CHAPTER 15
“Whoa!” Arlowe looked around. “How are you?”
As soon as she said that, on the lenses, in perfectly clear letters, appeared the words for ‘How are you’ in Spanish.
“It works for five of our languages right now,” Gabi told her.
“This is fucking amazing, Gabi,” she said.
“And I added the beta version to the app on your account, so if you run it from your phone or your watch, even, it’ll say it out loud.”
“Already? I thought you weren’t going to be able to do that until Q2.”
“In the glasses themselves – yes, I’m still shooting for Q2, but it might be Q3.
I need to get the audio components working properly, and so far, they’re working, but I can’t get the volume loud enough for you to be able to hear the voice if you’re in a crowded room or outside, just walking down the street, so I want to see if I can do that first. If not, the sound works fine right now from the phone or watch, so if you say it in your default language, you’ll have the option to see it on the lenses and either say it out loud or use the audio. ”
“This is amazing, Gabi. I can’t even believe you’re this far along.”
“Let’s just say I have been getting some encouragement from my head-of-marketing girlfriend.
” Gabi laughed a little. “Sarai has some schools breathing down her neck to get them version one. The teachers she’s talked to say this can really help kids learn languages at an earlier age, but with kids, I need to make smaller glasses, so I’m working on doing that next.
It’ll be harder. They have really small faces, which means smaller frames.
The college students will like these, I think – stylish, but helpful. ”
“And we’ve got five languages so far?”
“I focused on the more common ones we need, so it’s Spanish, French, German, English, obviously, and Mandarin.
Mandarin was tricky, and it works a bit differently, but it does work.
Very basic-level stuff for all the languages right now, but I should have the rest of what we’ve got available in by version three or four, at least.”
Arlowe took off the glasses and carefully handed them back to the woman who had made them.
“We really never thought that this would happen for us,” she said.
“Just a few years ago, we were still in the garage, working with Violet’s money because we didn’t have any real investors, sharing a house together to save money, and now, we’re here, in an office with actual employees and contracts with schools and universities to help people learn new languages. ”
“Sarai was worried even a few months ago that people would stop learning languages because English, good or bad, had pretty much taken over, so Enya had to tell her that people would always want to speak their native language, even if they learn another or multiple languages. We’re also contributing to Americans being able to keep up with other countries that start teaching foreign languages right away in school, but I don’t know.
We’ll see, I guess. I’m a nerd, though, so I just like building stuff and making it work. ”
“Yeah, me too,” she replied. “Just in software form.”
“Hey,” Sarai said as she walked into her office. “Oh. Hey, babe,” she added when she noticed Gabi sitting in the other chair. “I was going to see if Arlowe wanted to grab lunch with us.”
“You’re inviting me to lunch with just the two of you?” Arlowe asked with a quirked eyebrow. “Why, exactly?”
“Oh, no reason. I’ve just been tasked with uncovering what went down between you and Eline last night, and I already had lunch plans with my girlfriend, so two birds, one stone, and all that.”
“I hate that expression,” Gabi shared. “It always makes me picture someone throwing a rock at a bird.”
“Sorry,” Sarai offered and walked up behind Gabi to run a hand through the hair she had in a ponytail. “Is it okay if Arlowe tags along?”
“Sure,” Gabi replied.
“What if Arlowe doesn’t want to tag along?” she asked.
“Too bad. Enya and Violet are busy, and we all want to know what’s going on with you and Eline, so you’re coming to lunch with us, and you’re going to fill us in. I’ll buy, if that makes your lack of decision on the matter any easier.”
Arlowe looked at Gabi and said, “You date her. How do you deal with it?”
Gabi smiled up at Sarai, who was behind her, and said, “I kind of like her. That makes it easier.”
“Hilarious,” Sarai replied sarcastically. “Lunch?”
“Fine. Whatever,” she said, deciding to give in because it would be easier for her this way.
She would get a free meal out of it, and Sarai would then be responsible for telling Violet and Enya all the not-so-juicy details of her driving Eline home after the bar.
Last night, when they had stood up from the booth together, Arlowe hadn’t hesitated.
