Page 7 of October (New Orleans #10)

F inley stared at her computer screen and counted down the minutes in her mind.

It was four fifty-five, which meant in five minutes she could go home for the weekend.

While five wasn’t strictly her time off since she was a salaried employee, she didn’t have anything to do that couldn’t keep until Monday, and she was more than ready for a weekend of relaxation, getting caught up on the computer she was building for herself, and the football game.

What she wasn’t looking forward to was India’s inevitable call or text, asking Finley to talk and probably get together. Finley didn’t see the point, and she was exhausted by the whole thing. On top of that, she’d broken up with India this time for one specific reason: she was ready to move on.

“Um… Yeah, I can talk,” Molly said.

Finley turned her head when she heard Molly’s voice and watched as she walked by their cubicles and toward the kitchen.

“I had a good time, too.” Molly smiled. “Again? Yeah, we can go out again. I’m still at work, though. Can I text you later, and we can set something up?”

Finley turned back to her computer and tried not to eavesdrop, but she was pretty certain she’d just heard Molly setting up a date.

Not just a date, but another date, meaning she’d gone out with the woman at least once before.

Finley swallowed and tried not to turn around again because she wanted to follow Molly and listen to the rest of her conversation, but that would be wrong and also a little crazy.

Instead, she checked the time and noticed that it was three till five.

She decided that was good enough and started to pack up for the weekend.

“You’re leaving?” Molly asked, walking to her desk.

“Uh… Yeah. It’s almost five.”

“You’ve left after me every day this week. I just thought you IT people worked late all the time.”

Molly sat in her chair.

“Sometimes, we do because we have to set things up or fix things when people aren’t here so that we don’t disrupt the business. Like, when a software needs to run maintenance and upgrades, we try to do that at midnight or something.”

“You’re here at midnight?”

“Only a couple of times since I started here. Most of the time, we can do things at, like, seven at night or something. I came in at four one morning, but since the stores open at six, it didn’t seem worth it to try to finish everything when we could run the stuff at night once they’re closed and everyone is done here. ”

“Is it weird, being here late or early, when no one else is here?”

“It’s kind of cool. Spooky sometimes. Like, the couple of times I came in at midnight, I got here at eleven thirty, really, and we did the work leading up to pressing the button, so to speak.

It was me, Martin, and Rusty. Levi wasn’t here yet.

Anyway, we mostly just did the job, but I walked around, and this place is totally different when no one is here.

The view out the window is all lit up, and it’s a whole new world out there at night. ”

“New Orleans has a way with transforming itself like that, doesn’t it?” Molly said.

Finley nodded and asked, “So, any big weekend plans?”

“Just that football game with you and everyone. Or is that next weekend, and I got it mixed up?”

“No, it’s Sunday. You’re still coming, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there. It’s against Tampa Bay. Big time rivals,” Molly said.

“You hate football. How do you know that Tampa is a divisional rival?”

Molly cleared her throat and said, “Juliet told me.”

“Oh. She’s still coming, too, right?”

“Yes, she will be there with Gwen. Who else is going? You had six tickets.”

“Oh, Rusty and his wife,” she replied. “He practically begged me for the tickets. His wife is a bigger fan than he is, but she’s a Tampa Bay fan, so she’ll be wearing a jersey and a pirate hat, probably. I plan on sitting far away from her.”

Molly chuckled and asked, “Do I have to wear a jersey?”

“No, not unless you want to. Do you have one?”

“No.” Molly shook her head.

“I have one you can borrow, if you want. It’s an old one, but it would still show your Saints’ pride.”

“Why do you have Saint’s pride? You moved here for this job,” Molly noted.

“I’m from Kentucky. We don’t have a pro team, so I adopted the Saints when I moved here.

I’m a Kentucky Wildcats fan for college, but they’re usually better at basketball, which I’m not a huge fan of.

I follow it if I’m bored, but not as closely as the NFL.

I’ve adopted LSU as my college football team since I moved here, so I’ve been to a few of those home games as well, but I haven’t gone at all this year. ”

“You have two jerseys?” Molly asked.

