Day One-Hundred Six: She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5

"I remember the first time I saw you, I thought you were beautiful."

She looked up at him in amusement. "We were seven."

"You don't have to be a certain age to recognize true beauty," he insisted with a smile before putting down some tiles. "I think I really started realizing it at eighteen, though. It made me so angry."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Angry? What would you be angry about?"

He shrugged. "You seemed lost and upset with yourself. I always wanted to help you and I even had feelings for you. But you were always with someone else."

He competed the word and she took note of the points he had racked up; all 111 of them.

"You're right. I did have problems. But…I'm glad that part of me is the past. I was always different; I never wanted my first anything to mean a single thing. I just wanted to get it over with. They always say the first time is the worst time," she said.

"That's cynical, don't you think?"

"I'm a pragmatist."

He stared at her for a moment before nodding. "I know. It's…part of what drives me insane and also what I love about you."

She bit back a little smile, but the corners of her mouth were still upturned. "You know what I remember most about you? When I called you one day to say I was having a horrible time on my birthday, you drove all the way to New York to make me feel better."

He nodded with a little smile. "Yeah, and I'd do it all over again. And I remembered you'd try to push me away—"

"I remember that," she answered with a bigger smile.

"And I asked you not to say goodbye too quickly."

He could not even try to contain his nervousness. He knew he'd never be Mr. Hastings's top choice for his youngest daughter, but he would die trying to prove him wrong.

"What, exactly, did you want to talk about, Toby?"

Toby was quiet for a moment before speaking. "I'd like your permission to ask Spencer to marry me."

He couldn't take it back. It was out there now.

Mr. Hastings was silent. "And what makes you think you're good enough for my daughter?"

What a loaded question that was.

"Mr. Hastings, I know I can't give her everything you've ever given her. I can't give her a life of luxury. I can't give her everything she'll ever want. But I can give her love. I'd do everything to make her happy. I'd go to the ends of the earth for her."

He stared at Toby for a moment before clearing his throat. "You know, I can give you my blessing. I can even tell her to go ahead and marry you. But Spencer is going to do whatever she wants. I hope you realize that. The decision is hers and hers alone."

He looked outside unhappily the following morning. It was a stormy, dreary day: certainly not the kind of day he wanted this to be.

Spencer looked out, however, with a huge smile on her face. It was, albeit, a broken smile—because some scars never healed—but it brought light to this pretty dank, dark day.

"You look pretty today," he commented.

She gave him an odd look. "Are you okay?"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "I can't call you beautiful?"

"Well…it's only nine and I'm barely even awake, so I don't know how 'beautiful' I could possibly be," she said with that little smile on her face.

"You are beautiful," he assured her. He hated how insecure she was at times. Then again, he hated the same thing about himself, too. And then there were the days she got darker, and although he was sure she'd come out brighter, those days weren't fun. But he knew it wasn't always rainbows and butterflies.

He had to come up with a new plan.

A few hours later, they were playing their daily game of Scrabble.

A few rounds in, he noticed something bothering her.

"Spence?"

She looked up, a bit startled. "What?"

"Are you alright?"

She hesitated before nodding incessantly. "Yeah; I promise. I just…I don't feel that well."

"We can stop, if you want."

She gave a little sardonic laugh. "And let you win by default? Never. I just need to go get water. I'll be back."

He nodded as she walked out of the room. Suddenly, he had this great idea. He rummaged through the tiles for all the letters and then in his pocket.

"Your turn, Spencer," he said as she sat back down.

She looked at the board to look at his move, and then realized what he had spelt out, all in Scrabble tiles:

Will you marry me?

She had no clue where the question mark had come from, but noticed him holding a modest-sized ring which was certainly gorgeous.

