Fourteen: Just Friends.

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          "Penelope, park closer!" Julia told as she, Tara and Penelope had pulled up to the wedding venue. "Where on Earth— this is a nightmare. How are there already so many people here?" Penelope questioned as she looked around for an open parking spot.

           "Maybe because a certain somebody wanted to take her sweet time getting ready this morning?" Tara guessed from the backseat. "Totally not true! Julia was also taking her sweet time, thank you." Garcia told. "Oh, that's so not true." Julia defended herself.

          Before it could turn into a whole big debacle, Tara had played mediator between the two and found a parking spot near the entrance. Once Garcia successfully parked, the three got out of the car, readjusting their dresses and bags and such.

          "Golly!" Julia exclaimed with a stretch and checked her watch. "At least we got here thirty minutes early." She told. "We would've gotten here in ten had I not reminded you that the wedding started at seven." Tara said.

           "Curse Morgan for deciding to do it so early the night after the bachelorette party." Julia told. The night before had been an eventful one, Julia and Garcia had been paired as bridesmaids for Savannah, considering just how close she'd seemed to get to the two.

          One of her nurse friends, Kelly, had been the maid of honor and had indulged in having Garcia and Julia help with planning the bachelorette party. And JJ and Tara had also been invited to their shenanigans, entailing male strippers and drinking.

"Yeah, I think my hangover has a hangover." Tara commented as she rubbed her temple. "Well, let's fight through it, for Savannah and Derek, right?" Julia asked and Garcia agrees, "For Savannah and Derek!"

         Soon enough, ceremony time came and Julia had her mini bouquet in her hands, walking towards the group to be lined with one of the groomsmen. Which she was lined up with Hotch — thank the lords — and not one of Derek's playboy friends. She was heading towards the line when she quickly spotted Reid at the front, already ready to head down the aisle.

         Julia practically skipped over to him and smiled fiercely at the man as she quickly tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, best man." She tells and Reid turns around and his eyes gleam over the bubbly persona and he smiles a bit, "Oh, hello!" Julia steps back and Reid takes a look up and down her body and it doesn't go unnoticed. "You look..." His eyes take over the silk dress Savannah had wanted her to wear. A sage green color that she's actually grew quite fond of and thought made her body look good when she looked it over in the mirror and based on Reid's reaction, he thought it did, too.

        But a feeling of insecurity washed over her. She never did like her body in dresses, even after losing the weight. And suddenly, she was unsure of her body and tries her best to just prop the bouquet in front of her so she doesn't deal with the staring. "I know," She chuckles awkwardly. "It's not my usual suit attire, so it's strange, I get it." She plays off. Maybe Reid was gawking at her due to the fact that all she seemed to wear around him was her usual blouses and slacks.

Reid shakes his head almost immediately, looking at her. "No, no, not strange. Don't be ridiculous." He shakes his head and then looks Julia in the eye. "You... you look beautiful." And for some reason, Julia believes it coming out of his mouth.

       Reid throws the girl a soft smile and he feels his heart literally flutter when he sees her smile back at him. "And you don't look too bad yourself, doc." Julia teases and Reid looks down, sheepishly and shy as Julia adds, "Believe me, I'm not the only one staring." She nudges her head to her right and Reid looks over.

       One of Savannah's nurse friends, Kelly, AKA the maid of honor had been staring pretty hard at Reid. Julia noticed that, of course and plus the fact that Kelly kept bragging about the fact that she was walking with the Dr. Reid down the aisle at the bachelorette party. Don't get Julia wrong, Kelly was nice and she was sweet but she'd just gotten out of a relationship and maybe was looking to score hooking up points at the wedding. (Maid of honor and best man — what a cliché.)

      When Reid turned back, Julia looked out to the crowd and sighs as the groomsmen and bridesmaids begin to huddle and find their partners. "You ready for this?" Julia asks the man and Reid shrugs, "Derek Morgan's gonna get married once, right?"

"Let's hope."

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The ceremony was beautiful. A few tears were shed, even some laughs and a beautiful kiss between Savannah Hayes and Derek Morgan sealed the deal. Now, the reception party was only just beginning.

        The reception venue wasn't too far from the wedding venue and guests began to arrive one by one. Reid, JJ, Will, Rossi and Hotch had waited for Julia, Tara and Garcia to arrive so they could find a table altogether.

        And as soon as they found one, everyone put their belongings on the table and went their separate ways. JJ and Will had gone to mingle with the other couples, while Tara and Garcia found the bar and Hotch and Rossi went to watch over them so they didn't get too rowdy.  Which left Reid and Julia at the table.

       Noticing Julia was struggling to stand in her heels and muttered to herself that her heels were killing her, Reid had pulled a chair out for her to sit on. "Oh, ever the gentleman, thank you, Spencer." She smiled.

      "Of course," Reid nods and Julia pulls at the strap of her shoes, thankful her dress was long enough to cover her bare feet. "I'm gonna stop by the bar and get a water, you want anything?" Reid offers and Julia nods, "A water sounds nice. I'm parched." Reid nods at her words, "Coming right up."

