Golden Hearts | Rafe Cameron

9

0.9

June 8

It's morning, and in an hour, Rafe and I are supposed to go to the country club together and pretend that we're dating. The first day of pretending. The first of too many. I know it won't go well. Not well at all.

I had such a hard time sleeping last night. I lay awake for hours with anxiety about all of this. I also considered almost running into my parents' bedroom in the middle of the night and screaming at Dad, but that would have been disrespectful to my mom. So, I left it be, and miraculously managed to fall asleep after many hours of anxiety.

Now, I'm sitting in my room, wondering if I should call Sarah or not. Does she know about this too? But before I can think any further, there's a knock on my balcony door, which makes me almost jump. People usually don't do that. I get up and draw back the curtain to see Sarah standing there with a sad smile.
I open the door, and she hugs me immediately, and I start crying again.

It's hopeless.

"I heard about what you have to do. I'm really sorry," Sarah says, holding me tightly, and I wish she never lets go. I feel so safe with her. "I yelled at Dad so much yesterday, but he refused to listen," Sarah whispers. I release the hug and meet Sarah's gaze. She looks hurt too.

"How did Rafe react?" I ask with a trembling voice.

"Not great. He and Ward argued all night. I'm afraid Wheezie heard too," Sarah says, looking away from me when she mentions Wheezie.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I say.

"It's not your fault. Not Rafe's either, even though I hate to say it," Sarah says, laughing a little, which makes me smile too, but then we become serious again.

"We're going to the country club soon. If he even shows up. But I guess they'll have to drag us there," I say.

"What if we could just run away from here?" Sarah says. "But I can't leave Topper".

"He can come with us," I say, wiping away my tears.

"We have to make you look nice for your little date. I know it sounds awful, but let me fix you up anyway so we can think about something else," Sarah says, taking my hand, and I follow her into my room.

"You don't have to do this, you know?" She says later as she starts applying concealer to my face.

"But I do... I have no other choice. I just have to do as they say, but I'll never be able to forgive my dad for this," I say, looking down at the floor for a few seconds. My dad will never get forgiveness from me.

"I'm really sorry," Sarah says, taking out my beauty blender from my makeup bag.

Sarah continues to do my makeup, and for the most part, we sit in silence, listening to Taylor Swift, hoping to feel better, as she's our own therapy. There's just something magical about her voice and lyrics that works every time.

Sarah also says a lot of things to cheer me up, which I'm grateful for even though not everything works. But just having her company makes me a little calmer, and I can start thinking about other things. But it's hard when my thoughts always go back to Rafe. I really don't want this.

When Sarah finishes my makeup, she takes out a light pink summer dress from my closet and gives it to me.

"This one is so beautiful," she says, and I change into it. I agree. It's very beautiful and goes well with my light hair.

"Thank you so much, Sarah," I say, which makes Sarah make an awwww sound and give me another hug before she accompanies me down the stairs, where my dad is waiting. Why have they made this the worst thing ever? One would think we're getting married or something.