"Paddle. No, paddle! Like this." JJ Maybank said, the boy wiping water off of his forehead. He was sitting on a surfboard, reaching towards a clueless June March who was sitting on her own surfboard. He was surprised by how bad she was at learning how to surf, the boy attempting to keep his frustration to himself. She was making it hard to not be mad though. June huffed,paddling like he instructed and pushing the sticky hair from her own face. She looked around her, seeing John B and Sarah not too far off, the Routledge boy teaching Sarah how to surf better. On the other side of JJ was Pope and Cleo, they were hardly learning anything, Cleo mostly yelling at Pope for not teaching her fast enough and Pope shaking his head in frustration. Kie was the only one having fun, the girl skating by them on most of their tries. JJ, John B, and Pope were getting jealous of the fun she was having, but she was unconcerned with what they were doing, mostly making fun of them when she passed by. "Are you even listening? You're not listening."

"I'm listening damnit. I cant...how could I not, you've been yelling at me for the past hour!" JJ groaned as June started her paddling in the opposite direction of where he was trying to get her to go, the girl ending up on shore instead of on a wave. He cast a look to John B who was a few yards away, the brunette watching June swim away. He looked back at JJ and the blonde shrugged, John B gesturing with his head towards the shore. JJ let out a sigh, swimming back to shore while she sat in the sand.

He approached her slowly, watching as she drank from her water bottle. The sun was doing amazing things for her skin, the boy admiring how sun-kissed and glowy she looked.

"Water?" She asked, holding the bottle up for him. She squinted from the sun as she looked up at him, the boy looking down at her instead of at the bottle. JJ had his own bottle, but he was thirsty, the boy nodding and taking it from her hand. He sipped it, his head turning to look out at the water. Junes eyes lifted from her feet in the sand to the distracted JJ, the girl biting the inside of her cheek as she looked at him. He was wearing a simple pair of black swimming trunks, his shirt laying beside her on the blanket the group had set out. Her eyes trailed down from his lips where he was drinking the water to his neck, his chest and his stomach, her own stomach clenching for a moment as she trailed further to his pants and legs. She caught herself, letting out a sigh and looking down at her knees again. She was being too obvious. He was being too hot.

"Here." He said, the girl taking the bottle back and sipping at it before closing it up. She put it back in the cooler, closing the lid and then looking back up at him. "You ready to get back out there?"

"I suck at it."

"Everyone has to learn." JJ said, and although it seemed like it could be backhanded, she actually thought it was rather encouraging. He reached his hand out for her and she took it, the boy pulling her up from the sand. He started to walk back towards the water but she didn't move, his head turning to look back at her. He felt his heart drop when she reached for the hem of her t-shirt , the girl pulling at it and lifting it over her head. His breath caught when he saw her bathing suit beneath, a red bathing suit top that really made his mind wander. She threw the shirt into the sand and then looked up at him, pulling the hair over her shoulder and giving him a ready smile. She was still wearing a pair of black shorts, the girl walking past him and back towards her board in the sand. JJ let out a breath and shook his head, wondering if he could make it through this day.

"Alright that's enough motivation." He said to himself, the boy finally following after her. They didn't speak again until they were back out and paddling, the two of them jumping the waves and looking at each other. "What do you actually do?"

"What do you mean?" Junes face was scrunched up in confusion at the largely vague question, her head turned to look at him. They were floating on their boards,  June pushing her hair off of her shoulder as she waited for him to answer.

"Did you do anything? You know before some super hot blonde guy who's like the best surfer ever ruined your life?" She didn't look particularly amused by his joke, her face falling into one of further confusion as she tried to comprehend what he was even talking about. He wasn't wrong about the ruining her life part, June stopping herself from dwelling too much on the comment. He had no idea.

"Still not following." She said, her lips tightening into a straight line as he lifted his hand and then dropped it.

