Drag Me to the Grave

Spencer's mind began to manipulate his thoughts in ways it never had before. Beth was clearly still in love with Andy. Nothing Spencer did or could do would make her change her mind about him. He was starting to think that maybe him and Beth were destined to be just friends after all.

He sat in the corner of Starbucks, clutching his cup of coffee and watching the rain drops chase each other down the cold glass of the window. The sky was splashed with gray and black clouds loomed overhead. It had been raining for two days straight now. It was as if the weather was a representation of how he'd felt since the day Beth admitted to Emily that she missed Andy.

The bell on the door jingled and he looked up over the rim of his black glasses to see a woman walk in with her hood over her head and drops of rain rolling off her black jacket. She shook a little to get any extra water off her and removed her hood to reveal strikingly pastel purple hair.

She looked around and noticed Spencer sitting in the corner alone. She smiled and walked over to him, placing her bag and phone on the table and removing her jacket and resting it on the back of the wooden chair.

"Let me just grab a latte real quick." She said, "I'll be right back."

He watched her skip over to the bored looking barista and order her latte. As Spencer examined her thoroughly, he noticed she looked frail. She'd gotten thinner but only by a tiny bit. It was barely noticeable to the average onlooker, but Spencer could tell. Her hair didn't look as vibrant and her skin was covered from neck to foot. He had his intuitions that something was going on behind the scenes, but he never dared confront her about it. It wasn't his business anyway.

"Sorry about that." She sat down in front of him and blew gently on her scalding coffee. "So, what did you want to talk about?" She set the latte down on the table and folded her hands in her lap, giving him her full attention.

"Be honest with me, Emily." He said, looking her dead in the eyes. "Is Beth still in love with Andy?"

Emily was quiet; even more quiet than normal. She looked down at her hands still folded in her lap. She took a breath to speak but Spencer continued.

"Am I wasting my time chasing after her?" His voice trembled slightly as his broken heart began to show through his chest.

"Spencer," She began. "I don't know what to say." Emily looked down again. "I can't speak for Beth. I just know that Andy has been that crush she's had forever. It's like your crush on her. The way you feel about Beth is how she feels about Andy. Beth isn't reciprocating your advances just the way Andy isn't reciprocating hers. And... when he does... I honestly feel it's because he's just being that asshole that will show interest just because she is. If Beth didn't have Andy in her life, I don't doubt that she would feel the same way that you do. Andy is just a roadblock. If we can get her to open her eyes and see he's not someone to date, I'm sure you'll get your chance."

Spencer breathed in deeply through his nose, filling his chest with warm air and letting it go slowly. He was beginning to feel better about the whole Beth situation but he still felt like a waste of time and space.

Emily extended a hand towards him and he took it graciously. Her eyes were soft and understanding. She gently squeezed his hand and tried to pull away but he kept a strong grip on her. He just needed the comfort of another person's touch.

He stared at her long sleeve shirt for a very long time before finally speaking up. "Emily, I need to ask you something."

She raised her eyebrows and looked at him. "Okay, anything."

Spencer gulped and continued to stare at her sleeve covered arms. "Has Marcus been hurting you?"

Emily tried to pull her arm away again but Spencer's grip on her hand was too strong. "What?" She replied in disbelief. "Of course not. Marcus loves..."

Spencer reached over and pulled her sleeve up. Covering her arms were dark purple bruises. Spencer looked up at her and shook his head. He stood up, grabbing his coffee, and left Emily alone. The last thing he heard was the sound of his name being called out and the jingle on the top of the door.

Notes

Hope you guys are enjoying this! I'm glad I chose a different direction for the story to go in. I think it's going to work out much better this way for me and will be more enjoyable to read for you guys. Also, I was hoping some of you could maybe offer me reading recommendations? I need something to read on my breaks at work. It can be a fan fic on here or an actual book. It doesn't matter to me. I'm giving you guys the chance to shamelessly promote your own stories or your favorite stories on here! I have hour long breaks when I work a full shift and I usually eat lunch/dinner then but that only takes me like 20 minutes so I need something else to do while on break and I'd love to start reading again. I'm also thinking of transferring some stories onto wattpad just to get a wider range of audience but I'm not sure. I've had issues with people stealing my work on there and I don't like the setup that much. Let me know how successful you guys have been on there for those who use it and I might consider posting some work on there as well! Sorry this has been lengthy. I had a lot on my mind regarding story stuff.

Thanks anathema for commenting on the last chapter!