“I hate to point out the obvious...” Ashley starts, trying to break the awkward silence that has now filled her car. Neither of us have said a word since we left my parent's house. I don't really know what to say anymore. “Clay's um... well he's not...he's not really the same--”

“He's adopted.” I chuckle a little as she stumbles over her words. Probably trying to find the right words to not sound like a complete asshole. “We took him in when I was four.” I add.

“Ah!” She nods. “Okay. I was wondering there for a sec.” She adds with a chuckle.

“Paula?” I turn and question with a raised brow. “Nah.” I shake my head. “She'd never do that to my dad. She's as clean as they come.”

“That's cool.” She nods, keeping her eyes trained on the road. “Faithfulness in a relationship is important.” She adds after a moment. I turn to look at her and I can see she's mentally berating herself.

“It is.” I assure her. Because I do believe in being with one person when you're with someone. I would never...before Ashley the thought would have never crossed my mind to do any of the things I've been thinking. Lexy is my absolute best friend and I would never want to hurt her. Especially not in that way.

“So where exactly are we going?” Ashley chances a glance in my direction.

I pop up my shoulders once before saying, “No clue.” She laughs and I smirk proud of myself. Then I feel a wave a guilt wash over me.

I shouldn’t be happy that I make her smile and laugh, or the fact that my mother loves her. These should not be things I want.

But they are.

I sigh quietly and busy myself with my camera as I check the memory card. I faintly hear Ashley turn up the radio. Katy Perry's California girls leaking out through the speakers. I check my camera to make sure everything is how I want it. I easily get lost as I fuss over the buttons. I snap my head up as I hear Ashley chuckling to herself.

“What’s so funny?” I ask with a raised brow. Her smile widens.

“You. I’ve been calling you for like ten minutes now and nothing.”

I smile, embarrassed as I feel my cheeks get hot. I place my camera in my lap and slouch a little in my seat, as Ashley aimlessly drives around. I sigh, taking in the familiar streets. It feels really good to be home, I think as I stare out the window, when suddenly a thought dawns on me.

“Take a right at the next block.” I say, sitting up in my seat.

“Ugh finally, I was about to say...” She pauses and turns to me. “Gas ain’t cheap, Spencer.”

I smile and shake my head before giving her instructions on where to go. I'm faintly aware that the further we go, the more skeptical she’s getting. We're in the suburbs now and the houses are getting bigger and bigger and with big houses, come big backyards. The bigger the house the more obnoxiously huge the backyard is likely to be.

“Spencer where the hell are we going?” She sounds a little nervous. It’s cute.

“Trust me.” She gives me a wary look and I flash a toothy smile. I hear sigh and drive on. “Okay, pull up over there.” I point just ahead of us. She does so without hesitation.

Hmmm I like a girl who can take direction.

I immediately shake those thoughts from my head.

Lexy’s girlfriend Spencer!

I really wish my brain would shut up sometimes.

Yes, yes I know.

Me and my stupid morals.

We get out of the car and Ashley easily follows me.

“So where are we exactly?”

“You know you ask a lot of questions.” I say as I hold the camera up and take a couple of random shots to focus the lens.

“Well, I just need to make sure you’re not trying to you know...” She says looking around, kicking up a little dirt with her left foot. “...kidnap me or something.” She finishes.

I chuckle inwardly as I turn back to her and say, “Nah, I’m planning on doing that sometime next week.” She laughs as I continue to try and get the right optic for my liking. The light is good today. The clicking with every shot that’s taken is like music to my ears.

As we're walking down the street I finally remove my camera from my face to scope out a good location. I point towards a house that's the farthest from us and pick up a slight jog holding my camera firmly in my hand because if I dropped this I would die.

No, I’m serious my heart would stop and I would drop dead right here on this pavement.

Ashley jogs alongside of me as we head to a destination unknown to her. She’s such a trooper, just following my lead even though she has no clue what I have in mind. I stop in front of the house and take a look around the quiet neighborhood. It’s late afternoon on a Sunday, there's a good chance no one will be home.

Probably...

Maybe...

“Do you know the people that live here?” She asks as her eyes are scan the large house.

“Nope.” I say easily.

Her eyes snap towards me. “Then what are we doing here?”

I don’t bother to answer as I look on both sides of the street and dart up the front lawn. I smirk as I hear her hiss my name. I run towards the side of the house where the chain link fence is hidden by tall trees to add to the privacy and the décor. I hear footsteps quickly approaching and feel the chains rattle a little as Ashley crashes against the trees.

I hang my camera around my neck and get ready to climb.

“Spencer what the hell are you doing?!”

“Scouting...” I reply. “Duh.” I add quickly. I settle between two of the trees and place my foot in one of the holes of the fence. I feel Ashley grab the back of my shirt.

“We are not doing this you hear me?” She looks panicked. It’s a little funny. I watch as her eyes dance around making sure no one is around. No one is. This place is dead. A car has yet to pass by, no one is outside, and I haven’t seen any movement inside this house…at least not yet.

