Title: Truth Serum is Legal With a Prescription
Rating: This chapter is probably only PG-ish for some slight language and/or sexual content.
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine...I cannot claim them. They all belong to the hardworking people involved with South of Nowhere. Okay, Nikki, Aiden's girlfriend, is not part of the original cast of S.O.N. but that's all. I don't own I Love Lucy either, in any possible way.
Feedback: Yes please, I want to know what everyone thinks of this story so far.
Summary: This will be a Spashley story. Sequel of "Just Tell Me What You Want"
Author's Note: I really do appreciate any and all reviews that I receive. Also, school is starting back up soon, so I won't be able to update as much as I did for a little while there, but I will as often as I can. No worries. Plus, this is a bit longer of a chapter to hopefully tide you over. Enjoy.
Also, 'splainin' as in explaining, as in, "Lucy, you have some 'splainin' to do." That was a phrase commonly used by Ricky to Lucy on the show I Love Lucy. Good to know for this chapter.
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Dinner. All he had to do was ask someone to dinner. Glen knew that he should ask his real ex-girlfriend, Madison, because he did want to go out with her again. But, his mother would wonder why he hadn't invited Ashley in that case, and then Ashley would feel left out. And if Ashley felt left out, then his sister wouldn't have a girlfriend. And if Ashley broke up with Spencer, then Spencer would make his life hell, and she might turn to Aiden, who he loathed, most of the time. And plus, Aiden was dating Nikki. In fact, just as Glen was walking to class, he could see Aiden making-out out with…Madison.
He stopped dead in his tracks. Glen wasn't dead, but for a moment, he briefly felt as if he was. His recently ex-girlfriend, was making-out out with an ex-boyfriend that wasn't him. What. The. Hell. "So, you've noticed the new couple, huh?" Glen turned to find Nikki glaring at the two people making-out as well.
Glen noticed the look on Nikki's. She wasn't angry anymore. She looked absolutely pissed-off. He immediately felt bad for her. The guy had no idea… "You guys broke up? Sorry, I didn't know."
Nicole rolled her eyes, glaring at the new couple. "That's because we hadn't broken up yet."
"Oh…" Glen wasn't sure what to say. "I'm sorry."
"He will be too." He certainly didn't look sorry. His lips were still mingling with Madison's. So, Nicole went on to explain her point to the boy. "Madison will go back to you sometime, and she'll leave him high and dry. I won't be there for him this time." She glanced at Glen understandingly. "And Ashley's with your sister. No options for him."
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"Hey Ash," the blonde smiled at her girlfriend. They were meeting between classes. The two had their next class together anyway.
"Hey you," the brunette smiled back.
Neither girl spoke for a moment, so Spencer just burst into her big question. "You want to come over to dinner tonight?"
"Moi?" Ashley raised an eyebrow at the other girl. She thought that if she went to another dinner at the Carlin's, that Glen would have to ask her. God forbid that someone Mrs. C found out that Spencer asked her over, not Glen.
"Yes, you." Spencer was still smiling, trying to win her over. She didn't need to know that Glen would be her date. Just like her mom didn't need to know that Spencer had been the one to invite her.
Ashley recognized the look on her girlfriend's face. "You're asking me, or is Glen asking me?"
"I'm asking you." Spencer felt bad lying, but she had no other choice. She just wanted everyone to be happy.
Ashley was immediately in a better mood. "Definitely! I'll be there." Though, Spencer knew in that back of her mind, that not everyone could always be happy. She hoped that she wasn't the first one to wind up unhappy.
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"Hey Aiden," Spencer had to walk extra quickly to be able to catch Aiden before his next class. They didn't have another class together until the last hour of the day, and she wanted to get to him before anyone else asked him to hang out.
"Hey Spence." Aiden smiled at his friend. He always had time for her. Especially since he and Madison had just finished another great talk. Well, actually, they didn't really talk; they kissed though.
Spencer looked at him oddly for a moment. He tried to tone down his smile a few notches. "Tonight, um, listen…You wanna play cover-up?"
"What? I'm covering something?" He grinned, his slightly-perverted joke exposing itself to Spencer, who frowned at it. It wasn't funny. It was just stupid.
"Not like that." He was still grinning at his great joke. "Come to dinner. Throw my mom off thinking I'm dating Ash."
"Spence, again?" He always had to be the one to do that.
"Please?" Probably because Spencer's pouting face was so cute…It always got to him. He never said no, even when he was dating someone…Like Nikki. Nikki. He suddenly realized that he had some 'splainin' to do. He just hoped that she watched 'I Love Lucy' enough to catch his good sense of humor.
"I'm so whipped, and I'm not even dating you." She was still pouting at him, even when he chuckled and started jogging off to look for Nikki.
