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The hall was far too big for the number of people in it. That’s all Jessica Day could think of as she entered the teachers’ conference. She used to love attending these, but they weren’t so fun as a Vice Principal. Now everyone who spoke to her acted like she was a tattletale; it was middle school all over again. Plus, there were so many more to attend while in this position. It was more tiring than attending 12 weddings in one summer.
Jess didn't believe in love at first sight anymore, not after hearing Nick confess that's what happened with them and now they're over. Clearly it was all a facade. However, she’s almost certain the pounding in her heart was exactly that when she laid eyes upon the professor in front of her. Spencer Reid, his name label says. She doesn’t recognise him from the conference only a few months earlier. She’d remember a face like this.
“What are you doing here, stupid?” She blurts out, immediately regretting it.
He scrunched up his nose in confusion, looking around to see if she was talking to someone behind him. He pointed at himself after noticing the wide gap between himself and everyone else in the room.
“Am I, uh,… stupid?”
“Hell yeah you are, stupid!” She visibly cringes once the words leave her mouth.
Oh my God, what am I saying?
“Oh… Okay.” He blinks harshly before chuckling nervously.
They're both staring at each other awkwardly for a few moments. She hopes he will take a bullet for the both of them and say something — anything, really. He can’t really make things worse than she has already. Instead, he starts slowly walking away from her. She winces at herself and covers her face with her hands. Taking a deep breath, she reminds herself she’s no longer a woman who lets a man like that walk away. She’s a strong, confident, will-powered woman. Sure, she stole that from the Post-It affirmations Schmidt had been obsessed with lately, but it still applied to her (certainly more than it applies to Schmidt, at least).
Following the direction he went off in, she mumbles the affirmation under her breath like her life depends on it. He’s right ahead, and she falters, seeing the way the light hits his brown hair, making it glow. Jess can’t help but get inside her own head. This guy clearly is already weirded out by her; it’d be an embarrassment to go back up to him. What if she calls him stupid again? What if he tells everyone she asked him out, and then they all laugh about it? Middle school all over again…
Her ballet flats are stopping before her brain catches up. The fall to the floor is harsh and loud. Really loud. There’s something wet on her forehead, and she prays silently that someone had spilt their drink. People crowd her, but the room is spinning far too much for her to focus on faces. She knows she hears Spencer’s voice somewhere near her before everything goes dark.
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The fluorescent hospital lights are a very harsh wake-up call for Jess. What’s even harsher, though, is feeling two arms wrap around her the moment her eyes flutter open. The vague smell of coconut conditioner fills her nostrils, and she smiles, wrapping her arms back around the person hugging her.
“Cece…”
“Jess!” Cece pulls away, smiling widely. “We were so worried about you. Don’t do that again.”
She slaps her arm playfully, and Jess laughs before faltering. “We?”
Looking towards the door, she watches as four men come peeking out of the corner. She laughs even harder at the sorry excuse for vending machine snacks in six of their hands and the half-dead bouquet in Coach’s.
“You phoned the guys?” She happy-frowns at Cece.
The model shrugs, “I figured you’d want them here. They’re your guys, after all.”
Everyone stops and shakes their heads, talking over each other.
“Never-”
“Worst thing you’ve ever said.”
“Do not say-”
“We are nobody’s guys. We are our own guys.”
“It sounds like a weird sex thing.”
Cece nods in agreement. “It felt weird when I said it.”
“Never again,” Jess laughs.
She smiles, looking at her friends all being here for her. It was better than any stupid date with a crazy hot teacher could ever be. Not that she’d mind if she could have both; he was seriously crazy hot.
“How long was I out for?” She asks after a minute or two.
“An hour tops,” Schmidt tells her.
Her mouth makes an O-shape as she processes the information. Schmidt continues, his mouth moving faster than his brain.
“You were in and out of it like Nick having sex. If he could go multiple rounds… Or last over 10 minutes. Okay, over 5...” He falters. “It’s a bad metaphor, okay? I don't think well when stressed. We thought you were dead.”
Nick turns to stare at Schmidt. “Ew, man. Just… ew.”
“We did not think you were dead…” Winston mutters. “Very much knew you were alive…”
“I wanted to explain it in terms she’d understand in these delicate times, Nick,” he snaps. “I’m sure she understands disappointing sex with you perfectly well.”
“Hey, Jess and I had great sex,” Nick retorts at a volume that is definitely too high. “Tell him, Jess. Tell him we had great sex.”
Schmidt scoffs at him.
“The poor girl’s already concussed; now you want to confuse her with your lies? You’re a monster sometimes. A monster, Nick. You’re the Big Bad Wolf of the loft — that’s what you are.”
