June March laid across the folding chair in her back yard, the sun toasting her skin as she took an outside nap. It was the sound of the sliding door closing that stirred her, the girl yawning as her eyes remained closed. She suspected it was Adam, the boy coming back from his job or his mysterious girlfriends house. She waited for him to say something, the girl hearing the chair beside her creak as if someone was sitting in it.

"Hey." The voice that called to her shocked her, her eyes opening quickly as she looked at Pope Heyward. He gave her a small smile and she sat up confused, her eyebrows stitching together as she looked past him at the sliding door. She could see movement inside, Adam walking through the living room. "Your brother let me in."

"What's up?" She asked, pulling her knees up as she sat up straighter in her chair. She had been tanning originally, her bathing suit not leaving much to the imagination as she had multitasked, tanning and sleeping. Pope leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, stretching his legs out and laying his head back, letting the sun soak into his skin. He was wearing a button up and swimming trunks, the shirt unbuttoned and making June look over him. June was glad he had made himself comfortable, but she was still wondering what he was doing there. He put his arms behind his head and let out a sigh, her head tilting slightly as she saw how utterly relaxed he was. She didn't see him like this often.  "Just come to relax?"

"Honestly I was in the neighborhood, thought that I'd stop by...but yeah—getting away from the noise and finding a little bit of temporary peace did cross my mind."  June nodded to herself, her hair over her right shoulder as she prepped her next question.

"You were in the neighborhood?" She asked, running a hand through her hair as she tried to wake up the rest of the way. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, but she was glad she had taken precautions in preventing sunburn the best she could, the shade from the tree also seeming to help her out.

"Delivering groceries for my dad. I'm taking my break now." He said, a smile on his lips as he opened one eye to look at her. She leaned forwards and he closed his eyes again, the two of them settling into a silence. She slowly returned to the position she had been in, leaning back and relaxing in the same position he was. There was a different warmth that came with peaceful company. However it didn't last long, June knowing quiet and relaxation was not something any of the Pogues were good at. "You wanna help me do something?"

"Sure...what?"

"Well I've got some more groceries...maybe we can deliver them and then just hang out. One on one time. Pope and June time." He suggested it and she was not opposed to the thought of hanging out with him at all. It had been awhile since they had had one on one Pope and June time, and she was quick to shrug and nod.

"I'll do it if you give me a chance to change." Pope pushed himself up, leaning on his hands to hold him up. He dropped his eyes over her and then he cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact almost as if he just now realized what she was and wasn't wearing. He pushed a hand across his lips and nodded, fully sitting up as June began to move.

"Yeah of—of course." His vision was blocked by her body only a moment later when she stood beside him, holding her hand out for him to take. He looked at her hand and then back at her, the girl pulling him up from the chair and then starting towards the house. She pushed the door open and slid inside, Pope following behind her as she walked through the living room.

"Where are you two going?" Adams voice sounded from the dining room table, the boy tucking into a sandwich he seemed to have just made. June stopped and backtracked, bumping into Pope as she gave her brother a tight smile. He sipped at a glass of sweet tea and waited for her answer, his head tilting slightly as a  playful smile came to his lips. "Hot date?"

"No I—no. She's—I'm...well I'm—"

"He's got a girlfriend and I'm never dating again."Adam chuckled at Junes response but Pope turned his head with a wide eyed look, feeling like he had just heard a secret.

"Promise?" Adam asked, taking a bite of his sandwich. June shook her head and waved him off, the older boy knowing that would be too good to be true. He could live peacefully if his sister never dated again, knowing none of her boyfriends would kidnap, endanger, or ruin her life again. Unfortunately he was more the aware of the fact that that would never happen, because if she was hanging out with Pope again...that meant she was definitely spending time with JJ. If he had to pick of the Pogues for her, his choice would be Pope, but he figured he would keep that to himself. At least she wasn't hanging out with Rafe.

June and Pope made their way towards the stairs and she hurried up them, Pope following closely behind. He'd rather sit in her room with her than sit in the general vicinity of Adam. Pope would never admit it, but he was slightly intimidated by the kook, even though he had personally never gotten into it with him. Still after the things he had heard from JJ and June...he knew he was impulsive, he sometimes even  bordered on crazy. And he had went to states for wrestling a couple years ago. He remembered that.

June pushed her door open and Pope was surprised by it, thinking it was strange he had never been in her bedroom before. She hurried towards her closet and gestured towards the bed, insinuating that he could sit there. She disappeared into the closet and then reappeared moments later, wearing a sundress and sandals. Her hair was quick pushed back and she gave him a smile, walking to her vanity to grab some lotion.

