Complicated.

6a:

Monday

Spencer was tucked into a small booth near the back of a crowded, dimly lit Mexican restaurant, facing the entrance so she could see Aiden when he arrived. A large window was to her right. The blinds were bunched up at the top, showing off the freshly Windexed surface. The leather seats were hard, not at all comfortable, and an inch too far from the table. The noise level was erratic. But it wasn't until she stared down at the laminated menu lying open in front of her that she wondered why she had let Aiden pick the restaurant. The words 'burrito' and 'enchilada' made her stomach churn. Deciding to go with a simple taco salad, she closed the menu and placed it at the end of the table.

Feeling fidgety, she removed the paper ring from the napkin wrapped around her silverware and nervously played with it.

The waitress, an older woman with tired brown eyes and streaks of gray in her dark hair, came up to the table and put a basket of warmed tortilla chips and a small bowl of salsa in the middle of the table. "I'm Rosa," she drawled out, removing a pad and pen from the pocket on her apron. "I'll be your server this afternoon." The words were robotic. Spencer could tell all this woman wanted was to go home and rest. "What can I get you to drink?"

"Iced tea, please."

Martha scribbled the drink order down on her pad. "Alright. I'll be back soon." With that, she spun around on her heel and shuffled away from the table.

While Spencer waited, her mind began to drift, as it had been doing throughout the entire day. Thoughts of Ashley bombarded her head. Seeing her had brought back a lot of old memories and feelings -- mostly painful.

She had spent the past four years trying to forget about Ashley Davies. But she never could. Like most people do with their first loves, she had elevated Ashley to this emotional plateau that no other person could possibly reach or exceed. It took her years to open herself up to other women. But it wasn't until Corey (who was so different from Ashley) came along that she was able to give her heart to someone again.

Meeting Corey, falling for her, had helped free Spencer of Ashley Davies once and for all. That door was finally able to close. But, now, just four short months later it was yanked open again. Ashley was back in her life. Spencer had finally moved on; found someone new; forgotten about Ashley. So, why? Why was the woman it took her nearly four years to get over suddenly thrust back into her life again? Why now? Why not a couple years before, when all she had wanted was Ashley to reappear into her life again?

Why?

She gave up asking after awhile, knowing she'd never receive the proper answers she was seeking, and tried to come up with other things to keep her mind on. But it was hopeless; her thoughts always wandered back to Ashley.

Finally, rescuing Spencer from her thoughts, Aiden walked up and slid into the side of the booth opposite from her. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner. There was traffic," he said as his excuse for running late. "Big pileup on the highway." He snagged a chip from the basket and dipped a corner of it into the chunky red salsa before shoving the whole thing into his mouth. "Have you ordered?" he asked, flipping open his menu.

"Not yet."

"What are you getting?"

"A small taco salad. I'm not that hungry."

A moment later, Aiden said, "I think I'm gonna go with the burrito, taco, rice and beans combination." He nodded as if telling himself that was a good choice. "Yeah, that sounds good." He snapped his menu closed and set it down on top of Spencer's. As he reached for another chip, his gaze strayed to the other side of the table, where Spencer was ripping up her paper napkin ring into several tiny, uneven pieces. He looked down at the small pile of shredded paper that had already accumulated in the center of the table. "So, uh, what's up?"

Spencer brushed a couple of stray paper bits into the pile, and half-heartedly shrugged her shoulders. "Not much."

"Are you sure?" Aiden doubtfully asked, with a cocked eyebrow. "I haven't received a lunch invitation from you in awhile, and whenever I do, it's always because something's up. Now, let me try this again--" He put one elbow on the table and rested his chin on the heel of his upturned palm, giving Spencer his undivided attention, "--what's going on?"

Quit stalling. Tell him. "Okay, um..." Leaving the mound of paper alone, Spencer scooted back against her seat and slid her hands underneath the backs of her thighs. "I stopped by Corey's new apartment yesterday," she started, slowly. "Met her roommates."

"Oh, right, I forgot she finally escaped the shitty dorm life and found a place. You really should keep me up to date when things like this occur." He popped another chip into his mouth. "I could've helped with the move."

"Well, she made the decision to take the place and move into it while I was in San Francisco, so I wasn't here to help either. She managed, though."

"So she's settled and everything?"

"Getting there."

"That's good." Aiden removed the dessert menu from the rack against the wall and skimmed the selections. "How was San Francisco?"

"It was... fine. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Spencer's eyes fell to the glossy tabletop. The pile of what used to be her paper napkin ring reclaimed her attention. "I started out trying to tell you before, but the conversation took a left turn somewhere," she said, while tearing the pieces of paper into even tinier pieces.

"Sorry." Aiden watched his friend carefully. "I thought we were doing the useless small-talk thing while you gathered up the courage to tell me whatever it is that has turned you into a human paper shredder," he smiled slightly.

Spencer smiled back embarrassingly and, once again, withdrew her hands from the clump of paper. "I'm really fidgety today, for some reason." She put her hands in her lap and laced her fingers. "Okay." She sighed. "I'm just going to say it before we start heading off in another direction again." She pulled her hands apart, wrapped them around the edge of her seat, and leaned forward to where the upper part of her body was hovering above her side of the table. "Ash--Ashley is one of Corey's roommates."

The words came out in a low, muttering tone, barely apprehensible, but somehow Aiden caught the words 'Ashley' and 'roommate'. At first, he wasn't sure who his friend was talking about. Then, the lightbulb over his head lit up. The name clicked. His eyes widened and flicked upward, connecting with Spencer's. "Ashley Davies?" he questioned, tossing the small tri-fold dessert menu aside.

Spencer nodded.

