"Guys," Garcia whined, reluctantly letting Emily and JJ guide her – blindfolded – to some unknown (and possibly clandestine) destination. "Where are we going? Just give me a hint..."
"It's a surprise," JJ insisted, refusing to give her any details that might offer a clue to their final location.
Emily hummed her agreement. "And by the way, you suck at being surprised."
Garcia shrugged as if the matter simply couldn't be helped. "To be fair, you seem like the kind of people who might sacrifice me to some kind of cult, so I think my suspicion is warranted. I always knew I'd end up being slain in the name of bloodletting to some Pagan god."
JJ scoffed as if offended. "How dare you? If anyone were going to make you into a human sacrifice, it would be Emily and Emily alone."
Emily just rolled her eyes. "Keep it up and it won't be Pen who's the sacrifice," she muttered, which made the two other women burst out laughing.
As a thank you for supporting their less than legal endeavours with her technical abilities and surprising restraint when it came to keeping a secret, they'd decided to take Garcia out for dinner – using the money they'd 'liberated' from one Mick Rawson the night before. They'd booked an entire room (namely because they didn't want to run the risk of anyone overhearing their conversation) in the city's best-rated restaurant...one none of them could have afforded without either prostitution and/or robbery...
"Here we are..." JJ declared, removing the blindfold with a dramatic flourish.
What followed was an ear-splitting shriek of excitement and a round of bone-crushing hugs. "Guys!"
"A toast!" Garcia announced, holding up her champagne glass. "To a job well done!"
Following suit, JJ raised her glass and toasted, "To teamwork!"
With a mischievous smirk, Emily cheered, "To deep pockets and poor judgment!" Her words made them all burst out laughing.
"What's so funny, ladies?" a male voice interrupted, making the three women look up sharply to find the waiter standing there, expectant expression on his face.
"None of your business, Penguin Suit," Garcia said, rather curtly. Her cheeks pinked as she suddenly pretended to be immensely interested in the menu so she could avoid meeting anyone's gaze.
JJ and Emily both turned to her in surprise – namely over her tone, considering her normally jovial and flirtatious attitude – but she remained steadfast in her refusal to look at them.
The waiter, though, seemed to take her rudeness in stride. "What are you doing here, Penelope?" he asked, a note of something like glee in his voice. He seemed amused, perhaps even fond of her ruffled feathers, so to speak.
"Eating dinner," she retorted. "Or I would be if the waiter weren't slacking..."
He just chuckled. "Greetings, ladies, my name is Luke and I'll be your waiter this evening," he introduced himself to Emily and JJ.
Once Luke had departed with their orders, JJ and Emily both rounded on Garcia with wide, expectant eyes. "So..." JJ prompted. "Who's that?" Based on the grin curling her lips, she seemed to have some idea of the answer already.
"No one," Garcia grumbled, her normally good mood seeming to have vanished. She folded her arms over her chest like a petulant child.
Neither woman was buying that, though. They shared a look, smirk breaking out across both of their faces. As one, they seemed to come to a silent agreement as to how best to draw the answer out of her.
"Obviously, you like him," Emily declared matter-of-factly as if the fact had already been well established. "The question is: how did you meet?"
Garcia huffed, pouted. "He sometimes comes into the coffee shop I like. He was having computer trouble and I helped him fix it. He asked to take me to dinner as a thank you." She shrugged as if it were no big deal.
Emily and JJ waited expectantly for a moment and, when no more details were forthcoming, JJ burst out, "And?"
"And nothing."
"What about the date?" JJ prompted further.
She shook her head. "Didn't go. Don't like him," she insisted, even though they'd already established that she did, in fact, like him... But if there was one thing Penelope Garcia was known for, it was being stubborn.
And, of course, a master of evading questions she didn't want to answer. In this instance, she diverted the conversation rather effectively by asking, "What about you, Emily? Hmm? When are you going to go on a date with that Chocolate Adonis bouncer you've been eye fucking?"
Emily's cheeks immediately flushed a bright red. "I... I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered, avoiding eye contact.
Grinning triumphantly, Garcia pressed, "Don't pretend like you haven't wondered what he's like in bed... With a body like that, there's no way you haven't."
JJ nodded along in agreement, then paused, frowned. "Wait... How do you know what his body looks like?" she asked, turning to Garcia with a quirked brow.
"His Instagram is full of thirst traps," she said without an ounce of shame. "By which I mean workout videos, but my point still stands." She shrugged.
"You follow him on Instagram?" JJ asked, surprised, though she supposed she really shouldn't have been.
Garcia nodded solemnly. "Since the day Emily first began waxing poetic about him."
Rolling her eyes, Emily protested, "I don't wax poetic!"
The statement only made JJ snort with laughter.
"Regardless," Garcia said as if she hadn't spoken, "You are clearly a smitten kitten. One in desperate need of getting laid, if you ask me..."
Emily pursed her lips, annoyed. "He could be the best fuck of all time, but I'm not going to get involved because I don't need the drama and I definitely don't need a man." A beat. "They make vibrators for a reason, am I right, ladies?"
Garcia and JJ both crowed with laughter at that, clinking their glasses together in a silent toast to her proclamation.