CHAPTER 14
Eline yawned as the car she was in pulled up to the bar that looked more like a place where Arlowe would hang out than the previous bar they’d gone to.
While it was true that she’d passed out after her call with her dad, she had woken up only a couple of hours later and had had difficulty getting back to sleep after that.
Then, the issue at work had come up, and while she wouldn’t normally be involved in having to solve that email problem, they needed help crafting responses to customers as well as examining the breach itself to find out where it had come from.
If she did the math, Eline had probably had eight hours of sleep over the past three nights.
She’d driven home from the office but hadn’t felt comfortable having a drink and driving home after that, going on next to no sleep, so she’d ordered a car and was now getting out of it, feeling tired but also excited and refreshed because she was about to see Arlowe.
She pulled open the door and put her head on a swivel, looking around for the woman, and she found her in a booth lining the far wall.
Eline smiled immediately at the sight of her and walked over to the booth where she also saw Violet, Stella, Enya, and two other friends whom she hadn’t had a chance to reconnect with yet.
“Hi,” she greeted.
Arlowe was sitting on the end of the booth with Violet next to her, while Sarai and Gabi were next to each other on the other side, with Stella on the inside, opposite Violet.
Enya was sitting in a chair at the end of the booth, which was odd because it was a six-person booth, and there were six of them, so that shouldn’t have left them with an empty spot.
“Hey,” Arlowe replied. “You remember Sarai and Gabi, right?”
“Yeah, hi. It’s nice to see you two again,” she said.
Arlowe slid farther inside then, and Eline, without even realizing it, naturally moved to sit down beside her how she used to do all the time when Arlowe had been hers.
“You too,” Sarai replied. “Long time.”
“Arlowe says you two are together now?” Eline said.
“Yeah, for over a year,” Gabi replied and wrapped her arm around Sarai’s shoulders. “We just moved in together, actually.”
“That’s great. I’m happy for you both.”
“I ordered you a drink, but I asked the waiter to wait to bring it over until you arrived so that it would be cold. Want a sip of mine while you wait?” Arlowe asked, pushing a beer toward her.
“Amstel?”
“They don’t have it on tap here, but they do have the bottles, so I thought I’d order it,” Arlowe said of the Dutch beer, which had been one of Eline’s favorites. “Not all that common around here, but you can find it in the liquor stores if you go there instead of a grocery store.”
“Good to know.”
Eline lifted the beer to her lips and took a sip. It tasted like home to her and reminded her of the times she used to go out with her friends. They couldn’t afford anything fancy, but a beer sometimes really hit the spot, just like this one was doing for her right now.
“So, Arlowe told us you had an issue at work?” Violet said.
“Someone hacked us and got access to our user data, yeah. They got their email addresses, which they then used to email from our account, pretending to be the company. It was pretty good work. They got a better email open rate than we usually do, and they got people to click on the link inside the email, where they told them that we were giving away a service that we don’t even offer.
All they had to do was confirm the credit card number on their account and update some other information.
It looks like they got about three percent of our customer base to do that, so… about three thousand people.”
“Wow!” Stella said.
“They put some malware on the email, too, so if people clicked the link, even if they realized that it was fake and didn’t put any credit card info in there, the hackers still got that.
We’re going to be dealing with this for a while, but it’s about ten thousand people in total that we’ve been trying to reach out to, and I’m sure it’ll hit the data breach news soon if it hasn’t already.
I wouldn’t know because I’ve been glued to my chair, trying to handle it. ”
“That sucks,” Enya replied.
“Have you all ever had a breach like this?”
“No,” Arlowe replied. “But it’s different for us. We’re a language app. You’re dealing with gold and cash for it. I’m guessing all of your customers have to upload a credit card?”
“Yes, to get access.”
“Most of our customers sign up through an app store, so they technically pay them. If they do sign up through the browser, they can just use a free account without needing to add a credit card. We only store that info if they’re paid subscribers through the browser, and we’re as safe as we can be with that.
One of our biggest investors, Asset Capital, also invested in an information security company, so they hooked us up with a meeting with their CEO, and we use their stuff.
