she had been caught totally checking him out.
"I just can't help myself," she murmured, a guilty smile on her face as he shook his head in amusement.
But she stopped smiling as soon as she remembered that her husband was waiting for her right outside this bathroom.
"I'm so sorry," she said quietly, grabbing his hands and squeezing them gently. "He wasn't supposed to be home until tomorrow."
Instead of replying, he pulled the T-shirt of his that she was wearing over her head.
"Caleb!" she whispered urgently. "We don't have time for this!"
He smirked as he pulled her under the shower head with him, running his hands through her hair to make sure it was wet throughout.
"You're supposed to be taking a shower, babe," he reminded her softly. "Complete with shampoo and everything."
He had a point. It would have looked pretty suspicious if she went out there with clothes and dry hair.
"I'm so sorry," she said again, just as she was about to step out of the shower. "I'll lead him away, and then Dorota will help you sneak out."
She shot him a guilty look, and couldn't stop herself from stealing a quick kiss as he turned off the water.
She stepped out, grabbing a towel, and handing one to him as well, not knowing how long he was going to be standing there waiting before he could sneak out.
She went back into the guest room to find Jordan sitting on the bed waiting for her. The bed in which she had just spent the night with another man.
"Hello, darling," he greeted, standing up to pull her into his arms. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too," she said quietly, aware that Caleb could probably hear everything.
"Did you sleep in here last night?" he asked, looking around the room questioningly, while she prayed that there was no evidence of Caleb left anywhere.
"Uh, yeah," she replied nervously. "I think there's something up with the A/C in our room," she lied.
"We should probably get that checked out then," he replied. "I'll call later today."
She just nodded, about to tell him that they should go somewhere else to catch up, leave this room, when he spoke first.
"I just remembered," he said eagerly. "I have something for you."
He pulled out a recognizable red box from his Louis Vuitton duffel bag and handed it to her.
"Wow, Cartier," she said uncomfortably. While she had been here cheating on him, he had been buying expensive jewelry for her.
"Open it," he encouraged her excitedly.
She opened the box to find a classic yellow gold Cartier Love Bracelet that matched the Love Ring he had gotten her a couple of years ago.
"Wow," she breathed. "It's beautiful." It really was, but she felt guilty accepting such a nice gift from him while her secret boyfriend was hiding naked twenty feet away from them.
"I know I've been traveling a lot recently, and I wanted to make it up to you. I want you to know that I'm always thinking about you, even when we're not together."
Hanna squeezed her eyes shut, feeling terrible knowing that Caleb was probably listening to all of this.
"That's really nice," she said simply, closing the box. "Why don't we go back to our room and I can pick out an outfit to wear with it?" she suggested.
Luckily, he didn't question her, just followed her out of the guest room back to their bedroom.
While she pulled him in the closet to keep an eye on him and make sure he had no idea what was going on outside their room, Dorota was helping Caleb sneak out.
He grabbed his clothes out from where Hanna had hidden them, dressed quickly, and then followed Dorota down the stairs quickly but quietly, before making his way out the side door and down the street to where he had covertly parked his Jeep, aware that Hanna's rich neighbors were nosey and liked to gossip.
Later that night, Hanna and Jordan arrived at Veronica Hastings' latest campaign event. Hanna had mentioned it to Jordan in passing, and apparently he had thought it was important enough to come to, but in all honesty, she would have been perfectly content with him missing it. She felt awful any time Caleb had to see them together.
Hanna caught up with Veronica while Jordan went and got them drinks. From what Veronica was saying, it didn't sound like she needed to do much tonight.
So when Jordan got back, she played the role of dutiful wife for a while, making their rounds and greeting everyone they knew (which seemed to be everyone for Jordan. He had worked with everyone in the entire county, it seemed like.). All the while, though, she kept an eye out for Caleb. She missed him already, and she really wanted to talk to him.
She finally spotted him across the ballroom. He looked so handsome in his suit, and she wanted to apologize again for that morning, so she really needed to get him alone.
"You know, I think my dad wanted to talk to you about something," Hanna lied to Jordan so she could sneak away with Caleb. "I saw him by the bar; do you mind?"
"Of course not," he replied sweetly. "Do you know what it was about?"
