The days after the first kiss…part 6: The Date

Title: The days after their first kiss …part 6
Author: astabasta
Rating: PG
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Spencer, Ashley, Clay, Paula, Arthur, Glen
Summary: The date. Author's note: This series is my vision of what happens in the days after Spencer comes home after her first kiss (and whatever else may have happened) with Ashley. This is my version of season 1.5: that is between the end of the first season and the start of the second season. Feedback and comments are welcome.
Spoilers/Warnings: None

Chapter VI

After supper, Glen clears the table, Arthur washes dishes, while Clay dries and puts them away. Paula relaxes with a book in another room as a respite for having prepared dinner. Clay's cell rings.

"Hello? Ashley?" Clay exclaims, "Ashley!"

Glen and Arthur both shoot Clay questioning looks. Clay, with an equally mystified expression, shrugs in response.

"Uh huh," Clay speaks loudly into the cell. "Okay, slow down…uh huh…just stay calm…uh huh…I understand."

Paula enters the kitchen beaconed by Clay's unusually loud, affected, and overly concerned tone that assures everyone in the kitchen - and in other parts of the house - can hear him. They all stare at Clay waiting for an explanation.

Placing his palm over the cell's mouthpiece, Clay whispers to his audience, "It's Ashley." Then to Ashley, he says as if talking to a hearing impaired pre-schooler, "We just finished dinner … we're cleaning up … I'll be right over … when I'm done…Yes, I promise. Just … stay … calm."

Clay snaps his cell closed and stammers as he makes his staged delivery, "She's totally losing it over some guy, I mean, over some girl. Who knows..ha ha. You know Ashley… a little too impulsive…gets her hurt every time."

His parents and Glen give Clay deadpan stares.

"Anyway," Clay nervously continues. "When I'm finished here, I'm going over to her place. She really needs someone to talk to."

"Clay, we all know she's been through this a dozen times," Paula says sternly. "I'm sure she can call professional help if she needs it."

"Yes…that's true," Clay ponders his mother's rationale that throws an unexpected wrench in his premeditated plans. "But Mom, I really think just needs a friend right now." Clay clears his throat, "Glen, can I borrow your car?"

Ashley snaps her cell closed, "Now everything's in place; you're on a date with Aiden and Clay is, no doubt, saving me from some emotional breakdown that I've predictably created for myself. There's no way your parents - Paula - will suspect that you're here with me in my favorite sushi restaurant eating raw fish."

"I'm not eating that," Spencer says referring to Ashley's bento box filled with a colorful assortment of sushi.

"You have to try this," Ashley laughs with glee.

"We don't eat stuff like that in Ohio," Spencer jerks back her head in disgust.

"You're in L.A. now, so you'll have to learn how to eat this stuff."

With a pair of chopsticks, Ashley skillfully holds a piece of fresh, tuna sashimi in front of Spencer who looks at the slab of red flesh as if it will wriggle itself back to life at any second.

"Close your eyes," Ashley orders.

"No!"

"Close your eyes. Just do it…for me."

Spencer closes her eyes.

"Now open your mouth."

"No," Spencer laughs.

"Open your mouth," Ashley says, "and think about being with me."

With eyes still shut, Spencer reluctantly parts her lips and Ashley touches the sashimi to them.

"I can't do it!" Spencer squeals, closing her mouth and opening her eyes.

"Then try this," Ashley says as she picks up a piece of maki sushi.

"Is there raw fish in it that too?"

"No silly, it's a California roll. Eat."

With her fingers, Ashley gently places the seaweed wrapped rice and avocado roll in Spencer's mouth.

"That's good," Spencer chews tentatively. "That's really good."

They look into each other's eyes as Ashley feeds Spencer another piece of roll. Spencer's lips unexpectedly close on one of Ashley's fingertips that lingers a little too long in Spencer's mouth.

"How did that taste?" Ashley asks touching her slightly moistened finger to her own lips.

Spencer blushes.

"Okay, now try a spicy tuna roll," Ashley ventures. "Yes, it has raw fish in it but it's surrounded by rice and some other stuff so you'll barely taste it."

Spencer looks uncertainly at Ashley.

