Page 61 of Derivation

Gabi looked over at the bank of two elevators because she couldn’t look Sarai in the eye while asking her next question.

“What happened then?”

“What do you mean?”

“With Enya driving you home, because she didn’t.”

“What are you talking about? Yes, she did. Well, I drove her home, technically,” Sarai said.

Gabi turned back to her, confused, and Sarai looked the same way, which was odd.

“You didn’t get home until late, and I heard you come in with someone,” Gabi told her.

“I did. Enya. I had one rum and Coke. Enya had three glasses of this punch that Stella put out. She didn’t know there was alcohol in it, so I had to take the keys from her. Then, I drove us home and tried to put a very drunk Enya to bed, but she was laughing and said she could handle it herself in, like, four languages.”

Gabi swallowed and said, “You brought Enya home?”

“Yes. Then, I went to bed. Why? What did you think happened?”

“Nothing,” she lied, but Sarai’s expression told her that she didn’t believe her.

“Sorry if we woke you up. I was trying to keep her down, but Enya rarely gets drunk, and she was pretty funny. I did tell Stella to make sure to label that punch next time. I took a sip, and that stuff is amazing, but it tastes like fruit juice and not alcohol.”

“We were looking for you,” Violet said, coming out of the other door that they hadn’t used.

“Sorry, we were waiting for you to finish up,” Sarai said. “So?” she asked Enya, who followed behind Violet, with Arlowe coming out right after.

“It’s fine. Nothing fancy,” Arlowe replied.

“You’re Enya now?”

“I thought it was a universal question,” Arlowe said.

“It’s not fancy yet,” Violet explained. “Because we have to add our own personal touches. I’m thinking we’ll use our brand colors to liven up the walls. We can paint them ourselves to save some money, and we’ll keep some of the rental furniture, but we can buy new stuff for our offices and maybe a couple of sofas, too. We’ll just go to IKEA and not spend a ton of money.”

“Violet, you want us to be fancy with IKEA furniture?” Sarai asked.

“I want it to look like our own office, but for now, that means being fancy on a budget.”

“Less cool, but whatever,” Arlowe said. “And where’s Nancy?”

“She’s still inside, talking to the building people about the furniture we want to lease. The suite lease would be for three years, but we won’t need that furniture for that long, so she’s checking on terms for that. I’ll get her down on everything.”

“Confident in your negotiation skills, huh?” Sarai teased.

“I got Stella to go down to fit within our budget, didn’t I?” Violet countered.

“You could’ve stopped that sentence at you got Stella to go down,” Arlowe said.

They all laughed then, with the exception of Violet, who only glared.

“I’m ready to go now,” Sarai said, standing up.

“I’ll go get Nancy while you all keep talking about IKEA furniture,” Gabi offered, standing up right after her.

“No need. Enya already did.”

Violet hooked a thumb back toward the door that was still closing.