The Youtuber's Obsession

{Five}

The walk through the medium-sized town was calming and, for Spencer, heavenly. The dogs sniffed and tugged here and there, being allowed to be animals that like to explore. All the while, Sam held the leash in front of him with a loose hand and fought to remind himself to breathe. The hold on his elbow gradually moved the further they went, from the bend in his arm to his lower back then finally, softly resting the large, warm palm of Spencer's hand on his opposite shoulder. Each time, the touch stayed still to provide Sam time to adjust and decide if he should move or not. Once his body released any tension, the hand moved a bit further up.

Spencer just couldn't stop himself, his new favorite thing is touching Sam. The feel of his soft, fragile skin against his own rough hands will become his new desire to feel every second of every day. He adores how sensitive Sam's skin is, a light press from his fingers earns the pale skin to discolor with blood from the pressure. All the possibilities run through his mind, creating marks on the fragile throat or perhaps Sam will gain small bruises from light punishments in the future. The thought pleases Spencer, the urge to see his claim on Sam is making him impatient, yet he knows he has much, much more work to do with his new neighbor.

Sam is still highly uncertain of what is happening or why he is simply allowing himself to be touched. He isn't overly bothered or uncomfortable and has time to get accustomed to the hand. However, he is having difficulty processing the touch coming from a stranger, a neighbor he only just met. He has a feeling that this isn't how normal relationships, friendship or otherwise, are made. He only has one friend he met online and he has never felt the need to socialize all through school, Charlie is the only friend he has ever had. With this fact, he is naive to what usually happens when meeting someone interested in a friendship.

He admits to himself he is vulnerable to being used or manipulated, he'll just have to try his best to avoid things his common sense sparks as strange. The touch is odd to him, but Charlie touches him too and that seems fairly normal to Sam. Perhaps it's too soon to touch or walk alone with a stranger, yet he doesn't want to be rude and leave the man to himself in a new town. He was asked to show Spencer the ice cream shop and that didn't sound too bad, friendly even.

Should I search online for how one makes friends or a timeline for human interactions? Sam thinks. I'm not very good at being with other people. He glances at Spencer to his left, the man has made certain he was between Sam and any other men, or people in general. He has been walking on the side closer to the street while keeping Sam between him and the wall of different shops or buildings. The dogs still have enough room to go across the sidewalk and sniff to their heart's content, the position of the humans not affecting them.

It appears like Spencer is protecting me from the street and other strangers, Sam observes, blinking. Is that friendly? Or normal? Perhaps it's just how he is, a habit from past events. This also doesn't overly make Sam uncomfortable it seems that he feels an unusual sense of safety, one that continues to confuse him. Spencer is a big man, not necessarily a giant to others and Sam would even go as far as to assume the man is an even six foot, an average height for some males. Yet for Sam, the man is large and towers over himself. His mind is filling his thoughts with doubt, questioning if feeling safe is normal or if there was something wrong with him for liking it. He has never been in this situation and doesn't understand what is happening, why there's a hand on him, or why he is allowing the touch. He doesn't appear to have malicious intent doing it, just seems he did it without conscious thought of it.

He decides to leave it be, giving a tiny dash of trust that Spencer wouldn't do anything that could harm or make Sam too uncomfortable. So, he fights with his body to keep it relaxed and his heart to stay calm. Spencer, known by the expressions crossing Sam's face that the smaller is fighting himself and confused, is happy to see Sam allowing his touch and closeness. He can read Sam, not as well as he would like, but he can see the most obvious of his thoughts. The coltish boy doesn't appear to know how to hide his feelings or thoughts and projects them to others who pay enough attention.