𝑴𝒚 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 | 𝟏𝟖+

~ men, am I right? ~

Ruby's perspective

It's been three days.

I've gone back to seeing my usual clients in my usual office with my usual routine.

I sleep in my own apartment with my own bed with my own supplies.

Yet nothing feels like my own.

For three days I have felt like a ghost. I no longer have a purpose. I'm just an invisible being floating around, empty.

I swipe through pages and pages of Instagram reels blankly until finally something grabs my attention.

Amelia, my friend, sends me a text which reads:

Hey girl! Heard you're finally off that nutjob case, wanna grab drinks now that you're free?

With a sigh, I reply: Sure.

Sweet! I'll be over in a tick.

She rocks up in a little black dress and a Bluetooth speaker already blasting Lana Del Rey.

She's in my kitchen pouring a glass of wine before I even have time to greet her.

"Rubyyy, you drank all the Rosé?" She whines while facing me with a pout.

I wander over giggling. "Sorry, got a bit stressed during my last job,"

She shrugs. "Hence why I'm here sweety, we gotta get you back in the game!"

"Game?"

"Yeah! A hook-up to de-stress! I mean, being around a killer for that long must've been insane!"

"Insane is definitely a word for it," I mumble.

"And I've got the perfect plan! Hotch is hosting a party downtown, lots of hot guys our age!"

I give her a shy smile. "You mean, lots of hot James to drool over,"

Blush floods her cheeks as she lets out a nervous laugh. "I mean, yeah but he... he isn't talking to me right now,"

"Why not?"

She lets out a long sigh. "We had sex and now he's avoiding me,"

I groan. "Men, am I right?"

"I can drink that," she says while raising a glass.

The rest of the afternoon wastes away as we dance to her music while getting ready and drunker by the minute.

I stare at myself in the reflection - I wear a tight, deep red dress and matching golden jewellery. I wear some light makeup but bold eyeshadow and I've curled my hair perfectly.

I turn back to Amelia who's fighting the zipper of the dress she stole from my wardrobe - unfortunately for her, we have very different body sizes. I am around five foot three, and even though my breasts are moderately sized, hers are much larger. She's also about six foot making the usually knee-length dress slide up to her mid thighs if not further.

We both burst into laughter while stumbling down the stairs of my apartment towards the Uber driver we ordered to take us to the party. The entire time I worry my dress is sliding higher up Amelia's thighs but she continues to play it down, saying it 'adds to her sexiness'.

By the time we hop in the Uber, I can practically see her lacy underwear before she shoves the fabric lower.

"Looks like someone's prepared," I tease.

"Oh! Shush you~" She says while waving her hands wildly around the back seat.

By the time we arrive at the party, we're each a bottle of wine drunk, clearly not enough for Amelia to deny the cheap beer in red cups being handed out though - or maybe it's the fact she's drunk that she'd accept the shit served here.

Her giggles are loud enough for the whole house to hear as she stumbles over furniture and pesters poor hot men. Luckily, she soon settles down as James walks into the room.

I watch as she re-adjusts her breasts and tugs the dress a little higher right before he walks by. This act earns her a small glance and wink before he heads to the kitchen.

She pounces on me with excitement. "Did you see that? He winked at me!"

I pat her head down and shush her. "I saw, I saw,"

"Maybe he'll fuck me again," she whispers, but not to me, to herself. "Have you ever had such good sex that you think about it a lot? And that you can't really fuck anyone else anymore?"

My cheekbones turn a shade darker at her comment. "Kind of," I mutter.

"Should I speak to him!?"

Someone laughs behind us before saying no.

We both turn to see Tia drinking in the corner.

"Tia!" Amelia jumps over to her, "why not?"

"Dude, he's been chatting up girls all night, you seriously want to fuck a fuckboy?"

"I mean yeah," she starts counting on her fingers, "he's hot, good in bed-"

"Covered in STDs, will never care about you,"

Amelia groans before practically collapsing against Tia. "You're so honest that it's annoying,"

"We still love you though," I butt in. She gives me a small nod in greeting and recognition.

For some reason, Tia and I never really got along, but Amelia and her go way back so I'm fine just sitting on the side-lines.

I wander over to the kitchen to grab some chips. However, I'm sidetracked by a man in my way.

"E- excuse me," I say in the loudest voice I can manage.

She turns slightly, looking back at me before apologising and shifting to the side. I brush past him and snack on the bowl of chips. While I'm mindlessly devouring the chips I admire the man, his tall, sharp figure and footy hat show he's a sporty guy and his blue eyes match his dirty blonde hair and tan, I'd say he probably goes to the beach often.

But, as my gaze glides down I notice a book in his hand, the complete contrast makes me curious. I shuffle closer and read the title.

"You're a fan of Shakespeare?" I blurt out by accident.

"Oh, yeah!" His beaming smile shows his lack of dimples and I'm partly disappointed.

"Taming of the Shrew, that's an interesting one," I admit.

"I know right? I've heard the ending is priceless,"

I find myself smiling back at him. "Oh definitely, it was quite ironic,"

"Do you read often?" He asks.

"Kind of, I'm a psychologist so reading is part of my job," I say with a low chuckle.

"Fair enough, but a psychologist? Do you enjoy your work?"

I pause for a moment to genuinely think about it. "I do, it's fascinating to me, the human mind and whatnot. What do you do? For a living,"

"Oh, ah..." he rubs the back of his neck, "My job is nothing cool like yours,"

"Oh?"

"I'm a bodybuilder,"

"Hey! That's pretty cool, I've been considering going to the gym more actually,"

"Yeah? What's your goal?"

I shrug. "Just keeping strong and healthy I guess,"

"Good goal, don't get caught up in the whole needing to be skinny, you're beautiful just the way you are,"

My cheeks slightly heat up at his comment. "Thank you,"

He rests his hand on my upper arm while looking out the kitchen door, "Look, I gotta go but this was fun," he faces me again, "See ya around!"

And with that, he rushes out and into the crowd.