You're No Good At Lying

There were thirty-eight cracks on the ceiling; nine freckles on Zack’s arm; and the scar that Spencer had gotten on her hand nearly five years ago had faded to nothing more than dark pigmentation.

Spencer didn’t want to move; for fear that Zack would wake up. She wished desperately that she couldn’t have stayed asleep for just a few more minutes so she could savor the moment, but her body refused. And with Zack pressed up against her side with his arm draped over her waist, it was nearly impossible for Spencer to move. Not to mention the fact that under all the twisted blankets and sheets, she was still naked, and at some point after the two of them had fell asleep Jack had wandered back into the room.

No way in hell was Spencer going to risk Jack waking up just as she got out of bed.

With one arm pressed against Zack and the other free, Spencer reached out towards the nightstand and felt around gingerly for her phone. Without much surprise, she was greeted with nearly fifteen new text messages and calls; all from Morgan. She disregarded the calls and began to scan through the texts. At first, he seemed curious and worried as to her whereabouts. By the last couple of messages, he had written in call capital letters and was threatening to tell their mom. With a roll of her eyes, Spencer wrote back that she was fine, and to calm down.

“How long have you been awake?” Zack whispered into her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly and drop her phone on her stomach. Spencer could hear him chuckle, his warm breath tickling her bare skin.

“About half an hour, or so,” she replied just as quietly, eyeing the mass of blankets on the other bed that was Jack.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Questioned Zack as he propped himself up on his elbow. The covers slid down slightly, revealing more of Spencer’s chest than she would have liked. Trying not to be obvious, she carefully pulled the blanket back over her.

“I don’t know, you looked really tired last night, and I wanted to let you sleep.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, well, after what we did last night, most people would be tired.” Spencer blushed, causing Zack to laugh harder.

“Be quiet,” she shushed with a smile, glancing over to see that Jack was stirring. “You’re going to make him wake up.”

“I’m trying really hard to care,” Zack began, leaning over her and beginning to attack the side of her neck with kisses and bites. “But I can’t seem to be able to.” Spencer moaned softly, tangling her fingers in his already messy hair. However, her eyes kept looking over at Jack, until she watched him arise slowly and turn towards them.

“Holy fuck,” he said slowly. “Holy fuck! Stop doing that in front of me!” Zack laughed, detaching his mouth from her neck and looking over at his friend, still hovering above Spencer’s naked body. “Oh great, and you’re not wearing clothes. Fantastic.”

“C’mon man,” Zack said. “You’ve done a lot worse in front of me.”

“I’m going to go vomit now,” Jack stated, standing up and nearly sprinting towards the bathroom. When the lock on the door clicked into place, Zack continued on with what he was doing before. They carried on for a few more minutes, and just as things were about to turn into something more, Spencer’s phone began to vibrate on the table. Zack pulled away from Spencer’s lips, allowing her access to see what had been sent to her.

“’Get back to our room right now, or I swear I’ll never speak to you again,’” Spencer read with a sigh. “It’s from Morgan.”

“Sounds like you should head back,” Zack muttered, nuzzling his nose into the side of Spencer’s neck.

“Yeah, I guess I should,” she responded, sitting up. In silence, Spencer put her clothes from last night back on, and began to gather her things. When she was confident that she had everything she came in with, she approached a still naked Zack. “I’ll come find you later,” Spencer said against his lips. Zack smiled into the kiss.

Walking slowly towards the door, Spencer turned around quickly when Zack called out to her, “Spencer, wait!” She blinked a couple of times, waiting for him to continue. “I love you.”

Spencer was never sure when she was going to be faced with the challenge of saying those three words, and now that the time was staring her right in the face, she wasn’t sure how to handle it. Zack looked so sincere, so trustworthy, that it calmed the shaking and the churning in her stomach. “I love you, too,” she responded softly, and his eyes seemed to light up.

Something about that just felt… right.

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“Where the fuck were you last night!?” Exclaimed Morgan as Spencer reemerged in their room a few minutes later. Andrew walked out of the bathroom in just a towel, his peroxide blonde hair soaking wet. “Wait – were you… did you…” His voice trailed off, examining her clothes and how she was wearing the same thing as the night before.

“I slept in Zack’s room last night,” Spencer clarified, brushing past Andrew so she could rummage through her bag.

“And?” Both Andrew and Morgan asked at the same time, though their tones seemed to suggest very different things. Andrew sounded curious and intrigued, while Morgan just seemed protective and brotherly. Neither were what Spencer wanted to hear at the moment.

“And it’s none of your business,” she said flatly.

Andrew grinned. “Which means you slept with him. Because if you didn’t, you would have just said so and it wouldn’t have been a big deal. But because you don’t want to tell us, it obviously means you slept with him.” Andrew seemed proud of himself, which made Spencer want to rip him to shreds even more.

“The only thing that’s obvious is that you’ve never dated anyone who wasn’t your second cousin,” Spencer spat, visibly catching Andrew off guard. Morgan just chuckled to himself.

“Wha – how… how did you know?” The boy stammered, and Spencer just cocked her head.

“I told you: it’s obvious.” Andrew exhaled in frustration before spinning around and heading back into the bathroom. Morgan looked at his sister, watching her moves carefully.

“Look, Spencer,” he began, choosing his words carefully. “I know you really like Zack, but don’t go crazy, okay? I mean, I don’t want you to totally fall for him, and then just get hurt, alright?”

Spencer glanced up as she began to peel off her heels from the night before. “Where’s this coming from?” She questioned. “You were the one telling me to give Zack a chance, and now you sound like you hate him.”

“It’s not that I hate him,” clarified Morgan, “It’s just that I didn’t expect things to get this serious.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Morgan. I’m nineteen years old – I can handle my own relationships.” Morgan sighed, grabbing his wallet and phone before knocking on the bathroom door.

“Andrew, c’mon, we were supposed to start checking the equipment five minutes ago.”

“Is the bitch gone?” Spencer could hear Andrew whisper, and she rolled her eyes.

“She’s not coming with us,” Morgan reasoned, and Andrew soon emerged from the bathroom. When the two boys left (Morgan in silence, Andrew in a huff) Spencer took the empty room as an opportunity to collect her thoughts and review the previous night. Zack had told her he loved her – and he seemed honest. So why would she give herself any reason not to believe him?

And she didn’t.