brand gartner (branner) wrote in hotelcali, @ 2016-01-10 11:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | brand gartner, spencer cash |
Who: Spencer & Brand
What: Preparing for a photoshoot, talking about life stuff, getting dinner
Where: Spencer's studio space downtown
When: Backdated to Thurs Jan 8
Rating: Probably bad language
Spencer made it to the studio for the day’s shoot first, not unusual considering that she had the keys and knew what time the shoot was scheduled. She was on her third coffee of the morning, also not unusual when she had anything scheduled before ten in the morning. Currently it was just after nine and she had told Brand to meet her at 9:30 so they could get the studio space set up before everyone else was scheduled to arrive. Anyway, Spencer was at least caffeinated. She had ordered some food for her and Brand too, but that would be here probably closer to ten. So for now, she was just waiting, taking her time moving around the studio, prepping gear and lights and sipping on her current cup of coffee.
Brand was only on his first coffee of the day, but 9:30 was pretty early for him. He'd managed to get up early enough to take Kraw for a walk around the reservoir before stopping at Starbucks and coming into the studio, though. It was close to 9:45 when he arrived, which wasn't so bad, he hoped?
"Hey, sorry I'm late," he said as he came in, switching his coffee cup from hand to hand so he could pull off his backpack. He did feel bad about it, especially since Spencer was nice enough to let him help her out. It gave him some extra cash and some valuable experience, since one of Brand's goals for the year was to branch out some more creatively. "I tried to fit in a dog walk before I left."
Eh, she wasn’t exactly watching the clock. Spencer really only got irritated about people being late when they were snotty models she was forced to work with. Their attitudes could be pretty fucking grating, which was saying something since, certain topics not included (which rarely came up while on shoots anyhow, thankfully enough), it was pretty hard to get Spencer riled up enough to snap at people. Instead she called their babysitters in to set them straight.
Anyway, she had shed her jacket by the time brand arrived. She was currently up on a five foot metal ladder, one leg on either side of the top step as she was in the middle of rigging up a light box. “Hey, man,” She answered with a small smirk after dropping a pair of needle nose pliers she was holding with her teeth from her mouth and into her free hand. She set them down on the top of the ladder and snapped her fingers. “Should have told ya just to bring her with ya,” She said. A knock at the door interrupted her next thought. “Ah, shit,” She shifted and reached for her wallet with her only free hand. “Catch,” She called before tossing it to Brand. “That should be breakfast.” She nodded toward the door.
"Nah, you know how she can't shut the fuck up whenever she's in a new place." Maybe he could bring her on a more lowkey day though, and get her used to the studio. Brand managed to catch the wallet easily with his free hand, which was probably better than any plays he he ever made back in Little League. "Sweet, I totally skipped breakfast."
Brand set his coffee down on floor and left to get the food. A minute later he was back and setting the spread out on a table. "Thanks," he called over to Spencer.
“Touche,” Spencer chuckled. She grabbed the pliers and tightened the wire connections for the lightbox. When she was done, she grabbed the wire and flipped the switch to make sure it would go on. She flipped the switch back off for now and then swung her leg over to climb down the ladder. “No prob,” She shrugged. “I was too tired to make anything, so I hope waffles, eggs, bacon, bagels and grits are sufficient,” She tucked the pliers into her back pocket for now and walked over to the table. She grabbed her halfway done coffee and picked it up for a drink. “So, how’s life?” She asked as she grabbed one of the containers and went to sit down on the nearby couch with some plasticware.
Brand snorted as he chewed on a piece of bacon. Yeah, this spread was plenty sufficient. He finished off his piece and was cutting into a waffle when Spencer asked him about his life. He managed not to frown at the thought of the state of his stupid life and instead just shrugged as he concentrated even harder on getting that waffle cut up.
Spencer arched an eyebrow as she dug a spoon into her grits. “That good this early into the new year, huh?” she arched an eyebrow as she started to eat.
Brand let out another snort. He waited until he had chewed and swallowed down his first bite before replying, "2016's gonna suck."
Spencer arched her right eyebrow as she chewed a mouthful of food. “I hope not,” She said. “I had enough suck for the last half of 2015,” She said. “What’s gonna suck about it - professional or personal?” She asked, though she had a pretty fair idea which he was referring to.
