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Chapter 7| Oxygen to a Fire

"Most people fail, not because of lack of desire, but, because of lack of commitment"
-Vince Lombardi

Penelope was safe and she was back at work. That's all that mattered to him right now. Because of the shooting on November 12th, the team was granted a secondary black out week. Especially after the Floyd case too, a lot of the agents were distracted. So, now that he has free time to think he does. He thinks about plenty of things. He thinks about his mom and how she's doing in the care facility. He hasn't visited her in so long, not since the Fisher King case.

Then he thought about the case he was just on with Flloyd. Then he thought about Penelope's well being and mental state after what happened. What she went through was a traumatizing experience. Then, his mind wandered to Abagail. Finally, he started to process everything that's happened recently. The Flloyd case then the phone call. The way she had listened to him rant about the case brought a flutter to heart and an uncomfortable feeling to his gut. The phrase "butterflies in your stomach" was first used in 1943 by Bill Gardener. He created the saying after describing his first jump as a Paratrooper. "Butterflies in the stomach" is a term used to describe the nervous energy one might feel before they do something exciting and nerve wracking.

Spencer felt that in his stomach, thinking about the phone call the two had previously been through. He knew JJ would never hold the same love for him as he knew she already had someone she was with. Despite the small touches and shared glances between him and JJ, she was already with someone she liked. He knew that. He needed to move on from her, maybe that's partially why he let the call happen. His own selfish way of using Abagail to move on from his love towards JJ. That's why he had to stop it. That's why he had to never let that happen again. He didn't want to use her like that, she's too kind to be used in that way.

Abagail was a smart and sweet woman and he'd love to be her friend. However, the way she sounded whenever she spoke to him. It was like music to his ears and the way she wrote her poem to her mother made all the voices in his head tune out. That sparks a question to him as well, why was she still sending him letters? She didn't even address the letter that he had written to her. Not once in her poem was it mentioned. She probably didn't receive it, he reasoned. She probably didn't even see it. Should he send it again or maybe he should verbally tell her. He didn't know how to approach her and he felt bad for how he completely dismissed her earlier last week.

Then his phone chimed and he went to look at who messaged him before he froze. Abagail Summers had sent him a message. He felt the butterflies return to his stomach before he looked at the message. It read

"Hey Spencer, I need a little help with my project that's due in a few days! Can you meet me at the downtown cafe called 'Expressway'?"

He responded

"Yeah sure, I'll bus down there and meet you there"

She typed so fast that he had barely even hit send before she responded

"Thank you so much, see you soon! :D".

Now he had plans. Plans with a girl he was weird about and didn't know how to talk to. He had a plan to go on a coffee date with Abagail Summers.

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When he arrived at the coffee shop he had noticed the nice black trim around the roofing and the way there were vines dangling off the window sills. He also took note of the plants. There were a few bushes, a few flowers and a singular fern. After he had admired the outside of the coffee shop, he had walked through the glass doors and smiled at the smell of coffee filling his nose. He hates the taste of black coffee but loves the homely smell of it. He looked over to the right and noticed the duo colored hair of none other than Abagail summers. She was wearing a simple floral dress and she had her hair pushed to one side. With admiration within his eyes and soft steps, he walked over to the table.