Page 24 of June (New Orleans #6)

C aroline checked the message and typed her response, letting Enid know that she’d be right down. She was leaving for their date and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” she said to Viv.

“Sure,” Viv replied without looking up from her book.

“Viv, are we really okay?”

“You used my rug for sex, Care.”

Caroline’s cheeks flushed. She hadn’t admitted to it, but Viv had wondered why the rug that was usually at the side of her bed had been over by their dressers. Caroline had lied and said she didn’t know, hoping Viv would drop it, but Viv had just glared at her.

“Oh, Care!” she’d said loudly that morning. “With my rug?”

“We didn’t do anything on it,” Caroline told her now. “We just used it to keep from… hurting ourselves.”

“Whatever,” Viv replied, still not looking up from her book.

Viv was upset or annoyed with something, and it had Caroline worried that she had been insensitive to her roommate. Viv had told her that she was moving on and would be asking a girl on the floor out, so Caroline hadn’t stressed too much about her new relationship with Enid. She hadn’t expected to see Viv walk through the door right when she’d been about to make Enid come, though. Things had been a little weird with them all day, but Caroline had checked more than once if they were okay, and Viv continued to insist that they were. Caroline wasn’t sure she really believed her, but she couldn’t keep pestering her.

“Okay. Bye, I guess,” she said and pulled open the door.

Caroline still couldn’t believe Viv had a little brother she didn’t know about. They hadn’t been the best of friends or anything, but they had talked enough that she felt like Viv could’ve told her that. As it stood, Caroline didn’t even know the baby brother’s name, which felt strange, but Viv wasn’t someone who opened up easily, so Caroline would have to trust that she’d tell her things in time if she wanted to.

“Hey,” she said to Enid when she pushed open the door and saw her on the sidewalk.

“Hey,” Enid replied with a smile. “I could’ve gone to your door.”

Caroline walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss.

“Uh… No. Viv is up there.”

“How mad is she?” Enid asked.

“She’s not mad, exactly. It’s weird. She’s just not telling me something.”

“That she lied about being over you?” Enid suggested, taking Caroline’s hand. “I had to park in the lot. There was a campus cop here before, and I didn’t want to get a ticket.”

“No problem,” Caroline said. “And I don’t know about Viv. I guess there’s a lot I don’t know about her. I had no idea she had a little brother.”

“Yeah, that’s a bit strange.”

They started walking toward the parking lot, and when Caroline looked down at their joined hands, she still couldn’t believe that she could just hold hands with her very hot older girlfriend, whom she was pretty crazy about. It made her smile because she’d been into Enid since they’d bumped into each other at the bar.

“You have a backpack on. Are you doing homework at dinner or something?” Enid asked.

Caroline leaned against her side and replied, “No. I just don’t have another overnight bag.”

“Oh,” Enid said. “So, that has clothes in it and stuff?”

“Is that not okay? I know it’s your parents’ house, but if they’re not okay with it, I–”

“It’s fine. I talked to them about it.”

“You did?”

“Yes. It was one of the most awkward conversations of my life. You should’ve seen the expression on my dad’s face when he realized I’d stayed at your place last night and what it meant. It’s like he was doing advanced calculus in his head to literally think of anything else other than the fact that his daughter has had sex and probably will be tonight.”

Caroline laughed and said, “We could’ve just slept.”

“I don’t think that entered his mind as a possibility,” Enid replied.

“Is it really okay? Even if they say it is, is it?”

Enid sighed and said, “Well, I don’t have my own place yet, and neither do you. This is kind of it since neither of us can afford to get a hotel room every time we want to have sex.”

“I could ask my parents for money, but I don’t see them giving me cash so that I can have sex with my girlfriend.”

Enid laughed a little, and they continued their walk in relative silence until they got to Enid’s car, where Caroline put her bag in the trunk. Enid pulled them into traffic moments later, and the drive to the dive restaurant Caroline had chosen for their date took about twenty minutes. Having found parking a few blocks away, they walked hand in hand down the old sidewalk with the broken concrete that was in need of repair.

After ordering at the counter, they took their number and found an empty table toward the back, which wasn’t ideal because the kitchen was right through the swinging door. It made talking difficult, but Caroline didn’t mind.

Enid looked great tonight, wearing a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved button-down that was white, with light-gray, almost imperceptibly thin vertical stripes.

