Chapter Text
All I want, Satya thought to herself as she sat in the toilet stall at the club she’d dragged to by Sanjay and the rest of her coworkers, is to go home, take a shower, and enjoy some peace and quiet!
She understood they wanted to celebrate. They’d just landed a major contract, and her work on the proposal for the new hospital complex had been highlighted as a key part of the reason Vishkar’s bid had been chosen, but she’d also worked for nearly four days straight to achieve that, and being dropped into a loud, chaotic, overcrowded, poorly lit club had finally pushed her past the limit of her endurance, even with the hearing protection she’d worn in an attempt not to become overstimulated.
The drinks that had been practically forced on her to “help loosen her up” had only made matters worse.
Satya had dashed into the bathroom at the first opportunity and locked herself in the stall so she could try to ground herself, then pulled out her phone to open the Uber app.
Once she felt her phone vibrate with the confirmation that a driver was on the way, Satya shoved her phone into her purse, took a deep breath, and started heading for the doors.
“Satya!”
She didn’t turn around.
“SATYA!”
A hand came down on her shoulder, and she froze.
“Where are you going?!” Sanjay’s voice had already begun to slur with drunkenness. “You haven’t even been here an hour, come on!”
Satya slowly took a step away, shifting her shoulder out from under his hand. “I’m tired, Sanjay, and I have a headache. I really want to go home.”
“Stay, please! Just get another drink with us, I’m sure it will help.” Sanjay gave her a frown that was almost a pout. “Aren’t you happy Vishkar got the contract? Don’t you want to be part of that?”
“I am happy the company got the contract,” Satya assured him, though she felt a bit of guilt in her stomach. “And I will be part of it as the head architect on-site. Tonight, though, I just want to go home, and rest.”
Sanjay seemed like he was going to try to insist, but before he could say anything else, or try to touch her again, a small group of women going to the restroom together came between them, a short, spiky haired brunette bumping his elbow as she passed and making Sanjay spill the drink he’d been holding over the front of his shirt.
“Oh,” the brunette cried in a bright voice, “I’m so sorry, luv! Here, let me get you a napkin or something…”
Satya didn’t want to see Sanjay’s reaction, taking advantage of the disruption to turn and head out of the club as quickly as she could, pulling her earplugs out and putting them away once she’d left the building.
The sight of a dark blue sedan with an Uber placard waiting at the curb made a palpable wave of relief wash through her, and Satya let out a long sigh as she settled into the back seat...which turned to a confused “Ah…?” when the front passenger door opened, and a Latina woman with bright purple hair and a matching dress slipped into the car and buckled up.
“2600 Libby Drive,” the woman said, and their driver punched the address in her phone before putting the car into gear and pulling away from the curb.
Once they’d moved into traffic, their driver looked over, her voice a rather pleasant alto. “You guys made an early night of it?”
“Yeah,” the Latina said. “Went out with a friend and her girlfriends, but I just wasn’t feeling it.”
Satya finally cleared her throat, lingering anger and her frustration pushing past her surprised shock. “Excuse me, but this was my car...and I live in the opposite direction.”
The Latina blinked, as she pulled out her phone, then laughed. “Oh, shit! The guy who was supposed to pick me up was in a black car!”
Satya caught their driver wincing in the rear view mirror. “I just got on the freeway, and there is no way I can turn around easily to go back to the club.” Her eyes shifted to the passenger. “If I get you home, are you willing to pay her back for the ride?”
“Yeah, yeah, no hay pedo, I’ll cover whatever.”
Satya nodded and sat back in the seat. “It seems the least you can do for abducting me.”
“...abducting you?” The Latina turned around in the seat. “You’re taking this a little seriously, aren’t you?”
Their driver coughed, but Satya could catch the amusement in her eyes. “We are technically driving her to the wrong side of town.”
“That’s not kidnapping, though! C’mon!”
Satya sighed. “I suppose it was a...misunderstanding.”
The Latina sighed with relief. “Oh, thank god. If you’d called the cops, Ami would never let me live this down.” Grinning, she extended her hand. “Sombra.”
The manners and courtesy drilled into Satya by years of boarding school required her to return the gesture, even if this woman’s antics had made a bad evening worse. “Satya Vaswani.”
“That’s a pretty name,” Sombra smiled at her. “You single?”
Satya gave her a glare. “Yes, thank you.”
Sombra shrugged with a laugh. “Had to try!”
Fortunately, Libby Drive wasn’t far, once they were off the highway, and before long they were pulling into a pleasant looking apartment complex.
Satya pulled her phone back out, and checked the app once their driver had ended the ride. “Eighteen dollars.”
Sombra pulled a twenty out of her wallet. “Here you go. Don’t worry about the change.”
Satya nodded, tucking the bill into her purse. “I appreciate that. Have a good night.”
Sombra blew her and the driver a kiss, unbuckled her seatbelt, and disappeared into the apartment building.
