"Hey Junebug!" Bobby called out.

"Yeah babe?" June poked her head out of the hotel bathroom, lipstick in hand, one half of her lips done.

"My mate Noah lives around here! We should look him up."

"Ooh he's fit! I've always wanted to meet him." She winked at him. He grabbed her around the waist flirtatiously, "You're a minx! You know that?" Bobby was filled with the light excitement of being on his first trip with her.

"But that's a great idea, really, babe. You should text him."

Bobby felt a sudden pit of anxiety form in his stomach, realizing that Noah may not know that things had ended between him and MC. It might be strange to show up with some other girl.

Although, June wasn't just some girl. She had been one of his best friends before Love Island. She had been the one to return his wallet with a fully punched reward card to his favorite coffee shop. He had invited her out for coffee, using the reward for her, and they had clicked right away. But younger Bobby was much more insecure, and he waited too long to reach out to her again after that. By the time he did, she had become exclusive with another guy. They had remained friends, though, and became quite close. She had broken up with that other guy while Bobby was in the Villa.

So yeah, he had been thrown when June confessed her feelings for him. He had never considered leaving MC for her. He was devoted. But he was also crushed at the idea of hurting June. She was a true friend. She was the emergency contact kind of friend. He was so sad that he couldn't be there for her now, but he loved MC, and it was no contest, really.

MC had not been so easily convinced, however. She was sick with anxiety about June, among other things. MC had never spent so much time alone in her life as she had when she moved to Glasgow. It was a painful contrast to the constant close companionship of the villa. Bobby was just returning to his old life, but to MC, it felt like he was escaping her all the time. She was used to spending all day, every day with Bobby. And used to being the center of his attention, since she was far and away the most important person in the villa to Bobby.

Bobby recalled one of their fights about June.

"I hear what you're saying, that this is just normal for you, that you two always spent this much time together. But from my perspective, I was that person to you. And now it feels like you don't have room in your life for the two of us or something. And that you're choosing her every time."

Lass!" He got onto his knees and grabbed her hands, begging her to believe him. "There's nothing between us! I come home to you every night!"

"And you text her the whole time you're here!"

He groaned in exasperation.

"I believe you that nothing has happened! I'm just trying to tell you how this feels for me."

"I don't know what you want me to say! You want me to stop talking to her?" the rare, angry tone creeping into his voice.

"No! I just want you to hear me."

"WHAT?!" He joked, pretending he couldn't hear her.

She didn't laugh. She felt dismissed again. She just shook her head and walked out of the room.

Bobby felt a pang when he remembered how she used to laugh at every joke, even the lame pranks in the villa. She was his number1 fan, always on the inside with him. When she wasn't laughing, it was crushing for Bobby, whose worldview was based on the idea that laughing together = love.

It was as though a glass barrier had come between them and neither of them could see it, and both thought that the other one just wasn't willing to step forward.

They began to feel anxious with one another; worried the other one was going to be upset. She wanted to talk it out, but he instinctively responded by smoothing things over with jokes. He thought he could make her happy again if he could just make her laugh. But she wasn't laughing anymore, and when that tactic didn't work, he withdrew from her. He didn't know what else to do.

When it finally reached a point where she couldn't tell if he wanted her there, and she asked him if she should stay or leave, he felt as though asking her to stay was dooming them both to a lifetime of this. He wanted, above all, for her to be happy, and he hadn't been able to give her that. He was dimming her light. So he thought the best thing he could do was let her go.

"Let's walk around!" he said brightly to June, who was now finished putting on her makeup. Things were still new between them, and it still felt exciting to hold hands walking down the street. They passed a couple moving in or out of a townhouse, and Bobby playfully spun June around, to help her avoid a box blocking the sidewalk.

The day MC moved out, they both cried a lot. They held each other, and kissed, and fucked, and mourned the loss of the future they had both been so excited about. The future they had imagined together and were both counting on. He had booped her one last time. The boops had become their codeword for "I love you." It was the way he had told MC he loved her, before he even knew it was true. He would never forget the sound of MC's sobs as she walked away from him. The way her body shuddered with loss. How quiet and empty his place felt with her gone.

A couple months later, things became romantic with June. He figured, what was he waiting for? And there was a lot of potential there. He got through that time by laughing away his own grief. Never fully allowing himself to feel the loss. He chalked the memory of MC up to that crazy time he went on a reality TV show. June was real life. MC was a fantasy.

MC was a beautiful, magical blip on the timeline of his life, that fizzled out as soon as he tried to incorporate her into his real world. Trying to hold on to MC was like trying keep a hurricane as a pet. As soon as a hurricane hits land, it begins to dissipate, the structure and force crumble. And you can't put a hurricane back together. All you're left with is drizzle and the scattered debris of the world that had once stood before it came.

He tried to live in the moment. He tried not to think about her.

