This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

thirty one

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
[31]
song: wherever you go by beach house

Her shoes gave her blisters, and the connection was spotty.

She held the flip phone pinned to her ear to try and hear JJ over the wind, as she made her way past the harbor and toward Figure Eight. A long walk to get her car back from Tannnyhill.

"Can you hear me?" Cassie asked, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder, as she used her free hands to zip up her blue hoodie.

The morning sun was warm, but not warm enough to fight against the autumn breeze that made her nose run, and her hair stand up on her skin.

"Yes, can you hear me?" JJ responds.

"Mhm." She says, then grabs the phone from her ear, and huffs. "Sorry."

"Are you ever gonna get a new phone?" He asks.

"With whose money?" She scoffs in response, waving at a neighbor pulling in his small fishing boat as she walked by. "And, it's been nice, actually. It's kept me off social media. And I—"

Cassie stops herself, realizing she wasn't calling to have normal, sibling conversation. She was calling to make sure she hadn't gotten John B killed.

"What are you doing today?" She asks, trying to be casual.

"Might go surfing in a little when it warms up. I'm out of wax though." He says. "Wanna come?"

Cassie inhales sharply, squinting as she walks past the beach, the sun reflecting off the water. "Can't today. I'm helping my grandma with some chores." She thinks for a second. "You can't go by yourself though. The swell's too big."

"I know, I know." JJ waves it off, this was not his first time surfing, though Cassie was treating it that way. "John B's coming."

Cassie stopped in her tracks, almost toppling over with relief.

"—Pope too, but I I haven't heard from him since last night since he's with Cleo." JJ says. "I think he's into her."

"You've talked to John B?" Cassie says, leaning up and taking a deep breath.

JJ was quiet for a second. "Yes?" He says. "He's right here."

Cassie heard him talk to John B as he pulled the phone away from his mouth. Saying something along the lines of: 'say hi to Cassie', to which John B told him he might not actually be able to surf today.

"Seriously, dude?" JJ says. "I haven't surfed on a real board in a month."

John B responded, but Cassie couldn't hear what he said.

"Okay, scratch that." JJ huffs. "Looks like I'm not going."

She hears John B respond. "You can still go." He says

"No, that's not safe." Cassie answers for him, butting into a conversation she felt wasn't hers anymore.

"Cassie says that's not safe." JJ says to John B. "And I am all for being safe." He pauses for a moment, and quiet downs a little. "Hey, uh— did you ever talk to your grandma about maybe letting me crash?"