Chapter 6
A lba slowly lowered herself into her seat, watching as Neve and her friends walked away.
She’d seemed better. Not great, but that was to be expected a week after being dumped in the middle of a Best Buy. Better, though, and Alba was glad to see it. Even if Zainab had been trying to throw her under the bus with her comments, she wasn’t wrong that Alba had been worrying.
It took a moment before Alba realized Zainab was watching her.
“So,” she started with a smirk, “someone from work recommended this place, did they?”
Alba cleared her throat, sat up straighter, and surveyed her menu again despite having already decided what she was getting. “They might have.”
Zainab hummed, pretending to examine her own menu in the same lofty fashion Alba was doing. “Someone who just so happens to frequent the exact same café as the woman you rescued last week and have been worrying about ever since?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
The waiter arrived—thankfully not by jumping out from nowhere and terrifying the pair of them—and Alba was left waiting through their entire interaction for Zainab’s thoughts. Not that she really needed them spelling out. They were written quite plainly all over the woman’s face.
Any hope Alba might have had of convincing herself they were just going to move on and pretend nothing had happened was well and truly gone.
“So, did this friend of yours recommend that shakshuka you ordered?” Zainab asked, barely concealing her own amusement, when the waiter hurried away with their order.
“They did not.”
“Mm. Did they recommend any of the dishes?”
“No,” Alba replied cautiously. She knew where they were heading, but she was reluctant to get there.
Zainab looked her over, lips pursed and head nodding sagely. “How interesting.”
“Indeed. I have heard the waffles are delightful, though.”
“From someone other than your friend from work?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone I know?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Nobody whose name begins with ‘N’?”
Alba stared at her. “I honestly don’t remember.”
Zainab smirked. “Of course.”
For several moments, they waited in silence that felt something like a standoff. Not nearly as risky as a traditional duel, of course, but loaded and tense, both knowing what was happening and neither quite breaking the tension of the moment to simply name it.
Alba figured she’d come this far, she wasn’t going to give herself up now.
Their drinks arrived and the waiter didn’t seem perturbed by the energy around them, so Alba assumed it must not be quite as desperately tense as she felt. Maybe you had to be in the inner circle to sense the cat-and-mouse dance she and Zainab were engaging in.
Zainab took a measured sip of her coffee. She did like coffee, and would often savor a good cup, but this wasn’t that. This was her playing with Alba. They both knew it.
Finally, she smiled over the rim of the mug. “Say, Alba?”
“Yes, Zainab?” Alba replied with the most sickly sweet smile she could manage.
“Nobody at work recommended this place, did they?”
Alba sighed. “Not that I’m aware of.”
Zainab’s smile twitched, something triumphant she was trying to keep under control.
She always had liked winning.
So had Alba. That was, after all, why they were playing this game.
“Of course.” She watched Alba closely. “We cannot say for sure, because who’s to know?”
Alba shrugged. “I don’t routinely survey my entire building on where they do and do not recommend in the area. It’s not unfathomable that some of them could have been here, though. It’s a large office.”
“Of course. Off your regular route, but not so far out as to be suspicious.” Zainab was enjoying herself too much.
“Indeed.” Alba sniffed. She slightly resented the fact that she wanted to talk about her smoothie, but, instead, they were stuck doing this.
As if this wasn’t her fault in the first place.
It took another long moment before Zainab lunged back in again. “Say, Alba?”
“Yes, Zainab?” Alba said again, this time tinged with a little more bitterness.
Zainab breathed a laugh. “Did Neve tell you about this place?”
Alba quirked her brows. She might not be winning the war, but this mini battle was hers. “She did not.”
The only sign that Zainab was surprised by the answer was the slight narrowing of her eyes. She really had expected that to be the end of it.
She sipped her coffee for a few minutes, considering. The whole while, Alba sat taller, sipping her smoothie and reveling in not being quite as predictable as Zainab imagined her to be. They’d known each other a long time, it was important to keep her on her toes sometimes.
Their food arrived and, as they unwrapped their cutlery from inside the napkins, all of the smugness Alba was feeling drained away at the look on Zainab’s face.
