002


"How do you have such poor aim? Aren't you here on a lacrosse scholarship?"

Franklin laughed at me and shrugged. He grabbed another M&M and took his time with the new aim.

Hailey yawned and said, "Where's Tessa and Jennifer?"

I gently shrugged, "Didn't they go on an ice cream trip?"

Hailey rolled the wall ladder up to our bunk set up – Tessa and Jennifer are actually a part of the Pratt School of Engineering and this room was already in the works with the other renovations – and climbed up to the third bunk. The first bunk bed belongs to Jennifer, the second to me, the third to Hailey, and the fourth and highest up to Tessa. We bought multiple strings of white Christmas lights to pin around the room in replacement of lamps and covered the walls with giant sticker-like wallpaper and combined collages. We have several mannequins – some full body, some torsos and heads, some lower body – that we dress up and mismatch with our clothing and obscure fashion projects. We've bought our own cradle-like bed framing for our bunks and painted them: Jennifer's and Hailey's are patterned while Tessa's and mine are solid.

Franklin put the bag of M&M's on the nearby glass table and stretched out on our small, old, beaten up, vintage flowerer printed sofa while I stretched and flexed my legs. My stretching didn't wake Maurice or Taibert, but the sudden slamming open of our door shocked us all. Jennifer and Hailey walked in and tossed Tessa a pint of Half Baked Ben & Jerry's ice cream and a plastic spoon and then sat down on our sloppily stitched together rug of multiple fake furs. Two men walked in and closed the door behind them. I wanted to jump up, but our pets and laptop stopped me, plus my attempt to have some dignity slowed down my childish reaction. "Spencer! What are you doing here?"

He walked in with a curious awe on his face as he scanned my shared room. Franklin waved to him and opened his mouth to say hi, but he quickly gasped and slammed his lips tightly together— in walked Derek Morgan. Franklin sat up straight and situated himself on one seat cushion while I awkwardly waved to him while the lemur we kind-of-sort-of stole, Maurice, jumped up and climbed up to Tessa's bunk and Taibert, Hailey's cat, hissed at my movement and resituated herself at the far right corner of my bed. I then leaned over the small opening in my bed frame to talk to Hailey. "Can you slide the ladder over a little bit?"

She nodded, still totally focused on her ice cream, but she complied nonetheless.

I carefully got out of my bed and slid down the cold ladder. I paused a few feet away from Spencer and smiled at his shiny black shoes, his black slacks and his tucked in Duke Blue button down shirt. He cleared his throat; I snapped back up to his face and smiled with unnecessary embarrassment. I tugged at the bottom of my long burgundy tank-top and asked, "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"

He laughed and said, "We just took a case in Durham."

I crossed my arms loosely and inquisitively. "What's so terrible in Durham right now?"

Morgan butted in, "You'll hear it on the news soon enough, but don't stay out too late."

I laughed and used my right hand to do a 180 degree sweep of my dorm. "There's no Greek Life on campus and we're not partiers anyway. This is really all we do on weekend nights."

Moran smiled, "Your roommates were out late."

"That's different," Hailey interrupted with a mouth full of fudge cookie chunks, "I needed Half Baked."

Morgan laughed and started to walk around the dorm to look at our extensive customizing of our space. Spencer took a few steps closer to me. "Hotch sent us back to our hotel for some sleep since we hit a dead end in the case. When we went out to buy some crackers, I heard your room mates discussing ice cream flavors and your name popped up."

I nodded, "Do you guys want to sit down?"

"Yeah," Derek said and plopped down next to Franklin. Franklin's eyes about popped out of his head with excitement; Derek looked up with slight fascination at our bunk bed setup then cleared his throat. "Is that a—?"

Tessa cut him off, "That's Maurice, our lemur."

Spencer stared up at him with shock and curiosity, "Why do you guys have a lemur?"

"Tessa and I volunteer at the Lemur Center. This one kept sneaking out into the forest around campus, so we just took him back here one day."

"Isn't that illegal?" Spencer shoved his hands into his front pockets while taking a step closer, still staring up at Maurice.

"Yeah," I nodded, "I mean, it's not legal, but it's not exactly illegal either."

Jennifer added, "It's sort of unprecedented, harboring a lemur, so we don't have any actual specific policy to break."

Derek started laughing while Spencer looked around for a chair. He saw our large, double sided desks, but he didn't see any chairs. I slid my right hand over my hair and gathered my wavy strands over my right shoulder; I looked over my left shoulder at Hailey, "Scoot over a bit."

