Author's Note: I'm so weird...so, so, SO weird. I don't know why I'm surprised that nobody likes me. But whatever. I'm happy anyway. This girl got a 96 on her history test and she will take that. And 100 on the math test she was flipping her crap over! Oh mah goodness. Go, Kayson.
But I'm sure you don't care all that much. I know who you are and what you want. Stay online so I can trace your IP Address.
No, I promise I'm not a stalker.
Chapter Twelve
Spencer woke up with a groggy feeling. The grogginess was soon wiped away when she smelt coffee wafting throughout the apartment.
She looked over and saw Toby already drinking coffee, with a second cup beside him. He handed it over to her when she walked over.
She smiled at him, kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you," she answered.
"What are you doing today?" he asked.
She thought about it. "I'm going to teach a few classes and then I'm going to see Tiffany, Hanna, and Aria. Aria really wanted to see us. She didn't say why, though. She just sounded really excited over the phone," she explained.
He nodded. He had been thinking about what he was going to do all day, and he had a very good idea of who was going to help him with this task.
"I'd better go get ready," she said, breaking him out of his daydream, before they kissed each other softly in the lips.
He became very excited in his own thoughts once he saw her leave the room.
"What big thing are you planning?" she asked impatiently.
"Can you calm down for five seconds? I'll show you in a minute, but I have to get it out of the safe deposit box. Just wait here for me, okay? And then I'll show you," he explained.
She sighed, agitated. She waited outside, examining her nails and cuticles as he went into the safety deposit box room.
Another five minutes later, he came back out, holding the object he had searched for. She began to get very excited, hardly being able to wait when he held the object away, taunting her.
"Show me, show me, show me, show me!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down from excitement.
He finally showed her.
She looked at the object in amazement, her blue eyes sparkling, filling with some kind of admiration.
"She's going to love it, Toby."
When Spencer arrived at the café, Tiffany and Aria were already talking at a table near the window. Aria brightened when she saw Spencer walk up to the table. She immediately got up to hug Spencer and greet her, as did Tiffany.
"Hey, guys," she said to both of them as she sat down across from Aria, next to Tiffany. "Where is Cassidy today?" she asked curiously, making conversation.
"She's having a day with her daddy," Aria explained. Tiffany and Spencer both nodded.
"So what did you want to say to us?" Tiffany asked finally.
Aria bit her lip. "I want to wait until Hanna gets here. I want to tell you all together," she said before taking a sip of lemon water.
Tiffany rolled her eyes slightly. Still, she played along, turning to interrogate Spencer. "So, what's up with you, Spence?" she asked curiously. She wondered if Toby had said anything about Chanel, but she suddenly realized that Spencer might not say anything with Aria right there.
Spencer shrugged. "Not much," she lied. It was a big, fat lie, too. Things with her life were certainly far from calm.
Aria tapped her fingernails on the plastic glass when she saw Hanna walk into the café. She began to get excited when the blonde finally spotted them and started walking over.
"You sounded so excited on the phone!" Hanna exclaimed when she spotted Aria and sat down. She finally took notice of Spencer and Tiffany. "Hey, guys," she greeted. "So what did you want to tell us all?"
Aria smiled, taking a deep breath. "I'm really excited to tell you guys, and I hope you'll all be happy for me," she said. She sighed, looking down, under the table at something before she spoke again. "I just wanted you girls to be the first to know that Jason proposed to me, and we're getting married," she said.
Hanna, Spencer, and Tiffany all smiled at Aria, who proudly showed them the ring. Hanna's mouth dropped open when she saw it.
"Oh, my God. Aria! This ring is gorgeous! It's not big, but man, is it beautiful," she commented. She took it off of Aria's finger, examining it meticulously. "This ring is beautiful. It's a 14 karat precise white gold band with a half-carat stone, princess cut, and pear shaped accents on the side. It's Internally Flawless, and colorless. The clarity is amazing. This is a beautiful ring, Aria, and you'd better take good care of it, or you will be hearing from me," Hanna warned as she handed the ring back to Aria, who put it back on her own hand quickly.
"Thanks, Hanna," Aria said sharply. Hanna shrugged.
Spencer, on the other hand, was a little bit unbelieving of the news. "I can't believe it; you're getting married," she said.
Aria nodded. "And Spencer? I wanted to ask you if you would be my maid of honor."
Hanna averted her eyes from girl to girl, excitedly. She was waiting for Spencer to say yes. Tiffany also watched anxiously.
Spencer simply nodded. Aria got up to hug her.
"Thank you so much. This is going to be great," Aria said to her.
Spencer nodded numbly, wondering what she got herself into. Sure, it would be fun, but was she really ready to deal with all the stress?
