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June isn’t used to getting what she wants.
Maybe that’s a little unfair to say. She feels like it is. The world is so, so big and she knows more about it than she wants to and she's sitting in her room in the White House. And her family’s problems are so, so complicated and more often than not come with a country at stake and there are too many difficult choices. And they love her, she knows this with absolute certainty. She doesn’t know what it is that leaves her with a slight tinge of dissatisfaction but the tinge is there. A tiny unhappy voice in the back of her mind.
But that’s probably unfair to say.
”Please do smack me if this is out of line, but you are the most exquisite woman I have ever seen in my life, and I would like to procure for you the most lavish drink in this establishment if you will let me,” announces the Prince’s friend, the brightest smile she has ever seen on his face.
She wants to laugh. She ends up going with him. He was born in Nigeria, went to Eton, loves Gucci, has more charities and organisations than June can keep track of, and his Instagram's impeccable. He’s the most flamboyant person she’s ever met but there’s something incredibly soft and present about him. And he’s a great dancer. June doesn’t remember when she last had this much fun.
Later, she drinks the disgusting concoction they’ve decided to serve and waits for the flush in her cheeks to fade. Nora slides by and grabs a drink for herself.
“You seemed totally into him,” she says, her eyes bright. Nora’s eyes are always bright. June has to force herself to look away.
She shrugs, the flush still in place, smiling. “He’s hot.”
Nora laughs. “Um yes, that’s, like, super obvious. But you seemed like properly into him. Are you gonna follow it up?”
June looks at the floor.
“Oh, come on, June! There is a ninety eight percent probability of you regretting it for the rest of your life if you don’t.”
“Ninety eight, huh?”
“Yep. I’m never wrong, you know that.”
June finishes the rest of her drink. “Alright, I’ll get his number or something.”
The next few weeks are stressful. June tries to ignore the fact that her brother is clearly having some kind of sexuality crisis and may or may not be one bad decision away from causing a diplomatic incident. She has work. So much work. And she doesn’t know how to be interesting and amiable and a potential love interest so she doesn’t call. Or text.
She decides to write a memoir. She finds her old journals and starts putting them together.
There’s a state dinner at the end of January. Alex has just kidnapped the Prince of Wales with Nora’s assistance. June sighs and loads her plate with chocolates. Nora joins her. June decides not to ask.
“God, this is boring. And these chocolates suck,” says Nora, popping one into her mouth.
“Agreed. State dinners are so annoying. This is just going to drag on forever.”
“Wanna try sneaking away?”
“I wish. I don’t think we can.”
Nora considers this, looking around. She shrugs, “I think we can. Sixty one percent chance of getting into trouble.”
“Those are terrible odds.”
“Yeah, so you wanna go?”
June tries not to laugh. “Alright. Let’s go.”
Nora smiles, her eyes gleaming, and they leave. And they go to Nora’s room where she pulls out snacks from her bag and they watch Mr Robot, huddled up on Nora’s bed. Nora’s head is on June’s shoulder.
They fall asleep like that.
The next day, they get into trouble. Nora insists that it was an emergency and descends into techno-babble when asked to elaborate on what the emergency was. June can’t stop smiling.
She calls Pez that day. And it’s great. He picks up almost immediately and he sounds absolutely delighted. They talk for an hour. And he’s just as fascinating as she remembers. He’s kind and bright and there’s so much he wants to do. And he asks about her and what she wants to do. And she can’t tell him all of it, not yet, but she tells him about the memoir.
“That sounds brilliant! I would love to read it. Whenever you are comfortable sending it, of course.”
“Thanks. I don’t know if it’ll amount to anything.”
“It will,” he says firmly. “Do you have a reason for writing it?”
“I don’t know. I started it on a whim but... I guess it’s to remind myself about… who I am? Or that I’m there and important? That’s how it started. But now I guess I’m writing it because... I just want to. Does that make any sense?”
“It does. And you are important. And there will come a day you will not need to remind yourself of that.”
They text a lot after that. June ends up adding him and Nora to a group. He gets along with Nora, of course he does, he gets along with just about everyone. But they genuinely seem to like each other. They both seem to think the other is the coolest person they’ve ever met. And June should probably feel jealous. She doesn’t.
She ends up confronting Alex about Henry. Her brother is an idiot but he’s in love. And Alex loves in a way June has always been too afraid to love. June is careful and practical while Alex is... well, while Alex is dating the Prince of Wales and teetering on the edge of one of the biggest scandals in history.
