It’s something Kita has said before, so it doesn’t feel like a vague threat, the way it might have from someone else.
I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. I’m sorry.
Dragging myself out of bed, I stretch out the tightness in my shoulders and take the comm with me to the bathroom… whereI get a cloth hot and try to smooth out the impression of it on my face.
I don’t mind. It was late and I felt a little like I was abusing your attention.
He might not feel that way once he gets the bill.
That thought makes me pause.How much is Phantom charging him for this?
I am not about to ask.
When are you booth next?
I’d like to see you.
Well… you know what I mean.
I know the answer—three hours from now—but… If he works all the time, I don’t want him to have to ask multiple times.
Switching screens in the app, I pull up my schedule and tap on a button I had seen before, but never had a reason to consider using.
Beside the plus sign icon where I add shifts, there’s an envelope and when it opens, it shows me all the accounts I can share my schedule to.
Before, it was just the other women I work with… but the tentacle icon profile with Sirin’s name under it is among the options now, too.
I send the next week’s schedule to him and a reservation request comes through, immediately.
I want to see you today.
Do I seem too desperate?
I accept the request. Maybe I like desperate.
Maybe I just like him enough for it to notfeeldesperate.
I’m not going to answer that question.
Don’t work too hard beforehand. You better save up your energy for me.
Another message comes through—not in the app—and I rush through getting dressed. I don’t even brush my hair before I twist it up into a top knot. Kita doesn’t care what I look like and Kita’s the only one I want to see between now and the appointment I’m a little too giddy for.
He keeps chatting with me as I lock my apartment and make my way through the residential corridors on my level. And I smile all the way until I see who’s standing with Kita.
The gang’s all here, as they say.
She looks at me with an irritated scowl and when I’m close enough, she leans over to say, “We need to find another place to get our morning bev.”
“Yeah, we do.”
But I order my cappuccino because we’re already here. I get it to go so we can leave as quickly as possible.
I move as far away from the others as I can, without edging into another group’s space, and send,
Stopping to grab coffee and something to eat with a friend.
I’ll let you have your time with them.
