callmeemily | Holy crap, there's a new business in town.

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Holy crap, there's a new business in town.

Nevermind that it looked pretty run-down. Nevermind that there was a thick layer of dust on everything, that there was peeling wallpaper, that the floors had peeling linoleum.

This.... this was going to be home. Raleigh knew it the moment she and Joel had walked inside; the run-down storefront had been a cupcake shop three years ago before it'd gone bust, and it already had some of the requisite items for a bakery - luckily, a lot of the most expensive ones like a walk-in fridge. It just hadn't had a tenant since 2011, but Raleigh'd managed to cut a deal with the landlord; she'd fix it up, no rent was due until they opened, and she'd have a discounted rate for a year.

It was more than she could have hoped for, although that meant that her days would be full of dust and elbow grease for a while. The doors and windows were wide open, country music pouring out onto the street as Raleigh - in a tanktop, cut-offs, work gloves, and sneakers - perched on top of a tall ladder. She was stripping off wallpaper in big swathes, letting it fall on the floor - not caring that she was a sight, with dirt smearing her bare legs and arms. It felt hot as hell in the tiny store, but that probably had a lot to do with what she was doing.

She's singing to herself as she pulls free more paper, but her glove catches on a nail and she frowns. "Hey!" She leans down a little as she sees somebody passing by, even though from how high she is, she can't see who it is. "Can you pass me that hammer?" It's on the floor, and she doesn't want to have to get down if she doesn't have to.

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He steps over a toolbox to reach for the hammer before handing it to her, crossing his arms over his chest once she takes it and trying not to be obvious about the way he wipes his now greasy palm against his thankfully dark cardigan. It's Joel's cardigan, actually, and a little too big for him but that's neither here not there. He knows that Joel and Raleigh have been working hard at finding just the right place for the bakery, and he's pleased that the finally had, if only to alleviate a fraction of Raleigh's stress. He'd have offered his help long before today but working at the library, working for someone--even someone as kind and understanding as John--tends to get in the way of taking excessive time off.

The country music is loud is in ears, but Raleigh... she looks at home, and Spencer is beyond happy for her. "I feel like there's more I should be doing," he calls up to her, glancing around. He'd left the renovation of his den into his library to the professionals, and Joel's far more handier than he is, so he feels a bit lost. "Is there anything else you need? A check!" His face brightens because that is certainly something he can do. "I can write you a check for the start-up, I'm perfectly capable of that!"

Raleigh smiles wider when she realises that the person outside's Spencer. He passes her the hammer and she takes care of the nail with a whack, and then she yanks down the last swath of paper that she can reach - it's three layers, each uglier than the last, but she makes sure to drop it on the other side of the ladder, before she moves down. She rubs her arm across her forehead to get the sweat off, leaving a streak of dirt behind.

"Don't worry about i-" But he's already talking about a check, and her eyes sort of widen because she still doesn't know exactly how to handle him offering to back the bakery, but she clears her throat. "I'm figuring out how to set up an account for the bakery, I... guess I'll let you know when that's all set up? And I'll write out the contract." Because she's still insisting that they do this formally, because if he's backing the bakery it's an investment, not a gift.

Looking around the mess that's the storefront right now, though, all she can see is the potential. She's not shown him it before since they signed the lease yesterday, and she can't help how eager she looks. "Do you have a minute? I can show you everything. Isn't it great?" She's so hopeful, that he likes it, that he thinks that it's a good choice. She's got so much respect for him, and she just... want him not to think it's a mistake.

He shrugs when she mentions a contract, by no means willing to argue with her over it because he knows how important it is to her to not feel like this is... well, a gift, he supposes, but it's not. He wouldn't be making the investment if he didn't believe the bakery would succeed, and he's aware enough of Raleigh's skill in the kitchen to be sure that it will. She's talented, she truly is, and he supports her entirely in this venture--but if she wants to take her precautions, he'll let her, if only because it may help her feel less like she's taking advantage of him, which she isn't.

Joel is the same way, and Spencer still remembers the irritation in Joel's tone that day he'd offered to buy the pallets after the store's basement had flooded. It stands out because Joel had never directed that tone at him before, and he hasn't since; but Spencer can still hear it quite clearly. It makes bringing up his desire to finally buy out the property in Joel's name all the more difficult.

"I have several minutes, in fact," he tells her, shaking himself from his thoughts. "I'd love to get a better look, the space looks perfect for you. This used to be a cupcake shop, if I recall correctly, though I suspect you'll fare considerably better."

She's actually doesn't have a problem with a gift being a gift - she actually wants to bring it up - gifts, that is, because she called the hospital after the mess two nights ago, and her bill really is paid in full. All of it, even including the things from the cruise.

