Page 20 of June (New Orleans #6)

“W hat is wrong with you?” Jodie asked.

“Why are you in my room?” Caroline asked back when she walked into her room after taking a shower and found Jodie there alone.

“You texted me.”

“Like, two hours ago.”

“I was busy,” Jodie replied.

“Well, I’m in a towel, so…” She motioned for Jodie to leave the room so that she could get dressed.

“Why are you freaking out? Because you met a few of her friends.”

“It was, like, ten of them, I think. And I’m not freaking out. I’m about to call her, actually. I wanted to apologize. I really like her. I just had this moment where I felt too young and too far behind everyone there, so I started thinking about my parents and how they wanted me to be more than I am, how I’m disappointing them, and I don’t want to disappoint Enid, too.”

“You’re being ridiculous. She knows how old you are, and you told her that you don’t know what you want out of school or a career yet. Stop letting your parents get into your head and just be with the pretty girl already,” Jodie reasoned.

Caroline laughed and replied, “That’s easier said than done, but it’s not Enid’s fault, so if you would just go now, I can get dressed and call her before Viv gets back.”

“She’s gone for the night.”

“What?” Caroline asked as she ran her brush through her hair.

“She said she was heading home. Her mom wanted her to, I guess. Her dad is having an operation. Standard thing, but her mom needed her.”

“She didn’t tell me that.”

“She texted us both. You might have missed it.”

“I’ve been ignoring my phone today. I was afraid Enid would text or call before I was ready to talk to her. Is Viv’s dad really okay?”

“She told me it wasn’t anything to worry about.” Jodie shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll leave, but call Enid, Care.”

“I’m about to,” she replied.

“I’m going to run out and grab some snacks,” Jodie said. “I’ll be back in about an hour if you want to hang out.”

“I’ll text you.”

When Jodie left the room and closed the door behind her, Caroline walked over to her phone, which she’d left on her desk, and checked the notifications. Sure enough, she’d missed the message from Viv from earlier that afternoon, so she typed a quick response saying that she hoped everything was okay and to let her know if Viv needed anything. Then, she set the phone back down and returned to the open closet door, which had the full-length mirror hanging on it. Before she could change out of her towel, though, there was a knock at the door, so she rolled her eyes.

“Jodie, it’s unlocked. What did you forget?”

The door opened slowly.

“Not Jodie.”

Caroline turned and was surprised to see Enid standing there.

“But she saw me at the door downstairs right before I was about to message you, so she let me up,” Enid added.

“Hey. What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I wanted to check on you. I know I could’ve called or texted, but I thought that doing it in person might be better.” Enid looked Caroline up and down. “You’re in a towel.”

“I just took a shower,” she said with a smile.

“It… looks good on you.”

Caroline laughed, and Enid continued to look her over. It was clear what was on her mind. Caroline wanted to keep laughing, but she couldn’t. It had suddenly gotten very hot in her room, and Enid’s eyes raking over her skin weren’t exactly helping her cool off.

“Um…” Caroline began. “I’m sorry about last night.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Enid said.

“I got overwhelmed by everyone having their lives together.”

“I don’t have my life together,” Enid noted.

“You’re in grad school, and you’ll find a job right when you graduate, Enid.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. At least you know what you want to do.”

“You’ll figure it out, Care. And it doesn’t matter to me if you stay in school forever, decide to become an artist and station yourself on the Square, selling your stuff, or you become a lawyer or a doctor or something.”

“Do you mind closing the door?” Caroline asked with a smile. “I’m kind of only in a towel here?”

“I shouldn’t,” Enid replied, shaking her head.

“Why not?”

“Because the door being open is the only thing stopping me from kissing you.”

Caroline took a deep breath and asked, “You’re not mad about last night?”

Enid shook her head and said, “I loved our date. Besides, you took all the candy with you when you got out of my car, and I’d like to get some of it.”

“You got all of the other prizes,” Caroline said, smiling.

“But I wanted a Jolly Rancher, and you took all of those.”

“That’s all you want? A Jolly Rancher?” Caroline laughed a little.

“Not all ,” Enid replied with darkening eyes.

Caroline licked her lips and said, “Enid, close the door.”

