Chapter 31

JUNE

"So," June drawled as she rested her elbow on the counter, her fingers drumming lightly. "I have a question from a friend."

"You don't have any friends," Lola said as a matter of factly. "Except for me, of course." She gave June a cheeky smile.

"Who...told you do?" June stammered, eyes wide.

Lola sighed, turning to face her and crossing her arms. She stared at her as if waiting for June to call her bluff.

A gasp of disbelief escaped June's mouth. She knew she didn't have any friends except for Lola but wasn't going to admit it.

"I have friends outside of you." June insisted.

"Yeah, whatever." Lola's voice dripped with playful sarcasm. "Let's say you do have a friend outside me."

June's eyes narrowed slightly. "So this friend of mine went out with someone."

Lola interjected. "Is the 'someone' a man?"

"Why does that matter?" June sputtered as her heart rose to her cheeks.

"Well," Lola started, her eyes glinting with mischief. "You know to give proper answers."

"Let's say so." June continued. "So this friend went out with a man and then she excused herself briefly—."

"To use the bathroom?" Lola cut her off.

"Yes." June hesitated. She went to see her idol but Lola didn't need to know it was her. "So when the friend—."

"Is the friend a man or a woman—."

"Oh my god, Lola, just listen to the damn question."

"Alright. Alright." Lola made a zipping motion over her lips. " No more questions asked."

"Thank you." June huffed out in annoyance. "So, when she—the friend got back, the man's mood had changed and when she asked what was wrong he said nothing but she could feel something was off. If the friend calls the man to check up on him, is it weird? Or nosy? Does it come off as overbearing?"

June stared at Lola as she traced her jaw with her thumb in thought. June had no idea what happened but when she came back from her fan meeting with Valentina, Ollie wasn't as she'd left him. His mood had changed and it wasn't for the better. Though it was barely noticeable, June was someone who picked on someone's mood, emotion, and even body language very quickly.

One of the quirks of being an overthinker. She noticed everything on a micro level. Now, she couldn't stop replaying the event in her mind and wondering where things went wrong.

"I guess you can check up on him." Lola lifted her shoulder.

"Not me, the friend."

"That is what I meant," Lola said with a hint of playfulness. "I mean you—they are close enough to go out so I won't say calling the man is nosy."

"Right!" She cleared her throat. "I mean that's what I told her too."

"So, are they in the talking stage or are they dating?" Lola asked.

"No," she sighed. "Things are complicated between them."

They just had a sex contract between them and he'd been very nice to her. But now, he'd gone radio silence for a week and June didn't know what to make of it. 

June knew it was unreasonable but she couldn't stop thinking that perhaps she'd done something wrong to cause this.

When Lola was nowhere near her, June brought out her phone and called Ollie twice. Both calls went straight to voicemail.

Her stomach dropped.

The next day, June called him again and didn't get a response. Now, she was calling him while in the locker room as she waited for the event manager to hand over her server's uniform.

June was restless and her mind was going haywire with thoughts and scenarios.

He had gone radio silence, he wasn't answering her call. This could only mean one thing and it made her stomach recoil inward.

"Have this." The event manager extended the uniform toward her.

Her mouth fell open at the sight of the uniform. "This is too small." She eyed the small length and size of the outfit.

"That is the biggest size." The woman scrunched her nose up as if June's objection was a grave sin.

"I don't think it will fit." She dragged her teeth up her lower lips.

"You can leave if you can't wear it," the woman snapped.

Begrudgingly, June took the uniform from the woman with an obvious eye roll. The pay wasn't even that good for this much inconvenience.

"I saw that," the woman said, walking past her.

Well, she wanted her to see it. The rest of the girls muttered complaints about the uniform but none of them had any choice.

Putting the uniform on was a challenge and walking in it was a greater one. The dress barely reached her mid-thigh, and it kept riding up as she made her way to the hall used for the event. She tugged at the hems, her frustration mounting.

Months of stripping hadn't prepared June for the stares she got from men when she stepped into the hall. Their eyes hovered on her and she felt exposed in a way that made her skin crawl.

June ducked her head, grabbing a tray from the entrance before maneuvering her way through the crowd. She only halted her feet when she realized there was a low concentration of men around her.

So help her god, this evening because it would be a long one.

"Excuse me," a male voice called from behind her.

Oh god, she hadn't even composed herself yet. 

She blew out a breath of hot air before turning around on her heels.

With a forced smile, she said. "Yes?"

The lewd glint in the man's eyes made her skin prickle with disgust. "Give me a Vodka." He didn't even care to look at her face. He just gawked at her body.

She extended a glass of vodka towards him, and he deliberately brushed his hand against hers as he collected it from her.

Such a jerk.

As he took a sip, he asked, his eyes not leaving her body. "So what's your name?"

One would think she would have gotten used to men gawking after these years, but it still made her stomach twist.

"June," she said calmly with a smile that didn't reflect what she was feeling inside her.

He licked his lips like a dog eyeing a piece of meat. "Such a name for a sexy body like you."

Of course, she was only a sexy body. Piece of shit.

Two of his friends joined him, and they were no better than him. They made subtle disrespectful comments about her, and her body, and when she tried to leave their midst, they would un–coincidentally demand a drink.

"Would June like a foursome?" the one with a weird goatee asked, leering.

"Excuse me?" June said, not indulging him. She didn't crack a smile, her voice held no hint of playfulness, and she held his gaze with thinned lips until he shifted uncomfortably.

Silence stretched for a short moment before he let out an awkward chuckle. "Just a joke."

The more she stayed here, the more her anger kept rising. She was disgusted by them.

The first one who'd approached her dropped a pair of glasses un—intentionally.

When his eyes glinted with mischief, June could already guess what he was going to request from her.

"Can you pick it for me?" His voice dripped with fake innocence.

She let out a frustrated and annoyed sigh as their snickers drifted into her ears.

June hesitated as she gauged the best way to pick up the glasses.

If she bent down, facing them, they would be getting a show of her cleavages, and if she turned her back against them, they would ogle her ass.

There was no winning this for her. With a defeated sigh, June prepared to get it over with.

She was about to crunch down when a shoe marched the glasses to pieces with a sharp crunch.

As her eyes snapped up, her heart lurched into her throat, and she lost her composure.

Ollie. She almost said his name, but bit back at the last minute.