Chapter 9
T he last thing Neve had been expecting when she’d texted Alba was for her to come over in the middle of the night, but here she was: two in the morning, sneaking down the stairs to the front door of her apartment, dressed in leggings and a hoodie she probably should have rethought, and waiting for Alba to arrive.
The last time she’d been sneaking around at night after running into Alba, Charlie had found her in the kitchen. This time, Neve hoped beyond hope that Charlie wouldn’t find her. She had no idea how she’d explain what was going on, and she had no interest in having the inevitable conversation that followed Alba’s coming over. She stared down at her socks—turquoise and covered in tiny popsicles—pulled up over her leggings and really wished she’d had the wherewithal to get changed. Although, when someone was unexpectedly coming over at 2 AM, surely they didn’t expect you to be dressed well?
Neve winced, a sick feeling grabbing hold of her stomach. She had a feeling she knew what most people were expecting when they showed up on your doorstep in the early hours. Everyone knew. But this wasn’t that.
She wasn’t entirely sure what this was , but she knew it wasn’t that.
After being flustered at Alba insisting she wanted to talk to Neve, they basically hadn’t stopped texting. Neve felt guilty about pulling Alba’s attention away from the birthday party, but Alba had seemed entirely unconcerned. She’d also sent multiple pictures from the dance floor to demonstrate that she was still a part of the celebrations. Neve had not missed Zainab’s expression in several of them—knowing, suggestive, teasing? Neve still didn’t understand that whole dynamic very well and was even more confused when Alba suggested coming over. Was she bringing Zainab with her? And if not, how did that work exactly? Were they dating? Was it an open relationship? Too early to be exclusive? Together but Zainab was really into giving out Alba’s number to other women?
Her phone lit up with a text from Alba. Last chance to change your mind if you’re too tired for company
Neve chewed on her lip as she replied. Haha. I’m good. Promise.
Great! We’re outside
Neve’s stomach turned. Charlie was going to read into the situation a million wrong ways and kill her in the morning.
At least Alba had said we , so that probably meant Zainab was coming with her. Neve glanced at her clothes again as she rode the elevator down towards the building’s front entryway. She really wished she’d gotten changed.
Alba was standing alone, illuminated by the building’s lights when Neve reached the sleek glass doors that were slightly at odds with the rest of the building’s Tudor-inspired fa?ade. She glanced around, unable to locate Zainab, as she opened the door to let Alba in.
Alba grinned, turning to wave off a car that had been idling outside. It was only as it drove away that Neve noticed Zainab in the back, rolling her eyes but also amused.
Neve didn’t understand their relationship at all.
Even if she knew tonight wasn’t anything close to resembling a booty call, it still felt weird to drop the person you were dating off at another woman’s house at two in the morning. Didn’t it?
“Lead the way,” Alba said, her voice low given the late hour.
Neve’s heart raced in her chest. If she’d been expecting anything, she’d been expecting Alba to be drunk. Not completely wasted, perhaps, but very obviously drunk. It seemed fitting of her behavior tonight. Yet, here she was, not seeming very drunk at all. Alert, excitable, but not particularly drunk.
Neve led the way to the elevator and stood nervously in the corner as they ascended. She could feel Alba’s gaze on her, see Alba’s amused smile in her peripheral vision. Everything about the late hour and confined space felt loaded and intimate in a way it had no right to. Neve didn’t know what to do with herself.
She led Alba to her door, pausing to listen as she prayed Charlie wouldn’t be standing on the other side of it. “I’m pretty sure Charlie and Alice are asleep.”
Alba shot her a wicked grin as she mimed zipping her mouth closed and throwing away the key. It had been a long time since Neve had seen someone do that. It had never felt quite so loaded before.
Of course, she’d never been sneaking a woman into her room in the middle of the night before.
She stifled a groan and pushed the door open slowly. The entire situation sounded dirty and suspicious.
