Page 30 of Paradigm

Eline parked on the street instead of pulling her car in behind Arlowe’s in the driveway. The house she then walked toward seemed relatively small – one-story, postage-stamp-size front lawn, two-car garage, and a blue front door – and Arlowe waited for her there and smiled when Eline arrived on the square piece of concrete acting as the front stoop.

“Shit. One second,” Arlowe told her.

“What?”

Arlowe unlocked the door and pushed it open.

“Enya, I forgot to text you, but if you are in the living room or kitchen, hanging out naked, run to your bedroom right now,” Arlowe said into the house.

“What?” Eline asked again, laughing this time.

“It’s a thing. Totally normal. Not at all weird, I promise.”

“I’m not naked. Why are you so weird?” someone said from inside, and it only took a moment for Eline to recognize the voice as one of Arlowe’s friends.

Arlowe pushed open the door and walked in, motioning for Eline to go in after her.

“Oh,” Enya said, sitting up on the sofa where she had obviously been relaxing with her computer in her lap. “Wow. Hi. It’s been forever.”

“Enya, hi,” Eline greeted with a smile.

“I didn’t know you were coming over. I can make myself scarce,” Enya said as she quickly closed her computer.

“No, it’s okay. How have you been?” Eline asked and walked over to sit down next to Enya while Arlowe closed and locked the front door.

“Good. You?”

“Good.”

“Arlowe said you got a job nearby, selling gold?”

Eline looked over at Arlowe and shook her head.

“Not exactly. I work for a company that helps people sell their gold. I run the QE department over there.”

“So, you did become a software engineer? We were never sure because you mentioned wanting to be a lawyer, I think. Do I remember that right?”

Eline chuckled and said, “I forgot all about that. Yeah, I did think about law back then, but I didn’t want to go to law school, and I liked coding too much.”

“I’m sure Arlowe can understand that,” Enya said.

“I bet she can.”

Eline smiled over at Arlowe, who had taken her blazer off but was still standing in her tucked-in button-down and looking unbelievably good in it.

“So, you two were supposed to have a drink. Was it, like, one shot or something? Arlowe left less than an hour ago.”

“We decided to have drinks here instead,” Arlowe answered for them.

“Oh, got it,” Enya said. “Well, I know roommates are annoying when you want alone time, so I’m going to my room, and I’ll stay in there the rest of the night.”

“Enya, it’s fine. Stay out here. We’re not going to be out here anyway.”

“Oh, really?” Enya asked, giving Arlowe an interesting look.

“Not that. We have a little wager going,” Arlowe replied, walking over to sit down next to Eline.

Arlowe’s arm went over the back of the sofa, and they weren’t touching, but this was the closest they’d been to each other in years, and Eline couldn’t help but breathe Arlowe in. Back in the day, Arlowe hadn’t worn any kind of perfume or cologne, and her body wash and soaps had been in the strawberry family, but now, she didn’t smell like strawberries. She smelled like something with orange and cinnamon and maybe something woodsy. It suited her, who she was now, and Eline wanted to lean back against her, let Arlowe’s arms wrap around her, and hold on to her tightly.