Sincerest apologies for the delay, it has been a bit hectic lately and writer's block has completely barricaded my brain for longer than usual. But I'm generating a few ideas so, hopefully this isn't too late and you all haven't given up on me. Thanks to all the reviewers, readers, alert..ers. Without you, this story would have been discarded a long time ago.
Spencer and Ashley decide to just head back to the town where Aiden works so they don't have to rush to get him incase they lose track of time. There are plenty of nice restaurants to choose from but neither girl is very hungry. Their nerves are filling up their stomachs too much to really ingest anything substantial. Luckily for them, Jimmy John's is only a few blocks down from where Aiden works and there are a few clothing stores scattered between the two. They have nearly two and a half hours to kill, two and half hours to bask in their relationship before figuring out how to act around Aiden. Time that should be spent happily, is spent in a mixed state of bliss and annoyance. They know Aiden isn't going to receive the news very well, but what choice do they have, he's one of their closest friends.
"Do you think we should both tell him? Like together?" Ashley takes a sip of her sprite as she asks, her legs bouncing enough to make the table lightly shake.
"Um... Well... maybe I should?" She thinks about the possibility that Aiden would kidnap her, lock her up in his room and not let her leave until she takes it back. This is Aiden, not some crazy serial stalker killer guy. He may be slightly irrational but he's not an idiot. I don't even think he'd know what to do if he even TRIED kidnapping someone. She laughs at the scenario playing in her mind until she realizes Ashley is staring at her, looking very confused. "Sorry. Yeah, let me take care of it. I don't want him going off on you. I'd rather protect you, and I think I can let him down easier."
Ashley feigns hurt, "You think I wouldn't be able to let him down easy?" Spencer laughs and shakes her head. "You're probably right, he'd say something and I'd end up punching him or literally ripping his head off. He may be like a brother to me, but he's definitely one I would have no regrets knocking out a few times."
With a plan made and a few shopping bags in the backseat - Spencer just HAD to have a button down shirt she saw and Ashley spotted a really cute hoodie and hat at another store - Spencer pulls up to the curb in front of Aiden's work.
Spencer turns to Ashley as they wait. "Okay, so are you sure you're okay sitting in the back?"
"Yeah, it's fine. You were right in saying we should handle this NOT in an enclosed space. I think I can manage hanging out in the back seat for a little while." She smiles and squeezes Spencer's hand that is resting on her leg. Both girls catch a glimpse of a still frustrated Aiden coming out of the doors, his hands shoved in his pockets and his lips moving slightly as if he's muttering to himself.
Spencer sighs. "Well, shit. This should be interesting." They watch as Aiden's hands pull roughly from his pockets and he motions that he wants to drive. His steps stutter when both doors open and he closes his eyes briefly.
"Oh, hey Ash, I didn't realize you were coming too." Ashley just smiles as she slides into the back seat, the disdain in his voice is enough for her to know that her presence is just another thing for him to be grumpy about.
When Spencer walks past Aiden, he grabs her arm, stopping her before she can get past the tail light. He leans in close to her, "I thought just you were coming to get me. I've had a really stressful day and really was hoping to ... you know..." Aiden nods his head to the car in hopes that she gets the message that he wants to fool around.
Spencer pulls her arm from his grasp and steps back, "yeah well, we were hanging out and it got time to come get you so I told her to come with me. I figured since she's your friend too it'd be alright." She takes a step forward, keeping her voice down. "Besides, you know we called it quits on that months ago." Spencer pushes past him and gets into the passenger seat with a heavy sigh.
Ashley leans up in her seat so her head is right next to Spencer's ear. "Everything okay?" She whispers quickly before Aiden gets in.
"I'll tell you later. Are you okay back there? Do you have enough room? I can move up." Spencer leans down to find the lever to move the seats but Ashley's quick and reaches out to pull her back into her seat.
"I have plenty of room, don't worry." She turns her attention to Aiden who is already in the car and speeding off through the parking lot. "Where we headed in such a hurry young sir? I'd prefer to not die if that's alright with you." Her hands are gripped on the headrest as he weaves through the lot and on to the street.
