summer of love • rafe cameron 2

fourteen

a while later, i was still in the livingroom with katie and beck, but now we were playing monopoly now.

"okay, i'm tired of landing on your stupid boardwalk property." beck said, handing me the monopoly money as i laughed, grabbing it.

"stop sucking." i shrugged.

"god, i'm just being tag-teamed now." he shook his head.

"she's right, you suck at this game." katie smiled as the back door flew open. we looked over, seeing JJ and kie walk through.

"hey," JJ smiled.

"what are you guys doing here?" beck asked. "we told you guys we were busy."

"monopoly, real busy." he nodded.

"wait," kie stopped and looked at me. "what are you doing here?"

"keep your mouths shut." katie said, her face hard. "no one knows she's here and it's got to stay that way."

"why? the police and your parents are out looking for you, so are the cameron's." kie said. "sarah is locked in her room right now and rafe is flipping his shit."

"kie, it's hard to explain." i said. "but, i'm begging you guys to just not say anything to anyone."

"noelle and topper are on their way." kie said.

"what? why?" katie asked, pushing herself up.

"noelle and pope got into a fight and topper wanted to talk to your mom!"

"my mom left!"

"call them and tell them not to come over!"

"hello?" topper asked. katie and i looked to each other.

"upstairs!" she whispered. i pushed myself up and ran up the stairs quickly before i heard topper's footsteps. i pushed myself into a bedroom, pushing the door shut. i turned, looking around the room and seeing i was in katie's room. there was a ton of pictures taped to her wall. i walked over, letting my eyes scan them. i saw pictures of her and beck from being just babies, all the way up to now. there were some with gracelynn, smiling wide with her perfect teeth. there was some with rafe and topper, and their other friends. there was one, right in the middle, of katie, beck and gracelynn. gracelynn was in her hospital bed with katie. she had her arms wrapped around katie as they both smiled wide at the camera. beck was lying on the other side of gracelynn, his head on her lap as he slept peacefully.

i smiled, looking at gracelynn. she was dying, and yet, she still looked so beautiful and so happy, squished between her siblings. katie had a smile on her face, but you could see the pain behind her eyes. the position beck was lying in looked uncomfortable and you could just tell that he needed that sleep.

i walked over to the window, pulling curtain back and looking over the backyard, seeing their boat on the dock, JJ's now joining it. i looked over, seeing a figure moving across the backyard and they looked up, showing rafe's face.

i stepped back, taking a breath. why the fuck was he here? why the fuck was everyone suddenly headed over here? i walked over, sitting on katie's bed, falling back as i let my eyes shut.

....

when i woke up, it was to katie touching my arm. i jumped, my eyes shooting open as i looked to her.

"hey," she said softly.

"hey, sorry." i sat up. "i didn't mean to fall asleep."

"no, it's okay." she sat next to me. "sorry, rafe and topper were here for a while. i just got rid of them, and JJ and kie."