Chapter 10
Don't Forget Me
Toby flipped their open sign to close. He grabbed his backpack off the counter and hoisted it onto his back before turning off all the lights in the shop. He walked out the front door and made sure to lock the it. Jason was already waiting out front in his car to give Toby a ride.
"Hey, Jase." Toby said as he climbed into the passenger seat and threw his backpack in the back.
"Hey, Tobes." Jason greeted back as he pulled his car onto the road to head back to Rosewood.
"So, how much did the mechanic say it was gonna cost to fix my truck?"
"I forgot, but it's written down a piece of paper on your kitchen counter." Jason explained, but he knew he had more explaining to do."I saw Spencer at your place."
"Yeah, she needed a place to crash last night. Is she doing better? How was her cheek?"
"Toby, she was fine. She took herself a shower and I made sure she ate. Her cheek was still a little red, but other than she seemed fine."
"I've got to call to her to see if she wants me to bring her some dinner back to my loft." Toby quickly pulled out his phone and typed in Spencer's number because he knew it by heart. Before he could press the call button, Jason took the phone from his hands."Jason, what are you doing? Give my phone back, I have to check on Spencer."
"She's gone, Toby." Jason said as he left out a deep breath. Toby was confused by this because he was pretty sure that she'd stay at his place."She left with Andrew hours ago."
"You let her leave with him!" Toby shouted as he snatched back his phone to call her.
"I couldn't stop her. You know that's she'd leave with or without my permission."
"Fuck! She's not answering her phone." Toby yelled when his frustration got the better of him. He punched the dashboard and cursed under his breath."I need to find her."
Jason pulled the car over and shut off the car. As soon as he did that, Toby jumped out and began walking along the gravel road. Jason knew that Toby needed to blow off some steam. He'd let Toby walk it off for a while before he caught up with him and drive him the rest of the way home. All Jason had to do was sit back and wait.
Spencer missed him. She'd never thought that in the short time they've know each other that she'd miss Toby, so much. She knew that she couldn't stay there with Toby because she'd just be causing more problems for him. Besides, staying their was like she was promising him something, she couldn't promise what she can't give.
Leaving with Andrew wasn't planned, but Spencer was kind of glad she did. He took her to the Brew, where they could talk and he made he feel completely comfortable. He even invited his new therapist to come and meet her to tell her about Andrew's willingness to change.
He's been really sweet and kind to her all night. He even suggested that they'd watch a movie tonight at her house. And that surprised her because they haven't done anything like a couple in a long time. Right now, she was enjoying the fact that she was snuggled up to Andrew just like she should be. Or how she thought it should be.
"What's on your mind?" Andrew asked her suddenly.
"You. Us." Spencer responded as she snuggled closer to his body and placed an affectionate kiss on his cheek.
"Are you sure that you're not thinking about Toby?"
She groaned and moved away from to sit up on the couch. She grabbed the remote to pause the movie."Do we really have to go through this again? I came back with you."
"Yeah, but you spent the night at his loft."
"After you tried to choke me to death!" She snapped back and Andrew's eyes darkened. She expected him to hit her or yell at her, but he didn't.
It was quiet for a moment. Spencer wasn't speaking or looking at Andrew. But she could feel his eyes burning holes into her head.
"Did you sleep with him?" He asked meekly and her head snapped up to meet his eyes.
"No, I didn't."
"Did you want to?"
"No." She responded before turning her head from him again.
Did she want to sleep with him last night? No. Would she want to if she'd meet him a few years ago? Probably Yes. Does she think about him a lot? Constantly. But she knew that she could never be with him and besides she had Andrew. Andrew really loves her and she wanted to believe that he would change.
"Can we drop it now and get back to the movie?" Spencer asked as sweetly as she could and added a flirty pout.
He chuckled before pulling her back over to him."Of course."
