breakeven // aaron hotchner

freshman year

the hallways smelled of  alcohol, throw up, and sweat. even the r.a. was slurring her words as she leaned seductively against the wall in front of one of the schools soccer players. the music was booming throughout the halls of the dormitory and the voices even louder. 

elia cho wasn't a party girl by any means. she would've much rather been in her single dorm watching one of her true crime shows or cleaning her records or studying, but, she promised her twin brother and her parents that she'd try to make some more friends. so, that's what she was here doing. 

"ten dollars says she throws up on him"

the girls head snapped up to see a tall man suddenly standing beside her. she narrows her eyes at him and purses her lips in thought before shaking her head. 

"ten dollars says she throws up in front of him, but then tries to carry on like nothing happened."

the boy laughs and nods his head. 

"i'll take that action."

the two watch the r.a and the soccer player intensely. suddenly, the r.a. turned her head to the side, throwing up on the floor, and then attempting to continue the conversation, making elia laugh in victory. 

"i believe we had a deal." she smiled triumphantly up at the boy. 

"that we did." he chuckled, taking the bill out of his pocket and placing it into her hand. 

"i'm elia" she said, a soft smile on her face.

"aaron" the boy smiles back. 

"so, what's your major?" she asks, inwardly cringing at her awful attempt at making conversation

"criminal justice" he says, leaning closer towards her ear in order to surpass the loud volume of their environment

"no way, me too! well, i'm a double major. criminal justice and psychology." she smile

"double major? i bet your plates full" he chuckles. 

"well, i knew that when i signed up for it" she shrugs, taking a sip of the mixed juice in her cup. 

the boy opened his mouth to respond when the girl was suddenly approached by two very inebriated women, screaming her name. 

"elia! come on! you love this song!" they scream and giggle, making elia shake her head. 

"no i-" she starts to say, when the boy in a sudden act of courage, holds out his hand to her.

"wanna dance? i heard you love this song" he smirks as he places his practically empty cup on a nearby table.

a blush rises to her cheeks as her friends squeal excitedly. 

"yeah okay" she smiles, placing her hand gently in his, allowing him to lead her out to the dance floor. 

or rather, what everyone had deemed the dance floor. 

the lyrics of fleetwood mac's everywhere filled everyones ears, and a loud giggle left elia's mouth as aaron twirled her under his arm, pulling her in closely as they swayed to the song. she happily sang the song, letting her head hang back, her long silky dark brown hair brushing aaron's hand on her waist. 

in that moment, for aaron, she was all there was. they were no longer in a crowded busy room filled with drunk college freshman and it didn't smell of throw up and alcohol. it was all her. everything was elia. all he could smell was her perfume in the breeze of her hair as she swayed, all he could hear was her silky smooth voice. she was all he saw, all he heard, all he smelled, all he felt. 

elia was all that there was. 

her loud laugh pulled him out of his trance and he turned his head to wear she was looking. they both watched as a group of incredibly intoxicated students danced on the couch in a manner that certainly didn't fit the rhythm of the song. the song eventually came to an end and a much louder and faster hip hop song came on, causing a rush of students towards the dance floor.

"do you...wanna get out of here?" elia asks him, desperately wanting to get away from the crowd of people. 

"huh? oh yeah sure." aaron nods his head, smiling down at her. 

she grabbed his hand, leading him down the hall towards her dorm, and he prayed to any god he'd ever heard of before that the hallway would never end. they arrived at her dorm and she opened the door, inviting him in. 

"wow, not even gonna buy me dinner first?" he joked, and elia's cheeks turned a bright red as she smacked his upper arm.

"oh stop it." she laughs

"i'm kidding" he smiles

"i just...don't really like parties. i only went because i promised my family" she shrugs, sliding the leather jacket she was wearing off and throwing a crewneck sweater on over her tank top.

"you promised your family you'd go to a party?" aaron asks, his eyebrow quirking at her. 

"no no, not that i'd go to party. i promised them that'd i'd try to make more friends." she smiled, taking a seat on the bench in front of her window. 

"so no roommates?" he asks, as he slowly steps around the room.

"no, i lucked out and got a single." elia smiled, bringing her legs up to sit criss cross  on the bench, and throwing a blanket over her bare legs, her skirt doing her no favors in her cold dorm room.

"do you mind?" aaron asks, pointing to the milk crate on the ground that were filled with her records.

"oh please" she breathes out, smiling before walking over to him and joining him on the floor beside the crate and her record player.

"big fleetwood mac fan, huh?" he smiles as he flips through all of the fleetwood mac records in the box. 

"i love them. they're my favorite." she smiles, pulling one of the records out of his hands and admiring the cover.

"you know, they make portable cd players and radios." he smirks at her. 

elia rolls her eyes and waves her hand at him. 

"please, those things are a joke. you want real sound? pure untouched raw sound? this is where it's at" she smiles, gesturing towards the record in his hands.

"bit of a music purist, huh?" he smirks, as he continues to flip through the albums.

"i guess so" she smiles, staring up at him. 

elia hadn't realized out there, probably because it was so dark, but aaron was very handsome. she wasn't sure she'd ever seen someone who looked like he did. aaron smiled as he pulled out a record and he excitedly let out a laugh, taking the record out and placing it onto the record player. 

"i love the beatles. the white album is my favorite." he smiled, listening to the music start to come out of the record player.

elia admired him as he spoke. he was so eloquently spoken, and the tone of his voice was so soothing and dreamy. elia swore she'd never felt this way in her entire life about anything else. and as she listened to him talk, suddenly there was no song that could've ever taken precedence over listening to him speak. in that moment, there was nothing but him. he filled all of her senses. she could smell his faint cologne lingering in the air and his voice flooded her ears. 

aaron was all that there was.