CHAPTER 14
Harlow looked into the closet, where most of her stuff had been shoved when she had moved into Larissa’s house.
She had a few things in storage, but that was mostly furniture, and she could take or leave that.
Part of her wanted to start over in a new apartment and get new stuff, but the other part of her knew she couldn’t afford to do that when she’d also have to pay rent and a security deposit at the same time, so new stuff would have to wait.
She did have a few things hanging up in this closet.
Most of what she wore to work was the same four pairs of slacks with different shirts.
She had a steady rotation, and people at work had to see the same combinations all the time, but she didn’t care and liked how she looked in the clothes she had.
Tonight, she had a work event. It wasn’t a holiday party exactly, but it wasn’t not a holiday party, either.
They tried to do a company gathering two to three times a year.
There was the summer festival, a winter event, and sometimes they did something smaller in the spring or let the teams do their own event with a smaller budget.
This was their winter event, and it was mostly a dinner in a ballroom with a DJ that they held long before the holidays really started, because they wanted everyone to attend, and once the holidays kicked in, people took vacations and had excuses not to go because they were with their families and friends.
She didn’t have to dress up necessarily, so she decided to wear a button-down and a pair of black pants that she’d worn a thousand times before, with some black boots that would slide under the pants and would make it look like she tried a little.
She’d do her hair enough to show that she’d tried, too, but doing her hair when it was short only meant adding a little more product to keep it in place.
She wasn’t big on makeup, so she would just wash her face and leave it there.
After getting out of the shower and wrapping a towel around her body, Harlow went to pull her outfit for the night off the hanger, and her phone pinged.
Expecting it to be Larissa, she walked over to where it was charging and checked the readout.
Weirdly, it wasn’t Larissa. It was her ex-girlfriend.
Before Harlow could reply, the phone rang, and it was a call from the said ex-girlfriend.
“Hey,” she said into the phone and sat down on the bed, still wrapped in her towel. “What’s up?”
“Do you have my curling iron?” Alicia asked.
“Your curling iron?”
“Yeah. Do you have it? The old black one, not the new blue one I bought a few months ago.”
“I don’t think so. I haven’t opened all my boxes yet, but I haven’t seen it.”
“Damn it. I was hoping you had it.”
“Why do you need it so badly?”
“I don’t, really. I can just buy another one.”
“You have another one; the blue one.”
“The blue one is for bigger curls,” Alicia replied. “The black one is for smaller. I’m going out tonight, and I wanted smaller curls. I think I might be out of my big-curl phase.”
“Can you suffer through the big ones?” Harlow joked.
“The blue one just broke on me, so even if I wanted the big curls, I can’t have them right now.
I figured you were still staying at Larissa’s and weren’t that far away, so I could stop by and grab it.
I guess I’ll just have to pull my hair up tonight since I don’t like the ones you can buy at the pharmacy. ”
“Yes, I remember: you order your curling irons online from some hair company,” she replied.
“Because they’re better. Anyway, sorry to bother you. Can you check your boxes for me? Not now, because I’m a lost cause, but I really do love that one, and it’s not that old. It’s also expensive, so if I don’t have to buy another one, I’d appreciate it.”
“I can check, but not tonight. I’ve got to get dressed. I have a work thing tonight.”
“Oh. Is it time for the winter obligatory holiday party that’s not a holiday party?” Alicia asked.
“Yes, unfortunately,” she replied with a laugh. “I already have to spend forty hours a week with these people. Why do they make us hang out together during our nights, too?”
“No clue. My company doesn’t do that.”
“I wish this one didn’t,” she said on a sigh.
“Who are you taking?” Alicia asked.
“Larissa is on her way here now.”
“I should have guessed.”
“Don’t start… Things were going so well with us just now. We were talking about curling irons. Let’s go back to that,” she suggested.
“I’m not trying to fight with you, Harlow. I’m not your girlfriend anymore, so I don’t have to fight with you about this. Just stating that I should have guessed. Last year, when I was there with you, people kept asking where Larissa was.”
“Only because she’s been before.”
“And because they thought she was your old girlfriend and that I was the new one, and they wanted to know what happened. I was literally standing right there, and they were asking about your friend, who they thought was your ex.”
“She’s been around since I started there, so they’ve all met her. Some of them forget that a lesbian can be friends with another woman.”
“Yeah, but they’re not wrong here. They picked up on what everyone else picks up on outside of Larissa herself.”
“Alicia, do we have to do this again?”
“No, we don’t. Just be prepared for them to ask how your relationship is going tonight and when you’re going to finally get engaged, then married, and when they can expect to see pictures of the kids you don’t want to have.”
“They should mind their own damn business.”
“Yes, they should, but they won’t. Besides, you’ll have to handle all that with Larissa there.
Have you thought about this? I know you’re usually pretty good about making sure she has no clue how you feel about her when you’re around other people, but you said that the last time you two were at that summer thing, people asked about you two in front of her, and you had to make up some excuse to get her out of there.
” Alicia chuckled a little. “I wish I had seen that, honestly. I bet it was hilarious.”
“I pushed her toward the pie-eating contest.”
Alicia laughed louder and replied, “And to think, you could just tell her.”
“Bye, Alicia. If I see the curling iron you’re weirdly obsessed with, I’ll mail it to you.”
“I live, like, fifteen minutes away. I’ll pick it up.”
“Fine. I’ll put it on top of the trash bags in the bin on trash day. You can race the garbage guys for it.”
“Asshole,” Alicia said, laughing again. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye,” Harlow said and hung up the phone.
