Author's Note: Okay, this one is only really, really, REALLY loosely based off of this song. That's just my warning.

Day One-Hundred Seventy-Six: Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine

Ali and I were just sitting at the edge of a lake watching the stars. She liked to make up stories about the stars and the "constellations" (though, obviously, she didn't know anything about them; she couldn't even point out the Big Dipper when I asked her about it; there was no way she'd be able to make out Orion's belt or Aries or anything a little less explicit).

"I'm going to go get water."

Before I could even respond, she was off. I was about to get up to follow her, but decided against it. I just lay back down on the soft grass and looked up. I could see Aries and Aquila and Canis Major. Soon after, a falling star—which was actually a meteor, to be more correct—flashed across the sky. I'd seen them only a few times, but each time, it was cool.

I hadn't even realized I'd been out there alone. But when I looked behind where Ali and I had been sitting, I saw nobody in sight. I couldn't even hear anyone anywhere around. Ali probably went back to the lake house to get water…but I had no clue where that was. She could've been anywhere.

I groaned in annoyance for a moment. There was nobody in sight. I hated being out in the woods alone. I couldn't even use the North Star to figure out my location since I couldn't remember where it was in relation to the lake house.

I was definitely going to get Ali back for this.

The moon and stars had a dim light over the path, but it didn't really help. I still couldn't really see where I was going. I just walked slowly around the trees. Thank God I was almost certain there were no bears or anything of the sort in these woods, at least, not in this area of the woods. And if I did just so happen to get mauled by a bear, Alison would have to live with that on her conscience.

"Hey!"

I whipped around to see someone standing there. It was a masculine figure, at least six feet tall. I was tall and athletic, but he didn't look lanky and weak—not even in this pale light.

I wondered for a split second whether I should try and outrun him. After half a second of thinking about it, I took off.

"Hey!" he shouted again. I could hear him jogging quickly behind me. I could hear him catching up to me…and aside from that, I didn't know where else to go. I felt a hand around my wrist a second later. I yelped slightly, even though a part of me was anticipating it anyway.

At school, they always warned you about stuff like this and how scary it could be. But…I wasn't even scared. My heart was only beating so quickly because of the running and the panic I already had from being in the dark alone. But I didn't sense any real danger from this guy.

"What are you doing in the dark by yourself?"

I just stood there, breathing heavily and trying to catch my breath.

"Are you crazy?"

"Are you?" I retorted. "I was here with a friend and she ditched me…great friend, huh?"

He laughed a little. I smiled slightly. "Well, I can help you find your way out."

I narrowed my eyes a little. Still, I wasn't really scared of him. "And how can I be certain you're not going to do anything to me? Kill me? Rape me? Kidnap me?"

He scoffed slightly. "If I had wanted to do that, I could've done it a while ago."

Even I had to admit he had a point. He easily could've outrun me. He could've overpowered me even more easily.

"Why are you even here?" I asked before answering him. "Do you just like to hang out in the woods by yourself at night? That's kind of creepy, if you ask me. Maybe I should be scared of you."

"I just come out here to draw at night."

For the first time, I noticed the notebook and drawing utensils in his hands. It made me feel a bit stupid.

"I'm not scared of you." It wasn't a defiant statement, but more like a somewhat remorseful one. I did feel a bit bad for thinking he'd hurt me when he really never did anything. But still…I wasn't scared of him.

"So do you have any idea where you're supposed to be?"

I shrugged. I wasn't supposed to be anywhere, but I supposed that I wanted to be back at the lake house, in my bedroom there, reading a book. "I'm not very good with directions but my family has a lake house here," I replied.

"My family does, too. I came down here by myself for the week, but I've never seen you or your family here, so maybe you're out of your way," he insisted.

"Maybe. My so-called friend Alison brought me out here, so I don't know how far we walked to get here," I replied with a shrug.

"We could try to make our way back or we could just stay at my family's cabin. I promise there's an extra bed. Or I could sleep on the couch."

I took a deep breath. My breath condensed a bit in the air.

"Aren't you cold?" he inquired.

I shook my head immediately. "No. It's fine. I can find my own way back, but thanks for being concerned…I guess," I replied uncertainly. After a moment of silence, I began to walk away. He didn't follow.

Probably about five minutes into the walk, I noticed a dim light up ahead. Hoping it was the house, I walked quicker. But then I realized that it wasn't. I saw the guy from before sitting on the porch with the light on, reading.

I sighed and continued to walk. I don't even know how long I was walking. I just knew it was dark. I hadn't realized I'd essentially been walking in a circle until I noticed that I passed the same tree at least five times. I could tell because some kids—maybe from summer camp or just camping or something—had put a red piece of cloth on one of the branches and carved their names in the trunk. Someone even carved a crescent moon along with some stars.

