Compatibility Test

Chapter 3

"Whoever set this thing up is just a total genius," Spencer sarcastically commented. She turned to look at Toby. "You know, even though you seem to be my perfect match, you're not. It's a dumb computer. I'm not going to be your date tonight. I demand a switch!"

"You can't switch," Toby rolled his eyes as he looked away. "Look, I don't want to be here with you anymore than you want to be here with me, so why don't we just not be each other's dates? It would be so much easier that way."

Spencer sighed in disappointment. She really wanted a date tonight, and now even Toby was bailing on her.

"I suppose so," she quietly said. "Have a good night, Cavanaugh."

She shoved the bouquet of flowers into his hands, and stormed off. Her perfect night was ruined. She had gotten all fancy and dressed up for nothing.

Toby knew she was upset about not having a date tonight. Sure, he supposedly disliked her, but he still felt bad. He knew that she was looking forward tonight, and even he felt bad for her, even though he believed she was a heartless demon from hell. He knew the gentleman thing to do would be to put aside the differences tonight, and allow her to have a good time. That was the proper way to treat a lady. It was just one night, so it couldn't possible bite.

"Spencer, wait," he called, and grabbed her arm. "So, maybe we aren't the fondest of each other—"

"I hate you."

He rolled his eyes. She was making it real damn hard to be a gentleman! He was trying his hardest to treat her like a proper lady, but she was making him remember what a devil she usually was to him. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He could do it. He could.

"I've noticed," he said with a smirk. "But, I don't have a date, and you don't have a date. All our friends have dates."

"What are you suggesting, Cavanaugh?" Spencer asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe, just this one night, we can set those differences aside and pretend like we don't want to kill each other," he suggested with a sincere look. "Come on, I know I said it would be easier if we just didn't, but that doesn't feel right to me. I think we could make this work, you know."

She pondered the idea for a moment. Date him for a night? Even that sounded bad. But, she couldn't deny that he had some valid points. She really wanted a date at that dance, and he was her only option. She doubted any other somewhat attractive guy would want to be her date, so... Not that she found Toby hot or anything (she totally did).

"Okay," she said, staring at the floor.

xxx

She had to admit, he wasn't as bad as she had pegged him as. He could be sweet. That didn't mean anything, though. Right? It was just a silly thought. Desperation was getting the best of her. Aria, Hanna, and Emily were all partying their asses off with people that didn't suck.

"Hastings," he began, "I'm sorry that I wasn't always the nicest guy to you."

"It's really my fault," she told him. "I hated you for rumors—I hated you for things you didn't even do! And I'm sorry about it. It's not that I consider you a friend now, but I guess my hate for you has gone down, maybe a smidge. Realizing that those rumors were wrong doesn't make up for your irritable personality."

He smirked and said, "Vice versa."

"Well, I can tell you that your personality isn't that bad," she confessed, and looked away.

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'll take what I can get."

The music suddenly started to slow down, and the speed-of-light tempo was changed to a soothing and heart-warming one. The lyrics got softer, the room got quieter, and everything felt romantic for most. Spencer looked around nervously. She knew what it was—a slow song. A god damn slow song! Wasn't it bad enough that she spent the night hanging around with Toby? She didn't have to dance with him. But, she sort of wanted to...

She looked around, and saw Aria's arms looped around Jason's. The tall blond male allowed Aria to come close to him and lean her tiny head against his chest as they swayed to the soft beat of the music. Panic filled Spencer. She turned to Hanna, who was wrapping her arms around Caleb Rivers's neck and she seemed to enjoy herself.

Even Emily was having more of a ball than she was. Her arms were around Paige McCullers, and they just swayed together, obviously in love. They ignored the stares of the homophobics. They didn't care about those people, they just cared about each other, and the love they had. It somewhat warmed Spencer's heart to see her three best friends so happy. What bugged her was that she couldn't enjoy the rush of love!

"Everyone's dancing," Spencer quietly announced to Toby.

She was so nervous that she could hear her own heart beating! Her heartbeat was so loud and fast. She tried not to sweat. She didn't know if she put on enough deodorant to bypass the foul odor of being nervous. She glanced at him, waiting for his response. She didn't know why she was feeling that way. It was Toby Cavanaugh, the guy that she had retorted thousands of witty remarks to!

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head. "If you wanna..."

"We should," she said softly. "I mean, it's only a part of the experience of having a date, right? We don't want to act like we're not dates. It's just for tonight, anyways. We don't want to be the odd balls out that sit out during the slow dance!"

He slightly smiled at her. He put his hands on the sides of her stomach, not knowing if she was okay with him touching her waist just yet. They still weren't on friendly terms.

"Prude," she remarked. "Do you even know how to slow dance?"

There was the witty Spencer Hastings that he knew all too well!

"I didn't know if you were okay with it," he told her.

"Well, I'm not a prude, so go for it!" she said enthusiastically.

He had never seen her like that before. He sighed and put his hands on her waist. She tried not to smile as she put her arms around her neck. As lame as it sounded, it was her first slow dance. She hated to say that her first slow dance was with Toby Cavanaugh, but as he said earlier, 'I'll take what I can get'.

And they swayed.

It was awkward at first, but they got into it over some time. It was amazing how comfortable they got with each other over three minutes of some girl singing words that no one really cared about.

For the first time, she looked into his eyes, and she didn't see evil.

She didn't automatically pin his down as a villain. Her eyes welcomed his. It wasn't all bad.

Then she turned and saw Aria's lips making some serious magic with Jason's. He was practically holding her ass as he kissed her back. It was really weird to see Jason, her half-brother, kissing Aria, her best friend, like that! But she shook it off. She knew that Aria and Jason were pretty big fans of PDA. She may have even been jealous, just a little bit! Or maybe a lot...

Then she turned and saw Hanna and Caleb. They weren't kissing, but they certainly seemed happy together. They were talking and joking around together. Spencer grinned to herself when she saw Hanna laugh at something Caleb said. She was happy knowing that her friend was happy. And maybe a little more jealous...

And then, of course, she turned to Emily and Paige. The lesbo couple was actually PDA'ing. Their lips were connected. She was happy for Emily, really! Her best friend was comfortable with her sexuality, and clearly having a blast showing that off. Yeah, Spencer knew that Emily had kissed her girlfriend, she didn't need to see it! It wasn't that Spencer was homophobic—she supported Emily and Paige 100%! It was that everyone—Aria & Jason, Emily & Paige, and even Hanna & Caleb (who'd just met) were having romantic actions together.

She would be lying if she was saying that she didn't want to kiss... (insert vomiting action) Toby.

She wanted to kiss Toby.

So she did.

Her lips touched his.

He was wide eyed for a moment.

Spencer Hastings had just kissed him.

He was just kissing Spencer Hastings!