Write or Flight

Chapter 3: I know you were way too bright for me 

You sprinted across the quad at record speed. In fact, you’d be surprised if a track coach didn’t try to recruit you because you knew you had to be breaking some type of record. You saw Spencer walking from his Advanced Physics class when you tackled him from behind, sending him toppling over. 

Spencer sputtered for a second before turning over realizing it was you. “Y-Y/N, What the heck?!” 

“Shut up.” You say, from your perch on top of him. You pull the folded piece of paper out of your back pocket, shoving it in the taller man’s face. “Read it and weep.” 

Spencer squinted slightly at the paper. “This is a C…” 

“Hell yea, it’s a C!” You say, excitedly. “In calculus! Effectively bringing my D up to a low C.” 

“And we’re happy?” 

“Yes!” You say, shaking the man by his shoulders. “Because I never have to take that shit again, which means we’re going out tonight.” 

Spencer groans which you mock. “Don’t you think you should be studying instead? To bump that grade up.” 

“Nope, C’s get degrees, so I’m getting shots. Which means you are too.”

“Fine… but you’ll have to let me up first.” Spencer says. You mumble a quick ‘oh yea’ as you get up off the man’s lap. He brushes the dirt off his pants as he stands with a small frown on his face. 

The two of you walk in silence in the direction of the bar just off campus before Spencer looks over at you.

“I’m proud of you for getting a C, Y/N.” Spencer smiles down at you. “I know you were struggling with Calculus. You should be proud.” 

You smile up at the man. Spencer doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to the supernova you seemed to hide behind your teeth. “Thank you, Spence.” 

—-----------------------------------------

“Let’s just tell her we both died.” You say, as you drive down the road that leads closer and closer to your childhood home. “We’re in the FBI, she’ll believe it.”

Spencer laughs. “Faking your death won’t solve our problems, Y/N.” 

“Fine… witness protection then.” 

“We’re gonna be fine, our story is air-tight, we prepped for this, and it’s only for a week.” 

You sank more and more into your seat as Spencer turned down Cherrytree Drive, your childhood street. You couldn’t help the dread that entered your heart as you passed the big tree you used to climb as a kid which was also how you broke your arm in the 7th grade. 

Spencer parks in your parents' very expensive, long driveway. Your parents were both doctors and did fairly well for themselves even after retirement due to some good investments. Spencer looked over at the petrified look on your face and gave you a pity smile. 

“Look, if you want we can say there was a last minute case and we can turn back. But it’s your parent’s anniversary and even though you don’t like the circumstances, I know you’d be more upset if you missed it.” You blew a breath, you knew Spencer was right, as he often was. “I’ll be right here… Whatever you want to do.” 

You sigh again. “Fine, let’s just get this over with.” You say, before swinging the car door open. 

The first person you see is your sister running down the front steps, her mellow-demeanored husband following shyly behind her. You run halfway to meet her as Spencer grabs your bags. 

“Y/N!” The wind is knocked out of you slightly as the 2 of you collided. “God, it’s been too long, how come you never visit?” 

“You know, my work schedule. We’re just lucky the serial killers took a break this week.” You laugh at your sister’s scared expression. She never liked the details of your job, being one of those people who thought Serial killers only existed in the 70s. 

She changes the subject almost as soon as possible. “I see you roped Spencer into saving you from the Momster. Do you really think you guys are gonna pull it off?” 

“Well, Spencer seems to think so and he’s smarter than me, so.” 

Your sister hums for a second. “You know, I think you two are gonna pull it off.” She says, in a way that almost sounds sneaky, you raise an eyebrow at her. “You wanna know why I think you’re going to pull it off?” 

You decide to indulge her. “I don’t know, why Rachel?” 

“Because I don’t think you guys are going to make it through the week before realizing you’re madly in love with each other.” She says, making mock kissy faces at you which you push her for.      

“Don’t be ridiculous, Rach, You know me and Spencer are just friends.” 

She holds her hands up in mock defense. “Hey, I’m just saying. I don’t look at any of my friends the way the two of you look at each other. I’m just saying maybe this weekend, the party, all the Romantic energy.” Rachel says, wiggling her eyebrows at you. You roll your eyes at that. “Maybe you’ll see what I see.” Rachel shrugs.

“And what do you see?” You say, deciding to indulge her. 

“A man who's completely in love with you.” She says, turning to the two men who were getting your bags from the car. Well, Jacob was getting the bags from the car while Spencer excitedly explained ancient marriage traditions. You can’t help the smile that spreads across your face. You look over at your sister who is smirking at you, you roll your eyes at her again. 

“Come on, let’s go find mom.” 

You find your mom standing at the kitchen counter baking while your little sister, Isabelle, was sitting on the other side of the kitchen island studying. You walk up and tussle her hair. 

“Hey Squirt!” You say, excitedly. 

“You know, I’m an adult now, right?” She says, hands moving up frantically to fix her hair. “I don’t like being called Squirt.”  

