"Sorry I ruined the night." June sat on the edge of the dock, her toes touching the water as she looked out at the darkness. Her eyes were puffy and her face was flushed, she had clearly been crying. The person she was speaking to was JJ Maybank, his fingers gently touching hers between them, his eyes on nothing but her. She laughed a sad laugh, full of embarrassment and discomfort.

"The nights not ruined...I just think we're not meant to have a good time at that party." JJ said, drawing a scoff from her lips. He had a lopsided, gentle smile on his lips, and he wanted to make her feel better. Seeing her in the state she had been in scared him, truly terrified him. The wind blew past her and she shivered, JJs lips parting as she stared out at the water. He immediately began to pull his coat off, June not looking up at him until he pushed the fabric over her shoulders. He kept his arm over her shoulder, looking at her with such a compassionate look that she was appalled by the fact he had been able to muster it. "Can't have you freezing to death now can we?"

"I'd rather not." June gave into his embrace, leaning towards him and wrapping her arms around his waist. She leaned her head against him, her lips still turned down into a frown as she felt a calm settle through her body. He rubbed his hand up and down her back, comforting her as they stared out at the water. He had so much he wanted to say, to ask about...she had never really been open with him about her struggles, but he knew that she had them.

"What are you thinking about?" JJ asked, his mind spinning its own web of thoughts as he pondered what could be going on in hers. He hoped she was thinking of good things, he hoped she was torturing herself inside of her head. Just the thought of it sent a feeling of guilt through him. He hoped she wasn't hurting too bad.

June turned her head to look up at him, considering his question. The long answer was that she was contemplating the worst moments of her life, trying not to relive them in a hallucinogenic state and also trying to move over the fact that she had hardly ever considered the fact that her suffering effected other people like her brother. The short answer is what she went with.

"You...always you." She looked back out at the water and shifted closer to him, JJ feeling a rustle of butterflies in his stomach at her words. He knew she wasn't telling him everything, but pushing it wouldn't make her either. It reminded him of when he hadn't told her about his dad and she didn't push it. It all comes out in due time anyways. "So what now?"

"What do you mean?" The boy asked, running a hand over his light hair and furrowing his eyebrows. She sat up, looking over at him with a smile and then bumping his shoulder.

"We already left the party...what do we do now?" He opened his lips in revelation as he understood her now, June watching as he looked down the dock and then back to her. He bumped shoulder with her now, the girl giggling a little bit as he dropped his hand onto her between them.

"Well I don't know... what do you want to do? I mean—you're still pretty wasted and I won't lie...I had a couple of champagnes. The little glasses they had them in—the flutes or whatever...they were too fancy to resist I wanted to take a few but Pope told me I couldn't do that." June was laughing at his words, his rambling making her feel a bit better about the night. She thought of what they could do now that they had left the party but she didn't want to leave him, her mind coming up empty. "You wanna fuck?"

"JJ!" She said, laughingly pushing his shoulder. He shrugged, a smile on his lips as he proposed his option of what they could do. He shrugged and laughed it off although he was serious when he suggested it, the girl rolling her eyes at his forwardness. She considered for a moment and then shook her head again, deciding now wasn't the time for her. "Wanna go home? Everyone would still be at the party...we could do whatever."

"You got ice cream at your place?" JJ asked, his eyebrows raising as he looked over at her.

"Why? You gonna make me a milkshake?" She asked, suggesting it to him in the form of a question. He nodded, pushing himself up from the side of the dock and then reaching his hand out for her. She took it, the boy grabbing their shoes and holding them under his arm while he tucked her under his other one.

"Am I gonna make you a milkshake...of course I'm gonna make you a milkshake—what kind of boyfriend do you think I am?"

:::

"So then I straight up asked him I was like 'Mike...I found the El Dorado— you can't trust that I can afford this boat?' and he looked me dead in the eyes and said he doesn't give a shit if I found Atlantis, he doesn't think I'd honestly buy the boat without fucking him over." JJ was sat on a lawn chair, his hands gesturing wildly as he told June about his struggles with finding the perfect charter boat to buy. She laughed at his theatrics, pressing her lips to the straw and trying her milkshake that JJ had just brought out. The boy continued talking, June letting out a hum of delight and then directing her attention back towards him. "So I decided to take my business elsewhere, along with my money because I'm tired of doing Mike favors you know? He's just—thank you baby—he doesn't know what he's missing out on. I would've given him a sweet ass deal and a chance to have a ride on the new Pogue but no...no...he doesn't deserve it."

June nodded along to his words as she handed him his milkshake, his thanks coming to her for her giving him the drink. He finished his sentence and then drank some of his milkshake, the whipped cream smearing at the side of his mouth as he pulled his hand back down to continue speaking.

"So I think—well old man Robertson said he's got a brother down in Myrtle who'll sell me the nicest boat he's ever set eyes on so I think I'm gonna look into that. What do you think?" June reached towards him, wiping the whipped  cream from the corner of his mouth. He ran a hand over her hair with gratitude and then sat  back down beside her, his lips tightening into a straight line as he waited on her answer.

