Bad Habits (A Rafe Cameron/OBX story)

Chapter 11

Sarah and I have been hanging out in her room for the past couple of hours. We've done absolutely nothing but talk and joke around. Most of the time, those are my favorite moments with my friends. But right now, my mind is elsewhere.

"Haley why didn't you go shopping with Rose and Wheeze today?" Sarah asks.

I make up half of a lie on the spot, "When I got up they were already gone. Then Rafe asked me if I wanted to watch a movie so we did. I hung out by the pool a little bit too."

She nods her head, not questioning me further. I'm pretty good at lying so I'm sure she bought it. I've had a lot of practice lying to my parents so it's coming in handy now.

"We need to get you a boyfriend, ASAP." She says out of the blue.

"What? Why?"

She scoffs, "Because you can't just third wheel with Topper and I forever."

"Yeah well I'm perfectly fine with the way my life is right now." Of course I am, Rafe and I are just having fun.

"I won't accept that answer. I know for a fact that you want a boyfriend, I can tell. I've known you for long enough to know when you're lonely or sad. But obviously I have to pick someone good for you."

At this point, I'm just gonna mess with her. "What about JJ? You say that he likes me. Why not him?"

She immediately stops me, "No! I don't care if he likes you or not... he is trouble, Haley. You know that."

Yeah, JJ has gotten into trouble before but it's mostly his dad that gives him that bad reputation. JJ's dad is an alcoholic, drug addict who is never there for his son. Not to mention that he beats him. I've talked to JJ about it before, he wants nothing to do with his dad. Of course he loves him, it's his dad, but he is so horrible. One evening, JJ came over to John B's house with a huge gash on his face, blood pouring everywhere. Tears stained his cheeks and he was out of breath. He told us that he literally ran all the way from his house, to John B's. His dad was on another bender and got mad because he thought JJ stole some of his money. Which he did not do. It breaks my heart, JJ is a good guy and he is so loyal to the people he loves. He is the complete opposite of his dad, that piece of shit.

"JJ is one of my friends and he is not actually trouble. His dad is which makes him a target for that title." I say. "Plus, you like John B so..."

Her mouth falls open, "No, don't say that out loud. It's not going to happen with him. And I won't let you go out with JJ."

"I'm not going to, Sarah! And if I did, who the fuck cares?!" It's starting to piss me off that she is being so protective about who I date.

If she only knew...

"I care!" She screams.

Ward opens the door, "Are you girls okay in here?"

Sarah and I yell in sync, "YES!"

"I don't think you are. Look, y'all both go to bed. It's getting late and you both need some sleep. You can talk in the morning, okay?"

We both nod our heads and I leave the room. "Goodnight, Mr. Cameron."

"Goodnight. Both of you." He says back.

I walk into my room, shut the door and fall face down into my pillow on the bed. I let out a loud scream that's muffled from the cushion against my face. What's so wrong with JJ? I'm not gonna date him... I just want to know why she can't stand him so bad. Or why she can't stand any of my other friends. Yes, they are different than us, but that's okay. I don't care that they live on the poor side of the island, minus Kie. It doesn't matter to me that they don't have money and it shouldn't. They are good people. Most importantly, they are good to me.