"Like a sport? A club? Anything? I know nothing about your interests and like...things you did before me."  It was a lightbulb going off over her head and she said a quick 'oh', her face clearing of confusion and her eyes squinting from the sun. She nodded, pulling at the bottom of her bathing suit top so that it wouldn't ride up.

"I did...actually how about you guess what sport I played." She suggested, JJ spitting his answer out almost immediately.

"Tennis."

"Fuck you. No I didn't play tennis." June said in absolute disgust and disagreement. She wished she could reach over and push him off if his board right now but she couldn't reach him. However she did show him just how offensive that statement seemed to be, the girl knowing the only reason he said that was because she was a kook.

"Then what was it?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I said track would you."  JJ immediately shook his head, unable to believe that she did track and field. She was right when she said he wouldn't believe her, the girl nodding at his look of surprise.

"No. Because you're not a fast runner." He said, June looking offended again and defending herself.

"Yes I am." She said,  wondering what could possibly lead him to think that.

"Okay sure."

"I'll have you know that I broke a school record. I went to states sophomore year." She informed him, JJ tilting his head to the side as he questioned the authenticity of the claim. He couldn't believe he had never heard of this before, states was a big accomplishment.

"Oh yeah? And how did states go?" He asked, genuinely curious as to how it had gone. Sometimes she would drop random fact about herself and he wouldn't have a clue...this was one of those times. Never in a million years would he have thought she had done a sport, and never would he have assumed she was actually good at it.

"Well...Zach didn't show up and I choked, didn't even place in the top 10. All I could think about is why he wouldn't show up." June seemed to swallow hard at the memory, her eyebrows furrowing as she remembered how terrible that day had been. She hadn't thought about it in a long time, and it was strange to think of a life before she was in the position she was.

"What a dick." JJ said, pulling her from her complicated thoughts of the past. She shook her head, her eyes on the board in front of her as opposed to looking at him.

"Actually not really...his mom got into an accident. His dad was at work and he had to take her to the hospital. I didn't even tell him how bad I did, I felt bad about being mad at him." Junes face had fully fallen and JJ was squinting from the sun, seeing how her mind had drifted somewhere else. He felt the air shift and he pondered what to say next, his mind still on Zach Roberts.

"How is Zach? I haven't seen him since your house I guess." He hadn't realized it had been that long since he'd seen Zach, or at least that was the last time he could think of. He found it kind of hard to believe he hadn't run into him at some point. He didn't have any problem with Zach, he was a surprisingly good guy who was just misunderstood and toxic. They actually had a bit in common.

"He's perfectly fine. He walks around and it's almost like it never even happened. It's insane actually." Junes hair was sticking to her shoulders, JJs eyes tracing over her skin and down her side as he followed a  droplet of water down.

"And you guys...you still talk and everything?" JJ wondered, considering he hadn't heard anything about her time away or what caused it, the boy hoping that soon enough she would  open up about it.

"Well before we ever dated he was actually one of my longest friends. Our parents are friends, so he uh...was always around. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be to be friends with him again. He's still sweet.  He's changed a lot."

"Well that's...that's great." JJ said, nodding slightly and looking back at the waves that were behind them. He had never known that much about the nature of Zach and Junes relationship, the boy unaware that their parents had been friends. He could learn something new about her every hour if he just asked.

"You're not mad?" June asked, pulling JJ from his thoughts do the ocean. His eyebrows immediately furrowed and he looked at her in confusion, not quite sure what she meant by that.

"Why would I be mad?"

"Well usually when I talk about an ex you get mad...I just wasn't sure—" He was surprised by how genuinely serious she was being, a look of concern and slight surprise on her face as she wondered why he was not mad for talking so highly about Zach. It made a pit drop in his stomach, realizing how she had expected him to react even though he was the one to ask. It made him feel particularly shitty.

"No I'm not mad. I'm literally one of your exes...how can I get mad at my own group?" He said in a joking tone, Junes face scrunching up as she let out a humorless chuckle.

