all our stars, bench trio

chapter twenty-three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

august 16, 2021

Wilbur makes me hot chocolate in the morning. He knows when I've been having bad dreams.

He sits down in a living chair besides my bed and sips a mug of tea.

"June, I think we need to re-evaluate your need for counseling."

"Will, it's just dreams."

"They're frequently recurring nightmares about when your childhood best friend told you he has cancer."

"..."

"June. I know you didn't have a good experience with your last therapist, and I know that's really horrible and isn't encouraging at all, but it's really important. I go to counseling too, and I know they're very different situations, but it really helps. Especially for you, I think it's really important, seeing as your current mental health situation isn't going to make it easier to cope."

"Wilbur, I just woke up. Let's not get into this. I'm fully aware I have autism, panic disorder, and anxiety. I was there when I was diagnosed."

"I know, I know. Just think about it, please."

"Yeah, okay."

"Toby and Giulia want to go to the beach today. If you want to come, we're leaving soon. Red, Laney, Liv, Tom, and Ranboo will be going as well." A corner of his lip quirks up.

"Yeah, sure, just let me get dressed." Wilbur gives me a thumbs-up and shuts the door behind him. I shuffle through my drawers and pull out my singular bathing suit. I put on a jacket over it and head out to the car.

Giulia's in the driveway in the front seat of a rental car. She's got expensive sunglasses on top of her head and a cardigan draped over her shoulders. She rolls down the window and yells at me to get in. I roll my eyes, laughing to myself, and scoot into the middle seat. Liv is sitting next to me. She brushes her new crochet braids off her neck.

"Hey June! How are you?"

"Uh, I'm good! I honestly just woke up, so forgive me if I don't..." I make a general gesture towards my face, "...presentable."

"Ugh, I wish I just woke up. I could barely sleep. Also, you're okay, June, you look perfectly fine."

"Thanks. I like your hair."

"Oh, thanks! I usually just keep my hair natural, but saltwater's bad for natural hair, so I thought I'd put it up just in case."

"How long'd it take?"

Liv thinks on this. "Probably... two hours? It would've taken longer if I did it myself."

"Two hours? I can just, like, flip my hair up into a bun! How can you sit still for that long?"

She laughs. "You've got white-people hair, babe, of course it doesn't take as long for you to do your hair. My roommate, Maia, has box braids, and hers take closer to seven."

"Hours?"

"Yup."

Liv leaves me to revel in shock while Will gets in and closes the door. He shoots her a grin over my head. My brain can't decide whether to focus on how disgustingly sweet that was or that a person has to sit in a chair for seven hours to get their hair done.

"We all ready to go?" Giulia leans on the center console and looks back to the three of us.

I roll through my mental checklist. "I think so. Everyone else is taking an extra car, right?"