Strawberry Kisses

Chapter 3

We stop in front of a small cafe and I smile up at Spencer. The sign was written in fancy cursive with a cute coffee cup. He steps in front of me and opens the red door for me. He shuts the door behind us and offers to take my jacket and hangs it next to his. I followed him to a table for two in the back of the cafe that was placed in front of a large window that had a good view of the garden outside.

I wasn't sure what I expected from Spencer, but this definitely wasn't it.

A waitress comes to our table and hands us menus before returning to her other customers. I look over the menu, trying to decide what I want. I could spend an hour looking through their entire menu, but it seems that Spencer read the entire thing before I even reached the extensive dessert selection.

Sensing my confusion, Spencer says, "I read fast."

Just as I was about to reply, the waitress returned with two glasses of water.

"What looks good to you?", she asks.

Maybe I was imagining it, but I could have sworn I saw Spencer's eyes on me when she said that. I look up at her and tell her my order, hoping she can't tell how Spencer is affecting me.

"And for you?", she asks Spencer.

"I'll have the grilled chicken sandwich with no tomatoes and a lemonade, thank you", he smiled.

That smile.

The waitress collected our menus and left to the kitchen, leaving Spencer and I alone again. I fiddle with my napkin, shredding it absentmindedly in my lap.

Spencer reaches across the table and takes my forearms in his hands.

"Why are you suddenly so nervous? We walked all the way here and you were fine, but now you're making a mess out of your napkin", he smiles.

"I-I don't know", I shrug. I notice how close together our faces are and I jump back. I free my arms from his grip and instead of being offended like I expected, he just smiled back at me with stars in his eyes.

The waitress returns with our food and as we eat, the awkward tension between us turns into a comfortable energy.

"Did you know that the chicken was domesticated in 2000 B.C. in Southwest Asia?", he asks, looking down at his sandwich. I laugh and shake my head. "Yeah, and birds are descendants from dinosaurs, in fact, chickens and ostriches are the closest related to the T-Rex out of every living animal."

I lean my chin against my hand and sip my drink.

"Tell me something else."

"Um... Oh! Did you know that one-third of adults still sleep with some kind of comfort object?"

"I didn't but I believe that. I sleep with a squishy pillow every night", I grin.

"What about you?" Spencer shrugs in response.

"Sometimes when I'm home I like to sleep with this teddy bear I got at a carnival a while ago. It helps when the nightmares get bad, I guess.

"Does it have a name?"

"Not really. I've never talked about it before so I never felt the need to give it a name" I gasped with mock-offence.

"Just because you're ashamed of your friend doesn't mean they shouldn't have a name"

"I am not ashamed!", he laughs. "I'm just saying, you don't see many grown men walking around bragging about their stuffed animals."

"I don't know, I think it's cute that you sleep with a teddy bear."

There it is, that gorgeous blush.

"I don't think anyone has ever called me cute before." I take his wrists in my hands like he did to me earlier.

"Then all of your friends must be blind because you're adorable." If it was possible, his face flushed redder.

"D-do you want dessert?", he asks. I nod.

"Surprise me, Doc. I trust you won't poison me."

He walks up to the counter and orders. He leans against the glass case as he waits and he makes silly faces at me. We end up playing a couple rounds of rock-paper-scissors by the time he receives the desserts.

He returns to the table and places my plate down in front of me. It's a pink, fluffy mousse topped with fresh berries.

"I hope you like strawberry", he says as he sits.

"I do, thank you." He grins around a forkful of chocolate cake.

"I figured. You seem like the strawberry type." I give him a confused look. "You're sweet. You have an innocence that made me think you prefer fresh, light things. Your phone's wallpaper is the beach, so I assume you like Summer and the lip-gloss that you've been applying is strawberry flavored."

"Pretty spot on. Is this what you profilers like to do for fun; to get inside people's heads?", I tease.

"It's just basic data collection, I'm not inside of you." Spencer's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed as he realized what he said. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it to come out like that!", he said hurriedly. I stop him with a hand to his forearm.

"I'm flattered, but that's more of a third date kind of thing."

"Fifty-six percent of women admit to having sex on the first date, and thirty-six percent say that it lead to a long term relationship", Spencer said. I give him a slight teasing smirk.

"I thought you said you didn't want to be another number in the statistics."

"I-", he stuttered.

"I'm just messing with you, Doc. Let's get going, my lunch break is almost over." I reach to take my wallet from my bag but before I could get it out, Spencer is already up at the counter paying the bill. I walk quickly over to him.

"Let me get half", I say.

"I asked you to lunch. This one's on me", he says, smiling down at me. I roll my eyes playfully.

"Fine, but I get the next one."

"Fair's fair", he says. The person behind the counter hands him the receipt which he folds up and tucks into his pocket. He retrieves our coats and he holds mine up so I can put it on easier. Once we're dressed, he opens the door for me and I step out.

"You're such a gentleman, Dr. Reid", I say with a smile. He returns the smile but doesn't respond.

We walk in comfortable silence on the way back to headquarters, the journey seeming shorter than before. We reach the lobby and I have to practically drag Spencer up the stairs by his hand.

We get to my floor and I let go of his hand reluctantly, finding comfort in the warm hold he had on me.

"I had a really nice time today", I say.

"I did too", he says softly.

"If I were to schedule a follow-up, would you be available?", I ask hesitantly.

"Of course", he replies with seriousness.

"You better start on those stairs. Without me to encourage you, you may never reach the top", I laugh.

Spencer groans and walks out the door. Before he disappears behind the wall, he gives me a small wave and I can't help but feel warmth in my chest.