New Light | Rafe Cameron

building the relationship

Since your first dinner date a week ago, you had gone with Rafe to the country club at peak hours, and visited the busiest beach in the middle of the day. You were seen by multiple people, and just as you expected, there was quite a buzz about Kildare Island's newest "couple".

You had fielded a few texts from old friends wondering if hell had frozen over since you'd been seen on multiple occasions with the one person they never thought they'd see you with. Funny enough, they had all congratulated you on your new relationship, and expressed how lucky you were to be with him. You were a little surprised they seemed to just accept that you were dating someone you'd never really gotten along with, but you rolled with it.

Now, with the weekend approaching, Rafe was texting you about hanging out again. You had yet to "work on your chemistry" as he called it, but you knew that the longer this lie went on, the harder you would have to work at it to keep it believable.

Rafe: What are you doing tomorrow?

You: I have a brunch date with Allie and a couple other girls at 11:00, but that's it.

Rafe: Come to my house after. Bring your skimpiest bathing suit.

You roll your eyes as you read the message.

You: Subtle, Cameron.

Rafe: Are you coming or not?

You: I'll come over

Rafe: And the bathing suit?

You: Don't push your luck

You toss your phone on your bed and groan. Rafe was starting to get more flirty with you through text, which made you want to smack him upside the head. You had reminded him a handful of times that the purpose of this arrangement was solely to piss off your exes, and that he needed to keep that kind of behavior to public only.

+++

The next morning, as you're getting ready to meet the girls at your brunch spot, you get a text from Allie.

Allie: Bottomless mimosas at the Island Club til noon - bring your fake with you

You raise your eyebrows in surprise. You weren't sure you were ready to try using your fake ID in a place where a lot of people knew you and knew that you weren't twenty-one, but after a moment of thought, you decided it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.

You: Bringing it. See you soon.

You dig the ID out of your wallet and throw it in the zipper compartment in your tote bag with the other stuff you needed for the day. After much debating, you had, in fact, packed your skimpiest bathing suit for your trip to Rafe's later, if for no other reason than to mess with him. You could already picture his expression when he first saw you in it, and it made you laugh.

Allie comes to pick you up about thirty minutes later, and you meet the other two girls at the entrance to the country club restaurant. The place isn't too busy yet, despite the well-advertised mimosa special.

Brunch is fun, your fake works (it doesn't hurt that your server is someone you've known a while and pretends like it's valid), and you definitely drink too many mimosas to be considered sober. The amount you've drank may be directly related to the fact that you were going to spend some time alone with Rafe, and you weren't really sure how it was going to go without the pretense of a fake date in the public eye.

Allie only has two mimosas during brunch, and she insists she's fine to drive. You're too tipsy to question her, so when you guys finish, you follow her back out to her car.