The feeling amplified

 

There was a sense that he was there, but it wasn't Connor.

She knew he had abandoned her. Junie knew. But still, she was in such a fog. Or was life just a dream?

A part of her didn't want to go back, but there were unanswered questions. She just wasn't sure she could find them. Not now. Not after she'd been a fool. Was that all she was to her family? To Darry? All because of Connor. 

Still, a heat of passion smoldered. She wanted to know, but she didn't want to have her doubts either.

But someone was here. Someone she knew who was close to her, who was anything but Connor. She didn't know who he was, but it didn't matter. It didn't really matter after all. 

Memories came and went. She'd never really been a priority. And she lived with it because all she'd ever known was to be a latchkey kid with a television for a babysitter. And the Internet. But her family was never big on phone plans, so she hadn't really been addicted to social media like today's kids. Never had a Facebook account. She'd yearned for Instagram, but that hadn't been as great as she'd anticipated. 

And then she'd met a stranger at the coffee shop. Crazy kid, who did things like that? Certainly, not her generation. Yeah, there was Amy who knew all. Damn, if she didn't forget that old friend in all that had happened. She hadn't even come to the hospital to see her. She would know her voice anywhere.

Junie wasn't sure she wanted to come back. What was there for her? She knew. She knew everything, at least, momentarily. Then Poof.

Like a clean slate, perhaps.

"Con..Connor?" She sputtered, tangled in a web of lifelines that kept her heart in rhythm.

The face looked ashamed as if he could not bear to tell her the truth. Yet, he was her last hope.

"Connor!" She took a good look at his big eyes, big nose, a rat's nest of curls. Still, he looked quite sad.

Funny, how the only words to curse from her lips were "Connor."