Danny stares at the text for entirely too long. What should she text back? How can she flirt without being a nervous reck and ruining it all? She's never been the best with talking to attractive guys.

Admitting to herself that she's always going to be embarrassing, no matter what she does, she breaths out and types back.

'My smile? Well I missed your awesome hair. I also read up more on geographical profiling. Call me the new Spencer!'

Too much. That was way too much for one text. She face palms again. Danny is scared that by the end of the night, she will have a hand print permanently on her forehead. Socializing is hard.

'I guess I have nothing more to teach you then. And thank you for noticing my hair is so fabulous. My mother thinks so too.'

The girl giggles between bites of lo mein. Dr. Reid is a genius and he's funny. Danny vows to try harder to keep him in her life, no matter how he wants her.

'She must be where you got your good taste from,' Danny imagines his outfits of tan dress shirts, ties and sweaters. 'But I never have enough knowledge Dr. Reid. And I don't think I can ever stop learning from you.'

Danny imagines learning things from him in a different way. Like rope knots and anatomy. She giggles to herself at the foolish thoughts rushing through her head.

'I think I have a few more things to teach you. Knowledge is always the best super power.' He types back faster.

Before Danny gets a chance to type him back again, she gets another text in. 'What is the show Cesium and Iodine love watching together?'

Danny thinks for a second, but the periodic table was never one of her strong suits. 'Idk what?'

'CSI' and Danny has to laugh at that. What a fitting joke for two people who love the FBI.

He fires another one just as quick, 'anyone know any jokes about sodium?'

'Na' She sends the answer back with a bitten back grin.

'Hey you got that before me!'

'I guess we just have chemistry' Danny cringes as soon as she sends it. Here she goes, ruining a good conversation again. Throwing back weird comebacks has always been something she's oddly good at. She's also terribly good at embarrassing herself.

'No' he types out and her heart sinks. But the bubble pops up again and she waits. Her jaw works in angrily chewing a spoonful of rice.

'Having chemistry really isn't true. Within a matter of seconds, our brains can already decide if they like what they see. The biology of attraction is somewhat based on sexual health and how physically beautiful someone is. Long story short, because I'm rambling, is that we all decide within the first meeting if we like someone. The one other determining factor is the first kiss.'

Trying to figure out what he means by the long list of words, Danny can't tell if he's trying to let her down, or if he's just showing off his smarty pants self. She really hopes it's the second, and doesn't want to seem like a dense cow by asking.

'Have you ever experienced that first meeting of attraction before?' She hovers over the send button precariously before diving over the end thumb first.

'Yes. Recently actually,' is his short answer back. No explanation. Nothing. Danny's mind goes back to the day she saw the tall blonde and a smiling Spencer. Of course that's who he would find chemistry with. Danny imagines that she would find that curvy woman drool-worthy too, if she wasn't straight.

'I think I have too.' Danny texts back sadly. And she knows she is talking about him. She doesn't want to prolong the conversation of him crushing her dreams, so she ends it.

'I need to get up early to make a cake tomorrow. Goodnight.' And she stands up to plug her phone in for the night by her bed stand. In the bathroom, a light falls from the fixture and shatters in the ground.

Looking around, she promises herself to look at new apartments tomorrow. What a lovely way to spend her nineteenth birthday.

—-

Authors note:

If you want to find other good criminal minds stories, click on the tags I used in the description. This usually brings up similar stories. If you enjoyed my work, there are other writers who have the same tags on their stories. For example: clicking on the #studentxteacher tag will bring up more student teacher romance stories!