Bad Influence (Rafe Cameron)

Chapter 14

I roll out of bed to a pounding headache. That's normally what happens when I stay up late crying.

I get dressed and go downstairs to eat breakfast. I don't even care if Topper sees me. I'm ready to talk to him. We need to clear the air between us and I need answers about what him and Rafe were doing last night.

I see Topper in the kitchen cooking a big breakfast. He must be trying to make it up to me with food. I have to admit he does know me pretty well.

"Good morning." I say, making my presence known. My voice comes out far colder than I meant for it to.

He turns around quickly, tripping over his own foot and stubbing his toe on the counter, causing him to howl in pain.

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing but fail miserably. I clamp my hand over my mouth to quiet my laughs. I wasn't expecting this to be how this conversation would start but I'm not complaining.

He glares at me before turning back to the food he's cooking.

"I made you breakfast." He says, grabbing a plate and piling food on it.

He walks over and puts the plate on the table.

"Sit. It's about time we had a talk." He tells me. He pulls my chair out for me and I hesitantly take a seat. He sits in the seat next to me and I find myself growing quite nervous.

I start to eat the food in front of me because I'm hungry and he just sits in silence watching me. I swallow my food slowly.

"Well?" I ask, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest.

"I can explain the coke." He starts calmly, but gets cut off by me before he can say anything else.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure there's a great reason you decided to snort some lines with Rafe Cameron. Please, do enlighten me." I snap.

He clenches his jaw to keep from blowing up at me and breathes heavily through his nose. "Don't be so snippy with me Claire. We are going to have a calm conversation and work things out like adults. Let me tell you what I need to say."

I sit there, staring at him silently for a second before nodding in his direction, encouraging him to go on.

"Okay, thank you. As I was saying, I can explain." Topper says, giving his story another try. "At around five Rafe barged into the house uninvited with a bag of coke in his hand. Immediately I turned him down when he offered me some and I told him to get out. He refused and pulled it out, lining it up on the coffee table. At this point I could tell he was already high and wasn't thinking straight. I couldn't just kick him out onto the street and be the one responsible for when he got into some trouble or got hurt.

"He started making comments about how I have changed and am so much more boring and uptight than I used to be. Actually, he began blaming you for my change in behavior. Of course, I quickly shut that down. I didn't like him talking badly about you behind your back. He wanted me to join in so badly he started bringing up Sarah to rile me up. At first it didn't work and I ignored him but then he told me he saw her with that John B guy and I couldn't handle it anymore. He said he thinks they might have some sort of secret relationship. I finally did a couple lines to take the pain away, fulfilling Rafe's stupid wishes. She moved on so fast and it hurt so badly to know that. He knew it would get to me and it worked. I'm so weak."

I see the pain in Topper's eyes and I'm no longer angry at Topper for last night. The night before that, well he still has yet to explain that one.

This is all Rafe's fault. He had to demand I stay at his house. Then he demanded I stay away from the pogues. Now he has to demand Topper to do coke with him? Making my poor cousin miserable to the point where he would do just about anything to take the pain away? That just took it too far. He's so controlling it's to the point where it's almost psychotic. It's not my fault he almost hit me. It's not my fault he's jealous. And it's not my fault he has anger issues. Everything he does is his fault and then he feels bad for himself and gets high to take his pain away.