Like Romeo & Juliet

Chapter 10

*Hastings*

A week had passed since Spencer and Toby's secret meeting on the hilltop. They've gotten better at communicating with each other by sending each other text messages using their nicknames for each other. They even call each other at the end of the day when the whole town is quiet. They've had two secret meet ups outside the Brew before school. They've learned that just before opening is the perfect time to come in, so Spencer would show up, order a coffee, then sit at a table in a little alleyway next to the shop. Toby would come a few minutes later and meet her in that area. Their meetings were short, but intimate. It wasn't an ideal scenario, but these short meetings would have to do until they can come up with a real solution to fix the problems between their families.

Monday came around. Spencer was walking along the hallways at school with Aria. They had just met up to get Aria prepared for a math test she has coming up on Wednesday.

"So," Aria talked in a quiet voice. "How are things going, with you know?"

Their voices were being drowned out by all the hustle of students in the hallways.

"Not too bad, but also not the greatest," Spencer said. "I mean, I'm really happy with him. I'm just not happy about the circumstances surrounding everything."

"I can imagine. You never did tell me how Friday night went."

Spencer was smiling now as she shared everything with Aria. That night had been so amazing for the both of them. It felt nice to just forget about everything for a moment and be with him.

"Oh my god," Aria was swooning over Spencer's story. "That's it, I need to find a boyfriend who will do romantic shit like that for me."

Spencer laughed, "well, hopefully you will find someone you won't have to hide your relationship with."

"I thought you both were working towards mending things between your families," said Aria.

"We will, but for right now we want to enjoy being a couple before facing the risks that our families will ruin things for us," said Spencer.

"Ah, I see, so you want to enjoy it before shit hits the fan."

"Exactly."

They walked into the cafeteria where they would be meeting the rest of the group. To their surprise, when they arrived at their table the other girls were all sitting there along with Hanna's boyfriend, Caleb. Spencer had never officially interacted with Caleb. She knew he was Toby's best friend, but what did that mean for her? Hanna was her friend, but that didn't mean Caleb was a huge fan of Spencer's. Spencer can remember a time when Caleb used to throw water balloons at her while they would all be walking home in middle school. She couldn't remember if Toby was ever involved in that, but she was sure Caleb's direct assault towards her was due to his friendship with him. That was before. Spencer was in a relationship with Toby now and for some reason, she wanted Caleb to approve of her. The same way the other girls were forced to approve of him when Hanna first revealed to them that they were dating. Aria was the only friend who knew about Toby. Spencer didn't know if Caleb told him about her yet or if Toby's keeping it a secret from him. Hanna and Caleb were grinning at each other widely. As soon as Caleb noticed Spencer sitting down his smile faded.

"I should go," Caleb said to Hanna.

"Wait, no," Hanna patted his leg. "I thought we agreed to have lunch together."

"I know, but..." Caleb gestured towards Spencer.

"It's fine. She's fine with us. Right Spence?" Hanna asked. Spencer just nodded. "See," Hanna smiled sweetly at him. "Just stay, okay?"