a/n: i know I said that the last chapter would be this one, but... I have come to realize that what I was planning to do in the last chapter will play out better if it isn't so rushed, so I've decided to extend it out a little. There will be two more chapters after this one...and then an epilogue type thing. So, lol. Yeah. I'm a liar :p

Also, thanks so so so much for the reviews :) You guys are so incredible. Honestly, I am just so overjoyed every time I see your guys' wonderful comments! Thank you so so so much! Really.

Now...this chapter is sort of...filler-ish. It's just leading into the next two. I suppose I could have just attached more to it (it's shortish, sigh.) But yeah. It is what it is. Also the title is a Nirvana song that I'm sure everyone knows, and it really has no significance...not really. But I was listening to it a lot while writing this chapter, so.

Come As You Are

Chapter 24

Day 18

Taking it slow was the plan. They were supposed to go on dates and talk about feelings, and whatever, but that somehow didn't end up happening. They had dinner together, sure. But it definitely wasn't like the kind of dates Spencer has been on in previous years. They weren't really qualified as dates at all at least to Spencer they weren't. Maybe sitting around on the couch, eating from a box of Chinese food, and watching old reruns of The Twilight Zone is what Toby did with all his previous girlfriends. Aria told her otherwise though. She said that he was a romantic (not as romantic as Ezra though—whom she is apparently back together with—but more romantic than take out restaurants and old television shows.) Normally, Spencer would over think it. But the truth is, Spencer is happy just doing what they are doing. They aren't trying to be something they aren't. They are just being them. It feels right.

Besides, after all the reruns for the night aired, and their boxes of Chinese emptied, they'd end up tangled in each other's arms, their lips quivering and jaws swelling, the craving for one another suddenly reaching a point of no return.

Spencer at first had been worried that the sex would not be as good as it was when they were... nonexclusive. There's something unexplainably sexy about sneaking around, taking risks and not putting labels on things. Most of her life she has had to keep things clean cut. She has had to make a decree on what something was. But they never did when they were together in the past. They never talked about it. They just avoided it. Even when Spencer had been friends with benefits with someone in her early college years, the relationship was defined. But with Toby it was different. It was unsaid. It was uncertain. While at times it just felt like they were fuck buddies, or late night booty calls, they both knew the reason they weren't actually discussing a label was because it was more. But even with the deep rooted question of what they were, and how Toby felt gnawing at her insides, there was something about it that made her want to continue. It was like a drug. Toxic, in some ways, but euphoric in others. Maybe that was one of the reasons she declined to ever tell him how she felt. She wanted that euphoric feeling of not putting definitions on things, and stepping over the boundary line of the ordinary way of her life.

But now they aren't sneaking around. They aren't trying to read each other's minds. They know how they feel (for the most part), and know what this is. But yet, things aren't any less extraordinary. They might even be…better. Which is why she's not worried about Toby taking her out on dumb, romantic dates.

Her back hits the mattress, her eyes slitting open and her lips curving into a flirtatious smile. He hovers over her, grinning himself, before his lips are attached to her skin again. His kisses lead from her jaw to her neck, to her collarbone to her chest. Her shirt has little time for survival. His hands scope up her tank top, pushing the fabric up in wrinkles. She helps him remove the cotton barrier between them, pulling up her shirt and throwing it to the side. She tugs at Toby's shirt hem, and in a second, the shirt is gone. Toby easily understands the message, pulling it off, and throwing it to the side along with Spencer's.

Her hand coils around his neck, her lips aggressively crashing into his. She pushes at him, guiding their bodies into a rotation. Soon he is beneath her. Her legs on each side of his hips. She plunges her lips into his chest, his burning skin becoming scolding under her ravishing lips.

Soon he is rolling them over again, meeting her grinning lips with a hard kiss.

They are interrupted by a banging—another type of banging, that is. It sounds like knocking-at her door. But she chooses to ignore it. She isn't sure if Toby hears it, but if he does, he's also choosing to ignore it.

Her legs wrap around his waist, encaging his body against hers.

To Spencer's dismay, Toby pulls away from her a second later, "what is that?" he questions, clearly agitated by the loud hammering.

