Author's Note:

Yes, I said I won't be posting again until Tuesday, but I lied! :P There's a reason behind my haste though...

There seem s to be a bit of anger aimed towards Spencer in the reviews, which I can totally understand; I'm not sure I like her character very much myself so far, but, ever since I began writing this story, I've had a rough plan in my head (and on paper) of how this would work... I was going to go for a much more subtle approach, however, it seems that some people are unhappy with the way things are going. I'm going to give in to your impatience and give it to you straight in this chapter. To make myself clear, I DO NOT, and WILL NOT condone cheating, and I have no intention of hurting any of the characters (Yes, that includes Casey) in this story. Anyone who doubts me, just read on. There's a pretty succinct conversation between Ashley and Casey at the end, followed by a little internal monologue. If that doesn't make my intentions clear, I don't know what will. I'm not going to spell it completely out for you, because then that would ruin the story. In fact, I don't really want to have to reveal so much in this chapter; I'd rather work at my own pace, but some people are hard to please ;)

Also... Spencer will be getting a taste of her own medicine; I promise you that. I'm not planning on letting anyone move forward without her getting the little punishment she deserves...

If you don't want to read on (which some of you have already admitted to), that's fine. There are plenty more awesome fics out there I'm sure will float your boat. You can't please everyone I guess...

Anyway, rant over! :D

Feel free to leave a review and tell me what an awful person I am ;)

Also, hello to the regular reviewers (You know who you are!) I like you all very much :)

So... In hopes of reassuring some folk, let's move the story on a few days, shall we?

Not a lot going on in this chapter unfortunately. It's a bit rushed, as I only wrote it within this past hour or so, wanting to get it out there to reassure people. The important bit is the conversation at the end.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.


Chapter 8:

So it's been three days since we visited the fair. Three manageable days. Spencer and I have managed to stay away from any awkward situations that threatened to leave us alone together. Bed time, meal times, car trips... We've done a pretty good job of steering clear of each other, and anytime we have had to make conversation, it's been nothing but friendly.

I will admit that I may have stolen a few, okay, a lot, of glances, and I'm pretty sure she has as well, but we've been very good.

It may just be wishful thinking on my part too, but if I'm honest, Casey and Spencer really haven't been acting like a regular couple. They seemed pretty happy the first day or so, but since then,there have been no fleeting touches, no hidden looks, and definitely no stolen kisses. Trust me, I've been watching.

We've decided to take it easy today, having a nice lie in before going bowling in the afternoon, Pam and Rob included. Annie even agreed to join in; she doesn't have to move a lot, so the baby will be fine.

The kids have their own lane, whilst us adults are split into two teams; simply girls VS boys. As there are five of us and only four of them however, the boys had agreed before the game to put in the extra name 'Steve' and take it in turns to take the extra shots.

The kids are happy enough in their little lane, giggling and playing nicely, whereas the competition at this end is getting pretty heated... Dale and Glen already have a superfluous amount of testerone individually, but when they're brought together during a friendly competition, things can get out of hand. Yes, it's girls VS boys, but I'm pretty sure they have their own little Dale VS Glen competition going on over there. I hope Chase wins. Stick it to them both...

Us girls are actually doing pretty well... Spencer sucks, although her ass looks really great when she bends over like that, so I'll let her lack of skill slide... But man, Pam has some badass bowling skills! She kept them quiet... Truthfully though, I think the only reason Casey and I have been knocking any pins down is because we have the bumper raised. There's a lot of bumping going on, I'm telling you. Annie isn't too bad, but I'm sure she's had plenty of private lessons from Grandmaster Dale over there in the early stages of their romance... Well it's true, isn't it? Almost every time you start dating someone new, you're going to end up going bowling at least once in the early stages...

Pam seems to notice the feud going on between Dale and Glen and calls Chase over to whisper something to him. She's using her hands to mimic the movement of a bowling ball. Looks like someone's getting lessons... He nods before returning to the boy's lane.

After I take my turn, I take a seat to watch Chase as he gets ready to bowl. He pauses for a second before taking the shot...

Strike. Nice!

Glen and Dale immediately turn their attention to Chase who just shrugs. Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we've got ourselves a competition...


So we finish our bowling and start to head back to the house again.

It's safe to say the girls lost, even with our secret weapon, Pam on the team. But we were up against a team of four guys, three of whom happened to be oozing with testosterone and had their own man competition taking place, so really, can you blame us? The kids' game was pretty close between Lucy and Brooke, Lucy beating Brooke by a mere 3 points in the end. I blame it on her dad. Competitiveness must run in the family...

Pam came out on top of the girls' team. Overall though, I'm pleased to say Chase came out on top, Pam's advice really paying off. Dale and Glen were less than pleased though, competitive jerks...

When we get back to the house, we get our dinner before just chilling out, all of us doing our own things before bed time.

