Caleb is the cat in the hat (worth_therisk) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-27 07:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caleb rivers, spencer hastings |
Who: Caleb Rivers and Spencer Hastings
When: Today
Where: UCI
What: Random Encounter
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Spencer was getting into the swing of things. It was never hard for her to get back into school, but living at home was proving to be a bit of a challenge. After having a year of freedom up in Palo Alto, it was weird to go back to “my house my rules.” She had a curfew again, had someone asking where she was going to be, who with, and when she’d be back. It was a little frustrating, but so far Spencer could handle it. Besides, she knew she deserved some kind of punishment for… well, getting kicked out of Stanford.
She was on campus between classes, sitting on a bench and reading a syllabus for an online class she was thinking about adding to her schedule, trying not to think about how she was a grown adult now, and how she was grounded.
With Hanna’s classes starting back up Caleb was back to meeting her on campus for lunch. Not that he did that every day, he did have a job. But still he tried to once a week. Which is precisely what he was doing today. Caleb was heading towards Hanna’s class when he spotted a familiar face. As in familiar from the dreams. Hanna had told him Spencer was back but actually seeing her? It was weird. Especially with his recent dreams. Of course his feelings for Hanna hadn’t changed and wouldn’t change. But still, this was one of her friends he was hoping to never meet.
“Mind if I sit?” Caleb asked nodding at the empty space on the bench next to her. He could just ignore her, but he knew sooner or later they would have to meet. She was one of Hanna’s best friends after all.
When Spencer heard the strange, male voice, she lifted her head from the syllabus and blinked up at the man to whom it belonged. She brightened just a little, and nodded. “Sure.” She motioned for him to take a seat, and then turned back to her own thoughts. After all, it wasn’t unusual for someone to just need a place to sit. And strangers didn’t often start up conversations, did they?
“Thanks,” Caleb said as he plopped down next to her. “So,” he didn’t really need to talk to Spencer, he could go on ignoring her but Hanna was right and one day they would inevitably meet. Might as well get it over with now. “Weird question, but is your name Spencer?”
The So made Spencer lift her head again. This stranger was going to make conversation? She was interested, though if the guy was trying to pick up on her? He wasn’t exactly her type, so far as she could tell. (Which, granted, was a little superficial. Maybe he was a great guy. Maybe not. He just didn’t have the right eyes for Spencer.) But then he said her name.
“Yeah, actually,” she was a little confused, and took a glance around before looking back at him again. Was this a trick? Was there a camera somewhere? “How do you know my name?”
Great, now he had to explain this one. Way to think ahead Caleb. Maybe Hanna’s impulsiveness was beginning to rub off on him. “Uh, I’ve seen pictures. At Hanna’s.” Which was true. There were pictures from high school in her room. But he probably wouldn’t have recognized Spencer if it hadn’t been for the dreams. “I’m Caleb.”
“Oh!” Spencer was relieved, and broke into a bright smile. This wasn’t some stalker weirdo, this was Caleb. Hanna’s boyfriend! “It’s nice to finally meet you.” Spencer said, and held out her hand for him to shake. “I’ve heard great things.”
“That’s a relief,” Caleb joked smirk on his face as he reached out to shake her hand. “I’m actually here to meet her.” Hanna that was, considering he had no other reason to be on campus. “You go here now?”
Spencer was pleased to meet Hanna’s boyfriend. Finally. Though, now that she thought about it, maybe she’d seen him? At Emily’s father’s funeral? Or maybe not. She’d been beside herself with grief and empathy for her friend that day, and spent so much time trying to organize and make things easier for everyone that she hadn’t paid much attention to what was going on around her. Too much delegating, not enough time looking at those she was delegating to.
“Yeah, I just transferred from Stanford. It’s nice to be back in my own neck of the woods. Are you a student here?” Spencer put the syllabus away into a folder, and slipped it into her bag as they talked.
Caleb hadn’t gone to Emily’s dad’s funeral. Hanna wanted to be there for her friend by herself and he respected that. Plus things had been a little weird for them at the time, so if Spencer had been back for that she wouldn’t have seen him there.
Why wasn’t he surprised that Spencer had gone to Stanford? If she was anything like her dreamself the girl had brains. “Nah, I work at Stark Industries.” And was a high school drop out but no need to share that information. “No offense, but why would you want to go here over Stanford? Irvine is a good school but it’s no Ivy League.”