"Why?" She ate another spoonful of ice cream.

I sighed, "Because you traded our chairs for your share of lighting."

She nodded with concession and then scooted against the wall. I sat down on the edge and patted a spot next to me. "So, what's the reason behind this nice surprise visit?"

Franklin blurted, "Yes, very nice indeed."

Hailey stabbed his spoon into her softened ice cream and made out through a full mouth, "Your homosexuality is overwhelming."

"Oh please," Franklin scoffed, "You stayed in the same house your whole life—a house two blocks from Greenwich Village."

"Yeah," she nodded, "I saw homos all the time, so I can honestly say that you are overwhelmingly homosexual."

"You're gay too," Jennifer added while rolling her eyes.

Hailey nodded and agreed again, "I know that. That's why I saw homos all the time; I spent all my time in The Village."

"It's okay," Franklin told a slightly uncomfortable Derek, "She's majoring in communications."

Franklin chuckled and Derek started to laugh again.

I turned back to him and asked, "So where's your guys' hotel?"

"About a ten minute walk from Duke, actually." Spencer smiled.

I crossed my left leg over my right and nervously started to finger the cheap black lace of my sale-rack leggings. My cheeks burned with embarrassment when I realized that I was in junky old pajamas while Spencer was dressed to the T.

Spencer swallowed his excess spit and said, "It's cold outside, so you'd have to change, but you can walk back with us—Derek is across the hall from me—"

I laughed and got up. I tossed on a wall jacket and slipped into a pair of grey boots.

"No socks?" Spencer lifted a brow.

I pinned my bangs back and twisted my hair into a quick, sloppy braid over my right shoulder while retorting, "No dinner and a movie first?"

Derek exploded with laughter while my friends grin, but he quickly quieted himself, though he was unable to wipe the amused smile off of his face. I walked over to my desk and grabbed my keys out of the top drawer. Spencer walked over to me and followed me to the door, which Derek closed. Our walk off campus was awkwardly silent, so Derek asked, "What are you guys doing up so late if you're not working on an assignment and aren't partying?"

I grinned at him, "We have a cat and a lemur."

He laughed to himself and Spencer laughed out once then smiled at me. Spencer grabbed my left hand as it swung behind me; I started to walk closer to him and asked, "So, can I walk around town by myself during the afternoon?"

His smile didn't soften, "Our unsub seems to be a gay man, so you're safe."

"But I should warn Franklin?"

Spencer chuckled, "If he already spends his nights in your dorm then he should be fine."

"Hey!" I playfully shoved him an inch or two, "Who has a cooler dorm than mine, huh?"

"Your dorm was impressive," He nodded in agreement. "How'd you do that with your beds?"

I wrapped my arm around his, "Jennifer and Tessa are students of Pratt. They worked out the kinks of building."

Spencer grinned, "And did you work out the legalities of changing a rented room so much?"

I laughed, "You'd be surprised how flexible of a place Duke is. Unless you're destroying something, they won't stifle you."

Spencer nodded while Derek walked further away and faster than us. I looked up at Spencer, "You'll be back to work soon. Are you sure you don't just want to sleep?"

He shrugged and quietly yawned, "I wasn't planning on a wild night."

I laughed and recognized the familiar sting of my blushing cheeks.

Spencer continued, "I sort of just want to lie down and pass out for the next few hours."

I couldn't stop myself, "So why'd you stop by?"

Spencer bit the inside of his bottom lip for a few seconds. "I think about you a lot. Our pre and post conversations were… fun and smart."

"Well," I sighed as if I were preparing for a session of major bragging, "I am a student of an Ivy University."

Spencer chuckled, "I'm not surprised that your company is enjoying and stimulating. I was just trying to say that I don't keep you in my memory as a common whore."

I laughed awkwardly, "Thank you for keeping our one night stand in high esteem."

Spencer laughed awkwardly too, "We've been talking since then—you called me soon after. I figure you need to like my company too—"

I stopped walking, forcing him to stop too. I let go of his hand and hugged him loosely. I pressed my chest gently against his and said, "I would have ditched you at the café if I considered you otherwise."

He nodded and squeezed me to him, but only for a second. "It's cold out here. Let's powerwalk the last block."

I laughed and agreed. I know I should let him sleep, but I'd hate to waste the space of a king size bed.


A/N: I haven't started 003 yet, which will be a chapter that's just a lemon, so go ahead and comment any suggestions or requests-except a threesome with Morgan. Although he is most definitely fuckable...regardless, I've got the noms for Spencer.