“Spencer? What are you doing up so late?” Paula asked, walking in to the kitchen where I was hidden by the refrigerator door. I froze; I had no idea what to do in this situation. Darn my late night craving for cheese! When I didn’t answer she pulled the door away from me and she smirked as if she weren’t surprised at all.

            “Hmm, I must be dreaming.” She said airily, winking before she left the kitchen. I stood with my jaw on the floor, staring after the woman who had once dragged me out of her house by my hair upon finding me in her daughter’s bed. I felt a huge smile cover my face as I grabbed a slice of the individually wrapped cheese that I had so been wanting before running up the stairs to tell Spencer that her mother had gone temporarily insane.

            “So Ashley, how’s the music thing going for you? I heard on the news that you were taking a break?” Arthur said, sitting down across from us with a cup of iced tea. I blinked a few times, coming to the present as I tried to understand his question.

            “Oh, yeah, I am. I just want to settle down for a while I guess. I mostly did it because I missed Spencer too much.”

            “What?” She asked, her eyes bulging.

            “I told you that,”

            “No you didn’t.” She argued, though I thought that I saw her blush a little, obviously pleased. I grinned, score for Ashley! She leaned over and kissed me gently on the cheek and I blushed even as Arthur’s face split into a huge smile.

            We stayed at the Carlin’s for another hour or so before Spencer finally told them that we had previous engagements and had to go. It was a lie but who was I to complain that my girlfriend wanted to be alone with me? I grumbled as she convinced me to go to Starbucks instead of going straight back to my place. We were standing in line ordering but as I went to give the bored looking teenager behind the counter the money Spencer protested, saying that she could pay for herself.

            “Don’t worry about it babe,” I said, digging through my wallet.

            “Why do you always have to pay for everything?”

            “I don’t but I think that I certainly have the right to buy my girlfriend a cup of coffee.” I said, finally pulling a twenty out of my wallet.

            “Girlfriend?” She asked in a surprised voice. The tone of her voice made me freeze up as I turned to look at her. I had just assumed that we were together officially; our actions had certainly mirrored that of girlfriends.

            “You don’t want to be my girlfriend?” I felt as if my whole world was dropping away.

            “It’s not that, it’d just be nice if you asked.” She said, and I wondered vaguely if she was really mad. I suddenly dropped to my knees before her, making her look down in complete shock. We were gaining a lot of attention now as I looked up at her, a smile on my face.

            “Spencer Carlin will you be my girlfriend? Officially, once you commit there’s no dating other people.” Her smile was huge as she hauled me up to my feet and kissed me deeply. There were some remarks being tossed at us but I drowned them all out as I pulled away.

            “Come on! Some of us are actually here for coffee!” Some guy yelled from the back of the line.

            “Hey! Shut the fuck up and gain a little bit of patience!” I yelled back, making some of the people laugh and others send me glares as they covered their children’s ears. “Oh, sorry, my bad.” I apologized, turning back to Spencer. “Is that a yes?” She nodded enthusiastically and kissed me again, as I slammed the twenty down on the counter before lacing my fingers with hers and pulling her out of the coffee shop with a huge grin and only one thought in mind as we both raced over to my Porsche, forgetting all about the coffee in favor of the sudden desperation to taste each other.