you found me - Rafe Cameron

XVI - back to life

"Have you got everything?" Nathan asks as I finish getting all my stuff from my room.
"Yeah I should be good." I say sitting on the bed.
He stands at the door.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"Nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I just- are you sure this is what you want?"
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Like being with him and moving back to New York."
"Yeah, I'm positive. I love him and I want to be with him." He slightly smiles.
"Noah's waiting downstairs for you." Jessica says outside my room.
"Coming now." I say smiling.

I said goodbye to Sarah and the others yesterday and they all supported my decision to be with Noah. But I haven't told Rafe that i'm going back to New York but I want to forget about everything and leave it in the past where it belongs.

I walk down the stairs and Nathan drives Noah and I to the airport. We share our goodbyes before we all head back to our separate homes.

Noah and I finally get back to New York and head home. We go straight to bed because we are both absolutely exhausted after the flight.

I wake up expecting the same old small room with the ocean as the view through the window but it's not. It's back to the huge bedroom with a huge window facing the city. It's still an impeccable view. I look beside me and Noah is still sleeping so I get out of bed and make myself a coffee before going in the shower.

After some time, I leave the bathroom and walk into the bedroom in which Noah is making the bed.
"Hey, did you sleep okay?" He asks.
"Like a rock."
"Good." He says.
"What time is it?" He asks.
"Erm, it's... nine." I say checking my phone.
"Oh shit i'm going to be late for work."
"Oh right." I say. I'm not sure if I even have a job there anymore but I feel it's very much obvious I don't. Especially what happened with Noah's father and the fact I disappeared for a while.

I sit on the bed while Noah gets ready for work.
"Everyone at work is going to this club later if you fancy going?" He says.
"Uh yeah sure, why not."
I don't feel like going clubbing but I guess it's something Noah wants to do or else he wouldn't have mentioned it.
"Alright I gotta go, love you." He says kissing my head.
"Love you too." I say before he leaves.

I spend the entire day cleaning the house and the door knocks around half twelve. I go to the door opening it to see Leanne.
"Lea? Hey." I say surprised.
"Hey you, can I come in?"
"Yeah come in." I say moving out the way.
We sit down on the sofa and she hands me a coffee she got from the cafe.
"So fill me in, what's going on?"
"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" I ask laughing.
"I have dinner hour plus they won't notice i'm gone so come on, talk to me."
"Well obviously Noah and I had the dinner with his parents in which we told them about our engagement."
"Right, continue." She says sipping her coffee.

"Well it received mixed reviews."
"Oh gosh, what happened?"
"Well long story short, his mother was pleased and very happy for us both but his father however, not so much. He basically called me a disgrace and he fired me. Oh and he also said that he shouldn't have married me and he should have chosen this girl or something."
"What a selfish asshole."
"I know right."
"And a complete control freak. I mean Noah's a grown man why is he still trying to control him and his life."
"I don't know, it's weird."

"And to make it worse, Noah just stood there and allowed his father to say all that shit like he never even stood up for me once."
"Oh my god are you kidding me?"
"I wish I was. It's like he didn't care what his father said about me and I just sat there just waiting for him to defend me but he never did."
"What a complete dickhead. Who the hell would stand there and let an ignorant pig talk to their fiancé like that." She seems genuinely mad.
"But that's not the end of it. It gets worse."
"Oh no, I sense suspicion."

"Well I didn't know what to do so I left New York and went back to my old home, Outerbanks."
"That's good you know giving yourself a break from things."
"Yeah, originally that was what I wanted by leaving but it didn't. I made everything worse."
"What did you do Shaine James?"
I pull a face at her like a guilty look.
"Oh my god did you cheat on him?" She asks. I look down basically giving her the answer yes.
"Holy shit, with who?"
"Just this guy from my very very dark past."
She sits there shocked for a moment until she smirks.
"What?" I ask.
"Is it bad to say i'm proud of you."
"Erm I mean yeah kinda."
"I mean I can't lie, Noah deserves it. He took you for granted so he deserved that little push."
"That's also another thing, Noah doesn't know."

"Oh shit." She says.
"Yeah and I don't know what to do."
"That's a problem."
"Yeah. I don't know whether to tell him or not."
"Well did it mean anything?"
"No. I think it was like a for old times sake kinda thing."
"Then there you go, I don't think you should tell him."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I wouldn't worry too much about it now."
I nod. She stays for a little longer before going back to work.

It was laying heavy on my mind whether or not to tell Noah about what happened with Rafe but I guess we both have a clean slate now and I don't want to ruin things when we are finally back on track and back to how we used to be.

I watch tv for the remainder of the day until Noah gets home.
"Shaine?" I hear him shout from the door.
"In here." I say. He walks in.
"Hey."
"Hey. How was work?" I ask.
"Fine. Come on get ready."
"Right now?"
"Yeah we're going clubbing, remember."
"Oh right yeah." I say before getting up.

I go through my closet and search for the perfect dress to wear for tonight. After a long time searching I pull out a short burgundy cami dress. I put it on and Noah walks in.
"What do you think?" I ask.
"Looks great, come on cars here." He says without looking up from his phone. I get my bag and walk downstairs to the car.

The whole drive Noah didn't say a word to me. I don't know what's going on. He's just infatuated on his phone. We arrive to the club and we push past the entire queue of people and the security guards let us through. We walk inside and I see Leanne and her husband sat on a booth so I walk over and sit with them.
"Shaine, hey." She says hugging me.
"Shaine this is my husband, Jeremy and Jeremy this is my good friend Shaine." We shake hands.
"Nice to meet you." I say.
"You too, Leanne never shuts up about you." I laugh.
"She's a legend." She says to her husband.
"So where's Noah?" Leanne asks.
"Erm I don't know. He's been quite weird tonight." She frowns.

An hour or so goes by and Leanne and I are still sat together drinking. Still no sign of Noah.
"Come on, let's go dance." She says grabbing my hands.
We walk to the dance floor and stand dancing. We go to the bar and neck about three shots within three seconds before going back to the dance floor. We start dancing again and I can feel the alcohol really starting to hit me. Someone behind me grabs my waist and starts dancing with me. I carry on dancing and turn around to see the face. The all too familiar face.

Rafe?