Page 2 of June (New Orleans #6)

S he shouldn’t have taken that semester off, even though it had been a good idea at the time because she had needed a break from this place. Sure, Caroline had only gone to college for a little over a year, but she hadn’t really enjoyed the experience of it. She hadn’t wanted to go to college in the first place, but when she’d been eighteen, she hadn’t exactly had any alternative plans, either. Going into the military wasn’t an option for her. She could do about one push-up before she collapsed to the ground, and she wasn’t great with authority, choosing to argue with her teachers and parents when she thought she was right instead of just going along with it. She also hadn’t wanted to go to trade school, which was something that they’d talked about at their career day senior year. Nothing there had been of any interest to her, but her parents had been insistent that she couldn’t live at home rent-free if she wasn’t working or in school, and since she hadn’t wanted to work some lame job, she’d gotten into college and moved into the dorm.

During her sophomore year, she’d been taking electives and general credits but still hadn’t declared a major, and when she turned in her last final, she had told her parents that she was taking the semester off and using the savings bonds she’d gotten from her grandparents and other money she’d gotten as a graduation gift to travel the country. For three months, she’d driven her car from random city to random city, stayed in cheap motels, slept in her car sometimes, and lived on bad food. While Caroline had loved the trip, by the end of it, she was ready to be back home, sleep in a comfortable bed, and get back to school because at least it was something to do.

That trip had changed her life, though. She’d even had a companion for part of it: a girl named Brooke, whom she had met at a motel off Route 66. Brooke had been traveling, too, but hitchhiking, which was even more unsafe than what Caroline had been doing, but they had gotten to know one another over a couple of days at the motel. Caroline had given her a ride, and they’d ended up driving around together for about a week. The sex had been a nice surprise, and they had enjoyed that until Brooke had decided to hang out wherever Caroline had left her instead of continuing on.

Sometimes, she missed the road and the no responsibilities or pressure to choose a major and what she’d do for the rest of her life. Now was one of those times. In order to graduate on time, which was a demand from her parents, who were paying for her education, room, and board, she had to stay on schedule. That meant she had to take four classes between the two summer sessions. Five would’ve been better, but she could squeeze in another class during the fall semester to make up for that one. Four classes during the summer was already more than enough, in her opinion.

So, here she sat on campus in June, at a table outside on the quad, and she was, unfortunately, studying when she could’ve been out there enjoying her summer.

“Hey. I thought we were meeting at the coffee place,” Jodie said.

Caroline looked up from her book, and the blistering sun hit her right in the eyes. She closed them in response and looked back down, wishing that she hadn’t looked up at all or, even better, had worn her sunglasses.

“You’re early. I was going to walk there in a minute.”

“Oh. Well, since I’m here, should we just stay?” Jodie asked and took a seat in the chair across from Caroline.

“You’ve just sat down, so I’m guessing you already answered your own question.”

“I hate summer school. It makes me feel like a delinquent who didn’t pass a class in high school.”

“You’re trying to graduate early, so you did this to yourself,” Caroline reminded her.

“I know. I know,” Jodie said. “But two classes?”

“I have four,” Caroline replied.

“You’re the one who took some life-altering road trip and skipped a semester.”

“Anyway…” Caroline said, chuckling.

“Want to go out tonight?”

“I have too much to do.”

“Come on. It’s the summer,” Jodie insisted, leaning forward. “Let’s go to the Quarter.”

“Why? We’re not tourists, and I can’t drink.”

“ I can,” Jodie said, having recently turned twenty-one.

Caroline was still only twenty, though. While she could get into some of the bars that didn’t card at the door, they’d card her at the bar if she tried to order something, so it wasn’t worth it to her to stand there and drink water while everyone else could drink alcohol.

“Then, you should go.”

“I’ll get your drinks for you,” Jodie offered. “Just don’t get plastered, and no one will know you’re underage. Better there than a local bar, which won’t be as crowded, so they’ll definitely card.”

“If I go, I don’t want to be out late. You know how Viv wakes up when I come in late, and I get that glare.”

“That’s because she’s into you. She also has no social life, so she’s mad that you had fun and is thinking that you hooked up with someone who’s not her.”

“She’s right sometimes,” Caroline said, shrugging.

“So, are you coming with me or not?”

“Fine. But I’m getting back to my room by eleven.”

“Viv is your randomly assigned roommate for the year, not your mom.”

