Page 37 of Derivation

“She’s just looking at you and kind of forgetting that I’m sitting here.”

“She knows me, I guess.”

“Sure,” Gabi said and looked down at the menu in her hands.

“Hey, there’s a housewarming party tomorrow night for Violet and Stella. They told us about it a few days ago. I guess they really want to celebrate Violet moving in or something. You’re invited if you want to go.”

“Violet invited me?” Gabi asked.

“Well, I did. That’s just kind of how it works with us. Violet could invite anyone to a party I was hosting. I don’t host parties, so I doubt that will ever come up, but it’s fine.”

“Can I ask you something else?”

“Sure.”

“Have any of you ever dated? You and your friends?”

“Weirdly, no.” Sarai shook her head. “You’d think that because we’re four lesbians who are oddly close, but I think we all just kind of fit as best friends right away and later co-workers, too, and it had always been just that. I’ve never even had so much as a crush on any of them. It’s weird how it all worked out. I’m the one who got the marketing degree. Violet got the MBA. Arlowe was in computer science, so she could code like no one else. And, well, Enya was the polyglot who gave us the idea for the business to begin with. We were sitting around and just hanging out one minute, contemplating our futures, and Enya suggested it. We all agreed, and now, here we are.”

“I think that’s cool.”

“Yeah, but we still need hardware,” Sarai said. “And you know hardware.”

“Did you talk to them? Is that why you’re mentioning it now? I didn’t want to bring it up again and look pushy.”

“I talked to Arlowe and Enya earlier. I’ll have to talk to Vi to get her thoughts on Monday, but Arlowe and Enya were fine with it. They said Vi will probably make you sign some stuff, which makes sense, and I think you should get paid, Gabi.”

“I’m not really concerned with that.”

“But if you make us something that works, you should get a percentage of the profits, at least. I’m going to suggest that to Violet and see what she thinks.”

“If you feel like that’s best, I won’t argue, but I really do just want to help. The story you told me about your grandmother and wanting to be able to talk to her more easily really resonated with me. I want to help other people do that.”

Sarai smiled at her just as Jo walked back over to take their order.

“So, what can I get for you?”

“Can I get the nachos?” Sarai said. “No sour cream.”

“Sure,” Jo replied and was about to walk away again.

“Um… Hi,” Gabi spoke up.

“Oh, sorry. Did you want to order something, too?”

Gabi glared at her, knowing exactly what was going on here, and replied, “Yeah. Can I get the burger, medium-well, with no onions?”

“Garlic fries?” Jo asked.

“No, just plain old fries. I hate what garlic and onions do to my breath, so…”

“No problem,” Jo said, looking a little less happy than she’d been a minute ago, and walked off.

“What the hell was that all about?” Sarai chuckled.

“Nothing,” Gabi lied.

“O-k-a-y. So, Violet’s party?”