annabel lee [spencer reid]

chapter xxiii

January 10, 2016
"I wanna be alone –
alone with you, does that make sense?"

from K❤️: hi! we got delayed a little bit, but i should be there in about 30 minutes

s❤️: Got it. See you soon, Love.

Quickly tucking his phone back into his pocket, Spencer turns to give his undivided attention to the saddened rant of the drunken man in front of him.

"And I never cheated on her, not once. Did it cross my mind? Absolutely. But that was a line I was never going to cross," Adam sighs, taking a swig of his beer. "Anyways, she took Ben and moved back to LA."

"That's horrible, I'm sorry." Spencer follows his actions except with a glass of water.

He isn't quite sure what prompted him to invite his colleague over to his apartment. Meeting new people was never Spencer's forte.

When Spencer was younger, his mom was always his best friend. Sure he had a few friends here and there, but he always chose her first. Whenever he needed someone to confide in or a shoulder to cry on, his mother was always there. That is until his father left.

It wasn't until he joined the BAU that he learned the true meaning of friendship. Now that he's working almost an hour away from them, he realizes that the only relationship close enough to a friendship that he's established since becoming a professor has been with his student.

Then again, friendships don't usually involve sleepless nights in bed.

Being just in the next building over to philosophy 101, Spencer remembers passing by Adam Miranda each morning to get to his lecture room and even on his way to his daily coffee stops. What first started as a quick exchange of hellos ended up turning into a mutual bond over being the few professors under the age of 40.

With Kat back home in Brooklyn, and him not wanting to bother any of his former BAU friends, Spencer was already staring into a pit of nothingness within two days of break. Two hours later, he's sharing a beer with Adam in his apartment, hearing the story of his failed marriage.

"I better get going." Adam begins to rise. "Thanks for having me over, man. It can get pretty lonely out here, so I really appreciate it."

"I totally get it. Feel free to call me anytime." Spencer opens the door.

"Will do. See you around."

A couple of minutes after Adam leaves, Spencer grabs his keys and makes his way out the apartment.

Before he heads to the train station to pick up Kat, he decides to stop at Stumptowns, figuring she'd be in need of a pick-me-up.

He learned the hard way to never let his girl go hungry after a poorly planned trip to the National Gallery of Art.

Arriving at the coffee shop and opening the glass doors, he sees no other than AJ behind the register.

"Dr. Reid." AJ smiles, seeing Spencer walk towards her.

"Hi, AJ. How was your break?"

"Uneventful. Not really much to do in Iowa. How about you?" Spencer doesn't know too much about AJ outside of her occasional office hour visits and what he's heard from Kat.