Who: Jacob & Toby Where: The Overlook Country Club Casino Night When: Saturday night, 01/20 Status: Complete
Jacob felt a little flustered and nervous when he left the bathroom. He'd taken his time in getting cleaned up and made sure his shirt was straight and not too ruffled but he still felt like everyone could tell what he'd been up to. His confidence had left the room when Connor did. He was still excited and he couldn't wait to join Connor, hoping they wouldn't stay at this event for too much longer. He was just glad the men's room wasn't quite as busy as the ladies' room seemed to be, they'd gotten lucky this time and nobody was staring at him like he feared they would. Still, he wanted another drink so he made a beeline for the bar to get something before he joined Connor at table five, he might already be tipsy but a little more alcohol couldn't hurt, especially when he felt like he needed something to steady his nerves.
Toby didn’t gamble often. It didn’t seem fair, since it was so easy to cheat, but he told himself tonight was for a good cause and he wasn’t winning real money when he won. He was winning raffle tickets and, even then, he purposefully lost at times, just in case his abilities were coming through by accident. It happened when he’d been drinking and he’d been doing a decent bit of that tonight, though looking down at his glass he realized he needed to do just a bit more. He made his way to the bar, waiting a moment to get the bartender’s attention, when someone walked up beside him. Toby glanced over, then started talking before thinking any better of it. “Oh my god, you’re Doctor Ford’s boy. Guy. Man. I didn’t mean that to sound bad, I swear. I just wanted to say hi. I’m Toby,” he smiled, offering his hand.
Being Dr. Ford's boy was... accurate. It was also far nicer to be recognized as that than as one of the Cooperdale Five but the way Toby said it made Jacob laugh. It was part nerves too so it was a welcome release. "Boyfriend," he offered helpfully though 'Doctor Ford's boy' was absolutely accurate, possibly more so. "I'm Jacob," he added as he took the offered hand and gave it a little shake. "And it didn't sound bad at all. How do you know Connor? Doctor Ford." God he wasn't used to talking about Connor so formally, it was weirdly hot actually.
“Jacob, yes, lovely to meet you,” Toby said, shaking his head. “I know it’s Connor, I swear, I’m just so used to being around people where I can’t just call him Connor. Like if I pop my head into a patient’s room, ‘Has Connor been by to check on you?’ They’d give me weird looks. I work with him.” That was probably obvious by now, but Toby was a little tipsy and running at full speed. Something about Jacob seemed vaguely familiar, but if he was from Point Pleasant then that wasn’t all that surprising. It felt like he’d crossed paths with everyone at least once, but that didn’t mean he knew them.
"Formalities can be so boring," Jacob said with a little grin before ordering himself a drink. He wasn't intending on staying at the bar too long but shit, maybe he needed the distraction to cool down a little, Connor would understand. "People calling me by my last name just make me think of teachers and cops and doctors - not my doctor, obviously. But you know, formalities." He smiled at the bartender when his drink appeared, grabbing the glass and taking a deep breath. He really felt like he was crawling out of his skin, not in a bad way necessarily but he definitely needed to ground himself. "Are you a doctor?"
“No, just a nurse. I mean, a kick ass nurse, but still, a nurse,” Toby smiled. “At least I can go by my first name professionally, which is nice. But doctors have a title that they worked their ass off for, so I can see why they’d want to use it.” Some doctors got pissy if you called them anything else and Toby had to resist rolling his eyes. Yes, they earned that title, but they were also just people. Highly educated people who could save lives, but still. “So what do you do when you’re not accompanying Connor to events?” he smiled. “Anything fun?” He was getting a weird vibe off Jacob, but figured it was just him being a little tipsy. Or maybe the both of them. Alcohol did weird things to his senses.
"Not just a nurse," Jacob told him, a bit joke-preaching. "Nurses are the backbone of our society." He drank up and hummed softly at the question because... well, he didn't exactly have a steady job anymore. That didn't mean he didn't have a job at all though so that was something. "I'm an artist," he replied. "I sell some stuff online and I do line work for a small company in Portland. No huge comics yet or anything but it pays. So if you need a cheap doodle you know where to find me." The doodles were cheap, hell all his art was fairly cheap but it depended on how much work he had to put into it just how much he charged.