"Something about some new building or something," Hanna said vaguely. She didn't know exactly what would happen when Jordan went to talk to her father - hopefully they would just easily slide into conversation about some new project and no one would suspect anything - but she really didn't care right now. She just needed to see Caleb.
As soon as Jordan went to go find Tom, Hanna made her way across the ballroom to Caleb, where he was talking with Toby and a group of guys.
"Hey, boys," she greeted, as all of them, with the exception of Toby, checked her out in the tight dress she was wearing. "Do you mind if I steal Caleb for a quick sec?" she asked, smiling charmingly at them. "There's a computer emergency that I need his help with."
"Go right ahead," one of them said, as another joked, "Come on, go do your job, man."
Caleb followed her out of the ballroom, and as soon as they were out the doors and out of view of all the party-goers, Hanna grabbed Caleb's hand and pulled him down the hallway with her.
"There's no computer emergency, is there?" Caleb asked, smirking at Hanna.
"Nope," she agreed, giggling. "I just needed to see you."
She pulled him into a supply closet at the end of the hallway, locking the door behind them.
He grabbed her hands as she led them deeper into the small closet, so she was leaning against the shelves.
"I didn't even get to say goodbye to you this morning," she pouted up at him as he leaned in to kiss her, wiping the pout from her lips immediately.
"I'm really sorry about that," she told him again once he had pulled away. "All of it. Having to hide, having to sneak out, having to...hear our conversation," she said, lowering her head in shame. She felt especially guilty about that last part.
"Let's not talk about him," Caleb said, running his hands down her bare arms. He wanted their time together to be about them, not about her husband. He spent enough time stewing about him when he was alone; he didn't need it to ruin his time with Hanna, too.
He hated the guy. And not just because he was the one thing standing in the way of a real relationship with Hanna. But also because of the way he treated Hanna, the fact that she felt so abandoned, so unwanted, that she felt the need to find someone else. Of course, he wasn't complaining, since it sent Hanna straight into his arms, but he just didn't understand. He didn't understand how the guy could have someone as incredible as Hanna and not be dying to spend every single second of every single day with her. He knew, without a doubt, that if he had been fortunate enough to be with Hanna, for real, he would never abandon her for weeks at a time just to work. He thought she was amazing - she was hilarious and beautiful and kind and sweet - and he wanted to be around her all the time, as much as possible. He couldn't imagine just giving up time with her like Jordan did.
"Actually, let's not talk at all," he encouraged, with a devious smirk on his face, hoping to clear his own thoughts as well.
She grinned up at him before wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him down so their lips could meet. She nibbled on his lower lip before he parted his to let her tongue in. Their tongues fought for dominance before settling into an easy rhythm, as their hands explored each others' bodies.
She ran her fingers through his hair, playing with the ends, while he ran his hands up and down her back, squeezing her ass through the thin fabric of her dress.
He pulled away to leave a trail of kisses down her neck, sucking hard on her pulse point, not thinking about the fact that she was soon going to have to go back out to the party and face her husband, and would most likely have a noticeable mark. Subconsciously, maybe he wanted to leave his mark on her. It was his proof that while everyone else thought that she was the perfect, doting wife to Jordan, she was really all over him.
She moaned as his lips continued to explore the sensitive skin of her neck, his hands gripping onto her hips and holding her close to him.
Eventually, she missed the feeling of his lips on hers, so she used her hand to guide his face back towards hers so she could connect them again. She wrapped her arms around his neck again, while his snaked around her waist, holding her as close to him as possible.
They were completely caught up with each other, neither of them having any idea how much time had passed, when Hanna's phone buzzed in her clutch, Caleb's going off in his pocket almost simultaneously.
They begrudgingly pulled apart, but Caleb still had one arm wrapped tightly around her as they both checked their phones.
"Spencer," they said together, rolling their eyes as they both read her text.
"Where are you guys? Can't find either of you. Need help!"
Caleb groaned, knowing this was his job, and he needed to go back out there, but he would have been perfectly content staying here and making out with Hanna all night long.
"I guess we have to go back out there now," Hanna sighed, real life pulling them out of their perfect fairy-tale yet again.
"Can I get one more first?" Caleb asked as he pouted his lips for another kiss. God, Hanna seriously had him acting like a lovesick teenager with his first crush.
"Mmm, yeah," Hanna sighed with a smile as they shared one last sweet kiss. She was just as lovesick as he was.
