CHAPTER 3 #2
Sarai closed the refrigerator and didn’t know what to do now because if she went back into the garage, she wouldn’t be able to hear the rest of their conversation, but just standing in the kitchen, not finding the snack that she had told the others she was getting, wasn’t the answer, either.
“No problem,” Arlowe said. “I’ll see you then.”
That sounded like the end of the conversation, so Sarai quickly pulled open the refrigerator door again to give herself an excuse for being in there and thought about how Arlowe and Gabi had gotten along well the previous night.
Gabi had sat down next to Sarai at first, and Sarai had glanced over at her a few times, liking how Gabi looked in glasses.
She found herself staring at them and the eyes behind them more than once.
Then, Violet had accidentally kicked Sarai in the back, which had probably been a good thing because it had gotten Sarai to realize what she’d been doing.
Later, though, Gabi had gone to the bathroom, and Enya had moved to sit in the vacant spot next to her to ask her a question about something work-related.
Sarai had been annoyed, but she hadn’t been able to tell Enya to go back to her own seat, and when Gabi had returned, instead of sitting on the now-vacant spot on the sofa, she had sat down next to Arlowe on the floor, and the two had started talking about football, with Arlowe explaining some of the rules and offering to let Gabi borrow one of her older jerseys if she wanted.
Gabi had declined, but the two of them had been laughing a bunch until the game had ended and people had begun to head out.
Gabi had hung back for a few extra minutes, still talking to Arlowe, and when she’d given Arlowe her number, Sarai had felt a pull in her gut, but she’d had no right to say anything to either of them.
Gabi was single. Arlowe was single. Arlowe was also a bit of a player these days, yes, but Gabi was an adult and could handle herself.
Sarai remembered that first night in Amsterdam when they’d gone out to a bar with her friends.
None of them had been carded but Gabi, who’d only been eighteen, and it had reminded her of their age difference and where they’d been in their lives.
The whole afternoon before that, though, she’d been having fun with the younger woman.
They’d gone to a few of the places Gabi had wanted to check out, and Sarai had watched her take pictures of pretty much everything and smile the whole time they’d been sharing a funnel of French fries, which the city was known for.
She had dipped hers in ketchup, and Gabi had opted for a special mayonnaise-based sauce from the place where they’d bought them.
Sarai had liked her a lot, and after thinking that she’d probably date no one while in Amsterdam because there would be no point, when she’d watched Gabi nearly get knocked over by a bicycle because she’d drifted into the bike lane while they’d been walking, Sarai had laughed and had nearly asked Gabi out on a date right there and then.
She hadn’t because she’d already been watching Arlowe worry about what would happen to her and Eline when she had to go home, so that night at the bar, when Gabi had been talking about the rest of her gap year and her plans to go to university in Paris after that, Sarai had decided to push her little crush away, show Gabi around Amsterdam, and take her to the train station on Sunday.
Now, Gabi was talking to Arlowe on the phone, making her laugh, and Arlowe was offering to pick Gabi up, which likely meant that they were going out somewhere together; maybe just to hang out, or maybe to even go out on a date.
Sarai had no reason to be annoyed or upset, yet she was.
She grabbed a bag of chips that one of them had left on the table, opened it, and shoved a handful into her mouth.
“Damn. You’re hungry,” Arlowe noted.
Sarai just nodded and chewed, glad to have her mouth full because she had no idea what to say to Arlowe about her hangout session or possible date with someone she’d liked a long time ago.
“Listen, that was Gabi on the phone. I got her number last night.”
“I remember. I was there,” she replied as she finished chewing and sat down in her chair at the table.
“I think I’m going to get in trouble with you again because she wants to come back and check out the house.”
“She what?”
“I guess she really can’t find a place. She went to apply for another apartment that she found just yesterday, and it’s already been rented, so she’s giving up, I think.
This whole area has blown up overnight. They can’t build the apartments fast enough.
I am so glad we’ve been able to renew here so many times. ”
“Yeah…” Sarai said while she contemplated. “She just wants to see the house?”
“The room specifically, yeah. She saw the kitchen, living room, and, I guess, the bathroom when she was here. I told her that it was fine because I’d offered, and I didn’t want to be rude, but you, me, and Enya can talk about it if she’s actually interested.
It has to be unanimous, so if you don’t want her here or a fourth roommate, period, I’ll give her the bad news myself since I started the whole thing. ”
“But that’s all she wanted?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“No reason,” she lied.