Author's Note: I'm sorry for my absence yesterday, but I am back!

AU wherein Spencer is an aspiring actress.

Day One-Hundred Sixty-Six: Why, Why Not? by Marie Haddad

I was laughing with my friends at the party we were going to when I saw him.

Have you ever spotted a stranger just across the room and you just get oddly…intrigued by them? Maybe it's just because I've been doing a lot of acting lately and my favorite exercise was to look across the room and create an entire persona for a person, but there were random moments where I just got so interested by some otherwise random stranger. The week before, it was a redhead with porcelain, fair skin who was inspecting apples meticulously and carefully at the grocery store. A few days ago, it was the little boy who wore a red hoodie but had a very slouchy, standoffish demeanor. The day prior, it was a group of girls about sixteen or seventeen who looked almost identical, not in physical appearance, but in personality and action.

What was it about him?

He gave only slight smiles and whenever he gave an actual, genuine smile, it was closed-lipped, like he had something to hide or he was really uncomfortable. Maybe he was an abuse victim or had a very sordid tale from his childhood that made him so apprehensive of other people. He raised his red plastic cup to his lips, but never took a sip. Maybe something else, or even the same thing, made him distrusting. Even the way he had his hair cut seemed intriguing. It was on the longer side, like he had enough to hide behind, but not so long that he looked brooding and emo.

"Are you checking someone out?"

I turned to Alison, who turned to stare in the same direction as me.

"Cute, but he doesn't seem like your type," she commented.

I rolled my eyes. Alison went back to her other friends, but I continued to look. There was something else about him.

In my mind, he was a kid who had something horrible happen to him, like…maybe his mother or father died. Maybe he was sexually or physically abused as a child. He just seemed…jaded. He looked so lost and aimless. He was just wandering, it seemed. It was a bit sweet how naïve and innocent he looked.

He was the kind of person to trip all over his own feet. Just like I was the type of person to trip over their tongue.

Maybe that was why I was so strangely attracted and intrigued by him. He was Spencer Hastings by another name. He was closer to me than I could ever imagine and I barely knew him.

And I could tell all of that just by the way he was standing, the way he was acting, the way he looked…all of it told me more about him than hearsay ever could.

I thought that maybe I should go up and talk to him. Our paths were crossing now for a reason, like streets overlapping on a map. I was a firm believer in fate; there was some bigger reason the two of us—and everyone, really—was at this party. Maybe Alison would meet her soulmate here. Maybe this night would be the end of me, and as it should be.

Now he was alone. Now would be the perfect time to talk to him.

He looked so lonely. I mean, we all seemed lonely, here in the half-darkness of the night (with the only light being that of the Kahns' lake house not too far away and the very slight glow of the stars and the moon), but him especially so.

That kind of lonely made me want to reach out and hug him, just to let him know that some other lost, lonely soul was there, too. Because at the end of the day, that was all we were: lost, lonely souls. Well, unless we found a soulmate. But that was so rare.

I watched him amble off into the darkness, wander like a little kid following the stars absentmindedly. I wanted to follow him. Sometimes, being covered in the mask of darkness made it easier for me to talk honestly. Being masked made me feel more like myself. Maybe that was why I liked acting so much.

Something about him made me feel so hopeful, like I had something to believe in. I just wanted to follow him.

Why?

But at the same time…why not?

MilaMizz: It was an awful twist but tbh, I'm so done talking about it. It just makes me so mad. I think I know those kinds of cookies. I hated them. Well, no, I liked them, but I hate them now. Well, I guess it's like me with cheesecake, right? It's alright.

sarahschneider2012: Thank you. I mean, I thought the finale itself was a lot better than the past few finales, but it still left me really annoyed. Most of the fandom thought she was going to die anyway, but I agree.

Sarah:Yeah, well, things are a bajillion times worse now, so idk if I really want to talk about it. That's not good. Thank you. I'm glad you liked HTBAH. I've been sitting on the idea for a while now. Idk if the show can ever really bounce back from killing off its most interesting character.

AL3110:Truer words have never been spoken. Aww look at alliecat gettin dem boys. Cute. Glad you liked it! I loved the last one-shot, personally.

eveningshades1107:I thought it was one of my best super-fluffy one-shots. I just really liked it. In case you were curious, that song was the one used for a Chloe Lukasiak solo (I think it was either season 1 or 2. I just know you watch (or watched) DM too, so...EXACTLY. I already told Audrey that when she comes to New York, she's gaining 10 pounds, at least. Go big or go home. If I were really hungry, I could probably eat a whole pizza pie. But only New York pizza. Or even better, the New York Chicago-style pizza, with the big, fat crust. There's this pizza place across the street from me that has really good Chicago-style pizza. It's the best. Honestly, the only reason I'll keep watching is for a) spoby, duh; b) because I freaking have to know who A is; and c) Hanna Marin. At this point, I don't know which I have the bigger problem with: Ezria or their crazy fans (note how I used the adjective "crazy", meaning their non-crazy fans are totally fine, but the ones that send death threats to Lucy Hale and Ian Harding [or Drew Van Acker, the poor baby] are insane and I don't really like them [on that level, at least]). I just really wanted to see Hanna and Mona slay college together (especially considering they were probably both on-track for smarty-pants schools).

HELLO KITTY IS NOT A CAT. My whole childhood is ruined. Apparently she's an English girl who lives on the outskirts of London with her parents, her twin sister (Mimmy), her Persian cat (Charmmy), and hamster (Sugar). There goes my childhood.

The next one-shot is Haunted by Dan Gautrau and Iman Osman. I'm on the fence about it, not because I dislike the way I wrote it, but because it's more Spencer/Alison, rather than Spencer/Toby. Well...you'll see what I mean tomorrow. -Kayson