Chapter Thirty-One
Noah
Watching Spencer play and seeing the sheer, unabashed joy on his face made me smile so brightly it actually made my face hurt. There was something about seeing him utterly in his element and having the time of his life that made my heart melt.
Spencer had always seemed like a pretty happy guy, but there was so much difference between the relaxed, smiling man I’d hung out with in the pub every week and this bouncing, beaming man who radiated pure delight.
I was so glad he’d decided to take Chris up on his offer, and I knew he’d have regretted it if he hadn’t.
“It’s like watching one of the dogs on TikTok,” Alex said. “You know, the ones who look like they’re sugar-high toddlers.”
“He’s having fun, though,” Lane said. “And Spencer’s always been like the human equivalent of a golden retriever.”
“That’s true.” Alex nodded sagely. The referee blew his whistle, ending the match, and the whole team jumped on each other, whooping and cheering and spinning each other around. Alex stood up and gave me a wry smile. “I’m guessing you’re going back to Spencer’s?”
“Yeah. But I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. Maybe we can watch a movie or something.”
“All right.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Be good.”
“Am I ever not?” I asked.
“Do I need to remind you about their bloody housewarming?” Alex gestured at Lane and Oliver with one hand, and Lane laughed.
“Hey, that was nothing to do with me. That was all Laurie.”
“What was all me?” asked Laurie from farther down the line. “What am I being accused of now?”
“Nothing new,” I said.
“Good, because I haven’t done anything.”
Spencer waved at me as they all started heading off the pitch and back to the changing rooms. I stood up alongside Alex, and we climbed out of the stands, closely followed by everyone else.
They all pottered off in their own directions while I headed into the leisure centre’s reception area to wait, watching several parents attempt to corral a bunch of rowdy children who all seemed to be there for someone’s birthday party.
I smiled to myself and remembered my own eighth birthday when I’d persuaded my mum to bring me, Alex, Lane, and Oliver down for the inflatables session, and we’d spent two glorious hours playing on the giant, blow-up obstacle course and going down the slide as many times as possible before my mum took us home for pizza and ice cream and an enormous chocolate-fudge cake.
Luckily, there had only been four of us, which had probably been enough. I couldn’t imagine wrangling a bunch of excitable kids, even though I regularly dealt with large groups of teenagers.
I got the feeling Spencer would be good with kids, though, because he’d be able to mirror their excitement but also be able to convince them to calm down. He’d probably make a really good dad one day.
That was a conversation for the future—one that I could definitely see us having.
Everything with Spencer felt so certain, and while the road ahead might still be unclear, I could already see the stops along the way.
It probably should have scared me, but all I felt was excitement at the prospect of sharing my life with him.
I’d had a crush on Spencer for so long that this had always felt like an unrealistic dream, a silly fantasy that I was willing to waste my time on, but now that it was real, it was more than I’d ever imagined. More than I’d ever wished.
I supposed all those fairy stories really did come true sometimes.
Or maybe it was all the birthday wishes I’d used up over the years, when I’d wished over and over for Spencer to notice me. I’d never asked for him to fall in love with me, though. That had always felt like a step too far.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Spencer asked, suddenly appearing behind me and making me jump. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said with a semi-relieved chuckle. “I was just lost in thought.” I nodded my head at the group of kids. “Just thinking about my eighth birthday when I convinced my mum to bring me here with Alex and co.”
“Was it for the inflatables? Man, they were so awesome! I used to love coming here for that. One girl in my class at primary school had her party here, and we got the whole thing to ourselves. It was so cool.”
“Seriously? How many of you were there?”
“I don’t know, like, thirty? Her mum invited the whole class.”
“Wow,” I said. “I don’t think I’d have the energy for something like that.”
“Yeah, it was pretty chaotic.” Spencer grinned. “It was fun, though. I think if I ever had kids, I’d want them to have cool birthday parties like that.”
“Me too,” I said, reaching out and quietly slipping my hand into his. “Do you think you’d ever want kids?”
“Yeah, I think so. Kids are pretty awesome. We get some who come into Novel Tea quite regularly, and they’re always fun, even the super little ones. They have such tiny fingers and toes. It’s kinda weird but cool too.” He looked down at me and squeezed my hand. “What about you?”
“I think so too.”
“They can’t be any worse than your teenagers, right? Like, if it was one baby verses all your fifteen-year-olds, you’d definitely think the teenagers were the scary ones?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. The teenagers are scary on the outside, but at least I can talk to them. They can be vaguely reasoned with,” I said with a chuckle. “Even if they do think I’m really old.”
“You’re not old.”
“They asked me if I knew what a meme was.”
“Shit, really? Don’t they know we, like, invented memes? Where do they think that shit comes from?”
“The funniest thing is half of them are all super invested in this gaming creator who’s like our age. They just think because I’m a teacher I’m somehow detached from reality or like I hatched from a cocoon or something.”
“That would be really cool,” Spencer said. “That would make you like Mothra.”
