The Price of Happiness || Spencer Reid

Two

A week had passed since Spencer had called you into his office, and you were yet to give him an answer. The two of you hadn't talked since that day, and it was safe to say the slight tension was getting unbearable, and you swore you had whiplash from the number of times you'd turned away from his glances. Finally, you decided enough was enough and vowed to see him after class to discuss the events of last week.

"I'll catch up with you later, I have something I need to do." You said, ignoring the look of concern your friend shot at you. They could tell something was off; you'd been quieter recently. A constant replay of your last interaction with Spencer played in your mind, and you found yourself lost in thought more often than not.

You made your way down the familiar hallway and stopped outside his door as you once again debated this whole idea. You couldn't stop the endless stream of possibilities from rushing through your head; what if he'd changed his mind? What if he'd decided to choose someone else? What if it'd all been some elaborate joke?

You quickly shook your head, trying to get rid of the doubts niggling away at your mind and knocked on his office door, waiting for permission to enter. You heard him let out a muffled "Come in" and slowly opened the door.

"Hey." You said nervously, chewing on your lip as you slowly rocked back and forth on your feet.

He froze for a moment before placing his pen down and shifted his body to face yours, "Miss Y/L/N, what can I do for you?" He said, and you suddenly felt intimidated by his attention on you.

"Do you have a minute?" You asked, walking over to sit on the chair across from him, memories of what took place in this very spot rushing through your mind as you took your seat.

"Of course," He said, a smile forming on his face," I've been meaning to talk to you. I would like to apol-" He started, but you cut him off before he could finish.

"Dr Reid, it's fine. It was fine last week and it's fine now." You reassured him, he opened his mouth to challenge you, but you spoke before he had the chance. "Would you like to get coffee...with me?" The words came out far quicker than you'd intended, wanting to get your question out of the way before you lost your nerve.

"Like..right now?" He asked with furrowed brows, and you wanted to laugh at how confused he looked.

"Only if you are free, I wouldn't want to take you away from your work." You said quickly, not wanting to seem too enthusiastic. However, you were sure your body language was giving you away already.

He hesitated for a moment; truthfully, he had a mountain of work that needed to be marked. Honestly, deep down, he knew it was a bad idea to be alone outside of school grounds with a student, but something about you made him prone to bad decisions. He looked at you for a few seconds, and he knew he'd kick himself if he passed up an opportunity to spend time with you. "Coffee sounds great." He answered with a smile.

The two of you stared at each other for a few moments before you finally decided to speak up. "So...should we go?" You asked, unsure of what he wanted to do.

"Oh right, yes let me just lock up." He said, getting up from his chair and gathering his belongings as he ushered you outside before locking his door behind him.

***************

If 3 months ago someone had told you that you would be walking to get coffee with your professor, you would've laughed. When you had signed up for his class, you could never have imagined you would be in this position. You had simply made your decision based on the young, attractive professor who would lead it and were more than intrigued. Now you didn't think anything would happen, not even when your friends spent one very drunk night trying to convince you that Professor Reid had a thing for you; they said it was something about the way he looked at you. You thought it was absurd, you didn't even think he liked you. You were always late to his class and started debates about topics that required no contradictions, which you only did because you'd grown to love the look of annoyance that crossed his face when he heard your voice, not to mention it was nice to have his attention on you.