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September 15th

"Come on, please?"

Spencer looked up at the dark-haired girl who was busily trying to beguile her into attending some kind of dorm party, and temporarily forgot how to breathe. Aria was wearing a short red dress that showed off her figure, her hair swept into an elegant bun, a dazzling smile stuck on her face. Everything in Spencer – except for that tiny logical voice in the back of her head, but she rarely listened to that – was screaming at her to say yes.

She swallowed. "Aria, I have -"

"Don't you dare say you have work to do," Aria said warningly. She stood up, quickly crossed the room, and sat down beside Spencer, so close the other girl could smell her perfume, something delicate and exotic. Spencer inhaled as deeply as she could without being obvious. "You've been working flat-out all week. You deserve a break."

"I have this paper due on Monday," Spencer protested, gesturing to the mountain of paperwork in front of her.

"You can work on it tomorrow," Aria said. Then she added with a cheeky grin, "Besides, you've probably already written it and you'd only spend tonight perfecting it anyway. You're Spencer, after all."

Something about the way she said her name sent shivers down Spencer's spine. She stood up abruptly, on the pretence of needing to get a stapler from her desk. "I suppose I could take a night off from studying," she allowed at last.

"Yes!" Aria leapt from the bed, caught up in a jolt of excitement. She grabbed Spencer's hand and dragged her over to the closet, flung it open, and started pulling out dresses and skirts and throwing them on the bed. "How about this?"

She held up a dress that was very short and slightly transparent. Spencer grabbed it and shoved it back in the closet. It had been Melissa's; she'd only intended on wearing it to bed. She didn't want anyone else to see her in it. Aria pouted and returned to her search. After discarding what Spencer felt was most of her wardrobe, she produced a dress that Spencer hadn't even realised she owned.

It was a deep blue, with a swooping neckline and some ruffles along the hem. It was shorter than what Spencer usually wore, but she didn't have time to consider it. Aria was already tossing a pair of shoes at her.

"Try this," Aria urged.

Spencer looked at her. Aria looked steadily back, and then she rolled her eyes.

"No peeking," Spencer said as Aria turned around.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Aria said, so softly Spencer thought she'd misheard.

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