Page 5 of June

“Guess what, EJ?” She leaned in. “I’ve hadsexbefore, too.”

“Damn, Enid. Gross. Come on.”

She laughed and added, “With more than one woman. And it was really, really good. I can probably give you some pointers, if you want.”

EJ slammed the bathroom door, and Enid laughed on the way to her bedroom. She had accomplished her goal. No way he was going to get himself off in the shower now, with that visualin his mind. She was still laughing as she pulled out her textbook and sat at the small desk in the corner of her room. Picking on her kid brother was fun and all, but she missed having her own place. Weirdly, she missed doing her own laundry and having to figure out something for dinner because her mom wasn’t there to cook for her. She missed feeling like a real adult. And now that she thought about it, she missed good sex with a beautiful woman, too.

CHAPTER 2

She shouldn’t have taken that semester off, even though it had been a good idea at the time because she had needed a break from this place. Sure, Caroline had only gone to college for a little over a year, but she hadn’t really enjoyed the experience of it. She hadn’t wanted to go to college in the first place, but when she’d been eighteen, she hadn’t exactly had any alternative plans, either. Going into the military wasn’t an option for her. She could do about one push-up before she collapsed to the ground, and she wasn’t great with authority, choosing to argue with her teachers and parents when she thought she was right instead of just going along with it. She also hadn’t wanted to go to trade school, which was something that they’d talked about at their career day senior year. Nothing there had been of any interest to her, but her parents had been insistent that she couldn’t live at home rent-free if she wasn’t working or in school, and since she hadn’t wanted to work some lame job, she’d gotten into college and moved into the dorm.

During her sophomore year, she’d been taking electives and general credits but still hadn’t declared a major, and when she turned in her last final, she had told her parents that she was taking the semester off and using the savings bonds she’d gotten from her grandparents and other money she’d gotten as a graduation gift to travel the country. For three months, she’ddriven her car from random city to random city, stayed in cheap motels, slept in her car sometimes, and lived on bad food. While Caroline had loved the trip, by the end of it, she was ready to be back home, sleep in a comfortable bed, and get back to school because at least it was something to do.

That trip had changed her life, though. She’d even had a companion for part of it: a girl named Brooke, whom she had met at a motel off Route 66. Brooke had been traveling, too, but hitchhiking, which was even more unsafe than what Caroline had been doing, but they had gotten to know one another over a couple of days at the motel. Caroline had given her a ride, and they’d ended up driving around together for about a week. The sex had been a nice surprise, and they had enjoyed that until Brooke had decided to hang out wherever Caroline had left her instead of continuing on.

Sometimes, she missed the road and the no responsibilities or pressure to choose a major and what she’d do for the rest of her life. Now was one of those times. In order to graduate on time, which was a demand from her parents, who were paying for her education, room, and board, she had to stay on schedule. That meant she had to take four classes between the two summer sessions. Five would’ve been better, but she could squeeze in another class during the fall semester to make up for that one. Four classes during the summer was already more than enough, in her opinion.

So, here she sat on campus in June, at a table outside on the quad, and she was, unfortunately, studying when she could’ve been out there enjoying her summer.

“Hey. I thought we were meeting at the coffee place,” Jodie said.

Caroline looked up from her book, and the blistering sun hit her right in the eyes. She closed them in response and lookedback down, wishing that she hadn’t looked up at all or, even better, had worn her sunglasses.

“You’re early. I was going to walk there in a minute.”

“Oh. Well, since I’m here, should we just stay?” Jodie asked and took a seat in the chair across from Caroline.

“You’ve just sat down, so I’m guessing you already answered your own question.”

“I hate summer school. It makes me feel like a delinquent who didn’t pass a class in high school.”

“You’re trying to graduate early, so you did this to yourself,” Caroline reminded her.

“I know. I know,” Jodie said. “But two classes?”

“I have four,” Caroline replied.

“You’re the one who took some life-altering road trip and skipped a semester.”

“Anyway…” Caroline said, chuckling.

“Want to go out tonight?”

“I have too much to do.”

“Come on. It’s the summer,” Jodie insisted, leaning forward. “Let’s go to the Quarter.”

“Why? We’re not tourists, and I can’t drink.”

“Ican,” Jodie said, having recently turned twenty-one.

Caroline was still only twenty, though. While she could get into some of the bars that didn’t card at the door, they’d card her at the bar if she tried to order something, so it wasn’t worth it to her to stand there and drink water while everyone else could drink alcohol.

“Then,youshould go.”

“I’ll get your drinks for you,” Jodie offered. “Just don’t get plastered, and no one will know you’re underage. Better there than a local bar, which won’t be as crowded, so they’ll definitely card.”

“If I go, I don’t want to be out late. You know how Viv wakes up when I come in late, and I get that glare.”

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