Page 99 of June

“How was your night?” her dad asked. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Um… I stayed at Caroline’s,” she said.

Her mom just gave her a polite nod in response before returning her attention to the pan she was drying. She was probably thinking about the fact that her only daughter had stayed at her girlfriend’s place, which meant that she’d likely had sex. Her father also seemed to be awfully silent all of a sudden. He stared at the wall and was wiping off a plate that was definitely already clean.

“That’s nice,” her mom said eventually.

“I… was wondering,” Enid began. “We’ve never really talked about this since I moved back in.”

“About what?” her dad asked, passing the plate to her mom.

“Well, Caroline lives in a dorm room, so we don’t… There’s no real privacy there, and I was wondering if she could maybe stay over here tonight.”

Her mom stopped drying the plate, and her dad looked at his wife as if she had the answer for both of them, which Caroline found kind of adorable in a way.

“Oh. Well, I suppose it’s okay. You’re twenty-four years old. We know how…” Her mom cleared her throat. “Just remember that you have an eighteen-year-old–”

“Brother, yeah,” Enid finished. “I know.”

“There’s leftover bacon if you want some,” her dad told her, and the subject was promptly changed.

CHAPTER 24

Caroline checked the message and typed her response, letting Enid know that she’d be right down. She was leaving for their date and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” she said to Viv.

“Sure,” Viv replied without looking up from her book.

“Viv, are we really okay?”

“You used my rug for sex, Care.”

Caroline’s cheeks flushed. She hadn’t admitted to it, but Viv had wondered why the rug that was usually at the side of her bed had been over by their dressers. Caroline had lied and said she didn’t know, hoping Viv would drop it, but Viv had just glared at her.

“Oh, Care!” she’d said loudly that morning. “With my rug?”

“We didn’t do anythingonit,” Caroline told her now. “We just used it to keep from… hurting ourselves.”

“Whatever,” Viv replied, still not looking up from her book.

Viv was upset or annoyed with something, and it had Caroline worried that she had been insensitive to her roommate. Viv had told her that she was moving on and would be asking a girl on the floor out, so Caroline hadn’t stressed too much about her new relationship with Enid. She hadn’t expected to see Viv walk through the door right when she’d been about to make Enid come, though. Things had been a little weird with them all day,but Caroline had checked more than once if they were okay, and Viv continued to insist that they were. Caroline wasn’t sure she really believed her, but she couldn’t keep pestering her.

“Okay. Bye, I guess,” she said and pulled open the door.

Caroline still couldn’t believe Viv had a little brother she didn’t know about. They hadn’t been the best of friends or anything, but they had talked enough that she felt like Viv could’ve told her that. As it stood, Caroline didn’t even know the baby brother’s name, which felt strange, but Viv wasn’t someone who opened up easily, so Caroline would have to trust that she’d tell her things in time if she wanted to.

“Hey,” she said to Enid when she pushed open the door and saw her on the sidewalk.

“Hey,” Enid replied with a smile. “I could’ve gone to your door.”

Caroline walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss.

“Uh… No. Viv is up there.”

“How mad is she?” Enid asked.

“She’s not mad, exactly. It’s weird. She’s just not telling me something.”

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