Garcia mentioned, once, that every girl has a little black dress.
At the time, JJ remembers vividly scoffing and thinking how crazy that was.
JJ didn't own many dresses. Maybe one or two conservative ones for weddings, baby showers or Christmas parties, but that was it. Wearing dresses just wasn't her. Never was, not even in high school. She never went to Homecoming, and Prom was a joke, so by senior year she didn't see any reason to go. She did own a skirt or two, somewhere deep in the recesses of the clothes-strewn mess that was her closet, but apparently- a.k.a. according to Garcia- owning a skirt was not the same thing as owning this mythical dress.
As far as JJ was concerned, Garcia was full of crazy. Wearing some dress didn't transform you into a different person- it was just you in a dress. She never said it out loud, though, because God knew that would just make Garcia's eyes go all huge and then she'd start yelling at her and, really, who needed all that hassle?
So JJ kept her opinion on dresses to herself. She let Garcia drag her through the mall- even though there was often a lot of groaning and skeptical looks involved- and she would try on all various sorts of outfits, modeling goofily for the mirror and her best friend.
One particular day, Garcia dragged JJ along with Prentiss, Reid and Morgan to the mall to find the 'perfect outfit' for the BAU's annual Christmas dinner. Garcia started with Emily, grabbing ten or so dresses off the rack. Seeing the look on Emily's face as Garcia sent the boys off to find tuxes and practically shoved Emily into the fitting room, JJ was happy with the job of carting the dresses back.
That was what she had been doing when she stumbled upon it. It was not that mythical 'little black dress' that Garcia was always obsessed with finding, nor one of those princess-y monstrosities that so many of her old female classmates loved gushing about during prom season.
But it was perfect.
She didn't even check the size, or the price tag. She just took it off the rack, booking it to the dressing room before anyone could get a good sight of her and her prize. Just because it was perfect didn't mean that she wanted me people to know about it.
She slid into the first empty dressing room that she saw, slamming the door shut and locking it behind her. She didn't want to run the chance of Garcia or Emily spotting her.
Of course, the dress fit like a dream. It looked like it was meant for her, silky fabric clinging to her frame and flaring out at the hips, creating a figure that JJ wasn't really aware she possessed until that moment, It was sleeveless, with a high round neck and a back that plunged almost indecently low. It was bright, fire engine red, and it was the first dress that she knew, without a doubt, that she had to own.
She was transfixed with this perfect little dress. Without thinking, she twisted the doorknob, walking out of the dressing room in a trance so she could see what she looked like in the lit floor-length mirror.
It was even more perfect on her in the big mirror. She had curves, and they were actually visible for once, highlighted by the solid, vivacious color. Her skin was pale and clear by comparison, the slight flush in her cheeks accenting the color and standing starkly against her blue eyes and blonde hair, piled messily atop her head in a bun.
It looked like the dress was made for her.
She was so enraptured with her appearance- finally she understood that almost euphoric high Garcia got off of shopping- that she didn't hear the sound of oncoming footsteps, nor the chatter of loud, familiar voices, nor the almost anticlimactic gasp.
"Jayje?"
She heard that. Her head whipped around, eyes lighting on four very familiar faces.
Oh, God, she was screwed…
"Oh… my… God," Emily said reverently, doe eyes widened to an almost comical degree. "You look-"
JJ practically tripped off the stupid little platform the mirror was set on in her haste to get away from this seriously damning situation. She buried her hand in her hair, messing her already mussed bun as she tried to scrounge together a really quick, believable excuse for why she was standing there like an idiot in this stupidly perfect dress. "Umm," she said, eyes flying from Reid and Garcia's shocked stares and Emily and Morgan's slight smirk. "Listen-"
"Amazing," Garcia gushed, stepping forward with this huge smile on her face. "Holy crap. Sweetheart, that dress is perfect for you." She let out this excited little squeal.
"She's right, JJ," Morgan agreed with a lopsided grin. "At lack of better words, you look hot."
Emily snorted. JJ couldn't get any redder.
Reid, for his part, was silent, staring at her with what looked like a mixture of shock and something else that she couldn't identify.
"Yeah, but it's not like I'm really going to buy this," JJ protested weakly, stepping out of her best friend's vice grip and slapping on a fake smile. "I mean, I just threw this on . It's not like I have a use for this thing, anyway."
"You should buy it." Reid blurted. He stepped closer, and there was a weird darkness in his eyes that wasn't usually there and it kind of made her breath catch in her throat.
"I don't have anywhere to wear it," she said, her voice really quiet.
"Except the Christmas party," Emily said confidently, flicking glossy dark hair over her shoulder.
JJ smiled, giving in. She slowly let her eyes wander back to Spencer. There was something peculiar in his eyes, something that made her smile fade and a shiver slide down her spine in anticipation.
"You really do look perfect," he said, voice low with just enough timbre to raise the hairs on the back on her neck and make her stomach do cartwheels. She was fairly sure everybody heard and she could practically feel the eyebrows in the room shoot up. But she didn't care.
"Thanks," she whispered, a ghost of her trademark smirk appearing on her face. Something had shifted, something that she couldn't name but couldn't overlook, either, between her and Spencer. Something that was a direct cause of the effect of the dress. Something that gave her chills.
All thanks to that wonderfully perfect dress.
Hmm, slightly OOC. But I was bored. :]