Well, hello there all. It's been quite a while, hasn't it, folks? I'm not a fan of excuses, so I won't make any. I will apologise, however, for taking my sweet time with this update. Little parts of it have been bugging me off and on for a while and I still feel a little wiggy about certain parts but I don't think there's anything I can do to change them (barring a body switch but I haven't had any offers). For those of you still out there, I'm incredibly impressed and humbled by the follows, the comments etc. I never expect it so it's truly a marvel to me when you do. For those of you who have left, I hope you come back (not for my ego), more just so that you can read this comment and accept my apology. Feel free to leave after that. That being said, here it is. I'm so incredibly glad to get rid this SOB.

I do hope you like it.

Chapter 3 – Pre-date preparation

There was a light breeze blowing sending several tendrils of Ashley's hair into a frenzy, each trying desperately to beat the other to the finish line, scraping and clawing against the sky with fingers outstretched before being thoroughly thwarted and dropped back home only to begin the mad dash all over again. Ashley twisted an iridescent curl between her fingers, blood red and dark mahogany melding into an entirely new color with every turn. Her focus was so intense and unwavering that her gaze appeared to be caught on something off in the distance; perhaps, the flock of pigeons circulating the football field pecking manically at remnants of donut holes, or, the lone runner doggedly making his way around the track having just completed his fifth punishment lap, sweat rolling down his chest in rivulets and his breath mingling with the cold air in a white mushroom cloud hovering above his head. Yet, in actuality, she was lost in her own thoughts of a certain older blonde girl, no, woman, who had taken over her every thought since they had met last week. Everything seemed to be moving at lightning speed and, despite Ashley's comfort with Spencer, she didn't like the ease at which she was fitting into a lesbian stereotype. Perhaps, just perhaps, they were moving too fast. Oh get over yourself. It's only a second date, she nodded her head. It wasn't like she'd even seen Spencer's place! Yet, her inner voice chimed in again. Ashley smirked unconsciously. She wasn't worried about that aspect of their relationship.

Spencer surprised her, in every way it seemed. She chewed her lip thoughtfully as she considered the blonde. She wasn't used to being so out of control. Ashley knew what people thought about her; she knew that people thought she was easy – in particular that she'd go both ways; and that she did drugs, which was old news, really. That was the problem with having a past, she conceded, you could never get away from it, no matter how far into the future you moved. There was no point in being adamant that yes, she had done drugs, but she didn't anymore. Unlike in most circumstances where people paid attention to everything succeeding the word 'but', it seemed, in her case, that all anyone heard was what preceded it. At times, it had been a struggle, but she wasn't one to back down from a fight and she had decided to rise above it. She shouldered all the stigmas and harsh words and carried on regardless. Her reputation no longer influenced her decisions – at least, not her reputation at school. She worried, constantly, that she would never more than the labels; that, despite all her attempts to be the bigger person, she would become who everyone thought she was. A failure. A screw-up. She scratched self-consciously at her arm in an attempt to distract her mind from her decidedly self deprecating thoughts. She hadn't meant to dwell so much on the past but at her lowest moments it seemed as if it was only yesterday that Aiden had found her in her room shaking, delusional and incoherent as she attempted to go cold turkey. It had hit her harder than she had imagined and despite the considerable effort she put in, by the second time she felt the cockroaches attempting to burst through the pores in her skin to continue their trek along her body topside, she had to admit that she was grossly out of her depth. She would never tell him, even though she was fairly sure he knew, but Aiden had probably saved her life – more than once, and for that, she was indebted to him for life. She chuckled darkly at her melodrama.

These moments she took to sit and ponder the current state of her affairs, and those that had come before, gave her back some much needed control. During her 'coke phase' as she often phrased it, the noise in her head would only shut up when she was high. Even then, for all she knew, they might have still been ringing in her head but she was so out of it, she could never remember. Whole spaces of time, sections of days and periods of weeks were struck from her mind as if someone had painstakingly picked through her memories at random and extracted them one by one, plucking them with a fine pair of tweezers and flinging the brain matter to the floor with no care as to how Ashley would deal with the consequences. Huge blank spaces in which epiphanies, disasters, loves, losses, things that mattered, and things that didn't, could have occurred, but to her they would remain uncharted forevermore.

Paige had re-awakened a lot of Ashley's insecurities. It brought her less than stellar record to the forefront of her mind more oft than not and she often felt as if she was sinking in her sea of mistakes; bad choices grasping at her ankles, gripping them stiffly like swamp mud clinging triumphantly to the shoe of anyone stupid enough to trek through it and refusing to let go despite furious shaking; the weight of her past felt like cement blocks wrapping around her body, weighing her down and forcing her underwater, ignoring any attempts made by her to resurface, her arms pinned at her sides and frantic bubbles of wasted air floating above her like speech bubbles from classic comic books, the bold exclamation point expressing every emotion she could ever need. She shook her head emphatically trying to rid herself of her memories.

Her mind strolled casually back to Spencer as if they'd never been parted. Spencer was the light given off by a lone comet in the sky, bright and purposefully streaking across the sky capturing everyone's gaze for as long as it was able; once a blue moon it happened and even without its infrequence the sight was so magnanimous that you couldn't but be awestruck by a true miracle of nature. It lent the mind to consider the plight of humans in such a big and misunderstood state of being with nature on the peripheral doing its own thing, and very well at that. She gnawed at her lip thoughtfully, her gaze refocusing on the runner whose pace seemed to be slowing, evidently having set his sights on the finish line. Maybe it was time to give her heart a break. She winced both inwardly and outwardly. "Did I just quote Demi Lovato?"

There wasn't a slap that could have hit her hard enough to mirror the derision she felt. Ashley reached between her feet and picked up her messenger bag, looping it around her body as she stood. She had been out here far too long.

"She's in high school?!"

Spencer pulled the phone away from her ear. She thought people only did that in movies; that the voice on the other end of the phone was so loud they had to physically put distance between themselves and the receiver but it was really happening to her. She didn't know Carmen was capable of screeching. In any other circumstance she would have stopped to truly contemplate the marvelous feat her friend was currently performing. The silence on the other end indicated that she was clear to return the phone to her ear without potentially contracting tinnitus. 'I think that's what it's called. Or maybe they should just change it to 'your best friend going bat shit crazy on the phone' disorder.' She paused, 'maybe not. That would be one hell of an abbreviation.' Getting back to the matter in hand, Spencer chewed her lip, "yes, she is. What of it?"

She rolled her eyes. 'Bad call. Shouldn't have been so defensive.'

"Uhmm, lemme see. You're a teacher, she's a student – starting to get a clue yet?"

"A student of another school?" Spencer replied meekly, knowing she really didn't have much of an ethical leg to stand on.

"Spence, what would you think if you were a parent of a kid at your school?"

Spencer chewed her lip harder, completely unconcerned with whether or not she'd draw blood and more focused on Carmen's words. "Well, I might, possibly, wonder if the lady teaching my kids was going to put the moves on one of her own students."

There was a silence and Spencer rushed to fill it, "which I wouldn't!"

She heard Carmen sigh on the other end of the phone. "Spence, be serious."

Spencer stomped her foot childishly which didn't help her cause at all. "Urgh!"

She groaned in frustration. "We're not even dating! All we've done is kiss and act stupid around each other." An unbidden smile appeared on Spencer's face as she remembered the very gentle way Ashley had taken her hand and guided her towards the path where they had lain eating lunch. "Carm, she's sweet. Really sweet." Carmen winced at the emphasis but forced herself to pay attention. "It might not go anywhere so I'm not going to freak out. Besides, she's 18. She can do whatever she wants." Her eyes rolled back slightly as she pictured Ashley doing whatever she wanted to her body but forced herself to remain in reality. For her own sake. "Neither of us have any contact. At all. Well, school-wise, I mean. We might as well be in different worlds."

"But Spence, you're not. What happens if it gets out?"

"If what gets out? We're not doing anything!"

"Yet..." Carmen softly reminded her. She could feel herself tensing up at the thought. She tried not to think about Spencer and Ashley being...intimate but given the current topic of their conversation, it wasn't easy. Usually, these types of conversations with Spencer were short, sweet and the emotional cuts were very shallow. Spencer didn't tend to have serious romantic relationships; she very, very rarely connected with anyone beyond mundane things like television preferences and favorite foods so she hadn't had to tread these waters in quite this way. She could sense there was something different about Ashley. Something that Spencer appeared to have noticed herself if the way she reacted whenever Ashley was mentioned was anything to go on.

