Sincerely, Sinclair || Sinclair Bryant x Reader ||

Chapter 4: Intentions of the Heart

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"I just don't know if I'm ready."

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"How'd it go? We want to hear all about it!" Audrey exclaimed, bursting into my apartment without a real proper greeting.

"Don't start without me!" Jade screeched, dashing into my kitchen to put the cake that she had brought into the refrigerator.

I laughed at my friends' eagerness, a smile spreading from ear to ear on my face. Audrey's twirled one of her red ringlets of hair around her finger, eyeing me from head to toe to read my demeanor. I was trying to appear casual, as if the date had been nothing more than mediocre. Audrey, though, could see straight through me. She could tell that I was about to explode with joy.

"That's a happy face if I've ever seen one. How was it?" Audrey asked as she took the seat next to me on the couch.

I bashfully looked down at my hands, fiddling with one of the rings on my finger. Truth be told, ever since I had returned home from the date, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't stop thinking about Sinclair.

"It was-"

"WAIT!" Jade shrieked from the kitchen, "I'm coming!"

Jade came sliding into the kitchen in socked feet, balancing three wine glasses in one hand and gripping a wine bottle in the other. She took a bit of an ungraceful landing onto the remaining open cushion to trap me in the middle. It was well into the evening now, my date with Sinclair being fresh on their minds. Jade shoved a glass of wine in Audrey's and my hand, Jade's kind eyes fixating on me when she was settled.

"Are you ready now or should I wait for the lighting outside to match the mood?" I asked sarcastically, taking a sip of my wine.

Audrey's eyes of emerald green did a roll at my joke, clearly more focused on the topic at hand.

"Don't leave us in suspense. Tell us!" Audrey squealed, her curls bouncing on her shoulders.

"Well, it was lovely. Lunch was great, and it was a nice afternoon." I replied, not giving very much insight into what they really wanted to know.

Jade and Audrey stared at me with blank expressions, both of them blinking at me mindlessly. Jade was always much more patient than Audrey, only leaning in as a physical show that they wanted more. Audrey, though, was usually the the more verbal one.

"What the fuck? That's it?" Audrey huffed.

"I had a nice time! What else do you want me to say?" I answered, hiding my giggle with a sigh.

"What Audrey means to say is, what did you think of Sinclair?" Jade asked in a much easier tone.

Sinclair. Just hearing his name gave me butterflies in my belly. I couldn't seem to find the right words to describe him. Jade and Audrey didn't fail to notice the way my eyes sparkled in remembrance, the two of them sharing a knowing, hopeful look.

"Sinclair is...different." I said staring down at the dark maroon liquid in my glass.

"Like, good different?" Jade pressed on, curious to see what I really thought.

"He seems to be interested in things that he knows nothing about. He's very curious. He's also very chatty," I rattled off, listing all of my immediate observations, "He's a sweetheart, that's for sure."

Jade was practically hanging off the couch as she listened, feeling a sense of joy that I had such a nice time. Jade had been a little worried that things wouldn't go well. She trusted Audrey's intuition that Sinclair was a good match for me, but Jade had feared that I was too far inside of my head to give him a chance.