"Do you want to come inside? My roomate's gone for the weekend", the girl offered with a slight smile.

I watched her carefully. How old could she possibly be? 21, 22? Younger, even? From her looks, she could easily pass as a senior in college, but then again, the youthful candidness she had displayed earlier in the bar made me believe she was in fact younger. I cleared my throat and averted my eyes for a bit. When I looked at her again, she was smiling.

"How old are you?" I managed to croak out.

The girl's smile faltered, as though I had said something very offensive.

"Please, don't take it the wrong way", I apologized quickly. "It's just, I'm 27 and I feel like I've been this old since I was 15, and you..."

"You have a sweetness and innocence about you I lost a long time ago", I finished the sentence in my head.

"See, I have this rule, I don't date people younger than 24", I said instead. Judging from the girl's puzzled expression, it dawned on me that she had no idea what I was talking about. We stayed silent for what felt like an eternity to me, staring at each other.

She has the most beautiful eyes, I thought.

"D-date?" she finally said. Her voice was trembling, and so were my knees. "Why would you... I'm a girl and so are you." She took a step back and began fumbling in her purse.

Great Prentiss, now you've scared her.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have assumed... sorry", I mumbled. "It's just, we were in a gay club after all, and I just thought... never mind, I'm very sorry", I assured her, feeling like an idiot. The girl found her keys, but instead of using them, she hesitated and looked at me with a hint of curiosity.

"Twenty-one", she stated matter-of-factly.

"Excuse me?" I was dumbfounded.

"My age, it's 21, and I will be 22 in a couple of weeks", she said. "Does your dating rule also apply to possible friendships? Because I've only just met you, but I like you, and I could use some company tonight." Her smile was back, and what a smile it was. My heart swell with utter adoration for this young woman, yet I also felt a slight pang in my chest.

"Friends, huh?" I tried to sound casual and followed her into the appartment. It was beautifully decorated and most importantly, it was impeccably clean. As I proceeded to get rid of my shoes and my jacket, she handed me a pair of woolen slippers.

"Do you want something to drink?" she asked me, but my eyes were lingering on her blue ones, and then on her soft blonde hair (I hadn't touched it, but it looked soft), and suddenly, I forgot what Jennifer (this was her name, right?) had said to me.

"Prentiss, get a grip!" I scolded myself.

"Pardon me?" I muttered, which elicited an amused chuckle from the girl.

"You don't have to be so formal," she said warmly, and I wanted to drown in her smile right there and then. "I was just wondering if you wanted something to drink? If you're hungry, I can also cook something for us, I've become quite good at it", she finished, with a glimpse of pride in her voice.

"I'll have what you're having", I heard myself say, and followed my hostess into the living room, where she gestured towards the couch. "Please, make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back."

"What are you doing?" a nagging voice in my head asked once I sat on the couch. "She's younger than you, she's probably straight, and she's not looking for a date!"

"Here you go." I had not heard the girl coming back, yet I was relieved I was no longer alone with my conscience. "Thank you Jennifer," I replied after she had handed me the drink. I had no idea what cocktail it was, as I was more of beer drinker, but it looked and smelled pleasant.

"Oh, please just call me JJ", she replied, and I nodded. "Okay, JJ." We sipped at our drinks, but the playful lightness we had shared in the bar was gone, and my alert antennas could tell JJ was tense. Or, maybe it was the other way around and I was the tense one; after all I had just outed myself minutes ago and to a girl I'd only just met. Very few people actually knew my sexual orientation. Needless to say, the ambassador wasn't one of those people.

"So, tell me about your roommate?", I asked, just to break the awkward silence. JJ's face lit up and I let out a sigh of relief as she began to tell me how she had met Penelope Garcia, a nerdy tech-savvy girl with a bubbly personality and a big heart. "Suddenly, you having a pink couch and yellow armchairs makes total sense", I laughed, feeling a lot more at ease now.

"Yeah, at some point I just caved and we compromised", JJ said with a broad smile. We both picked the furniture and decorations for the living slash dining room, Pen got the bathroom and I got the kitchen, and of course each of us decorated their own room. You should see hers, she really went crazy in there."