“No shorts tonight, huh?” Caroline teased.

Enid laughed and set down the sweet tea she had just sipped.

“No shorts for at least a week,” she replied.

When their food arrived, they ate while mostly people-watching because otherwise, they’d have to yell to hear each other over the crowd of tourists that had just walked in. Since they’d already paid, when they were finished, Enid dropped their trash into the can and placed the tray on top of it before taking Caroline’s hand and leading her out of the restaurant. It was a warm and muggy night, which was nothing new for New Orleans, but it had Caroline hoping that Enid’s house had air conditioning.

Then, when they got to the car, Enid’s phone buzzed.

“It’s Jill,” Enid told her.

“Oh,” Caroline said, pretending like she didn’t want to know why Jill was messaging Enid when they were out on a date.

“She just wants to know when we can hang out again.”

“Cool,” she replied, not at all thinking about how Jill had her tongue down Enid’s throat not all that long ago.

“I still owe her that night out, remember?” Enid asked as she put her phone down into the cup holder and started the car.

“To help her get laid. I remember.”

“I’ll message her later,” Enid said. “What do you want to do now?”

“Whatever? I’m flexible.” Caroline turned to her then to add, “And don’t make any sex jokes.”

Enid laughed and said, “How could I? We’ve only had sex in a twin bed, where you can’t exactly flex much.”

“Excuse me; we had sex in a shower, too. And against dressers. And technically, on that chair.”

Enid took Caroline’s hand and moved it to her thigh.

“This is going to sound so lame, but I have a TV in my room. Want to go back to my place and watch a movie? My room has a lock on the door.”

Caroline smiled over at her and asked, “Will your parents be there?”

“They will later, but my dad had a work dinner tonight, so he and my mom are there. My brother might be, but he usually stays in his room and plays video games.”

“Okay. Let’s go. I’d love to see your teenage bedroom.”

“Can I ever see yours?” Enid asked.

“That would require you to visit my parents, and I’m not inclined to submit you to that just yet. They’ll ask you about your entire life plan. Do you have a 401(k) yet? Have you found a realtor for that house you want to buy in, like, twenty years? Do you want to get married? Kids? How many? Pets? Dogs or cats? In their minds, dogs and cats are the only suitable options, and they’re being nice by including cats. What kind of pool will you put behind that house you can’t afford until you’re eighty because of the economy?” Caroline laughed. “They won’t admit the economy thing. They’ll just want you to own your own home by the time you’re thirty and have no student loan debt because, apparently, you can get that non-existent job that pays a hundred thousand a year entry-level and still gets you home by six every night so that you can have dinner with your wife and kids that you may or may not want. Not sure if you’re ready for that, but I know I’m not.”

“That’s fair, I guess,” Enid replied with a little laugh.

About thirty minutes later, they arrived in a residential neighborhood with homes that looked like they’d been built in the past century, which was unique in New Orleans. Enid pulled the car over and street-parked, explaining that she had to in order to let her parents get in and out of the driveway for work. Caroline watched her open the garage door with her little clicker and checked that it was empty.

Enid sighed loudly and said, “Good. They’re still out.”

She grabbed Caroline’s bag from the trunk, and they went in through the interior garage door. Then, Enid pulled on Caroline’s hand, not giving her a tour but instead hurrying her up the stairs and then into a bedroom and closing the door behind them. Caroline couldn’t help but laugh because Enid was clearly trying to keep her from meeting the family, or rather, probably getting grilled by them.

“You are really very cute,” Caroline said.

“I am?” Enid asked.

“Yes, you are,” she replied, wrapping her arms around Enid’s neck and pulling her against herself. “ I can’t wait until one of us gets our own place.”

“Well, I do have a new job now,” Enid said. “It’s not much, but if I do well, Mel might give me more work to do, and that would mean more money. I’m still thinking about finding an apartment and swallowing my pride to ask my parents to loan me money for the first month or two. Then, I can either get more hours with NOLA Guides or get a second part-time job.”

“I’d love it if you had your own place, but don’t do it for me , okay?” Caroline replied. “I’m happy here, in your old bedroom, with your TV that we should name something.”

Enid laughed and wrapped her arms around Caroline’s waist.

“What should it be?”

“I’m thinking Terry or Tiana. I liked The Princess and the Frog .”