       As Julia sets her shoes to the side, she feels eyes on her and almost immediately, JJ's seat beside her is now occupied by Kelly. "Oh em gee, Julia, I am so sorry." She exclaims and Julia furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "For what?"

      "I've been making sex eyes at Spencer all night, I so did not realize that you two were a thing! I am so sorry!" Kelly apologizes and Julia can already tell she's already a bit tipsy by the glass of champagne in her hand. Julia shakes her head, what indicated that her and Spencer were a thing? She was sure that they were merely just friends and that nothing they were doing seemed to point to them dating. Did they really look that much like a couple?

      "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Spencer and I are just friends." Julia clarifies and Kelly's eyebrows raise in surprise. "Really?"
       "Yeah," Julia nods. "In fact, I advise you go and buy him a drink." She notices he's still by the bar and remembered that he was only getting himself a water and it would be a perfect opportunity to buy him a real drink.

"You think so?" Kelly asks. "Oh, yeah. Wait until later to buy him a drink though. Once they tell him who bought his drink, he'll look over and then you can dazzle him with your... sex eyes." Julia never thought she'd ever use that phrase ever in her life. (She didn't even know what sex eyes were.)

       Kelly smiles at the woman, "Awesome! Thanks, Julia!" With that, the woman walks away and Julia smiles to herself. If she couldn't have a little fun with Reid, it was better someone else did. And Kelly, she was a sweet girl, maybe she could put a little sun on his gray cloud.

        Within a minute or two, Reid had come back with his water and everyone had sat down on their tables, welcoming the entrance of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan and talking amongst themselves and eating. And then finally, a waiter had approached the team's table, putting a glass of bubbly in front of Spencer.

       "Here you go, sir." The waiter told and Spencer furrows his brows, so confused at what was going as he sat up. "Oh, I-I didn't order this." The waiter nods, "Yeah, it's, uh," She turns around and moves a bit so Reid can see Kelly at the bar. "It's on the house."

        Kelly was seated at the bar, legs crossed and sipping through a straw and was indeed, as promised, giving Spencer sex eyes and she was doing a damn good job at doing so. (Julia even considered telling Kelly to forget Spencer and to go for her instead.) Perks of also liking women.

       Reid holds his glass towards the woman. "Oh, uh, thank you." He tells and Kelly winks at him and the man gulps as the waiter walks away and Garcia chuckles, "Looks like someone is definitely into you."

      "What makes you say that?" Reid asked, confused about what was going on. "Reid, she brought you a drink." JJ said, stating as if it was matter-of-factly. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Julia then added, "And gave you sex eyes." Reid turns to the woman next to him, so, so confused. "Sex eyes? What?" At that moment, Garcia had decided to go and speak with Morgan about something real quick, JJ and Tara had gone to use the restroom and Rossi and Hotch had gone back to the bar for a refilling. Again, leaving Reid and Julia alone.

"What are 'sex eyes'?" Reid asked. And Julia turns to him, "It's exactly how they sound. It's funny, earlier, she came up to me because she thought we were dating and I said we were just friends and reiterated that we were solely just friends and well, here she is buying you a drink. You should pursue it."

Reid sat there in realization. Julia had reiterated that they were just friends. And of course, they were. But of course, he thought their friendship was going deeper than that. That flirting was just one step they were taking. And maybe this was him finally gaining— no. What the hell was he thinking? He and Julia worked together, nothing more. She was the Garcia to his Morgan and they were platonic. I mean, they were currently at Morgan's wedding! He can't help but be a little confused.

"I-I should?" He asks. Julia shrugs as she takes sip of her drink. "Yeah. She's nice." Reid furrows his brows in confusion. "You can't expect me to pursue someone solely because she's nice." And he'd be wrong, because he was gaining feelings for the woman that was always nice to him — more so teasing.

Julia sighs, placing both hands on Reid's shoulders and shaking them like she's getting him to wake up. "Reid, you're handsome and sweet and you got that "sexy professor" thing going on so go over there and get to know her or else I'll kiss you right here, right now and look like a giant asshole to her." Reid sighs.

He's faced with a dilemma. On one hand, he wants to tell Julia to do it right here, right now with no hesitation but then that would complicate things. And on the other hand, she was the one that set this up. And he certainly didn't want to make her look like the bad guy. And he's sure she doesn't want him to, either. So, he musters up what little courage he has left and stands up from his seat at the table.

Reid doesn't know what to do with his hands as he walks over to Kelly with a small smile and waves at her. "Hi." He says and Kelly smirks at him back, "Hey."

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Considering Reid was the best man, of course he had to give out a speech. He'd been one of the last few people to go, following Garcia's tearful words and wondering how he was going to follow up with that. But he had his speech memorized and hoped it would be a little meaningful.

"I, uh, have known Derek for quite some time now. We started working together back in 2003. I was 22 joining the FBI and of course, I was a little lost at first. Derek was the first and only person that decided to kinda take me under his wing. And I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to." Spencer smiled, Julia watches him. If there was anything he was really good at, it was speaking to a crowd.

