Page 16 of June (New Orleans #6)

C aroline had nearly fallen asleep in class, and she hadn’t even stayed up late the night before. The class was just that boring. She and Enid had texted, and she would’ve stayed up late doing that, but they had only gone on for a few minutes, and then, she’d gone to bed. Caroline wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life, but she did know that she would not be spending time in a classroom like Viv. Classrooms felt claustrophobic to her, even when they were the giant lecture halls that could fit three hundred people. She needed open air and an easy escape. She usually sat in the back of every room just for that purpose, and the moment the professor or the TA said they could go, she was out the door, her bag already packed up and on her shoulder.

Today was no exception. The second she could go, she did so, and she ended up taking a long walk around campus for no particular reason. Ending up on a bench off the beaten path, Caroline pulled out her sketchbook and her pencil. She needed to start carrying a pack of pencils and a sharpener if that was going to be her new habit, but she hadn’t planned on stopping to draw. She looked around to find something interesting to sketch and found a girl and a boy sitting on a concrete wall that had a row of bushes behind them that led to a vine weaving up the side of one of the oldest buildings on campus.

Caroline started off by forming the concrete wall with her pencil in a shaded outline, giving it some definition, before she moved up and to the bushes behind it. They were all full and green and looked lush against the bare concrete. She normally didn’t apply any color to her sketches, but she pulled out her phone and took a photo of the scene so that if she decided to do that later, she’d have a way to remember the colors. It was muggy outside today, which made it uncomfortable. She thought about just using that photo to finish the drawing back in her room, but it would be hot and muggy there, too, because their fans could only do so much, so she just kept drawing. The people were moving too much for her to get a great likeness, though, so she left them to deal with later from the photo and merely gave them rough outlines before she moved on to the vines behind them. Finally, the red brick wall filled in the remainder of the space. Not completely satisfied but also feeling like she had done something she actually liked today, Caroline packed up her stuff, stood, and started to walk back to the dorm.

“Hey,” Jodie said as she caught up to her. “I thought we were grabbing lunch today.”

“We are. I thought we were meeting at the dorm,” she replied.

“Oh. I guess I spaced out that part. I thought you were going to wait for me after class since we were only a building apart.”

“You’ve been a little forgetful lately. Everything okay?”

“I’m not forgetful.”

“The other day, you forgot to get your tray when we got in line for dinner. You forgot your toothpaste when we ran into the bathroom, and you specifically went in there to brush your teeth. Didn’t you forget to go to class yesterday morning, too?”

“I fell asleep in your room. I was out of my routine,” Jodie argued.

“And you couldn’t get back into it when you rolled over and realized you were late for class?” she teased.

“No, apparently not,” Jodie replied.

Caroline laughed and said, “Where do you want to get food? Our dining hall?”

“Yeah, I kind of have to eat and run,” she said. “Project due.”

“Okay. We can get something to-go.”

“No, let’s go to the dorm. Want to see if Viv can come?”

“We can, I guess. I’m sure she’s in class.”

“I’ll text her,” Jodie said.

Caroline watched her pull out her phone and text Viv, but Jodie didn’t put her phone away. She just stared at it as they walked, which was odd even for her.

“She’s in,” Jodie added. “She said she’ll meet us at the dining hall.”

“Okay,” Caroline said, wondering what was going on.

To get back to the dorm, they had to walk past the quad, which meant Caroline would see their table. Now, no matter what happened between them, she would think of that table as their table, and that meant that if it didn’t work out, she would have to walk by this thing until she graduated and hate the stupid ornate, swirling decorative patterns of the chairs. If it worked out and they were together by the time she graduated, she would love those patterns. Caroline smiled, thinking about that, and looked up just in time to see Enid heading right toward it with two cups of coffee.

“Wait. Why two?” she said.

“Huh?” Jodie asked.

“Enid’s at our table. She has two cups of coffee.”

“So?”

“So, who is the other coffee for? Is she meeting someone? Jill?”

“I don’t know, Care. Why don’t you ask her ?”

“I can’t do that. What if it is Jill, and she walks right up and wonders what I’m doing here. Do you think Jill knows about me like I know about her?”