She sighed heavily, watching Alba across the table.
Alba put her cutlery down. She’d already been unable to talk about her smoothie, she had no interest in tasting her food and not being able to talk about it immediately, but, without the answers she was looking for, Zainab wouldn’t allow a change of subject, even one that wasn’t specifically designed to escape from their current conversation.
Alba would have been glad of the escape.
“Neve lives here,” Zainab said.
Alba shot her a look. “This is a café. I don’t think anyone lives here.”
Zainab scowled, sighing exaggeratedly. “Fine.”
The tone told Alba she’d actually irritated her friend, but it wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last. That was just how they both were. They’d talked about it before, back in the earlier days of their friendship, and decided they liked it that way. Sometimes, the people closest to you annoyed you. That was a fact. What often hurt people, but didn’t need to for the two of them, was allowing the expression of all of their emotions. It wouldn’t work for everyone, but, for the two of them, they had no issue annoying the other, sharing their annoyance, and also, sometimes, purposefully winding each other up. That was also friendship, after all.
Maybe something more than friendship, something more like being siblings, but, either way, it worked for them and they had no plan to change it. Thus, while Zainab was annoyed with her, they both knew it wouldn’t last long, and was really just a passing annoyance at Alba’s unwillingness to provide a simple answer about Neve.
It was just more fun this way.
Zainab ate some of her food with deliberation before starting again. “You ran into someone who had just been dumped, drove them home, spotted this café while doing so, and thought it was a good idea to come loiter here in the hopes you’d run into her? And you decided to drag me along like some weird accomplice?”
“I believe if you aren’t in the know about a crime, they can’t really charge you as an accomplice,” Alba said lightly, not actually sure that was how it worked.
Zainab rolled her eyes. “You don’t think this whole thing is a little excessive? How many times have you been here this week?”
“Oh, this is the first,” Alba said, her eyes wide and honest.
After a moment of waiting to see if the sincerity dropped, Zainab relaxed, seeming to believe Alba. “Well, at least that, I suppose.” She shook her head. “But, really, don’t you think this whole thing is a little creepy?”
Alba laughed, the sound a little awkward. “I mean, maybe. A little bit.” Her insides squirmed in a way that indicated she felt more than a little uncomfortable with the whole thing. Maybe if they hadn’t actually run into Neve, it would be fine. But they had. And it was… odd. “I didn’t know she was going to be here.”
“Thank goodness for that. If you had, I’d be calling a doctor to come check you out.”
“Or check me in,” Alba said, pushing desperately away from the awkwardness of actually having run into Neve. Semi-stalking someone for friendship, it turned out, wasn’t less weird than stalking them for romantic reasons.
It’s almost as if stalking was always weird and bad. Alba rolled her eyes at herself.
“Hilarious,” Zainab said, knowing none of it was a joke. She nodded at Alba’s plate. “You might as well eat your food since we are here and have ordered. It’s good.”
“Well, I wanted to talk about it, but I figured you wouldn’t let me while you still wanted to talk about Neve.”
She shook her head. “Eat now. Talk about Neve later.”
Alba perked up, grinning. “Yeah?”
“Yes. But we will be returning to the topic.”
And so they ate, and talked about their food—which was excellent—and both relaxed into their usual dynamic without the Neve thing dominating the conversation.
It was another sign of the strength of their relationship, Alba mused as she finished up her food. No matter how unhappy Zainab was with Alba bringing them here, they both knew how to put things aside and enjoy the moment. She’d never really had that before Zainab. Things either simmered or were addressed in the moment, usually with high tempers and words people couldn’t take back.
She hadn’t really understood it the first time she and Zainab disagreed on something and, exhausted and emotional, Zainab had asked if they could shelve the discussion for tomorrow and watch some mindless television together. For over half an hour, Alba’s heart had pounded as she sat on the sofa next to Zainab, waiting for something that never came. Eventually, she relaxed and they talked about the show, and everything was normal and nice, and, the next day, they’d talked about their disagreement again with clearer heads and fewer fraught emotions, and Alba felt like that was maybe the first time she’d ever had a truly healthy and mature disagreement with someone. Maybe the first time she’d ever seen a healthy disagreement—at least one bigger than about which movie to watch, or what to eat for dinner.