"Right...but you genuinely don't look upset." She said, JJ sighing as he had to reiterate the fact that he was not in fact mad. The more confused she got the more upset with himself he got, knowing she only thought he would be upset because he usually was in the past.

"That's because I'm not upset."

"Oh okay." She said, nodding slightly and then looking behind her at the waves. She wondered if they'd actually do any surfing, the waves rolling by and the conversation continuing to go on.

"So tell me...out of all your exes, which one was the worst?" He asked with full confidence that it wouldn't be himself, his lips turned up into a buoyant smile. He knew Zach or Rafe would get the title, his eyes tracing over her face as water splashed around them.

"I don't—I don't know. I mean Rafe was sweet, and he was caring, and he was so like scarily in love with me that at times it was too much. And Zach was also kind and considerate, and he was patient...he just got too obsessed with the Kooks and Pogues war. And I just never...the thing with Zach was my fault. I was the reason that relationship didn't work. Because of what I did. And you..."

"I was the best...I know."

"Aren't you supposed to be teaching me something?" June asked, gesturing towards the water. She got clammy at the thought of answering his question, June knowing the second he asked it who the worst was. While most would think it was Rafe, she took the emotional damage into account, along with if her life had significantly improved or declined during the time they were together. She assumed she was talking about during the relationship and not the aftermath, and if that was the case...JJ would be the most obvious choice. The emotional trauma their relationship had put her through made things sorely complicated, but she didn't know if he'd take that very well.  She was also still influenced by the freshness and the sore spot that she was still healing through, along with the fact that he just would not go away.

It had taken a serious amount of convincing to get her to even come out here, part of it being her impenetrable fear of the water. She had been on the verge of tears when she was flipped into the water by a wave almost an hour ago, but the hand of a blonde had pulled her from the sea. He did not understand her reluctance, and she didn't want to let him down.

"Well I'm trying. But first I was trying to loosen you up. You're so tense...relax." He said, a smile growing on his lips as her shoulders instantly dropped. He held onto the thought of his question for now, figuring she was still thinking about it. He nodded slowly and then tore his eyes away from her to look behind them, seeing how much further they would have to go to get to a wave that would actually be suitable for surfing.  He looked back at her with that same grin and then gestured with his head to the slightly further area. "Let's go."

"Alright."

"Alright for the next wave I want you to pop up on your knees and try and ride it." JJ said as they approached a deeper area with some better waves. She paddled and then laid on her stomach, her head nodding as she prepared for a position to pop up.

"You want me on my knees?" JJ was half listening to what she was saying, the wording of her question catching the wrong part of his brain. His cheeks instantly lit up and his head snapped to her, her stomach pressed to the board as she waited for his answer. He wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly.

"What?"

"You want me on my knees?" All of the dirtiest thoughts crept into his head and he blinked in confusion, situational amnesia striking him as he seemed to forget what he had asked if her. Junes eyebrows were furrowed, the girl wanting to know that she was correct and wondering what he was so flustered about.

"I'm not—"

"You just said you want me to pop up on my knees for the wave...I was confirming." He grasped reality, swallowing hard and then nodding at her, trying to recover from the dirty thoughts in his head.

"Oh...right, right." JJ said, feeling lost in his own conversation.

June smiled at the boy and then looked back with a serious look of determination, the wave building behind her. It rolled under the board and she did as he asked, popping up onto her knees and putting her arms out. JJ cheered as she yelled in excitement, this being the closest she had been all day to actually surfing. There was cheering from the shore and they realized everyone was back at the blanket, June wiping out into the water. She resurfaced only a few moments later a wide smile on her lips as JJ surfed a wave  himself. They continued to cheer as she swam back to shore, leaving her board in the sand and hurrying towards the others.

"Next time try your feet!"

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Sorry updates are coming so slow I'm struggling with inspo and just haven't been feeling the best.

Let me know how you're feeling about the story!!