Chapter 41
June
I was upset, and not even reading a book would help distract me from the events of the last few days.
At school that morning, I had thought James would mess with me for what we’d said to each other last night, but he didn’t even hint at the fact that we’d fallen asleep together.
Did he do things without thinking or did he already regret it?
Like I regretted the afternoon of the exhibition. I was embarrassed for having behaved that way again.
I wanted to take that version of me that took over when I was with Will and James out of my head. But it wasn’t easy, especially because my mom did nothing but remind me of how she was still angry at me. She didn’t allow me to leave the house unless it was to go to school.
“Let me get this straight, you’re keeping watch over me starting as of today?” We were at the table when I decided to confront her.
“If you care about your precious phone that much, I want to see you study in the kitchen. In front of me.”
There she was. Psycho April, blackmailer extraordinaire.
She wasn’t happy about the night I’d spent outside the house, so she was forcing me to barricade myself inside.
I tried to see the bright side of it: I only did damage when I went out; maybe being good would help me not do dumb stuff.
But that wasn’t enough for my mom. She wanted me to go with her when she taught her stupid painting classes.
Then again, what better punishment was there than going to her boring lessons?
“Put something on. We’re going,” she urged, pointing at my pajamas. I was tired, collapsed in front of the plate and ready to go to my room to go to bed. I didn’t expect her to start torturing me.
“It’s almost eight, why are you doing this to me, Mom?”
“Because I said so.”
“So you only work at night?”
“Your school doesn’t pay for itself. Besides, young lady, I’m not leaving you at home alone!”
“And what could I do? Other than set your paintings on fire . . .”
“June! Finish eating and let’s go.”
“I would if there was food on the table instead of this bland salad and grilled chicken. Are we in a military barracks?”
“We’re eating healthy starting today. I got a gym membership.”
“Jordan Hunter got in your head!” I bit the last remains of the bitter, bland salad. “Listen, staying in shape and wearing makeup like that won’t prevent twenty-something assistants from drooling all over him.”
She pierced me with a cutting look.
“What the hell do you, June seventeen-year-old White know about it?” she yelled fervently.
“I’m almost eighteen. And I see it very clearly, dear April—I won’t remind you of your age—Lebowski.”
“Tell me, what would you have seen?”
“I saw there were plenty of girls surrounding him at the exhibition,” I shot back quickly.
“And would you have seen that before or after you locked yourself in your room with his son?”
Oops.
“Oh my god, why won’t you drop it?” I groaned.
“You’re not in a position to get mixed up in my relationships.”
“From there’s nothing between us anymore, now it’s a relationship. Great. Now I’ve lost my appetite.”
“June, get dressed I swear—”
“Okay.” I groaned reluctantly before abandoning the battlefield and shutting my bedroom door to get changed.
I took a quick shower, put on fresh underwear, put my hair in a ponytail, and put on a workout shirt. But before putting on my jeans, I paused. I wouldn’t do it again. That was the last time.
I mentally repeated it to myself.
Suddenly, someone was knocking on my door.
I was still in my underwear, so I jumped into the closet.
“I’m coming, Mom!”
I grabbed the first thing I could find and put it on.
“June, someone is—what’s your name?” A pause.
“Tiffany’s here!” I heard my mom chirp from the hallway.
Tiffany?
My mom poked her head in the door.
“Is she one of your friends?”
“Um, yeah.”
“I recommend you get home before midnight,” she added, leaving me completely speechless.
“Wait, what do you mean?”
My jaw dropped when Tiffany walked into my room. And my temporary muteness wasn’t just caused by her beauty, but by the fact that my mom seemed like a completely different person from who she was a five minutes ago.
“No need to thank me,” Tiffany teased with a satisfied grin.
“Am I wrong or did you just convince her to let me go out?”
Tiffany nodded, then came close enough to envelop me in her nice perfume.
“Is she a friend of yours?” she asked, imitating my mom’s shrill voice. We both burst out laughing, but it didn’t last long because I became serious immediately.
“Yeah, but now tell me how you convinced her. What kind of unknown skill did you use?”
The brunet wandered around my room, looking around here and there.
“I told her that I wanted to take you to get an ice cream.” I frowned, because it took a lot more with my mom.
“Sorry, what? That’s all it took?”
“She said no because you’re grounded. And I told her that I wanted to return the favor for everything you do for me since you’re the best in class and you always help me with my homework, blah, blah, blah.”
