Tyler Sutherland laid across the purple comforter of June Marches bed, his eyes staring up at the ceiling . He had been trying to pry words from her for the past hour, the girl sitting at her vanity and staring at herself in the mirror since he had come in.
She tilted her head at herself, looking into the depths of her soul and trying to see what it was that he couldn't love anymore. What it was that had broken and changed in her, and had led JJ to the conclusion that love wasn't enough. She felt burned, singed by the fact that he had pulled that 'you deserve better' card. She felt crazy, staring at herself and trying to figure out what was wrong with her, but nothing was worse than how she was feeling right now. Nothing was scarier. She felt cold, dead and empty...devoid of emotion. Numb. It didn't even hurt anymore, in fact nothing hurt at all. She just felt vengeful, dirty, and angry.
"JJ broke up with me last night." She said in a level toned voice, her body turning in the chair and towards Tyler. He sprung up from the bed, his eyes wide and his mouth dropped as he looked at her. He then was confused, because she didn't seem too terribly upset about it. Almost as if she wasn't upset at all. But somewhere deep in her eyes he could see it, far down and locked away. It was there.
"What? Why?"
"Well...he said we have no chance. No shot at a future. And that love isn't enough—I'm not sure what bullshit movie he got that line from. Basically gave me a billion reasons to not blame Kie for it which is fair because it's not her fault at all." Tyler was alarmed by how candidly she was speaking, the undertones of anger in her voice really putting the situation into perspective. "It's his fault."
"Are you—are you like...okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine." She said, and it was believable. She turned back to herself in the mirror, her lips pursed as she stared into her own eyes again. Passionate hatred. That was all she could see. How could JJ Maybank tell her that he loved her, propose to her, sweep her off of her feet and uproot her entire life...just to tell her it wouldn't work?
"June...I think maybe you—" Tyler was cut off by a ding from Junes phone, her blank stare going to the screen. It was Sarah. She reached for it, the Cameron girls text asking for her to meet on a dock. June sucked in a breath, closing her eyes briefly and then reopening them, feeling discontent in her chest as she realized that duty called.
Tyler recognized her attitude as the first stage of grief...denial. The way she was telling herself she was fine, he knew she was far from fine. She was far from okay, she cherished JJ too much to just be okay. He felt worry grow in him but he didn't get to speak on it, June standing from the vanity and walking towards where her shoes were sitting. She started to pull some on, Tyler watching her with furrowed eyebrows as she did.
"Where are you going?"
"Sarah just texted and asked me to meet her. So I'm..." She strained to pull her other shoe on, letting a sigh out as she looked at him. "...meeting her." She pushed her phone into her pocket and ran a hand through her hair, walking towards the door and opening it. "See you later."
"Okay—" She was gone by the time he even spoke, the boy laying in her bed with an alarmed expression on his face. "See you later."
Tyler had never seen this side of her before, only the sad side she had been sporting for the past month and a half. This was something different. She wasn't sad, she was heartbroken and cold, and somehow that was much worse than her acting like a normal person through a breakup. He sighed, laying back on the bed again and closing his eyes, trying not to worry too much about her mental well-being. She was 17 years old...she could handle herself.
