Hey guys! THIS IS THE CHAPTER THAT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! TRUST ME I THINK THAT Y'ALL WILL LOVE THIS ONE! Thanks for all the reviews, love to know that people like this story. Right now I'm in the process of finishing this story and planning on writing a sequel, but it might be shorter than this story. Please review and let me know what you think of this chapter. This is like one of the major chapters! Hope you all like!
I pulled into the airport parking lot and turned off the ignition. I sat there with the country music still playing in the background. In less than an hour Spencer would be in my car, with me. It was exciting, yet frightening at the same time. I was excited to see her, but scared that I might do something wrong. I forced myself to open the car door. My feet skipped towards the terminal entrance. My eyes scanned the arrivals board, Spencer's flight said on time. I found a seat near the board so that I could keep an eye on it. My mind started wandering to all the possible things that I could do with Spencer. We only had a few days together before summer was over. I started to plan out where I wanted to take Spencer. I definitely had to take Spencer out on the water, see UCLA, dinners, movies, beaches, my dad's record company, and meet the Duartes. I paused when my mind came up with that. Spencer meeting the Duartes, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. I could picture Madison in my head giving me a stern look that I was wrong.
My eyes caught that Spencer's plane had arrive and started heading toward the exit area. I waited as people started to come down the escalator, that's when I noticed her. She was wearing a light blue tee with khaki shorts. She hair hung perfectly on her shoulders. We she caught my eye her lips curled up into a brilliant smile. When she got off the escalator, I felt her engulf me in her arms. I wrapped mine around her and let out a laugh as I felt her squeeze the air out of me.
"Spencer," I said nervously as we started to attract eyes, "not that I don't love your hugs, but you're kinda hugging me to hard." She released me and her cheeks began to turn a bright red. I tried to give her a reassuring smile as I picked up her bag. We headed toward my car in the lot. She got into the passenger seat, while I put her bags in the trunk.
"So are you hungry?" I asked starting the car and pulling out of my spot.
"You have no idea. My connection was so short I didn't even have enough time to use the bathroom."
"Well you're in luck. I know this great little place," I said taking a turn out of the airport and heading to the little café near my house. The drive was mostly silent; there was some chatter about our days so far. Spencer was planning on visiting UCLA tomorrow. I wanted to drive her in but traffic was awful so I planned on showing her the bus route. After that Spencer and I had a week before we had to head back to Ohio for school.
I pulled into the small parking lot of the café. This café, you could say, was like my second home; when I wasn't at home or at Madison's or the cove, I was usually here. I quickly turned off the car and got out to get Spencer's door. We walked in and the owner of the store towards us. A smile spread across her face when she recognized me.
"Ashley Davies, I thought I was never going to see you again," she said pulling me into a warm embrace.
"It good to see you too Alice," I returned.
"Who is this," she asked point towards Spencer.
"Alice this is Spencer, a friend of mine from Ohio looking at colleges. Spencer this is Alice, the owner of this fine café," I said doing the standard introductions. Alice led us to a small table in one of the alcoves. She came back momentarily with water and some menus. Alice already knew what I wanted, but we waited for Spencer to decide. It didn't take her long and within a few minutes we had ordered.
"Seems like you know this place pretty well," she said taking a small sip of her water.
"I used to come here a lot. It was a place where I could just get away from everyone and everything."
"I wish I had a place like that," she said a little hopelessly.
"You do have a place; you just haven't found it yet."
"One day soon…" she breathed out. I shuffled my feet against the tile trying to get my nerves out.
"So do you have anything planned for today?" she asked.
"Only if you're up for it," I replied.
"After I eat, I'll be ready for about anything," she said.
"Well then I didn't really have anything planned. I was just going to show you around a little, and then when you finished looking at colleges we could do some things."
"Okay, well I would love to shown around. I've never been to a big city like this one."
