Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

Corbin

“Try to relax. I’m going to push your leg up closer to your body. Let me know if it starts to hurt, and I’ll ease off,” I told my patient, who nodded. She was a teen girl with right hip pain from a basketball injury. I could feel the clicking in her joint when I put the right amount of pressure on her leg. “That’s good. You’re doing great. Think I can go a little more?” I asked her.

“Yes,” Mary replied.

My days and patients were always different. I could have sports injuries, older patients after a fall, strokes, those who were injured in car accidents, and those with lifelong disabilities. I’d helped people learn to walk again. I would forever be grateful that I was able to do what I did, but today I was distracted with thoughts about Spencer. How could I not have realized he was the man I’d met on the beach all those years ago? What were the odds of someone finding their way into your life twice like that?

And last night…Christ, last night and this morning had been…nice. More than nice. I couldn’t even find it in myself to be embarrassed over the things I’d said to him because now I had a cuddle buddy. Maybe to others that would be silly, but I didn’t give a fuck. I thought it was awesome.

I did my best to force Spencer out of my mind for the rest of the day, giving all my attention to my patients. My last appointment was at three today, which meant I was done by four. I went to the gym for the second time, figuring that working out twice would help counter all the sugar I’d had the day before, then went home and took a quick shower, snapped a photo of myself in my underwear, and posted on Instagram. As soon as the hearts and comments started coming in, I felt the familiar buzz of pleasure flush through me, that feeling of being wanted and feeling attractive and like I mattered. It never lasted, but the shot of endorphins it released inside me kept me going for a while.

Me:What are you doing tonight? I thought you’d probably want my company.

I sent the text to Spencer without a second thought, then almost regretted it. Not that I didn’t want to spend time with him, because I did, but for once I worried about coming on too strong. What if I annoyed him? But then if he wanted to hang out, I could make him some dinner or something. Or take him out. Maybe Spencer would like Nils, the Mediterranean restaurant Marcus and I loved. Afterward, he might be down for another cuddle session.

Spencer:I’m going to be at the center until about eight or nine. We’re having a party for the teens.

My good mood immediately deflated. Well, shit. There went that idea. I thought about calling one of the Beach Bums, but I knew Dec was working at the bar. Park said he and Elliott were going to a political fundraiser with Elliott’s parents. I couldn’t push myself on Marcus, even though he’d messaged to see if I wanted to have dinner with him.

I sat on the side of my bed, leg bouncing as I wondered what to do, when I remembered I hadn’t replied to Spencer.

Me:Have fun. I might head out with this guy who wanted to hook up.

I was a lying liar who lied. Well, not that I couldn’t find someone. It was never hard to find men who wanted to fuck, but I didn’t already have someone lined up. Flipping out of my texts, I went straight into an app, scanning my messages.

Show me your ass.

Fuck, you’re hot.

You down?

I clicked on Craig, this guy I’d been with a few times.

Me:Hey. You have plans tonight? We could go have a drink or something.

I didn’t know why I told him that. When did I ever just have drinks with these guys? Or a meal? That wasn’t what we did. We lost ourselves in each other’s bodies and then said goodbye, but if I was going to find a boyfriend, heading straight to sex probably wasn’t the best way to go. Plus, Craig was cool. He made me laugh. He’d maybe be good boyfriend material.

Craig:Can’t really do the drink, but I have about an hour if you can host. I can make you come at least twice in that amount of time. He sent a winky emoji.

The buzz I’d felt after posting the photo was already gone. I was always down to fuck, but for some reason, the thought of it made me feel empty right now. Did anyone just want to spend time with me?

Spencer:You should come down. I can’t promise how fun it’ll be for you, but we always have a good time. The kids are great.

A surprising little party started in my chest.

Me:I knew you missed me. Sure, I can come down. It’ll be a blast. We’ll make sure of it.

Spencer:I missed you so much, Corbin. How would I ever enjoy my night without you?

I shoved to my feet.

Me:Luckily, you don’t have to find out.

Spencer:Shut up and get over here.

Me:You’re really impatient for me. On my way now.

Spencer:If that’s the case, why are you keeping me waiting?

Wait…was he flirting with me? No. If it were someone else, I would think so, but that didn’t fit Spencer…I didn’t think.