Tiffany walked into the bar, spotting Emily, Caleb, and Toby already there. She had left right from her meeting with Aria, Hanna, and Spencer and come right to the bar.
She hugged Emily from behind, catching her by surprise. Emily yelped in surprise before Tiffany moved on to greeting Caleb and Toby.
"Did you know that Aria got engaged?" Tiffany asked, taking a spot in between Toby and Emily.
"Hey to you, too," Emily said. "And yeah. I was the first to know. I was babysitting Cassidy when I saw the huge rock on her finger," she replied.
Tiffany looked at Toby and Caleb expectantly, looking for a surprised look or shock from one of them.
"Jason told us yesterday," Caleb answered nonchalantly.
Tiffany backhandedly smacked Toby, the nearest person. "And I'm the last to know? Thanks, guys. I thought I was in the loop."
"You were, until you went to the dark side and started hanging out with the girls more than us," Caleb retorted.
"You betrayed me first, okay? You started hanging around my husband more than me. I thought the five of us were best friends," she insisted.
Emily calmed them both down. "Hey, are you guys forgetting why we're here?" she asked. She finally looked over at Toby. "Toby wanted to tell us something. Toby?"
Toby sighed. He was sort of dreading announcing this, worried about the response his idea would get. Finally, he just got out with it.
"I was thinking of proposing to Spencer," he said.
There was silence, the only noise being the irrelevant one coming from the chatter of the people around them.
Finally, Caleb spoke. "Really? That's great," he said noncommittally.
"I'm happy for you, Toby. Do you think she'll say yes?" Emily asked.
Toby thought about it for a minute. "I hope so…" he trailed off.
"Wow…everybody is making me look bad. I mean, Jason's proposing to Aria…Shane and Tiffany are already married…Toby is proposing to Spencer…" Caleb began.
"…And I'm still single," Emily added drearily.
Toby looked down at his lap. Tiffany didn't look over at him, but touched the drink before her.
"What ring did you get?" Tiffany asked quietly.
Toby looked up at her. "What?" he inquired, a little shocked by her very unenthusiastic reaction.
"What ring did you get?" she repeated.
He furrowed his eyebrows at her, wondering where this was going. He fished a box out of his jacket pocket, handing it to Tiffany.
Tiffany took it very gingerly. She looked at the red velvet box and let out a sigh of relief—this was a good start. Holding her breath, she opened up the box, spotting the beautiful antique ring she was hoping to see. It was more gorgeous than she remembered, with a flawless white gold band and a beautiful round-cut diamond fixed in the center of the ring. There were many details surrounding the centered flawless diamond, with smaller stones fixed in the pattern. Tiffany took this all in as she stared at it. She smiled.
"I think she'll like it, and I can't believe her not saying yes," she responded softly, closing the box and handing it back to Toby.
Toby smiled, relieved. Tiffany smiled at him reassuringly, hoping to ease Toby's nerves.
Spencer sighed, hoping to calm down and finally fall asleep. Right after her meeting with the girls, she had come home, taken a shower, and tried to go to sleep.
Yes, she was very happy for Aria and Jason.
Yes, she was under an unbelievable amount of stress right now.
Yes, she was undeniably in love with Toby.
Yes, she was starting to believe all the things Chanel was whispering in her ear.
For so long, she had said to herself softly that he was too good to be true. Of course, this statement was swept under the rug. She never thought much of it until Chanel brought it to her attention. She never really believed that he was too good to be true.
Or did she? Maybe she had been stuck inside a fool's paradise for so long that she didn't realize it was all too good to be true.
But why? What was it that he could've been hiding? What was so horrible that it compromised the integrity of their entire relationship?
Spencer didn't want to push. She already knew that ignorance was bliss. What if Chanel knew a lot more about Toby than she was letting on?
Spencer sighed dismissively, turning onto her side. She realized suddenly that Chanel could've been making all of this up to drive Spencer away; she would finally have Toby—all alone and heartbroken—to herself. Spencer wasn't about to let that happen. She wouldn't dismiss this relationship without a solid fight.
Dismiss? Was it really coming to this? She wanted things to go back to the way they were. She wanted to have that same beautiful, perfect relationship she had with Toby in the beginning. She didn't want to give up on their relationship because she loved him, so, so much.
"That was your mom's ring, wasn't it?" Tiffany asked as Toby pulled up to her house.
Toby looked over at her as he put the car into park.
"How did you know?" he asked quietly.
Tiffany smiled at him, unsurprised by his naïveté. "I remember you telling me about it one day, a really long time ago, when you first inherited the ring…after she died," she explained, melancholy lacing her voice. "You read me the letter that she wrote with it, remember? That she wanted you to give it to that one girl who you wanted to love the rest of your life?" she reminded him.
He nodded, biting his lip and holding back tears as he thought of his mom.
