Smirk

Rory was the only one who had done the reading. Rory was glad to be sitting at the front of the class since smirking wouldn't have been appreciated by the others.

Smirk away, Rory. Smirk. A. Way. 

As they say, "To the person who did the homework go the privileges of smirking." 

Of course that isn't a very common expression. 

Sale

Blaine was an excellent bargain shopper. With limited funds on a  graduate stipend, you have to get creative. Blaine found you could get better deals buying in bulk. 

Custodian

Frankie loved the custodian in her building. Charlie was incredibly nice and friendly and always helpful and always said hi and asked how Frankie's day was going.

The day of Frankie's last final, Charlie again rose to the occasions saying, "Don't stress about it, Frankie. You're going to clean up on this test!"

They both laughed and laughed. Frankie said Charlie was great at custodial puns. Charlie said, "You might think those are pretty easy, but they aren't. Well, it's easy if you're into dirty jokes, I guess, but I try not to tell those at work."

They laughed and laughed again. Oh, that Charlie.

Sorry

Instead of actually apologizing, sometimes Blaine and Frankie would just play the game Sorry. It was easier to do that than to actually say the word, "Sorry" to each other without a prompt from the game.

The irony was that the only thing Blaine had to apologize for was a completely cold and ruthless strategy that focused only on winning and not on friend-making when it came to board games, and the only thing that Frankie had to apologize for was not sounding sincere when saying "Sorry!" during the playing of the board game.

Morning

Parker welcomed the new year with a cup of coffee and the local paper. The coffee was good - the news wasn't. Parker realized there was a lot of work to be done.

Then Parker took a long nap.