Who the fuck knew?

I finished getting ready and ordered a car to pick me up. I got outside right as it pulled up, and I jumped in. The drive to the center was short. The windows were dark, and you couldn’t see inside, other than the random flash of lights. Two people were at the door when I arrived.

“Do you have a ticket?” one of them asked. I glanced at the pronouns on their name tag and saw she/her. The other said he/him.

And of course I would need a ticket. They had to keep people inside safe. It was sad that this had to be the case. “I don’t. I’m friends with Spencer…” Spencer what? I didn’t even know his last name. “He works here and invited me. I’m Corbin Erickson. I can call him and—”

“He’s with me,” Spencer said, coming outside. He wore a button-up shirt with a bow tie, something I’d noticed he often did when he worked. “I was just about to tell you he was on his way, but he got here too fast.” He glanced my way and winked. “He missed me.”

Wow. I liked Playful Spencer. I hadn’t gotten to see this side of him before. Maybe a little bit that night on the beach.

“You’re The Charmer!” the guy at the door said. “I listen to your show and follow you on social media.”

I grinned. “I am. What’s your name?”

“Mike.” We shook hands, and then I did the same with the woman, whose name was Emily. “I can’t believe you’re friends with The Charmer,” Mike told Spencer.

“Right? Spencer should totally feel lucky,” I replied.

Spencer shook his head, but a small smile curled his lips. I’d take that as a win. “Let’s go, superstar.”

“Nice to meet you both,” I told them before saying to Spencer, “you should definitely keep calling me that. I like it, CB.”

“CB? Do I even want to know?” He cocked a brow as he led me down a hallway, the music getting louder as we went.

“Cuddle Buddy. Cute, isn’t it?”

Spencer chuckled. “It’s something, for sure. Come on.”

“I feel like you’re always saying that to me… It’s something. I’m something.”

“I feel like you’re right.”

“Finally. Someone who admits I’m always right!”

“Pretty sure that’s not what I said.”

“I’m pretty sure it is, and I’m perpetually right. You said so yourself.”

Spencer laughed, deep, contagious, making something spark in my gut. I really liked making him laugh. It was something I tried to do for most people, but it didn’t fill me with the same kind of joy it did with Spencer.

“This is going to be an interesting friendship, Corbin. I’m still trying to figure out how I let it happen.”

“Don’t put yourself through that. There’s nothing you could have done to stop it. I’m The Charmer, remember?” I winked, Spencer shaking his head before ushering me into a large party room filled with a whole bunch of teens and young adults. Pop music pumped from speakers throughout the space, and there were round tables all around the room with different board games at each one, people playing them. Along the back wall were long, rectangular tables with food and drinks.

Some of the kids danced. Some stood around talking. It was clear they were all having fun and felt safe here.

“This is incredible,” I said, taking it all in. When I looked at Spencer, his brows were pulled together, nose wrinkled cutely as if I’d said something to surprise him. “What?” I asked.

“Nothing. Just…come on. I’ll introduce you.”

I moved in step with Spencer as he led me around the room, introducing me to some of the kids and those who worked and volunteered here too. When we got to the charades area, I grabbed ahold of Spencer’s hand. “I love charades. We’re playing.”

“Um…no we’re not. Well, I’m not. You can.”

“Come on! Don’t be boring, CB. Play with me…unless you’re afraid you’ll lose.”

“Ooooh! He called you out, Spencer!” one of the kids said.

“You have to play with us,” another added.

I cocked a brow.

“I’m not afraid of losing,” Spencer countered.

“I don’t know…I kinda think he is. What about you all?” I asked the group of teens around us. I crossed my arms, eyeing him.

“Totally agree!”

“Play with us, Spencer!”

“It’ll be fun!” echoed voices around us.

The look in Spencer’s gaze changed, his resistance slipping, and maybe a little bit of excitement sparking in his eyes.

“Challenge accepted,” he replied, and I couldn’t keep myself from smiling. This was going to be fun.

Spencer and I each went to one of the teen teams. I had Liz, Jerome, and Farrah on my team.

We shook up the basket with the slips for the phrases we had to act out.

“I’ll keep score,” Jerome said.

“I’ll take care of the time clock,” one of the kids from Spencer’s team announced.

