Hey there. Sorry for the delay, I'm moving to Los Angeles tomorrow so I've been crazy busy trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing with my things. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'll try to get something up when things die down. Probably only a few chapters left of this, just so you all know :(
*I own nothing even if I wish I did*
Spencer and Ashley sat leaning up against the couch in the lounge area of Spencer's dorm. It was decided they would pull one of the televisions into the lounge and just have a movie night for anyone who was interested. Of course, no one was aside from Spencer, Ashley and J but secretly Spencer liked it this way. Admittedly, she'd prefer it to be without J but she knew better that any opportunity that girl could get to rack up any blackmail points, she'd take it.
Earlier in the semester, J had gotten Spencer so drunk, she convinced her she was a super hero. A picture of Spencer, clad in a pair of white mesh basketball shorts with superman underwear over them, a black long sleeved under armor shirt and a towel safety pinned together to create a cape, sits secure on two external hard drives and in a random folder on her computer. Blackmail is J's favorite hobby, one Spencer is convinced she has perfected.
After the first movie Spencer decided to drag her comforter in. It wasn't necessarily cold in the lounge but something about watching movies NOT curled up under a blanket with a beautiful girl just seemed wrong.
"Hey." Spencer whispered as the opening credits of the second movie, Step Up, started to play. Ashley turned towards her, smiling when she felt Spencer's hand lace with hers underneath the blanket. Ashley slid her body closer to Spencer's and leaned her head against her shoulder. "Scoot down," Spencer reached behind her and grabbed a pillow from the couch, glaring when J's eyes met hers and she wiggled her eyebrows. She slides her body down, places the pillow behind her head and slides her arm underneath Ashley.
Ashley adjusts her body so she can lay her head on Spencer but still be able to see the movie.
"Is this okay?" Spencer asks, feeling how Ashley still hasn't found a comfortable position. Ashley adjusts one more time, having to scoot up a little bit and then nods against Spencer's chest. Spencer wants to ask again but stops when she feels Ashley's hand rest on her stomach and suddenly her words and even her breath escape her.
Ugh. This girl is going to be the death of me, she's so incredible. Even though I can tell she's incredibly nervous she's acting as though she's fine. I wonder if she knows how transparent she is, or maybe I'm the only one who can pick up on the fact that she's playing with my shirt and her heart is beating hard against my side. Wait, is that my heart or hers? Maybe it's both. Come on Carlin, stay cool, you got this.
"Hey Spence?" Ashley turns her head up towards Spencer. "Are you still taking Aiden to work tomorrow?" Spencer groans and nods.
"Thanks for reminding me." She deadpans, making Ashley giggle at the obvious annoyance.
Ashley smiles, thankful that the room is dark enough to hide the blush. She's not sure what provoked her to ask, she just doesn't trust Aiden. He may be a typical blockheaded jock but he's had Spencer before, why wouldn't he have a better chance than she does. "Sorry. I just... "
"Will you two please stop talking, I'm trying to watch Channing Tatum get his dance on!" Ashley and Spencer mumble their apologies and focus on the movie.
By the end of Step Up, Ashley is half asleep on Spencer's chest and J has already been snoring for a good ten minutes. Spencer, however, is very much awake.
What do I do about Aiden, how am I supposed to get him off my back without ruining our friendship? What about Ashley? This girl came out of nowhere and here I am with her sleeping on my shoulder. We aren't even dating but I feel like she's mine.
"What's the word humming bird?" Spencer shakes her head, startled by Ashley's voice.
Spencer laughs, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "Humming bird? I thought you were sleeping." She feels Ashley's head shake against her shoulder.
"I was dozing in and out for a while."
"So.. humming bird? Why humming bird?" Ashley's hand slides up from Spencer's stomach, she lifts her head slightly so she can place her hand right above Spencer's heart.
"This is why." Spencer's heart, if it wasn't beating fast earlier, certainly picked up in pace as soon as Ashley's hand started moving upwards. "I've never felt anyone's heart beat so quickly before."
"Well, I mean, this movie just has me pumped up. Makes me want to dance."
Ashley sits up, smirking with a mischievous glint in her eye. "You can dance like them?" She bites her lip and looks Spencer up and down then slowly licks her lips.
"Uh... Well, I mean-"
"Fuck YEAH she can dance like them! Spence, show her your moves!" Spencer's eyes squeeze shut. Of course J is awake right now, why wouldn't she be. This fucking girl can smell an opportunity from a mile away!
