Chapter 15

Spencer woke up early to the smell of blueberry pancakes. She inhaled the sweet scent and kept her eyes closed for a few more seconds basking in the sweetness. She finally managed to pulled her naked body out of her bed. She never slept with clothes, she found it much more comfortable to sleep in the nude. Something she inherited from her mother. She mistakenly crawled into her mother’s bed one night right after her father moved out. She giggled at the memory of her and her mother’s reactions when she snuggled into her mother’s naked body. She immediately jumped out of the bed, and has never tried to sleep in her mother’s bed again. She put on a pair of baggy sweats and an arie tank top she’d bought at American Eagle. She climbed the stairs and saw her mother flipping pancakes.

“Hey mom.”

“Hey baby. Hungry?”

“Starving. Those smell amazing.”

“Thank you.”

“When did you find time to go grocery shopping?”

“This morning when your sleepy butt didn’t wake up when I called for you to come with me.”

“I’m sorry. What time is it anyways?”

“Noon.”

“What!?”

Spencer looked at the clock on the microwave. Quarter after to be exact.

“Last night must’ve been more draining than I though.”

“Yah, I know how you feel.”

Spencer took a seat at the table. She put her head on her fist.

“How did you sleep last night mom?”

“Not very good, how about you?”

Spencer giggled.

“Like a rock actually.”

“Figures.”

“Yah, so what do you want to do today?”

“Well, actually we need to get you enrolled at King High.”

“Ugh Mom. Can’t we just do the online school? Home school?”

“Sweetie no. You need the social experience. Maybe Ashley goes there?”

“Oh that’d be just fantastic, so she can insult you some more.”

“Ashley I really don’t think she was intentionally insulting me.”

“So what you are really saying is that Bette was talking shit about you?”

“Spence. This is a very sticky situation. No, I don’t think Bette would talk bad about me, just as I have not her, but I do think Bette may have told her the story, and Ashley had taken what she would from it.”

“Whatever Mom, but if she does go to my school, and she’s say one thing about you, I swear to God I will knock the daylights out of her!”

“Spencer, there is no need for violence. But thank you.”

“No problem. So are those pancakes almost done? I’m hungry.”

“Yah actually just finished.”

Tina handed Spencer a plate with two perfectly shaped heart pancakes. She smiled at the plate. Her mother always did small things like smiley eggs, heart pancakes, crustless peanut-butter and jelly. Things that made her love her more. She pulled the syrup out of the fridge and began to dig in. Tina smiled at her daughter as she pulled out the news paper, sipped her coffee, and began to read. She opened up straight to the Art && Literature page to find Bette, none the less, standing in front of a gallery smiling proudly. It didn’t surprise Tina to see Bette in the paper. She always bought the L.A. Times and found Bette in there often. She ran her index finger over the picture and smiled. Bette was so beautiful. It took her breath away momentarily. She never changed. Her eyes were still the dark beautiful orbs she’d been lost in so many times. She closed the paper and walked to her bedroom. She cut the picture out and put it in a shoe box with the hundreds of others she’d cut out of the paper.

“Bette Porter. I love you.”

She whispered as she shut the box and pushed it under her bed. Little did she know Spencer was standing at the thresh hold of the door.

“Mom if you love her, go… get… her!”

Tina wiped a tear away.

“I just wanted her to come after me, and she never did.”