LITTLE SECRET | RAFE CAMERON

25: 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴

Alice sat on her bed - phone clutched in her hand in case he'd call again - and waited for him to finally show up. Thoughts upon thoughts flew through her mind and the last ten minutes had felt like an eternity to her.

An eternity full of worries about whether this drunken idiot had caused an car accident or was still alive.

However, that fear was allayed when she could hear someone coming up the outside stairs to her balcony. She quickly jumped out of bed and opened the glass door as quiet as possible. The squeak broke the silence of the night as she spotted Rafe staggering up the last few stairs.

His pretty face marked by restlessness.

„Have you lost your mind?" She hissed quietly, yet with a voice full of anger. „do you know how worried I was, you drunk idiot?"

„I'm not drunk." He slurred indistinctly, exposing his own lie.

„I don't care what you are, Rafe" She hissed in a whisper. „you can't just show up here in the middle of the night"

Just by looking at him, she could tell that the late hour was already making him tired. That or all the alcohol that had apparently affected his tongue since every word came out so slurred.

„I know, but I didn't know where else to go" He admitted and made her tilt her head to the side in confusion.

Oh, she knew a few places where he could be right now.

Maybe in his huge ass house, or on his expensive little boat - bought with daddy's money - or at one of his stupid coked out friend's houses, or fucking stuck under a car because he decided to drive after drinking way to much.

But when she noticed the faint glimmer of tears in his eyes, her anger slowly vanished.

„What happened?" She asked hesitantly.

Rafe broke their eye contact by looking away, trying to keep her from seeing the tears in his eyes, but it was far too late for that. She wasn't a damn psychologist, but she knew him well enough to realize that something was very wrong.

There was absolutely nothing left of the tough guy he had played at the party earlier.

„Dad, he uh-„ He began, his eyes flickering. „-he kicked me out"

„What do you mean he kicked you out?"

„He said that I'm a liar and a thief and that I uhm-„ He started, gesticulating with his hands as his voice became increasingly shaky. „-that I can't be trusted and that he can't have me in his house"

The tears in his eyes continued to rise while all his words spilled out of him. She watched in silence as he tried to stop those tears from coming by pressing his palms onto his eyes.

„All I wanted to do was pay off my shit" He blurted out, but gradually his words became so confusing that Alice no longer understood anything.

„Rafe-„

„Everything I do is wrong" He breathed in heavily.

„Rafe, you-„

„Sarah does everything right, he is always on her side" He continued, his voice beginning to break. „But I do everything, I try to do all this shit, me and not Sarah" He pointed to his chest and ignored every little word she tried to say until she took his face in her hands to put an end to this chaos.

His eyes almost reached down into her soul when he finally shut up. She saw - even felt nausea spread within her - and hated the sight of his dilated pupils.

Apparently it wasn't just alcohol that was running trough his bloodstreams.

„It's okay" She said quietly to him. „you'll be okay, but you need some sleep, Rafe"

The first tear that rolled down his cheek met her fingers which were holding his face. She gently brushed them away, making him blink heavily.

„I was worried...something could've happened to you" She sighed in dismay.

„But it didn't."

„Because you were lucky" She shook her head and slowly pulled her hands away. „stay here for the night, I won't let you drive again"

He nodded silently and entered her room as she held the door open for him and then closed it behind her. His eyes darted around her room as if he had never been here before, but the sight of her bed left him emotionless.

She didn't want to know which memories replayed in his mind.

„Here, the shirt you gave me...you know, when I stayed over at yours" She held out the navy blue shirt that she had stashed in her closet when she came home that day after sleeping in his room.

He gratefully took it and changed while she threw another blanket on her bed. He watched her in the warm light of her bedside lamp as she placed a second pillow next to hers.

„If you..." He began, quickly getting her attention. „...if you don't want to sleep in the same bed, I can just-„

„Don't make this harder than it is" She sighed and motioned for him to get into her bed. „just try to get some sleep, I need to go to the bathroom"

As she closed the bathroom door behind her, she finally breathed out again for the first time. She turned on the faucet, the sound of the water was supposed to make him think she was brushing her teeth or some shit, but actually she sat down on the edge of the bathtub with her face in her hands.

This boy would be the end of her sooner or later.

She had arrived at a dead end. A dead end with only two options left to her now.

Either she puts an end to this whole mess and forgets everything that had happened between them so far. For the sake of the many years of friendship with Sarah and for anyone she would hurt with this.

Or, she listens to her heart. Listens to these damn feelings he's making her feel lately. God, he was an asshole, a complete idiot with a head full of impulsiveness and yet he had something that had her wrapped around his finger like an endless thread. Because between all his bad sides, there were these lovely sides that triggered feelings in her which were indescribable.

And that feeling only increased when she came out of her bathroom a few minutes later and saw him.

Him lying on her bed, asleep with breathy snores falling from his parted lips.

His face was graced with a calmness, as peaceful as she had never seen it before. She quietly got into bed, pulled the blanket over herself and looked at Rafe. She carefully brushed strands of his hair out of his face and took a moment to take in the sight of the boy for whom she had fallen deeper than she ever wanted to.