Alice came over with our food. It was good to see her. I offered for her to sit with us for a small lunch, seeing as the business was pretty quiet now. I talked to her about what I had done since I left, while Spencer listened to me patiently. The lunch was delicious. Spencer claimed that it had been the best BLT sandwich that she ever eaten. I had to agree; every time I can here I ordered a BLT on rye. You will never find a better sandwich…anywhere…except here.
About an hour later we pulled up into the driveway. Spencer's eyes lit up when she saw how modern this house looked compared to our houses in Ohio.
"You live here?" she asked with her mouth still hanging open.
"Trust me this what every average house looks like. You haven't seen what rich people live in!" It's true; their houses are insane compared to mine.
"But still, you live here?"
"Yes Spencer," I said laughing, "I live here. Sorry to disappoint you." I walked by her, grabbing her bag on the way, closing her hanging mouth. She seemed to regain her senses and followed closely behind. When I opened the door and walked in, I noticed that Spencer was still standing in the doorway.
"Spencer, what are you doing?"
"I didn't want to invite myself into a house this nice," she said embarrassed.
"Spencer, you're like my best friend, you honestly think that I'm not going to let you into my house without permission." I beckoned her to come. I couldn't help but laugh as she carefully placed one foot on the floor like it was made of glass. We finally made our way upstairs to the guest bedroom, formally Sid's room. I set Spencer's bags on the chair next to the bed. As soon as she walked into the room she flung herself on the bed and curled up into a ball. It was extremely adorable to see Spencer curled up in the middle of the bed with her eyes closed and a childish grin on her face. I took a seat next to her.
"Tired?"
"You have no idea. I'm usually so awake after flights, but for some reason I'm so exhausted," she said with her eyes still closed.
"You should get some rest," I said getting up and grabbing a blanket.
"No, I shouldn't be the guest that decides to sleep," she said with a yawn.
"Spence, get some rest. Really, I don't mind it at all. Besides I have a few boring errands to run before dinner." She, thankfully, nodded and curled herself back into a ball. I draped the covers over her.
"Call me if you need anything," I said, but Spencer was already fast asleep.
I decided to clean up the place a bit. My dad had made a list of things that he needed for dinner tonight. Luckily I think that I could find everything in the general store, no need to drive all over the place trying to find paprika.
The groceries were done within the hour. When I went back to check Spencer, she was in the same spot fast asleep. I didn't have anything else to do in the house to I started to scourer the place for things to do. I filtered out the pool and cleaned it, trimmed the bushes, watered the flowers, and went for a run
It was around six o'clock when I finally ran out of things to do. Spencer was still sleeping and my dad would be home soon. I hopped into the shower to rinse off today's grime, and changed into shorts and a simple tee. When I got downstairs, my dad was already in the kitchen cooking up his famous shipwreck.
"Hey dad," I said taking a seat at the counter.
"I see you cleaned up the place a little," he said looking up from the cutting board.
"Yeah, well Spencer was a little tired, so she went to take a nap…and well I had nothing to do so…"
"Well I should have Spencer take naps more often. It's been a while since I've seen the house so clean," he said laughing a little.
"I'll be sure to let her know."
"Well dinner should be ready in an hour. I hope Spencer likes shipwreck."
"I'll go an ask. She should be awake by now."
I hopped off the stool and headed towards her room. When I glanced in I noticed that Spencer was no longer in curled up in bed. There was the distant noise of water running, so I'm assuming that she decided to take a shower. I had a little time to kill so I retreated back into my room.
I took a seat on bed and swung my feet up and down. I stopped when the back of my heel hit something hard. Getting on my hands on knee, I knelt and peered under the bed. There was a wooden box abandoned. Pulling it out from under the bed I recognized that it was the box that I kept all my sheet music in. There was music that I had written from the second grade in here. I paused when I recognized one of them. My lips curled into a smile as I remembered playing this. I grabbed my guitar and laid the music down, before I started to strum the guitar.
