Chapter Thirty-Two: Romantic First Dates
Erika’s vision became distorted and her breath seemed to hitch in her throat. Despite standing outside in the below zero temperatures, she suddenly grew very hot and a terse burst of adrenaline began to flow through her veins. Millions of thoughts raced through her mind, each more violent and irate than the last, yet she couldn’t bring herself to form proper, coherent words. Instead, she wanted nothing more than to get her hands on the girl who seemed to have taken everything away from her.
After several seconds, she resorted to screaming. A sharp, high-pitched screech ripped out of her and she aggressively kicked at the snow. However, much to her own shock, she wasn’t crying. The tears that were usually her first reaction to anything that upset her were nowhere to be found in the midst of the fury she felt.
It wasn’t until some minutes later that, through a deep breath, she composed herself and met Spencer’s eyes. Bothered at how impassive he appeared to be, he could’ve at least tried to have acted the slightest bit repentant, she flipped back her hair and took a step closer than him.
“You look like shit.” She sneered, surprising both herself and Spencer. Despite his appearances being the last thing on her mind, she found herself continuing. “Your lip’s cut, your teeth look bloody and you’ve got a black eye. Not to mention that your face is swelling up.”
“I…” Spencer frowned slightly, unsure of what to say next and finally shrugged. “Yeah, I know. Russell just beat me up, you were there. I was spitting blood. And I think he broke my cheekbone or something. It’s still throbbing with pain.”
Erika glared at him.
“You deserved it, you know.” She finally said through grit teeth. Suddenly, she realized what she wanted to say to him. “You are a selfish, disloyal, disgusting piece of–”
“I was never disloyal.” He interjected. “We…you…I don’t know what you’re talking about. I mean, we were never even together.”
Erika’s eyes widened and she tilted her head to the side. Her plump lips opened and closed a few times before she recovered.
“Weren’t we?” she finally managed to say. “You really don’t think we had anything?”
Spencer was about to respond, a whole speech had suddenly came to his mind, but she continued talking.
“You know, you were the first person I told about my parents. I trusted you and I turned to you in my worst times. And I even went out of my way to visit you at work. I mean, sure I got you fired but still, it was all in good heart.” Erika paused for a moment and frowned as she tried to determine what she should say next. Finally, she took another deep breath and went on.
“I actually cared about you, Spencer. I mean, I liked you. I really, really liked you! And I honestly thought the feelings were reciprocated. You certainly acted like it. But apparently not!” her voice began to grow louder and her anger became more apparent. “Because little did I know that you were screwing the girl who was supposed to be dating Chade and actually dating Russell, one of your best friends. God, she is such a slut. I think I hate her more than I hate you.”
“Erika,” a pained expression came on Spencer’s face and his eyebrows scrunched together. If Erika wasn’t so mad at him and if he weren’t so bloodied up, she would’ve found him cute. “You’ve got it all wrong. I never had sex with Abbey. I just made out with her once, and that was only because she forced herself on me. Which I know sounds pretty bad on my part because she’s kind of small but still.”
When she stayed quiet, he knew what he had to say next. Feeling shy, Spencer averted his eyes and kicked at the snow slightly before beginning.
“I think I like you too, Erika.” He murmured diffidently. “I…yeah…”
Then it grew silent; the speeding cars from the nearby road were the only sounds that could be heard. Nonetheless, Erika waited and waited but when he failed to say anything else, she spoke.
“That’s it?” she shouted and waved her arms. “That’s all you have to say to me?”
The speech that Spencer had mentally prepared had vanished and he seemed to have lost his ability to say anything. Instead, all he could do was stutter like an idiot.
“Um,” he stammered and felt his cheeks grow red. “I’m, uh, sorry…that I hurt you. And I, uh, well, you know, I just, yeah, uh–”
“Just shut up.” Erika held up a hand to smoothly cut him off.
“What?” Spencer cried out defensively. “What do you want me to say?”
Erika, however, merely shook her head at him before whirling around and nearly whacking him in the face with her hair. She began to walk through the snow with great difficulty, and it wasn’t until she reached the nearby, salted sidewalks that she regained her footing.
