A Particular Needle

The next day was the party, as planned. My mom spent all morning decorating the house. My dad had work, but promised he'd get off early so he could be here. Darn right, he planned this party, he was going to keep it running.

Taylor had slept over, like usual. I wasn't exactly sure of the entire guest list, but Taylor had called them all last night. Some were left a voice message. I had made her promise not to let my mom invite Blake, no matter how hard she tried. Taylor said she'd do her best and I just hope her best is good enough.

The only thing I had to do was get ready. The party started at seven, so I had lots of time. I stayed in bed until eleven, because Taylor had decided I needed to get up. She had woken up at seven to help my mom decorate. My mom woke up at seven because that was just part of her regular routine.

I followed Taylor downstairs, where she had said my mom made me scrambled eggs for breakfast. My favourite. I looked around as I made my way to the dining room, the house looked really good.

When I reached the kitchen, I saw my mother stirring something in a huge bowl.

"Whatcha doing?" I asked her as I sat down on the stool in front of my breakfast.

"Making a huge cake," she replied. She turned around and looked me. "Like I'm talking huge."

I laughed. "Sounds great, Mom. Thanks for the breakfast."

"No problem, I thought you'd enjoy some of your mom's home cooking before you go to Philly."

I ate slowly as I examined my mom. She turned into a whole new person over night. I don't know what made her change, but the old Pauline would have never used the term "Philly."

When I finished, my mom took my plate up from in front of me. Something that usually never happened. I didn't question her, though.

I headed into the living room to sit with Taylor. She was on the phone with someone.

"Yeah, okay...Yes I know...Please...Oh come on...Yeah...No...Fine..." Taylor went on for a few minutes, arguing back and forth with the person on the other end.

Taylor hung up and placed the phone on the coffee table with a sigh.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Spencer," she told me. "He's coming tonight."

"Good!" I exclaimed gleefully. "I miss him."

"Yeah, take it easy," she warned me. "He's...well, angry."

"Should I go see him before?"

"No, just talk to him tonight. And be nice."

I smirked at her. "Obviously I'm going to be nice, I was just having an off day, okay?"

"Yeah," Taylor mumbled.

I grabbed the phone off the table.

"What are you doing?" Taylor asked.

"Calling Spencer."

"Give me the phone, now."

"Nope."

Taylor attacked me and grabbed the phone. I kept a tight hold though and we pulled back and forth.Taylor finally managed to wrangle the phone out of my grasp.

"You aren't talking to him until tonight," she made it clear. "If you say something over the phone and screw this up even more, he won't come tonight."

"Taylor," I groaned. "I miss him!"

"Well unmiss him, because you're not talking to him until tonight."

*****

I walked down the stairs in my purple strapless dress. It was loose at the bottom. I spun my hair up into a complex bun. The music was loud, but not too loud. Everyone smiled at me and wished me luck as I walked through the crowd, trying to find Taylor. I went through the kitchen and ran into my mother.

"Hey Sweetie, having fun?" she asked.

"Yeah, this party is great," I approved.

I noticed the three layer cake sitting on the counter with pink frosting, but was too shocked to say anything.

"Your father is out in the backyard," my mom told me. "You should tell him that."

"I will," I laughed. "Have you seen Taylor?"

My mom nodded. "Yeah, she should be by the front door."

I headed to the front of the house, saying hi to people and have little chit chats on the way. There was a lot of people here, basically every one I've ever known in Quantico.

"Hey Tay," I said as I approached her. "Is Spencer here yet?"

Taylor shook her head. "Um, V...I...I'm not sure he's coming."

I managed to keep my mouth closed and face emotionless. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't cry at my own goodbye party. I had be happy and lifelike, even though I could feel every inch of happiness dripping out of me. Before I could even think, I left the house, grabbing my dad's keys from the rack.

"Venus! Where are you going?!" she yelled out after me. "It's pouring rain, for crying out loud!"

I jumped in my dad's car and drove off. I was going too fast in the rain, and I knew I should be cautious, but I needed to get to Spencer's apartment now. He had instructed me on how to get there last time I went, since I was driving, so I tried to pull those directions back up to the front of my mind.

I parked the car and ran towards the building where I continuously pushed the buzzer for Spencer to let me in. I knew he was sitting up there, listening to the buzzing noise coming from his phone and ignoring it. I gave up and pushed another button.

"Hello?" an unfamiliar voice rang through the line.

"Hello ma'am, I'm trying to get inside so I can go to my boyfriend's apartment and tell him I'm extremely sorry for everything I said, and that I don't want to leave Virginia without making this right. God damn it, I messed it all up, and now he's ignoring me, and I'm soaking wet because I ran through the storm outside, and my new dress is ruined," I sobbed.

Somewhere in my sentence I had forgotten I was talking to a complete stranger.

"Oh okay darling," the lady cooed sympathetically.

She pressed the button and let me inside.

I rushed into the elevator. People were staying out of my way because they didn't want to get wet. I didn't blame them, I was freezing. This building had the air conditioning turned up way too high.

"Spencer, please open the door!" I begged as I knocked.

After a few minutes of waiting, he finally opened it. He stood in front of me, dressed like he had just gotten off work. I stood in front of him, dripping wet and hair a matted mess.

"Hey Spence," I muttered.

"What...um...what are you doing here?"

"I don't want to leave Virginia without saying goodbye to you," I told him. "And I just... I'm sorry."

Spencer opened the door a little bit more. "I'm just scared I'm going to mess this up. That's it."

"Oh," I said. "Well, I just thought you should know I'm sorry. I should probably be heading back to my party now," I laughed nervously.

"Would you like to come inside?"

I smiled and shrugged noticeably. "Sure."

Spencer smiled and I never realized how much I loved his smile until now. I don't think I could go to Philadelphia if I hadn't seen his smile one more time.