Dale, Chase and Glen decide to keep the competition going by shooting a few hoops out back. Max and Emily are falling asleep on Annie as she reads them a story, Rob's reading a newspaper, and Pam's reading her book. Brooke and Lucy are colouring in the corner, while Casey, Spencer and I are playing Scrabble.

"Casey, I don't think that's a word..."

"Of course it is, Ash!"

"Umm... No. No, I don't think it is."

"Ash, 'stupidest' is a word, trust me. And you're the 'stupidest' for not knowing that! Tell her, Spence!"

"Umm... I think she's right, Casey..."

"What? Who's side are you on? Hey, Pam?" Pam looks up from her book. "Is 'stupidest' a word?" Pam chuckles slightly at this.

"No, Casey."

"Aww man! Okay, I guess I'll just settle for this then..." She places her letters down before leaning back again.

"Uh, Case... I don't think 'stupider' is a word either..."

"Nuh-uh..." Spencer shakes her head, agreeing with me.

"What? This game sucks!"


Once we get the kids to bed and get ourselves washed and into our night clothes, we say our goodnights and head to bed. Despite not doing much today, I'm pretty tired, so more or less as soon as I climb into bed, I turn of the bed side lamp.

I'm almost over to sleep when there's a faint tap on my door. I don't say anything as I hear it creak open slightly.

"Hey, Ash. You asleep yet?" It's Casey.

"No. No, come on in." I turn my bedside lamp on, illuminating the small room as I sit up.

Casey makes her way over, taking a seat beside me on the bed.

"So what's up?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought we could spend some time together before bed. You know, like we used to?" I chuckle.

"Oh yeah, remember the after-hours ghost stories?" She smiles at this.

"Yeah... Hey remember that time we thought we killed Pam?"

"Oh God, how could I forget; we were in the dog house for days..."

"Yeah... Those were the good days... And then you met Paige and brought her here."

"Yeah... and now you've brought Spencer."

"Yeah..." she doesn't exactly look happy...

"Speaking of... What's your story?"

"Our story?"

"Yeah, like how did you meet? Who asked who out?

"Well... Actually, we were friends before we started dating. You've heard me talking about Madison, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay, well, Madison was a mutual friend, so we met through her. We all started hanging out, along with Spencer's other friend, Chelsea. I happened to mention that I thought Spencer was cute, and of course, Madison took that as 'I have a huge crush on that girl', so after that, she was always really pushy in trying to get us to hook up. Eventually, we all went to this house party. To cut a long story short, a little too much alcohol was consumed by both parties, Madison was her usual pushy self and we woke up together the next morning. Since we were already friends, I didn't want to make things awkward, so I just kind of asked her out; I didn't know what else to say..."

"And then things started to get serious, huh?"

"Pfft, serious? Ash, we haven't even been going out two months yet. I'd hardly call that serious." Interesting...

"You wouldn't?"

"No! Look, I'm not your typical lez, okay? I didn't bring a U-haul to our second date. Heaven forbid I catch her with a turkey baster..." Haha, she made a funny... "Spencer's a great girl, and she gets on really well with the family and all, but I don't know... There's just something missing... I don't quite know what it is yet, but whatever it is, it's just not there... Things are great when we're with the family, or out with friends, but when we're alone, it kind of magnifies our differences, you know? I tried to let it go, thinking that in time, feelings would grow, but I guess we just don't click in that way. I'm kind of thinking we were better off just as friends..." Holy cow, did she just say what I think she said?

"You are?"

"Yeah... I mean... She doesn't even like Nicki Minaj..." Oh no, they really are quite different, aren't they? "To tell you the truth, I only invited them because I knew their uncle lived nearby. I only intended on asking them to stay for a few days, but Chase let slip to Glen that we're here for the month, and he got the wrong end of the stick; total miscommunication. Anyway... I just don't think we're right for each other, but I can't break up with her. That would just make things awkward. I hate awkwardness... And I wouldn't want to spoil anyone's vacation." Yeah... Well this is new...

"Yeah...Uh..." Just then, she leans over and hugs me.

"Thanks, Ash. Good talk. It feels good to get that off my chest. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight!" With that, she makes her exit, leaving me stunned as I sit on my bed.

I'm seriously considering putting a sign up on my bedroom door that reads, 'Confessions'. That seems to be what people are using me for anyway... I slide down in my bed, staring up at the ceiling as I process all the new information I've just had to take in.

Okay, so let me get this right...

I like Spencer.

Spencer likes me.

Spencer's with Casey.

But Spencer wants to break up with Casey because there's clearly something between us.

Casey also wants to break up with Spencer because there's clearly nothing between them.

Spencer can't break up with Casey right now because she thinks Casey will be mad and the situation would be made awkward.

Casey can't break up with Spencer right now because she thinks Spencer will be mad, again, leading to an awkward situation.

Well... If this isn't awkward, I don't know what is... I think it's best I just go to sleep. My brain is frazzled right now. What a total mind fuck...

A/N – So... You get where I'm going with this now? And don't worry, Casey will not be Forever Alone. Really, I'm actually a very nice person...