"Don’t fuck this up, don’t fuck this up, don’t fuck this up," Ashley chanted to herself.

She had been staring at her reflection for the past half hour…reflecting. A lot had changed over the span of two days and she wanted to make sure that her brain was all caught up. Ashley had enjoyed the irresponsibility that went along with one-night or two-night (depending on how good it was) stands. But things were different now. Now every little decision she made affected the person she cared about most-Spencer.

"Can we handle this?"

Of course, she was referring to herself and her reflection and not herself and Spencer. She had never once doubted that Spencer wasn’t completely competent in a serious relationship. After all, Spencer was the type of girl that you take home to your mother…or your mother’s beach house…or your mother and her fifteenth husband…or the woman your mother pays to clean your house that you like to pretend is actually your REAL mother on occasion.

So no, Spencer was not the problem here. It was Ashley…and she knew it. And she couldn’t help but wonder if her original instincts had been correct. Her first thought was to push Spencer away. You know, spare the poor, sweet girl from being hurt or dissapointed. It was unoriginal-especially for Ashley-but it was the first thing that had crawled into her mind. Of course, this genius plan only led to Spencer being…well, hurt and dissapointed. Great. The next thought was to take the relationship as slowly as possible. However, this plan of action was cut short after Ashley realized that the moment she gave into Spencer she wanted to wake up with her in her bed again. It’s difficult to attempt to take things slow when some of the first words out of your mouth after the make-up is something about spending the night.

"Yeah…exactly," Ashley said aloud.

But she couldn’t blame herself really. She and Spencer were already best friends. Taking things slow when you already have a well-developed friendship requires work…and well, Ashley just wasn’t used to that sort of thing.

Ashley forced her face away from her extremely attractive reflection. Too much analysis can ruin a relationship before it even gets started. Even Ashley knew that and she had taken relationship lessons from a woman who practically kept extra copies of divorce papers in her purse.