Note: Thank you for the comments. I really appreciate every single one of them. This part may not be that interesting, nothing much happens; however, the next chapter is all Spashley, so that'll be one to look forward to, I think. It'll be posted soon. :)

Complicated.

11:

Early Monday morning, around 2 a.m., after cramming hard for a test, Corey was in the bathroom brushing her teeth, getting ready for bed, when she heard two loud thumps in the hallway followed by cursing and soft giggling. She quickly rinsed her mouth and toothbrush before poking her head out of the bathroom door to inspect what was happening outside.

A very drunk Ashley was on the floor, trying to quiet the girl that was standing over her by shushing her.

"Uh, hi." A curious smile formed on Corey's lips as she eyed the pair. "What's going on?"

Ashley's friend twirled around and stopped giggling long enough to say, "Sorry. I think I got your roommate a little drunk."

Corey looked down at Ashley. She was making an attempt to stand on her own but having a very hard time at it. "A little?" the blond questioned, stepping forward, giving her roommate a hand. She slipped her arms under Ashley's and pulled up, lifting the brunette to her feet. After getting Ashley in a standing position propped up against the wall, Corey turned, facing the woman Ashley had brung home with her. With the only source of light coming from the bathroom, she wasn't able to see the woman clearly, but she could tell that she was blond and had on a short, slinky dress, with the spaghetti straps hanging off her shoulders. "Hey, uh, I think I got it from here. You can go now."

"No, I got it," the woman said, smirking. "I didn't come here just to drop her off, if you know what I mean."

"She's completely wasted. Look at her." Corey motioned toward Ashley, who had her head down, hair covering her face. She started to lean too far to the left and began sliding down the wall. Corey quickly grabbed hold of her, steadying her, then glanced back at the blond. "I don't think she's going to be much... fun tonight."

Annoyed and disappointed, the woman looked Corey up and down. "Well, what about you?" She smirked and moved behind Corey, placing her mouth up to Corey's ear. She whispered, "Are you up for some fun?"

Corey cleared her throat. "Sorry, uh, no. I'm not interested. At all." She pulled Ashley away from the wall and put one of the brunette's arms over her shoulders. "I'm going to get her to bed. You remember where the door is, right?"

"I'm not leaving."

"Excuse me?"

"Ashley wants me here. She wouldn't have invited me over if she didn't."

"Jesus! She's out of it, can't you see that?" Corey sighed, shifting her weight to her right foot, as she stood there, with Ashley's body hanging on her side. "Look, if you leave me your name and number, I'll be sure to give it to her tomorrow. Then, you guys can pick up where you left off some other time. As for tonight, nothing's happening, you're going home."

"Fuck this shit," the irritated blond muttered, spinning around and stomping down the hallway.

After getting Ashley settled onto her bed, Corey left the room to check if the annoying blond woman was really gone. She returned a moment later to find Ashley sitting up on her elbows, looking toward the doorway. "Did she leave?" she asked, quietly.

"Uh, yeah," Corey answered, staring at the brunette, confused. "Wow. You sober up pretty fast."

Ashley scooted to the edge of the mattress and removed her heels. "In the cab, on the way over, I realized I had slept with her before, about a year ago. She got kind of clingy afterward. Took me a couple weeks to get rid of her." She stood up from the bed and moved toward the dresser, tossing her purse to the floor on the way. There, she began removing all of the jewelry she was wearing; earrings, bracelets, necklace. She neatly set everything on the dresser top in individual piles. "So, not wanting to go through that hell again, I pretended I was more drunk than I really was, and when I got to my room, I was going to pass out. Or, you know, fake it."

Corey was highly amused by the situation. "You didn't remember her?"

Ashley smiled sheepishly. "I know that must sound terrible, but back then, she was a redhead. Now, she's a blond. Sometimes a change in hair color can completely transform a person."

With a smirk, the younger woman asked, "What tipped you off?"

"That annoying twelve-year-old giggle of hers. My god, did you hear that?"

Corey laughed. "Of course I did. That's the only sound she could make. Well, up until I told her to leave."

"Thanks for that, by the way. You didn't have to step in, but I'm glad you did. I'm not sure if pretending to pass out would've been enough to send her away. She seemed pretty determined."

"You were falling over drunk, there was no way I was going to leave you in her hands, free to do whatever the hell she wanted to you."

Leaning against the dresser, facing the blond, Ashley shook her head and smiled. "It's disgusting how sweet you are."

Corey rolled her eyes, and walked over to Ashley's bed, taking a seat at the foot of it. "So, did she recognize you? She had to have, right?"

"She's the one who approached me, so, yeah, I'm willing to bet she remembered me."

"And she never let on that she knew you? That's crazy."

"I know, she's psycho." Ashley reached behind her, pulling the zipper on her dress down before shedding the garment, letting it fall to the floor around her feet, leaving her only in a black strapless bra and panties. She stepped out of the dress and went back over to her dresser, taking out a t-shirt and shorts. "I always attract the psychos," she said, while slipping into the clothes.

Corey kept her gaze averted while Ashley changed. "I've gone out with a few psychos in the past. They're... interesting."

Fully clothed, Ashley sat down at the opposite end of the bed, with her back against the headboard. "Who wins the title of Biggest Psycho?"

