A/N I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to respond to PMs and reviews - my dad has been in the hospital since Monday and needless to say it's been a chaotic week. Hopefully he gets to leave soon and once things have settled down I will reply to everyone.
I will update again as soon as I can.
Thanks for being awesome :)
Chapter 11
Sean was about to get out of the car to go wake Spencer up when she stepped out of her house. She was dressed and actually had a smile on her face. "OK, who are you and what you have done with the real Spencer?"
"Shut up," Spencer replied before she locked the door behind her.
"No, seriously, what's the matter with you?" Sean asked when the blonde was seated next to him. "You look almost happy."
"There's nothing wrong," Spencer said evasively. She didn't want to be having this conversation with Sean. There were things he would undoubtedly say if he found out what she'd spent a large part of her weekend doing. The blonde wasn't in the mood to face any kind of inquisition for her actions. She didn't need that right now. "Stop bugging me."
Sean started the car but kept his eyes trained on Spencer. "No, seriously, you're not brooding or wallowing, why is that?"
"Do you think you can actually drive us to school without interrogating me?" Spencer would do whatever she could to avoid confronting what making out with Ashley meant. She was not in the mood to analyze things.
"Maybe you've been replaced by a pod person," Sean guessed, he still wasn't driving. When Spencer turned her head to avoid eye contact, something caught his attention. Before his friend could do anything he pushed her hair back to expose her neck. "Aha!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "That's why you're Miss Mary Sunshine this morning!"
Spencer shooed Sean's hand away and then readjusted her hair. "Stop being a jerk."
"As I live and breathe," Sean was fanning himself and using a very bad Southern accent, "I never thought I'd see the day when Spencer Carlin was gaga over a girl."
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Spencer replied with a slight pout. Why did Sean have to be so nosy? "Let's go!"
"Touchy, touchy," Sean smirked. He wasn't nearly done with teasing his friend, but he would let her off the hook for the time being.
Spencer slouched in the seat, out of guilt for not telling Sean the truth and also because he wasn't really that wrong. She was experiencing all these feelings that she wasn't used to feeling.
It was unnerving.
And exciting at the same time.
When her phone buzzed seconds later, the blonde was happy for the distraction. She looked down to see Ashley's name appear on screen. Feeling heated almost instantly, she made sure not to react outwardly. They had exchanged numbers under the pretext of having to reach one another "just in case." But that was a lie and they both knew it.
Good morning.
It was a simple message, but what it did to Spencer made her wonder for the umpteenth time if she was either being played or losing her sanity.
She typed the same message back to Ashley in what she hoped was a discreet way.
"That your lady love?" Sean inquired with a really big smile on his face.
"For fuck's sake," Spencer mumbled under her breath. Being sneaky was a lot harder than she thought it would be. "I don't have a lady love."
Sean kept his eyes on the road. "OK, Spence, whatever you say."
Instead of replying, she turned the music up to drown out the sound of Sean laughing. She snuck a peak at her phone when she felt it go off a second time.
I don't really have anything to say, but I wanted to say hi. Hope that's OK.
Spencer turned away from her friend, because Ashley's message made her smile widely. It wasn't what the brunette had said, but the fact that she was thinking of her. It was almost enough to make Spencer blush.
Ashley was chewing on her nails while she waited for Spencer's reply to her latest message. She had arrived at school not long ago with the intention of meeting up with Madison. She was dreading seeing her friend, a feeling she'd been having a lot lately. It felt like a chore to talk to Madison now, and she was tired of having to agree with her all the time.
She had gone to Spencer's yesterday without expecting much. She was convinced that the blonde would send her away once she'd had the opportunity to think things over. Ashley had been pleasantly surprised when that hadn't been the case at all.
She still had a hard time processing how much she was attracted to the other girl. She had responded to Spencer's touch very strongly. Kissing the blonde made her feel dizzy, but in the best of ways. It was like she was an instrument that Spencer knew how to play perfectly.
There were so many uncertainties that hung in the air though. Those were hard to ignore but it would seem that both of them were doing just that. Not everything needed to be analyzed, she told herself.
But it was more than that.
You know, we still have that assignment to finish…
Ashley grinned like a fool. She hoped nobody was watching her.
Not really, I had a hard time sleeping last night so I went ahead and did it myself.
Once she hit send, Ashley sat back in her car and closed her eyes. She was going to take the opportunity for peace and quiet before Madison found her.
It wasn't long before Spencer had responded to her latest text.
Oh, that's too bad…
Ashley was confused. She didn't really think that the blonde would be bothered by her doing what needed to be done. She asked why, and then got back to her own thoughts.
"What are you doing?" Madison asked as she banged on Ashley's car window. She could see her friend sitting there with a goofy smile on her face.
"Nothing," Ashley said with an eye roll. She was not happy to see Madison. It meant that she couldn't communicate with Spencer without getting the third degree. She wasn't going to get too upset about that. Ashley just reasoned she'd have to make sure she didn't get caught. "Why did you need me to be here so early, anyway?"