Then there’s a fundraiser in LA. Henry shows up with his sister and Pez in tow. Pez beams at her and Nora. Nora’s eyes are as bright as she’s seen them. June’s heart beats wildly.
Pez knows some karaoke bar in West Hollywood. It’s loud and colourful and they all drink way too much. Pez sings Whitney Houston’s ’So Emotional’ and he really shouldn’t sound this good with this much alcohol in his system. The entire club explodes.
It’s so fucking sexy, it’s unfair. He’s so bright and charming and good. “Oh no ... he’s... so... hot...” she yells, leaning on Nora.
“I know, babe,” yells Nora.
The night gets faster and faster and Henry’s singing Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ with Nora and Bea singing backup, Pez is on the table and pulling June onto a chair, and June can’t stop laughing.
They go back to the hotel, trying and failing to be quiet. June, Nora, and Pez stumble into a suite Bea has picked out. June and Nora collapse into a king-sized bed and Pez takes refuge in the bathtub. The door closes behind them.
The alcohol is slowly wearing off. June feels tipsy but not quite drunk. Pez climbs out of the bathtub and motions for June to scoot over which she does.
“God, that was fun,” says Nora, sitting up. Her hair is dishevelled and there’s a lamp behind her that surrounds her with light. June realises she’s staring and turns her head to look at Pez instead. He’s also staring. His gaze darts away from Nora and lands on June.
June thinks she’s going to make a bad decision.
She looks at Nora again. Nora’s looking back.
Two bad decisions.
The next day, Nora and Pez look like absolute messes and she’s pretty sure she doesn’t look any better. Alex gives them a look but mercifully doesn’t ask any questions. Cash gives them coffee. Everyone showers and Pez is wearing these ridiculously loud pink pants and Nora’s t-shirt has an alien on it and June wants. She wants with an intensity that scares her.
Pez catches her and Nora right before they leave.
“Can we meet again? The three of us, I mean,” he asks softly. Pez isn’t often soft. But he’s always sincere.
“Yes.” Nora answers without hesitation. Her brain has probably already calculated every way this could go. But that doesn’t say much about the odds. Nora’s always been more comfortable taking chances than June.
But Nora’s hand in hers fits perfectly and Pez’s eyes are so warm.
June slowly nods. “Yeah. I’d- I’d like that too.”
A smile breaks out across his face. Nora squeezes her hand happily and June can’t stop the hope from spreading through her body.
They meet up a week later at an obscure restaurant in Vienna. Pez tells them about a disability equality charity he’s involved with. Nora talks about the reelection campaign and her new and improved road-trip playlist algorithm. And June tries not to but they ask and she finds herself telling them about everything she wanted and couldn’t have. Journalism, parents who maybe had a little more time on their hands, the ability to live carefree, the ability to love recklessly...
They listen and then hold her hand. They don’t seem to think she’s being unfair. She lets out a long breath she didn’t realise she was holding.
The sun streams in through the hotel window the next morning. Nora lies on one side of the bed and Pez on the other. Both of them are asleep and June smiles. They’ll have to go back to their respective countries soon but for now, they can just sleep.
It becomes a thing. They text a lot and video-call and watch Netflix. They meet up whenever they can and eat way too much chocolate and tumble into bed together. June thinks ruefully of how annoyed she’d been at Alex for doing the exact same thing months ago.
Then Alex’s emails leak. The newspapers are blowing up, the crowds are overwhelming, and history is definitely probably being made but all June sees is her brother, scared and lost, his world crashing down around him. She holds him and tries to shield him to the best of her abilities.
Some days pass. Alex flies to England. He calls her on his way back and asks for a favour. He sounds calm. Alex is fine. The situation is... the situation is big. But it’s manageable.
Pez telephoned her a couple times when Alex was in England.
“How are you?” He asked.
“I’m... honestly, I don’t know. I’m not doing too great. But I don’t know if I’m ready to face that right now. There’s just so much to do.”
“I understand. But you shouldn’t ignore your own feelings. While obviously Alex and Henry have it the worst, this is stressful for everyone.”
“Yeah. You’re right. I just... not right now, you know?”
“Of course. Whenever you are ready.” She can see the soft smile on his face and she feels calmer. “How is Nora?” He asks.
