Jesse
Brown eyes, slightly tanned skin, and a spray of frecklesover her cute nose. Maybe five foot five, with a blush to her smooth cheeks. I cleared my throat when I realized I was staring at her.
June.
By the headscarf, I knew she must have been the eighth patient in the trial who we had heard would be arriving today—but I hadn’t expectedher. She was…stunning…beautiful. I couldn’t really find the words to do her justice.
I clenched my hand that had shaken hers, a heat stamp imprinted within it. June held a notebook of some kind to her chest like it was a shield. Her eyes flickered everywhere but on me, only for a fresh blush to burst onto her cheeks when they were finally drawn back to my stare.
The color green of her headscarf and dress made her deep-brown eyes shine like glazed dark chocolate. I cleared my throat, realizing I had to speak. “So, June, are you here for the trial?” I wanted to slap myself. Considering she was as follicularly challenged as I was, that was obvious.
What a dumbass question.
“Yeah,” she said, her soft voice hitting my chest with the force of a bullet. She looked down at her feet, then shyly met my eyes, gesturing around us with her hand. “I was trying to explore some while my folks are in with Neenee and got myself lost.”
I grinned. She was breathtaking. I hadn’t expected to come to this trial and meet a walking dream. “This place is huge,” I said. “I arrived two days ago and I’m still figuring things out.”
The smile June gave me in return nearly knocked me to the floor. Pulling myself together, I pointed my thumb behind me. “You want to meet everyone else?”
June took a deep breath, like she was nervous, but nodded. I was outgoing and a bit too loud at times, but it seemed June was the total opposite. I gestured with a flick of my head for her to follow. Like I always did, I began passing the football between my hands. I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t have one with me.
“So,” I said, “where are you from?”
“North Texas, small town,” she said, following me down the long hallways. She flicked her nervous eyes up at me. “You?”
“A rinky-dink town called McIntyre in West Texas. But I love it. It’s my home and I already miss it.” I looked back at June and realized she walked slightly slower than most. I clocked the slight limp in her right leg and made sure not to get too far ahead.
“Sorry,” she said as she caught up. “My leg isn’t as good as before.”
I knew what she meant. I rolled the shoulder of my throwing arm. “It’s my arm for me.”
June nodded in understanding and smiled, and I felt my stomach flip. Well, this was new. I wasn’t used to butterflies and all that shit, but I guessed there was a first time for everything. We turned right, and I heard the others chatting in the main recroom. June didn’t say anything in response, and I guessed it was going to take her a while to come out of her shell.
We reached the door, and I glanced down at her. “You ready to meet the AML gang?”
A small laugh slipped from her mouth. “I am.” The sound of her laugh… Jesus. I was screwed. I opened the door, and the other six members of the trial came into view. Chris, who I had grown closest to in the past couple days, got off one of the couches. An athlete like me—but a baseball player, instead of football—he came straight over.
“Who’s this?” he asked.
I turned to June. “Junebug, this is Chris. Chris, this is June.”
Chris’s eyes met mine and he gave me a subtle eyebrow raise. “Junebug?”
“June,” June said, cheeks flushed clearly from the nickname. “June.”
“Well,June, welcome to the trial.” Chris announced that like we were on some kind of messed-up reality show, and June laughed that soft laugh that was my new favorite sound.
The others in the room laughed too. It was the best thing I’d found about coming here: the laughter. I had worried I’d be walking into the most depressing place on earth, but everyone was excited to have been chosen for the trial. In a way, we’d won the life lottery—a final chance at survival. How could anyone not be happy about that?
“Hi, I’m Emma.” Emma’s arrival broke through my wayward thoughts as she came to meet June. Emma was taller than June by a few inches, and having gotten to know Emma over the past two days, she seemed to be more outgoing. She was real sweet too.
“Hi,” June said, and Emma pointed to me and Chris.
“I see you met the troublesome twosome.” June smiled wide. Emma pointed to June’s headscarf. “Love the color.” Shepointed her own red headscarf. “Girl after my own heart. Wigs itch too much.”
“Exactly my thoughts!” June said, eyes sparkling.
The rest of the group came over and introduced themselves—Silas, Toby, Kate, and Cherry. They had all arrived on the same day and had formed their own group of sorts. I’d meshed most with Chris and Emma; hopefully, June could join us to make a foursome.
