Oh, Spashley. How you make me smile.
The sun had set about two hours ago, a roaring, highly illegal bonfire illuminated the congregation of teenagers lounging around it, and of the people assembled, Aiden Dennison was making the biggest fool of himself. Several beers had found their way into his system and now he was noisily telling anyone around how great the girl was that he was texting.
"She's awesome," he yelled at the people who were starting to get tired of his repetitive statements. "And when she gets here I'm gonna ask her out!"
Spencer grabbed his arm and pulled him to the opposite side of the fire to sit down.
"I've let this go on too long," she muttered. In a louder voice she addressed her best friend.
"Stop making a show of yourself. And slow down on the drinks. The last thing we need is for you to turn into an alkie."
His hooded eyes attempted to focus on her. Even sitting almost on top of the fire, he could barely see her. Why did these specific teenagers like the dark so much?
"I think I love her!" He shouted in her ear.
"Aiden, ouch! I think I just lost my sense of hearing. Stop acting like such a drunken idiot even if you are one."
The boy's body language became more subdued as he tried sobering up for Spencer. Sometimes he did unintentional cute things like that just so Spencer had no other choice than to forgive him. Aiden bent his neck at a painful-looking angle to rest it on the blonde's shoulder.
"I'm sorry." He said sadly.
Spencer placed a hand on his head and stared at the fire.
"Don't be. It's really great that you're so excited. But shrieking like a preteen girl at a JoBro concert isn't really becoming of King High's star basketball player."
"Did I hear you talking about me?" asked a guy walking out of the shadows to plop down next to a startled Spencer.
"Oh, Trevor…" she fumbled for a civil response. "Uhm. Hi."
A simple greeting was all she could come up with. Aiden, however, was making a small noise in the back of his throat. The sound went unnoticed by Trevor. Spencer heard it, though, and soothingly ran a hand through her friend's hair.
"Are you sure you two aren't dating?" the blonde asked of the pair of friends.
Spencer's upper lip twitched in amusement. And annoyance.
"Have you or have you not heard Aiden's many confessions of undying love for Kyla Davies tonight?"
Just the mention of the girl's name brought a smile to Aiden's face but he was still tense against Spencer's side, ready to spring at Trevor in case he tried pulling something. He resembled a big doberman puppy. A big, drunk, doberman puppy with no sense of propriety. Spencer's soothing fingers changed in an instance to pull at his hair, in an effort to shock him into relaxing.
"Nah, I heard. Just checking. So, Spence… I was wondering if you want to walk with me." Trevor asked invitingly.
He was attractive, if Spencer was honest with herself. Something about him just didn't spark with her, though. She wanted to chalk it up to his over-confidence and too smooth ways but even that was considered charming by other girl's standards. He was tall, moderately intelligent, and had a nice smile. Why was Spencer so exhausted trying to keep up a conversation with him?
Truly considering his offer, just to investigate what might be wrong with her, Spencer started to reply to him. Aiden took that moment to yelp as his phone vibrated, though, thoroughly cutting her off. He bounded to his feet only to totter towards the fire. Before Spencer could even reach towards him, Trevor was up and grabbing Aiden's arm to pull him away from the heat.
"Whoa, dude. What the hell was that?" Trevor asked.
Spencer stood up and wrapped an arm around Aiden to steady his teettering. Soon he controlled himself and plainly told Spencer what his last text message said.
"She's in the parking lot." He said in a poor imitation of a whisper.
He licked his lips nervously.
"What do I do?" Aiden demanded of the girl holding onto him.
Spencer glanced at Trevor who looked slightly annoyed at coming in second to Aiden, but in an open and almost friendly way. Aiden was now hopping (quivering, really) in anticipation.
To Aiden she said, "I'll help you up to the parking lot". Looking over at Trevor one more time, Spencer gave him an authentic, apologetic smile. He wasn't that bad.
"I've got to get him home safely or else everyone, including the rest of your team, will kill me. But raincheck on the walk?" She didn't know if she'd actually let him take her out or even walk with her because the moment to find something out about herself had passed, but she didn't want to lose the option.
The blonde boy just nodded in a preoccupied manner then left to sit with a group of guys laughing loudly to the side of the fire. He only looked back at Spencer once to smile. Aiden started tugging on her arm and she had no choice but to walk away.
Away from the light of the fire, everything grew amazingly dark. Spencer halted Aiden so they could slowly adjust to the light of the stars and moon now that a few sand dunes hid the bonfire. She smoothed the collar of his shirt in a motherly fashion and prepared him for the meeting as best she knew how.
