TELL NOBODY - obx jj maybank x rafe cameron

Part three

A day after the party JJ still hadn't managed talk to the others about what'd happened, and it felt easier to not talk to them at all.

The stubborn nature of his friends refusing to seek him out had left him, for the first time in a long while, utterly alone. And, given that boredom was always the key culprit in his worst decisions, when JJ ended up scaling the walls of Tannyhill that night and climbing through the window to change the dressing of Rafe's wound, he found himself not only surprisingly looking forward to the company, but surprised that he had managed to avoid trouble, about the gun, or about, well, anything else.

"Hey Cameron."

Rafe looked around to see JJ leaning lazily against his windowsill, grinning cheekily, the tips of his tousled blond hair slightly catching the moonlight. He wore only board shorts . He couldn't shake the nerves from his stomach, that overwhelmed even the agony he was in, he felt confused by how after one day he was so accustomed to the pouge's presence.

"Hey, blondie" Rafe responded, a smirk playing on his lips.

JJ scoffed and flopped onto the bed Rafe was sitting on, "This won't take long."

JJ sat up to remove the bandage, dismissing the way Rafe flinched as he took it off, noticing the top he was wearing was the one he'd lent him. He removed that as well.

As JJ pulled the top over his head Rafe sucked in air, flinching and turning away from JJ.

"Did they never teach you to sit fucking still in yours posh school?"

Rafe shifted back leaning his back against the bedframe as JJ applied the dressing to his wound, listening to the post-storm winds picking up outside.

"So, what are your plans for tonight?" Rafe asked, rather disinterested, hoping to fill the gaping silence that had suddenly engulfed the room. "nuthin much" JJ replied, unwilling to admit his lonely situation. With Rafe's wound bandaged up JJ followed Rafe's suit, leaning against the bedframe. "My Dad's home." JJ admitted, "So I don't want to crash there."

"Where are you sleeping then?"

JJ weighed up his options, and settled on the fact he had nowhere to go. Typically he would go sleep at the chateau but that wasn't an option for tonight, as he still needed to figure out how to approach his friends again.

A moment of quiet made the answer Rafe sought obvious. JJ was fucked, he had no where to go and was presently homeless, couch surfing at the age of 16.

"I gotta sofa in my room if you need, but only if you really don't have anywhere else" Rafe offered nodding in the direction of the olive green sofa in the corner of the room, adorned with a blue woven throw, suprising himself and JJ with the pleasant gesture.

"No, its fine" JJ stubbornly rejected.

"Where are you staying then?"

After yet another awkward pause, Rafe answered his own question. "JJ, don't be a idiot, you're staying here."

"No, I'm not, stop pestering me with your stupid fucking charity." JJ suddenly stood up, his top scrunched up in his hands, pissed off.

"Look out the fucking window"

Rafe grabbed JJ's shoulders and shook him as he refused to oblige, turning JJ's torso toward the window.

"You see that?" Rafe pointed at the shaking palm trees, "I know you're a dumb Pogue but there's a brain rattling about somewhere in your head, and you know the winds we get after a storm - you're not sleeping outside in in some bolted together piece-of-shit shack. You're sleeping here, end of story."

JJ hesitated, he thought of his friends, what they would say if they knew he was fraternising with the enemy. With no other option it was the obvious choice, though that didn't heal his dignity. He smiled - in a sarcastic polite manner - likely for the first time and definitely for the only time Rafe had got his way, but this wouldn't happen again. "Thanks dude." JJ replied.

Rafe tossed him a pillow. As Rafe flicked out the light he observed JJ kick off his sandals onto the carpet and wrap the throw around himself as he slumped down on the couch. For such a odd situation everything felt entirely natural to Rafe. Entirely right.

"What, you said earlier, my father isn't a bad man y'know." Rafe spoke up, breaking the somewhat comfortable silence. "But all he sees is Sarah. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, everything is fucking Sarah." Rafe gestured aggressively with his hands, "He's been oblivious to my existence since Rose moved in. He really just doesn't understand, I know he expects... so much from me, and I'm willing to do that, but I - I don't know how to do it, man."

JJ looked at Rafe as he stood up pacing as he continued, "And now I've fucked up dude, I know that this shit" Rafe gestured around the room as he collasped onto the sofa besides JJ "May look all shiny n' shit, but it ain't mine until I earn it, and I doubt I ever will. Fuck that. I know I never will." 

Rafe then paused for a moment, distress swirling in his mind. "Not unless I can fabricate 10 grand by Sunday"

"What've you done then Cameron, that Daddy dearest can't bail you out?" JJ implored, a glimmer in his eye as he looked into the fractures in the perfect Kook household.

"I've been dealing for Barry"

"And?"

"and I've spent his cash on my new bike"

"Coke Barry?"

Rafe nodded.

"No teeth Barry?"

Rafe nodded.

"Well shit."

Rafe suddenly felt more slightly uncomfortable about the fact that he had been been so open, but this dynamic confused him. Aside from a few stragglers, most of his friends had buggered off to the mainland for college. Being mates with his sister's dickwad boytoy belittled him, and what's more is that even he could see that amongst that herd, not one of them had a grip on life, not one of them was competent enough to form an individual thought. Beer. Golf. Boats. Coke. They lived in a little mundane cycle waiting for their parents to drop dead so they could cash in their inheritance.

And all of a sudden he was sat in his room, on his sofa next to JJ, a reputable Kook next to a miscreant Pogue.

The door was slightly ajar, letting in a slant of light which illuminated the dimly lit space. But it wasn't needed. Because next to him was an irritating kid, who at 16 was somehow more stubborn, passionate and full of life than he could ever be, whose charisma and boyish smile lit up the room. Who shone. And who, for some unknown reason, refused to leave his mind. He didn't understand. Why should he be jealous of JJ?

Nevertheless Rafe couldn't move his gaze away from him.

And it seemed to Rafe that JJ saw him.

Not just an arsehole Kook who had everything. He was still certainly that. But not just.

He was an insecure boy. Desperate to please.

JJ touched his hand to Rafe's jaw in a brotherly gesture, and pulled his face towards his.

"You're doing fine okay , we'll work it out." He smiled softly and paused for a brief moment, before turning back to Rafe, "I bet your dad loves you man", he said solemnly, lacking his typical wit or sarcasm, "he'd be a idiot not too."

Rafe nodded yet again, unsure to how to respond.