“What did I…” Jess begins to ask.
Coach and Winston both shake their heads at her, so she stops. The “miss” goes unsaid.
“How did you guys kill flowers in an hour?” She asks instead. Her eyes return to the dead bouquet in Coach’s hands. “Are they plastic? How do you kill plastic flowers? Nick, did you have them?”
Nick shrugs. “I think you know the answer to that already. When have I ever kept anything alive? I do not know why people keep handing me plants.”
“Same reason we keep handing you our hearts,” Schmidt replies wistfully.
Jess raises an eyebrow at Cece, who simply waves her hand dismissively. You do not want to know, she mouths.
“Ignoring these two,” Cece rolls her eyes. “Who’s that cute guy waiting outside?”
The brunette’s eyes widen as she looks around, trying to figure out who could be waiting for her. Her emergency contact was Cece (obviously), and the only four guy friends she currently has are standing in the room already. Any men she’d shared relations with, she introduced to Cece as soon as it was made official.
“What cute guy?”
“Purple scarf,” Nick tells her, clapping his hands together while thinking of other descriptors.
“He- He was wearing funky socks!” Winston claps and points his finger at Jess.
“You remembered his socks?” Schmidt. “That's the first thing that comes to mind? Winston, you're a cop.”
“They were funky,” Cece agrees.
“Oh, my God.” Jess covers her face with her hands. “Floppy brown hair? Dorky smile?”
She shrinks into the hospital bed when they simultaneously nod along to the description she gives. She had wanted to run into Spencer again but not like this, not while in the hospital for her own clumsiness.
“That’s Spencer…” she groans.
“Spencer?” Cece’s mouth hangs open.
“No offence, Jess, but… I think you two breaking up did him wonders,” Schmidt admits with a sigh. “I may have slapped him back then, but I wouldn’t dare hit that beautiful face now. Karma truly does not exist.”
“Not my Spencer, new Spencer!” She rolls her eyes. “He was at the conference; I fell over trying to get to him after totally embarrassing myself.”
“Need us to get rid of him?” Nick asks, flexing muscles he doesn’t have.
Jess shakes her head, taking a deep breath out and sitting upright. She knows she needs to confront the ridiculously attractive teacher waiting outside to see her, of all people.
“I should go talk to him, right?” She asks Cece, who nods while trying to conceal an excited smile.
“If you don’t, I will,” Schmidt mumbles before Winston and Cece hit him in the arm at the same time.
When Jess sits up, various alarms start going off as wires are pulled away from her skin. Everyone rushes to grab the wires, Coach dives into the hospital bed when Jess jumps off, and Winston shuts the door tightly to avoid any nurses coming in. He moves away when the brunette goes to open it. She falters for a few moments, looking back at her friends.
“Go, go, go!” Cece urges her.
“God dammit, woman, go get that beautiful hunk of a man.”
“I don’t think he should count as a hunk, if I’m not allowed to.”
“Shut up, Nick, hunks don’t kill everything they-”
Jess slips out the door, her eyes immediately landing on Spencer the second she fully left the room. He seemed to have heard the door shut because he turned to face her the second her eyes glanced upon him.
“Are you okay? The ambulance wouldn't let me ride with you, so I followed it with my car. I figured it was best to wait out here rather than coming in and interrupting your friends.”
“Psht, I'm fine, don’t even worry about me,” she said, trying to play it cool and immediately falling when she attempted to lean against a trolley only for it to slip away from her.
He catches her with ease, making sure she's stabilised before he pulls his hands away.
“Sorry, I'm stupid,” she rolls her eyes.
“I thought I was stupid.” His mouth quirks into a smirk.
“Yes,” she blurts out. “I mean, no. Obviously. You're not stupid, you seem like a smart guy. Let's start over.” She flattens out her black skirt with white polka dots and smiles politely, reaching out a hand. “I'm Jessica Day.”
“Okay…” He squints at her as if deciding whether or not to play along. “I'm Spencer and I… I don't shake hands.”
Jess nods, taking that under consideration, and moving her hands back down to her sides. “You eat pizza?”
Spencer nods, albeit not a fan of the grease. Or the cheese. Or the sauce.
“We should get some, then. Tomorrow? The one across the street?”
“It's a date,” he confirms, an awkward smile appearing on his face.
"A date... I like that." She turned around, walking the three steps back to her hospital room.
Internally, every part of Jessica Day screamed at the idea that she just asked out the hottest guy she'd ever seen in her life. Her hand was already tingling with the need to high-five Cece. Spencer watched her walk away with something close to awe in his eyes. God, she looked so much like Maeve does in his dreams. He swallowed rather harshly at that thought and turned away himself, a little skip in his step.