"I bet she did."

"So, Emily?"

The sound of my name startled me a bit, since I'd started work I had gotten used to people calling me 'Prentiss' or 'Miss Prentiss'. My contacts outside of work equalled zero, other than the occasional flings at the gay bar, but even then my name was usually quickly forgotten after the girls had a couple of drinks and we started making out like two lustful teenagers.

"Why 24?" JJ was looking at me with great interest. It took me a couple of seconds to understand what she was talking about, the alcohol was beginning to get to my head.

"Because I found too great an age difference didn't work out for me in the long run", I tried to explain, but I could see JJ was not satisfied with my answer.

"So, if you met someone you really liked and they tell you they're 22, or 23, you just go 'Sorry, but you're too young for me?'"

"Basically, yes", I told her, wondering if I needed to update my dating rules.

"That's crazy", JJ said, more to herself than to me. "Do you have an age range then? Like, 24-34 or something like that?" she inquired, while I was taken aback by my lack of uneasiness at what I would have normally considered intrusive questions.

"Hmm. When I was younger, I was with a woman who was 15 years my senior, but that ended rather badly. I was heartbroken when she left me, I was quite young and a little inexperienced, and thinking back, she kind if took advantage of it."

"On a subconscious level", I quickly added when JJ's brows furrowed in disdain. "I worshipped the very ground she walked on, and she loved the attention. Plus, she was the first one to... you know."

"I'm sorry, that must've been difficult", JJ said and moved closer to me. She then reached for my hand and squeezed it gently. My first instinct was to pull it back, instead I just stared at her hand in mine, and when I looked up our eyes locked for a brief moment. JJ was the first to look away, but our hands were still touching, and the tenderness of her touch made me do something I never did this easily. I trusted her.

"It was." My voice sounded hoarse now. "That's why I came up with this rule in the first place. You see, if I had been older, or she had been younger, there wouldn't have been that imbalance in terms of life experience and maturity. I don't want to break some young girl's heart who falls head over heels in love for me, while I'm emotionally unavailable and merely looking for a distraction."

There was silence, as JJ seemed to ponder about my words.

"Is that really what you're looking for?"

"How does she do it?"

I had known this girl for what, five, six hours now? And here I was, opening up to a complete stranger.

"No", I admitted. "It's not what I want. It's always been the easy way out. Moving around as a kid was hard for me, so at some point I just subconsciously started to shut people out to avoid getting hurt once they were gone."

"I understand."

She smiled at me, and her smile was a bit shy, which I thought was completely, insanely adorable.

"Dangerous territory, Prentiss", my conscience made an appearance again, and I stiffened. JJ let go of my hand. "Are you sure you don't want me to cook for you? How about another drink?"

I shook my head. "I'm sure your food's delicious, but I'm never hungry this late, and I have an early meeting tomorrow, I should probably call it a night."

"You can sleep in my bed."

I was sure I had misheard.

"I mean, alone." JJ stuttered, and I could've sworn her cheeks were a bit rosier than before. "I can take Pen's bed, she doesn't mind. It's late and cabs are expensive, and there's no way I'm letting you walk or use the subway at this hour, this neighbourhood can be a bit shady after a certain time."

I got up from the pink couch, and once again we were looking intently at each others eyes.

"Is that so?" I had not intended for my voice to sound this deep nor to have this flirty undertone, and I had certainly not wanted my feet to stand this close to JJ, yet here I was, so close to her that I could breathe in the scent of the shampoo she must've used this morning. My head was screaming to back off, but my feet didn't obey me.

"You know, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself" I whispered, and when JJ looked up and whispered back "I know", there was this brief moment where we could've kissed, if either one of us had dared to. JJ swallowed, and her steps increased the distance between us, for which I was immensely grateful.

Later, I found myself laying in JJ's bed, and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep that night. None of us had thought of changing the bed linen, and while they were incredibly soft, they smelled of her, and in my then current state of mind, it was torture.