Chapter Eight: Spencer Stalking
Thank you, Roy! Spencer's real reason comes to show. But, sadly, our little innocent Lily doesn't know the real reason Spencer stayed or that her new friend is "crushing" on her boyfriend. Major air quotes on crushing. But, then again, is that really so sad? Now while Spencer and Lily are out and about in the town they meet two faces Spencer never thought she'd see again.
Clasping the lamp against her chest, Spencer latched her open hand on the door to support her body weight. Lily had certainly scared the living day lights out of Spencer. Spencer had been expecting a kind enough burglar whom had the decency to knock. Lily's smile melted down quickly to a frown when she saw Spencer leaning a lamp against her chest. "Um, oops. I probably should have-maybe-called ahead."
Spencer suppressed the urge to nod her head and flash her eyes menacingly at Lily. She took a deep calming breath and spun on her heel heading back to her bedside table to place her "weapon" back in its original place. "Would've been nice," Spencer muttered sitting down on her bed.
Lily chewed on her bottom lip nervously hearing Spencer's irritation in her tone. She surged forward setting the breakfast tray on the bed next to Spencer and backed away. Her mouth opened and words came tumbling out. "Well, um, Toby told me last night that you came in late and he had to work the next day. I thought I would be a good friend and make you breakfast and possibly help you unpack. Maybe I could even stay and help you with Jace, you know, if you want."
Spencer blinked a few times trying to fully wake up, but the need for coffee was becoming greater. Sending a single glance at the breakfast tray sitting next to her, Spencer examined the items on the tray. Catching a glance at a white mug on the corner of the tray, Spencer saw dark liquid was filled inside it. It seemed to call her name coaxingly up until she snatched it up and took a sip. The dark liquid was indeed coffee, but it tasted the tiniest bit sweeter than normal.
"Uh, I think I made your coffee right. When I told Toby I was planning to make you breakfast he told me exactly what you wanted and of course added the fact that you needed coffee in the morning. It's kind of like how I make my focus coffee, though I add a spoon of sugar-wait-oh!" Lily saw Spencer tasting her lips with a curious glint in her eyes. "I put sugar in your coffee, didn't I?"
The corners of Spencer's lips quirked up at the surprising liking to the sweet little extra in her coffee. "Indeed you did, but it is a nice taste."
Lily smiled. "Well, that's a relief." She moved her gaze around the room as Spencer began to dig into her breakfast. Taking in her surroundings of the simple room, Lily found all of Spencer's luggage piled up by the closet. "So, do you want me to help you unpack?"
Even though she had asked, Lily did not wait for a response as she moved over to Spencer's luggage. She started unzipping the first suitcase while Spencer was caught in the motion of taking a bite of her buttered toast. Spencer's pupils went wide due to the fact that she was OCD and did not like people touching her organized things. Having her bags already organized, Spencer had also planned how to organize everything around the room. Though, Lily was not informed of this.
The first suitcase Lily unzipped happened to be Spencer's business wear. Lily raised an eyebrow at the large array of business suites and pencil skirts Spencer owned. Holding in a comment, Lily unzipped another suitcase finding Spencer's comfy clothes of yoga pants and cotton T-shirts along with some hoodies and sweatshirts. Hoping to find day wear and dresses Lily opened all of Spencer's suitcases only to discover Spencer did not have any except for one scarlet red dress. "Where is all you causal wear?" Lily asked letting her curiosity get the best of her.
Spencer pointed at the suitcase of yoga pants and T-shirts. She was trying to calmly chew on her bacon since Lily had really touched anything. Lily let out a small hmm. "How about you party dresses?" Spencer shifted her pointer finger over to the business suites and pencil skirts. Lily sent her a confused look. "You wear business suites to a party?"
"I only go to business parties."
Lily hmm-ed with more strain added to it. "What do you wear when you're out with friends then?"
Spencer blinked and sent the food she was chewing down her throat. "Uh, in all honesty I go to work and then go home."
"You don't hang out with your friends."
Spencer cleared her throat awkwardly. "I don't have any friends." She was excluding Roy since the only times they hung out was at business parties and during their lunch break sometimes. Though, she did go to his Christmas party and that was the only reason Spencer owned that scarlet red dress.
Lily looked appalled. "But, you're like the perfect friend!"
"I'm what people call a workaholic. I wrap myself up so tight in my career I don't give myself time for friends," Spencer told Lily truthfully.
Pressing her lips in a straight line, Lily thought for a moment before a light bulb appeared above her head. "Let's go shopping!"
Spencer choked a little on her eggs. "What?"
"We can go shopping and get you some daytime clothes since we'll be hanging out a lot," Lily offered.
"What about Jace?" Spencer tried to use Jace as an excuse not to go.
Lily worked around it, though. "He can tag along. I'm great at multitasking. You get dressed while I go wake him up." Lily was out of the room before Spencer could say anything at all.
"How about this one? It'll go great with your eyes!" Lily handed Spencer a navy blue dress to put in the cart. As much as Lily asked for Spencer's opinion she knew she had none. Spencer could compare shopping with Lily to shopping with Hanna and find no difference. They both acted like Spencer had an opinion, but in reality it didn't matter whether Spencer liked the clothing item or not. In the end she was going to have to buy it anyways. Little did Spencer know that the same person she just thought of was in the same store as her.
