Page 92 of Isn't It Obvious?
RE:Episode Files Thread
Looking forward to listening. I’ll have full edit to you by the end of next week, the extended cut for Patreon sooner.
R
Yael stares at that simple sign-off until her stomach hurts. It’s newly devastating, somehow, to have the proof here. As though yesterday when Ravi told her he was Kevin, she couldn’t truly believe him until Kevin told her he was Ravi, too.
She blinks back tears and forces herself to get back to work. So much for crying herself dry in the car.
At lunch, she puts up aBE BACK SOONsign and heads up two flights of stairs to Gina’s classroom.
It’s locked, of course. Through the windows, Yael can see that she’s perched on the edge of her desk, still wearing a paint-stained apron, and shoveling a bowl of leafy greens into her mouth. When waving fails to get Gina’s attention, Yael raps her knuckles sharply against the door.
“I’m eating! Come back during your flex period!” Gina shouts, not looking up.
“It’s Yael! Let me in!” she shouts back.
Gina’s head snaps up, a crease between her brows. She rushes to the door, ushering Yael in. “You’re taking your lunch early,” Gina says, careful to lock the door behind them. “Also, I’ve been meaning to tell you, I really liked yourLord of the Fliesepisode. I get why you’re still charting. If you can weasel a little hope into even my sad, dark heart, you deserve the popularity.”
“Your heart isn’t sad and dark,” Yael says.
Gina brings a finger to her lips. “You’re right, but don’t let the students hear you.” Yael manages a weak smile. Gina scans Yael’s face, frowning. “What’s up?”
“I need to ask you a favor, and I don’t think you’re going to like it. But, Gina, I really have nobody else.”
“I’m listening…”
“Can you please volunteer for book club for the rest of the year? It’s not that long until winter break, we’re not meeting the week of Thanksgiving anyway, and I promise I’ll findsomeone new by the time school starts again in January. I really don’t have it in me to figure it out right now.”
Gina blinks at her, and Yael worries she was spewing gibberish and will have to repeat her begging. But Gina just says, “Okay. I don’t have anything tonight, so I can stay back.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, girl,okay. Did you want me to say no?”
“No,” Yael says, “but I thought you’d rather be doing anything else. When I asked at the beginning of the year, you made that clear.”
“At the beginning of the year, you were asking for long-term support and you didn’t seem like you might have a breakdown about it.”
Her bluntness surprises a laugh out of Yael. “Wow.”
“No offense.” Gina grins. “What happened with Hot Volunteer Ravi? Last week, you were joking about sinking your teeth into his biceps, on Tuesday you were looking at him like you already had, and now he’s gone and you’re… frantic.”
God, that was just last Thursday, wasn’t it?Yael presses her hands over her eyes, her cheeks burning. “I think I need a shot or a gummy to explain all of it without crying,” Yael says. “I found out that Ravi and Kevin are the same person.”
“Kevin?” Yael drops her hands, watching Gina squint, frown, and eventually drop her jaw. “Sexy Email Kevin?”
“I really wish you didn’t name everybody like this.”
“Holy shit, Yael. Let’s go to dinner after the club today. My treat.”
“What? No. You can’t do that, Gina; you’re already helping me. I can get it.”
“Yael, stop. I’m your friend, and I’m insisting.”
Yael gives her a watery smile. “You mean ‘work friend,’” she jokes.
“Shut up; no I don’t,” Gina says. “I’ll see you later, okay?I’m going to soak up my last few minutes of no-children time.”