Now, it was just a fixture of life, and Alba hadn’t been anxious about it for a minute. However, as they wrapped up their food, and Zainab leaned her arms on the table, angling towards Alba, that same nervousness broke out in her chest again. She wasn’t even sure why. She really wasn’t trying to stalk, date, or even really see Neve. Yes, she’d wanted to make sure Neve was okay. And, yes, maybe she would like to try being friends with the woman. And, even, yes, Zainab was technically correct when she said Neve was Alba’s type. But it wasn’t about all of that. She’d just… felt compelled to come here. And fate had figured out the rest. That was all it was.
“I’m not going to lecture you on how terrible an idea—actually, yes, I am. It’s a terrible and invasive idea to try tracking people down by stalking their usual spots,” Zainab whispered, just for Alba.
“I know that. I really wasn’t doing that. I just thought this looked like a nice place. I didn’t even know she came here. She didn’t say a thing about it.”
“Not exactly a huge leap to make that she might, though.”
Alba sighed. “Yeah. I guess. I just… I don’t know. I saw it and couldn’t stop worrying about her. And I wanted to know she was okay, but that was it. I really didn’t think she’d be here and I’d actually get to ask.”
Zainab relaxed back in her chair. “Fine. I believe you. You’re a fool, but you’re hardly a threatening one.”
“Um, thanks?”
She laughed. “And, now you know, you can leave her alone? You’re not going to start showing up here every day?”
“I don’t know, the food is pretty good.”
Zainab scowled dangerously. “Alba.”
Alba laughed. “I’m kidding. I mean, this place is good, but I promise I’m not going to show up here waiting for her. I’m just glad she’s doing okay. Wouldn’t you be curious if you’d rescued someone?”
“Rescued someone? It’s not like she fell down a well.”
“You know what I mean.”
Zainab sighed again. “I suppose I do. And, yes, maybe I would be curious, but the difference between us is that I wouldn’t show up looking for them.”
“That’s not why we’re here.”
She watched Alba with a serious, knowing look. “I just don’t want you getting hurt. Or hurting her. She already just had one tough breakup.”
Alba stretched her arms out in confusion. “Nobody is getting hurt! There’s nothing going on, nothing’s going to be going on. Everything is fine. Besides, you’re the one who gave her my number.”
“Well, yes, because it would have happened eventually.”
“Would it?” Alba looked around, bewildered. What did Zainab know that she didn’t?
Zainab groaned, her head dropping forwards. “Yes. It definitely would have.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“You really don’t think anything through.”
“That’s not true.”
She stood up, gathering her things, and Alba followed suit, getting more curious the longer Zainab was quiet, but she didn’t say a word the whole time they were paying and leaving and walking to the car.
Eventually, she looked at Alba. “There’s an energy between you. Even without the way you’ve been fixated on her all week. She’s your type and the way you are with each other. At least this way we know.”
Alba didn’t know what they supposedly knew or didn’t know, but Zainab had clearly masterminded the whole thing. And she was angry with Alba for bringing her here?
“All I’m saying,” Zainab concluded, “is be careful and be gentle with her.”
“Again. You’re the one who gave her my number.”
“I love you, but really, do try to keep up.”
“Keep up with what?”
Zainab blew out a frustrated breath. “And don’t bring me along on your stalking missions without telling me next time.”
“I wasn’t stalking anyone.”
“Sure you weren’t.”
Alba shook her head, feeling lost in the conversation, but started the car anyway.
As they pulled away, Zainab laughed unexpectedly. “Also, since you’ll never figure it out, she thinks we’re dating.”
“Who does?”
“For f—Why do I even bother?”
“Because you love me.”
“I must. It’s the only explanation.” She shook her head. “ Neve . Neve looked at the situation and decided we were dating. That was another reason I gave her your number.”
Alba stared at the road. Could that be true? She hadn’t noticed anything that suggested it was. “Why would that even matter? She’s not interested.”
“Ugh. Oblivious to your own life.” She dragged her hands down her face. “As I said, just go easy.”