Welcome to tonight's shot; this was a guest request from a very long time ago. I don't know if they're still reading but I hope everyone enjoys it.
Legal: I own nothing but the idea.
Things to know before reading:
*Spinner never married Emma she's married to Sean
*Spinner moved to Oshawa to attend school and has not been working at The Dot the last two years
*This starts just after Ray of Light
I think that does it enjoy the fluff shot!
The Kiss I Didn't Expect
"Earth to Clare," Adam calls to me as I gaze angrily out the front windows of The Dot at my ex, while he talks to Talia with a grin on his face. The dirty blonde in grade ten that gave him the MDMA which he then took, ran through the school naked and yelled at me.
"Sorry I can't help it," I sigh.
"You need to forget about Eli. You know I love you both but the two of you together are kind of a disaster, at least while you're dating," Adam says.
"I know that but I can't help it Adam. I know he's bad for me and yet my heart still yearns for him. Oh brother I sound pathetic," I sigh putting my head down on the table.
"You sound like a girl," Adam replies and I pick my head up to sneer at him. However my sneer turns into a smile when I see Spinner walk in.
"Spinner!" I grin running over. He looks at me with a smile and opens his arms for a hug. I jump into his arms and he squeezes me tightly, picking me up and twirling me a little.
"Hey Clare it's b…" Spinner begins but stops when he sees my sad and angry face. My face is sad and angry because Eli walks in with his arm around Talia. When he sees me he gives me a smirk. Spinner leans down and whispers in my ear, "He must be an ex."
"Yes," I whisper back and the next thing that happens is the last thing I ever expected. Spinner keeps his head near mine and then ensnares my lips. A breath hitches in my throat as I'm shocked by the kiss, but then I release the breath and my arm goes around his neck, my lips part as I respond to the kiss. After a few seconds, and about the time everyone in the café is starring at us, Spinner pulls away still wearing his big grin.
"Who are you?" Eli asks glaring at Spin a little.
"Clare's boyfriend," Spinner says loud enough for the whole café to hear and I have to bury my head in his chest, biting my lip to keep from laughing.
"He's your new boyfriend?" Eli kind of growls, glaring at Spinner and then looking back at me. "You can't date him! That makes you jailbait. How the hell old is he, who the hell is this guy!"
"Like I said I'm her boyfriend, now step away from her," Spinner replies pushing Eli back with one hand and pulling me behind him just a bit. "I'll see you for dinner, I'll pick you up at six," Spinner says to me.
"Yeah dinner," I nod slowly.
"She'll be at my house but you know where that is," Adam comments to Spinner without giving away that Spinner is not my boyfriend. "We should go there now and work on our project," Adam remarks taking my arm.
"I'll walk you guys out," Spinner says as I grab stuff. He not only walks us out but walks us to the end of the block.
"Thanks for the kiss and saying you were my boyfriend it definitely made Eli jealous," I grin.
"No problem and I'd still like to take you to dinner, to catch up anyway," Spinner smiles.
"Dinner would be nice, here is Adam's address," I tell him scribbling it down on a piece of paper from my purse.
"Great then I'll see you at six," Spinner smiles walking back into the café. I smile and nod, Adam shakes his head, rolls his eyes and pulls my arm away from Spinner.
"Who? Age? How?" Adam demands when we're away from Spinner.
"Spinner Mason. He'd be 23 now I think. He dated Darcy for a bit and was always nice to me," I answer Adam's questions one at a time.
"Uh 23?"
"Adam it's not as though he's really my boyfriend, he's just an old friend I'm having dinner with. I haven't seen him in three years we're going to catch up that's all we're going to do."
"Hey little bro and his girl bestie," Drew grins when we walk into the Torres basement.
"Yo," Dallas nods.
"What's up kids?" Owen asks but I find the term kids insulting considering he's only a year older than us.
"Clare's got a date with a 23 year old man who used to date her sister," Adam announces.
Now all three boys, who probably really have no interest in my dating life or life at all, are gaping at me. They all wear about the same expression, their eyes are wide open, their mouths have hit the floor and I don't think they're breathing.
"WHAT?!" They all exclaim together.
"It's dinner with an old friend and it's none of your business," I reply.
"He's picking her up here," Adam decides to inform them.
"So can we grill him and scare him into behaving?" Owen asks.
"No you can't, you three barely know me and he's just a friend."
"But he told the everyone in The Dot he was her boyfriend, granted it was mostly to piss off Eli," Adam replies.
"Damn and I missed that," Dallas grumbles.
At least that's the end of it, Adam and I sit down working on our homework. At six the doorbell rings since I forgot to tell Spinner to come down to the basement. Audra is thankfully not home because I can only imagine her reaction to Spinner picking me up. I try to run upstairs first but Owen, Drew and Dallas beat me up the stairs and open the front door.
