Spencer Hastings makes shockingly bad choices. (ctrl_a) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-01-11 22:13:00
Who: Joe Hardy and Spencer Hastings When: Late November Where: The Garage first What: Flirting, dinner, bow chicka bow. Rating/Warnings: Lowish, Fade to Black on FWB stuff. Status: Complete when posted
Well, Halloween was a little strange, wasn’t it? And then Spencer had thrown herself into school to take her mind off things. Spencer was really good at focusing, at studying, at only thinking about what she wanted to. One-track mind, so to speak. So when she had a night free of homework, free of obligations, she really didn’t know what to do with herself. She didn’t want to be home, as her mother and sister were wedding planning, and though Spencer was technically the Maid of Honor, she didn’t want any of that.
She decided to take her car to the shop. For one thing, she needed a distraction, needed a night off from her life. And she felt like Joe might be able to provide that for her. If he wanted to. And she certainly wanted him to. She hadn’t seen Joe since that day. Strangely enough, she’d bumped into his boss, Dean, at a cafe. It was time to correct that, and see Joe again.
She drove up, parked, and climbed out of her car to look for the mechanic.
Joe was doing a lot better these days than he had been most recently. He’d made it through that god awful Dream (with a little much needed help) and once he’d gotten to the end and discovered that Iola wasn’t actually haunting him in order to get her revenge, the calls while he was awake had ceased as well. He had even gotten some kind of...closure maybe? Iola was gone, there was nothing he could do about that. He had been fooling himself, burying his feelings and looking for escapes, everything but moving on. It wasn’t easy, but it was what Iola would have wanted for him. She had said so herself.
Holidays were going to be most difficult. He had proposed to Iola on Thanksgiving. At first he wasn’t sure if going back to his parents’ home for the holiday would have been a good idea, however, it had turned out to be the best thing for not only him, but Frank as well. When they returned to California, Joe felt as though he could breathe again.
He was surprised to see Spencer again. He honestly hadn’t expected to see her again after their trist at the coffee house. Which was fine. A little disappointing maybe, but understandable. Women liked their one nighters just as much as men. Joe grinned as he made his way out to greet Spencer. “Hey, there,” he smiled, “how’s the car?”
“Purring like a kitten,” Spencer replied, happy to see the smile on the man’s face. She’d needed that. This. She needed to get away from her life for a bit, get out of her own head. And just seeing Joe’s handsome face was a step in the right direction. She was still a little distracted, but so far this was great. “It’s been a while. I was starting to think you didn’t like me.”
“Glad to hear,” Joe smiled at her brightly, that charming smile that had won him many hearts in high school and college alike. He laughed. “Well, you know, it wasn’t as though I knew where to find you. You’re the one who had my card.” He winked at her. “I was starting to think it was you who didn’t like me.” He put his hands in the pockets of his coveralls, leaving his stance nice and open to let her know he was only teasing her. “So if you’re cars running well, what brings you to my little garage today, Spencer?”
“You had my phone number in your system at the garage,” Spencer said, motioning with her eyes toward the office. She was sure she’d given her name and address when she’d had her car fixed. Hadn’t she? Was the real reason she hadn’t seen him all this time because she’d been careless? That felt unfair.
“Well, I was wondering why I hadn’t heard from you. So I figured I’d come straight to the source.” She gave him a little smile, as flirtatious as Spencer Hastings ever got, really. “Is that such a surprise?”
Joe smiled back at her his own flirty charming smile. “Yeah, well, it’s kind of bad form for one of us to just ring up a client out of the blue.” Then again, it wasn’t exactly kosher to go wandering off with one of them for a make-out session in the coffee shop down the street, either. “So, my bad there.” He closed the gap between them, “let me make it up to you?”
Spencer liked the way that sounded. She nodded, smiling as he came in a little closer. One of her hands came out, lazily, gently, to touch his forearm with her fingertips. “I dunno, it might be difficult. What did you have in mind?”
Flirting was an art and Spencer seemed to have mastered it. Joe grinned at her, answering her touch with another step forward, making the gap between them smaller. “I’m up for the challenge,” he answered. “I guess another round of ‘coffee’ won’t be enough. Dinner instead?” He suggested and then smirked at her playfully, “and desert? I’ve been told I’m a decent cook.”
At his offer, Spencer’s grin spread considerably. Dinner and dessert sure sounded like more than their last coffee date. Which was exactly what she was going for. “You’re offering to cook for me, and you think I might turn that down? You must be out of your mind.” Her fingertips found the back of his hand, trailed once down his palm. Her fingers were cool and very soft. “What time are you off work?”
Of course dessert was something of a double entendre in this case, but Joe could definitely give Spencer both dessert and dessert, if she wanted. The way her fingers brushed her skin, just light enough to make excited little goosebumps spring up all over Joe’s arms and down his spine told him very clearly that Spencer was looking forward to picking up where their last meeting had left off. An extra special dessert, if you will.
Still smiling, Joe glanced down at her hand against his. His eyes lingered a little bit as they moved back up over her to her face once again. That smile turned into a playful little teasing smirk. He touched her arm gently, but suggestively. “I’m off in about an hour. Think you can wait until then?”
