june
"hey." i look up from my phone and see dev standing there with a towel wrapped around his torso. "hey." i look away from him.
"where's joey?" i felt the empty spot next to me sink down. i put my phone down and sit up from my bed. i cross my legs and face dev. "he went to go pick his sister up from the airport."
he furrowed his brows. "but won't his picture be planted everywhere in that airport?" i nod.
"tayler went with him to make sure he doesn't get seen or anything like that." i uncross my legs and lay back down on the bed. "cool." dev says before getting up from the bed and getting dressed.
after a while i heard a knock come from the door. i get up from the bed and walk over to it and open it, seeing joey stand there next to a brunette girl and tayler. i let them in then close the door afterwards.
"soph!" joey took my hand. "this is juniper, june for short and june this is my sister soph." he smiled.
"hey, nice to m-" i felt her pull me into a tight hug. "it's so nice to meet you! joeys told me so much about you!" i stood there shocked as i slowly wrapped my arms around soph. joeys talked to soph about me? that's so cute wow.
she pulls away from the hug and smiles. "gosh, you're so pretty too!" i giggle. "thank you, you are as well!" she giggles and kisses my cheek which caught my by surprise. she walks over to dev and greets him.
i look over at joey. "she's so sweet"
he chuckled. "to other people yes." he cups my cheek and kisses me softly, i kiss him back. for some reason i felt like someone was watching. i pull away and look over my shoulder. dev was standing there, his eyes were on us but he looked away when we made eye contact.
joey
sophia was only staying in vegas for the weekend which means she's leaving sunday morning. she didn't wanna stay locked inside a hotel room the whole time so we planned to go out today and tomorrow night before she leaves.
tayler suggested going clubbing, but my sister is only seventeen so there was no way i was going to let her get felt up by a bunch of old pervs so we decided to kick it at the arcade which also had casinos. we all got ready and headed out to circus circus.
i remember coming here a lot when i was a kid. id beg my mom and dad to take me there with soph and bella while they went on and gambled. it was one of my favorite things to do with them, especially bella since she helped me win in most of the games.
this was the first time coming to vegas without her and my parents, it made me feel sick honestly. after losing her i felt like i lost a piece of myself.
i stood in front of the basketball game. little kids raced towards the hoops as they tried to score, some would cheer and high five their parents or even siblings, but one specifically caught my eye. a little boy was throwing the balls in the hoop, each time he missed, he'd get sad. his sister stepped up and helped him shoot the balls, when they won they hugged each other and got their tickets.
it reminded me so much of bella and i.
*flashback*
"hey, joey! wanna come and shoot hoops with me?" bella waved her hand over to me. i nodded excitedly and ran over to her.
bella stuck a ball out for me to take. i took it and tried scoring some points. i kept failing every single shot which made me upset and frustrated. eventually i gave up and threw the ball at a random kid.
"joey, buddy it's okay. i'll help you." bella grabbed one of the balls. i stood there shocked when she scored the first couple of times. "now you try it." she handed me the last ball.
hesitatingly, i took the ball. i stood right in front of the hoop, my legs pressed together as i gave the hoop a hard stare. at last i shoot the ball and to my luck it scored. immediately i cheered and gave bella a high five before pulling me into a hug. i couldn't have done it without her.
*flashback over*
i must've got lost in my thoughts because i felt a light tap on my shoulder. i look over and see soph standing there. she crossed her arms and looked at me with her brows furrowed. "what were you thinking of?" she asked me.
i look back at the hoops, a smile creeping on my face. "bella." i answered. i noticed her tense up. she didn't say anything for a moment. i guess she was still a touchy subject to her too. "she helped me win at this game." i added.
"i remember." i look at her again. a small smile appeared on her face as she walked up to grab a basketball. "you ended up winning that spider-man plushie you took with you everywhere." she giggled. i chuckled at her response and nodded.
"then our dog tore it apart, you cried like a baby over it for the whole week." she says, emphazing "whole." i laughed, squeezing my eyes shut as i clapped my hands together.
"what can i say?" i open my eyes. "i was very attached to it." she nods. she turned to face the hoop, to my surprise she actually scored. a clap was heard from behind us. i look over my shoulder and see june standing there, clapping for soph. soph giggled and bowed. "thank you, thank you."
june walks up to me and places a small kiss on my cheek making me blush lightly. "hey, i'm gonna go grab something to eat, do you guys want anything?" i asked them both.
they shook their head. "no, but stay safe." june pecks my lips. i nod before walking away.
june
i stayed in the arcade with soph. we continued to shoot hoops before moving onto air hockey. we were really regretting saying no to joeys offer on getting us food because we were starving. while the boys went on and gambled, soph and i decided to go get
some starbucks.
we sat down on the table and sipped our drinks. we started chatting and getting to know each other more. she even told me more things about joey i haven't knowned about him yet.
"you're good for him june." soph suddenlu said. i looked at her, tilting my head a bit to the side. she nods. "joey used to be an ass, even before bella's death. he'd always get in trouble, talk back to our parents and teachers, but then bella's murder happened even after he didn't change. sure he was on the run, hiding but he still came out on the news. numerous armed robberies and drug dealing." i look down.
"but then he met you." i looked at her through my eyelashes. "he started texting me on dev's phone since he can't reach out to me on his. he always talked about you and how amazing you are." my cheeks started heating up. i couldn't help but blush.
a smile appeared on his face. "suddenly he was excited to wake up in the mornings, especially next to you. he started eating more, his mood had brightened up. i swear you must have powers or something because you managed to make my brother crack a real smile, june." soph took my hands into hers. "i couldn't thank you enough for it. thank you for making my brother happy."
"he deserves to be happy soph." i tell her. "everything that's going on with him isn't fair, he deserves better than this."
"i agree." she says. "he deserves a break." i nod in agreement. i was about to say something else but i heard a familiar voice interrupt us.
"uh oh, is my sister trying to steal my girl away from me?" joey looked at us back and forth. i giggled and nod.
"sorry joey, but i'm gay for your sister now." i stood up and hugged soph. soph nodded. "we're gay."
we all bursted into laughter. for the next three hours we continued hanging out. we met up with the boys later on and got something to eat. dev actually won $5,000 dollars and with some of that money he took us to eat.
joey
i was happy at this very moment. happiest than i've ever been and i couldn't do it without june. i think i was falling in love with her. she's special and she makes me feel normal. she makes me forget about my whole situation.
sometimes i wish i met her before all of this, maybe then she could've helped me get out of the game sooner rather than later. i wanted to tell her i love her so bad, but even after i do, i knew something terrible was about to happen.