The next afternoon Graham made his way to the same address he'd walked Aubrey home the night before. He had his laptop so he could head to campus afterward to get work done. His mind drifted back to the parting they'd had when he dropped her off.
—
"Thank you for dinner." Aubrey said.
"We should do it again." Graham responded.
"I'd like that." Aubrey smiled up at him, her eyes rested on his lips.
"I'll definitely be contacting you soon." Graham said. Graham looked at Aubrey, her cheeks were pink from the cold. She'd just wet her lips and they glistened in the light. He looked into her eyes and she looked back. "I hope you have a great night. Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow when I come to help Gina with her thing."
"I will be here." Aubrey said.
Graham leaned and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She responded and wrapped her arms around him. As he pulled back he bent down and kissed her forehead. "Until tomorrow then." He said, turned and walked away. He walked a few step then turned to look at her. She was standing right as he'd left her. He waved and smiled, she waved back and went into her building.
—
Graham smiled as he remembered the smile she'd had as she'd turned. He'd reached the apartment building, and made his way to the apartment door and knocked.
Gina answered and led him in. On a coffee table was a box that was slightly open and addressed to Gina Reynolds. Graham guessed that was their kits. He suddenly felt nervous. A minute later, Aubrey, Lauren and Emma joined them.
"We all decided to do it." Emma explained.
Graham was confused, where were the other two? "I thought there were 6 of you?"
"Oh, Tiffany and Lily have their own apartment." Audrey explained. "We were all friends last year so we get together for meals occasionally." Graham nodded.
"Okay, so I'm going to give each of you your own kit. There's a form to fill out and a registration code for the website. We should do those first and then we'll do the collection." Gina instructed.
She handed everyone their own smaller box and a pen. Graham couldn't stop himself from sneaking glances at Audrey. Once he caught her looking back. When they sat down, Graham made sure to sit by her.
They all filled in the info needed, most of it online, and Graham selected the option to let people contact him if there was a relation match but only through the website account. He didn't think they'd give out his information like email but he wasn't chancing it.
Once everyone was finished they took out their vials. "Alright we have to fill up to here, so let's do it on 3. 1...2...3" Gina said and they all spit into the containers. Graham couldn't help feel awkward in this situation. He was spitting into a tube in a room full of girls, but at least they were also doing the same thing so it made it bearable. They finished the instructions and packaged them up to return.
"I'll put these in the mail and we should hear back in about 6 weeks. Which should be mid April." Gina said, "I think we should get together to open our results."
"You mean you want me to come here and join some roommates thing again?" Graham asked, he'd definitely felt out of place as the only outsider.
"I think it could be fun to find out at the same time if we're cousins or not." Gina said shrugging. And everyone else agreed with her. Graham felt like there might be something more to this exchange but couldn't figure out what. Aubrey gave him an encouragingly look and he shrugged, "Could be fun."
"Since they might not all be done on the same day, why don't we contact each other when we get our results so we can set it up?" Gina asked.
"I'll let Gina know when I get mine back, I'm sure you all will talk about it in person, then you can get back to me." Graham suggested.
"Sound good." Gina agreed.
"I guess that's it then, for now?" Graham asked.
"Guess so." Gina said. "Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"
Graham held up his laptop case, "Just heading to campus to study."
"Noah mentioned you are dedicated." Emma said.
"It's true, and since this is my last semester I'm usually pretty busy." Graham agreed.
"I have a paper due next week I need to work on, I'll walk with you, if that's okay." Aubrey said.
Graham nodded, "Sounds good. I can wait while you get your stuff."
"I'll be right back." Aubrey said and walked to her room.
A few minutes later they were walking to campus together. Graham had offered her his elbow again and she'd taken it. As they walked he asked her about her classes and how they were going. She told him about what she was taking. Graham loved just hearing her voice. It had been a while since he'd met someone who made him feel the way Audrey did. As they approached campus he asked, "where do you plan on working on your paper?"
"Just at the Library."
"Want company, I don't need to be anywhere specific to do my stuff, plus I'm a great proofreader."
"I'd like that." Aubrey smiled.
They walked to the library and found a place to sit and set their laptops up. They settled into working on their different assignments, occasionally commenting or asking a question. The afternoon passed a lot more quickly than it usually did when Graham was working on assignments but he didn't get as much done since he kept stealing glances at Aubrey.
When he'd finished proofreading her paper and giving her feedback, his stomach growled. He checked the time, it was already six.
"Do you want to grab a bite to eat?" He asked.
"Are you sure you want to do that two nights in a row?" Aubrey asked.
"Food always wins for me, and I'd love the company." Graham said.
"Then I'd love to. But you get to choose this time."
Graham smiled. "I'm thinking Italian, my treat. There's this little place that is easy to miss but has some great food."
"Can't wait to try it." Aubrey said. They packed up their stuff and as they walked out, instead of offering his arm, Graham took hold of her hand.
"So I've graduated from the elbow to handholding?" Aubrey teased.
Graham shrugged, "I've never though about it that way, since it's more of a back and forth than a progression. Maybe next time it will be an elbow with my other hand resting on yours." He joked and Aubrey laughed.