june and the blond boy

Played and Betrayed

ᴊᴜɴᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʟᴏɴᴅ ʙᴏʏ

"june, wait!"

i ignored james' calls for me as i began walking down the street. the anger inside me scorched so hot that i didn't even know what to do with myself. i felt betrayed by both of the boys i cared about most.

i stomped my way home, tearing the graduation gown off somewhere along the way. once i made it to my house, i noticed my uncle's car in the driveway, signaling that they'd already gotten home, probably because i told them i'd just get a ride home from hayden or james.

my walk home was fueled with anger but as soon as i shut the front door behind me i slid down to the floor and cried out of exhaustion, confusion and pure sadness from tonight's events.

"june?" i heard my uncle's voice through the hallway. a few seconds later i was being pulled into his arms and having a full on mental breakdown. "i know, it's okay." he whispered while stroking my hair.

suddenly a familiar sense of comfort washed over me.

two strong arms wrapped around my waist and sat me gently on the ground behind the stand to rest for a second. i couldn't even tell who it was, but the voice instantly told me.

"i know, i know." james whispered as i buried my face into my hands and sobbed.

remembering the small moment between james and i at my mother's funeral only made me cry more.

after a few minutes of crying in taylor's arms, he told me to go upstairs to my room and he'd have tracy bring up some dinner and medicine for a headache that i'd probably have later from all the crying. i didn't say anything else as i walked up the stairs, but my heart swelled up at the love my uncle showed me just a second ago. i'd never felt that kind of love from a man before. not from my dad, not even russell. it really made me think about tracy and taylor's relationship. they'd been together since before i was even born, and they've had no problems since.

after i got up to my room, i got the perfect chance to ask about it, because my aunt walked in with a plate of food and some water. "thanks." i said. my voice was hoarse from how dry all the crying made my throat.

"mhm." she smiled softly at me, placing it on my bedside table followed by some medicine. she opened the door to leave but turned back when i spoke up. "hey tracy?"

"yeah?"

"can you um.. just like— tell me a little bit about you and uncle taylor?" i asked. she broke out into a grin and hopped on my bed next to me.

"okay, so it was 1960. just two years before you were born." she said. i nodded and adjusted on the bed to listen more intently as she told me all about her and my uncle's love story.

"so your mom, grandpa, grandma and i all went to new york that year to spend christmas. it was grandma's idea 'cause she thought it would all be rainbows and sunshine, but it actually began disastrously. once we got off the plane in new york, all our luggage got lost and so— yeah, that was a whole thing." she waved her hands around as she spoke.

"anyways, so then it took like twenty minutes to find our luggage, then another forty-five minutes to find the stupid taxi that was supposed to take us to our hotel— which was also a complete disaster. when we got there, the receptionist had just started working there and so she sucked ass at the job, and put our names in wrong and told us we didn't even have a room, sooo... yeah. then we got that all figured out and it was pretty late in the day once we finished dealing with all that bullshit, but i was so eager to get out and see stuff while your mom just moped around in the hotel room, upset over some boy who lied to her or something." she paused and took a deep breath. i played with my shoelaces while i thought about how similar my mom's situation might've been to mine.