Alba stood in the opening to the living room, taking the place in, as Neve locked the door behind them. No sign of Charlie was a good thing, but they still had to make it up the stairs. Perhaps it was a good thing Alba seemed completely sober. Neve couldn’t imagine anyone managing this without their usual faculties.
“This way,” she breathed, the sound barely audible even to herself, as she led Alba towards the stairs.
Her heart was already pounding at the thought of getting caught, but it took off racing when she felt Alba’s fingers take hold of the back of her hoodie. It wasn’t anything untoward, but it wouldn’t look good if they got caught now.
Although, none of it would.
Neve was dressed in her pajamas, while Alba was dressed in a sleek, pink pantsuit with a graphic t-shirt, and makeup that clearly wasn’t from a casual night in. Well, maybe some people wore that much sparkly makeup for a night in, and Neve kind of secretly loved the idea, but nothing about Alba’s look was suggestive of simply staying in. She looked like she was coming in from a night out. It was undeniable.
They made it to Neve’s room without getting caught, and Alba finally dropped her hold on Neve’s hoodie. She breathed a laugh as Neve locked her bedroom door, attempting not to think the move felt suggestive. And then, Neve simply didn’t know what to do with herself. It felt as though she were in someone else’s room, not her own, familiar bedroom that felt alien with Alba standing in it.
Apparently, Alba didn’t have the same qualms.
Still smiling, she took her jacket off and hung it on the back of Neve’s desk chair before slipping her shoes off, leaving them by the door, and collapsing quietly onto Neve’s floor.
Neve fidgeted with the overly long sleeves of her hoodie. “You can lie on the bed.”
Alba lifted her head, amused. “I don’t think you want these pants all over your sheets.”
Reflexively, Neve looked at them. It took longer than it should have to realize the move probably looked like she was checking Alba out.
When she didn’t say anything, Alba breathed a laugh, relaxing her head back to the rug. “You don’t need whatever I picked up in that bar all over your bed.”
“Oh. I guess that’s true.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to join me on the floor. I’ll just be down here relaxing, don’t mind me.”
If she happened to need a lie down that badly, wouldn’t it just have been easier to go home? She could have seen Neve any other time. Maybe after some sleep.
“Are you tired?” Neve asked, edging a little closer and debating between sitting on the bed or just joining Alba on the floor.
“Hm. Not yet.”
“Okay.” She sat on the floor, her back against the bed.
Alba looked back at her again, her smile radiant. Neve was beginning to wonder if she came in any setting other than smiling.
They sat in silence for a few moments, Neve desperately listening to the sound of the apartment, trying to ensure Charlie and Alice were, in fact, asleep. The longer she heard nothing unusual, the more she found herself relaxing—so long as she didn’t think about trying to get Alba out of there again. Could she push her luck enough to sneak a woman in and out in one night?
“Do you end all of your texts with punctuation?” Alba finally asked, her voice soft and quiet.
“What?” Neve tilted her head, questioning.
“Every text you’ve sent me has punctuation at the end. Usually an exclamation point, but the last message you sent had a period.”
“Oh.”
Alba rolled over so that she was on her stomach, looking up at Neve. “Thinking about it?”
“Yeah. I’ve never noticed.” She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Just…”
“Most of them?”
She winced. “Yeah. I guess so.”
Alba laughed. “I think it’s cute. Although, it’s a good thing I’d met you and that I’m so chill. You put a period at the end of a text and some people think you’re angry enough to murder their entire family.”
Neve hugged her shoulders in tighter to her body. “Uh, yeah. I do that.”
She laughed again, struggling to keep the volume down. “You send periods but get stressed when someone sends you one?”
“Sometimes, yeah. I suppose it depends on the context of the rest of the message.”
“I see.” The gleam in her eyes suggested she didn’t see at all but was deeply amused by the whole thing.
Neve looked awkwardly away, searching for a change of topic. “So,” she eventually said. “Should I ask what brings you by tonight?”
