Winning the World at a Carnival.

Pete and Patrick were invited to stay for a few days, which they accepted. They played through the songs that they had already, a grand total of 4, including the one they worked on the day Spencer changed back and one since then that Ryan had written. The other two were just something that they had worked on maybe as a starter to the album and the other was one that Brendon had written, and they had liked.

Pete was pretty impressed with what they had, but disappointed by the amount of songs they had.

“I would have thought you would have at lest double this guys, you’ve got less than 3 months before you go into the studio.” He told them.

“Yeah, we know.” Ryan said. “We didn’t have that much inspiration really.”

“Well, we had a few more musical ideas, but Ryan didn’t know where to go with the lyrics.” Brendon added.

“Right, so if I come back up here in, say, a month, do you think you could get some more written, Ry?” Pete asked.

“Yeah, I think I could get a few written by then.” Ryan told him.

Later, while Jon and Ryan were trying to stop Brendon and Pete burning dinner, Patrick took Spencer off up to her room.

“Can I talk to you about something, and you need to tell me the truth here, Spencer.” Patrick said as he closed the door.

“It depends on what you’re going to ask me.” Spencer replied.

“Do you like Ryan? And don’t give me the ‘of course I do, he’s my best friend’ bullcrap, you know exactly what I mean.”

Spencer blushed. She wasn’t expecting Patrick to ask that. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, you were practically sitting in his lap all afternoon, you kept staring at him, you smiled every time he called you Spin, and if he gave you a compliment, you blushed.”

“Really?” Spencer asked. She obviously knew that she had been sitting in his lap, but she didn’t realise she had been staring at him that much or that she was blushing at every compliment. And she just liked Ryan’s nickname for her.

“Yeah, you were. Now, answer my question please.”

“I’m straight Patrick.” Spencer replied.

“Bull-”

“Trick, when I say I’m straight, I mean from this body, not when I was a guy.” Spencer interrupted. “When I was a guy, yeah I was gay, but I never said that I was. I was born like this, that means that this is my real body. That means that I’m straight, I’m attracted to guys.” Spencer got up and looked out of the window. “They all thought I was straight in that body, but they just didn’t look close enough, not even Ryan. He’s the only guy I’ve ever liked, but I never went for it, he’s straight so why would he go for a guy?” Spencer looked down at her hands, finally admitting out loud, to someone real, how she really felt about Ryan.

“Are you gonna tell Ryan about how you feel then?” Patrick asked, joining her by the window. “Or are you going to make him guess?”

“I’m not telling him shit.” Spencer told him. “Sorry Trick, but you can’t make me change my mind.”

Patrick shrugged, walking out of the room. He wasn’t a genius, but he knew that Spencer loved Ryan. It was just a matter of getting her to admit her feelings to him, and vice versa. And of course, this all had to be without letting Pete know because he wouldn’t leave them alone until they did.

Patrick didn’t say anything to Ryan about what he and Spencer had discussed for the rest of the time he and Pete were there, but when he got to the airport, to make their way back to Chicago, he text Ryan to talk to Spencer.

Ryan text him back saying that he was going to, and what did Patrick want him to talk to Spencer for? Patrick just text back that he should just talk to her.

Ryan put away his Sidekick, confused as to why Patrick wanted him to talk to Spencer for. But he was planning on talking to Spencer anyway.

“Spin, can I talk to you?” Ryan asked while she was watching Brendon and Jon play Guitar Hero. That’s all they seemed to do when they weren’t rehearsing.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Spencer said, getting up. They walked up to Ryan’s room and he shut the door behind them. They sat on the bed before Ryan started to speak.

“You know I said that I didn’t have that much inspiration?” Ryan asked and Spencer nodded, wanting him to continue. “Well, the last couple of weeks, I’ve had more inspiration than I have the whole time we’ve been up here, hell, since we finished writing Fever.”

“So, me turning back into a woman gave you inspiration to write? What’s the next stage theme then, drag?” Spencer asked, her eyes slightly cold. Ryan looked shocked.

“Oh God no! Spencer, I meant… Well, I’ve got a few more songs written, I haven’t got any music yet, I didn’t want to do it without you guys. But I wanted you to see them first, I wanted to see what you thought of them.” Ryan blushed slightly as he retrieved some sheets of paper from under his pillow. He handed them to Spencer and looked down at his hands, waiting for her to read them.

Spencer looked at the top one, entitled She Had The World. As she read the lyrics, her eyes widened.

“You wrote a song about me?” She asked. Ryan shrugged. “You wrote a song about me.” That time, it wasn’t a question.

“Don’t ask me why, I just, when this all happened… I wrote that one the day you changed.”

“And you think that I don’t want you?” Spencer asked, looking over the lyrics a little further down. Ryan spluttered and blushed.

“Huh?”

Spencer didn’t reply, she just kept reading through the rest of the songs, Things Have Changed, Do You Know What I’m Seeing? and In The Middle Of Summer. Her heart was pumping fast in her chest when she finished reading. She looked up at Ryan, who was watching her. “And all of these are about me?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

“You know something Ry?” She said, turning back to the first song. “I think you don’t have a clue to be honest, do you really think I wouldn’t want you?”

“Well, I, uh, I don’t know, yes, I think-” Spencer put a finger over Ryan’s lips to stop his rambling.

“Cos you’re wrong.” She whispered, looking straight into his eyes.

“What?” Ryan asked.

“So fucking dense Ross.” Spencer put the lyrics down and leant over to kiss Ryan gently. Ryan seemed surprised at first, since he didn’t kiss back. Spencer pulled away and looked at him. His eyes were closed. “Open your fucking eyes.” She whispered. He obeyed her. She stroked his cheek gently, moving closer to his face. “I’ve been in love with you even before this happened.” She whispered her confession. “Since I was 13.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Ryan whispered back.

“Because you’re straight.”

Ryan laughed gently. He held onto Spencer’s hand and pulled her even closer. “You completely sure about that?” He asked before pulling her into a kiss.

Spencer, slightly surprised by Ryan’s confession, didn’t think too much about it, seeing as Ryan was kissing her, and she was kissing him back, and oh God, it felt so damn good.

The two of them were so unaware of anything going on around them that they didn’t hear the door opening and two heads popping in before popping back out again.

Outside, Brendon and Jon grinned at each other. “About time.” Brendon said quietly, Jon nodding his agreement.