CHAPTER 13
Stella Ross: Hey, I had a great time last night. I didn’t say that when you had to run out this morning, but I wanted to make sure you knew. If you want to get together again, I’d be down. Your handprints are still on my floor.
Violet stared at that text message again.
She’d read it at least a dozen times since it came in around lunch, and she still had no idea how to respond to it.
She’d thought of sending a quick reply letting Stella know that it was one time only, or a mistake, and it shouldn’t have happened at all, and she’d also thought of messaging Stella back telling her that she’d only left so fast because of her purse being in the car overnight, and that she’d definitely consider another night like the one they’d just had together.
“Hey, are you okay?” Sarai asked.
In their friend group, Sarai was the friend whom any of them could talk to about anything, and she was so free of judgment that none of them ever felt bad about telling her something that the others might chastise them for.
Enya was like that, too, in a way, but she was generally so in her own head, which contained more languages than Violet even knew existed, that they all generally tried to avoid bothering her with their problems. Arlowe didn’t judge, either, but it was mostly because she didn’t often take the time to really listen.
She’d take what was given, and if it was only the surface-level stuff, she’d give advice when asked or just offer it on her own, and she’d move on and dive into the code, which was her favorite place to be.
If Arlowe could actually climb inside the code for real, Violet suspected that she would.
With Sarai, though, when she asked someone if they were okay, she really wanted to know, and if she could help, she wanted to do that, too.
“I’m okay, yeah. I’m just a little tired,” she said, locking her phone and setting it down on the kitchen table. “I was thinking about ordering pizza tonight. Are Enya or Arlowe going out? Do you know? Are you going out? I guess I should ask that, too.”
“I, sadly, have no plans. Arlowe is glued to her screen as usual. Enya is trying to read through all that Cerebral stuff you gave her in her room, so I don’t think she’s going out, either.”
“The technical stuff?”
“All the stuff that’s actually understandable for us mere mortals, unlike our code goddess currently in the garage.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Why does Enya do anything? She’s weird. And why are you so tired? Does it have anything to do with the fact that you didn’t come home last night?”
“What?” Violet asked and looked down at the table in front of her.
“You’re aware that my bedroom faces the street, right?
You left to go out for whatever reason, and by the time we all went to bed, you still weren’t back, but you’re an adult, so none of us worried.
When I woke up this morning, though, I saw you pull into the driveway.
You looked… well, frazzled, Vi. And what was with that shirt? ”
“What was wrong with my shirt?”
“When you left here last night, you weren’t wearing it,” Sarai pointed out.
“You were dressed like you were going to a business meeting, and we all assumed that you were and just didn’t want to tell us about it for some reason.
Arlowe suggested that maybe you were going on an interview, which was why you were acting so cagey about it. ”
“An interview? For what?”
“A job, Violet.”
“I have a job, Sarai. We all have jobs here.”
“It’s not like we’re making any real money.
We’ve got investors, yes, but only a few, and they’re small.
You’ve been keeping us afloat for years.
You’re our main investor, Violet. We all know it.
It wouldn’t be surprising if one day you decide not to keep putting money into this venture we’ve been trying to get off the ground in one way or another for ten years without much luck.
Enya said she actually felt bad because this was her idea, and maybe ten years ago, it was a great one, but now, it’s just standard because there are other apps.
Ours is good and can be better, but we wouldn’t blame you for jumping ship. ”
“I’m not jumping ship, Sarai. I didn’t have an interview last night.”
“Would your dad make you interview? My theory was that he’d invited you to dinner after you asked to join one of his many companies, and he told you that you’d have to start from the ground up, so you were considering it but not sure just yet.”
“No, I haven’t talked to anyone, including members of my family, about a job. This is my job, Sarai. I’m not leaving unless we all get to a point where it’s over and we admit it out loud that we’re throwing in the towel.”
“Is that wise? Vi, you’re a Russell. I’m sure you can get a job anywhere with your name alone, but you’re also incredibly smart and good at your job.”
