Strangers [COMPLETE]

Chapter 14: The Morning After

Spencer woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and the taste of alcohol in her mouth. So this is what a hangover feels like. Trying not to throw up everywhere, she looked around and realized that she didn't know where she was. Suddenly, all the memories from the night before came back to her and hit her like a truck. How she climbed into the taxi with James and let him take her panties off. How she followed him into his apartment without hesitating and had sex with him.

She cheated on Toby.

A loud, quick snore came from the man from the club, James, whom was laying asleep beside her. She couldn't believe herself. How could she have allowed herself to do this? How could she be so stupid?

She had sex with him. That was something she hadn't done in nearly five years. That was something she had been saving for Toby. It was something they had talked about, and agreed that they wanted it to be special and mean something. She even planned it out: he'd take her on a nice, romantic dinner as soon as he came home from deployment, and they'd go back to his apartment and make love. Instead, she wasted that, and had sex with a complete stranger, after being intoxicated with multiple kinds of drinks. And just like that, the beautiful plan she had with Toby disappeared.

She completely betrayed him. What would he do if he found out? He would be so heartbroken. He would probably cry. Outside of the uniform, Toby was a very sensitive person. She had never actually seen him cry before, but she knew that he was sensitive. Spencer wondered if Toby would ever be able to forgive her for this.

Spencer quickly found her clothing from the night before, and gathered them in a small pile. James was still asleep, so she found one of his shirts, which reeked of cologne, and a pair of his jeans and put them on. There was absolutely no way that Spencer would walk around the town in her dress from last night. She didn't want to make it seem like she was going on the walk of shame, even though she was.

Quickly and quietly scribbling down a fake name and a fake number, Spencer grabbed her things and rushed out of the apartment without stopping. A taxi stopped for her, and she asked the driver to take her to her apartment. She was thankful the taxi driver wasn't the same driver from the previous night.

Spencer was somewhat glad she decided to leave her phone at home. She would've lost it, or worse, she would've given James her actual number. She couldn't allow that to happen.

Shame and guilt hit Spencer like a rock. Toby would be devastated. How could she just betray him like this? It had only been three weeks without him. It would seem like she didn't care about him. She did care about him, but she just made a stupid mistake. It reminded her of the time when she told her parents that she was pregnant with Isaac. Mark was holding onto her hand, ready for the argument they knew was going to happen. Mark had just come out to Spencer, and she was three months pregnant, and had just turned eighteen. Mark had gotten his first tattoo, a variety of intricate drawings on his forearm. It was the first of many tattoos. She decided to tell her parents then, before it was too obvious.

They yelled at her. They were frightened, and they almost kicked her out of the house. They said that Spencer had sinned. Conceiving a child without being married was the worst possible crime in her parents' eyes. It wasn't until that night, when Spencer was packing her things, that they apologized and promised to help her. To this day, Spencer didn't know what caused their change of heart. When Isaac was born, both Peter and Veronica Hastings were there.

Spencer hoped that Toby would somehow forgive her. But she felt like she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve to be forgiven.When the taxi arrived at Spencer's apartment, she paid the driver and quickly made her way to her door. She was rushing to check her phone to see if she had received any messages from Mark or Toby. Instead, she had received about thirteen missed calls from the same number. She automatically freaked out, knowing for sure that it must've been Toby. However, the number came from Connecticut. She called the number, wondering who in the world had called her thirteen times.

"Hartford Hospital, this is Jackie." a woman's voice said on the other line. Spencer almost didn't respond. Why was a hospital calling her? She immediately thought about Isaac. What if her little boy had gotten hurt? If Isaac had broken a bone, or had an allergic reaction, she'd be devastated. She couldn't live with herself, especially after what had happened last night.

"Hi, I received several calls from you within the last few hours. Is everything alright?" Her voice cracked slightly. She hoped the woman wouldn't notice. She needed to seem as nonchalant as possible.

There was a pause. "Is this Spencer Hastings calling?" she asked. There was suddenly some traces of worry or fear in her voice. They were expecting her. Something was wrong.

"Yes, this is." Spencer responded. Why was a hospital so eager to contact her? Was there an appointment she had forgotten? Was it Isaac? Mark? Her parents?

"You're listed as the emergency contact for a Mr. Toby Cavanaugh. Do you know him?" The woman's voice asked. Toby?

Spencer's heart stopped and fell to the pit of her stomach. "Yes, he's my boyfriend." She said. Although, he may not be after he finds out about what happened between Spencer and James last night.

"I'm sorry, Miss Hastings. Toby Cavanaugh was emitted into our hospital yesterday morning. He was the only survivor of a military plane crash in Syria. He's in a coma as of now."