Desire, Drugs, & Destruction - Rafe Cameron

~4~

10:38pm

"Rafe we need you to come drive all 3 of us" Sarah pleads on the phone. 

"All 3 of who?" I distinctly hear from Rafe on the other end. Sarah rolls her eyes at his stupid question, "Me Kie and River." She sighs, clearly exhausted. "Okay i'll be there." He replies and hangs up. 

"Is he always this reliable?" I ask, chuckling as I do so. "Nope..this is a rare moment let's appreciate this." Sarah jokes, causing the 3 of us girls to laugh. 

The beaming white headlights blaring into my back window, the two obviously turning their brights on, causing us to squint our eyes. "Assholes." Sarah scoffs and gets out of the car and into the front seat of Rafe's truck, switching with Myles. The blonde boy walking up to me has my stomach in knots. "Hand me the keys. I'll take your car to your house." I look him up and down before replying, "If you don't change the seat to how it was before I'm gonna be pissed. And don't crash my shit, I know how you guys drive around here." 

"Don't worry darling, your car is in good hands." Myles winks at me as I hesitantly pass him my keys. I walk over to the car and open the door to sit in the back with Kie. 

"Hey hey Sarah you gotta get in the back. River come sit up here." Rafe blurts, widening his eyes at Sarah. The blonde rolls her eyes and gets out of the front seat. I get a pit in my stomach as I get out and get into the front, confused as to why Rafe wants me to sit in the front. 

"You better find a way to make up for this Rafael." Sarah spits, angry at her older brother. "I got you" Rafe calmly replies. 

***

The drive is peaceful and quiet until the silence is broken by the sound of Rafe, "Maybe we can get to know one another better." He turns his head to look at me. I laugh at his boldness and reply, "Maybe Cameron. I got other plans though."

  I didn't necessarily have any plans actually. Just wanted to turn him down a bit. I can tell he's not the dating type, considering the way Sarah was so okay for me to sit in the front requested by Rafe. Like she was familiar with it. 

As we pull up to my house, I see my car parked already. In perfect condition. "I guess he kept his promise" Sarah jokes and I laugh. "Also we could spend the night at my house if you guys want. Me or River's is fine I don't have a problem with either or." 

"Let's stay at yours", I say, not wanting to go home in my drunken state although I've sobered up from the drive. 

***

We're all sitting on Sarah's bed, as we just got into her room. She grabs a tote bag that's zipped  close, looking around as if she were looking for something or someone, she discreetly shuts the door and locks it. 

Me and Kie, confused as we were, looking at one another and shrugging. The blonde then unzips the bag, slowly and painfully, as my inner child is dying to know what's in it. 

She pulls out various bottles of alcohol. "You're joking." I say, my jaw is on the floor as she continues to pull out more. "A whole handle of Tito's would not only fuck you up, but all of us." Kie begins, "Do we really need that much?" 

"It's enough to last us until next weekend." Sarah smiles and opens the Tito's bottle. 

At this point, the only day I was sober off everything was the day we got on that flight. Disappointed in myself, there's no turning back now.

 That hole I had promised myself I'd never fall in again, has opened. Even after I filled it 100 times before. 

I started drinking when my father's alcoholic behavior began when I was around 14 .To see what the deal was. I never understood why, until now. 

I grab the handle of the alcoholic beverage and start downing it. I didn't care how strong it was, or how the burning sensation in my throat felt. Because I liked it. 

The burning in my throat symbolizes all the pain I cannot feel physically. In which, I'd prefer over having mental pain. Not something I'd talk about with people since I come and go. Never got that close with anyone. Although I wish I could. 

Still drinking the alcohol, tears began running down my face. 

I had everything, physically and financially. I had nothing, mentally. My parents are so big on talking about how we feel but once I explain, they turn it on me. It's always my fault for something. My father clearly has mental issues as I do too, but he never talks about it either. 

We both just drink the sorrow away. 

"River are you alright?" Sarah walks over to me, wiping my tears as I finally put the bottle down. "Yeah it just burns..", I began, "Like really bad."

I bolted out of the room to find a bathroom. I check about 2 empty rooms before finding the bathroom. As I get in, I shut and lock the door behind me. 

I look into the mirror and see myself. My father's eyes looking back at me. I turn on the faucet and let it run for 2 minutes. I then plunge my face into the cold water to refresh myself.

I lift my head up and scan around the room for a towel, my eyes landing on a black face towel. I feel the heat roaring in my stomach from the vodka and how much I drank. I ignore it and grab the face towel, wiping the dripping water from my face and putting it back in place. 

I stumble out of the bathroom, not being able to see much in the dark, I open Sarah's door... 

Or what I thought was Sarah's. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What should happen in the next couple of chapters ???