Carmen and Spencer had been friends since college where they'd been paired up by the residential administration. The first year of rooming together had been a random match but the corresponding years where they'd stayed on campus, and then transitioned to a flat off campus, had been a mutual choice the pair had made during their final semester of freshman year. Spencer had looked at Carmen over her cup of tea at the campus cafe, steam rising up and depositing a slight sheen of perspiration across her forehead that had Carmen squirming in her seat willing herself not to reach over and wipe it off, and asked her point blank if she'd like to move in with her. Carmen's initial reaction had been her heart exploding, beating furiously beneath her t-shirt until she took in Spencer's meaning as opposed to the one she had appropriated, and allowed a tamer smile to grace her features, tamping down the face-splitting toothy beam she felt itching to stretch her facial muscles. She'd nodded her head in acquiescence, not trusting the words that were likely to flow out of her mouth, unbidden. Spencer had given a happy wiggle in her seat and they'd settled back into their conversation as if a life-changing moment had not happened.

Carmen couldn't quite distinguish what had made her fall in love with Spencer, or even when it had occurred because, as cheesy as it was, she couldn't remember a time when she wasn't completely enthralled by her best friend. There was the time Spencer's dog in Ohio had died and Carmen had walked in to find her roommate curled up on her bed sobbing her heart out, her body wracked with convulsions and hiccups in an attempt to force the air into her lungs. Carmen had quickly crossed the room and gathered Spencer in her arms as they lay on her bed, whispering soft words of encouragement into her ear. Or when the kid that Spencer tutored got into Harvard on scholarship after spending a year with Spencer tutoring him in English and assisting him with his dyslexia; Spencer's face had been a beam of sunshine, her eyes glowing with pride as she nodded enthusiastically on the phone, her student recounting every second of his visit to the Ivy League school. Carmen had felt her heart swell with her own kind of pride at Spencer's immense accomplishment and had barely contained the desire to plant kisses over Spencer's neck, bared as usual with Spencer's classic head tilt. There were thousands of occasions that could have been the reason for Carmen's infatuation, millions of glimpses of Spencer that made her heart ache. All she knew was that each moment's feelings were indistinguishable from the next because they all led to a giant flashing neon pink heart with an arrow piercing the body, Spencer's face comprising the arrowhead.

It wasn't a new feeling, her feeling jealous of someone new in Spencer's life. No, she was used to that. Spencer's beauty and personality, amongst a few choice characteristics, made it a given that some girl was likely to latch onto her. What was different was Spencer's reaction. Spencer was typically quite dismissive about her conquests, not cruelly and not unkindly, more disinterested than anything else and it was her complete and total active interest in Ashley that made Carmen sit a little straighter and listen a little harder. Spencer could barely keep the bashful tone out of her voice and the happy little sighs that littered their conversation filled Carmen's stomach with unease. She wasn't unhappy for Spencer, she never could be; she was just disheartened because she knew, without a doubt, that she would never be the cause of those emotions. There had been moments, brief pauses in their years of friendship where Carmen had considered she may have had a chance but the worry in losing her best friend, and the thought that she would be quickly added to the list of dismissed, ate away at any courage she felt and helped her keep silent. She didn't regret her choice because she knew Spencer well enough to know they'd never have lasted but it wasn't an easy pill to swallow, especially the way Spencer's voice sounded so wistful, as if she hadn't even considered Carmen a choice, as if Ashley was all she knew.

"Should I stop seeing her? Try and forget about her?"

Carmen felt her heart strain against its cage. Spencer was giving her the perfect opportunity to legitimately end this thing between her and Ashley without appearing as if it was because she was jealous. She found herself staring at the crossroads of best friend and unrequited love, and as easy as she thought it would be to head down one path, she found herself twisting her head and inspecting the other. She thought of a poem that Spencer had once spent an entire semester in college reciting because she was so taken by the ending. Carmen had often considered what she'd do if she found herself in this situation, and so, it was to her surprise that she opened her mouth and spoke as honestly as she could without crossing a line, "I think you should give her a chance. Like you said, she's 18, so she'll be out of high school soon."

Loving Spencer was something she'd always do, and any path that allowed her to maintain Spencer's happiness would always be taken because that happiness would always counteract her sadness, and that made all the difference.

Spencer drew a breath in and exhaled slowly, "really?"

It felt like her heart was beating irrationally fast as she waited the few seconds that seemed to stretch on for hours which Carmen took to give her reply. She barely believed it when her friend replied with an affirmative, "yes," as if she hadn't just been arguing resolutely against keeping Ashley in her life. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Spencer held back on questioning the decision.

"Okay," she replied.

"Okay," Carmen echoed back at her.

And, for the moment, that was enough.

Students milled around her, catching her body in a vacuum and propelling her into the building. Ashley loved this part of the day. There were so many students; they were so intent on their destination, willingly or unwillingly, and often deprived of breakfast, sleep or caffeine that they took no notice of the person standing beside them. She finally became an unknown, in a place filled with people that sought to know everything about her. Like anyone, Ashley liked to be noticed, but only when it was on her own terms. Her off the wall extra-curricular activities had led to her life being viewed under a microscope, her every action analysed like some lab rat in a biology experiment except she didn't get anything out of it. To have these moments when not one eye was on her, no voices whispered her name and no-one was targeting her with dirty looks, was like reaching that point of serenity where the world ceases to exist, the silence takes over and all that surrounds you is colors, blurry colors in motion.

A tap to the shoulder pulled her from her reflections and she turned her head with a scowl that quickly transformed into a small smile when she saw the person, "Hey Ash," Aiden slung his beefy arm around the brunette companionably, casually lending her his strength.

"Aid," she nodded shortly, trying her best not to snuggle into his armpit. The thought made her recoil slightly, Ew. Man sweat. Man hair! She rolled her eyes at her childish thoughts.

"How you doin', buddy?" Ashley snorted and poked him in the side as they separated to walk into homeroom together, "I'm doing just great, buddy. How 'bout you?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aiden smile gleefully, and the way his body was vibrating, she just knew he was holding in a squeal. Camp as he was, even he had his limits and this was not the place for his flamboyancy. Plus, she was fairly certain Aiden could sense squealing this early in the morning around her would earn him some kind of physical pain, and bruises. Long-lasting bruises. Her guess proved correct when he gave her a jaunty, two-handed thumbs up, jiggling his thumbs in some form of victory dance. I wonder if he ever does this in the mirror, she thought absently, waiting for him to fill her in. She knew he would. She could see that he was practically fit to burst in his excitement, one eye-roll later and Aiden seemed to think she was in the right mood to take his news.

"Tristan asked me out!" His thumb movement took over his entire body and he jiggled in his seat, prompting her to slide slightly away from him. She hoped that if she met anyone's eyes that they would rescue her, or at least know he wasn't with her. She scanned the room looking for a friendly face but was unsuccessful. Sighing, she turned back to Aiden whose enthusiasm hadn't dimmed in the slightest, despite her lack of support.

"That's great, Aid. I figured it was a foregone conclusion after the way he was looking at you."

Aiden's body was still vibrating and even though he wasn't, she could practically hear the excited squealing erupting inside his body, like some demented piglet spying mud for the first time.

"Really?!"

Ashley nodded silently and patted his hand, in a rare show of companionship. "Yes, really."

A comfortable silence embraced the two friends, a stark contrast to the raucous cacophony breaking out around them in the small classroom. Despite the early hour, teenagers were teenagers and a free moment in the oppressive environment created in high school made any moment free of teachers feel like liberated bliss, muscles felt light, voices erupted from the chest where they had been constrained and there was a strange camaraderie amongst the individuals seated close to each other. Teaching wasn't meant to be easy and these fifteen odd other strangers were the only things standing between students completely losing their sense of self.

"Where's he taking you?"

Ashley surprised herself by asking that question, it seemed to come as a shock to Aiden as well, who gave a dramatic double-take before excitedly recounting the entire conversation word for word. It occurred to Ashley that she was more interested than she had first thought; with a quick pause and a stock take of her emotions, she dismissed that thought quickly. She chewed on her lip thoughtfully, her thoughts drifting towards a certain blonde and suddenly her interest became clear. Aiden was so preoccupied with warbling on about Tristan that she was free to focus her thoughts on Spencer, the occasional grunt, or non-committal "Uh huh," seemed enough for him as he continued his spiel without appearing to notice that she hadn't heard a word he had said.

She rested her chin on her hand and made as if to be focusing on Aiden's words but instead she found her gaze captured by the scene through the window. The courtyard had emptied as quickly as it had filled and all that remained were a few stragglers and stoners, dashing and dragging their feet to class respectively. A flash of blonde hair fluttered in and out of her line of sight and her mind immediately focused on Spencer.

She drifted off as she imagined that they were in her room, more importantly, on her bed. Spencer lounged behind her; Ashley's back resting against Spencer's chest. Spencer's hands had deftly removed her shirt and bra before teasingly slowing their pace to gently stroking a path across her stomach. Ashley felt her back arch into the blonde woman's body as she attempted to give those sly, slim fingers more surface area of tantalizingly sensitive skin. "Please," she murmured, her lips barely moving to allow the air to pass through them. She was so focused on all the sensations that Spencer was making her body surrender that she felt like basic functions she had mastered almost two decades ago required more energy than she could muster. Every sense felt like it was on fire, hypersensitive so that even a whisper of a touch from the blonde, sent electric passion coursing through the pads of Spencer's fingertips and electrocuting her body with nary a touch. She felt Spencer lean into her, her breath passing within micrometers of her ear, every hair on her body automatically rose to attention, like stiff sentries on a mission to guard her every sensation. "What do you want, baby?"

