chapter eight — um, what?
"A certain darkness is needed to see the stars." — Osho

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EDITED: December 8th, 2020
Tessa's POV

      "ALRIGHT, EVERYONE, WE AREN'T DOING any good here. Time for you guys to head to the hotel and get some sleep, be here by seven am, sharp."

      My green eyes flickered over towards Hotch as he spoke with his usual monotone, serious tone, and it seemed like the wrinkles under his eyes were a bit tougher than usual. The case looked to be attaching a bit too deeply to him, I guessed.

      After Hotch moved over to his usual seat and hooked his fingertips around his coat laying on the chair, I switched over to Spencer, who was still studying the board, but he didn't seem to actually pay attention to anything that Hotch had just said. I decided to stay in the seat I already was planted in, while JJ, Morgan, and Rossi got up from their chairs. I could only assume that they were all leaving for the hotel as Hotch had suggested.

      "You want a ride, Tessa?" JJ asked, while she stretched out her legs from possibly sitting in the same position for so long. I tore my eyes from Spencer over to meet hers, and for a second, I wondered if she saw the way I was staring at him, but I ignored it.

       "Spencer offered to drive me there already," I replied, giving JJ a quick, polite smile. It wasn't that I found her annoying or anything, just the fact that I've been doing something nonstop every second of today and desperately need to sleep. "Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather not be stuck in the back with Morgan."

      "Hey!" Morgan protested, raising both arms in defense as he flashed me a deadpan look, but he couldn't keep a serious face on so it shifted over to amusement within a second.

      "You know it's true!" I countered, a small smile etched on my face as I spat the sarcastic comment.

      "Whatever," Morgan rolled his eyes jokingly, and with that, he moved from his chair and followed out Rossi close on his heels. The two men had managed to sneak their coats on without me seeing — where Morgan was wearing his typical motorcycle leather jacket and Rossi had on an expensive looking black coat.

       "Okay, well, don't be gone too long," JJ teased softly, sending me a quick wink, and her adorable laugh echoed throughout the room as she mimicked the same action as the boys before her, coat and purse hanging loosely on her left arm.

      That was when I noticed that it was just Spencer and I left in the small room, where Hotch and Prentiss must've snuck out while I was busy talking to JJ and Morgan.

      I glanced up at Spencer, who was still staring at all the pictures and words on the map in front of his face. I didn't quite understand why, since he's got an eidetic memory, and knew it all by heart. When I first heard from JJ that Spencer had an eidetic memory, my eyes were as wide as saucers. It honestly seemed like the coolest thing, and made sense as to why he could remember every little detail about every little thing.

      "You havin' fun?" I questioned, chuckling under my breath by the way Spencer was scribbling something on a frail piece of paper.

      Spencer seemed to be absolutely startled by my tone of voice because he flinched so rapidly, and he spun around quickly to look at the person who spoke up. I perked an amused eyebrow up towards the lanky man, and had to stifle another loud laugh in the back of my throat.

      "You scared the living crap out of me!" Spencer examined, raising his right hand to place it on his chest dramatically, seemingly trying to catch his breath again.

      "Oops, sorry," my chuckle from before was now turning into full blown laughter at this point, there was no way I'd be hiding it.

      "Why are you still here?" He asked, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy — normally, I would've taken the statement to heart and thought they he no longer wanted me here, but it just seemed like he was curious as to why I actually was.

      "You're my ride?" I spoke with the tone of my voice in a question, I furrowed my eyebrows at Spencer, wondering if I should've just taken that offer from JJ and Morgan instead.

      "Oh, right!" He shook his head rather swiftly, almost as if he was scolding himself, and then walked in the direction of the chair next to me. He grabbed his satchel and threw it over his shoulder easily, and then threw his jacket on his arm. "You could've rode with someone else, if you wanted."

      "You're more fun. And we don't have to go, we can stay if you want," I offered, pointing my hand over towards the files, but I still got up from my own chair with my small purse in hand.

      "Well, no offense or anything, you look like you're about to pass out and quite frankly I don't have the muscle to carry you."

      I enveloped into laughter once again, a bright, toothy smile falling onto my lips.  I then turned on my heels to follow Spencer as he switched off the lights to the conference room, and then exited. He held open the door for me, and I quietly thanked him as the two of us made our way out.

      "It's true, though," Spencer chuckled, glancing up to make eye contact with me.

      "Oh, c'mon," I poked the side of his stomach teasingly, which seemed to be more bold of me than I thought. "You've got to have some muscle somewhere."

      "Would you like to bet?"

      "Hmm," I fake thought for a second, placing a hand under my chin for a dramatic effect. "Sure, how much you betting?"

      "15$ says I have none."

      By now, we had walked out of the PD station, that was basically empty now it was so late into the night. Only a few cars were left remaining in the parking lot, including the black SUV reserved for Spencer and I.

      "20$ says you do," I laughed, and push some of my fawn strands of hair out of my face as the wind was blowing it completely out of control — which was desperately getting on my nerves.

      "Thanks for having some faith in me," Spencer smiled at me, and I returned it just as quickly.

      "Anytime."

•••

      Spencer and I reached the hotel within five minutes, parking the SUV next to the remainder of the teams. We quickly got out, mixed with the fact it was so cold along with how we were both heavily exhausted.

      "Dogs or cats?"

      "Cats, dogs can be so mean, and they're kind of scary," Spencer replied with a frightened expression, and it seemed like he was shaking away some type of bad memory, which then made me laugh softly. "Tea or coffee?"

      "Tea, although sometimes I need coffee instead," I explained, getting a better grip on my tan leather suitcase as I dragged it to the main desk. "And I already know your answer, Mr. 'I use fifty packs of sugar for every cup'."

       "I don't use that much sugar," Spencer protested, giving me a fake betrayed expression, but a smile quickly etched onto his lips.

      "Hello, may I help you two?" The woman behind the counter questioned, interrupting Spencer and I's conversation, giving a nice smile. "You two are absolutely adorable."

      My cheeks burn as if a tomato had been splashed onto my face, and I spun on my heels to find Spencer the exact same way. "Oh, um, we're not, together," I awkwardly let out a laugh in an desperate attempt to change the subject to something else.

      "Oh, I'm so sorry, it looked like it," the woman responded, genuinely seeming sorry, and she started clicking a few letters on her computer.

      "Uh, we need our rooms?"

      "Right," the woman shook her head, like she was scolding herself, and she let out another awkward laugh. "Names?"

      "I'm Tessa Carter, and then he's Spencer Reid," I spoke up before Spencer had anytime to even open his mouth, earning a look from him. He took a step forward towards the main desk, and his hand brushes against my thigh, sending chills go up and down my spine, I quickly cleared my throat awkwardly as I couldn't help but feel the way sparks erupted on my skin.

      The woman typed fairly quickly, and then she switched from staring at her screen to Spencer and I, then back down at the computer, and she deeply furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

      "It says here you two are in the same room."

      "Um, what?" I forced a laugh to escape my lips, but I could tell my blush was only getting worse. I leaned my body over the desk, and at the computer screen, probably invading this woman's bubble. But she's not wrong, it clearly says room 231 for both Spencer and I. "Are there any other, uh, open rooms that I could possibly move into?"

      "I'm sorry, ma'am, but all our other rooms are full."

      I glanced over at Spencer to see how he was reacting to the fact we are going to have to share a room. He looked equally as embarrassed as I, which was a bit relieving.

      How did this happen? Am I going to have to actually share a room with the cute boy?

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a/n 12/08/20: man i'm not even editing this book, i'm just rewriting the whole damn thing ZICJKS