Royals - Rafe Cameron

Chapter Two - Overstayed Welcome

TW: This has heavy talk of addiction. I do allude to Rafe and his cocaine but the addiction talk more focuses on El and her family.

Enjoy 2k of my bullshit!

The Pogues, for once, spent their day without El. Without a car and not enough money to pay for a ride, she spent most of her morning trekking from The Cut to Figure Eight.

The sun was out in full force that day, as were the bugs. El spent her walk swatting them away and pulling her shirt away from her sweat covered back.

The walk was something she was used to. Three of the six days she worked she cleaned the Millers house, mowed their lawn and walked their dog. Two of the other days she worked in Haywards and spent three nights a week and her Tuesday working in The Wreck.

This, though, was a one off. Whenever the Millers went over to the mainland for date night (which usually didn't end until the sun came up the next morning) they left their only son in charge of the house. But he had recently been keeping some bad company, got into some bad habits and was shipped off to boarding school. This was their first date night since and their first port of call was El. She immediately took up the offer and the $100 it would've earned her. More she would've gotten working in The Wreck that night. Mr Carerra, Kie's dad, was understanding about the whole thing, luckily enough, and put her down for an extra shift on the next Saturday.

El was positively miserable by the time she reached Figure Eight. Her clothes were glued to her body with sweat and she had no doubt her hair was a mess. But, for $100, it was worth it.

The Millers welcomed her into their home. It was one of the biggest on the island, rivalled only by their neighbours, the Camerons.

El didn't really know a lot about the Cameron family. She knew Sarah and knew that she and John B spent most of their time at his place but knew nothing else.

Well, almost nothing. She knew about Rafe. Had been to the same parties as him. She saw what he got up to with his friends and Sarah's ex, Topper. After the first night of seeing him with the white powder on his nose, she warned JJ to stay as far away from him as possible.

"We're leaving soon, just wanted to make sure you were settled, love," said Mrs Miller. El had always been fond of her, she always made sure to tip. "We've left you some pizza money on the table and some instructions for the dog. Just in case I've stuck some emergency numbers to the fridge. If you can't reach us right away, I've left the number for the Camerons."

After that, El put her things down in the spare bedroom and joined the Millers at the front door. She waved them goodbye and watched them climb into one of their more expensive cars.

Their chauffeur, some twenty year old that had begged for the job, gave El a grin and a wink before climbing into the drivers seat and driving away.

As soon as the door was shut, Pickles (the Millers four year old Rottweiler) came trotting up to her. She whined at El and pressed her wet nose against her hand. "What is it, Picks?" El got down to the dogs level and stroked her soft ears. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

Pickles led El through the house and into the kitchen. She waited by the sliding glass door patiently, her tail going from side to side. El had let Pickles out enough times to know she couldn't get much further than the back yard.

While Pickles went to do her business, El waited on the porch. The sun was setting and the sky around her was orange. The temperature hadn't yet dropped, but El wished she had a cardigan.

From the Cameron House next door, somebody whistle. "Hey, Pogue!" He shouted. "What the fuck are you doing?"

There was Rafe Cameron, leaning against the fence. His hair was gelled back in that way that made him only slightly less attractive than he was and the top three buttons of his shirt were undone.