Note: Thanks to all the readers! Special thanks to reviewers! You have my love! Enjoy this new chapter!
CHAPTER FIVE
COKE AND PIZZA
Spencer arrived outside her apartment complex at 6. The building looked unremarkable from the outside, and he stepped in and took the stairs to the first floor, where 110 was, and rang the doorbell. After muffled sounds of shuffling around, the door opened and Sadie, who was now dressed in an over-sized t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants, her hair in a loose braid sitting on her shoulder, opened the door with her eyelids still drooping.
"Hi" he said, staring at her curiously, and wondering if she understood the concept of a dinner together.
"Hello" she mumbled, "Come in" she added, opening the door further to let him in. Spencer went in and Sadie closed the door behind him and pointed towards the kitchen.
"Through there" she offered, "I'll go wash my face" she added, retreating to her right.
Spencer noticed the apartment looked a lot like something out of a magazine, cool looking couch, a pair of laZboys facing the large plasma TV, a large bay window allowing the lights of DC to flood in, lined by a small sitting area. One of the laZboys had a blanket, a pillow and stuffed rabbit sitting on it, meaning it was currently being used as a bed. To his left, where Sadie had pointed, was the open kitchen/dining area, which looked like one on a TV cooking show, all plywood cabinets, an awesome grill/stove/oven, a counter to eat lined by tall bar stools. Spencer put down the bags of the variety of pizzas he'd bought and the three large containers of coke on the counter. He put the coke in the fridge to chill, while he searched for plates. He'd all but found the forks when Sadie walked in, still dressed the same lazy way, but with eyes fully open and suddenly wide awake,
"Hello" she said again, "Sorry about lunch" she added, making her way around the counter to pull out plates from the drawer and ketchup from the cabinets.
"It's alright" Spencer replied as he pulled out the five varieties of pizza he'd brought, "How are you? Are you alright?" he asked. Sadie shrugged and noticed the five boxes.
"Why'd you bring so many?" she asked.
"Well, I didn't know what you liked, so covered all the basics" he explained, "This is the classic pepperoni, this is chicken tandoori with onion, this is a vegetarian blast with olives, jalapenos, mushrooms, peppers, this is the all-time favourite, double cheese and lastly, spicy Mexican flavours on a pizza base" he rambled, while pointing to each.
Sadie smiled a little as she picked a slice of the double cheese and another of the veggie blast and put it on her plate.
"Do you drink?" she asked. Spencer looked at her surprised as he put his pepperoni slice on his plate and turned towards her. She'd found the coke and was pulling out two rather large cups to pour them into.
"Sure, coke, I do" he replied. Sadie half-laughed, half-snorted.
"I meant alcohol" she corrected, "Do you want me to open a bottle of wine, or whisky or vodka for you?" she asked. Spencer shook his head.
"Not today, thanks" he replied, "I'm just a red wine sort of person, once a week, really" he added. Sadie nodded as she picked up her plate and glass and gestured towards the living room.
"Can't we sit here?" Spencer asked, nodding to the counter. Sadie stopped.
"Uh, sure" she said, "Don't you want to watch the tele, though? I thought you Americans did that?" she said, almost teasingly, grinning. Spencer sat on the stool beside her and looked at her.
"Well, I'd rather just sit with you" he claimed, "I just want to give you company"
Sadie smiled a little and bumped her shoulder against his playfully.
"Thank you, Spencer" she admitted, picking up a slice of pizza and biting into it.
"Why pizza?" Spencer asked as Sadie reached for another slice and put one in Spencer's plate too.
"Well, Nolan and I, we love pizza and he taught me that if you have pizza and coke, everything in the world becomes better" she said, downing her glass of coke as if to prove her point, then, got up to get herself a refill.
"Does it work?" Spencer asked. Sadie grinned.
"Well, if I pass out from a caffeine coma, just remember, I'm allergic to penicillins, cephalosporins, and oxicams" she said, drinking more coke.
Spencer watched as Sadie ate a few more slices of pizza, while downing another glass of coke. When she finished her last slice, she sipped her coke and turned to him. He was still on his fourth slice and first glass of coke.
"Did you think I was spiraling into depression and suicide?" she asked, as he was drinking, making him choke on it. He coughed loudly, and she watched him, not really doing anything, except reaching for a glass to get him some water. He downed it and his cough subsided, though, he still felt the prickly sensation in his throat from the coke going down his windpipe.
"I suppose a part of me did find that to be a possibility" he admitted, "But then, I knew that I ought to trust you more than that because you aren't weak and fragile and you do have courage to face your problems, rather than run away. I mean, it only made sense you would want to be by yourself as you thought of sad and terrible memories that make you wish your brother had been decent enough to take you away when he'd left too" he rambled. Sadie stared at him.
"You read my book" she concluded, "Didn't you?" she asked, eyes narrowing accusingly. Spencer suddenly felt guilty about doing so, especially since he'd gone out of his way to find it and read it so he could have an idea of her past.
"I sincerely apologise for going behind your back like that to read it" he admitted, "But I had to know what it was that caused you to become so afraid of being out in the open, of talking about that man and I needed to know what you'd do in such a situation. Reading your book and getting a first-hand account made me realise that your past is far more turbulent than your book lets on and I'm sure no one's realised it because there isn't anything in the book that points to it"
"What makes you believe that?" she asked, sipping her coke again. Spencer took out her book from his bag, that had been lying on the counter next to his coke. Sadie's eyes widened comically.
