Chapter One: I should eat pizza more often

"Hello, this is Domino's, is this order for delivery or pick-up?" the Pizza Delivery girl's beautiful melodious voice rang through the telephone I was holding. It was so incredibly beautiful I was thrown off balance. I paused a moment, imagining what this woman must look like.

"Hello?" she asked after one whole minute without receiving a response from me.

"Oh, um, h-hi, it's for, uh, it's for delivery?" I replied, more like I was asking a question than answering one. "Pull yourself together, Reid." I thought to myself. "You've never even seen her before."

"OK, what would you like to order?" She asked me, stunning me with her beautiful voice.

"One, uh, um, one me-medium cheese, uh, cheese pizza please." I stuttered into the phone.

"Dammit. She must think I'm a total loser." I thought

"Okay, and what would your address be?" she sang into the phone, bewildering me further.

"I-I live at, uh, 312 Bradley Lane." I stuttered even less than before. "A-apartment 606."

"Ok, I'll be there in about 20 minutes." She said, hanging up the phone.

"She'll be here?"

I grabbed the pizza and got into my car as quickly as I possibly could. He may not have recognized me, but I definitely recognized him. He was Spencer Reid, my new neighbor. I had heard about him from everyone I met in the small town of Blueberry, Virginia, right outside of Quantico. My first friend I met, Marni the 70-year-old gray-haired glasses-donning librarian gushed about him and his brains, My other neighbor Melissa, a beautiful 21-year-old waitress at Café Doce who always gives me free meals there and is completely obsessed with John, was one of his best friends and filled me in on all she knew- which happened to be a lot. My best friend Penelope Garcia had been trying to fix me up with him since the day they met, even though I lived in California, thousands of miles away.

"You'd be perfect for him!" She squeaked, mocking Penelope. At one point for about a month that's what I'd hear right after I picked up the phone and it was at the other end of the line, no witty greeting, just a "You'd be perfect for him!" and a new story about his adventurous attempts and genius IQ. And I did have to admit, he sounded attractive. Very attractive.

"Well, I guess I'll find out now." I said to Myself, getting out of the car. I was nervous, as would any girl meeting her neighbor that she already knew everything about and thought was attractive. Pizza in hand, I approached John, the incredibly handsome doorman, my second friend I met moving here.

"Delivery, señorita?" he asked, trying in vain to create a sexy Spanish voice.

"You know it, Spanish boy." I laughed, adding to the list of nicknames I had for him.

"Spanish boy? Never heard that one before." He laughed. It was kind of an inside joke between just the two of us; I'd give him a nickname ending in boy and he'd laugh and say, "Never heard that one before." It was kind of cute and kind of comforting, considering I just moved in 3 days ago.

"Hey, hey, wait." He said, stopping me in my tracks. "You're blushing."

"What? I am sooo not blushing. You sound like Pen."

"Yes you are, and your eyes are moving back and forth…" He continued, making me blush even more.

"Have you been talking to Penelope?"

"No, I'm actually addicted to the old Spanish crime drama Mentes Criminales." He whispered, before putting his finger to his lips and uttering a sexy "Shh." And winking at me.

"So that explains the Spanish accent." I said, drifting away from the subject of my delivery.

"It'll be our little secret." He said, winking at me again.

"Oh, well, I gotta, go, um, deliver this." I blushed again, walking towards Spencer's apartment.

"Yeah, wouldn't want lover boy's pizza to get cold." He added. I quickly turned around.

"Really, John?" I asked him, rolling my eyes. He laughed, winked, and walked away.

I was chuckling in my head at the awkwardness all the way to his door. Then, a burst of intelligent thought smacked me in the face like an angry child.

"Ohhhh Shit. I don't even know what he looks like." I thought to myself. I knocked on the door, panicking. I was so nervous that you could cut the tension in my mind with a knife.

