Here's a semi-long chapter for you guys. Enjoy and please leave a review after you read.
Early the next day, but not too early, they got back on the highway to Rosewood. They still have a few more hours to drive, but they should get there by early afternoon. An hour into the drive, Toby stopped somewhere to get good coffee. Spencer waited in the car while he went inside to get the coffee. The second he back, the instant smell of fresh coffee hit her senses. She sat up and felt a feeling of relief when Toby passed over the warmness of the cup to her. She took it from him, clenching it with both hands, brings it up to her nose, and takes a deep breath. Finally, she brings the rim of the cup to her lips and takes a long gulp. The warm liquid traveled through her body, warming her insides. She can already feel herself coming alive once again.
"Oh my god," she leaned her head back against the seat.
"What?"
She looked at him, smiling slightly, "I haven't had coffee in forever."
He smiled, "go easy on that stuff. I remember when you would have four cups every five hours a day."
"A person like me has to keep going. A car needs gasoline to keep them going. I need caffeine to keep me going. It's a proven fact."
"Yeah," Toby rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
"Oh, just shut up and drive."
Toby smiled while shifting gears and drove out of the parking lot of the coffee shop. They're once again back on the road to hell.
It's early. Like, the sun's not up kind of early. It is currently 4:30 in the morning and Spencer is standing outside in the blistering cold waiting for her friends to move along. Jake went out to get gas for the van when he spotted Gary. He rushed back, woke everyone up, and told them to get their stuff ready to go. Gary is in the area, so they need to move out and quick.
Spencer stood outside the van hugging her arms around her body trying to keep warm. All she has on is a short-sleeve t-shirt, some old blue jeans, and a dark red hoodie. It's 12 degrees out here, snow is falling down, and the winds are blowing at 15 mph. Why didn't she think to pack a coat with her when she ran away over a year ago?
"Hurry up you guys!" Jake shouted while running towards the van.
Spencer hopped up into the van and sat on the left middle seat. Maya sat up front with Jake and Mona sat in the right middle seat next to Spencer. Once they got everything packed and ready in the van, they were off. Spencer looked out the window and watched all the moving trees decrease in sight as they drove by. The light from the sun is vividly starting to appear over the horizon.
"Does anybody have any coffee?" Spencer asked with a groan, trying to stretch out her legs with the little leg room she has.
"There's no time for that," Jake snapped. "We need to keep moving."
Spencer rolled her eyes and leaned her head back. The last time she had a decent cup of coffee was last Tuesday. How can anyone go this long with caffeine? She can barely find the energy to sit upright.
"Here," Mona whispered, passing something over to her. It's not coffee. Mona handed her a slip of weed.
"This should wake you up," Mona smirked.
Spencer smiled and took the slip from her. As soon as she took in that familiar feeling the weed gives her, she relaxed a little. Maybe living without caffeine won't be so bad.
At 1 in the afternoon, Toby parked the car right outside his apartment. Spencer looked up from the book she was reading and stared at the building in front of her. She recognizes it as the Brew. Toby lives here? The place hasn't changed much since the last time she's been here, which was over five years ago. They repainted it a light brown color.
Spencer was startled when she heard Toby open her door. He offered her his hand to help her out. Then, they grabbed their bags out of the trunk. Spencer followed Toby behind the building to some metal staircase leading up to a door. That must be where Toby's loft is. He unlocked the door and the first thing Spencer saw was an open room with a white sofa sitting in front of a television. Between the television and the sofa, there's a wooden coffee table. On the left side of the couch there's a recliner chair and a lamp on the right side of the couch. Behind the couch, a few feet away is the kitchen area. With two sinks and multiple white and gray countertops.
In the corner of the of the room, there's like an office area with a desk. That must be where Toby gets work done. There's two steps leading back to the bedroom. Of course, the bathroom is connected to the bedroom. Toby walked a few feet into the loft and set his police bag on the kitchen counter. Spencer only took a step inside and remained standing while silently scanning the room. Toby turned around and noticed that Spencer was just standing close by the door.
He sent her a one-sided smirk, "take off your shoes and coat. Why don't you stay for awhile?"
"Sorry," she shook her head. "I was just amazed by your living place here versus that lovely little apartment you stayed at in Maine."
He stalked over the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water. Spencer finally moved from standing on the Welcome mat and sat on the sofa. Toby came over and handed her one of the bottles he got from the fridge.
"This place is much better than that other place," he agreed. "That's only because I needed to maintain a cheap place I would be staying at temporarily."
"You've been paying for two places?"
"Well, no, actually, I stay here for free. You see, a friend of mine bought the brew and offered to let me stay here for free if I did some maintenance work for him."