Aiden doesn't respond, he just plugs in his iPod, opens the sun roof and cranks up the music. Guitars, drums and "scream singing," as Ashley calls it, nearly deafen everyone. She's about one creepy scream away from flipping out on him when Spencer's right arm reaches back as she pretends to stretch. Her fingers glide up and down Ashley's arm, stopping for a moment to slip her fingers into Ashley's on the head rest.
Spencer "stretches" a few more times and Ashley leans forward to rest her head on the seat.
"Is it necessary for you to be all up in the front seat?" Aiden snaps, his head turning momentarily to look at her.
"Yes, because while you are driving with some kind of pent up bullshit, I'd like to keep my eyes on the road in case you don't see an on coming car or innocent animal in the road." Out of the corner of her eye she sees Spencer fight back a laugh.
"Um, Spencer is right here, I'm pretty sure she can see just fine if there is something in the fucking road."
"Actually Aiden, my vision at night absolutely sucks without my glasses, which you know I never remember to bring." Aiden opens his mouth, takes a deep breath, his jaw jutting out then clenches shut a heavy exhale signaling he's given up and choosing to ignore the situation. Or more likely, choosing not to argue with Spencer.
Ashley, seeing this as a small victory in survival, slips her arm between the seat and the door enough that she can trace patterns on Spencer's upper arm without being seen.
"So, am I dropping Ashley off or did my working interfere with your plans?" Ashley forces herself to bite her tongue but she nearly rips the cushion off the seat in her attempt to maintain control. Spencer, while she looks to be very calm has one hand fisted underneath her leg.
"Well, if you are going to be an ass about it you can just drop me off at Ashley's." Spencer spits.
"Whatever." He mumbles, turning down Ashley's street and into the parking lot of her apartment. "Have a good night, whatever you're doing. I'll just talk to you guys later I guess."
Once both girls have stepped from the car and grabbed their shopping bags, Aiden speeds off again, nearly taking out a drunk couple stumbling across the lot.
"I swear that boy is going to get himself killed one day if he keeps up this anger thing." Spencer shakes her head as they watch him, tires squealing, pull off onto the road. She sighs and closes her eyes for a moment to allow herself to calm down.
A few minutes pass as the girls force themselves to ignore the last 45 minutes. "So, want to come hang out at my place? It's eleven on a Saturday so I'm pretty sure the rest of the crew are down at the guys' apartment." Ashley rocks on the balls of her feet, her hands twisting the handles of the bag, as she waits for Spencer's response. They may be girlfriends now but that doesn't necessarily mean Spencer has to hang out with her all of the time now. "I mean.. we can go back to your place if you want, too. It's fine either way it's just-"
Spencer wraps her arms around Ashley, hugs her tight and kisses her cheek. Their bodies both relaxing significantly in the embrace. "Let's go baby cakes!" She steps back and kicks out her leg to hit Ashley in the butt as they turn to take the stairs up to the apartment.
"Baby cakes? Interesting." Ashley laughs as she digs into her pocket for her keys. Spencer smiles at her, bopping her head around to a song in her head. "I'm not even going to ask what's going on in that head of yours."
"It's a song, I said baby cakes and there's a song. The music video is awfully provocative, but I lived in Europe when I was younger for a little bit. The band is from the UK I think. One of my friends out there sent it to me years ago. It's pretty catchy actually." Ashley raises an eyebrow and slowly nods, trying to figure out if her girlfriend is actually missing a few screws in her head. "Nevermind, let's go take over your living room."
Emily walks in, a bit fuzzy from her five fuzzy navel drinks, but coherent enough to notice two bodies on the couch curled into each other under a blanket and the title screen of a movie replaying on the TV. Well, I guess the situation with Spencer is settled. I guess this means no good news for Tim but I'm almost positive she hasn't told him yet considering I heard him talking to Trey about his plan to ask her out. She leans against the wall near her bedroom and watches the girls for a moment, debating on whether to wake them up or leave them be for now. She doesn't want to risk embarrassing her friend, but if they don't wake up before morning they're going to have a lot of explaining to do when their other roommates come home, or if any of the guys show up. Opting for a more neutral wake up call, she steps into the bathroom and closes the door hard behind her.
