pretty little liar // brad simpson

three

BRAD

A car sped by, so close that the wind jostled my jacket - or perhaps that bit was just in my imagination, because the spray of the water in the gutter cut me off from continuing to reprimand Spencer.

Every inch of my body was wet, or at least every inch on the left side of my body. My hair stuck to the side of my face, and when I finally opened my eyes, it was to see Spencer's hair sticking to her neck, and her dress tinted darker on one side as the water had hit her. Her face was a sight, her jaw hanging open, and her eyes squinted so tightly shut that her skin was wrinkling at the effort. And then, as she too blinked her blue eyes open, her lips quirked up into the faintest of smiles.

"Why did I bother to have taken a shower?" She breathed wistfully, closing her mouth and shaking her arm so a spray of water hit the pavement. And then - as if nothing had happened at all, Spencer was walking in the same direction as before, crossing her arms over her chest, water dripping down her leg in beads.

I followed, shaking my hand through my hair to dry it out a bit. When I caught her, I put my hands in my pockets and tried to figure out how to say what it was I wanted to. "You took that well."

Stupid. So stupid. What did that say about what she'd think I expected of her? Some dramatic show? Now I sounded like a right idiot. Spencer shrugged, however. No colder than her last few responses. "I don't feel there's a point in feeding any of that. It happened, what am I going to do? Is fuming going to dry me off?"

Bobbing my head in agreement, I slightly knocking into her shoulder, and Spencer stumbled a step. My mouth fell open to apologize, but suddenly Spencer's shoulder was hitting into my own and I was tripping sideways along the path, sticking out my arms as if I might collapse. She giggled, a musical noise, and bit her lip to hold back a laugh as she watched me straighten up. I shot her a playful look and watched as she turned to face ahead, straightening out her face as if she'd made a mistake by showing something other than indifference.

We arrived at the stand in no time, and there were already a few pairs and groups of people getting fish and chips wrapped in triangles of newspaper, drawing all over the paper cups with markers littering one of the bench tables next to where the stand was set up.

Spencer hopped in line, standing on her toes to scan the menu. I pulled my wallet from my pocket and scanned the menu, deciding on classic cod and chips as Spencer fell back onto her heels, having decided on a dinner. We stayed silent as we creeped towards the front of the line after the cozied up couple before us in jackets and jeans.

"I'll have the full calamari and chips." Spencer asked, stepping off to let me order my own.

"I'll do a full cod and chips, please." I ordered. Spencer tapped my forearm and I lifted it to hand my credit card over, and I looked over at her slightly apprehensive face. 

"Would you mind if I had a nibble?" She asked, rocking slightly on her heels before pining her blue eyes back on me. I smiled, nodding. She was interesting, if not a bit stand-offish. Spencer was particular but more of a watcher than a do-er, and she had some hesitations about me. And this was a motion of familiarity, which wasn't going to be normal if I had learned anything from her, but it was a step.

Perhaps I didn't like this situation, but the benefit of this is that if we had to at least be seen in public together, then we had to go on some dates. Spencer wasn't my cup of tea, but learning her wasn't going to be the worst thing I'd ever had to do. Did I wish I could quit? I supposed so, but I knew making a friend or acquaintance at the least wouldn't be hard, and if it benefiting my career - my passion - then I could handle small steps.

I slid my card back into my wallet and lifted our food from the man over the counter, handing Spencer her calamari - not after snatching a small bit and popping it into my mouth. She shot me an incredulous look, mingled with mild annoyance. "You're trying my cod, aren't you?" I contradicted, raising my eyebrows.

"I asked." She shot back, grabbing my cod and taking a big bite, shooting me a pointed look as she set it back in my paper and turned to climb into the bench. Setting her fish on the table, she grabbed one of the white cups and a black Sharpie, tapping it on her chin as she considered what to draw.

I slid in across from her, setting my meal down as I chewed my way through a chip, and grabbed a cup from the stack. My eyes scanned the table until I found a blue marker, yanking the cap off. Spencer had started to doodle, and I got to making an outline with the blue before moving to another color, then alternating back and forth with stripes and dots. I wasn't a creative genius, but it wasn't too shabby considering the fact when I finally capped the green marker.

"Finished?" Spencer asked, capping a pale blue Sharpie and tossing it onto the table. I nodded, snatching a chip and shoving it into my mouth as Spencer counted down, then spun her cup to reveal a cool black octopus filled in with suction cups on all 8 legs, colored in a soft purple, with blue squiggly waves all filled in with the two blue markers around it.

"Shit, maybe I shouldn't have tried." I laughed, flushing as Spencer grabbed the cup I had written her name on in block letters, filling it up with patterns and different colors. She struggled back a smile, letting it only show a bit.

"You were one of those kids that never quite made it in the lines, eh?" She teased, pushing the cup she'd drawn on over to me, and inspecting my cup carefully.

"What clued you in?" I sighed, watching her as I took a bite of cod and chewed through it. 

Spencer looked up at me, raising her eyebrows so I could see where her makeup had dripped slightly from the splash we'd taken a bit ago. "I think it's the stray polka dot that ought to be inside of the C in my name." She joked, grabbing both cups and standing. "Coke?"

I nodded, digging into my food as she strode to the drink fountain and filled our cups. She would be back in a minute, and I found myself shoving as much as I could into my mouth so I would have more room to talk to her when she got back, to ask questions and get to know more about her.