Ashley's body shivered instinctively and she groaned unintentionally. It was all out of her control now; she was truly at Spencer's mercy. Her body had given up the fight and she felt like all she could do was wait and endure whatever torturous move Spencer planned to execute next. Enjoyable, exciting, unparalleled – but torturous. Spencer bit sharply against Ashley's pulse point, holding the ridiculously sensitive piece of skin between her teeth, Ashley's life force thundering in her mouth, teetering on the edge of explosion and collapse. Ashley felt her body rumble, really vibrate with tension, but it rippled through her with such force that it became far more determined than a mere shiver or shake, it was an all out erratic percussion beat rolling underneath her skin, ripping through her autonomic nervous system with such power that she felt like she was setting records on the Richter scale.

"Unh," was the only reply she was capable of making. It wasn't even a word, a jumbled trio of letters that made no sense but it seemed to be the most accurate method of describing how she felt. Spencer's fingers traced the underside of Ashley's breast, drawing firm lines into her skin with the lightest of touches. Spencer unclenched her teeth and released Ashley's pulse point, quickly putting her mouth to work by placing gentle kisses against Ashley's neck. Ashley could only moan in appreciation.

Spencer shuffled her body closer and shifted her hands higher on Ashley's body. She alternated her ministrations against Ashley's neck between kisses and light licks, sliding her fingers across the planes of Ashley's soft skin to press firmly against two pert nipples. Ashley inhaled sharply, and bit her lip, trying in vain to hold in another moan, to keep the air that threatened to explode from her lungs inside. It worked, for a few seconds but then Spencer, that sneaky, but oh so sexy, temptress, scratched the tips of her nipples simultaneously. They were already engorged, straining against the oppressive hold her skin had on them, urging her body to arch even further against Spencer's embrace. Air rushed out of Ashley's lungs in the form of a deep, tortured groan and she truly felt like she was about to cry. She'd never felt so frustrated, so utterly and undeniably turned on that it felt like her body was against her. "Please," she gasped, pressing herself closer to Spencer's hands, "please, just...just," she gulped in an attempt to wet her lips, to provide some much needed moisture for her suddenly dry throat.

Spencer cupped Ashley's breasts possessively and leaned ever closer to her ear, "please, what, baby?" she whispered, nipping affectionately at Ashley's earlobe causing her to shudder again.

"Please what, Ash?"

Ashley froze, and then felt herself sinking into her seat hoping the world would swallow her up. She felt a high blush break out over her entire body which was already throbbing from her lewd thoughts. Realistically lewd thoughts, her inner self mumbled. Ashley rested her head in her hands and decided that it would be better to just curl up and die on the spot. She and Spencer would just have to have paranormal sex. Like in Hex. She could hear the glee in Madison's voice, it was so palpable it was practically soaking the air. 'Kinda like my underwear,' she thought snidely. She shifted in her seat and warily raised her head, her chin settling on her forearms. She opened one eye and shot Madison a fierce glare. It had no effect; Madison merely smirked back at her, a giant shit-eating grin corrupting her face. Alarmingly so, Aiden was still chattering away. 'Jock stereotype, ahoy,' she remarked to herself. She patted him on the arm, and then turned to face her other best friend who'd taken her seat beside Ashley and seemed to be settling into hearing every juicy detail, worming her body into the seat with a wriggle that looked entirely too satisfied, 'and all with that fucking smug smirk'. Ashley ignored the brief image of her punching Madison in the face.

They'd been through that phase and despite both walking away with black eyes and various scratches, it seemed to have resolved their dysfunctional issues. She knew that in reality, she really was looking forward to telling Madison everything; she trusted her insight a lot more than she allowed her friend to believe - Ashley merely wished Madison would stop being so goddamned all-knowing about it. Like you wouldn't be the same if the tables were turned. Ashley rolled her eyes inward. That totally wasn't the point. She met Madison's gaze square-on and was relieved to see that her expression had morphed into something that was infinitely more compassionate and caring, a gentle smile had replaced the smirk and when Madison reached out her hand, Ashley allowed her friend to let it rest on her skin. "Is this about," Madison paused to recall the name, "Spencer?"

Ashley nodded and shuffled her chair closer to Madison to reduce the distance between them, effectively creating their own little bubble of communication. She looked up almost expecting to see a white speech bubble with indicators stretching from both their mouths. She shook her head and returned to Earth with a bump. Madison raised an eyebrow, her expression speaking volumes.

"She's an incredible kisser!" Ashley blurted out before putting a hand over her mouth. She really hadn't intended to say that. She was planning on playing it cool and giving a mumble about how Spencer was nice, and hot etcetera etcetera. "Really?" Madison's eyebrow rose even higher and Ashley felt the need to elaborate. "We were in Red, and she just kinda developed from the mist, and she looked at me and her eyes... Maddy, it's like looking into the fucking ocean. They're so deep and blue that it's almost like there's no end to it. Sometimes it felt like she was looking right into me, like she could see all of me. And I wanted her to, I wanted her to keep looking just as long as it was into me and not through me. I wanted her to...see me."

Madison sat back, clearly so taken aback that she felt she needed to put physical distance between her and Ashley's smitten, impassioned speech. "Wow," was all she could come up with. She paused and pressed her finger to her lip, "I've never heard you speak like that about a girl."

Ashley chewed her lip, "She's not a girl, she's..." she looked upwards as if hoping that she'd suddenly be granted a pardon from having to say these words, "she's a little older than me. More in the woman category, than the girl one."

Madison cocked her head to the side in an eerily similar impression of Spencer, "And when you say a little you mean...?"

She gave Ashley a pointed look which made it clear she was expected to elaborate. Ashley sighed and wrinkled her nose in displeasure, "Like, 24?"

Madison's eyes widened in such comical shock that Ashley snorted in amusement, pressing her hand against her face to prevent the laughter from burbling out of her mouth. "24 years older?!" Madison hissed at her. Ashley laughed freely, her hand falling away from her mouth and her body shaking a little with the action. "No, no. She is 24."

Madison looked like she was about to burst, the amount of blood that had rushed to her face and she had appeared to grow in size but Ashley's words, thankfully, seemed to be the antithesis to her impending doom and the Latina's already compact body deflated in her chair, her tanned skin slowly returning to its normal color as she slumped back against the wooden paneled backrest.

"Okay, okay, we can work with that," Madison replied, after taking a few moments to recover. Ashley nodded, secretly pleased that her friend wasn't deterred by Spencer's age. She could have been a little impressed, her inner voice remarked snidely.

"What's she like?" Madison leaned in closer to Ashley, taking in her dreamy, goofy expression and the way her entire form seemed to relax, a stark change from its usual rigid structure. Ashley chewed her lip, her thoughts turning inward as she considered 'Spencer'.

"She's," Ashley paused, "she's...amazing," she whispered reverently. "She kissed me and it was like," Ashley sighed wistfully, "it was like, everything was there, yanno? For a second, everything that was crap and worthless about me just disappeared. It felt like it wasn't about wanting me or whatever, it was," she paused, mulling over her words. Madison watched her friend with rapt fascination, her silence a direct result of the almost bashful look on Ashley's face. "It didn't feel like it was about my money, or my body, or my rep or anything. When she kissed me, it felt like," she paused again and blushed, clearly embarrassed by her thoughts. She caught Madison's eye and the encouraging nod she received seemed to instill some courage within her, "it felt like she wanted to know me, not just have me."

Ashley chewed her lip nervously and eyed her friend who seemed a little stunned by her revelation. She watched Madison slump back into her seat, a strange look on her face. "What?" she asked self-consciously, shifting her gaze away from her friend and more towards her fingers. Madison took hold of Ashley's hand and tapped it gently to regain her attention. When their eyes met, one soft gaze and one guarded, they stared at one another, a silent battle of wills occurring amidst the noise of their peers. "I'm just surprised is all. I've never heard you talk about a girl like that. Frankly, you've never talked about anyone like that."

A small silence followed her words and Ashley fought to fill it, her words running into one another in one long rambling, yet passionate speech. "She makes me feel like an idiot and the best of myself all at the same time. But I feel totally out of my depth, caught up in her. Like, like I'm running out of road to travel on or something. I kinda wanna slow down but I don't want to scare her off, to make her think I'm just a dumb, indecisive kid who's messing her around." Ashley's fists were balled up and she was radiating tension, so much so, that Madison almost believed she was vibrating. She leaned forward and pulled Ashley into a hug. She caught Aiden's eye. He seemed to have finally stopped talking and was examining his phone with interest. He leant out of his chair when she gestured with her head that he join in the hug.