Ashley's body jerks from the sound, her head hitting something hard, followed by a painful groan from above her. She leans back to sit up straight and watches Spencer rub her jaw, her face scrunched in both pain and post-wake up confusion.
"You have the hardest head in the world Ash. I think you broke my jaw!" Ashley laughs at the exaggeration and leans forward, pulling Spencer's hand from her jaw and places her lips gently on the spot Spencer had been rubbing. She pulls back when she hears the sound of running water from across the hall.
"Well, no wonder I woke up, Emily must have come home. Want to head to bed?" She leans forward to grab the remotes and shuts off the dvd player and TV, encasing the room in complete darkness except for the small amount of moonlight sneaking through the blinds they'd forgotten to close across the patio door. She starts to get up but is pulled back down by Spencer.
Even in the darkness Ashley can see the apprehension on Spencer's face. The downcast eyes, the way her teeth pull at her lip then let go and repeat the motion over and over. She feels Spencer's fingers trace nervously over her knuckles. "Does she know about us? I know you said you weren't really out to anyone yet and we just started dating. Does she know?"
"I think she does. Or at the very least has a pretty good idea, Trey too. They kind of cornered me last night and asked me what was going on with you." She pauses, wondering if she should also tell her about Tim.
"You aren't telling me something, I can see it on your face."
"Well... you aren't the only one they were asking about." She takes a deep breath, preparing herself to continue. "Apparently Tim has liked me for, well, probably since we met. I kind of knew that, or assumed at least but, according to Trey he's been trying to figure out how to ask me out. So, I just...haven't really told him about you yet and apparently I should have, or definitely should now." Spencer nods but doesn't say anything. "Are you mad? I planned on telling him about it, and then you asked me out, and everything just happened and..."
"It's okay. I'm not mad, just kind of processing things a bit I guess. To be honest I had a feeling he liked you too but you hadn't really said much about him other than him being one of your closest guy friends so I just figured you two had a close friendship. You really should talk to him though and maybe I should leave tonight. I don't want to cause trouble." Spencer stands up before Ashley can stop her but not fast enough for Ashley to wrap her arms tight around her once she stands.
Ashley turns her around so they are facing each other, her hands grip at Spencer's waist, the shirt bunched under her fingers. "You don't have to leave, it's fine. Like I said, Emily knows there is something going on, and chances are she saw us when she came home, drunk or not she probably saw us on the couch. Come on, it'll be fine, just come to my room and I swear I'll tell them everything tomorrow."
Spencer considers her options, she doesn't want to leave, but she's never been good in sticky situations, and this is definitely one of those or will be soon if things don't get settled. More so, she wants to talk this out, there seems to be a lot that's been left unsaid between them.
"Okay, let's go to your room. I need to know some things but you have to understand that me leaving might be for the best until you get this all sorted out, okay?" Ashley nods and leads her to her room.
Emily, having heard most of the conversation from behind the bathroom door, comes out just as Ashley's door closes.
"I'm telling you Trey, they're for sure together and Tim has no idea yet. Apparently it like just happened. If Tim is serious about asking her out tonight, we have to do something!" Emily is pacing her room the next morning, Trey is laying on the bed, his hands folded behind his head as he watches his girlfriend move about the room. She picks up things from her dresser, paces a few times as she examines it and then sets it down to pick up another object and repeat the action.
"No, babe, we don't have to do anything. This is on Ashley." He gets up from the bed and steps into his girlfriend's path, pulling her chin up so he can look her directly into her eyes. "She may not have known her and Spencer were going to get together but I'm sure she knew that anything with Tim wasn't going to happen and she should've told him that. You said it yourself, she told Spencer last night that she knew Tim had a thing for her. She easily could've cut that off a long time ago, but for whatever reason, she didn't." He shrugs, his hands still grasping her shoulders to keep her in place which is only causing her to bounce up and down.
