Jemily | Am I Allowed To Look At Her Like That?

Chapter Thirteen

𝙲𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚎

————
'Every minute gets
easier the more you talk to
me.'
————

november 12, 2007

"Morning, Pen," JJ had greeted somewhat awkwardly with the guilt from her small burst of anger yesterday still eating away at her. "I'm heading to work a little earlier today." She told her. Normally, they would drive in together but since JJ had her coffee plans this morning, that wouldn't be the case.

"Okay, my love." Penelope responded, as enthusiastic as ever. One thing JJ loved about Penelope was her ability to never hold a grudge. Someone could steal her entire software system and she would probably invite them over for dinner to praise their technical talent, rather than be angry like a rational person.

JJ originally wanted to apologize for her behaviour in the car ride back from D.C. yesterday, but as she stood next to the couch where Penelope resided, she couldn't bring herself to do it. The fear of Penelope wanting to talk to her about why her sudden outburst came about was too prominent in her thoughts. Besides, it seemed the other blonde wasn't too bothered by it. She could always apologise at a later date.

Truth was, whilst Penelope had left the events of yesterday in the past, JJ was very much stuck on them. So much so that it kept her up the majority of the night, not that it affected her particularly hard; JJ always had a messed up sleep schedule, ever since she could remember. It was Penelope's accusation that had stopped her from getting to sleep and she was struggling to even begin to comprehend why. To her, nothing remotely close to what Penelope had suggested was true. She wasn't into Emily like the analyst had claimed. That wasn't true; to her, it couldn't be true.

Late last night, as she was finishing up the final steps of her minimal nighttime routine, JJ tried to ignore it, like she had done during the whole of their afternoon. But being alone, in the late of night, meant she had to listen to her thoughts, with no distraction present to ease her. The last time check she did told her that it was 4:23 in the morning, she couldn't remember anything after that but guessed that she must have fallen asleep around the 5 a.m. mark, giving her a short two hours of sleep before her alarm clock rang through the apartment.

The headache she was hit with when she awoke wasn't a surprise and she made sure to remember to refill her pain medication compartment in her bag before heading to the car. Driving alone to work was rare and it was something that JJ hated. Especially today. She was meeting Emily for coffee, just the two of them. Alone together. The thoughts got louder the closer she got to the building and she was hoping she would arrive earlier than Emily, in order to have the time she needed to collect herself. She went extra heavy on the concealer this morning, in a lame attempt to cover the bags beneath her sleepy eyes, but could already feel the makeup sweating itself off. The stubborn sunny weather was yet to leave and JJ cursed global warming.

Much to her relief, JJ did not spot the dark grey Chevrolet Impala she had seen Emily get into and out of on a few occasions, as she drove into the parking lot, indicating the profiler was yet to arrive.

Choosing a spot as far away from the entrance as possible, JJ parked up and turned the engine off, letting herself sit back for a few minutes, checking the clock every now and then to calculate how much time she had remaining before she would need to make a move. Eventually, she found whatever energy she had left in her and pushed herself forward, pulling down the sun visor at the same time. The concealer wasn't the worst part, to her surprise, but rather the mascara that had somehow smudged itself along the corner of her eye in the short time it took to drive from her apartment to the BAU. With the tip of her thumb, she carefully brushed the remnants away, and took a deep breath before stepping out the car door. There were still a few minutes before their scheduled meet-up time, but JJ planned on getting there slightly early to avoid any possible awkwardness of bumping into each other in the parking lot.