"SPINNER?!" Owen exclaims just as I reach the door, "I should have known it was you."
"Hey Owen," Spinner nods.
"Spin this is Adam, my best friend, you guys didn't officially meet," I say and the guys shake hands. "This is Drew, Adam's brother. Dallas is on the new hockey team and he's billeted with them and apparently you know Owen."
"Working at The Dot it was hard not to know all the DeGrassi kids, I don't remember all of their names but Owen caused a fair amount of trouble," Spinner comments.
"He's actually better behaved now but we should go. See you tomorrow Adam," I say walking past the boys and taking Spinner's hand.
"Worried about your protective friends?" Spinner asks as he opens the car door for me.
"Only Adam is my friend and he's not generally that protective, I barely know the other three, well aside from one kiss with Dallas but I was tipsy and…let's just not talk about it," I respond as Spinner gets in and starts driving.
"I didn't think jocks were you're type, Eli doesn't look like he plays any sports," Spinner remarks.
"No Eli is the artsy type and we've ended badly twice now. But don't forget K.C. was my first boyfriend and he was a jock. That ended badly too actually and Jake broke up with me when I told him I was ready to sleep with him, of course I wasn't really ready and considering he was my stepbrother it's probably a good thing. I also told Eli I was ready to have sex and he broke up with me but not because of that. It's that he…sorry I'm just rambling on," I apologize realize I'm venting about my relationships to Spinner when I haven't seen him for over two years.
"That's okay I wanted to catch up," Spinner shrugs.
"I know but that doesn't include me going on and on about my bad relationships. So where have you been the last two years?" I inquire.
"Going to business school, I was working and going to school and really had no time for anything else. So tell me about Eli," Spinner insists.
"It's a pretty long story," I warn him.
"That's okay I have all night," Spinner grins.
I spend the rest of the drive and all of dinner talking about me and Eli. While I don't speak of every detail of our relationship I go into quite a lot. I talk about Eli running over my glasses and that being how I met him. How he drove me nuts in class, how we were paired as writing partners, shooting the Romeo & Juliette scene and of course finding out about Julia. Then how Eli went nuts and wrecked his car just so I would come see him in the hospital. How we barely spoke after that but then he wrote the play about us while I was trying to have a relationship with Jake. Finding out about Eli's bipolar depression and how I kept my distance from him until the worst prom ever. How he found me in the woods after my mom married Jake's dad. We still kept our distance after Jake and I got together but then just before winter break we rekindled, officially getting back together at the start of the new semester.
"I'll fucking kill him," Spinner growls banging his fist on the table when I get the part about Asher.
"He's being investigated but I doubt it will go anywhere. There's no real proof even with testimony from me and Jennifer."
Once Spinner has calmed down, and the other patrons of the restaurant have stopped looking at us, I tell Spinner about Eli and I having a nice March break together. How we got back to school and Eli got jealous when he found my diary saying how I was in love with Jake and wanted to have sex. And then as soon as we were done fighting about it Eli found Cam's body in the garden shed. It sent him over the edge and he decided taking MDMA at a rave was a good idea, when I tried to help Eli went ballistic and yelled at me. While he apologized the next day we still broke up and now he's with Talia, I'm not sure they're actually dating but they look awfully friendly and cozy when I see them.
"You should be with someone who really knows you and really appreciates you. In fact since we already told the entire Dot we were dating I think you should be my girlfriend," Spinner comments.
"You're asking me out? Are you serious? You dated my sister wouldn't that be weird?"
"Only if it's weird for you, I really liked Darcy but there were things I also couldn't stand about her. She was pretty shallow and self-absorbed at times. You've gotten a lot prettier, a lot sexier, smarter, wiser and this whole time you've been talking I haven't been able to keep my eyes off you. So how 'bout it? Want to go out with me and make what we said in The Dot true? It can't be any worse than your last three relationships," Spinner says and I laugh.
"I would like that but don't you live in Oshawa where you were going to school?" I inquire.
"I was but I moved back a couple of days ago. I'm taking over The Dot and I have my own place. In fact since we're done with dinner you want to come see my place? It's still pretty cluttered with boxes but I have ice cream we can have for dessert," Spinner tells me.
"Sounds great Boyfriend," I grin. Spinner pays the check and we go out to his car, his apartment is only a couple of blocks from the school. One bedroom but it looks nice, although currently cluttered with boxes. "I think I'm going to have to come over and help you unpack," I comment.
"You're welcome to come over any time. In fact," Spinner says taking a key from his key ring, "here's the extra key."
"Thanks," I grin kissing his cheek.
