Page 75 of Semantics

“Hey,” Stella said again. “You look comfy.”

“I look exhausted, but at least I’m clean. Working in the garage saves us money, but it’s also pretty hot in there, so it gets sweaty.”

“You look good sweaty. I’d know,” Stella teased.

“Okay. Save that for after dinner, when you’re alone in Vi’s room,” Arlowe said when she walked from the hallway and headed by them straight for the kitchen.

When Stella laughed a little, Violet looked over Stella’s shoulder and didn’t see an overnight bag. Maybe she hadn’t planned on staying over, after all. Violet found that thought disappointed her. She went into the kitchen, and Stella followed. Enya came in a moment later, and they set out all the food for everyone to take what they wanted. Violet realized that they only had four chairs for the table, so she went to the garage and grabbed a folding chair. She sat and offered Stella her usual seat instead. Stella sat down, and when the rest of them joined, everyone started talking about anything other than the company, the investors, and the deck, which was a great relief for Violet, who hadn’t realized how much she’d needed that.

“Hey, are you staying? I didn’t see a bag,” she said.

“I left it in the car. I couldn’t carry it inside and bring in dinner. We also didn’t talk about that, so I packed just in case but didn’t want to assume. Besides, I didn’t know if you’d want me to bring in an overnight bag in front of your friends.”

“They know, so it’s fine,” she replied.

“Do you want me to stay, Vi?”

“I don’t know that I’m up for anything tonight. It’s been a long week.”

“Hey, Stella? Come out to the garage. You can give us your thoughts on the deck and tell Violet how good it is so that we can all get some sleep.”

Arlowe didn’t wait for a response before she walked into the garage, and Stella looked at Violet as if to ask permission.

“It’s not ready yet.”

“That’s okay. Maybe I can help. I’ve worked on decks for VCs before in my role. I won’t if you don’t want me to.”

“Come on, Violet. Maybe she can help,” Sarai said.

Violet sighed and replied, “Yeah, it’s fine. We could use a fresh set of eyes.”

CHAPTER 22

The garage meeting had been surprisingly fun for Stella, who had offered her feedback on the deck based on her experience dealing with VCs. Violet had disagreed with a lot of it, which hadn’t surprised Stella at all. At first, she’d thought it might be pretty good foreplay, but then she’d remembered Violet telling her that she hadn’t been up for anything that night.

Around midnight, the group started to break up, with Enya telling everyone that she needed to get some sleep and Arlowe requesting the room so that she could pull one of her late-night coding sessions. Sarai had actually yawned first, and that had started a chain reaction of them all doing the same, but when Violet had noticed Stella’s probably very heavy eyes and a massive yawn, she’d nodded toward her bedroom.

“Get your stuff from the car. You can stay here tonight,” Violet had told her.

Stella hadn’t argued. She’d gone out to get her bag and had returned to Violet setting the alarm for the night. They’d gone to Violet’s room, where Stella had taken her time in the bathroom before Violet had. Then, they’d climbed into bed together, and it had been the first time they’d gone to sleep next to each other without sex. Well, with both of them sober and fully clothed, at least.

Stella woke up around eight in the morning, and since it was a weekend day, she didn’t need to rush to work. She’d also brought her computer with her because she hadn’t been sure if she was going to head to the office anyway, which she did sometimes whenever they had big clients they were working on signing. The office was empty on the weekends, with the exception of a few support people who worked there instead of at the company’s headquarters, and she liked to have the quiet and the change of scenery occasionally.

Violet wasn’t in bed. She also wasn’t in the bathroom, so Stella got up, brushed her teeth and hair, and dressed for the day. She didn’t know what to do after that. Should she take her bag, which she hadn’t unpacked and had just stuffed the things she had used back into it, and head out to her car? Should she wait for Violet to return to her room? Having decided on the former, she grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder, pulled open the bedroom door, and walked down the hallway, where she found Enya and Arlowe on the couch, eating what looked like cold, leftover pizza.

“Breakfast?” Arlowe asked, holding up her slice.

“Hey,” she said. “Where’s Violet?”

“In the garage. Are you surprised?” Arlowe said before taking a bite.

“Has she eaten, at least?”

“I don’t think so,” Enya replied.

“There’s more on the table in there if you want,” Arlowe said, nodding toward the kitchen.

“Thanks.”