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Chapter Twelve-

Outside the Restroom

Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars, in anyway, only this story.

Friday, December, 20th, 2013

Spencer sighed as she smoothed down her black, Belstaff dress in the mirror and slipped on her black, three-inch Saint Laurent pumps. The whole "gang"-which consist of Spencer, Aria, Hanna, Emily, Ezra, Caleb and new "member", Samara- were all going out for dinner at a Philadelphia-local formal restaurant.

Spencer had spent the past whole week, ignoring phone calls and texts from Toby, wondering what could have been if she had kept Greyson, wondering why she was making such a big deal out of this and trying to work up the nerve to call Toby or answer one of his calls. But, for some reason she just couldn't do it, she thought it was mostly just because she made a fool out of herself, by ignoring him after a little run-in with Greyson, and she wasn't in the mood to answer all of his questions. She just wanted to pretend that none of this happened. She just wanted to go back to last Friday, before she had ran into Greyson, or at least back to right after it had happened, so she could handle the situation a bit more maturer, than she had.

With all this said, she basically just wasn't in the mood to go out and socialize, but she also didn't want to let down her friends, who were counting on her to be at the dinner and she also knew that she should probably go out and do something for the first time in the past week.

She here she was, standing in her bedroom, looking at herself in her body-length mirror and waiting for Emily to finish getting ready.

.

After what seemed like an hour, but in reality was only five minutes, Emily came trotting into Spencer's room.

The first word to abandon Emily's mouth were, "Oh my gosh, Spencer! You look like you're going to a funeral!"

"What? Why?" Spencer asked, looking down at her choice of attire.

"You're wearing all black. You've been so down lately, it's even starting to rub off on your wardrobe!" Emily paused for a second, "Wait, give me one second," Emily said, then run off to her bedroom. After just a few seconds Emily returned, "Here, put on this," Emily said, handing Spencer a purple belt and a purple cuff bracelet, to give her outfit some color.

"Okay.." Spencer said, a bit iffy, but put the belt around her waist, none-the-less. "Since when did you become so Hanna-like?" Spencer questioned.

"I don't know, but I do know that if we don't get going now, were going to be late! And remember when you would always say 'Spencer Hastings can never be late'?"

Spencer sighed, "okay let's go," she agreed and they both made their way to the restaurant.

As predicted, Spencer and Emily were the last to arrive at the restaurant where the "group" were attending dinner. After being seated with the others and making themselves comfortable Spencer and Emily joined in on the conversation that the others were engaged in. They were talking about what they were doing for Christmas.

"So, Spencer, are you going to your parents for Christmas? Or will you be spending time with your new beau?" Hanna asked, curiously, looking up from her menu.

"Um, I don't know yet," Spencer replied, not even sure if her and Toby would still be together by Christmas, although it was only a couple weeks away.

"I totally think you should spend it with Toby. You guys are like the cutest! Well, I mean next to me and Caleb. But, anyways, you might also get to spend time with Greyson! How awesome would that be?!" Hanna exclaimed, busting with excitement.

"Caleb and I, Hanna. It's Caleb and I," Spencer corrected.

"Whatever," Hanna said, turning her attention to the newly arrived waitress.

"Has everyone arrived?" the waitress asked.

"No, actually we have one more coming. He should be here soon," Aria replied, giving the waitress a sweet smile.

"Well, when he arrives, I will be back to take your order," the waitress said, and made her way to the other side of the restaurant.

"Who else is coming?!" Spencer asked, looking around to make sure everyone in the group was present.

"That would be me," a deep voice said from behind Spencer.

Spencer turned around to see Toby had just approached them. Toby took a seat next to Spencer. And Spencer gave Aria questioning look.

"I had to invite Toby! Since you guys are a thing, Toby is like part of our group now!" Aria explained, oblivious to Spencer's run-in with Greyson. Spencer just gave Aria a small smile. Then, Spencer looked towards Emily, to see her giving her a sympathetic look.

After a few minutes, the waitress had came back and took everyone's order. Spencer had done fairly good at making as little contact with Toby has possible, so far. And after the waitress had left again, Toby had thankfully engaged in a conversation with Caleb, so Spencer wouldn't have to worry about conversing with Toby.

She was took by surprise though, we she felt Toby's hand lightly glazing her own and then his large fingers interlocking between her skinny ones. She allowed him though. She didn't want him to be suspicious that she was still hung up over her run-in with Greyson- if the fact that she ignored all his attempts at contacting her, wasn't obvious enough. After a little convincing to herself, Spencer turned her head towards Toby and gave him a little reassuring smile, then went back to her conversation with the girls and allowed Toby to go back to his with Caleb.

Once everyone had finished eating their meal and were waiting for dessert, Spencer had decided that her glass of water and two glasses of wine had gotten to her and she needed to go to the washroom. She excused herself from the table, stood up, fixed her dress, then made her way to the ladies room, on the other end of the restaurant.

.

While Spencer was emptying her bladder, back at the table, Toby had also excused himself for the men's room. He made his way in the direction that Spencer had walked in, but instead of walking through the door of the men's washroom, like Spencer had to the women's washroom, which was right next to the men's, he stayed outside the door and waited for Spencer.

.

