CHAPTER 14
“The money came in,” Violet told Arlowe just as Gabi walked up.
“What money?”
“The money we’ve been waiting on.” Violet looked up from her phone. “From Asset Capital. The rest of their first-round investment.”
“That’s great,” Arlowe said. “We expected that, though, right? Hey, Gabi.”
“Hey,” she replied. “Can I be here for this convo?”
“Oh, sure. We just have a funding schedule for our big investor, and the next amount is now in our bank account, which means… we can finally…” Violet faded out, too busy smiling widely.
“We don’t need an office,” Arlowe stated.
“Yes, we do,” Violet insisted. “Arlowe, we’ve been in that garage for almost a decade.
It’s hot in there in the summer, cold in the winter, and I’m sick of having to sit next to you and listen to you mumble the song you’re listening to in those damn headphones, having to hear Enya reciting words in languages I don’t understand, or watching Sarai wipe off that dry-erase board ten times a day when her first idea was already the best one.
I want to work in a real office building, Arlowe.
I want air-conditioning, a breakroom that isn’t also where I eat dinner, and an office of my own with a door that I can close that isn’t also my bedroom. Are you getting the idea here?”
“It’s a waste of money, Vi. Who has an office anymore?”
“Plenty of companies. And it’s also more professional. Asset almost wasn’t interested when I told them that if they wanted an office visit, they’d have to come to our house.”
“You never told us that.”
“I didn’t want to worry you guys, but that doesn’t matter anymore.
We’ve got the money. We’re making progress.
We can afford to rent a decent-sized place in a reputable building.
A lot of companies here moved out of their first offices and into bigger ones, and those smaller ones are for lease.
We’ll have our name on the door, and a suite number, and I will no longer be embarrassed to tell people where I work.
” Violet smiled again. “I can finally put all the real estate research I’ve done to good use. ”
“You’re going to make us look at places, aren’t you?” Arlowe asked.
“Yes, I am. You can have an office or not; it’s up to you.
If you want to keep working in the garage when the rest of us are in a cool, new office with actual office furniture, and again, I stress, air-conditioning and heat, that’s fine with me, but, Arlowe, this is a huge deal.
We’ll have a real office. You should be excited about this. ”
“I guess I am. It’s cool, Vi. I just… You just moved out. It’s a lot of change.”
“What’s a lot of change?” Enya asked, walking up.
Gabi felt really out of place, so she thought about letting them talk about their work alone, but she didn’t know anyone else here besides Stella, who was at the grill again and talking to someone else, and Jen and Haley, she guessed, who were at the table with Sarai, whom she was mad at.
She thought they’d had such a good time at the bar the previous night, and then breakfast had been fun, as well as the whole day at the house because after they’d done the dishes, Sarai had offered to help her organize, and Gabi had taken her up on it.
They’d planned to leave for the party together, and they’d done so, and the drive over had been fun, too.
Gabi had even caught Sarai checking her out, which had been great because she had worn this dress specifically for her, having remembered that when they’d been walking around Amsterdam, looking at packs of tulip bulbs for Gabi to take back to her mom, Sarai had said that she liked the red ones the best because it was her favorite color.
At the party, though, Sarai had had a chance to introduce her at least as her friend, not just as her new roommate who’d, apparently, taken Arlowe’s old room, and Sarai hadn’t taken it.
“Vi wants us to get an office now,” Arlowe told Enya.
“Act as if we’ve never talked about this, Arlowe.”
“I know we did, but I didn’t think it would happen, like, a week after you moved out. Now, we’ll be moving out of the garage, too? It’s a lot, Vi. That house is our home.”
“It is, but it doesn’t have to be where we always work, too. Don’t you want to be able to park your car in the garage, Arlowe? We’ve never been able to do that, and now, you and Enya could take turns with Sarai and Gabi. Gabi, don’t you want to park your car in the garage?”
“Oh, I am not taking sides here. I’m Switzerland,” she replied and ate one of the chips on her plate.
“Hey, what’s going on over here?” Sarai asked. “I could see Arlowe’s furrowed brow all the way from my table twenty feet away.”
She moved to stand next to Gabi, who took a step away from her.
“We’re getting an office,” Arlowe said. “Vi wants us to start looking at those places she’s been checking out for years, despite us not having the money to afford them.”
“It hasn’t been years, and we can afford them now.”
“You’re ready to talk offices?” Sarai asked Violet.
