June March stood on the edge of the water, the sound of the waves soothing her. She was nervous for this meeting, JJ having texted her to meet him on the beach. She had managed to sneak away after a surprise birthday dinner, her parents trying to move in from the fact that her deranged boyfriend had tried to knock her dad out before it. June had hardly been able to enjoy it, her anger and confusion at JJ  being at the forefront of all her jumbled thoughts. Most of all she was worried about him, worried what he would do while he was still upset. She wanted nothing more now that to apologize to him for how she had acting, sending him away like that. She wanted nothing more than to  talk to him about what Pope had told her, to come clean and finally fix things, because seeing him had anguished her...she couldn't spend much longer without him. She was tired of the eggshells and beating around the bush, his aggression towards her dad had out things into perspective, they needed to work things out immediately.

JJs feet crunched in the sand, his body a bundle of nerves as he walked towards where he had told June to meet him. He had already come to terms with what he had to do, he just wasn't entirely sure what to say. He looked up and had to stop when he saw her, his heart fluttering in his chest as his eyes trailed over her.

She stood in the moonlight, her dark hair blowing in the wind and making his stomach drop. She was dressed in a light pink slip dress, his eyes glued to the fabric as he wondered why she was so dressed up. Her beauty was otherworldly tongiht and he felt regret already coddling him, the boy letting out a short sigh and continuing to walk.

His footsteps pulled her from her thoughts, June turning her head and looking at him. Her eyes glistened in the light of the moon and she couldn't help but smile, JJs chest throbbing as he approached her.

"Hey." He said, her eyes filled to the brim with so many emotions. He tried to decipher what she was thinking but he couldn't, the boy looking over her face and settling on her mouth to keep himself from having to look her in the eyes again.

"Hey." She said, the two of them just standing there for a moment. June felt a tremor go through her and she couldn't wait any longer, leaping into his arms and pulling him into an embrace. He breathed out in relief as he buried his face into her hair, the distinct smell form the beginning of their relationship flooding his nose. He closed his eyes, his skin blazing as she held him to her. Their bodies fit perfectly together, and for a moment his thoughts were clouded with doubt. And then he felt the pain in his knuckles, and he was brought back to his predetermined decision.

JJ pulled back from the embrace, looking down at her with a painful expression. June looked up at him, and she could see that something was wrong, the girl quick to speak.

"JJ, baby I'm sorry for freaking out on you and telling you to leave earlier okay? And I'm sorry about my dad and Adam.  I—" She ran  her finger over the cut on  his lip and she felt a rip in her chest, the girl blinking as he gripped her wrist with his fingers. He pulled it down and then held her hand in his, the boy gulping as he started to prepare. "We can get through this. I know we can, okay? I'll talk to my dad and he'll see things my way. He always does, it'll just take some convincing alright? Okay?"

"June...you don't need to talk to your dad." He started, and her face began to fall, the boy knowing he couldn't go back now. "You don't need to talk to him. He's right."

"JJ-"

"Your dads right, June. I've done nothing but drag you down since the beginning. And you don't deserve to be treated the way I've been treating you." JJ wanted to rip the bandaid off, he wanted to just get it over with now because he wanted to go without a fight, so he could go crash somewhere and hate himself in peace.  He looked up at her face and his blood ran cold when he saw the look in her eyes, the hope diminishing as he continued on. "I fucked your life up. You deserve better than me."

There was silence now, June looking at him with complete and utter confusion, shock filling her system as she tried to figure out what he was saying.

"I chose to do the things that I've done. I chose to go for the gold with you guys. You didn't drag me into this, I chose to be here."

"But you blame me." She scoffed, pulling her fingers from his and shaking her head.

"I have never once blamed you for anything that's happened to me. What the fuck are you talking about?"  She was getting angry, the girl taking a step back from him and really trying to gather what he was saying and doing. Her heartbeat was fast and unsteady, her breaths picking up as she looked at him.

"Why are you getting mad?"