"Have you ever even been in my room before?" June asked, looking at herself in the mirror as she rubbed lotion in her skin. Pope looked around the room, the lavender of the walls and the cluttered innards of a teenage girls room making him aware that this place seemed to fit her perfectly. There was a small bookshelf in the corner, topped with a few potted plants, sun leaking through the window and the matching lavender comforter. He thought it suited her.

"No...what'd you mean down there by you're never dating again?" June realized he had caught into it, and the conversation she had had days ago with John B flashed before her eyes. She closed the lotion and turned around, leaning against the vanity and giving him a teasing look.

"Why? You interested?" Popes face dropped and he looked unimpressed and shocked at the same time, June chuckling and shaking her head as she turned back around and grabbed some lip gloss. Her smile soon dropped when she remembered what he had asked, the girl really getting tired of this same old conversation. "If today is going to be about JJ then I'll just stay home. Do you and John B have some sort of unspoken agreement on this shit?"

"Yes and no. But I won't talk about it. I was just wondering. This isn't what I came over here for." Junes eyes dropped across the mirror and she could see the Polaroid of her and Rafe, hidden behind a bag on the desktop. She felt a pang in her chest at the sight of it, and that was exactly why she never wanted to date again. She was way too forgiving when it came to unforgivable mistakes.

"Good." She finished up at the mirror and turned around, giving the boy a look that told her she was ready. He nodded and smiled, wiping his hands across his shorts before standing from the edge of her bed. He took one more look around this window into who she was and then started towards the door, the two of them heading out for the day.

:::

"That wasn't even a hat it was more like a whole bear on her head!" Pope laughed out, June holding her stomach from laughing so hard. She was doubled over, one arm wrapped across her body and the other holding onto his arm, the Heyward boy providing stability to the girl that was on the verge of collapsing due to how hard she was laughing. "It's 90 degrees outside and Ms. Alexander has a raccoon on her head. I could see the sweat dripping down her forehead."

"Stop! Stop please!" June said, her hand slapping at his arm now as she laughed. During their deliveries they had stopped at an elderly woman's home to deliver as substantial amount of groceries. She had opened the door wearing nothing but a nightgown, a coat, and an old fur hat. The two of them had been able to contain their laughter until they left the premises, but shortly after that there was no holding back.  "Oh my god...shit. I haven't laughed that hard in forever. My stomach—my stomach hurts."

"You good? You look like you might fall over." Pope was still trying to control his own laughter, June straightening up now that she had begun to breathe again. She nodded and they were now able to continue walking, Pope heading towards Junes car that was holding their groceries. They chattered emptily for a few moments as they got back into the car, preparing to drive to the next place they had something to deliver. After the next delivery they would have to go back to Heywards, and Pope was almost 100% sure he would have more stuff to get when he got there. June was driving, complaining about her thighs being stuck to the seat while Pope remembered something he wanted to ask her about, his head turning quickly.

"Hey are you in for summer school?"  Pope asked, his lips forming a straight line as June pulled her leg up from the seat for a moment. She furrowed her eyebrows and then nodded, catch up being a game she was still playing with school. The academy had sent her transcript right back to Kildare, meaning she would still have to pick up right where she had ended.

"Yeah are you?"

"I am but I wanted to tell you that there's a test." June looked over at him with confusion and he nodded to further confirm what he said, even though she wasn't sure what he meant.

"A test?"

"Yeah so at the beginning of the first day of class they'll give you an option...to take a test. If you score out of the test then it's an auto pass." Junes face dropped as she heard the possibility of not spending half of her summer in classes, her eyes on the road as she thought up a question for him. "That's what I plan to do. But I heard from a few people that it's like super hard and to study a lot."

"What's on the test?"

"Well I heard it's like the basics, math history english and science. It's like  200 questions though. But it's covering all the material of summer school." June figured she'd rather take her chances with that test, considering she had a business to run. She's rather have a free summer than a overpacked one, because the last time she had been trying to do all of these things at the same time she ended up in one of the lowest places she's ever been.  She was unable to force herself to stop thinking about that low point, what had caused it, what she had and hadn't done, hoe hard it had been to get through. Sometimes she thought she was still in it...just in denial.

Junes eyes scanned the road and she saw something in the midst of her thoughts, her subconscious was leading her to slam on the breaks. She didn't realize Pope had still been talking until he shut up, the girl pushing her door open immediately after putting the car in park and stepping out of the car.  Pope watched her like she was a madwoman, wondering why she had pulled them over in the middle of town. June hurried across the street and looked up at the sign, her head shaking slightly as she remembered just what solemn importance this building held for her.