“Tiana the TV?” Enid asked as she slid her hands up Caroline’s back under her shirt.

“Why not?” Caroline replied, leaning in. “Does the TV deserve a title? Maybe it’s Princess Tiana.”

Enid leaned in as well and said, “It’s a decent television, but not royal in any way.”

“Can I maybe see for myself, but later?” Caroline asked. “Can you lock that door?”

Enid dropped Caroline’s backpack, which she still had over her shoulder, and reached for the lock.

“Better?” she asked, returning her hands to Caroline’s body.

“Much,” Caroline said and began to undo Enid’s jeans buttons one by one. “I’m really excited to sleep in a bed bigger than a twin.”

“It’s not much bigger.”

“Let me clarify.” Caroline pushed Enid’s shirt off her shoulders. “What I meant was that in several hours, I look forward to getting a few hours of sleep in that bed.”

“In several hours?” Enid asked.

Caroline reached around her back and unclasped Enid’s bra.

“Several hours,” she repeated.

Enid nodded and reached for Caroline’s shirt, which she pulled off. Once they were both naked and Caroline was lying on top of Enid on her bed with a plain gray blanket and white pillowcases, Caroline couldn’t help but stare down at her. Minutes ago, she had wanted her hands all over Enid, needing to finish what they had started earlier that day, but now, she needed to stare into Enid’s hazel eyes while she ran her hand up and down Enid’s side. Enid, for her part, was holding on to Caroline tightly, almost as if she didn’t want them to move yet; she just needed to feel Caroline pressed against her like this.

This was another new feeling for Caroline because she needed that, too. She lowered her head to Enid’s shoulder and let Enid wrap her in her arms. They probably only had an hour or so before Enid’s parents got home, and since they hadn’t seen or heard Enid’s brother, it was possible he was gone as well. If they were going to have sex, now was the time. Hell, they could get loud this time and not worry about Caroline’s next-door neighbors how they’d been last night. Instead, Caroline placed soft, random kisses to Enid’s neck and didn’t move at all otherwise.

“I could stay like this,” Enid said softly after several minutes. “Just hold you like this all night.”

“Yeah?” Caroline asked, smiling, unable to control it from going wide.

“You just feel like you’re supposed to be here with me. Maybe not here as in this bedroom in my parents’ house, but I felt it last night, too,” Enid shared, running gentle fingertips over Caroline’s back.

“Enid?”

“Hmm?”

“I want to, but this is also kind of perfect.”

“You mean you want to have sex, but us holding one another is perfect?”

Caroline nodded into Enid’s neck and said, “I know we should take advantage of the fact that your parents aren’t here, and your brother is probably out, but–”

“We don’t have to,” Enid replied. “We can just lie like this.”

“Naked?” Caroline chuckled and kissed Enid below her earlobe.

“I will admit that I am more than turned on right now, just having you lying on top of me like this, but I can handle it,” Enid replied.

“We can get dressed.”

“No way,” Enid replied and held on to Caroline a little tighter.

Caroline laughed a little and leaned up a little to look into Enid’s eyes.

“We can… come at the same time again to take care of what we both need and then keep lying like this.”

Enid nodded and asked, “Are you ready?”

Caroline gave her a nod in response, and her hand slid between them and into Enid’s folds, causing Enid to hiss at the contact.

“You are too, it seems.”

Caroline then shifted when Enid’s hand moved to her sex and slipped into her folds.

“Very ready,” Enid replied while she stroked her.

Caroline rested her forehead against Enid’s and rocked a little, keeping up her strokes to Enid’s clit. She wanted to move inside her but wasn’t sure if Enid wanted that, so she kept her fingers where they were until Enid’s thumb pressed to Caroline’s clit, and her fingers moved lower to Caroline’s entrance.

“Yeah?” Enid checked.

Caroline nodded and kissed Enid slowly before she entered her, too, shifting her own body on top of Enid to allow her inside. When they both came around the same time, they were quiet, trying to kiss and keep connected as much as they could, and Caroline knew when her eyes met Enid’s again that they were definitely doing more than having sex. They were making love.

“Let’s stay like this all night,” Enid suggested, pushing Caroline’s hair away from her face.

Caroline normally would’ve pulled away by now, pretending like she needed to check a message on her phone or grab a drink of water, but with Enid, she didn’t need or want to move at all.