“What a... colorful ...person,” Satya deadpanned.
That got a soft laugh from the driver, who was signing out of the driver app on her phone. “Your ride home is on me, OK? It’s the least I can do.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind of you.”
The driver turned around to smile at her, and Satya couldn’t help but smile back. She had a pleasant face with a narrow chin and a nose that might be politely called ‘hawk-like’. Her dark hair had been parted on either side, and she had twinkling golden hair beads worked into two front braids.
“I’m Fareeha, by the way.” She gestured to the now vacant passenger seat. “Want to move up front?”
Satya considered that, then nodded. “As long as you don’t mind that I may fall asleep on you - I had a very long week.”
Fareeha laughed. “Oh, I’ve had worse, believe me. Want to give me your address before you move up front?”
“Of course. 1543 Dunedin Lane, in Wilshire.”
Fareeha nodded, typing the address into her phone while Satya moved to the front seat, then waited for her to buckle up before pulling back into the late evening traffic.
“So,” Fareeha asked kindly, “a long week, huh?”
Satya nodded. “I was preparing a proposal for a client for my firm, and it took a great deal of effort to bring it together.”
Fareeha gave her an impressed glance. “You’re a lawyer?”
Satya shook her head. “Not that sort of firm. Architecture.”
“Oh, that’s even better,” Fareeha grinned. “I went to school for engineering.”
Satya’s eyebrows rose. “Truly? Then why…?” She trailed off, stopping herself as she realized she had been about to insult the woman giving her a free ride home.
Fareeha laughed. “I do this as a side job, mostly. It’s interesting, I get to meet all kinds of people, and the money’s usually decent.”
Satya hummed thoughtfully as she considered that, but before long her eyelids were drooping shut, and the noise of the road and the smooth ride of the car lulled her to sleep.
Fareeha couldn’t help but blush a little at the sight of her sleeping passenger.
God, she’s pretty and she looks adorable like that.
She felt a pang of guilt - even if Satya had said she was single, that didn’t mean she liked women, and Fareeha had made a point of not being a creep to anyone she picked up.
Really, she ought to be apologizing more - if she’d checked if the other girl had been with Satya and who was supposed to pick her up before she’d pulled away from the club, this wouldn’t have happened, and Satya would have been within her rights to tell her to pull over, let Sombra out, and then report Fareeha for her screwup.
She’d dodged a bullet. Fareeha would happily take that.
She pulled into the driveway of a pleasant looking house and put her car in park. Satya hadn’t stirred. “Hey,” Fareeha said in as soft a voice as she could manage, “Satya? We’re here.”
Satya murmured, but didn’t really stir.
“Satya?”
Nothing.
Carefully, Fareeha reached out to gently tap her shoulder. “Satya? Uh...Miss Vaswani?”
Satya’s eyes fluttered, and Fareeha had to make an effort of will to keep from biting her lip. “Mmm...hm?”
“We’re at your house.”
“Oh.” Satya shook herself slightly and unbuckled her seatbelt, then picked up her purse. “Thank you.” She reached inside, and pulled out the bill Sombra had given her. “Here, please…”
Fareeha held up a hand. “No, no, that’s ok. I told you it was on me.”
“You still burned quite a bit of gas.”
Fareeha smiled. “That’s really sweet of you, but it’s alright, I promise.”
Satya hesitated. “If you are certain…”
Fareeha nodded, and after a moment Satya reluctantly closed her purse.
“Very well. Thank you for the ride home.”
“My pleasure. Have a good night!” She waited for Satya to make it to her door and go inside, then slumped back in her seat. “Oh my god.” At least she hadn’t made a complete ass of herself. “I think that’s enough driving for tonight. Who knows what else might happen?”
She was almost to the freeway before she noticed that Satya had tucked the $20 bill into the passenger side cup holder.
Even though she’d only driven seven passengers the previous day, not counting Satya, Fareeha always took her car in for a wash and vacuum after driving, using the cash Satya had left to cover the “VOLCANO DELUXE!!” wash instead of the usual economy rinse and shine.
Fareeha had noticed a soft buzzing sound halfway through her journey through the wash, but had put it down to some of the fancier car wash gadgets (what did the “Lava Shine Shield” even do? ), but the sound had come back while she was pulling into a parking space by an open vacuum, and suddenly she had a horrible feeling about what it might be.
“Oh, no …”
Her fears were confirmed when she opened the backseat to vacuum it out, and saw the distinct glow of a phone screen shining up from the footwell.
Groaning, Fareeha stretched over to grab the phone, slipping it into her pocket before she got back to vacuuming. “Must have dropped it when she told that other girl how much the ride had been…” The phone started buzzing again, and Fareeha sighed. “Well, I guess we’d better get you home too, huh?”
Good thing I’ve already got her address. I hope she doesn’t think I’m a stalker or something…