"I know that your mom would've loved Spencer, Toby. You shouldn't be nervous. I'm sure she'll say yes," she added softly.
"You never even met my mom," he said with a small laugh.
"The greatest reflection off a person is their child, and you're amazing, so I'm sure she was, too."
She looked over at her house. The light in her living room shut off, and Tiffany decided that it was time to go inside. She turned back to Toby, kissing him on the cheek.
"Spencer will say yes. I know it. She's smart, and she'll see that rejecting you would be the biggest mistake she could ever make," Tiffany said to him before she exited the car.
Toby thought about this more, thinking about the ring again. This pending proposal was getting him more and more nervous by the second.
Does anyone actually use the words "spilt", "smelt", "spoilt", or "spelt" anymore? Or have we gotten all American and lazy? I don't know.
First off, I must apologize for this uneventful chapter, but next chapter is the conclusion of Part One, and I may need to take like a week to regroup (and update my Fabrastings story...it's been nearly a month).
I also wanted to ask you guys for input on my next idea for a project. Starting on Spoby's anniversary (November 6th), I'd like to start publishing these one-shots based on songs (which I have creatively called "Spoby Playlist"). The goal is to publish like two or three one-shots a week for a whole year, or until November 6th of 2014. It would be a full year of Spoby :) I know I already have a ton on my plate (with that project I keep mentioning to you guys, this fanfiction, Fabrastings, and school), but I am a prolific writer, and I write for about two hours or so every night, so I think it's achievable. We create our own limits and I'd like to be as limitless as possible :)
AL3110: Yup, I really like torturing you. I'm considering postponing chapter 13 until your birthday. It's a blessing and a curse. Curse: you have to wait over a week for my chapter where STUFF HAPPENS; blessing: It's your birthday present. Well, that could be a curse, too.
mickeymack16: I had you fooled! And I have no nickname...I'm just Kayson...weep for the Kayson...and okay, I'll keep being sarcastic :) It's in my blood.
Spobyforever259: YES, THEY ARE! You feels me on my addiction? I knew you would. And IKR? They're different ;P If it pacifies you, Andrew's not in the next chapter. But he's not gone yet. Next part is more about the Chanel Factor, but Part Three is Spandrew, big time ;) And Ninjas, FTW. And I don't really listen to male singers, but I guess I like Andrew Belle...Adam Levine (though I feel kind of weird answering him), Matty M, and even though I know he wasn't the best singer, I did really like Cory Monteith. :')
BirdSingsBells: I left a message on your profile (or someone else's...that's awkward). I'm the same username and picture on the wiki. I mostly blog on the wiki, though. I know, I'm a horrible contributor, but most of the time, by the time I go online, the pages are pretty much updated, so I can't really do anything. And Toby might flip a table...
Girlz-Rule: Thanks.
Sunset13: I have no idea. You reviewed me about Toby being A and dying or something like that...idk.
Sylviecake231: Don't mention it. And have you listened to Marina yet? My friend and I are trying to make as many Diamonds as we can. If you haven't yet, I'd suggest Starring Role, but it does have a curse, so I hope you're okay with that. Hollywood is also good :) And my name is something I'm not that comfortable with revealing explicitly, but I have mentioned it before. It's not too personal, I'm just a little bit touchy about revealing it. Maybe one day if I'm famous, I'll tell everyone :) Ha ha, pipe dream.
eveningshades1107: Oh mah GOD, it's Sarah. Hey, Sarah. I'll be your fanfiction buddy. And I can't wait to read your story. I'm sure it'll be awesome. I just wanted to let you know. Okay, I'll stop being weird now. And it's totally okay. Sometimes, I'm the same about Toby. And what can I say? I'm a psychic, reading everyone's mind. And Mona Vanderjesus? I see what you did there ;)
vondydora: I'm really glad you liked the Jaria proposal! And I don't think she's using Andrew as her scapegoat. I think she's kind of conflicted and nervous about telling him, especially on his reaction (and the many ways Toby can break his face. I know it wasn't violent last story, but...Andrew just crossed a very solid line). Sorry, but I started Catching Fire again and am VERY excited for the movie.
LynnLayne18: No, stop. I reviewed about this. Stop. No, no, no. And no, things are not that simple. I know you all love #SpobySex, but...yeah, no. And it will be in the story. Part 3, first chapter :) Cassidy will be an adorable flower girl :) And that's an interesting theory. Very original, indeed...
By the way, if you want to thank anyone for stimulating my weird mind (or blame), blame Gin Wigmore or Marina Lambrini Diamandis. Especially the latter. She's the reason I'm so pessimistic and realistic as of recently (realistic...hmm...that was a joke).
So I would love to get 145 reviews (hint, hint, hint)! I also need some help with this imminent proposal stuff. Kay, bye! -Kayson