**OKAY SO I'M BACK YAY. I'm so excited to write this story for you! I hope you like it as much as I'm going too! This is just a little bit of a prologue type thing to make sure you guys kind of know what's going on/to remind you what has happened in the last one and what's been going on since then. So the next chapter will be the official official start to the actual story, you know with like a plot and what not. Don't hate me for anything here, I mean come on now, it's only the start! Okay my lovely readers, ENJOY xx**





“Spencer! Open your gifts!” Emily shouted at me from across the room.

We had all gathered at my apartment for my birthday. The drinks were flowing, the conversation was weird as always, and I was enjoying my 24th birthday. I was so lucky to be able to surround myself with amazing friends and family.

“You have to start with mine.” Josh, my assistant from work who had moved into my company when I launched from Igor’s, smiled.

“Oh god, I can only imagine what this could be.” I rolled my eyes at his enthusiasm.

Since working more in depth and closely with Josh, he had also become friends with everyone else in our group. Everyone loved him, and he loved everyone. I reluctantly took the gift into my lap, slowly opening it. I removed it from the paper, turning it around to look at it.

“Did you make me a scrap book?” I chuckled.

“Just open it up!” he smiled excitedly.

I did as I was told, flipping through the first couple pages, cracking a smile.

“What is it?” Louis asked, craning his neck to see. “Let us have a look!”

“It’s a book full of tabloid clippings!” Josh smiled proudly. “After everything with he who must not be named happened, I thought it would be fun to show Spencer that life was going to be okay. And since she’s in such a great place right now, I figured why not. I searched pretty hard for some of those!”

“Read us some!” Rachel cheered!

"Do I have too?" I whined.

"Read them! Read them! Read them!" Liam started to shout, which caused everyone else to join him.

"Okay fine!" I laughed at my obnoxious friends.


"McMichael back on the market?

Spencer McMichael rules NY fashion week!

Things heat up between Efron and McMichael!

Beaches, Bikinis and Babes: Spencer McMichael and friends take Cabo

Fashion Faceoff: Spencer vs Ella. Spencer slays.

Evolution of Spencer McMichael's career. From intern to fashion mogul.

Designers beware: up and coming McMichael steals the show.

New beau? McMichael seen with mystery man.

Cee Cee McMichael speaks about daughter, Spencer's, new fashion line: "she's good, I like the competition"

Down to earth Spencer McMichael gives back.

McMichael stuns at Met Gala along aside VS angel Emily Reusch.

Spencer McMichael shows serious American pride in sexy flag bikini.

Stock market rises: Spencer McMichael seen dining with supposed stock broker

Style watch: Spencer turns heads in own design

Calling all Brits: Spencer takes business across the pond

Reunions we love! Spencer and the guys of 1D. Spencer, Louis, Niall and Zayn explore the streets of London.

Celebrity bridesmaid! Spencer McMichael serves as bridesmaid for hometown friend.

Wall Street hunk steals the heart of fashion designer, romantic dinners and long walks. McMichael has never looked happier.

London, Paris & NYC. Spencer slowly takes over the world.

Billboard Music Awards: McMichael gowns steal the night.

Most influential woman of the year: Spencer McMichael tells us how she does it.

Confirmed: Spencer McMichael is dating Wall Street tycoon Pete Malone"


"Josh, where did you find all of these?" I smiled, happy with his gift.

"Some of those were hard to track down. But I had some help." He raised his glass towards Emily, then Rachel.

"You guys! I love you so much!" I smiled.

Those were most of the big things that had happened in the 3 years since Harry, I still hated thinking about him, and I had split.

I had expanded my company into England and it was doing so well. I had headquarters in New York and London. I had my own stores all over the world and higher end department stores were still carrying my product. I had developed not only my clothing, but also perfume and handbags at this point. I was overly secure with money and sales, I was my own celebrity now. I was invited to events as Spencer McMichael not as and guest.

Last spring Ana had gotten married and I had the pleasure of being in her wedding. It was the most beautiful and classy event I had ever been too, not that I expected anything less from her.

I had been splitting my time between New York and London, all while developing a new headquarters for Paris. I was truly lucky. Right now, most of my time was being spent in London. My team came with me, to each location. I didn't have teams at every place, it was the same people no matter where we went. I preferred it that way.

As for my friends and family, everyone was doing so well. Emily was now a Victoria Secret Angel. Rachel was happily planning the wedding. Kasi had moved to England with me when she and Tim broke up after 2 years of dating. Lucy and Calum were still going strong, very strong actually. The pair had gotten engaged a little over a month ago. I was over the moon for them, I knew they’d make it. Lucy had developed into an internationally known actress and Calum of course was still touring with 5 Seconds of Summer.

One Direction was on some sort of a touring hiatus, taking a break to catch up to themselves. They had done one more tour after the breakup, also putting out another album. I had a feeling they were planning a new tour and album, but they're lips were sealed.