"I had spare copies if you wanted one" she admitted, "You just had to ask, you could've got it free of cost, and with an autograph too" she said, cracking a feeble attempt at a grin.
"Your words throughout the book scream that there's more" he said, then proceeded to read out at least ten such statements in the first chapter alone. Sadie held up her hands in defeat.
"You're right" she admitted, her hands raised in defeat, her eyes looking down and finding her toes rather interesting, "There's a lot more"
Spencer put his hand on hers' on the counter and entwined their fingers together.
"Tell me" he coerced, "I'll listen" he offered. Sadie smiled sadly at him as her fingers tightened around his.
"Maybe some other day?" she said, "right now, I just want to sit here, with you" she admitted. Spencer obliged and they sat there, at the counter, their stools turned so they faced each other and his left hand was entangled with her right on the counter-top. The plates and glasses and pizza lay forgotten on the counter as they sat there, not saying anything, just enjoying each other's company.
"Well, pizza and coke do help" Spencer admitted quietly, after a while, making her smile.
"Yes" she agreed, "Thank you, for dinner" she said, standing up, and leaning forward to peck him on his cheek softly. Spencer froze as she did, and then, she disentangled her fingers from his grip and began cleaning up.
"Do you want to take the pepperoni home?" Sadie asked, "Or any other?" she inquired.
Spencer stood and walked around the counter to where Sadie was standing. Between them, they'd eaten half of every pizza, which meant half was still left.
"Shall we divide and conquer?" Spencer suggested. Sadie nodded and cut up the remaining slices in half and put them all in two boxes for Spencer to take up. Spencer finished his coke and helped wash the plate, while Sadie poured herself another glass of coke while she put the left-overs in the fridge.
"I guess I'm having pizza for breakfast too" she said, sounding incredibly pleased with that prospect, at least her smile said so. Spencer watched her drink the rest of coke relatively slowly. He wanted to say a thousand things to her regarding the coke and her habits of drinking them. Instead, he pulled out the book he'd bought for her and handed it to her. Sadie looked at him curiously.
"I'm sure you must have read this before" he started, "But when I saw it on the shelf, I thought of you and I figured you could use this book during a time like this" he rambled. Sadie put down her glass and looked at him with wide-eyed disbelief. Her green eyes sparkled as she looked at the book. Her hands reached forward gently and took it from his hand. She opened the book and put her nose in it, smelling the unique scent of machine oil and printing ink. Then, pulling away, she smiled at him genuinely, the kind he'd never seen before.
"Thank you, Spencer" she said, "This means a lot to me" she admitted, her eyes wide, honest and shimmering with surprise, happiness and delight. Spencer felt himself blush slightly at her honesty. He shrugged and smiled back.
"I'm glad I could be of help" he said. Sadie's smile had never seemed so bright before, Spencer noted. Then again, she didn't have a reason before.
"I should get going" Spencer admitted, "I have work in the morning" he added, picking up his bag and jacket. Sadie hugged her book as she followed him.
"Shall I see you in Starbucks for coffee?" she inquired. Spencer nodded.
"My treat" she promised. Spencer nodded again.
"If you have anything to talk about, literally, anything" he said, "Call me, at any time. You're not going to be a bother"
"Spencer?" Sadie said uncertainly, as she stood at the door to see him off. He stared at her.
"Do you want to go out?" she asked, "With me?"
Spencer stood still for a moment.
"Yes, I do" he admitted, "Are you ready, for that sort of thing?" he asked, bending down to her eye-level. Sadie stole her eyes from him and looked around the floor, her hands still clutching The Alchemist tight to her chest.
"I don't know" she admitted, "I doubt I'd be good at it" she claimed, "But if that's ok with you, I wouldn't mind, going out, if it's with you" she said, agreeing in a rather round about sort of way. Spencer smiled at her.
"I would be honoured" he said seriously, looking her in the eye, "if you chose me to be your boyfriend"
Sadie blushed dark when he said that to her, making him smile.
"And I will do all I can to be a good girlfriend" she responded, looking up at him seriously. Spencer nodded.
"Ok, see you tomorrow" he said, turning to leave.
"Good night" she called after him as he walked into the corridor, holding the pizza leftovers in one hand and his bag in the other.
Spencer noticed that Sadie had shut the door before he'd hopped onto the elevator and he wondered if she would be alright. He walked towards home feeling good about himself, so much so, he called Morgan to inform him of the progress he'd made that evening. Morgan was very encouraging, but also warned him not to scare her off, '...if she's serious about never having been on a date before, it makes you her first ever experience. So, whatever you do, don't be a dick. She's the shy type, I can tell, but, don't do anything that'll scare her off for good. You know?'
Spencer knew.
He also knew Sadie barely knew anyone else in the whole country, let alone the city. In fact, she had only mentioned her brother's friends and no one else. Who knew how many 'friends' referred to. Could be two, perhaps three. It couldn't possibly be more than that.
Reminding himself to tell Sadie about the health risks of coke the next day, Spencer arrived home and then, he went to bed, too exhausted to do anything else.
Well, how do you like it? Is it too OOC? Let me know by clicking the review button and typing a few words. It doesn't take long, I assure you.