Page 62 of Derivation

“Where does she get her shoes? Is there a store for ninjas around here or something?” Gabi asked.

Sarai laughed. Then, Enya and Nancy came out to the lobby.

“What are we thinking?” Nancy asked.

“Lunch,” Arlowe replied.

“What she means is…”

Violet pinched Arlowe’s shoulder.

“Ouch!”

“That we’re going to talk about this over lunch, and I’ll call you with our decision.”

“Great. I left a voicemail about the furniture, so I hope to hear back soon,” Nancy shared.

“Thank you,” Violet replied.

“Of course. I’ll walk you all out.”

“Hey, do you want to maybe hang out tonight?” Gabi asked Sarai as they walked down the stairs.

“Tonight?” Sarai asked.

“Or not. It’s fine. I was just thinking that there could be a movie or something, and we could order those burritos.”

“I love burritos,” Arlowe said, turning around to face them when they hit the first floor. “What movie?”

“Oh, I–”

“Arlowe, you’re just hungry, so why don’t you leave a conversation that was between two other people and wait in the car for Violet to drive us to a restaurant?” Sarai told her.

“Well, now, I want burritos,” Enya added.

Gabi sighed as they walked out of the building.

CHAPTER 17

Gabi woke up energized and ready to get to work; not her actual job because it was Sunday and she had the day off from that, but working on the hardware for her new, sort of second job. Needing to take a shower first, she changed out of her pajamas and put on a robe that she had bought earlier that week. She’d never been much of a robe person, but she’d also not had roommates since the dorm, where she’d had her only other robe. She had bought it thinking it might come in handy, and she was proven right about that when she opened her door to walk across the hall to the bathroom and nearly bumped into Sarai, who was leaving said bathroom with wet hair and a towel wrapped around her body.

“Oh, sorry,” she said and quickly looked away.

“Why? She’s worn less clothing out to a club before,” Arlowe said.

Gabi turned to see Arlowe walking down the hallway toward them and then right between them.

“You’ve worn less than a towel to a club before?”

“She’s exaggerating,” Sarai replied. “But I will admit to having dresses that are only slightly longer than this towel, and they were probably also a little more skin-tight.”

Gabi swallowed.

“Shower?” Sarai asked.

“Yup.”

“I was quick, so there should be plenty of hot water.”