Good Days •Rafe Cameron•

Satisfied

   

         The hot courtroom radiates with overwhelming intensity as everyone and the jury waited to hear the potential sentence of John B Routledge.
    His tall figure stood out from everyone as he stood in the front wearing a bright orange jumpsuit.
     "John Booker Routledge, pursuant to the North Carolina statue section 14, you are charged with murder in the first degree with aggravated circumstances. If convicted, the maximum sentence would be the death penalty."
     The crowd immediately begins to clamor as most find the sentence to be fair and others, not so much.
    Tears begin to run down Sarah's face uncontrollably as she cries. JJ jumps up from his seat. "Your honor he's seventeen!" He shouts over the crowd of people. Pope shakes his head at JJ. "Quiet." He says, guiding him towards the door.
     I felt conflicted and confused. Like somehow this was my fault. My stomach was in nots as security guards took John B away.
    Sarah quickly runs to the front. "John B!" She cries, reaching for him. The security guard pushes her back. Causing Kiara to snap. "Stop!" She warns. "Don't touch her!" Kiara takes Sarah hand and I take her other. Pope and JJ begin to leave the courtroom as us three girls follow behind.
     As everyone leaves out into the front steps of the courtroom house my eyes stay on Rose and Ward. The two of them walk hand in hand with their lawyers.
    "Justice is served."
    "He had it coming."
     The arrogant comments of the privileged townspeople whisper amongst themselves in glee. I roll my eyes as I hear the disgusting agreements from other people.
    "Is this a joke?" Kiara asked. "Like, are we in hell or...?" She says with disbelief. "We always end up on the bottom." I sigh, following the Pogues.
    Most of the crowd is gone. Only a few stranglers left as everyone clears out the courthouse. "I should have never come home." Sarah cries. "They're gonna kill him, guys. I know it." JJ says, looking down at his boots.
    I internally wince at JJ's comment. But he was right. Lots of people in America have been wrongly incarcerated. Which, most likely led to death sentences.
    "So sorry for what you and your family has gone through. Thank God the system works." One of Ward's lawyers say.
    Kiara immediately stops in her tracks. "Can you please shut up!" She shouts. "Of course you think the system worked because it was made to protect you and people like you." She explains in a fit. Her upper lip curled in anger as she went off at the Kooks.
    I smiled proudly at my cousin as she stepped forward, closer to Ward.
     "He'll have his day in court. A jury will decide." The lawyer says. "He shouldn't even be in court!" She yells.
   Kiara points to Ward. "You should! Cause you're a murderer. You have a lot of nerve showing up to court." She spoke loud. Making sure everyone heard.
   "I know you're upset. I understand you're upset, okay." Ward says. Trying to play the situation off as cool and collected as he could.
    "UPSET?" Kiara screams. Shoupe quickly runs over to Kiara as she jumps towards Ward in a fit of rage. "Hey!" Shoupe warns, pulling her back.
     "Get off of her!" We all yell. Immediately pulling Kiara to us. "Muzzle your damn dog! Why don't you take the Kooks down for a change?" JJ yells in Shoupe's face. "Do you want to get arrested? Get out." Shoupe says.
    Sarah and I put a calming hand on Kie's shoulder. "Come on. Look, it's not worth it." Sarah whispers.
      "Guys, let's go." Pope demands. We finally calm ourselves down. Everyone begins to disperse away from each other.
     Kiara turns one last time to Ward. "It's not a coincidence that your daughter's sitting with us."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     The pitter patter of the rain hit against the porch door. Grey sky's covered the island cooling down the weather.
    I sat tightly on an old rocking chair. My long locs have become wild as they touched my hips. I pulled my legs up to my chest.
    My bare feet sat on the edge of the rocking chair. The white toe nail polish stood out against my brown skin.
    "I'm gonna testify under oath. I was there. I just need to get a hold of my sister." Sarah explained to us. "Sister?" JJ asked. Not thinking it was a good idea.
    "Kie, do you have your phone?" Sarah asked. Kiara hands her phone to Sarah. "Wheezie is the only other person that knows Rafe wasn't home that day." Sarah adds.
    "Wheezie?" JJ repeats. "I don't know what else to do! I got us into this mess. I'm gonna do my best to get us out!" Sarah shouts at him. She storms off inside the Château. Sitting by the window where we're able to still see her.
    "What about you, Be?" Kiara asked. "Hmm?" I hummed. "Rafe texted you that day. He came to to you. Almost killing you. You can testify against him." Kiara explains.
     "That's not a bad idea." Pope starts. "Kiara is right." He agrees. "That could work." JJ smiles. "And you've got the scar to prove it." He says reaching for my shirt and pulling it up; revealing the long scar that ran across my abdomen.
    "Better yet, you might not even have to testify against him. Just tell him to tell the truth if you suck his dick." JJ teased.
    My brows furrow in anger. I slap JJ's hand from my shirt. "One day someone is going to knock you in the head with a machete!" I snap.
    "Come down, girl." He smirks, putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm only joking." He says. I stand up from my seat, getting in his face. "You know what, JJ!" I shout. "I'm getting sick of you spitting out these disgusting comments about me." I snap. I turn to the rest of the group.
    "And I also appreciate how none of you say anything. I know you guys are pissed at me for getting with Rafe. But it's my decision. And at the end of the day, my love life is none of y'all business." I try to hold back tears.
    Kiara looks at me with sad eyes. JJ looks at his dirty boots, avoiding eye contact with me. Pope pulls his lips into a thin line, to avoid saying anything. Sarah stays quiet as she sits inside the Château.
      "That's what I thought." My voice cracks. "I'm gonna go find Rafe. See if I can convince him to come forward." I step away from the Pogues.
