7. Family First

When Spencer appears in front of me at lunch the next day, the first thing I do is check her shirt for strange animals. Nope, today it’s just a purple t-shirt that I can’t believe she’s wearing. It’s only 50 degrees out right now. Thanksgiving is next week. Why would anyone where a T-shirt in this weather? Even Madison has forsaken her campaign to reveal as much skin as possible in order to throw on a jacket. Impressed by her tolerance for cold weather, I stare at her shirt for a moment, studying the way it fits around her body before responding to her greeting.

"Hi."

"How’s life?" she asks.

"Good," I reply quickly before taking another bite of my sandwich. As I chew, I study the plastic wrap that’s left on the table. Crash! That was the elephant in the room, and apparently Spencer’s deaf because she keeps babbling away.

"Hey, Ash?" Ash? "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I’m fine." I mumble.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

“How was your day?”

“Fine.” She sighs loudly.

"You know, I won’t go out with Aiden if you don’t want me to." I jolt up to meet her eyes for the first time.

"Huh?"

"Well," she starts, flicking a piece of hair back behind her ear, "I remember how weird it was when one of my friends was dating Glen back in Ohio. If it’s awkward for you, I’ll cancel our date."

"It’s just that—" I don’t want you dating anyone. "—uh, I don’t want Kyla to get hurt."

"Oh, look, I’ll talk to Kyla if you want—"

"No!" I realize that I don’t want anyone to know that I’ve been talking to Spencer about this, or maybe even at all. Talise is suspicious enough already. "You should just go— on the date, I mean. Kyla might— it might be better to keep things as clean as possible."

The collar of my shirt scratches at my neck, and I rub it against my shoulder. Once I start, I can’t stop. Spencer’s giving me the Look. Everyone has there own version of the Look (Talise’s is weary, Aiden’s contemptuous, my mother’s is irritated, etc.), but they all use it whenever I’m doing something stupid, like taking off my socks at dinner because they’re driving my feet crazy or clapping my hands over my ears every time someone shuts the door.