CHAPTER 23: Everyone Makes Mistakes

SPENCER'S POV:

I froze. My body tensed up, and I felt the heat rise to my face. Emily was kissing me. She was really kissing me. However, the moment was over as quickly as it began. Emily pulled away hastily, and looked at me, fear flooding her eyes.

"Oh my god Spencer I am so sorry!" She cried. "I don't know what I was thinking; obviously I wasn't if I did something like that." She rambled.

"You know what, I'll just go. I'm so sorry Spencer, I'm so sorry. God I'm so stupid!" She sobbed as she got up and ran out of my room.

Finally snapping back to my senses, I got up to run after her.

"Emily wait!" I cried, but I heard the front door slam close and knew she was already gone. Standing in my doorway, I sunk to my knees.

What had just happened?

ARIA'S POV:

I was talking to Hanna about the new situation with Spencer when Emily ran out the door crying. I glanced over at the blonde beside me, and we exchanged silent words.

"I'll go check on Spencer." I decided, and Hanna nodded.

"I guess I'll be outside." She sighed. Both of our friends needed us.

I walked upstairs to get to Spencer's room, only to find her kneeling in her doorway. She didn't acknowledge my presence, and remained staring off into space.

"Spencer?" I asked, kneeling beside her. "What's wrong? What happened? Why did Emily run off crying?" I questioned.

Spencer mumbled something inaudible.

"What?"

Spencer sighed and looked at me.

"She kissed me." She stated solemnly.

"Seriously?" I felt a huge smile creep onto my face before I remembered that Emily had run off crying.

"Wait, what happened to make her run off?" I wondered.

"I froze. I wasn't expecting her to do that, and I froze. She freaked out after realizing what she had done, and ran off crying and rambling apologies." Spencer explained wearily. She looked exhausted still.

"Oh." I muttered.

A few moments of silence went by before I broke the ice.

"So Spencer…do you like Emily as more than a friend?" I asked.

Spencer sighed. "No. I wish I did, but I don't." She coughed lightly and I reminded myself to keep an eye on that.

"What do you mean you wished you liked her? That makes no sense." I was getting confused.

"I wish I liked her, but it's not that simple." Spencer replied.

"Why isn't it that simple?" I questioned, curious as to what Spencer meant.

Spencer blushed a little before responding.

"Because I love her." She mumbled.

"Ohhhhhh…" I felt myself trail off. Spencer didn't like Emily, she loved her. This was more serious than I thought.

"I'm sorry, you probably didn't care to know that." Spencer rambled, starting to get uneasy.

"No no, it's fine! You can tell me anything, you know that. I know it's hard for you for now but you'll get used to it." I reassured the anxious girl.

"I hope so." Spencer smiled, and I was relieved I hadn't caused her more stress.

"So if you love Emily, then why didn't you kiss her back?" I wondered. Spencer blushed even more, but this time it was due to embarrassment.

"I was taken by surprise, and by the time I knew what was happening she was out the door. If she hadn't of left so quickly, perhaps things would have gone differently." Spencer pointed out.

"I see. That makes sense." I grabbed Spencer's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Well, I know for a fact that she loves you too. You guys will get through this, these are just the awkward stages. She may distance herself from you for now, but hopefully in time she'll forgive herself and you two can mend things. Right now she's probably feeling pretty guilty." I admitted.

"You're probably right." Spencer yawned.

"Why don't you go back to sleep before you catch anything. I'll be downstairs." I reminded her. Spencer nodded and got up to get more rest.

"Thank Aria, for everything. I'm sorry I had a hard time opening up to you before, and that I lied to you. I didn't mean to hurt you." Spencer said softly.

"I know. We understand." I smiled, and closed the door behind me.

HANNA'S POV:

I walked outside to see Emily getting into her car.

"Emily wait!" I called after her, but she didn't listen.

I ran up to the car door as she was about to pull away and grabbed the door.

"EMILY FIELDS I SAID WAIT." I commanded.

Emily rolled her eyes, and opened the door for me.

"What do you want Hanna?" She was upset, and I felt pity for my friend.

"I just want to talk with you. You kind of stormed off without telling me what's wrong." I reminded her.

"It's none of your business." She mumbled.

"Uh, you're my friend, so of course it's my business. Let's talk." I smiled. Emily rolled her eyes again, but didn't object and put the car back into park.

I climbed into the seat next to her and glanced at her. "Emily, what happened? All I know was that first you were waiting for Spencer to wake up. Aria assumed Spencer had said something and is up there now talking to her, but…what happened?" I questioned again.

Emily sighed, tears welling in her eyes. "I made a mistake." She mumbled.

"What do you mean? Did you say something? Did Spencer say something?" I asked, curious.