She wasn’t sure what she even wanted him to say. But that apology was simply insufficient. After all, she had given him an entire speech and confessed all her feelings for him, and yet he couldn’t offer her anything more than a measly apology and an even measlier profession of his feelings towards her? Even Chade could’ve done a better job than that!
There was only one word that she could think to sum it up and that was unbelievable. It was simply and irrevocably unbelievable.
“Erika!”
She could hear Spencer shouting her name and a feeling of glee shockingly swept through her; she was still furious but she was also delighted. Secretly smiling, she turned around and glared as he ran towards her.
“What?” she made sure to keep her tone bored and curt; she was trying to make a point.
She watched as Spencer titter-tottered on his feet before meeting her eyes and asking in a rather bold voice, “Can I take you out for dinner?”
Again, it wasn’t what Erika had expected, or even wanted, to hear. But somehow, the audacity of his manner and the demanding toning he used had left her feeling satisfied. Moreover, she found out it sweet how sudden and out of the blue it was. Eventually, a smile appeared on her face and she thought about how dinner actually sounded perfect as she was still hungry. But when she checked the time, the smile disappeared as quickly as it had come.
“But Spencer,” she said slowly. “It’s nearing midnight. No restaurants are going to accept us now. I mean we don’t even have reservations. And aren’t most restaurants usually open until one or two o’clock in the morning?”
Spencer blinked several times before he finally frowned.
“What are you talking about?” he asked flatly. “McDonald’s is open twenty-four seven.”
“Oh.”
The disappointment couldn’t have been less concealed from her voice. McDonald’s hadn’t exactly been the conclusion her mind had reached when he’d suggested dinner. In fact, fast food was never her top choice for anything. It was too unhealthy and cheap for her. Yet nevertheless, she found herself nodding her head and the pair began to walk over to the nearby chain.
“You know,” Spencer began as they walked on. Her hand was comfortably nestled in his and even though it was cold outside, he felt a gooey feeling of warmness inside him. Without her critically watching him, he found it much easier to talk.
“I really do like you.” He said. “I mean it. Heck, I’m even glad that I was forced having to be your assistant. And, again, I’m sorry about Abbey. Really, I am. And I swear that nothing serious happened between us. I just–”
“It’s okay.” Erika gently interrupted and turned to him with a smile. In her heels, she was as tall as him and didn’t have to look up. But at seeing his battered up face again, she couldn’t help but say, “You look really bad. Are you sure you don’t want to go to the emergency room or something?”
“Nah, I’m fine.” Spencer said with a wave of his hand.
“Really?” she dubiously cocked her head to the side. “I mean, didn’t you say something about your cheekbone being broken? Plus you look really bad.”
Spencer shook his head. “I don’t think it’s broken. I mean, it hurts like hell, especially when I talk or just move my face in general, but that doesn’t mean I broke it, right? Plus it could also be hurting because of my lip, you know?”
Erika ceased their walking and turned to him. Then she leaned forward very gently and pressed her fingertips against his cheek. Immediately, Spencer hissed in pain and took an automatic step back.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the ER?” she asked, biting her lip. “I mean, you don’t look too good and seem to be in a lot of pain. Seriously, you look absolutely awful.”
Spencer gritted his teeth. That was about the tenth time that she’d commented on his appearance and it was starting to annoy him. He doubted he really looked that bad; after all, Erika did have a tendency of over exaggerating everything.
“Yes, Erika.” He tried not to let his annoyance seep through his voice and ended up replying in a sing-song voice. “I’m positive I’m fine.”
When she still looked concerned, Spencer promised her that he’d go to the walk-in clinic the following day. That seemed to make her feel better so they carried on and, at last, reached their destination.
Those all too familiar golden arches were like a beacon of hope and good fortune to Spencer. He felt as if everything was going to get better; the smell of the restaurant itself was like a calling and sign to him.
Erika, meanwhile, was unaffected by the smell of greasy, high-calorie foods and instead she was shocked at how crowded it was. She couldn’t believe how a good deal of the seats was taken and the sight of that long queue was alarming.
