The June Epoch

Juniper Ashcroft, June. 42.

[advantagecus]

open starter || location : covent garden

Money was always the answer and maybe that was the one he should have chosen but somewhere he remembered a complaint about how impersonal a gift card or wire transfer could be. That was still confusing to Gideon. Which brought him to his current dilemma. He hated malls in Texas. Could he even refer to this as a mall? This was more than a mall and easily an insult when you looked at what was available to be experienced. The food. The pubs. The piazza. The flowers. London really had a thing with flowers. He’d hate to see this place at Christmas. Internal monologue be damned, he had a mission. Sensory overload was an impending threat, “ For fuck’s sake –” That wasn’t a threat just annoyance with himself and what followed. Randomly initiating a conversation with the nearest stranger, “I need an unbiased opinion. You got a second?” He still hadn’t evolved from the small town everyone knows everyone mode. “Someone buys you a gift. No money. No cards. An actual gift, what would you want?”

[juniperashcroft]

The typical workaholic, June walked through the mall with eyes on her emails. There’d been a big blow up with another dumb Hollywood actor that her work was trying to get an exclusive cover on and emails had been coming back and forth. She wasn’t a patient woman, and all those pressing ‘reply all’ on everything were about to get it. A low grumble took over as Juniper aggressively typed an email requesting their fellow co-workers to not hit the damn button if it wasn’t vital information regarding their on-going project. She was barely paying attention to the people -or stores- around her, the passive aggressive professionalism taking over as she read over her email. “That’d do it.” She nodded to herself, pushing her phone into her pocket and stopping. The moment she was about to walk away, the man beside her spoke. 

“Oh,” June started, holding a hand between them to gather herself. “Can’t say I’m thrilled on the idea of receiving a gift from a stranger, but hey, who can complain if it’s fuckin’ free.” She laughed- a dry laugh that barely held any humor. In her opinion, that was brilliant. “But then... why would I be getting said gift?” 

[juniperashcroft]

Challenge 001: 

500-750 word flash-fiction piece centered on a relationship or an exchange with a significant person from your character’s past, using  the below prompt:

3. A mistake repeated more than once is a decision.

cheating tw

Silence reigned over the small apartment. For once, all was still in the small flat they shared. Him, on the opposite end of the sofa, knuckles white as he clutched the phone now at fault of the most recent argument. They had been burning flames just moments before, now burnt out and exhausted with the heaviness of it all. Tears pooled in her eyes, threatening to escape despite her resolution not to cry. There should’ve been no surprise at all, with the way their relationship was always so hot or cold, it was bound to happen one way or another. Once it had been her to do this. Sure, part of a drunken stupor, but it happened… only once. 

His mistake, if she could say that, had happened multiple times, with different women. It took one notification popping up on his phone for her to realize what was going on. June had heard it many times on her coworkers phones, the distinguishable dating app notification and there it was: “You’ve got a new match!” The words caused a frown to push her eyebrows close together, a breathless laugh leaving her. No, he did not do this. Except, as she pushed through the notifications and messages, it was clear this wasn’t the first woman he’d matched with. Not the last woman he’d choose to meet outside of their home. 

Home? 

What was a home? The longer she thought about it, the more she realized she had never known what that was. Her parents provided a roof, food, a nanny, but never the love necessary to turn their house into a home. They could barely stand each other and now June was repeating their mistakes. She was a carbon copy of the disaster her parents had made.  Everything they had built their life upon was a lie. Like playing pretend. They pretended to love each other, neither knowing what true love was; they pretended to be happy, despite the constant arguments that stained their married life. They pretended to be in love, despite trying to destroy each other constantly. How was this a home? With bitter pain, came bitter realization. They never loved each other, they never would and it simply wouldn’t work out. Despite the many years that lay between them, the “love” they once felt as young adults had died out as the years passed. 

No, this wasn’t a mistake he’d made. This was a choice, no matter how many times he tried to apologize and say the opposite. He chose other people; they chose the wrong person to spend the rest of their lives with. To say, however, that June handled it gracefully was a stretch. The last thing she told him that day was as follows: “I hope the poor women you’ve slept with got to lay with someone who won’t leave them high and dry as you have a tendency to do, you motherfucker.” Before storming out of their flat. 

[juniperashcroft]

Get to know: Juniper Ashcroft

PERSONALITY TRAITS

(+) assertive, candid, vehement

(-) brazen, abrasive, recalcitrant

Favorite song | Bio

TL;DR for bio bc I got carried away

Keep an eye out for your least favorite newspaper editor in London. Juniper Ashcroft is the furthest thing from loved in her field, and yet it is the one thing she loves the most. Sure, her paper feeds on political and celebrity scandals, but who doesn’t love that shit? It does get tiring at times, but June can never get enough of it. 

This successful woman does have a crumbling personal and romantic life, stained by decades lost with someone when they could barely stand each other. Luckily no children were spawned from that relationship, so the generational curse ended with her parents. 

Recently divorced and trying to figure out life while rooming with her longtime friend, Nadine Boustani. But while she’s amazing to those she likes, June has an incredibly sarcastic nature reserved for those she can’t stand. Will protect Nadine at all costs.