“Oh, I know, honey,” Toby laughed. “Most doctors wouldn’t survive without us. They like to think it’s a one man job, but it’s not.” He just knew his limitations. He could deliver a baby, if there were no complications, and probably set a broken bone, but he wasn’t a surgeon by any means. No brain surgery or heart transplants for him, thanks. “Oooo, an artist!” he grinned. “I’d love to see your work sometime. I don’t know what kind of doodle to request if I don’t know what kind you do. Is it all drawing or painting too? I can’t paint, but a friend mentioned that there’s painting and wine down at the marina, so I might try my hand, though it’s mostly for the wine.”
"I did some painting at school," Jacob replied and god it felt weird to talk about average every day things when his body felt like it was burning and he could feel Connor pulling him back. "I loved it but you know, doing it at home is kind of expensive and it takes up space so... it's mostly pencil and digital. Actually, here." He fished out his phone and maybe it was the alcohol talking but he actually wanted to share his art with Toby tonight, some weird rush of confidence guiding him as he found the appropriate photo album. "These are a couple I did recently. I'll have to check out the marina thing if it's cheap." He doubted it was cheap, most things at the marina weren't.
Toby knew very little about the thing at the marina. Adalyn had only told him about it a couple of days ago and he’d had no time to actually investigate, but he still thought it sounded like fun. He held out his hand to scroll through a couple of pictures when Jacob handed the phone to him, a bit surprised by the offer. He was still getting a weird vibe off Jacob, but he couldn’t figure out what to make of it. “These are awesome,” he said brightly, looking up at Jacob, then back down as he scrolled to the next picture. “I wish I had this kind of talent. I’m one of those people you don’t want on your team for something like Pictionary, not unless you want to confuse a rabbit with a tentacle monster.
"I suck at Pictionary," Jacob said, like a confession. "I overthink it and honestly, a tentacle monster rabbit sounds pretty cool. I'll have to draw that." He glanced over his shoulder, scanning the crowd but table five wasn't readily visible at the moment, a couple of people blocking his view. That was okay, he still needed to cool down. "Maybe I'll see you at the marina, you might have some hidden talent you haven't dipped into yet." He waved at the bartender for one more drink, feeling like he needed it and it had been so long since he indulged himself like this - karaoke night not included.
“I dunno, maybe,” Toby said with a little laugh, unable to stop himself from thinking about his real hidden talent. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d spoken to anyone about it, outside the few that had known since he was a kid. It was one of those things that was always there, just beneath the surface, yet had to stay completely hidden. It was harder to manage when he’d been drinking though and when Jacob glanced away again he raised a brow. “Are you okay? You seem-- I dunno, nervous. You lose your man?”
"No, he's somewhere over there," Jacob replied, feeling a blush creep up his neck and to his cheeks as he laughed. No, he hadn't lost his man, he was just flustered and horny and weird tonight. "Table five. I should probably go there before he thinks he lost me." He set his glass down on the bar top after finishing what remained in it and decided that was probably it for him tonight, he felt a little giggly by now and that meant he was drunk.
Toby glanced towards table five, then looked back at Jacob with a raised brow. He would be so easy to read if he wanted to, but he kind of liked Jacob and knew how much an intrusion it was. Once he knew things he couldn’t un-know them. “Go on, then,” he laughed, giving Jacob a little nudge. “It was nice meeting you. Tell Connor I said hello.” He’d probably see him back at work tomorrow evening, but it was nice to see people out and about, being social. Toby didn’t do it near as much as he wanted, but that’s what he got for working two jobs.
Under different circumstances Jacob would have liked to stay for awhile and talk to Toby, he was friendly and he seemed like he might be a cool guy. Today was... not that circumstance and so he nodded and smiled at him. "Was really nice to meet you. Town this size, I'm sure I'll see you again soon." He fidgeted with his collar to make sure it was straight-ish, then headed away from the bar, glancing back with a little wave as he did.