you might remember me if you've read my previous spoby story - With Love, Spencer. i just felt like i needed to have something else to keep up on. so, this takes place in the college years of the little liars, before Breedom2Be's story - After All That We've Been Through. enjoy! :)

-AJ

Chapter 1: Good Morning, Beautiful

"Look, all I'm saying is that maybe you should wait on this whole charade." Hanna Marin took another gulp of her latte and ran a hand through her golden curls.

Spencer Hastings knit her eyebrows and peered up at her best friend, wearing her signature 'are you kidding me?' look. "You say it like it's my choice."

"Well, if there's anyone Aria will listen to, it's you." Hanna shrugged.

"Hanna, this isn't like trying to convince someone not to buy those $450 dollar Gucci sunglasses. This is a wedding. Aria has been ready and willing to marry Fitz since our junior year, and I don't think that four years of anxiously waiting is going to thin down when I ask her to, please, hold off your wedding until we graduate."

"Well, I'm sure that Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery would jump on that ban wagon faster than Emily off a diving board." Hanna said over the rim of her coffee cup.

The two friends were sitting outside at a table of their old high school hang out place – Lucky Leon's Cupcakes – having a coffee break. Well, Hanna was, at least, enjoying her soy latte and fro-yo with sprinkles while Spencer hastily applied herself to a heavy binder full of wedding plans, quickly scribbling down as many notes as possible regarding the dress, the band, the food, and ambiance of Aria's dream wedding before her next class.

"I'm sure they would." Spencer snorted. Regardless of her family's still steadfast disapproval of the relationship, Aria had all-too-willingly accepted Ezra's romantic proposal during their trip to Europe over the summer. It was November of the girls' junior year of college, and while Spencer pursued her major in education against her parents' hopes and dreams, Hanna floated around, changing her major more times than she changed clothes, and Emily fulfilled her swimming scholarship to Cal Poly, but checked in from time to time and spent her vacations in Rosewood. Aria studied abroad as much as possible through her first two years at Hollis, and did what she always said she would – major in English. Ezra found another job at a high school in Philadelphia, after being fired from Hollis the girls' junior year, and managed to maintain a relationship with Aria, and even planned out what Aria described as "the single most romantic proposal in the history of forever" in Europe for her – on the Eiffel Tower, no less. Upon arriving home, Aria flashed her new Tiffany ring for all to see, and dropped the weighty question on Spencer: 'will you please, please, please, please plan my wedding?'

And, of course, Spencer had said yes.

And it was times like this where she really regretted it.

"So…" Hanna got that 'I have something up my sleeve look', and Spencer sighed.

"What?" She asked, setting down her pen.

"You and Toby have been together for a while now…"

"Yeah."

"And you both are pretty much one of those 'going to be together forever and ever' storybook couples, right?"

"Uhh…I guess?"

"So…do you think he's going to follow in Fitz' footsteps anytime soon?" Hanna wagged her eyebrows.

"Become a teacher and have an affair with his student?" Spencer arched her eyebrow.

"No, stupid. I mean pop the question!"

Spencer rolled her eyes and went back to scratching down details in her notepad.

"Oh, come on." Hanna said in a daunting voice.

"We are not having this conversation, Hanna."

"Oh, come on, Spencer. You can't tell me that you don't think about it from time to time…"

"Still talking…"

"Will you at least hear me out?"

Spencer set down her pencil and let out a sigh, leaning slightly across the table, "I didn't ask you to take my temperature, so stop being all up in my ass."

"What? I mean, really, Spencer. Toby is a freak romantic and you guys have been totally committed to each other for almost four years now. It hasn't at least once crossed your mind?"

"So what if it has? So what if I do dream about buying some beautiful house and having a daughter of my own that looks exactly like me but has Toby's eyes and name her Audrey Jane? So what if – "

"Spence, you're drooling."

"Ha-ha, very funny. I'm just saying, it doesn't all have to happen so fast. And you're one to talk! Like Caleb's shown any signs of proposing to you!"

"Oh please, marriage?" Hanna scoffed. "Hardly. Can you honestly see me settling on down having kids? Yeah, in another life. Or another universe." She took a final swig of her latte before tossing it into the trash basket beside the table.

Spencer rolled her eyes. "Then we have nothing left to discuss regarding that subject."

"Fine. But at least tell me it'll happen soon."

"It'll happen…when it needs to happen. I'm not sure I want to end up barefoot and pregnant before I graduate, Han."

"You're avoiding the question. And poorly, I might add."

"It will happen when we want it to!" Spencer exclaimed, and promptly slammed her binder shut, stuffing her pencil in the front pocket of her bag and swinging it over her shoulder. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class to get to." She stubbornly got to her feet and set off down the street.

"Wait! We have dinner reservations in Phili tonight! Aria and Fitz' engagement?" Hanna called after her, "Don't forget."

Spencer sighed and called over her shoulder. "I'll be there."

If Spencer could have dropped out of any class, it would have been Introduction to Psychology. Despite the importance of the facts it taught, the teacher was a petite, older-than-God woman who lacked the ability to form comprehensive sentences without trailing off and becoming inaudible altogether. The students spent the majority of class time either catching up on lost sleep or doodling.

