The laughter that erupts out of me is loud and physical. But I'm not alone as Thomas begins to laugh himself, burying his face into the blanket. His whole body is shaking as my stomach starts to hurt from laughing too hard. I try to catch my breath, but I can't stop laughing.

"I'm glad I could make you laugh. I think we got a little too serious for the first activity on the list," he smirks at me with a twinkle in his eye.

"I think we did this perfectly."

"Perfectly? This is how you imagined this going," the laughter that escapes me is followed by his chuckle and his shaking head.

"I didn't imagine this per se, but I like talking with you, Thomas. I like getting to know you, and I like telling you about myself. Plus, it's not too late to look at the clouds yet. The sun is still out, and we haven't been kicked out of the park yet."

What follows afterwards is 30 minutes of cloud discussion about what looks like what, arguments about if we are blind, laughter at the ridiculousness of what we claim the clouds to look like, and all the cloud information you could ever desire. I also point out every single plane I see, which as of right now, I've seen five!

The sun says good night, and we begin to pack up, grabbing shoes, folding the blanket, and leaving quietly.

"So we did what I wanted to do today, but you should- WAIT!"

Thomas and I have been walking side by side on the trail back to our cars, but my yell scares him that he suddenly turns into a cartoon. The fear quickly dissipates into anger as I roll on the ground from watching his entire reaction.

"What are you-. What even is the-. Why?"

I pause my rolling as I jump up and get right in his face.

"We never exchanged numbers! How am I supposed to reach you? Even tonight, you were late! I was late too actually, but you wouldn't have known that at all if I didn't tell you just now."

His face looks like he is both pissed and cheerful. What an odd mixture of emotions that is blatantly written all over his face. He reaches into his pocket as he pulls out his phone.

His eyes switch to me, where he sees me hovering over his phone like a vulture waiting for my time to strike.

"Give me your number, and I'll type it in."

"Okay!"

The exchange is simple and is followed by a quick text from Thomas, so I can put him in my contacts.

I instinctively smile at the new contact in my phone as I think about how one note brought the two of us together. Well, there is also the joy list too considering we would have never met like this after the coffee meeting we had. We probably would have awkwardly talked with each other every time we ran into each other at the library, where we are just constantly asking each other if we are happy yet.

"Oh, there's something else you need to do! You need to write your own joy list, and you get to decide what we get to do next from it."

"Are you assigning me homework?"

"First of all, you are the one who involved yourself in my joy list. I did not make you nor was I ever going to bring it up to you in the first place considering we only just met. Second, this is your punishment for reading things without permission. So make a list of things you want to do with me that you've never done before. Got it?"

Thomas looks like he shot himself in the foot. I wouldn't say that it's that bad, but he did bring this on himself.

"Fine, fine, fine. I'll come up with a list tonight, and we can do something tomorrow. How does that sound," he gives me a tiny smile. I give him a smile of my own as I skip back to my car with my purse and blanket in tow, awaiting for what will happen tomorrow.

After all of that was finished, I turned my overhead fan on, slipped my eye mask on, and I crawled right into bed. Oh, I almost forgot about the part, where I rearrange my four pillows into the perfect position, so I can go to sleep. From there, I'm lying in bed, thinking about what to expect tomorrow.

At that point, I kept myself up late, imagining the worst scenarios of the activities we could be doing together tomorrow.

* * *

Morning was already becoming afternoon as I woke up around 11:00.

Normally, I never sleep in this late, but I assume I needed it considering my overthinking and the unexpected, highly emotional day I had yesterday. I scooch onto the edge of my bed as I briefly look at my phone for anything concerning my immediate attention.

Thomas - 8:16 a.m.

He texted me at 8:16. 8:16.

I open my phone and go to my contacts, moving as quickly as possible to find Thomas when I hit the call button, and the ring comes through loud and clear.

"Hello? Lucy?"