"Spencer woke up, and we were talking. She was being so open and honest, and we were so close…" Emily drifted off.

"Oh my gosh Emily you didn't!" My voice rose in pitch.

"I did. I shouldn't have, it was stupid of me…" Emily rambled but I wasn't listening.

"You kissed SPENCER? Oh my gosh, this is awesome. Aria and I have been predicting this for weeks! Oh just wait! You guys are going to be so cute together-"

"Hanna stop!" Emily snapped. I frowned, uncertain of what I did to make her mad.

"What-"

"She didn't kiss me back." Emily whimpered.

"Oh…" I cursed myself for jumping to conclusions and hurting my friend. I was so certain things would go better.

"Why not?" I asked. "I know that she likes you, or I'm pretty sure. I've seen the way she looks at you." I reassured her.

"I don't know. I guess we all read the situation wrong." Emily frowned. "I just made a really big mistake, and probably hurt the damned girl even worse. God I'm such a crappy friend." Emily growled.

"Hey hey, don't say stuff like that. You are the best friend Spencer could have, and most likely someday you will be more to her. Maybe today just wasn't a good day. She's been through a lot. Besides, even if she doesn't like you that way, she'll forgive you in a heartbeat. You know that." I smiled.

Emily sighed. "I know. I'm just having a hard time finding a way to forgive myself. But I don't think it's going to happen ten minutes after I messed up. So I'm going to head home." Emily replied, motioning for me to get out of her car.

"Okay, I get it. It'll be a shame to see you go, you know Spencer probably wants to talk to you." I reminded her.

"I know. But I don't think I could face her again, not right now." Emily looked away, and I got out of the car.

"Drive safe Emily. Call if you need anything. Just give her some time, that's all." I smiled lightly and watched as she drove away. I sighed and walked back up to Spencer's house.

SPENCER'S POV:

I know Aria told me to get some rest, but I couldn't sleep. Hanna and Aria went home after a while, thinking I was upstairs resting. I had hoped to talk to Emily, but figured she didn't stick around.

I sat up and sighed. What happened? Why didn't I kiss her back? I love her…

I groaned and ran my fingers through my hair. I was weak, and a coward. I wasn't even able to kiss the woman I love back.

Oh come on, she took you by surprise.

I rolled my eyes and flopped back on my bed. I was sick of thinking.

"Spencer?" Melissa had creaked the door open.

"Sorry, I didn't know if you were awake or not." She smiled and started to close the door.

"Wait!"

She turned and looked back at me.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked, unsure of how she would take the request.

"Of course." She smiled softly and walked over, sitting on my bed next to me.

"I need some advice….and I know I don't normally ask you about this kind of thing, I normally don't speak to you much at all, but I was hoping you could help…" I asked cautiously.

"You need help with the whole Emily thing, am I right?" Melissa smirked.

"What? How do you know?!" I was startled.

"Relax. Aria and Hanna explained what happened to me. They wanted to make sure I knew what was going on in case…" She trailed off, not wanting to delve into that subject any more.

"I see." I muttered.

"Besides, I knew you liked her anyways. It was pretty obvious." She laughed.

"What?! No it was not!" I snapped. Melissa smiled.

"It was more obvious than you think." She grinned.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Okay okay, are you going to help me or just tease me?"

Melissa chuckled. "Of course I'll help you. Do you just want my opinion on this? I'm not sure, we've never really gone to each other for advice." She admitted.

"I'd love to hear your opinion about it." I replied.

"Okay." Melissa thought it over for a while before answering. "If I were you, I would go see her tomorrow. Contact her, talk to her, let her know what happened. Let her know what you feel about her." Melissa explained.

"Okay. But what if she won't talk to me?" I wondered.

"Then I guess you'll just have to try again another day. But definitely go in person, it will be have more of an impact on her, and is more respectful." Melissa mentioned.

"That makes sense. I guess I'm just worried she won't ever want to talk to me again." I sighed and hung my head. Melissa wrapped her fingers around my hand.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. Most people would have reacted the same way if they were in your position. It's natural. You can work this out. You're a smart girl, and you both have feelings for each other. Those feelings will bring you together, it's just going to take some time." Melissa encouraged me.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I smiled.

"You guess? Who's had more relationship experience?" Melissa joked.

I laughed. "Fine! You're right…" I chuckled. She laughed with me before sliding off my bed.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to get some sleep. I hope my advice was helpful." She smiled.

"Thank you Melissa." I yawned and crawled back into bed. "Love you sis.." I muttered, before I realized what I said. I felt my face heat up, but I didn't say anything else.

"Love you too Spencer."

I smiled. Love was rarely announced in this house, especially between the two of us. It was a nice change.

I closed my eyes, thinking about what was going to happen between Emily and me. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.