All fear was unfounded. The Pink Apple was a fairly common, modern restaurant that served desserts and coffee during the day and cocktails in the evening. The interior was black, white and neon pink. Instead of pictures on the wall, it had pink on white abstract airbrush art. The furniture was all black and white and looked like an expensive IKEA variant. All waiters and waitresses Giselle could make out had a unisex pink skirt and black, tight top. "What's with the name? There's a Green Apple near the cinema already!", she had commented as they stood under the pink neon sign showing an apple drinking from a cocktail with a straw. Annie had given her a sideways glance and had shrugged.

After a couple of hours Giselle was used to the crowd. Apart from the eccentric clothes and makeup, it was just a regular restaurant with an unusual amount of same-sex pairings. At 9pm, they left the establishment. Both were tipsy. They laughed and enjoyed themselves. The brunette didn't have this much fun in a long time. "Thanks for taking me there", Giselle grinned and smiled over at her friend. They held hands again and Annie moved closer to grab the arm she was holding onto. "I'm glad you had fun, Giselle". "I did! I have a question. Did you ever dress up like some of these folks?". Annie chuckled and shrugged, "When I was younger I wore a couple of pins and earrings that stated my preferences. Of course I dressed daring and scabrous". "Really? Can I see pictures?". "No", her friend said flatly. Then both laughed again and walked down a square to the bus stop.

Suddenly a deep voice called out, "Hey Giselle! Wait up!". The two women turned and found a waving Kamal a couple of meters behind them. To his side a cutely dressed Rachel smiled brightly. In no time they caught up to Annie and Giselle. "Hey you two, are you going out?", the brunette asked their neighbours. "Yes, we are. Actually we're heading home. Kamal has to work tomorrow", the redhead explained and adjusted her enormous, round glasses. "You're a cute couple", Annie said and added, "I'm Annie. Don't know if you remember me. You offered me a cookie a couple of weeks ago". "Of course we do, it's nice to meet you again!", Kamal thundered and pointed to the bus stop, "If you're heading home, why don't we wait for the bus?". Giselle nodded and they walked over to the bus sign. Rachel leaned in all of a sudden and whispered to Giselle, "So that's why you didn't get back to me, isn't it?". The brunette followed her neighbour's glance and realised that Annie and her were holding hands. In an effort she resisted to let go. She wouldn't. Not this time. "It's complicated", she admitted shyly. "What's complicated?", the blonde joined their conversation curiously, apparently having the ears of an owl. "Well, we were invited for dinner and afterwards Rachel asked me in a text about my history with you and Cel. I guess I didn't exactly get back to respond", she scratched her head and squeezed her friend's hand. "Right", Annie sighed and looked a bit disgruntled. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to...", Rachel fell silent and glanced at the two women in turn. When Annie leaned up to her friend and kissed her on the lips and Giselle responded by wrapping an arm around the younger woman, Kamal grinned and Rachel bumped her elbow into his side. The unhappy face that the tall man made in response made all of them laugh. That broke the tension again. None brought up the elephant in the room anymore, which was Ian and Cel, or the lack thereof in this setting.

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Since Annie had never talked much to the couple in the first place, Giselle poked the two about interesting bits and pieces that they explained in detail to the blonde. She got to hear about Rachel's side projects, about Kamal's work, about the bedroom and finally about how they met. They added enough new tidbits that none of the listeners got bored. On their walk into the apartment complex, Annie introduced her own job routine and explained that she owned the apartment, just like Giselle did. Kamal was very interested in her job and kept asking question after question. Rachel eventually pulled him away and they bid the two women goodnight. Annie and Giselle stood in front of the door leading into the stairwell. Giselle looked up along the building wall into the summer night sky. The stars twinkled through the thin cloud cover. She didn't feel like going home. A small part inside of her felt guilty, but she just didn't want to deal with Ian. The phone had stayed inside her handbag ever since she had left home at 2pm. She had no clue whether he was home. Worst of all was, she didn't even care whether he was. "What's wrong?", Annie asked her after a while. "I don't want to go home". "Then don't. My bed is big enough and you can stay at my place until Ian meets Cel tomorrow", the woman suggested in a calm, cold voice. It sounded calculating and reminded her of spies before they shot the bad guy. "How do you know he'll see Cel tomorrow?", Giselle wondered curiously. "Because Cel cancelled for tomorrow again". That made Giselle sigh and grit her teeth. It was harder to deal with it than she imagined. "Do you want to fuck?", the blonde asked her all of a sudden. Her head tilted in confusion, "What? Now?".