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"Hey, Madison." Glen smiled at his ex-girlfriend. She huffed at him, and haughtily walked away from him.
"What?" She finally turned to notice him a bit, after he followed her all the way to her classroom. His class was on the opposite end of school. It gave her some satisfaction to know that he'd never make it before the bell rang.
Glen shifted from one foot to the other, unsure of what would be considered good wording. "Are you dating him again?" He nodded toward the generally direction of Aiden. She didn't have to glance at Aiden to know who Glen was talking about though.
"No, not yet." A slow smirk formed. "Why? Jealous?"
"How could I not be?" Maybe if he sucked up enough, then Madison would take him back. He had been a jerk to her; he knew that. She knew that. "Come on, give me a chance. Family dinner tonight. I'm inviting you."
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"Hey," Clay sat down next to his girlfriend.
"Hi!" Chelsea smiled at him. They always sat together in this class. It was like a ritual now. Or like assigned seating, however you wanted to look at it.
"How are you?"
Chelsea immediately registered the look on her boyfriend's face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just. Will you come to dinner tonight?"
"Sure, of course. Why wouldn't I?" She smiled at him reassuringly. She had gone to dinner there before to meet Paula and Arthur; why would she say no now?
Clay knew why she was so agreeable to the idea, and he didn't want her to get the wrong idea. "Glen and Spencer are both inviting someone…It's going to be interesting." He didn't want her to show up unprepared for fireworks of all colors to fly.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She noticed the worried look on his face. "I wouldn't leave you alone with all of that drama." That was more like it.
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"Hey, Glen! I already invited Ash for tonight." Spencer wandered downstairs, still talking to her brother. Her voice was lowered to a whisper, so that their mother didn't hear them.
"You what?" Glen couldn't believe it! His little sister was growing some balls. Er, not literally, but still. "I thought you'd invite Aiden. Finally coming out?"
"Finally?" She'd only been dating a girl for a few months. Why did everyone think that she was supposed to come out…Spencer didn't understand the rush. "And no. You're going with Ash. I invited Aiden too." She was so pleased at her great plotting and planning. It would work out perfectly.
"Spence! We're only supposed to invite one person each." That's why Spencer had been the genius to figure out who they should each invite.
"Two of us. Two people invited."
Glen fidgeted, "Um, no. I invited Madison."
"You what?" Spencer looked at her brother in shock.
"We had a fight last night! What else could I do?" He was immediately defensive.
"You're a moron." So much for perfect planning. It was too late to cancel on anyone.
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"Doorbell!" Paula called from the kitchen, hoping that someone was near it, and would answer. She was baking, and didn't want to go get the door.
"Hi, Chelsea," Glen opened it, afraid of who he would find at first.
"Hey," she smiled at him. At least someone wasn't worried about that night.
"Clay's in the living room." He gestured towards the room with his thumb, and she nodded, remembering where it was.
"Thanks."
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"Doorbell!" Paula called from the kitchen once more.
Spencer shouted back, "You don't have to announce that every time, Mom!" She stopped yelling and opened the door. "Hey Ash."
"Who is it?" More yelling from the kitchen.
"It's Ashley! We're going upstairs!" And before Paula could protest, both girls were heard thumping up the stairs. She'd go answer the door, but then her food might burn…again.
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"Doorbell!" Glen was quick to yell this time before his mom could. He was quite pleased with himself.
"Glen! Watch your mouth." Even then, she was yelling from the kitchen at him. He just couldn't win.
"I didn't do anything!" He flung the door open, hoping for someone good to be at the door. "Hey, Madison." Jack-pot.
"Hey Lover-Boy. You ready to make up for lately?" She eyed him carefully. He better be on his best behavior, or she was out of there.
"I'll be good," he promised.
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The doorbell rang once. Twice. Paula yelled from the kitchen once. Twice. Before walking to the door quite disgruntled, and throwing it open herself. "Aiden?"
A young man in a nice pair of jeans and a t-shirt with dark brown hair stood looking back at her, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Yes?"
Paula frowned and wiped her hands off on her apron. If Arthur got home soon, then he could finish the dinner. He always claimed to be a better cook anyway. "Shouldn't Spencer be here answering the door for you?"
He wasn't sure how to answer that. Aiden didn't know who else was invited. "Um, I'll go find her. She must be in the bathroom or something." Paula was still glancing at him uncertainly. "Not that I think about her while she's in the bathroom or anything, but, um, I'm going to go." A few seconds later, he was up the stairs, and it wasn't until a few minutes later, that the food was burned and Mr. Carlin was home, trying to revive what he could.
