him & i ↠ rafe cameron

Chapter Nine

Dusk began to fall on Kildare as they reached the Country Club.  The car rolled into the C-shaped drive where all the cars were being taken by valet. Wheezie hopped out of the car upon seeing Ward, Rose, Violet and Sarah exit their car to go towards the front of the club. Julia was about to follow suit when Rafe's hand flew to hers, pulling her fingers that were picking her thumbs raw. "Stop doing that," He ordered her in a low tone, his eyes steady on hers. Julia's mouth opened, that was the first thing he wanted to say to her after leaving her alone after they kissed?

"Sure, Rafe. Whatever you say," Julia spit out venomously, ripping her hand from his. She exited the car to follow the Cameron clan in, leaving Rafe to sit alone.

The club was decked out the 9's. It was a beautiful night, the sun setting behind the club was a beautiful accident but the rest had been put together wonderfully. There were twinkle lights strung up everywhere. Pretty wooden made archways that were littered with flowers. A small stage where speeches were to be made, along with a decorate bar that went along with the whimsical Midsummers theme. In the air, a wonderful BBQ smell continued to fill her nose. Julia was awestruck at how the Kooks lived. This was a common occurrence, parties like this. Servers came around asking for drink order and hors d'oeuvres. Everyone who was in attendance had either a beautiful dress or dashing suit. Laughter and cheers filled the air. Sarah came to Julia's side linking arms. "I'm trying to avoid Topper tonight so, you are my date." She whispered into Julia's ear.

Julia nodded as they walked along to the outside greenery of the club. "I'm honored!" She peeped with a grin, moving through the crowd of people, Julia bumped into a girl in a lavender dress. "I'm sorry!" She said apologetically.

The brunette curly haired girl nodded sympathetically before letting her gaze go to Sarah. "Yeah. Whatever," She grumbled, pushing Julia's shoulder as she passed by.

The blonde's hazel eyes furrowed together before glancing to Sarah. "What's her problem?"

Sarah sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "Kiara. We used to be like best friends... I caught her lying to me so I kinda iced her out." Sarah shined her teeth as she put her mouth together in a line. Julia swallowed hard, thinking of the lies she had already been making against her friend. "Plus, she's apart of John B's crew. Thinks I'm gunna eat him up and spit him out or something," She mentioned with a giggle, Julia raised her brow in teasing suspicion.

"Are youuu?" Julia sang and Sarah shook her head quickly.

"No, no, no, no," She spoke quickly. "I like John B... alot. More than I thought I could like someone, ever." Her friend admitted to her sheepishly to which Julia 'aw'd' loudly and Sarah put her fingers to Julia's glossy lips to shush her. The two girls headed for the bar, grabbing a drink. Sarah got a glass of champagne while Julia toyed between the options of wine and a Mai-Tai. Well, wine was plentiful in the Cameron household, she took the Mai-Tai. They both danced to the songs that played on the speakers. It was a good mix of 90's and 00's slow rock and pop songs, along with the hits of today. Wheezie joined in with them, Sarah twirling the tween around and tossing her hand to Julia who did the same, and she went back and forth between the two.

The beginning of the evening was fun, Julia couldn't deny that the Kooks could throw a cool party if they wanted to. The evening kicked off with a few speeches from local members of the Country Club. Then, it came for Ward's coronation as knight of the rhododendron.  Ward had gotten up on stage to the podium to give his speech. Sarah, Julia and her mother, Violet all stood together, while Rose was on stage also, behind Ward with admiring eyes. He spoke of how he grew up in Kildare, loved the Island so much that he wanted to give back... Thus, with his company's growth, he gave back. This Country Club had seen good and bad days but Ward said how he was happy to share all of the memories with the people here. He thanked his family; his 'wonderful' kids and 'doting' wife. He cheer's the audience before giving a way too mouthy kiss to Rose in front of the whole club. Julia's nose scrunched up with disgust, giving a brief look to her mother who rolled her own blue eyes, mouthing 'gross' to Julia which made her giggle.