I sighed dramatically when I saw it. After a few minutes of lamenting to myself, I noticed teeny little water droplets on my skin. Rain, maybe? I discovered it was most definitely rain when big, fat droplets fell as I passed the tree for the sixth time. Even better than that was the fact that I still had no idea where the house was or even where I could stay. I just prayed that lightning didn't start or I would be fried—literally.

A few minutes later, it began to quite literally pour buckets. I was getting soaking wet. I passed by the guy's cabin again and debated whether I was going to go knock on the door or not.

Quickly, the weather made up its mind for me. I heard a clap of thunder and knew it wouldn't be long before the lightning came, too. And after the lightning came, it wouldn't be long before Spencer got electrocuted. Death by lightning bolt in the middle of the woods wasn't exactly the way I wanted to go.

I knocked on the door. Not much later, he opened the door. He stared at me, confused.

"How long have you been wandering around?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Will you please let me in?" I inquired.

He stepped aside to let me inside the cabin. It was a cozy little house, but it was nice. It was definitely not the Hastings' ostentatious show of their affluence; that was for sure.

"You're soaked."

"Gee, I didn't notice. Thanks for pointing that out."

He laughed. "You know, you're standing in my house right now and I don't even know your name."

I looked over my shoulder at him as I pushed some of my wet hair off of my face. "Spencer. And yours?"

"Toby."

Toby. I hadn't really pegged him as a Toby, but now that I knew that was his name, everything else seemed wrong.

"So…it doesn't seem like it's going to let up anytime soon," Toby commented as he peered out the window. "Is it safe to assume that you're going to stay the night?"

I hesitated before nodding. "I can sleep on the couch if you—"

"The couch is lumpy. I can sleep on the couch. You can take my room. Or the guest room, if you'd prefer that, but my room has a full-size bed."

I nodded slightly. "Whatever's good works for me. But I don't want to push you out of your room."

"It's fine. I don't really mind the couch."

"I thought you just said it was lumpy."

"It is, but I don't really mind that much, anyway," he assured me. "Come on."

He led me upstairs to his room. It was a nice, modest-sized room. The only thing that made it feel a little more personal was the desk he had in the far right corner of the room. It was an art desk. I could just make out that he was drawing and painting something with vibrant blues and greens.

"There are some t-shirts in the top drawer of that dresser over there," he told me as he pointed. "I was just going to make coffee. Do you want me to bring you some?"

"Please." I had just realized how long it had been since I had coffee. Five hours, at least. I was starting to go through withdrawals.

"Alright. I'll be back up in like five minutes. How do you take your coffee?"

"Black, please."

And with that, he was gone. I wriggled—there truly is no other word to describe how to take off soaking-wet leggings—out of my leggings. I laid them on top of the radiator in his room, just to air them out, though, apparently, he had turned on the heat. No wonder the room was so nice and warm.

I pulled out a light grey t-shirt that fell to a length that made me feel completely uncomfortable, but…my clothes would hopefully be dry by morning.

Everything was wet. I wasn't about to take off my underwear—especially considering I didn't have any dry pants to change into—but everything else had to go. I started with peeling the oversized red sweater off of my body and putting it next to the leggings.

Facing the window, I took off my bra. I hadn't realized it, but Toby came up with the coffee and stood in the door way at that exact moment. I put on the t-shirt. It was thankfully baggy, meaning that it was almost impossible to tell that I wasn't wearing a bra.

After putting my hair in a ponytail, I turned around and saw Toby standing there. He scared me a little.

"Here's your coffee. I'll be downstairs if you need anything," he said with a slight smile as he put the coffee on the bedside table.

"Thanks," I called out. With that, he was gone.

Sometime later, I had fallen asleep. The bed was so comfortable. His shirt was comfortable, too.

I was totally going to kill Alison, but at least this wasn't so unbearable.

I drifted off into one of those half-sleeps where your brain doesn't really seem to register that you're asleep until you wake up. Kind of like when you're up studying and you close your eyes for a split second and suddenly, the clock reads 3:28 AM when just a minute prior, it said 11:30 PM.

I didn't know what time it was, but the room was completely dark like it had been only a little bit ago. But suddenly, the room wasn't quite so nice and warm. In fact, it was absolutely freezing. I felt like my hair was freezing (as it was still a little damp from the rain).

Even though it was pretty quiet (except for the rain and the occasional clap of thunder), I could hear something stirring downstairs. I tried to turn on the lamp, but I guess the power went out. That would explain why it was so cold.

The only source of light was the occasional flash of thunder. Using that, I somehow made it downstairs to where I saw Toby in front of the fireplace.

"Hey. What are you doing up?"

"It's freezing in your room. The power went out from the lightning, right?"