She thought she might have to say something else to convince her, but there was no need. Enid closed the door and locked it, all in one motion. In the next, she had Caroline pressed against the full-length mirror, and her lips were finally on Caroline’s. Caroline’s arms wrapped around Enid’s neck and kissed her back. She was pretty sure she moaned, but it could have been Enid.

“Viv?” Enid checked before she reconnected their lips, and the kiss grew faster.

“Gone for–” Caroline started but stopped when Enid’s lips moved to her neck. “God.”

“Are we really okay?” Enid asked.

“Yes.”

Enid’s lips then moved from Caroline’s neck back to her lips, and the kiss had gotten even faster somehow. Caroline realized that Enid’s hands weren’t on her body, though. They were pressed to the closet door behind her, and Enid also wasn’t pressing her own body against Caroline’s, likely because Caroline was only wearing a thin towel.

“How much time do we have?” Enid asked, slowing down the kiss.

“Huh? What?” Caroline asked, a little dazed.

“Viv? You said she was gone, but when–”

“She’s gone for the night,” Caroline said and swallowed, staring into Enid’s hazel eyes. “Maybe longer.” She ran a hand over Enid’s cheek and down her neck until she stopped just above Enid’s breast.

“She’s gone? Like, she’s not just going to walk in any minute and catch us making out?”

Caroline shook her head and lowered her hand until she was cupping Enid’s breast over her shirt.

“She’s gone.” When Enid’s head turned, Caroline knew what she was looking at, so she added, “It’s a twin and a bunk bed. Not exactly sexy, I know.”

Enid turned back to her and said, “You’re so…” She looked down at the towel still covering Caroline. “Do you want to wait? I don’t want us to–”

“Just because my roommate is out of town?” Caroline guessed.

Her hand was still cupping Enid’s breast, so she moved her other one under Enid’s shirt and cupped the other breast over her bra. Enid looked down and looked back up with a smirk on her face. Caroline ran her thumb over Enid’s nipple through the fabric and watched Enid’s eyes close.

“We can just lie down and… talk,” Caroline offered while her other hand was on the move, sliding under Enid’s shirt and copying her movements on the other nipple. “I’d love to just fall asleep next to you.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, you need to stop doing that,” Enid replied.

“Problem?” Caroline asked, running her fingers around Enid’s nipples, feeling them harden.

“Yes,” Enid said and closed her eyes again. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” She removed her hands from under Enid’s shirt and pushed her back a little. “Strip.”

“What?” Enid asked, opening her eyes in surprise.

“Take off your clothes. I’m going to draw you.”

“Sorry, what?” Enid looked confused. “Did you think that’s what I meant?”

“No,” Caroline replied. “But you’ve been giving me a hard time about having naked drawings in my sketchbook, so I’m going to draw you , and I want you to be naked when I do.”

“I don’t–”

“Babe,” Caroline said softly as she held on to the hem of Enid’s shirt. “Come on.” She lifted at the fabric, and Enid’s arms went up, allowing her to take it off. “Do you trust me?”

When Enid nodded, Caroline reached for the front of her towel and let it fall to the floor. Enid’s eyes followed it down as if she hadn’t been expecting that. Then, she looked back up slowly, eyes taking in Caroline’s naked body before she met Caroline’s eyes with her own.

“You’re perfect,” Enid let out in a whisper, her hands moving to Caroline’s hips. “Fuck, Care,” she added.

Caroline reached for Enid’s jeans, undid the button and zipper, and took a step back to look at Enid with an artist’s eye, taking in her body not because she desperately wanted to touch her, which she also did, but because she wanted to take note of every plain and curve, mark, and shadow to capture it all in her sketch.

“I changed my mind a little. Take off your bra, but leave your jeans on. Shoes and socks off.”

“What?” Enid asked. “Babe, you’re naked. Bed. Draw whatever you want later. I–”

Caroline kissed her slowly and let it build until she was backing Enid up against her desk chair. She placed both of her hands on Enid’s shoulders and pushed them gently until Enid was sitting down and reaching for Caroline’s hips again, trying to get Caroline to sit in her lap. Caroline knelt in front of her and removed Enid’s shoes and socks. Then, she spread Enid’s legs and moved her undone belt just so, leaving a peek of Enid’s white underwear through the open triangle in her jeans.

“Bra off,” she said again and stood up.

“Caroline, let me touch you.”

“We have all night,” she replied. “Trust me, I want that, too, but let me do this first. Please.”

