Page 92 of Semantics

“I’ve got time.”

“Maybe I don’t,” Stella argued.

“Make the time. Come on. What happened?”

“It was me. I’m the one who tried to make it more, okay? You were right. I like her now.”

“I knew it.” Jen chuckled. “How bad is it?”

“I’m not in love with her or anything, but I do like her. She’s different than she was back then. I am, too, I guess, but it’s like those differences make us work now. Or, they could, at least.”

“And she wasn’t into it?”

“She called me and asked me over for dinner with her and her friends, so I went, and we had fun. I brought my bag, but she didn’t even mention sex when she asked me to come over, so that was going to be a bonus if we did anything. Anyway, she’s got that investor meeting today.”

“The one you set up?”

“All I did was send an email and suggest my VC friend maybe give them a look. They reached out to Violet on their own.”

“Sure. Let’s go with that.”

“Anyway… We all went out to the garage, and I helped them brainstorm some stuff. Violet suggested I stay over.”

“Let me guess: you didn’t sleep together.”

“No, we just fell asleep, but she held me, and I held her.”

“You’re smiling now.” Jen pointed at her and laughed. “You loved that.”

“I liked it. I haven’t been held like that in a while.”

“Want me to big-spoon you now? There’s a couch in the kitchen.”

“Asshole,” she replied, laughing. “And I went out to the garage the next morning. We all worked together on the deck, and Violet argued with me a bunch, but it was, like, the good kind of arguing. I left in the afternoon, and it was a little weird, but then she texted that she wanted to come over. You texted that you had a date, so I asked her to come over earlier.”

“Wait… That would mean she was there when I called you. Were you two in the middle–”

“No, she’d already left by then. I didn’t want to tell you and ruin your night with your date.”

“You could’ve told me, Stella.”

“I knew I’d see you at work, so I figured I’d fill you in then. I made the mistake of cooking dinner for us, and there were candles and stuff. I didn’t exactly ask her if she wanted to go out on a date. I just set it up. I don’t know that I even thought about it at first, honestly.”

“What do you mean?”

“She said she could come over early, and I thought that I hadn’t eaten dinner and that she probably hadn’t either, so I put on water to boil. Then, it was like my brain went on autopilot, and there was a cream sauce in a pan, and I’m learning how to fold napkins.”

“I’m sorry; you learned how to–”

“Just one-fold. It took me three minutes. It’s fine. But I set them up on plates and lit the candles I had, and she rang the doorbell. I didn’t even think about it looking like a date until she got there, and I saw the look on her face.”

“Which was?”

“Fear.” Stella shrugged a shoulder. “And confusion. But mostly fear.”

“She was afraid of a date with you?”

“I think Violet is afraid of a date with anyone. Her first girlfriend was a cheating bitch, it sounds like, and I don’t even know that she’s dated much since then. Her parents also did a number on her, and she’s got so much damn pride that she wouldn’t even let me help her when I could have, but yes, she’s afraid.”