Liam was excited about the wedding, finally having announced their engagement a year after proposing. He had been guest DJing a lot and keeping himself busy with planning and attending events.

Louis and Emily were still not engaged, and weren't planning on being for a while. Louis was enjoying his down time between London and his hometown with his family.

Niall was still single and still obsessed with food. I don't think he'd ever change honestly. It's not that he wasn't trying to find a girl, he had a couple girlfriends in the past few years, none of them just stuck. I hadn't seen much of Niall lately, seeing he was spending most of his down time in Ireland.

Zayn was Zayn. He, like usual, was still mysterious and a stoner. We were closer than ever now. He stayed at my apartment and vice versa all the time. Many people believed we were more than friends, but we had honestly never even considered crossing that line.

And as for the fifth member of One Direction, well we really didn't talk about him. I hadn't seen him in almost a full year despite always being with his band mates and friends. We spoke only when absolutely necessary. I saw him around at events but avoided him if possible. It wasn't that I hated him or anything, it was just better for myself not to talk to him. For almost an entire year after the breakup, he had tried to mend everything. I wasn't having any of it. It was done. We were done.

My family was doing great as well. Ryanne was a sophomore at UCLA, studying aerospace engineering. My sister was literally studying rocket science. I couldn't handle how smart she was. I had taken her to an event with me, where we ran into none other than George Shelley, the kid who saved me at the bar and one of Harry's friends. They had hit it off and had been seeing each other ever since. It was cool, I guess. She was happy and he was a great kid.

My parents were both amazing. My mom was giving me a run for my money, or should I say I was giving her a run for her money. We had been competing in a friendly manner with us both having lines out now. We didn't really care who did better but it was fun to poke fun at one another. My dad was still just as busy as ever with his practice. He was at the office more hours than not, but everyone was happy.

About a year and a half ago, I met a charming and handsome man named Pete Malone. We met at a charity event in the city and instantly clicked. We had started dating almost immediately. My friends and family loved him almost as much as I did. Things had been going very well for us. I was happy, perhaps the happiest I've ever been. We weren't engaged and I didn't see us being engaged for a long while. Pete is a stock broker on Wall Street and a pretty successful one at that. He's a few years older than me at 33, but it worked somehow. At first, I was worried about the age gap, but none of it mattered. After all, age is really just a number.

I finished opening my gifts receiving all sorts of lovely things. I couldn’t be more happy or proud to call this group of people my good, close friends. They meant the world to me and I meant the world to them. I was so excited everyone could make it over for my birthday, except Ana. I really didn’t see her much anymore but that didn’t mean I loved her any less.

“Shots!” Louis shouted from the kitchen, bringing in a few bottles of liquor into the living room.

“Do we have too? We always do shots and get messed up.” Rachel whined.

“Yes we have too! Spencer will only turn 24 once, you know!” Lou sassed back.

He filled all of our shot glasses up one by one, making sure it was completely full. After everyone had a shot, we laughed at Louis cleared his throat to give a toast of sorts.

“Um, so we all know one another pretty well and everyone knows what I’m about to say but fuck it. I just wanted to get up here and say what a great friend we’ve all made in Spencer. She’s the most irritating yet charming person I’ve ever met. She has a heart full of love and care and I couldn’t be more proud to call her my friend. I know at first when we met, we didn’t really get along. Things started to look up then the whole Niall incident happened.” He heard a few chuckles mixed with a groan from me and Niall, but continued on. “Things got way worse after that happened, but eventually you proved to be a down to earth, decent human being. Even though the reason we met isn’t in the picture anymore, we’d never stop loving you and being your friend. Plus my bird is your best friend, so I technically have no choice.” He stuck out his tongue to me and Emily who were giggling with one another. “But I speak for everyone when I say this, we love everyone we’ve met because of you like Josh, and Pete. They’re nearly as great as you are. And Pete, she has no brother, so someone has to say it, Spencer is a great person so break her heart and we, as in all four of us…” everyone chuckled because Pete was a pretty muscular dude. “Will have to break you. But seriously, you guys are so perfect for one another and I’m glad you’ve found happiness in all aspects of your life. So basically what I’m trying to say is, HERE’S TO SPENCER FUCKING MCMICHAEL!”

With that, we all chugged our shots and cheered. I left a quick peck on Pete’s lips before stumbling over to Louis. I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug. That was probably the nicest thing Louis had ever said to me. And I knew he meant every word of it.

“I love you guys!” I shouted as I pulled away from Lou. “Thank you.”

I knew we had a long night of partying ahead of us, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. My best friends were here, I was happy and life was heading down the right path. Nothing was going to break my stride, nothing at all. I was surround by great friends and that’s all that mattered.Boy, if I only knew what was about to come around and smack me right in the face. I’m Spencer McMichael, of course life can’t stay perfect forever.

Notes

So I hope you didn't expect for this to just start with them back together....

you gotta work at least a little bit for it ;)

hope you enjoyed!