The Only Exception

Three

~Spencer~

By the time I'd built up the desire to leave the guest bedroom I'd been given for this babysitting job, Chelsea Lewis was gone, Lainey had changed and was surrounded with books on the sofa, head over the edge and her feet thrown over the back so she was upside down. 

This girl had been the bane of mine and Noah's childhoods. No matter where we were going Lainey had to come with us because she couldn't be home alone at such a young age and there was no one else to look after her. The spoiled blonde had eventually nestled her way into everything and the fact was, being 2 19 year old boys and being dragged to ice cream shops, parks and every makeup store in town for whatever the newest fad was, eventually got old. I was sick of losing out on guy time with my supposed best friend and after awhile, me and Noah drifted apart.  

Colleges on other sides of the country, changes in hobbies, we both stopped coming home. It wasn't until we bumped into each other at a mixer on the north end of town last year that we were put back on each other's radars and started hanging out again. 

How I ended up here, back on the babysitting Lainey train, I don't fully understand. He just knocked on my door this morning in a complete craze and managed to get out that him and his dad were convinced something was going to happen. Moving Lainey wasn't an option she needed to finish her course with the best possible grades. She didn't need the stress of thinking this was anything serious. The best possible option was having someone there in the apartment with her. Someone they trusted to put her above anything else that might crop up and since I was the only other person in town who was practically family, that fell to me. 

She tapped a pen against her forehead, leaning over and writing on her upside down iPad propped up against the leg of the coffee table.  This Lainey wasn't much different to the one I remembered. Lost in her own world, the whole world just sunshine and rainbows, buttercups and daisies. 

I hated it. 

There's a very thin line between having a happy disposition and it being over the top. Lainey has never known a day of struggle in her life so why would she have anything but a perfectly happy personality. She's going to have a huge shock when she steps into the world outside of these 4 walls where Noah and her parents can't wrap her in bubble wrap. She isn't going to have a clue what hit her but it's not my place to shake her from the fictional reality they've built for her in here. 

"Noah said you were going out with Chelsea." I speak. Having been stood watching her do whatever the hell this is for a solid 5 minutes. She doesn't move. "Hello? Earth to Lainey?" I take a few steps forward, grabbing a cushion from the end of the sofa, tapping her feet with it. She jumped, body jolting so quickly it sent her tumbling to the floor. Lainey's eyes were practically popping out of her head when she spun over onto her knees, chest heaving. 

"Hi." She pants. I rolled my eyes. This was precisely why I was needed here then? Someone could break into this place and she'd be none the wiser until they had a gun to her forehead and her clothes on the floor. 

"I really hope you were actively ignoring me then and not so spaced out you didn't hear me in the room for the past 5 minutes out right talking to you." 

"You were watching me?" 

"You were laid upside down on the couch daydreaming. I wondered how long it'd take before you realised you weren't alone. No wonder Noah asked me to come stay with you. You're totally clueless."  Her eyebrows knitted together before relaxing again. 

"Yeah well. Good job you're here then isn't it?" She rolled her eyes, grabbing her tablet and the collections of papers cluttering the space. "You don't need to be by the way. You can leave now Noah's gone. I don't need a babysitter." 

"You're joking right?" I followed her. "What if I'd have been-" 

"If you'd have been one of these home invasion gangs?" She stopped down another corridor with too many doors attached to it. I'd have to spend a whole day going through all of these, memorizing everything so I know when something is off. That's for another time though. Not right now. "Then I'd either be dead or tied up wouldn't I? Believe it or not I'm very aware when someone's in the apartment when they shouldn't be." 

"I was literally-" 

"You are the only other person in here. Whether I knew you were watching me or not, which by the way, that's creepy as hell. If someone else was here I'd have known about it and then would I have been concerned." 

"What makes you think I'm not the one you need to be concerned about Sunshine?" I took a step forward, hoping a little intimidation will make her feel like she's got to keep her guard up even if she's here. If she's on her guard, it might just make this a whole lot easier. 

"Because you're just Spencer Crawford." She doesn't flinch. "I've met much scarier men in my dance class." The comment makes my blood boil. "I used to put makeup on you. You picked me up from my first date because he was psychotic. You were one of my best friends until you upped and left over night and we never heard from you again." She tipped her head slightly. "Don't think you can intimidate me into submission Spencer and don't be fooled. I don't want you here. I don't need a babysitter. I'm not changing anything because you want to come in here and play adoptive over protective brother. Stay out of my way, leave, disappear off the face of the earth again. Doesn't matter to me." 

"I'm not leaving." She shrugs at my response, unbothered. 

"Whatever. And to answer your question, I was supposed to be going out with Chels but she had something crop up. I'm going out with some other friends later instead. Not that it's any of your business."