“I have no idea.” Jodie sighed. “I’ll help you out here. Ready?”

“What?”

“Hey, Enid!” Jodie yelled it from a good football field away, but Enid still heard her.

“Holy fucking shit! What were you thinking?” Caroline said to her about-to-be- former best friend through gritted teeth that she hoped looked like a smile from far away.

“Just talk to her. I’ll meet you in the dining hall.”

“What? You’re ditching me after you just did that?”

“Yes. Now, grow up and go talk to the pretty girl you like.”

Jodie gave her a playful shove in that direction and kept walking.

Caroline had a good distance to walk before she got to the table, so she could technically turn and pretend like she hadn’t even noticed Enid, which was stupid because, no, she couldn’t. Jodie had just yelled at her, so Enid had seen them.

“Hey,” she said nervously.

“Hi,” Enid replied with a smile.

“Sorry about Jodie. She just saw you and wanted to say hi.”

“Where did she go?” Enid asked, looking around.

“To the dining hall. We’re having lunch with Viv.”

“Oh,” Enid let out, looking disappointed.

“So, are you hanging with someone right now?”

“What? No. Why?” Enid asked.

“Two cups of coffee.” Caroline pointed.

“Oh. That’s for you. I even dumped out, like, half the coffee to make room for all that cream you like. I knew you had a class end about now. I was about to text you.”

“For me?”

“Yes.” Enid laughed a little. “I was trying to surprise you, but you didn’t look super happy about it when you walked up. I’m guessing, based on your question just now, that it’s because you thought I was meeting someone else?”

“Jill specifically,” Caroline admitted. “Sorry, I know it’s petty, but I was just thinking that this is our table. I realize it’s not, really. It’s everyone’s table. I–”

“Care?”

Caroline smiled because that was the first time Enid had used her nickname, and it sounded really good on those lips that she was hoping she’d get to kiss one day.

“Yeah?”

“The coffee is for you . Want to sit down and drink it with me, or do you have to go to lunch?”

“I’ll text them,” Caroline replied as she sat down next to Enid and pulled out her phone. She sent a quick message to both Viv and Jodie and added. “Also, you should probably know that I don’t like that much cream in my coffee. I was nervous the day we had it for the first time, so I added way too much.”

“Really?” Enid laughed. “Should I get you another one?”

Caroline shook her head and said, “No, I’ll drink this. Thank you, by the way.”

“Sure,” Enid said.

“I am confused, though. Aren’t we going out tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“So, you’re not canceling and trying to make it up to me with surprise coffee?”

“No, we’re still going out, if you want to.”

“Yes, I want to,” Caroline replied.

“I just wanted to see you,” Enid said. “I… missed you.”

She put her coffee to her lips, and Caroline could just make out the shy smile behind it as Enid tried to cover it up.

“You missed me?”

Enid nodded.

“I missed you, too.”

“Yeah?”

Caroline nodded this time and said, “I would’ve texted with you longer last night, but no matter how quiet I try to be, Viv can still hear me moving, and she’s a light sleeper.”

“It’s okay. I was pretty traumatized by what I saw in my little brother’s room, so I needed to take a long shower to try to get the image out of my mind. I will also be going to therapy for the rest of my life. Have they invented something that can wipe specific memories yet? I could really use that about now.”

Caroline laughed and leaned into her a little.

“I also wanted to talk to you,” Enid added. “But I didn’t want to do it over text, and I didn’t want to do it tonight on our date because I want that to just be ours.”

Caroline leaned back, trying not to get nervous because what Enid had just said was very confusing.

“No, come back,” Enid said before she took Caroline’s hand from where it had been clutching the other one in her lap and turned in her chair to be able to place Caroline’s hand on her own knee. Then, Enid smiled and said, “I meant that I wanted to tell you in person that I’m not seeing Jill anymore.”

Caroline’s eyes widened as Enid’s fingers entwined with her own.

“You’re not?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I realized that I only wanted to be friends with her. I don’t have feelings for her.” Enid let her thumb graze over Caroline’s skin. “The way I do for you.”

“Yeah?” Caroline asked with a smile.

