Chapter Three – So Many Foreign Worlds
The next morning....
Alarm clocks were, to Austin, the absolute worst sound in the world. The obnoxiously loud buzzing was not an agreeable way to start the morning under the best of circumstances. But given her current hangover-related headache, the normally loud buzzing felt like a jackhammer to her temple. Against her will, she opened her eyes and groggily examined the beeping clock. A little bit past six.
My flight isn't until noon, she thought to herself, trying to brush past the cobwebs of sleep in her head. Why on earth would I set the alarm that early?
She realized that she could not recall setting her alarm clock. The last tangible memory she possessed was of Spencer Reid's smiling face.
Reid. He had been at the bar last night. She'd had a fortunate encounter—if one of his coworkers spilling beer on her favorite dress counted as "fortunate"--and ended up staying. Charlotte had been upset, and would not spare her the maternal rap later. But spending what she vaguely remembered as a pleasant evening with Spencer made it worth it. And despite her lack of specific memories of last night, she couldn't help but feel happy. Like something really great had happened in her inebriated state.
And then two more details came to light: one, this was not the guest bed in Charlotte's house. And two, she was not the sole occupant of the strange bed.
She recognized his shaggy, dishwater blond hair first. It was disheveled and spread around his unmoving face, looking suspiciously like a haystack. His chest rose and fell slowly in a repetitive pattern. The golden light of sunrise was filtering in through the window, and reflecting sweetly against his pale skin. The whole moment was pure poetry.
Like the sun's amber rays, her memories of the night's events slowly filtered in...
She's tapping her heels, impatiently waiting for the bartender to return with her drink. The way Spencer is inhaling his scotch proves he is nervous. The fact that he is growing tense causes her to spin off into contemplation of whether she should be nervous or not. And now they are both terrified.
"So..." Maybe small talk will ease his electric nerves. He finishes off the glass. "How'd the case go?"
"Not ideal. We caught the unsub, but we couldn't save the boy." It was unlike him to give details so openly about a case. Perhaps this was the alcohol loosening his lips, or possibly the intoxicating presence of the girl he fancied. "How's your vacation going?"
"Pretty average. Played with my nephew, went shopping, that kind of thing…" She took another sip of her drink when her speech just kind of faded out. Even though the club was filled with people chatting noisily, between Austin and Spencer there is total and absolute silence. It was as if a black hole had occupied the space between them.
"Are you alright? You seem extremely nervous." She might as well state the obvious.
"Psychologically speaking, men form their first impressions of women in the first fifteen minutes, but it takes a woman almost an hour to form their opinions."
She couldn't help but smile at his attempt at small talk. "So you're worried you're not making a good first impression?"
"This is the first time we've ever… been…" He was reluctant to say the word "date" because he was terrified of seeming too forward. Austin's smile had intensified to the point where her cheeks were burning. He cleared his throat, and tried again. "We haven't seen each other in a long time, and I don't want to ruin things between us."
The bartender finally brought Austin her drink, something stronger than she probably should have been drinking. She took it, and raised it in a toast. "In that case, to new beginnings."
And as their glasses clinked together, something sparked. All nervousness between them seemed to evaporate.
He flipped over in the bed, exposing his bare chest. She could almost count his ribs. How had she not realized how skinny he was? Sweater vests and dress pants certainly masked his emaciated frame better than originally thought. But that was not as important as another detail, pertaining to his nudity.
Another memory broke through her hazy sense of last night. How they had both managed to get wherever they were.
He was unloosening his tie with absolute urgency. As if the world would come to a crashing halt if he didn't get that purple and green tie from around his neck. Her lips never left his, and it felt like they had found their home. He threw off his shoes, exposing two mismatched socks.
Noting the oddity, she raised an eyebrow towards him. His cheeks turned a faint pink.
"Long story." He sounded out of breath. Of course, making out as voraciously as they had been had the ability to wind many a fellow. They returned to the kissing, and with great force, she pushed him up against the wall.
"Wait." Had she pushed him too far? "We're moving too fast."
She took a long breath. He was right. "You're right." The night had escalated quickly. Small talk in a crowded club became "I need some air." Standing outside with the smokers and those unfortunate enough to not get into the club had become a walk back to his hotel.
She had taken yet another risk by grabbing his hand in the rapidly-cooling New Mexican night, and was given extraordinary dividends as he tightened his grip on her hand. To her, it was a signal that he liked her just as much as she liked him. Feeling like a middle schooler again, nervously contemplating whether the boy was interested or not, Austin basked in the excitement that this new relationship brought.
Once they were alone in the elevator, all self-control was lost.
Which was how they had ended up at that moment, staring
"Oh, to hell with it." Austin exclaimed, forsaking her promise to approach things slowly, and resumed the kissing and stripping of clothing.
And from the look in Spencer's eyes, he hardly objected to proceeding.