"Ummm...everything," Brand offered, even though the professional stuff wasn't really much of a problem. He was working on things to make that stuff better for him. That was why he was here today, after all. But yeah, that personal stuff. He wanted to talk to someone about it, but he wasn't sure if he should say anything to Spencer. Would talking to her about it violate Joel's privacy? Brand knew Spencer could be trusted not to spread anything around, but it was just the principle of the thing. But that would leave Brand with no one to talk to. Obviously talking to Joel was out of the question. Sometimes when he was on walks with the dog he asked her what she thought, but unfortunately Takraw had yet to answer. He took a bite of his waffle, deep in consideration.
“Uh huh…?” Spencer murmured, between mouthfuls of food. She didn’t want to pry, but she figured she should let him know he could talk if he wanted to. It wasn’t as if she would go gossiping about things. At the same time, she knew well enough what it was like to not want to discuss things while people were trying to force it out of you. “I suppose I can see why an entire year would suck if everything’s gonna suck. Doesn’t leave much wiggle room there…” She mused as she went on eating, giving Brand a good natured smirk. She went in for another mouthful of bacon and waffle and after she swallowed it and washed it down with her coffee, she looked back over at him. “So...our options are, we discuss your love woes, my daring leap into adulthood, orrrrrr your dog?” She joked. “Pick your poison - or add another from the void of ‘everything’?” She dunked a chunk of waffle into her grits and popped it into her mouth before any had a chance to drip off onto her shirt or back in the container.
The corner of Brand's mouth turned up as he looked at her. "I always wanna talk about my dog," he said. He lifted another piece of waffle up to chew on, and after swallowing, heaved a sigh. "I wanna talk about it, but I dunno if I should. Not the dog. The...other stuff." He made a mental note to bug Spencer about her impending wedding later, but right now he was way too focused on his own self-pity to talk it.
Spencer arched her eyebrows slightly and considered that while she chewed. “It’s totally up to you if you want to go for it. Otherwise, we stick to shop talk and dog talk,” she said with an easy shrug. “On full stomachs,” Which, she supposed wasn’t always the best way to have a potentially thoughtful conversation, but in this case she thought it would be all right. “If it’s because you think I’ll say anything, I won’t. For the record.”
"Yeah, I know," Brand told her with a small smile. "I just don't know if it's..." He trailed off and screwed his mouth up in thought before taking another bite of waffle. After a minute he finally said, "Some stuff happened."
Spencer chuckled. “Yeah,” She nodded. “I gathered that,” She washed down a mouthful. “New Year’s Eve?” She asked before she wiped her mouth clean with a napkin.
Brand’s shoulders slumped a little, thinking back to that night. “Yeah. But before that too. In New York.”
Spencer nodded. “Okay,” She took some time trying to decide if she wanted to prod Brand about it or let him just keep going however he wanted. “So, you made a move, then?”
Brand poked at his waffles for a few moments before saying, “He did.”
Spencer’s eyebrows arched up her forehead as she paused mid-chew. “And...this was a bad thing?”
Brand looked over at her and nodded. “We were really drunk. So it's not like it meant anything to him. I should’ve stopped it before it went anywhere. It was awkward the next day and we basically decided not to talk about it.” He looked down at his waffles again. “Then I kissed him at your party...it was so stupid. I stopped it that time though.”
“I see,” Spencer considered this for a long moment with a tilt of her head. When she finally looked over at Brand, she asked, “Did he kiss you back?”
Brand took a slow, deep breath. “Yeah,” he admitted. “But that doesn't mean anything.” Right? Right.
“Maybe,” Spencer shrugged. “So everything sucks because the person you want attached to your mouth most was attached to you by the mouth at least twice in the past month?” She tilted her head and arched her eyebrows again. “That’s some intense wish-regret there, buddy,” She let out a low whistle.
Brand frowned. That was over simplifying things. “I only want to be attached to his mouth if he's gonna be there permanently.” His frown deepened briefly as he thought about how absurd that sentence sounded. “I can't sleep with him for funsies and then just go back to being normal. I can't, like, be his sexual experimentation or same-sex trial run or like ‘well bro that was interesting but now I gotta get back to being with girls.’” Brand shook his head and set his fork down. “One time I brought these dog treats home from the store and I left ‘em out on the counter. They were pretty fancy and looked just like cookies. Joel ate ‘em and then found out they were dog treats and when I asked him later how they tasted he said they were weird but still kinda good. So he ate ‘em because he stumbled into ‘em, but obviously he's not gonna eat dog treats on a regular basis.” Brand fixed Spencer with a look that was way too pathetic for the very strange metaphor he was making. “I don't wanna be like the dog treats.”
