Our problems

“Anna” My best friend screamed. What time is it? I reached over to my phone to check. 7.02am. Fuck i’m going to be late. I quickly ran to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and combed my hair. I just put on the first things I found in my room. Which were big baggy blue jeans and a red hoodie. It wasn’t a look but it was something. As I grab my things from my room I check my phone again. 7.10am. Eight minutes, that’s a new record.

“I made you coffee.” I hear my roommate Lee yell from the kitchen. Lee has been my best friend since 6th grade. They are the most accepting and funniest person i’ve ever met. We decided to move to America after we turned 18. We wanted to go to school here and get away from the people. We have an apartment that we share. Our parents were nice enough to pay for it.

“This is why I love you,” I say as I take the coffee mug from their hands. I quickly down the coffee and put on my all black vans.

“I have classes till three so see you then. Bye, I Love you!” I say as I make my way through the door. I plop in my earphones and start walking. It’s beautiful outside. The sun was shining brightly and it felt like everything had more colour to it. The trees seemed greener, the sky bluer. Even the sidewalk seemed prettier.

Without realising it I had made it to school and I was actually early. Everytime I thought I was going to be late I ended up arriving before anyone else. My anxiety doesn’t let me be late for things. When I do end up fully sleeping in I just don’t go to my class. The thought of walking into a classroom late is terrifying.

School had just ended and I was walking home with my earphones blocking out the outside world. As I was admiring the nature around me I walked into someone by accident.

“Oh I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. I’m so sorry,” I ramble as I take my earphones out to look at who I just pumped into. As I look up I see a young man, probably mid-twenties, shoulder length curly brown hair, hazel eyes and a little bit of stubble going on. I also noticed he is very tall compared to me. I’m 5’4 and he seems to be at least 6’ tall.

“No worries. It happens but try to be more careful. It’s dangerous to zone out while walking.” He said with a small smile playing on his lips.

“I’ll try my best but I can’t promise you anything” I say while chuckling. Now that i look at him closely he’s kinda cute. Not my usual type but cute.

“But I need to get going. Can’t be late to work or the big boss man will be angry. Bye!” He waves as he’s walking away.

“Bye!” I yell after him with a bright smile. God that was embarrassing. Walking into a complete stranger. I probably looked like an idiot. Luckily it was a random guy so it save me the embarrassment of seeing him again. I put my earphones back in and continued my walk home.

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It had been a few weeks since I walked into that random guy. I’m currently at the grocery store. with Lee. We were looking at ice cream and laughing when I noticed someone familiar near the frozen vegetables.

“Hey, I think that’s the guy I walked into a few weeks ago.” I say as i nudge Lee to look around.

“You have to be a more specific dumbass. There are a lot of people here.” They said back while looking around.

“The one in a sweater vest and stop staring you look like a creep.” I say hushed not wanting him to see us just staring at him. It was embarrassing enough when I walked into him. I don’t want to embarrass myself more by getting caught staring at him.

As I was looking down at the ice creams I could hear Lee whisper in my ear, “Hey I think he keeps glancing at us.”

“What? No he isn’t. He’s probably looking at someone else.” I say dismissively continuing to look at the ice cream.

“No, I’m pretty sure he is looking at us.” They kept whispering at me while looking somewhere else.

“And why’s that?” I said sarcastically. I was annoyed at this point.

“Because he is walking our way and I think he is going to try and talk to you” They said, smirking slightly and also with slight panic in their voice because they hated talking to new people.

“Wait, what?” I say quickly looking around and there he was walking towards me with a small smile on his face

He was wearing black slacks, a navy dress shirt, a maroon skinny tie, a dark sweater vest and a dark blazer over it. He looked good but very overdressed for shopping. As I look at him dumbfounded that I’m meeting him again and that he’s walking towards me, he notices that I noticed him and he gives me a little wave. I quickly wave back trying to build my confidence. I’m not the best at talking to people, especially people I don’t know.

“Um, hey it’s nice to see you again.” He says with a bright smile. Why is he talking to me? I’ve only met him once briefly. What would he need from me?

“Uhh, yeah hi yeah it’s nice to see you too. Umm why so dressed up? I don’t mean you look bad or anything. Not that you look bad you actually look really good, it’s just that we’re at a grocery store and you don’t see a lot of people wearing suits and ties. I mean of course it happens but it doesn’t happen often” I ramble. I can feel my cheeks redding up. All the confidence i had before is all gone at this point and i can hear Lee trying their hardest not to wheeze out loud.