“Hi! I’m home! I’m late, and I’m sorry, but I’m here.” Larissa appeared in Harlow’s doorway, looking a little out of breath. “You’re naked,” she added and closed her eyes.
“I’m not naked. I’m wearing a towel,” Harlow said, but clutched it to her chest as she dropped her phone to be safe.
“You’re naked under the towel.”
“That’s usually what happens when you take a shower, yes. Do you take your showers fully clothed?”
“No,” Larissa replied and cracked her eyes open.
“I’m sorry. I got stuck at the library, trying to find a journal from 1996, which they said they had there when I checked online, but clearly, it wasn’t there.
It took me some time to find out where it was, and it turned out it had just been misshelved. Then, I had to make copies of it.”
“You couldn’t just read it online?”
“No, it’s only available in a physical copy at the library. It’s older than the ones they have online.”
“Why did you need it if it’s so old?”
“It was referenced in another, more current one that I’m using for my paper, and I went down a reference rabbit hole. I like to be thorough.”
Harlow tried not to think about how that thoroughness would translate to the bedroom as she recalled Larissa telling her about how her previous three lovers had told her that she was good at sex.
“Anyway, I just need, like, ten minutes. This thing isn’t crazy formal, right? I can wear a regular dress?”
Harlow took in Larissa’s messy bun and her adorable glasses, along with her jeans torn at the knees and the gray hoodie with the name of the university in purple and white letters on it, and she fell a little more in love with her then, for some reason.
Larissa’s pink socks helped, too, and Harlow shook her head and smiled.
“What? Did I get that wrong? I need to dress up more? I thought it was–”
“No, a regular dress is fine.” She swallowed and added, “Well, it would have been fine, but I forgot to tell you that they changed their plans.”
“Plans?”
“For the winter party. They… decided that the summer event is for a plus-one or families, but that the winter one is just for employees.”
“Oh,” Larissa said, looking disappointed.
“Yeah, sorry. They just told us yesterday,” Harlow lied. “Budget cuts, I guess. Anyway, I have to go alone, unfortunately.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before now? I rushed home thinking I’d be too late, Harlow.”
“I’m sorry. I forgot until you got here. I’ve been scatterbrained lately. Totally my fault. But look at the bright side: you don’t have to go to this lame work event as my plus-one anymore. You can just keep working on school stuff or your book.”
“Yeah, right,” Larissa said softly. “Okay. I guess I’ll just go figure out something for dinner and get to that, then.” She turned to go but turned back. “Have fun,” she added.
“I’m sorry, Larissa. I really did just forget.”
“It’s fine. Have a good time.”
Larissa walked away, leaving her still sitting there with a towel clutched to her body, wondering why Larissa had been so interested in going to this stupid party to begin with.
◆◆◆
“Hey, Harlow. How have you been?” Rick asked.
She had seen him the day before at work, so she wasn’t sure how to answer the question that made it sound like they hadn’t seen one another in years.
“Good… since yesterday,” she said and took a sip of her beer, which was free, along with wine, but the hard stuff, they charged for.
“Good. Good. Where’s your girlfriend tonight? I saw you walk in alone.”
“Um… I’m single. I don’t have a girlfriend right now. We broke up.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” he replied. “She seemed really nice. Larissa, right?”
“What?”
“Her name. Larissa, wasn’t it? Did I get that wrong?”
“No, her name was Alicia. You’re thinking of my best friend, Larissa. She’s been to a few of these things over the years.”
“Oh, sorry. I thought you two were together.”
“No, just friends,” she said and then finished her beer. “I should go get myself another drink.”
“Okay. Nice talking to you.”
This was ridiculous. She’d see him on Monday.
Harlow nodded at him and walked back toward the bar.
She’d driven tonight, so she had to take it easy, and it was a work party, so she had to take it even easier because she wasn’t about to get drunk in front of these people.
She waited in line and turned to watch some of her co-workers on the dance floor.
Most of them were there with their spouses or significant others, and Harlow was there alone.
When her phone pinged in her pocket, she pulled it out to see who was texting her, wishing it was someone with a good excuse for her to duck out of this party early.
Alicia: I found it. It was in a cabinet I never use. No clue how it got there, but small curls are in my immediate future.
Harlow chuckled a little, looked back up at everyone dancing, and texted Alicia back.
Harlow: Glad to hear it. Can I ask you for a favor now? It’s bigger than a curling iron.
Alicia replied immediately that Harlow could ask, but that she didn’t have to say yes.
Harlow: Can I stay over at your place tonight? Our old place?
Alicia: Why?
Harlow: I need a break from Larissa’s, and I don’t have anywhere else to go.
Alicia: I’m going out with some friends tonight.
Harlow: I still have my key. I can let myself in and just crash on the couch when I get done here. I won’t bother you. I just don’t feel like going there.
Alicia: You still have your key? I thought you gave that back.
Harlow: I had two. I gave one back. I didn’t even realize I had the other one until a few days ago. I was going to give it back to you, but it didn’t seem like a big deal.
Alicia: It’s not. It’s fine. Keep it for emergencies, like if you stole anything else of mine, and I need you to drop it off when I’m not there.
Harlow: Hey, I didn’t take the curling iron. You found it. As if I even need one of those.
Alicia: You can crash here tonight, but I don’t know that you should make a habit of it.
Harlow: Understood. And thanks.
Alicia: And don’t drink all my beer. It’s the kind you like, but it’s mine.
Harlow chuckled again, typed that she’d leave Alicia’s beer alone, and then ordered one from the bartender. Looking around the room again after that, she wondered what she was even doing here.