Everything

XXXII

Spencer let out a sigh, his shoulders depressing, "You're still pissed."

"Pissed." Licia said, pausing, almost as if she was testing the word on her tongue, "No, Spencer. I'm not pissed. Disappointed? Yes. Hurt? F*ck yes. But I'm ready to hear whatever you've got to say about this. Particularly you, Adriana, although I'm intrigued as to what kind of explanation you'll have. And of course, how believable it will be."

I jumped at the sound of my name with seemingly so much malice in her voice, "I'd be more than happy to explain things to you, Alicia."

Spencer looked between us, eyes filled with uncertainty, "Would you like some privacy?"

Alicia smiled tightly at him, "That'd be great, thank you, Spencer. You know your way around. Make yourself at home. I'm sure Adriana and I can speak with one another on the sofa."

He turned towards me, "I'll make myself scarce, baby. You good?"

I nodded slowly, "I'm good."

"Good."

Surprising me, especially given our company, he smoothed my hair back and planted a kiss on my forehead, "I'll go and make some calls in the other room." I could feel Licia's gaze on us like heat melting my insides and felt more than uncomfortable at the PDA.

Spencer paced slowly out, leaving myself and Licia alone, the kitchen work surface between us.

"Drink?" Licia gestured towards the fridge, "Ice tea? Soda? Coffee?"

"I'm fine thanks." I croaked, shaking my head.

"Cool." She nodded, planting herself into her sofa, "Seat?"

I moved to perch at the very edge of the sofa, too hesitant to make myself comfortable.

"So..."

"Look, Licia. I'm going to be honest with you—"

She snorted, "It would be a first, it seems."

"I'm only going to talk this out with you if you stop interrupting me every second to get your two cents and a dime in, alright? I'm not trying to leave this house with no friendship at all."

She raised both eyebrows, seemingly surprised at how firm I was being on this, "Alright, Rodriguez, let's talk."

"Good," I said, "Spencer and I—Licia it's complicated. But I want to set some ground rules from the off. We didn't do this maliciously, nor with any intent but our own happiness. Things just...evolved between the two of us. It started when I moved in with him, after I broke up with Mark. Or perhaps there was even something before that. I'm still not quite sure. He was so nice to me, as Spencer always is, but this time, something felt... different. Entirely different. At first I tried to convince myself he was just a convenient shoulder to cry on once Mark ended things with me, but the more time we spent in each other's company, the more I realised that I didn't just want him to be a friend anymore, even though I had no idea what I wanted him to be instead. It was confusing."

Licia nodded, leaning back into the sofa, totally taken aback, her expression full of surprise.

"Then, of course, he kissed me, and all bets were off," I continued, "Oh...God...I'm probably getting ahead of myself. On the afternoon before the Attorney's Ball, we were messing around, you know, like we always do. Spencer had told some kind of bad joke or something, and then, well then he kissed me. It was a total shock, I was completely blindsided by it. But I told him, we couldn't. Besides, I didn't think about him like that, right? This was Spencer for goodness sake. I'd seen him throw up, like, six burritos and practically a whole bottle of tequila into his dorm room bathroom that time on Cinco de Mayo."