Checking up with curly man {for Joel, Spencer}

[bachjones]

 It had hurt Bach, the things Joel had said, but drunks always spoke ugly truths and he simply wasn't good with women when there was no sex involved anyway.
He was pretty sure Joel was a friend and the man was nice. And nice people didn't deserve hangovers.

So here he was, in front of Joel's store, a fried egg bagel and a few aspirin in a cheap plastic bag his only company.

Comments

[bachjones]

"Spanish. Definitely Spanish. I don't know why but it sounds amazing and it has a lot of emotion stacked between the lines. Or that's how it sounds like, at least."

"Just two weeks? I don't read that fast." When was the last time he even read things?
His stomach growls, and he covers it with a hand. "Sorry, man. Less women willing to cook for me, these days. Money and sex really do make the world go around. How often do you find dirty things in those kind of books?"

[doublethepain]

"I could help you, in that case." He surprises himself a bit by offering, he doesn't usually volunteer his services for people he doesn't know very well; but this is a friend of Joel's, and Spencer wants to make an effort to get to know him even if their conversation so far has taken a bit of a strange turn. "Two weeks but you can borrow it again, you just need to stop by the library so we can enter it into our system."

He raises an eyebrow at Bach's next comment and shifts uncomfortably, skipping right over the question about what he finds in the books because he doesn't often look at the in the first place. "You could cook for yourself," he suggests carefully. "It's not as if it's exclusively a woman's job, after all. I'm not very good at it myself but I've found that microwavable ramen bowls tend to come in quite handy here and there."

[bachjones]

"Help me with what, reading? Spanish? Reading faster?"
So maybe he's a bit of a meanie, "with dirty things? Don't let Joel hear that."

"Oh no, no man, I tried. It's a thing, we can't cook. I blew up a microwave once. Ask Lara Quinn."

[doublethepain]

"Most of those things. I do occasional tutoring once in awhile, for those who are willing to ask." He'd done it for Demetri Thornton and Amelie Coombs, so he feels like he's pretty well-rounded. "Decidedly not the dirty things."

He has to laugh at that, shrugging a shoulder in response. "It's not for everyone."

[bachjones]

"So you're a teacher as well? On everything?"

"Exactly." He taps his mouth. "Ovens are dangerous, baking doesn't work, I'm just especially bad with heating food. I've been eating a lot of fruit and bread the past few days."

[doublethepain]

"No. No, no, no." Spencer can't imagine being a teacher, his wealth of knowledge aside. His patience would wear too thin, with both the kids and their parents, and he wrinkles his nose at the notion of having to read essays filled to the brim with grammatical errors and general garbage. He'd read his share of his classmates' works in high school, after all, he understands what he'd have to expect.

"Being a tutor is far preferable for me," he continues, shrugging a shoulder. "One-on-one and focused on a single subject, I'm better at that."

He chuckles at the comment about ovens because he agrees whole-heartedly with that, at least. "Yes, well, I'm lucky enough to have friends who are interested in cooking and baking enough to make sure I'm well-fed. Otherwise I think I might have ended up doing the same."

[bachjones]

"You two really go together like apples and pies, man. Well done, great connection. If I could, you'd two be a great rhythm to write to."

And now he's hungry, because damn, apple pie.

"I have a friend who lives at a place with people working in the kitchen, that's a good point. I should visit him a bit more often. But fruit's not that bad, honestly. I just miss a great steak from time to time, but meat isn't that important. And it's better for the environment to eat less anyway, or so I heard."