The mood shifted back into a peaceful place and Spencer was able to relax again. As the movie progressed, Andrew would comb his fingers through her hair or playfully kiss along her neck. He wasn't pushing for more and she was grateful because she didn't want to do it anymore for a while. Something did make her a little nervous though. Towards the end of the movie, Andrew fell asleep, but Spencer felt someone watching her. She looked up and her dad was standing in the kitchen, watching them. It was out of the ordinary for him to do that, but what threw her off was the gloomy look on his face. And something in his eyes that she hasn't seen in a long time. Fear.
"Thanks for the ride." Toby grumbled sullenly as he closed the door to Jason's car before his friend could say anything.
He heard Jason drive off as he made his way up the stairs to his loft. When he went to put the key into the lock, he noticed that his door was slightly cracked open. That couldn't be right because Jason had used the spare key Toby gave him to lock up the place. He pushed open the door and walked into his home. He reached over to flip the light switch by the door and he wasn't expecting the sight before his eyes.
Just like his car, his place had been trashed, but this was much more worse. He took a step further into his loft and was immediately greeted with the sound of broken glass crunching under his heavy shoe. He looked into his living room to see that his couches, chairs, and love-seat was cut up and you could see the padding and stuffing. His books on his bookshelf was thrown off onto the floor and his lamps were busted, one lamp was even smashed through his window. He slowly walked over to his shelf by the now smashed flat screen t.v to see if his pictures of him and his mother were okay. Whoever did this showed no mercy because even the pictures of him and his mother was smashed and one was ripped up.
"You have got to be kidding me." Toby angrily muttered to himself as he left the living room to examine the kitchen. His blood was boiling and he was livid. They not only did they disrespected him and his home, but they disrespected his deceased mother.
He didn't keep much food in the house because he was always on the go, but whatever food was in his fridge was now strewn around his kitchen. Flour and eggs covered the kitchen in almost every spot. His dinning table and custom made dining chairs were broken. The perp even threw everything out of the cabinets into the floor.
He marched out of the kitchen to his bedroom where he found his bed just as torn up as the furniture in the living room. Expect someone took a great deal of time to completely destroy his mattress on the front and back. Almost all of his clothes were cut up as well and his room looked like his closet threw up. He didn't know if anything was stolen yet, but he was pretty sure this wasn't about anything valuable that he had.
He made his way to the bathroom where of course everything was thrown on the floor or sprayed across the walls. Expect in this room there was a message. On the mirror there was a spray painted message waiting for him. It said:
You're in over your head.
He pulled out his phone and called for help."Hello? Operator, I'd like to report a robbery."
The detectives showed up about ten minutes later and Toby was grateful for that. He recapped where he had been all day and what he found when he came home to a detective named Wilden. After he finished explaining things for the officers, he got out of the way and let them do their jobs.
"Well, Mr. Cavanaugh. We found no signs of forced entry and we have reason to believe that this is all a prank." Wilden said as be approached Toby, who was standing by the front door to stay out of the way of the investigation.
"What?! You seriously think that I'd do this to my own place?!" Toby questioned because he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was this detective an idiot?
"What do you want me to do? We can't find any finger prints. There's no forced entry. And there's no evidence left behind. We can't find a criminal, who probably doesn't exist."
"Oh, I know who did it. It was Andrew Campbell." Toby said and Wilden actually smiled. He smiled! Like this was a time for smiling.
"Yes, I've heard about your encounters with Mr. Campbell. But I can assure that he was nowhere near here because he was with his girlfriend Spencer Hastings all night. We've already confirmed his alibi."
"Then it had to be his father. His father had to hire someone to do this."
Wilden chuckled before he said."Son, you've got to let this fascination with this family go and stop making false accusations."
"But I'm not-" Toby tried to explain, but Wilden interrupted.
"Toby, I suggest you start looking for a new place to live." Wilden said before he turned to the other officers behind him."Come boys, we're done here. Have a good night, Toby."
Toby watched as everyone filed out of his loft. Or what used to be his loft. But now all of his hard work and savings just went down the gutter. To make matters worse, he found the slip of paper that told him how much his truck would cost to get fixed. There was no way in hell, Toby was gonna be able to pay for his truck and the damage to his loft. He life was crushing around him for the third time.