Harris Tailor.

Although it was a place she had passed a million time before, it was the first time she had passed it since her return, her subconscious tying this building and her unspeakable crime to each other. Her eyes were wide with wonder and Pope was crossing the street to get her, utterly confused and shocked trying to figure out why she had been so abrupt about stopping to stare at a store.

"June what are you doing?" Pope asked, and his question rang through her ears like a bell. She wondered herself what had caused her over dramatic reaction, and then she remembered the look on Leon Hardy's face when he died, the same look that Singh had had when she had ended his life too. She blinked a few times and hoped the images would disappear, but she knew they never would. Pope was speaking to her again but she wasn't listening, her heartbeat loud in her ears as she tried to calm herself internally. She had been acting perfectly fine since she had gotten back, now was not the time to break that facade. She swallowed the bike in her throat and then seemed to snap out of it, her head turning to Pope who was looking at her with worry.

"This is the tailor shop...the one where the safe is. The key goes to the safe." June said, using her hands to achieve the goal of explaining it to him. Pope nodded but did not look away from her, his eyes searching across her face for some semblance of what she was thinking. June wasn't thinking much, only about the key in her office desk, the safe inside, the fact that if she were to find that treasure then it would be like she was completing a quest that justified Leon Hardy's untimely death. Her eyes were looking past a worried Pope and her vision was blurred, but a figure returned her to her right state of mind, her eyebrows furrowing as a new voice called out her name.

"June? How are you?" Erika Harris approached Pope and June, a smile on her perfect lips. Her eyes only flickered to Pope and she gave him that same smile, her attention going back to June.

"Erika hey...sorry about not coming to that hangout—I got sent away for three months." Pope was surprised by how easily June could slide back into reality, a calm coolness radiating off of her as she spoke. Erika laughed a little bit, Pope watching as her hand dropped on Junes wrist as they laughed together.

"Oh it's no problem. Yeah I heard about that. I'm glad you're doing better though." Pope just watched the two girls, thinking about just how weird the past 5 minutes had gotten. "You guys coming in or...?"

Junes head turned to where Erika's finger was pointing, and she realized something almost immediately, a great puzzle seeming to come together when she remembered who exactly she was talking to.

"You work here?" Pope asked, Erika's attention going to him as she nodded.

"My parents own it...they make me work here in the summer." June sucked in a breath as she began plotting in her head already, the Harris girl almost immediately turning her attention back to June. "Hey you know since you're back in town maybe we should hang for real. When are you free?"

"I'm free pretty much whenever. What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know maybe we can have dinner or something? Go to a movie?" June nodded as the Harris girl looked at her with that same unwavering smile, Popes eyes slightly widening as he realized whys was happening. June nodded and then answered, liking the idea of hanging out with someone new.

"That sounds fun. Uh...we've actually got to go but just text me details and I'll let you know." The three of them said their goodbyes and the second Junes turned her back to Erika she smiled widely. If she wanted to get in that safe...she knew exactly how. It was silent until they got to the car, June getting in the drivers seat and waiting on Pope. They both turned to speak at the same time and they both spoke different things.

"I know how to get into that safe."

"She literally just asked you out."

They both looked at each other for a second before June shook her head, her stomach clenching at the thought of being asked out.

"What? No she didn't. She asked to hang out...there's a difference." Junes face scrunched up at his suggestion but he stood his ground, looking at her like she was an idiot.

"You're right. There is a difference. I know the difference between flirting and talking as friends."

"She was not flirting with me."

"You said probably some of the most unfunny shit ever about you being sent away and she laughed like you were a literal comedian. And she touched you all dainty. Then she asked if you wanted to go to a movie. Or dinner. Dinner! I have seen flirting before, and I've seen being asked out before and that was all of that." Pope had a big sheepish grin on his face, June taking into account what he had said. Her cheeks slowly started to redden as she realized he could possibly be correct, her mouth falling open as she realized she had been asked out. "Oh my god you're blushing! Blushing! So cute....you guys are gonna be so cute together."

"Shut up!" June said, pushing the boys face away from her as she started the car again. She tried to hide the blush on her cheeks as she looked back at the store, her eyes narrowing when she realized knowing Erika Harris could be her ticket to that closure she was needing. "I'm serious don't say anything else about it."

"Okay jeez...I won't. Well—okay I won't." Pope snicked to himself and shook his head, June pulling back onto the road with a tight smile on her lips. She attempted to change the subject immediately,  letting out a sigh as she looked out at the road.

"So what are you wearing to Midsummers?"