for June

2. Slippery Tongue

June couldn't take her eyes off Chad as he floated through the hall, greeting other authors, editors, publishers, and agents alike. It was not every day an author received the Literary Award, and Chad had done that with his latest book, For Fay! A glimpse of modern Australian life that was far too familiar to her. After all, she'd lived those pages, those moments of pure exhilaration and love. Thank God no one knew it was based on real life, and no one knew she was Fay, the unlucky-in-life but lucky-in-love gal from his book. No one except Terry knew, of course. When June caught sight of Chad's agent, she was beaming at Chad as he walked up to receive the award. "That's for you!" She was saying, but of course, Chad couldn't hear her.

June watched, unable to hide the smile from her face or the tears creeping from the corner of her eyes.

A moment later, Terry turned around the table, chatting up important people in their circle. June may as well have been one of the few civilians in the gathering. Everyone else seemed to be connected to the industry.

"Are you a writer?" a woman in her late fifties seated next to her asked with immense curiosity. "My husband's a writer. I'm more into civil law."

"I'm a student at the UNSW actually, second year."June shook her head. "I recently sat GAMSAT to see if I can get into medical school. I'm waiting for the results."

"Ah, a doctor in the making!"

"Hopefully!" June lifted the flute of champagne and took a sip, silently praying that she would get a placement. She had always wanted to be a doctor, ever since a friend had been diagnosed with melanoma when they were teens. Her friend was fine. In fact, Jei was currently completing law and so close to being engaged to his long-time girlfriend, Melanie. June had always found that strange. Melanie sounded so close to melanoma. He was free of one thanks to early detection. In fact, it was June who'd pointed at Jei's back on a beach one summer when they were about ten and asked, "What's that?" at an odd-looking mole.

That had put a stop to their "We wanna go to the beach!" demand for the rest of that summer, or any other summer. Too much Aussie sun was apparently a deadly thing! That was news to a freshly arrived immigrant in June, a half-Aussie-half-Japanese individual who'd lived most of her life being a nomad. She'd tagged along wherever her parents, an adventurous couple, went—wherever they wanted to lecture next. To say she'd been an adamant slip-slop-slapper since then was putting it mildly.

"And what's your reason for medicine, dear?" the elderly lady asked. "I find it fascinating, the things that inspire people to become doctors. It's usually a painful story somewhere."

"Just a field I've always been interested in, actually. I've always loved Science, and biology, to my surprise." June lied, rather effectively. She had no interest in divulging her past to a woman she would not meet again. Probably.

Terry's hand floated on top of June's shoulder. "Adele, I see you've met June, Chad's girlfriend."

"Oh, dear, you... I'm sorry, congratulations are in order. The last time we saw you, was a few years ago, wasn't it?"

"Oh, no, Adele, this one's different." Terry laughed.

"Chad's had as many girlfriends as he's had books published. It's hard to keep track!" Adele laughed, waving it off.

"She does not know Chad's a recluse, and I'm here to save you. It's the least I can do!" Terry laughed in return, whispering in June's ear.

Before June could say, "Oh no, I'm fine. We're actually talking about me." Terry pulled her up by her elbow. "So sorry, Adele, would you excuse us for a while? I just have to steal her away for a quick moment, so I can ask Chad a very important question with her present."