“Did that work?”
“Of course not. I told her that the whole class was going to a party at Connell’s house. A questionable guy. A party where Will, James, and all the people I don’t feel like seeing right now will be. I told her that I wanted a better option, like spending a few hours with a good friend like you.”
“What a charmer. And then what?”
Tiffany looked away and got serious.
“Then I told her that I was sorry about your brother, but I was sincere about that.” I gawked at her for a few moments without knowing what to say.
“How do you know about my brother?”
Tiffany shrugged in her leather jacket. “Do you remember the night I came here with Will and James?”
Yes, you guys were sucking face in front of me for a good five minutes, and all you did was whisper jokes in each other’s ears while looking at me.
“How could I forget,” I answered annoyed.
“I noticed the photo hanging in your living room, that’s why I commented on your brother, but James was furious. He made me promise never to say things like that around you.”
I froze.
“Because, yeah, so, he told me that your brother was no longer with us,” she finished with her voice shaking. I had a strange feeling at that moment.
“So it wasn’t James, it was you. You’re the one who told Taylor.” Tiffany’s long eyelashes fluttered nervously.
“Tay started going after you, so I told her that that you didn’t seem so bad to me.
She obviously wondered why I was defending you since I barely know you.
I realized the only things I knew about you were that you lost a brother and that you don’t let people walk all over you.
And that’s what I told her. I didn’t do it out of malice, June. ”
I rubbed my forearm nervously.
“A little bit ago when I was talking with your mom, I saw the photo hanging in the living room again. I felt guilty for having said those dumb things. That’s why I told her I was sorry. She broke down, June.”
A chill went down my spine while an invisible weight pressed down on my head, forcing me to lower it.
“It’s her weakness. Sometimes it almost feels like my mom would’ve preferred if—”
“What?” asked Tiffany attentively.
She seemed to be studying every emotion on my face, but I was hesitant to show them.
“Nothing.”
All the negative sensations that I tried to reject piled up inside me, before I could react how I wanted to.
Tiffany seemed to notice my discomfort and came up to me to hug me.
But the tension didn’t show signs of leaving my body.
On the contrary. The suffocating lump in my throat grew excessively when I realized that Tiffany was gently stroking my hair.
I pushed back a sob in my throat as her fingers massaged my forehead.
“I’m here if you want to talk.”
I hadn’t cried for so long that I didn’t even know how to anymore. I didn’t know how, but I always managed to control the rough waters before the storm.
I let Tiffany graze against my cheek with the tip of her nose, and when her lips came close, I accepted her peck on the lips.
“So where are we going for gelato?” I cleared my throat before looking down at the floor.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Connell’s house.
“I don’t know.”
“If you want to go,” she added seeing me hesitate.
“Do I look like someone who wants to go?” I downplayed my response, pointing at the miserable look on my face.
“No, but you look like someone who needs to get your mind off things. Let’s go, June! Besides, you’re already ready.”
“No, I still have to change.” I put my hands on the skirt wrapped around my hips, which I’d grabbed randomly from my closet.
But Tiffany didn’t seem to be listening to me. Instead, she unzipped her knee-high boots.
“It’s a little tight on me. It’s from two years ago.” I tried to explain myself.
“What do you mean? You look great. Look, put these on,” she exclaimed, handing me her boots.
“I’m a size seven and a half, you?” I asked, looking at them.
“Me, too, June. Can I wear these?” I saw her grab my pair of Vans.
“Yeah, sure. Besides, you won’t find anything better in my closet,” I muttered, putting on the boots. “Do they make me look too tall?”
My question made her crack up.
Tiffany glanced at me in the full-length mirror.
“No, they don’t have the heel, how do I—” Then she broke through. Her dark eyes in mine.
“What is it?” I asked embarrassed.
“Nothing.”
“Tell me,” I murmured turning around.
“I wasn’t looking at you like that before.”
“How?”
Tiffany slid my lower lip under her teeth, while her thumb brushed against the skin of my cheek, caressing me lightly.
Her long, thick eyelashes were the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes to surrender to her kiss.
I felt our breaths interlace while our tongues melted into a slow, rhythmic play.
I pulled back after a bit. Tiffany’s eyes were still closed, but right after, she looked at me as a satisfied smile crept onto her full lips.
“Is that enough of an answer for you?”