Spencer wouldn't say she was happy, but she was content. Andrew has been better than ever and he's really making improvements. It's only been three days since they'd made up, but it's been a great three days. She hasn't talked to Toby since and truthfully she hadn't seen him at school. She hoped he was okay because when she asked Jason how he was, he said that he handy seen him since he drove him home and that night he was pretty pissed.
"Daydreaming about Toby." Hanna whispered in Spencer's ear as she came up behind her to scare her.
"No. I was just putting some books away." Spencer said as nonchalantly as she could because the truth was that she was.
"The blush on your face says otherwise." Aria singsonged, but that only made Spencer blush even more.
"Whoa, Spence, we were only messing with you. Do you really like Toby?" Emily asked and Spencer knew that all of friends wanted to hear the answer to that question.
"Things between Toby and I are...complicated."
"Is it because of Andrew?" Aria asked and Spencer inhaled deeply before nodding her head and exhaling.
"Andrew's part of it and the fact the Toby hates me." Spencer said and got the confused looks from her friends when she said that Toby hated her. So she had to explain."I during the weekend I was at Toby's, but I left Toby's to be with Andrew. And now Toby hasn't shown his face in school for days and I think it's because he doesn't want to see me."
"Wait, what? Toby's here."Hanna said and Spencer attention turned to her to hear more."I saw him leaving the office not too long ago and he was headed towards his locker."
"I...I have to go talk to him." Spencer said as she quickly jammed the rest of her books into her locker before slamming it shut."I'll meet you guys in class."
Spencer left before they could even respond. She maneuvered through the sea of people and made it to the hall where Toby's locker was. As soon as she made it to the hall the bell rang and the halls cleared out to get to class. The only people left on the hallway was Spencer and Toby.
He hasn't noticed that she was down the hall, so Spencer was gonna take this chance to get a good look at him. His hair was all messy like he'd just rolled out of bed and didn't care about combing it. He was wearing a simple white T-shirt with a pair of blue jeans, but his clothes seemed a little snug. She looked in closer to see that his face was expressionless almost cold.
Like he knew someone was watching him, Toby's head turned to her. His eyes weren't the same. They didn't have that same glow about them they seemed almost dark. He didn't smile at her or wave, he just looked at her
"Hello." Spencer said meekly as she took slow steps to approach him.
"Hey." He said before he turned back to his locker and started pulling some books out.
"You've been gone a while. Are you trying to catch up?" Spencer asked and gestured to the books in his hands.
"No,um, I'm actually thinking about getting my GED." He said blandly.
"What? Why? I thought things were going great here?"
"They were, but I think it's time for a change of scenery."
"Okay, enough. Why are you talking to me like this and why haven't you been in school? Is it because of Andrew." Spencer questioned and she watched his eyes fall to the ground quickly before they rose back up to meet hers.
"I was out of school because I've been looking for a new apartment and I'm not treating you any kind of way."
"A new place? You told me a few days ago that you just finished remodeling that place. You out very cent to your name into that loft and now you're moving? Why?"
"Like I said before change of scenery." He said as he shut the door to his locked. He pulled a book out from his pile of books and handed it to her."Here's that book back that you let me borrow."
She forced down the lump in her throat and pushed back the tears."I guess I'll just see you around then, Toby."
He walked over to her and brushed a single strand of hair behind her ear."Don't forget about me, Spence."
He kissed her forehead before turned and walked away. Spencer stood their for a few moments in utter shock. She's never expected him to leave like that or treat her the way he did, but maybe she never really knew him. She took another look at his locker before she turned and headed to her own locker.
She was putting in we combination for her locker to put her book away when she realized something. She'd never given him a book to borrow. She looked at the book closely and noticed that inside there was a page corner folded. She opened the book up to the folded corner and their was a sticky note in the book from Toby. It said:
Meet me tonight at 10 at the Edgewood Motor Court and I'll explain everything.
~T
She knew that the way he was acting earlier had to be an act. That still didn't explain why he'd done it. Or why they had to be so secretive. She had a lot of questions to ask him about what's been going on. But she'd have to wait to find out all of the answers tonight.