Author's Note: I just want to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing. I really appreciate all your kinds words. :D


Chapter Nine

"Never thought I'd be dropping you off at Ashley's house," Casey commented as she pulled up to the Davies' mansion.

Spencer just gave her a look as she unbuckled her seat belt. "Okay, when I call you to pick me up, you better come right away." Before she could leave, Casey grabbed a hold of her arm and gave her a very serious look. "What's up?" she asked a little concerned.

"You never stopped liking her, did you?"

Spencer just took her arm back and left the car. "I'll call you later."

Casey sighed. "Be careful." She gave her a little smile before driving off.

The Davies' mansion was huge and Spencer felt a bit intimidated as she walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. She only had to wait a few seconds before a woman (she only could assume was Ashley's mom) answered the door with a smile on her face.

"Hi," Spencer said extending her hand. "I'm Spencer, I'm here to see Ashley." She didn't know why, but Spencer was expecting a butler with a British accent to answer the door. The house just gave off that certain vibe.

"Oh yes," Christine said shaking her hand. "Ashley said she was having someone come over to help her catch up in music class. Come in." She opened the door wider to let Spencer inside the house.

Stifling a gasp, Spencer looked around with wide eyes. It was like stepping inside a palace.

"I'll let her know you're here," Christine said as she walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Ashley!" she called up. "Spencer's here, will you please come down?"

Spencer continued to look around as they waited for Ashley. Everything was nice and expensive looking. She was afraid she'd break something by just breathing too hard.

After a few seconds and still no Ashley, Christine shook her head. "That girl, probably has her headphones on. Here, let me just take you to her room."

"Oh, okay," Spencer said a little taken back and followed Ashley's mom up the stairs.

"I appreciate you taking the time to help Ashley," she said smiling.

"No problem," Spencer smiled back. They reached the top landing when the phone rang.

"I'm sorry, I'll have to take that but Ashley's room is just down there." She pointed to the end of the hallway they were standing in and to the door at the very end. "It was nice meeting you," she said politely before going back downstairs to answer the phone.

Spencer half-heartedly waved and made her way towards Ashley's room. The door was ajar and she knocked on it before poking her head in. Ashley was in her bed, lying on her stomach. Her back was facing the door and she looked like she was reading something. Spencer could hear music coming from the headphones in Ashley's ears and she was moving her feet to the beat of the music.

She smiled as she watched Ashley for a few moments. Never in her life did Spencer think she'd be Ashley Davies' room. She walked towards the bed and tapped her on the back.

Ashley jumped about a foot in the air and fell off to the ground. "Oh my God, Spencer!" she said trying to get up while turning very red.

Spencer could help but laugh as she tried to her help her to her feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Ashley managed to get tangled up in her comforter that fell with her and tried to free herself from it. "No, it's okay. I just didn't expect you." She took Spencer's offered hand and hauled herself up. "When did you get you here?" Ashley was still holding her hand and Spencer felt warm shivers shoot up and down her arm.

"Um, just a few minutes ago. Your mom let me in." Spencer could have sworn Ashley's thumb was rubbing her hand.

Ashley seemed to notice she was doing this and quickly dropped her hand. "Oh, yeah, right." She started to gather the sheet music she was reading before Spencer came over and quickly stuffed her teddy bear out of sight before Spencer could see it. "We should go work on this then." Ashley started to leave the room wishing her face would return to its normal color.

"Um, Ashley?"

Ashley turned around and looked at Spencer who was still standing in the same spot. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Spencer pointed to Ashley's guitar that was perched on its stand.

"Right," she said slapping herself on the head. She grabbed the instrument and gave Spencer a sheepish smile. "All set now. Uh, follow me."

Spencer smiled as she followed the flustered girl out of the room.

"Did you just have a girl in your room?" Kyla had just come out of her room and gave her sister an accusatory glare.

Not at all bothered, Ashley just walked pass her and down the stairs. "Ky, why don't you jump off the banister?" she said in a casual voice.

"I'm telling mom you had a girl in your room!" she yelled ignoring the comment.

