My letters to you - Spencer Reid x OC

Prologue

Elizabeth Mills always started her day with a walk. She lived by the sea in Cannon Beach, Oregon, and a morning walk always seemed to be a must. She considered getting a dog, just so she would have an excuse to go on these walks more often, however she traveled far too much for a dog to even be considered. Her life was what many would say was lonely, however she found comfort in the silence. She had her plants, her record player, her books and chess, and in her mind that was all she really needed to be happy.

Her friends in the other hand seemed to beg to differ, convinced that the 23 year old was missing out on something. And so the conversation of a penpal came up at their weekly coffee.

"Oh come on Lizzy," Jasmine whined. "Just give the program a try, you do know they pair you up based on interests, you never know you might find yourself a chess hottie."

"Jazzy, please. If anything I'll end up with some 70 year old man who can barely play the game and put it to sound more sophisticated." Elizabeth sighed. "Plus, don't you get a bonus for every person you recommend for the program?"

"Yes, but that's besides the point. You need to do something other than sit in your house and play chess. It's not healthy."

"I'm here at I not? Plus last time I checked, I do more than that. I read, and I go on walks. Plus could an unhealthy person have a doctorate in linguistics?"

"You're alone."

"I see no problem in being a hermit."

"You'll regret it at 60."

"I have 37 years then. I think that's enough time to spend some of it as a hermit."

"Just sign up for it. You might enjoy it."

"If I say yes, and that is a pretty big if, will you cover the bill?"

"If you sign up, I'll pay the bill for coffees for the next month."

"You've got yourself a deal. I'll make sure to tell then you recommended me." Elizabeth smiled. She had the vaguest inkling that she was going to regret agreeing to the deal. After all, she wasn't much of a socialite. She could count the amount of people she spoke to regularly on two hands, most of them living in different cities and they only called through the landline. In fact only three people had her mobile number, Jasmine, her mom and Jamie, a girl she was roommates with in college.

A few days later, Elizabeth finally walked to the post office to sign up for the penpal exchange the USPS was organising. She waited nervously in line, picking at her fingernails. Luckily it wasn't too busy, it was only her and a sweet old lady who was trying to deliver gifts to her granddaughter, who was apparently at college in Florida.

When the old woman left, the brunette walked up to the counter. "I'm here to sign up for the penpal exchange. I was told I needed to come here to fill out the forms."

"Well it's normally done online now, however we do still have some paper forms for those who aren't as good with technology." The man at the desk said, rustling through the papers under the desk. "Here we are. Just go and fill these out and we'll get you paired up with someone in our database. You should have your first letter by next month."

Elizabeth sat down on one of the wooden chairs in the post office and pulled a pen out of her pocket. The first questions were simple, name, Elizabeth Mills. Date of Birth, July 3rd, 1983. Address was of course put down, after all, you can't send a letter without an address. Job, she wrote 'Professional Chess-player and freelancer'. And awkward career title to be honest. Then it got interesting.

Would you like a penpal to be within your state, or have a penpal from anywhere within the United States? Elizabeth pondered for a moment before ticking the box that said anywhere within the States. Why not? Most of her friends were out of state, one more wouldn't hurt, she could always visit them if she likes their writing.

Name three bands you enjoy. Queen, The Beatles and the beach boys. Next.

Name a movie you enjoyed watching. Battleship Potemkin, easily one of the great Russian classics.

Name a book that you have read recently. This was something that she would struggle with. She'd read a lot more recently, chess season had slowed down and there wasn't as many competitions she could sign up for so she was reading a lot more than usual. Eventually, she jotted down 'Emma Illistrated by Jane Austin'.

Hobbies. 'Chess, Reading and' she thought for a moment. She really didn't do much, did she? Finally she finished the sentence, 'Hiking.' She walked frequently, so how different could it be?
She finished up the questions and placed it carefully on the desk.

"Yep, that should be good. You'll get a letter as notification that your application has gone through and weather you will be writing or receiving a letter first. That should be in two weeks or so."

Halfway across the country Dr Spencer Reid was bored. He loved writing letters to his mother, he really did, but never getting a letter back was starting to get to him. It felt like a one way conversation and he was growing lonely. The only people he really saw frequently was his team. With a job like his, you never really got to make friends outside of it.

However, as he walked past the local post office, a poster caught his eye. 'Penpal pairing service, support the USPS by writing to a new friend.' He didn't have to be in the office for another hour and from where he was it wouldn't take him too long to get there.
He opened the door to the post office and found the forms for the service and quickly filled them out.

The postman nodded as Spencer placed the form on the desk. "You'll receive confirmation in two weeks along with weather you'll be writing or receiving in two weeks. If you're writing first make sure to put a return address on the letter to make sure that your penpal can write back, some of our smaller offices may take more time in getting back to any participants."

Spencer nodded awkwardly before walking to work. He was nervous, statistics show that only 34% of penpals actually get along well and maintain frequent contact. What if he was unlucky. He was unsure of why he'd even signed up, he likely wouldn't even have time to write back a lot considering how often he was away. Work, however was calling, and worrying about letters could wait.