Spencer sighed, leaning back in the rigid spine of her chair, letting her pencil drop against her opened notepad. Her mind hadn't wavered from the subject of Aria's wedding – she remembered every single detail Aria had wanted for the Barbie Dreamhouse wedding she was set to have in just seven short months.

"May is when we'll have it." Aria had said, ever so surely over coffee the morning after she had arrived home from Europe. It had been September then, and even after two months with that heavy job on her mind, Spencer still couldn't wrap her head around the idea of Aria starting June of next year as a married woman. It would be crazy, surely. Spencer could only imagine getting a call three weeks after the wedding – "Spence! Guess what? I'm pregnant!" Of course, shortly followed by a "Will you please, please, please, please, please plan my baby shower?"

Spencer rolled her eyes and a harsh vibration from her hip sent her hurtling down back to the real world. She hastily slipped her phone out of her jean pocket, tapping in her pass code beneath the cover of her desk.

Good morning, beautiful. – T.

Spencer snorted quietly and peered over her shoulder to make sure that none of her pesky, nosey classmates were craning their necks to read over her shoulder.

Toby had proven himself as a hopeless romantic long, long ago. Spencer still struggled to keep up, trying to do some romantic things, but he always blew her out of the water. Even in the little things, like morning texts to distract her in class.

She wrote back:

I think that 'morning' is stretching it. It's 11:45. Aren't you supposed to be at work and NOT distracting me from class, pretty boy?

Within seconds, the received a response:

Unlike you, I don't book myself too tight. I don't have to be on duty for Mr. St. Clair until two. Then, I'm off at 6:30.

Damn. You lucky bitch.

Hey, no name-calling.

Make me.

Happily. If I can see you later, I'll make you eat those words. Trust me.

As nice as spending the evening having my ass beaten at Scrabble in your apartment and then waking up tangled in your sheets in the morning sounds, we have prior engagements. Aria and Fitz' engagement dinner? At Gianni's? You didn't forget, did you?

Of course not. You know I'll be there.

Good. See you tonight then, Romeo.

You too, Juliet. ;)

Spencer bit her lip and smiled, tucking her phone away and leaning back in her seat, her eyes flashing back up towards the teacher.

It wasn't long before another text shook her phone and distracted her again. This time, it was from Hanna.

Engagement dinner tonight. Sure to give Toby some ideas…. ;) –H

Spencer rolled her eyes and furiously shot back.

Goodbye, Hanna.

;) You know u love me, chickadee.

With a grunt, Spencer silenced her phone and dumped it in her bag, attempting to spend the remainder of class gathering some notes.

"So, is this okay? Or too much?" Hanna turned to Spencer, a hand poised on her hip, sporting a pair of Burberry jeans, red Chloe pumps, and a black tank top under a leather jacket.

"No, perfect." Spencer smiled. The two girls were in Spencer's dorm room, getting ready for what was normally their Friday night girls' night, but now invaded by boys and the idea of marriage. Spencer roommate, Brielle, was out at the library studying, like usual, and Spencer watched as Hanna teased her wild blonde curls.

"Great." She smiled, blotting her lipstick. She peered into the mirror over Spencer's dresser, and turned. "Now what are you wearing?"

Spencer shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"Does it ma – Does it matter?" Hanna gasped. "Did it matter that Leonardo DiCaprio painted the Mona Lisa?"

"Well, he didn't. It was Di Vin – "

"Did it matter that we built the Statue of Liberty?"

"But, we didn't. The French gave – "

"Did it matter that Stephenie Meyer wrote the Harry Potter series?"

"Okay, J. K. Rowling wrote them. Seriously, how are you even in col – "

"The point is that making an impression is important. Which is why you, my dear, have to look perfect, as usual. Now, up, off the bed. Close that binder and put on some stilettos, because we have an engagement dinner to get to!"

Spencer rolled her eyes, but smiled in spite of herself. "Alright. Fine."

She got to her feet and tore open the door to her closet. Flipping through the various blouses and cardigans, she muttered, "You know, when you think about it, this should be a very awkward occasion. If we were normal, it would be."

"What do you mean?" Hanna asked, halfway through her spray of perfume.

"I mean, going out to dinner to celebrate the engagement of our best friend and our old teacher."

"Hey, Ezra's tight with us now! He even helped you with your essay for English!"

"He advised me. I didn't need help!" Spencer snapped stubbornly, tearing a teal scoop-neck top from a hanger.

Hanna snorted behind her. "Anyway, I think it's nice that he's made friends with us. You know, he even took Caleb out for drinks last weekend."

"Well, that's nice. Seeing that Caleb just turned twenty-one, it seems that that's at least one thing Fitz has done that's legal."

"No sour grapes. You like Fitz. He's a good guy, and has given Aria what she always dreamed of – a fairytale romance."

"Alright, I guess you're right." Spencer sighed. She slid her t-shirt over her head and tugged on the blouse. Kicking off her flats, she added, "But let's get one thing straight. I didn't, nor will I ever, need help with an essay."

Hanna spiraled into a fit of giggles. "Alright, Spence. Alright. Whatever you say…"

Note: you'd prob only get the romeo/juliet thing if you read "with love, spencer." haha, srry ;) same goes for audrey jane; if you have read Breedom2Be's story, it should make sense.