“Look at all these people!” she gasped; her distaste was laced in her tone. She had wanted to go off to someplace that had a nice atmosphere and more privacy, maybe even with a cozy fireplace, not a place in which she was blinded by the fluorescent lights and nauseated by the smells and crowds.
“You don’t come here often, do you?” Spencer asked with a smile. “It gets really crowded around this time. Just don’t talk or look at anyone. Most of these people are drunk.”
“Okay.” She muttered and edged closer to him. She surreptitiously glanced at the people surrounding them and tried not to wrinkle her nose at some of the customers as they stood in line.
“Erika, what are you doing?” Spencer asked dryly after glancing down at her.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re like…” he struggled to think of the right word to explain things with and finally decided on, “Glaring at people.”
“What? No I’m not.”
He was about to further elaborate his standings but the man who was standing in front of them glanced back them and obnoxiously cried out, “Whoa what happened to your face?”
Spencer sighed and gritted his teeth; had no one seen a black eye or something? He was about to snap something back until he felt someone tugging at his hand. He looked over to find Erika leaning towards him; she was about to whisper something in his ear.
“How about we first go to the restroom so you can get cleaned up?” she murmured.
Spencer felt shivers run down his spine due to her hot breath blowing at his ear and he could’ve sworn that she was connoting at something.
“Sure.” He agreed eagerly.
Still holding at hands, they walked over to the restroom and after peaking in to find that the ladies room was empty, they both stumbled inside.
After shutting the door bathroom and locking it from the inside, Spencer happened to catch his reflection in the mirror and nearly screamed at the sight that was before him.
“My face!” he gasped as he stared at himself and hesitantly brought a hand up but then dropped it. “Oh, my poor, poor face!”
“I said you looked like shit.” Erika muttered to herself as she perched on the counter. She watched as Spencer, with a horrified expression stamped on his face, leaned closely into the mirror. Slowly reaching up, he gingerly pressed a finger against his cheekbone.
“Oh come on,” Erika said when he didn’t say anything else and instead continued to gape at himself. “It’s okay, it’s not that bad! You said so yourself!”
“Not that bad?” he cried out incredulously. “My eye is bright red! The left side of my face is blowing up and swollen. Oh my god, it’s like all bruised. Not to mention my lip; that’s swelling up as well! My poor face!”
Erika remained quiet as he tried to widely open his jaw and winced at the pain.
“I’m going to kill that bastard!” he was nearly shouting. “Just look at what he did to me! Shit, shit, shit! I think I should go to the ER or something.”
“It’s funny how you were ‘fine’ mere minutes ago.” Erika muttered to herself. Grumbling to herself, she pushed herself off the counter and went into one of the stalls to pull out a wad of toilet paper since there were no paper towels. After wetting it, she began to press it against Spencer’s bottom lip.
“My poor face…” he started to whine again but Erika quickly hushed him. After she was done trying to clean it, she ordered him to rinse his mouth with cold water.
“What if I get an infection?” Spencer wondered when he was done. “Do you have any disinfectant with you? How about band aids?”
Erika threw him a look before sarcastically saying, “Yeah, I carry disinfectants and band aids with me everywhere I go.”
“Really?” at that point, Spencer was willing to believe anything.
“No!”
Sighing again, Spencer turned back to his reflection. He thought of how his mother was to react when she saw him.
“Oh my poor face!” he moaned again. “I really do look like shit!”
Erika made a face and a felt a wave of sympathy flow through her. Offering him a smile, she stepped beside him and joined him in front of the mirror. Even though they both looked terrible in the bright lighting, and Erika’s makeup had evolved into smears of colours, her smile widened.
“Nah, you don’t really look that bad!” she said. “You look rather nice.”
Spencer looked at her dubiously and said, “Really?”
“Yeah, for sure!” she lied. “I mean, you’ve got the whole bad boy look going for you. You know, with all the bruises and blood and stuff. It’s kind of…sexy.”
Through the mirror, even Erika could see how obvious it was that she wasn’t serious and had to bite her tongue to keep from bursting out into laughter.
