Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything from Pretty Little Liars.
The buzzing sound of Spencer's ringtone woke her up. The only few mornings she had to sleep in somebody decided to just end that chance. Her morning class had been dismissed the day before because her teacher wasn't feeling very well. Groaning and rolling to her side, she answered it not reading the name on the screen. "I hope you have one good reason to wake me up."
"Well good morning to you too." Aria's voice sounded through the speaker, a few background voices as well. "Hi, what is it?" Spencer's voice was hashed and tired and that was a good sign for Aria to get to the point right away.
"That teacher of yours, Mr. Fitz, I believe, asked if you were on campus and so did Toby."
"Yeah, so?" Aria let out a laugh as she knew she had just pissed her friend even more now.
"Hey, you do realize it's already 11 in the morning right?" Hearing Aria's statement, Spencer got out of bed so quick that her vision blackened and she had to hold on to the nightstand beside her.
"Are you coming home?" Pulling the blankets and pillows to the floor, she started to organize her room to finish it before Aria could get there.
"Yeah, I'm getting take out and then I'm home."
"Alright, talk to you soon." Before she heard Aria goodbye, she had already hung up the phone.
In the record time of 30 minutes, Spencer managed to even drink a mug of coffee after making her bed, then taking a shower, changing clothes, putting the table for 2 and even reading the last 5 pages of her study book. She heard the front door close shut and Aria's voice filled their apartment along with the smell of pizza.
"Spence, I'm home and I brought a guest." Luckily, Spencer had dressed properly with sweats shorts and a black tank top, her hair was wet and up in a messy ponytail. When she stepped into the living room to greet whoever was there, she smiled big at their 'guest', if they would consider the amount of time he was spending there, he couldn't even be considered a guest anymore.
Of course, the one and only, Toby Cavanaugh stood there, dressed in a surf shorts and a white shirt, a box of pizza in his hand. "Hi there, sleepyhead. How are you?" He walked closer to her, after putting his backpack on the floor and handing the pizza to Aria, and put Spencer in a friendly hug and also an unexpected one.
"I'm good."
"Hope it's alright I'm here…" She nodded and they walked to the kitchen together, their tummy reminding them how hungry they really were, the delicious smell of pizza made their mouth water, longing to finally taste the delightful taste of a slice.
"How come you guys are having lunch at home?" Spencer asked, biting her last piece of mozzarella pizza.
"My grandma's diner was full, and Aria told me you were home, so I had an idea of taking out and coming over, and here we are."
"I thought you'd be up when I called you." Aria spoke up. "Yeah, I thought it was still early in the morning. Had to get ready really fast." Spencer smirked at Aria as if she had just got caught sleeping in.
"Do you have any classes today?" Toby asked again, washing his plate on the sink.
"I do, but I'm not going." She placed her dirty wish along with the other on the sink so Toby could wash it all together.
"Spencer Hastings dishing class, it's the end of the world." Aria mocked her, slapping her butt in the process of walking pass her.
"Give her a break, she's tired."
"Thank you Tobs."
"Anytime." He looked over his shoulder and winked at her.
"It's just that I don't feel like speaking with Fitz today, and I could use some time to read my book, Juridical Law, finish Criminal Law and write a last essay for my most annoying teacher.. If you guys would like to make me company, feel welcome."
"I can't, have this theory class today, that if I dish, I'll fail for not attending the damn class." Aria commented, walking to her room to clean up before leaving back to campus.
"What 'bout you Toby?" Following the sound of her voice, Toby made himself comfortable on the couch beside her, laying his head on her shoulder, sighing.
"I can stay, but I really gotta take a nap time."
"Why so tired?" She asked concerned, welcoming his head on her shoulder.
"I had a dream, and as they say when you remember your dreams, you didn't sleep well." She glanced down at the side of his face, seeing a mix of emotions, mostly exhaustion taking over all the other.
"Nightmare?"
"No, it was a really nice dream."
"Wanna talk about it?" He raised his head from her shoulder and looked ahead, to nothing in particular, trying to decide whether to tell her or not. Deciding to do so but not open up completely he turned around to face her, a slight smile on his lips.
"It had my parents and my grandma talking and stuff, and then there was you…" Right there their eyes met, and it was as if the world around them had disappeared, only them existed right then, and while Toby felt happy he was feeling this, he also felt small as he blushed and they didn't exchange one single word. Spencer could have sworn she saw his eyes quickly shift to her lips before Aria's voice interrupted them and she used as an excuse to get up, realizing her hand was on top of his, her unconscious way to comfort him.
