When Cleo had texted to tell JJ that she had found and calmed down Pope, the boy had wanted nothing more than to go and comfort his friend. Apart from that he had been blinded by the fact that he didn't want to be around June, for about the first time since he had met her. It wasn't even because of her withholding such hurtful information, it was because of the fact that he had scared himself earlier in the night, due to the fact that he had realized just how deep his feelings went. So at the first opportunity had had dropped her off at the Chateau so she could get her car, and then he had disappeared into the early hours of the night.
June hadn't complained when he had left her there, they didn't have much talking to do. She wasn't sure how he was feeling but she knew she didn't honestly owe him anymore of an explanation, most of what had happened in the past few days wasn't his business. She had driven home silently, the music from the radio drowning out the terribly complicated thoughts that circled her brain.
Before she had managed to make it all the way back to her house she had gotten sidetracked by a phone call, a familiar name popping up onto the screen of her phone and making her furrow her eyebrows in confusion. She pressed the accept button, bringing the phone up to her ear as she stopped at a stop sign.
"Hello?" She answered, her lips pursed as she awaited a response.
"Hey June...it's me, Topper. Listen I don't know what you're doing right now but Sarah asked me if I would call you down here to hang out with her." June felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach at the sound of Toppers voice, the girl remembering the last time she had really spoken to him. He had trapped her in a laundry room, securing her future to be what it was. And although he had seemed to have a bit of a redemption run in John B and Sarah's eyes, she hadn't really forgiven him for the role he had played when things had first gone bad. However it was rather alarming that Sarah would be somewhere with him alone, and while June wasn't particularly in the mood for a hangout with a bunch of people she had never liked, she did feel some obligatory feeling of protection over Sarah.
"What kind of hangout?"
"Just a bunch of us getting trashed on the beach. I promise we'll make it worth your while. It's the first time we've gotten Zach out of the house in months." That was the first hit, June biting the inside of her cheek. She wondered what Sarah would be doing with Topper again, why she would be spending time with him and then she assumed it was for the same reason that she was considering it, a break of normalcy. A moment to forget about all the terribly painful things they were constantly enduring and just be teenagers again getting drunk on a beach.
June let out a deep sigh and on the other side of the phone Topper could tell what her answer would be, the boy sending an excited nod towards Sarah who was standing warily to his side.
"Alright fine. Just for a little while. Text me where." She was quick to hang the phone up, her worry for Sarah deepening when she got the text. She knew Sarah's signature move when she got hurt by John B was to retreat back into the arms of someone she knew wouldn't hurt her, and while June was more than aware that Topper was that person right now, she wasn't quite sure if he was the best option of all of her choices.
It took about 20 minutes for June to pull up, her head fuzzy as she started to get out of the car. It occurred to her in the way towards the beach that was loud with music and teens that she hadn't been around most of these people in a long time. The bonfire had hardly counted, she hadn't had the chance to socialize and for a second she felt like the girl she had been before, walking through the sand towards the people who used to be her friends. In the grand scheme of things she had forgotten the friendships she had abandoned, the people she used to speak to everyday that she no longer knew. The stark reality was that the Pogues had captivated her life from the moment she had met them, and she hadn't looked back. It was strange looking through this lens.
