Page 103 of Semantics

“What? No, I–” Stella stopped. “Oh. The chicken.”

“What did you think I meant?” she asked, looking confused.

“Nothing,” Stella said, shaking her head.

Violet looked down at the bucket of fried chicken on the kitchen table and grabbed two legs for Stella, along with a biscuit, which made her smile.

“Do you want anything else? There are mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and–”

“No, this is already too much. I did just eat. Should I maybe not have two dinners?”

“How much did you eat at this dinner with Jen?” she asked and handed Stella the plate.

“Honestly, not much. I ordered a salad. I wasn’t very hungry.”

“No?”

Violet handed Stella the beer that she’d opened for her.

“No. I haven’t been all that hungry the past few days.”

Violet looked at her then, trying to figure out if what she thought Stella meant by that was what she actually meant by it. She hadn’t eaten much lately, either. Part of that was because she was working practically twenty-four-seven, but the other part was that she missed Stella, and she didn’t know what to do about it

“Me neither,” she admitted. “I–”

“Hey, Stella,” Arlowe said, walking into the kitchen. “Did I hear Violet right earlier when you two were on the phone? Something about dating profiles?”

“Arlowe!” Violet half-yelled. “God, I cannot wait to live alone.”

“Oh, stop. You love living with us.”

“Sometimes. I love living with you all sometimes,” Violet insisted.

“Should we get started?” Enya asked. “I think Sarai was picking the movie tonight.”

“Nope,” Sarai said, joining all of them in the kitchen. Then, she grabbed a beer out of the fridge and added, “Sorry, Stella. I’m stealing one of these.”

“That’s okay. I didn’t buy them,” Stella replied.

“Oh, Violet said they’re all for you.”

Stella glanced over at Violet, who promptly flushed.

“There were only six of them. I didn’t know how many you’d drink.”

“You thought I’d polish off a six-pack of beer by myself tonight?”

“I didn’t know. And… you could have finished them another time.”

Stella smiled, and that had Violet smiling back.

“Well, you can finish five out of the six now because I’m drinking this one. And it’s Violet’s pick tonight. I picked last time. Enya is up next.”

“You rotate who picks what you watch?” Stella asked as they all walked into the living room.

“We’re very annoying about it, too,” Enya added. “If someone passes, they get to pick who to give their turn to. If someone misses a night because they have plans or something, they lose their turn, and we just keep going in order.”

“So, there are rules?”