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The food was burned. Mr. Carlin had tried to save the chicken, but it was still badly burnt. Paula had tried to convince herself that it wasn't her fault. Now, she was blaming her husband. He had gotten home late from the office, when he promised to be home early. They'd have to discuss that later. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cell phone, tiny metallic beeps over and over.
"Oh, sorry, Mrs. Carlin. Mr. Carlin." It was Aiden's cell phone. He was pulling it quickly out of his pocket, preparing to turn it off.
Arthur sighed. "Go ahead and get it." No one was talking anyway. It was all very uncomfortable since the moment that the seven teenagers walked downstairs. They had to put down an extra plate because Glen had invited two girls, and they were sitting in a strange order. Arthur was next to Paula, who was next to Chelsea, who sat by Clay. Clay was sitting by Aiden. Spencer had Aiden on one side, and Ashley on the other. Glen was between Ashley and Madison, and Madison was on the left of Arthur. It all seemed very planned out. And no one seemed happy with the results.
"Thanks," Aiden interrupted the silence again with an explanation. "It's Nikki." He flipped his phone open casually. "Nikki? I know. I'm sorry. I just." He paused, listening to the girl. "Yeah." Another pause. "Okay, I'll be there." He clicked the phone shut. "I'm sorry, Spencer. I have to go." Spencer glared at him. If he left, then she was without a date… "Nikki is willing to talk to me, and I want to try to smooth things over."
She sighed, obviously unhappy. "In my mind, you're already gone." She was angry that he was bailing on her, but he couldn't blame her. He did still like Nikki.
He left, and an unwelcome silence consumed the room and its occupants once more. Finally, Paula opened her mouth. "Nikki?"
"His ex-girlfriend," Clay explained. He received glares from several people for answering.
"I thought that because he was here, that you two were, you know…" She gestured at Spencer, who shrugged. Paula was confused. Aiden was supposed to be dating her daughter, not some other girl that she didn't even know.
"Mom!" Glen interrupted his mother's rambling, hoping that she'd drop it.
Ashley snorted. Yeah, Aiden dating Spencer. She was sick of his getting to hang out with Spencer, and with having Paula thinking that Spencer was dating Aiden. "He's too busy making-out with Madison." It just slipped out.
Paula's mouth dropped open a bit. She must have heard wrong. "What?"
"Ash!" Spencer glared at her girlfriend, willing her silently to be quiet as well.
"It's true," Ashley shrugged, and several more people glared at her. She couldn't handle that anymore. She was trying to be patient with Spencer, really she was, but Spencer always shifted her to the back-burner whenever her mother was around. It was supposed to be like Ashley wasn't even friends with the blonde then. "What? I'm supposed to pretend that things never happen just because everyone else does?"
"Yes," Madison hissed.
Ashley turned her attention to Glen's real girlfriend. "You hate it as much as I do."
Paula frowned, realizing that Madison was connected to both Glen and Aiden somehow lately. "Madison, how many guys are you dating?" Paula thought again for a moment. "Glen, how many girls are you dating?"
"One," he promised. "Just one."
Madison jumped at that. "Which one?" She wanted a real answer. Now.
"Erm, I, um," he was stuttering, and he could see quite noticeably that Madison was over-worn. She wasn't going to stay around much longer if he kept it up. Sorry Spencer. He had no choice. "Madison is my girlfriend, Mom."
Spencer didn't realize what that meant for Ashley at first, and went forth supporting her brother's decision to be brave. He must really like Madison. "Yeah, she's not really dating Aiden."
Madison rolled her eyes at the blonde, and whispered to her. "You're supposed to be dating him now." Oh. Right. Shit. She'd forgotten about that. Lies were unraveling from every which way.
Paula wasn't the only one confused. Arthur was too. "But he's dating Nikki!"
But Paula was the one who pinpointed the question. "Spencer, are you, or are you not, involved with him?"
"I'm, um," she glanced at her girlfriend. She looked like she was trying to block out the current dinner conversation. "We've each gone on a few dates with him?" It was the best she could do. She had gone on a few dates with him, as had Nikki. Only now Spencer had a girlfriend. So, it wasn't technically lying. Perfect!
Paula nodded pointedly. That was all. She turned to Glen's ex-girlfriend. "Ashley, I'm so sorry." That girl was actually kind of growing on her.
That woke Ashley up and out of her stupor. "You're what?"
"That you had to find out about Glen like this. About him and Madison." Of course.
"Yeah, it hurts." Ashley didn't have to pretend to have a pained expression. She did, and no one was making her explain why. "Excuse me," she stood up, pushing her chair out. Both parents nodded approvingly, slightly glaring at their son. He wasn't showing very good tact that night, breaking up with her like that.
"Ash!" Spencer knew she had to apologize.
"Spencer, sit." But Paula seemed intent on not giving her the chance.