Just a Few Drinks Between Friends

[Corey Spencer]

It had been Reid's idea when her schedule for the week came down and she was getting off at a decent hour one day to get together for a couple drinks.  Corey readily agreed that it had been far too long since he'd had the chance to catch up with his hold friend and worked around his own schedule to get the time off himself.  It often felt as though he had little going on at the moment save for his work and the reprieve from that was welcome in a way he couldn't express to the redheaded cop.

"Just like a cop."  Corey chuckled as he lifted the beer bottle to his lips.  He was sitting at the bar waiting on Reid to show up and only cast her a short, sideways glance when she approached.  "Always fifteen minutes late."  He lifted a hand to the bartender, signalling them to drop off another beer for Reid in the process.  "I was beginning to think you'd never show."  Which wasn't true, though he still had to give her at least a little grief for being late even if he knew how her job worked and that the time she was scheduled to end her shift was rarely the time she was actually able to leave the station.

"So, Officer Chase."  Corey finally turned to the redhead and offered her a faint smirk.  "How's life been treating you?"

[Reid Chase]

She may have overslept.

After months of getting the shitty night shift, Reid was finally back on regular hours but that also meant her sleep schedule was messed the eff up. Thankfully, her very own sleeping pill was around whenever she needed her but today was just not one of those days. She slept through her alarm after deciding to take an hour nap after work before meeting up with her old schoolmate.

It was a boon, however, that Reid didn't take much time to get ready. Her shower was quick, she did up her hair in a messy ponytail and donned her usual clothing which consisted of a grey cotton top, jeans and her leather jacket.

Parking her car behind Matt's bar, Reid walked in and went straight to where Corey was seated, flipping him her middle finger before smiling up at the bartender.

"It takes time to look this good." She gestured to herself before accepting the beer with a thanks and a wink to the bartender. She swivelled a little on her stool to lean back against the counter top and downed half the beer with a sigh.

"Couldn't be any shittier." She shook her head and raised her bottle in Corey's direction. "I'm getting less time on patrol, I'm practically chained to my desk. Swell time for heroes."

[Corey Spencer]

Corey quirked a brow and took in the sight of the off duty cop in her jeans and leather jacket. He gave a long, slow nod and rolled his eyes as he finished off the beer he had been nursing while waiting. "Then I think you need to manage your time better." He replied with another chuckle. Corey may have been giving Reid crap but her modest sense of style was one of the things he liked about her. Hanging out with Reid was simple, uncomplicated and easy. She didn't have all the bullshit that followed a lot of people around.

"Yeah? Why?" He asked abruptly. Corey wasn't one to waste words. It was obvious Reid didn't seem too happy about her lack of time on a beat these days but there had to be more to the story than that.

[Reid Chase]

Reid gave Corey a look of disbelief when he suggested she needed to manage her time better. "I think you need to manage your sass, sir." Reid rasped back a response before raising an eyebrow when he asked back a simple question she forgot would ensue had she given the prompt.

And boy was Corey quick on the uptake.

She shook her head and shrugged. "Fuck if I know." She took a longer sip of her beer before setting it down behind her. "How's the school? Brats giving you grief? Need me to come down and scare them straight?"

[Corey Spencer]

Corey let out a deep, rumbling chuckle at Reid's reply, his eyes following as she went to take up a bar stool beside him. He studied her for a moment then turned his attention back to the freshly opened beer bottle that was placed on the bar in front of him. "Maybe they just like the way you make coffee and want you to stick around the station." He offered, though he knew that little line of his was probably going to garner a smack at least.

"If they're giving me trouble there's a problem." Corey replied. "Most of them don't even know I'm there and if they do, they don't know who I am." The big man gave a short grunt and a nod of his head. "And I'd like to keep it that way. The fewer of them who know me the better."

[Reid Chase]

Giving her wrist a little flick, Reid attempted to smack his head a little without touching him. "Obviously I was trained for six months on how to pour coffee grounds into the coffee maker." She responded with a smirk. She chuckled at his response and shrugged. "You've been there for a while. I'm sure one of them know you. Two at best." She teased.

She didn't quite know why Corey would rather spend his time under the radar but she wasn't about to question him, knowing he would do the same if it was her.

"Did I hear right that you were going out with Bell Connelly?" Reid asked, turning her head slightly, regarding the bigger mutant with a deep smirk. "How's that going?"

[Corey Spencer]

It was a simple thought process. Corey worked in emergency medical services not preventative or physician care. The only way someone would know him is if they were injured in some way that needed medical attention. The less the kids at the Academy knew of him, the fewer incidents of injury there were and that was something Corey was sure everyone involved with Bellefonte could get behind.

