love is strange. » eyeball chambers. [HIATUS]

seven.

monday. june 15th, 1959.

"you're joking right?" asked the redhead girl. the boy in front of her just held out his hands in the form of prayer. "im begging you here!" he exclaimed. the girl in front of him just rolled her eyes.

"fine," she said.

"june you are truly a life saver!" billy yelled out with a grin, hugging the girl in front of him.

"get off me, tessio! i don't want your diseases," june responded. billy couldn't get the grin off of his face as the duo made their way down the drive way and down the road.

junebug hogan and billy tessio were currently walking down the backroads to the tessio household. it was a monday morning and the parents of the tessio boys were both away at work and other activities. june had just been roped into babysitting the youngest brother while the oldest seduced a girl in the house.

it took twenty minutes of walking unsafe backroads to get to the tessio household. the duo made light chatter which mostly consisted of june making fun of billy and his sexual escapades. once they arrived, june waited out front while billy tried to get vern out front.

after waiting five minutes, a very confused vern came out the front door. "what is going on?" he asked.

"your brother is disgusting and unless you want to have to experience that with your own two ears i suggest you come with me." june said simply. the boy stared at her in deep confusion before a look of deep disgust came across his features and he ran down the porch steps with lightning speed.

the two walked down the driveway and stood at the end for a moment before mutually deciding to walk into town. it didn't take too long before the gravel roads turned to concrete and more and more houses popped up.

for it only being late morning time, the town was quite busy. people were bustling in and out of shops, doing their jobs or trying to get errands done. june and vern ventured down the sidewalk before walking into a small corner store. "want anything?" june asked as she walked around the store. vern waved a small package in her direction.

"what is that?" she asked. vern looked at her with his eyes widenin shock. "it's cherry pez! the most amazing thing ever created, ever! how do you not know what this is?"

june just shrugged at his reaction. "if it's so amazing, grab me one too." she said as while fishing some money out of her pockets. she paid for the candy and the two walked out onto the street.

"follow me, i know exactly where we can go!" vern said excitedly before taking off down the street. june ran after him, laughing quietly. he slowed to a walk and waited for the girl to catch up with him before they veered off to the right down to a deserted area.

up in a large tree in the middle of a small clearing was an old tree house. laughter from inside could be heard from just a few feet away. vern scrambled up the ladder and banged his fist on the door above him.

"that's not the secret knock!" a voice yelled out.

"i forget the secret knock, lemme in! besides, i've got junebug hogan with me!" vern exclaimed. june was standing a foot away, just watching with an amused smile on her face.

at the mention of the girls name, the hatch door was whipped open and a boy with glasses stuck his head out of the opening. "oh shit, he's not lying!" the boy exclaimed before disappearing back inside. vern pushed his way in and the door was pulled shut and the group started to talk.

june stared at the treehouse blankly for a moment. "uh, vern? what the hell is goin' on?" she yelled out. a moment later the hatch opened again and one by one, four boys piled out and stood before her.

vern wanderer over to her side and pointed at each boy. "that's gordie, chris and teddy! i've told you about them before," vern explained. june knew vague stories about each of their backgrounds from vern when she used to babysit him. clearly he had told them about her too.

"hiya," june waved at the boys.

"how the hell did you get such a hot chick to hang out with you?" teddy cackled out. gordie punched his arm roughly while chris stared at the girl wordlessly. she wondered if eyeball told him about her.

"she saved me from billy. he is disgusting," vern shuddered. "anyway, guys, guess what! she hasn't ever tried pez!"

"how the hell have you never had pez? were you raised on dog food or something?" teddy laughed out. june just shrugged before vern shoved a package of pez into her hand.

wordlessly, june opened the packaged and stared at a small piece. "these look like drugs," she inquired. teddy and vern crowded around the girl when she tried the candy while gordie and chris hung back.

chris stared at the girl before him, the two eventually making eye contact. june felt like he was trying to see into her soul. chris finally broke eye contact when he turned to whisper something into gordies ear, making the boy next to him stare at the girl with slightly widened eyes.

june tore her attention away from the pair of quiet boys to trying the candy. once she put it in her mouth and ate it she made a face of interest. "it wasn't amazing but i would eat it again," june said.

verns face fell while teddys lit up. "what do you mean? pez is the best thing ever created, in the history of ever and ever!" vern shouted.

"it's okay, you're allowed to be wrong." june said with a smirk before patting the boys head. the other boys chuckled at the comment.

after glancing down at her watch, june sighed. "hey, we should get going. hopefully billy is done with his business by now." she said with a wrinkled nose. vern nodded and said he had to grab something from the treehouse before he left. gordie and teddy followed him up but chris stayed behind.

chris made his way over to the girl and the two just stared at each other for a moment. the boy narrowed his eyes and simply said - "you are definitely too good for my brother," before shaking his head and disappearing into the treehouse.