Vodka Kisses

0324- A dAngerous gAme

We're sat around Spencer's house. She's home now.

"She knows we're down here, right?" Hannah asks.

"Maybe she's just as nervous about seeing us as we are about seeing her." Emily offers.

There is a bit of an awkward tension filling up Spencer's kitchen. Everyone is nervous.

"Guys, she's the exact same Spencer that we saw last week." Aria shakes her head at us.

"I hope not." I mutter remembering what Spencer has been like since she's been in Radley.

"No, the Spencer we saw in Radley was not the Spencer I know." Hannah says.

"That was before." Emily says, staring at the food in front of her.

"Em, we're not just here for her, we're for you, too." Hannah tells her.

"Do we talk about him? Do we bring it up?" Aria asks

"I don't want to say anything that could put her back there." Emily says and sighs.

God I hate this, walking on egg shells. If this is how people felt with me last year, I'm so sorry because this is painful.

"I know they said they found Toby, but they sent that second body to the state coroner for a reason. I mean, maybe there's hope." Hannah offers in attempt to cheer Emily up.

"You know how I feel about hope." Spencer says.

We turn to her to see her stood at the stairs, she looks normal.

"Breeds eternal misery." She finishes her statement before walking down the stairs.

"We lost Toby a long time ago. We just didn't know it." She comes over to us.

"Oh, you've got to love the Hastings. I just get released from a mental hospital, and they welcome my friends with tea and crumpets." Spencer fiddles with the tea pot lids.

"What's the difference between a crumpet and an English muffin?" Hannah asks curiously.

"Hannah, does it matter?" Aria asks.

"Yes." I stand up for Hannah.

"I'm just making conversation." She mutters.

"An English muffin is a baked bread. It's made of dough. And a crumpet is a griddle cake. It's made of batter." And there's Spencer with her useful facts.

"How are you, Spence?" Emily asks her.

"I'm all right." Spencer nods.

"You know, you don't have to pretend to be okay for us." Aria tells her.

"Yeah, if this was the act you had to pull off to get out of there, then..." Hannah trails off.

"Do you remember when you were in the light house, Emily?" Emily nods. "And you had to make that choice? It was either him or you?I wasn't as strong as you were. When I saw Toby in the woods, like that, I just gave up."

"So what changed? You seem like you're back to yourself." Emily points out.

"I decided I didn't want to be victim anymore. That's not who I am." She turns and grabs some envelopes before turning back to us.

"Here." She hands us all one.

"What's this?" Aria asks.

I open my envelope that has 'Grace' written on it in perfect calligraphy.

"My parents told all of their friends that I went to Radley for exhaustion, so they want to throw a soiree to make sure that everybody knows that I'm all better now." She tells us.