We did rock, paper, scissors to see who went first, and Spencer’s team won, damn it.

I looked at the name tag for the person who drew the paper, and her name was Erica, pronouns she/her.

“Oh God,” she said.

“That’s not a good sign,” I told my team.

“Keep quiet over there, Erickson!” Spencer said.

“Did you just last-name me? Are we jocks now?”

“Oh God. Gross. Why did I say that?” Spencer asked, making me laugh.

“It’s superstar to you.” I winked at him and earned myself an eye roll.

We jumped into the game, and unfortunately, they guessed. We got our first one too, so I wasn’t too worried. The score stayed tied through two rounds.

“Spencer, can we get your help over here in a minute?” someone called.

“I’ll be right there,” he replied. “This is it. Last round, everyone. Let’s alter the rules a bit so both teams can guess. Whoever gets it, wins.”

Of course it was on my time to do the acting. Not that I cared. It would be fun to see if Spencer could guess what I was doing.

“We got this!” I told my team before going up to the bowl and drawing a slip of paper out.

Power Rangers.

What the fuck were the odds?

My gaze snapped to Spencer, who was watching me with a concerned look on his face. I tossed a smile his way, which he returned, but I actually wasn’t sure if he realized he did it.

“Okay…let’s do this!” I told my team as I went to stand in front of the group. My heart was racing. It was silly to be excited about something so small, but I was. My team was supposed to win. I wanted them to win, but for some strange reason, I wanted Spencer to guess correctly too.

“Ready…set…go!”

I immediately held up two fingers so they knew the answer was two words. I could do this…how in the fuck did I do this?

I pretended to touch where a belt buckle would be, the way they did on the original intro opening. Everyone shouted things at me but none of them right. From there I tried to do a spin-and-kick thing—and keeping it real, a karate star I was not. Spencer let out a loud laugh.

“Hey! That’s not nice,” I told him.

“You can’t talk,” one of the players said.

“It wasn’t part of the clue.” Speaking of, I wasn’t doing any of the acting I needed to do, and the clock was ticking. I tried to remember what each of the rangers had done. Yellow was next, so I tried to act hers out, then the black ranger, then the pink one. Time was running out, and none of the things people yelled at me were even close. Did these kids not know good television anymore? What the fuck?

Just before the timer dinged, my gaze caught Spencer’s again. I didn’t know what he saw in my expression or my movements as I kept trying to be a fucking ranger, but he suddenly grinned and shouted, “Power Rangers!”

“Shit! He got it.” Why did that make giddy excitement fill my gut?

Team Spencer jumped up and down, celebrating their win. We weren’t poor sports, so we congratulated them.

“I can’t believe I got Power Rangers,” I said when we walked away.

“I can’t believe I guessed it. Come on. Let’s get you something to eat, and then I’ll take care of whatever they need me for and I’ll be back.”

I stumbled, though I didn’t know why. It wasn’t odd for someone to offer to feed someone else, but for some reason, I really appreciated it from Spencer. Almost like I did with Marcus, which was weird as fuck. “Okay.”

Spencer led me to the refreshments table. There was a whole lot of junk food I was definitely not putting into my stomach. He seemed to notice and said, “If there’s nothing here you’ll eat, I’ll find a way to get you something else. I’ll order something you like or—”

“You would order something I liked just for me?”

He frowned. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

I didn’t know. Marcus would. So would Park and Declan, and by extension, I knew Kai, Elliott, and Sebastian would as well, but most people wouldn’t. They would expect me to eat something that would make me feel like shit about myself because to them, it wasn’t a big deal. People tended to think that about things they didn’t have strong feelings about themselves, and didn’t understand it wasn’t the same for everyone.

I didn’t know how to answer Spencer or why I suddenly felt…weird, so I just said, “There’s fruits and veggies. I can eat that. Are those turkey cold cuts? I’ll eat those too.”

“That works. When this is over, we can grab something else too.”

I smiled. “Thanks, CB.” My hands shook slightly, my throat feeling a little tight. I was losing my shit both last night and tonight and needed to nip it in the bud.

“I’ll be back, superstar.” He winked at me, then disappeared. Damned if I didn’t feel like a superstar in that moment.