"Hey." He said smoothly, opening the door. He was wearing a gray hoodie and a pair of jeans, like a gangster, but it was cute on him. He was cute on him. I wanted to pin him up against the wall and kiss him right then and there.

"Hey, Spence." I said, not thinking that I wasn't supposed to know his name. He looked at me confusedly.

"Sorry, that must have seemed a little, um, strange. Uhh, umm, I- I live next door." I stuttered.

Smooth, Alex. Real smooth.

His eyes seemed to brighten up at the thought of me living next door, but it was probably just my imagination. My vivid imagination….

"Oh, wow. That's- that's cool." He stuttered back.

"Yeah, I've heard a lot about you from my friend Pen. She works with you." I explained, feeling like an awkward turtle in a field full of cacti.

"Oh, Garcia. She's, well, she's one of my best friends."

"Oh really? That's cool! Maybe we could go grab coffee sometime." I offered before I could stop myself.

She just invited me over for coffee! Whoa! Is she into me? Maybe. Am I into her? Yes. Come on, Spence, Pull yourself together. Say yes. One syllable, 3 letters.

"Sure. I'd like that." I answered, surprisingly smoothly.

"When are you free?" She asked. I couldn't believe my luck. Tomorrow was Sunday, my sole day off every week.

"I'm free tomorrow. Unless you were planning on doing something, or…" I rambled. Smooth, Spence. Real smooth.

"Tomorrow's perfect. See you at Café Doce tomorrow?"

"What about Gar-er, Penelope?" I asked, kicking myself in the butt for reminding her.

"I'm sure she'll be up for it. I can bring John along if you'd feel less… femininely encased."

"Oh, sure, if you want…" I mumbled sadly. She already had a boyfriend. Just my luck.

"It's OK, Spencer. John and I are just friends." She assured me, putting her hand on my shoulder. I'm sure my face visibly lit up at that point. Another smooth move.

"Ok, sure. Just the four of us at, say, nine?"

"Sure." I answered. "You can come in if you want."

I can what? I can come in? My shift was over… this was supposed to be my last delivery…

"Sure, why not? Just let me go home and change out of these pizza clothes first." I said, adding the last part very cautiously, not wanting to sound like a snob.

"And I can ask John about our plans. So you don't feel emasculated by Pen and I."

"O-Okay. Sounds good. I'll put some pizza out for us." He added, a little shaky.

I left before I could embarrass myself any further. I rushed into my

apartment, a woman on a mission. I quickly changed into an Avril Lavigne T-shirt and a pair of jeans and practically tripped over Melissa's new puppy, Surfer Boy, getting to John to ask him about plans.

"Hey, going somewhere so soon?" he asked as I came up to him.

"No, but you might be…" I added mysteriously.

"Ooh, and where exactly might that be?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Café Doce at nine tomorrow?" I asked him, puppy dog eyes and everything.

"And why should I?" he laughed.

"Because Melissa is going to be there. And we all know how much you like Mel-" I started, before he put his hand over my mouth.

"Grr. Fine." He laughed, embarrassed that a girl had dared to challenge his precious ego.

"Okay, bye." I blurted, turning around, excited for my pizza not-quite-date with Spencer. He was… attractive. And smart. I've never seen someone with so many diplomas: I could see them clearly from the doorway but there were too many to count, and at least 3 were doctorates.

"Going somewhere?" John asked, wiggling his eyebrows again.

"Oh, you know, wherever…" I said, turning around, twirling my hair on my finger.

"Ok, I'm going up to my room. Remember… I live right above Spencer, so I'll totally hear you two if anything… happens."

I marched up toward him and smacked him lightly on the arm.

"Seriously, John, on a scale of 1 to 100 of maturity, you rank at a -10." I pouted, faking sadness.

"No, silly, I'm a 69." He laughed, shaking his head. "Oh, sorry, my bad. That's you… and your little lover boy."

"Grrr." I said, blushing and turning away down the hall. "It sooo is not."