Both friends wrapped Ashley in their arms and she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as their strength flowed into her. The noise of their fellow classmates continued to erupt around them, their private moment going unnoticed as everyone took advantage of their unsupervised time before the day began in earnest. It wouldn't do to have yet another of Ashley's weaknesses displayed in full few of strangers and members of the student body – kids with access to cell phones and cameras who would upload gossip within seconds of witnessing it. Madison stroked Ashley's hair lovingly and Aiden entwined his strong hand with Ashley's, entwining their fingers together in a supporting grip.

Disaster averted.

Spencer clapped her hands together. Standing at the front of her classroom she radiated authority, yet her voice rarely rose to a shout. She had earned the trust of her students and they respected her. She knew how important that was, and though she'd never tell them, it meant everything to her. "Alright, class, let's settle down." Her students continued to shuffle into the classroom, until only a slow trickle were left and then the door closed with a quiet click signalling that the final student had entered.

She eyed each and every one of their small eager faces looking up at her as if she held the secrets of the universe. It was power, and she was addicted to it. She loved being able to stand here, or move around the room, opening their minds up to the possibilities of the world; to yank down the curtain of impossibility and unknown and show them that the world was out there. She knew she tended to err on the side of cliché but her students ate up her praise and truly aimed to do better when they received negative criticism.

"Today, we're going to look at questions."

She drew a symbol on the board and tapped it with the cap of her pen. "Can anyone tell me what this is?" She turned around at the slight whooshing of air as a dozen hands shot into the air. She'd taught her class not to speak when raising their hand, informing them that the mere act was enough. Her eyes scanned the front row before calling on a student two rows back, "Yes, Tim?"

Tim, a rather gangly sandy-haired 12 year old ambled to his feet, briefly meeting her eyes with his, "a question mark, Missy," he said, before lowering his gaze shyly and slumping into his chair, his hair falling across his face as soon as he'd sat down as if it couldn't hold itself up any longer.

Spencer smiled fondly at the moniker. When she'd first started teaching at the school, the students had felt she was too young to be called by her full surname. School protocols frowned against students and teachers being on a first name basis so they had compromised with 'Miss C', which, in the mouths of lazy teenagers lacking diction, gradually transformed into "Missy". She accepted it with grace, convinced that some students believed this to be her true name. "That's right, thanks Tim." He nodded his head causing his already floppy hair to cover even more of his face.

"Now, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence," she winked conspiratorially with them and her students smiled back sheepishly, she'd caught a few eye-rolls from her earlier question and got the message loud and clear that she should get to the point. "I just wanted to start out slow and then build up. Evidently, too slow today. My mistake!" she spread her hands in apology and then moved closer to her desk, casually resting her body against it. "So! Now that Tim has helped to reaffirm what a 'question mark' looks like, I'd like to take a look at different types of questions. I thought we'd have a look at two types. But I'll need some help to demonstrate."

She caught the eye of the student nearest her, a thin faced red head with freckles daubed liberally across her pale complexion; though she never wore her hair in pigtails, she always reminded Spencer of a cross between Pippi Longstocking and Anne Shirley. She mentally shook the image away, holding back her smile.

"Alright, Cora. Tell me something you really like." Though the girl recovered quickly, she couldn't hide the surprise on her face at being asked a personal question. A slight blush covered her cheeks as she gave minute shake of her head. 'Probably thinking about a crush,' Spencer told herself, keeping her eyes on the girl and allowing her to take her time. Cora seemed to come to some conclusion and rose to her feet in one fluid movement, "Harry Potter," she said bashfully, a shy little shrug accompanying her words as if she was apologizing for her answer. Spencer took a few steps forward and patted the Cora on the shoulder as the girl took her seat. "That's just fine, Cora, thank you. There was no right or wrong answer." She smiled disarmingly, and managed to get a small smile in return. Spencer turned back to the class, "Can anyone tell me what kind of question that was?"

A few hands rose and Spencer called on a boy two seats away from Cora, "Okay, Ryan, have at it."

The student got to his feet and mumbled an answer before sitting down again. Spencer's gaze caught his. "I'm sorry, Ryan, I didn't catch that. Would you say it again?" The boy froze in his seat, caught. Silently he rose to his feet and met Spencer's gaze, "Sorry, Missy," he lowered his head in supplication, "I said, it's an open-ended question."

Spencer smiled approvingly, indicating that all was forgiven and he sat down with relief, a small thump resounding around the classroom when he hit the wooden chair. "Absolutely right, Ryan. An open-ended question is just like it sounds; it's a question that's phrased in such a way as to allow the answerer an endless amount of answers. One of the more famous open-ended questions is 'how does that make you feel?' The class giggled in unison at the serious expression Spencer had adopted when she'd asked the question. She strode back towards her desk and, with a small hop, landed atop it and crossed her legs at the knee, relaxing into the pose, her left foot jiggling occasionally in time to a silent beat.

Her eyes roamed the room before landing on a stocky looking, dark haired girl in the third row, who was scribbling furiously in her notebook, her focus entirely on the book. "Alex, what time is it?"

The girl looked up briefly, her eyes landing on her watch before returning to her book. Her mouth opened about to answer before she screwed her eyes tight and let out a small noise of frustration. She closed her notebook and rose to her feet, her eyes meeting Spencer's with a bit of annoyance. "It's two-thirty, Missy." Spencer nodded, and the Alex sat back down. Spencer noted her expression, deciding to hold off on questioning her further and continued with the class. "That's right, Alex, thank you. Can anyone tell me what kind of question that was?"

A lone hand rose, and Spencer realized her class was getting bored. She allowed the student to answer and let him sit back down. Godsakes, Spence. I'm bored! Spencer acquiesced to her inner voice and decided to up the pace a bit. "Thanks, Austin. Okay, I get it guys, this is dry but I promise we're building up to the good stuff." She gave them a geeky thumbs up and was successful in making them laugh. She hopped off her desk and moved towards the board but kept her focus on her students. "Okay, so now that we've had that introduction, I can see that you all know more than I thought." She smiled winningly at them, receiving more grins than she expected, but unsure whether it was because they saw through her guise or were just relieved she was letting up. When in doubt, Spence, praise, praise, praise!

"I'm really glad you guys have stepped it up and got engaged so now it's your chance to ask me questions." She spotted a glimmer of enthusiasm in a few of her students' eyes and knew that she was onto a winner. "I'm gonna talk to you guys for a few seconds. And then, you have 10 minutes to ask me as many questions as you can," she paused and moved towards the center of the board catching eyes where she could, "after the 10 minutes is up, I want you to write a page or two," groans greeted her and she smiled good-naturedly, "okay, okay, minimum a page," giving them all her best appeasing expression. The nods she received seemed to indicate they were still on her side so continued on, "on the things you've learned from what I've said. There's no test here, I just want to see what you come up with. If you get stuck, try and remember some of the questions that were asked and what I said. If you're still coming up empty, then write a few sample questions that you would have asked, if you'd had the time. Any questions?"

She winced internally. She trusted her teaching ability but putting herself up for the slaughter, metaphorically speaking, always made her cringe. She knew her students liked her but the occasional self-doubt was known to creep into her subconscious, she batted it away, and returned to her class. Spying a hand, she nodded her head and held back the smile when the student stood obediently. It hadn't taken her long, but she was still proud of her enforcement of this basic rule. It meant a lot to her that they gave it a shot, and more oft than not they did it without thinking. She was proud of her kids. They were a great bunch, and gave her pretty much all she asked for, and in return, she tried to give them her everything. Which includes your attention, her inner-voice remarked snidely.

"Sorry, Stacy, I spaced out for a second. What did you say?" Titters echoed against the walls and she rolled her eyes good-naturedly. The short blonde girl remained standing and spoke again, "I just wanted to know if we were allowed to make any of it up." She sat down again promptly and started doodling on her paper, half an eye on Spencer.

"That's a good question, Stacy, good. Well," she continued as she strolled back to stand in front of Cora. "in answer to your question, yes, you can – to an extent," she paused for a effect before moving to the board and writing 'Harry Potter'. "Earlier, Cora said she liked Harry Potter." Spencer wrote below the name, 'books'. "Harry Potter is a series of novels, or books," she turned back to her class, happy to see that she had engaged them. "So, you could argue that because Cora likes Harry Potter, she implicitly likes books, therefore, if you were writing a sentence, you could say, 'Cora enjoys reading. This is evident to me because she said she likes Harry Potter which is a set of novels.' Now, some might call that 'making it up', but what you're actually doing, is analyzing what Cora said, and drawing a logical conclusion."

