Country Club Living - Rafe Cameron

Chapter Nine - Breakfast

Breakfast at the Cameron household was never a big affair. Usually, Ward was already in his study, Rose was elsewhere in the house and the siblings did not converse with one another in a silent treaty. So when a very hungover Ivy joined the three of them at 9 am the next morning, she welcomed the silence greatly. Sarah was in a similar condition to her friend having only arrived home a mere four hours ago and rubbed her mascara-stained eyes as she downed a coffee made using the very fancy barista grade machine that sat in the corner of the kitchen, being careful not to slam the cup down on the marble countertop and create a loud bang. Rafe's bloodshot eyes watched her with an edge just in case she did just that, softening once he realised there would be no loud noises for the moment. That was until Wheezie dropped her spoon against her bowl, the loud clink echoing in the heads of the three teenagers as they all groaned loudly.

"Wheeze come on!" Rafe yelled

"Really Wheezie?" Sarah whined, dropping her head into her hands

Ivy pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, pushing her bowl of cereal away from her and standing up from her seated position. She placed the contents of the bowl into the trash and carefully laid the bowl into the sink, heading upstairs to Sarah's bedroom to go for a shower.

In the shower, she let the water roll over her, a protective cover surrounding her fragile body. When she was finished she exited and got dressed for the day, not having any clothes with her she cringed putting the t-shirt she slept in and her shorts from the night before, noting that her outfit from the party smelled very strongly of smoke. Lazily she scraped her hair into a ponytail, needing to use 3 of Sarah's thin hair ties just to keep up her thick mane.

Grabbing her things and slipping on her shoes she headed downstairs to say goodbye to the family when she was met with Ward in the kitchen talking to his children.

"Ivy! I was just telling the kids here that we'll be heading over to your place for dinner tonight. Your dad wanted to break out this new whiskey he had imported from a distillery in Scotland. It's older than he and I combined" he beamed

Ivy smiled politely at him and glanced over to Rafe who had a sour expression on his face, clearly not wanting to spend another second necessary with her, especially not after their encounter the night prior.

"That's great Mr Cameron! I'll see you guys later I better go help my mom with the cleaning" she nodded, giving a polite wave to Sarah who half-heartedly returned the gesture.

The door closed behind Ivy who loudly exhaled. Not only did she have to spend another night with Rafe, she had to pretend that nothing had gone on between them the night before which she was also extremely confused about.

Crossing the pavement and entering her home she announced her arrival. Her mother was in the front room and there was no sign of her father but his car was outside meaning he would be in the study.

"Hi hon, how was your sleepover?"

"Mom I'm 19 nobody calls it a sleepover anymore"

Alexis gave a confused look but continued to read her magazine, her hair was scooped up into a heap on the top of her head and she wore an outfit fit for the gym, to the side Ivy noticed her yoga matt was out meaning she had most likely just finished a workout. Sitting down beside her mother Ivy played with her hands before speaking up.

"Mom? Have you spoken to Uncle Isiah recently?" she asked

Alexis awkwardly shifted in her seat "No. I haven't"

"Do you think you should? You know since we're here, we could go see them or have them over or – "Ivy started

"He's probably very busy Ivy," she said flippantly

"We could try to arrange something though, we're literally a 15-minute drive from them" Ivy pleaded

Alexis sighed "Ivy enough. What's brought this on?"

Ivy did not want to mention her trip to the cut, nor did she want to mention seeing her cousin the night before "Nothing. I just thought you'd like to see him is all"

Alexis's face shifted and for a moment Ivy thought she could see a hint of sadness behind her mother's eyes "We'll see. Now go change, you smell like a campfire"

With a quick nod of the head Ivy headed up the stairs toward her room, she picked out some clothes for the day and tossed her old ones into her laundry basket. Her mother was right, they did smell like a campfire.

The rest of the day went by slowly, Ivy could not help but replay the events of the night before over and over again. She had a great time until spotting her distant cousin and her night became even worse when she returned to the Cameron house and was met with Rafe and his mind games. She mentally prepared herself for the night ahead and decided to call Trevor who answered after just three rings.

"Hey, babe! How are you? I couldn't get a hold of you last night"

"Sorry Trev, I crashed as soon as I got home last night. This heat really takes it out of you" she lied; she wasn't sure why she was lying but it was almost as if she couldn't bring herself to talk to him about the night before

"Yeah tell me about it. I nearly passed out at my graduation in that uniform. I can't wait to see you this weekend! Let your folks know that we'll be there around noon" he beamed

"That's great babe, can't wait to see you too" she said, not believing her own words, she didn't know why she was feeling this way, but it was almost as if the minute she spoke to him she no longer felt the interest to converse with him "We're having people over for dinner so I gotta go help my mom but I'll speak to you later okay, I just wanted to check in"

Trevor looked almost sad that their very quick conversation was coming to an end "Okay, talk later. Love you"

"Love you too" Ivy said back before ending the call button.

She lay on her bed, hair splayed all over the pillow and let her eyes wander the intricate design of the ceiling. She counted the swirls and delicate patterns until her eyes went square. Something she had always done when she lay in her room in Kildare. Rubbing her eyes she stood up and stretched, noticing from the corner of her eye Rafe was standing in the Cameron's yard, he hadn't noticed her as he puffed on a cigarette. Strange, Ivy thought, she wasn't aware he smoked. He looked stressed. He looked up and clocked Ivy standing at the window, she moved back quickly and slapped a hand to her forehead.

"Great well now you look like a stalker" she hissed to herself.