Caleb pushed her hair to one side so it hid the dark hickey he had marked her with, before Hanna opened the closet door, peeking her head out to make sure the coast was clear.
"We're good," she announced, walking out with him following closely behind, squeezing his hand tightly before they separated to enter the ballroom through different doorways so as not to attract any attention or suspicion.
After their rendezvous in the closet, Caleb kept catching Hanna's eye in the crowd. She was currently talking to Spencer, but her gaze kept wandering over Spencer's shoulder to her handsome brunette with smoldering eyes standing a few yards away with some campaign investors. She couldn't help the huge smile that spread across her face as he winked at her.
She was seriously so smitten with him. And when he looked at her the way he was right then, she had a hard time remembering why it was so wrong that she was.
"What do you keep looking at?" Spencer asked, noticing the wide grin on Hanna's face, aware she was losing her attention.
Spencer's text that had interrupted their incredible makeout session had just been about her needing Caleb to set up some tech equipment, and sending Hanna some photos of the event for social media. Definitely not important enough for them to have had to return to reality so soon, in Hanna's opinion.
"Nothing," Hanna replied quickly, as Spencer glanced over her shoulder to see Caleb gazing back at her blonde best friend.
"Since when are you two so buddy-buddy?" Spencer questioned, turning back to face Hanna. "Last I knew, you couldn't stand him."
Spencer didn't miss the guilty look that flashed across Hanna's face, and the way she was now consciously avoiding looking over at Caleb.
"Oh my god," Spencer exclaimed, clapping her hand over her mouth in horror as she realized she was witnessing some very intense eye sex. "Oh my god, no. No. No. No. No," she muttered over and over again as Hanna stood there staring at her, confused.
"You're screwing him, aren't you?" She had seen Hanna in lust before, and she could recognize the signs by now.
"What?" Hanna exclaimed, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "You're insane!"
"Am I?" Spencer asked, her eyes boring into Hanna's.
Hanna wouldn't make eye contact, her eyes darting around the room nervously.
"Hanna!" Spencer exclaimed. "What the fuck were you thinking? How could you do this?"
"Can we not talk about this here?" Hanna whispered sharply, noticing other people around them turning to look at them.
Spencer grabbed Hanna by the arm, and dragged her out of the ballroom and down the hallway into a smaller, vacant banquet room.
"Hanna, what the fuck were you thinking?" Spencer repeated as soon as she had shut the door.
"I don't know!" Hanna replied defensively. "I guess I wasn't! He was just there, and I was lonely, and he was hot, and he was into me, and it just...happened," she concluded lamely.
"That's a good excuse when you're in college trying to get over Frat Boy Travis, not when you're married!" Spencer exclaimed angrily.
"Do not even utter that name!" Hanna cried in disgust. "I hate that douche-bag. I have no idea what I ever saw in him." She shuddered as she remembered the way he had treated her, and the fact that she had let him.
"Hanna, that is not the point right now!" Spencer rolled her eyes. "How could you do this to Jordan? That man adores you!"
"I don't know!" Hanna repeated. And it was true. Kind of. Six months ago, she would have agreed with Spencer - there was no way she could have betrayed Jordan like this. But then Caleb had just waltzed right into her life, with his luscious hair and bad boy, I-don't-give-a-shit-about-anything-or-anyone attitude, and after that, it almost seemed inevitable, as terrible as that sounds.
She was just so attracted to him, in a way she had never been to anyone else before. Not Rosewood High quarterback Noel Kahn, who fourteen-year old Hanna had thought was the most attractive guy she had ever seen. Or even his older brother, Eric, who played college football. Not her first real boyfriend, Sean. Not any of the douche-bag frat boys she had hooked up with in college (especially not Travis). Not even her husband. There was just something about Caleb, something about his gaze, his touch, that made it absolutely impossible for Hanna to resist him.
Hanna sighed, absently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"What is that?" Spencer asked suddenly.
"What?" Hanna questioned.
"That. On your neck," she replied, moving Hanna's hair out of the way to get a better look.
"I...burned myself with my curling iron," Hanna lied.
"Hanna!" Spencer exclaimed. "Were you with him tonight? Like, here? Is that why I couldn't find you two earlier? You were too busy fucking in some empty closet?"
