Page 93 of Derivation

“I kind of like it, if I’m being honest. It’s a nice change of pace.”

“What?”

Sarai laughed and put her hand on Gabi’s thigh.

“I was so nervous around you back then that I took my clothes off for the shower in the bathroom stall at your dorm instead of asking you to just turn around and doing it in your room. I ended up dropping a shower shoe in the toilet and had to pull it out and disinfect it in the shower.”

Sarai laughed louder and said, “No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. I didn’t bring a robe with me, and I had to borrow one of your towels. I was holding it up, trying to make sure I didn’t drop it into the toilet, and I had the shoes in the other hand. It was a whole thing. Then, I had to go back into the stall to change into my clothes before I went back to your room.”

“You walked back into my room with the shoes that had been in the toilet?”

“I spent five minutes in scalding hot water using all the soap I had to clean those things. They were fine.”

“I think I’m at a three now,” Sara shared.

Gabi gave her a smile, and they hit the highway, which Sarai hadn’t expected.

“We’re not going someplace close?”

“Nope.”

“You’re not kidnapping me, right?”

“No, Sarai.” Gabi laughed. “Do I need to kidnap you to go on a date with you?”

“No.”

“Babe, just relax, okay?”

Sarai looked over at her.

“Yeah, it slipped out,” Gabi said and shook her head.

“I’m at a two now,” Sarai replied and looked out the windshield with a pretty big smile on her face.

They didn’t talk much after the term of endearment slip, and Sarai still wanted to know where they were going, but she decided to do what Gabi had requested and relax. About an hour later, Gabi turned them off the highway, and not long after that, she pulled into a parking lot.

“I have no idea where we are right now,” Sarai said as she looked out into the darkness.

“Remember how I talked about doing a dinner canal cruise at night, but with everything else I’d planned for that weekend, I couldn’t squeeze it in, so you took me on a hop-on, hop-off boat so that I’d at least get on the water?” Gabi asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s not a canal, but it’s a river, and one that does dinner cruises. I’m pretty certain it’s going to be a boat filled with retirees and probably at least one office party event or something, but I was hoping we could get our dinner cruise on the water after all.”

“You booked us a dinner cruise on the river?”

“Is that okay?” Gabi checked and parked the car before turning it off. “It wasn’t very expensive, so I don’t have a ton of confidence that the food is going to be good, but it was more of a sentimental thing than for the food. We can always grab something after if we don’t like what they serve. I didn’t expect you to wear a dress, but I did bring us a blanket in my backpack, which I also brought like a nerd because I wanted to make sure I had anything we might need. I put a travel first aid kit in there, too.”

Sarai laughed and said, “I kind of love that.”

“So, it’s okay?”

“It’s pretty perfect, actually,” she replied.

CHAPTER 25