"You really want your friend to be humiliated and heart broken? That's okay with you? I'm sorry but I really don't want to see Tim be broken because no one gave him a heads up."
"Emily, it's not our job. He's a big boy, he can handle it. Leave it to Ashley, she said she'd take care of it and we need to trust that she'll do that, you know that. You said the same thing to me the other day after we'd told her about Tim's plan. Although, you were pretty drunk so maybe you don't remember." He laughs and leans down to kiss her, hoping to calm her racing nerves. "Come on, let's just go out there and make breakfast. No one was up when I came in but, maybe they're already up or Spencer didn't stay. Either way we are going to have to deal with this." Emily pouts but nods knowing he's right. She trusts Ashley to do the right thing, but she's known Tim since freshman year and the inherent need to protect him is stronger.
When they walk into the living room, Ashley is wrapped in a blanket bent over a bowl of lucky charms and there is no sign of Spencer anywhere in the apartment. She looks up at them after shoving a spoonful of cereal into her mouth and chipmunk smiles at them, waving with her spoon. Emily grimaces as she watches a few drops of milk splatter on the glass coffee table.
"Morning Ash!" Trey smiles, and takes a seat in a nearby chair, pulling Emily onto his legs. "How was your night last night? You didn't stop by, missed one hell of a party though." Emily rolls her eyes and shakes her head mouthing no you didn't to Ashley.
Ashley laughs when Trey nudges Emily, having caught the "secret" message. "It was alright, I got a new hat and hoodie which was pretty nice and learned once again why you guys didn't like Aiden when you met him." She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, trying to forget that particular part of the night.
"And Spencer? I thought I saw another person here last night when I got home or was I really just that drunk that I saw doubles?" Emily notices Ashley smile at the mention of Spencer and how she suddenly becomes nervous. Ashley twirls her spoon around her cereal, eyes focused on the way the left over marshmallows dissolve and create a colorful trail that mixes with the already dyed milk.
"She was here, we watched a few movies, and fell asleep which is probably when you got home. We talked in my room for a bit but she left last night after that so, yeah. I'm sure I'll talk to her later today." Ashley clears her throat and shakes her head before spooning some more cereal into her mouth. Emily watches her, curious to the shift in mood and obvious aversion to the real question.
Taking the lead, and not at all enjoying the uncomfortable silence, Trey decides to speak up. "Are you two okay? I don't know much about her, but you've been hanging out with her a lot so I assume she's a good friend of yours." Ashley sets the bowl down on the table and runs her hands through her hair. She places her hands behind her neck, massaging the muscles for a moment before sitting back into the couch and looking at her two friends.
"We, Spencer and I, are dating, as of yesterday." Trey nods and Emily fights back a wide smile, failing when she see Ashley trying to do the same. She wants nothing more than to jump on Ashley and hug her, ask for details on what happened but the more important thing nagging at her is why Spencer isn't here, and why Ashley doesn't look as happy as she should be. "I know I am supposed to talk to Tim about this and I hope you guys aren't mad at me. I didn't expect any of this to happen so quickly but one minute I'm going with her to hang out before picking up Aiden and the next thing I know I'm looking at two red roses and Spencer is telling me she wants to be with me." Ashley takes a much needed deep breath, her head spins from the pouring out of her worries and explanations. She manages to focus on her friends again, one eye closes and her face scrunches as she braces herself for any backlash that may come her way. She expected an outburst from Trey at least, but neither of them move.
Then, as if someone shot the gun at the start of a race, Emily leaps forward and tackles Ashley into the couch. "I'm soooooo happy for you. This is really cute. I knew something was going on. Oh my gosh I have so many questions now. Are you gay or just bi or what exactly? This is probably completely inappropriate isn't it? I'm sorry, I just didn't know how to approach the topic before, you never really talked about relationships, and you seemed to get along really well with Tim, and when you brought over Aiden I thought maybe something but when you brought Spencer it just seemed so much different and..." Emily finally sits up off of Ashley and helps pull her from the corner of the cushions she'd pushed her into. "Sorry, I'll calm down now. Why did Spencer leave?"
