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A smile threatened to make an appearance despite Zariah detailing the latest drama with her hockey-playing menace of a brother.
Adam was a grown man. And I’d just seen him back in the courtyards—not five minutes ago—where he already asked how long the meeting was going to take. I wasn’t even in the meeting yet.
“I’m this close to hitting Elijah in the head with a hammer,” Zariah said, pulling the door open to the freshmen dorms. “He’s making me rip my hair out. There’s no patience left!”
“Maybe you should let him sink or swim?” I suggested, toying with the buttons on my phone, trying to come up with a response to Adam’s text.
Zariah sighed. “He’s my twin. I’m afraid he’d drown. And then who would I get to talk shit with at family dinner?”
I started to reply, while I scanned the room. It was pretty full, about sixty or seventy resident assistants crammed into one of the big meeting spaces, but the words died in my throat when I saw who was sitting at the table closest to the windows.
June.
Oh my god, June!
It’d been a while since I’d seen her at an RA event.
Part of me was so glad to see her. If she was out of her bedroom, that was progress. But I came to a sudden stop when I realized something had definitely changed.
“Oh no,” I whispered under my breath.
June’s hair, honey blonde, long and thick and lovely, usually curled behind her back, was gone. I stumbled to walk alongside Zariah. I could barely believe my eyes. June’s hair was cropped close to her chin and new, fluffy bangs hung on her forehead.
“Uh…are we seeing the same thing?” Zariah muttered.
New haircut or not, it was June, one of the people who’d been so nice to me when I transferred. I’d missed her, especially during football obligations when Kassie had to dip out. I hurried across the room and wrapped my arms around June’s neck hugging her from behind.
“How are you doing? Are you doing good?” I asked quickly, rushing through each question like I had a quota to meet. “It’s so good to see you. June, I was the only girl at an offense coach meeting, I missed you so much.”
June squeezed my hand, but her voice was small. “Hey, Piper.”
“So…this RA thing?” Zariah approached with an easy start to a conversation. “Are they pressuring us about volunteer slots now? Who’s teaching?”
I took the chair next to Zariah and peered over her to June, who was giving us both a long look before she reached up to tug on a blonde strand framing her face. Zariah winced. The expression on my face must’ve given everything away too. It wasn’t like it was a bad haircut. The look was cute! It was just so abrupt.
“I took a pair of kitchen scissors and whacked it off,” June said, putting her face in her hands. “It was a mess. And I gave myself bangs. I’m so lucky my hair stylist loves me.” June sniffled. “She yelled when she saw it.”
“It’s so cute though,” I rushed to say.
June had the most tender, softest look in the world on her face and it broke my heart. The June Basil I knew was self-confident and aware of every right step to take. I was more flabbergasted at how much she crumpled into herself than any new haircut.
“Chic,” Zariah suggested. “Very fashion-forward.”
“I miss my old hair.” June’s lower lip wobbled. “And Xavier always said—ugh. I just want to buzz it!”
What can I say that’d make this better? I never had girlfriends like this before, I had no idea what to do.
“Welcome in,” a dry voice echoed in the room and the speaker of the meeting called everybody’s attention.
Comforting June would have to wait until after.
I brought out my notebook and scribbled down notes about the rodeo’s history and how the presentation said forty-five minutes on the website, but it was actually collectively going to be an hour and fifteen minutes.
“Fuck me sideways,” Zariah muttered.
I sighed and hid my phone under the desk.
Piper Fontaine: We’ll be done at 6:15pm
