To my simultaneous horror and delight Kat, the manager of Gray, was next in line to serve.

“Good evening, Ashley,” she smiled, her eyes quickly glancing over to Spencer.  “I see you’re not alone tonight.”

“This is my friend, Spencer,” I said pointedly.

“Hello Spencer,” Kat winked, “it’s always a pleasure to meet friends of Ashley’s.”

I shot Kat a warning glance before giving a fake smile and placing my order.  Kat moved away to get our drinks and I felt at ease once more. I liked Kat a lot, and she was one of few adults whose advice I could actually trust and wanted to hear.  But she had a way of making me feel ashamed about my ‘habits’ and I didn’t particularly want her to start giving too much away about me to Spencer.  It was one thing having her hear rumours about me in the school quad, but another for her to hear things from people who properly knew me.

“She seems nice,” Spencer smiled innocently, clearly completely unaware of what had just transpired.

“Yeah, she is,” I stated, “she’s kind of a smart ass though.”

“And you’re not?” she winked.

“They say it takes one to know one,” I said cockily.

“Another thing we have in common then,” she grinned, turning her attention to Kat, who had quickly returned with our drinks.  “Thank you… sorry, Ash didn’t tell me your name!?”

I watched Spencer’s profile as she interacted with Kat, noticing the way her expression changed as she spoke, the way she politely smiled as they exchanged pleasantries and how she even seemed to genuinely laugh at whatever joke it was that Kat had told her.  I wasn’t listening to a word either of them said, instead my eyes traced every line and contour of Spencer’s face.

“Ash… Ash!” Kat cleared her throat, suddenly snapping my attention by to reality.

“Ash, pay the nice lady,” Spencer laughed.

“Sorry, I was just – ”

“Daydreaming?” Kat asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Something like that,” I said quickly, pulling a note from my purse and handing it over the bar.

“Good to see you Ashley,” Kat smiled, handing my change to me, “and a pleasure to meet you, Spencer.”

“And you,” Spence smiled, grabbing two of the three drinks from the bar and turning to walk away.

“See you later, Kat,” I smiled.

“I like her,” Kat said as I left, her eyes watching Spencer gradually walk away, “she seems nicer than the others.”

“It’s not like that,” I informed her, “but thank you, she’s cool.”

I turned to see Spencer looking towards me expectantly, waiting for me to follow her to the table where Madison still sat with Aiden.  I took a deep breath and slowly followed, praying to God to give me the patience to not kill anyone, ‘anyone’ being Madison.