Next update..it's really short, but I'm working on the next and it'll be much longer...Thanks for the reviews!! It is always welcomed....Thanks for reading!! feel free to write (constructive) criticism, comments, favorite moments, maybe what I can do better??Oh, and other characters will be in the next chapters..I just had to get the base down, ya digg!! :)

Disclaimer: I own not a damn thing!! :) 'cept the story line!! and other characters...

CH. 6: Role Reversal

"What are you doing here?"

The brunette looked away at Spencer's voice, breaking eye contact with the blonde and trying so feebly to steady her heart.

It had been eight years—eight years—and every day seemed to have molded Spencer into a more beautiful woman, clearly leaving behind the shell of adolescence that Ashley once knew. Spencer was slightly taller, blonde hair slightly darker, blue eyes unbelievably brighter, but sapphire-dark at the same time, all the while being impossibly more beautiful.

But it hurt. Spencer had pushed Ashley away. Spencer.

Now the blonde was the one who was angry?

"Nice to see you too, Spence," Ashley chuckled after a moment. Spencer didn't find it funny.

"Why are you here?" she repeated.

"You—uh, you invited me. The wedding?" Spencer looked confused, if not even more surprised.

"The wedding's in five and a half months…and I didn't send you an invitation."

Ashley flushed in embarrassment and shot a look to Spencer in uncertainty. "I-I have the invite in my car…are you sure—"

"We haven't spoken in…" the blonde trailed, disappointed eyes breaking contact for a mere second. "I didn't even know where you were."

Why hadn't she realized that before? Spencer would have never personally invited Ashley to her wedding—why would she? That would leave only one person…

"You sent the invite, didn't you." Ashley voiced eyeing Aiden incredulity.

Aiden, almost forgotten by Spencer, stood, back against the counter, whistling and eyeing his fingernails as if he had not a care in the world. In fact, Ashley would've laughed if she hadn't felt so ashamed. He looked up as he felt both pairs of eyes on him.

"Yea…" he answered, then added quickly, "But I swear it wasn't my idea."

"What the fuck, Aiden!?" Spencer shouted, furious.

"I was only trying to help," the black-haired boy responded in self-defense. "I didn't know she was coming back today!"

"You shouldn't have sent it in the first place! You had no right to!"

Ashley looked away, feeling immensely foolish for her presence. She had no business there; she was nothing more than an outsider, intruding in lives that were no longer apart of hers.

That hadn't been apart of hers for a long time.

"You shouldn't have sent it, Aiden," Ashley sighed sadly as she made her way towards the door. "I'm gonna go."

"No…" Spencer said quickly, grabbing Ashley's hand, "don't leave."

The electric shock went unmissed by both women. It shot through their veins, completely flooding their bodies and exciting the rapid beating muscles beneath their breasts. But it ended as soon as it happened, Spencer taking back her hand as if it was scorched.

They looked at one another, searching eyes trying to divulge answers of what just happened. But what Ashley saw only scared her so much more. Spencer's sapphire eyes only surrendered sadness…disbelief…pain.

She was certain that her eyes claimed the same.

"I gotta go."

And with that, Ashley was left with a painful déjà vu as she closed her eyes and imagined the blonde walking away.

June 2000: Night before graduation…

"What are you doing here?"

Spencer looked down, focusing on something interesting on her shoe. She expected the question, but not with its underlying disappointment. Not with its poorly hidden sadness.

Not with so much rejection.

"I wanted to see you," she voiced quietly. Ashley's room had never felt so big, the distance between her bed and the window Spencer snuck through seeming like endless miles between them.

"I don't have anything to say, Spence." Ashley sat up on her bed, eyeing the uneasiness of her friend—because she still considered her a friend—and wished that she could just make it go away. But she couldn't. Not this time.

Spencer's head shot up, immediately making eye contact with chocolate colored eyes, searching for a hint of anything that resembled her friend, only to find that she was unable to read her.

"Don't do this, Ash," the blonde pleaded, "Please don't push me away."

"Spencer, don't act like you actually care," Ashley spat.

"Ashley Davies," Spencer said, suddenly angry. "If you don't see how much this is fuckin' killing me then you don't know me at all! Don't act like the damn victim all of the time."

