𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧 |~𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚍~|

Chapter Thirty-Nine

The months passed by pretty quickly. However, this time seemed to pass more slowly than in the past. 

Every time I went to work, it was so exhausting to try not to let anybody else know that I thought of Reid as more than a friend. 

Every time there was a spare second for my eyes to wander, they ended up on Reid. I caught him looking at me a lot, too. 

One day, we were having drinks at Rossi's after a case. 

I sat on the couch next to Reid. As I took a sip of my wine, Reid yawned and placed his arm on the couch behind me. 

I was so busy concentrating on not freaking out, I didn't notice Morgan giving Reid an enthusiastic look and double-thumbs up. 

One afternoon, I was just at home, enjoying a day of solitude and relaxation. 

Then, I got a call from Reid. 

"Hey, Reid," I said. 

"Hi, Laney. I'm bored." 

I smiled. "Do you want to come over?" 

"Yes, please, that would be amazing." I could hear his smile. 

"Ok, see you soon," I said.

"Yeah, see you soon." 

A few minutes later, Spencer pulled up to my house. I let him in. 

"Hi, Spence!" 

"Hey." 

I walked over to my couch and sat down. Reid did the same. "So, I was thinking we could play some chess, and then make brownies?" 

He smiled. "That sounds wonderful." 

"Great!" I got my chess board. 

We tried to balance it on our knees, but it wasn't very successful. Every other move was interrupted by pieces falling over and rolling off of the board. 

Eventually, the game ended. I won. 

I shook Reid's hand. "Good game." 

"Yeah. You know, I would have won if my pieces weren't rolling all over the place." 

"Sounds like somebody's making excuses," I teased. 

Reid rolled his eyes and laughed. I shrugged. 

We went into my kitchen and got out the brownie mix. 

"Wait, I think we need some music," I said. 

I walked over to my shelf full of records and found a Frank Sinatra vinyl. I put it on the record player and set the needle. The bright and cheerful tones filled the room. 

We started making the brownies. Now, boxed brownie mix was pretty hard to mess up, but Spencer and I had zero cooking skills, so I wasn't super confident. 

However, we managed to cook the brownies with little conflict. Spencer did end up putting in 3 eggs instead of 2, but we came to the conclusion that it wouldn't make That much of a difference. 

Once we had gotten our brownies out of the oven, it was dark outside and starting to rain. 

"Spence, lets go watch the storm!" As we stepped out onto my very small back porch, we watched the rain get heavier. 

Spencer pushed me out from under the porch. "Hey!" I yelled, pulling him out, too. 

He laughed, at first trying to protect his hair from the rain, but eventually giving up and allowing himself to get soaked. 

As we stood outside, laughing, I heard the next song start playing. It was "Fly Me to the Moon". The music was muffled a bit, but we could still hear it; my door was open. 

Spencer cleared his throat. "Do you want to dance with me?" 

I held my breath and nodded, feeling very anxious all of the sudden. "Yes." 

I placed my hand on his shoulder, he placed his on my waist. We started revolving on the spot. 

It didn't seem real. This seemed like something that happened in a movie. Or maybe a crime TV show. 

As I stood there, letting the rain hit my face as I danced with my best friend, I felt so happy. But, there was something else there.

 I was nervous. Not a bad nervous, but the nervous you get before you go on your first date. I hadn't really ever felt that before. I guessed that when I was with Harris, I felt it a little, but we had grown so close so quickly; there wasn't really time for the anxious and careful stage. 

Then, the song ended. 

The record was over. If we were inside the house, we would hear the static of the needle on the vinyl. But, outside, in my backyard, all we could hear was the rain. 

I noticed Spencer looking down at me, into my eyes. 

"Laney?" he asked. 

"Yeah?" 

"Can I kiss you?" 

I let out a nervous breath and nodded. "Yeah." 

Our faces inched closer and closer. I felt his thumb brush against my cheek. 

Then, I felt his lips on mine. 

They were very soft and smooth. I suddenly felt conscious about my own chapped lips, but the thought slipped my mind as Spencer pulled away for a second, only to start kissing me again. 

Spencer pulled away again- for real this time. He backed away and put his hands in his pockets. A smile tugged at his lips. 

"Delaney, I, um, I really like you." He looked up at me, timidly. 

"I like you too," I said. 

"Really?" 

I nodded and couldn't help letting a smile form on my face. 

Spencer's small smile broke out into a grin. But, it faltered after a few seconds. He sat on the steps of my porch. I followed him.

"What?" I asked. 

"Its not allowed," he looked at the ground. "If someone finds out about us, one or both of us could get fired." 

"They don't have to know," I said. 

Spencer smiled sadly and raised his eyebrows at me. "Laney, we work with profilers. They'll know." 

"Yeah..." I sighed. "The best thing to do would probably be to just not do anything else and maybe they won't notice?" 

Spencer looked doubtful, but he seemed like he really wanted to believe my optimistic assumptions. "Yeah, maybe." He looked up at me and smiled a little. I smiled back. 

A little while later, after trying our brownies, Spencer went home. After we went back inside, we didn't talk about the prior events. 

I kissed Spencer. Spencer had kissed me. 

Spencer Reid. What was he to me? 

Before, that answer was easy. He was my best friend. 

But, what about now? How did this change things? Would we be able to go back to being just friends? 

I decided to not worry about the complicated bits and just relish in the good parts. I'd kissed Spencer. 

I laid back on my bed and smiled giddily before drifting off to sleep.