"Out of my ex-girlfriends?"

The brunette nodded.

"Oh god, uh..." Corey chewed on her lip as she went through a mental list of all of her ex-girlfriends. "Naomi. Definitely Naomi," she replied, nodding. "We only went out for, like, six weeks last year. But I guess that was long enough for me to leave an impression. After I broke it off, she turned into a stalker. Everywhere I went, she showed up; school, parties, restaurants, the grocery store."

"How long did she keep it up?"

"About a month. My mom wanted me to file a restraining order against her but I wasn't scared of her, or threatened by her, so I didn't bother."

"How'd you get rid of her?"

"She found someone new to go crazy over. I was out of the woods after that. Haven't seen or heard from her since." Corey leaned back on her hands and looked over at Ashley. "What about you? Which one of your exes is the Biggest Psycho?"

"You know what, I couldn't say. I've gone out with too many. It'd be impossible to rank which one is more worthy of the Biggest Psycho title."

"I think the real reason is you don't remember all of them."

Ashley narrowed her eyes before cracking a smile.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Corey grinned.

"I remember them, just not their names."

Corey nodded, with a little smile, "Uh-huh, okay." She eyed the clock on Ashley's night stand, reading the time. 2:47. She had a class at nine, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to stick around and talk for a few minutes. "You missed a huge argument between Topher and Jenna earlier."

"They're always fighting."

"Really? I've never seen them fight before."

"You haven't lived her very long. They have it out nearly once a week." Ashley stood up on the mattress and grabbed one of the strings hanging from the ceiling fan, pulling it twice. The fan picked up speed, making the room instantly cooler. "What was it about this time?" she asked, returning to her Indian-style sitting position against the headboard.

"I have no clue. I was in my room trying to study. I heard a lot of yelling but with my stereo on I couldn't really tell what was being said."

"It was probably about loser Topher being unemployed. He's been mooching off of his parents and Jen for almost four months now. I think Jen's getting tired of it."

Corey laid back, putting her arms underneath her head. She stared up at her dark-haired roommate. "How did you meet Jenna?"

"Oh, uh, Lisa, the girl who lived here before you, introduced us at a party a few years ago. I was in a band with Lisa's boyfriend at the time, so I knew her through him. Jen was Lisa's best friend. They've been close for years; since grade school, or something like that. Anyway, after she introduced us, we all started hanging out a lot and became pretty close."

"What about Topher? How did Jen meet him?"

Ashley leaned forward, away from the headboard, and picked at her bedspread. "Topher used to be in a local hardcore band that Jenna liked. She met him after a show one night. It was a couple of weeks after I met her, so I've been around since the very beginning of their rocky relationship."

"It was rocky from the start?"

"Oh yeah. They're actually more stable now. When they met, Topher was pretty fucked up, addicted to crystal meth and shit. But Jen was drawn to him. I, personally, don't understand why." Ashley rolled her eyes. "They got serious really fast. After a couple of months of dating, they moved in together. That's when things started changing; he was getting high all the time, treating her like shit, sleeping around on her. She stayed with him for a year, a whole fucking year, before she finally got fed up and left. She moved in with Lisa and I, which didn't make Topher happy at all.

"One night, a couple of weeks after she ended their relationship, he came over here completely ripped. Forced his way inside. He went into the kitchen, where Jenna was, and dropped to his knees in front of her, locked his arms around her legs, and just sobbed, begging her to forgive him, to take him back, promising her he'd get help. Lisa and I didn't know what to do. We wanted to call the cops, but Jen wouldn't let us."

"What happened after that?"

"He did what he promised; he got help. She took him back. They've been together since."

"You don't seem too happy about that."

"I'm happy that they're happy, finally."

"But?"

"But... part of me has never been able to forgive Topher, for how he treated Jenna. She's like family to me, and he hurt her. Badly." Ashley pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I know he's changed drastically since then, he's done a complete one-eighty, but I think she deserves better."

"It's understandable that you feel that way, since she means so much to you."

The brunette rested her chin on her knees and frowned. "I've never been too good at letting go of things that happened in the past."

"Ah, a grudge holder."

"That's not a good characteristic to admit having, huh?"

"Not really, no. But thanks for doing so. I now know that if I ever get on your bad side I'll never be forgiven. So, from here on out, I'm gonna try to make an effort to stay on your good side."

Ashley put a hand over her mouth, stifling a yawn, before saying, "Hey, I forgive some people... sometimes." She smiled. "Depends on the situation."

"I'm not willing to take any chances on that," the blond grinned. "You're tired; I should let you get some sleep." She glanced back over at the clock. "I've got class in a few hours, anyway. I need to head to bed."

"Oh, okay."

Corey moved to the edge of the bed. When her bare feet hit the carpeted floor, she stood up and stretched her body.

Ashley got up as well to follow her roommate to the door. "Goodnight."

"'Night," Corey said with a smile before disappearing out into the hallway.

After the door was closed, Ashley leaned against it and, tiredly, ran her hands through her hair, tangling her fingers in the thick curls. Corey was amazing. Ashley should be happy that Spencer had found someone like her, right? Right.

Well, she wasn't.

- - -