"Derek, he's quite the character, I'd say." Spencer continues, laughs emerging from the crowd and Derek shakes his head playfully at his friend. "From flirting his way out of a speeding ticket to kicking down doors to save the girl, I never thought that one day he'd actually settle down."

"But when he met Savannah, everything changed. From the way he started showing up for work with a smile on his face and the way he involuntarily began to reach for Savannah's hand when she was around." Just like now, how Derek had his hand over Savannah's.

As he continued talking, Reid's eyes trail over to the table and his eyes track Julia, who's intently listening to every word. "He actually made me start to believe in something that I never thought was possible." Julia smiled at him, thinking nothing of it as he spoke. Reid never thought it'd be possible until he met someone like Julia, someone that reminded him that he was capable of love again. He never thought he'd find something like that again after Maeve. And suddenly, he has. He thinks so, at least. And the thought then somehow bummed him out, considering Julia had kept saying that they were only friends to Kelly. But what if he wanted more? What could he do then?

       "He'd found the one," He turns back to the married couple. "And Savannah, I'm glad it was you." He holds his glass up in celebration. "To Derek and Savannah, may your love story be one for the ages. Cheers."

       "Cheers!" Everyone clinks their glasses together and sip from them one by one.

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          Eventually, everyone found themselves out on the dance floor. Julia had been having the time of her life — as Dancing Queen went. She'd been dancing with everyone. She'd danced with her girls, even hopping in to dance with Rossi and Hotch. And even the bride and groom themselves. But she'd always gone back to Penelope in the end.

         The one person who hadn't even gotten out of his seat was Spencer Reid himself. No, he sulked by the bar, watching Julia move. He'd felt bad but he had decided to tell Kelly it wasn't going to work out. He wasn't exactly looking for a relationship at the moment. It's not like she really cared anyways, she was currently dancing — or maybe grinding — on one of the groomsmen.

        His co-workers tried to drag him out on that dance floor but he'd dismissed them. The one person that hadn't yet was the person he was keeping an eye on the entire night. And it seemed like she was starting to notice when she felt like she was missing someone in the circle.

         And that person was currently by the bar, babysitting everyone's drinks. Julia had taken a deep breath and quickly rushed over to Reid and grabbed his hands. It didn't take a genius to know she'd had a couple of drinks. But Reid didn't care, she was still her bubbly self and she seemed to hold her alcohol pretty well.

      "Okay! Come on!" Julia tells, attempting to grab his hands. Reid furrows his brows. "What?" He asks, straightening his tie. "Dude, I've seen you blow off so many people tonight to dance but you're certainly not gonna blow me off." Julia told.

      "Julia, I—"
      "I don't wanna hear an excuse!" Julia narrows her eyes playfully at him. "Come on!"
      "But—"

       In the end, Reid let her grab his hands, finally taking in just how soft her hands were against his. "Nope! Come on!" Julia pulls him by his wrists and walks backwards back onto the dance floor, pulling him right along with her. She's keeping her eyes on him as she smiles at him in assurance.

       "Julia. I don't want to bring everyone down with my—" He didn't even get to finish his sentence because Julia looked him dead in the eye and said — "Spencer. Shut up and dance with me, okay?"

       And it was enough to get Spencer to shut up. Hesitantly, he nodded and stuttered out an 'okay' and Julia had danced and danced and danced and Spencer had forgotten just how fun this was. He'd danced with the rest of the team, even switching partners as they slow-danced. But the one person he'd gone back to was Julia, who still went back to Garcia — and he was totally fine with that.

        When this was all over and they'd go back to their normal lives at the BAU, he would figure out what this was. Did he like her? He had to, why else did he react the way he did when Julia told Kelly they were 'just friends'. 'Just friends' don't flirt. I mean, of course, the flirting is one-sided — not like he'd flirt back. He wouldn't know how to.

       Then again, Spencer was never good at reading social cues. She could be making fun of him behind his back for all he knew. And he was never good at justifying his feelings. And it often got mixed in with avoidance. Maybe giving her the cold shoulder until he could figure out what this was. No, that would be plain mean. He could try to avoid her, but that was not gonna be easy.

         Maybe he didn't deserve Julia. After all he's been through, maybe he's not capable of love. Maybe someone can't fully love him without them getting hurt. Or himself getting hurt. Maybe he was prone to being hurt for the rest of his life. And poor Julia, she's already been through enough. Maybe she wasn't ready for a relationship.

          Maybe, just maybe, they were just supposed to be "just friends". And you know what? Maybe Spencer was okay with that. Because he'd rather have her in his life as friends than date her and not have her in his life at all.

hey lovelies!
sorry abt this being short but oh well
anyways

1) spencer is such a mood this whole chapter 🫠
2) we deserved to see morgan and savannah's wedding ‼️‼️‼️ WE WERE ROBBED

i hope y'all enjoyed this although it was a bit sad
thank you all for reading
love you all :)
-mya <333