1:55PM Saturday, September 17, 2013

Spencer stared at Ashley who was herself staring intently at her former girlfriend.  Ashley should have been shocked, but she wasn’t so much as shocked as immeasurably ecstatic.  Spencer was still frozen and her face showing no emotion.  She was not talking, but not moving either. 

Quickly, before Spencer could let her brain process the situation, the words rushed out of Ashley’s mouth like lava coming out of an erupting volcano.  “Pleasedontrunaway!”  Ashley half-shouted, half-pleaded.

Spencer formed a half-smiled and whispered, “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

Ashley had been holding her breath this whole time, and finally realizing it, she exhaled. 

Ashley picked up the dropped books, Spencer grabbed the rest of her stuff, and they stood up. 

“Spence, so, you…here…uh, I mean, what are you doing…here?”

“I could ask the same of you.  I’m actually in law school.  My classes are in this building right here,” Spencer said, motioning to the building in front of which they were standing. 

“Oh,” Ashley bit her bottom lip.  “I had no idea.  Don’t worry, I know how it might appear with the other night at Here, but I’m not stalking you.  I haven’t been sitting out here the last few days.”

“And at the Farmer’s Market and LAX and Fred Segal?”  Spencer’s head bobbed as she talked. 

The girls sat down on the bench which Ashley had vacated just moments ago.

“My voice coach is a professor in the School of Music, so I’m here a lot, actually.  But today, I actually had a meeting over there,” Ashley nodded her head to the west.  “My four people on my marketing team are professors at Anderson.” 

“Isn’t there a parking garage right next to Anderson?”

“Well, uh, it’s such a nice day, I wanted to walk around a little, get some sun before I headed back home, and I just stopped here to…to think about you…and us…to clear my head.”  As Ashley finished her sentence, she looked sheepishly at Spencer and then stated rather seriously, “You don’t know how much I’ve missed you, Spence.”

“I have a pretty good idea,” Spencer began.  She turned her body to fully face Ashley and brought her left leg up on the bench.  “I was such a wreck…drinking…partying…”  Vanessa briefly popped into Spencer’s mind.  “I still think of you every time I drive down Sunset – and that’s every day…”  Spencer paused.  “Ash, I was an asshole.”