Disclaimer: I do not own anything, just the plot.
Once they were safely buckled inside Toby's car, they realized they didn't have a destination to go. Yes, they had classes the next morning but the night was still young and when asked Spencer said she didn't feel like heading home yet. So Toby suggested they went over to his house, and she agreed, suddenly becoming very nervous.
"What do you think of Ezra and Aria as a couple?" Toby made small talk as he started the engine.
"I think it's a little weird and all, but they're cute. How about you?" Spencer smiled, happy Aria was happy. She felt that as long as her friends were happy, she would support them in whatever they wanted, and that was the case with Ezra.
Spencer and Toby enjoyed the rest of the ride in silence, the radio on low as houses and car passed by. Not one of them trying to make conversation. The comfortable silence that would normally fall between them slowly becoming something so familiar.
Pulling over on his driveway and parking beside his Harley Davidson, Toby heard Spencer gasp by his side. She was in awe at how huge his house was, how freshly painted his walls looked and how wondrously lit the front yard and porch were.
From what she saw from the front seat of the car, the house had at least 3 floors, and compared to the size her condo it was a state.
"Oh my God, your house is amazing." She tried to sneak a peek ever where possible, from the brand new bike Toby had inside his garage to the stone path that linked the garage driveway to the front door.
"Thanks I guess." Toby led her to the door and opened it, welcoming her to his house. The fresh scent of cinnamon hit her nostrils as she took a deeper breath to savor the moment.
If she was amazed before, right now she was at a loss of words to say. To her right there was this huge living room, with dark wooden floor, an L shaped couch in olive fabric, a 52' inches plasma TV, and a black grand piano in a corner. Right ahead of them a staircase that lead them to the superior floor, which she couldn't see much of it.
To Spencer's left was a beautiful office, which she assumed was his father's, with books organized in size order, but that was all she saw before Toby dragged her to the kitchen beside the stairs.
A kind looking woman was there, listening to the radio and pulling groceries away. Spencer had the impression she had seen her before, but couldn't quite put her finger on where from. "Hey Maria."
Toby greeted the lady enthusiastic as she turned alarmed but smiled and embraced him once she saw who he was. Then it clicked. She was the same lady Toby had once taken for a bike ride back they weren't even friends. She looked genuinely happy to see Toby, and that warmed Spencer heart, to know that Toby was a sweetheart after all, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"And you are…" Maria asked smiling to Spencer, holding out her hand for her to take it.
"This is Spencer." Maria smirked at Toby and shook Spencer's hand at the same time. Spencer noticed some teasing in her eyes as her and Toby exchanged glances.
"Nice to finally meet you Spencer, I've heard a lot of great things about you." Spencer blushed and saw Toby blush as well before he pretended to look for something inside the fridge so he could hide. She couldn't help but chuckle.
"Nice to meet you too Maria." Spencer said back politely, a smile on her lips as she watched Toby close the fridge's door, nothing on hands.
"Are you guys hungry?" Maria asked, resuming putting the groceries away. Toby quickly took a glance at Spencer, who had her eyes fixed on Maria, a sweet smile on her lips.
"No, we just went out to dinner with a couple of friends, but thanks Maria. If you need help with anything we'll be in my room." Toby kissed his palm and placed it over Maria's forehead, something he has been doing ever since he was 14.
Toby toured her to the second and third floor. The last one was more like an attic, filled with instruments Spencer didn't even imagine Toby could play, and he did, even coming up with a guitar solo specially for her, or at least that's what he said. The room also had a big stand with cameras, from the oldest to the newest ones. The walls were filled with glued photos and Spencer took a couple of seconds to look at them, but didn't ask anything about who had taken the pictures, even if she was sure it was one of his parents.
The floor below had 4 bedrooms, and Toby showed her one by one. Presenting his father's room at first, Spencer sensed his voice change when he said he was hardly ever home, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. They moved to the next room, a much girly one.
