𝚂𝙾𝙱𝚁𝙸𝙴𝚃𝚈 𝚆𝙾𝙽𝚃 𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙷 𝙺𝙸𝙳𝚂 𝚃𝙾 𝙳𝙰𝙽𝙲𝙴 ,, j. b routledge

5I how many special people change, how many lives are living strange

introducing Owen Wilson as Favio Antonelli

Chapter Five

Champagne Supernova/Dear Prudence (The Pretty Reckless)

"how many special people change, how many lives are living strange"

I was sitting on the balcony at the hotel in Charleston. The dress shirt I was wearing brought back a lot of memories I wasn't sure I was ready to deal with, but it was the only one that still fit me.

"Come on, Sie. They're going to love you."

I shook my head "Rafe, baby, they know me as the girl that fixes their cars."

"Wheezie and Sarah already consider you one of us. Come on."

Sighing, I passed him my leather jacket and followed him inside. I was meeting the Cameron's for dinner, against my better judgement.

"Hey," Rafe said, gently gripping my wrist. "If it gets to be too much, just tell me, okay?"

I nodded, leaning into his side as we entered the kitchen.

"Dad, Rose, this is Sienna. My girlfriend."

The look on Ward Cameron's face was not one of approval. "Rafe, son, can I talk to you for a minute?"

He nodded, a slightly scared expression dancing across his eyes.

"Baby, I'll be okay. Go talk to your dad. It's okay." I kissed him gently and he went off into another room with his father. I could hear yelling. Somewhere in my gut, I knew this was not going to end well.

"Sienna, darling, is everything okay?"

My mom stepped out on to the balcony, taking in my sad, glazed expression as I looked out onto the harbour

"Am I a selfish person for leaving Rafe like I did? At a time when I think he needed me most?"

The dinner went by slowly. Clipped conversations between me and Rose, awkward silence from Ward. If Sarah and Wheezie said anything, they treaded lightly. I realized a lot later that it wasn't the kids who were toxic, it was the house they were living in.

Mom sat down next to me, brushing a strand of my pink hair away from my face. "I think that you did what you had to do in order to survive. The road that boy is travelling on would have ended poorly for both of you."

"Then why do I feel guilty? I left to protect myself. After what happened to you, I couldn't watch Rafe destroy himself."

Eventually, it got to be too much. I squeezed Rafe's hand twice under the table. A signal we developed for when my social anxiety became too much.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Cameron, can I use your bathroom?"

"Of course, darling."

I didn't go to the bathroom. I bailed out a back door and went down to the dock at the back of the property.

I was standing with my feet in the water, headphones in, watching the night sky. Somewhere in the house, the dinner had taken a terrible turn.

"Rafe, what were you thinking?!" Ward boomed

"Dad come on. Can't you let this social class thing go for five minutes to see that I actually found myself a nice girl?"

"Does she know about the drugs!?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, boy. Does Sienna know about the drugs? The same drugs that caused her last employer to beat the daylight out of her for trying to pick up extra shifts?"