“Come on Ashley! Where’s your sense of adventure?” I hoist myself up and fasten my other foot in the fence. I look out from behind the tree and see Ashley running a nervous hand through her hair.

“Are you high?!” She asks in a harsh whisper.

I’m maintaining the same volume. I have no clue why she’s whispering. We’re not pulling off a heist here.

“Only on life.” I giggle and I see her trying not to laugh. She palms her face and breathes out heavily.

I win.

“I can’t believe I’m about to do this.” See told you.

She moves between the other set of trees and I feel her grab the fence. We both start to climb, the bristles of the trees are soft enough that they're not leaving any scratches on our skin.

“What if they have a dog or something?” I hear her ask through a chuckle.

“If they do have a dog.” I turn my head slightly to look at her. “I hope we don’t land on it and kill it because it’s probably the size of a rat.” I say and she chuckles even more. “You know what they say, 'the bigger the house, the smaller the dog.'” I add.

“That's not a saying.” She laughs harder, shaking her head at me.

“Oh.” I reply with a shrug.

“What about surveillance?”

“You’re doing the question thing again.”

“Well you decided to do a break and enter type thing Spencer, so forgive me for not wanting to get arrested.”

I snort at the hilarity of the statement.

“Technically we’re not breaking in anywhere, we’re still outside. So technically this is a break out!” She lets out an annoyed sigh as I turn and catch a glimpse of her face, just as we reach the top of the fence. Our bodies are well hidden by the trees.

Thank you trees.

“Spencer I don’t know about this.” She says as we peer into the backyard.

“What’s life without a little risk?” My blue eyes lock with her brown and suddenly I forget we’re hanging onto a fence about to sneak into someone’s backyard. She licks her lips and I feel my knees weaken a little. I tighten my grasp on the fence so I don’t fall back.

“Safe.” She answers after a moment. Her eyes never leaving mine.

“You say safe I say predictable.” I look back into the yard and smile in amazement. This is exactly what I was looking for. Excited to get a better view I quickly swing my leg onto the other side of the fence and start my decent. I’d jump but my baby is around my neck. I don’t want her to get injured.

I make it all the way to the bottom and look up. Ashley is still on the other side.

“Stop being a chicken Ashley and get your ass over here.”

I stand with both hands on my hips. I hear her sigh and watch as she finally swings over. I can’t help stare at her ass as she climbs down. I quickly avert my eyes, remembering who she belongs to. She jumps the last couple of feet and lands with a thud.

“Now what?” She asks.

“Now we explore.” I walk through the yard as if I’ve been here millions of times before. I walk further into the yard only to turn around and see Ashley tiptoeing. “Really?” I stop walking and say.

She stops and crosses her arms over her chest. “Shut up.” She spits out quickly and stops further into the yard. I take this opportunity to take candid photos of Ashley as she looks around. I catch a great side profile of her and smile as the afternoon light hits her perfectly.

I walk up next to her and stop in our tracks as we take in the vastness of the yard.

“Whoa.” We both say as we look around. There’s a pool to our right, with a surrounding wall above ground made of glass. To our left a sitting area with a brick fire pit, obviously there’s no fire since it’s light out. Behind that another pool, this one lagoon shaped with a Jacuzzi in the middle, a stone path leads throughout the yard and my eyes follow it towards a discreet location.

I’ll have to check that out.

“A trampoline!” Apparently someone isn’t nervous anymore. Yeah that’s Ashley running across the yard to jump on an in ground trampoline. It’s my turn to hiss.

“Ashley get back here!” She’s not listening. “At least do a tuck and roll. Be a bit more stealth.”

I’m looking around to make sure the coast is clear. The act seems pretty useless to do now, since Ashley would have blown our cover with her freak out anyways. I don’t know where anyone is but if no one is coming out of the house after hearing Ashley squeal excitedly as she jumps up and down on that trampoline then no one must be home for real.

What I wouldn’t do for a slow motion super power right now.

Lexy’s girlfriend.

…....

And I’m back.

I walk towards a jumping Ashley and try not to stare. I lift my camera and start snapping shots of her.

“Come on Spence get on this thing.”

“Nope I’m good.” I say as I drop down onto the grass and take more pictures of her jumping.

What?

It’s art!

“Don’t be a Debbie Downer.”

“Says the girl who didn’t even want to sneak in here anyway.”

“What’s life without a little risk?”

She’s quoting me!

I said that!

No fair.

I blush as she winks at me and the grass tickling my legs has become extremely interesting. She stops bouncing and walks towards me. She extends her hand out and I grab it without hesitation. Every time our hands connect it feels like the most natural thing in the world. Like they were meant to connect.

She pulls me up and we’re inches away from each other. I gulp and take a step back. Suddenly I'm finding it hard to breathe.

I remove my hand from her grasp and follow the stone path towards the hidden location I noticed earlier.