The smile on Spencer’s lips spread a little wider when he touched her arm in return. It was one thing to flirt, and quite another to have your suggestive advances be reciprocated. She vaguely remembered how she’d hit on that Gladiator on Halloween, only to be turned down. Not exactly good for the ego. A bit of a blow after her random make-out session with Toby Cavanaugh. Hanging out with Joe-the-Mechanic was so much better for her state of mind. “I think I can handle that.”
She glanced at her phone, then back up at him. “Should I come back?”
Joe’s hand lingered where it was on her arm when Spencer checked her phone. “You could hang out here if you wanted,” he said, “and watch me work, but I’m afraid you’d be bored out of your mind. If you want to leave and then meet me back here in an hour or so, that’ll work. It’ll give me a chance to clean up a little too before we head over to my place for dinner.”
“Sounds good.” Spencer gave him a smile. “I’ll be back in an hour.” She headed back to her car and turned on the engine. Honestly, she could just sit around in her car and read for sixty minutes, but would that look pathetic? Like she didn’t have anything better to do with her time? (Although, honestly, what could possibly be better than spending an hour reading in a warm car?)
Once inside said warm car, Spencer decided she needed gas. She went to the gas station and filled her tank, then parked on the street to read. After her hour was up, she headed back to the gas station and climbed out of her car.
“...Hey,” she called out, heading into the garage again.
By the time Spencer returned to the garage, Joe had finished his shift and had cleaned himself up a little bit. He still had on his mechanics coveralls, which were stained here and there with oil and grease, but his hands had been thoroughly washed and he’d run a wet paper towel over his face to clean up any smears his dirty hands had left there. He was just coming out of the back offices when Spencer got back.
“Hi,” he greeted her with a smile. “Just finished. Ready for dinner? Do you want to follow me back to my place or take a ride with me?”
He was a pretty guy. He cleaned up nice. Even when he was still wearing his grease stained overalls. Coveralls? Whatever they were called, Spencer liked it. She had a thing for guys who worked with their hands, their bodies. It was a nice break from how she worked with her brain all the time.
“Yeah, absolutely. How can I turn down a homemade dinner?” Spencer asked, giving him something of a smirk. She almost said something about how she couldn’t exactly go home at the moment. Her family were driving her absolutely nuts, but he didn’t really need to know that. Finals, and whatever was going on with Toby, and her sister being an awful Bridezilla… it all made Spencer tense.
She knew a good way to relieve that tension.
“I’ll follow you? That way you don’t have to bring me back here. Or answer any questions about why my car was left here overnight.” Overnight. No doubt in her mind what was going to happen tonight.
Overnight? Well, that was presumptuous, but Joe had no complaints. Spencer wasn’t the first girl to spend the night at his apartment - in his room. He grinned back at her, confirming their unspoken agreement. Dinner and then dessert.
“Perfect,” he said. Having become familiar with Orange County traffic being a sentient thing all on its own, Joe gave Spencer the address and quick directions to the building, just in case they got separated.
Spencer punched the address into her phone. She was pretty familiar with the area, having spent a lot of time wandering around Orange County, but addresses and directions with landmarks were always a good thing. She gave him a smile, then headed to her car.
Thankfully, it was a fairly short drive. It wasn’t even a full chapter in the audiobook she was listening to in her car. She made sure to pause it and save her spot before she climbed out of the car to meet him on the walkway.
“Nice place,” she mentioned, giving him a grin.
“Thanks,” Joe smiled back at her. “It’s not much, but it’s home.” He lead her inside to the living room. A quick glance around told Joe that Frank wasn’t home yet. Given the time, it’d probably be a few hours yet before Frank arrived. Joe felt a little bad. His brother was pulling all kinds of long hours at the news studio and here was Joe bringing home another girl to have a bit of fun.
Not that Joe wasn’t working long hours himself, but the difference was that Joe actually enjoyed his job. Joe turned his attention back to Spencer. “You want a drink? We’ve got beer or wine. Or soda if you’re not a drinker.”
Technically, Spencer wasn’t old enough to drink. But Joe didn’t know that. And Spencer was pretty good at hiding her years. She was mature enough, well dressed enough, well mannered enough to come across as at least a few years older than she actually was. Wise beyond her years maybe. She’d always been that way--the voice of reason when her friends were trying to do something stupid, saving instead of spending, studying instead of partying.
At his question, Spencer broke into a smirk. She turned around to face him, lifting a hand to brush some hair from her face. “What kind of wine?” Her parents were oenophiles, and while she wasn’t quite the connoisseur, she enjoyed good wine. And could tell good wine from bad.
Joe had no way of knowing how old Spencer really was. He knew she was younger than he was, but he had assumed she was at least old enough to drink. If he knew just how young she really was, he would have re-thought this whole arrangement. But for now, Joe was blissfully in the dark.
“Let me see.” Joe went into the kitchen and to the small wine rack where a few bottles were waiting. “We’ve got merlot, some other red and I think this is a pino.” Joe wasn’t much of a wine drinker himself. He preferred beer or hard liquor, but every now and then, he could go for something dry when the occasion called for it.
