Bad Influence (Rafe Cameron)

Chapter 12

I wake up in a good mood. I can't believe I kissed Rafe Cameron. He's so much different than I thought. I can already say with confidence that he's had a great character development from when I first met him. I don't know why but I just know I can trust him. He's become a genuine person. I can feel it.

Our kiss was so perfect, maybe a little on the aggressive, messy side, but perfect nonetheless. I've never taken drugs before but I can imagine it being just like the feel of Rafe's lips on mine. Sweet and addicting.

I shake that thought out of my head and get dressed before going downstairs for breakfast. It smells like waffles so I assume Topper is cooking.

I walk downstairs and sure enough Topper is bent over a waffle maker.

"Hey Top." I say, taking a seat at the table.

"Hey Claire." He says, giving me a smile. "I feel like it's been days since I've seen you last. I'm always busy and every time I get home you're gone. What have you been up to lately?"

"Hanging out with friends." I lie quickly, but then mentally slap myself because he knows I don't have friends.

"Friends?" He asks, turning around to face me and raise an eyebrow at me skeptically.

"Um yeah. I actually made a couple friends at Midsummers." I tell him, hoping he'll just accept my lie. He can never find out the truth. He would despise the thought of me dating Rafe.

"Huh." He says, turning back around. I narrow my eyes at his back. He defenitely knows something's up.

After a couple seconds of silence he asks, "So you aren't sneaking around with Rafe Cameron then?"

My heart seems to stutter to a stop after he says this. Did he see Rafe and me together during our date? I don't even remember checking our surroundings for anyone who may have recognized us. I'm so careless.

"No. Of course not. I'm supposed to be staying away from him, remember?" I finally say. I'm a terrible liar and I don't know how much longer I can go on.

"It's just that the party the other night was weird, don't you think? He asked for you over anyone else. Why was that by the way? I'm just curious." He says, now turning around again and crossing his arms over his chest like he expects me to crack.

"You know that Rafe was drunk. Even he didn't know why he asked for me, nonetheless do I know." I tell him. He really needs to back off. I wonder if he can tell he's getting under my skin. I feel like it's obvious right now.

"It just seems a little weird to me." He says, narrowing his eyes at me. I swallow thickly and keep eye contact with him to keep from looking suspicious.

"Yeah, it is weird." I agree and leave it at that. I don't want to continue this conversation with him so I change the subject. "You know you need to stop spoiling me." I laugh, nodding my head towards the waffles.

He smiles, momentarily forgetting about the Rafe situation. "You know I don't mind. I love cooking for you."

He walks over with a stack of waffles and places them in front of my face.

"All for me?" I ask, looking at him amazement.

"Yeah, I'm not hungry." He tells me. He takes a seat at the table and we catch up with each other. He tells me what he's been doing the past couple days and I make up lies about what I've been doing.

Three waffles later, I'm sitting on the couch making fun of a really bad soap opera with Topper.

I hear a buzz come from Topper's phone and he picks it up.