I hear Ashley following closely behind me. She clears her throat and I know she’s trying to break the silence but right now I need to not hear her voice. It makes me dizzy. I think she can tell I don’t want to talk at this moment, as she opts to remain quiet.

We follow the path and suddenly it’s as if we’re in a different land. A secret garden with a variety of flowers, fruit trees, and a couple of fountains appears before us. There are two levels with small stone steps to gain access to each.

My eyes dance around the yard as I imagine all the shots I could capture here. I watch Ashley walk up the small steps and I quickly lift up my camera. I instruct her to stop and she freezes in place. I smile behind my Nikon and pull it away from my face.

“Sit on the stairs.” She does as she’s told and she looks bashful as I snap the pictures. The lens snapping is the only sound we here. This place is completely tranquil.

“So why here?” She asks while she stands up and moves around the garden.

“Well it has to do with your band’s name.” I answer as I capture every motion. I capture the way she glides her hand over the water of the fountain, to the way she smells the flows on the nearby bush as she takes an orange from one of the trees. She finds a hammock nearby and she sits down lounging luxuriously.

“Mhm.”

I think she’s waiting for me to continue. I crouch down and keep clicking away.

“Well your band name is Serenity. It’s like escape, there’s not many places like this in LA, at least none that I've seen. I figured I'd find a serene place to capture who you guys really are.” She smiles softly and I don’t hesitate to snap a photo. I stop and let my camera dangle around my neck. I stand up and look around, turning my back to Ashley.

“Okay let me see these pictures.”

I furrow my brows in confusion. “Uh no.” I wrap my arms around my camera as she quickly comes at me. She wraps her arms around me and I wish I could freeze but all I do is melt into her. “Don’t touch it. Don’t touch it!” I squeal as she tries to pry my arms open to grab my camera.

“Come on Spence you have to let me see, these are pictures of me.”

“Just trust my instinct.” Well she doesn't trust my instinct as her arms wrap tighter around me and I fall deeper into her. I’m not fighting anymore. I’ve fallen into a trance, realizing our close proximity. I think she’s realized it too. She’s slowing down her movements and now she’s just holding me.

We’ve both forgotten about the camera and we’re just standing in the middle of this tranquil garden losing ourselves in one another. I hear as she breaths me in deep, the tip of her nose brushing against my cheek as I slowly turn to look at her.

This is the closest we’ve ever been.

I don’t remember who she belongs to anymore.

I just know I want her to belong to me.

The tip of my nose bumps against hers and both our eyes flutter shut. As quickly as they close they open again as my obnoxious phone rings breaking our moment.

Her hands drop from my sides and I answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey Spence how’s it going?” I close my eyes and my heart pangs.

“Hey Lex.” At the sound of her name Ashley quickly backs away and leaves the garden. Suddenly our serene location is polluted with guilt.

“How's the hunt going? Did you guys find a place yet?” Lexy asks, voice full of excitement. The guilt is all too much.

“Uh yeah.” I tell her as I pack walk slowly out of the garden, looking around for Ashley. I don't see her anywhere.

“That's great!” Lexy practically screams.

“Well not really.”

“What?” She questions. “Why not, I don't get it.” She says, confusion evident in her tone.

“Well we kinda broke into someone's back yard. Not really the ideal way to hold a photo shoot but--”

“Wait what?” Lexy questions through chuckles. “How'd you manage to get Ashley to do that? She's terrified of being arrested.” Lexy continues to chuckle. I try my best to laugh along with her, to not let on that everything's not okay right now. I continue to walk out the yard, back to the fence Ashley and I had climbed over to get in. Still no Ashley, so I climb back over.

“I'm not really sure.” I reply.

“Well, that's really something Spence. Ashley hardly ever does anything adventurous. Are you guys about done? I was thinking we could maybe go to a movie and get some dinner when I get off work.”

“Sure.” I tell her as I hop down off the fence. “Sounds good, Lex.” I turn and see Ashley almost at the car.

“Okay.” Lexy replies excitedly. “Well, I gotta get back to work. I'll see you guys later. Tell Ashley about dinner.” She says rushing off the phone. I'm barely able to get out an okay before she hangs up. I walk the distance back to the car, Ashley is already waiting inside. I get in the passenger seat and shut the door. We both sit in the car, not saying a word, not looking at each other. The silence is killing me. “Lexy wants to go to din--”

“What are we doing?” Ashley cuts me off, turning slightly to look at me.

“I don't...” I shake my head and close my eyes. “I don't know.” I finally get out.

“Lexy...” She trails off. She doesn't even have to finish her sentence for me to understand.

“I know.” I nod, opening my eyes to look at her. She obviously is conflicted. I don't want her to feel like she needs to choose. She shakes her head and opens her mouth to speak. “I know.” I tell her again. We stare at each other momentarily before she closes her eyes, sighing as she cranks the car and puts it in drive. She opens her eyes and glances at me one more time, pain obvious in them, as we head back to the house.

Back to her girlfriend.

My best friend...

–

Song Used- Katy Perry- California Girls