She wasn't surprised to see that her students seemed to have got the gist of her little monologue so she ploughed on, "What I'm saying is that if I say something and you can come up with a logical conclusion that resembles what I said, then I'm happy for you to write it down. However, say if we stick with Cora's example, and you said 'Cora likes boys. This is obvious because she said she likes Harry Potter.' While this isn't wrong, because Harry Potter is a boy, the context of this situation suggests she meant the books as opposed to the character." Spencer's gaze and the rest of class met Cora's, who nodded to indicate that Spencer was correct, Spencer gave her a smile.

Spencer clapped her hands to gather their attention. "Well, if there are no more questions," hands remained in laps and so Spencer figured she could go on, "let's get this road on the show." Her class groaned causing Spencer to laugh, "I know, I know, I'm too old to be cool like you guys. Just let me have this one." Amused grins appeared to be her only reply. Spencer took her seat atop her desk again, rocking slowly back and forth in contemplation. She tapped her forefinger against her lip thoughtfully before deciding on a topic. "Okay, a few seconds and then it's up to you guys," receiving nods from her class, Spencer continued, "I met someone last week. We've been spending some time together recently, it's been fun. I laugh a lot when we're together," Spencer smiled wistfully as she thought of soft, brown eyes watching her and then returned her attention to her class who all seemed to be looking at her knowingly, she blushed slightly and stroked a few strands of hair out of her face to distract them. "Well, that's all you get. Go crazy!" She winked and smiled as hands shot up. She glanced at the clock and took the first question.

"Where did you go with them?" Spencer noticed her student's cocky smile when she realized that he'd copied her gender-neutrality. Austin was a sly kid, well-behaved, but sly as a fox.

"We went to lunch," she replied smirking. He gave her a head nod, mouthing 'touché' with a smile. She took another question.

"Where did you meet him?" Spencer tapped the side of her nose and waved her right hand in a cyclical motion, indicating that her student should reconsider what she'd said. Hayden chewed her lip thoughtfully before, clearly, remembering her words; she smiled in apology. She raised her hand again and Spencer allowed her to rephrase. "Where did you meet them?" Spencer nodded approvingly and gave the young girl a quick smile. "Well, and no judgments, guys," she eyed them all with mock-warning holding her hands up in surrender catching amused grins in her wake, "I was out with my brother and best friend at a club." The kids smirked back at her and she shook her fist at them, trying valiantly to hold back a smile. Another hand waved in and out of her peripheral and she indicated that the student should stand. Alice straightened her skirt, removing any wrinkles before she opened her mouth to speak.

"Are they male or female?" Whilst a number of her students had caught on, from the expressions of the others, they hadn't and so it appeared to surprise some of them when Spencer said, "female." A silence seemed to fall over her class and then another hand rose. Spencer took it in her stride, and allowed the student to stand, "Why is it fun?"

Spencer's expression clearly stated that she was taken aback but it didn't prevent her from speaking. She opened her mouth and closed it so that she could properly consider her answer. A warm smile wandered across her face, meandering in and out of every nook and cranny, each muscle pulled sharply to attention, leaping out to be inspected, "That's a good question. It's fun because," she paused again, mulling over her words, "because, she's unexpected. Very unpredictable." The wistful smile returned to Spencer's face and she found herself looking out the window, unaware that her students were both looking at each other and her with smug grins. A bird flew suddenly into her line of sight and she felt her concentration bounce back. Her gaze settling on her students made her blush when she took in their faces. She shook her head exasperatedly but couldn't help the smile on her face. She nodded at a student several seats from her who'd been patiently waiting. A dreamy expression had taken over Sam's face, her soft voice completing the picture of a quiet reflector, "Where did you have lunch?" Spencer could almost see the tall, waif-like girl painting the scene in her head, hearts bouncing about above her head shot from Cupid's bow and arrows.

"A patch of grass overlooking LA," the silence of her students compelled her to carry on. "It was beautiful. We got there around midday and it was so quiet. You'd never know the sounds of the city if you lived up there. She held my hand and we sat talking for hours, and eating, there was definitely eating," Spencer winked at her enraptured students, "it was like watching snapshots of the world set into a slideshow. I sat there wishing it would never end. Just wishing the world could stop around us," Spencer's gaze had traveled to the window again, eyeing the parking lot where Ashley had picked her up and dropped her off. She blushed when she remembered their goodbye.

Another hand caught her eye and she gestured at the student to stand up. Stan was on his feet in seconds, clearly eager to ask his question. Spencer smiled ruefully, she could only imagine.

"What did you eat for lunch with her?" Spencer couldn't contain her laughter and she laughed harder when her class joined in. Stan's family ran a successful restaurant chain and he was quite intense when it came to food. Spencer caught her breath once her laughter had rippled down to an occasional hiccup and focused on Stan who was looking at her impatiently. "She bought Chinese take-out," she saw Stan roll his eyes, "now, Stan. I don't think you truly understand. It was practically a buffet. You name it, it was there. And then! Homemade brownies," the grin on Spencer's face said it all. "I'm serious, Stan. These things were a work of art. Molten chocolate solidified into little bricks of Heaven. I think I've found the new Ambrosia!" Her class couldn't help but smile along with her. Stan rolled his eyes again but smiled along with his classmates. Spencer's energy was infectious, and often her class found themselves tied to a raft of her enthusiasm and battling the rapids of her emotions right along with her, laughter occasionally splashing over them, leaving them with giggling shakes, her quirky sense of humor jerking them left and right until they weren't always sure where they were going, just that they were taking a journey with her. And they were glad to cling on and enjoy the ride.

"Alright young adults," Spencer's students exchanged exasperated smiles, "I've given you enough to go on. Hand your work into me at the end of class. Hop to it!" She made shooing motions and slide off her desk, walking over to the board she raised her pen and began to write. "This is your homework. Please write it down before you go. No excuses!" Her class groaned good-naturedly but returned quickly to their work, the sound of nibs attacking loose-leaf filled the room and for a moment, Spencer allowed herself a daydream. She sat behind her desk and rest her head on her hand, drifting into an Ashley filled thought bubble, Ashley's strong arms wrapping around her body and pulling her into the haze, her raspy tone tickling Spencer's eardrums as she spoke softly about absolutely nothing.

Ashley twisted her fingers in the air, curling them around an imaginary phone cord. Not for the first time, she wished that she didn't have a cordless phone. It just seemed something that was highly appropriate for phone conversations. Not that she spent that much time on the phone, nor did she often, more like ever, have conversations with people that made her feel like this, but all the same – it seemed necessary. She dismissed her thoughts with a wave of her hand as she impatiently listened to the dial tone chiming against her ear. Suddenly it was replaced by a breathless, "Hello? Spencer speaking."

She smiled reflexively and chewed her lip, already feeling the beginning of a blush creeping across her face, "Hello, Ashley replying."

Spencer's answering giggle made her sigh softly, her grin widening. God, she's incredible.

"Oh, Ashley! Hey, hello."

"You already said that," Ashley teased, smirking because she'd successfully managed to catch Spencer off-guard.

"Yes, yes I did. And now I feel like an idiot. Thanks," Spencer's dry reply only increased Ashley's self-satisfied smirk, "you're rather pleased with yourself, right now, aren't you?"

Ashley chuckled lowly, "yes, rather, I must say."

"Oh must you? Upon whose command?"

"Why, on yours. You questioned. I replied. Therefore, I must."

"That's a completely nonsensical argument, you know."

"I know no such thing; I rank myself amongst genii like Dr. Seuss."

"You drive me insane."

"I try."

"I know you do. Although I think you meant 'I'm trying'."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Think yourself to be all-knowing, do you?"

"I wouldn't say all-knowing, but fairly knowing."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"I know something you don't know," Ashley sing-songed.

Spencer huffed loudly in exasperation, "I won't even dignify that with a response. I teach kids, remember?"

"I know," Ashley paused and her voice reduced itself to the shy tone Spencer had come to recognize as quintessentially Ashley, "that I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."

Spencer gasped softly in reply, her head tilting as a pleased smile fell across her face. A light blush coated her cheeks and she closed her eyes, imagining the expression on Ashley's face, "you're right. I didn't know that."

Ashley wrinkled her nose and pressed the receiver closer to her ear, "now, you do."

Spencer let a small silence settle around them before breaking it; she found herself wanting to revel in Ashley's shy proclamation for longer than was seemly, especially during a phone conversation.

"You're incredibly sweet, Ashley," Spencer rubbed her neck awkwardly, trying to tamp down the temptation to sound like an idiot, "I spent an embarrassingly long amount of time thinking about our kiss," she confessed, her voice tapering off to almost a whisper. At the word kiss, Ashley blushed. Her mind suddenly recalled the pseudo soft-pornographic scene she'd been imagining just that morning before she'd been rudely interrupted. No need to tell Spencer that, her inner voice warned sharply.