Spencer's POV
I rolled over and momentarily forgot where I was until I noticed a picture of Ashley and Sid hanging on the wall. I was in California, with Ashley, in Ashley's house. I pulled myself out of bed and surveyed my surroundings. The room was somewhat empty except for a dresser, bed, and a desk. There was another room that had a shower bath in it. I decided after a day of traveling a hot shower would do some good. I rummaged through my things and pulled out by toiletries before heading to the bathroom.
I let the hot water run over my shoulders. The hot water relieved all the stiffness building up in my muscles and allowed me for the first time just to clear my head. These past few weeks have been stressful. My mother is being a crazy woman cramming my schedules so tight that I literally haven't slept for five hours straight. She's on this thinking path that if I get all the college stuff done it will make my life easier…probably true, but this is my last summer of real freedom. I visited Glen a few times; he's doing pretty well. I only have a week left of summer left until lacrosse starts again, school starts, and college apps starts. I took a deep breath and wash it all away from my mind for the time being.
It had been half an hour before I had to pull myself out of the shower. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt before drying my hair with a towel. When I returned to the guest room, I heard some noise coming from the room across from mine. When I peered out the door I noticed that the soft noise was coming from Ashley's room. I pressed my ear to the door and I could hear a guitar play, and then an angelic voice.
People say we shouldn't be together
We're too young to know about forever
But I say they don't know what they're talk-talk- talkin' about
'Cause this love is only getting stronger
So I don't wanna wait any longer
I just wanna tell the world that you're mine, girl
Oh
They don't know about the things we do
They don't know about the "I love you"'s
But I bet you if they only knew
They would just be jealous of us,
They don't know about the up all nights
They don't know I've waited all my life
Just to find a love that feels this right
Baby they don't know about, they don't know about us
One touch and I was a believer
Every kiss it gets a little sweeter
It's getting better
Keeps getting better all the time, girl
They don't know about the things we do
They don't know about the "I love you"'s
But I bet you if they only knew
They would just be jealous of us,
They don't know about the up all nights
They don't know I've waited all my life
Just to find a love that feels this right
Baby they don't know about, they don't know about us
They don't know how special you are
They don't know what you've done to my heart
They can say anything they want
'Cause they don't know us
They don't know what we do best
It's between me and you, our little secret
But I wanna tell 'em
I wanna tell the world that you're mine, girl
They don't know about the things we do
They don't know about the "I love you"'s
But I bet you if they only knew
They would just be jealous of us,
They don't know about the up all nights
They don't know I've waited all my life
Just to find a love that feels this right
Baby they don't know about, they don't know about us
They don't know about the things we do
They don't know about the "I love you"'s
But I bet you if they only knew
They would just be jealous of us,
They don't know about the up all nights
They don't know I've waited all my life
Just to find a love that feels this right
Baby they don't know about, they don't know about us
They don't know about us
They don't know about us
I heard Ashley stop playing the guitar. I must have waited there longer than I thought because one minute the door was closed and then the next Ashley was standing in front of me.
"Spencer," she said seeming a little surprised, "how long have you been waiting out here?"
I noticed that there was a wooden box lying on the bed; it looked like there was an A and M engraved in it, most likely Ashley and Madison.
"It was beautiful," I said absent-mindedly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snoop or anything; I just heard you playing and well…"
"Thanks," she said rubbing the back of her neck, "well dinner's ready if you're hungry."
"Starving," I responded. I knew that Ashley was probably a little uncomfortable listen to her play, so I guess now was probably the best time to go with the subject change.
When we got downstairs there were two people sitting in the kitchen, Ashley's father and a man, who looked a few years older than her. Ashley obviously must have known the other man because she hugged him and they fell into simple conversation. I was a little uncomfortable standing there alone in the kitchen while everyone else was busy.
"Spencer," Ashley said beckoning me to come join them. The young man gave me a warm smile as I approached.
"Spencer this is Aiden," she said introducing me to him, "Madison's brother." I knew he resembled someone. He looked very similar to Madison, except that he was a man.
"It's nice to meet you," I said shaking his hand.
