Author's Note: Stars of Bethlehems, red, rain, Purple hyacinths, tuberoses, irises, pictures, paintings, WHAT DO THEY ALL MEAN?!
Well, Iris is the Greco-Roman goddess of rainbows and unicorns and all that cutesy stuff that replaces blood in the body of Bubbles Utonium #PowerpuffGirlsFTW #BubblesFTW #I'mActuallyTeamBlossom #CauseShe'sAGiantNerd #LikeMe #90sKidsSwag #SWAG SWAG SWAG SWAG #I'mTurningIntoJames #ThisIsGettingWeirdSinceYallDon'tKnowWhoJamesIs
Chapter Thirty
Spencer opened her eyes to see a single white tuberose and a single white Star of Bethlehem beside her. She smiled seeing it. She knew who had visited her.
"Toby," she sighed happily before lifting them up and bringing them to her nose to sniff them.
"You're awake," a familiar voice said behind her.
She sat up, propping herself on the flimsy, irritating pillows the hospital gave her. She smiled when she saw Toby sitting next to her bed, in front of the window.
"Hey," she said happily. "How long have you been here?"
He thought about it. "Like an hour, maybe. I've been keeping you company. You look so beautiful when you sleep," he said before taking her hand. "You look beautiful all the time. You just look so peaceful when you're sleeping."
"I'm so glad you're here," Spencer told him.
"I'm glad I'm here, too. Emily and Hanna told me about what happened. Spencer, you have to eat and drink a lot of water. And sleep is always a good thing. I know you're hooked on caffeine, but it doesn't act as a substitution for sleep," Toby scolded.
Spencer sighed. "I know, but I…I'm sorry," she said finally.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you. But you can't do that again, Spencer," he repeated.
She avoided looking at him. "Do you know when I can go home?"
"The doctor actually said that he just has to come back with the results of one test and if it's fine, we can go."
"So, did you get a chance to show the couple the house?" Spencer asked as she started to suck the salt off of pretzels.
"Yes. They really liked the house," he answered.
She smiled, proud of him. "I knew they would. Your designs are amazing, Toby."
"Spence," he said, rather concerned. "You know that licking the salt off of pretzels doesn't count as eating, right?" he inquired.
She sighed. "I'm sorry, I just can't stomach any food right now. Thinking of eating is making me feel nauseous," she said.
"That's not good. Why?"
She shrugged. "I think I'm just so nervous about the wedding."
That started to make him feel nervous. "You're not getting cold feet, are you?"
She shook her head. "No. Never," she assured him softly. "I'm just nervous that something is going to go very wrong," she thought aloud.
"Hey, nothing is going to go wrong. Why are you so nervous? You already know I'm in love with you, right?"
She nodded. "Of course, but…I don't have a good history with marriages, Toby," she explained.
"Well, I'm not Andrew, Spencer," he reminded her.
She nodded. "I know, but…I…it's just unsettling. And the closer and closer the date gets, the more I think something is going to go wrong," she said, trying to take more deep, settling breaths.
"I think you just need to take your mind off of things for the day, Spence. It's not healthy for you to be so stressed out over the wedding. Let me take you out later," he said finally.
She looked up at him, kind of taken aback. "Kind of like a date night?" she asked.
He smiled. "Exactly like a date night. We can do whatever you want, as long as you get your mind off of things. I don't want you to get this stressed," he told her.
She finally let herself smile.
Spencer sat across from Toby. This was all oddly unfamiliar territory.
"Spencer?" Toby asked, interrupting the silence in her mind.
"Yeah?"
"I know this sounds weird, considering we're getting married in three weeks and I should know you better than the back of my hand, but I just feel like…I want to know you better now."
She was intrigued by this proposal. "What do you want to know?"
He shrugged. "Everything."
She couldn't help it; she let out a small giggle. "Well, my name is Spencer Jill Hastings…"
"I knew that," he interrupted.
"Um…my favorite color is red, more specifically, the color of cherry wood…I'm five-foot seven…and…I like roses?" she tried.