After relieving herself, and washing her hands, Spencer fixed her hair, reapplied her lipstick, then made her way out of the washroom. As soon as she walked out through the restroom's door, she was met with the familiar face of Toby Cavanaugh.

"Uh, um, h-hi," Spencer stuttered.

"Sorry, if I frighten you," Toby apologized. "But, we need to talk."

"Um, yeah, okay," Spencer replied.

"So, do you want to explain to me why you have been ignoring me, my texts and my calls the past few days? Does it have anything to do with the run-in with Greyson?" Toby questioned.

"Well, yeah. It was stupid and immature for me to get so upset over that, though, I'm over it now."

"No, no, Spencer, I get it. I mean, it must have been so hard to see your son again, after having to give him away to a stranger. I get it. You didn't have to ignore me, though. I'm here for you, through everything. I hope you know that," Toby said, sincerely.

"Thank you, that means a lot. But you can't say that you understand or that you're sympathetic, because you haven't been through anything like this before; you don't get it... Unless you aren't telling me something," Spencer replied.

"Okay, I actually haven't told you something.. But it's not like that. You are right, I don't completely understand, but I can somewhat relate, because I am actually adopted. When I was ten, my mother was put into a psychiatric hospital, and my father was never around so, I was put into a foster home for a year, until I was finally adopted. I recently found my biological mother again. She is out of the psychiatric hospital, but she now has cancer. I visit her a lot, and every time I visit her, she apologizes for putting me through that. I know she feels horrible, although it was her fault, so I can't even imagine how you feel," Toby explained.

Spencer sighed, "I'm sorry. And I feel really bad for you. But, that still isn't the same. Your mother had saw you, heck, she had lived with you for ten years, before you were took away, so, it wasn't as bad to see you again, but, I hadn't even saw Greyson before, that day at the store. That my first time seeing my own son. It was hard," Spencer said, crossing her arms and straightening up from leaning against the wall.

"I'm sorry, Spence, I didn't know that it was your first time meeting him," Toby reached his hand out to touch her forearm. Spencer hesitated at first, but didn't object.

"That's why I wasn't there, when you took Greyson from the hospital. I didn't want to see him. I was afraid I would fall in love with him, and not be able to give him away, which would therefore, keep him from you and also ruin my reputation, so I choose to just not see him; not even take a peek at him," Spencer explained to Toby, letting out a small sniffle.

"Oh, Spencer," Toby said, as he brought Spencer into a hug. "I'm so sorry. I may not have been in the same position before, but I'm still willing to try my best to be there for you and comfort you, so please don't shut me out anymore, okay? I will always be there for you, I promise." Toby smoothed down Spencer's hair, as he held her in his arms, and shushed her, waiting for her to regather herself.

.

After a couple minutes of being wrapped in Toby's arms, Spencer pulled away from Toby. She wiped a away a few tears that had fallen and announced that they should get back to their friends, before they sent a search party for them. Toby had agreed. He gave Spencer a very passionate kiss, then, he and Spencer, hand-in-hand, made their way back to their table.

.

Hanna let out a loud sigh of relief, when Spencer and Toby finally sat back down in their seats at the table, "Thank goodness you guys are back! I'm not even going to question what you guys were doing. We were waiting for you guys to get back, because-"

"Because, I have something to ask Aria," Ezra finished for Hanna.

Before anyone could process what was happening- besides for Hanna, who had known about it and helped him plan it- Ezra was down on one knee and reciting a poem he had wrote himself, "Aria Marie Montgomery,

I kneel and hand you this ring

That symbolizes our marriage and eternal love

Maybe it's intuition

Some things you just don't question

Like in your eyes

I see my future in an instant

And there it goes

I know I've found my best friend

I knew I loved you before I met you

I believed and dreamed you into life

I have been waiting all my life for you

I want to move in time with you

I want my heart beat to match yours

I want to feel your hand in mine

And do all the things you want me to

Our amazing friends who gather here with us

Will be the legitimate witness of my proposal of our love

So I ask you to take this time to answer this question,

would you marry me?" (A/N: Credit to poetrysoup for most of this poem).

A loud gasp, that could be heard for miles, escaped Aria's mouth after she heard Ezra's beautiful poem. She looked around the table at all of their friends, who almost all had tear's in their eyes, then her gaze went to the ring that was inside the box in Ezra's hands. It was beautiful. At last, her eyes fell back to Ezra, who was looking up at her expectantly, with pure devotion and love glazed over his eyes. Finally she let the tears fall. The tears of happiness. And started to nod her head up and down, before finally she opened her mouth and said in a very shaky voice, "yes."

The whole group of friends broke out into an applause, as Ezra slipped the engagement ring onto Aria's finger and the newly engaged couple shared a sweet kiss.

Spencer's hand found Toby's, as she looked up into his eyes, which were full of adoration for Spencer. She gave him a strong, confident smile, before joining the rest of the group in congratulating Aria and Ezra.

A/N: So sorry for the super delayed update, but I have like no inspiration for this story anymore, especially with the drop in reviews. I will definitely completely finish this story, though. I don't want to randomly drop another story again.

Oh, I'm also recording the date in which each chapter takes place, at the beggining of the chapter, from now on, because I was doing it in my writing book anyways, so why not do it on here too. (I went back and did it for all the other chapters too).

Like usual, polyvore link is on my bio.

-Jil.