Page 2 of June

“Yeah?”

“You’re happy, so I’m happy for you, of course. I’m just also jealous.”

“Should I knock it off when you’re around? She had a break and wanted to say hello.”

“No, you’re allowed to spend time with your girlfriend, Rory. I just…” Enid sighed. “I’m a little tired and lost, I think. You know how it is for me.”

“I know,” Rory replied. “How can I help? We can eat and go to your place. Want to take the food to-go instead? I can have her change it. I’ll help you study whatever.”

“You meanmy parents’ place,” Enid said. “I went from having a decent one-bedroom apartment in another state, where I had my own assigned parking spot and a storage unit next to it, to having my old bedroom and sharing a bathroom with my eighteen-year-old brother. Do you have any idea how much time eighteen-year-old boys spend in the bathroom? Girls get a bad rap, but he takes thirty-minute showers, and there’s no way he’s only cleaning in there. He uses a bar of soap on his face, Rory. A bar of soap.”

Rory laughed and then offered, “I can talk to Candace for you.”

“I don’t bartend. I have zero experience,” she replied.

“What about being a tour guide? I’m new to it, but it’s good so far. When I’m done with my training, I’ll make decent tips. You get to walk around the city a lot and meet new people.”

“I liked my office job,” Enid replied. “And new people are weird.”

Rory laughed again and said, “Some of them, yes.”

“I almost wish I never would have gotten that job and moved. I could’ve been done with grad school by now and in my own place, not relying on my parents for anything.”

“They love you. And it’s not like you could’ve known that you’d lose your job almost right away. It was a good opportunity, Enid. You took it.”

“Yeah, I know.” She sighed again. “I just feel stuck.”

“You’re not stuck. You’re in between,” Rory suggested.

“I guess,” she said and took another sip of her beer.

“Am I really that annoying now that I’m with Logan?”

Enid laughed and replied, “Yes. But it’s fine. She’s your first girlfriend.”

“Can we talk about this stuff?” Rory asked as she leaned in. “I can kind of talk to Candace, but she’s straight, so it’s a little different.”

“You want to talk to me about sex?”

“I don’t know.” Rory shrugged and looked at Logan, who was behind the bar. “I’m in love with her, Enid. She’s sexy and complicated and thoughtful and sweet, and sometimes, she gets really nervous, and it’s cute. She’s also really, really good in bed, and I don’t know if that’s because I have nothing to compare it to or if she is just that good.”

“Does it matter?” Enid asked.

“Not really. But I want to be that good for her, too.”

“Has she said you’re not?”

“No, she said I am.”

“O-k-a-y…”

“We were just… Last night, after we left the party here, we went back to her place, and her neighbor was in the hallway. They’ve…”

“Slept together?”

“Sort of. Logan did things to her, but not the other way around.”

“So, this neighbor isn’t a giver?”

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