“Amy!”
I turn around and see Spencer jogging down the walkway toward me. He has a goofy grin on his face and I can see the woman standing in the doorway. The look on her face makes it fairly clear that she is irritated and angry that he rushed over to stop me.
“It’s good to see you,” he says.
Spencer puts his arms around me and gives me a strong hug. I halfway wrap my arms around him, not wanting to give him the wrong idea… but it actually feels good to be in his arms. I can’t really explain it, but I feel safe and even though the hug lasts only seconds the feeling doesn’t fade.
“You too.”
“What are you doing here? Did Dex drop you off?”
I shake my head as tears start to fill my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he says.
“My mom… she….”
I can’t hold the tears back any longer and I cover my face as I cry.
“Shhh… it’s going to be OK,” he says.
Spencer puts his arms around me and I push my face against his shoulder. He pats me on the back.
“Let’s go inside and you can tell me about it.”
I nod as he lets me go and I follow him to the front door. The woman is still standing in the door and she doesn’t look like she’s about to move.
“Monica, maybe you can come back tomorrow?”
That’s where I recognize her from… she’s Monica Lister, the woman who they showed with Spencer on that TV show… his ex-girlfriend. I wonder if they are getting back together and that’s why she’s here?
“Seriously? Are you kidding me, Spencer?”
“Monica….”
“Ugh, fine… whatever.”
She walks back into the house and I follow Spencer inside. Monica picks up a purse from a table in the hallway and glares at me before walking out of the door. She doesn’t say another word to me or Spencer and slams the door on her way out.
“Don’t mind her… she’s… whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
I stop and look at a painting on the wall. It’s beautiful, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It has a modern feel to it, but at the same time it reminds me of a time long gone. The painting is of a woman, sitting on a park bench, and she’s holding a worn doll, which is missing an arm, in her hands and tears are rolling down her face. There’s so much sadness for such a beautiful painting.
“Are you coming?”
I turn and look at Spencer. He’s standing near the end of the entryway, with a smile on his face.
“It’s beautiful,” I say, as I point at the painting.
“Thank you… my mother painted that when she was young.”
He nods toward the interior of the house, so I turn and walk toward him.
“Is she an artist? Your mom?”
“No, she was a nurse, but she painted for fun.”
We walk into a massive room that has a kitchen, a living room and a dining room. I’ve never seen a house with this kind of layout before and I really like it.
“Whatcha think?”
“It’s cool… I’ve never seen a house like this.”
Spencer laughs and walks over to one of the modern looking couches in the middle of the room. He plops himself down and puts his feet up on the glass coffee table in front of him.
“Thanks. It’s an open floor plan… it’s great for parties and stuff. I like it.”
I nod as I walk over to the couch. I sit down on the other end and turn my body toward him. He smiles at me, takes his feet off the coffee table and turns toward me.
“So… what’s going on?”
“Well… I told you about last night….”
“Did Dex go and get your mom?”
I shake my head and look out the large window behind Spencer. The yard looks perfect, just like everything else in L.A., and I can see a pool. It’s not as big as the one in Dex’s house, but it’s still a pretty good size. I turn my attention back to Spencer, I don’t want my distraction to come across as disinterest in our conversation.
“No… Ricardo actually went and bailed her out. She was at the house when we got home and she was… breaking things in the house and she pulled out a suitcase.”
“Wow… that’s crazy. I’m not even sure what to say to that.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty much out of her mind.”
“So you left and came here?”
“I… I wasn’t sure where else to go. She said she was going to take me away, tonight, and I wouldn’t be able to be in the movie.”
“I’m… I’m so sorry, Amy, that’s really crappy.”
“Yeah… so I freaked out and… and I just ran out of the house.”
I force myself not to cry even though it’s what I really want.
“Well, I’m glad that you came here. How did you find my house?”
“My friend in Salem, Jess, she found it on the Internet and I walked here.”
A look of surprise crosses his face, but it quickly fades and is replaced by a smile.
“I hope you don’t mind,” I say, “I just didn’t know where else to go.”
Spencer hops up from the couch and walks toward the kitchen area.
“Of course not, I don’t mind at all. Can I get you a drink?”
“Water would be great.”
Spencer opens the fridge, takes out two bottles of water and comes back to the couch. He hands me a bottle and then opens his as he sits down.
“Actually, I’m glad you showed up.”
“Yeah? Why?”
Spencer takes a drink of his water.
“So does Dex know you were heading here?”
He doesn’t answer my question, but I have a feeling it had to do with Monica being here when I showed up and I decide not to press him.
“No… I broke my phone that had his number in it.”
“How did you call your friend?”