Spinner gets out bowls and spoons serving us some ice cream and we sit together on the sofa. Since I did most of the talking over dinner he talks while we eat dessert. He talks about school and the two girls he dated. After dessert he takes me home, walking me to the door and giving me a gentle kiss goodnight.
"I'm home," I call into the house.
"Hello Clare, your mom wasn't feeling well so she went to bed. How was your evening?" Glen asks.
"Great and I have new boyfriend, his name is Gavin. Will you tell Mom when she feels better?" I request.
"Sure I'll tell her in the morning I think she's asleep now."
I say goodnight to Glen and go upstairs. I'm partially hoping that my mom just won't remember Spinner, for the time he and Darcy dated Mom was pretty busy with work and things and I think she only met Spinner once or twice. He never came to dinner or anything like that. I get ready for bed and finish what homework I have still and then call Adam before going to bed, I tell him I'm actually dating Spinner now and he's a little shocked but doesn't say much else. When I wake up mom's already left but she did leave a note that she wants to meet the new boyfriend. I get ready for school and walk there stopping at The Dot hoping to see Spinner working and he is.
"Now that's how I like to start the morning, seeing my beautiful girlfriend," Spinner grins and I smile walking to the counter and lean over it to greet him with a kiss.
"Morning," I smile hopping down, "can I get a double mocha please?"
"One double mocha, on the house but I'll require a kiss first," he says and I lean on the counter to kiss him again.
"Hey no making out on the job," Drew's voice breaks apart. He's only joking of course; his voice was deep with fake authority. Spinner and I break apart laughing and I turn around looking at the Torres brothers and Dallas. Spinner makes my coffee and then gets their order. I say goodbye to Spinner and walk to school with them.
"You're definitely a lot happier today," Adam comments as we walk up the steps to DeGrassi.
"That's what happens when you're dating a wonderful guy," I smile. Bianca is waiting inside with Owen but she greets Drew with a passionate kiss when she sees the group of us.
"So Clare I hear you're dating Spinner now," Bianca comments.
"Yep it's nice to be dating a man and not a boy," I remark just as Eli passes us in the hall, it was perfect timing. He turns around and glowers at me.
"What are you looking at Eli?" Owen questions.
"How old is this guy?" Eli asks.
"That's no longer your business Eli," I respond so he looks at Adam.
"How old is he?"
"Sorry Eli I can't betray Clare if she doesn't want you to know you'll just have to wait and find out," Adam replies.
"Besides you're with Talia now you can't be jealous that Clare's dating an older man," Bianca comments.
"I never imagined you'd be jailbait Clare," Eli smirks.
"Grow up Eli," I shoot back and grab Adam's hand, "let's get to class."
Other than a few people asking me if I'm really dating Spinner the morning goes by pretty quickly. When I leave math class for lunch, I'm surprised and happy to see Spin waiting on the steps.
"What are you doing here?" I grin.
"Came to have lunch with my girl of course," he smiles leaning down to give me a sweet kiss. Our lips don't break apart for a couple of minutes and the whispering begins in the halls.
"You shouldn't be on school grounds, I'll tell Simpson," Eli remarks breaking us apart.
"Snake and I go way back, he let me in. Come on I planned a romantic picnic for us. You coming over again tonight?" Spinner asks letting go of me but keeping one arm around me as we begin walking outside.
"I'll be over right after school, I do have a key."
"Yes and you can come over any time."
"You know it always drove me nuts when Eli was jealous but the look on his face was a little pleasing after what he did to me," I admit quietly as we walk toward the football field.
"No more thinking of the ex this is our time," Spinner tells me as we reach a picnic blanket being watched over by Owen and Dallas. "Thanks guys," Spinner smiles at them.
"No problem enjoy lunch we'll see you Saturday," Owen replies.
"Saturday?" I inquire.
"I'm meeting them for a football game in the park. You can come watch me and we'll go out afterwards or maybe back to a quiet evening at my place," Spinner tells me.
"A quiet evening sounds good and I'd love to come watch you, but you might have to explain football to me again," I respond.
"No problem I'll give you a private football lesson at my place later tonight," Spinner smiles leaning over to kiss me.
Spinner gets out the food and we have a nice relaxing lunch, and despite being on the football field at school it's even romantic. We don't have much in common, unlike Eli and me, however I find our differences exciting and I'm eager to know all about him. Despite the somewhat devious way we got together I'm happy to be with him and I find that I have an inner calmness with this relationship I never had with Eli, K.C. or Jake. Maybe it's that Spinner is a little older, he's more mature and has more life experience. Maybe it's that he's so very different from Eli or even Jake. Maybe it's that I've known him so long and I've always felt really comfortable with him. Whatever the reason it makes me happy, Spinner makes me happy and being so happy is a good feeling.