The Rugged Road/Episode 2

Morning After is the second episode of The Rugged Road.

Episode
Spencer wakes up to the bright light streaming in through the window, covered by a light, yellow and green blanket. As her eyes focused, she could see clothes strewn across the floor and her boyfriend, Corey, sleeping on the recliner chair with only his boxer shorts on.

Spencer gets up, wrapping the blanket around her body as she realizes that all of her clothes are on the floor. She wraps it like a towel and rubs her eyes, stretching out her arms and letting out a very loud yawn. She sits there for a few moments, watching Corey wriggle slightly in his seat, stirring awake.

"Good morning." Spencer smiles over to him as his eyes flutter open.

"Oh shit." He murmurs, rubbing his eyes and sitting up slightly using his elbows as support. "Have you been here all night?" He asks, his eyebrows furrow.

"Does it look like I popped around for  a visit?" Spencer replies sarcastically, grabbing at her clothes and beginning to slip them on while still wearing the blanket around her. Corey casually watches as she dresses herself, removing the blanket to quickly hook her bra on.

"Are you leaving?" He asks lazily, tightly blinking his eyes together as a headache hit him.

"What? Did you think I was staying?" She smiles at him as she picks up her phone.

"I was hoping we could spend the day together." Corey suggests, swinging his legs off the recliner and standing.

"Shit!" Spencer exclaims, looking down at her phone to see twenty missed calls from her mother. "Yeah, sorry, I just really have to get home." She puts the phone into her bag and heads towards Corey, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tight, giving him a small kiss on the lips before separating. "I'll call you later, okay?" She smiles, her head slightly tilted.

"Deal." Corey gives a small wave, smiling at her as the corner of his eyes crinkle. She opens the front door and quickly exits, shutting it behind her. Spencer walks down the sidewalk, fixing her hair and giving one last wave through the window towards him.

Corey plops down on the sofa, rubbing his head roughly as he dozes off again.

"Rise and shine!" A bright, chirpy voice sang, hovering over Seth's head. He murmured something as he opened his eyes. Noticing his mother inches away from his head.

"Jesus. Mom. What is it? What time is it?" He groaned, his voice croaky.

"It's midday, sweet heart, How was the party?"

"I'm still in bed at 12, does that answer your question?" He rolls over in his bed, grabbing his pillow and folding it over his head. "Let me sleep."

"Did your friends have a good time?"

"Mom..."

"Okay, okay. I want to know everything when you wake up!" She left the room, closing the door behind her and heading down to the living room at the end of the hallway. A few minutes later, Seth's phone buzzed on the floor. He weakly rolled over and put his hand down to find it, feeling about the carpet before he came across the phone and picked it up. The bright screen practically blinded him as he opened the incoming Snapchat.

It was a selfie of Andrew, naked from the waist up with the caption "Wish you were here my love." Seth rolled his eyes as memories of last night came flooding into his head. He had kissed and held hands with Andrew. Spencer had always told him he was the weird drunk and he had just proved her right. He replied with the back camera facing the wall and his middle finger in the middle, sending it without any caption. He then put the phone down and fell back asleep.

"I'm telling you, they where out of their minds! Seth almost fell out of the car!" Penny laughed, sharing her stories about the party with her dad, Jems.

"That's incredible." He laughed before Penny continued her story.

"Yeah, remember that Sarah girl? The one who is a real bitch!" She curses, her father's eyebrows raising before nodding and letting her continue. "Well, she was wearing this ugly... And I mean really ugly dress. It was like she was getting married to her disgusting boyfriend, Ben."

"You really hate this girl."

"You know what she does, she has an ugly heart"

Another man, Marcus, came walking through the kitchen door, carrying a small brown bag and placing it on the kitchen counter.

"Good afternoon." Penny smiled at him as he circled around the table, planting a kiss on Penny's head and sitting beside Jems, giving him a kiss on the lips.

"I hear you had a fun night. I ran into Mrs. Blair at the post office. Apparently Spencer didn't come home until this morning." He gossiped.

"Yeah, I walked home with her but I left before she did. I guessed she would have went with Corey right to his house."

"Oh, so she slept over with a boy?" Marcus gasped dramatically.

"I wonder if they..." Jems playfully nudged Penny's arm.

"Oh my god! Don't even make me think about that!" She exclaims, getting up and rummaging through the paper bag and pulling out a donut, smiling happily as she sunk her teeth into it. Jems and Marcus quietly laughing to themselves.

Spencer stood in front of her mother as she tapped her foot impatiently on the floor. Just moments ago she had wandered in from spending the night, unplanned, at Corey's house.

"Nothing happened." She repeated.

"Nonsense!" Her mother replied quickly, louder.

"I don't know what you want me to say. I'm sorry that I didn't call. I was exhausted, I thought you wouldn't mind." She grumbles, leaning herself against the stair's railings.

"Well, I was worried! I was up all night waiting for you!"

"No you weren't." Spencer rolled her eyes.

"Well. I don't want you going out until graduation." Her mother declared.