She thinks she knows who it was.

She thinks she knows, but she can't really ask, exactly, although she might someday. All she knows is when she's tried to pay him rent, he said no, and he's got enough that he's backing the bakery with an investment and he's got enough to do that, that it's not a problem.

Instead, he says he's got the time, and she doesn't waste her time because she's so excited. Because it's hers. It's hers, and he's here, and he's one of the reasons this whole thing is possible. She knows that without him, she'd still be in the boarding house, she'd still be alone and probably working at the Seaside insane hours trying to keep her head above water, but now? She's opening her own bakery.

Everyone - every single one of her friends - is a gift, that she's been able to get this far. "C'mon, follow me. Watch out for the boards, and- sorry, the floor's got to be patched right there. It's a little bit of a... project." That was an understatement, but already the store's looking more alive than it had when it was all closed up. The dust rained through the sun streaming in through the windows, and Raleigh leads him into the back. There's a kitchen - bigger than the one in his house, although not so big that it's overwhelming.

There's hookups for a Hobart washer, and a few errant cooling racks that'd gotten left behind by the last tenants, and the massive door to the walk-in on one side. "So I'm thinking that the ovens can go over here - a bunch of them, there's natural gas hookups already, and I think they had the mixers here, but I'm not sure if I like that - I'm sort of thinking that it'd make it a pain in the ass to get the ingredients in, but I'll figure it out. I'm going to see if we can put in another couple of windows back here - I don't know yet which walls are load-bearing, but the back gets morning sun, and it'll be great not to roast from the ovens." She's practically glowing as she's nattering about the plans she's already put together, even though it's only been a day.

"I never really got the cupcake fad," she says over her shoulder. "The whole thing was about the frosting, and like. I can make frosting. I can make amazing frosting, but 95% of the time, the stuff they're making isn't even whipped cream frosting, and half the time it's not buttercream. It's just oil and sugar, and it tastes like plastic. It's so gross."

She's a snob, and she doesn't even realise it. "Although, the whole filling-cupcakes-with-stuff thing? I'm all for that. I've seen a bunch that have ice cream in them."

She pauses, and just sort of turns around, her brows furrowing. "Can I ask you something that's got nothing to do with the bakery, or anything like that?"

This whole thing, with his willingness to support her and the desire to help Joel, it doesn't stem from anything especially generous within him, at least he doesn't feel that way. Both of them are getting along just fine without Spencer trying to throw money at them but in truth, he's been sitting on these life insurance accounts with no idea what to do with them. He anonymously donates to the Reading is Fundamental organization every year, he's put some money into helping upgrade the library and parts of the town, but it's a bit difficult to determine what he should do with the money that he only has because his family's dead. The house is free and clear of a mortgage, maintenance isn't altogether terrible even with three people living there again and besides, Joel assists in that aspect now so he'd been back to square one. This, backing the bakery and fulfilling the cost of Raleigh's hospital bills, it just feels... right. They're things he thinks his mother would be happy to see him using a portion of that money for, and he likes the idea of that, always likes the idea that maybe he's still making his mother smile. It's easier to believe that's true when he has people in his life to influence him so positively; he can't imagine even for a second that any of this is the wrong decision.

The property Raleigh's chosen for the bakery is well-suited for her, the kitchen being a wide and open enough space that it won't hold her energy back because he's seen her when she gets to work in the kitchen, and the woman does not stop once she gets started. He watches her sometimes, kneading dough or setting trays in the oven or taste-testing her pastries to perfection, and he's not even sure she realizes he's there half the time. He gets to be the same way when he puts himself to a task at the library. He realizes that his job requires some sort of ability to actually assist the patrons, but it's happened one more than one occasion that he's hushed someone approaching him for help in favor of his re-shelving or cataloging or, most recently, texting his boyfriend back in a corner of the stacks. That last one is perhaps not something he should admit out loud, and he's been lucky enough that the patron had actually turned out to be Cosette.

In any case, Raleigh's right, the place is a bit of a project, but he can pictures its transformation as she describes her vision and nods along as she points out where she wants the ovens, the mixers, the windows. "What about the walls?" he asks, glancing at the faded paint job left from the last tenant, and he can see the faint outline of the cupcake logo that he remembers. "Brighter colors? A mural sort of deal? Simple? It would certainly help set your tone and painting is something else I can help with when I'm not at work. I've always been quite excellent at being able to color within the lines." He flashes her a teasing smile, and he briefly wonders when it'll stop being a surprise that the smiles come so easily now.

"It all sounds fantastic, though, you seem to know exactly how you want to see this through. I know you're still in beginning stages but have you asked anyone to help you mock up a layout of how you want everything to be?"