She had placed her hand on Eline’s back because it had always felt like it belonged there; like she was supposed to be touching her, helping her out of the bar, as if Eline had needed any help out of a room.
Then, as she’d driven Eline home, she had wanted to reach for her hand, put it in her own lap, and hold it for the rest of the drive.
She’d really wanted not just to walk Eline to her door, but to go inside with her, make her a tea that would help her sleep, and then help her get into bed.
She would’ve stayed over had Eline asked, and she would have held her all night long, making sure Eline stayed asleep the whole night, even if it meant that her arm, which she inevitably would’ve had under Eline, had gone numb.
She would’ve gladly woken up with an arm that she couldn’t feel if that meant she got to have Eline in her arms, breathing softly and evenly against her chest, with her arm wrapped over Arlowe’s stomach.
“Earth to Arlowe,” Sarai said.
“What?” she asked.
“Are you going to tell the nice man behind the counter here what you want for lunch?”
Arlowe looked at the guy who was standing in front of various meats that she could choose from at the barbecue place they went to occasionally.
“Um… A two-meat plate with sliced brisket and pulled pork, please.”
He nodded, and Arlowe looked down at the tray she had on the metal rack.
She pushed it down a little to make space for Sarai and Gabi to put their trays down as well, and when the guy on the meat section today slid her plate down to the next guy, she ordered her usual two sides, which were mac and cheese and cornbread.
As the next person added her sides to the plate, Arlowe thought about the time she’d talked about the best macaroni and cheese that she’d ever had to Eline, who’d never had mac and cheese before in her life.
They’d sold the boxed stuff at a store there, so Arlowe had bought them some for Eline to at least try, and while they’d eaten, she had told Eline about how her grandma used to make the best macaroni and cheese that had been so perfectly creamy, she’d had dreams about the stuff.
“Arlowe, drink,” Sarai barked.
“Shit. Um… Iced tea,” she told the person at the register, who handed her a cup to fill herself. “She’s buying,” she added and nodded at Sarai.
Then, she went over to the drinks station, filled her cup with raspberry iced tea, and found them a table.
After sitting down, she quickly reviewed the different barbecue sauces in the caddy there, pulled out the one that was a bit on the sweet side, and added some to her plate.
Sarai and Gabi arrived a moment later, just as she was about to take her first bite.
“Couldn’t wait for us?” Gabi teased.
“I’m hungry. I skipped breakfast.”
“That’s very unlike you. You’re usually up all night and taking a break around breakfast, so you at least grab cereal,” Sarai noted.
“Not anymore. You’ve all converted me to normal business hours, which is annoying.”
“Is it, really?” Sarai asked as she grabbed napkins from the caddy next to the sauces. “Do you miss getting to set your own hours?”
“Part of me does, yeah. Don’t you miss when it was just the four of us working in the hot or cold garage, depending on the time of year? I’d stay up late, go to bed, and come back out for our morning meetings.”
“I do sometimes,” Sarai replied. “Now that we’re in an actual office and have other people around, I can see the fun in what we were doing before, but when we were still in that garage, and I was sweating and worried if we’d even have a company the following week, I was praying for what we have now. ”
“Me too,” she said. “The other night, when Eline came over, I couldn’t even stay up all night.
” She shook her head and stabbed at her macaroni and cheese.
“I guess I’m getting older, and my body no longer likes me staying up, pounding sugar and energy drinks that consist mostly of sugar.
At least, I can’t do it regularly anymore. ”
“Do you want to?” Gabi asked. “I guess I get the high that comes from staying up and coding something – I’ve done that before, but I don’t know…
I think I prefer to go to work now, come home with Sarai, and we can have dinner or just hang out before we go to bed, and it’s just really nice.
I don’t feel like I need to work all the time.
I can if I want to, but it’s nice not to and to get some actual sleep. ”
“Well, you also have someone to go home to, or with, I guess, since you two usually drive in together.”
“You could, too,” Sarai suggested before she took a bite of the brisket she’d ordered.
“Is that how you segue to asking me about Eline and our drive home, where nothing happened?”