"Trust me," Ashley says.

Spencer opens her mouth in anticipation of a strange flavor. Ashley looks longingly at Spencer's full lips as she places the roll in Spencer's mouth.

Spencer chews, scrunches her nose and says, "That's not bad." She takes a sip of water to subdue the mild sting on her tongue, "What's next?"

Ashley looks impressed so she holds up a piece of nigiri sushi with her fingers. Spencer looks suspiciously at the slab of raw pink salmon flesh sitting atop a thin bed of rice.

"Could you put more rice on top of it so it doesn't look so…alive?" Spencer asks.

"No, "Ashley laughs. "Then it wouldn't be the type of sushi that it is. Besides, eating this is like a practice run."

"Practice for what?"

Ashley rolls her eyes, "You have so much to learn."

"If you know so much, then why don't you show me how you eat it."

"You want me to show you how I eat it?"

Ashley dips the rice base of the sushi in her little bowl of wasabi-spiced soya sauce; droplets of the brown liquid drip from her fingers. She places a soft, pink flake of pickled ginger on one end of the salmon.

Ashley's eyes lock onto Spencer's as she gently licks a bit of rice off the bottom of the salmon sliver. Circling her tongue to the top of the pink flesh, Ashley slips away the piece of ginger between her lips. Under the table, across from Ashley, Spencer crosses her legs and squeezes her thighs together to quell a tingling sensation.

Ashley slowly slides the tip of the naked pink flesh into her mouth, back and forth across her tongue, as she contemplates taking bigger and bigger portions into her mouth. Ashley skillfully guides the entire length of the sushi into her mouth without dropping a grain of rice. A trickle of soy sauce lingers on her bottom lip, which she whisks away with a swift flutter of her tongue.

Looking at Ashley with shameless awe, Spencer squeezes her thighs together and lightly fingers her own lip as if the soy sauce had dripped there too. Delicious.

They stroll arm in arm on the beach surrounded by the lively glow of twilight and by the scintillating sparkle of their feelings for each other until they find a perfect, out of the way spot to lay down a blanket. They sit side-by-side, arms and fingers interlocked; Spencer rests her head on Ashley's shoulder. A mild breeze causes Ashley's ringlets to tickle Spencer's temple and forehead. Spencer closes her eyes creating a memory of the sensation that she will retrieve from her heart in the weeks to come when Ashley is in Europe and no longer close to her.

Waves lap the shore synchronized with the rhythm of their heartbeats. The sun is a perfect bright white circle hovering just feet above the ocean. The sky is scattered with big white billowy clouds; watercolors of yellow, orange, violet, and pink bleed into the sky from the east and west. A piece of the sun sinks into the ocean.

"I'm going to miss you," Ashley says.

"Then don't go," Spencer whispers.

"Spencer, please don't start, okay?"

Spencer pouts for a minute then finally says, "I'm going to miss you too. When are you coming back?"

"A week before school starts," Ashley says then rethinks her options as she feels Spencer's warmth against her. "Or when ever I want."

"I choose," Spencer teases. "When ever you want."

"You know what I do want?" Ashley whispers.

Slowly shaking her head and biting her bottom lip, Spencer looks into Ashley's deep brown eyes then down at her eager mouth. They both feel the other's breath as the space between them becomes smaller.

A sandstorm of emotions swirls between them yet they are paralyzed in a state of explosive feelings; feelings that they want to express all at once violently, passionately but they remain still; they have an urge to hug tightly, to melt into one, to hold hands, to lie together protected by clothing, to lie together protected by none, to kiss lightly, to kiss deeply, to be tender, to be rough, to go slow, to go so fast that the beginning is the end.

They do nothing to contain themselves yet the emotional onslaught keeps them immobilized; they want to stroke cheeks, run fingers through hair, touch finger tips, nuzzle in necks, say "I love you", say "I really like you", make love in the way they only fantasize about, lie on top of her, lie under her, sit side by side as they do now. As they do now…as their lips are about to meet, Spencer looks over her shoulder observing how far away they are from curious, judging eyes.

Disappointed by the lost moment but filled with other forbidden ideas, Ashley sighs, takes Spencer's hand and says, "Let's go."