Hanna Marin was examining a flowy blouse with an old school styled collar a few aisles away from Spencer and Lily. Shaking her head no, Hanna moved on over to the clothing rack where best friend Aria Fitz (nee Montgomery) was searching for her size. Sighing, Hanna began going through the rack with her finally plucking out the shirt Aria was going for in her tiny size. Handing it to her friend, Hanna got as smile in return. "Thanks Han."
"Welcome." Hanna quickly scanned the rack Aria had been digging through. "Ugh, I'm having an off day; I never have an off day." Hanna took a quick glance around the store having her eyes fall on a certain brunette. "Oh my God! Is that Spencer?"
Aria's eyes were now glued on a new clothing rack. "Spencer who?"
"Hastings, who else?"
Hearing her old best friend's last name, Aria immediately looked up finding where Hanna's eyes were staring. Sure enough Spencer Hastings in the flesh was standing near them with a certain curly haired blonde they both had known as Lily Peterson, Toby's girlfriend. "What is she doing here?"
"More importantly, what is she doing in Rosewood?" Hanna watched the two adults gave opinions on a rather flashy dress in which Spencer shook her head no at the sight of it.
Tuning into their conversation, Aria and Hanna hid behind a clothing rack closer to them. "What do you think of this one?"
Spencer whom was shooing Jace's hand away from the clothing looked up confused. Seeing the next choice Lily had made she pushed out her lips and tilted her head side to side. "I guess-"
"Perfect!" Lily set the item into their filling shopping cart. Examining the shopping cart, Lily looked up with a pleased grin on her lips. "I think we have enough."
Sighing with relief, Spencer followed Lily to the check out. Hanna made a move to follow them, but Aria grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"
"Following them," Hanna said in a duh voice.
"Are you crazy?"
Hanna didn't respond seeing Spencer and Lily exiting the store. Not waiting for another moment Hanna started following them out the door. Groaning, Aria joined Hanna. "God, I can't believe we're stalking Spencer."
Entering the Apple Rose Grill Hanna easily spotted the brunette and blonde with a child. Aria once again tried to halt Hanna, but Hanna was on a mission. Plowing on, Hanna stopped in front of Spencer and Lily's table. "Hello Spencer."
Looking up from her menu Spencer saw her ex best friend standing by their table with a determined expression on her face. Not being able to answer due to shock, Lily greeted Hanna and Aria, who had just arrived by Hanna's side. "Hi Hanna and Aria!"
"Hello Lily," Hanna said in a sappy sweet voice that Spencer picked up right away; it was Hanna's fake sweet voice.
"You guys having lunch as well?" Lily made small talk with an obvious question.
Hanna nodded her head. "Yes, we just got done shopping."
"Same with us!" Lily declared excitingly. "Hey, I have a great idea: why don't you guys join us?"
"Great idea!" Hanna agreed taking the opportunity to sit by the frozen Spencer. Aria carefully took a seat next to Lily.
"So, Spencer, what are you doing in Rosewood?" Hanna dived straight into the questions when the waitress came by taking drink orders and dropping off two extra menus.
Lily answered for Spencer when Spencer didn't answer right away. "Didn't you know, Spencer officially moved back to Rosewood?"
"Moved back, huh?" Spencer was starting to feel exactly like she had when Lily had taken her out to lunch and practically played twenty questions with her. Though, Hanna was grilling her with questions.
Gathering some wits together Spencer finally spoke. "I'm Jace's guardian."
"So, you accepted the responsibility?" The last time Hanna and Aria had seen Spencer was at the will reading and that was a mere minute of staring at her was gaped open mouths. Then she was whisked out of the room only to not return.
Spencer nodded her head. "Yes, I did."
"Onto the important questions, why did you leave? Three years ago?" Hanna blurted out the question she had been dying to ask.
Sudden irritation flowed through Spencer's veins. She might be stubborn for not answering the question, but she was getting god damn annoyed with everyone asking it. Not thinking logically Spencer let her irritation take control of her mouth. "Does it really matter? I left three years ago, okay? Maybe I was just sick of Rosewood!" The others at the table looked taken back by Spencer's sudden harsh tone. "Why do you need to know? I don't answer to you, to anyone who asks me that exact question! It's my business, not yours! Stop trying to get me to answer, because I'm not going to tell you!"
"Spencer, maybe you should calm done." Lily looked around the restaurant worried by all the looks they were getting.
"No, I'm not going to calm down. I'm sick of everyone sticking their noses in my business! It's my business! Just get over the fact that I left!" Spencer ended her irritated rant that needed to be released.
With no feedback, Spencer closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. Having that held in rant leave her mind had made her feel so much better. Opening her eyes, Spencer directed her mocha gaze to Lily and Lily only. "I'm taking Jace back for his nap. You can still come over if you want, but right now I can't deal with this. I'm sorry." Spencer lifted Jace out of his booster seat and set him back in his stroller. Rolling the stroller towards the door, Spencer exited the silent restaurant.