Nora hasn’t been seen or heard from. June tries not to take it too much to heart. This is how Nora deals with things. She isolates and works on her algorithms and calculations until she’s ready to face the world. But it still stings.
Then Nora bursts in a day later, a whirlwind with a folder. She calls June’s mom Ellen, tells them that Richards was behind it all, gives them actual proof , gives them her anonymous informant who turns out to be Rafael fucking Luna, and then collapses on the couch besides June.
She crawls into June’s bed later that night.
“Sorry I didn’t call. Or let you know what I was doing,” she mumbles. June strokes her hair. When she entered, Nora had insisted none of them could possibly be mad at her after they found out what she had been doing but June knew she had been a little worried. When Nora gets caught up in her work, she finds it hard to think of anything else. Most people think this aspect of her character is something she’s oblivious to but she isn’t.
“It’s okay.”
“I’ll try and drop a text next time.”
“Okay.” June holds her tighter. “Hey, Nora?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you.”
Nora smiles against her cheek and they fall asleep.
A few days later, she’s with Nora and Pez in Pez’s room. He’s lounging in a chair by the window. Nora’s sitting cross-legged on the bed, dark circles under her eyes. June’s lying down, lost in her thoughts. The election is close.
“Are you worried?” Pez asks her.
“About?”
“It has been a rough few days.”
“Yeah. And you can retreat into your shell a bit when... the public gets a little too eager,” says Nora.
June considers this.
“I... think, in a way, I feel less worried? I mean, you’re right. This stuff usually does affect me but... I don’t know. It was just so fucking big and everyone was so fucking upset that. People just talk all the time, y’know? No matter what you do? And I’ve always known that on some level but it kinda fully hit me now. Besides, we handled it. Mostly. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop being careful but I’ve put my life on hold so many times and I think this time it was all just too big and I can’t. I just... need to move forward. I want to move forward.”
The next few days fly by. They are back in the States. June sends her memoir to publishers. She can’t believe it when one of them accepts. She stares at her phone in shock for a full minute before screaming in joy. She runs to Alex and Nora.
“I got the book deal!” she yells. “I was checking my email and - the memoir - I got the fucking deal!”
Alex and Nora scream and hug her. They FaceTime Bea, Henry, and Pez and June feels lightheaded with joy. They’re a group and she loves it.
It’s a bit of a blur after that. Between meetings with the publisher and the upcoming elections, June finds herself so busy she barely registers the passage of time and before she knows it, Election Day is upon them.
June doesn’t think she’s ever been this nervous.
They’re losing.
Her mother asks her for help with a concession speech. June is furious. Her mother can’t lose. She refuses. Alex is asked to go talk to the crowd. June bites her nails and stares at the polls. The votes drop in. Nora goes to talk to Alex. Richards wins Nevada. There’s just Texas. They need Texas. June can’t breathe. Time has never been slower. June sees Molly. Oh God, Molly.
Molly thinks they have the votes. June thinks she’s going to explode. She drags Molly over to the others.
They’re announcing the results on the projection screen. June sees blue. It’s blue. Her mom screams.
June’s knees go weak. She vaguely registers tears running down her face. Everyone is cheering and yelling and jumping. The sun is so bright and the screen is so blue and June is so happy she can’t stop crying.
A couple months pass.
June holds her book in her hands. She can’t take her eyes off it. Her name is right there on the cover. It’s her book. She wrote it.
“We’re so proud of you, sweetheart,” says her mother, giving her a one-armed hug. Her father nods, discreetly wiping at his eyes. Alex and Nora are whooping and banging plates, much to the chagrin of Zahra, who glares at them from a corner. Henry is trying to get a champagne bottle open and Bea is getting food. Pez is trying to put up a ‘Congratulations June!’ banner that has way too much glitter.
“Thanks, mom.”
“It’s gonna be a bestseller, I can feel it,” says her father.
June laughs nervously. “I don’t know about that.”
“It is.” Her mother is firm.
Later, they’re all in the living room. June is huddled up with Pez on one side and Nora on the other. Pez is playing with her hair and Nora is tracing little patterns on her arm. Alex and Henry are on the loveseat, bickering over popcorn. Her mother is sitting on the floor, with a glass of champagne, slightly drunk. Her father and Bea are having what seems to be a heated argument about some band June has never heard of.
Getting what she wants is something she could get used to.