–
She poked his shoulder, gently at first. But he hardly even flinched at her touch. Heavy sleeper, just like me, she thought to herself. Normally it took a demolition crew to rip her apart from the matress when she was sleeping. Her lips pressed against his ear, she whispered softly, "Spence. Wake up." It was her intention to sound sultry yet sweet. But with all the surprises she'd discovered this morning, the shock was unable to disguise, even in her whisper.
He started to stir, his thin frame slowly shifting around. His eye lids fluttered open, exposing those sweet blue eyes that had the ability to melt her into a puddle with one glance. At first, he did not seem to register his surroundings at all.
"You... and I..." Apparently he was just as surprised as she was.
"Yep." Her voice sounded a little more dejected than she intended it to. He sat up, covering up a little more of his naked frame than had been, and ran his hands through his tousled hair.
"Were we... safe?" She had heard him rant endlessly, rattling off statistics and facts that she had never encountered before. But to watch Spencer Reid, with countless college degrees, lost for words... it was staggering.
Still, that thought had crossed her mind. She sifted through the night's events, desperate to find that one piece of information. Then...
He's fumbling with the plastic wrapper, the obnoxious crinkling on par with the annoying guy unwrapping his candy bar at the movie theater.
"Can you get it?" She asks with a drunken giggle. The irony is not lost on her—the genius can't unwrap a condom. It opens, and both of them smile at each other, and start up again where they had been before.
–
"Good." Spencer parted his lips—no doubt ready to prattle off some pregnancy or venereal disease statistic—but to Austin's surprise, he remained silent. He pursed his lips, and had the most intense look of concentration on his face. Holding back obviously wasn't easy.
The two bedfellows stared quietly at each other, reeling from their discovieries. Austin was waiting for regret to kick in. The intense feeling of guilt to linger in her stomach like a flu, making her regret the night's course of events. Their relationship had originally been set on a steady cruise control, and it immediately careened out of control.
Yet she felt comfortable lying in bed with him. Like this was someplace she could get used to staying.
"What time is your flight?" She asked, pressing her head back to the pillow. Her head was throbbing, and she was praying she could get even a few more minutes of shut-eye.
He followed her lead, resting his head a few inches across from her. His eyes never left hers. "Three, I think. Yours?"
"Noon." Which became a solemn reminder of her life outside of this moment. "I should probably get back to my sister's. She's probably worried about me."
She's dialing her phone. Totally uncharacteristically, Spencer is giggling just a little. At what, no one is very certain. The fact that Austin was just as adorable drunk as she was when sober, the fact that it took her three tries to find her sister's number from her cell phone list... They stumbled towards the elevator, still holding hands.
"Hey Char, it's me." She's dragging out her syllables unecessarily. "I'm at Spencer's hotel. Don't wait up for me, okay?" She snapped her cell phone shut, and smiled at Spencer.
The elevator door shut.
Austin closed her eyes, "She's going to be so mad."
"It'll be fine. You're an adult, she's an adult. She'll understand." Then she felt something brush against her bare arm. A hand, running along the exposed skin. She opened her eyes, and saw that it was Spencer, in a sympathetic act, rubbing her arm.
He immediately retracted his hand, and looked like a child caught in the cookie jar. "I'm sorry."
She laughed softly, lightening Spencer's serious expression slightly. "Don't be."
"I'm not good at this."
From what she could recall of last night, that sentence did not ring true in her eyes.
"Social situations, I mean." He amended, then clammed up out of embarassment. Somehow he still needed to explain, so he tried. "Last night, it wasn't my... um, first time." The longer he stammered, the more he blushed. Austin couldn't help but note the adorable shade of pink he was turning. "It was just one of the few that wasn't painfully awkward."
Austin smiled. "What I can remember of last night, you were better than you think."
His shade turned from pink to bright red, and she thought his head might just explode from embarassment. Still, he clearly lacked confidence in this area, so she thought to take a chance. She scooted closer and closer towards him, the blankets wrapped up between their bodies. Her cheek pressed up against his chest, she could measure his pulse easily. If he was uncomfortable by her fowardness, he hid it well. Soon his arms were wrapped around her.
"I don't really want to move from this exact spot." Partly because of her total exhaustion, but mainly because she felt happy just laying in his arms. The logical part of her knew she still had to go back to her sister's house and pack. She had to go to the airport, fly back home to her everyday life.
And worst of all, she had to say goodbye to Spencer.
"Can I buy you breakfast?" From the looks of things, he looked just as desperate to cling to her as she was to him. "I'd really like to talk to you."
Austin smiled to herself. Chivalry isn't dead, after all. "Sure. I'd like that."
–
He had been a gentleman and averted his gaze as she dressed herself in last night's clothes. It seemed odd at first, considering that he had already seen her naked. But he claimed a desire to protect her privacy, and that made her fall a little harder for the awkward genius.