He rolled his eyes. "Nice try, Spencer, but I already knew all of that. Tell me something you think I might not know. Dreams, fears, weird things about you?"
Spencer thought about it for a moment. "I have really bad cleisiophobia, along with autophobia, which is just as bad," she explained.
He furrowed his eyebrows. "You know I don't know what that is, right?"
She laughed. "Cleisiophobia is the fear of being locked in a small, enclosed space. That started after you made me watch that Hitchcock double feature," she added. "And autophobia is the fear of being alone," she explained somewhat sadly.
Her skin tingled a little when she felt his hand cover hers in an attempt to soothe her. "Is that why it was really hard for you when I was away?"
She nodded. She shook her head, shaking out the bad thoughts. "As for dreams, I always dreamt as a little girl that I could get a kitten or a puppy, but my parents would never let me. My dad said that pets were a nuisance, while my mom said she didn't have time to keep up with a dog," she said.
He nodded. "Anything else I should know?" he asked.
Spencer bit her lip. "I have this condition which makes me associate certain colors with certain letters. I don't remember what it's called…"
"How come you never told me?"
Spencer shrugged. "I guess that since I've been living with it for so long, I don't even notice anymore. I don't think about it. I still like reading."
"It doesn't give you a headache?"
She smiled while rolling her eyes. "Stop it. No, I'm perfectly fine when reading. It actually helps because then, I don't just skim over everything. I actually have to read all the words."
He nodded.
"Okay, so now I get to know about you," she said, setting down her glass of wine. "I want to know everything."
He shrugged. "I don't know what I haven't told you. I'm either really boring or just really honest."
She laughed. "I vote for both." She looked at him with a small smirk on her face. "Just kidding. I know for a fact that you're not at all boring," she said before taking another sip of wine. "But really? No real fears or dreams? No weird things about you I should know before we get married?"
"I think you know everything about me," he said.
She pouted. "There has to be at least something about you…" she trailed off. She piped up. "Not even a weird sexual fantasy or something?"
He had no words to answer.
"Hmm. I should've known you were too clean for that kind of stuff. Maybe you are too boring," she joked.
He rolled his eyes. "Like you could come up with any better," he retorted.
She thought about it. "I think I might surprise you," she answered.
He scoffed. "You? You're so clean-cut and innocent-looking. I could never picture you as—"
"People surprise you."
Spencer lay down in bed on her stomach as she waited for her fiancé to get out of the bathroom so they could go to bed. She was lying on the bed the wrong way, going across the large mattress with her feet and arms hanging off the bed.
This was strangely comforting for her.
She was falling asleep when she heard the door creak open. She barely batted an eye at it, though. Her eyes remained closed as she felt someone sit on the bed beside her.
"Are you sleeping, Spence?"
She groaned in response. "I wish I was," she answered.
She felt a hand on her back now. "Do you feel better?"
She hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, I do," she said finally.
The hand travelled lower down her back. Then, she felt lightly callused fingers inch up underneath her shirt. She felt herself tense up.
"Are you getting more stressed?"
"Toby…stop it," she mumbled half-heartedly. "I just want to sleep," she moaned as she sat up and faced him. Then being the first time she had her eyes open since he got out of the shower, she finally took notice of how he was only wearing a towel. Water droplets still clung to his shoulders and his abdomen.
"Ugh, you're seducing me again, aren't you?" she asked, unenthused.
"I'm not seducing you!" he replied indignantly. "What is with you always thinking I want to jump your bones?"
She shrugged. "I don't know…I get that vibe from you," she said finally.
She stood and pulled back the covers so she could lie in bed. He came back out, wearing a shirt (much to her dismay).
"There, is that better?" he asked.
She pouted. "No."
"I can't win, can I?" he inquired.
She just shook her head, pulling back the covers on his side of the bed so he could be next to her. "Just come over here," she whined.
He lay down in bed next to her. Her hand quickly made its way to his skin. He felt her get the shirt off of him rather slowly.
"And you're not trying anything?" he inquired, not so convinced.
