InsaneJournal

Who: Spoby (Spencer and Toby)
Where: Pizza place!
When: Circa June 14
What: Pizza and talking about feelings
Rating/Warnings: Squeaky Clean
Status: Complete


Spencer arrived a little early to the restaurant. It was next door to the theater in the strip mall, so they could just walk over when they were done eating and talking about things. Joe’s words were bouncing around in her head, and she hoped that she could reiterate them eloquently enough to Toby. Would he understand? Was he feeling the same way?

She grabbed a table and waited for him to come in.

Toby felt nervous. That wasn’t really unusual, though. He always felt a little nervous when it came to Spencer. But there was the matter of a discussion that she wanted to have face to face. He wasn’t sure what that meant because...well, she was Spencer. It could have meant anything. This could be about the dreams, but it could be something else.

When he walked into the restaurant, he froze in place until he was able to pick out Spencer from the rest of the crowd. Once he’d found her, he walked over and sat down, giving her a small smile. “I hope you didn’t have to wait too long for me to show up.”

“Nah, it wasn’t long.” Spencer took a moment to revel in the feelings that went through her at the sight of him. His nervous smile, his bright, blue eyes. Those eyelashes. It was the whole package. It made her very happy. Giddy, even. Though, she wasn’t sure how much of that happiness was because of Toby, and how much was because of the Dreams. That’s what she wanted to find out.

“Do you want to order pizza? We can chat while we wait for it to arrive.” She offered him a menu. “I’m good with anything. The more vegetables the better, but I’m not picky.”

Not long was good. He offered her a small smile before sitting down and looking at the menu. “So you’re a veggie pizza sort of girl?” Not that he minded. Really, he would probably eat whatever was put in front of him. It was difficult to find something he didn’t like. “Or is this a meat and veggies sort of thing. Either way is fine by me.”

But he started to look things over anyway. If nothing else, he could get half veggie and half meat and call it a day.

“I’m an everything pizza sort of girl,” Spencer responded with a little grin. “We’ll just get whatever combo they’ve got on the menu, I guess? Or a half and half?” Really, the pizza wasn’t important. They should probably just order and get to talking… especially if they were going to go catch a movie later, too.

Then Spencer started thinking about what it’d be like to cuddle up with him in the movie theater. She tried to keep her mind on task, but looking at his lashes made that a little hard.

“Everything pizza it is.”

He waited for the waitress to come back before ordering a drink and the pizza. He still wasn’t sure what the chat was about, but...he guessed he’d know sooner rather than later. “All right. So what are we chatting about and should I be concerned?”

Spencer ordered a drink, too, then waited for the waitress to wander off before turning her attention to Toby once more. Now was the moment of truth. She swallowed, shifted in her seat, and took a deep breath.

“Our dreams. You’ve dreamed the same ones I have, haven’t you?” But she didn’t wait for a response before continuing, “We’re… at least, I’m in love. In the Dreams. With you.”

He opened his mouth to reply to her question, but the moment he did, she kept talking, so she closed it again. Once she’d finished, Toby tried to keep himself from smiling. Out of the dreams, he knew he probably wasn’t in love with Spencer, but in them, he was. She was the only part of the dreams that didn’t make him hate his entire existence. “I might not have gotten all of the dreams, but yeah. I’d say that I’m in love with you in the dreams, too.”

Spencer had a feeling that was the case, but still… hearing him say it out loud? It made her feel a little less crazy. A little less… alone. She gave a little sigh, relieved, and deflated just slightly in her chair. Some of the tension left her shoulders. “I just… I want to be clear about that. I don’t know how much of it is … what do they call it? Bleeding through?” The waitress came back over and set some waters down in front of them, and Spencer stopped talking while she was in earshot.

Toby offered her a hint of a smile. “Yeah. I think that’s what they call it.” He definitely had experienced some bleed over, but no injuries or anything like that. Just...emotions. Most of it was confusion over everything with Spencer. “Are you worried that this is just...the dreams?” He could see how it might feel that way, given the things that they’d felt for each other in the dreams. He just...didn’t want to think it was that.

Her reaction came as a sort of a knee jerk. “No!” Spencer was quick to look half horrified, half deer-in-headlights. But then she went on, a little less forcefully, “no no no.” She took a breath. “Well, maybe.” Her long, slender fingers found a paper napkin on the table, and she began to shred it idly as they talked. “Maybe a little. So, I don’t know, I’m wondering how much of what I’m feeling is Dream Bleed over. And then I wonder… well, does it really matter? Would these feelings be any less valid because they came from my Dreams? It still feels real. Doesn’t it?”

Toby watched her and listened as she spoke. Everything about her was beautiful. Even as she shredded paper. “I don’t think this is any less real here than it is in the dreams. We felt it before the dreams, before what we felt in the dreams, didn’t we?” At least he knew he had. “I mean, yeah, we kissed because of some OC weirdness, but I still liked you anyway. I hadn’t even dreamt then about liking you.” He’d been somewhere around liking Emily, which was not exactly the way things were ever going to go. “I don’t think it’s not real.”

And those blue eyes with the long lashes were staring at her. Spencer could feel her cheeks start to burn as he talked about that crazy kiss, about the feelings coming before the Dreams. Spencer had been interested before the Dreams started, that was true… but then she had dreamed. And the Dreams were strong. The feelings from them were super strong.

“So… we just keep at it, then?” Spencer said, a little smirk tugging at the corner of her thin lips. “Just see where this all goes?”

Toby nodded. That was the best way he could figure they’d go. “If we choose not to later, then we do, but there’s no reason to not try just because we’re worried that it might not be real.” Especially because he really didn’t want to say that they couldn’t be together. “If it’s real, then it’ll stick.” If not? Well, they could always say they’d tried.

“That sounds good.” Spencer gave Toby a little smile over the rim of her water glass. She was relieved that she’d been able to tell him all about this. Spencer had to learn how to better rely on other people, especially someone she cared so deeply for.

The waitress brought out their pizza. Spencer sat up and waited while the waitress served them each up a slice, then shook her head when the waitress asked if they needed anything else.

The food looked and smelled amazing.

Toby nodded, just glad that their food came out when it did because he was hungry and he figured eating pizza would alleviate be a good way to give him time to think of something else to talk about. But for now, he was perfectly fine just focusing on the food and spending time with Spencer.