The gleam transformed into something more mischievous, and Alba swung herself up so that she was sitting cross-legged directly in front of Neve. “Did you want me to leave?”
“No!” Neve replied far too quickly, her hands reaching forward insistently but stopping before she actually touched Alba. “No, no. I was just curious.”
Alba tilted her head, watching Neve intently. “I figured I should take advantage of the situation while you were still talking to me. Don’t want you getting lost down a toilet and risk never seeing you again.”
Neve hoped the low light in her room was enough to cover her blush, but the heat she could feel in her cheeks made her certain it was not. “I’ve never fallen into a toilet. I should be very clear about that.”
“Ah. So Charlie’s concern wasn’t based on anything real?”
“Not at all.” Neve wished she could convey that the sentiment went far beyond Charlie apparently thinking she’d be clumsy enough to fall in a toilet. She wasn’t sure how to without addressing the situation completely, but something about Alba’s expression suggested she might have picked up Neve’s meaning.
“Good to know.” She shrugged. “And, either way, I wanted to see you again. Now seemed as good a time as any.”
“You didn’t want to just go home with Zainab?”
“I go home with Zainab all the time—comes with living together.”
“Right.” They were serious enough to live together, but Zainab still dropped her off at Neve’s apartment? She wondered whether it would be too much to ask if they were poly. It wasn’t that she wanted a relationship. She just… wanted to know.
“I can see that place any time I want.” She looked pointedly around Neve’s room. “Far more interesting to see where you live.”
“You’ve seen where I live. You dropped me off before.”
“That was different. You didn’t invite me in for the grand tour.”
“I don’t think this counts as a grand tour either, sorry.”
Alba placed her hand on top of Neve’s where she was picking at the edge of her sleeve. “I mean, your room is clearly the highlight of the grand tour, so I already got to see the best bits.”
Neve looked up at Alba. Her heart was pounding. She’d had friends before whose base operating system was to flirt with everyone. She figured Alba must be somewhere deep on that spectrum too. The only problem was that she wasn’t sure what to do with it when it was 2 AM and she was alone, in her room, with the perpetual flirt—and one who was touching her. It wasn’t as though she had the skills to flirt back and form that kind of bantering friendship.
Alba’s smile changed to something more sincere. “I like your room. It suits you.”
“Thank you,” Neve replied, looking around at her belongings as she attempted to figure out whether that was more of a compliment or an insult. “I like your suit. It suits you.”
“Oh, that old thing?” Alba laughed again. “It’s actually pretty new. As you might have guessed, the birthday girl likes pink.”
“I had noticed that. It looks good on her.”
“I’ll let her know you said so.” She gestured to the suit jacket. “Zainab picked it out, actually. As I’m sure you can tell, fashion is kind of her thing.”
“I’ve only really met her once, but I probably would have guessed that, yeah.”
Alba held her gaze. “What would you guess my thing is?”
Neve’s breath felt tight and she spoke without really considering, still distractingly aware of the place where Alba’s skin was touching hers. “Well, I probably would have said saving people before tonight, but, from your incredible eyes—”
The eyes in question, staring back at Neve, widened. “Thank you!”
“No, not that… I mean, they are… lovely. I just—I meant… Oh, my god. I meant your eyeshadow—liner—makeup. Your makeup.” She took a deep breath. “Your makeup looks incredible. Professional.”
“I’m glad you like it.” Her eyes shone as she finally pulled her hand back only to reach up and drag her thumb over her cheekbones before reaching across the distance between them and running the same thumb over Neve’s cheeks. “There. Now you have some too.”
Neve breathed a shaky laugh. “Nothing like getting ready for bed by putting on body glitter.”
“Every time is the right time for a little glitter.”
“I don’t know if most parents would agree.”
“Valid,” she laughed, shuffling forward slightly on the floor. “But it suits you, so that’s all that really matters.”