Now they were walking through the empty lounge, looking over their shoulders every few seconds, like they were being preyed upon. She realized when they reached the shiny black SUV that his coworkers were staying at the same hotel. Discovering their walk of shame to the rented car would no doubt give them endless teasing material. So they snuck around together like they were playing an intense game of hide and seek.
The beginning of the car ride was silent. She wanted to turn up the radio, fill the empty chasm with more than just silence. But he seemed content with the silence, so she sat back.
Before he could ask where she wanted to get breakfast, she asked, "Can we stop at my sister's house first? That way I can change and get my things packed."
"Yeah, and I can drive you to the airport if you like." His eyes remained on the road, unwilling to look her in the eyes. In all actuality, he did not wish to seem too eager and scare her away. He wanted to spend every second with her that he could.
So she still had breakfast and a ride to the airport to enjoy his company. She planned on taking in every second that she could.
–
Spencer Reid found himself in a staring contest with Austin's four year old nephew, still in his Spiderman pajamas. Even though it was early in the morning by his standards, the child staring at him with wide eyes seemed fully awake.
"Who are you?" This was the third time that he had asked that question, and it would be the third time Spencer had responded.
Still, he chuckled. It was an entertaining situation. "My name is Spencer. What's yours?"
"Jake." The young boy was cautious, as he should be around strangers. "Are you mommy's friend or Auntie Austin's?" Caution turned to inquisition, and Spencer couldn't help but chuckle. He had seen Austin in many ways, but he still could not imagine the phrase auntie attached to her name.
Charlotte walked into the living room, noted the young boy hanging at Spencer's feet, and sat down next to him on the crisp white couch.
"Jake, go play downstairs." It was more of a suggestion and less of a demand from his mother
"Are you Auntie Austin's boyfriend?" He sounded amused by this concept. The way he twisted the phrase boyfriend made it sound like a tease or an insult, not the affectionate phrase it usually was.
Spencer appreciated the candor of her young nephew, and wished to reciprocate. However, this was a situation that could be easily explained to young and impressionable minds. So he simply said, "I hope so." It was the truth.
"Jake, now." Charlotte sounded more stern this time, and Jake understood what that stringency meant. He rushed out of the room, tripping clumsily along the way.
"Sorry about that. He's a nosy little kid."
"It's alright, I don't mind." He cleared his throat, and fidgeted uncomfortably. An FBI agent afraid of a little conversation, Reid thought to himself wryly.
"So you're the genius." She glanced over Reid, as if he were something to be inspected. Her narrowed eyes , and he tried his hardest not to profile her. "Austin has told me all about you."
Whether or not that played in his favor, Reid wasn't sure. Either her sister held a positive image of him, which played to his advantage. Or she was hypercritical of him thanks to the highlighting of certain flaws. It made him tense up in anxiety.
"You can relax." She was laughing—the same warm, comforting laugh that he had heard errupt from Austin over the phone many times—so he felt a little less anxious hearing the sound. He also noticed now the similarities between the two.
"You can spare him the inquisition." Austin spoke up, her slender frame resting in the doorway with her suitcase in hand. That certainly took less time than anticipated, Reid thought to himself. Austin
"I'll wait in the car." He offered, and scurried out of the room before any protests could be posed.
"He seems nice." Charlotte said, and Reid shut the door behind him, cutting him off from all further conversation on the subject. He couldn't help but smile to himself, unable to deny that he had made a good first impression.
–
Reid understood that Austin needed copious amounts of time to say goodbye to her sister, but that did not make the minutes pass any faster. He sat in the car, impatiently waiting for her return. Each second apart from her seemed to stretch out endlessly. After a while, his eyelids began to droop, and he was unable to fight sleep's advances…
Sometime later, a soft rapping on the window woke him from his catnap. It took a few minutes of scrambling for him to be conscious of Austin, who was now standing just outside the door. He clambered to unlock the door and open it for her. She smiled, watching him stumble around in a half-asleep state. It was endearing in an awkward way.
"I'm sorry. I'm not really a morning person, and I guess I just kind of… fell asleep."
"No, I'm sorry it took so long." A twenty minute conversation, not including the hugs and goodbyes, felt like some kind of a punishment that she was unleashing on him. Still, Reid didn't seem angry over it, so the matter was dropped.
Just before he put the keys in the ignition, he glanced over to see silent tears running down her cheek. "Are you okay?" He asked, absolutely hating seeing her in pain. Too much of a coward to offer her physical comfort, he sought verbal consolation instead.
She rubbed her hand along the tear-stained trail down her pale cheeks and put on a smile. "I'm fine. I just... really suck at goodbyes." Her voice certainly sounded even enough that an emotional breakdown wasn't likely.
Without another word, Reid started up the car and drove towards the restaurant.
Neither of them really knew what to expect next.
To be continued… I originally planned this as one chapter but found that they just had too much to say for one. Hopefully this longer chapter makes up for the lack of updates. I truly appreciate all the reviews I've been getting. :)
More to come! Stay tuned!