annabel lee [spencer reid]

chapter i

September 6, 2015
"The future beings to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Georgetown University.

Katrina Clark has spent all four years of high school working as hard as she possibly could to get admitted. Captain of her school's tennis team, yearbook editor, the lead teen volunteer at her local elderly home and countless coffee-fuelled nights preparing for the SAT, ACT, and AP tests finally paid off.

At last, here she is. Her final year as an undergraduate has finally arrived. It has been a rugged three years for the young girl, sometimes even so difficult she felt like giving up. But if there is one thing Kat has learned in her 21 years of life is to be relentless. And that is exactly what she did.

Today is the last day of Summer for the students of Georgetown, and unfortunately, the day Kat is scheduled to work. Despite Kat's constant attempts to have her manager, Becky, reschedule her work time, her request is denied.

After holding a conversation with AJ Fisher about the arbitrary behind school dress codes, AJ notifies Kat about an open position at Stumptown's Coffee, home of the famous macadamia nut coffee. Between Kat's financial stance and the perk of discounted coffee, Kat willing accepted the offer and has been gleefully working at the local shop for two years.

Although Kat is disappointed that her last day of Summer has to spent brewing coffee and working for a lengthy five hours, the friendly atmosphere, the gorgeous view of the city, and AJ's highly redundant yet hilarious comments makes up for the loss of free time.

Kat's shift resumes as normal. Customers come in, and they go out. Some faces she recognises from classes, some distinguished regulars, and a small amount that are new to her eyes. To help pass the time, Kat enjoys analysing the customers she comes face-to-face to.  She likes to inspect their body language, their facial features, what they order, and the way they compose themselves.

As she is steaming the milk for a latté, the bell on the entrance chimes. Her eyes part from the frothing liquid onto the figure who has just walked through the door. It takes a couple of seconds for Kat's eyes to adjust to the light to really see him, but when they finally do, Kat nearly drops the beaker.

Spencer Reid, 33, former FBI agent, and a peculiar genius with an eidetic memory.

His sandy brown hair falls down to about just below his ears. Not too long, not too short. His wavy locks are tousled, giving him a messy yet coiffed look. His outfit consists of a white dress shirt with a cherry-red tie under a grey buttoned sweater paired with black khakis and white converse. Along with a pair of reading classes and a worn down brown leather satchel strapped along his body.

By the way he walks to the cash register, Katrina can immediately detect his introverted nature. He despises being in social gatherings. If he had option of going to a party versus staying home in bed, reading an intriguing novel, he would most definitely choose the quiet night at home. She also comes to the conclusion that he is incredible intelligent, based off of his put-together outfit.

As much as Kat wants to deny it, she finds Spencer captivating. She has always been the one who didn't particularly care if she caught the attention of a boy, nor did she ever feel the need to pursue one, but a feeling inside of her detects something different for Spencer.

"Kat!" AJ calls to the hypnotised girl, immediately snapping her out of her trance.

"Sorry, what?" Kat, responds, trying not to remove her eyes off of the man.