Spencer makes a sort of groaning whimper before shrugging beneath him.

"It sounds like they are at your door," he goes on, giving her a pointed look. She runs her fingers through his hair, admiring the shade of blue in his eyes.

"They'll leave," she responds.

He nods and connects their lips once more.

"SPENCER!"

"Is that—that sounded like Hanna…" Toby looks away from his girlfriend and towards the noise.

Spencer's eyebrows twist in confusion. "I—are they already back?" she questions, disoriented.

He shrugs, clueless, before bowing his head down, his lips dabbing on her collarbone. "Maybe if you don't answer, she'll think you're not home…" he murmurs against her skin.

She nods distractedly before cupping her hands around his face, bringing his mouth to her own. But as the sounds of Hanna Marin yelling outside her apartment increase in volume, Spencer's lips and mind become more distracted.

She pulls away from him, unwilling to go on with the sounds of her best friend's obnoxious shouting playing in the background.

"I can't do it anymore. I'm going to get it," she pushes him away, throwing her legs over the edge of the bed. She reaches out to her shirt, and is surprised when a pair of hands wrap around her still bare torso. She is about to make a complaint, but Toby's lips stop her. They nuzzle of her earlobe, pressing gently against her neck, and eventually down her back.

She momentarily forgets why she had discontinued their lip lock. But she's quick to remember once the sound of the obsessive knocking returns. "Toby…" she purrs out, a little sigh falling through her faint words.

"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! SPENCER, COME ON. DO YOU WANT ME TO WAKE UP ALL YOUR NEIGHBORS?"

That is enough to snap Spencer out of it. She steps up, pushing past Toby's lock on her. He stumbles a little forward, sighing. He takes a new position on the bed, staring at her as she pulls back on her shirt.

"Just…wait. I'll see what she wants, and I'll get her to leave," she flattens out her top, facing her boyfriend.

Even with this promise, he frowns.

She rolls her eyes, "you're the one who brought up the knocking thing in the first place."

"Yeah, I really regret that now…" he huffs.

She rolls her eyes, again, before departing from the bedroom. She goes to the door, flinging it open with a grimace.

"I told you she was home!" Hanna turns to Caleb, excitedly.

Spencer's eyebrows twist in bafflement. She wasn't expecting Caleb too. "What the hell are you guys doing here—and why are you shouting?"

"Because I saw your car in the parking lot, and your neighbor told us that he hasn't seen you go anywhere. And you weren't answering your phone!" she goes on in rambles. "Why didn't you come to the door sooner? We've been here for almost ten minutes now!"

Spencer tiredly scratches her eyebrow, her eyes momentarily bouncing away from her friend as she tries to think of a good lie. "I was taking a bath with my music on. I didn't hear you at first."

"Your hairs not wet," she points out, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Oh. Um, it was up."

"Well, I need a place to stay," Hanna announces casually, making it seem like a simple request.

"Hanna just let me handle this," Caleb interjects, irritably. "While we were gone, Noel completely smoked out our house. It smells like an episode of Breaking Bad in there. Hanna refuses to sleep there."

"Weed smells like a skunk! I'm not going to sleep in a skunk den!" she glares at him.

"Why—how did that even happen?" she questions, flustered. "How did he get inside your house?"

"Noel's train didn't leave till after we were supposed to leave for the airport. This genius here told him he could hang out at our place until it was time for him to go," she puts a hand on Caleb's shoulder, which he immediately shrugs off.

"He's my friend! How was I supposed to know he'd stay an extra week and use my place as his own personal stoner hut?! Spencer, just…please."

"Why do you need to sleep here?" she narrows her eyes on Caleb.

"I don't. I'm here for Hanna," he explains with an eye roll.

"So, what…you're dropping her off on my doorstep?"

"Yes. Is it really that big of a deal?" he questions, irritation revving of off his vocal chords. "You two have sleepovers all the time."

Spencer rolls her head to the side, her tongue moving across her lips in a search for words. She looks at the ceiling before groaning out an answer. "Fine," she grits through her teeth, trying to remain cool. "But…" she trails out the word, avoiding her friends' stares. "I was…Toby's here," she mumbles the confession.