“Yeah,” Enid replied. “I did go out with her last night, but only to tell her that I wanted us to be friends instead. We ended up ordering in and just hanging out while watching a movie, and it was nice to take the pressure off with her. We weren’t on a date anymore, so we could just sit and talk and relax.”

“So, I shouldn’t worry that you still like her like that?”

“No,” Enid said as she shook her head. “We agreed to just be friends, and she wants to hang out again. Apparently, because I ended things, I now need to help her find her soulmate and get laid.” Enid laughed.

“Wouldn’t that be the same thing?”

“I think if she finds the soulmate first, it is, but she also just wants to get laid.”

“How close did you two come to…” Caroline shook her head then. “Never mind. It’s not my place to ask.”

“Not even close, Care,” Enid told her.

“So, it’s just you and me now?” she asked.

“Yes,” Enid confirmed. “I just wanted to tell you that before our date so that it could just be about us, without you worrying about the fact that I’m dating someone else and me worrying that I was being a jerk for doing that.”

“Enid, you’re allowed to date other people. Just because I struggled with it, doesn’t mean you should feel guilty about it. I’ve just never really met someone I clicked with like that. I mean, no one’s ever looked at my ridiculous sketches of inanimate objects and asked me about the characters around them before.” Caroline chuckled. “You not only did that, but you kept bringing them up, and you weren’t making fun of me.”

“Why would I make fun of you? It’s cute that you do that,” Enid replied.

“To you , apparently. No one else. You also aren’t pressuring me to pick a major, find a career, or constantly asking me questions about what I’ll do after graduation. I get that from everyone else. Even Jodie and Viv do it sometimes. My parents never let up on it. You, on the other hand, just seem to want me to figure out whatever I’ll figure out when ever I do.”

“I guess I get that about you. I knew generally what I wanted to do, but look how that has turned out: I’m right back where I started.”

“Maybe there’s a reason for that,” Caroline said as she placed her other hand on Enid’s other knee. “If you were in Tallahassee right now, wearing a sexy business suit with pinstripes or something, you never would have met me.”

Enid laughed and replied, “Why does my business suit have to have pinstripes?”

“It doesn’t. You’re free to wear any kind of business suit you want. In fact, if you wanted to wear one for our date tonight, I wouldn’t mind at all.” Caroline shook her head.

Enid’s laugh continued before she said, “I was thinking more like jeans, but if you want to dress up tonight, we can. I have a dress I haven’t worn in a while.”

“You have a dress?” she asked and swallowed hard.

“I have a few of them, yes,” Enid said. “Why? You want to see me in a dress?”

Caroline nodded rapidly and said, “Not that I don’t love you all casual, but I’d bet you look really hot in a dress.”

“I can wear one tonight, if you want.”

“I want.” She looked down at Enid’s hand, which was still playing with her own. “But I also want to mini-golf tonight, so maybe another date.”

“Mini-golf? Really?” Enid laughed.

“Yeah. You said you wanted to.”

“I do. If you want to do that tonight, we can, but yeah, I’m not wearing a dress and heels to mini-golf.”

“There are heels?” Caroline asked a little louder than she had planned on.

Enid laughed loudly and took a sip of her coffee.

“Do you want to go to lunch with your friends now? I can join you.”

“You want to eat lunch in the dining hall?”

“No, I already ate. But I can sit there with you.”

Caroline squinted at her and said, “You want to go because you know Jodie and I did what we did and because Viv asked me out, don’t you?”

“What? No,” Enid said, obviously lying. “Is it wrong to want them to know that we’re doing this? It’s wrong, right?”

“I didn’t kiss you the other night because I didn’t want our first kiss to be about me competing with Jill.”

“What?” Enid asked, looking serious now. “You said it was because Viv was inside.”

“It wasn’t. I lied,” Caroline admitted. “I’m sorry. It felt like I wanted to kiss you in part because I wanted to catch up to Jill, and that was wrong, so I didn’t.”

Enid nodded and said, “I get it. Does that mean that if we kissed tonight, it would just be about us?”

“Yeah, it would.”

“Okay, then.”

“Still want to go to lunch to claim me in front of my friends?”

“Yeah,” Enid said. “I’m petty like that.”

“Okay, then,” Caroline replied with a smile, liking that Enid was being petty like that.