"I STILL CANNOT believe 'teenage dirtbag' was playing on the radio," leah told spencer, laughing as he pulled into a spot on the street in front of leah's building.
"i know!" spencer responded. "as soon as i knew it was that song, i was-"
"so happy it was on?"
"yeah," spencer said to her sarcastically.
"i can't believe i've been working at the bau for a month already."
"me neither. i feel like it was only yesterday you brought me my coffee on your first day."
"that's because i bring you coffee every day."
"that is true."
all they did was laugh for a moment. "thanks for the ride, spencer reid."
"it's no problem, leah gray."
"would-would you want to come up and stay for dinner? i do kind of owe you for making you stay at work later."
"oh, no- i wouldn't want to intrude-"
"please? you've never been to my place before and i'll feel awfully bad if you don't stay."
he sighed. "i don't know..."
leah pouted at spencer and intertwined her hands together, repeatedly saying "please." spencer gave in a few moments later.
"i hate you."
"you love me."
leah and spencer made their way to leah's apartment.
"and this is a door, brought to you by the one and only derek morgan," leah told spencer as she took out her key and unlocked the door.
"it's... beautiful?" spencer responded, his answer sounding like a question.
"good answer."
leah placed her hand on the silver metal handle, but quickly pulled her hand back. "ow!"
"what's wrong?!" spencer asked, panicked.
"n-no don't worry, i just got shocked. i hate getting shocked."
finally, leah opened the door. "welcome to mi casa!"
spencer stepped in, looking around. the apartment looked very homey, and spencer especially like the bookcase in the corner that were filled with leah's favorite books.
"so, what are we eating?" spencer asked.
"do you care?" leah asked.
"not really, whatever you make is fine with me."
"or," leah picked up the phone and walked towards the couch. "we could order food and make life easier for both of us."
"sounds like a plan," spencer said, still standing in the same place.
"come! sit with me, i don't bite."
"are you sure about that?"
"one more remark and i will."
spencer laughed, walking over to the couch and sitting down.
leah called a pizza place and ordered one pie. it would arrive in 45 minutes, so the two had time to spare.
"okay," leah started, standing up from the couch. she walked towards the tv stand. before she opened the cabinets, she turned back to spencer. "pizza will be here in 45 minutes. we got time, so which harry potter movie do you want to watch?"
"which ones do you have?"
leah just looked at him and tilted her head, giving him a "really?" kind of look.
"dumb question, i know. how about 'order of the phoenix'?"
"perfect!" leah opened the cabinet in her tv stand and took out the dvd to the harry potter movie, then turned on the dvd player and entered the dvd into it.
the two watched the movie for around 40 minutes- creating commentary about it the entire time, before the pizza man arrived.
leah got up, taking some money from her wallet before opening the door, counting the money in her hand.
"that will be $17, miss," the man said.
she looked up, and for some reason, the man looked familiar.
"uh, yeah, thank you," leah handed the man $20, and grabbed the pizza box from him. "i'm- i'm sorry, do i know you?"
the man furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "um, no i don't think so."
leah thought for another minute before responding. "ok, sorry about that sir." she smiled at him, still unconvinced, and closed the door.
when leah turned around to place the box on the table, spencer spoke up. "are you okay?"
"what?" leah responded, looking at him. "oh, yeah. he just- he looked familiar, i guess. it's times like these i wish i had your memory, and not the memory of a goldfish."
"hey! you remember things," spencer took a seat at the table.
"i remember things i need to remember, like work and stuff. if i don't need to pay attention, i won't."
"fair enough."
leah grabbed spencer a plate, and after saying thank you, spencer took a slice.
"wow," spencer said after taking his first bite. "this is actually really good."
"right? my dad used to work there at nights since he only worked his real job in the morning."
"what did he do?"
"oh, he worked at a bank. he worked from 8 in the morning to 3pm, and then made and delivered pizzas from 5-7pm. he would always bring us pizza home from work. even if mom had already made dinner, he still brought us pizza. i never told my mom, but my dad would always sneak me a slice upstairs to my room- even after my mom told me i couldn't have one." leah smiled at the memory.
"they seem.. great."
"they were," leah smiled again, looking at spencer. her smile faded when she saw he looked a bit upset. "hey, what's wrong?"
"nothing," spencer said, putting his slice of pizza down and wiping his hands with a napkin that leah got for him. "it's just- i never really had something like that with my parents. my mom struggled for most of my life, my dad left when i was younger..."
leah wiped her hands with her napkin, then reached for spencer's hand. he looked at her, and leah began caressing his hand with her thumb to comfort him. "that doesn't mean they didn't love you, spence. everyone's situation is different, some people are luckier than others. you may not have had the best childhood, but look at you now! boy genius-"
"i'm older than you-"
"a member of the bau team at the fbi- you're twenty seven. i mean come on, you haven't even been an adult for 10 years yet-"
"neither have you-"
"and you have so much to look forward to. so, it might be hard, but try not to focus on the past. leave room for the future. i learned that the hard way."
spencer looked at her with a saddened smile. not sad for him, but sad for her. he knew about all of the terrible, terrible things that she's been through, and yet, he had been too selfish to be sensitive towards her feelings. he had no right to complain about his childhood to her, considering she has lost both her parents, her best friend, and now the only other "mother" figure in her life.
"i'm-i'm sorry i should go," spencer said, standing up.
"wait, what?" leah asked, confused. "why?"
"this wasn't a good idea, i'm so sorry."
"spence, wait-"
"i'll see you tomorrow."
and with that, spencer reid left leah's apartment. and she had No idea why.