“Oh, shut up!” he snorted with a roll of his eyes, and playfully shoved her. “Well, I guess there goes my feature in being a face model.”
“You want to be a face model?” Erika laughed.
“Well sure! I mean, I totally have the model-worthy look. Admit it, I’m drop-dead gorgeous!”
Laughing, she shoved him back and rejoined, “Not right now you aren’t!”
Spencer tried to laugh but the pain he felt prevented him from doing so. Instead, he looked back at the mirror and winced, his joking mood having vanished as quickly as it came.
“Do you think I fractured my cheekbone?” he asked worriedly. “I mean, look at how red my eye’s getting. And my face is just bloated! I’m starting to look deformed!”
“I don’t know, probably.” Erika shrugged; suddenly, she felt exhausted. “Maybe you should see a doctor.”
Spencer nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I think I’m going to go to the ER.”
Erika thought about how it was late into the night and how the emergency room was probably going to be crowded. It was naturally guaranteed to have been a long wait and even though they were probably going to end up having to stay there till the early hours of morning, her initial reaction was to go with him. She didn’t even think about not accompanying him and nodded.
“Okay, you should go then.” She said. “Have you got your health card with you?”
Spencer thought about it momentarily before nodding. “Yeah, I have my wallet, and that’s where I keep my health card.”
“Great.” There were no emotions present in her voice. “Let’s go.”
"Wait, you're coming with me?" Spencer asked.
Erika paused was about to open the bathroom door but paused and looked back at him.
"Well, do you want me to come?" she asked; she was almost nervoud to hear his answer and began playing with her hands and fingers.
"Yeah." Spencer replied shyly.
Erika smiled but didn't need to say any words. Instead, they turned around and exited the bathroom.
After quickly purchasing burgers but not eating them, the pair made their way to the bus stop. Wordlessly, they took the seats in the shelter and waited for the bus to arrive. Through the shelter’s windows, they watched how the cars’ headlights became colourful blurs as they passed before them on the busy road, and observed the white snow that was drifting from the sky. The snow looked particularly nice under the streetlights.
“Do you want some?” Erika piped up as she pulled out one of the burgers they’d purchased from the paper bag.
Spencer shook his head. “I don’t think I can eat.”
“Oh.”
Erika shrugged and took a bite out of her burger. It tasted lovely and she turned back to him.
“Are you sure?” she asked in a muffled voice and waved the burger with her hand. “This was your suggestion, you know.”
“I know.” Spencer replied. “But I wasn’t really thinking at the time about whether or not I could actually eat.” He paused for a moment before spitefully saying, “You know, I hate Russell. I expect him to pay my medical bills. I mean, this is just wrong. I will…I will take this to court! I will sue him!”
Rolling her eyes, Erika turned back to her burger and ate the last bits of it. She tried not to let the fact that this was the second burger she was eating that night bother her too much.
“I mean, how am I supposed to eat? Do I need to be hooked up to a syringe or something?” Spencer continued. “Or…what if I have to get a facial reconstruction surgery?”
Erika peeked over at him and tried to smile at how he was overreacting.
“It’s okay.” She replied in what she hoped was a cheery voice. “I doubt that’ll happen. Anyway, here comes the bus.”
Getting up, they both exited the shelter and Spencer, who’d stopped talking, pulled out two bus tickets; he always had a strip of passes in his pocket as that was his typical means of transportation.
When they entered the bus, the stares that they were getting couldn’t have been missed. But Spencer couldn’t blame them. He was well aware that they were quite a sight. After all, he had just gotten the crap beaten out of him while Erika was prancing around in four-inch heels and fancy attires.
Pleased that, because of the time, the bus wasn’t too crowded; they slipped into the blue seats. Spencer let Erika have the window seat since the bus was completely lit up from the inside.
“We don’t have to transfer, do we?” Erika asked in a tired voice.
“No,” Spencer shook his head. “This is one of the mainline routes and it passes the hospital.”
“Okay.” She easily replied and a comfortable silence came between them as the bus began to move.