"There are some things I should remind you of since your drunken self won't remember. First, girls don't typically like drunk guys unless they're drunk too. Try and act as sober as possible," He straighten up automatically and opened his eyes wide to lose his dopey expression. "Secondly, you may think you love her right now but don't say it until you're sober. And lastly, make her fall in love with you like I know you can."
She gave him a sweet smile and linked arms with him as they walked to the car lot. Rounding the dune, they saw a sexily clad Kyla standing against a car different from that afternoon. Aiden's face lit up but he kept his cool. Kyla's face had a similar reaction and she pushed herself off of the car to meet them. The threesome stood slightly in front of the sleek black car smiling at each other.
"I'm drunk," Aiden blurted out suddenly. "I'm sorry if I say something… not smart or stupid."
Kyla's eyebrows raised in a super amused expression and addressed Spencer.
"I see I'm not the only one who loves a partier."
Spencer must have had a confused look on her face because Kyla explained herself.
"I brought my sister," she said pointing to the passenger side of the car. All three of them glanced towards the wriggling figure inside. "She'll come out in a second. I don't exactly know what she's doing, though. She's tempermental when she drinks. Actually, she's tempermental all the time."
"People's true qualities come out when they drink," Spencer said with a giggle. "Aiden here just gets cuter and cuter. In a childish way at least."
The mentioned boy pouted unhappily at the remark and both girls laughed. Kyla had been subtly drifting closer to Aiden and somehow surprisingly ended up next to him. He slung an arm around both the girls shoulders and hugged them to his body.
"You guys are mean but I love you." He stated.
Spencer tensed at the 'L' word having been said already but Kyla just continued to laugh. He let go of them when suddenly the car door opened.
"Kyla, where's the party?" demanded the girl who fell out of the door. "I thought you said we were going to a beach party. This is a parking lot."
The girl's tone towards Kyla grated on Spencer's nerves. Kyla had shown nothing but a pleasant exterior to her and Aiden, and here was her sister taking advantage of it. Or at least trying. Kyla just made an irritated introduction.
"Spencer, Aiden, this is my sister Ashley. Ashley, Aiden and Spencer."
"Oh. Is this the same Spencer who was a douche in that text message?"
Now Spencer was really annoyed. Unfortunately, she still liked Kyla a lot and didn't want to insult her by telling her sister off. Kyla had no problem telling her sister off, though.
"Ashley, shut your inconsiderate mouth for once. Spencer, I'm so sorry. I should have dropped her off or something. She never makes good first impression while intoxicated and only semi-decent ones when not."
"No, Kyla, don't even worry about it." Spencer reassured her.
Ashley looked angry, though.
"I'll call blondie a douche if I want to, Kyla!" she shouted the name as an insult.
Aiden had a panicked look on his face, knowing Spencer was likely to start yelling names of her own and already seeing that the two sisters were pissed. He did the only thing he could think of in his state.
"I like boobs."
All three girls blinked. They then looked around at each other, not truly knowing how to respond.
Except Ashley. She seemed like she'd never run out of something to say for long.
"You're an idiot. But I like that you're not an ass man."
He grinned at her and they shared a moment while Spencer and Kyla had one of their own. Ashley went in for a high five and the boy obliged.
"Are you always such an ass?" Spencer spontanteously asked of Ashley.
The brunette turned to glare at the blonde.
"Are you always such a prude?"
Aiden crept over to Kyla while the pair stared evilly at each other. He tugged on her hand and they walked to the dune to sit. Neither of the other girls noticed. They too busy sizing each other up. All Spencer saw was an unruly, rude, wannabe rocker who happened to have an awesome sister. All Ashley saw was a stuck up, too-stiff fake blonde with good taste in friends.
When Ashley finally noticed that her sister was a good thirty feet away she shouted, "I want to go home"! Kyla looked incredibly upset by that request. She wanted more time with Aiden. She'd only just gotten there.
Spencer knew she would regret it later but was too noble to consider any other option. She elbowed Ashley in the side and ran to where the cuddling couple was. Kyla stared desperately up at Spencer while Aiden just snuggled closer to Kyla, somehow encasing her body in his arms. She was a tiny little thing.
The blonde took a breath and rushed out her offer. Kyla gave her the brightest smile ever known to grace the human face and looked excitedly to Ashley who had just arrived at the scene. The rocker threw a jab of her own at the blonde who side-stepped it easily.
"Ashley, Spencer said she'd take you home!"