"No stupid map," I groan in frustration, wandering the halls aimlessly. "They couldn't have given me a stupid map?"
The bell tolls, leaving me alone in the hall. Lovely. I'm late on my first day all because I can't find the stupid room.
Settling on the direction I think the room is in, I book it, speedwalking through the halls as quick as my legs will take me.
That is, until I get to a corner and someone crashes into me. Hot coffee spills all over my shirt, making me wince.
"Oh, my god. I am so sorry-"
"Ow, fuck, that's hot." I pull the fabric from my skin. "Jeez-"
"I am so sorry," Someone says again, making me look up.
A man stands in front of me, holding a now empty coffee cup. He's got on a dark gray cardigan with a blue and white checked button down underneath. His hair is brown, on the longer side, and curly. Soft brown eyes stare back at me, guilt-stricken.
"I-it's fine," I sigh, looking back down at my shirt. I just had to wear white today, didn't I?
"No, I wasn't looking where I was going. I can buy you another shirt, if you just tell me how much it was, I can-"
"Don't worry about it, alright!" I snap, setting my bag down and grabbing my hoodie from inside. I realize how harsh my tone of voice is and look up at him, feeling like an asshole. "I'm sorry, I just...I'm really late and this school doesn't give maps, so I can't find the stupid classroom-" I pull my hoodie over my head, careful not to smudge my makeup.
"Where are you headed? I'm sure I can tell you where it is." He asks, looking back at me.
"I'm actually looking for this criminology class. It's actually called 'Inside The Criminal Mind'. In room two-forty-five?" I throw my bag over my shoulder again.
"I'm headed there, too. You're actually going the wrong way. It's this way," He points in the opposite direction of where I was headed.
"Oh. Well, good thing I ran into you!" I roll my eyes and turn on my heel, walking in the direction he pointed.
He leads the way after getting in front of me.
"I won't mark you as late, just...sit down when you get inside and I'll come in after-" He says as we walk.
"What? You're the professor?" I look at him like he's crazy. He's gotta be joking.
"Dr. Reid," He introduces himself. "And you are?"
"An idiot," I run my hand through my hair. "I'm Alexandria, well, Allie Taylor. I'm taking your class."
"Mhm, I got that last part."
I want to roll my eyes, but I think I've already crossed a line by raising my voice at him. Of course he had to be the fucking teacher. That's just my luck.
"Here it is," Dr. Reid says as we stop in front of a door. "You go first, I'll be in after-"
"Thanks," I say awkwardly, shooting finger guns.
I head into the classroom and find a seat amongst the other students.
As I pull out my pen and notebook, Dr. Reid comes through the doors.
"Sorry to be late, but there were some minor complications. I'm Dr. Spencer Reid, and I'm your professor!" He gives an awkward smile to the crowd. "This class is a sort of amalgamation of criminal psychology, criminology, criminal profiling..and really just anything you can think of!"
I look around, noticing a bunch of the girls twirling their hair around their fingers. Yikes. They're hot for teacher.
"I've been in the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI for fourteen years. In the BAU, we use criminology and victimology as building blocks to solve our cases. Now, if you'd all get out your notebooks...this is where you need to start taking notes." He points at someone.
"I'm actually auditing this class," She says with a small giggle.
I hear someone whispering behind me. "I'm auditing this class, too. I heard he was cute, so I figured- why the hell not?"
I roll my eyes, starting to doodle on my paper.
"Is...anyone else auditing this class? A show of hands..." Dr. Reid asks, looking through the crowd.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a bunch of hands go up, mostly girls.
"Oh, well that leaves... eleven people who actually enrolled. Those eleven people, you guys can start taking notes..."
The hour passes by quickly and I'm the last to leave the classroom, struggling with my bag.
"Miss Taylor?" He asks from the front of the room as I stand up and put my bag over my shoulder.
I look up at him. "Huh?"
"Your shirt, I want to give you money so you can replace it." He's got his wallet out. "How much was it?"
I shake my head. "You can just pay me back by not flunking me because I yelled at you." I chuckle, making my way down to the floor.
"Yeah, I saw you weren't auditing the class. I thought that you might be-"
"Why's that?"
"You're...bright?" Dr. Reid says, almost as if it's a question. "Just the way you present yourself makes me feel like this class would be too dark for you."
"What?"
"Well, you have pink hair and...your clothes are colorful-"
"Well, just because I'm colorful doesn't mean that I'm some...softie." I cross my arms.
Alright, let's face it. I'm a total softie, but what gives him the right to think that I am? All because I'm colorful.
