"I'm sorry...you want me to what?!" Adam March swung his golf club, hitting the ball out of sight and quickly turning to his sister. He thought what she was suggesting was stupid, and he thought she was stupid for even thinking it, his head shaking as he blinked in disbelief.

"I want you to get dad to sign-" Adam shook his head at her as she began to repeat what she had asked of him, his hand lifting to stop her from speaking.

"No I heard you...I just can't believe you'd first of all be so naive and second of all marry that—that—" June cut him off this time, the girl quick to stop whatever horrible words he was about to call JJ.

"Watch what you say about JJ, Adam...I'm serious." She had a tone that screamed a warning, Adam looking down at her with some expression of confusion in his eyes. He stared at her and once again wondered where she had thought this idea up, and then he considered that she hadn't thought it up at all. This has the stink of her troublesome boyfriend all over it, and it was no longer her asking him to do it...it was JJ Maybank. The only thing standing between them getting married was Adam, and he was going to keep it that way. He let out a sigh, looking towards where the ball had gone and then starting to walk away towards it.

"Do you know what the definition of insanity is, June?" He spoke as he walked away from her, the girl already wanting to scream at the fact that he was clearly going to resist.

"Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." She crossed her arms as she followed after him, the boy looking back at her and letting out a humorless laugh as he sat down on the golf cart. She hurried to sit down beside him, the boy refusing to look at her as he spoke.

"I used to think that quote was bullshit...I mean the real definition of insanity is lack of the ability to understand that prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to do shit that's important. But you...you proved to me that that quote is true." She huffed at the conclusion of his point, her head turning towards the grass they were riding by, her mind stumbling over the ability to find something to say back.

"How'd I do that?" She asked in the context of what it was about her that made him believe it, the girl seeming to have fell directly into his trap as he smiled ahead of him and quickly launched into his explanation.

"Because you keep running with those people, keep giving them chances, and every time you do you end up hurt—or—or kidnapped or in a different country or—I mean broken beyond repair. And you run back every single time without fail." Hearing her brother say this was a blow, but in her mind she genuinely didn't seem to see it the way that he did.

"They're my friends. Of course I go back. I love them and they care—"

"Do they?! Do they care June?!" His foot hit the break and they stopped, the boy seeming beyond his limit of patience with her. She didn't say anything, the girl looking back at him with wide eyes as he decided to continue. "If they loved you...and I mean really loved you—do you think that you'd be in so much fucking trouble all the time?! Huh? Do you think you'd be so fucked up now that you have to go to therapy twice a week?! You weren't like this before them! You weren't like this before JJ and I don't know how you don't see that? You're blind! You must be! Because do you think that if they loved you, that would have to jump through so many hoops for them to  want to be around you?"

June looked back at him stunned, his words feeling like bullets on her skin because they rang true to her at some points. Her face dropped and she still retaliated, even though her defense was weak.

"It's all a big mess, and I'm trying to—"

"No! You are the mess. Don't you get it?  Your shit with those assholes effects everyone else around you—you know that right?!" Adam was genuinely yelling at her now, June shrinking back into the side of the cart as she listened to him spill his truth. She wanted to disappear but knew she couldn't, and that she probably needed to hear this. "I'm going to tell you this once...because I think you need to hear it okay? Because I don't think you ever even considered it. I flunked out of college for you. I spent my savings on you. I lost my internship for you. Zach lost months of his life because of the effects of your mess. Our parents suffered for months because of you. I lost—" His voice broke and it was strange to hear something like that from Adam who was always so strong. "—I lost my best friend because I told you to leave him alone 2 years ago and you didn't. And worst of all I lost my little sister...and I won't do it again. I will not lose you to those people again."

There was silence after he finished, Junes chest constricting with shame and guilt and hurt and anger all at the same time. Hearing him blame everything on her felt wrong but it was true,  none of it would've happened if she would have just left the Pogues alone. Rafe had told her that he was going to try and work things out with her, that he was going to apologize until he found out about her and JJ. Maybe if she never knew what was happening, if she had been in the dark instead of in the midst of it...they could've all come out unscathed.

She stared back at her brother with eyes filled with tears and then she did what she knew she had to do, leaning forwards and hugging him. He was surprised by the love, and he wanted to push her away but he didn't, instead just letting her hug him. She didn't seem to notice he didn't hug her back, her wet eyes drying in his shirt as she shook her head.

"I'm sorry..." She said, truly meaning it. But her stubbornness would never let up. "...but you can't stop me from being with him. And you can't stop me from being with them."

June pulled back, watching as some kind of fear filled her brothers eyes. She let him go, stepping out of the cart and shaking her head at him before she started towards the club. Adam just watched after her, realizing he  was watching her walk away, realizing she would never, ever listen.

:::

"We can't do it JJ...not legally. Not for another year." June was laid across her boyfriends chest, her fingers fiddling with the cloth of his shirt as they lounged in a hammock. He sucked in a breath but let it out silently, after he had left her house that morning he had figured things wouldn't work out.

"That's okay...I figured it wouldn't work out that way." The blonde looked down at her, his eyes glistening with disappointment. His hand was rubbing up and down her back,  and June was soothed by it, feeling better that he was touching her. She couldn't stop thinking about what Adam had told her, it weighed heavily on her chest and the words repeated in her head over and over again every few seconds.  "Hey...look at me. Look at me."

She did as he said, her head tilting up and her eyes holding disappointment and sadness as she realized she couldn't make his plan work out. She would give the world for him, but she knew her father would never agree to marrying her off to JJ.

"You're still my Carly, and we're still together. It was a crazy idea anyways.  I just wanted to tell the world I was yours. And I will...but it's something I can wait for." He was eloquent with his words and this made her furrow her eyebrows, the girl wondering if her had practiced those romantic words. She didn't bother to ask him, her lips turning up into a smile and the shame in her eyes melting into adoration as he looked down at her. He lifted his hand from her back and pushed it over the top of her head, his own lips turning up at the corners as he looked down at her. "It's okay."

She buried her head back into his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat as they lounged. She could find comfort in being by his side forever, and the promise that she would, and she thought of the fact that there was nothing her brother could do to stop her from loving JJ. He could hate him all he wanted, but she could never, and even when she had hated him she hadn't...she had just mistaken her love for resentment. They laid in the hammock for a while before she thought of something, a compromise to his wish to be married.

"What if we had the ceremony...just without the certificate. And we make it just for us. Just the Pogues."   JJ was surprised they hadn't thought of it, his eyebrows furrowing as she drew shapes on his chest. He considered the words, seeing her in a white dress being the leading factor in his answer.

"Like a...like a fake wedding?"

"Real to us." She said in response to his question,  her head tilting up to look at him again. He liked the sound of that, the sound of her suggestion. Real to them. Real to the Pogues. Real to everyone that mattered. He smiled down at her, leaning down and giving her a quick kiss. She savored it but he pulled away too soon for her liking,  his answer rests on his lips.

"Real to us...I like it."