Enid finally nodded before she pulled off her bra and tossed it to the floor. Caroline licked her lips because Enid’s breasts were so fucking perfect, and her rosy nipples, which were hard right now, clearly wanted Caroline to touch them. Caroline really wanted that, too, but she had started this, and she was going to finish it. Her sketchpad was on her desk, so she reached for it and moved to Viv’s bed, where she sat and looked at Enid, who was breathing hard.

“Turn to me,” she said as she opened the sketchbook and took Enid in. “God, you’re sexy,” she added, gripping her pencil a little too hard. “You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you?”

“You’re the one who wanted to do this.”

Caroline smiled up at her. Then, she looked down at her sketchbook and started with a rough outline, ignoring everything but Enid sitting in her chair with her legs spread and jeans open for her.

“What do I do?” Enid asked.

“Sit still,” Caroline replied with a smile. “Lean back a little. Act like you don’t have a care in the world.”

“Oh, I have many cares right now,” Enid argued. “I care that you’re naked, and I care that I’m really turned on and–”

Caroline tilted her head and told her, “Slide your hand into your underwear.”

“What?” Enid asked with a little laugh.

“Just do it,” she replied. “But don’t touch yourself. Hold it there. I want to draw it.” Caroline continued to sketch. “And your other hand should go on your breast. Thumb and forefinger on your nipple.”

“Care, you’re killing me here. Is your plan to murder me before we have sex?”

Caroline smiled, but watching as Enid’s right hand slid inside her underwear made her swallow hard. Then, Enid’s other hand moved to her breast, and she cupped it first and massaged it for a few seconds, causing Caroline to shift a little uncomfortably.

When Enid put her thumb and forefinger on her nipple and gave it a squeeze, Caroline let out, “Shit,” and drew even quicker.

“Are you wet, Care?” Enid asked.

“Of course, I am,” she replied, looking up at Enid and back down at her drawing in progress.

“So am I,” Enid told her before her wrist disappeared beneath her underwear. “I’m soaked,” she added.

Caroline gasped and continued to draw, trying to focus on the shadows of Enid’s face and not at all on the fact that Enid’s fingers were probably about to start stroking a swollen clit.

“You sure you want to keep doing that?” Enid asked. “I might finish before you do.”

“Don’t you dare,” Caroline warned and met Enid’s eyes with her own. “Stay still.”

“But my fingers want to move…”

“Jesus,” Caroline said to herself.

“I don’t care about Brooke,” Enid said.

Caroline looked up at her.

“I don’t care about Jill, either,” Enid added. “I only care about you.”

“Then, listen to me,” Caroline said. “Lean back and let me see you.”

Enid smiled at her and leaned back and a little to the right, slouching in that way the cool kids always managed to pull off but that Caroline never had.

“Okay. Now, touch yourself.”

“Yeah?” Enid asked.

“Slowly. And don’t come,” Caroline instructed. “I want to make you do that.”

Then, Caroline herself leaned back and spread her legs. Enid looked down and gasped, which was just what Caroline had been hoping for.

“You expect me not to make myself come while you’re doing that?”

Caroline watched as Enid’s hand began to move beneath her underwear. She sketched it. Well, she outlined it, mostly. She’d have to do the real work later because watching Enid do this was making her wetter. She shifted forward because she wasn’t about to leave any evidence of this on Viv’s bed, where she was sitting. Enid’s eyes had clearly focused on Caroline’s sex, and she was stroking herself faster, liking what she saw there, which had Caroline taking a deep breath because this was the sexiest moment of her life.

Caroline ran her pencil over the paper at a feverish pace, but when she heard Enid moan, she couldn’t take it anymore. She dropped the sketchbook and the pencil to the floor to deal with later and rushed over to Enid, who had stood rapidly the moment Caroline had done it and kicked the chair back against Frank the Fridge. Both of Enid’s hands went into Caroline’s hair, and Caroline didn’t even care that Enid’s right hand had been wet from her own arousal. She could always take another shower later.

“Bed,” Caroline managed out as Enid kissed her hard.

“Not yet,” Enid replied and turned them until Caroline was sitting in her own desk chair, watching Enid remove her jeans and underwear.

“Fuck,” Caroline whispered as Enid repositioned the small rug that Viv had in front of her bed with her leg and knelt on it.

Then, Enid spread Caroline’s legs and moved her face between them.