"No, you're right. I shouldn't assume,"
"Yeah, well, I've got other classes to get to. So, bye..."
"Bye," He waves as I head out of the room.
The day goes by surprisingly quickly, and I speed home, taking my shirt off to try my best to get the coffee stain out.
"You know, we do have a washer. You don't have to wash your clothes in the sink," Jocelyn puts an arm around my shoulder as I scrub the fabric together in the soapy water.
"Yeah? No kidding?" I roll my eyes at her. "It's not like I live here or anything."
"Just figured you forgot," The black-haired girl chuckles. "So, now...how was school?" She heads off, leaving me to scrub my shirt without her hanging on me.
"Oh, just brilliant. Criminology finally started today and someone spilled coffee on me."
"Yikes, so that's why you're scrubbing your shirt in the sink. Got it."
"How about you? What's new in the life of Jocelyn?"
She lets out a tiny sigh. "Eh, same bullshit. Hey! There's this party tonight that you should come to!"
I drain the water, giving up on the stain once and for all. "Party? I don't know, I-"
"Yeah, yeah. You're not the party type, but come on! It'll be fun! We'll have some drinks, talk to boys-"
Yuck. Probably frat boys. The worst breed of boy.
"You're really sweetening the deal with that one, Jos." I shake my head.
"Okay, I'll talk to boys." She laughs. "Come on, Allie. All you do is stay cooped up in your room. You don't do anything fun,"
"Yes, I do! I have plenty of fun, you just don't find what I do 'fun'."
"Al, just go with me this one time and if you don't have a good time, you never have to come to another party with me again." She pleads.
"No," I turn around to face her, leaning up against the sink.
"Please?"
"No,"
"I'll get on my knees and beg," Jocelyn pouts her lip. The girl lowers herself to her knees. "Please, Allie?"
Alright. Maybe going to one party for the sake of never having to go to another one won't be too bad.
"Alright, fine," I sigh. "I'll go."
"Really?" She hops to her feet, smiling big. "Thank you! Thank you! You'll have fun, I promise." She wraps me in a hug. "It will be my best friend duty to make sure that you have fun."
"No doubt, no doubt." I hug back, chuckling a little bit.
I'm gonna have a horrible time, I know it.
-
I'm on my third drink.
My head is killing me, and I feel sort of dizzy. Whoever is playing the music has the bass turned up too high, making the entire apartment thump and shake. Jocelyn abandoned me to talk to someone and I'm ready to get up and leave. So much for 'best friend duty', Jos.
I huff, getting up from the couch. I get a head rush when I do and have a hard time steadying myself, but once I do, I make my way out the door, pulling out my phone to get a cab. Dead. Of course it's dead!
"Oh, well that just figures." I sigh, shoving it back into my pocket. I guess I'm walking home.
The door of the apartment next to the one the party is in opens and someone steps out. Someone familiar. God, it's Dr. Reid.
He sighs as he locks his door and adjusts the messenger bag on his shoulder before turning around. That's when he sees me.
"Allie?" He raises an eyebrow at me.
"Dr. Reid?" I ask back, rubbing my eye. My legs feel like jelly all of a sudden. "I need to...I need to, uh, sit down." I lower myself to the ground, taking a seat cross-legged.
"Are you okay? How much did you have to drink?" He asks, his voice sounding sort of like he's in a tunnel.
"How do you do that?" I ask, keeping my eyes on my hands. "How...how do you?"
"What?" I can feel him next to me now. "Alexandria, how much did you have to drink?"
"Three?" I tell him, holding up the cup. "This is my third,"
As I go to take another sip of it, he takes it from me. "Don't drink anymore of that. I have to call the police-"
"No!" I tell him. "I'll get in trouble, don't."
I look back at him. He's blurry, but I can tell that he's conflicted.
"Do you know if anyone was using drugs?"
I nod. "They're smoking weed. I said...said that I didn't want to."
"Alright, okay. Uh, come here, come inside."
He helps me stand up and keeps me steady as we walk to the door he came out of. He unlocks it and pushes it open, ushering me inside and helping me sit on the couch.
"I'm gonna get you some water, okay?" He tells me before heading off somewhere. I look around, taking in the decorations and colors of the apartment. It's cozy, with green, earthy tones. I think I might be the brightest thing in this apartment.
I hear him talking, but I can't make anything out. My head hurts too much and everything seems...fuzzy.
I hear some footsteps and Dr. Reid appears at my side again, holding out a bottle of water. "Drink this. All of it," He instructs, just above a whisper, holding his phone away from his face.
I don't object, just take it from him and undo the lid.