Nothing will work a hundred percent of the time, but we also aren’t a company that a hacker would probably think would be worth it to hack.
Of course, getting email addresses is different.
If that was their aim, and they didn’t go after the credit card directly in your system, I could see someone trying that with us.
” Arlowe looked over at Violet then and added, “Maybe we should put together some kind of email and page on the site proactively, alerting people to the possible scams that they might face and to remind them how to avoid them with some tips.”
“Not a bad idea,” Violet agreed.
“I can work something up if you can get me the tips,” Sarai said.
“I’ll start on it tomorrow,” Arlowe replied.
“Can we talk about something other than work?” Enya asked, and everyone around the booth, with the exception of Eline, turned to look at her in surprise. “What?” Enya added.
“You want to talk about something other than work? You?” Violet asked.
“What? I’m told I only ever talk about work.”
“Pretty much, yeah,” Arlowe said.
“We have two people at this table who don’t work for us. We should talk about something other than our company,” Enya suggested.
“But we were. We were talking about Eline’s,” Arlowe pointed out.
“And Stella is a consultant with us, so she counts,” Violet said, smiling over the table at her girlfriend.
“We segued from Eline’s thing into something of our own, and I just think that since we’re all hanging out like this for the first time in a very long time, and with Stella and Gabi this time, too, we should just catch up, or at least talk about something other than work.”
“Okay. Want to talk about your love life?” Sarai asked.
“I don’t have a love life, so that would be a pretty short conversation. In fact, it’s over already,” Enya stated.
“We could talk about how to get you one,” Gabi suggested. “Chase has a cousin whom I haven’t met, but he says she’s great. She’s thirty-six, teaches high school history, and loves dogs. He mentioned to me that she’s single.”
“Who’s Chase?” Eline asked Arlowe quietly.
“One of Gabi’s friends. He got her to move here in the first place. He works for her old company. That got her here, working with us.”
“I don’t need to be set up,” Enya said.
“Fine, but I’ve seen her picture – you’re missing out.”
“Oh, she is, is she?” Sarai teased her girlfriend.
“Yes, she is. I’m not.”
“Nice one,” Sarai replied with a laugh.
“If you don’t want to be set up, and you hang out with us all the time and work when you’re not doing that, how are you going to meet someone?” Arlowe asked.
Eline had been watching Gabi and Sarai across the table, who were making eyes at each other, and she’d been thinking about how much she wanted that for herself when Arlowe’s arm moved over the back of the booth just like it had years ago, and while they still weren’t touching, it was something.
It might have been Arlowe just trying to get comfortable, but it also could’ve been a sign of something to come.
When the waiter walked over with Eline’s beer and set it down on the table, Eline thanked him and tried not to draw any attention to the fact that Arlowe had shifted a few inches closer and that their thighs were currently touching.
She took a long pull from her beer and mostly listened to the friends pick on Enya, who had a defense for everything they tried to throw at her.
Then, Eline couldn’t help but yawn after nearly finishing her beer, and she noticed Arlowe staring at her with that little smile she had when she thought that something was cute.
That meant Arlowe thought that she was cute.
“What?” Eline asked.
“You’re exhausted.”
“Yes,” she said with a little laugh.
“Do you need to go home?”
“Probably, but I don’t want to go. Does that make a difference?”
Arlowe nodded and said, “Want me to walk you to your car?”
“I didn’t drive. I was too tired, so I took an Uber here.”
“I can drive you home,” Arlowe offered.
“You’re hanging out with your friends.”
“We only came here because I wanted to hang out with you,” Arlowe stated.
“What?”
Arlowe looked away and said, “Hey, I’m going to take Eline home. She’s had a long week and needs to sleep. Can one of you drop Enya off? If not, I’ll come back and get her after.”
“We’ll take her,” Sarai replied. “I wanted to get a box of my stuff from the garage anyway, and I keep forgetting.”
“Great. Thanks,” Arlowe said. “Can you guys take care of the check? I want to get her home before she passes out in this booth.”
“We’ve got it,” Violet said.
“Thanks. I’ve got next time,” Arlowe stated. “Come on, sleepy. Let’s get you home.”