"I'd prefer not to." Spencer forces a yawn, stretching her legs and arms out. "It's late, I'm tired, you've both been sleeping, it's just not exactly the right time for that sort of thing." She mentally crosses her fingers that this will work, but knowing J it won't be forgotten.
Ashley smiles at her attempt to avoid the demonstration. She assumed, with a body like Spencer's that something must keep her in shape, but wasn't sure what that would be. Sure, swimming would definitely keep her in shape, but it didn't sound like she'd been doing a lot of it lately, what with the swim team non existent and her only having one class that involved swimming.
"Hey. You don't have to, you're right it's pretty late. Maybe I should get going." Ashley starts to stand up but is pulled down by Spencer. "Okay, maybe I'm not going."
Spencer shrugs, "you can stay here if you want." She looks to J, trying to ask her to leave with her eyes. She smiles when J rolls her eyes and walks back to her room. "I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure what is going on and I know we just met but I really like you Ash."
Ashley swallows hard, her heart now feeling similar to Spencer's earlier. Her hands begin to fidget in her lap. "I um- I really like you too." To Spencer's surprise, Ashley starts laughing. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh but we sound like a bunch of grade schoolers. I feel like one of us should pass the other a note that says 'I like like you' or something." Spencer joins the laughter, agreeing that they certainly seem like a couple of kids and not the college aged young adults they're supposed to be.
"So... you'll stay tonight?" Spencer bites her lip, squinting her eyes hoping for affirmation.
"I would like to, but I can't. Tomorrow? Whenever you have to drop Aiden off at work, maybe we can do something. It'd be nice to do whatever and not have to worry about his dumb ass lurking in the shadows or acting weird." Spencer chuckles and leans forward to kiss Ashley's cheek.
"Tomorrow it is then." The girls stand up, Spencer grabs her DVD's as they walk out of the lounge. She'll deal with the TV later. "Will you be okay walking back to your apartment?"
Ashley nods, reaching out to push the button for the elevator. "So... I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yep. I'll call or text you when I get rid of Aiden. Then we can do whatever you'd like, so think of what you'd like to do, I'm up for anything." The doors open but neither girl moves towards it. Instead, Ashley steps forward and wraps her arms tight around Spencer.
"Good night Spence." I want so badly to kiss her, but I'm refraining. I'm not sure if I should since we aren't dating. Even though we've kissed already, it just seems like an awkward situation right now. Sure, I've made out with boys with no care in the world but something about just doing that with Spencer seems wrong. Spencer deserves more, much more.
"Night Ash. Sleep tight." Spencer's heart stars racing again. Should I kiss her? What would happen if I did? I know we've already kissed, but it just seems... I don't know.. awkward? Ashley deserves more than this, she isn't just some girl i can mess around with. Even if we weren't both friends with Aiden, and I would have to risk seeing her again if things didn't go properly, she's so much more than that.
Ashley hops into the elevator just before it closes, a quick wave to Spencer and she's gone. Inside the elevator Ashley paces back and forth, her bottom lip probably torn up from the force of her teeth grinding against it. She shoves her hands into her pockets as she steps off the elevator and her hands hit something solid, her ipod. With a sigh of relief, she sticks the earbuds into her ear and welcomes the chance to distract her mind from her racing thoughts. But when she hits play, she audibly groans when Staplegunned by The Spill Canvas comes on. This is too ironic and far too fitting for the situation, yet she can't change it. Her mind wills her hands to move and push the appropriate button but they don't, her body has other plans. Apparently tonight will be full of ironic torture of some kind.
Emily walks into Ashley's room a few minutes after she's gotten home. A soft knock on the door pulls Ashley's attention away from her computer where she was reading over an email from one of her friends back home.
"Hey Ash. Did you have a good night?" Ashley smiles, if the slight slur in Emily's voice wasn't enough to tip her off, the way she's standing, slightly leaned against the door frame, her feet clumsily crossing at the ankles, is evidence enough that it's been a successful night of drinking.
"I did yes. It appears you did too. I'm surprised you're back already. It's pretty early." Ashley sets her computer on the bed next to her and scoots over to create room for Emily to sit. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your tipsy presence tonight?"
Emily slumps down next to Ashley on the bed. "Welllllll... I've got a question." Ashley laughs and nods, allowing her to continue. "So... Tim."
