Page 64 of Derivation

“I should…”

Gabi nodded to the door behind Sarai.

“Right. Shower. Yeah.”

When Sarai moved out of the way and hurried into her own bedroom, Gabi turned to see Arlowe standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

“What?” she asked.

“Question. Are you a bagel or donut person?”

“I like both,” she replied.

“I’ll let that slide. You’re new.”

Arlowe walked off before Gabi could ask her what she meant by that, so she focused on the task at hand. She went into the bathroom and started the water.

One thing about living with roommates that had been a big adjustment for Gabi was the fact that she felt self-conscious about taking care of building tension and stress when she needed a little release. In all of her previous apartments, her bedroom had been on an outer building wall. She hadn’t planned it that way. Those were just the units that had been available at the time, but that meant that she hadn’t needed to worry about someone hearing her unless she opened a window wide and really let it out, which she never had. Now, though, she was in a bedroom next to another bedroom across the hall from other bedrooms and living with three other women.

She’d never been loud when touching herself, but at the same time, doing that with the others being within earshot had been something she hadn’t been able to wrap her head around yet. The shower had been an option. It would block out some sound, and she might be able to make herself come quickly, get out, dress, and pretend like she hadn’t just done that, but today would not be that day. She couldn’t see herself rubbing her clit while standing in the shower, biting her lip until she came, and then going out there to have bagels and a work meeting with the rest of them. So, despite wanting to do that more than she had in a very long time, she tried to unpack what had gotten her so turned on instead.

Of course, that unpacking had taken all of a few seconds because she knew exactly what had gotten her so turned on. She had just had her hand on Sarai’s boob, and Sarai’s hands had been about six inches away from where Gabi was washing and trying not to spend too much time.

She finished showering quickly, dried off, put on her robe, opened the door, and looked both ways down the hall. Seeing no one, she made it back into her own room, closed the door behind her, and dropped her robe to the floor, needing to cool off a bit before she got dressed. Then, she heard the front door open, which meant that Violet and Stella were here now, so she grabbed her hair dryer and got to work. Ten minutes later and still a little turned on, she left her room and went down the hall toward the kitchen.

“Where’s Sarai?” she asked when she saw everyone but the woman who had almost made her touch herself.

“Outside,” Enya said. “She needed a moment or something.”

“Hey, you’re free, right?” Violet asked. “If not, it’s fine. I just thought that because you’re working Monday through Friday, this morning might work out to talk about the hardware, but I didn’t ask you in advance, so it’s totally fine if you have plans.”

“At eight in the morning on a Sunday? Unsurprisingly, I do not have plans.”

“You could’ve had church or something,” Arlowe suggested before she took a bite of a bagel.

“Not a big churchgoer,” she replied.

“Great.” Violet smiled. “Not the fact that you don’t go to church. I mean, go there if you want or not; that’s up to you. Just that you’re free.”

“She gets excited about work,” Stella explained. “Even on Sunday mornings when her girlfriend really wants to just sleep in.”

“Please, you knew this about me when you asked me to move in with you. I’ll go get Sarai, and we can get started.”

“I’ve got her,” Gabi said. “What kind of bagel does she like? I’ll bring her one.”

“If you do that, she’ll just eat it out there. We should get started in the garage,” Violet suggested.

“Babe, let them eat their breakfast,” Stella said with a little laugh. “I love you, but chill.”

“She likes the blueberry ones with cream cheese,” Enya answered her actual question. “She doesn’t usually eat them toasted.”

“And that’s her coffee,” Stella added, pointing to one of the cups in one of the two carriers. “Yours is right next to it.”

“Thanks.”

Gabi went about making herself a bagel and did the same for Sarai. She put them both on the same plate, shoved her own coffee under her arm, and held Sarai’s cup with her free hand. Arlowe opened the door for her, and she headed outside to find Sarai, once again, sitting on the swing.

“Hey, you didn’t get breakfast,” Gabi said. “Enya told me you liked blueberry bagels, so I hope she wasn’t playing a prank on me.”