BREAKING | rafe cameron

SEVEN

I still sat on the beach, watching the water splash against it self, my mind wandering, he's better. I smiled at the thought but then frowned, but he beat up my friend, at least once, not to mention the comments he's made. As if Pope was reading my mind, he appeared next to me, a little tipsy but still functional, "hey." He sat next to me, leaving less distance then Rafe but it didn't bother me, I trust Pope with my life. "Hi." I sighed out, glancing at him. "I saw you talking to Rafe, how'd that go?" He questioned, both of us staring straight ahead. "Good, he was sweet." I answered, Pope gave me a gentle nudge, "but?" He egged me on, "but, I can't do anything with him after how he used to treat us." I added.

Pope hesitated before turning to face me, "Charli." He got my attention, "you deserve to be happy, even if that means it's with him, we'll support you, no matter what." He reassured me, I nodded giving him a soft smile, "thanks, Pope." Eventually the party died down, and I made my way back to my friends, ready to head back to the chateau, all of us piling into the van. It was a bumpy ride, but still my eyes kept shutting along the way. Next thing I knew, I was asleep in the backseat.

I stirred feeling a hand on my hip, "get off!" I gasped swinging forward bumping my head against whoever was in front of me. "Jesus, Charli, it's just me!" JJ hissed a hang on his head, I looked around, he was just undoing my seat belt. Kie came running over, "I'm sorry." She mumbled, giving me an apologetic look, "no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, JJ" I whispered embarrassed, I slid the seatbelt off of myself and climbed out the van, leaving JJ sitting there confused at the situation.

***

"Let me help you?" Rafe offered, coming up beside me as I struggled to carry all the groceries, I nodded, allowing him to pull some of the bags off my wrist. I didn't feel any sense of panic when he touched me, that made me feel good even. "Thanks." I smiled at him, catching him looking at me out of the corner of my eye. "Of course." He responded, a lopsided smile on his face. We talked the whole walk to the house I was delivering to, and on the way back down to the dock, "hey, before you go," Rafe gently caught my hand, stopping me, "do you wanna go out sometime?" He asked, clearly nervous. I squeezed his hand lightly, "of course." I grinned, feeling like I was on top of the world, I had a sharpie in my pocket that I used to Mark special deliveries, I pulled it out and scribbled my phone number on the inside of his hand. "Call me!" I shouted climbing into the boat, he watched me with a huge smile, biting the edge of his lip before turning around.

I furrowed my eyebrows together as my phone started ringing in my pocket, just as Pope started the boat up, "hello?" I answered, not recognizing the number. "Hey." Rafe laughed, I turned around before he was out of view to see him staring at me with a smile, I rolled my eyes and hung up. He chuckled, sliding his phone back into his pocket, giving me one last wave before the hills blocked our view. I sat down, chewing on my bottom lip, an undeniable smile on my face. Pope rolled his eyes at the sight, but knowing all to well how I feel, that's how he is about Kie.

I spent most of the night on the phone with Rafe, he asked me a million and one questions, not so subtly trying to figure out what he should do for our date. We had decided on Friday at six, we'll meet at the clubhouse after my shift, I'll get ready there, considering it actually had air conditioning to get ready in. Today was Wednesday and those two days were undoubtedly going to feel like forever. "Oh, wear something nice." He sent a message right after he hung up, I replied with a thumbs up, laying down on my bed with a sigh. My mom still had Grant around but luckily they were staying at his place for a while, leaving me to be by myself which was a gift in itself.