Pretty When You Cry ୨୧ Rafe Cameron

two

'Wake up, we've got work Isla,' John B shook his sister awake.

Isla yawned, stretching out and hitting Kiara, who was now awake too. 'No,' she complained.

'Isla, you can't get fired from anywhere else. Nobody will hire you,' John B explained. He was right, Isla had gotten fired from every job she's had. She wasn't the best at costumer service. She finally found a job that didn't require too much of that, she couldn't just lose it.

'Fine. Working sundays isn't fair,' she said, getting out of bed and bringing some clothes to the bathroom to change into.

She changed into a salmon colored tank top she crocheted and some light wash jean shorts, along with her extremely worn out converse. Her and John B got in the Twinkie and headed to work. She logged some ropes out of the back as well as some cleaning supplies and headed down to the dock, whereas John B had to go pick up a couple things before he came to help.

Tannyhill, where the Cameron's home was was the most gorgeous place Isla had ever been. It was nothing like her own; it was tall, had a taken care of garden, big windows, sculptures. Despite its appeal, it had an empty sense to it.

As she walked out onto the dock, struggling to carry all her stuff, she noticed Rafe on the balcony smoking what she presumed was a blunt. He was wearing a white button up and black sunglasses—like that was a normal outfit to wear at seven in the morning on a Sunday.

She could tell immediately when he spotted her. His expression changed ever so slightly, a line appearing between his eyebrows and a vein popped out of his neck. He took in the sight of her. She looked like a mess as she tried to bring all that stuff to his dock He scoffed to himself, 'pogue.' This was the first time he'd really even bothered to pay attention to who cleaned his dad's boat. The Cameron's had a million people taking care of their massive property.

Rafe couldn't shake the memory of last night. No girl has ever stood up to him like that before. He didn't know how to react when she kicked him you-know-where. It hurt like a motherfucker though. There was this aura around this girl though... one he couldn't shake. He decided the feeling was hate. He sat down, putting his feet up on the table on the balcony. He kicked back and smoked his blunt, not taking his eyes off her.

Isla was hot, sure, he wasn't blind. Once his friend Topper tried to hookup with her, but she just wouldn't have it. That's about as much as he knew about her though. She was a Pogue that happened to be attractive, her dad was lost at sea, and she was a bitch.

Isla decided to ignore Rafe's gaze and continue her work. She reached the end of the dock and began checking the knots attaching the boat, readjusting as needed. She noticed Sarah Cameron inside the boat, sitting on the sofa. She was a bit confused as to why Sarah would be in the boat when she had a whole mansion she could be spending her time in. Isla needed to go inside to get some water to clean with, so she had to confront Sarah. She opened the door and headed inside.

'Oh, hey. Didn't figure you'd be working so soon after the storm,' Sarah greeted her, and awkward smile plastered on her face.

'Yeah, sorry to come in and bother you. Just need to fill this up,' Isla faked being polite.

'No worries. I'll stay in here and out of your hair.'

Isla was plagued with jealousy. Her and Sarah were the same age, yet their lives were so different. She was cleaning her yacht as she chilled on the couch. Sarah lived a life of luxury without lifting a finger, and Isla had a whole life of working just to make ends meat ahead of her.

Isla headed back out onto the deck of the boat and cleaned it, down on her hands and knees scrubbing. Rafe watched with a smirk on his face.

Finally, she got to her final job of the day. Cleaning the sides of the boat, or at least the reachable ones from the deck. She bent over and started cleaning, when suddenly she leaned a little too far trying to reach as slow as she could and she went plunging down into the water. Sarah heard and came out. John B was just arriving to the dock to see her in the water, he chuckled. Rafe laughed to himself on the balcony.

'Are you alright?' Sarah asked, leaning over the side of the boat to see her.

'What happened?' John B laughed.

'Just fell overboard,' Isla sighed, her hair drenched in water aswell as her clothes. She climbed up the ladder and onto the boat.

She noticed something peculiar; her brother and Sarah exchanging a certain look. Clearly, the attention should be on the girl who just almost drowned, but no. They were smirking at each other. Isla thought to herself: did the two of them have something going on?

'Let's go inside and get you some clean clothes. I feel terrible, I can't let you go home soaked,' Sarah offered. She was the only one in her family who would even consider letting a soaking wet Pogue into her house. Isla figured it had something to do with whatever was going on with her and John B.

'Really?' Isla asked suspiciously.

'Yeah, of course. Don't worry about it,' Sarah insisted, gesturing for her to follow her inside.

Isla looked back at her brother. All he did was shrug with a grin on his face. Yeah, something was definitely going on there.

Sarah opened the door to the house. It was gorgeous. It had a massive spiralling staircase. The walls were covered in pictures of the Cameron family, they looked like the perfect nuclear family.

'Just wait here, I'll go get you something of mine and you can change in the bathroom,' Sarah said, heading upstairs leaving her in the doorway.

A moment passed and someone came down the stairs, only it wasn't Sarah. Rafe Cameron.

'You look nice,' he said sarcastically, trying to get under her skin.

'You don't,' Isla snapped back, only this wasn't sarcastic.

Rafe frowned 'awww damn it, the Pogue doesn't think I look nice.'

Sarah came down the stairs holding a blue sundress, definitely not something Isla would be normally seen in, nor could she afford.

'Here, put this on. Also here's a bag for your wet clothes.'

'Thanks,' Isla said, heading into the guest bathroom. Even the guest bathroom had beautiful marble floors and a large mirror, as well as beachy decor. She compared it to her own bathroom in her head. The bathroom back at the Chateau was the only one in the house, and it had panel flooring and old license plates on the wall. It also had pictures of different shipwrecks their dad had been looking at. Now that she thought of it, her bathroom had more personality than the Cameron's.

She put on the blue dress. It fit her well, as her and Sarah were roughly the same size. She looked at herself in the mirror. It barely even looked like her. She came out of the washroom and headed out to leave. Rafe was standing infront of the door.

'Wow, you clean up nice for a pogue,' he said. He wasn't even joking, she looked drop dead gorgeous in that dress. His tone on the other hand did imply that she didn't look as good as he was saying.

'Tell Sarah I said thanks,' Isla ignored him, brushing by him and walking out the door.

Rafe watched her as she got into her and her brother's busted up old Volkswagen beetle and headed off. He thought to himself, well that was interesting.

a/n: hope you enjoyed this part! trying to keep this as slowburn as possible but i promise the action is coming 🫶🫶