Only Once

Chapter Twenty-Eight: At the Pub

Chapter Twenty-Eight: At the Pub

When Spencer stepped out of the bus, he was immediately met with a cold gust of wind that blew piercing bits of snow into his face and nipped at his cheeks. He could feel the cold stabbing at him like knives and resisting a sigh, he reached up with his gloved hands to pull the hat he was wearing further down his head and readjust the scarf he had on so that only his eyes were visible.

Ignoring the bus that rode off and the occasional car that passed by him on the normally busy street, Spencer began to walk. Although it sounds like a relatively simple task it was anything but. With each step he took his boots sunk into the thick blanket of snow; the prints, however, soon became covered by the snowflakes that were progressively tumbling from the sky.

As he progressed forward with great difficulty, each step was becoming more difficult than the last, Spencer found himself silently cursing his friends and their horrible timing. Even though their city was in the midst of having one of its worst blizzards in years, his friends had still called a meeting to discuss the Disastrous Destruction of Chaos and where they were to go with it. He couldn’t help but wonder the following, was this meeting really that important that it simply couldn’t wait until the bad weather came to a pass?

He wasn’t sure who was more stupid, his friends who had set up the meeting, or him for agreeing to it. After all, he knew he should’ve said no; ‘no’ had been his initial response. But then Clay kept pleading and pressing continuously until Spencer found himself giving in and saying a reluctant yes.

And so here he was. Struggling forward and being practically one of the only people out on the streets, Spencer found himself slowly approaching Abbey’s grandpa’s pub and diner, the place where the meeting was supposed to take place. This was actually the first time they meeting there and Spencer couldn’t say that he was necessarily pleased; the distance was far and he didn’t want to see Abbey again.

Spencer then squinted to see through the white and realized that he had reached his destination. Here was Abbey’s pub. It couldn’t be deemed as a pretty building, with its dirty exterior and peeling letters, but Spencer supposed that it would do as he opened the door and took a step inside.

He noted in satisfaction how warm it was and found himself reaching up to take off his hat and then stuffing it into his pocket. He peered around to see that it had its fair share of people lounging around but he ultimately failed to find the people he was looking for.  He did, however, see one of his acquaintances seated by the fireplace.

Looking in the opposite direction, Spencer decided to ignore the person and was about to walk the other way, he was in no mood to make small talk, until he heard his name being called.

“Yo, Spencer!”

Sighing, Spencer looked back in his previous direction and offered a small smile and wave.

“Hey, Lance.” He called back and began to make his way to the hunky blond who was auspiciously seated with a girl on each side of him.

Lance nodded at him.

“How’s it going, man?” he questioned with a big grin.

“Oh, it’s okay.” Spencer awkwardly shifted his weight to his other foot and felt uncomfortable at how he was standing while Lance was sitting. “How are you?”

Lance’s grin widened and he shoved the girls farther away from him and rose from his seemingly comfortable seat.

“Aw Lance!” one of the girls whined but he only waved her off and turned to Spencer.

“Not too bad, my friend,” he replied and stretched his arms upwards. As he did so, the shirt he was wearing hiked up to reveal a perfectly sculpted stomach and one of the girls that he had been seated beside sighed yearningly upon seeing it. “Not too bad at all.”