Cardigans and Converse // Spencer Reid

Chapter Sixteen - Freddy Krueger at the Phantasmagoria

☼ Sunny ☼

It's officially my favorite month of the year, October! I don't know what it is but the minute the leaves start to change and Halloween movies are playing on tv. I'm a completely different person. Depression....where? Anxious....not me. I'm just happy...peaceful.

I'm insanely jealous of Spence and Emily having a birthday in my favorite month. I might have went a little overboard with his presents, but one of my three love languages is gift giving. I took him to see a magician show that was actually pretty cool. He was extremely awkward that whole night which made me worried that I definitely did something wrong.

In my defense I love birthdays....they weren't really a big thing in my home. I can count on my hands the amount of times my mother was actually home for my birthday. The first year after my parent's deaths I came home to a surprise birthday party thanks to Gideon and Rossi. They had spent so much time decorating my living room to make it special for me.....I've never felt so loved and from that moment on I've made it my life's mission to always make sure the people I love feel the way they made me feel....wanted.

But I have to remind myself that some people might not actually like the attention.

I walk into the office sporting my knitted long sleeve orange sweater with cute little ghost on the neckline. Ever since Spence said he liked my hair down I've been skipping the usual space buns. Why you might ask because I'm a people pleaser and the guy I've been obsessively crushing on for the last few months said he likes my hair down.

Spence comes walking up next to me wearing a clear face mask of an old man with dark bushy eyebrows and a soft plush pumpkin candy bucket in hand. He was perfectly adorable.

"Spence! Happy haunting!" I smile big.

"Changing up your style today I see. The sweater looks good." He tells me, my smile growing wider.

"What are you doing this weekend for Halloween?" I ask him curiously. He gives me that cute excited look before speaking.

"You know the cool thing about Halloween is that it's a uniquely American holiday..." he pulls his mask up. "I mean, despite its obvious origins in the Celtic festivals of Samhain and the Christian All Saints' Day, it really is a melting pot of various immigrants traditions and beliefs...."

We walk into the debriefing room. "It became a little more commerialize in the 1950's with trick or treat, and today it rivals only christmas in terms of popularity. As far as your question goes I'm toying with the notion of either going to the Edgar Allen Poe shadow puppet theater or the reenactment of the 19th century phantasmagorias." He tells me. I take a seat at the round table. Derek, Emily, and Rossi stop to look at him.

"I don't want to know" Rossi tells in utter disinterest. Pen walks in dressed to the nines in orange and black as she looks at me with a smile.

"Oh, yeah, you do. Phantasmagorias are these amazing pre-cinema projected ghost shows invented in France, where the showman attempted to spook the audience using science magic." I love how excited he is getting as he talks about it.

"You should definitely do the phantasmagoria. I heard it's amazing." I tell him.

"I have an extra ticket....I don't know if you have plans...but if you don't or you just....or if you like phantasmagorias. I...you.....would you like to go with me?" He stumbles on his words, those hazel brown eyes locked on mine.  The entire room goes silent watching us.

"I would love to go with you Spence." I answer him, his face lighting up as he sits down next to me.

"Good.....good...awesome." He mumbles. Everyone keeps looking back and forth between the three of them with giant smirks on their faces. I would love if my love life was not the talk of the inner circle.