Disclaimer: Don't own nothing!
Author's note: So... I've been writing on a bunch of different stories (that I'm not updating... yet) but the bunnies left me. So I took a break and wrote this.
His heart was breaking as he watched them dance. Reid felt his heart being ground into powder every time a woman rubber herself against the other man. He knew this was bound to happen and yet he just couldn't say no when they asked him to join.
He smiled vaguely when the dark haired woman returned from the bathroom. She glanced briefly in the direction Reid gazed.
"Morgan does seem to have some sort of very primal attraction to women when he dances." She smiled. "I'm just surprised he's only dancing with one. Is he getting old?"
Reid shook his head. "He's found the woman he wants to take home tonight – giving her his full attention to make her want to come with him too." Prentiss couldn't help but see the look of longing in his eyes at he watched his best friend do what he did best.
"Don't be sad Reid, you're just not meant to pick up girls in bars. You'll probably find some cute girl in a library or a book shop and you'll end up dating and getting married and having kids..." She leaned back on the small bar stool and sighed. She really wanted that for herself. When she noticed Reid frown at her she smiled. "But I didn't know that you were into African-Americans – I expected you to be more of a 'blond, blue eyed'-man for some reason."
He turned his head towards the dance floor trying his utmost to smile at her comment. Inside his was panicking, scolding himself for being too obvious. His eyes fell back on the muscular black man that he knew so well though he didn't know him at all. The smile became slightly more natural and Reid felt the urge to lean back nodding in understanding when he realized what Prentiss had been talking about; the woman Morgan was practically mating with in the dance floor was black too. Prentiss thought he was jealous of Morgan – not the petite woman he held so close!
He watched the dancing people for a while. Prentiss had started talking to a man on the other side of her and was now flirting heavily. Her body language almost screamed for the man to club her on the head and drag her out to his car so they could go at it like rabbits.
Reid blushed a bit but smiled at the thought.
He looked down at the drink in his hand – Morgan had bought it and told Reid to have some fun. He had taken one sip of it and decided against drinking more of it when Morgan moments later had gone to the dance floor with a cheaply dressed redhead. He hadn't left the dance floor since and Reid really didn't feel the need to expand his depressed state of mind by actually drinking a depressant too.
Reid's heart sped up and he felt almost revived when Morgan left the woman and began moving over to their small table. He downed the drink in front of him – hoping that Morgan would smile and praise him for his efforts.
Morgan took his jacket, winked at Reid and left.
Reid felt his heart shatter as a glass vase that fell to the ground. He felt pathetic for his efforts as he watched Morgan join the woman at the door and casually wrap his arm around her waist. The alcohol burned in the back of Reid's throat and the tears started to well up in his eyes. He turned slightly and found Prentiss watching him.
"Probably wasn't a good idea to finish your drink like that, huh Reid?" She smiled but he could see the tiny glint of pity in her glance. She knew. He was a pathetic fool.
"Yeah, and it kind of kicked hard." He grabbed his coat and shuffled a bit in his seat.
"I think it would be best if you just went home now. Call a cab and I'll see you Monday – right?" She gave Reid's arm a small comforting squeeze. He gave her a small smile goodbye and left the bar.
The cold air hit him like a fist and Reid could feel it sting in his eyes. He let his hurt tears spill soundlessly as he looked around for a cab. There was none.
He started walking home, hoping he wound find a vacant taxi on his way but not desperately. Walking alone he could let his feelings go without worrying what anyone would think.
He was pathetic.
He was a grown man in love with his 10 years older colleague and best friend. His very straight best friend. He would shoot long glances after him in the office hoping no one would notice but him. And yet his worst nightmare was that Morgan would realize his feelings and turn away in disgust. He could picture that all too vividly and it broke his heart all over again.
He dried his cheeks when a car pulled up to the sidewalk next to him. His heart skipped a beat or two when he recognized the black SUV. The window opened.
"What the hell are you doing out here Reid?" Morgan asked him frowning.
"I couldn't find a cab." Reid shrugged as if he didn't care while desperately trying to calm down his heart. "I was hoping I could find one if a started walking towards home."
Morgan shook his head. "The taxi-drivers are on a strike as of this morning. I thought you of all people would know that."
"I don't know everything," Reid muttered to his feet, bur Morgan heard him and laughed.