His forehead creases with concern at her last question, and he tilts his head at her as he steps around one of the counters he's been examining a bit more closely. "Of course you can, are y-- Is everything all right?"

"Tile, maybe? I don't know how much it costs, but white tile that can be bleached really easily, and...." She thinks for a second. "Bright yellow trim, I think? I don't know." She chewed on her lower lip for a second. "I'm not really sure yet, I guess it depends on how much it costs?" The whole thing, she's still not sure of - hell, she doesn't know what she's calling it, still. "Not a mural, I think it would be too distracting." She likes it simple, she likes being able to just concentrate on the food, to lose herself in baking.

She definitely does lose herself, although she doesn't actually know she does it. It gives her this sense of peace that she can't even describe, to be able to let everything just fall to the wayside, to just slip into nothing because all she's concerned with is making.

"I'd love it if you help paint," she says with a slow smile. "I think the front'll be a lot more interesting when ti comes to that - I mostly want it to be easy to clean, back here." She smiles back, her eyes bright as she looks around the kitchen, and then he asks about a mockup, and her brows furrow. "I don't even know- I didn't even know that was a thing, really?" She laughs, even though she's making a face. "I swear, Spencer, I don't know what the hell I'm doing." She just sounds like it, she thinks. She's faking it, sort of, and just waiting for someone else to catch on.

Waving off his concern, she tries to reassure him. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I just-" She shifts, and levers herself up onto one of the counters so she's sitting on it while she talks to him, picking at the threadbare edge of her shorts.

"It's seriously not about anything, it's just... Do you- I mean. Is it...." It's hard to spit out, and she just kind of... frowns. "I don't think I'm really cut out for this whole... dating... thing." Her eyes flick up to his, and she's frowning some. "And I mean, I just- Uh." She doesn't actually know what she wants to even ask him, because right now... right now it's all sorts of messed up.

"Is that weird?" That's what she finally asks, even though she knows it's not, and it's not her real question - but she doesn't know how to ask him - him, of all people, self-professed man who says he was empty before he found Joel - what exactly she's doing wrong.

"Oh!" The surprise is evident in his voice, and it's not that he isn't willing to talk to her about the subject--though his cheeks are already flushing--he's just surprised that she'd want to talk about it with him. He knows Joel had set her up with someone, and the fact that she's just said she doesn't think she's much of a dater makes it easy enough to deduce that it hadn't gone very swimmingly. Still, if it's weird, he supposes it makes him weird because before Joel there had been a grand total of... the one. Senior prom had been the only date he'd gone on before Joel.

He leans his back against the countertop, near to where she's hoisted herself up, and shifts his gaze toward the back where she'd said she wanted the windows to be.

"It's not weird," he finally manages to spit out, wringing his hands nervously in front of him as he looks back at her because he really isn't sure if there's much of a right thing to say here. "Everyone's different when it comes to this sort of thing, look at me. There was one person before Joel, one, and she-- We went to prom together and--" He cuts himself off because he hardly wants to discuss how uncomfortable and awkward and unfulfilling it had been to lose his virginity to Darcy Haines, absolutely nothing like it is now when he and Joel are intimate. "Well, we went to prom and it wasn't difficult to figure out that she didn't really want to be there with me. It took me eleven years to find someone I trusted enough to actually want to be with, and I fell in love with him."

He shrugs because he doesn't really know how to explain it when he's not quite sure how he'd landed in this position in the first place. Joel is an anomaly, to be sure, and their relationship is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing that he hasn't taken for granted for a second since they'd started seeing each other.

"I just think," he continue, rubbing at the back of his neck, "that it's easy for some people, the ones who don't mind that there are going to be good dates and bad dates because one day, hopefully, someone out there is going to give them the best date every single time. Then there are the ones who aren't necessarily interested in facing the disappointment, who'd rather let their person come to them. And of course, there are people like me, people like Joel, who just... stopped trying. Because at a certain point, I had readily accepted that I was going to be alone for the rest of my life and it wasn't sad, it wasn't tragic, it was just a fact. I got lucky. I got so incredibly lucky."

He rubs his thumb over his left ring finger, smiling softly to himself because he knows what's going to be there soon. They'd picked their rings out, he and Joel, they're going to get married in a couple months, Joel's going to be his husband and it makes his stomach feel like it's doing somersaults. "In any case, I have said far too much without knowing if any of that is actually helpful in any way and I feel a bit foolish, but the bottom line is that you shouldn't put pressure on yourself. There isn't a rule book for this kind of thing, though I think people would like to believe differently."

He pauses, taking half a moment to study her. "What brought this on? I mean, obviously things didn't quite work out with the date Joel set you up on, which is fine, by the way, you're not obligated to end a date with hearts in your eyes."

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