countless encounters || spencer reid

e i g h t // making memories

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In the course of the next two hours, Violet and Spencer did not exchange a single word.

He had wanted to speak comforting words, to assure her that he only had good intentions and wanted to show her that she could trust him but he could not bring himself to sort out and bring together the multiple letters flying around in his brain in order to form coherent sentences, so he  kept his mouth shut.

She had sat opposite him, the mahogany table and the staple of books being the only things that created distance between them.

He watched as she carefully flipped page after page, the information wandering from the yellow-whitish, partly crinkly paper of the old book, that had one or the other dog-eared corners, to her mind.

He  just couldn't concentrate on anything with her being in his presence.

"Come on, Spencer.", she mumbled out of the blue, still looking down at the book in her hands, "we are leaving."

"Oh, okay.", he spoke, taken off guard.

He had hoped to be able to look at her more, to think about her and to be with just her and nobody else that they knew of.

Even when they weren't talking, he felt more happy than in the last few days, weeks, even months.

It had been too long ago that he felt this calm but also giddy inside.

"Do you want to borrow some of these books?", her delicate voice filled his ears, she was finally looking at him and flashing him  a smile now, as if he didn't know that she must feel bizarre on the inside.

The smile didn't quite reach her eyes and she kind of looked as if she felt off, it must be about himhaving noticed the marks on her wrists.

He cleared his throat, "Yeah, actually, I'm just going to take these few.", Spencer responded slowly, referring to a book staple, amongst which was also the one exemplar Violet had read him out of as he was quite interested to get to know her better through it.

He felt uneasy now, awkward even, as he didn't know what to do regarding the bruises. He couldn't get his mind off of the torn skin, the colour of it giving him chills.

Does Charlie know?
It was Alexander, wasn't it?

He felt the burning urge to ask her about it but he did not want to make her feel even worse about the matter.

She deserved so much better, though.

"Alright, so, let's borrow them and then meet up with Charlie if you are up for it?", she nodded unsure, taking a smaller staple into her hands as well, after she put on her big jacket and threw her bag around her shoulder.

"He's been bugging me about this the whole time via text message, I couldn't take it anymore. He wouldn't stop emphasising how much he missed and wanted to see you.", she chuckled quietly, trying to make the mood shift. Spencer  joined in on the laughter and cupped his neck with his  right hand, not knowing what to reply.

After they lent the books from the library, they went to go to the underground station again. The cold wind caused Spencer's face to feel numb and with every gust of it the frigidity bit into his tinted cheeks.