“Sorry, I’m so tired. I really wanted to stay longer,” Eline told the group.
“No problem. We’ll see you again soon,” Sarai replied.
“I hope so,” she said.
Arlowe nodded for her to slide out of the booth then, so Eline stood and waited for her to join her.
When Arlowe placed her hand on the small of her back to guide her toward the door, Eline wanted to reach for her hand, take it in her own, walk out holding on to her, and never let go this time.
Once they got on the street, Arlowe kept her hand there, and she gently nudged Eline around the building and toward her car.
“Maybe I should’ve invited you out another time,” Arlowe suggested when she stopped walking to unlock the doors with her key fob and even opened the door for her.
“No, I wanted to come out with you and your friends tonight. I’m glad I did,” she replied and climbed into the car.
Arlowe walked around, got into the car as well, turned it on after she put on her seat belt, and, having noticed that Eline hadn’t moved because her brain was a little slow, she moved over her, reached for Eline’s seat belt, and clicked it into place for her.
“Are you okay?” Arlowe asked.
“I just realized that I’ve never seen you drive before,” she replied.
“Oh. Yeah, I guess not. I have a clean safety record, if that’s what you’re worried about. There have been zero accidents since I got my license at sixteen and only two parking tickets, but those weren’t my fault.”
“No?” Eline asked, smiling over at her.
“I missed the meter by, like, a minute both times. I mean, come on… What are the odds that someone would be right there waiting for someone like me just to put a ticket on my windshield?”
“Probably pretty high, given that that’s their job.”
“Let’s get you home.” Arlowe laughed. “You’re making too much sense right now. Can’t have that.”
Eline laughed as well, and Arlowe pulled them out into traffic.
They didn’t say anything to each other for a minute, and it was only once they were sitting at the traffic light that she realized Arlowe would need directions to her apartment, so she leaned forward and typed her address into the in-car GPS, earning a smile from Arlowe.
“Sorry, I kind of forgot that you don’t know where I live now.”
“So did I,” Arlowe said.
They went silent once more, and Eline stared out the side window, trying to think about what her father had said.
He had told her to go for it but had also warned her about it not having worked the last time.
She had been the one to tell him that the only reason it hadn’t was because of their circumstances that no longer applied today.
She glanced over at Arlowe after noticing that they were only a few minutes from her apartment building and decided to go for it.
“I missed you,” she confessed softly.
Arlowe looked over at her, but only for a moment before she had to return her attention to the road.
“I missed you, too.”
“I don’t want what happened before to happen to us again.”
“Which part?” Arlowe asked and turned right into her apartment complex.
“The part where we don’t talk for years because neither of us knew how.”
“Is that what you think happened?” Arlowe asked.
“I think we loved each other very much then, and the idea of trying to be friends and not be together was too much, so we pushed each other away.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“I don’t know what to do here, Arlowe. All I do know is that I don’t want to stop talking to you this time.”
“Then, don’t,” Arlowe replied.
“It’s a left here.” Eline pointed to the left turn ahead. “Second building on the right.”
“So, you won’t stop talking to me, and I won’t stop talking to you. Is that where we are right now?” Arlowe checked, taking her directions.
“Can we start there, at least?” she asked.
Arlowe pulled over when she got to Eline’s building and put the car in park.
“Call me tomorrow? When you get done with work or something.”
Eline smiled and said, “Can you text me when you get home tonight, though?”
“Yes,” Arlowe said, smiling back.
“Then, I’ll probably be texting you until I fall asleep and maybe a little while I’m at work tomorrow, too.”
“I’d really like that,” Arlowe replied.
Eline wanted to lean forward to capture Arlowe’s lips in a kiss, but even one on the cheek felt like a little too much for what they’d just agreed to, so she waited for Arlowe to say something else instead.
“Want me to walk you up?”
“I’m on the first floor just inside the door.”
“I’ll wait here until you get inside, then,” Arlowe said and reached down to undo her seat belt for her. “Sleep well, Eli Fay.”
“Drive safe, Arli Grace,” she replied, using her nickname for Arlowe along with Arlowe’s middle name.