“It’s just really awkward right now, Jodie,” she replied. “When we were first paired together for the spring semester, things were fine, but then, she asked me out the first time, and I said no. It was already a little awkward after that, but she did it again a few weeks later, and now, it’s really, really weird. I wanted to bring a girl back to the room last weekend. I wasn’t even planning on having sex with her or anything. I was thinking maybe we’d make out for a while. But I didn’t because I didn’t want to be a jerk to Viv.”

“I get it. Still, she needs to get over it, right? You’re not into her, Caroline.”

“She’s nice.”

Jodie laughed and replied, “Doesn’t mean you have to go out with her.”

“I know. I need to decide what to do for the fall. We’re stuck together over the summer because she’s TA-ing a few classes and is taking a couple herself, but I only have a month before I need to confirm my residency for junior year.”

“Why don’t we talk about getting that apartment again? We thought about it a few months ago but dropped it.”

“I’d have to ask my parents,” she replied. “I don’t have a job to pay for it myself, and the dorm comes with the food plan.”

“Still, it’s probably cheaper to just live off-campus and have them give you an allowance or something. Dorms aren’t cheap, and you have to share a room. In an apartment, you’d have your own bedroom, and so would I. I wouldn’t care if you brought girls home. You wouldn’t care if I did.”

“True. Let me think about it,” she replied and closed her book. “Now, if we’re going out tonight, I’m going back to the room to take a nap because, knowing you, there’s no way I’m getting home by eleven.”

“You know me well,” Jodie replied, laughing. “Hey, any chance you want to come to my room tonight? Skip the Viv judgment?”

Caroline lifted an eyebrow at her and asked, “And sleep where, exactly? I think your roommate will be in the bottom bunk.”

“I’ll make room for you in the top one,” Jodie said with a smile. “And if we end up fooling around quietly while she sleeps, I won’t mind.”

“That was one time,” Caroline noted.

“I know. And it can be two times or three, if we want. It’s not like I want to date you or anything.”

“So, just sex, then?”

“I said fooling around . I know how to treat a lady.”

Caroline laughed at that. They’d met at the beginning of their freshman year in a class they had shared, and they had formed a friendship. Then, a few months into the first semester of their sophomore year, they’d ended up falling asleep in Jodie’s bed after watching a movie, and Caroline had woken up to Jodie staring at her. They had kissed and had had to be very quiet because Jodie’s roommate had only been a few feet away. No clothing had come off, but hands had gone places, and orgasms had been had. They hadn’t talked about it the next day, but a few days later, Jodie had leaned in and kissed Caroline. Being in public, it couldn’t go further than that, but the kiss didn’t feel right to Caroline this time. She wanted to be friends and didn’t want to date Jodie.

“You know I love you,” Caroline said.

“I know you’re not in love with me, but if we’re both in need of something that the other person can provide, we can take care of that with no real consequences or strings.”

“Let’s just get a drink tonight, okay?”

“Fine. But I’m getting you a fake ID.”

“What? Why? My birthday is this month.”

“Consider it an early birthday present.”

“I’d consider it an unnecessary birthday present,” Caroline replied. “I don’t want–”

“I’ll pick you up at nine.”

“I want to be back by eleven,” she said.

“I’ll see you at nine,” Jodie repeated as she stood.

◆◆◆

“You’re going out?” Viv asked.

“Yeah,” she replied as she slipped her belt through the loops of her jeans. “Want to come?”

“Oh. No, thanks,” Viv told her.

Caroline knew Viv would say no. Her roommate wasn’t someone who liked the nightlife in New Orleans much. She preferred campus events and the occasional frat party if she managed an invite. Caroline didn’t really care much for the campus stuff, but that was because most of those things involved people talking about school, their majors, and what they wanted to do with their lives later, and she had no answers to those questions.

“Hey. Are you ready?” Jodie asked her as she stood in the open door. “Oh, hey, Viv.”

“Hi, Jodie,” Viv said as she sat up in the bottom bunk.

“Are you coming out with us?”

“No, I’m staying in tonight.”

“Are you sure? We won’t be out late. I’ll even buy you a drink.”

Caroline wanted to glare at her because she had already done the obligatory-invite-to-be-polite thing, but in the tiny dorm room, Viv would be able to see any look she gave Jodie.

“No, thanks. I have some studying to do, and I’m a TA, so I’ve got papers to grade.”

“Okay. Well, maybe another time,” Jodie replied. Then, she looked at Caroline. “Ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s go,” she said.