Madison waited for her friend to get out the car. "You know we have to start planning for the homecoming dance."
If Ashley had been paying attention, she would have noticed how pleased the other girl looked with herself. But she was too busy straining her ears to see if Spencer had replied to her yet. "Oh, yeah, right." She had forgotten all about that. "Can't you do this one dance without me? I've got a lot on my plate right now."
"What?" Madison stopped walking immediately. "Are you kidding me, Ashley? You know how much work goes into planning an event like homecoming. And when I need you, you're not going to flake out on me. That isn't going to happen."
Ashley was about to respond to Madison when her phone went off. When Sherry's arrival distracted Madison, Ashley quickly read Spencer's message.
I'll tell you later
Ashley was perplexed by Spencer's text. She had expected a witty response or teasing of some sort. Unfortunately the brunette didn't have time to write anything back except "okay" before she was swept up in Madison's bossy ways.
"Hey there, Romeo," Sean said gleefully when he sat down next to Spencer at lunch. He was having way too much fun at his friend's expense to stop making fun of her. "Have you been writing love poems to your secret love?"
"It's moments like these where I question our friendship," Spencer deadpanned. She had been putting up with Sean's quips all morning. It didn't help matters that she was kicking herself for chickening out earlier when she had asked Ashley about working on their assignment.
"OK, OK, I won't bug you anymore," Sean lied. Well, it wasn't so much a lie, more like a half-truth. He was going to ease up on his friend—for the time being. "Tell me all about your thrilling day so far."
Spencer kicked Sean, not too hard though, before she answered him. She would much rather have been doing something else, but that didn't appear like it was going to happen.
"Before do anything, we should figure out what the theme of the dance will be," Madison said to her two closest friends. She hadn't stopped talking about homecoming all morning. "Any ideas?"
Ashley was sick and tired of talking about this stupid dance. It was so low on her priority list. What was at the top of her list was finding out what Spencer had wanted to say to her earlier. The idea that she had missed something in the messages she'd been sent was make her fidgety. She wanted nothing more than to tell Madison to shut up so she could try and read the blonde's messages again and figure things out. Instead, she just responded by saying she didn't have any ideas.
"There is something going on with you, Ashley," Madison announced. She was ticked off that the other girl didn't seem to be falling in line with what she wanted. "Is everything OK with you and Aiden?"
At the sound of her boyfriend's name, Ashley felt a pit forming in her stomach. She hadn't actually given him a lot of thought recently. All her thoughts seemed to be reserved for a certain blonde girl. She didn't want to think about Aiden and the fact that she was cheating on him or what she was going to do about him. Ashley was not ready for that kind of decision. "We're fine."
Madison eyed Ashley suspiciously. "Well, whatever has got you acting weird, I really need it to stop."
"As long as you're happy," Ashley said sarcastically. "Can you please lay off me? I'm not in the mood."
"Excuse me?" Madison was not used to getting push back from anyone, let alone someone she was supposed to be close to. "I have to say I'm not a fan of your attitude lately."
There were so many things on the tip of Ashley's tongue. She had a lot of ways to respond that she would have liked. But ultimately she chose to disengage from what could be a heated conversation. As she normally did when she needed an escape, Ashley threw her headphones on. With music blaring in her ears, she alternated between wanting to contact Spencer and forcing herself not to think of Aiden.
Madison was fuming. She had a very narrow view on how things should be, and when that view was challenged, she did not react well. "Let's go," she said to Sherry, she was not going to be ignored to her face. That was Madison logic.
Ashley was happy to be left alone. However her relief at Madison leaving was short lived. She watched as Madison and Sherry made a beeline towards Spencer. The brunette was certain that Madison was going to take her anger out in a way that wasn't going to be pretty.
"Want to do something this weekend?" Sean asked once he was done eating his lunch. "I mean, if you're busy social calendar can squeeze me in."
"I'll think about it," Spencer replied with a smile. "You never know, I could get a better offer."
"You could," Sean said sounding like he doubted the validity of the blonde's statement. "There's about as much chance of that happening as me starting for the Lakers tomorrow night."
Spencer's phone went off before she could think of something witty to say back to Sean. She started to smile when she saw that it was Ashley messaging her until she read what the brunette had written.
RED ALERT! In coming Madison bomb
She looked up and sure enough a very angry looking Madison was walking towards her. Unfortunately, Ashley's warning didn't arrive in time for her to make a quick get away. It wasn't that she was afraid of Madison—far from it—she just wasn't in the mood to deal with her. It didn't look like she had much choice in the matter, though.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" she asked Madison before the other girl could say anything to her.
"You're disgusting," Madison fired back, ignoring Spencer's question. "I can't believe I'm forced to go to school with you."
Spencer got to her feet, but she wasn't angry; she was laughing. "You rushed all the way over here to say that to me? I'm so flattered."
"Shut up!"