"Yeah?"
"Do you... like him? I mean like... like like him?" Ashley laughs again, a little bit harder this time remembering her moment with Spencer earlier. "You know... laughing is mean."
"Oh! No no I mean yeah I know, but you asking me like that, just reminded me of a previous conversation I had tonight, sorry. Um... Well he's a cool guy. He's fun and smart and has a bad ass movie collection. We got along really well and have a LOT in common."
"But you don't like him like that." Ashley leans back from Emily's pointer finger which found a spot right in front of her face.
"I've never really thought about it I guess, to be honest."
"And what about Spencer?" Ashley leans back, surprised that Emily has been preceptive enough to pick up on something she's just now figuring out. "I may be drunk right now but I can tell by the way you seem surprised that I must have hit something."
"I um... I just don't know what would make you think anything about Spencer?" Emily leans forward, trying to give Ashley a very serious look but with the alcohol, it just makes her look like she has a headache while looking into semi-truck headlights. "Whoa, don't hurt yourself there Em." Ashley pushes Emily back a little to sit up more.
"Come clean miss Davies! Tim is a great guy and if you aren't into him you need to tell him or stop leading him on."
"I'm not doing anything, he's a great guy, I agree. He's one of my best friends! I don't know what is going on, honestly! Even with Spencer, I have a lot of things I'm trying to figure out."
Ashley looks up when she sees another body in her doorway, Trey. "Em's right Ash. Tim really likes you. He's been trying to work up the courage to ask you out for a while now."
"Oh...shit."
Trey walks over and sits next to Emily, pulling her slightly into his lap. "Yeah so, whatever is or isn't going on with Spencer, you need to figure out what you want with Tim and let him know."
Ashley takes a long breath and rubs the back of her neck; with a heavy sigh, she nods. "Okay. I can do that. Might not be able to do it tomorrow, I'm actually going to be hanging out with Spencer but afterwards I will." She turns to look at Trey, " I promise."
Trey gives a satisfied nod and pulls Emily up with him, "Come on babe, time for bed."
Emily looks at Ashley and wiggles her eyebrows as Trey pulls her from the room. "I love you Ash, no matter what you do... or who." She giggles. Ashley leans her head in her hands, trying to ignore the comments from her clearly drunk friend.
Ashley gets up and closes her door, stripping off her clothes to throw her pajamas on. Content to sleeping with dreams of tomorrow with Spencer, but the nagging feeling of talking to Tim is slightly tainting those dreams.
Aiden meets Spencer at his car the next afternoon. "Hey Spence. Everything cool with your dad or whatever?" Spencer blanks for a moment, nearly forgetting the lie she had told practically 24 hours prior. But she was Spencer Carlin, she knew how to lie to get out of sticky situations, the only benefit of living with Paula, learn to weasel your way out of anything.
Aiden started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot, waiting for Spencer to answer. "Eh, same ol' thing. Paula had to be somewhere and of course my dad had to go with her. I will say though, it was nice to sleep in. Helping J pick out an outfit was quite an exhausting experience, especially since I had to do it in a rush. Did you go to whatever your roommate's girlfriend had going?"
"No, wasn't really interested. I tried calling Ashley to see if she wanted to hang out but she never called back." Spencer turns her head to hide her smile and coughs to mask the snort of laughter that forces its way out. "You okay?"
"Yeah yeah. I'm good. Sorry to hear that Ash didn't call you back."
"Eh, it's whatever. She didn't say what she was going to do when you two were walking back? I know I kind of walked off quickly, sorry about that. I just had a bad day."
"No dude, you're good. She didn't say anything to me. Maybe she was hanging out with her roommates or something. It WAS Friday after all. From what I've heard that group likes to drink the second the weekend starts."
"Wait, you've met them?"
Shit. Think Carlin, think. "Um, yeah I stopped by last weekend for a little bit just to hang out, needed a change of pace." She sighs in relief when she sees Aiden nod.
"Yeah, they're a cool group of people. I'm not a fan of Tim though. He seems kind of like.. I don't know. I just don't like him. Love his DVD collection though, that dude has like every movie you could possibly think of!"
The rest of the car ride, Aiden and Spencer listened to music and talked about their classes. Spencer was glad when they got stuck behind a tractor and ended up not having any time to spare before Aiden had to be at work. Aiden on the other hand, slammed the door when he got out and stomped his way into the building, mumbling profanities under his breath.