Still, he glanced in Reid's direction, a little surprised at the forward manner in which she was questioning him. He supposed he should have known what to expect. It wasn't as if Reid was shy about asking anything and the other young woman in question was her roommate. "Co-workers and friends." Corey answered with a short nod of his head. He didn't want to leave anything to the imagination there. While it was true he had gone out with the English teacher on a couple occasions they remained little more than friends who shared a need to look after the students at Bellefonte. "Why?" Corey then smirked mischievously. "Jealous?"

[Reid Chase]

Reid was watching Corey closely as he answered the question. She felt protective over both him and Bell that the question had even arisen in the first place. She wanted to know if she had to give the big brother/father/big sister speech to one of them.

Yes. That's why.

His answer didn't really satisfy her curiosity. His question made her roll her eyes and chuckle. Taking a sip from her bottle, her thumb started peeling one corner of the label. "Yeah. Can't believe you got to Bell before I did." She teased. "You guys didn't work out? Or were too much of a gentleman to make the first move?"

[Corey Spencer]

Corey let out a low sigh. He didn't really know why Reid was so insistent on talking about something that was so inconsequential. Was it really so difficult to think two adults could carry on a friendship outside of their place of work and not find themselves tangled up in some unrequited (or requited, for that matter) love triangle deal?

"No." He said, taking a pull from his beer as he watched Reid for a moment. Corey studied her features, from her freckled cheeks to her piercing eyes, in search of some motivation behind this line of questioning. "There was no move to make. Bell and I get along well enough but that's as far as it's ever gone. We have a lot of the same views on the Academy and the kids there." Corey's eyes narrowed slightly as he continued to watch Reid. "Why are you so curious about me and Bell?"

[Reid Chase]

Reid turned back to the countertop and leaned her elbows against the wooden top. She finished off the bottle and asked for something harder. She was fully aware Corey was looking at her so she turned her head a little with a raised eyebrow.

His answer was sufficient, she supposed. And then his question made her smirk a little. "Come on, Core. You're my best friend and Bell's my housemate. I needed to know. We can move on if you insist." She wiggled her fingers dismissively.

"I hear the guy doing liaison is shifting somewhere else. Any ideas about that?" Reid asked, thanking the bartender when he came back with her drink. "Could you get like two baskets of the hot wings and skins? Thanks, honey."

[Corey Spencer]

The slow nod that Reid got in response served two purposes. The first was to confirm he understood where she was coming from. Although he rarely chose to discuss his personal life it was unfair to think Reid wouldn't know that her own roommate and one of her closest friends had been around together and be a little curious. The second purpose for the nod was to agree that there were other things he'd much rather talk about.

"For the school?" Corey asked, relieved that the conversation had, at least for the moment, drifted away from his own personal life and moved toward Reid's professional life. "Go for it." He said with a shrug after a moment of contemplation. "It's a raise, isn't it? No more walking a beat or wearing the uniform. And you get your own office at the Academy." He chuckled lightly. "What's not to like?"

[Reid Chase]

She could see how relieved Corey became once they changed the subject so she kept on it, even though it wasn't what she wanted to hear. She had spent her entire life wanting to be a cop but lately, the higher ups haven't exactly been encouraging. She couldn't really give it up just for a raise.

"It took me years to get where I am now. I'm going to have to give up my dogs." She shrugged, taking a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "I ain't sayin' nothing." She waved her hand dismissively and drank from her tumbler. "I mean it would be nice not to have to look over my shoulder to use my powers." She chuckled.

[Corey Spencer]

"Just think of this as another step forward." Corey said. He knew all too well what happened once someone who was supposed to be on the front lines gained too much rank. Suddenly it became less about the soldiers and the narrow scope of the mission put in front of you and more about the big picture, as it were, and that usually came with a healthy dose of bureaucracy and politics. All the more reason he never got his commission in the Army. If could handle dealing with the politics and BS if he had to, but actually working with all of it was just too much.

"There's a lot of good you can do." He continued, his demeanor softening considerably. Corey knew Reid based a lot of her self worth on the badge she wore. She was a good cop and a better person, of that Corey was sure. She'd just hit a snag somewhere along the way and needed to figure out a new path. "You know you don't need to wear a uniform to be a hero."

[Reid Chase]

For a long while, Reid watched Corey, listened to him talk, essentially telling her that it was okay to let go. His reassurance was soothing but she wondered how much it meant to her to be in the department.

But given the circumstance, she knew it was probably a moot point. Not being appreciated for her work was one thing, but not to be trusted to do her work was another thing entirely. Suddenly, the thirty year old grew tired, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her palm.

"You're cute when you're being reassuring." She leaned to her right a little and bumped her shoulder with his. "But like I said, I ain't sayin' nothing."

She finished the alcohol in her glass and asked for another. "You know what, just leave the bottle here." She tapped on the counter and grinned at the bartender.