"Oh, so you're a cop and a handyman?"
"Yeah," he chuckled nervously. "I guess you could say that."
"I like this place," she said while looking around. "It's little, but it's cozy. Not to mention it's a lot nicer than your other place. There's no leaks or cracked floor boards."
"It is nice, but there is one kink to this place."
"What's that?"
"It's with the shower. Sometime's the hot water doesn't work very well. There have been times where I can barely get a stream of water to come out of the drain."
"What do you do for showers then?" She asked. "Do you what until you go back to Maine? That's gross."
"No," he laughed. "I go over to my mom's to shower. As of right now, the shower is acting up, so if you want to take any showers, you'll have to go over to my mom's house."
"Does she still live in your old house?"
"Yes, same house, same address."
Spencer stopped talking for a minute and stared down at the water bottle in her hand. She took a second to reflect on everything that's happened since she left Rosewood. When she left, she really believed she was protecting the people she cared about and herself. Seems like it only made things worse. Her running away only caused pain towards the only people Spencer's ever cared about. People whom she once considered to be like family. At the time, that's why it was so easy, yet so hard to leave. Not a day went by where she hadn't thought about Toby, his mother, and the rest of his family. Knowing that they went on thinking she's been dead for the last three years. She can't begin to imagine how hard that was for them. She knew how much Marion cared about her. She cared about Spencer as if she were her own daughter.
"How did your mother react?" Spencer asked. "When you told her that I was really alive?"
"She was shocked. Just like me, she thought you were dead. Of course, for the first week she tried questioning if you were really dead or not. Later on, she started to accept it. Then when I came back home and told her, she was stunned. She wondered when she would be seeing her and I told her I didn't know."
"Does she know I'm here in town?"
He shook his head, "no, I didn't want to get her hopes up just in case my attempts to get you released early failed."
Spencer sighed and turned away, "I'm really sorry. Here I thought I was protecting you guys. All I did was cause you more pain. I was so young back then and I didn't think things through clearly."
"You don't have to apologize anymore," he took her hand. "I see it in your eyes whenever we bring this up."
"Man, it is going to take forever to crawl out of the hole I got myself into."
"Hey, you went through a lot. Your road to recovery might get difficult, but you won't have to go through it alone."
She looked at him and gave his hand a squeeze, "I know."
Later in the afternoon, at around 5, Spencer and Toby got in the car to drive over to his mother's house. The first night Toby comes back to town, he always goes over to his mother's for dinner. Marion still doesn't know that Spencer is coming, so seeing her will be a big surprise. Before going inside the house, Spencer grabbed Toby's arm to stop him.
"Wait, I'm not so sure me coming here is such a good idea."
"Of course, it is. My mother will be glad you see you."
"Maybe, but could this also make things worse?"
"Spencer," he took both of her hands and looked her in the eye. "Everything will be fine. You'll see."
"Okay," she attempted a smile.
Toby turned to reach for the doorknob and Spencer didn't stop him this time. He twisted the knob and pushed the door open. As you walk into the house, there's a little archway and a step. You step down that step and that's where you take off your shoes and coat. Spencer took off her jacket and handed it over to Toby so he could hang it up on the wall. A few feet away from the entrance is a flight of stairs leading up to the second floor. Then over to the right of the stairs, there's a hallway that leads into the kitchen. On the other side of the stairs is the living room. If you walk into the living room, there's an opening that leads to the dining room. Then the dining room also leads into the kitchen. Down the hall in between the kitchen and the archway, there's a two doors. The one on the left is a supply closet and the door on the right is to a bathroom.
The second they walked through the door, they could hear soft jazz music playing from inside the kitchen. Marion often listens to jazz when she's making dinner. In the morning when she's making breakfast, she listens to classical. After kicking off their shoes, they walked down the short hallway to the kitchen. Toby walked in first while Spencer lurked back in the darkness of the hallway.
"Hey, mom."
"Toby," Marion answered with her back facing him. "Good to have you home. Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes."
He smiled, "that's good. Mom, could you turn around for a minute? There's a visitor here that I think you're going to want to see."
"Oh, Toby, I can't have visitors while wearing my apron," she scuffed trying her best to clean her hands on a nearby towel.
"Trust me, mom, I think you'll have an exception for this one."
Toby looked behind him and noticed that Spencer hadn't stepped into the kitchen yet. She's still hiding out in the hallway. He took a step back, took her hand, and guided her back into the kitchen with him. Marion turned around and froze when she saw the familiar looking girl standing in her kitchen. Spencer stood there with her long, brown hair, and hazel eyes. Other than the fact that she's close to eighteen now and taller, Marion is having flashbacks of the little girl she used to know. She can still remember the very last time she saw her. Spencer was still fourteen the last time Marion saw her. Lord how time flies.
