[✓] 𝐶𝐼𝑁𝐷𝐸𝑅 | 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐃

𝟕 | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐏

— 𝒞 —

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐃, 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 her chin against her hand as she stared down at the paperwork on her desk.

She glanced up at the clock. It was nearing eight, and she knew that she was more than welcome to leave. But everyone else on the team was still working, so the pressure to continue laid heavily upon her to stay. Besides, she knew that if she went home, all she would do is watch TV. At least here, she could be productive.

She sighed, shutting her eyes. It was nice and quiet in the bullpen, considering that most of the agents had gone home a couple of hours before. The only sound was the scratching of pencils and the clicking of keys. She was just fine with that.

She then heard approaching footsteps and voices, and she glanced up to see that Garcia and JJ were descending the stairs, though they remained at the side of the room to finish their conversation.

She looked back down towards her paperwork. If she wanted a good reason to be able to go home, it would be finishing this.

"Hey. Can I tell you something?"

Charlie looked up to see Emily approaching her desk. The woman seemed a little nervous as she twisted her fingers, causing Charlie's eyebrows to furrow.

"Yeah, go ahead," she said, gesturing for her to continue.

"It's more of a cry for help, I guess," Emily sighed, dropping her hands to her sides before sitting on the corner of Charlie's desk. "I went on a date last night, and it went horribly, and I just . . . I can't ever seem to get a second date."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "With who?"

"Anyone!"

The statement caught Charlie by surprise; a person would have to be completely blind to not see how gorgeous Emily was, not to mention her extreme smarts. A guy would be crazy to not want to see her again.

"Well, why not?"

"I just . . . I mean, I'm a nerd, and I'm pretty good at hiding it for a short while, but . . ." She let out a long sigh, and she shrugged. "Something stupid and geeky always comes out of my mouth, and they don't react, and it's awkward . . ."

"No way, you? A nerd?" Charlie gasped in mock shock, her eyebrows raised comically high. She had already geeked out with Emily on their fair share of books, so this wasn't surprising news.  "Emily Prentiss, a nerd?"

Emily let out a small scoff of amusement and slapped her arm. "Oh, shut up."

"Come on, what kind of nerdy things are you saying that make them not want a second date?" Charlie laughed, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms. "I'm a huge nerd, and I've gone on plenty of second dates."

"I don't know . . ." Emily pursed her lips for a moment as she crossed one leg over the other. "Just books I like, or even just work stuff."

Charlie squinted her eyes. "The guys you go on dates with, what're they usually into?"

"Sports." She shrugged. "Movies."

"Okay, well, I've found your problem," Charlie replied humorously, rolling her eyes. "Just find a nerdy guy who likes the same things as you."

Emily scoffed. "That's your advice?"

"What do you want me to say?" she questioned with a laugh. "'Stop being yourself?'"

"Oh, come on." Emily sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Where am I supposed to find a cute, nerdy guy?"

Charlie shrugged, and she nodded towards Spencer, who had his eyebrows deeply furrowed as he worked on his computer. It didn't take much for her to silently admit that he absolutely fitted the description—with an emphasis on the cute.