Disarm / Rafe Cameron

13. Pearl

Pearl
chapter xiii
warnings: self harm

LAYNE WALKED ONTO THE beach in the clothes she had been in all day. She made a point to spray herself with body mist, but was too lazy to actually get changed. Matty had told her that they were in the same spot they were in before, and when she got there, she saw them already floating in the water pretty far away. The waves were rough, and the evening was dreary with the sun barely visible behind a thick blanket of clouds. She had brought a towel and laid it out on the sand next to their stuff. She wasn't sure if they could see her, but still waved, and was surprised when AJ waved back.

They showed off and it was actually making Layne laugh. They would gamble and ride big waves, and fall right off when the wave crashed. She caught herself smiling and it felt odd. Layne wasn't happy—if anything, she was the opposite. But it was nice to have something, and someone else to think about that wasn't Rafe. It seemed as though he had taken the hint when she wasn't answering him, and had stopped texting. He sent one last message saying that he would leave her alone, but that he still loved her, and wanted to see her. Layne couldn't help but feel slightly obligated to oblige. She had said some hurtful things to him, too, but she didn't really think she was in the wrong.

After a while of them failing to get any good waves, the pair of boys emerged from the water and jogged over to where she had set up camp. Layne watched as they both stripped from their wet suits down to their swim trunks, and couldn't help but check them out. They were both decently attractive—but Layne couldn't tell if she thought so just because she wanted something different for a change.

"We thought you weren't going to come. Y'know, since you didn't show up last night." Matty laughed, settling down next to her on the towel. He had slipped on a button up shirt, but left it unbuttoned, and AJ put on a normal t-shirt and sat across from them. Layne felt slightly nervous and adjusted in her spot. "I guess I didn't want to give you what you wanted right away."

AJ laughed, rummaging in his bag to pull out a Ziploc bag of weed, with a lighter and few rolls of paper. Layne hadn't smoked for a while and was growing nervous. "You should've seen Matty. He stayed until everyone left waiting for you." Matty kicked some sand in his direction, and AJ smacked his leg. "Shut the fuck up."

Layne laughed, blushing slightly, and shaking her head. "I'm guessing your boyfriend didn't let you come."

"Ex-boyfriend." she corrected, and felt slightly powerful saying that. They weren't exes yet, she knew that, but it felt right to say that. Matty and AJ looked at each other, then back at her with shocked expressions. "I'm guessing that's Matty's doing?"

Layne thought of all the times that they broke up before, and all the time she should've broken up with him. She wasn't gonna drag them into the drama, and she didn't want to think about how blind she had been for so long. Layne just laughed, looking down at her feet. "Uh—yeah." It wasn't really a lie, but it wasn't the truth, either.

Matty placed a hand on her knee, and she froze up a bit. "Nah...but are you OK, though?" he asked. Layne could never tell when people were being serious or not. Rafe was never really genuine and it felt bizarre to have a boy want to know how she was doing. "Going through the motions I guess." AJ sparked up the joint and took a heavy hit. "This'll cheer you up." he nodded, passing it to her. Layne hesitantly took it and heard her mother's voice in her head. Never smoke other people's weed. Layne felt bad for not caring, though, so she took it anyway and took a long draw, earning a hearty cough once she pulled it from her mouth.