"Why am I—are you kidding me?! You showed up at my fucking house today and punched my dad in the face and I still came here to talk this out and fix things and you're breaking up with me! Why do you think I'm getting mad?!" She shouted, her chest started to ache as she said the words out loud. JJ looked at her with an obvious look, gesturing between them.

"That's exactly what I'm saying! I punched your dad in the face and you're here apologizing. Don't you see how wrong that is?"

"So it's wrong that I love you? I forgive you for things because I love you." June asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she shook her head. She could feel her insides turning and twisting as they geared up for this fight, she had to fight.

"What's wrong with it is that you shouldn't have to do that. You shouldn't have to forgive me for things all the time, not for most of the things I do. You don't deserve that." She scoffed, taking a step towards him and feeling resentment grow in her body. The realization that he was breaking up with her made her nauseous, and she struggled to believe it. She pointed to herself, spitting her words with venom.

"You don't get to tell me what I deserve. I decide that for myself. And I don't care about the things that you do because I just want you. And at the end of the day all I want is you."

"Don't you think you'd be better off?" JJ could see he had his work cut out for him, but he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for her.

"No. I really don't think I would be better off. Why would you say that?"

"Don't you see?! I am a dead end. You have a whole future ahead of you, a whole life. And maybe on that island we had a chance but here...back in the real world?  Where do I fit in in your life? Seriously June, I want you to really think about it for me. Think about five years from now okay? Am I there?"

"Yes." She said immediately. She could see five years from now, the two of them living somewhere on the island, June getting ready to graduate college and then two of them planning a wedding , a real one. She could see them in a home, happy and content and taking care of two or three dogs and talking about their future kids and their future families and visiting their friends and getting beers and being young together. She could see everything with him past the black mist that fogged her mind anytime she thought of the future, the one that read in big letters that she wouldn't make it past eighteen. If she could live king enough to see five years from now, she could surely see it with him.

"I don't see it! I don't. You know why? Let me tell you why. My dad was a piece of shit, and everyday of my life he taught me to cheat, and lie, and steal. That is what I was brought up to do. And one of these days I'm gonna end up just like him. I have no choice! I have nothing and that's all I've got going for me! That's on me! That's what future I have."

June looked at him, her head shaking as he finished talking. She was angry, angrier than she had ever been at him and she couldn't stop herself from crying out her opinion to him.

"I can't stand that bullshit anymore. God, I used to let it pass and I would hear you talk about how you're bound to be your dad and bound to be just what you're gonna be forever. Grow up JJ! Grow the fuck up.  It's not your dad that's gonna send you down that path it's yourself, and you can't keep blaming him for that. Your dad is gone.  And if you don't wanna be him then grow up and don't be. I'm tired of hearing that bullshit come out of your mouth. You've got a choice, you're just too sorry to make it. That's not an excuse anymore. So you better think up a better reason because that one just doesn't cut it anymore."

"A better reason?" He stared at her with a disgusted look, in disbelief that she perceived his life like that. Deep down he loved her for it, the fact that she believed in him so much that she could tell him the cold hard truth that he needed to hear.

"You're breaking up with me so for your sake you better find a damn good reason to do it, because you'll regret it if you don't." She was fighting but he was surprised by the lack of argument on the breaking up part, the girl seeming to accept the fact that it was happening. He had expected more tears, but she had cried them all earlier that day, and she couldn't manage to be sad, she was mostly angry.

"Okay a better reason. How about the fact that you were afraid of me today. I stepped towards you and you were scared. How's that for a reason?"

"I'm not afraid of you. I love you." She reiterated and he shook his head, her face falling as he refused her admittance.

"But is that enough? Huh?" The words finally upset her, his voice finding s way to stab her though the chest. The pain flooded her and cracked her hardened exterior, and these words hurt her more than any words ever had. They hurt more than what he had said to her at the Chateau a while back, it hurt more than all of that. Was her love enough? Clearly he wasn't as convinced as she was.

"Yes that's enough." She felt tears pull at the back of her eyes but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing them, the girl looking at him with those accusatory eyes that she had given him earlier.