"So you're the infamous Spencer," he said with a smirk, "Ashley's told me so many stories about you." I felt the blood slowly drain from my face. What had Ashley told him, nothing embarrassing I hope? Oh my god, what if she told him something embarrassing about me. The two of them started to break out into laughter.
"Relax, it looks like you just saw a ghost," I heard Aiden say, "don't worry she hasn't told me any stories about you."
I turned to Ashley and elbowed her in the ribs, but she just kept laughing. Usually it would have bothered me that people tell stories about me. But this is Ashley Davies we are talking about, the person that I've had a major crush on. I can't have anything like that.
After the two had finally stopped laughing and Ashley's father had assured me that Ashley isn't the type of person to share embarrassing stories with people, we finally sat down and eat something amazing. Raife called it, "shipwreck". It was honestly the best thing that I have ever tasted, and what made it even better was Ashley and I had a foot fight under the table.
We said goodbye to Aiden after dinner. Raife went to bed after the dishes were done. But of course I was the idiot who took like a five-hour nap in the middle of the day so I was wide-awake.
"So…what do you think so far?" I heard Ashley say coming up behind me.
"I love it. I don't think I want to leave." I heard Ashley laugh. Her laugh was so unique.
"Well if you're still awake, we could go sit out over by the pool," she suggested.
"That's sounds great."
Ashley showed me the way out the to pool, before going back inside to grab some things. I sat at the edge of the water and let my feet dip into the water. Ashley came back shortly with a bottle of something, two classes, food of some sort, and towels/blankets. She set the things beside me and took and seat. It was a bottle of Jack Daniels.
"Sorry I didn't know if you wanted to or not," she said pointing at the bottle.
"Why not," I replied. I usually didn't drink unless I went to parties, but considering that I haven't gone to any all summer and my mother has been a stick up my ass, I think I want to.
"You don't have to. I don't want it to seem like I'm pressuring you or anything."
"Ashley, seriously, relax. I could use a drink after the week that I've had," I said taking the bottle from her hands. The whiskey burned a little going down. I took another swig before handing it back to Ashley, who took a few swigs.
"You and Aiden seem pretty close."
"Yeah, we became close through Madison. His kind of like my second brother. When Madison passed away he was the only one that stood by my side." I was a little confused when Aiden was the only one standing by her side. Usually people only say that it they have done something wrong. Did Ashley have something to do with Madison's death?"
We had downed about half the bottle of Jack Daniels before we decided that we should stop. I circled my feet in the water deciding whether to ask Ashley what had happened to Madison.
"Spencer, just ask," Ashley said staring at the water.
"What?"
"You want to know what happened to Madison, don't you ?" I was a little surprised that she knew what I was thinking, but I nodded my head. I could tell that Ashley had had a little too much to drink because she started to slur her words a little, but I guess I was pretty drunk too.
"It was a pretty good day so far. We got up early to go to surf and play a little lacrosse. And then we went to tell her mother that we weren't actually friends, but that we were dating. Her dad and Aiden already knew, but we all knew that her mother would flip shit when she found out. Well she flipped shit and kicked us out of the house. I knew that all this was going to happen, so I took her to back to the beach to watch the sunset. That song that you heard me play early, I wrote that for her. It was one of the most memorable nights I ever had. A few hours later we got a phone calling saying that Madison's mother had calmed down and was ready for us to come home. Madison was the happiest person that I had ever seen. On the way home we were stopped at a red light. A drunk driver ran into the back of us and pushed us into the path of a semi."
"I'm so sorry Ashley," I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and pulling towards me.
"Don't be," she said taking in a shaky breath, "it's in the past now."
"Ashley…"
"Spencer…"
"I want to kiss you so badly…" I said before I could comprehend what I actually said.
"There's nothing stopping you."
I leaned in forwarded and captured Ashley's lips.
Song- They Don't Know About Us (One Direction)
Sorry you're probably wondering why I chose a One Direction song. It probably one of the only ones that I like and it kind of related to this story. The covers of this song are really good...if you find the right one. Thanks for reading. Next update soon.