Nick & Finn

Scene 9A

Cameron came home from his date with rather a long face. We all regarded him sympathetically. "That bad?" I offered.

"Oh, she was plenty nice," Cameron said glumly. "It just wouldn't work. We have nothing in common."

"Nothing?" Nick asked.

"Not politics, not hobbies, not food, not number of kids," Cameron was still going over the list in his head.

"You talked about all that?" asked Belv.

"We tried everything," Cameron protested. "In the end, she just said, "Well, thanks," and I said, "Yeah."

"Ooooh," we all winced and said in unison. "That bad," I confirmed.

"Girls," Belv said resignedly. "So much trouble with girls. It's all right, Cameron."

"Oh, I know," Cameron cracked a smile. "I just thought she was so cool when I met her, but, well . . ."

"Man, you don't need that aggravation," Finn said dismissively. "She probably would have been all high maintenance, impossible to live with." He whined, "Why don't you ever text me at work anymore? Why don't you ever take me shopping? Why do you hang out with your roommates instead of me?"

"Why don't you show me affection?" Nick rejoined in the same tone of voice as he poked around in the kitchen. "Why don't you ever touch me or kiss me? Are you gay?"

Finn stood up from the couch, puffed out his chest, and stretched out his arms. "Come find out!"

Nick ran at Finn as though to embrace him, but at the last second ducked his head and landed it on Finn's chest. "Om nom nom nom nom," he said, pretending to nosh Finn's shirt and moving down toward his stomach.

Finn's face registered genuine surprise for an instant when Nick ran into him, but he quickly leaned back and punched Nick hard in the stomach. We all called out and laughed in surprise as Nick's eyes went wide and he staggered backward. Nick laughed along with us, but Finn just turned away with an annoyed glint and a―satisfied? yes, satisfied―smile on his face.