      The rain soaks my clothes, causing the thin fabric to stick to my skin. But I don't care. Once I'm far away from the group; I completely burst out into tears. My chest heaves up and down as I try to control my sobs.
     I put my hand to my chest as I take short breaths. The cold metal from Rafe's ring on my finger send a chill along my brown skin.
      I hear heavy footsteps from behind me. "Phoebe!" The sound of JJ's voice calls out. "Leave me alone, JJ." I cry, trying to wipe my tears.
       "I'm sorry." He apologizes. I laugh, credulously. "No, you're not. You're only just saying that. I know you probably think I'm a whore." I say, turning away from him.
    I feel JJ's hand caress my shoulder. But I'm quick to shove it off. "I don't think of you like that." He says. He pulls me forward, so that I could face him. "I think of you as my best friend. A girl who lost her parents. A girl who doesn't think she deserves love. But I love you, Be. We all do. And I might say these fuck up comments about you. But really, I just want you to be careful. Especially, when it comes to Rafe. He's not good for you. And you know it. He hurt you, Be." JJ explains.
    He moves his hand to my stomach, poking my abdomen. "That should be a reminder." He says, before turning away.
    I furrow my brows. "Where are you going?" I called out. "To get our boy out of jail!" JJ shouts.
    I smile to myself. I finally understood why Kiara was secretly love with him. He was very charismatic. And full of hope. Even though he didn't have much hope in his life. He believed in hope for his friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      The smell of weed, alcohol, and cigarettes filled my nose as I approached Barry's trailer house in The Cut.
    The overgrown grass and vines hid his house well, deep in the woods. I carefully walked up to the door. I could hear the faint sound of the TV coming from inside.
   My fist taps lightly on the riggedy door. After a few moments, Barry swings the door open. A bottle of corona in his left hand and his signature smirk upon his face.
    "Hey, Phoebe." He smiled widely at me. "Hey, Barry." I greeted back. I returned the smile. "Are you looking for Rafe?" Barry asked, before I could say anything else.
    I look down at my muddy converse and back up at the young man. "You know me so well." I say. "Yeah, well, Rafe isn't here. I think he's at home with his family." Barry explained.
    I nod. "I figured." I sighed. "I don't really feel like going to the Cameron's. They probably don't really like me." I laugh, nervously.
   The two of us are silent. The only sound is the small echo from the rain hitting the tin rooftop of the trailer.
    "You wanna come inside?" Barry asked, stepping to the side. I think for moment. His house did seem warm and inviting. "Sure." I shrug.
    Barry guides me inside to the living room, which was only three steps inside the small trailer. His hand rested on my back as the two of us took a seat on the couch.
    "So...you and Rafe a thing now?" Barry asked. This time his arm falls behind me on the back of the couch, allowing his hand to rest on my shoulder.
     "Yeah, I guess you could say that." I hum. "It's actually a complicated relationship." I explain. "So what? You don't like him?" He pushes. "Not all day, everyday. But I do love him." I say.
      "So you don't think you could ever hate him for all the things he's done?" Barry says, scooting closer to me.
    I raise my right brow. My skin suddenly became warm as he leaned his body closer to mine. His hand brushes my shoulder.
     "No, I don't think I could hate him." I answered. Barry looks defeated. He stares at the television in front of us. Bonanza, and old show from the the sixties plays softly on the screen.
     "What's with all the questions?" I laugh, nervously. I try to scoot away from him. Pretending as if I was adjusting my position on the couch. But he seems to catch on to my gesture. He moves closer to me. Our bodies sharing heat.
    He puts down the drink on the table and moves his now empty hand to my cheek. His calloused fingers touch my skin. He pushes my locs behind my ears.
     "You're beautiful, Phoebe." Barry spoke. He big brown eyes moves frantically as he looks between my eyes and lips. My heart began to pound. This can't be happening. He cannot have feeling for me.
     "Barry...?" I say, but my voice trails off. "I love you." Barry breaths. I bite my lip, stopping myself from shouting.
    This was not the time. He can't possibly love me. "Barry, please. You don't know what you're saying." I say, closing my eyes. Wishing that all of this was a dream.
"But, I do!" He exclaims. His thick southern accent rolling his words into one. I open my eyes. "It's wrong. This is all wrong. I don't love you." I explain.
"And that's okay, baby." He says, pulling me closer to his body. "I can make you love me. Just give me a chance." He pleads. I shake my head. "This is crazy." I cry.
"No, no, no, no, no." Barry cooed. "Please don't cry. I just had to tell you. I need you to know about my feelings." He explains.
I think I'm gonna go." I say, trying to stand up. But before I could even move an inch, Barry pulls me back down on the couch.
"What are you doing?" I asked, shocked from the sudden change in his demeanor. "Don't move. Don't push me away." Barry demands. His moves his hands to my face. He keeps his eyes locked on my lips. The sound of blood rushes through my ears as I try to comprehend what he was about to do.
And just like that. I feel his soft lips on mine. I don't move an inch. I don't even close my eyes. But as Barry kisses me softly; I feel tears roll down my cheek.
I finally gain some strength to push him way. His lips break way from mine, but he quickly tries  to reach for my lips again, but I turn my face away from him.
"Are you satisfied, now?" I asked. Standing up from the couch. Barry looks hurt by my comment. "I didn't mean to make you cry or to hurt your feelings-."
I cut him off. "You're supposed to Rafe's friend." I say. Barry shakes his head. "We're not really friends." He answers.
I scoff, rolling my eyes. "Wow." I breathed. "I have to go." I quickly rush out of Barry's trailer.
The night sky was bright with stars as I trudged back to the Château.