"Whose room is that?" Spencer asked when they stopped on the doorway, a stand filled with a collection of snow globes.
"My step sister's." His voice now sounded indifferent but not with Spencer, with something else she still couldn't figure out.
"You have a sister and you didn't tell me?" She tried to cheer him up, lighten up his mood, but all she got was a nod.
"Yeah, well she doesn't live here anymore. She moved in with her boyfriend. Anyway let's keep going. This room here was supposed to be Maria's but she refused to use it, so it's now sort of the guest room. So if you need a place to stay…" Toby smirked at her as she looked inside the organized bedroom. The bed looked so comfortable that the urge to just lie down and test it was big, but she didn't.
"I might actually take you up on that." She chuckled and followed him steps to the next room.
Finally, by the end of the hallway, they reached his room. First thing Spencer noticed was the huge bed, and then the walk-in closet and then the big bathroom conjugated with his room. His walls were a light beige and his decoration was a dark marine blue. A 42' plasma TV on the wall, centered with his bed, with a PlayStation 3 and a XBOX 360 console on a rack underneath the TV. He had 2 shelves occupied with games and another 3 with action figures.
"I see you like to collect things." He smirked and sat down on his bed watching Spencer carefully as she inspected his room. He had a mural filled with photos, new and old ones. One in particular caught her attention, the same one she saw on his computer background. She looked at it more closely. The woman in the photo had Toby's oceanic blue eyes, she was beautiful and the three people that were in the picture looked happy, which she assumed was Toby and his parents.
"Who is this?" Curiosity got the best of her and she had to ask, but regretted soon after the words left her mouth. Toby blinked a couple of times and motioned for her to sit beside him.
"It's okay, you know what? You don't need to tell me, just know that I'm here to hear if you need." She grabbed his hand and squeezed a little, looking into his eyes.
"That's my… mom…" She just nodded for him to go on.
"She passed away when I was 13, of cancer." Spencer hugged his torso tightly and she felt him hugging back just as tight.
"I'm so sorry Toby, I didn't mean to get too personal and I'm sorry you had to go through this at such a young age." Toby's hand rose to caress her hair that was fallen on her shoulder, her head resting on his shoulder.
"It's okay. I understand now that it was better for her, 'cause on the last months I spent with her I knew she was suffering and I knew I couldn't do anything about it. After she died I shut everyone out, even Maria, I couldn't accept the fact that she was gone, and that my dad just wasn't around to assure me everything would be okay, that we would make it through together, as a family. Instead he buried himself with work, just so he could ignore that my mom has even passed away," Toby took a deep breath to control his anger and Spencer pulled away to see his wet eyes, sad, holding back so many feelings.
"And when he was home and I got to see him, he treated me like shit, like I wasn't even his son, like he only got my stepsister as a daughter, and even sometimes he would shut her out as well. She got tired of it, and moved out a couple of years ago. I thought about running away a year after my mom was gone, but then I realized I had Maria, and that she had always been there for me and my mom, so I just decided to stay and ignore my dad, which is easy because he's never home," Toby took another deep breath,
"And all of this was the reason I was hot and cold to you and to pretty much everyone I met, I sort of learned from my dad, and I thought they would treat me like he did, so it was easier to not make any new friendships than to open up to them and be screwed up in the end. And now… I'll understand if you get up and leave, my life's pretty messed up."
He managed to keep the tears inside all throughout the whole explanation of his life and even forced a smirk at the end to tease Spencer. Once he stopped talking though, she just looked at him, right into his eyes, seeing so many emotions in there at once. She swore she could just get lost in there and never come back.
"I am truly sorry. Now I understand you, and to think that I thought you were just a jerk like many other guys out there. You are so much different, and I am so sorry." She hugged him tightly again, knocking his balance off and making them both lay down on bed laughing together. The sadness and the tension in the air before, suddenly disappearing as their bodies shook with laughter. And as they even failed to hear the knocks on the door.