She burrowed her head into the space between his shoulder and his head. "No. It's just more comfortable this way," she sighed.
He wriggled out of her trap and rolled over to face her. He took her hand. "Twenty more days?" he asked, kissing her on the hand.
She sighed, taking a deep breath and nodding. "Yes," she mumbled quietly.
"And then you'll be Mrs. Spencer Cavanaugh," he added excitedly before pecking her on the lips.
She smiled. "I can't wait," she whispered before kissing him back.
Okay, so on the grounds of not incriminating myself, I refuse to say anything about the state of my writing this story.
eveningshades1107:I guess I can see where people think Mona is obsessed with Hanna, but I just don't see it that way. Regardless, I still love Hanna and Mona (both when Hanna loves her and when she hates her). Did you see the sneak peek for next week featuring Mona and Aria? I can't. But by far, my favorite is Mona and Spencer. That's just perfection. They've got such a great Power & Control game between them. I got the Great Cheesepuff in the Sky from that trilogy by Lauren Myracle (I can't think of the names at the moment, but it's ttyl, ttfn, and l8r g8r). That reminds me, today my cousin graduated with his Masters in psychology (that seems so fitting to bring up after just discussing Mona and Spencer), and as my aunt, my grandma, and his girlfriend were driving past my preschool, my aunt was like, "Oh, there's where she went to preschool! I used to pick her up!" I was like, "Yeah, I was a big nerd who read all the books in the tiny shelf when I was like four and half the class still couldn't read". By far, my favorite was the Hungry Caterpillar. That book is ART. It's like the Don Quixote of kiddie books! I'm sure we could have an awesome debate. You PM me anytime you'd like. You officially have an open invitation. I get it. I might to a threequel, but I don't know where the story will go. I was thinking that if I do it, for the different parts, I might have a few chapters, but all progressing in years (so the first seven chapters may be year one of married spoby, the next six can be year two, etc.). And yeah, Spoby marriage and babies and everything. Cutesy stuff. But I always bring some kind of angst. So...there's that. But I do hope that if I move on from this storyline, you might still read what I put out there (crossing my fingers) because I really do love having you as a reader.
mickeymack16:I know. These unhelpful answers are frustrating. I think you'll get a solid answer in like...two chapters *cough* chapter thirty-three.
AL:Poor AL :( I was really pissed because the snowstorm kept knocking out the power during PLL and it takes like ten or fifteen minutes for the cable to come back on. I missed the last fifteen minutes of this week's episode. but it was good :)
spobette-stelena: Thank you! And I'm sorry, I am socially unadapt and my knowledge of acronyms only goes as far as "lol", "omg", "stfu", and "rotflmho", so what is atm? I'm weird, I'm sorry. Interesting thought! I can't answer that, but maybe...I don't know if I've had this discussion with you all yet...
spobylover1237: Thank you! Well, I think I'll end things on a good note for this story, which leaves a whole lot to happen for the potential sequel!
Vexrll: I'm sorry. Believe me, I'm not trying to be rude (people think I'm rude but I'm really just blunt as all hell, so this isn't meant to be rude), but I will not answer that question!
Guest: Last episode was so awesome for Spoby (until the last scene, of course, though...I still liked it on an emotional level. This just proves for the thousand and first time, how much they love each other). I saw this Tumblr post which I thought was just genius. Someone had this theory that Spencer is stealing Toby's shirts (and now his boxers) so he'll just have to be naked all the time. And then they said something about him getting cold (especially with this sub-zero weather we're having around Philly/NYC), so Spencer will just have to keep him warm. I was like, yes. I'm glad you love the story (but it will eventually and unfortunately have to end. If I do a threequel, that will definitely be the last installment. I have no desire to prolong this any further than a trilogy). Thank you for the feedback!