On a rainy days like today, Marion always has hot cocoa ready for when Toby gets home from school. The morning started out a bit cold with a high around 43 degrees. At 10:30 it started raining and it's been going on and off all day. At 3:30 that afternoon, the front door opened and Toby came home with a soaking wet Spencer. Her clothes looked muddy and wrinkled and her hair is sticking to the skin on her cheeks. Marion saw the shivering girl and set the tea kettle down on the stove before rushing over to her.
"Spencer, dear look at you."
"He-llo Miss, C-Cavanaugh."
"You child are freezing," she brought her in and wrapped her up in a warm hug. Marion was about to tell Toby to get some blankets out of the closet, but he had already grabbed them. He took a large, red blanket and wrapped around Spencer's shivering body. Marion took it in her own hands and held it tighter around Spencer.
"Toby, go get the hot water running in the bathroom and find her some clean clothes."
"Yes, ma'am."
After Spencer took a hot shower and put on some clean clothes. The only clean clothes Toby had for her was a pair of sweatpants he wore in middle school and his hoodie. The clothes were a little big on her, but they kept her warm. When she came back into the kitchen with Toby, Marion had two cups of cocoa ready for both of them. All three of them sat at the kitchen table to talk.
"Spencer, why were you all wet?"
"I was walking home from school in the rain when Toby spotted me on the side of the road."
"I thought you took the bus from school to your foster home. How come you didn't take the bus?"
"My teacher kept me late after class. I got in trouble for sassing the teacher or he thought I was sassing him. I missed my bus and had to walk. I got maybe a mile of the way before Toby happened to drive by."
"Honey, if you ever need a ride home, you should call Toby."
"I didn't want to bother him."
"Spence," Toby spoke up. "You're never a bother to me. You know that."
"No more walking home in the rain," Marion said. "You could get sick."
"I won't walk home in the rain anymore," Spencer promised.
"Good. Now, that you're warmed up, I'll get started on dinner."
"Oh, I would like to stay, but I have to get back to my foster home."
"Oh, I understand. Toby, can you give her a ride?"
He stood up, "of course."
"Good," Marion said. "See you later, dear."
"Bye Miss. Cavanaugh."
It was like no time passed at all, but some much time had passed since the last time Marion laid eyes on that little girl. Spencer's not such a little girl anymore. She's gotten taller and more beautiful. Marion slowly began walking towards Spencer. It was almost like this was a dream. How can this be real?
"Spencer," were the first words out of her mouth.
A weak smile tugged on Spencer's lips, "hello Miss. Cavanaugh."
"You're alive?"
She nodded, "it would appear so."
Marion stopped in front of Spencer, wrapped her arms around her, and drew her in for a hug. After a few seconds, Spencer returned the hug. Toby stood in the entrance between the hallway and the kitchen just watching them. He knew his mom seeing Spencer would surprise her. It surprised him when he first saw Spencer alive too. When they pulled away from the hug, Marion turned towards Toby and hit him lightly on the chest.
"Why didn't you tell me she was coming over? I would've made her favorite meal." She turned back to face Spencer. "You still like tacos, right?"
Spencer smiled and nodded, "yes."
"Okay. I'm trashing my meatloaf and making tacos."
"You don't have to do that. I like meatloaf just as much as I like tacos."
"Okay," Marion said. "You two get cleaned up. I'll have dinner on the table in about five to ten minutes."
By 6 o'clock, Marion had dinner on the table. She made meatloaf, green bean casserole, and dinner rolls. This used to be Mr. Cavanaugh's favorite meal when he was still around. This is what Marion made for him on their first night as a married couple.
"So, Spencer, how have you been these past few years?" Marion asked.
"Honestly, not that great. I've gotten myself into some trouble over the years, but I think your son's made it his job to set me straight."
"Good. If there's anybody in this world who can bring out the good in you, it's Toby."
"Well, she used to bring out the good in me," Toby said while taking her hand and holding it on top of the table. "There's always been good in Spencer. She just went through a lot and sometimes people lose themselves that way."
"Yeah," Spencer sent him a smile. "He's right."
Marion looked between the two of them smiling. She's had a feeling about those two for some time. Ever since she saw how close they became as kids, she had a feeling those two would end up together. Based on the way they're acting around each other and looking at the other. She's getting that same feeling again. At the end of dinner, Spencer excused herself to use the restroom.