"Your parents are going to do everything in their power to keep us apart. What if I invest all of myself into you and then one day you wake up and decide you don't love me anymore huh? We don't fit. Our paths don't go the same direction. There is too much working against us. You need someone who helps you, not someone who drags you down."

"And we'll get through it." She wasn't ready to give up, but her efforts were fleeting, because no matter what she said he had already made his mind up and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"I can't keep hurting you." There was a twinge if something in his eyes, June letting out a shaky breath. JJ felt a shift in his body and the wrong rod the world fall on his shoulders just by the changing of the look in her eyes, the one that used to be so soft had changed into a gaze of betrayal and hurt.

"I want you to look me in the eyes and promise me that this isn't about her. I need you to swear to me that this isn't because of her." Her voice shook as she said it and JJs breath caught in his throat. He knew she had known about Kiara, but this really had nothing to do with her. He cursed himself for making her even think that it would be about her, his eyes closing before reopening and looking into hers.

"It's not—it's not about her."

June let out another shaky breath, her heart hanging by a thread as she tried to think of what she wanted to say. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare, for him to tell her it was a joke or something. She wondered if this was the karma for what she had done, the karma she had been waiting impatiently on. This was the heartbreak she was owed because of how she had treated Zach. She settled on words, her mind racing and her knees feeling weak as she looked up at him again.

"JJ if you don't love me anymore please just say it, because this bullshit of you saying I deserve better is just too much, and I'd rather hear the truth than beat around the bush about it. Tell me the truth please. That's all I'm asking." She was begging now, pleading, and his breath shuddered as she said it. Him not loving her anymore was the furthest from the truth, he loved her more than anything. He couldn't breathe or sleep or eat or live without her, he loved her wholly and completely and even thought it hadn't seemed like it as of late he would still shout it from the rooftops. He loved her. He worshipped her. He loved her so much in fact that he couldn't let her fall further into ruin because of him. He had to let her go. He had to correct that mistake that he had made, ruining her life by entering it. He loved her so much that he would give her up for a chance at the life she wanted. So he lied.

"I don't love you anymore." The words put a sick feeling into his stomach, his eyes looking into hers and JJ using every bit of willpower he had to not look and act like he was lying. She searched his face with hardened eyes for a moment and then he saw them break, watched as the liveliness drained from them, watched as her heart rocked and finally split, a physical pain striking her in the lungs. JJ felt it too, the lie souring on his tongue and making him want to spit it out. He stood in disbelief for a moment of what he had done, watching as her eyes contorted into a look of pure abhorrence.

"Okay." She shuddered out, the girl biting her lip to keep it from trembling. She looked around for a moment, JJ staring down at her as she committed this moment to memory. She would never forget this, and things would never be the same.

"It's over." He said, unable to keep his eyes off of her.

"You cant come back this time JJ, I cant keep ripping myself apart for you. If it's over...it's really over." She said, looking at him one last time, giving him one last chance to change his mind. However he sucked in a breath and she prepared herself for it, a chill going down her spine as he spoke.

"It's over." They stared at each other for a moment, June feeling a swell of anger and resentment and sorrow and mourning and grief in her all at the same time. She couldn't keep looking at him, staring at the face of the bit who she lived more than life itself. Staring at the boy who she loved with everything in her, the boy who had betrayed her trust and had torn her apart. June sniffled and then shook her head, turning and walking off.

JJ stood in his spot, blinking in disbelief every few seconds as he stared at the spot where she had been. It was the right thing to do, he knew it was, but why did it feel so wrong? Why did everything in him tell him to run after her and apologize and take her and never let her go? More importantly why didn't he do it? Why was he stuck on this beach, the air turning cold and the ocean no longer soothing. Why had he willingly gotten rid of the only person who truly loved him, who understood and cared and believed in him. His eyes welled up with tears and he let them spill, because he knew that his reason for breaking up with the love of his life was because he was afraid of how real it was. How the fantasy of the island had disappeared and they were once again back to reality, a place where he had to please her parents, and work a job, and actively try and live normally with her, when every second of their relationship had been crafted outside do normalcy. He had done it because he was too afraid, and now there was no going back.