Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour

Nine

The questions started almost as soon as Y/N reached her apartment door to see Garcia sitting on the floor outside it. For once she wasn’t wearing her trademark pretty dresses and heels. She was still in pink, but it was pink sweats and her hair was pulled up into a pony tail. She wore sunglasses on her face and Y/N knew that underneath would be the remains of last night’s make up smudged around her eyes. Hungover Penelope was someone that she’d had the pleasure of meeting a few times before.

“Who was he?” Garcia reached her hands up and Y/N grasped them, tugging her colleague and friend up off the floor and unlocking the apartment door. They both entered, Penny carrying take out cartons, the smells of fresh coffee and bacon permeating the air. Y/N ignored her question, kicking her heels off by the door and rummaging in her bag for her cell phone.

“Who was he?” Penny asked again and Y/N rolled her eyes.

“The dude from the chat room, okay. Lemme get changed into my sweats and plug my cell in. Batteries almost dead. Set the food out and put the TV on.”

Twenty minutes later and the two girls were curled up at opposite ends of the couch, under the soft throw blankets that Y/N kept in her living room. An omnibus of a daytime soap opera that they both pretended to hate but secretly adored was playing on the TV and they were hungrily scoffing down pancakes and bacon.

“So…..what happened? You didn’t even tell us you were leaving, neither did Spencer. I was beginning to think that you’d sloped off together somewhere until Rossi told me you’d left separately.”

Y/N choked on her pancakes, using the hot coffee to swill them back down.

“Spencer left ages before me. I walked out with Hotch. And… Erm.. We started messaging again two weeks ago and I just decided to go for it. A girl has needs that sometimes she can’t sate herself.”

“And were those needs sated?”

Y/N was in two minds how to answer this one. Because.. well it was Spencer she was talking about here, but Garcia didn’t know it was Spencer. But it still seemed weird.

Penelope was raising her eyebrows, waiting expectantly her food now finished and the containers discarded onto the floor.

“Well?”

Screw it. “Yes my needs were sated. Three times.”

Penelope summoned up enough energy to gleefully clap her hands together.“Are you seeing him again?”

Well technically they’d see each other on Monday but that wasn’t what Penny meant.

“I think we’re gonna see how it plays out.”

“So do you like him then?”

“Penelope it was just sex.”

“But you’re thinking about seeing him again?”

Yes, yes she was.

“Just for sex.”

Penny had removed her shades and Y/N could see her eyes narrowing momentarily.

“I mean it Pen. If I see him again it’s solely for the sake of orgasms. Don’t you dare go reading into this.”

“Will you at least tell me his name? Or his user ID.”

“Not a chance in hell. Same reason I won’t tell you mine, because you would somehow hack it and find out exactly what I’m doing or saying and there’s some things that even best friends don’t want to share. No offence like.”

She did looked offended, her lips turning down into a frown.

“Pen… Come on. I really don’t want you knowing some of the filthy things I’ve said in that chat. And you know you’d look, don’t even try to deny it. I love you and all but there’s some things that I need to keep for my own.”

Y/N reached across the couch and squeezed Penelopes hand lightly.

“Just…. If anything else happens, if this person becomes more important to you, then you’ll tell me?”

“You’ll be the first to know, I promise.”

Garcia smiled at her and the two girls settled back into the cushions and spent the rest of the day watching movies and gossiping idly, ordering takeout in the evening and cracking open a bottle of wine. Penelope ended up stopping over that evening too, Y/N excusing herself for a quick bath at around 8pm and taking her phone with her.

Spencer hadn’t messaged her all day and she wasn’t sure whether to message him either. Now they’d done the deed she wondered if they’d stop hiding in the chat room and switch to conventional texting. She logged in quickly to check, seeing a message left around two hours after she’d left his company this morning.

Dr: Erm so. This is all kinda new to me. Sleeping with someone I know and all that when I’m not actually dating them. But I just wanted to say that last night and this morning was pretty amazing. And I hope things with Penelope weren’t too awkward. Or that things will be awkward between us on Monday.

She grinned to herself, wiggling her body under the bubbles.

Raising her arm out, she snapped a photo and pressed send, choosing to send via WhatsApp rather than the chat so she wouldn’t have to wait until he logged on. She sent a message along with it.

“Penny is still here. She accepted the story about it being the guy from the chat which technically isn’t even a story. And yes, it was pretty amazing. I believe I’ve said this once before but you’re full of surprises Spencer Reid. It won’t be awkward, it’s not been up until now and we’re both adults here; we both know this is just sex.”

She rested her phone on the chair she kept at the side of the tub for towels, hearing it vibrate around five minutes later as she was shaving her legs. She picked it up when she was done.

“You have said it before. I could give you the date and time and the conversation if you’d like without even having to check, lol. But yes, we’re both adults. Have fun with Penelope, and thanks for the pic and the underwear under my pillow.”

“Just to keep you going until next time, yeah.”

“Yeah, until next time.”

When Y/N climbed into bed later that evening next to a tipsy Garcia, she lay there thinking. When exactly would the next time be. And how many more next times would there actual be?

Across town Spencer was wondering the same thing.