Page 8 of Paradigm

“Sure,” he said and pulled out a menu before setting it in front of her. “Drink?”

“Actually, yes. Can I get a piña colada?”

When she and Arlowe had first started dating, Arlowe had asked if she’d had the drink before, and Eline hadn’t, so Arlowe had made them a batch in her dorm room, using a cheap blender that she’d bought from a store earlier that day.

“No problem,” the bartender replied.

Eline hadn’t had a piña colada since that night, but the first drink she’d thought to order had been the one she still associated with her ex-girlfriend. A few minutes later, she had the drink in front of her and had ordered her dinner, and she looked back at the TV to see what sport the group of mostly men was watching. Just as it clicked that it was some kind of motorcycle race, her phone dinged.

Eline knew that sound. She’d set up her email notifications to be distinct from the rest of her apps, so she took a very deep breath and pulled her phone out of her pocket. As she unlocked the device and went to her email app, she knew there was a chance that it could be an email from anyone, but she hoped that it was one from Arlowe. Her body let out one short breath when she saw that it was.

Eline,

Hi. How are you? How have you been? I don’t know which to ask, and my friends are not being very helpful right now. Violet told me that I should keep it short and sweet. Enya told me that I should ask you a million questions, and Sarai suggested I land somewhere in the middle, but I guess I’m really bad at taking their advice because I just told you all of that instead of listening to them. Anyway, you’ve probably guessed that we all started the app and work at the business together by now, but yeah, we’re all still friends and work together, so there’s that. Things are good, I guess. I mostly just work and hang with them. What about you?

Why does it feel so strange, sending you an email? I used to know everything about you. I guess I just wanted to say that I hope you’re well. I hope things turned out how you wanted them to and that you’re happy. That’s all I have ever really wanted. I also wanted you to know that I did want to talk to you. I wanted to reach out, but I was waiting for you to reach out first, given that you told me you needed time, and when you didn’t, I thought it meant that that was it, so that’s why I never did. I don’t know if that was the right decision or the wrong one, but it’s the one I made. If you get this and want to find me on social and DM me there, you can. This is my work email, so I’ll just put my social handles below. I don’t know if you’d want my number, but if you do, I can give it to you, too, and you can text me. I just looked at the time here, and it’s after seven, which means it’s the middle of the night your time, so I guess I’ll close by asking what you’re doing up so late and hope you reply soon.

Arlowe

Below that, Arlowe had listed a few of her social media usernames, but Eline scrolled back up to read the email again. She’d thought about following Arlowe many times over the years, but she’d never gone through with it because, despite it being a part of her distant past, it never felt far enough away for her to confront the woman she’d once believed to be the love of her life.

“Hey. Is this seat taken?”

Eline looked over at a woman who was standing next to the empty stool to her right.

“No,” she replied, preparing to return her attention to Arlowe’s email.

“Can I join you, then?”

“Join me?” Eline asked.

“You have an interesting accent. Where’s it from?” the woman asked as she took her seat.

“Holland. I’m Dutch.”

“Your English is amazing.”

“I spent time here as a teenager,” she said.

“And now, you’re back on vacation or…”

“No, I moved here recently.”

She gave the woman a nod, hoping that would tell her that she wasn’t really interested in a conversation at the moment without appearing to be rude.

“I’m Marti,” the woman introduced herself instead and held out her hand.

“Eline,” she replied.

“Like Elaine, but not?”

“Um… I suppose,” she said.

“You’re not at all interested, are you?” Marti said with a little laugh.

“Interested in what?”

“Me.”