Bad Influence (Rafe Cameron)

Chapter 26

Two weeks.

Rafe has been in his coma for two weeks. Doctor's say there has been no sign of him waking up anytime soon. The only thing keeping them from pronouncing him dead is the fact that they're still catching glimpses of brain activity from him and his heart is still beating.

I don't even know what to think anymore. If I had known what the future were to hold that night I walked out of his house crying, I would have tried to be a bit more understanding. I would have let him explain himself further. I would have tried to see things from his point of view.

Sure things started out as a bet, but that's not what they ended up being. We grew a connection. Over time, I think I learned to love him.

I love Rafe Cameron.

He's messed up, and crazy, and honestly a bad influence on me, but he's also sad, and broken, and lonely. He needs me and I don't plan on walking away anymore. We will work through his struggles, together, one day at a time.

A tear escapes my eye as I stare into my vanity mirror in front of me, seeing an empty shell of who I was before I met Rafe.

What has he done to me?

A knock at my door tears my eyes from my mirror and my voice cracks as I say, "Who is it?"

"It's JJ," I hear the voice answer from the other side of the door, "Can I come in?"

My stomach lurches at the voice on the other side of the door. I have been so focused on Rafe I've been ignoring my friends. I'm not ready for him to see me like this but I stand up regardless and open up my door.

JJ lifts his head quickly from where it was previously staring down at the floor and his eyes widen when he sees the state I'm in.

"Claire, are you alright?" He asks worriedly, taking his hand and cradling my cheek in it.

I find myself leaning into his hand, so desperate for comfort, before flinging myself into him and wrapping my arms tightly around his waist.

He laughs lightly before putting his arms around my shoulders and embracing me back.

"I missed you." I mumble against his shoulder, tears threatening to spill from my eyes again.

JJ leans back and looks me in my eyes before saying, "talk to me Claire. What happened?"

I pull away and sit on my bed, waiting for him to follow me.

He takes a seat a foot away from me and looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to talk.

"Where do I even start," I say before humorlessly laughing, "Well, long story short, I found out Rafe and my relationship started off as a bet, and then when I broke up with him for it he took drugs to cope, but some of the ones he took were laced and he got hit by a truck on the way to the hospital and now he's in a coma."

JJ stares at me with his jaw slack and his eyes wide for a while after I say this before he just says, "Wow."

"Yup." I say softly, staring down at the floor in front of me.

"First of all," JJ says, "I just wanna say how sorry I am, about all of this. I mean this is crazy. First the relationship thing and now the coma. But I mean how are you holding up right now?"

Tears fill my eyes again and I shake my head before turning to JJ. "Not good JJ. I miss him so much. There's so much I need to tell him but I don't know if I'll ever be able to. We've wasted so much time arguing and having problems and I'm afraid that's the only thing I'll have to remember him by."

He nods his head in understanding and reaches out to grab my hand. I let him and he squeezes my hand in comfort, keeping our intertwined hands directly between us.

"You really care about him, huh?" He asks with a smile on his face.

"Yeah," I answer, smiling as well, because it's true, I really do care about him.

"So you're ready to forgive him then?" JJ asks me curiously.

I just nod before answering, "I love him JJ. I don't know why," I laugh humorlessly, "but I love him."

JJ just nods in understanding and squeezes my hand again in comfort. He then stands and gives me a sympathetic look.

"I've gotta go and let the others know you're not dead. I won't tell them about your situation if you don't want me to. I also don't think they would believe me if I told them. You have to admit it's a pretty crazy story."

I laugh and nod in agreement and he continues, "Anyways, call or text if you need anything, remember I'll always be here for you Claire."

"I know, thank you JJ." I say, standing up to give him one last hug before he goes.

"Take care of yourself Claire." He says as he pulls away from the hug and walks out the door of my bedroom.

I listen to the sound of his feet make their way down the hallway and stairs and don't sit back down until I hear the front door close.

I lay down in bed and decide to go to sleep early tonight because I've gotten to the point where I have nothing better to do.

As I try to sleep I think about the future. A future where Rafe and I are together, and he's clean from drugs, and we enjoy a nontoxic, drama-free relationship.

Just as I'm about to drift off, I hear my door open and Topper whisper, "Claire? Are you up?"

I groan and cover my head with my pillow.

"I'm not now, thanks to you." I grumble.

"Well I thought you'd wanna hear this, it's pretty important," Topper said, sitting on the edge of my bed and shaking my shoulder.

I fling the pillow off of my face and glare at Topper.

"What on earth is more important than my beauty sleep."

He just raised an eyebrow before muttering something along the lines of, "It doesn't seem to be working for you anyways."

I gasp and fling my pillow at him and he laughs and flings it back.

"Now listen up you little brat," he starts, smirking when I throw the pillow at him again and he manages to dodge it, "this is more important than your 'beauty sleep'." He says, making air quotations on the last part.

"Okay fine. Tell me," I say, sitting up in bed.

Instead of telling me, he grabs his phone and pulls up a video before showing it to me.

On the screen is a video of a very tired looking Rafe, sitting up in bed, taking a sip of water and giving a half hearted thumbs up to the camera. I see that the video was sent from Sarah about 10 minutes ago.

My heart leaps from excitement and my eyes fill with tears from the raw emotion I'm feeling.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" I ask hopefully.

"Well what do you think it means?" Topper asks, toying with my feelings, and I smack his arm.

"Is he really awake?" I ask, already knowing the answer to the question but I want to hear the words come out of his mouth.

He nods at me and smiles.

"Rafe's awake."

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A/N: Hey guys, it's been a while... Again. I know I take forever to upload. Please just be patient. Honestly the only reason I still update is for your guy's sakes bc I've kind of lost interest in writing this story. I'll give it a few more chapters before wrapping it up. I hope you guys have liked the story, I'm also sure you have noticed how the writing progressively gets better as the story goes on. After all it is almost two years in the making.  😭 Please continue to vote and comment though, bc I love seeing you guys interact with this story. I do actively check comments and you guys are hilarious. Thanks for the love and support! ❤️