“Yes. We have the money from Asset, and it’s the right call. We’ve got momentum, and we can actually start talking about getting our software into schools now, with the most recent update we just did to get certified by–”
“The curriculum police,” Arlowe joked.
“Arlowe, come on. I know it’s a lot of change, but these are good changes.
I am no longer pulling my hair out every time I check the balance in the company’s bank account, and I don’t have to use my own trust fund to keep us in business.
I have a hot girlfriend who actually wanted me to live with her.
” Violet motioned to Gabi then. “Gabi’s here, too.
She might help us out with the hardware we’ve wanted to make forever.
We need this office. It will be small; not extravagant, but professional. I’ll get us a good deal on a lease.”
Arlowe looked around the backyard and said, “As long as I’m not required to go in there every Monday through Friday at eight and stay until five.”
“As if anyone could get you to work a normal schedule,” Violet replied.
“What’s normal, anyway?” Arlowe countered.
“Big, philosophical question for another night,” Violet suggested.
“Right now, we all need to agree that this is where the money goes. I should mention that I’ve already talked to the board about this being the next step, and they all loved the idea, but it’s still ultimately our decision.
So, all in favor?” she asked and raised her hand.
“Vi, we’re not at work right now. We’re at your housewarming party,” Sarai pointed out. “Shouldn’t we do this tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow, I want to get moving on finding us a place. I’ll need to see which ones I’ve looked into are still available, and–”
“Okay. Fine. In favor. Whatever,” Sarai replied.
“Me too,” Enya added, raising her hand.
“Fine. I will agree to look at places,” Arlowe said.
“That’s it?” Violet asked.
“For now,” Arlowe replied.
“I’ll take it,” Violet said and turned. “Babe, we’re getting an office!”
“That’s great, babe!” Stella yelled back.
“Oh, God. They’re doing the whole ‘babe’ thing again,” Arlowe said.
“What? I can’t call my girlfriend ‘babe?’”
“It’s more like you call her that, and then she calls you that, and a second later, you’ll call her that again, and it’s this never-ending cycle of babes,” Arlowe replied.
“You should love that, then,” Sarai said. “A never-ending cycle of babes is right up your alley.”
Gabi laughed a little, but then she remembered that she was still upset with Sarai and stopped. Sarai caught her and looked apologetic, if Gabi was reading her right.
“You’re hilarious,” Arlowe replied sarcastically. “Now, I’m getting another sandwich while I try to process having to drive to work every day.”
Violet rolled her eyes at her and headed toward Stella.
“Your life is so very hard,” Sarai mocked.
“Shut up, Sarai.”
“Hey, can I go with you?” Gabi asked Arlowe. “I could use a sandwich.”
“Your plate is still full,” Sarai noted.
“Yeah, but I want a sandwich, too,” she replied.
“Sure. Come on,” Arlowe said.
They made their way into the kitchen, and Gabi picked up a sandwich that she didn’t really want and added it to her already full plate.
Then, she watched Sarai walk through the kitchen and into the living room.
Not long after that, Sarai marched back through the kitchen outside, but this time, she had a cup in her hand, which probably had a rum and Coke in it.
“Are you okay?” Arlowe asked her.
“What?”
“You seem like you might be unhappy with our friend in common, Sarai.”
“No, I’m fine. She’s fine. We’re fine.”
“That’s convincing,” Arlowe said, clearly not buying it.
“What about you? Are you okay?” she asked, changing the subject.
“It’s a lot. And I guess you could say that I don’t handle change very well. Not the big ones, anyway,” Arlowe added. “They still make fun of me for a relationship I had when I was twenty-two, so…”
“Maybe that’s because you haven’t had one since, so it’s all they can talk about.”
“I’ve had relationships since Eline. They were short, and I’ve mostly dated – maybe you’d call it slept around – but I have dated.”
“Have you been in love since?”
“No,” Arlowe admitted.
“That’s all they’ve seen, then: you loving one person and you not loving anyone else since. Probably why they think you still love her.”
“I’ll always love Eline. A part of me will, at least. I’m sure she’s a totally different person now, and I’ve changed, too, but she was my first love, you know?”
Gabi looked out the back window of the house and saw Sarai standing in the yard, talking to Stella and Jen.
“Yeah, I know.”
“What about you and love?” Arlowe asked.
“What?”
Gabi turned back to her, surprised by the question.