“Nothing? Arlowe, really?”
“Well, not nothing. We talked, but it’s not like we kissed or that she invited me inside for something more.”
“No one thought that would happen,” Sarai replied.
“Then, why am I at this lunch?”
“Arlowe, we didn’t expect you to share any juicy details. And you wouldn’t do that, anyway; not with Eline.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“We just wanted to know how it went, how you two left it, and how you are; that’s all.”
“That’s all?” she asked.
“She’s back, Arlowe. The woman you thought was the love of your life is back, and you two are hanging out again. Yeah, that’s all,” Sarai said. “We all just wanted to know if you’re okay.”
“I think I am,” she replied.
“You think?” Gabi asked.
“I mean, she’s back. If I called her right now and asked her to hang out, I could see her tonight. It’s pretty surreal, and I haven’t been able to do that in a long time. It’s a lot.”
“I bet,” Sarai said.
“I want more, but I don’t know if she’s ready.”
“Are you?”
“I don’t know. We agreed that we should keep talking, so we have been texting a little here and there, trying to catch up and get to know each other again. I was going to see if she wanted to get together this weekend.”
“Why not tonight?”
“I’ve got too much work to do tonight, and from her texts this morning, she does, too. They’re still dealing with the customer backlash from the data breach. Now, before you ask – yes, I have the tips-for-avoiding-scams doc ready. I just need to share it with you.”
“I wasn’t going to ask, but thank you,” Sarai said before she stole a French fry off her girlfriend’s plate and ate it.
Gabi didn’t seem to mind, and she stuck her own fork into the green beans on Sarai’s plate. Arlowe hated to admit it to herself, but she wanted that, too.
“I was thinking about asking if she wants to do something Friday night, but that would make it sound too much like a date, right?”
“Not if you don’t call it a date or act like it’s one,” Sarai replied. “But if you want it to be a date, shouldn’t you just ask her out?”
“I want to take things one step at a time. We had coffee, and that was awkward as hell. Then, we went for a drink, and I chose some stupid bar instead of one I’m comfortable in, and we ended up leaving to code all night, which was amazing.
Now, she’s spent some time with all of you again, and it’s nice. It feels like she fits, doesn’t it?”
“Arlowe, Eline has always fit with you. We could all see it then, and we still saw it at the bar,” Sarai said.
“I saw it then, too, and I was only there for a weekend,” Gabi added.
“What if I fall in love with her again?”
“Oh, please,” Sarai said, laughing.
“What?” she asked.
“Arlowe, there is no again. You’ve always been in love with her.
You might have had some short relationships, gone on dates, kissed some women, slept with a few, and all that, but you’ve never loved anyone other than her, and you never actually fell out of love with her.
Why do you think it hurt so much? This whole time, you’ve been in love with someone whom you thought you couldn’t have. Now, here she is, and you can.”
“So, you’re saying I should just go for Friday night and see what happens? Date or not?”
“Yes,” Sarai stated.
“I’m with her.”
“Yeah, I know that already, Gabi. You’re one of the we now.”
“What?” Gabi asked, laughing a little.
“When Violet and Stella started saying things like, ‘We might go,’ or, ‘We’ll see,’ instead of them each speaking for themselves, we started teasing them and calling them we people. You and Sarai are just like them now,” Arlowe replied.
“Jealous?” Sarai asked.
“Yes, I am,” she admitted.
“Text her now. The sooner you do, the faster you can become a we person like us.”
“That’s a weird sentence,” Gabi said to Sarai as Arlowe pulled out her phone, deciding to put the idea out there.
If Eline said no, she would probably give her a reason, and she could deal with whatever that was, unless the reason was that Eline didn’t want to see or talk to her again. Arlowe wasn’t sure she could handle that ever again.
Arlowe Romano: Are you doing anything Friday night? I was thinking we could hang out if you’re not too tired from work this week.
She hit send and prepared to set her phone down on the table, but seconds later, the three dots appeared, and Eline’s reply followed.
Eline Claasen: I won’t be too tired to hang out with you. Just tell me when and where, and I’m there.
Arlowe smiled when she read that.