“If I were good at my job, we’d be making real money right now and not all crammed in this four-bedroom house, working out of the garage.”
“That’s not on you. It’s mostly on me,” Sarai said and looked down at her feet, which were in red flip-flops, Sarai’s preferred shoes whenever they were at home. “I’m in charge of marketing, and we’re not a brand name yet.”
“In your defense, you didn’t have much to market until about two years ago.”
“Still, that’s two years, Vi.”
“Sarai, we’re all doing the best we can.”
“I know. But I feel like I’m letting you all down by not being better at this for us.”
“You’re great at your job, Sarai. Sometimes, you just get stuck in your head in the same way Enya does.
You question yourself a lot, so you take longer to make something we need because you don’t think it’ll work, and then, it usually does.
Even if it doesn’t get us a ton of downloads or purchases, it still gets a lot of clicks or some downloads.
We have to keep improving the product to separate us from the other ones on the market, but that’s not your job.
That’s Arlowe’s, Enya’s, and mine as well. ”
“I know. I just want things to get better. I don’t want to have to get another job, Vi.
I love working with you three, even in the cramped garage with no air-conditioning while we’re all living in the same house to save money.
I mean, I’d love to meet a nice girl, fall in love, and move out of here to live with her one day, but until then, I’m good here, you know? ”
“I do know. I feel the same way.”
She gave Sarai a soft smile.
“Hey, if you weren’t at an interview or at dinner with your dad and not telling us that he was in town, where were you?”
“I slept with Stella Ross,” she said very quickly, blurting it all out practically in one word and then covering her mouth with both hands.
“I’m sorry; did you just say you slept with Stella Ross?”
She nodded with wide eyes aimed at Sarai and without removing her hands from her mouth.
“I only know one Stella Ross, Violet, and you hate her. You can’t stand the woman.”
Violet nodded again, and Sarai leaned in.
“You had hate sex with Stella Ross?”
Violet nodded a third time.
“Oh, my God! Enya!”
“What are you doing?” she asked, finally removing her hands from her face.
“Enya!” Sarai stood up and hurried over to the garage. “Arlowe!” She made a motion with her hands like she was taking off headphones, and Violet knew that she was telling Arlowe to remove her own. “Get in here. Big news!”
“Sarai, I’m working,” Arlowe said.
“Yeah, okay. Fine. Keep working. Never mind. Don’t worry about it. Violet only had sex with her mortal enemy, Stella Ross. No big deal. Keep coding.”
“What?” Arlowe said loudly.
“Oh, my God! Sarai, you–”
“What’s going on?” Enya asked when she entered the kitchen. “Are we getting dinner, or should I find something on my own? I’m hungry.”
“Violet slept with Stella,” Sarai said.
“Sarai! Are you kidding me right now?”
Arlowe rushed into the kitchen from the garage with her headphones around her neck and a toothpick sticking out of her mouth.
“You slept with Stella Ross?”
“Oh, my God! Will everybody just shut up? You’re all so damn annoying.”
“Vi, really?” Enya asked as she sat down next to Violet at the table. “We’re talking about that Stella, right?”
“Enya, what other Stella Ross do possibly we know?” Arlowe asked, sitting down at the table with them.
“I don’t know. I wanted to make sure we were all talking about the same thing.”
“We are,” Sarai said, sitting back down. “Now, spill, Vi.”
“What exactly do you expect me to spill, Sarai?”
“All the fucking details, Violet,” Arlowe said.
“How did it happen? You ran out of drinks the other night after making us go with you when none of us wanted to, and you said we weren’t going to buy Cerebral because it’s too expensive.
Oh, wait.” She pointed at Violet. “Don’t tell me you slept with her for some kind of big discount. ”
“What? No! What the hell, Arlowe?”
“I don’t know,” Arlowe said, shrugging.
“I did not sleep with her for a discount,” Violet stated. “And I don’t know if we’re going to buy Cerebral yet. I’m still trying to think about what the best option is. Do we stretch the budget we don’t have a little bit, or–”
“Oh, my God. None of us cares about that right now,” Sarai interrupted her. “How did you end up in bed with Stella Ross, Violet Anne Russell?”
