The Red Lounge ~Spencer Reid x Reader ~

Home To you

Hank's Birthday comes around...

((AKA the chapter you all have been waiting for))

youtube.com/watch?v=fvUmrVnqLV0

"What do you mean you're not going!" Emily said, exasperated as Spencer cleaned up his desk from the papers he had printed. "Spencer, Morgan's going to be crushed!"

"I'm sorry, but I have my first real lecture tomorrow and I need to be ready." He packed the syllabi into his bag, closing the flap on the bag, transferring it to the chair as he collected a few of his books in his arms.

"Spencer, you have an eidetic memory, there is no way you forget anything, plus, the class is yours, you are legitimately making it up as you go." Emily argued, standing in front of him as he tried to walk around her.

"I can't take that chance." He replied, pushing past her as she sighed, following him.

"Just say you don't want to go." She snapped, and he paused in his steps, turning to give her an angry look. "You have been avoiding us for weeks. What's going on with you!" He sighed, leaning his hip against the half wall.

"She hasn't texted, or called, or reached out in any way. And when I called her friends, just to check on her, they said that she quit the Lounge." Emily gave him a half smile in sympathy. "She completely erased me from her life and it makes me scared that she won't ever call me." He finally admitted. "And I can't pretend to be happy for the party because all I'll be thinking about is how she is so close, yet so far away from me."

"Come to the party Spencer. You need a break, and it will clear your mind, get you ready to teach on Monday. I promise." She placed a hand on his shoulder and he reluctantly nodded, unable to find a fault in her logic. If he couldn't be happy around friends, there was no way he could pretend to be happy around students.

She smiled, then let him turn from her and walk to the elevators, waving from the door as he descended, returning to her own desk to finish up some last minute paperwork before heading home on the cool September night.

*~*~*

"I just don't see why you won't go." Jennie said as she sat awkwardly in the main chair of my living room.

"You've been excited about this party for like two weeks, and now you're backing out?" Grace agreed from her spot on the couch where she was playing a racing game with Angel. The girls had come over for a slumber party to celebrate my new job as an Immigrant Advocate for a swanky human rights group in the city.

"I'm not going because I have so much to study and get ready for, for my first day on Monday! They expect me to know all of these laws on my first day." I argued, turning over the buffalo chicken strips I was cooking before sliding them back into the oven to cook longer.

"Bullshit." Angel said, pretending to cough.

"I agree, you're just nervous about meeting this guy that Derek is trying to set you up with." Jennie said, pointing as she popped another handful of M&Ms in her mouth.

"I'm not ready to date again!" I replied defensively, basically proving Jennie's point, she just smirked.

"You don't want to talk to Spencer, but you don't want to date anyone new." Jennie replied, shaking her head. "You're too hot to be single, (Y/n)."

"Agreed!" Angel and Grace said in unison before high fiving. I rolled my eyes at them, grabbing my drink and taking a sip.

"I just don't know if I'm ready so soon. My therapist didn't think it was a good idea." They all turned and raised an eyebrow at me, calling my bluff. "Okay, well maybe she said that I should only do it if I feel comfortable, which I don't!"