“Haha, well um thank you, uhh you look great yourself and yeah you’re right you don’t see a lot of people dressing like this at the store. I just got off from work actually so yeah that’s why I’m dressed like this.” He speaks quickly while fidgeting with his fingers. He seemed awkward and like he doesn’t get compliments often.

“Well that explains it hahah. Hey so did big boss man get angry that time? Also sorry again for walking into you.” I’m starting to feel a little more relaxed but I’m still nervous. Lee had wandered off at this point, going to get the other stuff we needed.

“Haha yeah he was a little mad but he luckily got over it. Just told me not to make it a habit and so far i’ve been on time.” He chuckled remembering the first time we met.

“So was there anything you needed or wanted?” I finally asked since I’m still confused why he’s talking to me. He had no particular reason to be talking to me.

“Ah yeah uh I was wondering and also hoping that maybe you were willing to give me your number? I totally understand if you want to say no. I mean….” He quickly plabs I could barely understand what he said. Also why was he asking me for my number and should I give it to him.

“Yeah of course you can have it.” Lee says suddenly. Where did they come from? I swear to god they just disappear and reappear whenever they want. They startled me and why were they trying to give my number to a stranger.

“Wait, wait shouldn’t I have a say in this. Also I don’t think it’s the safest thing to give my number to a stranger. I don’t even know his name. He could be a serial killer for all I know.” I tell Lee, forgetting for a second that the guy is still there waiting for an answer.

“Spencer. My name is Spencer Reid.” He quietly mumbled while looking at the ground and fidgeting with his fingers. I suddenly remembered that he was also here so I turned to face him and I smiled at him. It was nice to have his name.

“I’m Anna. Anna Robins but I still don’t know if you’re going to murder me or not.” I say with a chuckle. I have watched enough true crime videos to know not to give my number to random people.

“I promise I won’t murder you and if you still don’t belive me than I also work for the FBI. I actually help to catch serial killers. Me and my team profile them and then hunt them down.” He said eagerly. It seems like he really enjoys talking about his work and team I guess. He works for the FBI? He seems a little young but very put together.

“You work for the FBI and you catch serial killers? You really should have started with that. I would’ve probably asked for your number myself. I’m just the tiniest bit interested in true crime, so talking to someone who works with serial killers is like a dream come true.” I laughed. It truly was amazing meeting a person like this. It was still hard to imagine Spencer working with serial killers. He kind of looks like he could be a college professor.

“Yeah, the tiniest bit” Lee scoffs next to me. I elbow them slightly to shut them up. I didn’t want Spencer knowing I’m obsessed with true crime. What if he thinks I’m a serial killer or something. I chuckle nervously and look at Spencer.

“Hahah yeah, I’m slightly obsessed with true crime but I swear I’m not a serial killer myself. It’s just fascinating to me why they do it. What goes on in their brains that leads them to do something so violent and evil.” I explain quickly, hoping that he doesn’t think I’m a creep.

“My phone number is….. if you’re still interested.” I say hopefully. I really wanted to meet with him later on just so I could ask questions about his job.

“I am still indeed interested and thank you. It was nice talking to you. I’ll text you, alright?” He seemed hopeful like I was going to reject him now.

“Sounds great.It was nice talking to you also. I’ll talk to you later then. Bye!” I say cheerfully and waving at him. It was nice talking to him even though I was extremely nervous. It was nice. I felt like I could trust him and I’m really hoping I’m not wrong about this feeling. I have before and let’s just say I don’t want to relive that.

“So new potential toxic boyfriend?” Lee asks me as we walk to the cash register.

“What? No, I’m interested in his work. It’s not everyday you meet an FBI agent. We’ve been here for what? Six months now? He is the first person to come and talk to me randomly. I want more friends. I love you but we barely ever leave the apartment. Also why toxic boyfriend. I know I don’t have good taste in men but that doesn’t mean every guy that talks to me is toxic.” I say defensively. I really didn’t have a good track record with guys but Spencer seemed so innocent. I can’t imagine him being like the others.

“Yeah suuuree. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” They laugh. We always laughed at everything. Some people think we are mean because of the way we talk to each other but in reality we never take each other seriously, we never get offended by what we say to each other. We know it’s not meant in a hurtful way. I just chuckle at them. Today was a good day and I can’t wait to talk to Spencer.