Page 21 of June

CHAPTER 6

“Nice to meet you, Jodie. Sorry, she finished your drink the other night,” Enid said, and Caroline smiled over at her before she looked up at Jodie.

“I got one sip of it, so I’d say she did more than just finish it,” Jodie replied, sitting down at the round table between them. “So, how did you two end up at this table?”

“Oh, I ran into her at a booth. Enid is in grad school here. Small world, huh?” Caroline replied.

“Yeah, small world,” Jodie said. “Sorry, I’m so late.”

“It’s okay. I’ve walked around a couple of times already and ran into Enid when she was about to, so I was just joining her.”

“Are you looking for a job?” Enid asked Jodie.

“Not yet, thankfully. I wanted to see what was out here, though. I’m thinking maybe an internship in the fall or the spring, if I can get it.”

“And you’re a junior, too?”

“Yeah,” Jodie said.

Enid then took a drink of her coffee, and Caroline used that as an opportunity to give her friend the look. She would know what the look meant, and it should make her leave this table. Jodie wasn’t looking at her, though. She was looking off toward the career fair and seemed to be smiling. Caroline had to lightly kick her under the table to get her attention, and when Jodieturned to her with a grimace and confusion in her eyes, that was when Caroline gave her the look.

“Oh,” Jodie said. “Right.”

“What’s right?” Enid asked.

“I was thinking that I wanted to walk around alone for a few minutes. I can’t stay long, so I want to be focused.”

That was a bad lie, but Enid didn’t seem to notice, and Jodie stood.

“I’ll call you later,” she added.

“Yeah,” Caroline replied.

After Jodie walked off, Caroline picked up her coffee and took a drink. It had way too much cream in it, but she’d been nervous at the coffee cart and hadn’t been paying attention. Now, she could barely taste the coffee in her cup of cream.

“How long have you two been friends?” Enid asked.

“A couple of years,” she replied.

“She seems nice.”

“She is. She’s my best friend here.”

“So… You were going to show me your sketchbook,” Enid said.

“You really don’t want to look at it. It’s just boring stuff. I drew the mini fridge in my dorm room yesterday.”

Enid laughed and replied, “I’m sure in some art circles, that would sell.”

“I highly doubt that. I gave him a face.”

Enid laughed again and asked, “You called your fridge ahe, and you drew a face on him?”

“Yes. He fights with me sometimes and won’t fit everything I want to put in there, or the ice shelf at the top doesn’t freeze at all or freezes so much that it’s just a giant block of ice, so it’s a guy, and I drew a face on him just for fun.”

Enid smiled at her and said, “I’d like to see that.”

Caroline bent down, pulled her newest sketchbook out of her backpack, and dropped it on the table between them.

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