But there were two of his personality traits that had become inextricably tied to her, that he dropped when she left. He never booped anyone else, and he never called anyone else "Lass".

"Oh look! That looks like a farmer's market!" June said excitedly. "Maybe they'll have pastries!" Her eyes were wide with excitement.

They hurried over and had a lovely time window-shopping and people watching. It was then, that he saw her. He actually heard her laugh even before he saw her. And there she was, hair flowing down her shoulders, eyes sparkling, her face twisted in a silly expression as she looked up at...Noah? He couldn't process what it meant that she was there, clutching the arm of Noah, looking so happy. Why was Noah looking at her like that? Like she was the only person who existed. Like whatever she was saying was the most interesting story anyone had ever told in the history of the world. Like he, himself, had looked on the show when he watched all the episodes back.

She laughed again, and this time something dropped inside him and shattered. He hadn't made her laugh or smile like that in so long. It used to be all he wanted.

He had stopped walking, and was frozen in shock, staring at them. June, wondering why he had suddenly stopped, turned to him and planted a kiss on his mouth, to get his attention. It was then that MC's eyes fell on him.

The smile slipped off her face so rapidly, that he could almost hear it hit the ground. Once again, I'm the reason she's stopped smiling, he thought bitterly. She stopped walking and dropped Noah's arm. Noah, initially confused, followed her gaze and realized the reason for her sudden change in demeanor.

In true Bobby fashion, his mask of charm and playfulness locked right into place, saving him from the raw pain of the moment. "Hey there, Lass! Looking gorgeous as always." The use of his old pet name for her seemed to knock the wind out of her, as she placed a hand over her chest protectively, eyes darting to the ground, shimmering with tears.

There was no way to play this off casually, she thought. She dragged together every fiber of composure she could manage, and lifted her eyes to his. They were golden brown, and did she imagine it, or were his eyes glistening too? "Hi Bobby" she breathed.

They came together in a hug that was slightly longer than ones typically shared by friends. June looked composed, respectful, but not pleased. He couldn't believe he was touching her. He smelled the familiar scent of her hair. When they pulled apart, the healing scabs that had been forming on their hearts ripped right off.

Bobby turned his focus to Noah, holding his arms out genially offering a hug, "Noah! It's been too long!" Noah smiled and they hugged.

"Bobbo! You look great!" Noah shifted his gaze to June. MC had pulled herself together just in time. She turned to June and gave her a quick hug. "Hi June, good to see you again. This is Noah."

They exchanged polite "nice to meet you"s and handshakes.

"What are you doing in my town?" Noah asked. He knew MC wasn't going to be able to carry them through this one, the way she normally gracefully danced them both through awkward social situations. He was going to have to do the heavy lifting on this one. He thought about putting a comforting arm around her, but thought better of it. He wasn't sure she wanted to be touched, or wanted him to display that level of affection in front of Bobby before they'd been able to explain their situation.

"June's got a cousin who lives here that we're visiting" Bobby said, realizing halfway through the sentence that he was revealing something about their relationship.

Great, they're going on holidays together, MC thought, anger mercifully replacing her sadness.

"How nice." She said coldly. Bobby's smile faltered.

Dropping the pretense for once, Bobby said, "Hey lass, you know we didn't..." he gestured to June. "Nothing ever happened until after..."

"What does it matter, Bobby?" Her voice was thick with sadness and disappointment. "We don't owe each other any explanations." She turned to Noah, "Do you mind if we head home?"

The way she asked it broke Noah's heart a little. She didn't demand it, just asked if he minded. Like she would have been ok if he had said he wanted to stay. And in a way, she was announcing to Bobby that they were together. That his home, was in part, a home to her too. He wrapped his arm warmly around her. "Whatever you want, babe." Noah turned to Bobby and said, sincerely, "Let's talk soon, ok?"

Bobby gave him a look as if to say that he understood, and that he wasn't angry. "Yeah I'd really like that. Let's get coffee." He gave MC a gentle kiss on the cheek, and his lips were struck by a warm tear.

"Bye Bobby," she said, her tone softer than before.

Bobby was baffled by the site of her with Noah, but didn't feel entitled to ask questions. Instead he wrapped an arm around June, kissed her forehead, and winked at her, "What do you say we go finger the fruit at that stand over there?" Ready to brush aside the entire incident. June knew him well enough to leave it be for now.

Later that day, Bobby got a text from MC.

"I'm sorry. I'm just sad and I miss you. I wish I could handle bumping into you, but I'm just not there yet."

Then a second text: "I'm sorry you found out this way, but Noah and I are together. I don't know how I wanted to tell you, but not like that."

He wrote back, "It's okay, lass. It was hard for me too. But I saw you before you saw me, and you looked really happy. And that makes me happy."

"Thank you for saying that. For what it's worth, I'm glad you're with someone who knows you so well and cares about you so much. You deserve something great... Boop."

"Boop."