Spencer Hastings makes shockingly bad choices. (ctrl_a) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-04-11 21:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, joe hardy, spencer hastings |
Who: Spencer and Joe
When: Uh… a while ago? Last month. After one of her posts. XD
Where: Joe and Frank’s place outside of Orange County
What: Hanging out, distracting Spencer
Rating/Warnings: Fade to black on sexy times
Status: Complete
Spencer was freaking out a little bit about this Toby business. She didn’t know how to wrap her head around it all. Toby killed Alison? Toby is A? It couldn’t possibly be the Toby she knew in this world. The Toby she’d gone out with a couple of times. The Toby who was good friends with Emily. It was easier not to think about it.
So she was visiting Joe again. They’d had a nice night of distractions a week or so ago, and Spencer was over again. She brought a pizza and a big salad, and a six pack of some fancy, expensive, micro brewed beer.
“When’s your brother coming home?” Spencer asked, now lounging on Joe’s sofa with a piece of pizza.
Joe was only happy to provide something of a “safe place” for his friends. Orange County was, at best, confusing and manipulative and at worse downright dangerous. Joe’d had enough with all the shit he’d been put through. Even Frank had acknowledged that staying was not a good idea. So the two of them had packed up and moved north, just out of the county. They each still had their respective jobs there and neither one of them could just bail. So it was the least Joe could do to provide a sort of safe haven for those he knew to come to when things got too weird.
“I don’t know,” he answered. He helped himself to a can of beer and a piece of pizza before taking a seat on the couch and prompting Spencer to stretch out her legs into his lap.
Hanging out with Joe was pretty fantastic. He was laid-back, non-judgemental, and didn’t ask too many questions. Not to mention he was downright handsome and smashing in bed. Spencer hadn’t had that many partners, but Joe was one of her favorites. Especially since it was casual. No pressure. It made for an interesting friendship, too--it wasn’t a relationship, but there was a comfort level there that Spencer appreciated. She lifted her legs and spread them into his lap as she tugged some toppings off her pizza to eat them first.
“You know, I still haven’t really met him. Is he a lot like you?” Spencer asked.
Frank had started a game of getting up early in the morning to guess the professions of the girls he caught attempting to sneak out of Joe’s room just as the sun was coming up. He never said much to them other than “Good morning.” He also rarely said anything to Joe about them either, except to confirm if his guess was right. Sometimes Joe could tell him, other times small talk of professions had never even taken place between Joe and whoever his partner had been for the evening. Joe had no idea if Spencer had crossed paths with Frank that way, but it didn’t sound as though she had.
Joe had to laugh a little. “We’re alike in some ways, but total opposites in others,” he said as he adjusted his arms over her legs so he could eat his pizza. “Like, for example, we’re both pretty athletic, but where I did wrestling in high school, Frank took martial arts. Stuff like that. He’s a little more...brainy, than I am,” Joe laughed.
Spencer nodded. She knew that feeling, too--she and Melissa were the same way. Though, Spencer was the more athletic one. She hadn’t pursued it much after high school, but she’d played all sorts of sports before college. Actually, it was something that she missed.
“Yeah?” She asked, breaking into a grin as she watched Joe laugh. “He sounds like a great guy.” How could he be bad if he had an awesome brother like Joe? She shifted her feet in his lap, crossing them at the ankle and getting comfortable. “What does he do?”
“He works for [name of news studio],” Joe answered. “That’s why we moved out here. He got the job and wanted me to come out with him to help with bills and stuff...among other things.” Joe cleared his throat and took a pull from his beer bottle. “So far it’s worked out pretty well, but I don’t think the news industry is what Frank was expecting. He’s been kind of struggling trying to make a name for himself and get the chance to cover something that isn’t considered fluff.”
“That’s amazing.” Spencer said, after staring at Joe for a moment. “I can’t imagine following my sister cross-country.” She didn’t even like to follow her sister from one room of their house to another one. Even if there was coffee involved. “And working for a news organization sounds pretty stellar, too. Though, I can imagine making a name for yourself in that business is a combination of being in the right place at the right time, and luck.”
“We’ve always been close,” Joe said. “We’re only a year and a handful of months apart, so growing up we’ve always had each other. He’s always had my back and I’ve always had his.” When Frank had asked Joe to come with him, even though it was obvious what Frank was trying to do, it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Why wouldn’t Joe have come with him?
“It takes a lot of tenacity too,” Joe said with a sigh. “And a bit more ruthlessness than I think Frank is really ready able to commit to at this point.”
“That’s… really great.” Spencer couldn’t really imagine that kind of relationship with her sister. But she had Emily and Hanna, and their friendship came close. “Gotta admit, I’m a little jealous. I don’t have that kind of relationship with my sister.” They were still blood, but they didn’t always like one another.
“So, you’re the ruthless one of the pair?” She added, giving him a grin again. Then she took her last bite of pizza, and dusted her fingers on the paper towel she was using for a napkin.
“Well…” Joe trailed. Each brother was capable of being ruthless given the correct circumstances. “I wouldn’t go that far. I just don’t think that Frank’s ready to cut the throats of his colleagues in order to get where he wants to be, even if they are doing it to him.” He finished off his pizza and leaned forward over Spencer’s legs to set his plate on the coffee table. He took a swig of beer before he started rubbing Spencer’s feet. “I think the whole experience is jading him, which is too bad. He’s got a lot of talent for reporting. He was a reporter for our high school and got some pretty deep stories.”
And a foot rub? Joe was spoiling her, and she knew it. Spencer turned to jelly; her muscles went slack, her head lowered against the arm of the sofa as she made herself comfortable. “Mmhmm.” She agreed, having almost forgotten the path of the conversation now with such a nice distraction. “Either he’ll fight his way in tooth and nail or he’ll find another way.” Goosebumps rose along her skin under her jeans and she grinned softly.
“He’ll figure it out,” Joe agreed. Joe had faith in Frank. He would always believe in his brother, and for all the shit Frank would drag him into in the name of “getting the story, finding the truth”, Joe would always be there for him.
Joe continued rubbing Spencer’s feet. He had come to learn that nothing could beat a good foot rub. Spencer had come over for distraction and Joe was going to provide that for her. And, it seemed as though it was working. Joe’s hands traveled from her feet up her calves.
“Hang on a second,” Spencer said. She leaned over to set whatever was left in her hands aside. Bottle? Pizza crust? Whatever, it went on the coffee table, then she settled back against him, spreading her legs across his lap so he had easier access to her calves. Thank goodness she was freshly shaven. And she’d done one of those oil treatments on her skin? Not really in preparation for tonight, but … okay, she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t had something like this in mind.
“Okay,” she broke into a grin. “You can proceed.”
Joe laughed and did as he was told. Spencer’s skin was warm and smooth. She took good care of herself.