june and the blond boy

White Picket Fences

"ohh..." tracy nodded her head, carefully eyeing the roof. taylor had an amused look on his face as he was probably thinking something along the lines of, i could make that jump.

nairobi approached me again, two large bags in her hands. "can you take care of these? i don't know what to do with them."

i glanced down at the twelve bottles of wine before looking back at her and sighing. "we can just put it in my car. why the hell are these even part of the auction?" i took the heavy bags from her tired grasp. taylor quickly stepped in to grab them for me before my arms fell out of their sockets from the weight.

"i don't know... apparently abby lives by this huge vineyard-winery thing... i don't know." she repeated, sighing tiredly.

"hey, go sit down and eat something. i'll take care of this, 'kay?" i placed a hand on her ebony colored arm. she sighed again, smiling appreciatively before leaving to the dining room where other families were.

after putting the wine into my ugly little amc eagle, which i had... unfortunately... inherited from my uncle when i moved up to berkeley. it was a nice car, but it wasn't the best color... and the interior wasn't in the best shape.

a bit later, the actual luncheon happened, so we ate a filling brunch before i showed them around the full campus. after walking up and down the steep roads, checking out the turtle derby and other little games around campus, until about five p.m when sunset rolled around, we sat in the grassy courtyard in front of the school, where a few others were playing volleyball.

"so how are you settling in so far? professors treatin' you—" taylor was cut off by a green tennis ball smacking him upside the head. "what the..." he mumbled, looking around for the perpetrator.

"shit, sorry!" the boy in blue dolphin shorts dropped his tennis racket on the ground and rushed over, grabbing the ball from the grass.

"hello to you too, lars." i chuckled lightly, squinting my eyes to block the sun as i looked up at him.

lars was one of the first people i met when i got here. he was a pretty interesting guy actually, having moved from denmark to... california... of all places. i thought that was a bit weird, but overall, he was really nice and welcoming, and apparently he was a drummer, which was an immediate 'be my friend'.

"hey, june..." he stood upright again, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked between tracy and taylor. "sorry about that."

"no worries." taylor grumbled, burning with embarrassment as his wife threw her head back in laughter.

"this is my aunt tracy, and my uncle taylor." i introduced them for what felt like the hundredth time today.

"nice to meet you." the dane held up his hand in greeting, chuckling nervously. "yeah, likewise.." taylor whispered lowly, earning a smack on the arm from tracy.

they made small talk while i zoned out at the squirrel circling one of the trees. even while keeping myself busy all day, i couldn't get one specific thing off my mind.

james.

he didn't take it so well when he found out i was leaving.

"oh my god, i totally forgot to tell you!" i turned to face him in the driver's seat as he was shoving french fries into his mouth.