"Toby," Marion spoke up. "Are you two together?"
Toby smiled shyly, "I honestly don't know what we are right now, mom. There have been a few moments between us, but nothing's been written or even said."
"Wait, you guys were having a thing while she was in that place?"
"No, well, not really. We were never official. At this point, I'm waiting for Spencer to decide what she wants. She's been through and is still going through a lot. I don't want to put any unnecessary pressure on her."
"Well, how are you feeling about her?"
He huffed a laugh, "how do I feel about her? I'm pretty sure I love that girl."
She smiled at her son, playfully nudging his arm, "I always knew you loved that girl. You've always loved Spencer. You cared about her more than you ever cared about Serena."
"Mom," he chuckled. "Can we please not bring that up again."
"Sorry. I'm just so happy that something is finally happening between the two of you. I can't wait to see where it goes. It may not seem like it, but Spencer loves you too. I just know it."
The two stood up and started clearing the dishes off the table. Meanwhile, Spencer stood just outside the kitchen. She was walking back from the bathroom and stopped before entering when she heard Toby talking to his mom. Eventually, she walked back into the kitchen pretending like she hadn't heard anything. Marion offered them a piece of cake before they left and they accepted.
After finishing their dessert, Toby made plans to go have drinks with his friend's, but decided to cancel. On the way home, that conversation Spencer overhead kept running through her brain. Toby was focused on driving, but her eyes were trained on him. Finally, the question that's been bugging her all night finally flew out of her mouth.
"So, who's Serena?"
"What?" He chuckled, looking at her.
She turned her head to avoid his gaze. "Serena, I heard you mentioning her to your mom before I walked back in. Who was she?"
"Does it matter who she was?"
"No, I was just curious. I've missed so much going on in your life and I wanted to stay caught up. I know that's a little hard, but."
"Are you asking because you missed out on stuff or am I sensing some jealousy coming from you?"
"What?" She huffed a laugh. "I am not jealous."
He gave her a short smile. "Serena was a girl I dated in college. We were together for almost nine months before she decided to transfer schools. We broke up, because a long-distance relationship would not have worked out."
"What makes you say that?"
"It just wouldn't have worked out."
She looked at him for a long time, "it's not like you to give up that easily. What really happened?"
The car came to a halt at a red light. Toby sighed and pressed the palms of his hands against the steering wheel.
"The real reason Serena and I broke up was because she cheated on me with an old friend of mine. I found out that she was seeing Wren. I only told my mother that Serena and I broke up when she transferred to save her from pitying me. If my mom knew Serena cheated on me, I would never heard the end of it. She knew from the beginning that Serena was trouble and I didn't listen to her."
"And that's why you never talked about it."
"No, I just didn't want you thinking that I still had feelings for her. I don't by the way. Honestly, I haven't even thought about Serena since the second I saw you. That's when I realized that all along, Serena never mattered to me. It's always been you."
Spencer looked at him for a long time. The glow from the red light lit up half his face and caused his eyes to twinkle. She leaned across the armrest and kissed him eagerly on the lips. Toby reached up to cup one hand around her head. Her mouth opened up to him and he took that as his invitation to slip his tongue in. Spencer moaned while rolling her tongue against his.
Beep! The sound of a car horn startled them. They put some distance between them, but still kept their eyes on the other. Pretty soon they were laughing at the fact that they made out at a red light and totally forget where they were. The light had turned green. The person sitting in the car behind them is probably pissed off. Actually, that car ended up just going around them. Toby put his hands back on the wheel.
"I guess we should get home now."
"Woah, wait," she put her hand over his arm. "I thought you were meeting your friends tonight."
He shrugged, "I don't have to go tonight. I can hang out with them another time."
"Toby, you don't have to sacrifice your time with your other friends for me. If you want to go, go."
"I don't want to leave you alone and I really wanted to wait for when you're ready to meet them."
She took a second to think about it, "I'm ready to meet them now."
He gave her a look, "are you sure?" She nodded. "Okay, I promise you, you're going to love my friends. They might seem a little crazy, but that's only because they are. I think you'll like them, though."
She cut him off by pecking him on the cheek and said, "they sound wonderful."
He smiled at her before finally stepping on the gas pedal and moving forward. Though she's a little nervous, Spencer's also kind of interested in meeting Toby's friends. Who knows, maybe they really are great people.
I'm sorry I didn't fit in the part of Spencer meeting Toby's friends yet, but that is coming next chapter! So, stayed tuned. What did you think of Spencer's reunion with Marion? Any ideas on how Toby's friends will react to meeting Spencer?
Thoughts on Serena?