Chapter 13:

And The Bitch Is Back

"You know, Spencer, the way you play this game is by spelling actual words." Toby remarked, yanking the refrigerator door open and peering through the kitchen doorway at her. He arched an eyebrow.

Spencer held up her index finger, "Ingenious moves take time, Romeo. Not everyone can crank out made-up words and somehow manage to pass them off as proper English in a matter of seconds."

"Yeah, well, it's a talent." Toby chuckled as he reached into the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk.

Spencer furrowed her eyebrows and concentrated hard on the seven letters facing her from their little holder in from of the half-filled game board. So far, the words "ambidextrous," "belligerent," and "obsequious" were poorly beaten out by the cleverly placed words "spiderman," "twinkie," and "teriyaki."

"Be careful there, Spence, if you keep making that face, it's going to stick like that." Toby grinned as he opened the milk carton.

"Ha-ha, very fu – wait, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" Toby asked, raising the carton to his mouth.

"No, no! Put that down!" Spencer shrieked, getting to her feet.

"Why? Did you poison it or something?" Toby asked, elevating it to his view, and closing one eye to peek into the opening in suspicion.

"No, of course not, but…" She stepped around the coffee table and entered the kitchen. "You're not going to drink that straight from the carton, are you?"

"Uhm…I'm guessing no?" He asked.

Spencer snatched the carton from his hand. "You don't…drink like this all the time, do you?"

"Uh…."

"Ew! And to think that I had a cup of this stuff not an hour ago! Why haven't you said anything?"

"Well, I didn't think you minded swapping spit with me when you had your tongue down my throat not twenty minutes ago!"

"Yeah, but that's different!" Spencer stuttered, her eyebrows knit incredulously.

"How so?" Toby snorted.

"I don't…I don't know, it just is!" She slammed the carton down on the kitchen counter. "Alright, out with it: what else do you do that I don't know?"

"Oh you know, comb strip clubs, go clubbing on the weekends, murder animals in dark alleyways, nothing big."

"I'm serious, Toby."

"Yeah, too much." Toby teased, still ever-so-chill.

"I'm not kidding. That's absolutely revolting."

"What, are you afraid I'm going to give you cooties?"

"Very funny. It's so germy! What, were you raised in a pen with the pigs?"

"No, but I think Jenna was the next closest thing."

That made Spencer laugh, in spite of herself. "Really? I always thought she was more of a lion-type…"

Toby laughed and gripped her hips, lifting her so that she was situated on the countertop. Her legs hung on either side of his waist. "Alright, you, come here. Give me your germs."

Spencer snickered. "You are disgusting." She smiled as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Says the girl who burps openly during Friday night movies." He replied against her mouth.

"Shut up and just give me your germs already."

"So nowyou're okay with it? Bipolar much?" Toby kissed the tip of her nose.

"Hey, it was just a suggestion. If you really want, we can go back to the Scrabble game. I think the letters are getting lonely…." Spencer teased as he kissed beneath her jaw.

"Oh yes, those poor things…" Toby pressed his lips to the space above her collarbone where her pulse thudded beneath her skin. "Maybe you should just give up. We both know I'm going to win."

"Win what? The game, or the argument?"

"Well, I guess that's up to you. Whichever you wish to continue with."

"A-L-R-I-G-H-T J-U-S-T S-H-U-T U-P A-N-D K-I-S-S M-E A-L-R-E-A-D-Y." Spencer spelt out.

Toby chuckled. "You are such a G-O-O-F-B-A-L-L."

"S-M-A-R-T A-S-S…" Spencer muttered as he ran his hands through her curls and finally captured her lips with his own.

"Look, I'm just saying, we should tell Jason about this. Maybe he'll know what to do. He's a guy. Maybe he can talk to Wren for you." Spencer said into her cell phone receiver, attempting to hold the phone between her shoulder and ear while piling her mound of notepads and textbooks into her shoulder bag. Monday morning classes came early, and Bree had already left for coffee, so she was left alone to drag herself around her dorm.

"I just don't think that he needs to be dragged into this. I already told Mom and that felt like too much. I feel like the whole world knows. Lately, I feel like people have been looking at me funny." Melissa replied on the other end.

"Melissa, no one's looking at you funny."

