“Is everything okay? I’m sorry if Cassie hurt your feelings, he can be, to bluntly put it, a dumbass.”For the briefest moment, Lola angrily whipped her head in the direction of the unfortunate soul who had dared to eavesdrop on her ‘conversation’ with Cassian, with a scowl so cold it could freeze hell ten times over. She wasn't particularly fond of people who wanted to involve themselves in other people's personal affairs, much less show any interest in hers. It was a defense mechanism for the young woman (one that went back to her middle school days) to remain skeptical of any individual who willingly offered themselves as a listening ear without a preexisting relationship between them. Of course, it didn't help matters that Lola knew of the existence of
something between Junie and Cassian, of which true nature she was unaware of. For all Lola knew, Junie was acting on Cass' behalf. So, of course, it was better to play it safe and thread lightly.
“It’s all good here, girl. Nothing that I couldn't take care of myself,” Lola answered curtly, flipping back a strand of her blonde hair while smugly smirking at Junie.
Rather than be taken aback by the short response, knowing well enough this was coming from a vulnerable place, Junie took a moment to choose her next words carefully. How would her father respond if she or her sisters were in a mood? Or worse, her
mother?
At face value, she and Lola never held a conversation that lasted for more than five minutes. While Lola was usually with Blake, she was with Cassian, who was the brother she never had. At face value, Lola probably thought this situation was suss, solely because Cass’ close friend was being a nosy little bitch. Sure, that was mildly true, but at face value, this was also a sorority girl checking on her fellow sister.
Regardless of how anyone was looking at this, Junie wanted to persist. She was drawn to Miss Russo when they both got selected for their house. The way she held herself. The way she knew what she wanted. The way she
demanded and more often than not, got exactly what she asked for. She couldn’t help but
feel they were meant to be friends. Truth be told, this would be the first opportunity she’s ever found with Lola being alone. The downside was... Lola wasn’t in a good mood. At all.
Confident, and with the grace and elegance of a Macmillan, Junie gave a heartwarming smile,
“Oh, I’m sure! I haven’t seen Cassie’s face like that in months and honestly, I have no doubt you put him in his place.” Never wavering her stare from the girl that she hoped would give her a moment of her time, Junie started expressing herself through her hands (yes she was a girl that talked with her hands),
“If you want me to be honest, I just wanted to talk to you. We can throw all that bullshit away, if it means we can go to the cafe or something?” She took her shot in the dark and asked her sorority sister for a coffee date. That’s what her father would do. Just GO FOR IT.
Lola raised a haughty eyebrow at Junie and regarded the hopeful redhead for a moment, mulling the offer through. She seemed friendly enough, with a cheery disposition that reminded the blonde of her best friend Gigi from back home in the Hills.
And she also happened to be a fellow Delta sister, at that. So what would be the harm in entertaining the girl for a little bit? It’s not like she would be giving her any sort of personal, potentially catastrophic pieces of information anyway. As long as she kept her guard and skepticism in place, there should be no incidents happening.
“Sure, that’s fine. I was on my way there anyway. I’ll need the caffeine to survive that god awful psychology lecture anyway…” she mused, rolling her eyes but offering Junie a hint of a smile.
“I don’t know why in the world I chose that as an elective anyway. Such a waste of time.”“Do you think you’ll drop it, if it doesn’t click in like a week?” Junie would take her small win as if she were given a medal. After asking Lola that question, the girls started walking through the courtyard, and out.
“God no. I’d rather stick it out until the end than have that drop staining my academic record,” Lola quickly answered, cringing at the mere thought of how badly that would look to her potential grad school.
“Ooh. That makes sense. What are you studying anyways? I know that’s probably weird of me to ask, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talk about your studies like that. This place is pretty big and the only things spreading like wildfire are dick pics.” Slightly ashamed for not being able to recall Lola’s major, and not wanting to assume it’s full on psychology since she did say it was an elective, Junie waited patiently for her Sister’s response.
The question about her education earned Junie the first good-natured, full-fledged smile of the morning, with a bonus snort at the dick pic comment.. It was an all too common occurrence for Lola’s escapades, appearance or employment to be the first thing people would discuss when addressing her. She was often dismissed as being not particularly bright given her looks and nature of her profession, which peeved the young woman to no end. But the satisfaction of proving everyone wrong when she was able to show off her intelligence or when her academic successes were revealed always brought her a sense of glee.
“I’m a Chemical Engineering major. I’m going for the PhD at some point-- probably after I take a year off for modeling or something-- so I want my records to be as pristine as possible for when I apply.”“Wow, that’s impressive. I wouldn’t be able to take something like that. That major has a combination of things I do not like, like math and physics. I will pay people to do that for me!” She paused and decided this was the time to tell her friend something about herself,
“I’m aiming to be an art therapist eventually. Once my wanderlust runs out, if it runs out.” The mentions of dick pics and her wanderlust, as they sauntered down a sidewalk, caused her to suddenly change the direction of their conversation,
“Off topic! I recently marked my claim on a sexy grunge rockstar, and girl let me tell you, we were up all fucking night. Phew. Let me tell you! He knew his way around my body, and the next morning I could barely walk!” As sudden as she brought up the topic, Junie blushed, coming to terms with how
forward she was being. This wasn’t lady-like at all, and the only other people she’d talk like this to was her twin, Rosie, and her childhood friend, Mona. Eek.