Aiden's mouth hung open for about half a minute, then closed. This open/close action was repeated a few more times before his voice box kicked in. "Holy hell" were the first words he uttered, which Spencer found appropriate.

"I know, I know."

Before Aiden could respond further, the waitress returned, placing a tall opaque glass in front of Spencer. "Are you two ready to order?" she asked in that same tired, robotic way as before. As they said their orders, she sloppily jotted everything down on her pad and repeated it back to them. "Alright," she said, picking up the menus from the end of the table, "I'll be right back with your drink order, young man."

Aiden smiled, "Thank you." After the woman scurried away, his attention immediately returned to Spencer and the conversation they were having before the interruption. "Tell me everything."

Spencer spent the next few minutes describing the shock she felt when she first saw Ashley and the awkward conversation they shared.

"What happened after that?"

"Nothing. After I went back up to the roof, she came up a couple minutes later and gave us this lame story about a friend calling to say they needed a lift to work, and that she was sorry but she had to leave."

"She probably got tired of watching you and Corey canoodling."

"Canoodling? What are you, sixty? No one uses that word anymore."

"Shut up."

Spencer smiled. "Corey and I were not 'canoodling'."

"There's never a time when you two aren't canoodling."

"Stop saying that word." The light-haired woman covered her ears with her hands. "You sound like my Papa."

Aiden just rolled his eyes and picked through the basket of chips for one that was curved so he could scoop more sauce onto it. Right then, the waitress reappeared with his Mountain Dew. He thanked her and went back to the chip basket. "Maybe fate's doing its thing," he said, restarting the conversation, "bringing the two of you back together again."

Spencer unconsciously played with her straw. "You believe in fate?" she asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure. Don't you?"

"Not really, no."

"Then, why are we here? Are we just stumbling through life without any real purpose?"

Spencer just shrugged in response, and took a sip of her iced tea.

"This is how I see it," the young man started. "We're all traveling through life in individual roller coasters, with our paths already mapped out before us. There's one person in our lives whose track overlaps with ours. Ashley is your person. You allowed her to join your track once but, since she never linked onto your car, she got away. Now fate's bringing you guys back together."

Spencer tilted her head to one side and remained quiet for a moment, just staring at her friend. "Interesting view, but I don't necessarily agree with it. You're implying that Ashley's my soul mate or something, and I think that's kind of--" She shook her head and smiled "--silly, to be honest. I mean, yes, Ashley was an important person in my life, but I don't feel as if we're destined to be together."

"Why not?"

"Because we're completely wrong for each other!"

"Maybe the gods of fate think otherwise."

Spencer rolled her eyes. She was getting tired of all the 'fate' talk. "If the gods of fate really wanted us together, they should've timed it a little better. I'm in love with Corey and, right now, she's who I'm meant to be with." She didn't mean for her words to come out as snappy as they had.

Aiden threw his arms up in the air and repelled backwards. "Okay, okay!"

Rosa came back to the table, carrying two plates. The one in her right hand was so hot she had to wear an oven mitt. She placed that dish in front of Aiden. They both thanked her for their meals before unwrapping their silverware and digging into the food in front of them with a fork.

Spencer asked Aiden about his job, wanting to get the conversation away from her and Ashley, but it eventually went back to them.

Aiden sighed, "If you want to avoid the short awkward chats you're dreading to have with her as you bump into each other in the hallway, you have one solution: befriend her again. I know you two ended things badly, but seeing as how she's your girlfriend's roommate now, I think you should try to work things out."

Spencer's stare fell to her plate, distracting herself by counting the diced tomatoes left buried between tortilla chips and leaves of lettuce. "I don't know if that's a good idea," she said, picking at a large chip with her fork.

"Why not? You're not still harboring feelings for her, are you?"

"Uh, no." Blue eyes flicked up to a pair of darker ones. "It's been four years, Aide. It'd be a little weird if I was still pining over her after all this time, don't you think?"

Aiden shrugged. "She was your first love. First loves stay with you." He watched as Spencer averted her gaze again. "Does Corey know?"

"I told her some things..."

"She knows you and Ashley were a couple, right?"

"Yes. Of course. I couldn't not tell her that."

"Well, you should probably sit down with her and explain everything else."

"Oh, now you're worried about Corey? Ten minutes ago you were telling me I belonged with Ashley."

"After you mentioned Ashley, I started to remember how in love you guys used to be and how perfect I thought you two were as a couple. I just got carried away, thinking about the good ole days." He grinned. "I wasn't trying to dismiss Corey, or imply that she isn't good for you. I love her. I think you two are great together."

"You do?"

"I do. Which is why I think you should tell her the whole Ashley saga." He smiled. "She's got to be curious about some stuff."

"I know she is." Spencer nibbled on her bottom lip. "I just--I don't know how to go about it. If I tell her about what happened between Ashley and I, and how long it took me to get over her, I'm afraid she'll get worried. I don't want her to question what we have."

"What was her reaction when she found out you and Ashley were once a couple?"

"She was really sweet about it all."

"I figured she was." Aiden took another bite of his taco and swallowed it down before saying, "I say tell her. She deserves to know. I really don't think she'll freak out. She's a pretty understanding chick, you know?"

Spencer smiled sweetly, "I know..."

Aiden set his fork down on his plate and leaned back against his seat, feeling stuffed. He never could finish a whole meal at this place. "Let's go back to the befriending Ashley topic."

The photographer shook her head. "I don't think Ashley and I can be friends."

"You'll never know unless you try," he argued. "Have coffee with her one day this week. Talk things out. If you're too uncomfortable to be alone with her, I'll go with."

With a sigh, the blond said, "I'll think about it."

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