Yeah, it was, but it made him actually expel full sentences on the topic after she said it, didn’t it? She took her time eating the last of her waffle and listened while Brand spoke without interrupting. She frowned thoughtfully. She liked Brand. He was a decent person. His attachment to his dog was amusing. Also, his dog was about as sweet as he was. In a lot of ways, personality wise, he was fairly similar to Samira, so there was that too. Comparing him to be the equivalent of dog treats was pretty sad, though. “I’m gonna skip the lecture about how if you were comparable to dog treats, they’d have to be of the highest gourmet dog treat variety because I think we both know I wouldn’t do it justice like I just didn’t,” She said. “So, you talked about it with him? After the second time?” She asked. “And he said it was just an experimentation thing?”
She got a small smile and a quiet chuckle out of him when she non-lectured him about the dog treat thing. He lifted his hands in surrender, but dropped them back down glumly when she asked him those questions. “We kinda talked. I told him how I felt about him.” Kinda. “He said he knew...and that Keegan told him? I never said anything to her but I guess she could just tell.” He twisted his mouth up for a moment and let out another sigh. “So he knew how I felt and he still thought it was a good idea to kiss me...and stuff, and now everything is so fucked up. I dunno. I told him I wanna be there for him if he's figuring things out and he said he didn't know if he was figuring anything out. So.”
“I guess that does kind of leave you with the only real options of either letting him off the hook or confronting him about it,” Spencer reasoned as she finished the last of her food and shut the container. She leaned forward and set it on the table before picking her coffee up to finish it off. “Personally, I’d choose the latter,” she said as she sat back. “But I think you’re nicer than I am,” She smirked.
“But what would I confront him about?” Brand asked, confused. He was so stuck in his own head though that it shouldn't be surprising.
Spencer’s brow scrunched together. “...For being a shit friend that used you, so that he knows it’s not okay that he did it?”
He nodded and looked back down at his food container again. “Yeah, that.” He wasn't really hungry anymore. This whole situation was hell on his already bad eating habits. “He said he was sorry. I dunno. It's my fault too. I knew it was a bad idea but I still kept going. I should've stopped it as soon as he kissed me.” Then things would have still sucked, but maybe they wouldn't suck as much as they did right now.
“All of this, I guess, supposes that he did what he with malicious intent,” Spencer said as she sat back, folded her hands behind her head and crossed one ankle over her opposite knee. “Which you might have a better idea of if you talk to him now, since some time has passed, maybe?” She suggested.
Brand frowned, almost offended. “He’d never do that. He can be a pain in the ass, but he wouldn't do something like that on purpose.”
“I just mean, perhaps he has a better idea of what was going on through his mind now that time has passed since both things happened - as opposed to not knowing what or if he was trying to figure anything out?” Spencer shrugged.
“Maybe. I've been trying to avoid him.” He’d even been considering letting Joel know it'd be okay if he wanted to move out before the lease is up. Over the years he’d imagined all sorts of bad things that could happen as a result of Joel finding out Brand’s true feelings, so he was trying to prepare himself for any of those worst-case scenarios.
“Yeah,” Spencer nodded. “I like to do that with my problems too,” She said. She looked over at Brand. “Whatever you wind up doing, I feel like I should tell you that it’s not your fault that some weird shit happened and chances are pretty high that you’ll straighten things out between you two at some point.”
That was nice to hear. Brand gave her a small smile. "Thanks. At least someone is being optimistic because I'm definitely not. I just want things to be normal again." Even though 'normal' still involved copious amounts of pining. But at least Brand was used to it.
Spencer let out a chuckle. “I guess that depends on what you’re defining as quote-unquote ‘normal,’” She reached out and gave his shoulder a light punch. “A few adjustments to normal might not be so bad, right?” She shrugged.
He smiled a little more at the shoulder punch. "Yeah...but I'm not getting my hopes up for the good kind of adjustments." He pulled out his phone and glanced at it out, as though he expected Joel to have texted him during that conversation. He had no reason to think he Joel would have done that, though. And of course he had no new texts.
He pocketed the phone again and looked at Spencer. “So. Are you gonna become Spencer Cash-Rey or Spencer Rey-Cash?” he asked with a slight smirk, happy to change the subject at this point.
Spencer let out a surprised snort of laughter. Right afterward, she canted her head and furrowed her brow. This question hadn’t crossed her mind at all, actually. “Uh…” She blinked and looked over at him. “I...actually have no idea?” She shrugged. “I suppose this will actually be my third lifetime name change,” she mused.
Brand smiled at her, and admirably did not make it look sympathetic even though her second name change was because of not great things in her life. At least this one would be because of good things, but of course he wasn't going to bring down the conversation with that. Instead he said, "Or you can make up a hybrid name. I knew a family growing up who did that. Instead of Milani and Wilson, they were the Milanisons." He scrunched up his nose in distaste because he thought it was a silly name combo. "You could be the...Casheys," he grinned.
