Introductions are made and stupid jokes are said and this is no battle of skeletons on some distant shore – no clash of titans, not really – it is just two involvements getting pulled into an already fucked up relationship.

And Ashley knows it, even as her body holds tight to itself – out of protection – and as she allows Spencer this moment of… what is this? Vengeance? Anger? Inconsolable sadness?

She takes in this woman, the eyes that dance and the smile that comes simply and she knows that this woman has seen Spencer in the early morning light – and it cuts somewhere too close to the soul, it shatters another useless illusion that Ashley held onto.

Spencer has kissed others. Spencer has touched others. Spencer has revealed that body to others.

She snags another glass of wine and ignores Lauren's knowing looks, forgetting that Lauren is not some clueless girl from her sordid past – with nothing but glitter and greed in her bedroom eyes – Lauren knows everything and Ashley doesn't need to hear her say it to know it is true.

And this woman, Bailey, is blissfully unaware and speaking words that make no sense to Ashley at all – things that only Spencer knows and things that only Spencer can understand… and Ashley wants to leave so badly that her feet literally ache with the fleeing she is not doing.

But then, the strings pull taut and the slack is no longer given and Spencer is fixing Ashley with a daring gaze – too warm where it should be cold, too real where it should be false and suddenly Ashley is witness to every bad choice and every insurmountable fear in that blue stare.

Ashley is being challenged and being begged for and is the thing Spencer is terrified of… and the thing Spencer can't live without… and suddenly, so suddenly – yet so expected, so blatant and obvious – Ashley feels more hope than she ever believed to have a right to feel.

Because Spencer gave over skin and lips to others, but never the full breadth of her being – that belongs to Ashley and only Ashley… and as much as they run from one another, as much as they hurt and heal and do it again… as much as they sometimes don't want it be true…

Kyla was right. We've always been. Spencer and I have always been.

"Well, this has been an excellent night, but I've really got to go."

"Oh, of course."

"Thank you, Spencer, for the invite."

"Any time, Lauren."

"Bailey, pleasure to meet you."

Ashley watches the pleasantries get exchanged, but she is really watching Spencer and that confident woman seems to fade away under Ashley's unblinking observation – retreating to the days of shyness and cheerleading and the discovery of an unending affection.

"Do you need a ride home?" Lauren asks and Ashley only smiles, a slow and soft smile… one that Spencer sees and blushes at, looks away from hurriedly, turns to Bailey to try and escape from.

"I think not."

And Lauren nudges her shoulder playfully, like a friend, and maybe that is all they were ever meant to be. Maybe it was just the take-off before the actual flight and Ashley is glad to have not wounded anyone this time around.

Just herself, a little. Just Spencer, years ago and in some other world – a world they are both trying to forget and still fix.

Ashley steps back, smiling at the two ladies before her and hands that one server her empty glass – and turns down a refill.

"Well, I'll let you two catch up. I'm going to walk around and look at some of this modern art, see if it makes as much sense as your film, Spence."

"Uh, okay… sure."

"Bailey, very nice to meet you."

"Same here."

They shake hands and then Ashley moves into Spencer's personal space, only a tiny bit… just enough to let the woman know, to finally let her know just what they are so close to starting up again… and how much Ashley wants to start it up again.

You have no idea, Spencer… none at all… just how much I want you to be mine, for good.

But you are about to find out.

Her lips play over Spencer's ear and Ashley doesn't want to believe it is all in her imagination that Spencer silently trembles at the coasting of air against flesh – so she believes it to be real.

After so long of doubting, of self-recrimination and punishment, of trying to play things close to the chest… Ashley wants to believe that they are all they once were, the best of who they are with one another.

And she won't let it 'trip her up' this time, won't let a sister's warning words come true.

And she won't let Spencer throw it all away either.

"When you are ready to leave for the night, I'll be here."

And those blue eyes go dark before they catch themselves and right themselves and retreat – but Ashley knows all tonight.

And she won't back down.

Not this time. Not ever again. I did that so long ago and I lost everything. I won't do it again.

///

Spencer tries, she really does, to play her part and to play it well.

But it is hollow and she can't halt the anticipation building up in her body, up from her toes and straight to her dry mouth and using Bailey doesn't sound so great anymore.

Not that she would have slept with Bailey. Not that she would have even opened that door. But she would have pretended and that is a dark thought, a dark impulse, and Spencer thinks that those seven years just tainted her beyond belief.

How could anyone want this broken shell of who I once was? I don't even know if I want her myself…

Ashley isn't just 'anyone', though.

And the woman moves about the room, but never too far away.

Just like the night of Aiden and Kyla's wedding, when they chose to dance and be friends again – close but still a safe distance away, in sight and still fuzzy around the edges – hands stubbornly at ten and two.

Ashley isn't just some girl, some passing fancy, some bad memory.

She is all those things and she is everything else, too.

And Spencer knows that she is afraid – absolutely speechless with fear – when it comes to Ashley.

She wonders if she always kind of has been, one step behind and trying to catch up – chasing that elusive dream in the shape of a laughing smile and a sexy walk and a talented mess… chasing Ashley Davies down, catching her and not knowing what to do with her… claiming her and watching her walk away…

Those King High days are so haunted and every time Spencer lets them go, they just come back. It is a bad penny and a shattered mirror.

Seven years is a long time.

But living back there is so tiring, so exhausting… when all Spencer wants is to give in and just kiss Ashley again, wants to hold the woman and re-learn all those tender places… wants to finally get their forever, that flash of something amazing that she saw when they first made love…

Her hair about my face and hands so sure, so soft, so ready to catch me when I fall into her and her lips all over me and the terror of knowing just how much I could desire another person and how badly I wanted to imprint all of my teenage devotion upon her skin, upon her heart…

At that café, a year ago, she wouldn't have thought it possible.

They had to end. They had to sever the bond of girlhood and notebook-love.

And a year later, at this showing and with these people and Bailey flirting outrageously with some other blonde… Spencer is no longer some lost kid in the hallways of a new school.

And Ashley isn't that starry-eyed dream in the L.A. sky.

She is a woman, flawed and gorgeous. She is everything Spencer has ever loved, the best and the worst of the entire universe.

She's taken the first step… now it is up to you… if you want it, it is up to you…

And Spencer, even after being so sure that a battle would be the only outcome to this life, raises the white flag.

It doesn't feel like losing, though.

It feels like coming home.

///

TBC