"Still. And Jason just got released from the hospital and back into the old DiLaurentis house. His mind is frazzled. Maybe Toby can talk to Wren."

"Oh, yeah." Spencer rolled her eyes sardonically. "And maybe while he's at it he can ram his truck repeatedly into a brick wall."

Melissa sighed. "Fine. Tell Jason. But I don't want to be the one to tell him. I'm busy today. Mom's taking me to get an ultrasound."
"And where does Wren think you're going?" Spencer asked, locking her dorm room behind her and balancing her textbook on her knee.

"I could disappear off the face of the planet for a year and a half and he wouldn't even notice I was gone." Melissa replied.

"Why can't Franco take you?"

"He's working today. Just – just tell Jason if you really want to. But don't tell him to talk to Wren until I figure out some stuff first."

"Alright." Spencer replied. She hurried out into the parking lot to where her car was parked, all lonely by itself. Unlocking it, she tossed her bag and textbooks onto the passenger's seat and stuck the key in the ignition. "I gotta go Melissa – class starts in ten."

"Fine. Call me after you've told Jason."

"Will do."

"Jason. Jason?" Spencer rapped her knuckles on the wooden front door of the old DiLaurentis house. Despite maintaining a full-time job in Philly, Jason still inhabited his old family house and had been released to come home from the hospital the previous day.

"Hello? Are you home?" She called. She stepped back a few feet on the porch and furrowed her eyebrows. The cream-colored curtains blew a few inches out of the open windows beside the porch. Just as she was going to knock on the door again, it opened.

"Ja –" Spencer started, but her words got chocked in her throat when she saw who stood in the doorway.

"Spencer." Jenna's Cheshire-cat-like grin spread across her face and she addressed her with her fully-functioning green eyes.

"Wha – what are you doing here?" She choked out. "I thought you would have been out of Rosewood by now."

"Turns out I was able to make other living arrangements."

"I – " Spencer began, but Jason suddenly appeared in the doorway beside Jenna.

"Hey." He said, "What's up?"

"Uhm." Was all Spencer could utter.

"Here, I'll go grab a shower." Jenna told Jason, who nodded. "Spencer." She smiled coyly, before disappearing into the darkened house.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Spencer whispered through her clenched teeth when she was certain Jenna was out of hearing range.

"She needed a place to stay." Jason shrugged. He stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him. "What's up?"

"Wha – what's up? What's up is that you have a crazy person inhabiting your home on your second day back!"

"I told you – she needed someplace to crash."

"And you just…let her in?"

"Spence, she didn't have anywhere else to go."

"Oh boo-hoo, cry me a river. I'll remember that next time I have that reoccurring nightmare where she helped Garrett turn us into the cops."

"That was junior year of high school, Spencer."

"So?"

"Look, you may not know it, but Jenna and I have been through a lot together. With everything with Garrett and Ian, I'm really the only person she has left to trust."

"And you don't think that it's the slightest bit weird that a younger girl is livingwith you? What are people going to think?"

"I don't know." Jason shrugged. "And honestly, I don't care."

"Jason, in this town…people talk."

"Yeah, I know. But that didn't stop you from dating Toby all these years."

"That's different." Spencer said coolly.

"How so? Toby and Jenna both have a rep having to do with Ali."

"Toby never hurt us intentionally."

"Look, Spencer, I really just…don't want to talk about this anymore. Unless Jenna does something to make me believe that she's a threat to me or you, she can stay here as long as she wants."

Spencer sighed and clenched her eyes shut, crossing her arms and shaking her head vigorously. "I don't condone this behavior."

Jason shrugged. "I'm sorry. I really am. This isn't about hurting you. But I understand how it feels to feel like you've got nowhere else to go."

Spencer let out the breath she had been holding and shook her head again. "Fine. Fine."

Jason leaned back against the door. "What did you come here to tell me?"

"Uh…you know…it's not important." Spencer decided, batting her hand as if to ward it away.

"You sure?"

Spencer nodded. "Yeah. I'll…I'll see you for drinks on Thursday."

"Alright." Jason nodded. "See you around, Spence."

"See you." She waved, her face still a mask of thought.

She was already at the last stair of the porch by the time he had shut the door behind him.

finally on summer break! that means faster updates! yay! 12 daysss! Live. Love. Spoby. - AJ