callmeemily: ([...] o_o)
Raleigh Harper / Emily Watkins ([personal profile] callmeemily) wrote2014-05-27 12:33 am

Just call me Encyclopedia Brown (for Spencer)

Usually, even on her day off, Raleigh tended to be a loner. It's not because she doesn't like people - she does, although she's usually awkward enough that her actual level of 'Hey! I like this interaction' falls like a rock off a cliff the moment she opens her mouth for more than four words.

Today, though - today, it's her day off and she's not spending it in her own company even though the guy who dropped her here told her explicitly to keep her head down, as well as changing her name as much as changing her name was a thing that needed to happen. She'd gotten off a Wait, what?! with no answer, and when she'd found a room she used the name Emily Watkins - from her mom and her eighth grade science teacher.

But Emily or not, and order to keep her head down or not, she'd ended up with mail that wasn't hers and it was the neighborly thing for her to actually drop it off, right? That's why she walked up onto the porch, and nervously rang the bell. The address on the envelope looked like it'd gotten caught in the rain, but she figured that Spencer Waters was probably the closest that she could get to what little she could put together on the envelope - Vera Waters.

The fact that they'd never actually formally met was besides the point - she at least had to try, and that's why she stood awkwardly on the porch, rocking from her heels to her toes as she waited.
doublethepain: (listening maybe kind of could be)

[personal profile] doublethepain 2014-05-27 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
The library had been closed for the holiday and Spencer had spent most of his time reading the George Saunders book Joel had recommended. He's nearly done with it by now, has always had a knack for finishing books off quickly, and he's just sitting down for a bite to eat in the kitchen when the doorbell rings. He quirks an eyebrow at the front door for a moment before getting up to peek out the window to see who it is, and he pushes away the tiny burst of hope that Joel has come around again when he sees the blonde girl standing outside.

He frowns, trying to place her but coming up empty, and opens the door. Seeing her closer doesn't help with identifying her, and he tilts his head as he waits for her to speak. When she doesn't say anything, he waits another beat before deciding to go first. "Hello. Can I help you?"
doublethepain: (look at that qt bashful smile omf)

[personal profile] doublethepain 2014-05-27 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
He doesn't understand why she seems to be so nervous but he's not unamused, the corners of his lips turning up just slightly because he doesn't want to offend her with an outright laugh. "I'm Spencer, yes, and I wouldn't be surprised about a mail mix-up. It certainly wouldn't be the first time it happened."

Of course, the last time someone had dropped by to hand him a misdelivered item, it had turned out to be an anonymous letter proposing several different ways he could have killed his mother and brother so he doesn't exactly have great experiences when it comes to exchanging mail.

"It's kind of you to bring it here," he continues, extending his hand to take the item. "I hope it wasn't very much out of your way."
doublethepain: (clutchin my pearls)

[personal profile] doublethepain 2014-05-27 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
He nearly drops the letter when Emily says the name. "Ve--" He turns the envelope over in his hand and sure enough, his mother's name is printed there. It's just an offer to renew a magazine subscription--LAST CHANCE!--but it seems so wrong to be holding this, to be reminded that there really do exist people out in the world who have no idea his mother's gone when he thinks about it every day.

"Vera," he says after clearing his throat, and he doesn't know why he feels the need to confirm it but there it is. He doesn't take his eyes off the small print of the name, knowing that this probably shouldn't affect him as much as it is because it's just a mailer, it's not a big deal, he'd gotten mail for both his mother and Dane for months after they'd died; but he hasn't seen something come in for ages. He just hadn't been expecting it.

"I'm sorry, I don't-- She doesn't-- Thank you for bringing it by."
doublethepain: (dat lip bite)

[personal profile] doublethepain 2014-05-28 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
He needs to pull himself together. There's no sense in getting this visibly upset over a solicitation letter, a minor blip in the grand scheme of things that have been going on in Siren Cove lately; but even though he thinks of his mother, of Dane, every single day, this extra reminder feels almost like a setback. He can't let it be one, of course, but at this particular moment, it's harder than usual to move past the memory of finding hiw own mother's lifeless body in the backyard.

Emily's waiting for an answer, though, and it's not as if it's her fault that the letter had come to her so Spencer doesn't know why she's apologizing. Perhaps because he's acting like she's just overturned his world, he thinks, and he tries to downplay it by offering a weak smile.

"I'd say it'd be safe just to throw away if you get more like this in particular," he tells her, pausing as he looks back down at the envelope for a moment and then ripping it in half. "She passed on a couple years ago, I suspect she won't be needing these subscriptions renewed."
doublethepain: (dat lip bite)

[personal profile] doublethepain 2014-05-30 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
It's easier to swallow an innocent apology than it is the accusations; at least Emily doesn't know about those. Aside from the few people who'd kept close to him when everything had been happening, Spencer sometimes finds himself what the people he talks to really think of him, whether they think there's even a smidgen of possible truth behind the gossip. Other times, people make it perfectly clear that yes, they do.

"It's really fine, you couldn't have known." He hesistates, glancing over his shoulder at the sandwich waiting for him on the dining room table before turning back to her. "I was about to sit down for lunch. Do-- You could join? If you'd like? For the trouble." Branching out is never as easy as his friends try to make it sound.
doublethepain: (dat lip bite)

[personal profile] doublethepain 2014-05-31 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
It's admittedly not the best invitation he's ever extended to someone but then again, he hasn't invited many people over in the first place. He's actually rethinking the whole thing now but he's already gone and done it so it hardly seems appropriate to tell her he's changed his mind.

"Well, thank you for the apology all the same," he says. She isn't the first to have a hand in bringing up stuff and she won't be the last; in fact, Spencer does it enough all on his own, considering the scene of the crime is directly on the other side of the house. Still, he can appreciate that she's trying to be sensitive about it.

He steps aside, holding the door open wider for her. "Call it a welcome to the neighborhood."
doublethepain: (in the armmmss offff an angellll)

[personal profile] doublethepain 2014-06-01 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
He notices that she seems to walk with a bit of a limp and raises an eyebrow as she passes but doesn't saying anything because it hardly seems polite. It's not his place to poke around in other people's business, particularly not when he's so often adamant about others staying out of his own. He does feel a twinge of guilt, though, when she tells him long she's been in Siren Cove.

"I'm usually good with faces," he tells her sheepishly, tapping at his temple. "Eidetic memory. If I've seen you before it must have only been in quick passing, unless you frequent the library often in which case I have no excuse and should probably apologize." He can't imagine that's the case, though, not when she's mentioned strange hours due to working at a bakery. He relies on his usual free cut of banana bread from Amber at Cove Cafe and can't even remember the last time he'd visited the bakery.

He leads Emily to the dining room, gesturing for her to sit as he continues on to the kitchen. "Please, take the sandwich that's already out," he tells her, pulling the refrigerator open. "It'll only take me a moment to fix up a second one. Would you care for a drink? Water, milk... er, beer?" He also has an extensive liquor collection in the cabinet she's surely noticed by now but he doesn't know how appropriate it is to offer someone he's just met a glass of hard liquor this early in the day.