AN: Sorry for the long wait, guys! Crazy busy with school and the Christmas season coming up at work (Walmart, yay..). Hope this holds you over til I can get the next one up. I'm already working on it, but I lost one of the pages that I wrote so I'm trying to remember what exactly was on it. Again, sorry for the wait and thank you so much for all the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.

Chapter Five

The following week went by without incident. Derek and JJ had spent almost every free moment together. They had even joined Eric and Emily for a movie night in the girls' dorm room. They hadn't gone on their date and denied being together to anyone who asked but it was obvious between the looks, the gestures, and the touches that it wouldn't be much longer.

Being a football player, Derek was already pretty well known and JJ was definitely making a name for herself on the soccer field and in the classroom. Needless to say, they were making a lot of people jealous. Guys were constantly hitting on JJ and girls were basically throwing themselves at Derek. It was slightly ridiculous, in their opinions, but thankfully, they only had eyes for each other.

"Emily!" JJ sighed frustratedly. She threw another article of clothing on the floor of their dorm room. It was about an hour before Derek had said he'd come get her for their date.

"Come here." Emily gestured her over. "Sit." She pointed to her desk chair. "You need to calm down." She continued after JJ took the seat. "It's just Derek taking you to dinner and a movie, or something equally as cheesy. He wouldn't care if you showed up in your pajamas."

"But-."

"No, no buts. Dry your hair and get out of those sweats. I'll find you something to wear."

JJ nodded. "Thank you, Em." She inhaled deeply before continuing. "I'm just nervous. The last date I went on was with Doug. What if I panic? Or, or I'm not ready? I mean, Derek doesn't know my past."

"It's fine, JJ. If you're uncomfortable at any time, just tell him. I'm sure he'll understand. And if he doesn't, I'll beat his ass." Emily reassured her with a grin. "Now dry you hair before it does something funky that I can't fix."

Forty-five minutes later, JJ was dressed in a pair of tight dark blue, low-rise jeans, a black off-the-shoulder shirt and her favorite pair of red heels. Emily was currently putting the finishing touches on curling her hair, while JJ applied the tiniest amount of makeup.

"All done." Emily stated, pulling the curling iron from the wall and setting it down on her desk.

"Thanks, Em." JJ smiled. "Are you staying in tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm actually going to hang out with Spencer." She replied.

"Spencer?" JJ repeated, slightly surprised.

"Um, yeah. He asked if I wanted to get some ice cream tonight." She smiled. "For good luck before my volleyball game tomorrow." Emily had decided to join in the intramural volleyball team while waiting for softball season to start up.

"What happened to Erik?"

"Oh." Emily nodded, realizing she hadn't told her roommate about the previous night. "It wasn't working. I think we were trying to make something out of nothing. I ended things last night – not that we were ever officially together."

"So you and Spence?"

"I don't know, JJ." She shrugged. "He's a nice kid but he's not really my type, ya know?'

"I didn't think Derek was my type." JJ pointed out. "Maybe you need something different. I mean, you've always dated the same kind of guys and after a while, you get tired of them or it doesn't work out."

Emily nodded slowly. "You're right. I do need a change. I can agree with that. Is it Spencer though? I don't know. I don't really know that much about him." She said. "I guess we'll see though. I think I'm going to stick with being friends for now. I think that's something major that I'm missing."

JJ climbed to her feet. "I think you're right. And I think that's very grown up of you to say that."

Emily cringed. "I'm not grown up yet." She laughed. "I'm still the same Emily. Just slightly less… promiscuous."

"Riiight." JJ giggled.

"Seriously!"

"Emily -." JJ was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Oh man."

"You'll be fine. Now go answer the door."

JJ took a deep breath and opened the door, revealing an 'obviously nervous but trying to hide it' Derek Morgan, clad in dark blue jeans and a light green shirt that fit him just right.

"Hey." She smiled, trying not to stutter with nerves.

"Hey, JJ, wow… you, you look great." He stumbled over his words.

"Thanks, you look pretty good yourself."

"You, um, you ready to go?"

"Yep."

"Bye kids! Have fun!" Emily teased from inside the room.

JJ rolled her eyes. "Bye, Em. I'll see you later tonight." She replied, closing the door behind her.

"Do you like Italian?" Derek asked as they walked down the hall of their building.

"I love Italian."

"Okay, good. There's a place downtown that has amazing food." He told her, taking her hand in his.