"Maybe you should come back over here Em, I don't know if Ashley wants to risk being smothered again." Trey smiles apologetically on Emily's behalf.
"No, no I'm good, I'll be good I swear. Besides, your knees are bony, I don't know how I manage to sit on them every weekend. I guess the alcohol makes you more comfortable." She winks, Ashley laughs heartily, enjoying the momentary break in the interrogation. Emily turns back to Ashley, who's laughing halts immediately. "Oh don't think I've forgotten about you missy. I still want answers!" She wiggles her finger in front of Ashley's grimacing face.
Ashley pulls her legs underneath her and gets comfortable. Taking a few deep breaths, and receiving a few encouraging looks from both Emily and Trey, she starts in on answer the questions. When she realized she might have feelings for girls, the way she felt when she first saw Spencer, how tricky it is that they have a history with Aiden and how much of a jerk he's been lately, what happened the night they first kissed. And most importantly how she doesn't know what she is, just that she really likes Spencer and knows that it will be something she's never experienced before. While she talks she makes note of the reactions from both Emily and Trey. The way Trey's eye brow quirks up when she talks about Aiden, the fire in his eyes that signals he may have a strong word with Aiden if anything were to happen to either of them. Emily, who sits, a large smile on her face, nodding fiercely with each detail and clapping during the "cute" moments. Her hands pressed together come up to her mouth between claps like that is where they are naturally supposed to rest. Ashley during all of this, talks without breaks, just starts rambling but inside worries that she may be saying too much, that she may end up saying something that will give them a bad impression of her or Spencer. When she's finally finished she deflates into the cushions, suddenly exhausted again. She's never been one for talking about feelings and personal topics and this was an overload of all of it.
"Well, alright then." Emily slaps her legs and stands up. "This solidifies it, you are going downstairs right now and talking to Tim."
Ashley's head snaps up, "WHAT?!"
Emily nods and points towards the door. "Right now. It needs to be done. You are with Spencer and it isn't fair to either of them. I don't know what you and Spencer talked about last night or even why she left, you seem to have avoided that one, but you have to be smart enough to know that sitting here, being in a relationship when you know that someone else is hoping for the same with you isn't the smart thing."
Ashley sits down on her bed, scooting back to lean against the wall and waits for Spencer to do the same but instead watches as she takes the chair from the desk and sits down. Her heart drops and her stomach knots, knowing this conversation isn't going to be a pleasant one.
"I don't want to play games so I'm just going to get right down to it. Do you or did you like Tim prior to meeting me?"
Ashley, shocked by the immediate question, stumbles for a response. "I-I I don't think so. I don't know." She sighs. "He is a great guy and someone that I really like hanging out with. I mean maybe when I first met him I may have thought about it, but that was before I realized I might like girls." Ashley looks to Spencer, hoping for some kind of mercy but all she does is nod. "He's one of my best guy friends, that's all it's ever really been."
"Are you sure you want to be with me? I don't want you to make a decision about us unless you are sure it's what you want. I understand the crazy emotions that come from realizing your feelings for another girl. If you aren't ready, it's okay. I mean, you said no one really knows anyway so.."
"NO! I want to be with you." Ashley slides to the edge of the bed in front of Spencer. She grabs her hands and locks eyes with the most beautiful mix of blue and gray she's ever seen. Another amazing thing about Spencer, her eyes change with her emotions and Ashley just can't get enough of it. "Ever since I first saw you I knew something had to happen between us. Sure, the timing is a bit quick to my realization but that doesn't matter. I'll tell them tomorrow, if they don't already pounce in the morning. I will say it may take some time to tell my parents though. They aren't exactly living in a rainbow flag friendly town so I don't know how they'd really feel about it."
"Okay."
Ashley's eyes twist in confusion. "That's it? Okay?"
Spencer nods, "yeah, okay. You need to tell your roommates and the rest of those guys first though. I'm not going to come over if they don't know or if they have a problem with me. I don't want to cause drama for you."
