Page 13 of June

“Yeah.”

“You said no? Why?”

They left the room, and Caroline locked it behind them.

“She’s here for a few days with her friends, whom she’s sharing the room with.”

“Oh, awkward,” Caroline said as they walked down the hall.

“Yeah. She told me they wouldn’t be there for a while, so we would’ve had a couple of hours, I guess, but… I don’t know. I’m not into hooking up with tourists.”

“You wanted to do stuff with me last night.”

“Yeah,you. I know you, and we’re friends.”

“But we’re not friends with benefits, Jodie.”

“I get it. It was just good that one time, right?”

Caroline laughed and replied, “Yeah.”

“Hey, I saw that girl you were talking to,” Jodie said.

“What? Who?”

“In the bathroom line.”

“I wasn’t talking–” Then, she remembered. “Oh. Her? I wasn’t really talking to her. She got bumped from behind and ran into me. She was just apologizing.”

“She’s hot, though.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Caroline didn’t actually have to guess. The woman with hazel eyeswasgorgeous, and if Jodie hadn’t walked up to her, Caroline might have tried to continue the conversation after they both used the bathroom. Instead, Jodie had stood there with herand talked about the woman she’d just danced with until after Caroline had gotten out of the bathroom and hazel eyes had gone in. Then, they had gone back to the main bar, where Jodie had gotten a water for herself, and Caroline had watched the woman with the hazel eyes start talking to someone else. Not long after Jodie finished her water, she’d asked Caroline if she’d been ready to go, and that had been the end of their night.

Caroline had come back to her room and found Viv lying in her bed, reading a book. It wasn’t a textbook, either. It was a book that she was reading for fun, which wasn’t something Caroline had ever really done. They hadn’t talked, and Caroline had slid into her own bed after changing into her sweats and T-shirt.

“Are you interested in that?” Jodie asked, bringing her back to the present.

“In what?”

“Meeting someone.”

“I’m twenty years old. I’m not in a hurry,” she said. “I’m good with being single.”

“I know. But there’s something about having someone,” Jodie replied. “I mean, I like being single, too, and being able to date around and sleep with someone if I want, but it’s not the same as having someone.”

“You’re still not over her, are you?” Caroline asked as they walked toward the parking lot.

“I’m over her,” Jodie insisted. “It was a year ago.”

“That she dumped you, yeah. That doesn’t mean you’re ready to move on.”

“I’ve gone out with girls since then,” Jodie argued.

“Again, going out with someone doesn’t mean you’re over your ex-girlfriend, Jodie.”

“I loved her, yeah. Two years, Care. We were together for two years. We survived our freshman year together after dating in high school, and then she just ends it?”

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