With his eyes fixed on the seat before him, Spencer went deep into thought. He thought about the girl that was sitting beside him. He thought about how she was really there. She was actually sticking around with him as he went to the hospital for who knew how long. He thought about how she’d visited him on his second day of work, and how she frequently texted him and actually seemed interested in his unenthusiastic replies about his mundane days. He reflected on how, at school, she tagged along with him when he cut class, and treated him to overpriced coffees.
Spencer was feeling a strange feeling in his stomach. It was tense and he felt as if its contents were shifting and lurching about uncomfortably. Yet, at the same time, he felt warm and fuzzy. Despite the fact that he was on his way to the hospital, Spencer felt…happy. For the first time in a long time, Spencer Collins was actually feeling happy and content with his life.
He glanced back over at the girl seated beside him and stared. At that moment, she could hardly have been deemed as pretty. Her skin looked unattractively pasty, she seemed tired, her hair had gotten frizzy and her face was caked with way too much makeup, most of which had been smudged about. But to Spencer, she was simply beautiful and he found himself unwilling to look away as a goofy semi smile came across his face.
“What are you looking at?” Erika asked when her eye caught his. Even though she laughed, Spencer observed how her hands rushed up to her face and hair, an indication that she was feeling self-conscience.
“You,” he replied before truthfully murmuring, “You’re beautiful.”
Erika looked downwards as she blushed. The smile that crawled on her face couldn’t have been avoided. When she looked back up, he was still staring.
“Thanks.” She replied through her smile. “You’re not so bad looking yourself…well under normal circumstances. Anyway, I don’t really know what you’re going on about. My face looks like it was raped by a pack of Skittles.”
“No, I’m being serious.” Spencer insisted. “You’re something else. And thanks for coming with me now.”
It was a seemingly simply compliment but they both knew it wasn’t; it had been artfully laced with double-meanings and connotations.
“Thanks.” Erika repeated and her eyes searched his face.
Still smiling but no longer blushing, Erika became aware of the close proximity between them. His face was mere centimeters away from hers. Moreover, she was viewing the not so tattered up side of his face. She began to inch closer towards him, tilting her head to the side. However, before her lips could reach his, he turned his head and she was met with his cheek instead.
“My lip…” Spencer mumbled in explanation.
Trying not to seem disappointed but understanding his quandary, Erika shifted back to her seat. She gently sighed before carefully leaning towards Spencer and nestling her head into the crook of her his neck. It was a nice and warm; she felt safe and protected.
“Hey Spencer,” she said. “Is this considered to be our first date?”
Spencer snickered at the thought before replying with, “Yeah, I guess it is. I mean I bought you food and everything." He paused before adding, "What a shitty first date.”
“Hmm,” Erika pursed her lips and contemplated what he said. “Well it’s not really that bad. I mean, it’s different and certainly memorable.”
“Oh, it’ll be memorable alright.” Spencer muttered, his negative mood returning, but before he could launch into another speech regarding his feelings for Russell and the state of his ‘poor’ face, Erika began to speak.
“Hey, we should take a picture!” she cried out excitedly. “You know, for future references.”
Under normal circumstances, Spencer would’ve found it rather strange if a girl wanted to take pictures on the first date. It almost seemed as if she was claiming that she was doing so to show at their future wedding. But with Erika, he found himself trying to grin and even smiling as she took the picture. Afterwards, they glanced at the picture and neither of them could’ve prevented the laughs that escaped them.
“Oh my god,” Spencer cried out. “That’s the worst picture ever! We both look so bad.”
“I know! I look like a crack whore while you look like some illegal immigrant who escaped from prison!” Erika laughed. “We’re not showing this to anyone ever!”
Still smiling but aware of their setting, Spencer then pushed the button that indicated their stop and within a minute, they were off the bus and stumbling to the emergency room’s brightly lit entrance.
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Wow, thanks so much for all the comments and votes on the last chapter! I don't normally get so many lol! Maybe you guys could do the same for this chapter? : )
Also, I lied in the last chapter. There's actually two more chapter left after this one! When I started planning it, I realized that it was too long so I'm splitting it up into two.