𝕱litting around the room she used to often stay in when she visited her grandfather as a kid, June releases a sigh her fingers coming to rest atop the battered copy of Pride And Prejudice her ten year old self found amongst her mother's old things in the garage and completely devoured the contents of within approximately two days.

She'd always leave the book behind, thinking of it as an occasional reread for the time she'd come over to stay with her Gramps.

Last time she stayed over was during Spring Break of her senior year at high school.

Luke had been busy with hockey, having received his acceptance letter from UMichigan and June who had been rejected by them — the only Michigan school she applied to — but accepted by Rutgers had, well, decided it was time for a slight change of scenery before she was supposed to fully throw herself into her finals prep.

It had been in this very room where she had attended a few late evening FaceTime calls with Jack and together the two of them had planned all that they would do once June got to New Jersey in August.

She had been excited. It was like things were finally coming together.

It was like fate really because how else could you explain her being accepted by the one school she'd been really interested in — not only was it out of state but also someone very special was there too — and have Jack there with her?

She had applied to a few more universities of course but her heart had been set on Rutgers.

She wanted to tell herself that it wasn't solely because of Jack, that she was actually pretty excited to finally be able to choose a place of her own choice and make a life there but the thing is a large part of her decision to even apply to a New Jersey college was Jack.

She had her backups obviously so it wasn't like she was stupidly depending on her heart to map out her future.

But in the end, despite getting accepted by two other out of state universities, June had chosen Rutgers.

So, yes it did feel like fate.

And now, here she is running from the very thing she has been chasing since the past eleven years.

It's awful, this feeling of instability battling inside her chest.

She didn't want to run, she wanted to stay and talk it out with Luke, help him see reason.

But Jack's words had ticked her off, brought her back to reality.

It's not a big deal.

Those words are all she has thought about since yesterday and even today, during the two hour drive up here to her grandfather's house.

It's not a big deal.

It keeps playing on a loop in her head.

Honestly, what was she thinking? He's right, it really is nothing. They made sure of it, they agreed on it.

She agreed on it.

And yet, along the way she had hoped somehow that while she was letting him steal away bits and pieces of her soul, he too would let his heart entangle with the love that she could never deny him.

Guess she was wrong.

She's been ghosting him since yesterday and even now that her messages are filled with texts from Jack coming in every few hours, begging her to talk to him she knows she is going to continue avoiding him.

Better to run than let them see your heart break, right?

She's muted Jack's chat but not Luke's and surprisingly, he did text her once last night then a few times today.

LUKE: 'i get it dw i'm not mad at you. just kinda annoyed that you guys felt you had to hide it from me' — had been the text she received from him last night and she had chewed on her bottom lip, thumb hovering over the keypad for two minutes before simply replying with a "thank you" accompanied by a heart emoji.

This morning, he messaged her to ask if she's okay and why she left without telling him so she assumed that Jack had probably told him after he visited her house.

Or who knows, maybe he never made it back and Luke was the one who went up to her house and found it out himself.

Why would Jack even go back in the morning anyway? It's not like he has anything at stake here.

He's just worried she'll break their friendship or something and oh how he treasures their friendship.

June had responded and told Luke that it's fine and she is fine and that she'd be back next week before they were due to return to Newark.

Shaking her head, June grabs Pride and Prejudice and plops down on the bed, slowly opening the yellowed pages.

Her gaze skims over the opening page, emotion welling up in her throat at the sight of 'Juniper's Property, 2013 xoxo' written in her old childish scrawl.

Her lips purse, brows knitting together as she tries to calm herself down.

It was so easy back then.

"Casserole tonight, June Bug?".

She jumps in her place, heart racing at the sudden interruption and looks back towards the doorway.

Gramps leans there with a small smile, waiting for her response.

She exhales, nodding gratefully.

"Sounds good".

"Text your mom back please. She just called to yell at me because apparently I'm teaching you my old man ways".

She laughs, trying not to feel unsettled by the thought of opening her mother's chat and seeing for herself whether Jack actually came back for her.

"I will".

"Right then. I'm going out to get groceries, call me if you need anything".

"Okay".

With the sound of her grandfather's footsteps on the staircase, June scrunches her eyes shut before putting the book aside and grabs her phone.

( 𝗆𝗈𝗆 🫂 , 𝗃𝗎𝗇𝖾 )

𝗎𝗇𝗌𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝗆𝖾𝗌𝗌𝖺𝗀𝖾𝗌

4 𝗁

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
tell me why jack was just here
looking for you and seemed on
the verge of tears when i told
him you left

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
you didn't tell him? did you not
tell luke also? did something
happen?

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
june i know you're getting these
messages. don't avoid me

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
text me back? please?

3 𝗁

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
juniper raine bauer.

2 𝗁

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
what did you do?

𝗇𝗈𝗐

𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲
jack was there? was he alone?

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
i was so close to driving down
there myself, don't do that june

𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲
sorry, i didn't want to talk about it

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
yes but you don't ignore me

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
i'm your mother

𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲
yeah i'm sorry

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
what's going on?

𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲
just a lot of stuff, i needed to get
away for a while but i promise
i'm fine

𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲
now about jack?

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
he was here, around 8 i think

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
asked me about you, i told him
you left and he looked really
sad

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
will you talk about it now or
do you need some time?

𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲
i don't wanna talk about it while
i'm here bc i'm here to feel better

𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲
i will try when i get back tho and
i'll reply to u too now i'm really
sorry

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
it's okay. i understand.
take care, dad is there for you
if you need anything

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
and i mean anything

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
i love you. i'm here whenever
you need me ❤

𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲
i love u too mom :(

𝗺𝗼𝗺 🫂
😘😘😘😘

She chuckles at the emojis her mother has sent, her laughter slowly quieting down as she realises what this means.

He came back.

***
last devils gameday for the 23-24 season ☹️