Caroline turned and gave Viv a quick smile before she grabbed her wallet, room key, and phone. She had an inside pocket in her jeans where her wallet and key would go that no one would be able to grab, and her phone would fit in the front pocket of her jeans and would be a little safer there than in her back pocket. That was all she would be bringing to the Quarter, which she knew the locals didn’t always spend a ton of time in, but she was in college and thought it was the best place to get cheap drinks, assuming she could even get one. Caroline preferred going out in the fall or winter, when the weather was a little cooler, allowing her to wear a jacket or a sweater, but it would be too hot for that tonight, so she was in a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans, not exactly trying to look good to pick anyone up and just thinking she’d have a good time with her friend and head home.

“Why did you invite her?” she asked Jodie once they were in the hallway and out of earshot.

“I don’t know. She was there.”

“I already asked her to be polite, like I always do. She said no.”

“I didn’t know that,” Jodie said. “And she’s nice, Care. She’s just a little boring, but maybe we need a little boring in our lives from time to time. When we don’t have boring, we end up drunk at a bar, and some woman is putting her hand in your pants.”

“Hey!” Caroline chuckled. “She tried. She didn’t get in there. And I was making out with her.”

“Making out isn’t a stranger putting her hand down your pants when she can tell that you’re drunk.”

“Where are we going, anyway?” Caroline asked.

“I don’t know. I figured we’d see which bars don’t have a bouncer tonight and go for one of those.”

The drive in a shared-ride car took them only about fifteen minutes, and they walked the rest of the way to Bourbon Street and found a bar that didn’t have a bouncer at the door. Jodie nodded for them to give it a try, and they walked in, finding people dancing inside to the loud music. The bar had a short line, and Jodie joined it, while Caroline stood off to the side, looking around. She saw two women dancing close and another two kissing and swaying but not really dancing. Caroline wanted that for herself. She wanted someone to kiss and dance with, but not the woman she had made out with that night, who had been clearly interested in something more and in public no less, which was not Caroline’s thing.

“Okay. So, the bartender was kind of an asshole and saw us come in together, so he asked for your ID before he would let me order two drinks. I ordered you a water,” Jodie said, handing Caroline a red cup.

“Well, that sucks,” she replied.

“Drink it fast. I’ll pour half of mine into your cup.”

“Not worth it,” Caroline told her and took a sip of her water. “So, what now?”

“I don’t know. Want to dance?”

“We have drinks.”

“We can dance with drinks.”

“Not my klutzy ass,” she argued, laughing. “I’ll spill it all over myself.”

“True,” Jodie said and took a drink of her own. “Want a sip?”

Caroline took a drink, only tasting pineapple juice, and asked, “If we’re not dancing, are we just standing around?”

“I was hoping to meet some people to hang out, dance, or whatever.”

“You can go meet. I’ll hold your drink.”

“That sounds like fun for you,” Jodie said sarcastically.

“Honestly, I’m only here for you. And if you’re getting laid tonight, it’s not with me, so if I can hold your drink for you, I will.”

“If you’re sure,” Jodie replied and handed Caroline her drink without waiting for a response.

Caroline watched her join the dance floor crowd, and part of her admired Jodie’s ability to just dance by herself in the middle of a crowded room without a problem. Caroline wasn’t like her. She didn’t mind dancing with people, but she wouldn’t do it by herself. She didn’t know how long they were there, but she had finished half of Jodie’s drink and all of her water. She now had to pee and decided to wait in the bathroom line because it was a good way to kill time.

“Oh, sorry,” someone said, bumping into her from behind.

Caroline looked up from her phone and saw a woman with blonde hair pulled back and these hazel eyes that were lit by the lights illuminating the hallway, where they were waiting for the bathroom.

“It’s okay,” she replied with a smile.

“I got bumped,” the woman explained. “Then, I bumped you. At least, you stopped the violence and didn’t bump the person in front of you.”

“Yeah,” Caroline uttered for some reason.

“Hey, there you are,” Jodie said as she walked up to her.

“No cutting the line,” someone told her from behind the woman with hazel eyes.

“Not cutting. Just checking on my friend,” Jodie replied.

“I’m waiting on the bathroom. I’m good.”

“Okay. Well, I’m kind of done now, so I’m ready when you are,” Jodie told her. “Where’s my drink?” she asked when she noticed Caroline wasn’t holding a cup.

“Oh, I drank it.”

The woman with the hazel eyes laughed.