Spencer watched on amused as she continued to follow Ashley. "What was that about?" she asked as Ashley opened a door to a large room where a grand piano was situated right in the middle.

Ashley shrugged. "What, Kyla? You get used to her." She pulled out the piano bench for Spencer and indicated for her to sit down.

Spencer laughed and took a seat. "I mean, why did she accuse you of having a girl in your room?"

Ashley grabbed a chair and set it down next to the piano. "Oh, house rules. I'm not allowed to have girls in my room and Kyla's not allowed to have boys." She put the sheet music on a stand and put her guitar on her lap. "Unless the door is wide open," she finished.

Spencer nodded as she opened the cover over the keys. "Do you usually have girls in your room?" She tried to make her voice sound as casual as possible while she played a few notes trying to avoid Ashley's eyes.

Ashley mouth curled into a little smirk. "No," she answered evenly. "Just Sally." She could've sworn Spencer looked almost relieved by this. "And she doesn't really count either," she added. "She's more like an extra appendage of mine."

Spencer laughed again and looked at Ashley. "You guys are really close, aren't you?"

Ashley smiled as she turned the pegs on her guitar. "She's my best friend. She knows me better than anyone." They stared at each other for a few moments before Spencer looked away and started to play some more notes that resembled "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She knew they should be working but her curiosity was getting the best of her.

"Have you two," she swallowed. "Have you two ever dated?"

"Why do you ask?" Ashley asked curiously trying to find Spencer's eyes.

"Well." Once again, Spencer tried to sound as nonchalant as she could. "You guys are really close and all. And you know in the hetero world, they say girls and guys can't be just friends without having some kind of attraction. I assume the same rule applies for gays and lesbians, you know?" Spencer started to blush at her rambling.

But Ashley found it adorable and gave her a little smile. "Yes, we did date."

Spencer looked at her surprised. "You did?"

"Yes, for a whole three days in the seventh grade." She grinned at Spencer's reaction. "As you can tell, it didn't quite work out."

"What happened?"

"Well, Sally and I have been best friends since pre-school so we grew up together and everything," she started. Spencer was looking at her intently and listening to every word. "When we reach that rightful age of puberty, we started to have these feelings you know? We talked to each other about it and we found out that we both liked girls. So, it seemed only natural if we started dating."

Spencer let out a little laugh. "You guys decided to go out because you thought it was the next step?"

"Well, we didn't know," Ashley said also laughing. "I mean, it just made sense. So we started to 'date' secretly. We go to each other's houses and watch movies and hold hands."

"Aw," Spencer commented. "How cute."

"Haha, but it obviously didn't last. The first time we kissed? It felt like I was kissing my sister. And that grossed me out." She shuddered thinking of it again.

"So hasta la vista Ashley and Sally?"

"Yup and we've been tight ever since." Ashley gave Spencer another smile and Spencer blushed. "Sally and I came out to our families together," she said quietly. "It was hard but we had each other."

Spencer bit her lip contemplating her next question. "What happened?"

"Our parents didn't take it so well. Well, some people have it worse but it was pretty bad for a while. Especially for Sally." Spencer noticed that Ashley was now looking everywhere but at her. "My mom thought it was just me acting out because of my dad's death." She didn't know why she was telling Spencer all these things. Things only Sally knew but she felt like she could trust Spencer. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to throw my entire life story on you."

Spencer gave her a reassuring smile. "No it's okay. I mean it turned out well right? Your mom seems really nice."

Ashley laughed. "Yeah, she is. They accepted it and we're all really close. Family dinners and everything. Very boring."

Spencer laughed as well as she stared at Ashley. This was not what she thought Ashley's life would be like. She had expected a spoiled brat with no sense of family values. But here she was telling stories of her coming out and family gatherings. It wasn't too much different from her own life.

"You know, we should probably work on this," Ashley said picking up the music sheets.

Spencer snapped out of her daze and turned her body to face the keys. "Oh yeah, concert in two weeks."

She started showing Ashley all the revisions on the songs and played them for her. Ashley caught on very quick, only needing to go over it a few times before she knew it by heart.

