When The World Stops | Completed

Chapter 7: Best Friends

It was only when I arrived at Penelope's house when I realized I was still in Spencer's clothes. Too late now. I sighed, rolled up the sleeves of the shirt and tucked it into the khaki pants, fixed my hair, and walked inside. How did this feel like more of a walk of shame than leaving Reid's house?

Whatever. I'm a grown woman and I can screw whomever I want.

I walked up to Garcia's apartment and knocked, hearing her yell, 'Come it, it's unlocked!' I walked in to see her in front of a mirror, struggling with a zipper.

"A little help?"

I dropped my purse and rushed forward to zip her up, managing it quickly. The dress was a cute baby doll cut with strawberries all over it, and of course she had matching glasses and heels.

"Fun!" I said, admiring her taste as always. "You look fabulous, Garcia. I'm sure they'll love it."

She turned to me, about to say something, then stopped when she saw how I was dressed. "Excuse me, we need to talk about the masculine elephant in the room!"

"What?" I asked.

"Someone forgot a change of clothes! Tell me all about them. Is this a one-night thing? Are you dating someone I don't know about? Either those are old clothes or they're skinny as a pipe cleaner." She chuckled, "C'mon, details!"

I sighed. "We're kind of a new thing, so there's not a label yet, it's like a one-night stand that is now way more than that. And yeah, we ended up at his place last night, and I wasn't thinking about it when I left."

She wiggled her eyebrows at me, "Do I get to know this mysterious man's name?"

I shook my head, miming locking my lips. I wasn't going to lie to her, but I wasn't going to say anything else either. She sighed in disappointment, then turned back to the mirror.

"Okay, well the girl I'm going on a date with tonight is named Rebecca and she's adorable from what I've seen – and cyber-stalked – and I want to be myself but myself is too quirky for some people and... I just want to make a good impression."

"Garcia," I said, "If this girl doesn't like you for the fabulous, quirky, amazing 'baby girl' that you are, she doesn't deserve you."

She laughed at Derek's nickname for her and turned back to the mirror. "Is this too bright for dinner though?"

"Where are you going?"

"She won't tell me!" Garcia pouted, "I scoured her internet history and found nothing! She's good, and I don't like not knowing."

"Go with something a little more classic then. Do you have this cut in a different color? A dark blue or magenta?" I said, sifting through her closet.

"Yep, both. Why is she so vague? Wouldn't you tell someone where you're taking them out? What if it's crawfish and I look like an idiot?"

"It's not going to be crawfish, Pen." I held out the dark blue dress, "Put this on instead, wear your galaxy glasses, and those fun boots you have with the waves on them, and have fun!"

She sighed, taking the dress from me as I moved to unzip the one she was wearing. "You're the best, you know that? You came over here after banging just to help me with a date!"

I shrugged, "I don't have much else to do besides chill and watch Netflix. This is a welcome distraction."

I finished the zipper and she turned to me, "What about your new boy toy? Did he ghost you already?" She looked shocked at the very thought.

"Nope, just had a thing to go to today. Forgot about it when he invited me over, no big deal."

"What kind of thing?" She asked, a little suspicious.