“Oh, I’m sorry, Izzy.” You say, watching her grumble a soft ‘my name is Isabelle’ under her  breath before turning your attention to your mother. “Hey Mama.” You say, softly as you go into her waiting open arms. 

“Oh, my baby! I’m so happy you were able to make it!” She says into your shoulder. She pulls away holding you at arms length. “So… where is he?” She questions in a kind of sing-song tone. 

“Where’s who?” You say, deciding to play dumb to mess with your mother. She just levels you with a look. “He’s getting our bags with Jake.” 

Your mother lets you go to swat at you. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were dating Spencer! Of all people!” 

“Yea, I know, Mama.” You say, already starting to feel bad for lying to your mother. “It’s just new and we work together… we just wanted to keep it under wraps and all.” 

“And it’s not a problem? Working together?” 

You shake your head. “Spencer and I work well together.” 

“No, I mean dating and working together. Your coworkers don’t mind?” 

“Oh.” You say, understanding her question now. “No, none so far. But we do different things for the team.”  

“Oh, I know they were probably rooting for you crazy kids as much as we were. When I told your dad, he even smiled.” She says, happily. It doesn’t sound like much but for the stoic man it was practically jumping for joy. 

As if on cue, Spencer walks in and your mother immediately forgets you exist. “Oh, Spencer!” She says, smiling brightly at the young man. 

“Hi, Ms. Y/L/N.” He says, softly. 

“Oh, honey, you can call me Abigail.” The older woman says. “Or even Mom if you’d like.” 

“Ma!” You say, slightly embarrassed. “Do you think we could go upstairs and unpack? We had a long trip.”

“Of course, honey. I set up the guest room for you guys, unless you want to sleep in your old room?” Your mother asks. You frown at the thought of sleeping in your eye-draining bright pink room with Tween Beat posters probably still on the walls and shook your head. 

“We’ll take the guest room.” You say, practically pulling Spencer away. 

Once the two of you are secluded in the room, you take the first sigh of relief you had been holding. 

“We can still back out if you want.” You say, as Spencer sets your bags down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know my mom would be so… pushy immediately.” 

“I did.” You give Spencer a confused expression. “I’ve been preparing for this since you asked me. I know what your family’s like, it can't be any worse than what we do everyday.”             

“It could be. It’s my mother.” 

As if you were speaking of the devil, you hear the familiar rapping of your formative years on the door before your mother just fully walks in half-covering her eyes with her hands. 

“Hope everyone’s decent?” 

“We’ve been up here for 4 minutes, Ma.” You say, rolling your eyes while Spencer smirked at the antics of your mother. 

“I just wanted to see what you were wearing tonight.” Your mom smiled. You and Spencer looked up shocked. 

“Umm, what’s tonight, mother?” You say, eyebrows raised. Your mom holds her hands up in mock surrender. 

“I know we said we were only having the two parties for the vow renewal but I was so excited that you were coming home and bringing Spencer. I may have invited a couple of people over for dinner tonight.” 

You clench your jaw, knowing your moms game. “Uh-huh, a couple of people… And how many is a couple people?” 

“Like… maybe 50… or 70?” 

“Mom! We’ve been traveling all day, I hardly think we’ll be the best entertainment.” 

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be fine. It’s only dinner anyway.” Your mom says, tapping your cheek in that enduring this is not open for discussion way she tends to do. “Now, try to look presentable, people will start arriving by 6.” She says, leaving without another word. 

“Shit!” You exclaim, frustratedly, face planting into the bed “Spencer, honestly if you want to leave right now, I wouldn’t blame you. I should’ve known she’d pull some shit like this.” You say, muffled into the clean sheets. 

You feel a hand at the small of your back. You ignore the warm feeling that travels up your spine at Spencer’s touch. You knew this weekend was gonna be a test of your self-control but if a hand on your back was going to make you dizzy then maybe you needed to be the one to back out this weekend.            

“I know who your mom is too, so I already anticipated it. However, if you just want to leave, we can go.” 

“But then I’d feel bad, I dragged you out here, made you help me with a ruse…” 

“You need to remember, I came here for you. I decided to go along with this for you, because you asked me to. I care about you. I’ll do whatever you want.” 

You turn over and look up at Spencer and you can’t help but feel your heart sink. Here was a man, who had done nothing but make sure you were okay the entire duration of your friendship and all you could think of was the softness of his eyes. How the light in the room danced in his eyes, how his jaw looked in his position above you. Spencer was a good friend, your best friend, and he was here because he wanted to help his friend. And here you were unable to stop the fluttery feeling in your stomach when he looked at you. You knew you liked Spencer but you also knew you didn’t deserve Spencer. As a friend or… anything else. The absolute least you could do was try to be a good friend, so you swallow that feeling before smiling up at Spencer. 

“It’s just the weekend, right?” You say. “Nothing changes.” 

Spencer looks slightly remorseful, only for a brief second before smiling back at you. “Yea.. nothing changes.”