As Spencer talked to Aria over at the door, Toby thought back to his dream, theoretically he didn't lie to her, the people he mentioned were indeed in his dream. It consisted of his parents on his house's living room, having a nice chat while his grandma made delicious cookies over on the kitchen. Then suddenly, Spencer appeared through the door hugging his grandma as if they already knew each other. Spencer then hugged him and placed a sweet kiss on his lips, but he couldn't feel it, making him realize it was all but a dream that would keep him up all night thinking about. He knew that in dreams people didn't feel anything that was happening to them, but the pain of yearning was very real when he woke up.
Spencer clapped her hands on front of him, snapping him out of his trance. "Are you alright?" She asked worried as she saw his saddened face.
"Huh…? Yeah, just have to sleep."
"Would you rather sleep on the couch or on my bed?" He smirked, cheering up a little, and then getting up.
"Do you mind if I sleep in your bed?"
"Not at all, otherwise I wouldn't have asked dumbass." She laughed as he grinned at her.
"I don't know, some people ask just to be polite. Thanks, anyway." He smirked one last time as he quickly hugged her to show he was thankful.
When he was about to walk to her room, her hand help against his wrist, stopping him.
"If you need to talk about anything…" He lowered his head, the floor becoming somehow more interesting than having her find he was sad over something.
"Okay." She let him go and he walked to her room, already knowing exactly where was it, the memory of him taking care of a drunk Spencer laying on the same room.
The room in front of him was one of tidiest he had ever since in his whole life, not one single thing out of place, not one single book out of order, which Toby assumed was by subject. Her bed perfectly made, a couple of pillows on top of it as decoration, and then Toby made a note to himself to make it look just as good after he had taken his much needed nap time. But knowing it wouldn't look the same, he took out his cellphone and took a picture, so then he could leave the same way he found it.
He chuckled and placed his flip flops near the bed, where he lay down and hugged one pillow that smelt exactly like Spencer. He didn't mind how gay he would look if she walked in and find him cuddling to a pillow, it only mattered the comfort of having a little piece of her so close to him.
Meanwhile, Spencer watched a couple of reruns of House on TV, waiting for digestion to be over, which took about an hour. When her conscience started to bug her about how she had to study and read a whole bunch of texts. Sighing and turning off the TV, she walked over to her room where all of her material was.
She couldn't help but smile at the sight in front of her, Toby with his mouth slightly opened, his right arm hugging one pillow she kept on top of her bed, his hair was messy and his left arm was falling off the edge of the bed.
This was the first time she saw his face so peaceful, like nothing bad existed in the world and all the things that bothered him no longer did so. She had to force herself to snap back to reality and get her books she was there for in the first place, leaving Toby alone sleeping silently.
2 hours later Toby woke up, much happier and with more energy. The dream from the previous night resumed on his nap time, hence the reason he was feeling cheerful, even if it was just his own mind playing what he wanted to somehow be true. The yawn he let out to get rid of the laziness was heard all the way to the living room where Spencer was studying.
Toby quickly made her bed look just as good as the one in the picture he had taken hours before, perhaps the decoration pillows looked weird the way he put them, but he couldn't quite do it like she had done it before, so he let it be.
He was so caught in his dream, he didn't realize the huge smile he had plastered on his lips as he walked over to join Spencer. And just like had happened in his dream, he walked up behind her and placed a sweet kiss on the top of her head, smelling her hair that smelt of vanilla in the process.
Although he meant nothing wrong, he still startled her, perhaps because she was so into her own world that she didn't hear him walking closer to her, or perhaps because she didn't like having him so close to her while they were alone. He couldn't decide which option was more likely until she interrupted his thoughts.
"What are you doing?" She turned around on the chair to face him properly.
"Huh.. nothing. Sorry." Avoiding eye contact at all costs, he walked to his backpack, searching for his books.
Spencer's eyes were still on him as he turned back around, and he assumed the kind of look she was giving him was judgmental, as if he had done something prohibited.
"Are you alright Toby?"
"Yeah, why?" His voice broke slightly, meaning otherwise of what his answer had intended to.
"Do you want to talk about?" Offering her hand to him, they sat down on the sofa, one facing each other.
