Page 135 of Derivation

“Can they afford to live here on their own?”

“I think so, yeah. It’s not how it was when we were all living here before we got the investment dollars and all four of us were barely scraping by. Things are going well now. We all actually make real paychecks for one, and they’re nice paychecks, too. None of us is rich, but we’ve kept our overhead really low for so long that we’re about to be profitable, actually profitable for the first time ever. I don’t know that they need new roommates.”

“I can say that if I were Arlowe and Enya, I’d want to know as soon as possible that my friends were moving out. You saw how they were with Violet. It was hard for them because she kind of told them one night and never really lived here after that.”

“Different situation, though. We knew she’d eventually move in with Stella and into Stella’s house. You live here, so I’m not leaving until we find a place we like and move there.”

“I’ll follow your lead. Whatever you want, we’ll do, but this room is really small with both of us living in it, and it’s bigger than mine, so mine wouldn’t even help. I want a basic apartment with my girlfriend, and I’d like it soon, too. I’ve been looking online already, and I have a few options that I can show you, but you know how fast apartments go around here. We should look into them soon, or they’re going to be gone.”

“You were looking already?”

“Sarai, I started looking at apartments for us about six months ago,” Gabi said with a smile. “I wasn’t thinking we’d move out then, but I wanted options in case we decided that we wanted to. Now, we’re both at the office pretty much every day or working in the garage because there’s no space in here, and my room has my furniture, so there’s not much space there, either. If we’re going to work from home, we can do it in a two-bedroom apartment of our own.”

“Two bedrooms?”

“One for us. One for our desks,” Gabi replied. “I think we can share an office, but if not, I’ll just put my desk in the living room.”

“I don’t know if we can share. You didn’t want to share an office with me at work,” she joked.

“I did, but you needed that space for your team and your dry-erase wall, babe. I wanted you to have that.”

“You’re the best girlfriend,” Sarai replied.

“Hold that thought.”

Gabi held up her finger.

“What? Why?”

“Well, you and I have been together for a year now, and my mom…”

“Oh,” Sarai said. “She wants to meet me?”

“She’s coming to town next month.”

“Ah… You want to move out of here by then because your mom is coming to town. I see.”

“Not just that. I want a place for us. But, yeah, I guess I’m in a little bit of a rush. If we still live here, that’s fine, but she hasn’t been here since I moved, and I’ve only visited her once… without you.”

“I had to work.”

“She knows. She just wants to meet you, babe.”

“I want to meet her, too.”

“She’s pretty jealous that I’ve already met your parents.”

“They were in town, and you didn’t have to work.”

“I know,” Gabi said. “So, is it okay?”

“Gabs, of course, it’s okay. I do want to meet her. She’s your mom, and I love you.”

“But is it really okay to find an apartment on such short notice?”

“We can try. I don’t know how long it’ll take for us to actually move in. We have to find something, apply, get accepted, fill out the paperwork, pick a move-in date, and then, actually move in. I don’t want your mom to see us living out of boxes, so we’d have to unpack, put things together, too, and maybe decorate.”

“We have close to six weeks. I believe in us,” Gabi said before she stood and walked over to the bedside table where she kept her tablet most of the time.