Golden Hearts | Rafe Cameron [1]

27

June 25

27

We got up early to make it back to OBX before I had to start work at 11 when the surf shop opens. I'm standing at the counter, tired, yawning in the hope that a new customer will come in soon so I have something to do.

It's so quiet in the store that it feels like I could fall asleep any second. But the sound of the doorbell ringing makes me look up, and I start smiling immediately when I see Sarah coming into the store. It's not often I see her here.

But when I see her expression, my smile fades pretty quickly. Worried that something might have happened between her and Topper. But her expression almost seems like she's angry with me.

"Sarah," I say, trying to smile a little.

"What is this?!" she asks loudly, holding her phone out to me where I see a picture of me with the Pogues. I'm sitting next to Kiara, laughing with my ice cream in hand.

"Who took this?" I ask.

"Lilly sent it to me," Sarah says, which makes me roll my eyes.

"We don't like her," I start.

"And we don't like Kiara either. Why are you with her? I thought we agreed we don't like her. She even hurt you, and what are you doing with the Pogues?" Sarah sounds stressed as she speaks.

"I don't know, Sarah, it just got complicated. It's a long story," I say.

"A story I'd love to hear," Sarah says irritably.

"Kiara and I talked it out and resolved our issues," I say, almost bringing tears to Sarah's eyes.

"What do you mean 'resolved'? She cheated on your boyfriend. That's not something to forgive just like that. Plus, I still hate her, and you can't just go around behind my back and be with her. And certainly not with these guys too. You don't know—" Sarah continues.

"I know, you don't need to remind me. It was a one-time thing. It won't happen again," I say.

"I really hope not," Sarah says angrily.

"I'm sorry Sarah."

"But I still won't forgive you for going behind my back and being with Kiara like that. Kiara is my enemy, and so are people who hang out with her," Sarah says angrily before she leaves the store with determined steps. I throw my arms up in the air and sigh loudly.

"What's wrong with me?" I whisper to myself before I feel tears running from my eyes. Not now. Not when I'm at work. My mascara will be ruined. My makeup.

But the tears can't be stopped. They flow down my cheeks like big rivers, and I feel so guilty towards Sarah. Such a bad conscience. Why. Why did I become friends with Kiara again? I just started to like her, and now even my best friend hates me. Sometimes it feels like everyone hates me.

The doorbells ring again, which makes me quickly wipe away my tears and I look up to see Rafe coming into the store, but when he meets my gaze, he quickly turns around and I start to think that he doesn't want to see me like this and leaves me. But he stops outside the door and turns the open sign so that it says closed before he comes in again.

He walks towards me before he pulls me in for a hug. He's never hugged me before. I never thought Rafe would be the person to hug me just like that. But here we are. He hugs me, and I hug him back as my head leans against his white t-shirt, which gets all wet from my tears.

"Was is Sarah? I saw her leave from here very angry," Rafe whispers with a calm voice I've never heard before.

"Mhm," I whisper, but hardly any sound comes out.

"It'll be okay," Rafe says, releasing the hug to look at me. He wipes away my tears with his thumb and smiles faintly at me. "Let me take you somewhere so you can think about something else," he says.

"But work-"

"Forget about it. It's closed now, I've decided. Come on," Rafe says, extending his hand for me to take, which I do this time without hesitation before following him out of the store. Out into the warmth.

We start walking towards the beach, and when we touch the sand, we take off our shoes so we don't get sand in them and hold them in the hands we're not holding each other's. We walk towards the water, along the shoreline.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rafe asks after we've walked in silence for a few minutes. I'm not sure if I want to.

"It's because of Kiara," I say anyway.

"I've never understood what it is with you and Kiara," Rafe says, putting on his sunglasses.

"We used to be friends, which you might remember," I say.

"Yeah, I remember. You were always the wildest bunch, but then you just started hating each other out of nowhere," Rafe says.

"Yeah, but it was because my ex cheated on me with Kiara," I whisper the sentence out.

Rafe's grip on my hand tightens, and he looks at me. "Ex? Do you mean that guy you were always with in school?" Rafe asks. I nod.

"I hated him so much. So cocky. So much self-confidence," Rafe says, as if he's almost jealous.

"Is someone jealous?" I ask, unable to help but smile a little, which makes Rafe laugh.

"Trust me, jealousy doesn't exist within me," he says, smiling.

"We'll see about that," I say, smiling even more. For some reason, I feel happy when I'm with Rafe. Something I could never have expected just a few weeks ago.

We continue walking in silence for a while longer before I stop, causing Rafe to look at me. I hold onto his hand as I look up into his eyes.

"I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually grateful to be able to hang out with you," I say. Rafe's gaze softens somehow when he meets my eyes after what I just said.

"Really?" he asks

"Really," I say.

"I can agree that I've had fun with you lately, something I hate to admit, but it's true," Rafe says, laughing a little.

"I guess we're playing the game a little too well," I say, laughing along.

"No one said you couldn't cheat or come up with new rules, so I guess we can continue doing what we're doing," Rafe says, and it actually makes me happy.
I never thought that more time with Rafe would make me happy before. But now it's different .

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A/N: Thank you for reading this far! What do you think so far? Anything specific you wish for in this story? :)