“I assume you’ve been in love before.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure, I guess.”
“You guess?” Arlowe chuckled.
“I told my high school girlfriend that I loved her, but I don’t know that that qualifies because we were so young. I told a couple of other girlfriends that, too.”
“Why do you sound like you’re not convinced that you actually loved them? You keep saying that you told them, not that you loved them.”
“I think I did. It’s hard to say, you know?”
“No, it’s not,” Arlowe argued. “I loved Eline. I would’ve married her at twenty-two and moved to Amsterdam, but she wouldn’t let me.”
“I thought you had things to do here, and–”
“My point is that I loved her so much, I would’ve given anything to be with her.
I didn’t need to finish college. I mean, it would’ve helped a little, I guess, but I’m self-taught just fine.
I could’ve quit school or taken my final semester online, or even later.
And I would have had she wanted me to stay. ”
“She didn’t want you to stay?”
“She did, but we were between a rock and a hard place. She didn’t want me to give up my life, and I didn’t want her to give up hers.
That’s love. I’d never felt anything like it before or since.
So, I think you’d know if you were ever really in love with anyone.
It’s hard to miss.” Arlowe looked around the kitchen.
“Hey, I don’t think I’m up for a party anymore now that I’ve had that sandwich I wanted, so I think I’m going to go find Enya. She should be ready to leave.”
“You’re going home?” Gabi asked and set her plate down on the food table.
“Yeah, I’m all partied out this week, I think.”
“Can I get a ride with you?”
“What about Sarai? She drove you.”
“She’s talking to Stella and Jen.” She hooked her thumb toward the backyard. “So, I think she’s good.”
“Hey,” Enya said, walking in at just the right moment.
“Hey, I’m going to head out,” Arlowe told her. “I assume you’re ready to go?”
“I’m leaving with Arlowe, too,” Gabi shared.
“Oh,” Enya said. “Sarai just downed a rum and Coke.”
“She did? Why?” Arlowe asked, surprised. “That’s not like her. She drove.”
“She’s acting weird, too. I think I’ll stay with her in case she needs a ride home.”
Gabi looked out the kitchen window and saw a woman she didn’t know walking over to Sarai.
She held out her hand for Sarai to shake, and Sarai did.
Then, Sarai laughed at something the woman had said, and that same woman handed her a cup of something.
The plastic cup was clear, so Gabi could see that it was a dark liquid; probably wine.
“Who’s that with Sarai?” she asked, glaring because this woman had just handed Sarai a drink, and they were laughing together.
Enya and Arlowe followed her gaze.
“I don’t know. Must be one of Stella’s friends,” Arlowe said. “Are you ready?”
“Enya?” Gabi checked.
“Never seen her,” Enya replied.
“Gabi?” Arlowe asked.
“Yes, I’m ready. Enya, can you make sure that Sarai gets home okay?”
“Of course. I haven’t had anything to drink.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“We’ll see you later,” Arlowe added.
They left through the front door, got into Arlowe’s car, and the whole time Arlowe drove them home, Gabi could only think about the woman who had made Sarai laugh and how she’d wished that that had been her.
Arlowe hadn’t seemed to want to talk much, either, and when they arrived, she went straight to her room.
Since Gabi hadn’t actually eaten anything that she’d put on her plate, outside of maybe a potato chip, she made herself a snack in the kitchen, hoping Sarai and Enya would come through the front door soon, but when they hadn’t, she felt weird just sitting alone at the table with nothing to do after she finished her snack, so she went to her own room, changed into her pajamas, climbed into bed, and checked her phone to see if there were any missed texts from Sarai or even Enya, but there was nothing.
She wasn’t sure at first how late it was, but she woke up to the sounds of women laughing in the hallway.
One of them was Sarai. She didn’t recognize the laugh of the other woman.
Gabi rubbed her tired eyes and reached for her phone.
It was after one in the morning. She heard the laughter fade.
Then, she heard Sarai’s door close loudly, and she swallowed.
This was a big part of living with roommates that she’d have to get used to.
She lived with three single women, which meant that it was not only possible, but entirely likely that she would hear them bring home a woman and maybe even see that woman the morning after.
Gabi put her phone down and tried not to think about what was going on in Sarai’s bedroom.
She didn’t hear another sound, but not wanting to risk it, she got out of bed, found her headphones, put them into her ears, and started playing music on her phone to help her get to sleep and prevent her from having to listen to Sarai having sex.