Spencer scrunched her eyes shut and tipped her head back as she let out a loud bark of laughter at the sound of ‘Casheys’ out loud. “I’ll have to remember to record Samira’s reaction to that suggestion for posterity,” She chuckled. She honestly wasn’t sure whether or not Samira would want to keep her last name after the way her family treated her over the summer, but she didn’t really want to bring that up at the moment. “I think my best option as far as the wedding goes is just to let Samira take the wheel and do her thing,” she said. “Not about the name part. Just the....everything else?”
"That does seem more up her alley," Brand chuckled. "I can't believe you finally pulled the trigger, though. How long have you guys been together?"
Spencer smirked and chuckled. “Ahh…” She inhaled a breath and puffed out her cheeks a moment as she exhaled and squinted her eyes shut. “Coming up on...four years?” She closed one eye and mentally counted before she nodded. “In May,” She added absently.
Brand smiled a little bit. "That's a long time," he confirmed, feeling just a tad wistful for stuff he'd never had and probably wouldn't have. "Samira must be so happy. D'you know when you're gonna make it official?”
“Doesn’t feel like it’s been all that long,” Spencer shrugged. She supposed that was possibly a good thing, that it didn’t feel that way. A somewhat dopey smile turned up her lips. “Over the moon, yeah,” she chuckled. “No date yet,” She shook her head.
“I’m sure Samira’ll be figuring that out soon,” he grinned off Spencer’s stupid smile. “You guys are in luh-uve,” he teased in a sing-song tone.
Spencer chuckled. “Yeah well, if it’s possible for me just think of the odds the gives the rest of the world,” She smirked as she reached over and jokingly shoved Brand’s shoulder. “Anyway, you said everything’s going to suck in 2016 - what else is crappy?”
Brand lifted his cup for another sip and then chewed on another piece of bacon. He wasn't super hungry anymore, but not enough that he couldn't force more food into himself. He didn't want to be rude after Spencer ordered it.
“Just blog stuff. Traffic is down on the sites that I can actually monetize, since more people look at my posts on Facebook and Instagram. I can't place ads there, but I also can't stop posting on them because no one looks at blogs anymore.” He heaved a sigh. “So that sucks. But that's why I'm here.” He gave Spencer a smile and finished off his coffee with one last sip.
“What else online can be monetized?” Spencer asked. She took a drink from her cup and set it down after walking over toward the computer desk. She glanced over at the light setup for the shoot and squinted at it before she crouched down to drag one of the lockboxes out from under the side of the computer desk and flipped the latches and pulled it open so she could start pulling out the particular camera and gear she wanted to use. “Or would linking those things to facebook and all that negate the monetizing part still?” Yeah, Spencer didn’t know how all that stuff worked, really. Her social media things didn’t really have monetized facets, unless one counted the fact that publicity in general was helpful for her job.
"Anything that has ads on it," Brand explained as he stood up to go throw his coffee cup away. He walked over to Spencer and watched her as he started rambling on and on. "So like blogs where I can use Google's advertising stuff to place ads or get monthly sponsorships or like YouTube videos that have ads playing in front of them...stuff like that. I mean, there are ads on Facebook and Instagram now, but those benefit Facebook and Instagram and not the users who post on the sites. And you can't put an ad in an Instagram post because it's just one picture. I mean, the post itself can be an ad and someone can pay me to promote something, but I try not to do that a lot because people get pissy that I'm profiting off my stuff. Like, they want me to post multiple pictures every day but don't realize I can't really do that if I have a full-time job doing something else?" He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "But I mean also it's just kind of tacky considering the type of blog I have. So...I kinda guess I can't blame them." He held his hands up. "What can I do?" he asked, referring to helping with the set-up.
Spencer grimaced. “Yeah,” She said as she loaded up the desk with various equipment. “Create something and you’re a douche if you want to be paid so you can eat,” She smirked. “Sit at home or wherever else browsing the internet and everything should be yours for free,” She shook her head. “Nobody’s happy...ever,” She smirked and shook her head again. “Grab the tripod and start hooking it up?” She noded to the camera she had already put on the desk. She wanted to have a stable setup and a loose one so she went digging through the box’s compartments again.
“You're tellin’ me,” Brand agreed with a sigh as he went to go assemble the camera and tripod.
It was a long day of work, but Brand enjoyed himself. It was nice having something else occupy his mind too, even though it kept drifting back to the situation with Joel.