"I'd check with the brother. Mikes an asshole, we know this."  June agreed, her head dipping towards him. She turned his face towards her with her fingertips and pressed her lips to his jaw. He held his breath as she  drew his attention away from everything he was talking about, his mind jumbling in the heap of nerves that flooded his body with her kiss. She trailed her lips to his mouth and gave him a tender kiss before she leaned back and took a sip of her milkshake, a smile on her lips as JJ gazed at her longingly. She returned the desperation in her eyes but didn't act on it, feeling another level of appreciation for him after everything he had done tonight.  "You wanna have a sleepover?"

"Your parents aren't gonna mind?"JJ asked, eager to say yes to her proposal. She shrugged, pushing hair back from his forehead and resting her hand on his shoulder.

"They won't even know." She said, her head tilting as she gave him a look that he knew he couldn't argue with. There was no doubt he was 100% on board with staying there, and he would even face the consequences if it came down to it.

"Alright." He pushed back, sitting with his back against the  chair and putting his drink on the table beside him. He crossed his arms over his chest, June still sitting at the edge of her chair  as he turned to look away from her. He observed the yard, his eyes falling on the shrubbery. "I see your parents aren't doing overkill with the shrubs anymore. Thank god because they were such a bitch to trim I literally thought my arms were going to fall off that first shrub day."

"Apparently after you my dad said fuck it and started doing the yard himself, not a bad decision because it looks nice out here." Her eyes trailed over the glistening fairy lights and the finished deck, then settled back on JJ who had been looking over the yard as well.  Her eyes narrowed and she stood up, holding her hand out to him and waiting for him to speak. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" He took her hand regardless of not having his answer yet, the boy standing and grabbing his drink with his other hand.

"Inside." She slid her arm around his waist and he let her lead him inside, the two of them ending up in her bedroom. June hurried towards her closet, pulling pajamas out and laying them on the bed. She ventured back into the closet and came out with a change of clothes for JJ too, figuring he wouldn't be a let it sleep comfortably in his tux. She handed him the clothes, taking a step back and looking over him with a small smile. He watched her in confusion and then continued staring with the same gaze as she reached for her hair, pulling bobby pins  out of her hair. When it was fully loose she began to pull her dress off, JJs face burning up as he  watched her undress. She stood in her underwear, pulling on the button up pajama shirt and gesturing with her head towards JJ. He jumped into action, beginning to undo the part of the tux and pulling his clothes off. He changed as she pulled her shorts up,  walking over towards the dresser and sipping on the milkshake as she watched him get dressed.

"When me and Sarah and John B rode out into that storm, the boat flipped...and when the boat flipped I guess my life jacket got caught on something and that's how I got pulled under."

"Oh." JJ didn't know what to say as he unbuttoned his dress shirt, the boy turning around so he was facing her.

"I'm bringing this up because..." She sucked in a deep breath. "...because sometimes I get in a bad spot and I get reminded of what happened. And it gets cold and I feel like I can't breathe and it's like I'm drowning all over again." June opened up, hoping he could try and understand why she acted the way she did. His eyebrows furrowed and he thought through what she was saying to him, the boy trying to find the right thing to say as she  told him about one of her issues. "Sometimes it's really bad and sometimes it's like it never even happened but when I—when Tyler took me....I had a really bad moment. And I just feel like things haven't been right in awhile and I feel terrible when I don't explain these things to you. But I just wanted you to know that when it gets bad...when it gets bad that's what it feels like—it feels like I'm drowning."

JJ crossed the room and pulled her into his arms, the warmth of his bare chest pulling her into his trustworthiness. She  buried her face in his neck and her held her as close as humanly possible, pressing his lips to the side of her head  as he knew whatever words he came up with wouldn't be the right thing to say.

"Is it bad that I forgive him?" She whispered into his neck, her words vibrating through his pulse from her lips. He pulled back slightly, looking down at her with furrowed eyebrows and wondering who was talking about.

"Who?"

"Tyler." She said admittedly, pulling herself from his arms and sitting on the edge of the bed. He let out a huff of air, pulling a pair of basketball shorts on and trying to decide if he wanted to wear a shirt of not. She awaited his answer but he didn't give on for a few moments, instead jumping onto her bed and getting comfortable. He held his arms out for her and she  followed suit, sliding into a comfortable position and then looking up at him expectantly.

"It's not bad, and considering it's you...it's not surprising either."

"Whys that?" She asked, wondering what he was trying to say by that. He ran his hand up and down her arm, June breathing him in and basking in the safety of his arms. He let out a small chuckle as he held her, pulling back so he could look down at her as he spoke.

"You're the most forgiving person I know." He meant it, June pondering on whether or not that was a good or bad thing. He was right, she was very forgiving. She had forgiven Rafe, the group, Tyler, Kie, her parents,  JJ, Zach, and she would presumably forgive her brother when given the chance.  She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing at all. So she didn't say anything else, pushing closer into his body and closing her eyes. She listened to him breathe and eventually she prompted him to speak, the soft sound of his voice making her drift into sleep.