June was feeling significantly better today than she was yesterday, although the pain in her arm was far beyond what she could handle. She had awoken before everyone else, John B cuddled into her side and a feeling of love blossoming in her chest. Friendship was a truly remarkable thing. She had gotten out of the hammock and really just took it all in, having a strange feeling in her body that came with the rising sun. Something felt final. She wasn't sure what it was. She wanted to soak in everything around her for hours and days and weeks but she knew that today was the beginning of the end, and she didn't entirely know what that meant.
She hadn't had a singular thought of JJ, her talk with John B purging her of the sick anxious thoughts that were constantly coursing through her head. For the first time in what felt like years, she wasn't thinking about him. At least at this very moment she wasn't.
"Morning. How are you feeling?" Sarah was the next one awake, the girl walking up to stand beside where June was standing. The March girl spared her a smile that only grew by the second, and Sarah couldn't help but return it. "Oh my god what?!"
The Cameron girl was smiling back at her friends who looked like she knew something she didn't, June feeling a light sensation bubble in her chest when she saw her friend smile. It had been awhile. At least it felt like it had been awhile.
"Nothing. I just..." June let out a breathy and gentle sigh and then looked back at Sarah with a heart melting smile, her eyes thick with emotion as she rode this wave of feeling the best she had in months. She wondered why she felt this way in the face of impending doom. Still she figured she would let it fully play out, she felt good. "...I love you. I really do."
Sarah was slightly taken aback by her words, June had never told her she loved her like this. Her smile dropped and she blinked a few times, feeling some sort of worry but also appreciative that she had said that to her. She didn't hear it often, not with that amount of sincerity. Not without stipulations and clauses. Sarah reached over, grabbing Junes hand and furrowing her eyebrows.
"I love you too. Are you sure you're okay?" June nodded dreamily, looking out at the water with glazed over eyes. The two girls just stood there a moment, soaking in the peacefulness of early morning. It was John B who interrupted the moment, his hand going to both girls shoulders, June immediately crying out as he touched the tender spot on her arm. It was almost as if it was a wake up call for what was happening. And that good wave she was riding made it to shore, her mood instantly souring as he jerked his hand away.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
"Jesus Christ I'm fine!" June said, suddenly very tired of having to answer that question. She pushed out of their vicinity, Sarah and John B both watching after her as she made her way to where they had stayed the night before.
:::
June had borrowed some clothes from Sarah, a top that showed off parts of her body she wasn't exactly comfortable with showing, including her new bullet wound and the long gash across her chest. She considered asking John B for a shirt but he had already given it to Sarah, and she didn't want to ask Sarah for anymore clothes. Big John was the first to talk as they got their stuff together to leave, June looking over at him with an unimpressed expression.
"That sites a whole days walk. We gotta get up there before moonrise. If we miss the solstice, then all this was for nothing. So listen Sarah, and you too June... I'm telling you right now, if you fall behind, I ain't waiting."