"No, there's no need to. You have to study and so do I, so we better get to it. And plus, you don't have time for my messed up life." She caressed his hand with her fingers, comforting him, realizing something indeed was bothering him.
"Only if you knew how messed up my own life was… Now tell what's up." Too afraid to look her in the eyes and have her figure him out just like that easily, he preferred to stare at their hands intertwined.
"I don't think I'm ready to open up about it yet. It's been so hard and no one knows about it, only Maria, my 'nanny'. She's basically the only family I have right now." He chuckled at how childish his sentence sounded, a 19 year old with a nanny, yeah right.
"Hey, your friends are your family as well, you just have to let them in," Placing a palm on his cheek, she turned his face to look directly at her, his eyes watery, filled with tears threatening to fall. "I'm not going to push anymore, you come to me once you're ready to talk about it."
He nodded, taking one deep breath to send all of those tears away, something he was forced to do so many times while growing up. It has become a habit not showing signs of weakness around anyone but the 4 walls on his room.
"There's really not much to say though. I had a dream that brought back good memories that I missed it so much." She could tell the smile he gave her was forced, faked, but she didn't say anything.
"Still, I'm here if you feel like filling me in on your personal life…" He understood her concern and thanked for caring before giving her a hug and sitting down across from her on the dining table they rarely ate on by the living room. His books joining hers on top of the wood material.
Both eventually stole glances when they thought the other wasn't looking, Spencer had to admit she never thought Toby could just sit down and stay still while reading and coming up with a really nice blueprint for what he wanted to be his working place in his future house, as he told her when asked about it, but for now, it was just a project for university.
By the time the clock stroke 6 sharp, Toby put his stuff away and back into his bag, eyeing Spencer as she was still reading.
"Do you need something before I go?" He interrupted her, exhaustion evident on her feature.
"No I'm fine. Aria is probably getting us something to eat, or else she'll just cook something. Don't worry about it." She smiled good-heartedly and got up to walk him to the door, hugging around his neck, pulling him closer.
"Be safe." She whispered as he whispered back a "you too.", before leaving out the door.
Not 10 minutes later Aria walked through the front door, no food in hands, but instead a couple of mail envelopes in it.
"Hi tiny, what's that?" Spencer greeted her, getting up so see what was so entertaining that her friend was reading, snapping carefully the closed envelope away from her.
"Not sure, but it seems as if we both got the same one. It's from Pennsylvania, you ought to know what is it." In reply Spencer just struggled, ripping open the fancy envelope, inside was a beautiful and expensive looking card, in front of it, was written in cursive Spencer's name.
She unfolded and inside was printed an invitation for her older sister's weeding on summertime, the only time she would have to spend some time with her parents and even her sister, she felt as if all eyes would be drown to Melissa now, just like all those years growing up together, being the youngest and competing for your parents attention. There, she finally got it.
"Melissa's getting married…" She really couldn't believe it, she looked over at Aria, waiting for something, some wise words, some kind of reaction.
"Nice." The smile she gave her upset best friend was utterly fake, but she would do anything to cheer her up now. And knowing how competitive Spencer was, especially with her sister, she knew she would have to do a whole lot better than just a faked smile.
"With Ian." Spencer spoke up, disgust in her voice, and right then she realized why she was so upset, not only because her sister was getting married first, but because she was tying the knots to the one guy Spencer hated more than anything on this world. She couldn't stand the sight of him in front of her, for he harassed Spencer whenever he got the chance, mainly verbally.
"Maybe someone got knocked up." Aria tried to lighten up the tension Spencer suddenly had brought to the room, earning a glare from her, which then turned into a smile.
"Well, getting knocked up was not something I wanted to win against her." And then they laughed together, forgetting the invitation on top of the table as they walked over to the kitchen to eat dinner together.
A/N: So here it is. So sorry for the delay. I messed up my chapters then I wrote down a different one that is suppose to come in later. Well anyway, the more review I get the sooner I update, and since I'm on vacations until March I intend to wrap this story until then, but there is so many chapter still to go. So don't forget to review, tell me what you think, bring on ideas. Oh, and very soon, Toby will be Spencer's date so Aria doesn't go out on a date on her own. -DanicaTarinBrackett's idea- And I promise the other ideas will fit in eventually, so keep 'em coming. I love you guys so very much. Now I'm out to watch some Walking Dead. :P
xoxo