I begin to word vomit, "Hi! Hello! Good morning! I'm so sorry I kept you waiting! I just woke up, myself. I normally never sleep in like this. I can't believe I kept you waiting this long."

The laugh that comes out of Thomas is low and gravely. So this is his voice in the morning? Nice.

"You're fine, Lucy. It's not a big deal. I'm in the habit of waking up when I normally wake up for work. Don't worry."

The air in my lungs escapes me as I lie back in my bed, my comforter and pillow still warm from my body heat.

"Okay. Thanks, Thomas. So what is on the schedule for today?"

"Do you want to read together?"

The question catches me off guard. The activity he wants to do today... is us reading together?

"I can hear the chains turning in your head, Lucy. I thought about why don't we go to that cafe you like, we each bring a book, and we read together. How does that sound?"

How does that sound? How does that sound?

"What was that?"

"Uh nothing. When would you like to meet today?"

Thomas knows how to push my buttons in the short hours we have gotten to know each other, so he waits. Waits and waits. He waits until I say something.

"Does 12 sound good to you?"

Thomas makes this "hmm" noise with a dash of clicking his tongue.

"I think that's great! Let's meet for 12. I'll text you when I get there."

I can practically hear the grin he has on his face.

"See you at 12, Thomas. Don't be late."

I hang up abruptly, not annoyed at all, so I can get ready in a timely manner. I will have to get ready, take my pills, make and eat my breakfast, choose a book, and leave all in... 40 minutes. Lovely.

* * *

I leave out the door with two minutes to spare. I opted for a sundress since summer is doing its thing, and I chose my beach romance since again, summer.

As I get in my car, I reach for my phone to text Thomas that I am on my way when I am greeted with a text and a picture. I open up my messages, and what do I see?

Thomas took a picture of him holding his book out as he was already seated on the couch at the cafe. The text?

"Didn't want you overthinking if I'd be here."

I buckle in and zoom off, heading to Cafe Royale.

When I arrive there, the cafe is quiet. There are two employees I have not met before, chatting at the counter. The hunched man from before is persisting with his work even on the weekend while a group of young girls are talking in a group.

Then there is Thomas. Sitting on the couch, swiping at his phone, not noticing that everyone besides the hunched man is staring at him. I mean c'mon, the navy shorts, the brown belt, the short-sleeve white linen top? With gold rings and a gold chain? And brown sneakers? With his gorgeous, blonde curls? Illegal. Illegal to look that good.

I decide to go ahead and order a drink before I sit down. Today calls for a lemonade. I order and chat with the new employee when I head over to the couch, where Thomas is staring hard at me. He meets my eyes and offers a friendly smile.

Sure, everything is fine. No hard feelings. We'll read and be civil.

To 

"So tell me what had you overthinking last night?"

I glare at him, which only makes him laugh, so I glare harder in an attempt to make him stop.

"C'mon. What happened last night?"

The group of girls are very obviously eavesdropping on us, but I don't want this to spiral into something out of proportion.

"I was curious about what activities you'd put on your list."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Now, I thought we could both read on the same couch, and we could be buddies, reading together. But no, I will sit by myself on my couch, and he will sit on his by himself.

I gather my dress, so I can sit comfortably as well as not flash Thomas nor anyone else for that matter before he gives me a quizzical look.

"What are you doing?"

"Sitting."

"I can see you're sitting, Lucy," annoyance drips off his tongue like he ate a bad banana.

"Why aren't you sitting with me?"

"Do we have to sit together?"

His face is sour as he tilts his head to look at me.

Too quickly his sour face changes into a smug face as he pouts his lips and says, quite loudly, "Even after last night? We even shared a blanket together under the setting sun." I roll my eyes at Thomas's attempt to make me give in despite the completely, appropriate evening we shared.

"C'mon, Lucy, come sit with me! How can we even enjoy this official joy bonding if we are so far apart?"

I would like to state for the record that we are no more than three feet (95 cm) apart. 

As Thomas keeps begging for me to join him on the couch, I know that today is going to be a long day.