Page 43 of Derivation

Sarai walked past her and onto the sidewalk.

“That’s kind of nice,” Gabi replied, following her out.

They walked to her car, and Sarai drove them home in relative silence, still thinking about what she’d just said. When she’d seen Gabi for the first time in that train station, something had come over her, but she’d only been able to think of Gabi as some kid whom she’d been supposed to safely show around the city back then, so maybe she hadn’t recognized it for what it really had been.

“Well, this is me,” Gabi said when they got to her bedroom door.

“Funny,” Sarai replied. “This is me.” She pointed to her own door. “Have a good first night in your new house.”

“Hey, thanks for going out tonight. I had a good time.”

“Me too.”

“You don’t regret not going to Blue with Jo?”

“No.” Sarai smiled. “No regrets. Night, Gabi.”

“Night.”

CHAPTER 12

Gabi woke up from her best night of sleep in ages. The hotel bed had been way too soft for her back, so she’d been practically falling through to the bed frame beneath the mattress for weeks, and the hotel pillows had left a lot to be desired as well. Her own bed was a game changer, or at least, it certainly felt that way after not sleeping on it for a while. Her pillows were the expensive kind, but they’d been so worth it because Gabi woke up rested and ready to begin her Sunday. It was her first morning in the house, and she wasn’t exactly sure what the protocol was. Was she supposed to see if anyone else was up? Should she make breakfast for the whole house if she was making breakfast for herself? What if she just wanted a couple of slices of toast? Was she supposed to toast a whole loaf of bread and leave slices on a plate for anyone who might want some? Did people even eat cold toast if it was sitting out on the table for them?

She checked the time on her phone, and it was still pretty early, so she figured she’d probably be the first one up. She hadn’t been told yet what the shower schedule looked like, but she could use one because she had been too tired to take one the previous night. Plus, Sarai had said goodnight to her at her bedroom door, and when Gabi had been considering whether she should take a shower, she’d heard Sarai walking out of her room, followed by the bathroom door closing, so she’d opted to just go to bed and shower in the morning. Of course, thinking about Sarai in the shower had made sleeping pretty much impossible for the first hour or so.

Taking her first shower in this house had been strange. It had felt a little like it had back at the hotel, like she was a guest and not a permanent resident there, but with much better water pressure. After her shower, she wrapped herself in a towel that she’d brought in with her and realized that she’d forgotten to bring in clean clothes to change into. She hadn’t needed to worry about that since college and was out of practice with the whole roommate protocol. Gabi listened at the door and, hearing nothing, pulled it open. She hurried to her bedroom and closed the door behind her, managing to make it without anyone seeing her, but she’d left her hair dryer in the bathroom. She would have to get used to a new routine. What did she keep in her bedroom? What stayed in the communal bathroom? What did she do first, next, and last? She hadn’t thought any of that through before she’d moved in. She pulled her hair back, deciding that she’d just leave it up and wet for now, dressed, and headed out in search of breakfast.

“Morning,” Arlowe said when Gabi got to the kitchen.

“You’re up early,” she replied.

“Bug.”

“Where?”

She looked around, head on a swivel.

Arlowe chuckled and said, “No, someone found a bug. I’m on call today, so I had to get up to fix it. Small company. We rotate, but I manage our customer support, too.”

Then, Arlowe grabbed herself a granola bar and headed out into the garage without another word.

“Oh,” Gabi said when Arlowe just left.

“Hey,” Enya greeted, walking into the kitchen.

“Hey. Do you all get up this early on a Sunday?”

“Not every Sunday, but sometimes,” Enya replied and pulled a box of cereal from a cabinet. “Want some?”

“I was going to make pancakes. I got the mix yesterday.”

“Pancakes?”

Gabi turned around and saw Sarai standing in the open doorway to the kitchen. Her arms were up in the air. She was stretching and yawning. Gabi’s eyes went down to that skin showing between the gap of her sweats and T-shirt before she moved them back up to Sarai’s eyes.

“I was going to make them, yeah. Want some?”

“Yes, please,” Sarai replied and walked around her, but before she did, she took Gabi by the hips and sort of pulled her to the side a bit so that she could.