After everything at the studio was take care of, Spencer and Brand went to grab an early dinner at a place nearby. As they waited for their food to arrive, Brand glanced down at his phone in front of him on the table. “I think I'm gonna ask him if he wants to talk,” he announced. “Or tell him that we should. One of those things.”
Spencer slouched back in her seat on the side of the booth across from Brand. She brought her legs up and crossed her ankles as she put her feet up on the open spot of bench seat next to Brand’s legs. She gave him a slow couple nods as she considered what the best response to his suggestion would be without weighing heavily one way or another. "If you think you’re up to it, yeah," she nodded. "As reluctant as I am to do it myself, talking usually does solve a lot more problems than silence, I suppose?" She said.
Brand follow Spencer’s lead and stretched his legs out in the booth next to her. “That's what people say,” he gave her a small smile with an exaggerated shrug. “I could just wait for him to talk to me, but...I guess I'm the one who told him to go away.” He frowned a little. “So he's probably waiting for me.” Or he's relieved to have an excuse to avoid Brand, his brain supplied.
Spencer shrugged. “I suppose it depends on the kind of person you are. Which is the lesser of two agonies - ripping the band aid off or peeling it away slowly?” She asked.
"When it comes to this?" Brand arched his eyebows. "I'm definitely more of a peel it off as slowly and painfully as possible kinda person. Or like...a leave it on and let it rot and fester and permanently ruin your relationship. Kind of person." He twisted his mouth up and leaned forward to take a sip from his drink.
Spencer let out a laugh. “Okay, so you’re a masochist,” she chuckled and shook her head. Spencer was guilty of such things herself. “Which way do you think you want me to peptalk you?”
He smirked a little bit and slowly turned his cup around on the table. "Whichever way you think will make stuff better faster? If stuff's not ruined already."
Spencer smirked. “Alright, if you insist,” She cleared her throat and continued. “Talk to him - in whatever fashion you feel most comfortable, even if it’s just texting or emailing or whatever. Let him know you want to get the weirdness between you straightened out. I already told you I don’t think your friendship with him is ruined. That’s not the kind of thing that people trash after so long - in old ages such as yours,” She smirked.
Brand scrunched up his nose at that last comment, but the corner of his mouth was still turned up. "Yeah...guess I better do something soon before dementia sets in." He let go of his cup and dropped his hand down to his lap. "I'll talk to 'im. Can't be worse than sitting around and worrying about it," he said, even though he wasn't sure if he believed that statement or not. He gave Spencer a wider smile. "Thanks."
Spencer snapped her fingers and pointed at Brand. “Now you’ve got it - do something before the dementia sets in. It could be your new life motto,” She grinned and picked up her glass for a sip of it. “I’m sure it can’t be worse than whatever you’re imagining. He’s your best friend, right? I’m sure you’ve had disagreements before - have you ever intentionally hurt each other?” She set her glass down and tilted her head as she wondered if she was someone whose advice should really be taken in most situations. She grinned. “Don’t mention it. I hope it works out. Feel free to text me or whatever if you need to vent or whatever. Silence is the watchword, dude.”
Brand tended to take Spencer's advice to heart because she was cool and successful in their field and was in a stable relationship and owned house and generally had her life together. Spencer would probably tell Brand that none of those things meant anything and that she wasn't as together as he thought, but Brand didn't believe that. So he listened to her.
"I don't know what I'd do without you, dude," he said with a grateful smile. He glanced down at his phone. "I'm gonna text him. If I don't do it now, I'll probably chicken out." So he pulled his phone over.
Grass is always greener on the other side? Spencer let out a chuckle. “I’d wager that you’d teach Takraw how to bark once for yes, twice for no and attempt to talk it out with her until Joel decided to come talk to you,” She grinned. “Go for it. Who wants to be a chicken? Not you - terrible thing to be in your senior years, after all.”
Brand considered telling Spencer that he had literally talked to Takraw to ask her for advice many times when the two of them were on walks, but he decided he didn't want to seem insane. He laughed quietly and glanced up at her as he opened up his messages. Joel was out of town for book and movie stuff, so it'd been a couple days since they last texted. And even then it had just been a boring exchange about when Joel was leaving. Brand frowned a little and typed out his message.
Brand 6:14pm
are you busy tonight? i think we should talk
Brand 6:15pm
or we can wait until you get home. up to you
He was giving Joel an out, but it would work in Brand's favor as well. He put the phone back down on the table and took a deep breath before lifting his eyes to Spencer. "Okay. Done.