Finding Finley ✔

5

My spring break consisted of nothing but work and running with Darby every morning at 8 a.m. Darby doesn't talk much during our runs, mostly because she can't breathe, but she doesn't talk a lot when we stretch or walk either. I've made it my personal goal to make her laugh or smile at least once every day.

By Saturday, almost a week after we first met by her banging on my door looking for Parker and Bethany, I have successfully made her smile everyday and laugh twice, even if she thinks I didn't notice. It's not an easy task to make Darby laugh, but I had done it and now she is actually having a conversation with me as we stretch in the park around the corner from her apartment before beginning our regular routine.

"So, I know you have a brother, but do you have any other siblings?"

"Nope. Just Kit." I stretch my arms out in front of me before moving them in circles at my sides, "What about you?"

"I have a little sister." Darby mirrors my actions, "Her name's Megan, she's eleven."

"Are you two close?"

"Yeah, she's kind of my best friend." The smile that she has when she talks about her sister is completely different from any of the others I've seen from her. It's softer, warmer, and full of love. "What about you and Kit?"

"He can be a pain, but we're definitely close."

"I bet he says the same about you." She quickly moves her eyes to the ground and focuses intently on her stretching, like she's surprised and maybe a little embarrassed that she just made a joke. She glances up at me just as I'm placing a hand over my heart and she rolls her eyes at my theatrics.

Okay, so it wasn't much of a conversation, but it's more than I've gotten out of her all week so I call that a win.

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I text Darby to tell her that I can't run with her this morning because I have to pick Kit up at the airport and then go to my mom's for family dinner. Family dinner is something that my mom and grandma came up with so that Kit and I will come on the weekends to see them. We've been having family dinner every Sunday for a year now, and there's really no excuse good enough for mom to let you out of it.

I check my phone as I take a seat in one of the chairs in the lobby of the small airport and wait for Kit and Ellie to land. I didn't even know I was supposed to pick them up until they called late last night to remind me, and while I'm annoyed that I have to be awake this early, I'm glad to have them back.

Darby: K, still on for tomorrow though, right?

Since neither one of us have an eight a.m class this semester we agreed to keep our running time the same once classes start back. As I'm typing my reply, I feel someone standing over my shoulder, their minty breath way too close to my face.

"Who's Darby? Is she cute? Is running code for something?"

I tilt my head back and see Ellie standing over my seat, reading my texts as if privacy is a foreign concept to her..

I lock my phone, before standing and rounding the row of chairs so that I'm next to her, "Yeah, it's code for exercise."

"Uh huh." The two of us walk over to where Kit is standing with their bags, and before I can lift my hand to wave at him, Ellie is skipping ahead of me, "Kit! Finn has a girlfriend!"

I shake my head when Kit looks at me, raising a brow in confusion. "She's not my girlfriend, El. She's just a girl that I run with."

Ellie is constantly trying to set me up with someone so that we can double date, so when I quickly kill her excitement, she lets out a huff and rolls her eyes, "We'll see about that."