Reid My Mind

12. My Type

ask - the smiths

I avoided eye contact with Reid as we boarded the plane the next day, embarrassed and slightly annoyed. Embarrassed because I had called him last night and gotten Morgan instead. Annoyed because the thought of Reid with some sleazy club girl made my skin crawl. I had no real basis to be angry with him; my crush didn't give me any ownership over him. Still, it wasn't until we were in the cabin and I saw him hesitate before taking his usual place across from me that I could say anything.

"Did you have fun last night?" I asked. He sat down.

"What's that?" He blinked twice, flinching at the bright lights.

"Did you have fun last night? Morgan made it sound like you were having a good time." I tried to keep the jealousy from infecting my tone.

"Oh. Uh, yeah, I guess." He paused, deliberating.

"You?" he said. His voice was taunt.

"It was nice," I said simply. There was an foreign tension in the air, the cause of which I couldn't quite place.

"You want to play?" I asked, referring to chess. He has been teaching me for months, but I was still horrible.

"Sure," he said, more relaxed now.

Soon we fell into a familiar rhythm: easy conversation, Reid wincing every time I made a wrong move, which was every time I made a move. By the time we flew into D.C., I was confident there was no bad blood between us.
As the jet taxied, Reid coaxed me into a win entirely of his design.

"Next time you'll get it by yourself."

"Yessir," I said absently, collecting the chess pieces and folding up the board. I moved delicately. Reid wouldn't admit it, but he'd protect Gideon's chess board with his life.

"So, you are going to keep in touch with Bailey?" The question caught me off and I looked up but he wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Probably not," I said after a beat.

"Why not?" Now he matched my gaze.

"You sure are curious today," I told him.

"Sorry."

"I'm just teasing. I don't know. He's not really my type."

"Oh." He examined a white knight.

"What is your type?"

"I'm not really sure," I laughed. You, I wanted to say. He nodded and handed the knight. His fingers brushed mine and I tried not imagine leaning over the table to kiss him, right there, right then, in front of everyone.