"We didn't fuck, actually," Hanna defended herself. "We were just making out when you so rudely interrupted us."
"And you let him give you a hickey?" she asked in disgust. "God, you two are like horny teenagers!"
Hanna knew she couldn't even argue with that. Caleb just drove her crazy, and she couldn't get enough of him.
"Oh my god," Spencer said again. "Everything makes so much more sense now! Like why you two suddenly stopped biting each others' heads off in the office, why you freaked out about sitting with him at my wedding, why I never see you anymore!" It used to be that whenever Jordan was gone, Hanna would call her friends to hang out all the time. Hanna did not do well with being alone. She was a people person. But lately, she had found a different person to occupy her time with while Jordan was out of town. "How long has this been going on?"
"A while," Hanna mumbled.
"Like...weeks?" Spencer probed. "Months?"
"Months," Hanna admitted. "...Several months."
"God, Han, what were you thinking?" Spencer asked yet again.
"He gets me, Spence. He makes me feel alive," Hanna admitted sheepishly, hoping Spencer would understand and cut her some slack. Logically, she knew it was wrong. But she just couldn't stay away.
"You know what else would make you feel 'alive', Hanna?" Spencer mocked. "Your husband finding out about this and leaving you!"
"Look, Spencer, you don't get it!" Hanna argued.
"Damn right, I don't!" Spencer exclaimed, shaking her head in frustration at her best friend. How could she be so stupid? "Hanna, you have a husband, an amazing husband, who adores you, who would do anything for you," she reminded her. "What are you doing sleeping with Caleb?" she asked harshly.
Hanna didn't know why, but she immediately felt protective over Caleb, felt the need to defend him to Spencer.
"He's special, Spencer!" she argued. "You can't judge him until you really know him!"
"Oh, and you know him so well?" Spencer shot back. "I'm sure you must learn so much about each other while he's fucking you or while you're sucking his dick! This is probably what he wanted all along, Hanna! To take advantage of a lonely woman missing her husband. And you were stupid enough to fall for it."
"Don't call me stupid!" Hanna exclaimed defensively. "And you don't know anything about our relationship, so you don't get to say shit like that!"
"You know what, Han," Spencer said, throwing up her hands in defeat. "You're a big girl, you can make your own decisions."
"Thank you," Hanna said pointedly.
"But," Spencer cut back in. "I can make my own decisions, too. And I'm not about to stick around and watch you self-implode. I'm done, Hanna."
"What do you mean, 'done'?" Hanna asked incredulously.
"I mean," Spencer began slowly. "That I don't want to be around you if this is how you're going to treat people that you claim you love. If you can do this to your husband, then what are you gonna do to me?" she asked rhetorically. "Are you going to try to steal Toby away from me, too?"
Hanna's jaw dropped in shock. How dare she?
"No, Spencer, I would never do that to you!" Hanna exclaimed angrily. "Unlike some people, I don't have a history of shopping out of other people's carts!" She knew it was a low blow, but Spencer was getting some of those in, too.
"Excuse me?" Spencer spat. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, let's see, there was Ian, Wren, am I missing any of your sister's other boyfriends you tried to steal?" Hanna snapped at her. "Oh, wait, Wren wasn't just her boyfriend, he was her fiancé. No wonder Melissa's still single - she's too afraid you're gonna try to steal him again!"
"Well, maybe you don't shop out of other people's carts, but, instead, you just abandon your cart in the middle of the store and forget all about it while you go pick out the coolest, hottest new thing!" Spencer shot back.
As Spencer finished talking, they both just looked at each other, breathing hard as they got over the heat of the argument. The worst argument they had ever had.
"Seriously, Hanna," Spencer began, eerily calm now. "If this is how you want to live your life, fine. Whatever. I can't stop you. But I also don't have to stand by you while you screw it up," she concluded, before walking out of the room, and slamming the door behind her, leaving Hanna standing there alone, blinking back tears.
So Jordan coming home early and nearly walking in on them was a bit of a tease, wasn't it? Did you all think he was going to be the one to find out? Sorry, but it's still too early for that! We still have lots more sneaking around to do! But Spencer knows now, and she is not too happy about it at all, is she?
Hope you appreciated Haleb's shower scene! That is such an iconic scene for them, how could it not make an appearance even in this AU world? With a bit of a twist, of course!
Review!