"I could easily ramble off onto some sappy monologue about how I know you like the back of my hand and how I know everything about you; I know how you cope when you're sad, I know all the characteristics which make you who you are—mentally, physically, and emotionally—and most of all, I know how much I love you and how whenever you say 'goodbye' or 'leave me alone', I never can. But I don't think I can start with that monologue, because if I started with all of that, I could never stop. I just wanted to say that I worry about you. And I worry about me, too. I don't know what I'd possibly do without you. I want to catch you when you're ready to fall. I want to be the one to make you laugh when you don't even want to smile and you don't even want to see the light. So won't you stay a while? Like maybe…forever?"

She was very quiet before she nodded, slowly, at first, but then furiously, as though she was scared that someone wouldn't take the hint. "Yes, yes, yes! A thousand times, yes."

He smiled before sliding the ring on her finger. She took a moment to admire it and note how it went on forever; there was no beginning and no end.

"You know, forever just isn't long enough for me."

Sarah: Once, when I was like 12 or something, I was at this Chinese restaurant where I live and the guy almost brought me a rum and coke when I asked for a coke. My grandma was like, "no! She's not old enough! Regular coca cola!" and that was quite a night. Wait, wait, wait. So now, you've smoked, had beer, and vodka? Whaaaa? I've had this weird champagne drink once (and champagne is extremely weak, so that barely counts). I really hated it. My hair's a mess. AND IKR?! I MEAN THEY ARE THE CUTEST MOST ADORABLE COUPLE EVER.

LittleBittyAbby:APPARENTLY Toby is an abusive boyfriend, but Ezra and Ezria are totally fine, according to some Ezra stans on Tumblr and anti-Toby/anti-Spoby people. I don't know...everyone seemed to have been watching PLL with their fathers on Tuesday (?). Ugh, I try to stay away from religion. I'm Jewish, but only kind of. I don't go to synagogue and I don't really study the Torah. I think God is more internal, you know? I don't think he's something you can find in a shrine to him or a holy book or some pages. I think he's inside you. Sorry, this got all philosophical and shite. But anyway, yeah, I get what you're saying. My writing hasn't been up to par, but honestly, I don't really think it ever was. But I think 109 is better. You'll find out. I like it, actually. For once. Amazing, right? And no, I like your reviews.

AussieMizzie:Lol, I'm not. I thought Mexicans were supposed to be pretty. I'm not. Oh, oops. I guess the gene pool skipped me. Wait, wait, wait. You know another Kayson? Whaaaa? Um...I don't know how to tell you this, but...I talk to myself. Like, a lot. I'm just a little crazy. I mean...I get lonely. When I was younger, I made up imaginary friends (I'm still debating whether or not that's normal) named Taylor and then there was another one, but anyway, I talked to them like all the time. I even remember when I was in the car, I'd imagine Taylor was sitting on the floor and I always wanted to try it, but my grandma was like, "No, don't do that. You'll die." and that was my childhood. The panic attacks kind of go hand in hand with the social anxiety, which I can't get over. I'm kind of annoyed because I have to do my therapy homework and it's find 10 things you're good at. I have 2: baking and procrastinating. I need eight more by like 3 PM tomorrow. Suggestions? Some Ezria stans on tumblr called him abusive. I think they were ezria stans. Idk, I think they were talking about how Ezra was CLEARLY not being abusive in any way, shape, or form (which, in some ways, I guess he kind of was since he sorta traumatized poor Aria in the woods...then again, I never feel bad for Aria, sooo...), but Toby is because he "actively punishes" Spencer for choosing her friends over him (like when? Like, really, when? I don't even know).

sarahschneider2012: Yes, absolutely perfect! What did you think of this one-shot?

AL3110: Oh, Al...Puh-lease. All my one-shots are pretty bad except for maybe seven. Okay.

Well...it's really late. Sorry I suck.

Listen, I'm going to my bestie's dance recital tomorrow, so I'll have an early update tomorrow (like 4/5-ish? EST) or it'll be a late update. IDK yet, but I can't afford to lose any more days. Anyway, that being said, if you don't review by about 4/5 tomorrow, I probably won't be able to respond. But I will respond the next one-shot :)

Alright, the next one is The Only Exception by Paramore and it sucks, okay? -Kayson