What Goes Around Comes Around

Friend

I rolled over in my bed to shut off the alarm on my phone. How could it be 7:30 already? It felt like I had just closed my eyes.

I groaned and got up. The sun shined bright through the hotel room window already. Quickly, I showered and got dressed. I had to be at the police station by nine. It was 8:15 when I was ready to leave, which meant that I had forty-five minutes to get breakfast. I'd almost forgotten about those period cravings. Right now I was really craving some junk food.

Just as I opened to door to leave, I bumped into Spencer, who was about to knock. We both stumbled back.

"Woah, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, sorry," I said. "What are you doing here?"

He shyly looked down at me.

"I wanted to check on you," he told me. "And I also wanted to ask if you wanted to get breakfast with me."

I tried to hide my smile. He was worried about me, and he wanted to go out with me. Not like, on a date or anything. Just to breakfast. As friends. As colleagues. On a case.

"Thanks for checking on me," I said. "I'm fine. How do you feel about McDonald's? I'm craving some junk."

"McDonald's?" Spencer asked quizzically.

I nodded, and he followed me towards the elevator. 

~

At McDonald's, I was busy scarfing my breakfast sandwich down while Spencer poured an unholy amount of sugar into his coffee.

"So you lecture me about melatonin and then you do this?" I teased. "I think this will mess up your sleep way more than any little herbal pill."

He was about to answer, but he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey, guys!"

It was Emily.

"Fancy running into you here," mentioned JJ, appearing behind her. "Mind if we join you?"

I looked to Spencer to answer. He was the one who invited me, after all.

"Uh, sure," he said.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"Well," Emily started. "JJ and I were both craving something junky."

"Our periods are synced," JJ added. "And what's more junky than McDonald's?"

Spencer looked at them.

"That's funny," he said. "Jordan was craving McDonald's too."

JJ and Emily shared a laugh and looked at me.

"Are you sure it's not that time of the month for you, Jordan?" Emily said with a smirk.

I felt my face get hot and looked down so no one would notice how red my cheeks were.

"I'm not on my period," I said. It came out much more aggressive than I intended. "I'm not on my period," I repeated, calmer this time.

"We know, Jordan," JJ laughed.

"Relax," said Emily. "It's just a joke."

Spencer must have noticed how uncomfortable I had become because he reached out and put his hand on mine. I looked up slightly to meet his eyes. He looked at me as if to ask 'are you okay?' I tilted my head just slightly enough so that he could see. This whole exchange only last for a moment though, before Emily and JJ looked at us quizzically and Spencer looked down at our hands, realizing what he was doing. He quickly pulled his hand away and went back to working on his coffee. JJ and Emily shared a look.