Author's Note: I am so, so sorry. I've just been so stressed as of late and I didn't really pay attention to these all the time. Like I said, tomorrow I'll re-upload "Frost" and the one-shot that was originally supposed to be after it.
By the way, life imitates art and this was actually very inspired by a particular scenario at my school...it supposedly actually happened.
Day Eighty-Eight: Here We Go Again by Demi Lovato
It was yet another of those stupid love songs.
She clicked past it. And another. And another. And another. It seemed as though her entire iPod was just filled with those freaking love songs.
I pulled her hair back as I pouted. I hated seeing her like this. Finally, she gave up in frustration and threw her phone on the floor. I continued to braid her hair.
"I already told you we can call Em and Ali and get a bunch of pay-per-view and eat a ton of junk food and it'll make you feel better."
She just shook her head. "Emily reminds me of him too much. And Alison…I feel like she's part of the problem," she answered hesitantly.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Alison? Why would she ever do anything to you?"
"I don't…I don't know. But…I don't know. My friend Aria—"
"I know who Aria is, Spence," I interrupted.
She shook her head before continuing. "—she said that she keeps overhearing Alison and her senior friend, Caroline, telling him all about he could do better and they're acting…flirty around him. And it's not because I'm…jealous that they're friends with him, but…"
I frowned and pulled her into a hug. "That evil bitch. I'll destroy her. You know…maybe we can invite Aria over?"
Spencer shrugged. "Maybe. I mean…I don't know. Would that make you uncomfortable, Hanna?"
"Listen, Spence, I don't care, as long as you're alright. I need to plan something awesome to get back at that vapid bitch…."
Spencer, through her somewhat red eyes, started to laugh, prompting small tears on the corners of her eyes.
"Alright, at least I got you to laugh. Look, I'm going to call Aria to invite her over, so I'll be right back. And then to get ice cream and popcorn and chocolate so we can stuff our faces. I'll be right back," I said before stepping out of the room.
But the first person I called was not Aria. It was actually Emily.
"Emily! Can you talk for a second?"
"Yeah…? What happened?" she inquired.
"I need you to go over to Spencer's house and try and hide or get rid of everything that reminds her of Toby. She's really upset right now. She might get a bit upset with you; I'll take the blame. But I just think it's healthier that way," I told Emily.
"Okay. Please tell her…I hope she feels better tomorrow."
I nodded. "Okay, I will." I promptly hung up the phone before going to call Aria.
I had only ever spoken to Aria a couple of times. She seemed nice enough. I could see why Spencer was friends with her. They were both pretty bookish and she seemed pretty shrewd, like Spencer. The two of us just didn't really…click, I guess. Not that we disliked each other. We just didn't really have things in common.
"Hello, Aria?" I inquired as soon as I heard someone had picked up the phone.
"Hanna?" Clearly, she was surprised as I was that I was actually calling her.
"Hey, I was wondering if you could come over my house. I have a problem with Spencer and…you know. She said she wanted you to come over," I explained awkwardly. I was usually pretty good at awkward situations, but…I don't know, today, I just felt awkward.
"Um…of course. I'll be there soon. Do you want me to bring anything?"
"Maybe a pair of clothes for tomorrow? I have a feeling this'll be a sleepover kind of thing."
I looked at Spencer's phone, which had buzzed for the thousandth time that night. I frowned. She had this neutral-looking expression, but I could tell she was about to burst into tears all over again; her lip was quivering.
"Just when I was starting to forget…"
Aria reached for Spencer's hand. I was actually eternally grateful for how much Aria was helping me in soothing Spencer's broken heart.
It made my blood boil to do something this evil and this horrible to her poor heart.
"Maybe you're better off," I insisted.
She began to nod, but as she was trying to convince herself it was alright, she started to sob again. She buried her head into Aria's shoulder and Aria began to rub her back.
When her sobs began to die down, she looked over at me with red, puffy eyes. "How bad is it?" she inquired softly.
"Honey, do you—"
"I really want to know," she answered, more firmly this time.
I sighed and unlocked her phone, looking through the texts. "Spencer, please don't shut me out like this," I read. That made me pretty pissed. "I just want to talk. I don't like the way things ended." I rolled my eyes slightly. "Can we still be friends?!"
I shook my head and slammed her phone perhaps a bit too hard on my bedside table. I could tell she was trying to keep it all in. But I could tell. I felt it myself. It was getting under my skin. The very first time it happened, she had sworn it wouldn't happen again. But she fell victim to that puppy face and eventually took him back.
Part of me wanted to tell her that she shouldn't have taken him back in the first place. Screw me once, it's fuck you, but screw me twice and I knew I had it coming.
But I knew how hard she tried to stay away. She really did. I was there with her. Realistically speaking, I would've caved, too.
And I was pretty sure that after all that was said and done, they'd end up together again only for that annoying bitch Alison to ruin it again. Sometimes, Ali was nice. But lately, she was just a bitch. Sometimes, I saw glimmers of a person I'd love to be BFFs with. But most of the time, I just saw someone who I didn't even want to know.
I was standing with Spencer at her locker. I had actually gotten her to smile over the last few days. Aria came over a few moments later. Emily was out. She had gotten the flu or something. I knew, however, that she had gotten mono from some girl she partied with over the weekend. I'm just intuitive like that.
Just as we were discussing what we'd do with our last period free period, Toby came walking over. I narrowed my ice blue eyes at him. I knew Spencer could never act all defensive around him; she liked him too much.
"What do you want?" I demanded.
"Can I please talk to Spencer? Please, Spencer?"
Spencer looked over at me. I bit my lip and my tongue. As much as I wanted to tell her not to go with him and curse him out, using every four letter word I knew, I knew this was a decision she had to make on her own. She turned to Aria when she failed to get a response out of me. Aria gave her a similarly neutral expression.
"You get five minutes. Make it fast."
Aria and I reluctantly gave them some space.
"How do you think that'll go?" Aria inquired.
I sighed. "Not well. I can just feel it."
Meanwhile, a few yards away, a portion of the five minutes was just Spencer telling Toby all about how horrible he made her feel. "You never know what you want. You never say what's on your mind. How am I supposed to know that you're not happy if you never tell me? Am I supposed to read your mind? And when I tell you I'm not happy, you don't do anything. It's exhausting. And now…I can't even be around you. I don't even want to be in this town with you anymore. It's suffocating. It's…it's killing me," she said meekly.
He had no response to that. So she continued. "And you keep looking at me like…like…like you want me to come over and talk to you or act like everything is normal, but I can't. How can I? You…you broke my heart."
Aria and I were staring at her and Toby. "I'm almost scared to leave her there. She can't be with him…or without him," she commented.
I nodded in agreement. "Is it time for us to go back in?"
She hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, we should."
The two of us walked over a few moments later to stop their conversation. Toby looked a bit upset. Spencer looked anxious.
"Is everything alright?" Aria inquired.
Spencer was silent before nodding slowly. "Yeah. It's resolved."
The next morning, as the three of us, along with Emily, who had gotten some antibiotics from the doctor, walked to school, we finally asked her what that meant. We had already clued Emily in.
"Well…I told him I didn't want to be hostile around him, so we could at least try and be friends. And he…he actually told me about what Alison said to him. And Caroline, too. And he realized it was wrong of them and it was wrong of him to listen to them. But…I'm really going to try and keep my distance."
We were all rather relieved.
"Spence, take your time getting close to him again. He's broken your heart twice already. Just…be safe?" I asked hopefully.
She looked at me earnestly before nodding. "Yeah, I promise…I'll take better care of my heart this time."
Sorry for my incompetence again! I'm very sorry! -Kayson