“Don’t use my middle name like that.” Violet chuckled.
“And yes, I ran out on the whole drinks thing. I don’t know what happened.
I guess I felt like maybe I was getting a little too close to someone who I kind of don’t like all that much, who is way more successful than me, which made me jealous but also got me feeling like a failure, and she’s just so… ”
“What? Hot?” Enya asked.
“No, frustrating. I mean, yes, she’s hot, too; that’s true.
But it’s like she’s so confident and at ease with herself, and I’m sitting there all nervous because when we last knew each other, I was the one who was going places.
She didn’t even know what she wanted to do for a living.
She said she wanted to work in business, but that’s not exactly specific.
I knew, at least at that point, that I was going to work for the family business, and I was so sure that I was going to kick ass there, and–”
“Vi, fast forward, like, ten years,” Sarai said, making a motion with her hand. “Get to the sex.”
“Yeah, get to the sex,” Arlowe added and removed her headphones from her neck, setting them down on the table.
“She called me to talk about the discounts. Remember that?”
“Yes,” Arlowe and Enya said at the same time.
“We sort of argued. Not a big deal, but it didn’t end with any kind of real resolution, and I decided to go get coffee.”
“Which you then didn’t bring back,” Sarai pointed out.
“Because when I got to the café, Stella was sitting there, working.”
“She was there?” Enya asked.
“Yes. We talked about some stuff, and she told me that she’d had a realization about something from back then recently, which was that she’d wanted to… well, fuck me up against a wall. Those were her words.”
“She just came out and told you that?” Sarai asked.
“Yes,” Violet said. “And I got all flustered, obviously, because, of course, I would. I think anyone would at hearing that. I left, but before I did, she told me that she was going to be at that same bar last night and that she was meeting someone. She said she was only telling me that so that I could avoid her by not going there if I wanted to, but it felt more like she was testing me somehow.”
“Oh, interesting,” Sarai said. “Like she wanted you to meet her there?”
“Yeah, like that. So, I thought about it, and I considered not going, but then, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and I ended up there, staring her down from another table before I left. She followed me out. We kissed. Then, we went back to her place, and I spent the night.”
“That’s it? Where are the details?” Arlowe asked.
“I’m not going to tell you what we did, Arlowe.”
“Was it good, at least?” Enya asked. “Let us live vicariously here. I think it’s been a while for all of us.”
“Well, all of us except Violet now,” Arlowe noted.
“It was… the best sex of my life,” she revealed with a little smile. “The hottest sex, the most orgasms I’ve ever had, and just about every other good thing about sex – if you can think of it, it probably applies.”
“Damn. Really? Stella is that good in bed, huh?” Sarai asked. “Makes me wish I’d hit on her back in school before I knew she was for sure into women. Maybe I could’ve had a night like that with her.”
“Hey!” Violet said before she could stop herself.
“Oh, wait. Are you two, like, dating now? Should I not have said that?”
“We’re not dating. We had one night. It was great.”
“You’re not going to see her again?” Enya asked.
“I don’t know. We didn’t really talk about it, and I had to leave this morning.”
“You ran out on her again?” Arlowe asked.
“Not like that. We left things in a good spot.”
“So, it could happen again if you both want it to?” Enya asked.
“I guess so, yeah. She does, I think.”
“How do you know?” Sarai asked.
“She texted me earlier today that she’d be up for it again.”
“Why are you sitting here with us, then? Text her back,” Arlowe encouraged.
“It’s not that simple. It’s not like we actually like each other. It was more about getting all that anger out from before. It would probably be bad if we did it again.”
“You won’t know unless you go for it, though,” Sarai argued.
“Either way, you should at least text her back. Don’t ghost her,” Enya suggested.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“What are you going to say?” Sarai asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, picking up her phone. “Probably just that I don’t think we should do it again and that I hope she understands.”
But something in Violet told her that she wouldn’t be sending that message at all.