Another Girl

He slumped over in his chair, his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. He wasn’t in the mood to go out, but his team forced him. They said he needed to cheer up. It had been a week since she had broken up with him. The job was too much for her. It was understandable, of course. He was always gone and there was always a chance he’d get injured or even killed. She was just lucky she wasn’t around when he was held hostage. Or even shortly after when he was struggling with the resulting drug addiction.

“Come on, kid. Cheer up. Have a drink, talk to some of these pretty girls that keep staring.” He looked up and saw Morgan. Morgan tried to maintain a cheerful mood, no matter what.

“They’re staring at you.” It was true. Morgan had a way with the ladies. Spencer certainly did not. He wasn’t even sure how he managed to start a relationship with Carrie, let alone keep it for the short time he had.

“What about her?” He looked across the room at an attractive girl. She wasn’t what most males would likely call attractive, but that’s because they were either blind or they were too influenced by the media’s idea of sexy involving low cut sweaters and watermelon sized breasts.

“I doubt she’d be interested in me.” She certainly was looking. But, once she learned what he did for a living and the hours and risk involved, she’d be gone in a heartbeat.

“Not if you’re gonna mope around. Get over there and buy her a drink. Show her a magic trick. Do something.” He was right. Wasn’t he? Spencer was horrible at social interactions.

“Morgan’s right, Reid.” Agent Prentiss appeared in the seat next to him, setting a drink on the table.

Spencer sighed and nodded. He stood up, took a deep breath and started walking towards the girl. She was looking, but quickly turned her head once she spotted him walking in her direction. “Um, hi, could I, uh, buy you a drink?” He stuttered despite trying his hardest not to. He always had a stutter when he was nervous. Which seemed to be often in situations that didn’t pertain to the job.

“Um, yeah. That’d be great.” She smiled and turned her head slightly so she wasn’t facing him anymore. Spencer could swear he saw a blush come over her face. He took a seat next to her.

“I’m Spencer, by the way.”

“Stephanie.” They shook hands. The bartender walked over to get their orders. “Uh, just a Coke please.”

“I’ll have the same.” Spencer could feel Morgan and Prentiss’s eyes on him. Watching. Most likely smirking at his awkwardness.

“So, Spencer, what do you do?”

Well, if he had to get his career out in the open, it might as well be right away. “I’m part of the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit. I’m a profiler.”

“Really? That’s pretty cool. So you catch all the bad guys?”

“Well, we try to.” She smiled at him as the drinks were being set on the table. “What do you do?”

“Oh, uh, well, I’m still in school. Still trying to figure it out.”

Spencer noticed the way she blushed and looked down at her glass. “Nothing to be ashamed of. It’s perfectly normal to be in a deciding stage.” She flashed him a small smile.
They continued talking. It didn’t seem like they were talking long when Morgan came over to announce he was leaving with a beautiful blonde. Prentiss approached shortly after asking if Spencer needed a ride home. It was then he realized that he had been talking to Stephanie for a few hours.

“Oh, yeah. I’ll be out in a minute.” Prentiss nodded and smirked before heading for the door. “I better get going. It was great meeting you.”

Stephanie smiled and nodded. Spencer started heading towards the door. “Wait.” He watched as she grabbed for a napkin and something out of her purse. A pen. She scribbled something on the napking and handed it to him. “If you ever want to call me… don’t feel obligated to… I just figured I might as well give it to you….” She stopped herself from rambling further. Spencer smiled and folded the napkin neatly, placing safely in his bag. “Bye Spencer.”

“I’ll, uh, talk to you later.” He waved and walked towards the exit, stumbling over his chair on the way.