june and the blond boy

Happily Ever After

"But after you left for college, I lost touch with everyone... so when I finally started hanging out with you two again, I.." she shrugged. "I don't know, but I want you to know that I don't have feelings for him... at all... like I said, I was just lonely."

I gulped, nodding softly.

"Well, as much as I want to be mad at you, I kinda can't. Because I never can.." I rolled my eyes, shaking my head at myself.

She let out soft laughter at that.

"But um, now that the secrets out," I chirped, throwing my arms up and dropping them to my sides with a smack, "I think I'll really need my best friend around."

Her eyes softened once more as she opened her arms. "Truce?"

I laughed, nodding my head and bringing her into a hug.

Then we lived happily ever after in our castle, without a care in the world about the evil villain just next door in his dungeon.

"Hello?" Hayden snapped her fingers, pulling me from my thoughts. "Come on, we're going shopping." she gleamed, reaching out to grab my hand.

I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes, following her out the door.

We ended up all the way downtown, Hayden dragging me around the mall. She shuffled through the clothing racks, pulling things out and occasionally holding blouses or dresses up to my body and saying, "this would look so good on you,"

I mostly kept to myself, getting lost in the record store aisles and spending way too much money on vinyl and CDs.

After a couple hours, we finally left the mall and went to the local market to get some snacks to keep us occupied for the rest of the day.

I gasped softly as my eyes found Hayden and I's all time favorite snack, that we'd lost hope on finding again after it was suddenly sold out all the time. I grabbed two boxes, dropping them in my basket before glancing up at the shelf again.

I shrugged, scooping the rest of the boxes into the basket before bolting out of the snack aisle.

"Hayden," I whisper-yelled, darting my eyes around the store in search for the brunette girl.

My shoulders slumped in relief when I spotted her in the ceiling mirrors that the store had. Of course, she was in the magazine aisle, reading something about Madonna.

I breezed quickly across the store with my eyes set on her until I turned a corner and instantly came in contact with a hard body, falling flat on my ass.

Oh god.

By the hardness and height of the body I could already tell it was a man, and by the flaming of my cheeks and alarms going off in my head, I knew my embarrassment was visible.

"I'm sorry," I was quick to apologize, not meeting the man's face as I meekly grabbed every single box that I'd dumped into my basket earlier.

The man chuckled.

But it wasn't just that grocery-store-small-talk-white-person-polite chuckle.

It was that damn obnoxious Danish laughter.

My eyes widened as I looked up, coming face to face with Lars, and my very own blond next-door-neighbor standing side by side, staring down at me.

My eyes stayed locked on James as his did the same on me. The first time our eyes met in weeks. I gulped as I prepared to get kicked in the face by his worn out sneaker.

It never came. Although, the burning in my cheeks that his next words brought me was probably the same burn I'd feel if he did kick me.

"Didn't think it'd be this easy to see you on your knees in front of me." his lips downturned for a moment as Lars burst out laughing.

I wasn't laughing. My mouth dropped open and my fist clenched around the box in my hand. I slammed it in the basket, jumping to my feet and preparing to get myself kicked out of the store from what I'd do to him— until Hayden appeared beside me.

"Lars, right?" she furrowed her brows, pointing a finger at the Dane.

He nodded.

"Don't you live in Berkeley?"

I was wondering the same thing. Why the hell was Lars in Downey?

so sorry it took me this long to update 😿
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