✓ 𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐃'𝐒 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋, 𝘴. 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘥

f i f t e e n

"Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn't people feel as to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them." - Rose Kennedy

Tessa's POV

It's been a few minutes since I got Garcia's text, and I've been running wild ever since. I nearly tripped over boxes two times, and once with my blanket, somehow.

After changing into a light blue party dress that didn't show too much clevage nor too much leg, yet just enough. I decided to move onto my hair.

I took my brown hair out of the pony tail, and then plugged in my curling iron. As I was waiting for it to heat up, I put on a little bit of make-up. A small amount of mascara to deepen my eyelashes, and then some lip gloss that made my pink lips stand out perfectly.

It took about twenty minutes for my hair to get curled, which was apparently perfect timing because as I slipped on my black heels, I heard my door bell ring.

I quickly throw my black purse over my shoulder, and grab my phone from the couch. I stuff it inside my purse, and quickly look through the peep hole, and recognizing the girls, I unlock the door.

I open it up, which showed Garcia, JJ, and Prentiss dressed up. As Garcia wolf whistles, I turn a bit red.

"You look hot!" Garcia gasps, raising her hands to cover her mouth. "I told you to be cute, not melting like a volcano hot!"

"Stop being a drama queen, Garcia!" I giggle. "You all look gorgeous, by the way."

Prentiss nods thankfully, and JJ smiles gratefully. Garcia laughs her usual laugh, which makes the rest of us do the same.

This is going to be a good night.

⌘

After leaving my apartment about a half hour ago, the girls and I decided on a club that they often went too, that I had never heard of.

"It's fun!" Garcia exclaims, exiting the passenger side of the car.

I get out of the back of the car, which I shared with JJ. And I hear Prentiss's drivers door slam shut, and hear her foot steps following the rest of us as we went into the club.

Garcia was wearing a bright, purple dress that had a few different pink sequins that seemed to sparkle with the lights. Prentiss was wearing blue jeans and a dark brown long sleeved shirt. And JJ was also wearing blue jeans, but instead had a baby orange shirt that even showed a bit of her stomach.

Prentiss holds open the door for all of us as we walk in, the lights and music took me by surprise as we continued until we reached the bar.

While Prentiss ordered everyone drinks, which I didn't hear the name to, I took a seat on the bar stool. Garcia and JJ betook in conversation.

I look into the crowd, and only seen sweaty, drunk adults. It seemed no different than a teenage party, only people were older and somehow had a worse wardrobe.

I narrow my eyebrows as a see a male that looked exactly like Morgan. He was dancing around two women, one in front of him and one behind him. He was wearing dark jeans, and a v-cut gray shirt.

"Hey, does that guy look like Morgan to you?" I ask JJ who took a seat on the stool next to me.

"Uh," JJ looks to Garcia, that showed a begging look for help, which I don't understand. The girls exchange a look of worry, and I only get more confused by the second.

"Well, the guys are kind of here.." Garcia looks towards the ground as she talks.

"The what? You said it was a girls night," I gulp, suddenly processing what Garcia said. The guys are here, the guys are here. Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, and Spencer.

It's not a guarantee, he said he doesn't often go out to clubs when the rest of the team does, and that he'd make an exception for me. But that was when we were friends, when we were okay.

"Well, we thought that if you knew the guys were going you wouldn't want to go. So we said it was a girls night, so surprise," Garcia tries to smile, awaiting my reaction.

Anger, betrayal, and anxiety flows throughout my body, but then I take a deep breathe.

The bartender comes back with four drinks in hand, they were dark brown, and I had no idea what kind they were.

"It's fine," I wave off, with almost gritting teeth. I grab one of the drinks from the bartenders grasp, almost in a snatching way. I swallow the hard-tasting liquor without a single care in the world. "We're only here to get drunk right? Who cares if the rest of the team is here."

The girls exchange worried glances by my remark, but frankly I don't care.

"Honey, maybe you should set down that beer," Garcia says, trying to get a hold on the glass.

"I'm fine, Garcia. Don't worry," I move the glass still in my grip away from his moving hands in a greedily way, and I take a good swig of the dark liquid. "I'm fine."

I don't think I'm fine.

a/n: b proud bcuz i actually updated on time yay. also Tessa is prob being portrayed as like an overemotional alcoholic but i promise she isn't :/