Ashley shot up from her bed, throwing her hands up in irate disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me. The victim!? When have I ever been the fuckin' victim, huh? The times when you sneak into my bed almost every night and I hold you because your parents are fighting about Lord knows what? Or maybe the times when I give you advice about the boyfriends that I can give two shits about, guys that don't even deserve you! Or maybe I'm the victim when the only person…" Ashley paused briefly as her voice broke, trying to stop the unshed tears fall over the edge of her "when the only person I love most in this world breaks my heart over, and over again. That's it, right? That must be it, because the one time I finally break, I become the damn victim."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," Spencer said quickly, rushing over to her now sobbing friend. She reached up, attempting to pad the tears away, only to have Ashley back away.

"No," she spoke softly, voice broken, "don't try to fix this, okay? You don't get to make this alright."

"I miss you so much, Ash. I need my friend back."

"Friend, Spence! It's a little late for that, don't you think?"

"I can't…" Spencer whispered dejectedly, "We can't—"

"Dammit, Spencer! You kissed me! Then you walk away and acted like it meant nothing. That I mean nothing."

"No, Ash," Spencer cried, tears betraying her as they fell from her eyes, "you are everything to me. Everything. Just give me—"

"Time? Don't tell me that, okay. I see it in your eyes. You're scared, and I get that, I really do. But damn, one second you're hot, the next you're cold. And I just–I can't deal with it anymore."

"What do you want from me, Ashley?"

Ashley took a moment. It was simple. It really was. "I want you. That's all I've ever wanted."

Spencer nodded as she inched towards her. Ashley didn't move this time, allowing the blonde to become closer than she has in days. Spencer slowly raised her right hand, letting her fingers glide across her forehead, before she gently removed the hair from her eyes. Ashley closed her eyes, placing her forehead against Spencer's causing the blonde's eyes to flutter close. Their lips were a hair's breadth apart, both breathing in one another's sweet air, tasting and reveling in the intimacy. And Ashley could have sworn that Spencer was going to kiss her. She felt it in the blonde's touch. She felt it in her own heart. And their lips did meet, gently, angelically pressing together, unmoving. But the ball was in Spencer's court, both knew it. Spencer already knew what Ashley wanted. What she herself wanted so fucking bad.

And maybe if it wasn't so wrong, she would've done it. Maybe if Ashley knew how hard Spencer's mother made it, how much Paula Carlin actually knew, maybe Ashley would've understood.

Maybe if it was a different universe it wouldn't have hurt so damn much.

Ashley felt it before she heard it—Spencer pulling away. She felt it because as Spencer pulled back slightly, lips still touching hers, foreheads connected, she felt her heart tug with the soft words written on her lips.

"I can't Ash."

She kept her eyes closed, body feeling extremely cold as the blonde left, hurrying through the window. Despite the tears resting on the brim of her eyelids, she couldn't cry. There was no point, and as she went over to the window, needlessly shutting it and securing the lock, she limply fell to the ground, praying for the tears to fall.

"I'm sorry, Ash."

Ashley shook her head. "Why the fuck did you not just tell me? I wouldn't have come back if I knew she didn't want me here."

Aiden sat against the counter silently, thinking. "I was just trying to help."

The brunette wordlessly nodded her head as she sat on the black leather couch. She sighed deeply in frustration, running her fingers through her brunette locks. "It was a mistake coming back."

"Well what did you expect, Davies? A welcome home party? You left her."

"You don't know shit, Aiden!" Ashley shot, suddenly angry. "She pushed me away. You of all people should know that I tried to back off!"

"You're not innocent in this, Ashley—"

"Fuck! Don't you think I know that?!" She spat, becoming impatient. "I fucked up! I know I did. And there's not one day—not one single day—where I don't regret it." Aiden looked at her sadly as she continued her heartfelt rant. "But the first thing that came to mind was, 'Spencer, my Spencer, is getting married.'"

"She's not yours, Ash. Not anymore."

"I know," she sighed in defeat. "And you know what? I don't even know what the hell I was expecting." Without another word, the brunette rose from the couch and made her way to the door.

"Ashley," she heard suddenly. She looked to her right to see Aiden standing, hands in the pocket of his jeans as if he was contemplating something.

"What, Aid?" She questioned, right hand on the doorknob.

"She works at the Duartes'…it's a little bakery down the street."

The brunette shot him a confused look. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Figured you should know," he shrugged simply.

Ashley turned the knob to leave, opening the door and only slightly pausing when she heard Aiden's voice once more...

"She works 'til eight."

…and she shut the door.