Spencer’s family were pretty famous for having the world’s best cabernet in their wine cabinet. She wasn’t really picky, though. They weren’t exactly here for the wine, were they? Shrugging her sweater off her shoulders to dangle on a chair nearby, she moved to follow him into the kitchen. Then she leaned over his shoulder to glance at the wine rack. “I’ll just have whatever you’re having.”
Joe glanced back at her and gave her a smile. “Beer it is,” he said. He went to the fridge and dug out a couple of bottles. Joe may have had no sense for wine, but on beer he was something of an expert. No cheap Budweiser ever made it into his fridge. He popped the caps off of both and handed one to Spencer. He leaned against the kitchen counter as he took a thoughtful sip. A mental stock of what they had in the freezer, fridge and pantry, and Joe thought he could do some kind of scampi for dinner tonight. It was pretty quick, extremely tasty and made enough so that a plate could be wrapped up for Frank to have whenever he got home. By then Joe and Spencer probably would have finished their dessert for the evening. “You like shrimp?” He asked. “I got a pound of it in the freezer that needs to get eaten pretty soon.”
Spencer was more than willing to drink the beer. She’d had so much worse. She was, after all, a second year college student. Up in Palo Alto a lot of her classmates came from money, but not necessarily class. And she didn’t have all that many opportunities to make alcohol shopping choices. This was nice, though, she thought, as she sipped from the bottle. Far better than Pabst Blue Ribbon or Natural Ice. (Aka “Natty”... Some of those Frat boys, man.)
She leaned against the counter as she sipped, watching him with cat-like eyes. “Sure. I’m looking forward to this exhibition of cooking prowess.”
Joe wasn’t someone you would expect would be very skilled in the kitchen. When he’d been a kid, punishment for getting caught doing something he shouldn’t have been - running through his aunt’s flower beds, playing ball with Frank in the house, jumping off a ladder into a friend’s pool, crawling onto the roof from the attic window - was spending a few afternoons either helping his aunt weed her garden or helping her in the kitchen while his brother and friends rode bikes or played games. Joe hadn’t been a bad little kid, mischievous maybe, definitely full of curiosity and he’d spent many a Saturday and Sunday afternoon with his aunt in the kitchen. Consequently, Joe had learned quite a bit and the skill he’d learned from his aunt was evident.
The shrimp was large, fresh and delicious. The noodles cooked just right and the creamy sauce flavorful and savory. Wine probably would have gone better with the dish, but Joe’s skill didn’t extend to wine pairings, though it didn’t appear as though Spencer minded drinking the specialty brew he’d given her. He and Spencer ate at the small kitchen table. “I hope you like it,” he smiled at her.
Spencer was happy to stand out of the way and watch him work his miracle in the kitchen. She set the bottle aside for a few minutes--Spencer was a skinny thing, and a bit of a lightweight, so she didn’t want to get tipsy and do or say something embarrassing--but then took her place beside him at the table.
Two bites in and hunger took over. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she’d started in on the food. It was really good. Really good. She lifted a hand to cover her lips so she wouldn’t be rudely talking with her mouth full. “It’s good. You’re a really good cook.” She did sound a little surprised. Hopefully that wasn’t rude.
Joe grinned at her a little proudly. He liked to surprise people with how well he could cook since no one ever figured him to be able to make anything more than warming something in the microwave. “I’m glad you like it,” he said. He was especially happy that Spencer not only enjoyed what he’d made, but that she’d eaten all of it. He laughed a little at her attempt at good manners. Joe wasn’t exactly known for being proper himself. He did make an attempt to not eat with his mouth open, or talk with his mouth full. In certain company, at least.
They were seated closely, their arms occasionally brushing each other as they ate.
Spencer finished her plate, then pushed it forward a little on the table, and playfully and dramatically laid against his arm, her head on his shoulder. “I’m positively stuffed, that was amazing.” It was a joke, really, but also an excuse to get closer, maybe? She grinned up at him through wisps of her mouse-brown hair that had pulled from the clip she wore. “You’re a really good cook. Did you know that you’re a really good cook?”
Joe smiled down at her, a playful kind of smirk. “I’ve been told once or twice,” he said. “I’m glad you liked it.”
Spencer was practically draped across him. It was obvious to both of them that she hadn’t come to his apartment just for dinner. Joe’s smile softened a little and he placed a hand to the side of her face, tilting her head just enough so that he could bend down and kiss her gently.
They were in sync. This was the reason they were both here, wasn’t it? A good meal, a little flirting, and then… Spencer tipped her head up a little so she could meet his kiss with her lips. Her hand raised to cup the side of his face. Joe was a good guy, so far as she could tell, and handsome. He was an excellent kisser, and a wonderful distraction. Most importantly, he felt good. Kissing felt good. Her hand on his cheek felt good. She wanted more, and she had a feeling he did, too.
Oh, yes, he did. The kiss deepened for a moment, two bodies pressing closer together and the empty dishes remaining on the table were forgotten. When the two of them came up for air, Joe smiled impishly at the young woman next to him. He got to his feet and pulled Spencer up and close to him. That impish smile continued to play on his face as he drew her back with him towards his room.