Ashley watched Spencer's fingers move along the black and white keys as she played. It was very hypnotizing how graceful they moved. Almost like a dance. Ashley really liked Spencer's fingers and she found herself imagining those fingers intertwined with hers. And then her thoughts started to think of other things Spencer's fingers could be doing besides playing the piano.

"Ashley?"

She snapped her gaze back to Spencer's face and was met with an amused look. "Yeah?"

"You stopped playing and were just staring for the past few seconds," Spencer said with a little smirk.

"Oh yeah, sorry." She cleared her throat and fiddled with her guitar.

"What were you staring at?"

"Oh, um, you just have really nice fingers." Ashley turned bright red when she realized what she just said. "I mean, you play very well." She looked at Spencer who was just grinning. "How, how long have you been playing?" she asked looking away.

"Since I was eight."

"Wow, that's um, long."

Spencer chuckled. "Yeah, it is. How long have you been playing?" Spencer had now turned on the bench so she was straddling it and tilted her head.

Ashley couldn't help but look over Spencer's body. The way she was sitting was doing very funny things to her. "Um, the guitar or the piano?" The room was suddenly getting really hot and if she didn't know any better, Spencer seemed to be scooting closer to the edge of the bench and closer to her.

"Both."

"Well, um, been playing the piano since I was five and the guitar since I was ten."

"Wow," Spencer said impressed. "Your fingers must be very strong."

Ashley nearly fell off her chair. Was Spencer flirting with her? This thought gave Ashley a huge boost of confidence.

"They're alright," Ashley said smirking and looked Spencer up and down.

"Which one is harder to play?" Spencer's throat became very dry by the way Ashley was looking at her.

"I don't know, you tell me." Ashley suddenly stood up and walked to the piano bench. She handed Spencer her guitar and sat right behind her also straddling the bench.

Spencer felt her entire body flush when she felt Ashley come up behind her. She clumsily held the guitar in her lap before Ashley's arms came up from under her arms and showed her how to hold it properly.

"Fingers on the frets like this," Ashley whispered right by her ear and conformed Spencer's fingers over the guitar strings.

Spencer's breath hitched and she closed her eyes letting Ashley guide her. "And pressed down really hard," Ashley continued. Spencer could feel her heart about to break her chest as Ashley's nose tickled the side of her cheek. "And then strum." The sound of a G chord filled the room but Spencer couldn't hear it. She turned her head so she was facing Ashley. They were so close that their noses were touching. Spencer's eyes drifted from Ashley's eyes to her lips. Eyes. Lips. Eyes. Lips.

"So which one's harder?" Ashley whispered. So close.

"How you girls doing?"

The two girls pulled apart so fast that Christine had no idea what was about to happen when she walked in.

"It going great, mom," Ashley said a little annoyed and glanced at Spencer who was beet red.

"That's great," Christine said still oblivious and then turned to Spencer. "Would you like to join us for dinner, Spencer?"

Spencer smiled but then glanced at her watch. "I'd love to, but I told my mom I'd be home before seven." She had completely lost track of the time.

"Oh okay, maybe next time then?"

"Yes, definitely."

Christine smiled at them both before leaving the room. Ashley had no idea what to say as she watched Spencer gather her things.

"So, um, when do you want to meet again to practice?" Ashley ventured nervously as she watched Spencer text someone on her phone.

Spencer looked up and gave her a smile. "How about tomorrow after school?"

Relief washed over Ashley. "Okay that sounds good. Um, do you need a ride home?"

"Oh, no Casey's just two minutes away." She waved her cell phone indicating a text message she just received. "She was at Sally's apparently."

"That makes sense," Ashley said laughing. "Sally lives two blocks from here."

She walked Spencer to the door and waited with her for Casey to arrive. "So, um, thanks for helping me out today."

"It was my pleasure." Spencer gave her a big smile.

Ashley was about to open her mouth again when Casey pulled up honking the horn. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow." With one last smile, Spencer got into the passenger's seat.

Ashley stood on her front porch as she watched Casey and Spencer driving away. A smile was permanently on her face when blue eyes didn't leave hers until the car was out of sight.

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