"Me too," came the whispered reply. Ashley didn't know why she was whispering. Her mom still hadn't returned from work and Marta had long gone home. Although it was irrational, she didn't feel all that comfortable letting her thoughts loose on the world. She wanted to save these special moments just for Spencer, at least until they both felt secure in letting other people invade their...thing. She rolled her eyes. It wasn't sufficient, but it would do in a pinch.

"Do you want to meet me for coffee? If you're not busy, that is." Spencer eyed the large pile of marking on her desk and sighed, "I mean, I have a crazy amount of marking to get through but I usually do it at this little cafe. It's not far from my house, and it's pretty casual. I know you wanted to meet on Wednesday but this could be like" she paused, "pre-date preparation, if you like," she paused again, "I'm rambling. I'm sorry." Ashley's replying throaty chuckle surrounded her and warmed her body to the core, like enshrouding yourself with a blanket whilst watching the sunset on a breezy night.

"Can I take that as a yes?"

"It depends," Ashley replied, chewing her lip nervously.

"On?"

"Is it a date?" Spencer smiled unconsciously, her head coming to rest on her upraised her hand.

"Well, it could be. I'm not so sure."

"On?" Ashley parroted back, a teasing smile hovering at the corner of her slightly upturned lips.

"What your answer is, of course." Ashley laughed unreservedly, finding herself leaning even closer into the phone, utterly under Spencer's spell. "So, you're telling me, that, hypothetically speaking,"

"Oh, of course, hypothetically speaking," Spencer mocked.

"Hypothetically speaking," Ashley reiterated whilst Spencer rolled her eyes despite her evident amusement, "if I were to say yes, it would be a date. But, on the incredibly unlikely, and utterly nigh impossible, chance that I was to say no, it wouldn't be a date. Have I got that right?"

"Hypothetically speaking?"

"Yes, yes, I thought that was obvious,"

"Now, now, no need to get shirty."

"Shirty? No. Handsy? With you? Totally." Spencer blushed and rolled her eyes again.

"Hypothetically speaking," she stressed again causing Ashley to reply with her own eye roll, "yes. That's the gist of it."

"Why does it matter if I consider it a date or not?" Ashley worried at her lip, the blush creeping up her neck was gradually starting to fade but she doubted that would last long. Her confidence with Spencer came in dribs and drabs but the reality was that it only took a few well chosen words from Spencer to make her skin look like someone had thrown a vat of boiling water over her. She shuddered at the mental image. Fuck, that'd be hot. She kicked inner self inwardly, she knew that was coming. Of course, you're me, genius. She rolled her eyes in reply.

"Oh it matters, a lot," Spencer's eyes sparkled, "if it were a date, then I wouldn't feel bad about how much I'm looking forward to kissing you goodnight," she paused thoughtfully, and playfully tapped her chin with her forefinger. "However, if it wasn't a date, then I'd spend the whole time trying not to touch you more than a casual...acquaintance would," Spencer's voice was practically purring by now and Ashley sank deeper into her desk chair, her body moulding against the varnished wood. She felt very warm, suddenly, a flush that was most definitely not a blush seemed to start from her neck and ignite every body part from there down to the one between her thighs. She clenched them quickly.

"It'd be very difficult," Spencer continued, her sultry tone warming to the topic with every word uttered, still appearing as casual as if she was remarking about the recent spike in temperature, "I'd find ways to orchestrate little touches that could easily be misconstrued as friendly, but in my head, well," she chuckled darkly, "there'd be some decidedly unfriendly thoughts playing."

Ashley gulped loudly and then coughed immediately in an attempt to cover it up. She fanned herself quickly, dramatically flapping her hand back and forth her fingers flailing at the knuckles. She stopped just as quickly because she felt like an idiot. "I guess all that remains is, would you like to meet me for coffee?" Spencer's words had barely left her mouth before Ashley replied hurriedly, "Yes! I mean," she paused trying to sound less desperate than she knew she was, "yeah, I would."

"By saying yes, you're agreeing to go on a date with me. Again. I'm just checking you understand that. Last time there seemed to be some confusion," Spencer teased.

"I'd love to go on another date with you, Spencer," Ashley replied, and then shyly but courageously soldiered on, "I had fun yesterday."

Spencer smiled genuinely in reply, "so did I. That's why I'm so eager to go on a date with you, again," she chuckled wryly, "I mean, it is a little desperate on my part. Thanks for not making fun of my lame 'pre-date preparation' line."

"Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure I broke the record for quickest 'yes' to a date, ever. So we're even," she scratched at her arm self-consciously, feeling that pesky persistent blush crawling towards her hairline.

"I thought it was cute."

"Desperate, cute. Regular synonyms, these days."

"Honestly, not two I've come across but I'll bear that in mind."

"Clearly you haven't received your Oxford 2013 dictionary. I pre-ordered mine. Couldn't face the queues at midnight when it came out," Ashley returned snidely, she stuck her tongue out towards the phone but she quickly withdrew it when she realized the action would be completely lost on Spencer.

"Oh, well, that's your problem right there. I'm a Collins girl, myself," Ashley gasped loudly, her hand pressed against her chest dramatically.

"Say it ain't so, Spencer!"

"I'm afraid so, Ashley. Do you think this is something we can just agree to disagree on?" Ashley tutted loudly and gave a contemplative, "Well," before loudly sighing. "I guess," she replied, begrudgingly. "It helps that you're gorgeous." Spencer sat back in her chair feeling her heart fluttering in an almost alarming fashion. 'What is this girl doing to me?' After a beat, she felt her heart slow a little and she felt stable enough to reply, "I know you only said that to flatter me into accepting an Oxford girl as my date," her light tone belying the way her body was still refusing to calm down.

"I said it because it's true, Spencer," Ashley replied, her voice a lot steadier and calmer than she felt. "It isn't a give-and-take, democracy type thing. I just wanted you to know that I think you're gorgeous and me, being me," she murmured self-deprecatingly, "that was the first way I felt I could say it so that you'd hear it."

Spencer blushed prettily and smiled coyly at her stapler. Feeling stupid for eyeing a piece of office ware with such affection she let her eyes roam her empty classroom before conceding and simply closing her eyes, Ashley's image appearing behind her eyelids. "Thank you, Ashley," Spencer replied sincerely. "I know I've said it before, but you're very sweet."

Ashley blushed, naturally, but decided to ignore it in favor of focusing on Spencer's words, "you're very welcome, Spencer."

"Ashley!" Ashley returned quickly to reality as she heard her mom's voice call out, the heavy front door slamming loudly behind her entrance into the foyer.

"I should go. My mom just got back and she likes to have a kitchen pow wow." Spencer snorted loudly and opened her eyes, pushing her body into a suitable seated position.

"Okay, well, I'll text you the address, or do these pow wows end in both of you being stoned out of your minds on peyote?" Ashley rolled her eyes fondly and stood up as she headed towards the door.

"Not usually, but who knows? It's Monday. Strange shit goes down on Monday." Spencer nodded sagely, "Indeed, indeed. What time is good for you? I wouldn't want to end the tribal council earlier than necessary."

"Spencer, don't be silly. This isn't Survivor."

"How weird would it be if Jeff Probst was in your kitchen?"

"I know, right? Have you noticed how creepily blue his eyes are? I mean yours are incredible, but his are just like," Ashley bugged her eyes out and waved her hands in a non-descript fashion, "baby's tears. Johnson's baby products style tears."

"Exactly."

Ashley glanced at her wrist, making a mental note of the hands on the clock-face, "Is 6:30 good for you?" Spencer performed a similar gesture and considered her to-do list. "Yeah, that should be fine," she sighed in realization that their phone call was coming to an end. She rolled her eyes at her irrationality, given that she had just confirmed to meet Ashley in less than two hours. "So, I'll see you soon?"

"Sounds like it."

"Try not to get your life essence extinguished."

"I'll do my best."

Unbeknownst to either woman, they both stared exasperatedly at their phones, each hoping the other would end the conversation. "I can see where this is going. To cut what would be an entirely pleasurable game of 'You hang up – No you hang up' short, on 3?"

"'Kay. See you soon."

"3," they both said together. The silence on the other end of Ashley's receiver caused her to look at it in tempered frustration. "Completely irrational," she muttered to herself. Having reached the end of the stairwell, she turned into the kitchen, tucking her phone into her pocket. Her mother looked up at the sound of Ashley's bare feet slapping rhythmically against the tile.

"Hello, sweetness. How was your day?"

Christine Davies was an attractive woman with long, dark brown hair; friendly, chestnut colored eyes and lightly tanned skin. Her age was not all that apparent on her face, nor was it obvious that she was old enough to be the mother of an eighteen year old. Small crinkles at the corners of her eyes spoke volumes about her easy smile and bubbly personality, the twinkle in her eye was a clear testament to Ashley's magnetic presence. Her dark brown hair had loosened from the precarious bun that was usually perched upon her head, probably from distractedly rifling through it as she read a client's file. She wobbled on the breakfast bar stool slightly, balancing her heels on the lowest rung and raising her body in the air to greet her daughter. An affectionate smile crossed her face as Ashley leant into the embrace, pressing her mother safely back onto the wicker matting.