“I’d take that. Kaiju are pretty awesome.”
“They are! We should totally watch Pacific Rim later. That film is fucking A.” Spencer paused, then hummed for a second.
“Huh, I’ve just realised that one of the reasons I like that film is because Charlie Hunnam is like, really, really fit.
I always just thought I was looking respectfully but maybe not. ”
I laughed and pulled his hand to start walking towards the exit, dodging around the excited kids who all looked and sounded like they were two seconds away from exploding. “It’s okay. You don’t have to look respectfully. He is very handsome.”
“Yeah, I think that whole cast is like hot as balls,” he said. “I think there’s a couple of movies like that… like, er, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Mummy.”
“I believe Twitter has dubbed those the bisexual awakening starter movies,” I said. “Just because of how beautiful everyone is.”
“They’re right. It’s probably why I love them. I’d just never realised before.”
It was already dark outside, and the cold air nipped at any exposed skin.
Spencer had brought his car, so we both headed for that and drove back towards his little house under the glow of the town’s twinkling Christmas lights.
It was only a few days until the start of December, and my form had already started asking me when we could decorate the lab for Christmas.
“By the way,” I said as we wound our way through the streets. “I never said congratulations. You did amazingly today.”
“Thanks. I actually had a lot more fun than I thought I would,” Spencer said. “I was pretty nervous before we started, like I was worried I’d forget everything or people would play dirty, but as soon as we started, I forgot all that. Now I just want to do it all again!”
“When’s your next game?”
“Next Saturday. We’re going to practice twice during the week, and then we’re playing once next weekend, then we’ve got a weekend off, then it’s two games the week after that.
It’s kinda like a rotating schedule so everyone gets breaks and nobody has to play too many games at once.
But there’s ten teams in the league, and we’re playing everyone twice between now and the end of February.
Although, I guess if the weather gets rubbish, it might go on longer.
It’ll depend on whether we can use the pitches. ”
“Cool. I’ll try to come to as many as possible. Although if it’s pouring rain and blowing a gale, I might tap out. I love you, but I don’t know if I love you that much,” I said with a grin.
“You don’t have to come to any, you know.”
“I know, but I want to,” I said. “Besides, it gets me out of the house, and I get to watch you run around in tight shorts, so it’s not exactly a hardship.”
“You like my shorts?”
“Yes, I really do.” I reached over and put my hand on his thigh. “You have the most amazing legs. And there’s something about you in shorts and football socks that’s just really sexy.”
“Hmm good to know,” Spencer said like he was storing that information away to use for deliciously nefarious purposes at a later date. “So what do you want to do this evening?”
“I don’t mind. What about you?”
“I do kinda want to watch The Mummy now that you’ve mentioned it. I know I said Pacific Rim, but I think The Mummy is edging it out, especially because The Mummy Returns is also fucking awesome. Oh, we should do a double bill!”
“That sounds perfect,” I said. “And I promised to actually make you dinner as well.”
“Okay, we have dinner and movies planned. What else?”
“I don’t know,” I said teasingly. “Is there anything else?”
“You should totally fuck me,” Spencer said, and I almost laughed at his directness.
It always charmed me the way he was never afraid to ask for what he wanted.
I loved that about him. “I took a shower at the leisure centre, but their showers aren’t great, so maybe you could fuck me when we get home?
Then I can shower, and you can make dinner, and we can just veg on the sofa.
Until I get bored… I might have to give you a blow job in the middle of the movie. ”
That time I did laugh. “Do you really think you’ll get bored?”
“Probably. The films are awesome, but I fucking love playing with you, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands to myself.” He looked over at me, a cheeky smile on his face and a question in his eyes. “Would that be okay? I don’t wanna do anything you won’t like.”
“I’m definitely not going to object, but thank you for asking.”
“Always.” He pulled up outside his house, and as soon as his car was parked, he leant over and kissed me deeply. “I love you. You know that, right?”
“I love you too.”
“Awesome.” He did the cutest and most ridiculous fist pump. “Okay, let’s go! I wanna get dicked.”
He shooed me out of the car, and I couldn’t help giggling at Spencer’s adorable antics.
He reached for my hand and pulled me towards the front door.
“Oh,” he added as he dug in his pockets for his keys.
“It’s December next week, right? We should totally decorate next weekend.
I’ve got this massive tree in the basement, and we can make mince pies and these Christmas cookies I found a recipe for. ”
“Sex first, then Christmas,” I said, pushing him inside the house. “One thing at a time.”
“Probably for the best. I wanna make sure I’m giving you my full attention.” He grinned and wrapped his arms around me.
Spencer’s kiss was full of heat and promises, and I knew he’d fulfil every one of them.
“I love you,” he said again, his voice softer this time and laced with deep sincerity. “And I won’t ever stop loving you.”
“I love you too, more than should be possible.”
“Nah. With us, nothing’s impossible. We’re wishes come true, baby.”
And there was nothing more I could say to that. All I could do was kiss him, knowing what we had was the stuff dreams were made of.