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"That thrift store dress worked like a charm," Gertrude said.
"Seventeen dollars!" Ariana exclaimed.
"So, are you guys together now?" Rebecca asked.
"No, I have a thing for someone else." She looked at Olivia, who blushed and turned away to talk with Nora.
***
The DNF bookstore was closed for the evening. The shelves fully stocked, the floors swept, the coffee pot for customers turned off. The shutters pulled; the register emptied. In the break room, the bulletin board had been removed of all its material.
Rebecca messaged her and said she was on her way to pick her up.
Gertrude and Olivia were the only ones left in the building. Gertrude hung around, moving stacks of returns back and forth on the sales counter, hoping Olivia would come talk to her. The clock ticked over to 8pm and she was going to give up. Maybe she misread the signs. It happened. Women were mysterious. Gertrude felt a flash of understanding towards men, trying to interpret glances, half-smiles and friendliness in hopes it was more.
She knocked once on Olivia's door and said: "I'm going home now, Liv. (What am I doing I have never called her that?) The building is locked up."
"Oh! Okay! Thanks! Goodnight!"
Gertrude stared at the door, a pit of sadness developing in her chest. That was it, then. All those looks, tiny moments, this feeling she had; it was all a misread.
She grabbed her bag and headed for the door, ready to climb into the vehicle with Rebecca and fake-smile and pretend nothing was wrong until she could get home and cry. She leaned against the DNF and waited, forcing herself to hold it together. She didn't need Olivia seeing her fall apart; nothing said "please love me" like tears, right?
Rebecca's headlights lit the road as she turned onto the street.
Gertrude's phone buzzed.
Olivia.
Gertrude's fingers trembled as she read it. She read it three times, then a fourth to be sure, closing her phone screen and reopening it in case it was some cruel glitch.
"Dinner. Tomorrow. 7pm. Wear that thrift store dress."
End
