Overdue || S. Reid [Completed]

•6•

"Hey there! Are you Grace?" I looked at the stranger with confusion. "Oh! Right! Sorry! I'm Jamie. Its my first day."

"Oh, okay. It's nice to meet you," I said, offering out my hand. He shook it firmly. "I was impressed by your resume. I'm sure you'll fit in well here."

"Thank you." He followed me into the back office. I grabbed his badge and gave him a key to the building. I walked him around the building as I explained the essentials to him. Once he had the general idea, we went to make his schedule.

Jamie was getting the hang of things pretty quickly. I knew that hiring him was a good idea. He took his lunch break, so I went to put the returned books back on the shelves. The sound of the cart's creaking wheel was driving me crazy. I made a note to mention it to Atticus.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" I turned around. There some guy I didn't recognize facing me. He was wearing a sweater and had glasses. He looked like any normal guy.

"Hello, sir. Is there something I can help you with?" The man just looked at me. He didn't answer my question. He took a step closer to me. "Sir?"

"When does your shift end?" He finally spoke. It was uneasy how calm he was.

"Um, I'd rather not say," I said. My voice was wavering. He took another step closer to me and I backed away a bit. "Please just leave me alone. Don't make me call security."

With that, his mood changed. He wasn't calm anymore. His fists clenched at his sides and he exhaled deeply. "What's wrong? Why don't you  wanna tell me when your shift ends? It's an innocent question!"

"No it's not. I'm not going to warn you again," I spoke louder, hoping to draw attention to us.

Suddenly, my back was against the shelf. I swallowed hard. The man's hands were holding me down from either side. I wanted to shout for help but I was worried what he would do if I did. I didn't know what he was capable of.

"I'm not going to ask nicely anymore," he sneered. His face was so close to mine. I closed my eyes tight.

"Hey!" I forced myself to look again and saw that the man was no longer looking at me. Someone was behind him. "Get off of her!" The man was pulled away from me. I saw that it was Atticus who had got rid of him. Jamie was soon in front of me.

"Are you okay, Grace? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," I said. "He didn't do anything." I watched as the library security officer walked the man out.

"Who was that guy?" Atticus asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen him before in my life."

Atticus pulled me into a hug and I calmed down rather quickly. "Well, he won't be coming back."

"Thank you." Atticus let me go and held me out from him by my shoulders. I turned to looked at Jamie. He was leaning against the shelf with a worried expression. "Both of you."

Jamie just nodded before looking down.

"You can get off early if you want. I can finish training Jamie. It's not a big deal," Atticus offered. I shook my head.

"I'm fine to finish," I said. "Honestly. I'm a bit shaken up, but I only have two hours left. I can handle it."

Atticus didn't seem convinced. He looked at me for a moment longer before agreeing. He probably realized that he wasn't going to be able to change my mind. "Okay, but I'm keeping you out of the main hall. You can do records while I train Jamie."

"But-"

"No 'but's, Grace. There are tons of new shipments you can sort through." I sighed before making my way to the office. I took my sweet time grabbing a box from the stack.

There were so many books to go through. And those were just the newest arrivals. We had so many similar boxes around the room. Hearing Atticus train Jamie just made everything go by so much slower. I was halfway through the stack when I heard another voice. I perked up at the distinct tone.

"Hi. My name is Spencer Reid. Is Grace working today?" I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks.

"Um, that depends. How do you know her?" Atticus questioned. I didn't have to see him to know the credulous look he had on his face. "Is this place just full of stalker creeps?" I quickly got up and made my way to them.

"I'm, uh, a friend of hers," he stuttered. "What do you mean stalker creeps? Did something happen?" I stepped through the doorway and couldn't help the smile that appeared when I saw Spencer. It had been too long. I had an urge to hug him but I resisted. We were no where near that.

"Atticus, it's okay. He really is a friend of mine," I said, placing a hand on Atticus' shoulder. He nodded. I turned to face Spencer again. "Hey, Spencer."

I began walking towards a seating area, expecting him to follow me. My hands fidgeted in front of me. I sat down on one of the couches. I smiled when Spencer sat down next to me instead of on any of the surrounding chairs.

"Are you okay? What did Atticus mean?" He sounded sincerely worried. I blushed and looked down at my lap.

"I'm alright, Spencer. Some guy harassed me a little earlier." I saw his eyes widen. "But I'm okay! It really isn't a big deal."

"Not a big deal? You could've gotten hurt!" His voice went more high pitched when he was passionate. It was cute.

"But I didn't get hurt. Atticus was there and the security removed him."

"I wish I'd been here."

"Why?" I laughed. He cleared his throat and looked away. I just gave him a curious look.

"I'm sorry about what happened last time. When we got coffee." he said, ignoring my question. "I'm also sorry it's been so long since I've come in. After my work got sorted out, I had to go to Las Vegas to see my mom."

"It's fine, Spencer. Really."

"I just felt bad that I didn't have a way to tell you. You were just left wondering." I was slightly worried then that he realized just how much I liked him. "Not that I assumed you were thinking about me!" He quickly tried to recover. I laughed lightly.

"I could give you my number," I suggested. A small smile formed on his lips. "You know, in case this happens again."

"That would be perfect."

"Should I just put it in your phone or write it down on something?"

"You can just tell me. I'll remember." I was confused. How the hell was he gonna memorize my phone number? "Really, I will! Just tell me it."

I just had to hope he would actually remember it.