“Technically, I have three,” she said and sat back in her chair, giving up on packing her stuff. “I bought a used one at a thrift store when I first got here. Then, I bought two new ones.”

“Why two? Two favorite players?”

Finley shook her head and said, “One for me. One for India, but she didn’t want it.

It was a stupid gift idea I had. I thought I’d get the jersey for her for her birthday, and we’d both have one and could wear them to a game.

I got us decent tickets, too. It was dumb.

I knew she wasn’t a football fan. I just thought it could be something to do together.

She got us tickets to the ballet, and I went. ”

“No jersey wearing at the ballet, I take it?”

“No,” Finley said and laughed a little. “Never been?”

“To the ballet? No,” Molly replied. “I’d feel really out of place there. I assume wearing jeans and a T-shirt is frowned upon?”

Finley laughed harder and said, “Yes, she made me dress up. I don’t mind dressing up when it’s my choice, but I had to wear these uncomfortable pants, and my shoes were new and hadn’t been broken in yet, so my feet hurt at the end of the night.

Anyway, I shouldn’t have given her the jersey.

She didn’t want it. It’s still in my apartment. ”

“You don’t think she’ll take it when she gets her stuff from your place eventually?”

“The jersey? No,” she replied. “That thing is in a drawer. She doesn’t even remember that I bought it for her.”

“I’m sorry,” Molly said.

“For what?”

“That she didn’t appreciate the gesture.”

Finley swallowed and said, “It wasn’t a good idea to give it to her for her birthday when it was something I liked.”

“You did it because you wanted to share something you love with her. I think that’s a good idea.” Molly shrugged her shoulders and looked at her computer. “My monitor has been behaving all week, by the way.”

“Yeah?” Finley smiled. “That’s good. Did you get a survey?”

Molly laughed and said, “Yes. I gave you a perfect ten for your service.”

Finley tipped a fake hat to her and, in her best Southern accent, said, “Why, thank you kindly, Madam. Much obliged.”

Molly laughed again and said, “No, thank you for fixing it. I’ve enjoyed the fact that it stays on all the time and doesn’t drive me crazy.”

“So, no other plans this weekend? Just the game?” Finley asked, trying to return them to her original question.

“No. Why?”

“Nothing. I just… Well, I overheard you. Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“Overheard wha–” Molly nodded in realization. “On the phone just now?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“No, it’s my fault for taking the call here. I just got out of a meeting when my phone rang, and it rarely rings . It’s usually a text. But she was driving home and thought it was easier to call.”

“She?”

“Ava,” Molly replied.

“She’s your… girlfriend?”

“What? No,” Molly said with a laugh. “We just met. It was a blind date. A friend of a friend set us up.”

“I didn’t know you were dating anyone,” Finley replied. “Not that I need to know or anything. We were just talking about the tickets a few weeks ago, and you said you didn’t need one of the extras because–”

“When I say we just met, I mean we literally just met the other day. I went to a bar to grab a drink, and my friend Logan mentioned that Ava was single and ready to date again after a breakup. Although, Logan isn’t really my friend.

She’s sort of friends with Juliet through Gwen.

I’ve really only met her a couple of times when she’s been bartending, and Ava and I had a drink and ate some dinner at the bar that’s owned by another friend. ”

“Lots of friends, huh?” Finley commented, not knowing what else to say.

Molly laughed and said, “I’m starting to get that, yeah.

Logan is dating Rory. Rory is friends with Candace, who owns the bar.

And it just keeps going on and on from there.

Jules says she’s met some of them, but not all of them.

They don’t always all hang out, but sometimes, they do.

Gwen’s sister-in-law, or, really, ex -sister-in-law, is dating Myra, who knew this big group of queer women. It’s kind of spiraled from there.”

“And now, you’re included?”

“Not really. Maybe tangentially, but they all have people. They’re part of couples.

Candace is the only straight one in the bunch, but even she’s engaged.

I feel like if I showed up to one of their hangouts in the bar, I’d be standing there by myself, watching them all hold hands, kiss, hug, and otherwise be happy and coupled off.

I’d be drinking one too many beers and waiting until it was appropriate for me to go home and watch something on Netflix. ”

“You could bring Ava,” Finley suggested and cleared her throat.

