It's Nice to Go Trav'ling

Spencer chuckled and extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray.

"Jesus, I feel like a teeny bopper at a slumber party. Lemme throw on an Elvis record while we're at it," he said with a chuckle.

"Okay. Truth."

"That's a tough one," Spencer said. "I don't really want to get committed so early into... whatever we have going on right now, but so far we seem pretty good together. Like I said earlier, I'm not good at relationships. I don't want to hurt you later on."

Sensing that Sierra did not see this as an adequate answer, he continued.

"When I first me Natalie, I thought I was the luckiest guy in the world. Things were great, and I was the happiest I've ever been in my life. Things were great for a few years. She made me want to be a better person- I felt like nothing would ever change between us. Then this cat that I used to roll with in the wasteland, Benny, comes up to my shop and offers me a job. Problems started popping up. I got hooked back on chems. I drank too much. I wasn't faithful to the best thing that's ever happened to me. She found out, and of course she ended things. For a while I knew what rock bottom was like. Months later, for God knows why, she took me back. I thought that this time I would change, and some things did. I stopped drinking and using, but the extramarital affairs didn't stop. I just got better at hiding them. When she died, I got the news while I was fucking some floozy in my suite. It was the worst moment of my life. I've had weaknesses around women all my life, but after I lost Natalie, it got to a point that was ridiculous. A new woman every night, sometimes more than one. I would blow off parties, cancel meetings, anything to get more sex. My therapist called it an addiction. But I don't feel that anymore. I don't know if it's you, or if it's the fact that I'm out of Vegas, or what, but I feel... different around you."

"Oh God," Spencer said, "Did I really just admit all that? Okay, after that mess, you go."

"All right," Spencer said, smiling back. "How about you-"

He stopped. He wanted to have a real moment with her, not just more sex. He cleared his throat and his smile faded.

"I dare you to... tell me something you've never told anyone." Spencer paused. "Sorry, is this cheating? I've never played this game before. I know you didn't choose truth, but I want to get to know you. I can't really understand you as a person if I ask you to run around the town in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder."

Spencer chuckled. "Seems like you have a type. You know, I think the guy in the tower is Manny. Maybe you could find him."

Spencer thought for a second. "Let's go with truth again."

"I don't," Spencer said. "I'm almost just... afraid of relationships. I say that I want to be better, but then I screw everything up. I'm never content with what I have. I always need to have something more. My therapist calls it Narcissistic personality disorder. When I'm in Vegas, everything is about my image. The clothes, the girls, the hair, the caps. But everything feels so empty. You would never think that that there could be someone that hates themselves so much but still has the biggest ego in the room. Trust issues are a problem, too. Both my parents were abusive assholes. I had to run away when I was ten to avoid getting killed. I grew up in an environment without trust. My parents were never there for me, they resented my existence. I've never been able to really trust anyone. And in the business I'm in, you can't afford to otherwise you get kidnapped and dumped north of Novac."

Spencer paused and stared into space. "Long story short, I'm fucked up. Truth or dare?"

"You don't know how much that means to me. How about... what did you first see in me that made you really care?"

"Hey," he said, placing his arm around her shoulder. "You never asked me what I wanted. I'm gonna change things up this time. How about dare?"