Country Club Living - Rafe Cameron

Chapter Thirty - Dreams

A/N- I literally wrote this bc I was listening to Don't Dream It's Over lmao

His hands travelled up her sun-kissed body, lingering over every groove and bump, ensuring he took it all in. The touch of his fingertips raising the hairs on her skin as she laughed joyously. The mid-afternoon sun was peeking through the curtains, illuminating her face with a warm glow. They hadn't left the bed they lay in all day. Staying in their own cocoon of happiness. His lips grazed her cheek before finding their way to hers, a smile forming before they pulled apart and she uttered the words 'Wake up'.

Rafe was brought back to his reality which was the furthest thing from his dream. In his bedroom the curtains were drawn tightly closed, shielding him from the outside light, his head pounded and the remnants from his party for one lay strewn around the room that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in forever. Clothes lay in heaps, a collection of dishes sat piled up on the bedside table. Sighing deeply he stared intently at the ceiling, as though the smooth surface could tell him something, wishing and hoping that he could fall back asleep and return to the subconscious state where he and Ivy were still together, still in their own bubble together, where nobody could pull them apart.

It had never been his plan to fall for the girl next door, but he had and was now dealing with the consequences, the past few weeks had gotten him thinking. Perhaps if he had been a better person, not known for his antics and addictions. Would it have ended up a different ending? Would her father have accepted them together and let her be with the one person he truly wanted to change for? But it was too late to change now, the damage had been done and Rafe was rotten from the core. Despite how much he wanted to change for the girl with the eyes that shone like gold, he knew it wasn't possible. That she would go off to Harvard and become a lawyer because that's what her parents wanted for her, and she would find someone like her father, perhaps maybe get back together with Trevor and live a life in blissful ignorance, forgetting about the summer of deceit and betrayal in Kildare, forgetting about him.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the noise of a large truck outside and the voices of unknown men, due to his paranoia he peeked his head out from behind the curtain, regretting the decision the moment the light hit his eyes. Hissing like some sort of supernatural creature. Taking a moment to adjust he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm and retried, squinting them this time to minimise the amount of light entering his corneas. When he finally managed to make out the writing on the truck he noticed it was a moving van, and beside the van he saw his dream girl standing there, wearing the same linen shirt she had worn on the boat that day and a pair of flowy shorts. What little he had of a heart ached when he saw her, she was putting boxes into the back of the van and talking with her mother. Stood beside her was a man he did not know and a younger boy he knew to be Elijah Jacobs, he put the pieces together and realised it must have been her family from her mother's side. He did not know much about them but from overhearing stories through the years he knew that there was some sort of family drama that stopped them from talking.

Ivy sported a smile as she laughed at the man's jokes, she looked happy but not the happy that Rafe had come to know. As awful as it sounded, it stung for Rafe to see her smiling, he wanted her to be in the same position as him, self-loathing and pitiful, going nowhere but a downward spiral. It was almost as if she were already forgetting what they had shared. Eventually, Rafe closed the curtain and retreated back to his former position in the bed, hoping that by some miracle, that this was the dream, and he would wake up with Ivy in his arms.

After some time, he trudged downstairs in search of food. Rafe had always been one to take pride in his appearance and was incredibly athletic all his life, he ate well and despite his partying and drug habits, tried to make sure his fitness was a priority. In the recent weeks, he had let this slip. Only consuming whatever food took the quickest to make if anything at all, not working out and even finding himself struggling to go for a 10-minute run. As he entered the kitchen Sarah eyed him looking at the baking on the counter.

"Rafe? You don't look so good" she said, slightly concerned

"I'm fine" he grumbled picking up a pastry from the counter and heading to the fridge

Sarah chewed at her lip, she hadn't seen much of her brother at all and as much as she would typically revel in this, knowing what happened between Ivy and him she wondered if he was taking it harder than he would ever reveal. "I know... about you and Ivy, I'm sorry Rafe"

Rafe gripped the handle of the fridge a little harder at the mention of her name "Whatever"

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked

"With you? No thanks" he shook his head giving a sarcastic smile

"Have you talked to her?" she quizzed, not letting it go

Rafe exhaled sharply and closed his eyes "I'm not allowed to. You know this"

"Yeah because that's stopped you before" she chuckled dryly "Stop being so afraid of dad and talk to her, you're miserable and so is she!"

"She doesn't look too miserable. Did you know she's moving?" he said, an edge to his voice

"Her mom and dad divorced. Alexis is moving to some house beside Kie"

Rafe's heart skipped a beat at the thought of Ivy being closer than he imagined, his excitement was slowly replaced by the realisation that despite wherever her mother might have been, Ivy herself would be off to college in less than two weeks "So"

"So you need to talk to her" Sarah insisted

"Look Sarah I appreciate you trying to play cupid but if I remember correctly you exiled her the minute you found out I was involved with her so forgive me for not wanting to take your advice on things" Rafe spat

She sighed "I didn't realise how much you cared about her! I thought you just wanted to hook up with her and then dip"

"I don't care about her, and I got what I wanted so all's well that ends well right?" Rafe huffed pushing past the girl and heading back upstairs

In his room, he pulled the curtains open once more but this time kept them open, he grabbed the trash can that sat in his bathroom and started to throw away the mess in his room. He folded and put away the clothes that were once sat on an unused desk before heading for a shower. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, grabbing his phone that sat on the counter and clicking the Instagram app. He logged into an old account of his that he only ever used to give to random girls at the bar he didn't want to know his real account and searched Ivy's profile.

@RC1_

It's Rafe. I need to talk to you.