Spoby One Shots

11 • You Look Happier, You Do

It was the first time she'd seen him in 3 and a half years.

Physically, he didn't look any different; same gorgeous, well styled hair, same piercing blue eyes, same cute little butt chin. But Spencer knew that this wasn't the same boy who'd left her dorm crying over 3 years ago. He was a man now.

She hadn't planned to see him, even after so many days, weeks, months, the thought of having to face him without being able to acknowledge their long, loved-up past was far too much for her to bare.

Spencer had just been to her mom's campaign office to meet her before they walked the short distance to the ever-present Applerose Grille.

She and her mom had got on a lot better since Spencer had been at Georgetown and the pair chatted until they reached the restaurant.

They were led to their table and given menus although both women had been there so many times they could probably recite it backwards.

Spencer lifted her head to reply to the question her mother had asked her when suddenly her focus flipped onto the man she could see just over her mother's shoulder.

And there he was. Sitting at a table in the Applerose Grille, opposite a woman. Clearly on a date.

In a way, Spencer thought it a borderline hilariously ironic moment. After all, this is one of the very first places she'd really NOTICED Tobias Cavanaugh, what seemed a lifetime ago, reading a copy of "The Catcher In The Rye". And now here they were again, practically strangers again, and her really noticing Toby Cavanaugh, again.

As mentioned, Spencer noticed that he hadn't changed much outwardly, except for one thing: the massive smile that seemed engraved into his face. He hadn't smiled like that since before she went to college and God, how she'd missed it.

Her mother, realising that something clearly more important had caught Spencer's eye, turned and a small, sad smile appeared on her face.

"You know, I did actually like him." Veronica said, breaking both the silence and Spencer's concentration on Toby.

"Yeah, I know you did. What was there not to like?" Spencer replied. "He was as good as anyone could get." She said, looking wistfully back at him.

"He was." responded her mom. "I always thought you two would end up together." She finished, not wanting to push an obviously slightly fragile Spencer too far.

"Didn't we all." Spencer remarked sharply.

"We don't have to stay, we can go somewhere else if you want." Veronica suggested gently, looking into her daughters eyes, there was an expression in them that she just couldn't read, which for a highly successful lawyer, was rare.

"No." Came Spencer's firm reply. "I like seeing him like this." She continued.

"Seeing him like how?" pressed her mom.

"Happy. I haven't seen him happy in a long time. And I missed it." Spencer responded quietly.

Her mom nodded slowly and the two continued their meal with casual, non-Toby related conversation.

Toby and the woman still hadn't moved when the women were done and Spencer couldn't help but let her stare linger on him maybe a little too long as she walked out the door.

Her mom asked if she wanted to walk back to the office together then give Spencer a ride home but Spencer refused, it was a walk alone and reflect kind of night.

So her mom left and Spencer stood alone in the town square, gazing into the window where Toby and his date were still sat laughing.

The last time she'd gazed into a window and seen Toby was the day he came back from Bucks County. They'd had a pretty bad argument a couple weeks before and Spencer was sure that this time, he wouldn't take her back. Instead he had engulfed her in his arms, told her she never had to say sorry and later that day, took her virginity in the most caring way Spencer could imagine.