"Hey Tobias I'm sorry to interrupt," Maria said entering the room, smiling when she saw them kind of cuddling and laughing together, although they really weren't intentionally doing it, things happen.
"Oh hey, what's up?" Toby let go of Spencer and got up to grab the two bowls she had in hands.
"I brought you guys some ice-cream, thought you would like it."
"Thanks Maria, you really didn't have to, but thank you. If you need anything we'll be playing video game alright?" Toby winked at her and passed Spencer one of the bowls along with a spoon.
"Thanks Maria," Spencer said as Maria left the room. "So what is this I hear we are playing video game?" She chuckled at Toby, who smirked at her and got up to get the controllers so they could start the match.
"I dare you to a game of Call of Duty." Being one that couldn't turn down a dare, Spencer agreed and got the controller of his PS3 from his hand, quickly putting all of her ice cream at once in her mouth.
When Toby looked at her, her cheeks were round, filled with ice cream. "That's cute, very lady like." He mocked her, sitting back down beside her.
"Are you ready to lose Spencer?" Narrowing her eyes to the side of his head, she elbowed his ribs playfully.
"I don't even know how to play this." Were her last words before he taught her the basic buttons to play the shooting game. He then began a VS. game, him against her. The adrenaline passing through her veins was enough to keep her bouncing on the bed every time she tried to shot someone she thought was Toby, when actually it was just a shadow.
An amused Toby laughed every single time she cursed when he killed her, and not really knowing she was that competitive he kept teasing her none stop.
"Shut up Toby." Spencer told him off angrily. Right then he sensed she was pissed so he started to take it easy, missing a couple of shots here and there, and the teasing coming to a halt. The first time she killed Toby's character she got off the bed and started to jump right in front of him, her dress slightly rising as she did so, but not to a point where he could see something inappropriate.
"Do you need shorts borrowed or something? So you can freely jump in front of me every time you kill me?" He asked when he noticed her holding on to the hem of her dress while still bouncing. She nodded shyly and thanked him when he handed to her a black basketball shorts, which looked huge on her, but they both secretly loved it.
In 1 hour of playing, Spencer, somehow, to Toby's amusement, managed to get a whole lot better in killing him, and her score was quickly rising, getting dangerously near Toby's.
"How the heck did you get better so fast?" He asked chuckling and putting his head in front of hers to block her view.
"Stop it, that's cheating Toby." She got on her knees and climbed on top of his shoulders to see the screen.
A couple of points were left to be scored for the winner to be announced, and right then Spencer was ahead. With one last headshot, Toby passed her scoring and won, throwing his fists up in the air to celebrate his victory as he let his body fall backwards onto the bed.
"I cannot believe it, I was winning and… what? How did this happen? You cheated!" Spencer kind-heartedly slapped the side of his head, his arms rising to protect his head, his shirt slightly rising as he did so.
Spencer's eyes were drawn to the black ink on his skin, stopping her slapping to look at his hip.
"Nice tattoo." She told him, reading 'Free at Last' against his pale skin.
"Thanks, it's for my mom." He smiled contently, raising his shirt even more, not noticing Spencer's eyes quickly glancing to his abdomen.
"Was it there when we went swimming?" he nodded, "How come I didn't see it then?"
"No idea. Anyway, do you want to watch a movie or something? Or you rather go home?" A smirk was dancing around on his lips as he sat down with his back against the headboard, Spencer mirroring his actions.
"I think that if we start to watch a movie, I'll fall asleep." He jumped from his bed and struggled at her, as if falling asleep was no big deal to him.
"I'll take you to school tomorrow morning." And then he turned out the lights and put on a random movie, leaving no space to Spencer to decline his offer.
A/N: Here it is. Thank you guys so much for the reviews! You guys are amazing and I love each and every one of you! I forgot to mention that last chapter's idea was DanicaTarinBrackett. Which was an awesome idea by the way. Thank you so much! I have a surprise for all of you, and of course a little bit of drama as well! Keep reviewing and I'll keep 'em coming!
xoxo