I take my crappy phone out of my pocket and hold it up.
“Let me see it,” he says.
I hand him my phone and he bites his lip as he quickly punches keys. He hands the phone back to me and winks.
“I put his number in your phone… and mine, too. You can always call me if you’re in trouble and then you won’t have to walk here.”
“Thanks.”
I put my phone back in my pocket and take a drink of water. Spencer shifts on the couch, takes his phone out of his pocket and looks at it for a brief moment before putting it on the coffee table.
“So… what are you going to do about your mom?”
“I… I’m not really sure, but I don’t want to leave… there’s no way I can leave. I feel like Dex really went out on a limb to cast me in the movie and I want to do a good job.”
“Good… I hate that you’re not listening to your mom, but I agree with you… you’re the only one who can make this film work and there’s no way I’m letting her take you away.”
I smile at Spencer, but the look on his face instantly tells me he’s not trying to be funny. I quickly look away and let my eyes wander the room.
“I guess I should text Dex and tell him where I am,” I say.
I take out my phone and text him.
Hey, Dex, I’m at Spencer’s. I didn’t know where else to go. Amy.
I stare at my phone for a few seconds, expecting a reply to appear. I eventually put my phone away and turn my attention back to Spencer.
“Do you think your mom is actually going to just leave without you?” he says.
I hadn’t really thought the whole thing through and he brings up a good point… what exactly did I expect to achieve by leaving Dex’s? I doubt the sheer amount of anger in her would allow me to just be free.
“I… I don’t know.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I just want things to be easy… for once. I thought that’s the direction things were heading, once I met Logan, but now… now I feel like I’ve lost all my faith and I’m starting to think things might never get better. Is this the life I’m destined to live? Am I really going to spend the rest of my life bending to the wishes of my mom? I know that I’ll be free of her once I turn eighteen, but I have a feeling she’s not going to let me go that easy.
“If you want, you could stay here… at least until your mom leaves town or gives up or until your birthday.”
My eyes grow wide as each word leaves his mouth. I had really only hoped that he would let me crash on his couch, or something, for the night… I certainly wasn’t expecting this.
“Are you sure?”
He smiles at me and stands up from the couch.
“Of course.”
“Thank you… I really appreciate it.”
Spencer waves his hand at me and walks toward the fridge.
“It’s all good… there’s no way I’m letting you go, we’ve gotta finish this film.”
I smile at Spencer, stand up and walk into the kitchen area. He turns back to the fridge and I find my mind wandering. I wonder why he’s so insistent on having me be a part of this film? I get that Dex has a lot on the line, but it shouldn’t really matter to Spencer… not in the same way at least.
“Thanks,” I say.
“Are you hungry?”
My stomach grumbles, but I don’t think it was loud enough for Spencer to hear. I already feel bad enough about imposing on him and staying here tonight that I don’t want to bother him anymore.
“No… I’m fine.”
Spencer turns around and looks at me with an inquisitive look on his face.
“So,” he says, “you’re hungry, but you feel bad about this… all of this?”
I blink a few times as I try to process the fact that he said almost exactly what I was thinking. Spencer laughs, shakes his head and turns back to the fridge.
“It will never be said that I, Spencer Thomas, has guests and lets them go hungry.”
I can’t help but smile. He’s a funny guy and I’m actually starting to feel normal again after everything that happened earlier… well, I’m feeling as close to normal as is possible. For a brief moment I feel like I’m actually able to forget about my mom. I know it’s not going to last, but I try to savor it while it does.
“So… are you hungry?”
“Yes,” I say, finally giving in.
Spencer looks over his shoulder and flashes me a quick smile. By the time I smile back, he’s already pulling stuff out of the fridge. I walk into the kitchen and lean against the center island. Apparently satisfied with the pile of food on the island, he closes the fridge and smiles at me.
“Do you ever cook?” he says.
I’m not sure if he’s serious and the only response I can think of is a nervous laugh. I can feel my face turning red as he smiles at me.
“Well?”
“I… no, not really.”
I don’t feel like admitting that I never really learned to cook. My mom always did the cooking back in Greenville and Gina has been making the food here… not to mention it seems like we eat out almost every day. It’s almost like I feel ashamed of it or something, which sounds stupid enough by itself.
“I like to think of myself as a decent cook… I’m not like a professional or anything, but I make some pretty good meals that everyone seems to like.”
I can detect a certain level of confidence in his voice, which isn’t unusual since there usually is a trace of it… but now it seems more obvious, almost like he really is good enough to be a professional. It’s a weird combination… it’s like he’s confident but at the same time humble.
“I was thinking we could make a salad and some pasta, how does that sound?”
