Page 90 of Derivation

“Oh. Damn, Sarai. You clean up nice.”

“What are you two doing here?” she asked and looked back down the hallway, expecting Gabi to emerge any minute now.

“We were invited. We’re watching a movie with Arlowe and Enya. Enya told us you couldn’t come.”

“She’s right.” Sarai turned back to her friends. “And I need you all to either be extremely cool, or leave this living room right now. You choose, but you have to pick one.”

“Huh?” Arlowe asked.

“Please. I will do all the dishes for a week or–”

“Oh, shit,” Arlowe said, standing up abruptly. “You’re going out with Gabi tonight, aren’t you?”

“Yes. And it’s our first date that’s already weird because I can’t exactly pick her up and drop her off at her home.”

“You’re going out with Gabi tonight?” Violet softened. “Enya just said you were going out. I figured you were doing that to get Gabi off your mind or something. Why didn’t you say anything? Stella and I would’ve stayed home.”

“To avoid this exact situation where you all make a big deal out of it and I’m trying not to.”

“Sarai, it is a big deal. You better make it a big deal,” Arlowe told her. “She’ll be expecting that.”

“Arlowe, don’t make her nervous.”

Enya stood and slapped Arlowe on the shoulder playfully.

“Too late. Been there for days. Need you all to leave now.”

“Leave where, exactly?” Stella asked.

“Just… go into the garage, or the backyard, or even Arlowe’s bedroom.”

“Kitchen. Now,” Enya ordered thankfully, and the four of them hurried there just as Sarai heard a door behind her.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again before she turned around and saw Gabi standing there, about five feet away from her, wearing a sweater, jeans, and a pair of black boots.

“You dressed up?”

“Yeah, I–” Sarai’s eyes darted to the kitchen, where she saw all her friends pretending not to be listening in, but very obviously listening. “It’s our first date.”

She looked back at Gabi.

“I went more casual. I should change. I thought you’d be casual. You’re always casual.”

“No, it’s fine. You dressed up for Vi’s party thing, so I thought you’d dress up for tonight, and I wanted to, I don’t know, match, I guess.”

“My party thing? It was my housewarming party, not a party thing,” Violet whispered, but Sarai heard her along with Enya’s shushing sound.

“I should change,” Gabi repeated.

“What? No. You look great.”

“No, you look great. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a dress before, and outside of the time I ran into you on your way out of the bathroom when you were in a towel, I don’t think I’ve seen your legs. Why do you hide those in pants?”

When Arlowe laughed before she covered her mouth, Sarai internally plotted her slow and very painful death.

“We should just go. We don’t want to miss our reservation.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind changing,” Gabi replied.