"Yeah. I think it went out like an hour ago." He yawned before putting another piece of wood in the fireplace. "I can stay upstairs if you want to stay here, in front of the fire. You're probably still wet…from the rain."

It took me a moment to get it, and when I did, I blushed. I probably would've been pissed at anybody else.

"No, it's okay. But can I sleep down here with you?" I asked.

He looked up at me finally, catching sight of my legs first. He pulled his eyes up after two or three seconds of staring. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"I'm not asking to have sex with you. I'm just cold. Besides…I've never been too keen on sleeping alone."

He looked extremely reluctant. If I had wanted to seduce him, I certainly could've done it with no problem by now; I don't know what he was so concerned about.

"Just calm down. I'm not really looking to get frisky," I promised him before I made myself comfortable in his spot on the bed. I patted the space next to me. "Come on."

He hesitated before he decided to join me. "Good night," he said quietly before he turned around and faced away from me.

What was up with him being so cold? I got that he was a nice guy and all, but at least before he was a little bit more fun.

I rolled over so I was facing his back. At first, I poked him in the back. He didn't move. I figured that maybe he was asleep, so I (absentmindedly, I swear) moved my fingers down his arm. I heard his breath hitch, indicating that he was, in fact, awake.

He liked me. Since when did guys like me? I was just Alison DiLaurentis's nerdy friend; guys never really looked twice at me.

"I feel really stupid. After all, I'm pretty sure that girls like me who just trust someone they meet in the woods are the kind that end up on the front page of the newspaper from getting kidnapped or murdered," I thought aloud. I had no idea where I was going with it. "But you didn't really scare me. You just weren't that kind of person and I could tell. You're a really nice guy." Now, it was the tiredness talking. I probably would've never said that fully awake. "I noticed how you haven't taken advantage of me all night," I continued with my voice gradually getting quieter and quieter. "Is it bad that I kind of wished you did? I mean, not take advantage of me, per se, but at least show me that you're kind of into me, too?"

I tried to get a good look at his face, but all I could see was him gulp. I put my hand on his arm. He was so warm. A tiny bit frustrated, I sighed and turned over onto the other side. It was silent for about five minutes before I heard him move. He was either on his back or on his other side, facing me.

"Spencer?"

I knew he was facing me. I reached behind for his arm and wrapped his arm around me. I just wrapped him around me. "I get cold easily," I told him. It got quiet again before he put a little kiss on the back of my head. "What was that for?"

He was caught in his tracks. "I-I…"

I turned over so I was facing him. "No, I want you to really kiss me," I explained with a slight smile before I pressed my lips on his. Suddenly, he kissed me back. I felt like he'd been holding back the entire time.

My heart was pounding so hard; it was like I could hear it and even feel the blood pounding in my ears. I could feel all the butterflies in my stomach.

The kissing gradually got more heated to the point where we were both aching for more skin, but then remembered that sleep was a good thing and eventually succumbed to that.

The next morning after breakfast, we exchanged numbers and a promise to talk to each other and figure out what this meant. I knew one thing for certain: was so much better than spending the night with Alison.

sarahschneider2012: Thanks. I like the song (and the dance, if you saw the music video version of it). Alexx Calise has a nice voice. It's different.

Sarah:I sort of try in PE, so I usually get a B+ (which isn't really good) and sometimes I even get an A-, which makes me so happy. OH MY GOD you're not fat. It was sad but I'm glad you liked it.

Guest: ...Maybe, but I kind of like it as a one-shot. But thanks for reviewing and I'm glad that you liked it :)

MilaMizz:I'm actually doing pretty well with code. Oh, yeah, but sometimes my fingers don't work the way they're supposed to. Usually, I'm fairly accurate when it comes to typing, but sometimes...not so much. Thanks. That really means a lot (I wish I could show you ever the computer but I cannot :{). MAFK is the acronym of...Kayson. idk. It's just my acronym. I'm so glad you liked it and it seemed to be kind of well written, considering people seemed to react strongly to it? idk. Agreed. I've had four days and I'm already ready for June.

Alaina E:Well, I feel like there needs so be SOME variation (and SOME sad ones) because if they were all happy and about the same thing, that would be so boring. Like, so boring. It already feels kind of like it's lagging and boring, but I like to think that I can KIND OF keep you guys on your toes. But I'm very glad that you liked the last few chapters.

So...this one was almost 3.000 words (wow that's super long for me) and I worked REALLY hard on it, so I'd kind of like some feedback...*hint hint*? :)

Okay, well tomorrow's one-shot (if I get it out tomorrow, which there is a high possibility I will not be able to do) will be Red With Envy by JIVA. I am almost 300% sure it'll be an angsty one-shot and probably a dark one, too. But I'm just guessing (it hasn't been written yet). -Kayson