Spot Light

Chapter 23

Veronica and Peter stared at the man holding their daughter's waist. Toby's hands were holding on to Spencer like a child holding on to his favorite teddy bear. They looked at each other and slowly stepped away from each other. Spencer smiled at her parents awkwardly.

"Hey, Mom, Dad, how's it going?"

Peter's face turned red, and his eyes burned daggers into Toby's eyes. He turned his gaze over to his daughter.

"Spencer Jill Hastings!" He shouted; "What is this!?"

Spencer hesitated to speak up, "this is the end of my date with Toby."

"Inside now," Peter hissed.

"I'll call you tomorrow, Spencer," Toby said.

He leaned down to kiss Spencer goodnight right in front of her parents. Peter growled underneath his closed mouth when Toby walked away. Spencer looked at her parents before stepping inside. Peter slammed the door behind them and crossed his arms.

"What the hell are you doing with him!?" He yelled. "I thought I told you to stay away from him!"

"He needed my help tonight so, I helped him."

"I know you've been helping him a lot more than just tonight," he said. Peter held up three magazines. Each magazine had a picture of Toby with Spencer doing some good deeds. "I saw these at my firm. How long has this been going on?"

"I've been helping him for about a month."

"You mean after I had told you to stay away from him, you snuck behind our backs and continued to see him! You disobeyed me, Spencer! I think moving to New York will be good for you because as soon as we move, I'm taking away your phone, and you'll never be allowed to see Toby again!"

Spencer's heart fell. She walked after her dad who walked into the living room.

"You can't keep me from seeing Toby."

Peter stepped up to her and said, "you want to bet on that? Starting now, your mother, and I will be keeping an extra eye on you, so you don't try to sneak off to see your friend. We'll hire a private investigator to follow you around if that's what it takes."

"You are getting way out of control with this!" Spencer shouted. "And Toby is not just my friend, he's my boyfriend."

Spencer didn't think her father's face could get any darker, but his face just took on fifty shades of red.

"That's it," he growled. "You are grounded until we move to New York. And just so you don't get any ideas to sneak off to see him every other weekend, I'm hiring a watchdog to keep an eye on you."

"You can higher the FBI to watch me, you could lock me up in my room or a cell. You could ship me off to some place, but nothing and I mean nothing will stop me from seeing Toby!"

"Don't test me, girl!"

"I'm not moving to New York. I'm eighteen you can't control me anymore! Now, I'm not going to stop seeing Toby so forget it."

She grabbed hold of the railing and climbed the stairs to her room. Veronica flinched when she heard her daughter slam her bedroom door. Things are getting way out of hand. It's time Veronica put her foot down and spoke her mind. She took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she's about to do.

Spencer sat up in her room typing on her laptop. She's looking up the video of Toby and her singing this afternoon. It already has five million hits on YouTube. Most of the comments are positive. She thought she would feel uncomfortable with everyone seeing this video of her singing, but surprisingly, she's not. She noticed how happy she looked up on stage with Toby by her side. She couldn't remember ever being that happy before. Veronica knocked on her door. Spencer shut her laptop and sat up in bed. Veronica entered the room and took a seat on the edge of her daughter's bed. They sat silently for a minute.