Spencer Hastings makes shockingly bad choices. (ctrl_a) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-05-06 08:31:00
Who: Spencer and Toby When: After her post Where: Spencer’s place to start, then out? What: Coffee and a movie Rating/Warnings: Low/None - Spencer's freaking out about her Dreams Status: Complete
Spencer was still shaking. She almost snuck into her mother’s medicine cabinet to steal a valium, but she didn’t want to get caught. This was just too much. The Dreams were getting to her now more than ever before. Ian. The clock tower. She kept playing it over and over in her mind--and then his body went missing? What the actual fuck?
Thankfully, Toby was coming by to keep her mind off things. Though, that was another strange story. Toby was amazing both here and in the Dreams, but Spencer wasn’t sure how much of what she felt for him came from the bizarre Dreams, and how much was from this life. She wanted to take things slow, to figure it out on her own. It wasn’t fair to either of them otherwise.
She waited by the front door, pacing back and forth along the little hall. Thankfully, Melissa and her mother were both in their rooms, and her father was still at work. No one was there to see her pace.
Toby hadn’t dreamt as much as everyone else, so for the most part, he wasn’t sure about everything that happened. Mostly he knew that it was only going to get worse before it got better. It was something he figured that he needed to get used to. He hadn’t dreamt as much as Spencer, even, but he wanted to be there for her. Especially when she seemed so upset by everything that was happening.
Getting out of his truck, he made his way to her front door again, very lightly knocking in case someone was at the house. He still hadn’t talked much to Spencer’s family outside of the wedding when he was there...with Emily. But it had just been as friends. He wasn’t sure what they’d think of him and their daughter. He just hoped that being himself wouldn’t make anything awkward. He didn’t have the reputation here he had in the dreams, so he didn’t think it was going to be too bad.
Spencer opened the door only a moment after the knock. It was as if she’d been lingering nearby (go figure). Then she stepped through to join him and closed it behind herself. “Hey.” She said, softly, awkwardly, hands ringing as she brought them back around in front of her. “Ready to go?” The sooner she could take her mind off everything, the better. It was so weird to be there with this Toby, and not her Dream Toby. And so weird to be thinking about Ian’s hands around her throat. She blanched and started sweating.
Toby watched her for a moment before nodding. He offered her his arm, giving her a small smile. “I won’t tell you that it’s going to be okay...unless that’s what you want me to say. But I’m here whenever you need. You can call or text. Even if I’m sleeping.” He wanted to make sure that she understood that whatever happened, he wasn’t going anywhere. The dreams were going to fuck with them the best way that they knew how, so he figured having a solid ‘in case of terrible dreams’ plan in place couldn’t hurt. Plus, he was pretty sure he liked Spencer, so he didn’t mind making himself available to her for anything she needed.
His words were incredibly comforting. Spencer brought her eyes back up to his face and realized that he was so much like the Toby from her Dreams… she wasn’t sure where her emotions from this world ended, and the ones from her Dreams started. She felt so much for him. But was that all… confused?
“Okay.” She reached for his hand. “Thanks, Toby.” And she gave it a squeeze. Then she released it, lifted her hands to her face and pressed them against her eyes with a sigh. “Ready for that coffee? And a movie?”
Toby smiled when she took his hand, squeezing back. He was just glad that they were here and not Rosewood. He didn't know everything that they were going to go through before it was over, but he hoped they'd make it out okay. “You're welcome, Spencer.” She looked tired, but hopefully she would be able to get some sleep without the dreams.
“Yeah. You look like you could use about five coffees right about now.” He offered her his arm, waiting for to take it before he walked over to his truck. He opened the door for her and let her climb in before closing the door and circling around to his side.
Spencer climbed into the truck and settled in. She was glad she’d gone for some comfy jeans and a sweatshirt, instead of trying to look trendy or cute. Even though this… was this a date? Kind of. It was kind of a date. She’d reached the point with Toby in the Dreams where they were pretty comfortable around one another, but this wasn’t the Dreams. This was the Real World. Yet she still felt that way around him.
“Something fun, then?” She asked, turning to him once they were on the road. It was a pretty short drive, thankfully. “Something not too heavy.”
Toby wasn’t entirely sure if it was a date either. He was trying to help her feel more comfortable with things, less stressed out. Whatever helped, he was pretty sure he’d do. He wasn’t really expecting anything out of it. But he wasn’t entirely focused on that. He was just glad to be able to help.
“Something fun,” he agreed with a smile. “With as many unnecessary explosions as a person could hope for.” He glanced over at her quickly. “Anything particular in mind? I haven’t really kept up on what movies are out. I guess we can always just choose something that looks like it will have a lot of explosions and not much depth.”
“That sounds like a plan to me.” Spencer said, shrugging. “I’m sure we can just google the film titles to figure out what they’re about.” She had a phone and she knew how to use it. Actually, anything was fine. Anything at all would be better than nothing. Anything to take her mind off her Dreams last night.
“You have any music?” She asked. The car was quiet. Maybe a little too quiet.
Toby was almost embarrassed that he hadn’t thought about looking things up on their phones, but he decided not to mention it. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.” Because obviously that would help figure out whether or not it was worth seeing. He hadn’t dreamt up to where she was, but he wished he had more to offer.
And then she asked about music. He blushed at that before motioning to the glove box. “Check in there. I think I have a couple CDs. Most of them are just things I threw together, so it’s nothing fancy, but it’s good stuff. You’re free to choose whichever sounds the best.”
Spencer opened the glove box, relishing in a chance to snoop--even if she had permission. She dug around in there, looking for cds, and found some burned ones. She picked one at random and carefully removed it from its case to insert into his car stereo.
The first song that played was Tighten Up by the Black Keys. Toby’s fingers tapped along with the song against the steering wheel, but he didn’t sing along. Mostly because Spencer was in the truck with him at that moment. He glanced over at her carefully before offering her a small smile before looking back at the road. “What do you call a bear with no teeth?” Because a joke couldn’t hurt at this point.
Spencer was listening to the music. She’d never heard it before. When he spoke, she turned to look over at him, finding her eyes lingering on his. They were ridiculously beautiful. Like, it shouldn’t be possible for a human being to have the eyes of an angel. “I dunno,” she said, unable to stop a grin from spreading on her lips. “What do you call a bear with no teeth?”
Toby felt a smile tugging at his lips as he allowed for a quick sideways glance. “A gummy bear.” He knew it was a stupid joke, but he also figured it was better to tell stupid jokes than let the silence settle over them and give them too much time to think on things. Once they pulled into the movie theater parking lot, Toby parked the truck and turned it off, looking at Spencer. “All right. It’s time.”
Spencer snorted. “Gummy bear.” She repeated, grinning at the silly joke. It wasn’t that bad, all things considered. And it made her smile, anyway. She rode in quiet all the rest of the way to the theater, hands folded in her lap, eyes out the window. She couldn’t quite shake the feel of Ian’s hands on her, and every time her mind wandered back, she’d give a little shudder and hug herself.
They climbed out of the car and moved toward the theater together. “Isn’t there a new car racing explosions movie out now?” She asked, once they reached the ticket windows.
Toby honestly hadn’t paid much attention to the movies that were out now, so he shrugged slightly and looked up at the movie list before leaning in to ask the person at the ticket windows which movie to go with. One with lots of action and not much else. Plot wasn’t even important exactly. Just the explosions. Once the recommendation came back, he paid for the two tickets and walked into the theater with Spencer. Maybe things wouldn’t ever be perfect in their dreams, but if nothing else, they could watch every action movie that came out until the dreams were over.