This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

sixty two

SIXTY TWO
[62]
song: climbing up the walls by radiohead

It'd been four days on the boat so far. They'd stopped for gas in Bermuda, loaded up on some food and other essentials, but were already running low.

Cassie, who had spent most of the trip leaned over the side of the ship and throwing up, didn't have much of an appetite for freshly caught fish, although everyone else seemed ecstatic.

They ate in the captain's quarters for dinner, gathered around a small table, squeezed tightly together, but continued to laugh among one another like everything about this was perfectly normal.

"The presentation needs work." John B had commented, at the sad piece of grilled fish that sat in the plate in front of him.

"You're lucky I even found seasoning." Cleo chirped back, pointing a finger at him.

Cassie sat in between Pope and Kiara, eating her food quietly, her legs uncomfortable stuck to the cheap leather seats of the booth. Her eyes found the dusty window that looked out into the ocean, the sun setting, then trailed over to JJ, who sat on the captain's bed and ate.

He had been quiet. She'd been told he'd gotten into it with everybody, not just her. Which made her feel somewhat better, that she wasn't the only person he was angry with, but it still hurt all the same.

They continued talking, sharing old stories, erupting into laughter, keeping up morale despite the less than ideal circumstances. John B told a story from a couple years ago, when Pope had slept-walk into his room, and, in his words, 'stood there, looking all possessed and shit'.

To which Pope responded in a laugh, "I literally wasn't even sleep-walking I was greening out."

JJ stood from his spot on the bed, walking over to the table to fork the last of the fish onto his plate. Cassie interrupted the conversation, "that's Rafe's." She stopped him, her hand out.

He paused, looking at her, then to John B, then back to her. "I'm still hungry." He spoke.

"We're all still hungry." She clenched her jaw. "But we're all not tied up in a closet."

Cassie had pleaded with them several times already to let him go. It felt silly, too dramatic. He wasn't going to do anything, he needed them to get to Groff. Where he might cause danger— is when they find do him, and then they serve no purpose to Rafe anymore. And now they'd surely pissed him off, so whatever he might pull next held more validity than it might've before.

But they'd all decided against it, they'd said they didn't feel safe around him. Even the girls, even Sarah. John B seemed even more protective over her than usual, given her pregnancy, so it was hard for Cassie to keep up her arguments.

JJ huffed loudly, retracting his hands and going to sit back down. An awkward quiet fell over the room, everyone giving each other eyes that held so many different meanings.

She hated that they were all up here, and Rafe was downstairs locked in a closet. It all felt so medieval. Standing up, she took grabbed the plate that held Rafe's portion, and nodded for Pope to squeeze out of the booth so she could leave.

He moved, and Cassie moved with him. The tension in the air was thick. She was upset with them for their decisions, JJ was upset with her for being upset with them. They were upset with JJ for being JJ, and everyone was upset with the fact that this boat moved so incredibly slow.