“Oh, what a coincidence! I’ll be interning there this fall.” Spencer said, hoping they could talk about working at Stark together rather than why she wasn’t going to Stanford. It wasn’t exactly something she was proud of or wanted to broadcast. “I hear that interns have to work for several weeks in each department to learn how the whole business works,” she’d been reading up on the company and was really excited to get started working there.
Caleb certainly notice the change in subject. Or rather the avoidance of a subject. Yeah, there was definitely a story there. Although he knew her well in the dreams, he didn’t know her at all here. Pressing it wasn’t the best idea. So he went along with the subject change. “I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “I don’t interact with the interns much but I’m sure there are some running around the IT department.” Caleb mostly worked alone. “I’m sure I’ll see you around though. Tony’s an awesome boss.” Though he had no idea how much he interacted with the interns. Probably not much if at all.
Spencer paused for a moment at that. Her eyes went a little wide. She hadn’t thought all that much of Caleb by his appearance. She knew he was dating Hanna, so he was intrinsically good--but… but that was surprising. “You’re on a first name basis with Tony Stark?” She asked, incredulously.
“Yeah,” Caleb replied as if that was obvious. Why wouldn’t he call him Tony? Although to be fair he had never called him Mr. Stark. Even back when he was getting hired. It just wasn’t his style. “He’s pretty chill,” he shrugged. Maybe Tony wasn’t as cool with all his employees as he was with Caleb. Actually now that Caleb thought about it he probably wasn’t. But oh well.
“Wow. That’s… that’s really impressive.” She definitely hadn’t given Hanna’s boyfriend enough credit. “I mean, he’s pretty much the guy. When it comes to business and or technology?” Of course, Caleb knew all of this already. He was working at Stark Industries. “I can’t wait to start my internship.” She didn’t really know what she wanted to do with her life anymore, but starting at Stark Industries was a step in the right direction.
“When do you start?” Caleb already given his thoughts on Tony and he wasn’t going to sit around praising his boss. Clearly Spencer knew how great he was already anyway.
“October.” Spencer replied. “I think I start on the fifth.” She wasn’t sure on the exact date, but it was coming up really fast. Thankfully, Spencer didn’t have to worry about buying business etiquette clothing. That was something she had in spades. So that part of back-to-school could be skipped over quite easily. “Do you like working there? How long have you worked for Stark Enterprises?”
October was a busy month apparently. He was moving in with Hanna. Spencer was starting at Stark. “About a year,” Caleb replied. He had gotten the job not long after he came out to Orange County. He wasn’t expecting to actually stay long, but Hanna, and a legitimate job, and he actually had friends out here. It was the most he felt like he had ever belonged. “I do yeah. It took a bit of getting used to at first but there are plenty of worse jobs out there.”
“Plenty of worse jobs?” Spencer chuckled, incredulously. She could hardly believe that. It sounded like every other job was a worse job. At least, in the field of tech. Spencer wasn’t sure she wanted to go into tech, but working at Stark Industries would be excellent on her resume for almost anything else she wanted to do. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it, though. I hope I’ll find a place there, too. And hey, we’ll see each other all the time, yeah? Working in the same building and all.”
That was what Caleb had been afraid of. No, afraid wasn’t the right word, but it was definitely going to be weird seeing Spencer around all the time. “Probably,” Caleb replied. “I don’t spend too much time with interns,” or co workers in general. Caleb still preferred to work alone.
They’d be in the same building for a couple hours a day. Which was more than they’d been… well, ever before. So that was an improvement, so far as Spencer was concerned. She liked getting to know her friends’ significant others. She and Hanna were close, she should at least be on good terms with her boyfriend.
Though, it sounded like Caleb wasn’t too into that idea. Oh well. Spencer took the hint. “Oh. Well, maybe once in a while.” She pulled the folder back out of her bag and clutched it with both hands.
“Probably. And you know, with Hanna too.” Because she was Hanna’s friends and if she ever did dream they would have those in common as well. There would have been a time where he wanted the friendship he had with Spencer in the dreams, here as well. But that was before they jumped forward five years, now it was just too awkward. “Speaking of, she’s probably about to get out of class. I should get going,” he said standing up from the bench. “It was nice to finally meet you.”
“Yeah, all right.” Spencer should probably get back to her homework, anyway. She had things to read and catch up on before her next class. “Nice to meet you, too. Say hi to Hanna for me.” She gave him a smile before turning her eyes back down to her syllabus.