“...too much?” Although she tried her hardest, there was no hiding the way her eyes flashed or how she grimaced at Junie’s unprompted tale of her night with whatever irrelevant dude she’d recently picked up. In normal circumstances, Lola would be proud of hearing about people’s conquests, and would reassure them that there was no shame in living your best life as long as you took the necessary precautions. But coming out of the heels of that humiliating incident with the girl’s beloved
Cassie, the information was like rubbing salt on a fresh wound.
“Good for you,” was all Lola managed to say, her tone reverting back to the same curtness as before.
Feeling like she was back at square zero, Junie internally scolded herself for opening up about her tales with Ty way too fast. Once she heavily sighed, she didn’t waste any time to put her pride aside and apologize,
“Sorry, I got too excited because I’ve liked this guy for… awhile now, but I know now that’s not where we are.” She made a small gesture toward herself and then Lola, who had grimaced again.
Trying to think of a quick topic change, Junie decided to focus on this morning’s events,
“So probation, huh? It kind of sucks because I didn’t stay at the party but I’m sure my mother will take care of it. Have you told your parents yet?” That perked up Lola in the most subtle of ways.
“Not really, no,” she answered with a shrug and the slightest hint of smugness.
“It’s not something that affects me or them anyway.”Raising an eyebrow at her response, that felt like she was insinuating something heavily, Junie hesitantly nodded, debating if she was confused or she heard correctly, that Lola received a get out of jail free card ridiculously fast in comparison to anyone else in their class,
“Oh, well that’s good to hear! I’m not too worried myself.” She was, before her phone call with her mother, but after that, she was reassured of how powerful of a woman her mother truly was.
“I don’t understand why they took it out on the whole year, though. I mean, Cassian and Theodore were obviously the only ones fighting: it’s all on video. You would think the logical thing to do was to punish the two of them and not everyone else,” Lola told Junie, feeling a small twinge of guilt for getting the rest of her classmates in trouble but immediately dismissing it. Not her fault the dean had decided to take such an aggressive approach to things, and certainly
not her problem, since she got a free pass.
“Obviously, but the school has never been bright and they’ve been trying to shut down the bash for as long as it’s existed. This was probably their way to over dramatize the situation, because god, that party was a BORE and this video was simply ammunition to their ‘greater purpose’. As salty as I am because I’m part of the ‘bad year, this is probably the most exciting thing that has happened this month. If we look at it in a different perspective, it’s kind of hilarious how bad everyone is freaking out.” Relieved that the conversation seemed to be going in a good direction, because Lola’s mood was shifting, Junie
hoped her talking without a filter wouldn’t come to bite her in the ass like it did earlier.
This time, Lola actually chortled.
“Don’t let your darling Cassie hear you saying that, though. I don’t think he’ll be happy to know you’re so amused about his misfortune,” she warned Junie with a smirk.
“I hear his swim coach got the video sent straight to her institutional email, as if someone had some sort of vendetta against him. Kinda makes you wonder who he must have pissed off to warrant something like that, don’t you think?” Letting those words hang in the air and hoping Junie would take the hint, Lola turned towards her sorority sister.
“As much as I’d like to stick around and chat, I’ve actually just remembered I have a quiz I forgot to study for,sooooo...” she lied effortlessly with a straight face.
“I guess I’ll see you around then, sister.” And with a short wave of farewell, the young woman turned on her heel and walked straight into the café.
As Lola walked away, in a matter-of-seconds Junie put two and two together. From the fight in the courtyard to the bold mention of a vendetta, the redhead pursed her lips. Cassian was a grown ass man who could take care of himself, however, with the news of him upsetting Lola, which led to the inevitable fate of their year getting academic probation, Junie couldn’t help but find some resentment toward her friend. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions because she wasn’t in the room when whatever happened, happened.
The cogs in her mind were turning, as she started imagining different scenarios. There must be a justifiable reason for Lola Russo to cause a stir like this. Peeved, she decided the best option right now was to walk away from it all. Clear her mind, and maybe see if Ty was free. No longer interested in the cafe, she grabbed her phone, only to realize how many unread texts she had from Evie.
Taking a moment to recollect herself, she decided to hold off texting her man. She’d wait for him to do it first. Instead, she messaged her pet:
Evelyn DeLuca
Meet me at the studio. Bring something yummy.😘
Dropping her phone back in her bag, she left the cafe behind and scurried to the art building, deciding her first class could suck it. She needed to paint.
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