Page 73 of Semantics

“I need a break,” Sarai said. “And I’m starving. Anyone want pizza?”

“Hell, yeah,” Arlowe replied. “Can you get our usual with the–”

“Breadsticks and cheese sticks, yeah, I know our order after, like, eight years of ordering it.”

“You really are hungry,” Arlowe said.

“Well, yeah. I skipped lunch because Violet wanted me to change the deck she just pretended hadn’t been touched,” Sarai said, got up, and left the garage. “I’m ordering now! If you want anything different from what we’d normally get, speak up!” she yelled from the kitchen.

“I pissed her off, didn’t I?” Violet asked.

“We’re all burning the candle at both ends, Vi. She just needs a break. I think it’s probably good for us all to take a few minutes to ourselves. We can talk more at dinner,” Enya suggested.

Then, she, too, stood up and left the garage, and Violet turned to Arlowe, who was still sitting there expectantly.

“It’s okay. Take a break. I’m going to my room. I think I could use one, too,” she said.

Violet left the garage, walked by Sarai, who was still in the kitchen, and into her own room just as she heard the door to Enya’s close. She sat on the end of her bed instead of at her desk, flopped backward, and pulled her phone out of the front pocket of her jeans. She placed it on her stomach and stared up at her ceiling, wondering what to do now. For some reason, the only thing she could think of was to call Stella. Violet hadn’t seen her in about a week, but they’d texted on and off since then. With the investor meeting coming up, she had been extra busy, and Stella had told her that it was fine because she had a major client that she was trying to win.

Violet wasn’t sure what had her thinking of Stella right now, considering she typically only thought of her in relation to sex. She’d been wondering if maybe it was just meant to be about a week of hot sex, followed by texting and telling each other that they couldn’t meet up that night until it all faded away as if it had never happened to begin with. Then, she’d see Stella or talk to her only in relation to being a Cerebral customer, and she’d flash back to those amazing nights and wish she had someone else to have that kind of sex with.

“Violet?”

Violet opened her mouth to speak, but she didn’t know what to say. Her mind had been wandering, and her hands had, apparently, picked up her phone, dialed Stella, and put it to her ear.

“Um… Hey. Yeah, hi,” she said.

“Hey. What’s up? You usually don’t call me.”

“I know. I–”

“Wait. Is this… Are you looking for phone sex?”

“What?” she asked, shooting up into a sitting position. “No.”

“Oh.”

“You thought I called you for phone sex?”

“It’s been a minute. I thought maybe you were too busy to get out of the house and meet up, but that you might be calling for a little release or something.”

“Is that an option?” Violet asked, suddenly wanting to know.

“It can be, yeah. Why? Interested now?” Stella teased.

“Yes, but no,” she replied.

“What does that mean?” Stella asked, laughing.

“It means I’m on a break right now. We’re about to eat dinner and then get back in it.”

“Break from what?”

“Planning for a possible investor meeting. It’s not going well,” she admitted.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m a type-A nutjob.”