Was it always in your plan to leave eventually

 Jude couldn't help but think, 'What about Connor?' in this whole Junie mess. It wasn't that she hated the girl who looked a lot like her [even if she couldn't see it]. It was the fact of not knowing what happened to Connor.

Still, Darry was beginning to grow on her. They seemed to be sticking together lately as if they might be a couple. And Jude felt awkward about this development. She sensed Darry felt it too. Especially, she found herself bumping into him when she knew all along she didn't need this closeness. It would only bring her grief.

There was loss, yet a gain. She disliked it when she found herself dreaming about Darry. Her Darry, not the Darry she hung out with. Not the guy she picked up from work. Of course, this was a delicate matter to keep from her mother as well. But Jude needed to know. Where in the hell was Connor?

"Connor!" 

Jude heard the echo from Junie's hospital room, and it made her skin crawl. Was Junie having nightmares about him? Jude found herself lurking in the hospital hallway. She didn't really want to make her presence known, especially, to Junie. She hated being alone like this. There was a fear that a nurse might come by and ask if she was waiting to see her sister.

Jude leaned against the wall, hugging herself, but a shiver shook through her, wondering what she was trying to prove, even being here. Of course, she came because of someone else.

Darry surprised Jude with a bubble tea. She took it, wanting to say thank you, but she couldn't. It was as if Junie might hear them.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, you know, " Jude's face tensed. "That Keegan guy is there. She keeps calling  him Connor."

Darry nodded as he sipped on his Earl Grey while he'd gotten her a lavender-flavored drink. It seemed he knew a lot of favorite things now. He knew she only ate chicken tenders or chicken nuggets, never burgers, and she was an onion rings girl.

She looked at him, thinking she couldn't give him up. Maybe it was best to stop thinking about Connor when she knew he was trouble. And she had to find a way so that her mother wouldn't think Darry was trouble, either.