Keighley had lost the battle against sleep and drifted off in the sofa. June picked up a blanket, laid it over her and gently brushed her hair. 

She quiet slipped into her bedroom and laid flat on her bed. The fan above her head span in slow circles. And slowly by slowly, a memory pulled her in.

June and Dexter had just got paired for a class project. June was excited, he was familiar, smart, the top student. Dexter was excited too, but for a different reason. This finally felt like a chance, a once in a blue blue moon chance. He thought maybe this time he would get her to see him. Maybe she would choose him.

Ryan hated it 

Ever since that confrontation with Dexter, the air between them had been strange, tense… electric in the worst way. Ryan didn’t want June near him, even though he knew June loved him. Even though he felt it every day.

But jealousy is stupid like that.

It doesn’t listen to logic.

It just burns even hotter with time.

He didn’t want to be petty or possessive. He didn’t want to become that guy who June would hate. But the thought of Dexter sitting across from June, having her attention, her smiles, her gaze… it stung.

So he pretended it didn’t bother him... Until the anxiety hit.

Then came the skipped lectures just so he could watch them under the excuse of missing her.

The constant texts checking in... Because he was "worried" about her.

Truth was, he didn’t trust Dexter for he knew him too well.

June thought Ryan was just being clingy and honestly, she found it cute.

Dexter noticed it, the staring, the tension, he knew Ryan was watching. Sometimes he looked at Ryan in a way that wasn’t just observant it was daring.

One afternoon, Ryan ambled to the favourite study spot right after his lectures. He saw June and Dexter sitting across eachother, heads bent over their notes. Something ugly twisted in him. 

Dexter spotted him first.

Then, as if he had rehearsed it, he quickly leaned across the table and gently cupped June’s face.

“Hold still,” he murmured, brushing her cheek like something was there.

"What's there?" June slightly pulled away and tried to brush her check.

"Just an eyelash."

From Ryan’s angle, though, it looked like something else. Dexter was too close, he was holding June's face, only he could do that. He stopped, eyes red. His eyes met Dexter's eyes who smirked as he slowly leaned back. 

Ryan's stomach churned. "Why did she let him? Aren’t I enough?"

He rushed over to the two. Leaned over June who greeted him with the warmest smile.

"Hi Blue," He gently kissed her forehead then gave Dexter a wide smirk. To him that was a claim and a threat, a quiet threat. June was his and his only.

He then gathered June’s things and slipped them into her bag, while Dexter leaned back, smirk fading into something colder... A frown.

“Let’s go watch that movie,” Ryan muttered, seizing June’s hand and pulling her away.

Dexter didn’t protest.

He didn’t have to.

He knew he had already won this round.

That evening, June and Ryan sat in the theatre.

June was lost in the movie.

Ryan was lost in his thoughts.

She could feel it though, that shift between Ryan and Dexter. The cold stares, the tension this wasn't like them in any way. 

She turned to him, stroking his hand.

“Ryan… are you two okay?”

Ryan lifted her hand to his lips, hiding the crack in his voice.

“Blue, there’s nothing to worry about. Dex and me… we’re fine.”

A lie delivered with steady hands.

Fine.

Maybe he was right. Maybe she was overthinking. Maybe it was nothing at all.

Right?

She looked at Ryan again.

He was still holding her hand, even tighter than before, like he was afraid of losing something, like she would run if he let go.

And she didn’t know it, but something inside Ryan had already cracked.