"Jump in Pretty Boy, I'll drive you home."
He climbed in to the big black car trying to look anywhere but Morgan's face. He noticed anyway.
"Have you been crying?" Reid turned his head to see Morgan frown and shook his head.
"It's very cold outside. It made my eyes water." Reid's eyes grew wider when Morgan reached over and touched his ice cold hand.
"Shit man – you're freezing!" He turned up the heat and held Reid's hand up to get warm from the hot air. "How long have you been outside?"
It was Reid's turn to frown. "I don't know. I left a couple of minutes after you – Prentiss didn't seem to mind."
"You've been outside for half an hour, and you haven't gotten further? You only walked two blocks!" Morgan looked astonished eyebrows raised mouth slightly open. Reid had to look away.
"It's slippery outside. I had to walk carefully. And anyway – why are you here and not at home with that woman from the bar?" He knew a bitter tone had crept in when he said that woman but Morgan didn't seem to notice.
"I realized I wasn't in the mood for that tonight." Morgan shrugged. "So I thought I would just drive her home and then go back myself."
"Then what are you in the mood for tonight?" Morgan cocked a brow and Reid realized how suggestively that could be interpreted.
"I don't know. A beer, a movie and bed early I think." Reid glanced at his watch. It was 11 P.M.
"I guess early is a relative term."
Morgan let go of Reid's hand and he realized that he had been holding it for their entire talk. Morgan put the car in gear and started driving.
"It is. Early to bed Tuesday is very different from early to bed Friday." He shot a smile at Reid.
"You could come hang out with me at my place if you want?" Reid looked almost uninterested at his hands slowly getting warm but his heart was beating like furious in his chest.
"Only if I don't have to watch any movie with the word Star in the title."
Reid felt a grin corrupting his neutral face. "You get to pick what we watch then."
"I didn't know there were so many films with the word Star in their title," Morgan muttered to himself. He took a sip of his beer and pulled out 'Inglorious Basterds'.
"You have a Brad Pitt movie?" he asked Reid who was sitting in the couch knees pressed to his chest.
"No – I have a Quentin Tarantino movie. Huge difference."
Morgan cocked a brow and looked at the DVD with a thoughtful look. "Why do you have a Brad Pitt movie?"
"I found it in a store and couldn't get the story line to match with the chronology of WWII, so I felt like I had to buy it to see if it was a mistake..."
Morgan looked expectantly at Reid. "So...?" Reid looked back with a blank look on his face. "Was it a mistake?"
"You'll have to watch it if you want to know," Reid replied with a content grin.
Morgan put the movie on and settled in the couch next to Reid. Reid tried to silent his pounding heart as he looked at the inches between them. He was so close yet so far away. The paradox made it burn in his throat like the alcohol he had earlier. He held back the tears when the music started playing. "Try to pay extra attention to Hans Landa," he said leaning a tiny bit closer to his friend. "He goes through some incredible character development."
"Well... That was very unlike the Brad Pitt movies I've seen before."
"I told you it's a Quentin Tarantino movie." They sat fairly close to each other in the couch both keeping their eyes fixed on the black screen in front of them.
"You were right about Landa – that man just turned completely upside down." Reid nodded. The silence between them was awkward and welcome at the same time, but it had to be broken.
"I'm in love with you." Reid closed his eyes not wanting see Morgan's face. He had no idea what kind of expression it would show. The dark man beside him sighed and Reid felt him lean forward to put down his empty beer bottle.
"I know." Reid felt Morgan's big hand on his knee for a moment. "I know and I'm sorry."
Reid nodded with his eyes closed. He heard Morgan stand and getting his things before leaving the apartment with a small "I'll see you Monday.". Reid then opened his eyes to let the tears spill yet again. He got up from the couch and felt his way to his bedroom – his vision was too blurry to be relied on. He climbed onto the bed not caring about his clothes and the fact that his sheets would smell like smoke if he didn't go take a shower.
He clutched his pillow as sobs shook his body and tears left his eyes red and streaked his cheeks.
He had pretended for a moment – but he knew. He always had.
Now, I need your opinion!
I intend for this to be a oneshot, but I actually have an idea to continue (probably 4 or 5 more chapters)... But I don't know if I want to write it.
So let me know – should I let Reid lie here with his heart in a thousand pieces or should I write on?