When is a pastry fairy not a fairy? (spencer) BACKDATED TO BEFORE BAD THINGS HAPPEN

[callmeemily]

The whole reason she's here is, surprisingly, not the conversation she's had with Joel. That's only why she's here now.

She's been leaving things for Spencer - hell, she's been leaving things for everyone lately, because she's experimenting, and when Raleigh experiments in the kitchen there's always left overs because she tries to work in half-batches. Anything smaller than that makes the temps change, and she's trying to figure out new pastries, not burn them.

But... she's also been trying to leave them for people when they're not home. It's weird, but it seems way easier than every time explaining what she's made, having them say that she doesn't have to do this like it's a burden when she'd really rather just not throw them away and she doesn't particularly want to sell them. Her boss says that because they're not the things that are known - that have names, whatever, that they can be sold for fifty cents and marked as 'rejects', which is not exactly what Raleigh's trying to do here.

So she's been packaging them up with twine in the little bakery boxes and hooking them to people's doorknobs - even people she doesn't know, with a big marking on the top that says CONTAINS GLUTEN AND NUTS so she doesn't kill anyone. But today? Today she's not just leaving the box at Spencer's door, she's holding it in her hands when she rings the bell - and her face says anything besides Hey! Surprise! Another pastry! She's worried, and it shows.

Comments

[doublethepain]

"Right." He's always gone out alone and people rarely know where he is outside of the library but he'd never thought of either of those things as dangerous; but then again, he's never been the subject of a threatening letter, either, so he supposes there's always a first time for everything.

"No," he says with a laugh, shaking his head earnestly. "No, it's kind of nice. It's very nice, actually, I don't exactly have hordes of people lining up at my door to make sure I'm all right." His cheeks flush a bit at the mention of Joel and he ducks his head in hopes that his own body's betrayal isn't noticeable as he echoes her words. "He's a good guy. I trust him."

[callmeemily]

"Well, you should," she says smartly - the people that she's sorted into the good bucket in her head - she never wants anything to happen to them. She's always been like that - you protect the things that matter, even if they're still new friendships. She doesn't have a lot else that matters to her right now - Jason, Alfredo, her baking, that's about it - so Joel and Spencer (and the other new people she'd met) rank up there. People should be lined up to see if he's okay or needs help. Maybe not literally, but... still.

She sees the flush, and she smiles widely. "I saw him at the ball - he said he was looking for you?" It was totally her way to see if they had actually been looking for each other. "But... I know. I trust him, too."

[doublethepain]

"I'll keep that in mind. I'd be at your door, too, just-- just for the record. I know I'm just the town librarian but if you need anything, you can always just ask. I meant what I said about you using my kitchen, too, by the way. Whatever you need." It feels odd to be so open with someone he doesn't know very well yet but he's never found Emily to be anything but genuine and kind. He'd like to return the offer in some way.

His small smile widens when she tells him what Joel had said and it still doesn't fail to kickstart a tingle down his spine to know that Joel had shown up to that ball for Spencer. It simply doesn't happen to him but it's never been a bother. Now that they've actually held hands--and it seems silly to be so excited over something that sounds so childlike--without any care of who sees them and planned a date for Friday's boardwalk movie night, Spencer is actually kind of glad that it's taken this long to feel this way.

"I found him," he says, his gaze drifting as he thinks back to the evening. It hadn't ended ideally, with the disruption from Joel's vision, but up until that point, it had been decidedly wonderful. "Or he found me, rather. We, er-- We left together."

[callmeemily]

She actually looks a little confused when he says that - mostly because she doesn't have a door, but she's forgotten that he doesn't know. There's a lot of weird rules at the place where she's got a room; the boarding house has to be strict to stop it from turning into a brothel or something, probably, but she just sort of assumes that he means the bakery if it comes down to that.

"That's really nice of you - the thing about the kitchen. I may take you up on it sometime." She smiles widely, and she sees the way he lights up when she brings up Joel, and she can't not smile in response. Awesome, then it is mutual. She's so glad for both of them, and officially, she'd help facilitate that as much as she could. They both had been surprisingly kind to her - the way that Spencer fed her the first time she saw him, and Joel - she's actually reading, and it's because he's loaning her books.

"Good. I'm glad--" She stops, though, when he said they left together and her brows shoot up. It's not that there's any sort of problem with them leaving together, ti's just that she finds it a little surprising that he's actually telling her about it. Because she doesn't realise that he doesn't mean anything... inappropriate, by it. But hey, whatever floats his boat, right?

[doublethepain]

There's a moment of awkward silence that Spencer doesn't pick up on right away because he's busy getting into the box of goodies Emily's brought for him. He's nearly brought one to his lips when he realizes she's stopped short and his eyes widen to a near-comical size when he figures out why. "No! I-- No, that's not what--"

He can't stop stammering and his face feels like it's on fire as he scrambles to find the rights words. He doesn't think she'd judge him for it either way but he's only just becoming comfortable with her as a... well, a friend, and he's not even sure he'd tell his established friends about it even if he and Joel had actually--

"We held hands," he says quickly, as if that explains everything. "That's all. We held hands and we walked." He stuffs the pastry he's still holding in his mouth to keep himself from saying anything else.

[callmeemily]

She laughs brightly when he says that. She laughs, and actually shakes her head. "Hey, I wasn't saying anything, if you guys had actually come back here together, more power to you." She paused, and actually ducked her head for a second, her mouth curving into a sort of smile. "I get it, though. The hand thing." Because that? That is what happened with her and Jason. Although he also put her in his lap, but that was sort of besides the point. Either way, there was hand-holding.

"It's... nice. So I get you." She smiles wider. "I'm glad, though. I'm glad both of you - that you're... hand-holding? I don't know, you get what I mean."