"Mom?! You have got to be kidding me." Spencer practically screamed, throwing her hands in the air.

"Those are my orders."

"I'm an adult!" Spencer screamed, making her way up the stairs towards her bedroom.

"Not while you're in my house!"

Spencer groaned loudly, before she slammed her door she yelled down to her mother, "It's dad's house!" She slammed the door and angrily pushed the lock closed, her head slightly sore as she sat at her desk.

Penny looked at her watch as she skipped down the sidewalk, 2:37 pm. The day was bright and sunny and she had decided to head down to the local Starbucks. She opened her phone, messaging Corey, Andrew, Seth and Spencer to join her, before slipping it back into her pocket and entering the store. It was empty, unusual for a Saturday afternoon. Although most of the customers that enter are Seniors.

"Everyone in bed with a headache today, Pen?" The cashier asked as she approached.

"Hi Robby. Probably, it was quite a night."

"What makes you so different?"

"I can handle a tiny hang over, everyone is so over dramatic." Penny smiled, Robby grinned at her, letting out a small laugh.

"What can I get you?"

"Just an iced tea, please!" She smiled politely, checking her phone as it buzzed.

I'll be right there - Spencer

She smiled down at her phone as she went to find a seat, sitting down in the corner by the window. She snuggled up, pulling her feet and tucking them on the seat by her bottom, she drew a smiley face on the condensation window and awaited her friends and most importantly, her tea.

Spencer pulled her sweater over her head as she dialed Corey's number into Facetime, hitting call as she pulled on her jeans. Corey's face appeared on the phone.

"Hello..." He said groggily, sitting on the bed as the sound of the TV could be heard nearby.

"Ssh... My mom wont let me out, but you have to come down to Starbucks with me and Penny" She slightly whispered, making sure her door was closed during the middle of her sentence.

"Do I have to?!" He groaned, rolling off his bed and standing up, clearly adjusting his hair in the mirror as Spencer continued.

"Yup! We have something very important to discuss, get Andrew and Seth and DON'T be late!" She smiled sweetly as her words came off as threateningly, abruptly ending the call as Corey was about to protest.

Spencer shoved her phone into her pocket and unlocked her door, tip toeing down stairs, she noticed her mother sitting in the living room watching television. She jumped off the second last step and announced loudly.

"I'm going out!! See you soon!" She quickly rushed the door open and skipped down the road before her mother even had time to stop her, she was down the street and already out of sight. Today was going to be good.

Penny rubbed away the condensation on the window to look outside, noticing her friend Corey heading towards her. She waved sweetly as he grinned at her, waving back. He entered and almost staggered over a chair, slipping into the booth opposite Penny.

"Hey!" She grins, taking a sip through her straw of her tea.

"Hey. I need something fucking strong to get me through this day."

"I'll get you some coffee." Penny smiled, pulling her sweater sleeves over her hands as she approached Robby once again to order something. Corey relaxed back and tried to concentrate on something other than the slight ache in his head. Before he fell asleep in the chair Penny came running back, putting the coffee in front of him on the table.

"It's really strong." She commented, he stirred it slightly and took the cup in his hands, slowly taking sips from it.

The door opened, sending a small chill into the shop as Spencer ran inside, her face red. "Hey guys!" She grinned widely.

Corey, Spencer, Andrew, Seth and Penny sat at a diner-like table, all sipping at either coffee or tea. Corey looks over at Spencer constantly, slyly grinning at her.

"Did y'all have sex?" Andrew asks abruptly causing Penny to almost choke on her tea. Seth sends him a weird glare. "What? It's just a question that we all know the answer too."

"Shut up!" Spencer laughed, kicking Andrew under the table. "Let's talk about that thing we want to do!"

"What thing?" Seth questions, pushing his hair back.

"The road trip thing!" Penny smiles. "We should do it."

"It'll be fun!" Spencer adds.

"Y'all women are weird." Andrew says.

"It does sound real fun though."

"Well then let's DO IT!" Corey yelled over enthusiastically, an old couple from across the shop staring back at him. He smiled politely and waved before sulking back down into his chair.

"Right after graduation. We have no time to loose!!" Spencer declared, her phone buzzing rapidly. She checked it and realized it was her mother. "I have to go y'all. But you all know what's going down! I'll see y'all at graduation, I have to get back before my mom kills me." She quickly got herself out of the shop, saying goodbye to everyone before heading home.

"Well. Then it's settled. I guess." Andrew muttered.

=Credits= Austin Amelio as Corey Crawford

Emily Kinney as Penny Fox

Hayley Kiyoko as Spencer Blair

Frank Dillane as Andrew Dunlop

Tyler Blackburn as Seth Keane

John Goodman as Jack Blair (No lines)

Eva Longoria as Sofeia Blair

Paget Brewster as Jemma Kaene Manu Bennett as Marcus Fox Oscar Isaac as Jems Fox Dylan Minnette as Robby

Trivia

 * First appearance of Jemma Kaene
 * First appearance of Marcus Fox
 * First appearance of Jems Fox
 * First appearance of Robby