Sylviecake231: Aw! That's so sweet! You thought of me! I'm sorry. I just don't have friends in real life, so it's like...yay, people actually think of me. No, Spencer didn't even get as far as picking out a dress when it came to marrying Andrew! I also didn't mention this (and I might not get to mentioning it, but I think I will), but the dress Spencer ended up picking was the same dress Hanna spotted in the boutique when Aria was getting a dress. It's the same one that Hanna was like, "Oh my God, she'd look so pretty and amazing in that". Goose egg. Okay, if you really want to know, one of my favorites is "Mowgli's Road" (but I really am giving you a strong warning that the song creeps out a lot of people with the odd sound effects in the beginning and the voices in the middle, but it's an amazing song). I love the song "Happy Meal", but it's one of her demos and it sounds really crappy on a speaker. More demos I love: "Blindfold Me", "Bad Kidz", "The Common Cold", "Dirty Sheets", "Horror Pop", "Miss Y", "Plastic Rainbow", "Scab & Plaster", "This is L.A", and "Troubled Mind". Songs off of The Family Jewels: "Shampain", "Girls", "Obsessions", "Hollywood", "The Outsider", "Hermit the Frog", "Oh No!", "Seventeen" (I know you're in the UK and this is a US track [I'm obviously from the US], but I'm sure if you looked for it on YouTube, it would be there. Both the demo and the more polished album version are great), "Rootless". Songs from Electra Heart: "Bubblegum Bitch", "Lies" (and the acoustic version is simply amazing), "Starring Role", "Living Dead" (this one is UK, so I had to download this apart from iTunes), "Sex Yeah" (this one is US), "Hypocrates", and "Fear and Loathing". Marina's covers are also amazing. I really don't like JB, but Marina's cover of "Boyfriend" is great. You should also check out "Starstrukk", "Candy", and "Perfect Stranger". They're all great covers. I think I literally named every single song Marina has ever made (probably take like ten songs, maybe), but I like all of her songs. No joke, I haven't listened to one I've disliked. And I liked all the songs you named :) I think my favorite is either "Homewrecker" or "Primadonna". They're both great.
vondydora: I'm a very unpredictable person, so you might want to keep all your hunches in check and not dismiss all of them until I explicitly dismiss any theories ;) And I SO agree with you. Evil Ezra is just amazing. If they pull a Toby...no. Ezra just can't pull it off. Ian is so amazing acting as that evil person and then the same dude who likes cake and stuff. On one hand, he eats fruit cake; on the other, he kicks puppies in an alleyway (and if that's not pure evil, I don't know WHAT is).
Okay, just so everyone gets the message, I'm not going to tell you guys if Spencer is pregnant or if Toby's building a house for them or where that painting is! You'll all just have to wait very patiently for an answer! I promise it will come! I Kayson swear.
I know this is really kind of random, but I really miss some of my reviewers. Of course, I love you all, yes, especially you guys, Theodora, AL, vondydora, Courtney, Alexia (I love your name), mickeymack16, and of course you, Sarah (please, like I'd forget my AfterEllen-obsessed, sarcastic-tongued, East-coast friend), but I also really miss some of my other reviewers. Like, I wonder what happened to Maria and April and French-English-Canadian Sarah? Sometimes when I'm up at night and I can't sleep, I wonder what happened to you guys! I miss you!
So my own autophobia aside, I'd really like 10 reviews before the next chapter (otherwise, I will post next week, as I wanted to do this week, but didn't get a chance to because of the storm). This was your weekly PSA from Kayson letting you know that she wants to keep this story going for as long as she can, kind of like how moms secretly kind of want their kids to go to a local college so they won't be an empty-nester.
I'm crying now over my computer! But not really! I'm just dreading this Latin test tomorrow, I promise. -Kayson
P.S, in case anyone was wondering, 3rd declension is: various, is, i, em, e, es, um, ibus, es, ibus, third declension. And 2nd (normal) is: us, i, o, um, o, i, orum, is, os, is. And 2nd declension (neuter) is: um, i, o, um, o, a, orum, is, a, is. And 1st declension is: a, ae, ae, am, a, ae, arum, is, as, is, that's first declension.
Oh yeah, Kayson knows her shit. Excuse me, but I'm feeling pumped right now.