After a cab ride back to Litus Empirica, I went back to my apartment to decide what I would bring over today. Even though I’d just hastily made plans for my new place, my longtime apartment felt like an old place already. If I got the job, I would definitely have to let my current landlord conglomerate know I’d be moving. But for now, I decided I’d probably hold off just to be safe in case I didn’t wind up getting the job. I made sure to text Zeta that I was back home, realizing I’d have to figure out how I was going to explain the move to her. Let alone figure out where she was going to stay in the new apartment if I stayed there past the month.

Maybe I could…sleep in Evy’s bed? And Zeta could get that other bedroom? Would that be weird?

I remembered I had someone else to check in with. I probably could have just texted, but I really wanted to gush about my night out loud.

“Hey Pippi!” I said when she answered her phone. “You busy right now?”

“Not really, they want me to update the university web page but no one’s around today so I’m taking it very slow…” Pippi said. “How’s your day off? How was the interview?”

“Interview went well, I think,” I said, unable to hide the excitement in my voice. “What happened after was even better though.”

“What? What? What happened? What?” Pippi asked.

“So I kind of ran into hot doctor after the interview,” I said.

“You did?” Pippi squealed. “Explain everything, today’s been so boring, I need some good news.”

“I got good news then!” I said. “It might take a bit…”

“I said everything, Stella.” Pippi said.

“OK, OK!” I said. I explained my wild day to Pippi, who alternated between gasping and more squealing at each twist and turn.

“So right now, I’m grabbing the first batch of my things to bring over to the new place and paying rent.” I finished.

“Oh my god,” Pippi said. “Unless you’re making this up to give me something exciting to think about today, you are obscenely lucky, Stella.”

“It’s all true!” I said. “I hope none of that came across as me bragging.” I hoped I didn’t sound like I was rubbing my success in my bestie’s face.

“No, no!” Pippi said. “I’m so happy for you! It’s about time! OK, but—can I do the thing quick?”

“What thing? Oh! It’s been a while, you sure you wanna at work?” I asked.

“There’s no one here, it’s fine,” Pippi said. “How many potentially cringey questions from me can you handle today? Because I have a lot immediately.”

“Let’s see…” I said. “I think I could do three, then I won’t take your whole day talking about how great last night was.”

“But that’d be so much more fun than work,” Pippi said. “Fine, let me pick my three.”

We both had an agreement that for any romantic success we had, the other could ask all the really cringey and invasive questions that sprung to mind immediately with no judgment. It wasn’t just a Pippi thing, I absolutely came up with the dumbest questions I couldn’t let go of when she had dates.

“OK, got em,” Pippi said. “First up. Who topped?”

“I…” I laughed. “It was mostly Evy, but it wasn’t all Evy.”

“Interesting,” Pippi said. “Did you guys cuddle at all?”

“No, we were both really tired when I tried but that seemed to kind of make her freeze up,” I said. It was pretty late in the night when I suggested it but from Evy’s reaction, she wasn’t up for cuddling just yet. At least I hoped I’d eventually get to cuddle her, with her height advantage over me getting cuddled by her would feel so nice.

“Aw, well no one’s perfect,” Pippi said. “OK, last one. How are you feeling about what’s next?”

“Um,” I said. I thought about it before answering. Evy and I had mindblowing sex and we were now about to be roommates for the month. Were there any downsides yet? “Excited, mostly? I’m scared but like. Excited-scared. It’s happening really fast, but also some things aren’t super-fast so far? I’m not making any sense.”

“No, no, you are,” Pippi said. “I think it’s a good sign you’re optimistically excited. I’m not gonna say stop having fun, but it might be a good idea to get some ground rules squared away soon though.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“I’m thinking just make sure you’re both on the same page,” Pippi said. “Like you got the living arrangements, the sex…just make sure she isn’t thinking this is a fling and she can be open. Unless you both do want to be open and you haven’t mentioned it yet.”

“No…I think…” I started. “I…hm. That’s something we should really talk about.”

I hoped Evy wanted to be exclusive. It was just a day later, so I had to force myself not to worry about Evy cruising around hitting up other women immediately. But I did want to just be hers. Was it too soon to tell her that? Pippi snapped me out of my contemplation.

“Oh my god Stella, I still can’t believe all this, I’m seriously so happy for you.”

“Thank you…” I said.

“You deserve a good time, so keep that in mind too!” Pippi said. “Like, take care of yourself and the same page business, but also take care of yourself, you get me?”

“I get ya,” I said. “Thanks, Pippi. We’ll talk more about this soon, I really should get to packing and junk.”

After the call, I got about a week’s worth of clothes and my vital supplies in a suitcase I bought for vacations and then promptly had none vacations with. I wanted to get the rent checks dropped off, so that was my next objective. On the way there, I stopped by at a deli near my apartment building and hoped I picked a dinner Evy would enjoy.