Now, should I run errands first or go pick up Ashley? Decisions Decisions...Errands first, then Ashley. Spencer nods in agreement with her own thoughts and drives off to various stores.
After an hour and a half of shopping and running around, she decides to head back towards campus.
Picking up her phone, she dials Ashley's number, biting her lip anxiously cursing the annoying sound of the ringing.
"Helloooo."
"Hey Ash, I'm on my way back to campus, do you still want to hang out?"
"Of course! How much time do we have before we have to get Aiden? Or you have to? I guess I shouldn't assume I'd be coming with you." Spencer smiles at the nervous rambling, she's tempted to stop her, but at the same time loves how adorable this is. "I mean, we could see a movie or just hang out. If there's things to do out there we can do that..."
"Hey!" Ashley's rambling stops immediately. "I'm gonna let you go, it's kind of crazy on this road, I'll be at your apartment in about twenty minutes."
"Okay cool, see you then." Spencer tosses her phone into the cup holder, a bright smile on her face, her foot pressing the accelerator a bit harder. She looks around the car and happy with what she has planned for when she arrives at Ashley's.
Ashley's sitting in her living room watching a rerun of Boy Meets World when Spencer calls to tell her to come down to the parking lot. She quickly grabs her things, almost forgetting her keys in her haste to get out, and runs down the stairs to the parking lot when she sees where Spencer is parked.
When she opens the door, two red roses are placed on the seat.
"Wha-What's this?" She bends down to pick them up before sliding into the seat. Spencer's hand slipping between hers.
"I wanted to get you something. To kind of show you how I feel." Spencer's thumb drags against the top of Ashley's hand, tracing faint circles and lines.
Ashley can feel her hands shaking, her face flushing to an uncomfortable heat. "This is- Thank you." Spencer squeezes her hand but still doesn't drive off. "So... what are we doing?"
"Um.. Well, I wanted to talk to you about something." Ashley twists in her seat, not letting go of Spencer's hand, she nods for her to continue. "Well, like I told you last night, I really like you and if I'm understanding you correctly, you seem to feel the same way. So I was wondering if maybe you'd want to go out with me. As in, exclusively date or something."
Ashley's breath shakes, her chest constricts but at the same time feels like it's never been lighter. "I would like that, very much." Spencer pulls Ashley closer, and places her other hand behind Ashley's neck, her thumb stroking the skin of her jaw as their eyes lock. Both girls smile, gazes flicking between eyes and lips as they seem to be inching closer.
As lame is it sounds, Ashley can't help herself, "so this means you're my girlfriend?" Spencer nods and leans in to close the gap. Happy that her plan worked out as she imagined it.
Ashley's mind spins, feeling Spencer's lips slide against hers, Spencer's hands getting lost in the dark curls of Ashley's hair. It's everything she's ever wanted to feel with anyone. This is more than she could ever imagine having with someone and it's only a kiss. They pull away enough to rest their foreheads against each other, panting and smiling bright enough to light a cathedral.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that. Like, at all." Ashley laughs, her hand reaching up to intertwine with Spencer's on her neck, pulling it towards her and kissing the knuckles. "But I'm glad it did."
Spencer kisses her nose, enjoying the way it scrunches and causes Ashley's smile to change to something as adorable as a kitten chasing a ball of yarn. "How are you so impossibly cute?"
"Many years of practice." Ashley's matter-of-fact response reminds Spencer why she asked Ashley in the first place. She can crack jokes even in the most intense moments but it still makes her want her. "What are we doing now or is this as far as your plan went?"
Spencer leans back in her seat. "Well I was thinking we could get food if you want before we have to pick up the idiot."
"Sounds good to me, you just drive babe. I'm down for whatever." Ashley's eyes quickly dart to Spencer, her breath caught in her throat, wondering if the term of endearment was too soon or if Spencer was one of those people with an aversion to certain names. "Sorry."
Spencer shifts the car into gear and puts her hand on Ashley's leg, dragging her fingers along the tops of her jeans until she finds Ashley's fidgeting hands and pulls her left hand to the center console with hers. "Don't apologize, I like it. Now... we just need to figure out how to tell Aiden." Both girls groan at the mere thought of dealing with him but decide to ignore it and bask in the happiness of their newly formed relationship.
I hope this tides you over for a while. Feel free to message me or find me on tumblr: .com