Page 4 of Derivation

“Yes, Enya. I’m sure she’ll drive us there safely,” Sarai said, rolling her eyes.

“Gabi, why are you here again?” Arlowe asked.

“Come on, buddy.” Sarai wrapped an arm around Arlowe’s shoulders. “Let’s get you home and in bed.”

“I want to work,” Arlowe argued.

“Not tonight. You need to sleep this off.”

Then, all six of them walked out of the bar, and Violet and Stella said goodnight before they turned right, while the rest of them turned left to walk to Gabi’s car.

“I miss her, Sarai,” Arlowe said softly so that only Sarai could hear.

“Miss who? Vi? We’ll see her on Monday.”

“What? No, not Violet. I mean, I know things are changing, and it won’t be the same, but I miss Eline.”

“You just brought her up.”

“I know.”

“You never bring her up. We bring her up. You get mad when we bring her up.”

“I know, Sarai. Pretty tipsy here, remember?”

“Look her up, Arlowe.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“She’s thirty-three, probably married to another woman by now, who is gorgeous, successful, funny, smart, kind, and other kinds of words that describe things.”

“Are you talking about adjectives?”

“Yes, those. All the good… those things.”

Arlowe rested her head on Sarai’s shoulder.

“Is she okay?” Enya asked.

“She just brought up Eline, so no.”

“Arlowe brought up Eline? On her own?”

“Wait. Eline? From–” Gabi started and stopped when Sarai nodded at her. “Oh.”

“Why did I break up with her?”

“You had your reasons, Arlowe. And they were good ones back then, but I still don’t understand why you can’t just check in on her. Maybe she’s not married. Maybe she’s totally single.”

“Then, wouldn’t she reach out to me?” Arlowe asked as they arrived at Gabi’s car and waited for her to unlock it.

“I’ll sit in the back with her,” Enya offered.

“Arlowe, maybe she doesn’t reach out to you because she thinks that if you were single, you’d reach out to her.”

Sarai carefully helped her very drunk friend get into the back seat of the car.