Page 7 of Derivation

There were four cars in the driveway, practically bumper to bumper, so Gabi parked on the street and got out. Having locked her car, she took a deep breath because she was actually a little nervous and walked toward the door. She wasn’t sure why she was nervous. She’d spent time with these women just a few nights ago, but that had been at a bar, and this was Sarai’s house, or rather, their house, since a few of them still lived here.

“Hey,” Arlowe greeted when she pulled open the door. “Come on in. Sarai’s in the kitchen.” She pointed. “Straight back. If you want food or something to drink, it’s back there, too.”

“Hi. And thanks.”

Gabi walked in and looked around. She’d been directly deposited into the living room, where there were two comfortable-looking sofas, one on each wall, a shelf over what probably used to be a fireplace but was now covered with plaster, and a big, flat-screen TV in the corner.

“Oh. Hi, Gabi,” Stella said when she saw her, and Gabi quickly noticed her jersey choice, which was for an NFL team.

“Hey. How have you been?”

“Great. My girlfriend is home full-time now, so I’m loving that. You?”

The aforementioned girlfriend, Violet, was sitting next to Enya on one of the two sofas, and she was also wearing an NFL jersey.

“Great, yeah,” Gabi said, not sure what else to offer the woman she’d barely talked to the other night at the bar. “So, Sarai?”

“Kitchen,” Stella replied.

“Cool. I’ll be right back.”

She walked into the kitchen and found Sarai standing there with a woman and two guys, who were in NFL jerseys as well. Sarai was in a pair of black jeans and a white V-neck shirt, and her dark-brown hair was pulled back, exposing her neck and a tattoo at her hairline that was some kind of language character that Gabi didn’t recognize but decided to ask her about later.

“Hey,” she greeted.

Sarai turned around and smiled at her.

“Oh, hey. You came?”

“I told you I would.”

“You left it pretty open-ended, so I wasn’t sure.”

“I said I’d come if I could, and I could, so I’m here,” she replied.

“I can see that,” Sarai said and nodded toward the other people in the room. “This is Clay. That’s Mitchell. They work with us. That’s Mitchell’s girlfriend, Laura,” Sarai introduced. “This is Gabi. We knew each other a while ago, and she just moved to town for a job.”

“Nice to meet you,” Laura said.

“You too,” Gabi replied.

“Babe, want to go grab a good seat on the couch before the game starts?” Mitchell asked his girlfriend.

“Not really, but sure,” Laura said and rubbed his shoulders. “Not a big football fan, but he loves it.”

“See you in there,” Clay added.

“Can I get you something to eat?” Sarai asked. “We did the whole chips and dip and fruit and veggie platter thing, but there’s actual food here if you want something else.”

“I think I made a mistake,” Gabi said.

“Mistake?”

“You said football game.”

“It’s about to start, yeah. Well, I think. I don’t really care for it all that much. Arlowe loves it, but it was just an excuse to get everyone together. I guess Stella is into it, too, so she bought Violet a matching jersey.”

“I thought you meant actual football.”