ROCK BOTTOM ~ Rafe Cameron // OC // JJ Maybank

ONE.

*one month later*

When Bexley was younger, she would spend most mornings outside.

Her mother liked quiet in the mornings, so Bexley made sure to stay out of the house if she woke up early, so that she wouldn't disturb her. Bexley would wade in the water, test how long she could stay in cold temperature, test how long she could hold her breath. She would sometimes be put outside to sleep with a life vest on, if her mother had company for the night, so Bexley would often use it to float on her back and watch the sun rise.

When Bexley reached middle school, she would walk to school a few hours before it started, because sometimes the lunch lady would give her breakfast for free if the principal wasn't on campus yet. When she was in high school, she would go to school early for the air conditioning. When she dropped out of high school and started working, she would wake up early and go to work the first hour possible, to get more things done, so that Mr. Cameron would want to keep her as an employee.

When she first started dating Rafe, she stopped getting up early. Because she preferred the mornings with him, and he was a late sleeper, so she'd lay awake beside him until he woke up too.

Then, when things got bad with Rafe, she started getting up early again to avoid the bad attitude he got when waking up.

When she left to live with the pogues, she'd get up early to do chores for the Heywards, and then when they would stay at John B's she'd get up early to wash the pogues's dishes before they got mold on them, since they never washed dishes themselves.

Here, on this island, Bexley finally started spending mornings in the ocean again.

The large house built just by the shoreline had been made specifically by Ward Cameron's request. The house seemed perfect in every way possible. It got the morning sun, but thick glass kept the heat out. You could see the beach, but the cold breeze wouldn't reach the resident's if the doors stayed closed. The patio was almost as large as the house, and there was a private swimming pool. But Bexley had never gone in the pool. The ocean water was her preferred place.

That morning, just as the last few weeks, she got up early enough to watch the sunrise.

She left her shoes and clothes on the sand, dipping into the water in the swimsuit Wheezie provided her. She sat in the water, far enough in so that the ocean was just above her shoulders.

She shut her eyes, relaxing in the water, trying to pretend she was back on the beaches of the outer banks.

One month had passed since she was ripped away from there.

One month had passed since she had seen her brother, or her friends, or her JJ.

One cruel month of being stuck here with the people she blamed for everything.

She took a deep breath, trying to force her mind to relax.

A voice broke the silence. "It's been about half an hour-"

She cut him off with a stern, "I didn't ask."

Rafe Cameron sat on the beach, about fifteen feet behind her.

He was always out here when she was. He was always everywhere she was. Lingering. Or, 'keeping an eye on her', as Mr. Cameron decided to call it.

Because, apparently, Bexley wasn't allowed to be alone.

Rafe kept his eyes on the sand, shutting his mouth at her response. He went quiet again, in the way he was always quiet nowadays. Rafe didn't speak to Bexley that often anymore. Then again, he didn't really speak to...anyone anymore. He was always just kind of...there. He was around, taking up space, but not talking.