"Good one," Spencer gave Madison a thumb's up, infuriating her even further. "You call me pathetic all the time and yet you have nothing better to do than run over and call me names. Tell me, Mads, what do you think that says about you?"
"Shut the fuck up!" Madison yelled. "How dare you-"
"How dare I what?" Spencer cut in. "How dare I point out what a hypocrite you are?" The blonde was actually glad that Madison had stopped by, as she was enjoying herself immensely. "If I'm nothing, if I'm such a parasite on society, or whatever, why do you keep coming over to talk to me?"
For once in her life, Madison was actually speechless. She couldn't think of one comeback that was worthy as a response.
"You know, I think I have an idea of why that is," Spencer said with a big smirk. She noticed that people were starting to pay attention to what was going on with her and Madison. Not something she would normally be a fan of, but considering she had the upper hand, it was a development Spencer welcomed. "Are you in love with me?"
"Am I what?" Madison screeched, her nostrils flared in rage. "How could you say something so gross?"
Spencer moved her hands up and down her body. "I mean, I don't blame you or anything, but as I've told you countless times, you are so not my type."
"Your homosexuality has made you delusional," Madison replied somewhat hysterically. She had also noticed the amount of people listening in on what Spencer was saying to her. "You're a freak and everyone knows it."
"A freak you can't stop obsessing over," Spencer pointed out. She started laughing, as did Sean and some other of her fellow students. "There's a saying that we hate what we are. So-"
"Stop that!" Madison ordered. "Stop that right now! You have no right-"
"It's OK, Mads," Spencer was doing her best to sound sympathetic. This was way more fun than simply getting in a screaming match with Madison. She wasn't sure why she hadn't thought of this before. "It's OK. I mean, you're gross and I would never, ever, ever touch you, but I'm sure you could find a girl who would."
"I'm not a lesbian!" Madison screamed at the top of her lungs.
The laughter of those around her got louder.
"Whatever you say, I'm sure we all believe you," Spencer said cheerfully. She had never seen Madison so angry. "Just in case though, I can get you some pamphlets on how to come out to people."
Madison was glaring at Spencer. "Go fuck yourself!"
And with that, she pulled Sherry with her and walked away.
"Every night!" Spencer called out much to her own amusement.
"That was amazing," Sean observed when Spencer was sitting back down. "But you know she's going to get back at you for making her look like a fool."
Spencer shrugged, she was in too much of a good mood to care. "Please, what is she going to do to me that she hasn't done already?"
"Famous last words," Sean said ominously.
"Whatever, I can handle Madison," Spencer told her friend with confidence. "I'll catch you later, OK? I need to take care of something."
She said goodbye to Sean and then she sent the text that she'd wanted to since the morning.
Ashley opened the door to the bathroom that she'd followed Spencer to the other day. She was pretty hopeful that she wasn't going to be yelled at again.
It was a good bet considering she'd been invited this time.
"Hey!" she exclaimed when she saw Spencer leaning against a nearby wall. Ashley had caught some of what had happened between the blonde and Madison, and wanted to make sure that all was OK. "I hope that-"
The rest of what she was going to say was instantly forgotten when Spencer kissed the hell out of her.
It would seem that everything was just fine.
For the first time since being paired up with Ashley, Spencer was actually looking forward to Home Ec. It was amazing how quickly her thoughts about Ms. Devereux choosing a partner for her to work with had changed.
She might even have to buy the teacher an end-of-year present if things kept going as well as they were going.
In her wildest dreams she had never imagined that she'd one day enjoy kissing Ashley as much as she did. Too be fair, she hadn't given all that much thought to kissing Ashley. She used the excuse of not liking Ashley as a way to prevent herself from doing that.
Spencer he was quickly finding the brunette addictive.
When she allowed herself to think about what that meant it only lead to bad things. Instead, she decided to focus on the sounds Ashley made when she had slipped her hand under Ashley's shirt.
That was much better than worrying about what the future held.
Ashley sprinted over to her desk. She was looking actually looking forward to sitting next to Spencer for the whole period. Even if she would much rather be doing something else with her. "Hey."
Spencer looked over and tried hard not to smile too much. "Hey."
"How was your afternoon?" Ashley asked. It was nice being able to talk to Spencer without having to worry that she was going to get in trouble.
"It was alright," Spencer replied casually. "I did get detention for being late to Mr. Gibson's class."
Ashley started blushing. "Sorry."
"I'm not," Spencer assured the brunette. "Was totally worth it."
"Hey, Ash," Aiden said once he was standing right by his girlfriend's desk. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Ashley was horrified by Aiden's presence. Why did he have to have the worst timing ever? "Uh, not really, but can we talk later?"
"I have a better idea, why don't we do something after school. It's been forever since I've seen you." Aiden gave Ashley his best puppy dog eyes.
Feeling sick to her stomach she answered. "Sure, that sounds great."
When Aiden was gone she glanced over at Spencer and her heart sank when she saw the look on the blonde's face.
What had she just done?
Oh, Aiden.
Boo.
Hiss.