“I wouldn’t know what punctuation mark you’d be.” I laughed. The conversation was ridiculous.
“But, if you had to guess,” Lincoln probed, not willing to let this go.
I shrugged and thought for a second. “Ellipses, maybe?”
He tilted his head and leaned back in his seat to think about it. “Huh. I kind of like that.”
“It’s cause he’s never finished yapping, isn’t it?” Sam grinned at me.
Henrik snorted. “I’ll say.”
Lincoln shot them a death glare.
“No, it’s because he never seems ready to be done. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s like a consistent string of new beginnings,” I clarified. The more I spoke, the more it made sense. I liked Lincoln’s energy. Whenever he was in the room, things felt more alive.
“What about me?” Henrik asked.
I studied him. “Hm…probably a period.”
The smile on his face lit up his brown eyes. “Why?”
“You’re straight to the point. What you see is what you get,” I explained. “Very respectable.”
Sam laughed. “Oh, Naomi. So innocent and naïve. If only you knew.”
I tossed a glance in his direction. “What do you mean?”
“He’s messing with you,” Henrik insisted, though, from the way his smile faltered, I considered otherwise.
Henrik’s brush-off seemed to pull Finn out of his world. He glanced at Henrik in the rearview and the two exchanged something unspoken as Henrik said, “Do Sam.”
“Alright, let’s hear it.” Sam motioned his hand for me to continue.
“You’re an exclamation point,” I said.
Sam raised a brow, looking pleased. “Sounds like a compliment to me. I’ll take it. Now, what about Finn?”
My smile faded. I dared to glance over at him. His eyes were back on the road.
“Uh…” I wanted to say, question mark, but couldn’t decide if that was terribly offensive or not. Maybe I could pretend to not have one in mind? But that would look weird. The last thing we needed was the guys sensing anything off between us.
Before I could voice my over-thought response, Finn saved the day by asking, “Is this the place?”
Sam directed his attention forward, taking in the two-story community center. “Looks like it.”
“How long do we have to do this again?” Lincoln eyed the building with skepticism.
“Time’s going to fly by.” I nudged his shoulder. “You’ll see”
“I’m holding you accountable if it doesn’t, Naomi,” he said. “Please, know that much.”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
We filed out of the car. Lincoln and Henrik got into a new argument about the value of volunteering with Sam, once again, inserting himself in the middle. I listened, half-amused and half-keeping tabs on Finn. He lingered in the back of our group, his eyes trained on his phone as the rest of us talked. My phone buzzed, distracting me for a moment.
MidQuest: How’s your morning so far?
Chai03: Awkward as all get out. Saw one of my roommates naked. And had to endure a forty min car ride with him after.
