Girl With A Gummy Smile

Spencer

When the girl with a gummy smiled who introduced herself as doctor Hastings left the room Derek was quick to lean in and tell me to just ask for her number. I brush him off and try to ignore his snickering from the corner.

Hotch, Emily and Rossi left for the night and Garcia and JJ went to get some coffee so it was finally just Derek and I alone, I knew he would bring her back up again.

"Come on kid, what's the worst that can happen? Rejection? You can't live your life afraid of being rejected." He's not wrong but that's also easy for him to say. No girl would ever reject Derek "Six Pack" Morgan. I shake my head.

"She's not into me." I state the obvious, what girl would ever bat her eyes at a guy like me? I know I have good qualities but I also know that I'm not attractive and girls usually find me weird and annoying. Derek disagrees with my statement as he explains how she was practically eyeing me down the whole time.

"She was flirting Reid. The way she said doctor after you corrected her, that's flirting." He palms his head and i just stare at him. Not believing a word that spills from his mouth.

"Just ask her." Those were the last words that echoed in my head up until everyone left and Doctor Hastings came waltzing back into my room.

She talked about her love for Jane Austen and I just sat in complete awe the whole time. I've never seen someone so passionate about her work. Or as a matter of fact even have a love for older literature. She likes to ramble, i don't like to ramble but I unfortunately have the tendency of doing it. I can't help it, just apart of who I am.

She continues to go on about her work when I ask a question I already know the answer too. I just like to hear her talk. When i give her a statistic i read once she doesn't sigh or tell me that's weird that i know that. Instead she smiles at me and explains how she too wanted to drop out at some point but never did it. Her smile is cute, her top gums poke out when she smiles and I find it adorable.

I keep hearing Derek's voice in the back of my head telling me to just ask her out but I can't bring myself to do it. She's gorgeous, and I'm just plain old me. She eventually brings herself to leave, part of me wishes she would have stayed longer but I'm sure she has better things to do with this time.

When the sun rises the next morning she's the one bringing me my discharge papers and explaining a few things to me. Derek and JJ walk in as her tired face yawns over me signing papers.

"You're still working?" Derek nods toward her and she presses her lips together.

"Long shift. I'll be crashing once I get home." She kind of chuckles and so does he. I try to hide my grin but Derek must notice because the first thing he asks when she leaves the room is if I asked for her number. When I tell him no he groans.

"Leave the poor guy alone Derek. He just got shot for Gods sake." JJ shoves his arm and then hands me a pile of clothes. I get up from my bed and walk towards the bathroom to change. My leg hurts like a hell but I can tolerate it.

Hotch told me to take a few weeks off to recover and as much as I appreciate it what am i suppose to do besides sit at home by myself all day long. Work is my life, it's really all I do.

When the three of us walk out of the room I notice Hastings slouched over the front desk, practically drooling over some papers. Then i notice a girl standing next to her holding her phone up to snap a quick picture.

"Ready to go kid?" Derek turns to me and I nod but hold my finger up.

"Just give me one second." I walk over to the front desk and take a deep breath.

"Would it be weird if I asked you for her name?" I gestured towards the sleeping girl in front of us.

"So you're the hottie from 207?" She grins eyeing me up and down. Hottie? She thinks i'm hot?

"Her name is Clara Hastings,"  The girl with red hair pauses. "Here." She hands me a notecard with a  number scribbled in the back.

"This is her cell number. I'll let her know I gave it to you." I smile at the girl and thank her. I walk back to Derek who's just waiting to say something to me.

"My man." He messes up my hair and continues to pick on me until we reach the car that JJ had pulled up to the doors.

The whole ride back to my apartment I'm thinking about texting her. Clara. Her name fits her very well, she just looks like a Clara.

"Do you need anything Spence?" JJ turns and asks me as we pull up to my apartment. I shake my head no and get out of the car after thanking the both of them for getting me home and helping me. We part ways and i unlock my front door. Sitting down on my dark green couch I open my phone and pull out the notecard from my pocket. I dial the number and then type out a quick text.

S: Not sure if this is weird but it's Spencer. I asked your friend for your name and she gave me your number instead. I wanted to thank you for treating me but I never got the chance to before I left this morning.

Now we wait.

I get a text back almost immediately, which i wasn't expecting at all given the fact she was just draped over a desk sleeping soundly.

C: Not weird at all :) just doing my job.

The smiley face in the middle of her message makes me think of her adorable gummy smile again. Most people I know with a smile like that hate it. I hope she doesn't feel that way about her smile.

I want to keep the thread of texts going but I don't know how. So i muster up the courage to ask her to dinner sometime. And to my surprise her message reads

C: Sounds great!! I'm free tomorrow night?

I smile down at my phone, maybe Morgan was right this time? I text her back and let her know that works perfectly for me and that i'll pick her up at 7:30. She sends me her address with a smiley face emoji.

I actually can't wait for tomorrow night. I'm not one to wish time away but right now I'm wishing that these next few hours pass fairly quickly.