“The one I’ve only just met and have been on one date with? Well, it was a hangout more than a date. We kept it lowkey, so there wasn’t any pressure.”

“Did you get a goodnight kiss out of it?” Finley asked with a smile that she had to force.

“On the cheek,” Molly said. “But we talked about going out again, so that was what she was calling about. I told her I would talk to her later.”

“Cool,” Finley replied.

“What about you?” Molly asked.

“What about me?”

“Any plans other than the game?”

“Not really. I’m going to work on a computer I’m building, but that’s what I normally do on the nights and weekends.”

“Do you build and sell them like Levi?”

“No, this is just for me. I build it, use it for a bit, and rebuild it every so often when a new piece of tech comes out, but I do a little coding, too. Nothing crazy, but I’ve made a few silly games and stuff.

I upgrade the hardware to give me more RAM or whatever, make another silly game, and then I do it all over again. It’s lame.”

“Why is that lame?” Molly asked.

“It’s nerd stuff.”

“So?”

“So, do you build computers on the weekends?”

“No, but only because I don’t know how. You’ve seen me with my monitor.

” Molly hooked a thumb back at it. “I didn’t even think to change the cable.

I just pictured myself throwing the monitor off the roof.

Besides, I told you about my weekend plans.

They involve watching TV and going to the game because you invited me and Jules.

Otherwise, I’d probably just be doing work and watching Netflix. ”

“You wouldn’t be hanging with Jules?”

“She has a girlfriend now. I don’t think they’ve spent a night apart in weeks, and Gwen is with her even now .

They should be almost home at this point, but Gwen is with her on the trip.

I guess Jules will be on her own next week, but that only means they’ll want to spend this weekend together, too.

They’re in a can’t-keep-their-hands-off-each-other stage, and as much as I miss my friend, I don’t want to be needy or get in the way. ”

“I get it,” Finley said.

India then walked by with Lyla and glanced over at her. She gave Finley a tight smile, and Finley knew that smile. It meant that India wanted to say something, but she couldn’t because they were at work. Finley looked away and caught Molly staring at her.

“Is it weird?” Molly asked her once India and Lyla had turned a corner and couldn’t hear them.

“What?” Finley asked.

“Working with your ex. She’s still your ex, right?”

“Yes,” Finley said quickly. “India is still my ex. And yes to your first question, too. It’s weird every time we break up.

It’s different this time because it’s the last time, but also because I’m usually sitting in the server room and not on the floor, so I saw her a lot less when we ended things before.

Now, I’m seeing her walk around here at least four or five times a day. ”

“Sucks?”

“A little, yeah,” Finley said.

Molly looked down at her phone.

“Ava?”

“What? Oh, no. It’s Jules. She and Gwen are about three hours out. I asked her to check in with me on the drive home if she could. I’m just that annoying friend who always wants to make sure her friends are safe.”

“I don’t think that’s annoying,” Finley said.

“No?”

“No, I think it’s nice, having someone check on you and make sure you’re okay.”

“Shit. It’s five-thirty already?” Molly said, still looking at her phone. “How have we been talking for thirty minutes?”

Finley looked at the time on her computer and couldn’t believe it, either. She could swear that Molly just sat down.

“You probably have to go, huh?” Molly asked. “You were packing up to leave before.”

“I didn’t have anything else to do, but I’m not rushing off for any particular reason.”

“Want to walk out together, then?” Molly asked.

“Sure,” she replied with a smile.

They packed up their things, and within a few minutes, they were walking out through the kitchen, where India was still talking to Lyla.

“Hey, I’ll call you, okay?” India said to her.

Finley wanted to scream at her because not only did she not want to talk, but she didn’t want Molly to think that they were still talking.

She didn’t want Molly to think that she and India were going to get back together again.

They weren’t this time. Finley was done, and India needed to get that through that pretty head of hers.

So, she didn’t reply. She didn’t even acknowledge that she had heard India with a nod.

Finley just kept walking, with Molly at her side, because the reason it was officially done with India was that Finley had a big crush on her new seatmate, and she had been ready to see if Molly was interested in her.

Now, she just had to worry about this Ava woman.