"Not too bad," Ashley replied, releasing her mother and pressing a kiss against her cheek before heading towards the refrigerator. She pulled the chrome handled door open and allowed the blast of artificially cooled hair to hit her face, the blush from her conversation with Spencer still lingering.

"Were you talking to Aiden?" Ashley ducked her head around the door of the fridge.

"Today? Yeah, of course," she eyed her mother oddly before returning to examine the contents of the drinks shelf. She grabbed a bottle of water and closed the door by knocking her back heavily against it. Christine looked up at her only daughter, the affectionate look still in her eye.

"No, Ash. When I walked in, I heard you talking to someone. Imaginary friend, perhaps?" she teased. The mischievous look in her eye was identical to the glint that often crossed Ashley's eyes. Ashley blushed and immediately regretted it. Her mother's sharp eyes caught the discoloration to her skin immediately and a perfectly manicured eyebrow rose slowly. "Oh, really?" she questioned, unnecessarily. Ashley rolled her eyes and huffed exasperatedly, "yes, Mother, really."

Christine beamed, and, for the second time that day, Ashley became convinced a squee was going to erupt from a person's body, especially with the way her mother was squirming on the stool, her body gyrating in a way that was entirely inappropriate for a woman her age. She looked just like Aiden had this morning. Her mother was the only person she knew who could look equally dignified and ridiculous. For God's sake. Stop being so goddamn obvious! Her inner voice commanded. "Oy vey," Ashley muttered.

Her mom leaned forward with a conspiratorial air, pressing her elbows against the kitchen counter, "so," she drawled, a maniacal grin transforming her face to something that would not have been out of place at a run-down carnival, "tell me about her," her head bobbing incessantly up and down only increasing the level of discomfort in her daughter. "Mom," Ashley held her hand up, "no. Just no. It's not happening."

She waved her hands in her mother's direction emphatically, "you, Aid and Maddy can get together and yammer away all you like about me and," she paused and rolled her eyes instinctively when her mother moved even more forward, perching herself precariously on the edge of the already unstable stool, her eyes shining eagerly, her head still bobbing up and down like some deranged wind-up toy. "Okay, you're gonna have to stop doing," Ashley waved a hand again using her index finger to circulate her mother's face, "that because you look insane. Like seriously, go audition for a Chucky remake or something."

Christine settled herself back into her seat, a disappointed look crossing her face and the beginnings of a pout forming. She folded her arms childishly but quickly lowered them when she caught sight of the look on Ashley's face. "Alright, alright, I'll stop. I'm just interested, honey. You seem," she hesitated and bit her lip, "happy," she murmured softly. "It was nice to see you look happy."

Ashley leant against the counter, tapping the top of her water bashfully. A tiny blush tiptoed across her cheeks, "Okay," she mumbled, "thanks." Her gaze stayed pointedly on her bottle cap and Christine got the message. She cast a final fond glance over her daughter before returning to perusing her client's file. There was silence in the kitchen, interrupted only by the gentle whirring of the fridge's cooling system and Ashley's fingernails tapping against her water bottle. Occasionally, Christine's pen scratching across a page disturbed the solitude and so, it was to Christine's surprise, that after a few moments she caught her daughter's voice mumbling a few words, "her name's Spencer." Ashley's bare feet slip slapped against the tile as she left the kitchen. Christine looked over her shoulder at her daughter's retreating form and smiled contentedly, the expression staying on her face even as her eyes started tracing the words on the page in front of her.

Ashley glanced at her phone's screen for the third time in the past few minutes and looked up, again, at the corresponding street sign. It was a perfect match. Despite this, sweat was beading on both her palms which she rubbed nervously against her jeans; the action was about as successful as peddling cock rings at a lesbian bar. Stop rubbing your leg, you look like you have a problem. Well, other than being a complete and utter moron. Ashley rolled her eyes reflexively; her inner voice was never all that complimentary. She eyed the street sign again and then rolled her shoulders, pulled herself up to her full height and attempted to exude her usual air of confidence. Taking a deep breath, she walked a few steps and found herself facing an attractive, chic coffee shop.

A midnight blue colored special's A board stood propped outside, boasting the latest coffee trends and the house specialties. Skeptical brown eyes traveled over the architecture of the fairly non-descript, one story building standing in front of her, taking in the quaint, small lettered sign, inviting patrons to partake their caffeine hit at 'Cerulean'. Matching its name, a gentle, sea-blue wash of paint covered the plywood foundation and structure, a lighter blue coating the door which was open thereby allowing a wash of gentle Latin music to lap at her ankles as it seeped out into the air. Soft lighting captured her eyes and a flash of blonde hair seemed to beckon her towards a corner of the store. A thick odor of coffee beans and sugary pastries struck her full frontal in the face, making her step back slightly at its power. She hesitated at the door, one foot hovering over the threshold. The barista had either sensed someone at the doorway, or maybe it was just one of those things, because she looked up and caught Ashley's eye, a bright smile enrapturing her face like a burst of moonlight and Ashley found her courage bolstered as she stepped into the shop. Her head scanned the room but she knew where Spencer was, it was like a magnetic pull was drawing her body towards the corner and she found herself yet again awkwardly wiping her hands down her jeans. She took a deep breath but, much to her embarrassment, breathed too fast, too slow or inhaled some contagion, because she found herself coughing loudly, her hand curling into a fist as she sought to cover her mouth.

Spencer broke out of her Ashley reverie, her half assed attempt at marking Cora's essay laying in front of her, at the sound of someone undergoing a coughing fit. When it didn't stop after a few seconds, she looked over her shoulder, her eyes falling immediately on Ashley's body wracked with convulsions. And not in the hot way. She stood up immediately, crossing the floor quickly and began to rub Ashley's back soothingly. Gratefully she accepted the glass of water from the barista with a worried smile.

"Ashley? I've got some water here; do you think you can drink it?" What sounded like a groan, broken by a quick cough, was emitted and Ashley tried to straighten herself, her face red with the effort of coughing – or from blushing. She really couldn't tell. Slowly Ashley's muscles relaxed; after a few sips of water she felt capable of dragging her gaze upwards to meet Spencer's concerned baby blue eyes. A small smile was tugging at the corners of the blonde's lips and Ashley felt herself unable to repress her own in reply. Spencer looped her arm through Ashley's and guided her towards the table she'd been occupying. She elbowed the brunette gently before reclaiming her seat, "You're so dramatic, Ashley. Jeez. You didn't have to go to all that effort to get my attention," she teased. Ashley felt rolling her eyes was completely warranted so she gave into the impulse as she took her seat.

"Whatever, Spencer. I almost died," she pouted, sticking her bottom lip out as far as possible, blinking her eyes rapidly.

"Seriously? You're pulling that act?" Ashley shrugged, smiling innocently and widening her eyes to make them all the more expressive.

"You're ridiculous."

Ashley shrugged again and smiled, "It was worth a shot."

Spencer eyed the brunette's hand that was resting oh-so casually on the edge of the table; as casually as she could, which wasn't really all that casual given that her tongue was poking out of the corner of her lips and her eyes maintained contact with where Ashley's hand was on the table, she crept her hand across the table and laid it over Ashley's. This entire adventure was lost on Ashley until Spencer's skin was touching hers because she was fascinated with the sight of Spencer's tongue struggling to stay within its confines. Ashley jerked slightly in her chair and blushed swiftly. Her eyes met Spencer's and she melted into a puddle of gooey mess when Spencer's head tilted slightly to the side, a shy look on her face.

Ashley turned her palm upwards and entangled Spencer's fingers with hers.

"Hey," she murmured huskily, biting her lip nervously, "I forgot to say that, what with the whole coughing thing," she trailed off and ducked her head briefly, her eyes eventually rising to meet Spencer's. Spencer beamed right back at her, stroking Ashley's hand unconsciously. "Hey, back," she replied, smiling wider when Ashley smiled back, "thanks for coming."

"Thanks for asking," Ashley replied, stroking Spencer's thumb slowly. They spent several moments just looking at each other, blushing but smiling, happy to just be in each other's orbit with no distractions or interruptions. Spencer sighed happily and leaning to the side to rest her hand on her palm, her eyes still on Ashley. Her eye caught a sheet of A4 with a 'B-' scrawled across atop its right hand corner in red marker. Ashley's gaze followed hers and she examined the paper with interest. She raised an eyebrow, trying unobtrusively to read the words of what appeared to be an essay from one of Spencer's students. Her free hand twitched with a simple, childish curious desire to stretch out and drag the paper towards her. Hell, the whole pile! Spencer sighed and gestured with her head towards the pile that had captured Ashley's attention so efficiently, "marking's a real bitch."