“You know, I was sort of expecting you to be drunk.”
Alba’s eyebrows shot up her head. “Should I be insulted?”
“No, no. I didn’t mean anything by it. Just… you know, night out, birthday celebrations, showing up at 2 AM… It is sort of giving—”
“Booty call?”
“No! I definitely didn’t mean that!”
Alba folded forwards, laughing, and, despite the fact that she’d been out partying all night, all Neve could really smell from her was her perfume—bright, hypnotic, fresh. “I know. Don’t worry. I’m just teasing.”
Neve cleared her throat. “But, you know what I mean. Most people would be…”
“Drunk. Yes. I can see why you’d think that. But, no. I’ve been on water for hours, and I just thought it would be fun.”
“Your friends didn’t mind dropping you off?”
“Not at all. Well, Zainab’s probably going to give me shit tomorrow, but that’s kind of our thing.” She nodded to the bedroom door. “Think your friends will mind me being dropped off?”
Hung up on the Zainab comment, Neve answered without considering whether the truth was the right answer. “Yes.”
Alba didn’t seem bothered, more amused, if anything. “Charlie really doesn’t like me, huh?”
“It’s not a big deal. I’m going to talk to her about it. She’s just…” Neve wasn’t sure how to end the sentence. Protective was probably the word she was supposed to say, but this felt more than that. It felt overprotective, restrictive, but that felt too critical to say.
“Looking out for you,” Alba finished for her. It felt generous from the subject of Charlie’s ire, but every one of Neve’s interactions with Alba so far had suggested she was the least bothered person in the world, so maybe that tracked.
“Sure.” She took a deep breath. “Just as I’m sure Zainab’s only looking out for you when she gives you shit.”
Alba smiled widely at her. “That’s just how our friendship is. Always has been. I suppose, when you’ve known someone that long, you don’t have to… I don’t know, pretend . You don’t have to filter yourself and make yourself more likable. You just know each other, you know your dynamic, you can give each other shit because you know you love each other.”
“You’re just friends, then?” The question felt too loaded, too invasive, but also a relief to speak out loud. Neve shouldn’t have needed to know so badly. She didn’t understand why she did need to know, she just did. Desperately so.
Alba groaned, tipping backwards so her legs remained crossed, but her back was against the rug again.
“Sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to pry,” Neve rushed the words out, burning with shame. She shouldn’t have asked. She shouldn’t have even thought of asking.
Alba waved a hand in the air, aiming poorly back towards Neve. “It’s not that. It’s that Zainab was right again.” She sat back up. “I hate it when that happens.”
Neve stared blankly for a moment. “Uh, what?”
She laughed lightly. “Zainab met you one time and said she was certain you thought the two of us were together.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “So, now, I have to tell her she was right. How annoying.”
“Sorry.” Neve looked down at the tiny patch of floor between their legs, her face hot again.
“It’s really okay. I’m just playing. Zainab’s always right. It’s not a big deal.” She twisted forward, ducking slightly, to find Neve’s eyes again. “But yes, we’re just friends. We live together, but not in the like… couple kind of way. In the way you do with Charlie.”
“I see.” She really shouldn’t have asked.
“Yeah, so when Zainab tells me I have to take her out for coffee again because she was right, I’m telling you you have to take me out for coffee to make up for it.”
Neve bit her lip, something between a laugh and a strangled breath escaping from her. “That sounds fair.”
“Good.” She nodded, the movement awkward given the way she was twisted down to see Neve’s face. “Now. I hate to be presumptuous—”
“Do you?”
She laughed. “Not really.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’re funny.” She sat up straighter, Neve following the movement. “But, anyway. I could really do with lying in a bed. Any chance I can borrow a change of clothes? I really don’t want to dirty your pristine sheets.”
“Oh. Yeah. Of course.” Neve could do that. Alba could borrow clothes. That was fine. She’d done that before with friends. As a child.