𝐋𝐎𝐌𝐋², jack champion

029, 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡

029, 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡
irl
(double update woop woop!
also the song for this chapter
is '21' — gracie abrams!)

THIRD PERSON +
november 16, 2024

November sixteenth. Jack's birthday.

Juniper sat on the edge of her bed, her phone clutched tightly in her hands. Her mind was racing, spinning in a thousand directions, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the overwhelming urge to call him. She'd gone back and forth for hours now, staring at her screen, opening and closing his contact, her thumb hovering over the call button. She wanted to hear his voice again, even if just for a moment, even if all she said was happy birthday and nothing more.

But the media had twisted her friendship with Vinnie into something more, splashing headlines about a budding romance that didn't exist. Jack had seen it all; she was sure of it. And why wouldn't he believe it? She and Vinnie had gotten close, almost too close. They'd even hooked up, a fact that had been eating away at her guilt ever since. But the relief of knowing that Vinnie was on the same page of them being better as friends, was comforting.

Jack hadn't reached out to her since the breakup. No calls, no texts. He was busy. She knew that.

The filming for Avatar had ramped up, and she'd seen Bailey's Instagram posts about their grueling sixteen-hour shoot days, the exhaustion written all over their faces. It reminded her of when Jack told her about when he had first been cast in the Avatar sequel years ago—how excited he'd been, how he'd stayed up late to talk to learn the scripts, the intense physical training, the pressure.

She missed that. She missed him.

Her thumb hovered over his name again, but this time, instead of pressing the call button, she closed the phone and threw it to the side in frustration.

I can't do this.

She could feel tears building up in the back of her eyes, the familiar ache of missing him threatening to swallow her whole. She couldn't take the silence anymore. She couldn't handle the what-ifs, the gnawing guilt, the confusion that had consumed her ever since their split.

Without thinking, Juniper picked up her phone again and dialed Jenna's number. It was the evening, but she needed to talk to someone. The second Jenna's voice came through the speaker, the dam broke.

"Juni?" Jenna's voice was filled with concern. "Are you okay?"

Juniper couldn't even form words at first. All she could do was sob, the weight of everything crashing down on her. She had been holding it together for so long, pretending to be fine, telling herself that she could move on, that she could forget Jack. But she couldn't.

And now, it all felt like too much.

"I don't know what to do," Juniper choked out, her voice thick with emotion. "It's his birthday, Jenna, and I—I just—I want to call him. I want to wish him happy birthday, but I don't even know if he would want to hear from me."

There was a pause on the other end, and then Jenna's voice came back, soft and understanding. "It's okay, Juniper. It's okay to feel this way."

Juniper wiped at her eyes, trying to catch her breath. "I still love him, Jenna. God, I still love him so much, and I hate it. I hate that no matter what I do, I can't stop thinking about him. And after everything... after what happened with Vinnie..." She trailed off, the guilt gnawing at her again.