Ashley nodded in a manner which she hoped was sufficiently sympathetic, "tell me about it. The red marker of judgement must weigh heavily in your small hand," a manner that was completely refuted by the sarcastic tone dripping from her words. Spencer raised an eyebrow, "you mock me in my time of strife?"

Ashley's expression affected a solemn air, "I do what is necessary, for the good of the nation," she pumped her fist into the air, "for liberty, for equality, for brotherhood!"

"Alright, Marianne, simmer down," Spencer shook her head in amusement, "first of all, we're not in France. Second of all, there's no need for a second of all because we're not in France."

"I'm very passionate politically. I love a good cause."

"That may be so, but that ship has sailed. I'm pretty sure they're happily chilling in Paris feeling very liberal, equal and brotherly, so you can put the poster board down."

"Must you ruin all my passions?"

"Yes, yes, I must. It's in the contract I signed before you got here."

"Was it witnessed?"

"Mmmhmm, and authorised by a Justice of the Peace."

"Well, in that case," Ashley sighed dramatically, "I can hardly argue with that. Well played, sir."

Spencer laughed loudly, giving Ashley an affectionate look once her laughter had subsided, "Has anyone ever told you that you are truly a wondrous being?"

Ashley blushed and shook her head, "Uhmm no, not that I recall."

"More fool them. You're incredible."

"Is that a compliment?"

"The first of many," Spencer smirked and Ashley's blush intensified.

Several minutes, that might well have been hours, passed in silence as their gazes locked. Spencer shook herself out of their moment and took a sip of her coffee as she sought to extend their conversation. Looking down at her cup caused her to realized that Ashley had yet to purchase anything. She gestured towards the barista who was idly staring at her fingernails behind the counter, "you should get something. They make really awesome coffee," she smiled encouragingly. Ashley shook her head to clear the cobwebs of her Spencer haze and returned to reality with a bump.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess that would make sense," she stroked a fingertip across Spencer's palm and abruptly stood up, heading towards the counter, her hand tapping nervously against her pocket. Spencer watched her leave and her eyes focused intently on the younger woman's perfect form nonchalantly strolling away.

"Damn," she whispered to herself. Agreed, her inner voice concurred, damn indeed, "it should be illegal for someone to be that attractive but that unaware," she contemplated Ashley's physicality once more before blushing when her thoughts immediately started to derail into X-rated territory. And you're talking to yourself. Let's prioritize here, her inner voice reminded her. She nodded inwardly and forced herself to turn her attention back to her student's papers but try as she might she found her gaze travelling back to the counter. Spencer watched Ashley gesture emphatically to the barista, pointing at the specials board outside and nodding enthusiastically, her body pressed firmly against the mahogany counter, elongating her short stature and highlighting her posterior most prominently. Spencer rested her head on her hand and sighed happily – her thoughts of Cora's essay had completely dissipated, just like any and all resolve around Ashley.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Spencer snapped out of her reverie and eyed the approaching Ashley with a raised eyebrow in an attempt to seem smooth.

"You couldn't afford my thoughts. Don't flaunt your funny money here, bucko."

Ashley reared back dramatically, maintaining a solid grip on her coffee all the while, and covered her chest with her free hand as she gasped theatrically, "Spencer, my money is good quality, hard earned American bucks. How very dare you?!"

"I dare easily."

"Must you? Won't you dare with difficulty? At least make it easy on a girl."

"Easy is for pussies."

Both women hesitated and Spencer held her hand up quickly.

"Don't. Don't say it. Too easy."

"Like you then?

"Ashley! You wound me."

"Do I? Great. I know first aid. Any chance you need CPR?"

Ashley smirked and gave Spencer a sly wink as she took her seat at the table, placing her coffee carefully on the table. Spencer bit her lip nonchalantly in an effort to prevent the smile that tickled at the corners of her lips.

"Maybe, but I'll need to see your qualifications."

"Oh Spencer, you sauce pot!" Ashley replied in a fairly passable Southern accent, her hand flapped coquettishly in front of Spencer, "Whatever will my father say?"

"I don't know, I'm not a mind reader."

"You're no fun."

Spencer began fluttering eyelashes bashfully and eyed Ashley with a mischievous glint in her eye, "Quite the contrary, I'm plenty fun."

"Pictures, or it didn't happen."

"How 'bout I put my mouth where... Actually, where would you like my mouth?"

Ashley's mouth felt dry all of a sudden and she took a deep gulp of her coffee in order to provide her mouth with some much needed moisture. Unfortunately, it seemed to bypass her attention that the coffee had been freshly brewed, and as such was still scalding hot. Her mouth flapped open dramatically, "Yeow! Jesus H. Christ! What is that, 6 alarm chili?"

She began fanning her mouth and hissed lowly, "Water, water!"

Her eyes widened as the pain seemed to spread further into her mouth and she became convinced she was about to die of tongue burn or heat mouth – 'or whatever this blasted condition is called!' She screamed at herself mentally.

For her part, Spencer stared at Ashley in horror, watching her friend's decline into dramatics but leapt into action once she realized she had yet to move. She grabbed at the water glass from Ashley's earlier coughing fit and shoved in front of Ashley's face. Damn, she's accident prone. Hot, but nearing the 'hot but hot mess' category, her inner voice snarked.

"Drink this. Go on. No, don't gulp it. Sip at it slowly." Spencer wrapped her around Ashley's shaking shoulders and gently pressed the lip of the glass against Ashley's with an encouraging smile. Eventually Ashley's body seemed to ease itself out of the spasmodic spasm phase and Spencer smiled shyly when she heard Ashley mumble softly, "Why do I always make such an idiot of myself in front of you?"

The blonde found herself shrugging one shoulder and nudged Ashley with the other good-naturedly, keeping the encouraging smile on her face, "I actually think it's pretty cute that you're such a dork."

Despite the circumstances, Ashley still found it within her to blush and she fought like crazy to stop herself from leaning further into Spencer's very comforting embrace. Spencer's hand stroked Ashley's shoulder absent-mindedly and she sent a shiver running down Ashley's spine when she pressed a gentle kiss to the brunette's hair. Ashley sighed and turned to catch Spencer's eye, "I suppose dork is better than idiot."

"Much."

Spencer leaned in closer to Ashley, as it suddenly occurred to her how close they already they were, and whispered conspiratorially into her ear, "I'd never kiss an..." her eyes widened as she attempted to survey the entire coffee shop as inconspicuously as possible, "idiot. A dork on the other hand..."

Their eyes met again and Ashley found herself smiling widely at the imploring look in Spencer's eye and then she found herself wincing reflexively. Spencer chewed her lip nervously and then straightened her posture as if she had suddenly become emboldened by Ashley's weakness.

"How 'bout I kiss it better?"

To Ashley, it seemed a foregone conclusion but she found herself nodding needlessly all the same as Spencer leant in and pressed her lips against Ashley's. All too soon, their lips separately and Ashley desperately tried to contain the whimper the rose up inside her at the separation, the shortness of the connection – hell, everything!

"How's that?"

Ashley's eyes had closed involuntarily when Spencer had kissed her and they were still closed despite Spencer having pulled back. Ashley's eyelids fluttered as if she was trying to cling on to the kiss that had been so fleeting. Her voice croaked and she coughed slightly to cover it up, "Think it's still pretty bad. You should maybe..."

Spencer didn't need much more encouragement. She leant in and allowed their lips to re-establish their connection. Ashley's soft lips enveloped hers in a comforting embrace and Spencer realized that there was no moving away, she allowed Ashley to lead her into this dance that she had suddenly found herself in the middle of without even realizing that the music had started. Spencer let her hand rest gently on Ashley's thigh, caressing the rough denim as gently as if she was feeling Ashley's soft skin beneath her fingertips. Ashley gave as good as she got and leaned further into the hold Spencer had wrapped her in, lithely stroking her tongue against Spencer's lower lip, she felt emboldened when Spencer leaned closer and opened her mouth in a gasp. One playful nip later and Ashley realized she wouldn't be able to go back. Her thoughts from that morning seemed to pale in comparison to the desire flaring up in her stomach and she allowed them to dissipate from her mind in favor of memorizing the quiet whimpers Spencer made when their hands met, or the soft mewls of appreciation one of them emitted when their tongues started dancing together, a playful game of tag ensuing.

The barista looked over to the corner where the blonde and the brunette sat wrapped up in each other, literally, their eyes closed in mutual bliss and their hands moving slowly and tentatively across clothing and skin that had already been bared. She rolled her eyes and sighed dejectedly as she realized that she didn't stand a chance with either of the hot women she had tried to make a play for that night. She turned to face the door, fixing her expression from the wistful hope she'd held at the idea that the brunette (or the blonde) might have been interested in more than just coffee to one of welcome as she automatically ran a wet rag across the counter to catch any spills.