Even though it was a mumble, they catch on.

"Wait…" Caleb begins, his eyes fixating on nothing particular. He flashes his flustered maple eyes up at her, "you said you were in the tub."

She squints her eyes at him, clucking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, "I lied," she states firmly, annoyed that this conversation is even happening. "Why does it matter?" she voices, irritated.

"So, what were you doing if…"

Hanna's eyebrows pop up, a broad smile spreading out on her lips. "You guys were so doing it!" she exclaims, her mouth wide open with amusement.

"Augh!" Caleb hisses, scowling. "Don't. Just don't talk," he growls.

Hanna laughs.

"Just come in," Spencer insists, annoyed, but also slightly amused at Caleb's scowl. She steps out from the doorway, letting her friends walk in.

"You two can say your goodbyes… I'm going to go talk to Toby," she states simply, before turning around, and heading back in her room.

When she walks inside, Toby is dressed and on the phone. She gives him a curious look as she sits down next to him.

"Yeah, okay, I understand…I'll be there. Just give me a couple minutes, okay? All right. Bye," he ends the phone call, shoving the phone back into his pocket.

A giant smile ravels out on the man's face as he turns to face his girlfriend. Before she can ask who he was talking to, or why he is holding up a smile of one hundred acres, he speaks. "That was my manger," he tells her blissfully, "she's with this one band—Underground Utopia, right now. They're going on tour, and I guess their opening canceled last minute…they want to hear some of my stuff. She wants me to come down," he gets out, almost giddily. "This is—I can't believe that I might get a second chance at this."

A radiant smile forms on her lips, "that's amazing! You really deserve it," she supports, putting a hand on his arm.

He places a chaste kiss on her lips, "you don't mind that I have to go? I'm sorry… I just—I need to do this."

She shakes her head, "no. I understand, totally. I wouldn't let you stay even if you wanted to—and that only half has to do with Hanna."

He gives her a quizzical look.

"Noel made their whole house smell like weed. Hanna can't sleep like that, so she's staying here for a night, or two."

"How did he—?"

"Caleb let him stay in their house while they left."

"This is why I don't like Noel," Toby shakes his head, sighing irritably.

"C'mon, he isn't that bad," Spencer tilts her head. "Caleb was stupid enough to leave him in there alone. What did he think was going to happen?" she delivers the words casually.

"Caleb's our best friend. Aren't we supposed to be on his side?" he gives her a look of teasing disapproval.

"Are you doing that annoying couple thing where everything becomes we instead of I?" she frowns at him. "Because that was next on my ground rules list," she states, unable to hide her small smile. "Maybe you should have let me finish that…" she raises a playful eyebrow.

He smirks, almost laughing, before grabbing her in his arms, making her giggle and squirm. He pins her down so she is on the bed, looking up at him. She giggles as he stares down at her. "You are irksome. I was only saying that both of us are best friends with Caleb. Is that any better?" his smile teases her.

She hums, "hmm." She ponders for a moment, "I don't appreciate the name calling."

He laughs, brushing his nose against hers. "I apologize," he murmurs before meeting her lips for a kiss.

When he pulls away, she smiles lazily at him, affectionately tousling the hair on the top of his head. A moment passes before she speaks, "shouldn't you be going?" she prompts, slightly frowning.

He nods with a sigh. "Yes, I guess I should."

"So… a good start would be getting up and off of your girlfriend."

He grins, nearly laughing before rolling over and off of her. He steps off the bed and she follows suit.

"They'll love you," she encourages. Just like I do… she wants to add. But she can't. She's always been bad at putting her feelings into words. So far they haven't said it. She wonders if Toby is just scared like she is, or if he just doesn't feel the essence of the three words.

"Thanks, I hope so too," he grins. He caresses her face before placing a kiss on her cheek. "Walk me out?" he requests.

"Of course," she smiles, braiding her fingers with his. They walk out hand and hand, getting a strange look from Caleb, but neither of them really caring. They are no longer in hiding.