Page 4 of June

“Hey, Dad,” Enid replied as she walked down the hall and into the den, which he used as his office.

“Did you have fun?”

“Rory and I just hung out, but yeah, it was fun.”

“Good,” he said.

“Working late?” she asked.

“Just for another hour or so. Did you eat? Your mom made you a plate. It’s in the fridge.”

“I did, yeah. I’ll keep it for lunch tomorrow.”

“Okay. Sounds good.”

Enid smiled at her dad, and when he returned his attention to the computer in front of him, she walked over to the living room, where she found her mom watching TV.

“Hi, honey.”

“Hey, Mom,” Enid replied. “Thanks for leaving dinner for me.”

“When you heat it in the microwave, put a wet paper towel over it so that it–”

“Doesn’t dry out, yeah,” Enid said with a smile.

“Did you have fun tonight?”

“I did,” she said in response to the same question she got every night and added, “I’m going to be studying in my room for the rest of the night.”

“Okay. Will you throw your dirty clothes down for me? I’d like to get them in the washer.”

“I can do my laundry, Mom.”

“It’s just easier. I can put yours in with the rest of the loads. You know that machine likes to fight with me.”

“Yeah, sure,” Enid said. “Good night.”

“Night, honey,” her mom replied.

Enid walked up the stairs and into her room, where she found the hamper with her dirty clothes, carried it back down the stairs, and left it there for her mom to deal with, feeling like she was fifteen all over again. As a twenty-four-year-old, she knew how to do her own laundry, but her mom always told her to drop it off.

“Hey,” her brother, EJ, said when she bumped into him in the upstairs hallway.

“Hey,” she replied.

“I was going to hop into the shower,” he told her.

Enid rolled her eyes and said, “Can you please leave hot water for the rest of us, EJ?”

“It’s Elijah now. You know I don’t go by EJ anymore.”

“Okay, Elijah James.”

“Asshole.”

“Don’t jerk off in the shower, running the hot water. Just do it in your bedroom like the rest of us,” she said.

“Gross. I don’t want to think of you doing that.”

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