My stomach grumbles again and I can tell by the smile on Spencer’s face that he heard it this time.
“It sounds good.”
He opens a drawer on the island and takes out two large knives. He puts one in front of me and walks over to a cupboard near the sink. Spencer takes out two plastic cutting boards, one red and one white, and walks back to the island. He sets the white one down in front of me and places the red one in front of him.
“There… now,” he says, “you can cut the lettuce and onion.”
He pushes a red onion and a head of lettuce toward me. He grabs something that’s wrapped in foil and starts to open it. Spencer takes two beets, that look cooked already, out of the foil and he starts to pull the skin off. He looks up at me while doing it and smiles.
“First, cut the ends off the onion and make a shallow cut into it so you can peel the skin off.”
I pick up the knife and take a deep breath. It looks quite dangerous and my only hope is that I come out of this unscathed. I carefully cut the ends off and then make the slit, just like Spencer told me to. I feel relieved to set down the knife and peel the onion. My eyes start to burn after two seconds and I’m forced to put the onion down and take a step back.
“You OK?”
I nod my head as I close my eyes and try to stop them from watering.
“Come over here,” Spencer says.
I open my left eye just enough to watch him walk over to the fridge. He nods toward it and I manage to make my way around the island and to him without smashing into anything. I’ve cut an onion before, but it didn’t have this kind of effect on me.
“Wow… my eyes are like on fire.”
Spencer lets a little chuckle slip through his teeth. I shoot him a glare and he stops.
“Sorry,” he says.
I shrug and reach my hand toward my face… I feel like rubbing my eyes will relieve some of the burning.
“No, don’t touch your eyes… that will only make it that much worse.”
His voice is stern, but not mean sounding, and I lower my hand and walk toward him. As I reach him, Spencer takes my hand in his. It’s warm, but not sweaty or anything and I already feel like I’m calming down. I hear a door open, that’s either the fridge or freezer, but I don’t open my eyes.
“Here, lean forward and open your eyes.”
I feel his other hand move to the low of my back… and normally I would react or at least ask him to move it, but my eyes are burning so bad that I can’t think of anything else right now. As I lean forward, a blast of cold air slams into my face. I’m not sure why Spencer is having me put my head in the freezer….
“Open your eyes as wide as you can.”
I doubt this is going to help, but I guess I might as well humor him. I open my eyes and it feels like icicles are stinging my eyes and for a moment it’s worse than before… but then… then the burning starts to fade and within a few seconds it’s gone completely. I blink a few times, just to make sure that the burning is really gone before I take my head out of the freezer.
“That… that’s amazing,” I say.
Spencer smiles at me and turns away. I close the freezer and watch as he opens a drawer on the far end of the kitchen. I head back to the island and pick up my knife to finish chopping the onions.
“Wait.”
Spencer extends a piece of wrapped gum to me. I wrinkle my brow and tilt my head to the side. What could the gum possibly be for?
“Just chew it.”
I unwrap the gum and look around the kitchen for a trash can to throw the wrapper.
“Where’s the trash?”
“I’ll take it.”
I hand the wrapper to Spencer, who walks over to the sink and opens the cupboard under it. He turns back to me and flashes me another smile.
“It’ll help with the onions… just chew it while you cut them and they won’t make your eyes water as much.”
I pop the gum in my mouth and start to chew. It’s a funny little trick and I do hope that it works because I don’t want to keep walking over to the freezer every thirty seconds. I pick up my knife again and stare down the onion.
“How do you want this cut?” I say.
“Just in thin sort of strips.”
I nod and cut the onion once and hold it out for him to see.
“Perfect,” he says.
I cut the rest of the onion and to my surprise it doesn’t burn my eyes at all. It’s actually kind of amazing… the gum trick really works.
Once I finish cutting the onions, I look up at Spencer and watch as he slices the beets into perfect cubes. A smile forms on my face as I watch him become totally consumed with the simple task. It’s actually kind of cute. As the thoughts form in my head, I quickly push them out and wonder what Monica was doing here… I wish that I could ask Spencer, I really am curious, but I know it’s not any of my business.
“What?” Spencer says, without moving his eyes from his cutting.
“Huh?”
“Did you need something?”
My face turns red as I realize that Spencer noticed me staring at him. Hopefully he just noticed and didn’t notice the sheer amount of time that I was standing there… just looking at him. It was innocent, but still….
“Yeah… I… what should I do now?”
Spencer slowly slides his knife as he makes the last cut into the dark red beet. He pushes the cutting board away from himself and looks up at me with that smile on his face… the one that melts the hearts of every girl under the age of twenty, and some of their moms, and… and I force myself to look away.