He'd wipe the flour from her cheek but it's so very quintessentially Raleigh that at this point, it very much looks to Spencer like it simply belongs there. After all, in most cases, food isn't too far behind when Raleigh is near, and it's just good to know that some things will likely never change.
Change. He finds it amusing that he's never been much of a fan of it but in the past few months, nearly everything about his life has been turned upside down. It's due mostly to Joel, to meeting a man who makes him want to be better in every single way so he can be the kind of person worthy of the kind of love Joel gives to him so freely; but it's also due in part to Raleigh. She'd rung his doorbell with a wrongfully mailed letter to his mother in hand, and he'd let her step into his life that day without realizing what an impact she'd have on him.
He'd never thought that he'd feel like he's part of a family again but these two people, Joel and Raleigh, they've made such a world of difference. That's the very reason he finds it difficult to look at her right now, the knowledge of the letter on his mind even though she can't possibly have any idea that Joel has told him. She's become akin to a sister to him, not a replacement for his brother but someone who easily fulfills the role of a family member, and the idea that she'd been suffering in silence on the island all that time--all that time, as if they'd been on the island for fifty years rather than five days--makes him sick.
"I like your hoodie, it looks significantly better on you than it did on the rack," he comments softly, eyes moving across the pages of his book but not really taking any of the words in. He'd remembered her first words to him when they'd seen each other on the island for the first time, and he knows it had been more than just the loss of the hoodie; it's more what the hoodie signified between them and that's why he'd been so quick to replace it. He's never been particularly good with expressing to most people how he feels in words, so he hopes that small gestures like this go over well enough. He hopes that she understands that she means more to him than just a roommate or even just a friend; and he also hopes that he'll be able to really explain that to her one day.
"It is, it's actually quite riveting," he tells her, and it's all small talk, he's well aware of that. "The author, Caden Carter, he's new to town, and I've re-shelved his books so many times that I thought I ought to at least know what his stories are like. Besides, Joel carries his novels, too, and Mr. Carter offered to do a signing to get traffic for the store. So I bought them." Yes, he'd bought the books. He'd bought them from Joel, in fact, even though his boyfriend had been utterly put out by Spencer's insistence that he pay for them at all when they're just as easily accessible at the library. "It's the least I can do, isn't it? I boosted sales for him and for Joel."
no subject
Change. He finds it amusing that he's never been much of a fan of it but in the past few months, nearly everything about his life has been turned upside down. It's due mostly to Joel, to meeting a man who makes him want to be better in every single way so he can be the kind of person worthy of the kind of love Joel gives to him so freely; but it's also due in part to Raleigh. She'd rung his doorbell with a wrongfully mailed letter to his mother in hand, and he'd let her step into his life that day without realizing what an impact she'd have on him.
He'd never thought that he'd feel like he's part of a family again but these two people, Joel and Raleigh, they've made such a world of difference. That's the very reason he finds it difficult to look at her right now, the knowledge of the letter on his mind even though she can't possibly have any idea that Joel has told him. She's become akin to a sister to him, not a replacement for his brother but someone who easily fulfills the role of a family member, and the idea that she'd been suffering in silence on the island all that time--all that time, as if they'd been on the island for fifty years rather than five days--makes him sick.
"I like your hoodie, it looks significantly better on you than it did on the rack," he comments softly, eyes moving across the pages of his book but not really taking any of the words in. He'd remembered her first words to him when they'd seen each other on the island for the first time, and he knows it had been more than just the loss of the hoodie; it's more what the hoodie signified between them and that's why he'd been so quick to replace it. He's never been particularly good with expressing to most people how he feels in words, so he hopes that small gestures like this go over well enough. He hopes that she understands that she means more to him than just a roommate or even just a friend; and he also hopes that he'll be able to really explain that to her one day.
"It is, it's actually quite riveting," he tells her, and it's all small talk, he's well aware of that. "The author, Caden Carter, he's new to town, and I've re-shelved his books so many times that I thought I ought to at least know what his stories are like. Besides, Joel carries his novels, too, and Mr. Carter offered to do a signing to get traffic for the store. So I bought them." Yes, he'd bought the books. He'd bought them from Joel, in fact, even though his boyfriend had been utterly put out by Spencer's insistence that he pay for them at all when they're just as easily accessible at the library. "It's the least I can do, isn't it? I boosted sales for him and for Joel."