Aria walked inside The Brew, scanning the small cafe in search of her friends. Her gaze settled on the girl sitting on the corner couch. She smiled and called out to her friend after giving her order to the barista, but the taller brunette didn't budge. Spencer just sat there, lost in her thoughts. As soon as she placed her order, Aria walked towards the corner couch and carefully sat beside Spencer, placing her hand on the shoulder of the taller brunette's.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Aria asked softly.
Spencer flinched at the sudden contact, the coffee in her hands almost spilling. "Aria! Geez! You scared me!"
"Is everything okay? You look like you're a million miles away." The smaller girl stated anxiously as she gave her best friend a hug.
"Sorry. There's just a lot going on in my mind." Spencer explained as she returned the hug.
"There's something that I have to tell you, Ar." Spencer continued.
"What is it Spence? You know you can tell me anything, right?" Aria asked, offering a smile as she looked at her friend cautiously.
Struggling with her next words, Spencer found some courage from the hazel eyes that were looking at her expectantly. "I'm sick, Ar." She breathed out.
"What? How are you feeling? Do you have a fever?" Aria asked worriedly.
"No, I don't have a fever. I'm okay." Spencer answered, gently removing Aria's hand from her forehead.
"But I thought you said you're sick? C'mon, I'll drive you home." The smaller girl offered, pulling up the taller brunette to her feet.
"No. It's not like that. I have…" Spencer's reply was cut short as a dimpled beauty with sunny blonde hair, doll eyes, and plump pout suddenly stood in front of her.
"Spencer…" Her name flowed sweetly from the girl's lips. Before Spencer could respond, the girl's hands reached out, grabbing Spencer by the collar of her blazer and planted a sweet kiss to her lips.
"Hey Em, we missed you earlier at lunch. Is everything okay?" Hanna asked as she fell into step beside Emily. The girls were on their way to The Brew to meet with Aria and Spencer.
"Yeah, I just needed to talk to coach, is all." Emily lied. She purposely avoided sitting with them during lunch break because of the damn butterflies that wouldn't leave her stomach since she parted with Spencer that morning. She kept hearing Spencer's voice over and over again in her head, making her zone out on all of her classes. "It's nice to see you, Em. We'll talk later. I love you."
She replayed the last three words in her head over and over again. Of course she knew that Spencer loved her, she just wasn't vocal about it. They've been best friends for years, but Spencer has never been vocal and affectionate towards her. That's a "Team Sparia" thing. Hannah came up with that name for Spencer and Aria, as they were always hugging and saying I love you's to each other. There's something about the way that Spencer said those words to her, though. The way the brunette hugged her and flashed her that gorgeous smile of hers. It made Emily weak at the knees. It gave her inexplicable happiness, like winning the lottery, or more. Definitely more, Emily thought.
"She loves me, Han! She told me she loves me!" Emily suddenly blurted out to Hanna.
"Who? Spencer?" Hanna asked, grabbing Emily's arm and pulling them to a stop.
"No, Aria. Duh." The tanned girl replied, rolling her eyes at the blonde.
"Really? So are you guys finally together now? When did this happen?" Hanna squealed with excitement.
"This morning before first period. She hugged me and told me she loves me." Emily replied, grinning timidly.
"Oh. Well, she did the same to me earlier at lunch break. She said it's like the new her or something." Hanna stated, offering a small smile to her best friend.
Emily's face fell. "Oh. Right. " Her smile faded as her heart crumbled at what the blonde shared.
"I just thought…" Looking at the ground, she tried to say something, her eyes seeking words on the pavement without success.
"I'm sorry, Em. Why don't you just tell her how you feel about her so you can go on and live happily ever after?" Hanna said as she placed her right hand on the swimmer's back, offering comfort.
"I don't know, Han. She's not even gay. What if she doesn't feel the same way? What if she hates me? What if she starts avoiding me? Oh my god, I'm going to lose her! She'll hate me forever!"
Her confident smile from earlier was immediately replaced with sadness and fear. She turned to face Hanna, her right hand clutching the blonde's left arm, as she threw questions one after the other.
"Em, stop. Spencer could never hate you. Trust me; there is no bad bone in that girl's body. If she doesn't feel the same, I'm sure you're still going to be friends. You've been best friends for a very long time."
"How do I tell her? I don't even know how to talk to her. I wouldn't know where to start."
Hanna felt bad for her best friend. Emily's been pining for the geeky girl since she can remember. She can tell how much the former loves the brunette. Emily's a confident athlete, but Spencer is her Achilles heel. When it comes to the brunette, her courage crumbles. Her fierce shark eyes are swiftly replaced with puppy lovestruck eyes whenever she looks at Spencer.
"Just walk right up to her and tell her how you feel." Hanna offered encouragingly.
"It's not that simple, okay? I'm scared. I love her so much. If she doesn't feel the same, I'll just end up with a broken heart. I can't take that risk. I need time to think this through." Emily whined.
"Em, if you don't tell her now, you're just going to end up with more "what ifs". You've been secretly in love with her practically half of your life. If you've told her how you felt years ago, then you'd probably be married by now." Hanna joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"If you really love her that much, don't you think she's worth the risk?" She added candidly.
Hanna may not be as smart as Spencer, but somehow her words made sense to Emily.
"You're right. You know what? I'm gonna tell her now." Emily confidently stated. She resumed walking, dragging Hanna by the arm.
"Now?" Hanna blurted out with a surprise.
"Yes. Now. C'mon, let's go." Emily answered, hoping her pristine confidence wouldn't falter as they reached the coffee place.
"Wait! I'm gonna need a Spemily shirt and some pom-poms!" Hanna squealed teasingly.
"Shut up Han!" Emily shot back, playfully swatting her best friend's arm.
As Emily and Hanna walked in on The Brew, the smile from the tanned girl's face fell. Hurt and anger was evident as her eyes landed on an unknown blonde girl pressing her lips to the object of her affection.