"Spence, you aren't going to cause drama. I'll tell them okay? If anyone has issues well... forget them." She tries to smile but the less than hopeful look on Spencer's face keeps her lips from turning anything but downward so she just hangs her head, still holding on to Spencer's hands.
"Ash, these are your roommates, you still have to live with them." Spencer pulls a hand away to brush through Ashley's hair, trying to coax her into looking at her but is unsuccessful. "I'm not going to put you in a shitty situation just because I have feelings for you. You're still adjusting, the world isn't exactly the nicest place for people like us. I'm going to go back to my dorm. I'll call you tomorrow okay?" The reaction Spencer wanted earlier finally happens when Ashley snaps up, her eyes searching Spencer's for any sign of hesitance in her decision. "Babe, I promise I'll call you tomorrow. I just want you to have time to work this out on your own. If things get rough or you can't do it, just call me and you can come over and we'll hang out, but I want you to at least try to talk to them okay? Can you please promise me that?" Ashley sighs dejectedly and nods a weak agreement coming from her lips.
"If you call and I don't answer, you better come rushing over assuming I'm like passed out from panic or something though. I may have a heart attack." Spencer smiles, enjoying the over exaggeration of her girlfriend. "I'm serious Spence! Come running!" They smile and stand, wrapping their arms around each other. Ashley inhales and her eyes flutter closed at the smell of Spencer's perfume. She makes a mental note to steal one of Spencer's shirts or hoodies next time she's at the girl's dorm. Spencer's arms are tight around Ashley. She doesn't want to leave but knows that she also has someone to needs to know about them, and she's still unsure how she's going to go about telling him. She runs her fingers over Ashley's back, the soft fabric of her shirt and the tensing muscles wherever her hands travel sent a jolt to her stomach. She's completely and utterly hooked on this girl. Even if she wanted to give Ashley space, she couldn't. With a strong will to do the right thing she pulls back and places a few kisses against Ashley's lips, being sure to not get too caught up in the sparks flying between them.
"Good night Ash. Sweet dreams." With one final kiss to Ashley's forehead she turns to walk out the door.
Ashley grabs her hand and walks with her to the front door. "It just seemed silly for you to leave from my bedroom. And I also just wanted one more kiss." Ashley leans up quickly, pressing her lips hard against Spencer's then steps back and opens the door. "Don't forget to call me."
Spencer smiles as she walks out of the door. "I won't be able to go a whole day not hearing your voice, trust me, I'll call." She winks and turns down the stairs.
Ashley smiles at the memory and realizes that her friends, and Spencer, are right, this is already too big for her to not deal with the outside factors. "Yeah, you're right. I'm going to shower quick and try to figure out how I'm going to tell him all of this in the least heart-breaking way possible. Can I at least do that or do you really want me to go downstairs in my boxers and tank top to tell him I can't date him."
"Good point." Emily concedes. "We will be downstairs, you have thirty minutes starting NOW before I come back up here or send Tim up here so you can't escape." Ashley swallows at Emily stern words and expression, she feels like she's being scolded by her mother for not cleaning her room. "Oh," her face softens, "I really am happy for you. She seems like a good person." Emily and Trey head for the door, as it opens Emily turns back towards Ashley. "See you in twenty-nine minutes." She giggles when Emily scrambles to her feet and rips her towel from its hanger on her door and dives into the bathroom.
"Pure evil woman, but I love you. I hope Tim takes it well or I'm going to be completely hung over tomorrow for my 8 am journalism class. Damn bro code not letting me just leave him to drinking his sorrows on his own!"
I hope this was good for you guys, Aiden and Tim situations will be dealt in the next chapter. I have a few problematic ideas coming up for the girls, but not sure how much longer I'm going to keep this story going. I don't want to end it unfinished but I don't want it to start getting out of hand and too exhausting for you all to read. ( I hate when stories do that) Either way please give me your thoughts. my twitter is southyankee my tumblr is glee-southwriter bother me on that too if you'd like. Thanks and much love to you all.